Octavius 12.4

Minucius Felix · Octavius · ca. 197–250 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Why does God not rescue Christians from torture and execution?

BothLatinEnglish

Latin text · CSEL 2:16–17

sed omitto communia. ecce uobis minae, supplicia, tormenta, et iam non adorandae sed subeundae cruces, ignes etiam quos et praedicitis et timetis: ubi deus ille, qui subuenire reuiuescentibus potest, uiuentibus non potest?

English · Claude translation

But I pass over common things. See, threats, punishments, tortures are ready for you, and crosses now not to be worshipped but to be undergone, fires too, which you both predict and fear: where is that God who can help men when they come back to life but cannot help the living?

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:16–17 · Karl Halm, ed., M. Minucii Felicis Octavius; Iulii Firmici Materni Liber de errore profanarum religionum, CSEL 2 (Vienna: Gerold, 1867), 1–56 · Latin text: K. Halm (CSEL 2, 1867), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in CSEL 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Divided there by chapter only.
Topics: Persecution, Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/4/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/4/).

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