Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 16.3

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

Summary: Like a traveller unsure of the way at a fork, Caecilius wavers without a firm judgment.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Latin text · CSEL 2:20

ut qui rectam uiam nescit, ubi, ut fit, in plures una diffinditur, [quia uiam nescit] haeret anxius nec singulas audet eligere nec uniuersas probare: sic cui non est ueri stabile iudicium, prout infida suspicio spargitur.

English · Claude translation

As a man who does not know the right road, when, as happens, one road splits into several, sticks there anxious and dares neither to choose any single one nor to approve them all: so for one who has no firm judgment of the truth, his opinion is scattered as his unreliable suspicion leads.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:20 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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 editor deletes "quia uiam nescit" ("because he does not know the road") as a repetition; it is not translated.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (OCR: "cl" for "d".): cliffinditur → diffinditur.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/16/3/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 16.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/16/3/).

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