Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 12.7

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

Summary: Uneducated people should not speculate about divine matters.

Latin text · CSEL 2:17

proinde si quid sapientiae uobis aut uerecundiae est, desinite caeli plagas et mundi fata et secreta rimari: satis est pro pedibus aspicere maxime indoctis, inpolitis, rudibus, agrestibus, quibus non est datum intellegere ciuilia, multo magis denegatum est disserere diuina.

English · Claude translation

So if you have any wisdom or modesty, stop prying into the regions of the sky and the destinies and secrets of the world: it is enough to look at what lies before your feet, especially for the unlearned, unpolished, rude, and rustic, to whom it is not given to understand civil affairs, much less is it allowed to discuss divine things."

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.

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "u".): ant uerecundiae → aut uerecundiae.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/7/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/7/).

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