The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 5 · Scene 4
SCENA QVARTA.
FOurthly, as the grosse effeminacie,Argument. 19. even so the palpable vanitie, the ridiculous folly of acting Playes; doth manifest them to be evill; as this nineteenth Play-affronting Argument will evince.
That whose very action, in its best acception, is but ridiculous folly and vanity, lRerum enim ridicularum vel ridendatū potius actionum imitatores exigendi sunt à nostra republica. Cum enim verba omnia à cogitatione & moribus emanent, fieri non potest, vt verba aliqua emittantur ridicula quae non procedunt a moribus ridiculis. Sermo …nim est fructus cogitationis. Si ergo qui risum movent exterminandi sunt a nostra republica, longè a…est, vt nobis permittat risum movere. Ab…urdum enim esset quorum auditores esse prohibitum est, …orum inveniri imitatores: multò autem esset absurdius, studere vt ips… sis ridiculus. Clemens Alexandr… Paedag. l. 2. c. 5.must certainly be vnseemely, yea, unlawfull unto Christians.
But such is the very action of Stage-playes.
Therefore, they must certainly be unseemely, and unlawfull unto Christians.
The Major is evident: First, because the Scriptures condemne mSee Act. 3. Scene 7. Iob 7.3. c. 31.5. Prov. 30.8. Eccles. 1.2. c. 7.15. c. 9.9.all vanity, and nIob 4.18. cap. 42.8. Psal. 38.5. Psal. 69.5. Prov. 5.23. c. 15.2.14. c 19.3. c. 24.9. Eccles. 1.17. c. 2.3.12…follie; together with oIsay 9.17. Ier. 4.22. c. 5.4.21. Psal. 5.5. Psal. 74.18.22. Psal. 75.4. Psal. 26.4. Iudges 9.4. 2 Chron. 13.7. Prov. 12 11. c. 24.9. c. 28…19. Ezech. 13.3. 2 Sam. 13.13. c. 24.10. Lam. 2.14. Mat. 12.36, 37. …ph. 5.4. 2 Pet. 2.8. Titus 3.9.all vaine, all foolish actions, persons, speeches, words, gestures, as dangerous, and pernicious evils, pSi vanitatis culpa nequaquam cautè compescitur, ab iniquitate protinus mens in cauta devoratur. Greg. Magn… Moralium. l. 10. c. 13, 1…, 15. & l 21 c. 6. v…d. Ibid.which draw men by degrees to greater sinnes, qHae nugae seria ducun… in mal… H…race de Arte Poetica l. p, 312.to serious mischiefes; commanding men with all *Psal. 85.8.not to returne againe to folly, sEccles. 7.25.there being wickednesse and madnesse in it, tSee m and n.to abandon-folly and vanities, which vVane occuparis in his ô cor sapiens, quae vanita…es vanitatum sunt; quia tu his neque ad beatitudinem indiges, nequ… ad immortalitatem. Bernar… De Interiori Domo cap. 25.promote not the eternall beatitude of their soul…s: xProu. 14.7.to depart from the presence of a foolish man, when as they perceive not in him the lips of knowledge. Secondly, because yVanitates vitae mancipant vitijs: materia sunt de…ictorum, minister culparum, seminarium pecca…orum. Chrysost. Quod Adam pr…latus sit omni creatu… sermo. Tom. 1. Col. 444. C.D.vanitie and folly are the very matter, seminaries, and seeds of sinne, of wickednesse, there zNihil peius vanitate. A… brose De Abraham. lib. 2. cap. 10.being nothing worse then they.
