The Overthrow of Stage Plays, Answer
Maister D. Rainolds aunswere vntounto Maister D. Gager, concerning Theater-sights, Stage-playes, &c.
I AM much to thanke you, Maister D. Gager, for both your letters, and your Tragedie: the more, for that you hauehave enlarged the answer to Momus (as you signifie) because you vnderstood that I & others should aske why those thinges were not aunswered which were obiected. Indeed, as our Savior aIohn. 18. 2…when he was smitten by one for speaking nought but reason, saide, If I hauehave spoken evill, beare witnesse of the evill; but if well, why doest thou smite me? so they, whose obiections against playes you attributed to the person of Momus, & thereby noted them as vniust reproovers, might iustlie say in my iudgement; If our reasons be naught, discover their naughtines; if good, why doe you Mome vsus? And what so euer others had cause to thinke of them selues, yet I must needes thinke my self touched therein: although I should yeeld vntounto your request (which I most gladlie doe) in that you pray me, not to mistake your meaning; protesting your intent is not to note any man, but onelyonly Momus. For bPraefat. Thesiū ad Acad, Oxon.I did reprove our Theater-sights & Stage-playes, as 1Pestes scenicorum theatralia spectacula.hurtfull and pernicious, many yeares agoe: and this yeare, ere your Momus, or any of your Enterludes came vppon the stage, I had (in letters written to our good friend Maister D. Thornton) alleaged those reasons, which you make Momus vse, against them. Now Aesopes tale of Momus (as cDe partib. anim. lib. 3. cap. 2.Aristotle sheweth in that your selfe mention of his reproving nature for setting bulles hornes vponupon their heades, not vponupon their shoulders) was devised to checke such as reproue vniustlie the best and perfitest works of the most wise and skilfull. To the which purpose sith you rehearse it also, and inferre vponupon it, that the man who taunteth playes with 2Probr. Arrepta quae conge…sit ex triviis.the rascall reproches there specified, offendeth in the same sorte: how can it bee avoided, but I, who had vttered those things against playes, though deeming them sounde reasons, not rascall reproches, must thinke my selfe charged vnderunder the name of Momus? vnlesse I should be so vnwise as to suppose, that my frende a lawier, saying, If Sempronius borow a horse of Seius, and ride him a mile farder, then Seius was content he should, dL. qui iumē ta. D. de surtis. Val Max. lib. 8. cap. 2.he cōmitteth theft, the speech doeth not charge me with theft, though I had done so, because the lawier meant not to charge me, whom he loueth, nor knewe perhaps that I had done it; but his meaning was to charge Sempronius onelie. Wherefore albeit you meane not to hote any man but onelie Momus, as you protest, and I beleeue you: yet you meane withall (I trowe) the same that eProlege Man.Tullie, when having reprooved the couetousnes of Chieftaines and Gouuernours of their warres, I (quoth hee) name no man; Wherefore no man can bee angie with me, vnlesse he will confesse first of him selfe. Which I doe not mention to proove that I hauehave cause of being angrie with you (be it farre from me,) although I confesse my selfe to hauehave written those things which they, who speake, are stained with Momus name by you: but onelyonly to shewe that by your speach against Momus, notwithstanding your intent to note no man but him, yet you note vsus all, in him, as vniust reproovers of playes, who soeuer inveigh against them as hee doeth. And this your selfe can not choose but see and graunt, if you call to minde your verses ad Zoilum, and Epistle ad Criticum. For you will professe (I hope) that your intent is not to note anie man but onelyonly Zoilus and Criticus: Yet, if anie finde such fault with your Tragedie, as you controll them for: you will not denie but you meane to note him as a malitious Zoilus, and a carping Criticke. Your wordes inforce so much, in that you tell the Criticke, that who so carpeth at the basenes of your matter and style, doeth not blame you but Homer; And who so blameth Homer, he must needes be a Zoilus. I must pray you therfore, not to misdeeme of mee, that I mistake your meaning, when I thinke you purposed to note generallie all reprovers of playes, as vniust reproovers: and so doe take my selfe, though not intended by the Censurer, who did not aime at mee; yet touched by the censure, whiche in event doeth light vppon mee.
As for that you adde, that vponupon confidence of your owne conscience, and the trueth of the thinges them selves, you assure your selfe, that I can not bee displeased: I will assure you also that I mislike nothing in your entitling Momus vntounto our reasons of reproofe, or in your answere to them, if, as you approoue your cause of confidence on the one parte, so you shall on the other. For your protestation of your own conscience doeth binde me by the law of charitie to thinke that you hauehave done this in singlenesse of heart, without spite and malice. But the trueth of the thinges themselves, that you chalenge, belongeth to the reasons fathered on Momus, not to your aunswere, in my opinion. Whereof, least you suspect it to proceede rather from a conceited fansie, then a sound iudgement, I will open to you my groundes and inducements: requesting you the same that fEpistolar. …. 1. epist. 6.Horace did a frende of his; Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum. And, because in weighing your aunswers with the reasons I shall bee occasioned to name this or that part, by circumstances, of your playes, as Antinous, Eurymachus, Hippodamia, Melantho, the rest of Penelopes wooers, or her maides, Phemius, Irus, Rivales, Phaedra, or her Nurse: I must pray you to deale with me in this case, as you desired to bee dealt with, that is, to take my wordes, as spoken of Histrio (to faine a person like your Momus) with no intent to note any of your players; no more, then if they had not seene the stage at all, but *Quae gravis Aesopus, qu… doctus Rosci us egit. Horat. epist. lib. 2. epi. 1.Roscius & Aesopus had played those parts, not Christ-church-students. Whom, and you for them, I shall finde the readier to grant this, I trust: because both my conscience doeth beare me witnesse before God, that I beare none of them evill will, nay, I wish vntounto them all as to my selfe; and I assure you I know not who they were that played any of those partes, nor what their names be.
