Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 18.8

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

Summary: God is beyond sight, touch, and measure, known fully only to himself.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Latin text · CSEL 2:24

hic non uideri potest, uisu clarior est, nec conprendi [potest], tactu purior est, nec aestimari, sensibus maior est, infinitus, inmensus et soli sibi tantus, quantus est, notus: nobis uero ad intellectum pectus angustum est, et ideo sic eum digne aestimamus, dum inaestimabilem dicimus.

English · Claude translation

He cannot be seen: he is too bright for sight. Nor can he be grasped: he is too pure for touch. Nor can he be measured: he is greater than the senses, infinite, immeasurable, and known in his greatness, as great as he is, to himself alone. For us the heart is too narrow to understand him, and so we measure him worthily only when we call him beyond measure.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:24 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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

Translation notes

  • The editor deletes the second "potest" ("can"); the sense is unaffected.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/8/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/8/).

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