Octavius 17.1–26.12
Latin text: CSEL 2 (Latin text: K. Halm (CSEL 2, 1867), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885).
Chapter 17
17.1CSEL 2:21
Nec recuso, quod Caecilius adserere inter praecipua conisus est, hominem nosse se et circumspicere debere, quid sit, unde sit, quare sit: utrum elementis concretus an concinnatus atomis, an potius a Deo factus, formatus, animatus.
"Nor do I reject what Caecilius strove to assert among his chief points, that a man ought to know himself and look around to see what he is, whence he is, why he is: whether he is compounded of elements or put together from atoms, or rather made, formed, and given life by God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Octavius agrees that people should know themselves and ask where they come from.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.1 (CSEL 2:21; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.2CSEL 2:21
quod ipsum explorare et eruere sine uniuersitatis inquisitione non possumus, cum ita cohaerentia, conexa, concatenata sint, ut nisi diuinitatis rationem diligenter excusseris, nescias humanitatis, nec possis pulchre gerere rem ciuilem, nisi cognoueris hanc communem omnium mundi ciuitatem, praecipue cum a feris beluis hoc differamus, quod illa prona in terramque uergentia nihil nata sunt prospicere nisi pabulum. nos, quibus uultus erectus, quibus suspectus in caelum datus est, sermo et ratio, per quae Deum adgnoscimus, sentimus, imitamur, ignorare nec fas nec licet ingerentem sese oculis et sensibus nostris caelestem claritatem:
This very thing we cannot explore and dig out without inquiring into the universe, since things are so coherent, connected, and linked together that unless you have carefully examined the nature of divinity you cannot know that of humanity; nor can you conduct civil affairs well unless you have come to know this common city of the whole world; especially since we differ from wild beasts in this, that they, bent forward and turned toward the earth, are born to look at nothing but their food. We, who have been given an upright face and a gaze toward heaven, speech and reason, by which we recognize, perceive, and imitate God, are neither permitted nor allowed to be ignorant of the heavenly brightness that thrusts itself upon our eyes and senses:
Notes and citation
Summary: To know ourselves we must know God; humans, unlike beasts, are made to look up to heaven.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.2 (CSEL 2:21; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.3CSEL 2:21
sacrilegii enim uel maximi instar est, humi quaerere quod in sublimi debeas inuenire. quo magis mihi uidentur qui hunc mundi totius ornatum non diuina ratione perfectum uolunt, sed frustis quibusdam temere cohaerentibus conglobatum, mentem, sensum, oculos denique ipsos non habere.
for it is like the greatest sacrilege to seek on the ground what you ought to find on high. So all the more do those seem to me to lack mind, sense, and even eyes themselves, who hold that this ordered beauty of the whole world was not perfected by divine reason but lumped together from certain fragments that happened to stick together.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who think the world arose by chance are blind.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.3 (CSEL 2:21; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.4CSEL 2:21–22
quid enim potest esse tam apertum, tam confessum tamque perspicuum, cum oculos in caelum sustuleris et quae sunt infra circaque lustraueris, quam esse aliquod numen praestantissimae mentis, quo omnis natura inspiretur, moueatur, alatur, gubernetur?
For what can be so plain, so acknowledged, and so clear, when you have raised your eyes to heaven and surveyed what is below and around, as that there is some divine power of surpassing mind, by which all nature is inspired, moved, nourished, and governed?
Notes and citation
Summary: Looking at the world shows plainly that a supreme mind governs it.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.4 (CSEL 2:21–22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.5CSEL 2:22
caelum ipsum uide, quam late tenditur, quam rapide uoluitur, uel quod in noctem astris distinguitur, uel quod in diem sole lustratur: iam scies, quam sit in eo summi moderatoris mira et diuina libratio. uide et annum, ut solis ambitus faciat, et mensem uide, ut luna auctu, senio, labore circumagat.
Look at heaven itself, how widely it stretches, how swiftly it turns, whether at night it is studded with stars or by day lit by the sun: you will know at once how wonderful and divine is the balance of the supreme Ruler in it. Look too at the year, how the circuit of the sun makes it; and look at the month, how the moon drives it round by her waxing, waning, and eclipse.
Notes and citation
Summary: The heavens, the year, and the month show a divine order.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.5 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.6CSEL 2:22
quid tenebrarum et luminis dicam recursantes uices, ut sit nobis operis et quietis alterna reparatio? relinquenda uero astrologis prolixior de sideribus oratio, uel quod regant cursum nauigandi. uel quod arandi metendique tempus indicant, quae singula non modo ut crearentur, fierent, disponerentur, summi opificis et perfectae rationis eguerunt, uerum etiam sentiri, perspici, intellegi sine summa sollertia et ratione non possunt.
Why should I speak of the recurring alternations of darkness and light, so that we have an alternate renewal of work and rest? A longer account of the stars must be left to the astronomers, whether how they guide the course of sailing or how they indicate the time of ploughing and reaping; each of which not only needed a supreme Maker and perfect reason in order to be created, made, and arranged, but also cannot be perceived, discerned, and understood without the greatest skill and reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: Day and night and the stars' usefulness show the work of a supreme Maker.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.6 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.7CSEL 2:22
quid, cum ordo temporum ac frugum stabili uarietate distinguitur, nonne auctorem suum parentemque testatur uer aeque cum suis floribus et aestas cum suis messibus et autumni maturitas grata et hiberna oliuitas necessaria? qui ordo facile turbaretur, nisi maxima ratione consisteret.
What of this: when the order of the seasons and of crops is marked out by a constant variety, do not spring with its flowers and summer with its harvests, and the welcome ripeness of autumn and the necessary olive crop of winter, equally testify to their author and parent? This order would easily be disturbed unless it stood firm by the highest reason.
Notes and citation
Summary: The regular seasons testify to their Creator.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.7 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.8CSEL 2:22
iam prouidentiae quantae, ne hiemps sola glacie ureret aut sola aestas ardore torreret, autumni et ueris inserere medium temperamentum, ut per uestigia sua anni reuertentis occulti et innoxii transitus laberentur.
Then, how great the providence that, lest winter alone should burn with ice or summer alone scorch with heat, inserted between them the moderating mean of autumn and spring, so that by its own tracks the passages of the returning year might glide by unnoticed and harmless!
Notes and citation
Summary: Spring and autumn soften the shift between winter and summer.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.8 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.9CSEL 2:22
mari intende, lege litoris stringitur: quicquid arborum est uide, quam e terrae uisceribus animatur: aspice oceanum, refluit reciprocis aestibus: uide fontes, manant uenis perennibus: fluuios intuere, eunt semper exercitis lapsibus.
Consider the sea: it is bound by the law of the shore. See how every tree receives life from the bowels of the earth. Look at the ocean: it ebbs and flows with alternating tides. See the springs: they flow in perpetual veins. Look at the rivers: they always run in their accustomed courses.
Notes and citation
Summary: Sea, trees, tides, springs, and rivers all follow ordered laws.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.9 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.10CSEL 2:22
quid loquar apte disposita recta montium, collium flexa, porrecta camporum? quidue animantium loquar aduersus sese tutelam multiformem? alias armatas cornibus, alias dentibus saeptas et fundatas ungulis et spicatas aculeis aut pedum celeritate liberas aut elatione pinnarum?
