Octavius 28.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Octavius once believed the slanders too, though no Christian ever confessed such crimes.

Latin text · CSEL 2:40–41

et nos enim idem fecimus et eadem uobiscum quondam adhuc caeci et hebetes sentiebamus, quasi Christiani monstra colerent, infantes uorarent, conuiuia incesta miscerent, nec intellegebamus ab his fabulas istas semper uentilari et numquam uel inuestigari uel probari, nec tanto tempore aliquem existere qui proderet, non tantum facti ueniam, uerum etiam indicii gratiam consecuturum: malum autem adeo non esse, ut Christianus reus nec erubesceret nec timeret, et unum solummodo, quod non ante fuerit, paeniteret.

English · Claude translation

For we too did the same and once thought the same as you, while still blind and dull: that Christians worshipped monsters, devoured infants, and joined in incestuous banquets. Nor did we understand that these fables were always being bandied about by them and never either investigated or proved; that in so long a time no one had come forward to betray them, though he would have obtained not only pardon for the deed but even a reward for informing; and that it was so far from being evil that a Christian on trial neither blushed nor feared, and repented of one thing only, that he had not been one before.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:40–41 · 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.

Topics

Persecution

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/28/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/28/2/).