Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 37.3

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

Summary: God's soldier is never abandoned; pagans praise heroes like Mucius Scaevola for enduring pain.

Latin text · CSEL 2:52

at enim Dei miles nec in dolore deseritur nec morte finitur. sic Christianus miser uideri potest, non potest inueniri. uos ipsi calamitosos uiros fertis ad caelum, Mucium Scaeuolam, qui cum errasset in regem perisset in hostibus, nisi dexteram perdidisset.

English · Claude translation

But the soldier of God is neither deserted in pain nor ended by death. So a Christian can seem wretched, but cannot be found so. You yourselves extol to the skies men in calamity, Mucius Scaevola, who, when he had failed against the king, would have perished among the enemy had he not sacrificed his right hand.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:52 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Martyrdom

Notes

Translation notes

  • Mucius Scaevola burned his right hand before the Etruscan king Porsenna after failing to kill him.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/3/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/3/).

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