Why should I speak of the fitting arrangement of the steep mountains, the curves of the hills, the stretches of the plains? Or why speak of the manifold defences of living creatures against one another: some armed with horns, some hedged with teeth and grounded on hooves and spiked with stings, or set free by speed of foot or by soaring on wings?
Notes and citation
Summary: The landscape and animals' natural defences show design.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.10 (CSEL 2:22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
17.11CSEL 2:22–23
ipsa praecipue formae nostrae pulchritudo Deum fatetur artificem: status rigidus, uultus erectus, oculi in summo uelut in specula constituti et omnes ceteri sensus uelut in arce compositi.
Above all, the very beauty of our own form declares God its craftsman: the upright posture, the raised face, the eyes placed at the top as in a watchtower, and all the other senses arranged as in a citadel.
Notes and citation
Summary: The human body itself shows that God designed it.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.11 (CSEL 2:22–23; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-17-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 18
18.1CSEL 2:23
Longum est ire per singula. nihil in homine membrorum est, quod non et necessitatis causa sit et decoris, et quod magis mirum est, eadem figura omnibus, sed quaedam unicuique liniamenta deflexa: sic et similes uniuersi uidemur et inter se singuli dissimiles inuenimur. quid nascendi ratio?
"It would be long to go through the details. There is no member in man that is not there both for necessity and for beauty; and, what is more wonderful, all have the same shape, yet each has certain features of his own: so we all seem alike, and yet individually we are found unlike one another. What of the manner of birth?
Notes and citation
Summary: Every part of the body is both useful and beautiful, and each person is distinct.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.1 (CSEL 2:23; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.2CSEL 2:23
quid cupido generandi? nonne a Deo data est, et ut ubera partu maturescente lactescant et ut tener fetus ubertate lactei roris adolescat?
What of the desire to beget? Is it not given by God, both that the breasts should fill with milk as the birth ripens, and that the tender offspring should grow by the abundance of the milky dew?
Notes and citation
Summary: God gave the desire for children and the mother's milk.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.2 (CSEL 2:23; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.3CSEL 2:23
nec uniuersitati solummodo Deus, sed et partibus consulit. Britannia sole deficitur, sed circumfluentis maris tepore recreatur: Aegypti siccitatem temperat Nilus amnis, Euphrates Mesopotamiam pro imbribus pensat, Indus flumen et serere Orientem dicitur et rigare.
Nor does God care only for the whole, but also for the parts. Britain lacks sun, but is refreshed by the warmth of the sea that flows around it; the river Nile tempers the dryness of Egypt; the Euphrates makes up to Mesopotamia for rain; the river Indus is said both to sow and to water the East.
Notes and citation
Summary: God provides for each region, as rivers and seas supply what the land lacks.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.3 (CSEL 2:23; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.4CSEL 2:23
quod si ingressus aliquam domum omnia exculta, disposita, ornata uidisses, utique praeesse ei crederes dominum et illis bonis rebus multo esse meliorem. ita in hac mundi domo cum caelum terramque * * perspicias prouidentiam, ordinem, legem, crede esse uniuersitatis dominum parentemque ipsis sideribus et totius mundi partibus pulchriorem:
If, on entering some house, you saw everything well kept, arranged, and adorned, you would certainly believe that a master was in charge of it and that he was much better than those good things. So in this house of the world, when you see in heaven and earth ... providence, order, and law, believe that there is a Lord and Parent of the universe, more beautiful than the stars themselves and the parts of the whole world.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: As an orderly house implies a master, the ordered world implies a Lord.
- The text has a gap ("* *") after "heaven and earth"; a verb or phrase is missing.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.4 (CSEL 2:23; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.5CSEL 2:23–24
ni forte, quoniam de prouidentia nulla dubitatio est, inquirendum putas, utrum unius imperio an arbitrio plurimorum caeleste regnum gubernetur; quod ipsum non est multi laboris aperire cogitanti imperia terrena, quibus exempla utique de caelo.
Unless perhaps, since there is no doubt about providence, you think it must be asked whether the heavenly kingdom is governed by the command of one or the will of many; and this itself is no great labour to make plain for one who considers earthly empires, for which the examples surely come from heaven.
Notes and citation
Summary: Earthly kingdoms help show whether heaven is ruled by one or many.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.5 (CSEL 2:23–24; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.6CSEL 2:24
quando umquam regni societas aut cum fide coepit aut sine cruore desiit? omitto Persas de equorum hinnitu augurantes principatum, et Thebanorum par, mortuam fabulam, transeo. ob pastorum et casae regnum de geminis memoria notissima est. generi et soceri bella toto orbe diffusa sunt, et tam magni imperii duos fortuna non cepit.
When did a partnership in kingship ever begin in good faith or end without bloodshed? I pass over the Persians, who took omens for the throne from the neighing of horses, and I skip the Theban pair, a dead fable. The story of the twins, over a kingdom of shepherds and a hut, is most famous. The wars of son-in-law and father-in-law were spread over the whole world, and the fortune of so great an empire could not hold two.
Notes and citation
Summary: Shared rule always ends in bloodshed, as history shows.
- The examples: Darius chosen king by his horse's neighing (Herodotus 3.84–87); the Theban brothers Eteocles and Polynices; Romulus and Remus; Caesar and Pompey (Pompey was Caesar's son-in-law).
Extrabiblical texts: Herodotus, Hist. 3.84–87 (Herodotus, Histories; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.6 (CSEL 2:24; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.7CSEL 2:24
uide cetera: rex unus apibus, dux unus in gregibus, in armentis rector unus. tu in caelo summam maiestatem diuidi credas et scindi ueri illius ac diuini imperii totam potestatem, cum palam sit parentem omnium Deum nec principium habere nec terminum, qui natiuitatem omnibus praestet, sibi perpetuitatem, qui ante mundum fuerit sibi ipse pro mundo: qui uniuersa, quaecumque sunt, uerbo iubet, ratione dispensat, uirtute consummat.
Look at the rest: bees have one king, flocks one leader, herds one ruler. Would you believe that in heaven the supreme majesty is divided, and the whole power of that true and divine rule split, when it is plain that God, the parent of all, has neither beginning nor end; who gives birth to all things and everlastingness to himself; who before the world was a world to himself; who commands all things whatever that exist by his word, arranges them by his reason, and perfects them by his power?
Notes and citation
Summary: As nature has single rulers, so the one eternal God rules all by his word.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.7 (CSEL 2:24; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.8CSEL 2:24
hic non uideri potest, uisu clarior est, nec conprendi [potest], tactu purior est, nec aestimari, sensibus maior est, infinitus, inmensus et soli sibi tantus, quantus est, notus: nobis uero ad intellectum pectus angustum est, et ideo sic eum digne aestimamus, dum inaestimabilem dicimus.
