Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 25.10

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

Summary: Many Vestal virgins were punished for unchastity, and the rest were merely luckier.

Latin text · CSEL 2:36–37

nisi forte apud istos maior castitas uirginum aut religio sanctior sacerdotum, cum paene in pluribus uirginibus, set quae inconsultius se uiris miscuissent, Vesta sane nesciente, sit incestum uindicatum, in residuis inpunitatem fecerit non castitas tutior, sed inpudicitia felicior.

English · Claude translation

Unless perhaps among these Romans the virgins are more chaste or the priests holier in religion, when in very many of the virgins (those, that is, who had rather incautiously had relations with men), Vesta certainly not knowing, unchastity has been punished, while in the rest it was not safer chastity but luckier unchastity that brought impunity.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:36–37 · 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. 25.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/25/10/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/25/10/).

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