Octavius 17.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: To know ourselves we must know God; humans, unlike beasts, are made to look up to heaven.

Latin text · CSEL 2:21

quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine uniuersitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, conexa, concatenata sint, ut nisi diuinitatis rationem diligenter excusseris, nescias humanitatis, nec possis pulchre gerere rem ciuilem, nisi cognoueris hanc communem omnium mundi ciuitatem, praecipue cum a feris beluis hoc differamus, quod illa prona in terramque uergentia nihil nata sunt prospicere nisi pabulum. nos, quibus uultus erectus, quibus suspectus in caelum datus est, sermo et ratio, per quae Deum adgnoscimus, sentimus, imitamur, ignorare nec fas nec licet ingerentem sese oculis et sensibus nostris caelestem claritatem:

English · Claude translation

This very thing we cannot explore and dig out without inquiring into the universe, since things are so coherent, connected, and linked together that unless you have carefully examined the nature of divinity you cannot know that of humanity; nor can you conduct civil affairs well unless you have come to know this common city of the whole world; especially since we differ from wild beasts in this, that they, bent forward and turned toward the earth, are born to look at nothing but their food. We, who have been given an upright face and a gaze toward heaven, speech and reason, by which we recognize, perceive, and imitate God, are neither permitted nor allowed to be ignorant of the heavenly brightness that thrusts itself upon our eyes and senses:

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:21 · 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.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/2/).