He cannot be seen: he is too bright for sight. Nor can he be grasped: he is too pure for touch. Nor can he be measured: he is greater than the senses, infinite, immeasurable, and known in his greatness, as great as he is, to himself alone. For us the heart is too narrow to understand him, and so we measure him worthily only when we call him beyond measure.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: God is beyond sight, touch, and measure, known fully only to himself.
- The editor deletes the second "potest" ("can"); the sense is unaffected.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.8 (CSEL 2:24; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.9CSEL 2:24
eloquar quemadmodum sentio: magnitudinem Dei qui se putat nosse, minuit: qui non uult minuere, non nouit. nec nomen Deo quaeras, Deus nomen est.
I will say what I think: he who thinks he knows the greatness of God diminishes it; he who does not wish to diminish it does not know it. Nor should you seek a name for God: God is his name.
Notes and citation
Summary: Claiming to know God's greatness diminishes it; 'God' is his only name.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.9 (CSEL 2:24; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.10CSEL 2:24–25
illic uocabulis opus est, cum per singulos propriis appellationum insignibus multitudo dirimenda est: Deo, qui solus est, Dei uocabulum totum est. quem si patrem dixero, carnalem opineris, si regem, terrenam suspiceris, si dominum, intellegis utique mortalem. aufer additamenta nominum et perspicies eius claritatem.
There is need of words where a multitude must be distinguished into individuals by the proper marks of names; for God, who alone exists, the word 'God' is the whole. If I call him Father, you would think him fleshly; if King, you would suspect him earthly; if Lord, you would certainly understand him as mortal. Take away the additions of names and you will see his brightness.
Notes and citation
Summary: God needs no personal name, since human titles would make him seem earthly.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.10 (CSEL 2:24–25; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
18.11CSEL 2:25
quid quod omnium de isto habeo consensum? audio uulgus: cum ad caelum manus tendunt, nihil aliud quam <Deum) dicunt et (Deus magnus est et Deus uerus est et (si Deus dederit/ uulgi iste naturalis sermo est an Christiani confitentis oratio? et qui Iouem principem uolunt, falluntur in nomine, sed de una potestate consentiunt.
What of the fact that I have the agreement of all about this? I hear the common people: when they stretch their hands to heaven they say nothing but 'God', and 'God is great', and 'God is true', and 'if God grants'. Is this the natural speech of the common people, or the prayer of a confessing Christian? And those who want Jupiter as chief are mistaken in the name, but agree about the one power.
Notes and citation
Summary: Common speech ('God is great', 'God willing') witnesses to one God.
- The quotation marks in the digital text are garbled ("<Deum)", "(Deus", "dederit/"); the sense is clear.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.11 (CSEL 2:25; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-18-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 19
19.1CSEL 2:25
Audio poetas quoque unum patrem diuum atque hominum praedicantes, et talem esse mortalium mentem qualem parens omnium diem induxerit. quid Mantuanus Maro?
"I hear the poets also proclaiming one father of gods and men, and that the mind of mortals is such as the parent of all has brought on the day. What of Maro of Mantua?
Notes and citation
Summary: The poets too speak of one father of gods and men.
- "Father of gods and men" is the Homeric and Ennian formula; the second phrase echoes Homer, Od. 18.136–137. Maro is Virgil.
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Od. 18.136–137 (Homer, Odyssey; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.1 (CSEL 2:25; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.2CSEL 2:25
nonne apertius, proximius, uerius principio ait caelum ac terras et cetera mundi membra spiritus intus alit et infusa mens agitat, inde hominum pecudumque genus et quicquid aliud animalium? idem alio loco mentem istam et spiritum deum nominat. haec enim uerba sunt: deum namque ire per omnes terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum, unde homines et pecudes, unde imber et ignes.
Does he not say, more openly, more nearly, and more truly: 'In the beginning a spirit within nourishes the heaven and the lands' and the other members of the world, 'and a mind infused moves' it; 'thence the race of men and beasts' and whatever other living creatures there are? In another place he names this mind and spirit God. For these are his words: 'For God goes through all the lands and the tracts of the sea and the deep heaven, whence men and beasts, whence rain and fire.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Virgil speaks of a single divine spirit and mind pervading the world.
- The quotations paraphrase Virgil, Aen. 6.724–728, and combine Georg. 4.221–222 with Aen. 1.743.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 6.724–728 (Virgil; quotation); Virgil, Georg. 4.221–222 (Virgil; quotation); Virgil, Aen. 1.743 (Virgil; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.2 (CSEL 2:25; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.3CSEL 2:25
quid aliud et a nobis Deus quam mens et ratio et spiritus praedicatur? recenseamus, si placet, disciplinam philosophorum: deprehendes eos, etsi sermonibus uariis, ipsis tamen rebus in hanc unam coire et conspirare sententiam.
What else is God proclaimed by us to be than mind and reason and spirit? Let us review, if you please, the teaching of the philosophers: you will find that, though in varied words, in substance they come together and agree in this one opinion.
Notes and citation
Summary: The philosophers, in substance, agree with the Christian idea of God as mind and spirit.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.3 (CSEL 2:25; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.4CSEL 2:25–26
omitto illos rudes et ueteres, qui de suis dictis sapientes esse meruerunt. sit Thales Milesius omnium primus, qui primus omnium de caelestibus disputauit. is autem Milesius Thales rerum initium aquam dixit, deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta formauerit: [eo altior et sublimior aquae et spiritus ratio, quam ut ab homine potuerit inueniri, a deo traditum]: uides philosophi principalis nobiscum penitus opinionem consonare.
I pass over those rude ancients who earned the name of wise men by their sayings. Let Thales of Miletus be first of all, who first of all discussed heavenly things. This Thales of Miletus said that the beginning of things was water, but that God was that mind which formed all things from water. You see that the opinion of the chief philosopher agrees completely with ours.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Thales held that God is the mind that formed everything from water.
- The editor deletes a sentence ("the account of water and spirit is too deep and lofty to have been found by man; it was handed down by God") as an interpolation; it is not translated.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.4 (CSEL 2:25–26; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.5CSEL 2:26
Anaximenes deinceps et post Apolloniates Diogenes aera deum statuunt infinitum et inmensum: horum quoque similis de diuinitate consensio est.
Next Anaximenes, and after him Diogenes of Apollonia, make air God, infinite and immeasurable: their view of the divinity is likewise in agreement.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaximenes and Diogenes also held that one infinite principle is God.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: words run together.): ApolloniatesDiogenes → Apolloniates Diogenes.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.5 (CSEL 2:26; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.6CSEL 2:26
Anaxagorae uero descriptio et motus infinitae mentis deus dicitur, et Pythagorae deus est animus per uniuersam rerum naturam commeans et intentus, ex quo etiam animalium omnium uita capiatur.
Of Anaxagoras, God is said to be the ordering and motion of an infinite mind; and Pythagoras's God is a soul passing through and extending over the whole nature of things, from which the life of all living creatures is also received.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anaxagoras and Pythagoras held God to be an infinite mind or world-soul.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "i" for "x".): Anaiagorae → Anaxagorae.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.6 (CSEL 2:26; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.7CSEL 2:26
Xenophanen notum est omne infinitum cum mente deum tradere, et Antisthenen populares deos multos, sed naturalem unum praecipuum, Speusippum uim [natn.ralem] animalem, qua omnia regantur, Deum nosse.
