§29Iam nunc putas delectamentis L exige re spatium hoc? cur tam ingratus es, ut tot et tales uoluptates a deo contributas tibi satis non habeas neque recognoscas? quid enim incundius quam dei patris et domini reconciliatio, quam ueritatis reuelatio, quam errorum recognitio, quam tantorum retro criminum uenia? quae maior uoluptas quam fastidium ipsius uoluptatis, quam saeculi totius contemptus, quam uera libertas, quam conscientia integra, quam uita sufficiens, quam mortis timor nullus? quod calcas deos nationum, quod daemonia expellis, quod medicinas facis, quod reuelationes petis, quod deo uiuis? haec uoluptates, haec spectacula Christianorum sancta perpetua gratuita; in his tibi circenses ludos interpretare, cursus saeculi intuere, tempora labentia, spatia peracta dinumera, metas consummationis exspecta, societates ecclesiarum defende, ad signum dei suscitare, ad tubain angeli erigere, ad martyrum palmas gloriare.
Do you now think that it is allowed to spend this span of life in pleasures? Why are you so ungrateful that you do not hold as sufficient nor acknowledge so many and such great pleasures bestowed upon you by God? For what is more pleasant than reconciliation with God the Father and the Lord, than the revelation of truth, than the recognition of errors, than the pardon of so many past sins? What greater pleasure is there than disgust for pleasure itself, than contempt for the entire world, than true liberty, than an intact conscience, than a sufficient life, than no fear of death? That you trample upon the gods of the nations, that you expel demons, that you perform cures, that you seek revelations, that you live for God? These are the pleasures, these the spectacles of Christians—holy, eternal, free; in these, interpret for yourself the chariot races, contemplate the course of the world, count the slipping times, number the completed laps, await the turning-posts of consummation, defend the societies of the churches, rouse yourself at the sign of God, erect yourself at the trumpet of the angel, glory in the palms of the martyrs.
si scaenicae doctrinae delectant, satis nobis litterarum est, satis uersuum est, satis sententiarum, satis etiam canticorum, satis uocum, nec fabulae, sed ueritates, nec strophae, sed simplicitates.
If the teachings of the stage delight you, we have enough literature, enough verses, enough maxims, enough songs as well, enough voices—and not fables, but truths, not deceits, but simplicities.
uis et pugilatus et luctatus? praesto sunt, non parua et multa.
Do you want boxing and wrestling too? They are at hand, not small, and many.
aspice impudicitiam deiectam a castitate, perfidiam Caesam a fide, saeuitiam a misericordia contusam, petulantiam a modestia adumbratam, et tales sunt apud nos agones, in quibus ipsi coronamur.
Behold unchastity cast down by chastity, perfidy slain by faith, cruelty crushed by mercy, wantonness overshadowed by modesty; and such are the contests among us, in which we ourselves are crowned.
uis autem et sanguinis aliquid? habes Christi.
But do you want also some blood? You have Christ's.
§30Quale autem spectaculum in proximo est aduentus domini iam indubitati, iam superbi, iam triumphantis! quae illa exultatio angelorum, quae gloria resurgentium sanctorum! quale regnum exinde iustorum! qualis ciuitas noua Hierusalem! at enim supersunt alia spectacula, ille ultimus et perpetuus iudicii dies, ille nationibus insperatus, ille derisus, cum tanta saeculi uetustas et tot eius natiuitates uno igni haurientur.
But what a spectacle is at hand in the advent of the Lord, now undoubted, now proud, now triumphant! What is that exultation of the angels, what the glory of the rising saints! How great the kingdom of the righteous thereafter! What a city, the New Jerusalem! But indeed other spectacles remain: that last and eternal day of judgment, that day unexpected by the nations, that day laughed at, when so great antiquity of the world and all its generations shall be consumed by one fire.
quae tunc spectaculi latitudo! quid admirer? quid rideam? ubi gaudeam, ubi exultem, tot spectans reges, qui in caelum recepti nuntiabantur, cum Ioue ipso et ipsis suis testibus in imis tenebris congemescentes? item praesides persecutores dominici nominis saeuioribus quam ipsi flammis saeuierunt insultantes contra Christianos liquescentes? quos praeterea? sapientes illos philosophos coram discipulis suis una conflagrantibus erubescentes, quibus nihil ad deum pertinere suadebant, quibus animas aut nullas aut non in pristina corpora redituras adfirmabant? etiam poetas non ad Rhadamanthi nec ad Minonis, sed ad inopinati Christi tribunal palpitantes? tunc magis > tragoedi audiendi, magis scilicet uocales in sua propria calamitate; tunc histriones cognoscendi, solutiores multo per ignem; tunc spectandus auriga in flammea rota totus ruber; tunc xystici contemplandi, non in gymnasiis, sed in igne *** iaculati, nisi quod ne tunc quidem illos uelim uisos, ut qui malim ad eos potius conspectum insatiabilem conferre, qui in dominum desaeuierunt.
How great then will be the breadth of the spectacle! At what shall I wonder? At what shall I laugh? Where shall I rejoice, where shall I exult, as I behold so many kings, who were reported to have been received into heaven, groaning together in the deepest darkness with Jupiter himself and their own witnesses? Likewise, those governors, persecutors of the Lord's name, melting in flames fiercer than those with which they themselves raged in insulting the Christians? Whom besides? Those wise philosophers blushing in the presence of their own disciples as they burn together, whom they used to persuade that nothing concerns God, and to whom they affirmed that souls are either non-existent or will not return to their former bodies? And even poets trembling, not before the tribunal of Rhadamanthys or Minos, but before that of the unexpected Christ? Then indeed the tragic actors will be worth hearing, much more vocal, of course, in their own calamity; then the actors will be recognized, made much more limber by the fire; then the charioteer is to be gazed at, all red on his fiery wheel; then the athletes are to be observed, not in their gymnasia, but cast in the fire, except that not even then would I wish to see them, as one who would prefer to turn an insatiable gaze rather on those who raged against the Lord.
hic est ille, dicam, fabri aut quaestuariae filius,. sabbati destructor, Samarites et daemonium habens; hic est quem a Iuda redemistis, hic est ille harundine et colaphis diuerberatus, sputamentis dedecoratus, felle et aceto potatus; hic est, quem clam discentes subripuerunt, ut surrexisse dicatur, hortulanus detraxit, ne lactucae suae frequentia commeantium adlaederentur. ut talia spectes, ut talibus exultes, quis tibi praetor aut consul aut quaestor aut sacerdos de sua liberalitate praestabit? et tamen haec iam quodammodo habemus per fidem spiritu imaginante repraesentata.
"This is he," I shall say, "the son of a carpenter or a prostitute, the destroyer of the sabbath, the Samaritan, and he who has a demon; this is he whom you bought from Judas, this is he who was beaten with a reed and with fists, disgraced with spittle, given gall and vinegar to drink; this is he whom the disciples secretly stole away, that he might be said to have risen, or whom the gardener dragged away, lest his lettuces should be damaged by the crowd of passers-by." That you may behold such things, that you may exult in such things, what praetor or consul or quaestor or priest will, out of his own liberality, present to you? And yet we already have these things, in a way, represented through faith, with the spirit imagining them.
ceterum qualia illa sunt, quae nec oculus uidit nec auris audiuit nec in cor hominis ascenderunt? credo, circo et utraque cauea et omni stadio gratiora.
But what must those things be like, which neither eye has seen nor ear has heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man? I believe, more pleasing than the circus, both theaters, and every stadium.