Octavius 22.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The strange forms of the gods in statues show how absurd they are.

Latin text · CSEL 2:32

quid? formae ipsae et habitus nonne arguunt ludibria et dedecora deorum uestrorum? Vulcanus claudus deus et debilis, Apollo tot aetatibus leuis, Aesculapius bene barbatus, etsi semper adulescentis Apollinis filius, Neptunus glaucis oculis, Minerua caesiis, bubulis Iuno, pedibus Mercurius alatis, Pan ungulatis, Saturnus compeditis. Ianus uero frontes duas gestat, quasi et auersus incedat: Diana interim est alte succincta uenatrix et Ephesia mammis multis et uberibus exstructa et Triuia trinis capitibus et multis manibus horrifica.

English · Claude translation

What? Do not the very shapes and appearances of your gods expose their absurdities and disgraces? Vulcan a lame and crippled god; Apollo beardless through so many ages; Aesculapius well bearded, though the son of the ever-youthful Apollo; Neptune with sea-green eyes, Minerva with grey ones, Juno with ox-eyes, Mercury with winged feet, Pan with hooves, Saturn in fetters. Janus bears two faces, as if to walk backwards too; Diana is now a huntress girt high, and as the Ephesian one built up with many breasts and teats, and as the goddess of the crossroads horrible with three heads and many hands.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:32 · 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. 22.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/22/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/22/5/).