It is well known that Xenophanes teaches that God is the whole infinite with mind; and Antisthenes, that the gods of the people are many but the natural one is chief; and Speusippus, that God is a living force by which all things are governed.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Xenophanes, Antisthenes, and Speusippus also pointed to one God.
- The editor deletes "naturalem" (garbled in the digital text); it is not translated.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.7 (CSEL 2:26; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.8CSEL 2:26
quid? Democritus, quamuis atomorum primus inuentor, nonne plerumque naturam quae imagines fundat et intellegentiam deum loquitur? Straton quoque et ipse naturam? etiam Epicurus ille, qui deos aut otiosos fingit aut nullos, naturam tamen superponit.
What of Democritus? Though the first inventor of atoms, does he not often speak of nature, which pours out images, and of intelligence as God? Strato too says nature. Even that Epicurus, who imagines the gods either idle or non-existent, nevertheless places nature above them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even atomists and Epicurus acknowledged a supreme nature.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.8 (CSEL 2:26; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.9CSEL 2:26–27
Aristoteles uariat et adsignat tamen unam potestatem: nam interim mentem, mundum interim deum dicit, interim mundo deum praeficit. Heraclides Ponticus quoque deo diuinam mentem quamuis uarie adscribit.
Aristotle varies, yet he assigns one power: for at one time he calls mind God, at another the world, at another he sets God over the world. Heraclides of Pontus too, though in various ways, ascribes a divine mind to God.
Notes and citation
Summary: Aristotle and Heraclides, though inconsistent, recognize one divine power.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.9 (CSEL 2:26–27; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.10CSEL 2:27
Theophrastus etiam uariat, alias mundo, alias menti diuinae tribuens principatum. Zenon et Chrysippus et Cleanthes sunt et ipsi multiformes, sed ad unitatem prouidentiae omnes reuoluuntur. Cleanthes enim mentem, modo animum, modo aethera, plerumque rationem deum disseruit. Zenon, eiusdem magister, naturalem legem atque diuinam et aethera interim interdumque rationem uult omnium esse principium; idem interpretando Iunonem aera, Iouem caelum, Neptunum mare, ignem esse Vulcanum et ceteros similiter uulgi deos elementa esse monstrando publicum arguit grauiter et reuincit errorem.
Theophrastus also varies, assigning supremacy now to the world, now to the divine mind. Zeno and Chrysippus and Cleanthes are themselves also manifold, but all come round to the unity of providence. For Cleanthes spoke of God now as mind, now as soul, now as ether, most often as reason. Zeno, his master, holds that the principle of all things is the natural and divine law, and sometimes ether, and at times reason; the same man, by interpreting Juno as air, Jupiter as the sky, Neptune as the sea, Vulcan as fire, and by showing likewise that the other gods of the common people are elements, gravely censures and refutes the public error.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Stoics, despite differences, agree on one providence and explain the gods as natural elements.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.10 (CSEL 2:27; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.11CSEL 2:27
eadem fere Chrysippus: uim diuinam, rationalem naturam et mundum interim et fatalem necessitatem deum credit Zenonemque interpretatione physiologica in Hesiodi, Homeri Orpheique carminibus imitatur.
Chrysippus says much the same: he believes God to be a divine force, a rational nature, and sometimes the world and fatal necessity; and he imitates Zeno with physical interpretation in the poems of Hesiod, Homer, and Orpheus.
Notes and citation
Summary: Chrysippus also explains the poets' gods as natural forces.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.11 (CSEL 2:27; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.12CSEL 2:27
Babylonio etiam Diogeni disciplina est exponendi et disserendi, Iouis partum et ortum Mineruae et hoc genus cetera rerum uocabula esse, non deorum.
Diogenes of Babylon also has a method of expounding and discussing according to which the birth of Jupiter, the origin of Minerva, and other things of this kind are names of natural things, not of gods.
Notes and citation
Summary: Diogenes of Babylon interprets the myths as describing nature, not gods.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "l" for "I".): louis partum → Iouis partum.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.12 (CSEL 2:27; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.13CSEL 2:27
nam Socraticus Xenophon formam dei ueri negat uideri posse et ideo quaeri non oportere, Ariston Stoicus conprehendi omnino non posse: uterque maiestatem Dei intellegendi desperatione senserunt.
For Xenophon the Socratic denies that the form of the true God can be seen and says that therefore it ought not to be sought; Ariston the Stoic says that he cannot be comprehended at all: both perceived the majesty of God through despair of understanding it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Xenophon and Ariston recognized that God cannot be seen or grasped.
- Cf. Xenophon, Mem. 4.3.13.
Extrabiblical texts: Xenophon, Mem. 4.3.13 (Xenophon, Memorabilia; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.13 (CSEL 2:27; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.14CSEL 2:27–28
Platoni apertior de deo et rebus ipsis et nominibus oratio est et quae tota esset caelestis, nisi persuasionis ciuilis nonnumquam admixtione sordesceret. Platoni itaque in Timaeo deus est ipso suo nomine mundi parens, artifex animae, caelestium terrenorumque fabricator, quem et inuenire difficile prae nimia et incredibili potestate, et cum inueneris, in publicum dicere inpossibile praefatur.
Plato's discourse about God is more open both in substance and in names, and it would be wholly heavenly were it not sometimes soiled by an admixture of civic persuasion. So for Plato in the Timaeus God is, by his very name, the parent of the world, the craftsman of the soul, the maker of things heavenly and earthly; and he says at the outset that he is hard to find because of his exceeding and incredible power, and, when you have found him, impossible to speak of in public.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato calls God the maker and father of the world, hard to find and impossible to declare publicly.
- Plato, Tim. 28c.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Tim. 28c (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.14 (CSEL 2:27–28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-14).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
19.15CSEL 2:28
eadem fere sunt ista, quae nostra sunt: nam et Deum nouimus et parentem omnium dicimus et numquam publice nisi interrogati praedicamus.
These are almost the same as our own views: for we both know God and call him the parent of all, and we never proclaim him publicly unless we are questioned.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato's view is almost the Christian view of God.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 19.15 (CSEL 2:28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-19-15).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 20
20.1CSEL 2:28
Exposui opiniones omnium ferme philosophorum, quibus inlustrior gloria est, Deum unum multis licet designasse nominibus, ut quiuis arbitretur, aut nunc Christianos philosophos esse aut philosophos fuisse iam tunc Christianos.
"I have set out the opinions of almost all the philosophers of more illustrious fame: that they designated one God, though under many names; so that anyone might think either that Christians are now philosophers or that the philosophers were already then Christians.
Notes and citation
Summary: The philosophers taught one God under many names, as if they were Christians.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.1 (CSEL 2:28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
20.2CSEL 2:28
quod si prouidentia mundus regitur et unius Dei nutu gubernatur, non nos debet antiquitas inperitorum fabellis suis delectata uel capta ad errorem mutui rapere consensus, cum philosophorum suorum sententiis refellatur, quibus et rationis et uetustatis adsistit auctoritas.