The Minor, as it is evident by the concurrent testimony of the fore-quoted Fathers, Acts 3. Scene 7. so it is such an experimentall knowne truth, that it were lost labour for to prove it. For what else is the personating of the Clownes, the Fooles, the Fantastickes, the Lovers, the Distracted, discontented, lascivious, furious, angry persons part, but professed vanitie, or ridiculous affected folly? Yea, what else is the whole action of Playes, but well personated aPantomi…um aspicis? vanitas est? &c. Ambrose E…ar. in Psal. 118. Oc…on. 5. He August. De C…vi…. Dei. l. 1. c. 32. stiles Playes Licentia vanitatum.vanity, artificiall folly, or a lesse Bedlam frenzie? He who shall seriously survay bQuorsum abeant sani? creta an carbone notandi? AEdificare casas, plostello adjungere mures, Ludere par impar, equitare a…undine longa. Si q…em delectat barbatum amentia verset. Si puerilius his, delirus & amens, Dictatur meritò. Quid discrepat istis histrio? Horace Sermonum. lib… 2 Satyr. 3.the ridiculous, childish, inconfiderate, yea, mad and beastly actions, gestures, speeches, habits, prankes and fooleries of Actors on the Stage, (if he be not childish, foolish, or frentique himselfe) must needs deeme all Stage-players children, fooles, or Bedlams; since they act such parts, such pranks, yea, use such gestures, speeches, rayment, complements, and behaviour in Iest, which none but children, fooles, or mad-men, doe act, or vse in earnest. There is cIlle sinistrorsum, hic dex…rorsum abit. Vnus vtrique error, sed varijs illudit partibus; hoe to Crede modo insanum, nihilo vt sapientior ille qui de…ides. Ho…ace, Ibidem.…o difference at all betweene a fool…, a fantastique, a Bedlam, a Whore, a Pander, a Cheater, a Tyrant, a Drunkard, a Murtherer, a Divell on the Stage (for his part is oft-times acted) and those who are such in truth, but that the former are farre worse, farre more inexcusable than the latter, because they wilfully make themselves that in sport, to foment dNunc tibicinibus, nunc est gauuisa Tragaedis, Nutrice pu…lla v…lut filuderet infans… Horace Epist. l. 2. Epist. 1. p. 280.the more then childish folly, of some vaine Spectators, which these others are, perchance from naturall necessity, or at least from colourable grounds? eBernard ad Gulielmum Abbatem Apollog.Flendas dixerim, an ridendas ineptias? The foolery, the ridiculousnesse of acting Playes is such, that I know not whether men should more bewaile it, or deride it. Sure I am, though …ew Spectators can finde teares to deplore the sin…ulnesse, yet most of them can afford laughter to deride the vanity, the folly of acting Playes. Since therefore *Stulta per se sunt ridicula: Ridiculum est etiam omne quòd apertè fingitur. Qu…nt…lian… Instit. Orator. l. …. …. 4. p. 380. Quoniam ludus est inter …ucunda, & omnis remissio animi, & risus inter jucunda, necesse est etiam ridicula jucunda esse… & homines, & orationes, & opera… Aristot. Rhet…r. l. 1. c. 11 p. 81. Democritus omnes derid…bat, quia dicebat omnes insaniri. AElian. Variae Histor. l. 4. c. 20.vanitie and folly are the genuine proper objects of derision, and mens voluptuous smiles; the laughter Playes occasion, (which is their chie…est end,) is a sufficient evidence of their excessive folly; and so ground enough for Christians, for all men to condemne them as vanities, as fooleries, as gSi enim ridiculam figuram suscipere, quemadmodum in pompis videntur nonnulli, in animum minim… induxerim…s, quomodo internum hominem magis ridiculam sustinere …iguram jure passi fuerimus? Et si personam nostram, non nostra quidem sponte, in magis ridiculosam vn quam converterimus, quomodo in verbis sluduerimus esse & videri ridiculi, id quod est omnium quae sunt in homine longe precio cissimum, n…mpe rationem ac sermonem ludibrio habentes? Ridiculum est ergo haec exe…cere, quando quidem nec huiusmodi ridiculorum hominum Oratio digna est quae audiatur, per haec nomina ad turpia facta assu…faciens. Paedagog… l. 2. c. 5.Clemens Alexandrinus, and other Fathers doe at large declare.
And thus much for the first considerable thing in the manner of acting Stage-playes.