Octavius 20.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Our ancestors believed in monsters and fables.

Latin text · CSEL 2:28

maioribus enim nostris tam facilis in mendaciis fides fuit, ut temere crediderint etiam talia monstruosa miracula: Scyllam multiplicem, Chimaeram multiformem et Hydram felicibus uulneribus renascentem et Centauros equos suis hominibus inplexos, et quicquid famae licet fingere, illis erat libenter audire.

English · Claude translation

For our ancestors were so ready to believe lies that they rashly believed even monstrous marvels like these: the many-shaped Scylla, the multiform Chimaera, the Hydra reborn from its fertile wounds, the Centaurs, horses intertwined with their men; and whatever rumour is free to invent, they were glad to hear.

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. 20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/3/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/3/).