Octavius 23.9

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

Summary: People worship images because they are dazzled by precious materials.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:33

Quis ergo dubitat hominum imagines consecratas uulgus orare et publice colere, dum opinio et mens imperitorum artis concinnitate decipitur, auri fulgore praestringitur, argenti nitore et candore eboris hebetatur?

English · Claude translation

Who then doubts that the common people pray to and publicly worship consecrated images of men, while the opinion and mind of the ignorant is deceived by the elegance of art, dazzled by the gleam of gold, dulled by the shine of silver and the whiteness of ivory?

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:33 · 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. 23.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/23/9/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/23/9/).

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