But if the world is ruled by providence and governed by the will of one God, antiquity, which delighted in or was captivated by its own little fables of the ignorant, ought not to sweep us into the error of a shared agreement, since it is refuted by the opinions of its own philosophers, who have the support of the authority both of reason and of age.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ancient tradition should not override the philosophers' reasoned case for one God.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.2 (CSEL 2:28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
20.3CSEL 2:28
maioribus enim nostris tam facilis in mendaciis fides fuit, ut temere crediderint etiam talia monstruosa miracula: Scyllam multiplicem, Chimaeram multiformem et Hydram felicibus uulneribus renascentem et Centauros equos suis hominibus inplexos, et quicquid famae licet fingere, illis erat libenter audire.
For our ancestors were so ready to believe lies that they rashly believed even monstrous marvels like these: the many-shaped Scylla, the multiform Chimaera, the Hydra reborn from its fertile wounds, the Centaurs, horses intertwined with their men; and whatever rumour is free to invent, they were glad to hear.
Notes and citation
Summary: Our ancestors believed in monsters and fables.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.3 (CSEL 2:28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
20.4CSEL 2:28
quid illas aniles fabulas, de hominibus aues et feras, t homines et de hominibus arbores atque flores? quae si essent facta, fierent: quia fieri non possunt, ideo nec facta sunt.
What of those old wives' tales, of birds and beasts made from men, and of trees and flowers made from men? If these things had happened, they would still happen; because they cannot happen, therefore they have not happened.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Tales of people turned into animals or plants are impossible, since such things never happen now.
- The "t" before "homines" in the digital text is probably the editor's crux (†) marking the words as corrupt; the sense given is probable.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "lll" for "ill".): quid lllas → quid illas.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.4 (CSEL 2:28; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
20.5CSEL 2:28–29
similiter t ac uero erga deos quoque maiores nostri inprouidi, creduli rudi simplicitate crediderunt: dum reges suos colunt religiose, dum defunctos eos desiderant in imaginibus uidere, dum gestiunt eorum memorias in statuis detinere, sacra facta sunt quae fuerant adsumpta solacia.
Likewise, in the same way, our ancestors, improvident and credulous, believed with rude simplicity about the gods too: while they worshipped their kings religiously, while they longed to see them after death in images, while they were eager to keep their memory in statues, what had been taken up as consolations became sacred rites.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: The gods began as dead kings whose memorial statues came to be worshipped.
- The "t" in "similiter t ac uero" is probably the editor's crux (†) marking the words as corrupt; the sense is unaffected.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.5 (CSEL 2:28–29; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
20.6CSEL 2:29
denique et antequam commerciis orbis pateret et antequam gentes ritus suos moresque miscerent, unaquaeque natio conditorem suum aut ducem inclytum aut reginam pudicam sexu suo fortiorem aut alicuius muneris uel artis repertorem uenerabatur ut ciuem bonae memoriae: sic et defunctis praemium et futuris dabatur exemplum.
Indeed, before the world was opened up by trade and before the nations mixed their rites and customs, each nation venerated its founder, or a famous leader, or a chaste queen braver than her sex, or the discoverer of some gift or art, as a citizen of good memory: so a reward was given to the dead and an example to those to come.
Notes and citation
Summary: Each nation honoured its founders and benefactors, who later became gods.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 20.6 (CSEL 2:29; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-20-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 21
21.1CSEL 2:29
Lege historicorum scripta uel scripta sapientium: eadem mecum recognosces. ob merita uirtutis aut muneris deos habitos Euhemerus exsequitur, et eorum natales, patrias, sepulcra dinumerat et per prouincias monstrat, Dictaei Iouis et Apollinis Delphici et Phariae Isidis et Cereris Eleusiniae.
"Read the writings of the historians or the writings of the wise: you will recognize the same things with me. Euhemerus sets out that men were counted gods for the merit of their valour or their gifts; and he lists their birthdays, native lands, and tombs, and points them out through the provinces: of Dictaean Jupiter, Delphic Apollo, Pharian Isis, and Eleusinian Ceres.
Notes and citation
Summary: Euhemerus showed that the gods were once men, with known birthplaces and tombs.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.1 (CSEL 2:29; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.2CSEL 2:29
Prodicus adsumptos in deos loquitur, qui errando inuentis nouis frugibus utilitati hominum profuerunt. in eandem sententiam et Persaeus philosophatur et adnectit inuentas fruges et frugum ipsarum repertores isdem nominibus, ut comicus sermo est, Venerem sine Libero et Cerere frigere.
Prodicus says that those were taken up among the gods who, in their wanderings, benefited mankind by discovering new crops. Persaeus philosophizes to the same effect and links the crops discovered and the discoverers of the crops themselves under the same names, as the comic saying goes, 'Venus is cold without Liber and Ceres.'
Notes and citation
Summary: Prodicus and Persaeus say the gods were discoverers of useful crops.
- The comic saying is Terence, Eun. 732 ("sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus").
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "u".): nonis frugibus → nouis frugibus.
Extrabiblical texts: Terence, Eun. 732 (Terence; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.2 (CSEL 2:29; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.3CSEL 2:29
Alexander ille Magnus insigni uolumine ad matrem suam scripsit, metu suae potestatis proditum sibi de diis hominibus a sacerdote secretum: illic Vulcanum facit omnium principem, et postea Iouis gentem.
Alexander the Great, in a remarkable book, wrote to his mother that a secret about the gods being men had been betrayed to him by a priest out of fear of his power: there he makes Vulcan the first of all, and afterwards the family of Jupiter.
Notes and citation
Summary: Alexander the Great learned from a priest that the gods were men.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.3 (CSEL 2:29; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.4CSEL 2:29–30
Saturnum enim principem huius generis et examinis omnes scriptores uetustatis Graeci Romanique hominem prodiderunt. scit hoc Nepos et Cassius in historia, et Thallus ac Diodorus hoc loquuntur.
For all the Greek and Roman writers of antiquity have recorded that Saturn, the head of this family and swarm, was a man. Nepos knows this, and Cassius in his history, and Thallus and Diodorus say it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Ancient historians agree that Saturn was a man.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.4 (CSEL 2:29–30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.5CSEL 2:30
is itaque Saturnus Creta profugus Italiam metu filii saeuientis accesserat, et Iani susceptus hospitio rudes illos homines et agrestes multa docuit ut Graeculus et politus, litteras inprimere, nummos signare, instrumenta conficere.
This Saturn, then, a fugitive from Crete, had come to Italy for fear of his raging son, and, received by Janus as a guest, as a clever and polished little Greek he taught those rude and rustic men many things: to print letters, to stamp coins, to make tools.
Notes and citation
Summary: Saturn fled to Italy and taught the natives the arts.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.5 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.6CSEL 2:30
itaque latebram suam, quod tuto latuisset, uocari maluit Latium, et urbem Saturniam idem de suo nomine et Ianiculum Ianus ad memoriam uterque posteritatis reliquerunt.
So he preferred that his hiding place, because he had lain hidden there safely, should be called Latium; and he left the city Saturnia from his own name, and Janus the Janiculum, both for the memory of posterity.
