Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 20.5

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

Summary: The gods began as dead kings whose memorial statues came to be worshipped.

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

Latin text · CSEL 2:28–29

similiter t ac uero erga deos quoque maiores nostri inprouidi, creduli rudi simplicitate crediderunt: dum reges suos colunt religiose, dum defunctos eos desiderant in imaginibus uidere, dum gestiunt eorum memorias in statuis detinere, sacra facta sunt quae fuerant adsumpta solacia.

English · Claude translation

Likewise, in the same way, our ancestors, improvident and credulous, believed with rude simplicity about the gods too: while they worshipped their kings religiously, while they longed to see them after death in images, while they were eager to keep their memory in statues, what had been taken up as consolations became sacred rites.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:28–29 · 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 "t" in "similiter t ac uero" is probably the editor's crux (†) marking the words as corrupt; the sense is unaffected.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/5/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/20/5/).

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