The Players Scourge, Part 1 · Act 6 · Scene 6
SCENA SEXTA.
THe sixt pestiferous effect of Stage-playes, is sloth and idlenesse: *Vitanda est improba Syren Desidia. Horace Sermo… l. …. Satyr. 3. pag. 204.two dangerous inchanting Syrens: From whence this 32. Argument will arise.
That which is the constant cause… the common spring and nursery of much sloth and idlenesse… must needs be sinfull and pernitious unto Christians intolerable in any Common-weale. See 1. Edward 6 cap. ….3. Edw. 6. cap. 16.5. Edw. 6. c. 2. and all our Statutes against R…gues and Vacabonds, accordingly.
But Stage playes are the constant occasions, the common springs and nurseries of much sloth and idlenesse; witnesse the *Torpent eccè ingenia desidiosae iuventutis, nec in ullius rei honestae labore vigi…atur. Somnas l…nguo… que , …c somno & l…nguo…e turpi…r, mala…um rerum industria, inu…sit animos. Cantandi saltandi que obscaena studia nunc e…f…eminaros tenent; & capillum fr…ngere, & ad muliebres bl…nd…as vocē extenua…e, moll…tie corporis certatecum faeminis, & immundissimis se excolere munditijs, nostrorū …dolescentiū …pecimen est. Quisaequalium v…strorum… quid dicam, satis ingeniosus, satis studiosus, immo quis satis vi… est? S…ne… Cont. l. … …oaemio. p. 967.present condi…ion of our English Youth, who flocke to Theaters, whom Seneca hath long since discyphered in the Romanes.
Therefore they must needs be sinfull and pernitious unto Christians, intolerable in any Common-weale.
The Major verily must be granted to me: First, because sloth and idlenesse are sinnes against the gGen… 3.19. Exod. 20.9 c. 23.12. Deut. 5.13. Psal. 128.2. Prov. 10.16. c. 19.15. c. 31.27. Eccles. 10.18. Exech. 16.49. Prov. 21.25. 2. Thes. 3.8. to 13. Mat. 20.3, 6. 1 Tim. 5.13.expresse command of God. Secondly, because hMollit viros otium & rubiginem obducit. Seneca Controvers. l. 2. Contr. 2. p. 1032. Naturae bonitatem socordia corrumpit. Plutarch De Liberorum Instit. p. 3. Vita in otio deposita non corpora modo sed & animos labefacit; ac ut aquae latentes sub umbra a… non fluentes putrescunt: it… in vita motuum expertes facultates hominibus insitae consenescunt & p…reunt. Plutarch De Occulte Viuendo Tom. 2. p. 117.118. Vt enim ferrū usu ac exercitatione splendescit, diuturno autem si…usqualet & rubigine paulatim exeditur at que conficitur: similiter humana mens officijs viro dignis acuitur, otio autem hebescit, & quasi squalore obducto corrumpitur. Est enim otium, …entitudo & inertia tacitum quoddam venenum quo paulatim omnes virtutes infectae languescunt, laudes intereunt, & artes omnes praeclarae in oblivionem adducuntur. Osorius De Regum Instit. fol. 11. & 110. Adde quod ingenium longo rubigine laesum Torpe…, & est multo quam fuit ante minus. Fertilis assiduo si non renovetur aratro, Nil nisi cum spinis gramen habebit ager. Cernis ut ignavum corrumpunt otia corpus? Vt capiant vitium ni moveantur aquae? Ovid Tristium. l. 5. El…g. 12. p. 212. & De Ponto. l. 1. Eleg. 6. …ag. 227.they are the very rust and canker of mens mi…des, mens parts, mens bodies, men… soules. Thirdly, because iOtium continet omnium flagitiorum seminarium. Mentem enim hebetat, animum corrumpit, hominis praestantiam labefactat, rationem de st…tu deijcit, & libidinem in animi dominatu constituit. Otio & securitate frang…tur vires, languescit industria, hebescit ingenium, vitia crescunt, scelera prorumpunt, animi status opprimitur, flagitiorum omnium bellum inexpiabile concilatur. Osorius, De Regum Instit. fol. 213.232.they are the occasion, the fountaine of most other sinnes; as kFac monitis fugias otia prima meis. Haec, ut ames, faciunt: haec, ut fecêre tuentur: haec sunt iucundi causa cibus que mali. Otia si toslas periêre Cupidinis arcus, Contēptae que jacent & sine luce faces. Quam platanus …ivo gaudet, quám populus un…a. Et quàm limosa canna palustris humo. Tam Venus otia amat: qui finem quaeris amoris, Cedit amor rebus: res age, tutus eris. Languor & immodici sub nullo vindice somni, Alea que & multo tempora quassa mero, Eripiant omnes animo sine vulnere vires. Aff…uit incau…is desidiosus amor. Desidiam puer ille sequi solet; odit agentes, D… vacuae menti, quo teneatur, opus. Quaeritur AEgistus quare sit factus adulter; In promptu causa est; desidiosus erat. Ovid. De Remedio Amoris. lib. 1. p. 215.216. Est enim meretric us animus instabilis semper ac fluctuat multum que ocio diffluit, unde major existit ad voluptates propensio. Cyrillus Alexandrinus in Hesaiam. lib. 1. cap. 9. Tom. 1. pag. 134. C.adultery, whoredome, drunkennesse, theft, voluptuousnesse, pride in apparell, lasciviousnesse, vaine discourse, and a world of other sinnes which would never be committed; to which the lIn delitijs est omnis otiosus. Facito aliquid operis ut semper te Diabolus inveniat occupatum Operis labor suscipiatur, nō tam propter victus necessitatem, quam propter animae salutē. Hierom. Epist. 4. cap. 3.Devill could not tempt men, were they imployed in their lawfull callings. Fourthly, because the mEzech. 16.49, 50.very curse and wrath of God; togetherwith nProv. 10.4. c. 19.15. c. 20.13. Eccles. 10.18.penury, vanity, misery, and destruction attend these sinnes. Fiftly, because these sinnes oSee Euphormi… Satyricon. p. 308.309.310 Osorius De Regum Instit. fol. 11.15…100, 167, 168, 213, 234, 236, 248. Aristot. Polit. l. 8. c. 3. p 508.509. Zenophon, De Instit. Cyri Historia p 30. Plutarch. De Occulte Vivendo. lib. accord…nglyare most dangerous, most pernitious, preiudiciall and destructive to a State, of all others; both because they indispose men too, and keepe them off from their honest callings, from all publike imployments and services for the publike good: because they occasion dearth and poverty, robbing the Common-wealth of the benefit of mens industry, and painefull labour… and likewise because they are the Seminaries, Nurseries, and fewell of all other vices and corruptions, that either weaken, trouble, disorder, or pOt…m simul artes beatas & reges perdidit. C…tullus. p. 25 Galli olim in b…llis floruerunt, mox s…gniti… cum otio intrans virtutem pariter ac liber…atem amiserunt. Cor. Tacitus …u…ij Agric. Vita sect. 4. p. 637. Nihil est quod facilius posset rempubli…m ever e…e qu… nob…l…um … Persaru… imperium armis p…rtum long… … delevi… Romanum impe…ium quo nullum unquam in terris majus exti…it, … securitas …verti…. Regnum Hispaniae florentissimu… o…um olim …or… … & dissip…. Os…rius, De Regum Ins…it lib. 7. c. 8. p. 234.248subvert a Republike, (as idlenesse and luxury have subverted many,) as all Polititians doe affirme: who censure and exclude all idle persons, as the qNegligens ac … delicijs vi… …u…s ign…vis maximè similis est. Plato Legum Dialog. 10. pap 9 6. …pes fucos ar…ent quod ne que ceras …aciunt nec cellas extrudunt… nec melle compl…nt, sed ipsum mel apium labore & sedulit…te collectum intemperanter …bsumunt. Sic omnes desides & ignavi, qui tanquā fuci nullam …eipub. operam navant om…es tamen re…pub. opes liguriunt, è regni f…nibus eliminandi sunt. Osorius De Regum Instit. l 6… fol 167.168.very Caterpillers, Drones, and Canker-wormes of the Common-weales wherein they live; inacting sundry Lawes against them, as the lawes of rOsorius, De Regum Instit. l 7. fol. 233.Draco, (who made idlen…sse a capitall crime:) tog…ther with the lawes of the sOsorius. Ibid.AEgyptians, of tPlutarchi & Diogenis La…rtij, Solon. p. 43.Solon, uAElian Variae Hist. l. 4. c. 1.of Sardoa, and *AElian. lib. 9. cap. 25.Pesistratus doe abundantly testifie. The causes therefore of such pernicious State-subverting sinnes as these, which have brought destruction to sundry great Republikes, as they yEzech. 16.49, 50.long since drew downe fire and brimstone from Heaven upon Sodom; must needs be as dangerous, as intolerable as these sins themselves: and so my Major (if either Divinity or Policy may be credited) must be intirely condiscended to.
For the Minor; That Stage-playes are the constant occasions, the common Seminaries and Nurseries of much lasinesse, and idlenesse; (as our reverend Archbishop *Ludis mimis ac jocis quibus molliores animi à rebus gerendis abducuntur ne juvenis quidem se recrea…i permisit. De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Brittanicae. fol. 445.Matthew Parker witnesseth,) it is most apparant. First, by their ordinary Actors and Frequenters; zChrysostom. Homil. 38. in Matth. Clemēs Alexandrinus. Paedag. lib. 3. cap. 11. Tertullian, & Cyprian, De Spectaculis. libri. Gualther. Hō. 11. in Nahum. M. Northbrooke, M. Gosson, Master Stubs, and the third Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters, accordingly.who are commonly such idle Drones, as live either altogether without any honest calling; their whole life being but an Apprentiship of idlenesse, or a continued Play; (as if they were borne for no other purpose aNos numerus sumus, & fruges consumere nati Horace. Epist. lib. 1. Epist. 2. pag. 240.but to eate, to drinke, to sleepe, to play, and waste their time:) or else such who are altogether negligent, slothfull, indiligent in their callings: bBB. Hall. Epist. Decad. 6. Epist. 6.such who make Pauls their Westminster; a Play-house, an ordinary or Dancing-schoole, their Study: … Play-booke their Littleton, their Bible: and loytering, *Ludis mimis ac jocis quibus molliores animi à rebus gerendis abducuntur ne juvenis quidem se recrea…i permisit. De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Brittanicae. fol. 445.if not the courting of some Whore or Mistris, the greatest part of their profession; as too too many doe in this voluptuous age: wherein divers of our male, more of our female sex, cBB. Hall Ibidem. Tibi plectra moventur: Te tenet in tepido mollis amica sinu. Et si quis quaerat, quare pugnare recusas; Pugna nocet; citharae, noxque, venusque juvant. Tutius est jacuisse toro, tenuisse puellam; Theiciam digitis increpuisse lyram. Quam manibus clypeos & acutae cuspidis hastam, Er gaseam pressa sustinuiss… coma… Ovid. Epist. 3. pag. 12.rep…te it a blemish to their honour, a disparagement to their gentility to be honesty imployed in any lawfull vocation that might either benefit themselves or others, or advance the publike good. Secondly, by the very end and use of Stage-playes, to which men seldome resort, but to passe away their idle houres, which they know not how to spend for want of other imployments. Alas say our idle Drones one to another, (as if they had no God to serve, no Bibles to read, no Sermons to heare, no Churches, no Studies, no Closets to resort to, no graces to purchase, no lusts to conquer, dVbicumque fueris intra te…metipsum ora: si longè fueris ab oratorio, noli quaerere locum, quoniam tu ipse locus es. Si fueris in lecto aut in alio loco, ora, & ibi est templum. Frequenter orandum, & flexo corpore mens est erigenda ad Deū. Sicut enim nullum est momentum quo homo non utatur vel f…uatur Dei bonitate & misericordia: sic nullum debet esse momentum, quo eum praesentem non habeat in memoria. Om…e tempus in quo de Deo non…cogitas hoc te computes perdidisse. Be…nardi Meditationes c. 6. Col. 1056.no Prayers to make, no spirituall instructions to learne, no holy duties to performe, no workes of grace to finish, no degrees of grace to acquire, no friends to admonish, no families to instruct, no sicke to visite, no dejected spirits to comfort, no gracelesse persons to reprove, no heavenly misteries to contemplate, no spirituall doubts to satisfie, no callings to follow, no Heaven to desire, no Hell to feare,) wee know not how to spend or passe away these afternoones, we have nothing at all to doe; come therefore let us goe to such or such a Play-house, *Iocosi fermè ac ridiculi sunt plaeri que omnes mortaliū, ne que illis est cordi studiosum vitae genus intensae que gravitatis, sed fluxum potius ac remissium. Ex quo fit ut perquam