詞源與文集 第 18 章 第 2/2 段

ON FEATS OF STRENGTH. Strength (virtus) is the immensity of might [so called] in the toil and burden of the body. XXIII. ON WRESTLING. Wrestling (luctatio) is named from the embrace of the flanks (latera), on which those contending hand to hand lean; they are called by the Greek appellation 'athletes.' XXIV. ON THE PALAESTRA. The place of wrestling is called the palaestra. They say the palaestra is named either 'apo tes pales,' that is, from wrestling, or 'apo tou pallein,' that is, from the motion of a mighty fall, namely because in wrestling, when they seize each other by the middle, they generally shake one another; and this among the Greeks is called 'pallein.' Some suppose that the art of wrestling was demonstrated by the struggling of bears:

for among the other wild beasts these alone both rear up when they meet and quickly crouch down and return, and now try each other with their paws, now with an embrace drive one another off after the manner of wrestlers. XXV. ON THE CONTEST (AGON). What in Latin are 'contests' (certamina), the Greeks call 'agones,' from the throng (frequentia) by which they were celebrated. Indeed every gathering and assembly is called an 'agon'; others think the contests were named 'agones' because they were held in circles and as it were in 'agonia,' that is, in places without an angle (angulus). XXVI. ON THE KINDS OF CONTESTS. There were kinds of contests:

immensity of strength, swiftness in running, skill in archery, endurance in standing, also the movements of marching to the lyre or the pipes, contests also of character, of beauty, of the modulation of singing, and contests of land warfare and naval battle, and of the enduring of tortures. XXVII. ON THE GAMES OF THE CIRCUS. The Circus games were instituted for the sake of sacred rites and for the celebrations of the pagan gods: whence those who watch them are seen to be serving the cults of demons. For horsemanship was formerly practiced simply, and its common use was assuredly no guilt; but when its natural use was forced into games, it was transferred to the worship of demons.

And so this kind of show is assigned to Castor and Pollux, to whom the histories teach that horses were distributed by Mercury; but Neptune too belongs to the equestrian game, whom the Greeks call 'Hippios'; moreover, in the games horses are consecrated to Mars and Jupiter, and these preside over the four-horse chariots. But the Circus games are so called either from 'going around' (circumeundo), or because, where the turning-posts (metae) now are, swords (gladii) were formerly set, which the chariots went around; and hence they are called 'Circenses,' from the swords (enses) around which they ran. Indeed, on the shore, along the banks of rivers, those driving chariots used to set swords in a row on the bank of the shore, and it was a matter of skill to wheel the horse around the dangers. Hence they are thought to be called 'Circenses,' as it were 'around the swords' (circum enses). XXVIII. ON THE CIRCUS.

The Circus was principally consecrated by the pagans to the Sun, whose shrine stands in the middle of its space, and whose image gleams from the gable of the shrine, because they thought that one should not be consecrated under a roof whom they hold in the open. Now the circus (circus) is all that space which the horses are wont to go around (circuire). The Romans think it is so called from the circuit (circuitus) of the horses, because there the horses run around (circum) the turning-posts (metae). But the Greeks assert it was named from Circe, daughter of the Sun, who instituted this kind of contest for her father, the Sun; and from her they argue the name 'circus' derives. She was a sorceress and poisoner and priestess of demons, in whose garb and works are recognized magical art and the cult of idolatry. XXIX. ON THE ORNAMENTS. The ornaments of the circus: the eggs, the turning-post, the obelisk, the starting-gate.

They attribute the eggs to the honor of Pollux and Castor, believing them to have been born from an egg by Jove in the form of a swan, and are not ashamed of it. Now the Romans invent that the Circus games refer to the workings of the cosmos, that under this appearance they may excuse the superstitions of their vanities. XXX. ON THE TURNING-POSTS. By the name of the turning-posts (metae) they wish properly to designate the boundary and end (finis) of the world, from the fact that a certain measured-out end (emensus finis) exists, or as a witness to the rising and setting of the sun. XXXI. ON THE OBELISK. The obelisk, they report, was first made by Mesphres, king of Egypt, for the following reason. When at a certain time the Nile had harmed Egypt with a violent flood, the king, indignant, as though he would exact punishment from the river, shot an arrow into the waves.

