§20Quam uana igitur, immo desperata argumentatio eorum, qui sine dubio tergiuersatione amittendae uoluptatis optendunt nullam eius abstinentiae mentionem specialiter uel localiter in scripturis determinari, quae directo prohibeat eiusmodi conuentibus inseri seruum dei.
How vain, therefore, indeed how desperate is the argument of those who, doubtless out of evasiveness because of losing their pleasure, pretend that no mention of this abstinence is specially or locally determined in the Scriptures, such as would directly forbid a servant of God to be inserted into gatherings of this kind.
nouam proxime defensionem suauiludii cuiusdam audiui.
Recently I heard a novel defense of a certain sweet amusement.
sol, inquit, immo ipse etiam deus de caelo spectat nec contaminatur. sane, sol et in cloacam radios suos defert nec inquinatur.
"The sun," he says, "nay, even God Himself looks down from heaven and is not contaminated." To be sure, the sun directs its rays even into the sewer and is not defiled.
utinam autem deus nulla flagitia hominum spectaret, ut omnes iudicium euaderemus.
But would that God did not behold any of the outrages of men, so that we might all escape judgment!
sed spectat et latrocinia, spectat et falsa et adulteria et fraudes et idololatrias et spectacula ipsa.
But He beholds both robberies, He beholds both falsehoods and adulteries and frauds and idolatries and the spectacles themselves.
et idcirco ergo nos non spectabimus, ne uideamur ab illo qui spectat omnia.
And is it therefore for this reason that we shall not watch, lest we be seen by Him who beholds all things?
comparas, homo, reum et iudicem, reum, qui, quia uidetur, reus est, iudicem, qui, quia uidet, iudex est.
You compare, O man, the accused and the judge; the accused, who, because he is seen, is accused, and the judge, who, because he sees, is the judge.
numquid ergo et extra limites circi furori studemus et extra cardines theatri impudicitiae intendimus et insolentiae extra stadium et immisericordiae extra amphitheatrum, quoniam deus etiam extra cameras et gradus et t apulias oculos habet? erramus: nusquam et numquam excusatur quod deus damnat, nusquam et nunquam licet quod semper et ubique non licet.
Do we then, forsooth, strive after madness even outside the barriers of the circus, and tend toward impurity outside the hinges of the theater, and toward insolence outside the stadium, and toward mercilessness outside the amphitheater, because God has eyes even outside vaulted chambers, tiers and stages? We err: nowhere and never is that excused which God condemns; nowhere and never is that permitted which is always and everywhere not permitted.
haec est ueritatis integritas et, quae ei debetur, disciplinae plenitudo et aequalitas timoris et fides obsequii, non inmutare sententiam nec uariare iudicium.
This is the integrity of truth and, what is owed to it, the fullness of discipline and the equality of fear and the faithfulness of obedience: not to change one's opinion nor to vary judgment.
non potest aliud esse, quod uere quidem est bonum seu malum. §21Omnia autem penes ueritatem dei fixa sunt.
That which is truly good or bad cannot be otherwise. But all things are fixed with the truth of God.
ethnici, quos penes nulla est ueritatis plenitudo, quia nec doctor ueritatis deus, malum et bonum pro arbitrio et libidine interpretantur: alibi bonum quod alibi malum, et alibi malum quod alibi bonum.
The pagans, with whom there is no fullness of truth, because God is not their teacher of truth, interpret good and evil according to their own judgment and lust: what is good in one place is evil in another, and what is evil in one place is good in another.
sic ergo euenit, ut qui in publico uix necessitate uesicae tunicam leuet, idem in circo aliter non t exuet, nisi totum pudorem in faciem omnium intendit, ut et qui filiae uirginis ab omni spurco uerbo aures tuetur, ipse eam in theatrum ad illas uoces gesticulationesque deducat, et qui in plateis litem manu agentem aut compescit aut detestatur, idem in stadio grauioribus pugnis suffragium ferat, et qui ad cadauer hominis communi lege defuncti exhorret, idem in amphitheatro derosa et dissipata et in suo sanguine squalentia corpora patientissmis oculis desuper incumbat, immo qui propter homicidaecidae poenam probandam ad spectaculum ueniat, idem gladia torem ad homicidium flagellis et uirgis compellat inuitum, et qui insigniori cuique homicidae leonem poscit, idem gladiatori atroci petat rudem et pilleum praemium conferat, illum uero confectum etiam oris spectaculo repetat, libentius recognoscens de proximo quem uoluit occidere de lonquinquo, tanto durior, si non ualuit. §22Quid mirum? inaequata ista hominum miscentium et commutantium statum boni et mali per inconstantiam sensus et iudicii uarietatem.
Thus it happens, therefore, that he who in public would scarcely raise his tunic even for the necessity of his bladder, the very same man in the circus will not strip himself otherwise than by directing his entire shame into the face of all, and he who protects the ears of his virgin daughter from every filthy word, himself leads her to the theater to those very voices and gestures, and he who in the streets either restrains or detests a quarrel carried on with hands, the very same man in the stadium votes in favor of far heavier blows, and he who shudders at the corpse of a man deceased by the common law of nature, the very same man in the amphitheater looks down from above with most patient eyes upon bodies gnawed, torn, and filthy in their own blood, nay, he who comes to the spectacle to approve the punishment of a murderer, the very same man compels an unwilling gladiator to commit murder with whips and rods, and he who demands the lion for any more notorious murderer, the very same man requests the wooden sword and the cap of liberty as a reward for a cruel gladiator, but demands back the one who has been finished off, even to gaze upon his face, more willingly recognizing from up close the one whom he wished to be killed from afar, being all the more cruel if the gladiator did not survive. What wonder? These are the inconsistencies of men who mix and change the condition of good and evil through the inconstancy of their feeling and the variety of their judgment.
etenim ipsi auctores et administratores spectaculorum quadrigarios scaenicos xysticos arenarios illos amantissimos, quibus uiri animas, feminae autem illis etiam corpora sua substernunt, propter quos se in ea committunt quae reprehendunt, ex eadem arte, qua magnifaciunt, deponunt et deminuunt, immo manifeste damnant ignominia et capitis minu tione, arcentes curia rostris senatu equite ceterisque honoribus omnibus simul et ornamentis quibusdam.
For the very producers and managers of the spectacles devalue and degrade the very charioteers, actors, athletes, and gladiators—those most beloved figures to whom men subject their souls and women even their bodies, and for whose sake they commit themselves to the very things they condemn—on account of the very art which they highly esteem; nay, they manifestly condemn them with ignominy and civil degradation, excluding them from the council, the rostra, the senate, the knighthood, and all other honors and certain distinctions.
quanta peruersitas! amant quos multant, depretiant quos probant, artem magnificant, artificem notant.
What perversity! They love those whom they punish; they depreciate those whom they approve; they magnify the art, but brand the artist.
quale iudicium est, ut ob ea quis offuscetur, per quae promeretur? immo quanta confessio est malae rei! quarum actores, cum acceptissimi sint, sine nota non sunt.
What kind of judgment is it, that someone should be blackened on account of those things through which he wins favor? Nay, what a confession of an evil thing! The actors of which, although they are most acceptable, are not without a brand.