The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 5 · Scene 3

The Players Scourge · Part 1 · Act 5 · Scene 3

p. 167SCENA TERTIA.

THirdly, as the hypocrisie, and obscenity, even so the eff…minacy of acting Stage-playes, doth manifestly evince them to be evill; as this eighteenth Argument will demonstrate.Argument. 18.

That whose very action is effeminate, must needs be unlawfull unto Christians.

But the very action of Stage-playes i… effeminate.

Therefore, it musts needs be unlawfull unto Christians:

The Major is evident, by the authority of qq1 Cor. 6.9, 10. Gal. 5 19 21… Ephes. 4.19. Rom. 13.13. Isay 14.16, 17.1 Cor 6:91 Cor 6:10Gal 5:19Eph 4:19Rom 13:13Isa 14:16Isa 14:17Scriptures, Fathers,rrClemens Alexand. Pa…dag. l 1. c. 10. l 3. c. 2.3. Ambrose Irena…o. Epist. Tom. 1. p. 233. Sedulius in 1 Cor. 6. with other Fathers here ensuing.1 Cor 6 and other ssCalvin, Babington, Per…ins, Dod, Williams, Lake, Andrewes, and others on the seventh Commandement. See my Vnlovelinesse of Lovelockes, p. 21, 22.48, 49.Authors who condemne effeminacie, as an unnaturall, odious, shamefull sinne, ttMilitem Ch…isti v…rum nihil molle decet. Ambrose E…r. i… Psal. 38. Viris nihil magis pudori esse oportet, quam si muli…bre aliquid in se habere videantur. Salvi…n De Guber. Dei l. 6. p. 264.Ps 38which not onelyonly mis-beseemes all Christians, all persons whatsoever, vvNihil est ne quius aut tu…pius effaeminato viro Cicero Tusc. Quaest. l. 5. Molliter vivi…, hoc dicu…t, malus est. Seneca. Epist. 8….making them vile and detestable unto others, but xx1 Cor. 6…9, 10. Gal. 5.19.21.1 Cor 6:91 Cor 6:10Gal 5:19Gal 5:21likewise s…uts men out of heaven, and without repentance damnes their soules.

