Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 20.2

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

Summary: Ancient tradition should not override the philosophers' reasoned case for one God.

Latin text · CSEL 2:28

quod si prouidentia mundus regitur et unius Dei nutu gubernatur, non nos debet antiquitas inperitorum fabellis suis delectata uel capta ad errorem mutui rapere consensus, cum philosophorum suorum sententiis refellatur, quibus et rationis et uetustatis adsistit auctoritas.

English · Claude translation

But if the world is ruled by providence and governed by the will of one God, antiquity, which delighted in or was captivated by its own little fables of the ignorant, ought not to sweep us into the error of a shared agreement, since it is refuted by the opinions of its own philosophers, who have the support of the authority both of reason and of age.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:28 · 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. 20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/2/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/2/).

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