Octavius 8.1

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

Summary: Caecilius cannot tolerate anyone attacking a religion that all nations agree on.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:11

Itaque cum omnium gentium de dis inmortalibus, quamuis incerta sit uel ratio uel origo, maneat tamen firma consensio, neminem fero tanta audacia tamque inreligiosa nescio qua prudentia tumescentem, qui hanc religionem tam uetustam, tam utilem, tam salubrem dissoluere aut infirmare nitatur.

English · Claude translation

"So, since among all nations there remains a firm agreement about the immortal gods, however uncertain their nature or origin may be, I cannot bear anyone swelling with such boldness and with some irreligious wisdom or other, as to strive to dissolve or weaken this religion, so ancient, so useful, so wholesome.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:11 · 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. 8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/1/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/1/).

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