To the first reason then (for I will take them in your owne order) that Stage-players are infamous by the civill lawe, you aunswere that 3Famosus ergo est quisquis in scenā exiit? Praetor negabit.they are not all, but onelyonly such as play for gaine sake: which you avouch is proved by the Praetors wordes. But that which you make the Praetor say, as distinguishing, Qui sui spectaculum Mercedis ergô praebet, infamis siet; the Praetor saith not. Nay, contrariwise gPraetoris verba dicunt. D. de his qui no tantur infamia. L. 1.he saith without all distinction, generallie and simplie: Infamia notatur, qui artis ludicrae, pronuntiandive causa, in scenam prodierit. And Ulpian (whose hL. 2 §. Ait Praetor.place you quote for proofe thereof) doeth report him so, with these verie words: Ait Praetor, Qui in scenam prodierit, "infamis est". But Vlpian, expounding these wordes of the Praetor, citeth some iPegasus & Nerva filius.lawiers saying, that they are infamous, qui quaestus causa in certamina descendunt, & propter praemium in scenam prodeunt: and hereof you conclude, that 4Non ergo quenquā scena, sed quaestus notat.they, who come not foorth into the stage for gaine sake, are not infamous. By which kinde of reasoning one might conclude likewise, that sith by kDeut. 23. 18the scripture a woman taking mony for prostituting her body to men is infamous: therefore she is not so, who doeth it freelie; much lesse, who giveth mony to hauehave her lovers companie; whom yet lEzek. 16. 33.the scripture counteth most infamous of all. Howbeit, had those lawiers, in adding, quaestus causa, intended your conclusion; which I knowe not whether they did, but admitte it: neverthelesse you know that a mDionysius Gothofredus comment. in corp. iur. civ. …dit. 2.lawier also, perhaps more learned then they, hath made this note thereon, Immò & qui sine quaestu. omnes enim scenici probrosi. August. lib. 2. de civit. Dei, cap. 11. & tribu moveri soliti, Livius lib. 7. wherein, as hee gathereth, that such as come vponupon the stage without gaine, are prooved by S. Augustin and Livie to be infamous, because S. Austin and Livie doe shewe that all stage-players (free players not excepted) were branded with a marke of infamie & dishonestie, disfranchised in a sort: so he confirmeth hereby (which was and ought to bee the drift of his note) that by law the players without gaine are infamous, not onelie such as playe for gaine sake. And this doe their wordes, whom hee alleageth, implie, if they bee vnfolded and weighed indifferentlie, according to the rules of lawe for douts thence rising: to weet, that nL. 37. D. de legib. Senatusq. consult.custome is the best interpreter of lawes; and, oL. 38. D. eodautoritie of thinges still iudged of alike hath the force of law. For S. pli. 2. de civ. Dei. cap. 13.Augustin groundeth his 5Quisquis civium Romanorū esse scenicus elegisset. &c.generall conclusion vponupon the ancient practise and order of the Romans testified by qDe repub. lib. 4.Tullie: who saith that their auncestours, counting all kinde of stage playes shamefull and dishonest, agreed that such persons should not onelyonly want the honour of other citizens, but also be disfranchised by the controlment and checke of Censors. Neither were they checked with this reproch and ignominie of olde time alone, but in Livies age too; yea, before, and after; at least, with the blemish and staine in mens opinion, …hough not with the punishment. rOr, Aemilius Probus, de vita excellēt. imperat. praefat.Cornelius Nepos saieth, that to come on the stage & be a spectacle to the people, was coū ted no dishonestie or shame among the Graecians; among the Romans it was. Laberius, a gentleman of Rome, taking pleasure in writing of poemes, sMacrob. lib. 2. Satu. ca. 7.when Caesar prayed him to playe them him selfe vponupon the stage, he yeelded as constrayned by the Princes request; but signified so much in his prologue, and declared withall what a blott it was vntounto him: Ego his tricenis annis actis sine nota, Eques Romanus è lare egressus meo, Domum revertar mimus: nimirum hoc die Uno plus vixi, mihi quàm vivendum fuit. tSatyr. 8.fuvenal, rebuking men of noble parentage tainted with like dishonor, doeth touch them vnderunder Lentulus name, with this censure: Laureolum velox etiam bene Lentulus egit, Iudice me dignus vera cruce. So shamefull a matter seemed it to him for Lentulus to play the parte of Laureolus (one, who in a Tragedie was fained to be hanged, as Melantho in yours) that he thought him woorthie to be hanged in ea… est for it. Moreouer, he prosequuteth the point in such sorte, …at hee cutteth off all opposition and replie, whereof else a shewe, but shewe alone, might be made against this testimonie and the former. For the Grecians spoken of by Cornelius Nepos did come vponupon the stage for gaine, at least 6As the deg… nerate Lacedaemonian widowes, whom he mencioneth.some of them: though his speech concerning them (in the braunch I cited) bee generall, like vLi. 4. de repub. August. de civit. Dei, lib. 2. cap. 10Tullies, without that limitation; and so must contrariwise be meant touching the Romans. Laberius had a ring and money giuen him by Caesar: though he shewe sufficientlie, that whereas no ambition, 7Nulla unquā largitio.no reward ever, no feare, no force, no authoritie, could make him a stage-player in his youth; much lesse should it hauehave done in his olde age at three score yeares: it was necessitie onelie, euen Caesars request, that is, constraint, which brought him to it. The men of noble parentage, whom Iuvenal rebuketh, were hired, as 8Consumtis opibus vocē Damasippe locasti Sipa rio, clamosum ageres vt phasma Catulli.himselfe noteth; and the storie of 9Nobiliū famil…arū posteros egestate venales in sce…am deduxit. Tacit. Annal. li. 14Nero, who bought those needie squires to doe that seruice, recordeth: though Iuvenal adiudgeth them vnworthy of life, not onelie in respect that they played for their fee, but euen that they played too; as may appeare by that which foloweth, Nec tamen ipse Ignoscas populo: populi frons durior huius, Quisedet & spectat triscurria patriciorum, Planipedes audit Fabios ridere potest qui Mamercorum alapas. For seeing that he findeth fault with the people, who sate & beheld the fowle misorders & scurrilities (such as your Antinous & other wooers practise) of persons nobly borne; who heard the race of Fabius resembling & couterfaiting such base ridiculous things as are expressed in Irus; who could abide to laugh at blowes & whirrets, giuen to the Mamercians, as you would say vntounto Ulysses. he sheweth that the verie action it selfe, all regard of lucre, or what soeuer motiue had brought them to it, sett apart, was dishonorable & shamefull in his iudgement. But his like or sharper inveighing against Nero, touching whom he addeth, 1Res haud mira tamen citharaedo Principe mimus Nobilis.that it was no marvell if noble men were stageplayers whē the Prince was a minstrell, doeth put the matter out of doubt: in as much as he, comparing Nero to 2Par Agamemnonidae crimen.Orestes, both murderers of their mothers, maketh Nero worse in manie respectes, and this amongst them: In scena nunquam cantavit Orestes. Wherein, by "cantavit, he meaneth not onelyonly that Nero played a minstrels part vponupon the stage, as Phemius on yours: but also that he played the partes of men and women, perhaps with song alone, as your Hippodamia; perhaps with song and speech both, as Eurymachus; but partes of Men and Women certainlie. This, obscurelie signified by Iuvenal himselfe, mentioning the 3Ante pedes Domiti, longum tu po…e Thyestae Syrma, vel Antigonae seu personam Menalippes.tragicall habit of Thyestes, Antigona, Menalippe, worne by the ofspring of Domitius, that is, by Nero; xIn Ner. ca. 2Suetonius maketh playner; saying, Tragoedias cantavit personatus; and, Inter caetera cantavit Canacen parturientem, Orestem matricidam, Oedipodem excaecatum, Herculem insanum. In the last of which tragedies it is reported that a yong souldier (one of Neros gard) being sett to keepe the entrie, when hee sawe Nero attired and bound with Chaines, as the argument required, hee ranne to him to helpe him; thinking (poore freshwater creature) that his maister had bene chained in earnest. Another, better acquainted then hee with stage matters, and having served longer, yDio Ner. in Xiphili. epist.when Nero played the firste of them, namely Canace, the souldier beeing asked by some who mett him in the citie what the Emperour was doing, Hee is travailing with childe, quoth hee. The singing then vsed vponupon the stage by Nero, for which Iuvenal counteth him worse then Orestes, was his playing of mens and wemens partes in tragedies. But Nero never played for gaine: nay, he was so farre from it, that, when a Praetor, who did sett foorth playes, offered him 4Sesteriûm decies. Suet. Ner. cap. 2… foreign. Dio.about eight thousand pound to be an actor, he tooke the paines, 5foreign. as Dio saieth expreslie: and Suetonius sig nifieth, not saying that it was giuē him but that a Praetor offered it.refused the mony, disdaining to doe ought for hire. Iuvenal therefore counteth all stage-players infamous, not onelie such as played for gaine. And what should I adioyne the testimonies of others, learned, vnlearned; both sortes declaring what Roman citizens thought hereof? For beside Suetonius, Tacitus, Dio, &c who hath written of Nero that hath not attainted him with this reproche? the common people, euen souldiers, reckened his stage-playing among his vitious acts: as, zTacit. Annal. lib. 15.in a conspiracie that was made against him, hee heard to his great grief; when Subrius Flavius, a Tribune, beeing demanded by him why he had sought his death, aunswered, Oderam te, nec quisquam tibi fidelior militum fuit, dum amari meruisti; odisse caepi, postquam parricida matris, & vxoris, auriga, histrio, & incendiarius extitisti: and Sulpitius Asper, aunswering more brieflie to the same demande, saide, Non aliter tot flavigitiis ejus subveniri posse. Neither was it the basenes thereof in comparison of his imperiall Maiestie, that they detested onelie, as his chariot-driving vpbraided him withall might giuegive cause to thinke, were it not a whelpe too of 6Circenses ludi. Sueton. Ner. cap. 22.the same litter: but the dishonestie and lewdnesse, which, accompanying commonly that trade, by many occasions incident into stage-playes, made such men infamous; and therevpon was noted, though as a more eminent fault in him then others, yet as a fault in others also. Pecuniam ob delicta dedit, saith aAnnal. li. 14Tacitus, telling how Nero brought those poore decayed gentlemen of noble houses to the stage: and blaming 7Eius flagitiū est qui pecuniam ob delicta potius de…it, quàm ne delinquerenthim, that hee did not rather giuegive them mony to keepe them from offending (so hee termeth stage-playing of it selfe without gaine) then to driue them to it. And Dio, a Senatour of Rome, well acquainted with their lawes and orders by bLib. 43. & 49.sundry great offices of state borne among them, cXiphil. epi.amplifying that iniurie done to more also, and to meaner persons then Tacitus speaketh of, nether all rewarded like them peradventure, sure Dio giving no inkling of that as the shame of it, saith, 8foreignit was most shamefull and grievous that they entred, some willing, some marvelous vnwilling, but they entred, 9foreign.as the most infamous persons, to the stage, and played both tragedies & comedies. Wherefore sith the practise and iudgement of the Romans noted all stage-players generally with infamie, not onelyonly such as played for gaine: it foloweth that the meaning of their lawe was generall, and so all stage-players to bee infamous by the civil law. Which lawe, if it deserue, though not the title of 1…gregia verò laus & ingenuum decens Agere Histrionem lege famosum optima.the best applyed to it by your Momus, yet of 2Agere histrionem, lege damnatū piâ est.good and godly, giuen it by you in the rehearsall of his wordes, as you will graunt it doeth: I leaue it to your owne consideration, what credit your apologie of those playes deserveth. Chieflie seeing Nero, whom that law condemned, might hauehave vsed the same defense against his Momus, that you against yours, and knit it vp with the same wordes; Quis hîc rogavit sportulam, vel quis dedit? Cui non patebant sponte sine lucro fores? And thus farr of your aunswer to the first reason.
