§11Origo istis de ludorum propinquitate est.
The origin of these is in their proximity to the games.
inde et ipsi sacri uel funebres instituti aut deis nationum aut mortuis fiunt.
Hence, they themselves, instituted as sacred or funeral rites, are performed either for the gods of the nations or for the dead.
perinde tituli: Olympia Ioui, quae sunt Romae Capitolina, item Herculi Nemea, Neptuno Isthmia, ceteri mortuorum uarii agones.
Their titles are likewise: the Olympia for Jupiter, which at Rome are the Capitolina; likewise the Nemea for Hercules, the Isthmia for Neptune; the other various contests are for the dead.
quid ergo mirum, si uel apparatus agonum idololatria conspurcat de coronis profanis, de sacerdotalibus praesidibus, de collegia riis ministris, de ipso postremo boum sanguine? ut de loco suppleam [at de loco] communi, pro collegio artium Musicarum et Minerualium et Apollinarium **, etiam Martialium per duellum, per tubam in stadio circum aemulantur, quod utique templum est et ipsum teius idoli cuius sollemnitates agit.
What wonder is it, then, if even the preparation of the contests is defiled by idolatry, with profane crowns, priestly presidents, collegiate assistants, and finally the very blood of oxen? To supplement what was said concerning the common place, instead of a guild of the Musical, Minervan, and Apollonian arts, they compete in the stadium even for the Martian arts through duel and trumpet, which stadium is certainly itself a temple of that very idol whose solemnities it celebrates.
sed et gymnicas artes Castorum et Herculum et Mercuriorum disciplinae prodiderunt.
But the Castors, Herculeses, and Mercuries have also handed down the gymnastic arts through their training.
§12Superest illius insignissimi spectaculi ac receptissimi recognitio.
There remains the review of that most famous and highly accepted spectacle.
munus dictum est ab officio, quoniam officium etiam muneris nomen est. officium autem mortuis hoc spectaculo facere se, ueteres arbitrabantur, posteaquam illud humaniore atrocitate temperauerunt.
The "munus" (gift/spectacle) is named from "officium" (duty/service), since "officium" also has the name of "munus." The ancients believed that they performed a duty to the dead by this spectacle, after they had tempered it with a more humane cruelty.
nam olim, quoniam animas defunctorum humaniorno sanguine propitiari creditum erat, captiuos uel mali status seruos mercati in exequiis immolabant.
For once, since it was believed that the souls of the deceased were propitiated by human blood, they would buy captives or slaves of bad condition and sacrifice them at funerals.
postea placuit impietatem uoluptate adumbrare.
Afterward, it pleased them to veil this impiety with pleasure.
itaque quos parauerant, armis quibus tunc et qualiter poterant eruditos, tantum ut occidi discerent, mox edicto die inferiarum apud tumulos erogabant.
Thus, those whom they had procured, trained in whatever weapons and in whatever manner they then could, only so that they might learn to be killed, they soon put forward at the tombs on the appointed day of the funeral offerings.
ita mortem homicidiis consolabantur.
Thus they consoled death with homicides.
haec tmunep:i origo. sed paulatim prouecti ad tantam gratiam, ad quantam et crudelitatem, quia feriarum uoluptati satis non fiebat nisi et feris humana corpora dissiparentur.
This is the origin of the "munus." But gradually they progressed to as great popularity as they did to cruelty, because the pleasure of the festival was not satisfied unless human bodies were also torn apart by wild beasts.
quod ergo mortuis litabatur, utique parentationi deputabatur; tquae species, proinde idololatria est, quoniam et idololatria parentationis est species: tam haec quam illa mortuis ministrat.
What was sacrificed to the dead, therefore, was certainly assigned to the funeral offering; which species is likewise idolatry, since idolatry is also a species of funeral offering: both the former and the latter minister to the dead.
in mortuorum autem idolis daemonia consistunt.