Notes and citation
Summary: Place names like Latium and Janiculum come from Saturn and Janus.
- Latium is derived from "latere", "to lie hidden".
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.6 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.7CSEL 2:30
homo igitur utique qui fugit, homo utique qui latuit, et pater hominis et natus ex homine: Terrae enim uel Caeli filius, quod apud Italos esset ignotis parentibus proditus, ut in hodiernum inopinato uisos caelo missos, ignobiles et ignotos terrae filios nominamus.
A man, then, certainly, who fled; a man certainly who hid; both the father of a man and born of a man. For he was called son of Earth or of Heaven because among the Italians he appeared with unknown parents; as to this day we call those who appear unexpectedly 'sent from heaven', and those of low and unknown birth 'sons of the earth'.
Notes and citation
Summary: Saturn was a man called son of Heaven or Earth only because his parents were unknown.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.7 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.8CSEL 2:30
eius filius Iuppiter Cretae excluso parente regnauit, illic obiit, illic filios habuit: adhuc antrum Iouis uisitur et sepulcrum eius ostenditur, et ipsis sacris suis humanitatis arguitur.
His son Jupiter reigned in Crete after shutting out his father; there he died, there he had sons. To this day the cave of Jupiter is visited and his tomb is shown, and he is convicted of humanity by his very rites.
Notes and citation
Summary: Jupiter lived, reigned, and died in Crete, where his tomb is still shown.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.8 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.9CSEL 2:30
Otiosum est ire per singulos et totam seriem generis istius explicare, cum in primis parentibus probata mortalitas in ceteros ipso ordine successionis influxerit, nisi forte post mortem deos fingitis, et perierante Proculo deus Romulus, et Iuba Mauris uolentibus deus est, et diui ceteri reges, qui consecrantur non ad fidem numinis, sed ad honorem emeritae potestatis.
It is idle to go through them one by one and unfold the whole series of that family, since the mortality proved in the first parents has flowed into the rest by the very order of succession; unless perhaps you invent gods after death, and Romulus is a god by the perjury of Proculus, and Juba is a god because the Moors wish it, and the other kings are deified, who are consecrated not to profess belief in their divinity but to honour the power they have held.
Notes and citation
Summary: Deified kings like Romulus and Juba were honoured, not truly believed to be gods.
- Julius Proculus swore that he had seen Romulus taken up to heaven.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.9 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.10CSEL 2:30
inuitis his denique hoc nomen adscribitur: optant in homine perseuerare, fieri se deos metuunt, etsi iam senes nolunt. ergo nec de mortuis dii, quoniam Deus mori non potest, nec de natis, quoniam moritur omne quod nascitur: diuinum autem id est, quod nec ortum habet nec occasum.
In fact, this name is given to them against their will: they wish to go on being men; they fear being made gods, and, though already old, they do not want it. So gods do not come from the dead, since God cannot die, nor from the born, since everything that is born dies; but that is divine which has neither rising nor setting.
Notes and citation
Summary: The divine has neither beginning nor end, so born or dead men cannot be gods.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.10 (CSEL 2:30; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.11CSEL 2:30–31
cur enim, si nati sunt, non hodie quoque nascuntur? nisi forte iam Iuppiter senuit et partus in Iunone defecit et Minerua canuit antequam peperit. an ideo cessauit ista generatio, quoniam nulla huiusmodi fabulis praebetur adsensio?
For why, if they were born, are they not born today too? Unless perhaps Jupiter has now grown old, and childbearing has failed in Juno, and Minerva has gone grey before giving birth. Or has that begetting stopped because no assent is now given to fables of this kind?
Notes and citation
Summary: If gods were born, why are no new gods born now?
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.11 (CSEL 2:30–31; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
21.12CSEL 2:31
ceterum si dii creare possent, interire non possent, plures totis hominibus deos haberemus, ut iam eos nec caelum contineret nec aer caperet nec terra gestaret. unde manifestum est homines illos fuisse, quos et natos legimus et mortuos scimus. t et despicis Isidis ad hirundinem, sistrum, et ad sparsis membris inanem tui Serapidis siue Osiris tumulum.
Besides, if gods could beget and could not perish, we would have more gods than all mankind, so that heaven could not contain them, nor air hold them, nor earth bear them. From this it is plain that those were men whom we both read were born and know died. And look at Isis with her swallow and her sistrum, and at the empty tomb of your Serapis, or Osiris, his limbs scattered.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gods who were born and died must have been men, as the rites of Isis and Osiris show.
- The last sentence is corrupt: the "t" before it is probably the editor's crux (†), and "et ad sparsis" is garbled; the sense given is probable.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: stray accent.): fuissê → fuisse.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.12 (CSEL 2:31; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-21-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 22
22.1CSEL 2:31
Considera denique sacra ipsa et ipsa mysteria: inuenies exitus tristes, fata et funera et luctus atque planctus miserorum deorum. Isis perditum filium cum Cynocephalo suo et caluis sacerdotibus luget, plangit, inquirit, et Isiaci miseri caedunt pectora et dolorem infelicissimae matris imitantur: mox inuento paruulo gaudet Isis,. exultant sacerdotes, Cynocephalus inuentor gloriatur, nec desinunt annis omnibus uel perdere quod inueniunt uel inuenire quod perdunt.
"Consider, then, the sacred rites and the mysteries themselves: you will find sad endings, deaths, funerals, mourning and lamentations of wretched gods. Isis mourns, laments, and searches for her lost son with her Dog-headed companion and her bald priests, and the wretched worshippers of Isis beat their breasts and imitate the grief of that most unhappy mother; soon, the little boy found, Isis rejoices, the priests exult, Dog-head the finder boasts; and every year they never cease either to lose what they find or to find what they lose.
Notes and citation
Summary: The rites of Isis act out a yearly loss and finding of her son.
- The Dog-headed one is Anubis.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.1 (CSEL 2:31; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.2CSEL 2:31
nonne ridiculum est uel lugere quod colas uel colere quod lugeas? haec tamen Aegyptia quondam nunc et sacra Romana sunt. Ceres facibus accensis et serpente circumdata errore subreptam et corruptam Liberam anxia et sollicita uestigat: haec sunt Eleusinia. et quae Iouis sacra sunt?
Is it not ridiculous either to mourn what you worship or to worship what you mourn? Yet these rites, once Egyptian, are now Roman too. Ceres, with lighted torches and girt with a serpent, anxiously and fearfully tracks Libera, stolen away and defiled in her wandering: these are the Eleusinian rites. And what are the rites of Jupiter?
Notes and citation
Summary: It is absurd to mourn one's gods; the Eleusinian rites act out Ceres' search for her daughter.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.2 (CSEL 2:31; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.3CSEL 2:31
nutrix capella est et auido patri subtrahitur infans, ne uoretur, et Corybantum cymbalis, ne pater audiat uagitus, tinnitus eliditur.