2 To the next, drawen from the best law indeed, euen the lawe of God dDeut. 22. 5.which forbiddeth a man to put on womans raiment; a thing though not distaining all stage-playes, yet welnigh all, and there amongst all yours: you answer that 3Semper… Quid si cogeret lethi metus Mutare vestem? publicum quid si bonū suaderet? and, Non ergo juveni est gr… de simpliciter nefas, Mollem puellā induere.it is not vnlawfull simply and alwayes, as if one doe it to saue his life, to benefit many; & hereof you conclude, that to do it in playes is not vnlawfull. Of the which enthymeme (to call the triall of your argumentes to the touchstone of Logicke) the consequution doutlesse is vnsound and naught, whatsoever the antecedent bee: and the antecedent, although in the balance of humane reason it may seeme to hauehave weight, yet if it be weighed in the e2 Tim. 3. 16skales of the sanctuarie, will proove vnsound and light too. For the holy Ghost, the Spirite of trueth teacheth vsus that fRom. 3. 8.it is not lawfull for vsus to doe evill, that good may come thereof. When gMat. 12. …Christ on a Sabbat day went through the corne, and his disciples were an hungred, they began to plucke the eares of corne and to eate. The Phariseis reprooved them for it; but vniustlie: because it was not evill to woorke vponupon the Sabbat day in such a case. For by evill is hRom. 3. 7.sinne meant. i1 Ioh. 3. 4.Sinne is the transgression of the law. The kNum. 28. ….law allowed Priestes to worke on the Sabbat day in offering sacrifices. And lHos. 6. 7.sacrifice did not please God in comparison of mercy. mMatt. 12. 7.Therefore to doe that worke of merciemercy and charitie for the reliefe of hungrie bodies vponupon the Sabbath day, was not euill. Contrariwise, when Peter nLuke 22. verse 31.being in danger of trouble and vexation, if he had bene known to be of Christes disciples, over. 56.did therevpon denie that hee knew him, or had bene with him: he was put in minde by Christs pver. 34.wordes & qver. 61.deedes, and he did acknowledge by rver. 62.his owne teares, that hee should not hauehave done so. Why? Because he lyed, and sExod 20. 16 Psal. 15. 2. Zach 8. 16. Ephe. 4. 25.to lye is euill; not allowed in any case by tIam. 4. 12.our Lawgiuer, no vIob 13. ver. 4. 7. & 10.not for the defense of the glorie of God, much lesse for the safetie of man a xIob 25. 6.woorme. By conference and laying of which thinges together we are taught this difference betwene the morall law, and the ceremoniall, that the ceremoniall was not enioyned to be kept absolutelie and simply; and therefore y1 Sam. 21. 4 Matt. 12. 3.when it could not bee kept without the breach af the morall lawe, the law of louelove and charitie it yeelded therevnto: but the morall lawe is simply and absolutely enioyned to be kept, as a paterne of that holinesse which God requireth in zRom. 8. 14. Ephe 4. 24.his children, aLev. 19. 2. 1 Pet. 2. 15.Be yee holy, for I am holy; and therefore, bRom 3. 7. and 6. 2.who so breaketh any part thereof, though to keepe an other parte, doeth defile himselfe, and displease the Highest. Now, the prohibitiō of men to be attired as wemen, wemen as men, belongeth to the morall, not to the ceremoniall law. For cGal. 4. 9. Col. 2. 16. Heb. 8. 13. & 9. 11. & 10. 1.Christ hath delivered vsus frō the keeping of the ceremoniall. So that, were this difference of attire a ceremonie, then Christian men and wemen might e…h cōtinuallie weare the others rayment: as lawfully; as they may dLev. 19. 19.weare a garment made of linen & wollen; sow their field with maslin; eDeut. 22. 10plow with an oxe and an asse; fLev. 11. 7.eate of swines flesh; of gDeut 12. 16blood; of strangled: if not more lawfullie rather then these last, which hAct. 15. 29. and 21. 25.the Apostles did forbid the Gentiles for a time, in respect of the Iewes. But they may not weare ech the others raiment: as the generall precepts absolutelie giuen in i1 Cor. 11. 7. … Iim 2. 9.the new testament touching the distinct and severall attire of both sexes, shew. It is a cōmandment therfore of the morall law, that wemen shall not attire them selves like men, nether men like wemen. And hereof it foloweth that if a man might saue his life, or benefit many, by putting on womans raimēt, yet ought he not to do it, because it is euill. Nay (which addeth greater weight vntounto the reason) it is a notorious and detestable euill: as kDeut. 22. 5.the Spirite sheweth by the words ensuing, For all that doe so are abomination to the Lord thy God. And seeing that himself hath giuen this censure, God forbid but we should thinke it most true and iust: although our weake eyesight could discerne no cause, why so small a matter, as flesh and blood might countit, should be controlled so sharpelie. Howbeir, if wee marke with iudgement and wisedome, first, how this precept is referred by learned Divines to the cōmandment lExod. 20. 14Thou shalt not commit adulterie, some mCalvin. harmon. in lib. Mos. expos. sept. praecept. Beza leg. Dei mor. cereino. & Posit. D. Babingt. exposit. of the command.expreslie making it a point annexed therto, some impliedlie, in that either nProcopius in Deut. Thom. Aquin. 2…. 2… q. 169. art. 2. Hyperius de fer. Bacchā.they knit it to modestie, a parte of temperance, or oCypriā. epi. 61. Chrysost. hom. 38. in Mat. Liran. in Deute. 22.note the breach of it as ioyned with wantonnesse and impuritie: next, among the kindes of adulterous lewdnesse howe filthie and monstrous a pRom. 1. 27.sinne against nature mens naturall corruption and vitiousnes is prone to; the Scripture witnesseth it in qGen. 19. 5.Cananites, rInd. 19. 22. 1 Kin 14. 24 2 King. 23. 7Iewes, s1 Cor. 6. 11.Corinthians, tAristot. polit. lib. 2. ca. 9. Senec. epi. 95other in other nations, & vQuintil. li … cap. 4. & lib. 2 cap. 2.one with speciall caution, Nimium est quod intelligitur: thirdlie, what sparkles of lust to that vice the putting of wemens attire on men may kindle in vncleane affections, as xSueton. in Ner. cap. 28.Nero shewed in Sporus, yLamprid. in Heliogab.Heliogabalus in him selfe; yea certaine, who grew not to such excesse of impudencie, yet arguing the same in causing their zHora. carm. lib. 2. od. 5. Catul. in nup tias Iuliae Iuvenal Satyr. 8. Acer si comes.boyes to weare long heare like wemen: if we consider these things, I say, we shall perceiue that hee, who aDeut. 