Octavius 8.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: If Athens punished Protagoras, how much worse is the Christians' attack on the gods.

Latin text · CSEL 2:12

cum Abderiten Protagoram Athenienses uiri consulte potius quam profane de diuinitate disputantem et expulerint suis finibus et in contione eius scripta deusserint, quid homines (sustinebitis enim me impetum susceptae actionis liberius exerentem) homines, inquam, deploratae, inlicitae ac desperatae factionis grassari in deos non ingemescendum est?

English · Claude translation

When the men of Athens expelled Protagoras of Abdera from their territory and burned his writings in the assembly, because he argued about the divinity deliberately rather than profanely, is it not a matter for groaning that men (for you will bear with me as I give freer rein to the impetus of the case I have undertaken), men, I say, of a deplorable, unlawful, and desperate faction should rage against the gods?

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:12 · 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. 8.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/3/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 8.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/3/).