Octavius 11.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 2:15

hoc errore decepti beatam sibi ut bonis et perpetem uitam mortuis pollicentur, ceteris ut iniustis poenam sempiternam. multa ad haec subpetunt, ni festinet oratio. iniustos ipsos magis nec laboro, iam docui: quamquam, etsi iustos darem, culpam tamen uel innocentiam fato tribui sententia est plurimorum, etiam uestra consensio est.

English · Claude translation

Deceived by this error, they promise themselves, as good men, a blessed and everlasting life after death, and to others, as unjust, eternal punishment. Much comes to mind to say about this, but my speech is in haste. That they themselves are rather the unjust I need not labour to show; I have already shown it. And yet, even if I granted that they were just, it is the opinion of most that guilt or innocence is assigned by fate, and your agreement concurs.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:15 · 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.

Topics

Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

The sentence "iniustos ipsos magis nec laboro" is awkward in the text; the sense given is probable.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR: stray period inside a phrase.): poenam. sempiternam → poenam sempiternam.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/11/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/11/5/).