The Minor is ratified by the concurrent suffrages of sundry Fath…rs, who for this very cause among divers others, condemne all Stage-playes. Witnesse Clemens Alexandrinus, Padagogi lib. 2. cap. 10. Where he stiles Players yyFracti, enervatique saltatores, &c. Ibid.effeminate enervated dancers, & Padagogi lib. 3. cap. 3. where he writes thus. zzPueri docti abnegare naturam mulieres simulant. O miserandum spectaculum… O nefandum studium! O quanta est ha…c iniquitas! See …thanasius Contra Gentes. p. 10. A B. accordingly.Now verily the intemperanc… of life is growne so excessive, in…quity insulting and sporting it selfe, that whatsoever is lascivious and unchaste, is diffused into Cities. …yes being taught to deny nature, doe counterfeit the female Sex, &c. O miserable spectacle! O horrible wicked exercise! O how g…e…t is this iniquity! &c. Witnesse p. 168Philo Iudaeu…. De Vita Contemplativa, p. 1209, 1210. Those (writes he) who onelyonly please with scurrilous jests to recreate mens mindes, aaPu…ro… transferunt in amicarum habitum & ordinem, cu… summa ae…atis & sexus injuria, &c. Ibid.transforme yo…thes into the very habit and order of Strumpets, to the great injury and dishonour of their age and sexe: a thing which Moses doth much condemne. Witnesse Tertullian De Spectaculis, lib. c. 10. p. 17. Together with Isiodor Hispalensis. Originum lib. 18. cap. 51. bbEst plane in artibus scenici… Libe…i & Veneris patrocinium, qu…e privata & propria sunt scenae, de gestu & corporis fluxu Nam mollitiem Veneri & Libero immolantur, illi per sexum, illi per fluxum dissoluti, &c. Ibid.In all scenicall arts (say they) there is plainely the patronage of Bacchus and Venus which are peculiarly proper to the Stage. From the gesture and flexure of the body, they sacrifice effeminacy to Venus and Bacchus; the one of them being effeminate by her sexe, the other by his f…nx, &c. Witnesse Saint Cyprian, De spectaculis lib. where he writes thus. ccHuic dedecori condignum dede…us sup…rinducitur Homo fractus omnibus m…mbris, & vir vltra muliebrem mollitiem dissolutus, cui ars sit verba manibus expedire, & propter vnum nescio quem, nec virum, nec faeminam commovetur civitas tota, vt desaltentu… fabulosae antiquitatum libidines Ibidem.To this vile shamefull deed, another equall wickednesse is super-added. A man enfeebled in all his joynts, resolved into a more than womanish effeminacy, whose art it is to speake with his hands and gestures, comes forth upon the Stage: and for this one… I know not whom, nei…her man nor woman, the whole Citie flocke together, that so the fabulous lusts of antiquity may be acted. Yea, ddEvirantur mares, omnis honor & vigor sexus enervati corporis dedecore emollitur, plu…que illic placet, quisquis virum magis in faeminam fregerit. In laudem crescit ex crimine, & co peritior quo turpior …udicatur, &c. Epist. l. 2. Epist. 2. Donato.men (writes he in another place) are unmanned on the Stage: all the honour and vigour of their sex is effeminated with the shame, the dishonesty of an unsin…ed body. He who is most womanish and best resembles the female sex, gives best content. The more criminous, the more applauded is he; and by how much the more obsene he is, the more skilfull is he accounted. What cannot he perswade who is such a one? &c. And in another Epistle of his, he writes to Eucratius, to Excommunicate a Player, eeMagi…ter & Doctor, non erudiendorum sed perdendorum liberorum, crudiens & docens eontra institutionem Dei quemadmodum masculus frangatur in faeminam, & sexus arte mutetur, & diabolo divinum plasma maculanti, per corrupti atque enervati corporis delicta, placeatur. Quod puto ego nec majestati divinae, nec evangelicae disciplinae congruere, vt pudor & honor eccle…iae tam…urpi et infami contagione faedetur. Nam cum in lege prohibeantur viri induere vestem muliebrem & maledicti ejusmodi iudicentur; quanto