Octavius 12.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Romans prosper without the Christian God, while Christians shun public festivities connected with the gods.

Latin text · CSEL 2:17

nonne Romani sine uestro deo imperant regnant, fruuntur orbe toto uestrique dominantur? uos uero suspensi interim atque solliciti honestis uoluptatibus abstinetis, non spectacula uisitis, non pompis interestis, conuiuia publica absque uobis, sacra certamina, praecerptos cibos et delibatos altaribus potus abhorretis. sic reformidatis deos quos negatis.

English · Claude translation

Do not the Romans, without your God, rule and reign, enjoy the whole world, and lord it over you? You, meanwhile, in suspense and anxiety, abstain from honourable pleasures: you do not attend the shows, you take no part in processions, public banquets are held without you; you shrink from the sacred games, from food of which a first portion has been taken and from drink poured in libation on the altars. So you dread the gods whom you deny.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:17 · 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

Ethics

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/5/).