Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 19.4

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

Summary: Thales held that God is the mind that formed everything from water.

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

Latin text · CSEL 2:25–26

omitto illos rudes et ueteres, qui de suis dictis sapientes esse meruerunt. sit Thales Milesius omnium primus, qui primus omnium de caelestibus disputauit. is autem Milesius Thales rerum initium aquam dixit, deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta formauerit: [eo altior et sublimior aquae et spiritus ratio, quam ut ab homine potuerit inueniri, a deo traditum]: uides philosophi principalis nobiscum penitus opinionem consonare.

English · Claude translation

I pass over those rude ancients who earned the name of wise men by their sayings. Let Thales of Miletus be first of all, who first of all discussed heavenly things. This Thales of Miletus said that the beginning of things was water, but that God was that mind which formed all things from water. You see that the opinion of the chief philosopher agrees completely with ours.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:25–26 · 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 a sentence ("the account of water and spirit is too deep and lofty to have been found by man; it was handed down by God") as an interpolation; it is not translated.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/19/4/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/19/4/).

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