Not long after, seized by a grave illness, he lost his sight; and after his blindness, having recovered his vision, he consecrated two obelisks to the Sun. For 'obelisk' means an arrow (sagitta), which is therefore set in the middle of the Circus because the sun runs through the middle of the world. And the obelisk, placed in the middle of the space between the two turning-posts, signifies the height and summit of heaven, since the sun crosses over from either space at the middle interval of the hours. On the top of the obelisk is set something gilded, formed in the shape of a flame, because the sun has in itself the most of heat and fire. XXXII. ON THE STARTING-GATES. In the Circus, the places from which the horses are released are called 'carceres' (prisons), from the same thing as that prison (carcer) which is in the city;

because, just as there men condemned and shut up are confined, so here the horses are restrained, lest they go out before they give the signal to release. XXXIII. ON CHARIOTEERS. The art of the Circus: the charioteer and the racing, the horsemen or the footmen. The charioteer (auriga) is properly so called because he drives and steers the chariot (currus), or because he strikes (feriat) the yoked horses. For 'aurit' means 'he strikes'; as (Virgil, Aeneid 10.314): 'He gashes (aurit) the exposed flank.' He is also the 'agitator' (driver), that is, the 'lasher' (verberator), so called from 'driving' (agendo). But the charioteers are of two colors, with which they clothe the appearance of idolatry. For green (prasinus) was dedicated by the pagans to the earth, blue (venetus) to sky and sea. XXXIV. ON FOUR-HORSE CHARIOTS. Now Erichthonius, who reigned at Athens, is said to have first yoked four horses; as Virgil is the authority, saying (Georgics 3.113):

'Erichthonius first dared to yoke the chariot and four horses, and as victor to stand upon the swift wheels.' Now he was, as the tales relate, begotten as the son of Minerva and Vulcan from lust fallen to the earth—a demonic portent, nay rather a devil, who first dedicated a chariot to Juno. By such an originator were the four-horse chariots brought forth. XXXV. ON THE CHARIOT. Now the chariot (currus) is named from running (cursus), or because it is seen to have [many] wheels; whence also 'carrum' (cart) as it were 'currum' (chariot). But the chariots of the four-horse teams formerly had a double pole, both continuous and such as could be laid upon all the horses as a yoke.

Cleisthenes of Sicyon first yoked only the middle horses, and to these he attached the single horses on either side with a single bond; these the Greeks call 'seiraphoroi,' the Latins 'funarii' (trace-horses), from the kind of bond by which they were formerly tied. XXXVI. ON THE HORSES BY WHICH WE RACE. The four-horse (quadrigae), two-horse (bigae), three-horse (trigae), and six-horse (seiugae) chariots are named from the number of horses and the yoke. Of these they consecrated the four-horse to the Sun, the two-horse to the Moon, the three-horse to the gods below, the six-horse to Jupiter, and the trick-riders (desultores) to Lucifer (the Morning Star) and Hesperus (the Evening Star). They yoke the four-horse chariot to the Sun because the year turns through four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The two-horse to the Moon, because she strives with the Sun in a twofold course, or because she is seen both by night and by day. For they yoke one black horse and the other white.

The three-horse chariots to the gods below, because Death (represented by them) snatches men to itself through three ages: that is, through infancy, youth, and old age. The greatest chariot, the six-horse, runs for Jupiter, because they believe him to be the greatest of their gods. And they say the four-horse chariots run on wheels either because this world races through with the swiftness of its own circuit, or on account of the sun, because it wheels around in a revolving orbit; as Ennius says (Annals 558): 'Then the shining wheel opened up the sky with its rays.' XXXVII. ON THE SEVEN LAPS. The four-horse chariots run seven laps, referring this to the course of the seven planets, by which they say the world is governed, or to the course of the seven present days, upon whose completion the term of life is finished; and the end of these is the chalk-line (creta), that is, the judgment. XXXVIII.