majoris est criminis, non tantum muliebria vestimenta induere, sed & gestus quo que turpes & molles & muliebres magisterio impudicae artis exprimere? Epist. l. 1. Ep…st. 10.who did traine up Boyes for the Stage, p. 169for that he taught them against the expresse instruction of God himselfe, how a male might be effeminated into a female, how their sex might be changed by Art, that so the divell who defiles Gods workemanship, might be pleased by the offences of ae depraved and effeminated body. I thinke it will not stand with the Majestie of God, nor the discipline of the Gospel, that the modestie and honour of the Church should be polluted with such a filthy and infamous contagion. For since men are prohibited in the Law to put on a womans garment, and such who doe it are adjudged accursed. How much more greater a sinne is it, not onelyonly to put on womans apparell, but likewise to expresse obscene, effeminate womanish gestures, by the skill or tutorship of an unchaste Art? The most unchaste gestures and actions of Stage-players (writes ffHistrionum que qu… impudicissimi motus, quid aliud nisi libidines docent, & instigant? quorum enarvata corpora, & in muliebrem incessum habitum que mollita, impudicas faeminas in honestis gestibus mentiuntur. De Vero Cult… lib. 6. cap. 20. p. 506.Lactantius) what else doe they but teach and provoke lust? whose enervated bodies, effeminated into an womanish pace and habit, resemble unchaste women by their dishonest gestures, &c. One being a Youth (writesggHomil. 38. in Matth. Col. 298. C. Alius cum sit adolescens, comam pone reductam habet, & na…uram aspectu, vestitu, caeterisque ejusmodi effaeminando ad teneriusculae imaginem puellae, deducere contendit, &c. Saint Chrysostome) combes backe his haire, and effeminating nature with his visage, his apparell, his gesture, and the like, strives to represent the person of a tender virgin: which he condemnes as a most abominable effeminate act: There is another sort of Actors (writes hhAlia vero natio quaedam est his ip…is infalicior, qui nimirum gloriam masculorum amittunt, & impudicis membrorum inflexionibus naturam virilem frangunt, mulieres pariter ac mares effaemina…i: imò nec viri nec faeminae si recte lo qui vellemus. Nam viri quidem haud manent: ut autem faeminae fiunt non consequuntur. Quippe quod a natura sunt, id morum respectu non manent: quod vero improbe esse cupiunt, id natura non sunt, Quo fit, vt aenigma quoddā sint luxuriae, vitiorum que gryphus, inter faeminas viri, interviros faeminae, Num haec potius praedicationes, inspectiones, iucunditates, an lachrymas at que gemitus merentur? Nimirum, in his risus regnat, natura vitiatur & adulterina fit, voluptatum flamma multiplex accenditur, &c. De Recta Educat. ad Selucum. p. 1061.Nazianzen) more unhappy then these, to wit, those who lose the glory of men, and by unchaste infections of their members… effeminate their manly nature, being both effeminate men and women, yea, being neither men nor women, if we will speake truely. For they continue not men, and that they should become women, they attaine not. For what they are by nature, that they **Ipsi sine virilibus membris vitam degunt, neque amplius viri esse potentes, neque mulieres facti. Epiphaniu… Contr. Haerese…, lib. 3. Tom. 2. Col. 910. C. Hic ita amputatur virilitas, vt nec convertatur in faeminam, nec vir relinquatur. Augustine De Civit. Dei l. 7. c… 24.continue not, in p. 170regard of manners: and that which they wickedly desire to be, that they are not by nature. By which it commeth to passe, that they are certaine riddles of luxurie, and intricacies of vices, being men among women, and women among men. Whether doe these things rather deserve applauses, aspections and mirth, or teares and sighes? Verily laughter raignes in these; Nature is vitiated and adulterated, and a various flame of pleasures is kindled.