Moreover, in the idols of the dead reside the demons.
ut et titulos considerem, licet transierit hoc genus editionis ab honoribus mortuorum ad honores uiuentium, quaesturas dico et magistratus et flaminia et sacerdotia, cum tamen nominis dignitas idololatriae crimine teneatur, necesse est quicquid dignitatis nomine administratur communicet etiam maculas eius, a qua habet causas.
If I should also consider the titles, although this class of exhibition has passed from the honors of the dead to the honors of the living— I mean quaestorships, magistracies, flaminates, and priesthoods—since, nevertheless, the dignity of the title is bound by the crime of idolatry, it is necessary that whatever is administered in the name of dignity should also share its stains, from which it has its origin.
idem de apparatibus interpretabimur in ipsorum honorum suggestu deputandis, quod purpurae, quod fasces, quod uittae, quod coronae, quod denique contiones et edicta et pultes pridianae sine pompa diaboli, sine inuitatione daemonum non sunt.
We shall interpret the same concerning the preparations to be assigned on the platform of those honors: namely, that the purples, the fasces, the fillets, the crowns, and finally the assemblies, edicts, and the previous day's feasts are not without the pomp of the devil and the invitation of demons.
quid ego de horrendo loco perorem, quem nec periuria sustinent? pluribus enim et asperioribus nominibus amphitheatrum consecratur quam Capitolium: omnium daemonum templum est.
What shall I say to sum up concerning that horrendous place, which not even false oaths can tolerate? For the amphitheater is consecrated with more and harsher names than the Capitol: it is the temple of all demons.
tot illic immundi spiritus considunt, quot homines capit.
As many unclean spirits sit there as the place holds men.
ut et de artibus concludam, Martem et Dianam utriusque ludi praesides nouimus.
To conclude also concerning the arts, we know that Mars and Diana are the presidents of both types of game.
§13Satis, opinor, impleuimus ordinem, quot et quibus modis spectacula idololatrian committant, de originibus, de titulis, de apparatibus, de locis, de artificiis, quo certi simus nulla ex parte competere nobis ea, qui bis idolis renuntiamus.
We have, I think, sufficiently completed the order of how many and in what ways spectacles commit idolatry, concerning origins, titles, preparations, places, and arts, so that we may be certain that they do not suit us in any part, we who twice renounce idols.
non quod idolum sit aliquid, ut apostolus ait, sed quoniam quae faciunt daemoniis faciunt consistentibus scilicet tin consecrationibus idolorum, sine mortuorum siue, ut putant, deorum.
Not that an idol is anything, as the apostle says, but because what they do, they do to demons, who certainly reside in the consecrations of idols, whether of the dead or, as they think, of the gods.
propterea igitur, quoniam utraque species idolorum condicionis unius est, dum mortui et dei unum sunt, utraque idololatria abstinemus.
Therefore, since both species of idols are of one condition, while the dead and the gods are one, we abstain from both types of idolatry.
nec minus templa quam monumenta despuimus, neutram aram nouimus, neutram effigiem adoramus, non sacrificamus, non parentamus.
We spit upon temples no less than upon tombs; we know neither altar, we adore neither image, we do not sacrifice, we do not make funeral offerings.
sed neque de sacrificio et parentato edimus, quia non possumus cenam dei edere et cenam daemoniorum.
But neither do we eat of what is sacrificed and offered to the dead, because we cannot eat the supper of God and the supper of demons.
si ergo gulam et uentrem ab inquinamentis liberamus, quanto magis augustiora nostra, et aures et oculos, ab idolothytis et necrothytis uoluptatibus abstinemus, quae non intestinis transiguntur, sed in ipso spiritu et anima digeruntur, quorum munditia magis ad deum pertinet quam intestinorum.
If, therefore, we free our throat and belly from pollutions, how much more do we keep our more august parts, our ears and eyes, from the pleasures of things sacrificed to idols and to the dead, which are not processed in the intestines, but are digested in the very spirit and soul, whose purity pertains more to God than that of the intestines.