The Christian's better shows: creation as spectacle

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Novatian, the author, is addressing faithful Christians and has just begun the work; here he turns from the forbidden public shows to the better shows that Christians already possess in the beauty of the created world.

A Christian has better public shows, if he wants them. He has true and profitable pleasures, if he recollects himself. And to pass over those things he cannot yet contemplate, he has this beauty of the world to see and admire. Let him watch the sunrise, and again the sunset, as day and night return in turn. Let him watch the moon's orb marking the seasons' course by its waxing and waning, the glittering choirs of the stars shining constantly from their swift motion, the parts of the whole year divided in turn, the days themselves and nights arranged by the spaces of hours, the mass of the earth poised with its mountains, the rivers pouring forth with their springs, the seas stretched out with their waves and shores, and the air spread between, constant in its perfect harmony and bonds of concord, quickening all things by its fineness—now pouring down rain from gathered clouds, now bringing back clear weather with restored openness. And in all these things, their own inhabitants: the bird in the air, the fish in the water, the human being on the earth. These, I say, and other works of God, are the public shows for faithful Christians. What theater built by human hands can compare with these works? However great the masses of stone with which it is built, the crests of the mountains are higher. However much its gilded ceilings gleam, they will be surpassed by the brightness of the stars. No one will ever admire human works who recognizes himself as a son of God. He casts himself down from the height of his nobility who can admire anything after God.

Latin

Habet christianus spectacula meliora, si uelit, habet ueras et profuturas uoluptates, si se recollegerit: et ut omittam illa quae nondum contemplari potest, habet istam mundi pulcritudinem quam uideat atque miretur, solis ortum aspiciat, rursus occasum mutuis uicibus dies noctesque reuocantem, globum lunae temporum cursus incrementis suis detrimentisque signantem, astrorum micantes choros et assidue de summa mobilitate fulgentes, anni totius per uices membra diuisa et dies ipsos cum noctibus per horarum spatia digestos et terrae molem libratam cum montibus et profusa flumina cum suis fontibus, extensa maria cum suis fluctibus atque litoribus, interim constantem pariter summa conspiratione nexibusque concordiae extensum aerem medium tenuitate sua cuncta uegetantem, nunc imbres contractis nubibus profundentem, nunc serenitatem refecta raritate reuocantem et in omnibus istis incolas proprios, in aere auem, in aquis piscem, in terra hominem. haec, inquam, et alia item opera diuina sint christianis fidelibus spectacula. quod theatrum humanis manibus exstructum istis operibus poterit comparari? magnis licet lapidum molibus exstruatur, cristae sunt montium altiores, et auro licet tecta laquearia reluceant, astrorum fulgore uincentur: numquam humana opera mirabitur quisquis se recognouerit filium Dei. deicit se de culmine generositatis suae qui admirari aliquid post Deum potest.

About this text

Novatian warns Christians who quote Scripture to defend going to the public games and shows.

Novatian (fl. c. 250) was a Roman presbyter and Christian teacher who wrote this treatise to the faithful, whom he addresses as brothers. He composed it because some Christians were defending attendance at public spectacles by appealing to Scripture, and he feared that wounds poorly bound might break open again. His aim was to admonish those already instructed rather than to teach them anew.

The occasion is a dispute within the Christian community. Some believers argued that Scripture does not forbid the circus, theater, and athletic contests, and they cited examples such as Elijah, David, and an unnamed apostle whose athletic imagery matches Paul's epistles. Novatian quotes these opponents directly and refutes their appeals, showing that the biblical examples were written to stir virtue, not to permit spectacles. He also names Romulus, who first consecrated circus games to the god Consus, and Ceres and Liber, to whom stage plays were dedicated.

A reader should know that public shows means the circus games, stage plays, and athletic contests of the Roman world, all of which Novatian traces to idolatry and the devil. He argues that even apart from idolatry these shows are marked by vanity and immodesty, and that Christians have better spectacles in God's creation and in Scripture. The treatise cites Old Testament figures such as Elijah, David, and Daniel without formal book citations, and it alludes to the apostle's athletic imagery in the epistles. The term Eucharist refers to the consecrated body of Christ, which in Novatian's time a believer might carry home from church.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 3.3 (1871) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.