To these I might acumulate the parallell testimony of**Viri quo que abdìcato sexu, nec se amplius mares esse ferentes, mulierum naturam affect averunt, tanquam ita honorifica grata que matri Deorum facturi essent. Omn…s autem in turpissimis vivunt, & certamen in se suscipere pravitatis videntur, &c. Ibidem. Athanasius Contra Gentes Oratio p. 10. A. B. of Theophylus Antiochenus ad Autolicum, lib. 3. of Tatianu… Oratio adversus Graecos. Of Minucius Felix. Octauius, p. 70. 101.223. Of Augustine De Civitate Dei lib. 2. cap. 3. to 14. and lib. 7. c. 24. Of Salvian. lib. 6. De Gubernatione Dei. Of Hierom. Epist… 2. cap. 6.7.kkNon ambulet iuxta te calamistratus procurator, non histrio fractus in faeminam. Ib…d. Epist. 9. cap. 5. Epist. 10. c. 4. Epist. 13. c. 2. Epist. 48. c. 2. Epist. 88. cap. 4. Of Eusebius apud Damascenum parallelorum lib. 3. cap. 47. Of Cassiodorus Variarum, lib. 1. cap. 27.30. lib. 3. cap. 51. and lib. 7. cap. 16. Of Damascen Parallelorum lib. 3. cap. 47. Of Iohn Salisbury, De Nugis Curialium lib. 1. cap. 8. together with the concurrent suffrages of Ludovicus Vives De Causis Corrupt… Artium lib. 2. p. 82.83. & Notae in Augustinum De Civit. Dei. lib. 2 cap. 3. to 14. Of Radolphus Gualther Homilie 11. in Nahum. 3. p. 214.215. Of Francis Petrarcha De Remedio vtriusque fortunae lib. 1. Diologus 30. Of Agrippa, de Vanitate Scientiarum. cap. 20.59…64.71. Of Peter Martyr, Locorum Communium Classis. 2. cap. 11. sect. 62.66. cap. 12. s…ct. 15.19. and Commentary on Iudges. page 310.311. Of Bodine, De Republica. lib. 6… cap. …. Of Ioannis Mariana, Barnabas Brissonius, and **Lib. 1, c. 50.51, 52.Bulengerus, De T…eatris, spectaculis & ludis scenicis; of the third Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters, page 110, 111, 112. of Master Northbrooke, Master Stubs, Master Gosson, and Doctor Reinolds in their severall Treatises against Stage-playes. Of Bishop Babington, Master Perkins, Master Dod, llLegum Dialogus 7.Master Lakes, Master Downeham, and sundry other on the seventh Commandement. Yea, of llLegum Dialogus 7.Plato, mmDe Legibus lib. Epist. 2.Cicero, nnEpistola. 7. and 53.Senica, ooAnnalium. l. 14. sect. 2.Tacitus, p. 171ppAn melior cum Thaida sustinet, aut cum Vx…r…m Comaedus agit, vel Dorida multo Cultam palliolo: mulier nemp… ipsa vid…tur, Non person… loqui, vacua & plana omnia dicas, Infra ventriculum, & tenui, distantia rimâ. Nec tamen Antiochus, nec …rit mirabilis illic Aut Stratocles, aut cum molli Dem… trius haemo. Natio Comaeda est: rides? Iuvenal. Satyr. 3. pag. 20.Iuvenall, qqEpist. 12. to Lambert.Marcus Aurelius **Panegyr. Traiano Dictus p… 45.Plinie, and other Pagan Authors; who all with one consent, not onelyonly testifie, but likewise positively condemne the grosse, the execrable effeminacy which attends the acting of all Stageplayes; which the very rrObscaenis partibus corporis oculis omnium eam ingerunt turpitudinem, quam …rubescat videre vel Cynicus. Ioannes Saresburiensis. De Nugis Curialium, lib. 1. cap. 8.Cynicke himselfe would blush for to behold. And must not our owne experience beare witnesse of the invirillity of Play-acting? May ssSed & alius morbus petulanter erupit in civitates, …orum qui patrant, & qui patiuntur muliebria, effaeminati corpore juxta atque animo ne scintillam quidem retinentes generis masculi, propalam plectentes cincinnos ornantes que & cerussa …uco que oblinentes faciem pingentesque, vnguentis quoque fragrantes ex quisitissimis Nec pudet eos marem sexum data opera mutare in faeminam. His parcendum non est, si audimus legem, quae jubet androgynum & sexum suum adulterantem impune occidi, die ipsa ac hora qua depraehenditur: cum sit probrosus, & familiae suae patriaeque dedecus, atque adeo totius generis humani, &c. Philo Iudae…s. De Stecialibas …egibus. pag. 1059.we not daily see our Players metamorphosed into women on the Stage, not only by putting on the female robes, but likewise the effeminate gestures, speeches, pace, behaviour, attire, delicacy, passions, manners, arts and wiles of the female sex, yea, of the most petulant, unchaste, insinuating Strumpets, that either Italy or the world affords? What wantonnesse, what effeminacy parallell to that which our men-women actors, in all their feminine, (yea, sometime in their masculine parts) expresse upon the Theater? was ever the invirility of Nero, Heliogabalus, or Sardanapalus, ttOf which reade Suetonij, Nero sect 28… Iustin. Hist. l 1. Athenaeus Dipnos. lib… 12. cap 12, 13. Diodorus Siculus. Bibli. hist. lib. 2. sect. 23. Orosius hist. lib. 1. cap 19. Invenal. Satyr. 