Chapter 8
TERTULLIAN
ment of the games because of less ample funds, all the spec tacles in the circus everywhere must be considered as belong ing to the model from which they are copied, and are con taminated by the source from which they are drawn. For, also, the small brook from its spring, and the tiny shoot from its stem, contain in them the nature of their origin.
(5) Let splendor and frugality look to it where they come from. The pomp of the circus, whatever its nature, offends
God. Even if there be carried but a few idols in procession, it takes only one to have idolatry; even if there be driven but one chariot, it is Jupiter's car; every kind of idolatry, even one meanly or moderately equipped, is still rich and splendid because of its sinful origin.
Chapter 8 (1) In accordance with my plan, I shall deal next with the places. The circus is primarily consecrated to the Sun.1
His temple stands in the middle of it, and his image shines forth from the pediment of the temple.2 For they did not think it proper to worship beneath a roof a god whom they see above them in the open.3 (2) Those who maintain that the first circus show was exhibited by Circe in honor of the Sun, her father, as they will have it, conclude also that the name is derived from her.4 Plainly, the sorceress undoubtedly
1 Probably because the Sun, supposed to ride a car to which four horses were yoked, was the patron of the quadriga.
2 That the sun god had an old shrine in the Circus Maximus is also reported by Tacitus (Annates 15.74) .
3 See the similar explanation concerning the god Consus, p 61 above 4 The derivation of the word 'circus' from Circe, the ancient sorceress' and lady-poisoner par excellence, has all the earmarks of popular etymology. It fits Tertullian's purpose, since it connects the circus with idolatry. Circus means originally a circular line, then the circular race course.
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transacted the business in behalf of those whose priestess she was, namely, the demons and evil spirits.5 How many evi dences of idol worship do you recognize accordingly in the decoration of the place? (3) Every ornament of the circus is a temple by itself. The eggs are regarded as sacred to Castor and Pollux by people who do not feel ashamed to believe the story of their origin from the egg made fertile by the swan,
Jupiter.6 The dolphins spout water in honor of Neptune;7 the columns bear aloft images of Seia, so called from sementatio ['sowing']; of Messia, so called as deity of messis ['reap ing']; and of Tutulina, so called as 'tutelary spirit' of the crops.8 (4) In front of these are seen three altars for the triple gods: the Great, the Potent, the Prevailing. They think
5 By angeli evil spirits are meant (see above, p. 51 n.4) .
6 On the spina, a low wall which ran down the middle of the course, special stands carried seven egg-like objects, one of which was taken down after every round made in the course. In this way the spectators were able to follow the progress of the chariot race, which consisted of the seven rounds of the course. These 'eggs' in the circus are associated with the well-known legend according to which the twins
Castor and Pollux were hatched from an egg, laid by Leda, whom Jupiter visited in the form of a swan. Tertullian's main aim is again to show the connection between circus and idolatry.
7 Seven dolphins, placed on' high columns, served as a supplement to the counting-apparatus of the 'eggs.' Like the latter, they were taken down, or perhaps simply turned around, according to the number of rounds completed. In some circuses, dolphins also served as gargoyles for basins. It is to such that Tertullian seems to refer here.
8 Instead of the form Tutulina, Tutilina or Tutelina appear elsewhere.
A goddess Messia is mentioned only here. But a number of ancient authors describe a similar triad of agrarian deities whose spheres of influence are strictly defined. See, for instance, Augustine, City of God
4.8: 'They could not even find a single goddess Segetia to whom alone they might entrust all the crops, but for the sown seed, as long as it lay underground, they would have a goddess Seia, and, from the moment it sprouted to the time of its harvest, a Segetia to act as guardian. When the wheat was gathered and garnered, a Tutilina was to keep it safe.' See also Macrobius, Saturn. 1.16.8 and Pliny, Nat. hist.
18.2.8. The latter confirms Tertullian's statement that the statues of these three deities could be seen in the Circus Maximus.