23. verse 17.condemneth the female hoore and male, and, bver. 18.detesting speciallie the male by terming him a dogge, reiecteth both their offeringes with these wordes that they both are abomination to the Lorde thy God, might well controll likewise the meanes and occasions whereby men are transformed into dogges, the sooner, to cutt off all incitements to that beastlie filthines, or rather more then beastlie. But whether this were part of the cause that moved the Spirit of God, or no: it is cleere and certaine that hee pronounceth them abominable in his sight, or (as the Hebrues speake more forciblie) abomination, whosoeuer put on the different sexes raiment. And so, it being simplie and absolutelie vnlawfull, because it is forbidden by the morall law, and proved to be evill, a fowle abominable evill in Gods sight: the Christian faith instructeth vsus that wee may not doe it for any good to come thereof, no not for the saving of honor, wealth, or life, of others, or our selues. The argumēts, wherby you striue to proue the contrarie, are drawen from two exāples: One of the Macedonians, whose king Amyntas entertaining Persian ambassadors, & having at their request broght noble wemen to the banket, when the embassadours dalying with them did touch their brests, & offred some to kisse them; 4Veste filius Amyntae indui Iuvenes muli…bri dum iubet, tot faeminis Claris pudorem ser var, & petulātiam Persis superbā coede praeclara excutit.the kings sonne, misliking their lascivious actions, desired thē to giuegive the wemen leaue to go forth, pretēding they should returne neater, & so by his directiō there came in their steed yong men, attired like them, with daggers vnderunder their garmentes, who slew the embassadours as soone as they offered to touch them: The other of Achilles, whose mother Thetis, at the time of the Troian warre, knowing (as Poëts faine) that hee should dye at Troy, if he went thither with the Grecians, did thervpo… attire him (they say) as a woman, and committed him as her daughter to Lycomedes king of Scyros, 5Vitā tu…tur filius Thetidis suam.there to bee kept safe from that danger. For hence you conclude that a man may lawfully putt on womans raiment to benefit others, to saue his life; because the Macedonians, by their young Princes motion, and Achilles did so. Which argument if it holde, then may a man lye to saue his life, or benefit others, because c1 Sam. 21. 2David did so: then may a man forsweare to saue his life, or benefite others, because dMat. 26 72.Peter did so. For the examples of eIam. 5. 10.Prophets and fMat. 5. 14.Apostles are surer groundes to build on, then of Achilles or Macedonians. But you will not say that wee may forsweare, nor lye (I hope) for any cause; sure the Scripture will not, neither the gIustin. Mart. apolog. ad Anton. Impe. August. li. de mendacio, & contra mendacium: and others of the soundest Fathers. Calvin Tremellius, Iunius, in Exod. 1. & the rest of ours.best Divins; no not hMagist. sentent. li. 3. dist. 38. Thom. Aquin. 2…. … ▪ quaest. 110. …rt. 3. & the rest.Schoolemen, or icap. Super eo. extra de usuris▪ & all the Canonists thereon.Canonistes, which yet in many points are farre beneth the best. you must remember therefore that wee are to liue by lawes, not by examples: and regard in Macedonie, and Greece, as in kL. 13. D. de officio Praefidis.Rome, not what is done there, but what ought to bee done there. Else, by these verie examples that you stand o…, not onelie kinges, but also their sonnes may put to death; and that, for wanton touching, not onelie for adulterie; nor their owne subiects alone, but forein embassadours; yea, their servants also, though innocent and giltlesse; and make a bootie of their cariage, their treasure, their furniture; all against the kinges advise and commaundement: for lHerodotus in Terpsichore.so did the sonne of Amyntas. And a man, whose countrie doeth need and craue his seruice in lawfull warre against their enemies, may, for feare of death, vse mValer. Max. lib. 6. cap. 3.Vettienus his shifts to keepe at home; a youth, that is in louelove, may put on maidens raiment, as nTerent. Eun.Chaerea did the Eunuches for his Pamphilaes sake; a sonne may obey his mother, not oEphe. 6. 1.in the Lord, but against the Lorde, and by her commaundement behaue him selfe vnduetifullie, cowardlie, wantonlie: for pStatius A…hilleid. li. 1.so did the sonne of Thetis. Wherein by the way you may obserue too, both what inconvenience and danger of vncleannesse cleaveth to this practise: and how Heathen men by the light of nature did descry the shamefulnesse of it and condemned it. For as hee whose fact 6Mollem puellā induere, scelus est Clodio; Non est Achilli: Clodius stuprum parat.your selfe adiudge wicked Clodius I meane, qSueton. in Caes. cap. 74.did satisfie his vilanous lust with Caesars wife by cladding him selfe in womans raiment: semblably Achilles deflowred Deidamia, king Lycomedes daughter, by the same occasion. And Statius, who reporteth the storie (so to terme it with 7Id quod crebra testari p… test Historia.you) most exactlie, saith rAchilleid. lib. ….that Chiron, the instructer and bringer vp of Achilles, would not hauehave suffered his mother to hauehave had him away, Si molles habitus & tegmina foedafateri Ausa foret: that Calchas the Prophet, being filled wth Apollos spirit, cryed out, O scelus, en fluxae veniunt in pectora vestes; Scinde puer, scinde, & timidae ne crede parenti: that Achilles him selfe did say vntounto Deidamia, Neque ego hos cultus, aut foeda subissem Tegmina, ni primo te visa in littore; and sLib. 2.vntounto his mother, Paruimus genitrix, quanquam haud toleranda jubebas, Paruimus nimium; and vntounto Ulysses, that Maternum nefas had caused him to put on indecores, fatorum crimina, cultus▪ The wich resolutions and speeches being attributed to heathen men by an heathen, and him an excellent Poet, who so well discerned what was fitt and seemely for every one to speak and thinke, that in this respect he is preferred by a tIulius Caes. Scaliger. Poet. lib. 6. ca. 6learned iudicious autor before Homer; doe argue and declare, that wise & vertuous persons, represented in Chiron, would not hauehave a man for safegard of his life vndergoe the shame of wearing womans raiment; that religious folke having the Spirit of GOD, as Calchas is imagined, accounted it a heinous crime, and wished children to rent such raiment when it were put on, and therein disobey their parents; that ingenuous valiant youths, like Achilles, may be ensnared for louelove sake to weare it, not for life; and doo it for reuerence of parents, though with griefe; and lay the fault afterward vponupon their mothers, and the destenies, that they were tainted with such dishonour. Thus is it apparant euen by the example which your selfe commende, that, as S. v1 Cor. 11. …3Paul obserueth on the like occasion, nature and scripture …each the same: and the moral law of God, and law of nature, agreeing both in one, doo prooue it to be simply vnlawfull and evill for men to put on wemens raiment. But suppose it were not vnlawfull simply & alwayes, because a xS. Austin, Soliloquior. lib. 2. cap. 16great Diuine saith it is a great question whether a man may do it to deliuer his countrie from an enemie, though 8In that hee addeth these wordes, Fortasse verior vir futurus.him selfe seeme to approoue the negatiue; and a certaine yThomas of Aquine 2…. 2…. q. 169. art. 2.Schoolman, affirming it to be euill and naught of it selfe, saieth that it may neuerthelesse be done for necessitie, perhaps z1…. 2…. quae. 102. art. 6.vponupon I know not what conceit of somewhat ceremonial in it; but suppose a man might doe it for the sauing of his life or countrie: yet your reason faileth in the consequution, that a man may therefore doe it to play a part in comedies or tragedies. aMatt. 12. 3.Dauid, when he was hungry, did eate the shewbread, which was not lawfull for him to eate: and our Sauiour sheweth that he did well therein. But if he hah done it in sport and of a meriment, when no neede enforced: the law, which bNum. 15. 32condemned a man for gathering stickes vponupon the Sabbatday, would hauehave condemned him too. The graue Athenian Iudges, Areopagitae did never punish any (I trow) for killing quailes to supply his want. But, cQuintil. lib. 5. cap. 9.whē a lewd boy did picke out quailes eyes of a wanton humor, they iudged him worthy of death for it. Good Emperours hauehave dL. 3. c. de feriis.allowed men to doe their workes of tillage and husbandrie on the Soonday, when other dayes the season serveth not. What? to hauehave stage-playes vponupon the Soonday therefore, or running of horses, or bearebaytings? No: they eL. 11. c. eod. & Cod. Theo. lib. 15. tit. 5.disallowed it. He that should spende his life as fIud. 16. 