De histrionibus et mimis et praestigiatorihus
The Vanity of Modern Spectacles
The author contrasts the honorable actors of antiquity with the modern obsession with frivolous and corrupting entertainment.
Some people still imitate him to a degree, even though no one would want to be caught up in his filth; they prostitute their own grace to actors and mimes, and in displaying their malice, they spend money in a way that is blind, contemptible, and not so much impressive as it is pathetic. That age, however—if I may say so for the moment—had more honorable actors, if it’s even possible for anything to be honorable that is considered unworthy of any free person. Yet I’m not claiming that an actor is necessarily shameful in his craft, even though it’s undoubtedly shameful to be an actor. There were, in fact, actors who used bodily gestures, the art of words, and vocal modulation to present real or fictional stories in public view—the kind you find in Plautus and Menander, and through whom the art of our own Terence becomes known. Furthermore, as comedy and tragedy have faded away and frivolity has taken over everything, their clients—namely, the comedians and tragedians—have been wiped out. But you’ll generally find them only in a servile condition. Poetry reveals what their purpose was: poets want either to be useful, or to delight, or to say things that are both pleasant and suitable for life. But our own age, having slipped into fables and all sorts of emptiness, not only prostitutes its ears and heart to vanity, but also soothes its own laziness with the pleasure of the eyes and ears, fueling lust while gathering the fuel of vices from every side.
The Danger of Idleness
Idleness is identified as the root cause of vice, leading people to seek destructive distractions to fill their empty minds.
Doesn't the lazy person foster idleness and invite sleep with the sweetness of instruments or the melody of voices? Or with the cheerfulness of singers and storytellers, or—more shamefully—with drunkenness or gluttony? Flaccus taught a more elegant art: 'Let the anointed swim the Tiber three times, those who need a deep sleep.' The Preacher also says: 'Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much.' For exercise produces and nourishes the grace of rest, which is destroyed by the continuation of leisure and a certain lethargy of one's own inertia. Indeed, every idle person is caught in desires, since idleness is an enemy to the soul and eliminates all pursuits of virtue from its home. The pagan cries out: 'You see how idleness consumes the lazy body and invites vice, unless they are moved.' Listen. You'll learn if you believe him. People ask why Aegisthus became an adulterer. The reason is obvious: he was lazy. The advice of the most learned men, therefore, is that the enemy should always find you busy, so that you may use your various tasks as shields to oppose his temptations, both happily and prudently. The moralist says we must avoid the wicked siren of laziness. Yet performers extend this laziness to our own people. For boredom creeps into idle minds, and they wouldn't be able to endure themselves if they weren't soothed by the comfort of some pleasure. Spectacles and endless exercises in vanity are therefore permitted, so that those who cannot be idle at all might be occupied in a more destructive way.
Guarding the Senses
The author warns against the moral degradation caused by watching obscene performances and emphasizes the need for purity of sight.
It would have been better to be idle than to be shamefully occupied. From this source come mimes, Salii or Saliares, buffoons, gladiators, wrestlers, athletes, magicians, and many other such people, and the whole stage of entertainers proceeds. Their error has grown so strong that they aren't kept out of noble houses, even those who force everyone to look at such filth in their private parts that even a cynic would be ashamed to see it. And what is even more surprising, they aren't thrown out even when they make a racket below, fouling the air with constant noise and revealing what is hidden in an even more shameful way. Does someone who opens his eyes or ears to these people seem wise to you? Yet who wouldn't gladly watch and laugh when a magician's trick is exposed, and the ability to see is restored to eyes that his malice had blinded? It is certainly pleasant and not contrary to honesty for a good man to be refreshed occasionally by modest cheer, but it is shameful for one's gravity to be frequently dissolved by such frivolity. A person of integrity must keep his eyes away from these spectacles, especially the obscene ones, lest the incontinence of his eyes also betray the impurity of his mind. Pericles, in fact, rebuked his colleague Sophocles the praetor quite well, saying: 'Sophocles, a praetor should keep not only his hands but also his eyes pure.'
The Responsibility of the Spectator
Those who support and fund wicked performers share in their guilt, and the faithful are called to discern what is truly profitable.
"Turn my eyes away," said a man who held great authority over the majesty of the kingdom, "so they don't see vanity." He knew well the truth of what another lamented: "My eye has plundered my soul." Still, a wise mind notices what is profitable or appropriate in each case; it doesn't shun fables, stories, or any spectacles, provided they serve as a tool for virtue or honest utility. Yet, you don't doubt that, by the authority of the Fathers, the grace of Holy Communion is closed off to actors and mimes as long as they persist in their malice. From this you can gather what hangs over their supporters, if you recall that those who do these things and those who consent to them are to be punished with the same penalty. "Those who give to actors," he asked, "why do they give?" They are certainly fostering in them the very thing in which they are most wicked. Surely, can someone who fosters wickedness be good? Although the malice of all these people is hateful, the malice of those who do less harm is more tolerable.