TERTULLIAN
these deities are Samothracean.9 (5) The huge obelisk,10 as Hermateles* 11 maintains, has been set up in honor of the Sun.
Its inscription which, like its origin, is Egyptian, contains a superstition. The gathering of the demons would be dull with out their Great Mother, so she presides there over the ditch.12
(6) Consus, as we have mentioned, keeps in hiding under ground13 at the Murcian Goals. The latter are also the work
9 'The triple gods' must belong to the same category of agrarian deities as the above-mentioned three tutelary spirits of the crops. Their statues and altars respectively were, therefore, remainders of an ex tremely old cult that was once paid to these deities of the earth and of fertility in the valley of the Circus Maximus. With this conclusion there agrees the worship of Consus in the same locality. The identifi cation of the triple gods with the Samothracean deities—an identifi cation based on their names—goes back to the learned speculation of Varro (see De lingua latina 5.58) .
10 Tertullian refers to the obelisk which Augustus transported from Heliopolis to Rome in 10 b.c. to adorn the spina of the Circus
Maximus, the first Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome. Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590) removed it to its present place on the Piazza del Popolo.
It bears an inscription in hieroglyphs celebrating the glories of King Rameses II.
11 A writer by the name of Hermateles seems to be unknown. This is not the only case where Tertullian makes a slip in quoting a name.
Scholars have made several suggestions. Tertullian may have meant Demoteles who, according to Pliny (Nat. hist. 36.12.79 and 13.84), wrote on Egypt; or Hermapion from whose work Ammianus Marcellinus (Res gestae 17.4.17) transcribes the inscription of the obelisk.
Unfortunately, both Demoteles and Hermapion also are very much unknown.
12 For the safety of the spectators Caesar ordered a water ditch to be dug about the arena (Suetonius, Divus Julius 39) . It was removed by Nero to gain seats for the knights (Pliny, Nat. hist. 8.7.21) . Later basins fed by gargoyles (or dolphins) were set up on the spina. Finally' the word ditch (euripus) was applied to the entire spina, as by Tertullian here and in Adversus Hermogenem 31.3. With this agrees the phrase that Cybele, the Great Mother of the gods, 'presides' over the ditch, i.e., the spina. For the goddess is not infrequently repre sented as riding on a dashing lion close by the obelisk, i.e., about in the middle of the spina.
13 See above, p. 61.
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of an idol. For Murcia, as they will have it, is a goddess of love to whom they have dedicated a temple in that part [of the valley].14
(7) Take note, O Christian, how many unclean deities have taken possession of the circus. You have nothing to do with a place which so many diabolic spirits have made their own. Speaking of places, this is the appropriate occasion for throwing more light on the subject in order to anticipate a question that some may raise. (8) What will happen, you say, if I enter the circus at some other time? Shall I be then, too, in danger of contamination? There is no law laid down with regard to places as such. For not only these places where people gather for the spectacles but also the temples may be entered by the servant of God without peril to his rule of life, provided that he do so for an urgent and honest reason which has no connection with the business and function proper of the place.
(9) Moreover, there is no place—whether streets or mar ketplace or baths or taverns or even our own homes—that is completely free of idols: Satan and his angels have filled the whole world. (10) Yet, it is not by our being in the world that we fall away from God, but by taking part in some sins of the world. Therefore, if I enter the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol or that of Serapis as a sacrificer or worshiper, I shall
14 In Ch. 5.7 the Murcian Goals are called 'the first goal posts.' They were, therefore, the first which the charioteers had to round. Murcia was an early Roman deity whose very nature was no longer known in historical times. Roman antiquarians advanced the most fanciful etymologies to explain her name. Finally, they related Murcia to Murtea or Myrtea, an epithet of Venus, said to be taken from the myrtle which was sacred to her, and identified Murcia with Venus
Murtea, Tertullian's 'goddess of love.' The existence of a shrine of Murcia in the Circus Maximus is confirmed by Varro (De lingua latina 5.154).