30.Samson did, in avenging him selfe of the Philistines, might hauehave the same testimonie of faith which gHeb. 11. 32Samson had. But if one should spende it to shewe men Theater-pastime, as hSueton. in Ner. cap. 12.that fellowe did who played Icarus before Nero, and falling down neere to his chamber, sprinkled him with blood; wel might he earne the praise of Icarus. Wherefore albeit a man for the performance of necessarie dueties might putt on womens raiment: yet would it not folow thereof, that he may doe it to play a part in Enterludes; Much lesse will that conclusion followe, which in steede hereof you sett downe generallie, thereby to fetch about this hidden cōclusion. For you doe inferre, as proved by those examples with the contrarie of Clodius, that 9Nō ergo vestis foeminca iuveni est scelus; Sed prava mens, libido, malitia ac dolus: nec habitus ullus, sed animus turpem facit.it is no fault for young men to weare womens raiment, but to doe it (as Clodius) with a lewde intent of committing whoredome, beguiling, and deceyving: neither doeth anie apparell, but the minde, make a man dishonest. And so assuming hereto, that lQuid simil… nobis obijcere quisquā potest? Quid cogitatum tale? quisnone of your young men, who were attired like women, had anie such intent or meaning; you implie by consequence that it was no fault for them to be attired so; and therefore men may lawfully put wemens rayment on to play. But what a foundation this frame is built vponupon, the consequence in religion and reason both will shew. The Scripture saith that i1 Cor. 11. ver. 5. & 10.wemen, praying, or prophecying, ought to hauehave a veile or couer on their heads in token of subiection: but kverse 4. & 7.men ought not to hauehave so. Nowe, what if a man should preach or pray in the Church with such a veile as women beare in this respect; with a calle (for examples sake) or with a French hoode: should he offende, or no? Your inference sayeth, Nay, vnlesse he weare it with a lewde intent, as Clodius did. For no apparell, but the minde, doeth make a man dishonest: and therefore *Non ergo velum foeminae viro est scelus; Sed prava mens, libido, malitia, ac dolus: Nec habitus ullus sed animus turpem facit.it is no fault for a man to pray with a French hoode on his head. But Saint Paul sayth otherwise: and, though he would graunt the wearing of it with Clodius minde to be a greater fault; yet a fault would he iudge it to weare it with Penelopes, because the verie wearing of it, is forbidden. The lL. 23. D. de auro, argento, mundo.Ciuill lawe, speaking of Mens and Womens garmentes, some peculiar to either, some common to them both, defineth those to bee common, which both may weare without reproofe; peculiar, which both may not. Women shall hauehave no garmentes peculiar nowe to them, if your speach be true. For men may weare their peticoates, kirtles, and whatsoeuer else without reproofe: beeause it is not any apparell, but the mind, that makes a man blame-worthie. The mEsai. 3 …7. Soph. 1. 8.Prophetes reprehend the people of Iurie and Ierusalem, for vanitie in apparell. The n1. Tim. 2. 10 1. Pet. 3. 3.Apostles require modestie and decencie therein. The oClem. Alex. paedag: lib. 2 cap. 10. 11. & 12. lib. 3. cap. 2. 3. & 11. Chrysost. orat. Calend. habit. Hiero. epist. 2. ad Nepot. ep. 4. ad Rusticum. ep. 8. ad Demetriad. ep. 47. de vitando suspecto contubernio.Fathers, instructing folke of seuerall sexes, estates, and professions, giuegive speciall preceptes of the same. The pXenoph. lib. 2. de dict. & fact Socr. ex Prodico Cic. lib 1. de Offic. post. Pane…um.Philosophers, and qCato. Lev. lib. 34. Lysander. Plut▪ apoph reg… & imper…t. Archidamus Zeuxidami. Plut. apophthegm. Lacō.Statemen, hauehave thought some rayment comelie for honest personages, some vncomelie. All greatlie overseene, if it be no shame for what so euer person to goe attired how so euer; and euerie one may weare of anie matter, facion, colour, price hee list. But if they were not overseene all, whiche for some of them wee are sure they were not: then must wee acknowledge, that, as in meates and drinkes rMat. 15. 11.that which goeth into the mouth, defileth not the man; yet, if men drinke too much sEphe. 5. …8wine, they are defiled by their intemperance and riott: likewise in apparell, that which cometh vponupon the backe, dishonesteth not the man; yet, if men weare costlier garmentes then they ought, they are dishonested by their riotous and vnmodest behaviour. And so, if anie man doe put on Womans raiment, hee is dishonested and defiled, because he transgresseth the boundes of modestie and comelinesse, and weareth that which Gods lawe forbiddeth him to weare, which mans lawe affirmeth hee can not weare without reproofe: though otherwise a Womans raiment of it selfe doeth neither discommende or commende the wearer; no more then t1. Cor. 8. 8meate maketh vsus acceptable to God; vRom. 14. 17For the kingdome of God is not meate, nor drinke (I may adde, nor apparell) but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost. Wherefore you had done better service to the trueth, if, in steede of your egre knitting vp of this point with this epiphonema, 2Maledicta textum glossa quae vitiat bonum.Cursed is the glosse that corrupteth the good text, you had obserued rather as xDe idolotat. cap 16.Tertullian doeth, that the good text you speak of, I meane, the holy Scripture specifieth not any apparell 3Maledictus omnis qui muliebribus induitur.Cursed by God, but onelyonly womans worne by man; and had applied it also against mens wearing of it in stage-playes, as yDe spectac. cap. 23.hee doeth. At least I could hauehave wished your censure had bene milder, if not in regard of a younger Preacher, who did so expound that text in a godly Sermon before your booke was printed: yet in consideration of that ancient Father, with zCypri. Chrysost. Calvin. & Hyperius, in the places quoted in my letters to D. Thornton.many other worthy men, whose learned writinges doe glosse it in the same sort; and of a aSext. Synod. in Trull. can. 6….generall Councell, which noreth mens wearing of wemens, raiment though in playes, as a heinous crime. But if our glosse be cursed, who say that in the general sentence of the Scripture, All men are abomination that put on wemens raiment, the speciall is comprised, Players are abomination that put on wemens raiment; a thing which your Law-glosses obserue vponupon your bL. 5. C. d… legib. & constitut. Princ. L. 3. c. quando prouo…. non est necesse.lawes, as standing with reason, and therevpon doe gather (agreeablie to a cL. 147. D. de regulis iuris Semper specialia generalibus insunt.rule of law) that he, who fordiddeth the generall, will not hauehave the speciall practised; and, every speciall is suspended, whē the generall is suspended: what maner a glosse is yours, which deduceth out of the generall affirmatiue a particular negatiue, that is, a flat contradictory; & turneth, Alare, into, Some are not; and delivereth as a rule that it is no dishonestie for a man to weare whatsoever apparell, if his minde be chast?
