Octavius 17.5

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

Summary: The heavens, the year, and the month show a divine order.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:22

caelum ipsum uide, quam late tenditur, quam rapide uoluitur, uel quod in noctem astris distinguitur, uel quod in diem sole lustratur: iam scies, quam sit in eo summi moderatoris mira et diuina libratio. uide et annum, ut solis ambitus faciat, et mensem uide, ut luna auctu, senio, labore circumagat.

English · Claude translation

Look at heaven itself, how widely it stretches, how swiftly it turns, whether at night it is studded with stars or by day lit by the sun: you will know at once how wonderful and divine is the balance of the supreme Ruler in it. Look too at the year, how the circuit of the sun makes it; and look at the month, how the moon drives it round by her waxing, waning, and eclipse.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:22 · 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. 17.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/5/).

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