BOOK XVIIION WAR AND AMUSEMENTS
ON WAR AND AMUSEMENTS
Chapter 16. On spectacles.
1. Spectacles, as I think, is the general name given to pleasures which defile not of themselves, but through those things that take place there.
3. The origin of the word (ludus) is of no consequence when the origin of the thing is idolatry.... On this account the stain of its origin must be regarded, lest one should regard as good what took its origin in evil.
Chapter 27. On the sports of the circus.
1. The sports of the circus (ludi circenses) were established on account of worship, and because of the honoring of the heathen gods. Whence those who view them seem to be furthering the worship of evil spirits. For horse-racing was in former times practiced by itself, and its ordinary practice at least was no guilt, but when this natural practice was included in the games, it was transferred to the worship of demons.
Chapter 41. On the colors at the races.[364]
1. The same heathen have associated the colors worn by the horses with the elements: likening the red to the sun, that is, to fire; the white to air; the green to earth; the blue to the sea. Likewise they wished the red to run in summer because they are of a fiery color and all things are of a golden hue at that time; the white in winter because it is icy and everything is white; the green during the verdure of spring, because then the vine leaves are thickening.
2. They also consecrated the red to Mars from whom the Romans are sprung, because the Roman standards are adorned with scarlet or because Mars delights in blood. The white [they consecrated] to western breezes and fine weather, the green to flowers and earth, the blue to the sea or air because they are of a caerulean color, the golden or saffron to fire and the sun, and the purple to Iris, which we call the bow, because Iris has many colors.
3. And so while under this pretence they pollute themselves with the gods and the elements of this world, they are known to be certainly worshiping the same gods and elements. Whence you ought to notice, Christian, how many unclean gods they have around. Therefore the place which many spirits of Satan have seized shall be alien to you. For all that place the devil and his angels have filled.
Chapter 45. On tragedians.
1. Tragedians are they who sang in mournful verse theancient deeds and crimes of guilty kings, while the people looked on.
Chapter 46. On comedians.
1. Comedians are they who represented by song and gesture the doings of men in private life, and in their plays set forth the defilement of maidens and the love affairs of harlots.
Chapter 59. On the execration of these.
1. These spectacles of cruelty and this gazing upon vanities were established not only by the fault of men but by the command of demons. Wherefore a Christian ought to have nothing to do with the madness of the circus, with the shamelessness of the theatre, with the cruelty of the amphitheatre, with the atrocity of the arena, with the luxury of theludus. For he denies God who ventures on such things, becoming a violator of the Christian faith—he who seeks afresh that which he long before renounced in baptism, that is, the devil, his parades and his works.