3 Yet the third reason, wherein playes are charged, not for making young men come foorth in hoores attire, like dProu. 7. 10.the Iewde woman in the Proverbs; but for teaching them to counterfeit her everse 11.actions, her fverse 12.wanton kisse, her impudent face, her gverse 18.wicked speeches and entisements; should hauehave bene allowed even by your owne glosse and exposition of the text: sith 4Distincta sexum forma distinctum de cet, Virile n… est foeminae mores sequi.you say vponupon it, that different behaviour becommeth different sexes, and, it beseemeth not men to folow wemens maners. hStat. Achilleid. lib. 1.Thetis taught Achilles howe to play the woman in gate, in speech, in gesture: Sic ergo gradus; sic ora, manus que nate feres, comites que modis imitabere fictis. And because his mother had not taught him enough, or he was but a bad scholer: iLib. 2.Deidamia gaue him farder advertisements, how he must hold his naked brest, his hands, & so foorth. These are wemens maners vnseemelie for Achilles to imitate: he should not hauehave done it. How much lesse seemely then is it for young men to danse like wemen, though like kexod 15. 20.those, who praised God with danses: and much lesse seemelie yet to danse like vnhonest wemen, like lMar. 6. 22.Herodias? whereby what a flame of lust may bee kindled in the hearts of men, as redie for the most part to conceue this fire, as flaxe is the other, mChrysost. hom. 49. in Matth. Hyperius de ferus Bacchan. Viues de instit. faeminin. Christ lib. 1. cap. de saltationibus.Christian writers shewe in parte by Herodes example: but a nPropertius lib. 2. eleg. …Heathen Poët more fullie by his owne experience; affirming that hee was not ravished so much with his mistresses face, though marvellous faire and beautifull, nor with her heare hanging downe loose after the facion about her smooth necke; nor with her radiant eyes, like starres; nor with her silkes, & outlandish braverie; as hee was with her galant dansing. And greater reason is it you should condemne all stage-playes, wherein young men are trained to play such wemens partes, because, vntounto Momus terming the stage a 5Scurrilitatis ludus, ac lasciuiae.schoole of scurrilitie and wantonnesse, you reply, that 6Ludicrum petulās vocatmery things are called wanton by him, and that 7Scurrile tu pro…erre ne verbū potes.hee is not able to alleage one worde savouring of scurrilitie. As if you had saide, that, could hee make proofe of the least scurrilitie or wantonnes therein, your selfe would condemne them: according both to Christian pietie, by the oEph. 5. 4.Apostles, and to civill honestie by the pArist. Politi. li. 7. cap. ult.Philosophers precept. Which sheweth that you acknowledge it vnseemelie also for men to play such mens parts, as defile their mouthes with vnmodest speeches; much more, as staine their bodies & mindes with wanton deedes. qXenoph. de dict. & fact. Socr. lib. 1.When Critobulus kissed the sonne of Alcibiades, a beautifull boy, Socrates saide he had done amisse and very dangerously: because, as 8foreign. Aristo. de hist. anim. lib. 9. cap. 39. Dioscorid▪ lib. 6. cap. 42.certaine spiders, if they doe but touch men onelyonly with their mouth, they put them to wonderfull paine and make them madde: so beautifull boyes by kissing doe sting and powre secretly in a kinde of poyson, the poyson of incontinencie, as rPaedagog. lib 3. cap. 11.Clemens Alexandrinus speaking of vnholy and amatorie kisses, saieth: Amatorie 9Procul impudicos corpore à casto amoue Tactus: quid hoc est? etiam in amplexus ruit.embracing goeth in the same line with amatorie kissing, if not a line beyond it. Amatorie dansing is, in sOdys. a. & D.Homers wantons, as oile vntounto the fier: and the 1Multarum deliciarum comes est ex trema saltatio Orat. PerMuraen.commendation that 2Enervis hist…. amorem dum fingit, infligitTullie giueth it in bankets, S. vDe paenitent. lib. 2. cap. 6. Chry. ho. de Dav. & Saul. periculosum esse adire spe ctacula quodque ea res adulteros per fectos facit.Ambrose giueth it in stage-playes. Herewithall if amatorie pangs be expressed in most effectuall sort: can wise men be perswaded that there is no wantonnesse in the players partes, when experience sheweth (as wise men hauehave observed) that x men are made adulterers and enemies of all chastitie by comming to such playes? that yCypri. epi. 2 ad Donatumsenses are mooved, affections are delited, heartes though strong and constant are vanquished by such players? that zMinutius Felix, in octavioan 2 effeminate stage-player, while hee faineth love, imprinteth wounds of love? Moreover, sith of like things you must needes iudge alike: you disallow the practising of other vices also, as well as of wantonnes and scurrilitie. Which I presume the rather, because 3Nostra tibi soli impud… Visa est …uventus ingenua, casta, elegans, Generosa, do…ayou say of your actors, the yong men of your house, that they are ingenuous, learned, chaste, well nurtured, and vertuously disposed. For if, vponupon this praise giuen them by you, I should reply, as aPlut. apophthegm. reg. & imperatPhocio the Atheniā did, who, when the king of Macedonie (his countries secret enemie) sent him a hundred talents, and he demāding of the bringers why among so great a number of the Athenians, the King sent that to him alone, they aunswered that the King thought him alone an honest man; Then let him suffer me both to seeme and be such a one, quoth Phocio: I assure my selfe you would reioyne that you wish them to seeme & be such as you avouch they are; and therefore that you would no more hauehave them doe any thing, whereby they might hazard the losse of any other of those good qualities, or the credit thereof, then whereby of chastitie.
Now, within the compasse hereof doth the playing of sundry parts in Comedies fall, as of coosening varlets, base parasites, and the rest, reproued by S. bDe specta…. cap. 5.Cyprian: of sundry partes in tragedies, as of ambitious, cruell, blasphemous, godlesse caitiues, and such as cEpist. lib. 1. epi. 2.Horace noteth, Sponsi Penelopae, nebulones, Alcinoi que In cute curanda plus aequo operata iuventus: in a woord of all such parts in what soeuer playes, as dDe guber…. Dei. lib. 6.Saluianus censureth with that eProv. 10. 23text of Scripture, 4As the Seauentie interpreters (whō his Latin foloweth) expressed it in Greek: agreeing with the Hebrue in substance, though hauing peradventure read ye letter Beth amisse in steed of CaphThe foole doth committ wickednes in pastime; & the fPro. 26. 18.Scripture teacheth they are no better then madd men, As a madde man casteth firebrands, arrowes, and mortall thinges; so is he that deceyueth his neighbour, and saith, was I not in sport? For, the care of making a shew to doe such feates, and to doe them as lively as the beasts them selues in whom the vices raigne, worketh in the actors a maruellous impression of being like the persons whose qualities they expresse and imitate: chiefly when earnest and much meditation of sundry dayes and weekes, by often repetition and representation of the partes, shall as it were engraue the things in their minde with a penne of iron, or with the point of a diamond. In which cōsideration the Spirit of God instructeth vsus, that we ought to 5foreign and foreignimitate, resemble, gEphe. 5. 1.folow God, and h1 Cor. 11. 1 Heb. 13. 7.Godly men, and i1 Pet. 3. 13.that wich is good; k3 Ioh. ve. 11not any euil thing, but good onelyonly; and 6foreign.meditate, l1 Tim. 4. 15exercise those things. And the Paynim Romans, though mLiv. li. 7 25 27. & 29. Au gust. lib. 1. de civi. Dei, ca. 32. Paul Oros. li. 3. ca. 4bound to hauehave stage-playes by their superstition in honour of their Deified deuils, Yet nLiv. epi. lib. 48. Aug. lib. 1. de civ. dei, cap. 31.destroyed Theaters once as vnprofitable, & likely to breede publike 7Theatra stuprandis morib▪ orientia statim destru ebant: sayeth Tertull▪ speaking of ye old Romā lawes Apolo. ca. 6corruption of maners. And the oPlutar. insti. Lacon.Lacedemonians, by their ancient orders, might not heare comedies nor tragedies: because they would not hauehave their lawes gainsaid, though in iest. Neither would the pVal. Max. li. 2. cap. 6.Massiliās suffer any stageplayers to come amongst thē: least the custome of beholding euil things represented should breed licentiousnes of folowing them. And 7 Solon, when Thespis, the first tragedie-player, being demanded by him if he were not ashamed to vtter such lyes before so great a company, said it was no harme to speake and doo such things in sport; the graue old man, striking the ground with his staffe, But shortly (saith he) we, who doo commend and approoue this sport, shall finde it … Plutar. in So …one.in our earnest contracts and affaires. This if that discreete Athenian lawgeuir, if the Romans, the Lacedemonians, the Massilians feared in the beholders & hearers, and feared not without cause, as rIsocrat. orat. de pace: & Ariopagit. Corn. Tacit. Annal. li. 14 Aug. li. 1. de civit. Dei, ca. 33. Salvian, de gubern. Dei, li. 6. & 7experience taught: how much greater outrage of wickednes and iniquitie are the actors & players them selues likely to fall into? Seeing that diseases of the mind are gotten farre sooner by counterfeiting, then are diseases of the body: and bodily diseases may be gotten so, as appeareth by sMartial epigram. lib. 7. epigr. 