Octavius 9.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 2:13

iam de initiandis tirunculis fabula tam detestanda quam nota est. infans farre contectus, ut decipiat incautos, adponitur ei qui sacris inbuatur. is infans a tirunculo farris superficie quasi ad innoxios ictus prouocato caecis occultisque uulneribus occiditur. huius, pro nefas! sitienter sanguinem lambunt, huius certatim membra dispertiunt, hac foederantur hostia, hac conscientia sceleris ad silentium mutuum pignerantur. haec sacra sacrilegiis omnibus taetriora.

English · Claude translation

Now the story about the initiation of novices is as detestable as it is well known. An infant covered with meal, to deceive the unwary, is set before the one being initiated into the rites. This infant is killed with blind and hidden wounds by the novice, who is urged on to strike what seem harmless blows at the surface of the meal. Its blood (O horror!) they lick up thirstily; its limbs they eagerly divide among themselves; by this victim they are bound in league; by this complicity in crime they are pledged to mutual silence. These rites are fouler than all sacrileges.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:13 · 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.

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR: "fanis" for "farris" (meal; cf. "farre contectus" earlier in the section).): fanis superficie → farris superficie.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 9.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/5/).