ON HORSEMEN. Furthermore, they say the single horsemen run because each one singly runs through and passes over the course of this life, one following another at another time, yet along the one road of mortality, up to his own turning-post of death. XXXIX. ON TRICK-RIDERS. The trick-riders (desultores) are so named because formerly, as each had come to the end of the course, he would leap down (desiliebat) and run; or because he would leap across from horse to horse. XL. ON FOOTMEN. Now they say the footmen (pedites) run on foot for this reason: because it is on foot that one runs to mortality. For this reason they run from the upper part to the lower, that is, from east to west, because mortals rise and set. They run naked, because for man in the world there remain no remnants.

They run on a straight course, because between life and death there is no distance. But these things, therefore, they invent in order to try to excuse their vanities and sacrileges. XLI. ON THE COLORS OF THE HORSES. Concerning the causes of the elements also, these same gentiles yoked colors to the horses, likening the red (russei) to the sun, that is, to fire, the white to air, the green (prasini) to earth, the blue (veneti) to sea. Likewise they wished the red to run for summer, because they are of a fiery color, and everything then grows golden. The white for winter, because it is icy, and in the frosts all things turn hoary. The green for spring, of a verdant color, because then the vine-shoot grows dense. Likewise they consecrated the red to run for Mars, from whom the Romans take their origin, and because the standards of the Romans are adorned with scarlet; or because Mars delights in blood.

They consecrated the white to the zephyrs and serene weather, the green to flowers and the earth, the blue to waters or air, because they are of a sky-blue color, the yellow, that is, saffron-colored, to fire and the sun, the purple to Iris, whom we call the rainbow, because it has very many colors. And thus, while by this display they are profaned by the worship of the gods and the elements of the world, they are known beyond doubt to be worshiping those same gods and those same elements. Whence you ought to observe, O Christian, that unclean deities possess the Circus. Wherefore that place will be alien to you which very many spirits of Satan have occupied: for the devil and his angels have filled the whole of it. XLII. ON THE THEATER.

The theater is that within which the stage (scena) is enclosed, having the figure of a semicircle, in which all, standing, look on. Its shape at first was round, like that of the amphitheater; afterwards, from half of the amphitheater, the theater was made. Now the theater is named from spectacle, 'apo tes theorias' (from viewing), because in it the people, standing above and watching, would contemplate the games. But the same is the theater and also the brothel (prostibulum), from the fact that after the games were over, harlots would prostitute themselves (prostrarentur) there. The same was also called a 'lupanar' (den) from those same harlots, who, on account of the levity of their common body, were called 'lupae' (she-wolves): for harlots are called 'lupae' from their rapacity, because they snatch to themselves and seize the wretched.

For brothels (lupanaria) were established by the pagans that the shame of unhappy women might there be made public, and that both those who did it and those who submitted to it might be held up to mockery. XLIII. ON THE STAGE. Now the stage (scena) was a place below the theater constructed in the manner of a house, with a platform which platform was called the orchestra; where the comic and tragic actors would sing, and the players (histriones) and mimes would dance. Now the stage is named by a Greek appellation, because it was constructed in the appearance of a house (in Greek 'skene'). Whence also among the Hebrews the dedication of the tabernacles, from the likeness of dwellings, was called 'Skenopegia' (Feast of Tabernacles). XLIV. ON THE ORCHESTRA. Now the orchestra was the platform of the stage, where the dancer could perform, or two could dispute between themselves.

For there the comic and tragic poets would mount up to the contest, and while these sang, others would perform gestures. The theatrical offices: tragic actors, comic actors, thymelic musicians, players, mimes, and dancers. XLV. ON TRAGIC ACTORS. Tragic actors (tragoedi) are those who sang in song, before the watching people, the ancient deeds and mournful crimes of wicked kings. XLVI. ON COMIC ACTORS. Comic actors (comoedi) are those who sang in words or gesture the doings of private men, and expressed in their plays the debaucheries of maidens and the loves of harlots. XLVII. ON THYMELIC MUSICIANS. The thymelic musicians (thymelici) were stage musicians who would play preludes on organs and lyres and cithers. And they are called 'thymelici' because formerly, standing in the orchestra, they would sing upon a platform which was called the 'thymele.' XLVIII.

ON PLAYERS. Players (histriones) are those who, in womanly garb, would express the gestures of unchaste women; these also, by dancing, would portray histories and events. And they are called 'histriones' either because this kind of performance was brought from Histria, or because they would express plots interwoven with histories (historiae), as it were 'historiones.' XLIX. ON MIMES. Mimes (mimi) are so named by a Greek appellation because they are imitators of human affairs; for they had their own author, who, before they performed the mime, would announce the plot. For the plots were so composed by the poets as to be most fitted to the movement of the body. L. ON DANCERS.

Varro says that dancers (saltatores) were named from Salius the Arcadian, whom Aeneas brought with him into Italy, and who first taught the noble young men of the Romans to dance. LI. WHAT IS PERFORMED UNDER WHICH PATRON. And plainly, in the theatrical arts there is the patronage of Liber and Venus, which are private and proper to the stage, of gesture and the swaying of the body. For they would sacrifice effeminacy to Liber and Venus, dissolute the one through sex, the other through excess: but those things which are there carried out with voices and modes and organs and lyres have Apollo and the Muses and Minervas and Mercuries as patrons. Which spectacle, O Christian, you ought to hate, seeing that you have hated its authors. LII. ON THE AMPHITHEATER. The amphitheater is a place of spectacle, where gladiators fight.

And hence it was called a 'gladiatorial game,' because in it young men would learn the use of arms by varied movement, now contending among themselves with either swords or fists, now advancing against beasts; where, enticed not by hatred but by reward, they undergo the deadly contest. The amphitheater is so called because it is made out of two theaters. For the amphitheater is round; but the theater is from half of the amphitheater, having the figure of a semicircle. LIII. ON THE EQUESTRIAN GAME. The kinds of gladiators are many, of which the first is the game of the horsemen. For two horsemen, preceded first by military standards, would advance on horseback, one from the eastern side, the other from the western, on white horses with golden helmets of smaller size and with more manageable arms;

and so, with fierce persistence, for the sake of their valor they would join battle, fighting until the one should leap forth upon the death of the other, so that there might be one who would fall by a downfall, and glory for the one who should slay. This armor fought for the cause of Mars, the god of war (Duellius). LIV. ON THE NET-FIGHTERS. The net-fighter (retiarius) is named from his kind of armor. In the gladiatorial game, against another fighting him, he would secretly carry a net, which is called a 'iaculum' (cast-net), so that with the point pressing in he might cover his adversary and, once he was entangled, overcome him by strength. This armor fought for Neptune, on account of the trident. LV. ON THE PURSUERS. The pursuer (secutor) is named from pursuing (insequendo) the net-fighter. For he carried a point and a leaden ball, which would impede his adversary's cast-net, so that before the other could strike with the net, this one might overcome him.

This armor was consecrated to Vulcan. For fire always pursues, and therefore it was paired with the net-fighter, because fire and water are always hostile to each other. LVI. ON THE NOOSE-FIGHTERS. The fight of the noose-fighters (laquearii) was, in the game, to overthrow men fleeing—entangled by a noose (laqueus) cast and caught—cloaked with a leather boss. LVII. ON THE SKIRMISHERS. The fight of the skirmishers (velites) was that they should hurl weapons to and fro. For their fighting was varied and more pleasing to the spectators than the rest: the skirmishers (velites) were named either from flitting about (volitatio), or from a city of the Etruscans which was called Veles. LVIII. ON THE DEADLY CONTEST. The fight of the beasts was for young men to receive the loosed beasts, to fight against them, to contend in a self-inflicted death (funus), not by crime but by frenzy. LIX.

ON THE PRACTICE OF THESE GAMES. Indeed these spectacles of cruelty and this viewing of vanities were instituted not only by the vices of men, but also by the commands of demons. Accordingly, a Christian should have nothing to do with the madness of the Circus, with the shamelessness of the theater, with the cruelty of the amphitheater, with the atrocity of the arena, with the luxury of the game. For he denies God who presumes such things, becoming a transgressor of the Christian faith, who anew seeks after that which he already once renounced at the font (in the laver of baptism); that is, the devil, his pomps, and his works. LX. ON THE GAMING-BOARD. Dice (alea), that is, the game of the board, was invented by the Greeks in the leisure of the Trojan War by a certain soldier named Alea, from whom the art too took its name. The board is played with the dice-tower, with counters, and with dice. LXI. ON DICE-TOWERS.

The dice-tower (pyrgus) is so named because through it the dice proceed (pergant), or because it has the appearance of a tower. For the Greeks call a tower 'pyrgos.' LXII. ON COUNTERS. The counters (calculi) are so named because they are smooth (lenes) and round. Whence also a pebble is called a 'calculus,' a small stone which, by its smallness, is trodden upon (calcatur) without discomfort. Likewise counters (calculi), because they go along the ordered ways (viae), as it were along paths (calles). LXIII. ON DICE. Dice (tesserae) are so named because they are four-cornered (quadrae) on all sides. Some call these 'little hares' (lepusculi), because they run about by leaping. Now formerly the dice were called 'iacula' (throwing-things), from throwing (iaciendo). LXIV. ON THE FIGURES OF DICE. But certain dice-players consider that they practice this art physiologically, through allegory, and figure it under a certain likeness of things.

For they profess to play with three dice on account of the three ages of the world: present, past, and future; because they do not stand still, but run down. And they argue that the very ways, marked out in six places, are on account of the ages of men, with three lines on account of the times. Hence they say the board is also described with three lines. LXV. ON THE NAMES OF THE DICE-THROWS. Each throw among the old players was named from its number, as 'unio' (one), 'binio' (two), 'trinio' (three), 'quaternio' (four), 'quinio' (five), 'senio' (six). Afterwards the appellation of the individual throws was changed, and they called the 'unio' the 'dog' (canis), the 'trinio' the 'stooper' (suppus), the 'quaternio' the 'flat' (planus). LXVI. ON THE THROWING OF THE DICE. The throwing of the dice is so composed by skilled dice-players that it may bring what one wishes, for example the 'senio' (six), which brings them good in the throw.

But they avoid the 'dog' (canis) because it is harmful; for it signifies one. LXVII. ON THE MOVEMENT OF COUNTERS. Counters are moved partly in order, partly at random: therefore they call some 'ordinary' (ordinarii), others 'wandering' (vagi); but those which cannot be moved at all they call 'stuck' (inciti). Whence also needy men are called 'stuck' (inciti), for whom no hope of proceeding further remains. LXVIII. ON THE PROHIBITION OF DICE. From this art fraud and lying and perjury are never absent, and finally hatred also and loss of property; whence at times, on account of these crimes, it was forbidden by the laws. LXIX. ON THE BALL. The ball (pila) is properly so named because it is full of hairs (pili). This is also called 'sfera' (sphere), from carrying (ferre) or striking (ferire). Concerning the kind and weight of these, Dorcatius hands down thus (1):

'Nor do you spare to pack in the hairs of the lively stag, until an ounce is added over and above a double pound.' Among the kinds of balls are the 'trigonaria' and the 'arenata.' The 'trigonaria' is that with which play is made among three. The 'arenata' is that with which, in a group, when it is sent out from a circle of the bystanders and spectators, they are wont to catch the ball beyond the proper space and enter into the play. They call it the 'elbow-game' (cubitalis) when two, hand to hand, from close by and with almost joined elbows (cubiti), strike the ball. He is said to 'give a calf' (suram dare) who offers the ball to his fellow players to be struck with his leg (crus) stretched out.