8. & AElij Lampridij Heliogabalus.those Monsters, if not shames of Men and Nature: was ever the effeminate lewdnesse of vvFor which see August. De Civ. Dei. l… 4. c… 6. Lactantus. De falsa Relig. c. 20. Alexander al …le…. l. 6. c. 8. Plutarchi Alexander Calepini Flo…a.Flora or Thais, comparable unto that which our artificiall Stage-players (trayned up to all lasciviousnesse from their Cradles) continually practise on the Stage, without blush of face, or sorrow of heart, not onelyonly in the open view of men, but even of that xxDeus totus est visus. P…in. Nat. Hist. l. 1. c… 7.all-eyed God, who will one day arraigne them for this their grosse effeminacie? And dare wee men, wee Christians yet applaud it? yySee Cyprian. Epist… l. 1. Epist. 10. The third Blast of Retrait from …layes p. 110, 111…Pitty is it to consider, how many ingenuous, p. 172witty, comely youthes, devoted vntounto God in baptisme, to whom they owe themselves, their service; are oft-times by their gracelesse Parents, even wholy consecrated to the Stage, (the zzSee page 50 51, 52.Divels Chappell, as the Fathers phrase it) where they a…e trained up in the aaSee Master Gossons Schoole of Abuse with the Authors quoted. p. 50, 51, 52, 53. who thus stile it.Schoole of Vice, the Play-house, (as if their natures were not prone enough to sinne, unless… they had the helpe of art to backe them) to the very excesse of all effeminacy, to act those womanish, whorish parts, which Pagans would even blush to personate. And is this a laudable, as many; a bbPopulus Atheniensis Alcibiadis vitijs semper levissima nomina imponeret ludos & facili…atem appellans. Plutarchi Alcibiades. So we deale with this vice of Players.triviall, veniall, harmelesse thing, as most repute it? Is this a light, a despicable effeminacie, for men, for Christians, thus to adulterate, emasculate, metamorphose, and debase their noble sexe? thus purposely, yea, affectedly, to vnman, vnchristian, vncreate themselves, if I may so speake, and to make themselves, as it were, neither men nor women, but Monsters, (a sin as bad, nay worse than any ccSe esse adulterio lib…ros exi…timent qui naturam adulterant? Clemen… Alexand. Paedagogi… l. 3. cap. 3.adultery, offering a kinde of viol…nce to Gods owne worke,) and all to no other end but this;aaManus Deo inferunt, quando illud quod ipse formavit, reformare & transfigurare contendunt: quia opus Dei est omne quod nascitur; Diaboli quod cun quemutatur. Cyprian. De Habitu Virginum. lib. to exhilerate a confluence of unchaste, effeminate, vaine companions, or to become competent Actors on a Stage; eeSee Augustine De Civit. Dei. l. 2. cap. 13.14.29. Macrobius Saturnal lib. 2. cap. 7. & Act. 7. Scene 7. accordingly.Acts 7the greatest infamy that could befall an ancient Pagan Roman, or a Christian? Is this a meane, a pardonable wickednesse, to violate the Lawes of God, of Nature? to educate those in the very discipline and schoole of Satan, ffEphes. 6.4… Gen. 18.19. Deut. 6.7.Eph 6:4Gen 18:19Deut 6:7who should be trained vp in the admonition, feare, and nurture of the Lord? that so they may be more deepely gg2 Tim. 2.26. Ephes. 2.2. Hebr. 2…15.2 Tim 2:26Eph 2:2Heb 2:15enthralled to the Devils bondage all their dayes, (since hhConsuetudo est altera natura. Theodoret Sermo. 5. De Natura hominis Aristot. De memoria & Remine scentia lib. Claudian, De Consulatu Mal. Theod. Panyg…r. p. 162. Erasmus De Puerorum Educatione p. 12. Petrarch. De Remed. Viriusque Fortuna. lib. 1. Dialog. 24. Galataeus… de Moribus lib. p. 21. Case Ethicorum lib. 2. cap. 1. accordigly.custome is another nature, iiIerem. 13.23…Jer 13:23it being as difficult a thing for such who are accustomed to evill, to doe good, as for an AEthiopian to change his skin, or a Leopard his spots,) and be made more sure partakers with him in his eternall torments at their deathes? O therefore let vsus now at last p. 173consider with our selves, the execrable effeminacy which attends the very acting of our Stage-playes; together with the danger accompanying this sinne, (which is no lesse, without repentance, then the kk1 Cor. 6.9…10. Gal. 5.19.20.1 Cor 6:9Gal 5:19Gal 5:20eternall losse of heavens;) and then we shall, we cannot but abhorre all Stage-playes, even in this regard.