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The Shows, or De Spectaculis

Tertullian

Chapter 19

About this work

Author: Tertullian

We shall now see how the Scriptures condemn the amphitheatre.

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If

we

can

maintain

that

it

is

right

to

indulge

in

the

cruel

,

and

the

impious

,

and

the

fierce

,

let

us

go

there

.

If

we

are

what

we

are

said

to

be

,

let

us

regale

ourselves

there

with

human

blood

.

It

is

good

,

no

doubt

,

to

have

the

guilty

punished

.

Who

but

the

criminal

himself

will

deny

that

?

And

yet

the

innocent

can

find

no

pleasure

in

another’s

sufferings

:

he

rather

mourns

that

a

brother

has

sinned

so

heinously

as

to

need

a

punishment

so

dreadful

.

But

who

is

my

guarantee

that

it

is

always

the

guilty

who

are

adjudged

to

the

wild

beasts

,

or

to

some

other

doom

,

and

that

the

guiltless

never

suffer

from

the

revenge

of

the

judge

,

or

the

weakness

of

the

defence

,

or

the

pressure

of

the

rack

?

How

much

better

,

then

,

is

it

for

me

to

remain

ignorant

of

the

punishment

inflicted

on

the

wicked

,

lest

I

am

obliged

to

know

also

of

the

good

coming

to

untimely

ends

—

if

I

may

speak

of

goodness

in

the

case

at

all

!

At

any

rate

,

gladiators

not

chargeable

with

crime

are

offered

in

sale

for

the

games

,

that

they

may

become

the

victims

of

the

public

pleasure

.

Even

in

the

case

of

those

who

are

judicially

condemned

to

the

amphitheatre

,

what

a

monstrous

thing

it

is

,

that

,

in

undergoing

their

punishment

,

they

,

from

some

less

serious

delinquency

,

advance

to

the

criminality

of

manslayers

!

But

I

mean

these

remarks

for

heathen

.

As

to

Christians

,

I

shall

not

insult

them

by

adding

another

word

as

to

the

aversion

with

which

they

should

regard

this

sort

of

exhibition

;

though

no

one

is

more

able

than

myself

to

set

forth

fully

the

whole

subject

,

unless

it

be

one

who

is

still

in

the

habit

of

going

to

the

shows

.

I

would

rather

withal

be

incomplete

than

set

memory

a

-

working

.

Notes

1
[See Kaye, p. 11. This expression is thought to confirm the probability of Tertullian’s original Gentilism.]