A she-goat is his nurse, and the infant is stolen from his greedy father so as not to be devoured, and the clash of the Corybants' cymbals is beaten out so that the father may not hear his wailing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Jupiter's rites recall his being hidden as a baby from his devouring father.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.3 (CSEL 2:31; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.4CSEL 2:31–32
Cybelae Dindyma pudet dicere, quae adulterum suum infeliciter placitum, quoniam ipsa et deformis et uetula, ut multorum deorum mater, ad stuprum inlicere non poterat, exsecuit, ut deum scilicet faceret eunuchum. propter hanc fabulam Galli eam et semiuiri sui corporis supplicio colunt. haec iam non sunt sacra, tormenta sunt.
Of Cybele of Dindymus I am ashamed to speak: she castrated her lover, who pleased her unhappily, because, being ugly and old herself, as the mother of many gods, she could not entice him to debauchery; so as, of course, to make a god a eunuch. Because of this fable the Galli worship her by mutilating their own bodies, and are half-men. These are no longer rites; they are tortures.
Notes and citation
Summary: Cybele's priests castrate themselves in memory of her shameful myth.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.4 (CSEL 2:31–32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.5CSEL 2:32
quid? formae ipsae et habitus nonne arguunt ludibria et dedecora deorum uestrorum? Vulcanus claudus deus et debilis, Apollo tot aetatibus leuis, Aesculapius bene barbatus, etsi semper adulescentis Apollinis filius, Neptunus glaucis oculis, Minerua caesiis, bubulis Iuno, pedibus Mercurius alatis, Pan ungulatis, Saturnus compeditis. Ianus uero frontes duas gestat, quasi et auersus incedat: Diana interim est alte succincta uenatrix et Ephesia mammis multis et uberibus exstructa et Triuia trinis capitibus et multis manibus horrifica.
What? Do not the very shapes and appearances of your gods expose their absurdities and disgraces? Vulcan a lame and crippled god; Apollo beardless through so many ages; Aesculapius well bearded, though the son of the ever-youthful Apollo; Neptune with sea-green eyes, Minerva with grey ones, Juno with ox-eyes, Mercury with winged feet, Pan with hooves, Saturn in fetters. Janus bears two faces, as if to walk backwards too; Diana is now a huntress girt high, and as the Ephesian one built up with many breasts and teats, and as the goddess of the crossroads horrible with three heads and many hands.
Notes and citation
Summary: The strange forms of the gods in statues show how absurd they are.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.5 (CSEL 2:32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.6CSEL 2:32
quid ipse Iuppiter uester? modo inberbis statuitur, modo barbatus locatur; et cum Hammon dicitur, habet cornua, et cum Capitolinus, tunc gerit fulmina, et cum Latiaris, cruore perfunditur, et cum Feretrius, t non auditur. et ne longius multos Ioues obeam, tot sunt Iouis monstra quot nomina.
What of your Jupiter himself? Now he is set up beardless, now placed with a beard; when he is called Hammon he has horns; when Capitoline, then he carries thunderbolts; when Latiaris, he is drenched with blood; when Feretrius, he is not heard. And not to go further round many Jupiters, there are as many monstrosities of Jupiter as there are names.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Jupiter appears in many contradictory forms under different titles.
- "When Feretrius, he is not heard": the "t" before "non auditur" is probably the editor's crux (†); the phrase is corrupt and its sense uncertain.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.6 (CSEL 2:32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
22.7CSEL 2:32
Erigone suspensa de laqueo est, ut uirgo inter astra ignita sit, Castores alternis moriuntur ut uiuant, Aesculapius ut in deum surgat fulminatur, Hercules ut hominem exuat, Oetaeis ignibus concrematur.
Erigone was hanged from a noose, so that as a virgin she might be set on fire among the stars; the Castors die by turns so as to live; Aesculapius is struck by lightning so as to rise to be a god; Hercules is burned up in the fires of Oeta so as to put off the man.
Notes and citation
Summary: Myths make gods out of those who died violent deaths.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.7 (CSEL 2:32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-22-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 23
23.1CSEL 2:32
Has fabulas et errores et ab inperitis parentibus discimus, et quod est grauius, ipsi studiis et disciplinis elaboramus, carminibus praecipue poetarum, qui plurimum quantum ueritati ipsi sua auctoritate nocuerunt.
"These fables and errors we both learn from ignorant parents and, what is more serious, we ourselves work them up in our studies and schooling, above all in the songs of the poets, who by their authority have done the greatest possible harm to the truth.
Notes and citation
Summary: Children learn myths from parents, school, and poets, who harm the truth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "ri".): inpentis → inperitis.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.1 (CSEL 2:32; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.2CSEL 2:32–33
et Plato ideo praeclare Homerum illum inclytum laudatum et coronatum de ciuitate, quam in sermone instituebat, eiecit.
And so Plato did well to expel from the city he was founding in his dialogue that famous Homer, praised and crowned.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato rightly banished Homer from his ideal city.
- Plato, Resp. 3.398a.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Resp. 3.398a (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.2 (CSEL 2:32–33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.3CSEL 2:33
hic enim praecipuus bello Troico deos uestros, etsi ludos facit, tamen in hominum rebus et actibus miscuit, hic eorum paria composuit, sauciauit Venerem, Martem uinxit, uulnerauit, fugauit.
For he above all, in the Trojan War, though he makes sport of them, mixed your gods into human affairs and actions; he matched them in pairs; he wounded Venus, bound, wounded, and put Mars to flight.
Notes and citation
Summary: Homer showed the gods fighting and wounded in the Trojan War.
- Homer, Il. 5.330–430, 5.855–863.
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Il. 5 (Homer, Iliad; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.3 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.4CSEL 2:33
Iouem narrat Briareo liberatum, ne adiis ceteris ligaretur, et Sarpedonem filium, quoniam morti non poterat eripere, cruentis imbribus fleuisse, et loro Veneris inlectum flagrantius, quam in adulteras soleat, cum Iunone uxore concumbere.
He tells that Jupiter was freed by Briareus so as not to be bound by the other gods; that he wept tears of blood for his son Sarpedon, because he could not snatch him from death; and that, enticed by the girdle of Venus, he lay with his wife Juno more ardently than he is wont with adulteresses.
Notes and citation
Summary: Homer tells shameful stories of Jupiter's weakness and lust.
- Homer, Il. 1.396–406; 16.459–461; 14.214–351.
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Il. 1.396–406 (Homer, Iliad; allusion); Homer, Il. 16.459–461 (Homer, Iliad; allusion); Homer, Il. 14.214–351 (Homer, Iliad; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.4 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.5CSEL 2:33
alibi Hercules stercora egerit et Apollo Admeto pecus pascit. Laomedonti uero muros Neptunus instituit, nec mercedem operis infelix structor accipit.
Elsewhere Hercules clears out dung, and Apollo feeds the flock for Admetus. Neptune builds walls for Laomedon, and the unhappy builder does not receive the wages for his work.
Notes and citation
Summary: Gods are shown doing menial labour, even cheated of their pay.
- Cf. Homer, Il. 21.441–457 (Laomedon).
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Il. 21.441–457 (Homer, Iliad; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.5 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.6CSEL 2:33
illic Vulcanus Iouis fulmen cum Aeneae armis in incude fabricatur, cum caelum et fulmina et fulgura longe ante fuerint, quam Iuppiter in Creta nasceretur, et flammas ueri fulminis nec Cyclops potuerit imitari nec ipse Iuppiter non uereri.