Read the original Latin
Eum uero adhuc aliqui pro parte imitantur, etsi feditate illius nemo dignetur inuolui, cum gratiam suam histrionibus et mimis multi prostituant, et in exhibenda malitia eorum ceca quadam et contemptibili magnificentia non tam mirabiles quam miserabiles faciunt sumptus. Illa tamen etas (ut sic interim dicam) honestiores habuit histriones, si tamen aliquo modo honestum est, quod omni homine libero comprobatur indignum. Nec tamen histrionem assero turpiter in arte sua uersari, etsi indubitanter turpe sit esse histrionem. Et quidem histriones erant, qui gestu corporis arteque uerborum et modulatione uocis factas aut fictas historias sub aspectu publico referebant, quos apud Plautum inuenis et Menandrum, et quibus ars nostri Terentii innotescit. Porro comicis et tragicis abeuntibus, cum omnia leuitas occupauerit, clientes eorum, comedi uidelicet et tragedi, exterminati sunt. Sed eos in seruili conditione dumtaxat plerumque reperies. Quis uero eorum usus extiterit, poetica docens aperit: Aut prodesse uolunt, aut delectare poetae, aut simul et iocunda et idonea dicere uitae. At nostra etas prolapsa ad fabulas et quaeuis inania non modo aures et cor prostituit uanitati, sed oculorum et aurium uoluptate suam mulcet desidiam, luxuriam accendit, conquirens undique fomenta uitiorum.
Nonne piger desidiam instruit et sompnos prouocat instrumentorum suauitate aut uocum modulis. hilaritate canentium aut fabulantium gratia, siue, qucxi turpius est, ebrietate uel crapula? Artem utique elegantiorem docuit Flaccus: Ter uncti trananto Tiberim, sompno quibus est opus alto. Ait quoque concionator: Dulcis est sompnus operanti, siue parum siue multum comedat. Exercitatio siquidem parit et alit quietis gratiam, quae otii continuatione et quodam inertiae suae marcore perimitur. Vtique in desideriis est omnis otiosus, cum et otiositas inimica sit animae et de domicilio eius omnia studia uirtutis eliminet. Clamat ethnicus: Cernis ut ignauum comimpant otia corpus, et capiant uitium, ni moueantur, aquael Quodl inquis. Audi.
Disces si eidem credideris. Quaeritur Egistus quare sit factus adulter. Causa est in promptu, desidiosus erat. Litteratissimi ergo uiri consilium est, ut hostis te semper inueniat occupatum, quo uariis temptationibus eius occupationum tuarum clypeos tam feliciter quam prudenter opponas. Vitanda est (inquit ethicus) improba syren desidia. At eam nostris prorogant histriones. Elxoccupatis etenim a mentibus surrepunt tedia, seseque non sustinerent, si non alicuius uoluptatis solatio mulcerentur. Admissa sunt ergo spectacula et infinita tirocinia uanitatis, quibus qui omnino otiari non possunt, pemiciosius occupentur.
Satius enim fuerat otiari quam turpiter occupari. Hinc mimi, salii uel saliares, balatrones, emiliani, gladiatores, palestritae, gignadii, praestigiatores, malefici quoque multi, et tota ioculatorum scena procedit. Quorum adeo error inualuit, ut a praeclaris domibus non arceantur, etiam illi qui obscenis partibus corporis oculis omnium eam ingerunt turpitudinem, quam erubescat uidere uel cinicus. Quodque magis mirere, nec tunc eiciuntur, quando tumultuantes inferius crebro sonitu aerem fedant, et turpiter inclusum turpius produnt. Numquid tibi uidetur sapiens, qui oculos uel aures istis expandit? Quis tamen libenter non uideat et rideat, cum praestigiatoris lotio perfusi ars deletur, et oculis, quos malitia sua praestrinxerat, uidendi facultas reparaturl locundum quidem est et ab honesto non recedit uirum probum quandoque modesta hilaritate mulceri, sed ignominiosum est grauitatem huiuscemodi lasciuia frequenter resolui. Ab istis quoque spectaculis et maxime ab obscenis honesti uiri arcendus est oculus, ne incontinentia eius mentis quoque impudicitiam fateatur. Egregie siquidem Sophoclem praetorem collega Pericles arguens, ait: Decet praetorem, Sophocle, non modo manus sed et oculos habere continentes.
Auerte, inquit homo, cui de regni maiestate multa licebant, oculos meos, ne uideant uanitatem: sciens utique uerum esse quod alius ingemiscit, quia oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam. Verumtamen quid in singulis prosit uel deceat, animus sapientis aduertit, nec apologos refugit aut narrationes aut quaecumque spectacula, dum uirtutis aut honestae utilitatis habeant instrumentum, Sacrae quidem communionis gratiam histrionibus et mimis, dum in malitia perseuerant, ex auctoritate patrum non ambigis esse praeclusam. Vnde quid fautoribus eorum immineat coUigis, si facientes et consentientes pari pena recolis esse plectendos. Qui donant, inquit, histrionibus, quare donant? Hoc utique in illis fouent, in quo nequissimi sunt. Nempe qui nequitiam fouet, estne bonus'? Cum uero omnium istorum sit odibilis, illorum tamen qui minus nocent malitia tolerabilior est.
Policraticus companion
Study the argument weekly; pray the tradition daily
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John of Salisbury argued that rulers must keep the law of God before their eyes daily; Chosen Portion gives modern readers that same daily discipline in five minutes a morning.
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