Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] To this testimony of antiquity, the age that followed adds its own confirmation, still today displaying in its very titles the shape of that origin — titles by which it is marked which idol, which superstition, each kind of game is registered to. [2] The Megalensian and Apollinarian games, likewise the Cerealian, the Neptunalia, the Latiar, and the Floralia, are celebrated in the name of the community at large; the rest of the games take their superstitious grounds from royal birthdays and anniversaries, from public triumphs, and from municipal festivals. [3] Among these, private funeral endowments also pay their honors to the memory of individuals — this too in keeping with the ancient pattern of the institution. For from the very beginning games were reckoned under two heads: sacred games and funeral games — that is, games for the gods of the nations, and games for the dead. [4] But as far as idolatry goes, it makes no difference to us under what name or title, so long as it reaches the same spirits we have renounced. Let them hold their games for the dead, let them hold them for their gods — it is all one, whether done for their dead or for their gods; both sides fall under a single condition, a single idolatry, and against that idolatry stands our single renunciation.