Octavius 17.6 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Day and night and the stars' usefulness show the work of a supreme Maker.

Latin text · CSEL 2:22

quid tenebrarum et luminis dicam recursantes uices, ut sit nobis operis et quietis alterna reparatio? relinquenda uero astrologis prolixior de sideribus oratio, uel quod regant cursum nauigandi. uel quod arandi metendique tempus indicant, quae singula non modo ut crearentur, fierent, disponerentur, summi opificis et perfectae rationis eguerunt, uerum etiam sentiri, perspici, intellegi sine summa sollertia et ratione non possunt.

English · Claude translation

Why should I speak of the recurring alternations of darkness and light, so that we have an alternate renewal of work and rest? A longer account of the stars must be left to the astronomers, whether how they guide the course of sailing or how they indicate the time of ploughing and reaping; each of which not only needed a supreme Maker and perfect reason in order to be created, made, and arranged, but also cannot be perceived, discerned, and understood without the greatest skill and reason.

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. 17.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/6/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/6/).