Octavius 18.9

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

Summary: Claiming to know God's greatness diminishes it; 'God' is his only name.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:24

eloquar quemadmodum sentio: magnitudinem Dei qui se putat nosse, minuit: qui non uult minuere, non nouit. nec nomen Deo quaeras, Deus nomen est.

English · Claude translation

I will say what I think: he who thinks he knows the greatness of God diminishes it; he who does not wish to diminish it does not know it. Nor should you seek a name for God: God is his name.

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; 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. 18.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/9/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/9/).

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