Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 36.7

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

Summary: Christians prefer virtue to wealth, and their sufferings are a soldier's service, not punishment.

Latin text · CSEL 2:51

et tamen facultates, si utiles putaremus, a Deo posceremus: utique indulgere posset aliquantum cuius est totum. sed nos contemnere malumus opes quam contingere, innocentiam magis cupimus, magis patientiam flagitamus, malumus nos bonos esse quam prodigos, et quod corporis humana uitia sentimus et patimur, non est poena, militia est.

English · Claude translation

And yet, if we thought riches useful, we would ask them of God: surely he to whom the whole belongs could grant some part. But we prefer to despise wealth rather than to touch it; we desire innocence more, we beg more for patience; we prefer to be good rather than lavish; and that we feel and suffer the human frailties of the body is not punishment, it is military service.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:51 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (OCR: stray symbol.): aliquantum ■ cuius → aliquantum cuius.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 36.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/36/7/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 36.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/36/7/).

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