38.him, who, faining for a purpose that he was sicke of the gowte, became (through 8Quantum cura potest, & …rs doloris? Desit fingere Caelius podagrum.care of counterfeiting it) gowtie in deede. So much can imitation & meditatiō doe. Wherefore, in my iudmēt considering what your selfe doo grant, or must by consequēce, such playes as bring in wooers masked, and dansing, vsing much vnmodest behauiour in woordes and deedes; young men in wemens raiment, and supposed to be gentlewemen, dansing with them; Eurymachus kissing of Melantho, and Melantho bewailing the case that no more kissing, nor dansing now, when she must be hanged; Riuales fond, & amarous; mariners beastly dronken; Phoedra incestuously embracing, and endevouring to inflame her sonnne Hippolytus with louelove-speeches; the Nurse, and a new Nymph thereto, bringing fewell enough to heale and melt a heart of yse or snow; with other thinges haply, which, as tVale…. Maxi. …. 8. cap. 10Aeschines said of Demosthenes, What if you had heard him selfe? so they who were present, and beheld the playes, can better tell then I: such stageplayes, I say, you ought in my iudgement acknowledge to bee iustly charged and condemned by the thirde reason. But 9At grande factum est tempotis dispendium▪ At Mome, non est: Mome mentitis.you, proposing it briefly, that much time was lost and misspent about them, make answere that there was not; & adde sundry argumēts to iustifie the spending of time and paines therein. S. vEpist. 61. ad Euchrat.Cyprian writing of a stageplayer who made boyes effeminate by instructing then how to play the wemen, and to expresse & counterfeit vnhonest wanton gestures, saith, 1Magister & doctor nō erudiendorum sed perdendorum puerorum.he was a maister not of teaching but spilling children. Whose words put me in minde that the losse of time should not hauehave bene obiected so much against your playes: seeing some of the players (if they were like the youthes whom Cyprian speaketh of) might reply as xTerent. E….Phaedria; when Parmeno did tell him that his gift bestowed on Thais would bee lost, Ego quoque vnà pereo, quod mihi est carius: ne istuc tam iniquo patiare animo. There was no more time spent about them (2Nihil studiis remissum est publicis: id fabulis Tē pus tributum est quod solet tribui jocis, Somno que colloquiis que , docto que otio. you say) then vseth to bee spent in sports, sleepe, talke, and learned releasing of the minde from studie. It may bee that there was: euen some time that should hauehave bene spent in hearing Sermons the very day that your Ulyssis redux came on the stage. But if a student haunting a dicing house or taverne with vsus, or stewes at Rome, should say hee spent no more time thereat, then others doe in sports, sleepe, talke and learned releasing of the minde from studie: were this sufficient proofe that hee did not misspend his time? you adde that 3B…ne collocati tēporis fructum chorus praestare noster, Mome, maiorem potest, quàm disciplina quis piam Momi editus.your actors can shewe greater fruite of their time well spent, then any that is bredde vp by Momusses discipline can. I pray God they may. Sure they shall the better if they bee informed that this which you terme the discipline of Momus, is not his, but yDe spectac. cap. 5.Cyprians, who entitled the stage 4Pudoris publici …upana.a stewes of publike shame; or rather the z1 Thes. 5. 22holy Ghosts, who willeth vsus to abstaine from all appearance of evill: and that the contrarie, for the louelove whereof you would disgrace this, hath to great affinitie with the aPro. 7. 21.strumpets discipline, mentioned in the Proverbs. You demand 5An tu poesin despicere doctā audeas?whether wee dare despise learned Poëtrie. No. For S. b1 Cor. 15. 33Paul hath sanctified (as cAd vxorem. lib. 1.Tertulian well saith) a verse of Menander: and dAct. 17. 28. Tit. 1. 12.citing other Poets doth shewe that there is good vse of them. But S. Paul who did not despise Menanders comedies could hauehave deemed it vnmeete for a e1 Tim. 4. 12 2 Tim. 3 10Timothee to play the midwifes part, or Darus, or Dromo, in fTerent. prolog. Andriae.his Andria or Perentia. you aske 6Senecamne tu recitare iacturā putes?Whether we thinke it a losse to recite Seneca. Not I: who hauehave recited sundry of his verses vponupon occasion in my Lectures. But it is one thing to recite; an other thing to play: as you may learne by gSatyr. 1. & 8Iuvenal, who dispraised not Poets for 7Impunè ergo mihi recitaverit ille togatas?reciting comedies, yet thought a 8…inge tamē gladios inde atque hinc pulpita pone. Quid satius Mortem sic? quisquam exhorruit vt sit Zelotypus Thymeles, stupidi collega Corinthi.mā ought rather choose to dye thē play them: by Plinie, who esteemed (no dout) of stage-playing like a Roman; yet hEpist. lib. 2 epi. 10.prayed others to recite, or iLib. 1. ep. 13 lib. 3. ep. 15. lib. 16. ep. 15 and 17. lib. 9. epi. 27praised them for doeing it, and kLib. 3. ep. 18 lib 5. epi. 3. & 13. lib. 7. ep. 17. lib. 8. epi. 21.did it him selfe; by lPoetices li. 1 cap. 7.Scaliger, who reporteth out of the same Plinie that a Latin comedie endited in such sort as the olde comedie of the Greeke was 9Recitatam, non tamen actam.recited in his time at Rome, but not played. And if your tragedie had bene recited onelyonly, as by the 1Vlysses redux, tragedia nova, in aede Christi Oxoniae publicè recitata.title a stranger might conceue, who knew not that it had bene played: surely for mine owne parte I would hauehave accounted it no more losse of time to hauehave heard you pronounce it then my selfe to reade it. But it beeing played as 2Acta ludis Megalensib. tit▪ Andr. &c. ludis Funebribus, tit. Adelph. ludis Romanis, tit. Phorm.Terences were: a looser Poet then Terence would controll my iudgement and very iustly might, if seeing there is in it a 3Dulcis Melantho, &c. act. 3.sweete Melantho, a lewde queane, I should not thinke there came hurt by the playing of it. For you know what mIn prologo Captiv.Plautus saith of his captiue, that 4Profectò expediet fabulae huic operam dare.it would be good for them to heare and see that enterlude played, because it was not made like others, it had no filthy verse, nor perjured bawde, nor wicked hoore, nor boasting souldier. Finally you say that 5Locus suus est jocis, Ludis, choreis, seriis etiam est suus. And, Tu tollis hominem ex homine? tu parte alterâ constare credis?there is a time for sports, playes, danses, a time for earnest studies: and, man consisteth not of one part alone; he hath a body as well as a minde.
Time of recreation is necessarie, I graunt: and thinke as necessarie for scholers that are scholers in deede, I meane, good students, as it is for any. Yet in my opinion it were not fit for them to play at stoole ball among wenches; nor at Mum-chance or Maw with idle loose companions, nor at trunkes in Guile-hals, nor to danse about Maypoles, nor to rifle in alehouses, nor to carowse in tavernes, nor to steale deere, nor to robbe orchardes. Though who can deny, but they may doe these thinges, yea worse, even those S. nRom. 13. …3Paul meant by chambering and wantonnes, and that in the most heinous degree, euen of incest, if your generall speech concerning recreation be not better limited? For to goe no farder then your owne Phoedra, the same reason serveth her vntounto Hippolytus: oOvid. epi. ….Quod caret alterna requie durabile non est: Haec reparat vires, fessa que membra levat. Arcus, & arma tuae tibi sint imitanda Dianae: Si nunquam cesses tendere, mollis erit. Good verses, and a holesome lesson: fit for chast Hippolytus to think of & remember. But as he had learned by the light of nature, that albeit rest and recreation is needfull, yet the thing which Phoedra laboured to perswade him vnderunder pretense of rest and recreation, was execrable: so students are instructed by pXenophon. foreign. lib. 1. de dict. & fact. S…cr. l. 4. Panaetius & Tullie after him de off. lib. 1.folowers of the same light (to goe no higher for this matter) that all sports and playes are not expedient, honest, seemely, some savour of dishonestie. Of which kinde danses are, as the Gentiles sawe by the same light also: those danses, that you speake of, if you speake to purpose; not q2. Sam. 6. 14Davids dansing, which S. rDe poenit. li. 2. cap. 6.Ambrose doeth well distinguish from them, but danses of Penelopes wooers, of Melantho; of other of her maides, and simplie all stage-dansing. In so much that the sDio, Xiphilini epit. in Ne…Romans, whom Nero enforced, if they could doe no other service on the stage, to danse there at least, 6foreign.pronounced the dead happy, who by departure out of life had escaped that shame.
