Octavius 16.2

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

Summary: Caecilius both affirmed the gods and claimed to be undecided, but not from cunning.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:20

nam interim deos credere, interim se deliberare uariauit, ut propositionis incerto incertior responsionis nostrae intentio fundaretur. sed in Natali meo uersutiam nolo, non credo: procul est ab eius simplicitate subtilis urbanitas. quid igitur?

English · Claude translation

For he varied, now believing in gods, now saying that he was deliberating, so that the aim of our answer might be laid on a foundation more uncertain than the uncertainty of his proposition. But in my Natalis I do not wish to assume cunning, I do not believe it: subtle sophistication is far from his simplicity. What then?

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:20 · 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.

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR: "in" read as "m" and "d" as "a" throughout the phrase (interim ... interim).): mcerim aeos creaere, mteum se aeliberare → interim deos credere, interim se deliberare.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 16.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/16/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 16.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/16/2/).

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