[39] Tertullian, _De Spect._, especially cc. 4, 26, 30. Schaff, iv. 833, dates the treatise †200. An earlier Greek writing by Tertullian on the same subject is lost; cf. also his _Apologeticus_, 15 (_P. L._ i. 357). The information as to the contemporary stage scattered through Tertullian’s works is collected by E. Nöldechen, _Tertullian und das Theater_ (_Z. f. Kirchengeschichte_ (1894), xv. 161). An anonymous _De Spectaculis_, formerly ascribed to St. Cyprian, follows on Tertullian’s lines (_P. L._ iv. 779, transl. in _Ante-Nicene Christian Libr._ xiii. 221). [40] Tatian, _ad Graecos_, 22 (_P. G._ vi. 856); Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, 27 (_P. L._ iii. 352); Cyprian, _Epist._ i. 8 (_P. L._ iv. 207); Lactantius, _de Inst. div._ vi. 20 (_P. L._ vi. 710), ‘quid de mimis loquar, corruptelarum praeferentibus disciplinam, qui docent adulteria, dum fingunt, et simulatis erudiunt ad vera?’; cf. Du Méril, _Or. Lat._ 6; Schaff, iii. 339. A remarkable collection of all conceivable authorities against the stage is given by Prynne, 566, 685, &c. [41] _Canones Hippolyti_, 67 (Duchesne, 509) ‘Quicumque fit θεατρικός vel gladiator et qui currit vel docet voluptates vel [_illegible_] vel [_illegible_] vel κυνηγός vel ἱπποδρόμος [?], vel qui cum bestiis pugnat vel idolorum sacerdos, hi omnes non admittuntur ad sermones sacros nisi prius ab illis immundis operibus purgentur.’ This is from an Arabic translation of a lost Greek original. M. Duchesne says ‘ce recueil de prescriptions liturgiques et disciplinaires est sûrement antérieur au iv^e siècle, et rien ne s’oppose à ce qu’il remonte à la date indiquée par le nom d’Hippolyte’ [†198-236]. [42] _Conc. Illib._ cc. 62, 67 (Mansi, ii. 16); _Conc. Arelat._ c. 5 (Mansi, ii. 471); 3 _Conc. Carth._ cc. 11, 35 (Mansi, iii. 882, 885); 4 _Conc. Carth._ cc. 86, 88 (Mansi, iii. 958). [43] The strongest pronouncement is that of Augustine and others in 3 _Conc. Carth._ c. 11 ‘ut filii episcoporum vel clericorum spectacula saecularia non exhibeant, sed non spectent, quandoquidem ab spectaculo et omnes laici prohibeantur. Semper enim Christianis omnibus hoc interdictum est, ut ubi blasphemi sunt, non accedant.’ [44] 4 _Conc. Carth._ c. 88 ‘Qui die solenni, praetermisso solenni ecclesiae conventu, ad spectacula vadit, excommunicetur.’