The tIud. 16. 25.Philistines accoūted it a meet dishonor for their greatest enemie, when they put Samson to it: if yet the playing & sporting before them, which they put him too, were so ignominious. All auncient lawes almost (as a vArias Mo…. in Iud. ca. 16.learned man doeth note vponupon occasion of that cōcerning Samson) yea, and reason it selfe doe brande with a marke of dishonestie and infamie, those that daunse publikelie; and persons of such showes and spectacles. Wherefore the needfulnes of a time for sportes, for playes, for recreation, as well as for studie, doeth not prooue the lawfulnes of your Theatricall sports, and playes; of the daunses mentioned; of young mens womanlie raiment; of Melanthos kissing; of Phaedras furious rage; her Nurses and the Nymphes bawdrie; of wantonnes and scurrilitie shewed in sundrie speeches, actions and gestures; of the loose and beastlie behauiour of the mariners, with the rest of like qualitie. Nay, your owne argument that man consisteth not of one part alone, he hath a minde as well as a body, confuteth all such sportes; because, as recreation is needfull in regard of the body, so vertuous recreation in regard of the minde: and vertue more necessarie much then recreation, by howe much the minde is of more excellencie then the body; or rather by how much more profitable it is for minde and body both, sith hee who wanteth x2. Pet. 1. 5.vertue, yverse 9.is blinde, and, z1. Tim. 4. 8.godlines hath the promise both of the life present & of the life to come, and aHeb. 12. 14without peace and holines, no man shall see the Lord.
Now, these things standing thus, what need I spend wordes in prooving of the fourth reason, namelie, that the charge of setting foorth such playes is mony cast away, and addeth wastfulnes to wantonnes, when your owne aunswere doeth strengthen it sufficientlie? For in that you say, 7Est, ubi parcas, locus: suus est honesto sumptui.there is a time of sparing, a time of honest spending, you graunt that vnhonest expense is still vnlawfull: as you hauehave cause to doe, seeing it is of bLuk. 15. 13.riott condemned by our Sauiour in the prodigall sonne. Wherefore, vnlesse that vnthrift might hauehave aunswered Christ or anie other reproouer, Thou blamest me for wasting, but I wast none of thine; thou maist drinke with mee scotfree, if thou be a good fellowe, and welcome: I see not how 8At sumptus ingens: at tibi gratis licet spectare, Mome, nemo te stipem rogat.your aunswere to Momus can be iustified, Thou sayest the charge is great; but thou mayest come, and looke on, Momus, and paye nothing, no man doeth aske thee a penie. And that which 9Huc tantus iste sumptus, in pauperculos magis elocandus, rediit?hee obiecteth, that it had bene better bestowed on the poore, is as weaklie mett with; in that you replie, 1Sumptus est ingens tibi; Nobis mediocris: nemo proptereà minus fovebit inopes; absque eo …emo magis ….The charge, great to him, is meane & moderate to you; none will giuegive the lesse to the poore for that▪ none would hauehave giuen the more without it. For cSueton. … Ner. cap. 20.Nero, being tickled with desire of prayse, and louing to heare men approoue his playing on the stage with clapping of their hands, and crying out, Excellent, excellent, did choose a lustie bande of valiant youthes to doe it, whose Captaines hee gaue 2Quadrag… millia … tiûm.three hundred pound a piece, or better. This, if we consider dCo…. Ta… hist. lib. 1.the millions that he wasted in prodigall giftes, was lesse charge to him, supposing it amounted to three thousande pound, or foure, or fiue, or more, then three or fower, or fiue, or a fewe more shillings is to some of yours. Yet the storie noteth it as part of his wastfulnes: and Nero peradventure was either lesse able or lesse willing to helpe the poore, by reason of that moony giuen for a Plaudite. But you tell Momus, that 3Adquid ist… perditio est, Here? Mala, Mome, vox est.their speech, who saide, eMat. 26. 8.what needed this waste? is evill. An evill speech in deede, as fIoh. 12. 4.Iudas and others vsed it, because that was no waste, gMat. 26. verse 10.it was a good worke hverse 12.done for the preparing of Christ to his buriall. But neither is it a good woorke or seruice vntounto Christ, to spende thirtie pound in trimming vp a stage and borowing roabes out of the revils, for the feeding of that humour whiche iEpistol. lib. 2 Est. 1.Horace, though an Epicure, condemned of great 4Tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur & artes Diuitiaeque peregrinae, quibus oblitus actor Qu…m stetit in scena, concurrit dextera laevae. Dixit adhuc aliquid? Nil sanè. Quid placet ergo? Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.lightnes in the people of Rome: and kHon il. 56. in Genesin.Chrysostome, but what speake I of a Christian Bishop, who may be thought to rigorous? a lPlutarchus Opusc. Bellóne an sapientia clariores fuerint Athen.heathenish Lacedemoniā, seeing much cost bestowed on a stage at Athens, saide they were much to blame for wasting thinges of woorth on toyes; And m Tullie with the learned (whose iudgemēt he relieth on) doe giuegive such expense the note of 5Prodigi dicuntur qui ludorum apparatu pecunias profundunt &c.prodigalitie. The more sorie am I, that you conclude your answere to this and all the former reasons with alleaging 6Academiae tu judicia nihili facis?the iudgement of our Uniuersitie; yea, with asking vsus, whether we set nothing by it. Wherein first you doe the Vniuersitie wrong, in charging the body thereof with allowing that, which some were not present at, because they disallowed it, some disallow it who were present: as in part I knowe by a graue learned man, your good friend and mine, who shewed me his dislike of the representation of amorousnes n De offic. lib. 2.and drunkennes, in Rivales both; the former, not in Rivales onelyonly: in parte I coniecture by that I vnderstande that certaine who came thither, came euē pressed to it by great importunitie; and as my selfe by such meanes hauehave bene ouerintreated to doe that sometimes which I repēted afterward, so I thinke of others, men subiect to the like passions that I am. Next, you doe vsus iniurie, who dissent from them that approue and like it, in that you entwite vsus as setting nothing by their iudgement: when you should rather thinke, by the rule of charitie, that we dissent from them as nDe baptism. contr. Donat. lib. 2. cap. 5. cont. Crescen. grammat. lib 2. cap 3…Augustin did from Cyprian, whose iudgement notwithstanding he reverenced and made account of. But to them I say▪ with oPhil. 3. 15.Paul; to the Philippians, If yee bee otherwise minded, God shall reveile euen the same to you, and I assure my selfe, they will take in good part, that I preferre before them the iudgement of the Church in so manie Councells, what Generall, what Provinciall, of pSext… Synod. in Trull. can. 62.Constantinople, qConcili. Laodicen. can. 54. De consecrat. Dist. 5. c. Non oportet.Laodicea, rConcil. Carthag. tertium can. 11. septimum, can… 2. c. Definimus. §: Omnes. 4. q. 1.Carthage, sConcil. Arelat. secund. can. 20.Arles, and tConc. Aquisgran. sub Ludov. Pio. cap. 83.Aquisgranum; to pretermitt the Fathers, of whom what one is otherwise minded? To your selfe I say farder, that in steed of your question proposed vntounto vsus, Academiae tu judicia nihili facis? I propose you an other vponupon a v1. Cor. 11. 16.surer ground, though in a verse like yours, and God graunt you may thinke religiouslie, wiselie, & fruitfullie thereof, Ecclesiae t… iudi…ia nihili facis?
Thus hauehave I shewed you what mooveth me to thinke that the trueth belongeth rather to the reasons fathered vponupon Momus, then to your aunsweres: Which I hauehave strained my selfe to doe the sooner amiddest my great busines, that as you were desirous by a common friend of ours to satisfie mee, with protestation of your heartie affection and good will: so you might perceyue I am as careful to approove my iudgement vntounto you, my good will at least, if you shall notwithstanding mislike of my iudgement. And if you will signifie to me what you mislike in anie of the pointes; which I hauehave stoode vppon or touched by occasion; you shall finde me as willing to learne, by Gods grace, as I am readie to teach, according to Saint xEpist. 1. ad Greg…. Naz.Basils counsell. For as the louelove I beare to you, and to others, enforceth me the 7foreign.later, not to conceale through envie any thing I knowe; so the louelove I beare to GOD and his trueth, perswadeth me the 8foreign.former, not to bee ashamed to learne that I knowe not. The Lord fill our heartes with his holy Spirit, and hauehave vsus in his gracious protection for euer.
At Queenes Colledge. Iul. 10. 1592. Yours in the Lord Iohn Rainolds.