Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 10.5

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

Summary: Caecilius mocks the idea of an invisible God who sees everything.

Latin text · CSEL 2:14–15

at iam Christiani quanta monstra, quae portenta confingunt! Deum illum suum, quem nec ostendere possunt nec uidere, in omnium mores, actus omnium, uerba denique et occultas cogitationes diligenter inquirere: discurrentem scilicet atque ubique praesentem molestum illum uolunt, inquietum, inpudenter etiam curiosum, siquidem adstat factis omnibus, locis omnibus intererrat, cum nec singulis inseruire possit per uniuersa districtus nec uniuersis sufficere in singulis occupatus.

English · Claude translation

But now, what monsters, what prodigies the Christians invent! That God of theirs, whom they can neither show nor see, they say inquires diligently into the conduct of all, the acts of all, even their words and hidden thoughts; running about, of course, and present everywhere; they want him to be troublesome, restless, even shamelessly curious, since he stands by at all deeds and wanders among all places, although he can neither attend to individuals while distracted by the whole, nor suffice for the whole while occupied with individuals.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:14–15 · 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

Translation notes

  • The digital text has no sections 10.6–10.7.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 10.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/10/5/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 10.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/10/5/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage