Octavius 27.7 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Adjured by the true God, demons leave the possessed and flee from Christians.

Latin text · CSEL 2:40

ipsis testibus, esse eos daemonas, credite fassis: adiurati enim per Deum uerum et solum inuiti miseris corporibus inhorrescunt et uel exiliunt statim uel euanescunt gradatim, prout fides patientis adiuuat aut gratia curantis adspirat. sic Christianos de proximo fugitant, quos longe in coetibus per uos lacessebant.

English · Claude translation

Believe them when they confess, on their own testimony, that they are demons: for when adjured by the true and only God, they shudder unwillingly in the wretched bodies, and either leap out at once or vanish gradually, as the faith of the sufferer helps or the grace of the healer breathes upon them. So they flee Christians close at hand, whom at a distance, in your assemblies, they harassed through you.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:40 · 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. 27.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/27/7/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 27.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/27/7/).