facile…dominetur eis malignissimus Daemon. Theodoret. De Sacrificijs l. 7. Tom. 2. p. 382. vid. Ibid.and there we will merrily passe the time, feeding our eyes, our eares with those Stage-delights which shall there present themselves unto us. Stage-playes serve for nothing else, but either to draw men on by degrees to idlenesse, or to foster, to foment them in it: Wherefore they are rightly called Playes, from playing; because they teach men onelyonly to play away their time with-drawing them from their Studies, their Vocations, unto idlenesse, and a kinde of lasie life. Thirdly, by daily experience: For what persons are there more slothfull, idle, unprofitable, unserviceable to themselves or others; lesse studious, lesse diligent and laborious in their lawfull callings, then common Actors and *At que duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem & Circenses. Iuvenal. Satyr. 10. pag. 94…Play-haunters? who have many of them no other imployment at all, but onelyonly this, to Act, or see a Stage-play; or to dice, to card, to dance, to adorne and paint themselves, oft-times fOrnamentorum insignia & lenocinia fucorum, …on nisi prostitutis & impudicis faeminis congruit, & nullarū faere praeciosior cultus est, quàm quarum pudo… vilis est. Cypri…n, De Habitu Virginum. Non est mulieris sed meretricis illud nimium sui ornandi studium… Clemens Alexandrinus. Paedagogi. lib. 3. cap. 2.for publike if not for private sale. Stage-playes either gCyprian, De Spectaculis. lib. See S…ene 3.4. & 5. before.finde or make men idle: they either occasion, or foment their sloth: they either cause people to live without callings; or at least withdraw them from them, to give their after-noones attendance on themselves. Hence is it, hAb omnibus ad Spectaculū convenitur. Propter unum nescio q…em, vel virum, vel faeminam commovetur tota Civitas, ut desal…entur fabulosae antiquita…um libidines. Cyprian, De Spe…taculis. lib. See Basil. Hexaem. Hom. 4. Tom 1. p. 45. Chrysost. Homil. 38 in Matth. Tom. 2. Col. 297. …ertul. De Spectac. c. 21.22. Lactantius, De Vero Cultu. c. 20. Salvian, De Gubernat. Dei. l. 6. Nazianzen De Recta Educatione ad Selucum. p. 1063.1064. The 3. Bl…st of Retrait from Playes and Theaters. pag. 56.76.77. M. Gosson, M. Stubs, M. Northbro…ke, in their Bookes against Stage-playes, accordingly.that the Scholler is oft with-drawne from his Schoole, the Student from his Study; the Mechanicke from his Trade; the Master from his Fam…ly; the Lady and Gentlewoman from her Closet or Needle; the Mistris from her house; the Husband from his Wife; the Wife from her Husband; the Servant from his Masters businesse; the Apprentice from his Shop; the Courtier from his attendance: the Officer from his Office; Yea sometime, the very iSee here Act 4. Scene 2. & p. 484.Magistrate from his Gover…ment, the Minister from his Pulpit; kSee here Act 6. Scene 12.the Parishioner from his Church, his Lecture; the whole Citty from their callings, to a Play-house, to act, to see or heare a lewde lascivious Enterlude; the very best part whereof, lAver…e oculos meos ne videant vanitatem. Rogat propheta ne oculis vagatur per Theatra nimirum & chorearum spectacula, quae quidem vanitatē redolent, ac fructu & utilitate carent. Chrysostom Hom. 11. in Psal. 118. Tom. 1. Col. 998. A.is pure vanity, if not sinfull folly. mSatyr. 11. p. 111.Totam …odie Romaem Circus capit; was the Poet Iuvenals complaint of old; and I feare it might be ours now: Such prevalency is there in these bewitching Stage-playes to draw men on to sloth, to idlenesse; nHumanus animus otio languescens facillime corrumpitur. Clerke De Au…ito. lib 4… p. 227. Ignavia magnorum saepe ingeniorum pestis. Vt lignum occulta teredo consumit, sic animum paulatim delinit & ex…dit ignavus hic affectus. Lipsius. Epist. C…nturia. 2. Epist. 