[39] Tertullian, De Spect., especially cc. 4, 26, 30. Schaff, iv. 833, dates the treatise †200. An earlier Greek writing by Tertullian on the same subject is lost; cf. also his Apologeticus, 15 (P. L. i. 357). The information as to the contemporary stage scattered through Tertullian’s works is collected by E. Nöldechen, Tertullian und das Theater (Z. f. Kirchengeschichte (1894), xv. 161). An anonymous De Spectaculis, formerly ascribed to St. Cyprian, follows on Tertullian’s lines (P. L. iv. 779, transl. in Ante-Nicene Christian Libr. xiii. 221).
[40] Tatian, ad Graecos, 22 (P. G. vi. 856); Minucius Felix, Octavius, 27 (P. L. iii. 352); Cyprian, Epist. i. 8 (P. L. iv. 207); Lactantius, de Inst. div. vi. 20 (P. L. vi. 710), ‘quid de mimis loquar, corruptelarum praeferentibus disciplinam, qui docent adulteria, dum fingunt, et simulatis erudiunt ad vera?’; cf. Du Méril, Or. Lat. 6; Schaff, iii. 339. A remarkable collection of all conceivable authorities against the stage is given by Prynne, 566, 685, &c.
[41] Canones Hippolyti, 67 (Duchesne, 509) ‘Quicumque fit θεατρικός vel gladiator et qui currit vel docet voluptates vel [illegible] vel [illegible] vel κυνηγός vel ἱπποδρόμος [?], vel qui cum bestiis pugnat vel idolorum sacerdos, hi omnes non admittuntur ad sermones sacros nisi prius ab illis immundis operibus purgentur.’ This is from an Arabic translation of a lost Greek original. M. Duchesne says ‘ce recueil de prescriptions liturgiques et disciplinaires est sûrement antérieur au ive siècle, et rien ne s’oppose à ce qu’il remonte à la date indiquée par le nom d’Hippolyte’ [†198-236].
[42] Conc. Illib. cc. 62, 67 (Mansi, ii. 16); Conc. Arelat. c. 5 (Mansi, ii. 471); 3 Conc. Carth. cc. 11, 35 (Mansi, iii. 882, 885); 4 Conc. Carth. cc. 86, 88 (Mansi, iii. 958).
[43] The strongest pronouncement is that of Augustine and others in 3 Conc. Carth. c. 11 ‘ut filii episcoporum vel clericorum spectacula saecularia non exhibeant, sed non spectent, quandoquidem ab spectaculo et omnes laici prohibeantur. Semper enim Christianis omnibus hoc interdictum est, ut ubi blasphemi sunt, non accedant.’
[44] 4 Conc. Carth. c. 88 ‘Qui die solenni, praetermisso solenni ecclesiae conventu, ad spectacula vadit, excommunicetur.’
[45] D. C. A. s. vv. Actor, Theatre; Bingham, vi. 212, 373, 439; Alt, 310; Prynne, 556. Some, however, of the pronouncements of the fathers came to have equal force with the decrees of councils in canon law. The Code of Gratian (†1139), besides 3 Conc. Carth. c. 35 ‘scenicis atque ystrionibus, ceterisque huiusmodi personis, vel apostaticis conversis, vel reversis ad Deum, gratia vel reconciliatio non negetur’ (C. I. Can. iii. 2. 96) and 7 Conc. Carth. (419) c. 2 (Mansi, iv. 437) ‘omnes etiam infamiae maculis aspersi, id est histriones ... ab accusatione prohibentur’ (C. I. Can. ii. 4. 1. 1), includes two patristic citations. One is Cyprian, Ep. lxi. (P. L. iv. 362), which is ‘de ystrione et mago illo, qui apud vos constitutus adhuc in suae artis dedecore perseverat,’ and forbids ‘sacra communio cum ceteris Christianis dari’ (C. I. Can. iii. 2. 95); the other Augustine, Tract. C. ad c. 16 Iohannis (P. L. xxxv. 1891) ‘donare res suas histrionibus vitium est immane, non virtus’ (C. I. Can. i. 86. 7). Gratian adds Isidorus Hispalensis, de Eccl. Off. ii. 2 (P. L. lxxxiii. 778) ‘his igitur lege Patrum cavetur, ut a vulgari vita seclusi a mundi voluptatibus sese abstineant; non spectaculis, non pompis intersint’ (C. I. Can. i. 23. 3).
[46] Sathas, 7; Krumbacher, 644. Anastasius Sinaita (bp. of Antioch, 564) in his tract, Adversus Monophysitas ac Monothelitas (Mai, Coll. Nov. Script. Vet. vii. 202), speaks of the συγγράμματα of the Arians as θυμελικὰς βίβλους, and calls the Arian Eunomius πρωτοστάτης τῆς Ἀρείου θυμελικῆς ὀρχήστρας. I doubt if these phrases should be taken too literally; possibly they are not more than a criticism of the buffoonery and levity which the fragments of the Θάλεια display. Krumbacher mentions an orthodox Ἀντιθάλεια of which no more seems to be known.
[47] Alt, 310; Bingham, vi. 273; Schaff, v. 106, 125; Haigh, 460; Dill, 56; P. Allard, Julien l’Apostat. i. 230. The Codex Theodosianus, drawn up and accepted for both empires †435, contains imperial edicts from the time of Constantine onwards.
[48] Spectacula are forbidden on Sunday, unless it is the emperor’s birthday, by C. Th. xv. 5. 2 (386), which also forbids judges to rise for them, except on special occasions, and C. Th. ii. 8. 23 (399). The exception is removed by C. Th. ii. 8. 25 (409) and C. Iust. iii. 12. 9 (469). The Christian feasts and fasts, Christmas, Epiphany, the first week in Lent, Passion and Easter weeks are added by C. Th. ii. 8. 23 (400) and C. Th. xv. 5. 5 (425). According to some MSS. this was done by C. Th. ii. 8. 19 (389), but the events of 399 recorded below seem to show that 400 is the right date.