34. pag. 152.the very bane, the poyson, and destruction of mens peerelesse soules: which the very oPhilip. Lonicerus. Historiae Turcicae. l. 2. c. 20. p. 54.Turkes enumerate among the number of their seven deadly sinnes. Lastly, my Minors truth, as it is evident by experience, so likewise is it ratified by the concurrent suffrage of sundry Fathers and moderne Authors, and by our *See 14. Eliz. cap. 5.39. Eliz. cap. 4.1. Iacobi. cap. 7. & 1. Caroli. cap. 1.owne Acts of Parliament, who for this very cause among sundry other condemne, reject and censure Stage-playes as unlawfull pastimes, because they are the …ccasions, the fomentations of much sloth and idlenesse. Hence Philo Iudaeus, De Vita Moses. pag 932. & De Agricultura. lib. pag. 271. Clemens Romanus. Apost. Co… stit. lib. 2. cap. 65 66. Clemens Alexandrinus Paedag. lib. 3. cap. 11. Tertullian & Cyprian, in their severall Bookes, De Spectaculis. Arnobius Adversus Gentes. lib. 5. p. 149.150. lib. 6. & 7. p 230. to 242. Lactantius. lib. 6. De Vero Cultu. cap. 20. Tatiani Assyrij Contra Grae…os Oratio. Bibl. Patrum. Tom. 2. pag. 180. Basil. Hexaëmeron. pSunt civi… tes nonnullae, quae multis varijsque praestigiatorum spectaculis, inde à primo diluculo ad ipsum usque caelum advesperascens, suos pascunt aspectus, fractos que quosdam omnino & corruptos cantus… frequentissimè audientes non satiantur: at… tal…s populos complures beatos esse di…unt, prop…rea quod foro… mer…ura, a… tibus, ca…t…ris que n…go…js comparandi victus causa subeundis, neglectis atque posthabitis, summo cum ocio voluptateque vitae tempus institutum sibi perducunt, &c. Ibidem.Hom. 4. Tom. 1. pag. 45. Gregory Nazianzen, De Recta Educatione ad Seleucum. pag. 1063.1064. S. Asterij Homilia in Pestum Kalendarum. Bibl. Patr…m. Tom. 4. pag. 706. Chrysost. Hom. …. De Davide & Saul. Hom. 6.7.38. & 69. in Matth. & Hom. 8. De Paenitentia. Augustin. De Civitate Dei. l. 1. c. 31.32. lib. 2. cap. 4. to 15. Salvianus. l. 6. De Gubernatione Dei. Damascen. Paralellorum. lib. 3. cap. 47. Cassiodorus Variarum. lib. 1. Epist. 27. & 30. Ioannes Saresberi…nsis, qNostra aet…s prolapsa ad fabulas & quaevis inania, non modo cor et aures prostit…it vanitati, s…d oculorum & aurium voluptate, suam mulcet desidiam, luxuriam accendit, conquirens undique fomenta vitiorum, &c. Vitanda est, inquit, Ethnicus, …mprob… Syr… desidia. At eam nostris prorogant histriones. Ibidem.De Nugis Curiahum. lib. 1. cap. 8. Petrarcha De Remedio Vtrius que Fortunae. lib. 1. Dialog. 30. Rodolphus Gualther. Homil. 11. in Nahum. Bodin his Common-wealth. l… 6. cap. 1. Ioannes Mariana, & Barnabas Brissonius, in their Bookes, De Spectaculis. Bulengerus, De Circo. cap. 47. De Theatro. lib. 1. cap. 50.51. The 3. Blast of Retrait from Playes and Theaters. pag. 56.76. & 77. Master Gosson, in his Schoole of Abuses, and in his Playes Con…uted. Master Stubs, in his Anatomy of Abuses. pag. 104. to 107. Master Northbro…ke, in his Treatise against Vaine Playes and Enterludes. f. 28. to 38. D. Rae…iolds, in his Overthrow of Stage-playes. Master Robert Bolton, in his Discourse of True Happinesse. pag. 73.74. I. G. in his Refutation of Haywoods Apologie for Actors: (to omit all other Christian and rOvid, De Arte Amandi. lib. 1. pag. 160.161. & De Remedio Amoris. lib. 1. pag. 215.216. Non tamen otium tale quaerendum est, quale in lusionibus consumitur, sic enim vitae nostrae ludus finis esset necessario, quod falsum & absurdum est, &c. Aristot. Poli…. lib. 8. cap. 3. pag. 508. See lib. 7. cap. 17. and Marcus Aureli…. Epistle 12. to Lambert, who are very copiou… in this point. Seneca. Controvers. lib. 1. Proaemio. pag. 967. Tacitus Annalium. l. 14. c. 2.3. & l. 16. c. 1. Valerius Maximus. l. 2. c… 6. s. 7. Bulengerus De Circo Romano. Ludisque Circensibus. cap. 44.Heathen Authors, which I might here enumerate:) doe all concurre in censuring Stage-playes in regard of this effect. Since therefore the Major, and Minor are thus apparantly true, the Conclusion from them must be granted, by all who either regard the publike, or their owne private good.