There Vulcan forges Jupiter's thunderbolt on the anvil together with the arms of Aeneas, though the sky and thunderbolts and lightnings existed long before Jupiter was born in Crete, and neither could the Cyclops imitate the flames of the true thunderbolt nor Jupiter himself fail to fear them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poets say Vulcan forged Jupiter's thunderbolt, though lightning is older than Jupiter.
- The arms of Aeneas are from Virgil, Aen. 8.424–453.
Extrabiblical texts: Virgil, Aen. 8.424–453 (Virgil; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.6 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.7CSEL 2:33
quid loquar Martis et Veneris adulterium deprehensum et in Ganymeden Iouis stuprum caelo consecratum? quae omnia in hoc prodita, ut uitiis hominum quaedam auctoritas pararetur.
Why should I speak of the adultery of Mars and Venus caught in the act, and of Jupiter's lust for Ganymede consecrated in heaven? All these things were published for this purpose: that a certain authority might be provided for the vices of men.
Notes and citation
Summary: Myths of divine adultery and lust give authority to human vice.
- Homer, Od. 8.266–366 (Mars and Venus).
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Od. 8.266–366 (Homer, Odyssey; allusion)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.7 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.8CSEL 2:33
his atque huiusmodi figmentis et mendaciis dulcioribus corrumpuntur ingenia puerorum et isdem fabulis inhaerentibus adusque summae aetatis robur adolescunt et in isdem opinionibus miseri consenescunt, cum sit ueritas obuia, sed requirentibus.
By these and similar fictions, and by sweeter lies, the minds of boys are corrupted; and with the same fables clinging to them they grow up to the full strength of mature age, and in the same opinions the wretches grow old, though the truth is ready at hand, but for those who seek it.
Notes and citation
Summary: Children raised on myths grow old in error, though truth is available to seekers.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "ii".): mendacns → mendaciis.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.8 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.9CSEL 2:33
Quis ergo dubitat hominum imagines consecratas uulgus orare et publice colere, dum opinio et mens imperitorum artis concinnitate decipitur, auri fulgore praestringitur, argenti nitore et candore eboris hebetatur?
Who then doubts that the common people pray to and publicly worship consecrated images of men, while the opinion and mind of the ignorant is deceived by the elegance of art, dazzled by the gleam of gold, dulled by the shine of silver and the whiteness of ivory?
Notes and citation
Summary: People worship images because they are dazzled by precious materials.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.9 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.10CSEL 2:33
quodsi in animum quis inducat, tormentis quibus et quibus machinis simulacrum omne formetur, erubescet timere se materiem ab artifice, ut deum faceret, inlusam.
But if anyone considers with what tortures and what machines every image is formed, he will blush to fear material mocked by the craftsman in order to make a god.
Notes and citation
Summary: Anyone who saw how idols are made would be ashamed to fear them.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.10 (CSEL 2:33; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.11CSEL 2:33–34
deus enim ligneus, rogi fortasse uel infelicis stipitis portio, suspenditur, caeditur, dolatur, runcinatur.
For a wooden god, perhaps a piece of a pyre or of an ill-omened log, is hung up, cut, hewn, and planed.
Notes and citation
Summary: A wooden idol is made from a log like any other.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.11 (CSEL 2:33–34; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.12CSEL 2:34
et deus aereus uel argenteus de immundo uasculo, ut accepimus factum Aegyptio regi, conflatur, tunditur malleis et in incudibus figuratur: et lapideus deus caeditur, scalpitur et ab impurato homine leuigatur, nec sentit suae natiuitatis iniuriam, ita ut nec postea de uestra ueneratione culturam: nisi forte nondum deus saxum est uel lignum uel argentum.
And a god of bronze or silver is melted down, as we have learned was done for an Egyptian king, from an unclean little vessel, beaten with hammers, and shaped on anvils; and a stone god is cut, carved, and polished by some defiled man, and he does not feel the injury of his birth, any more than he afterwards feels worship from your veneration: unless perhaps the stone or wood or silver is not yet a god.
Notes and citation
Summary: Metal and stone idols feel neither their making nor their worship.
- The Egyptian king is Amasis, who had a god's statue made from a golden footbath (Herodotus 2.172).
Extrabiblical texts: Herodotus, Hist. 2.172 (Herodotus, Histories; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.12 (CSEL 2:34; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
23.13CSEL 2:34
quando igitur hic nascitur? ecce funditur, fabricatur, sculpitur: nondum deus est: ecce plumbatur, construitur, erigitur: nec adhuc deus est: ecce ornatur, consecratur, oratur: tunc postremo deus est, cum homo illum uoluit et dedicauit.
When, then, is this god born? See, it is cast, fabricated, sculpted: it is not yet a god. See, it is soldered with lead, put together, set up: it is still not a god. See, it is adorned, consecrated, prayed to: then at last it is a god, when man has willed it and dedicated it.
Isa 44:9–20 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: An idol becomes a 'god' only when people choose to dedicate it.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 23.13 (CSEL 2:34; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-23-13).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 24
24.1CSEL 2:34
Quanto uerius de diis uestris animalia muta naturaliter iudicant! mures, hirundines, milui non sentire eos sciunt: rodunt, inculcant, insident, ac nisi abigatis, in ipso dei uestri ore nidificant: araneae uero faciem eius intexunt et de ipso capite sua fila suspendunt.
"How much more truly do dumb animals judge naturally about your gods! Mice, swallows, and kites know that they have no feeling: they gnaw them, trample them, sit on them, and unless you drive them off they build their nests in your god's very mouth; and spiders weave over its face and hang their threads from its very head.
Notes and citation
Summary: Animals treat idols as senseless objects, nesting on them.
Extrabiblical texts: Ep Jer 22 (Letter of Jeremiah [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 24.1 (CSEL 2:34; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-24-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
24.2CSEL 2:34
uos tergetis, mundatis, eraditis et illos, quos facitis protegitis, et timetis, dum unusquisque uestrum non cogitat prius se debere deum nosse quam colere, dum inconsulte gestiunt parentibus oboedire, dum fieri malunt alieni erroris accessio quam sibi credere, dum nihil ex his quae timent norunt. sic in auro et argento auaritia consecrata est, sic statuarum inanium consignata forma, sic nata Romana superstitio: quorum ritus si percenseas, ridenda quam multa, quam multa etiam miseranda sunt!
You wipe, clean, and scrape them, and you protect and fear those whom you make; while none of you considers that he ought to know God before he worships him; while they are rashly eager to obey their parents; while they prefer to become an addition to another's error rather than trust themselves; while they know nothing of what they fear. So in gold and silver avarice has been consecrated; so the form of empty statues has been set up; so Roman superstition was born. If you review its rites, how many are ridiculous, how many even pitiable!
Notes and citation
Summary: People worship out of habit and inherited error, and many Roman rites are ridiculous or pitiable.
- The digital text has no section 24.3.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 24.2 (CSEL 2:34; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-24-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
24.4CSEL 2:35
quid, qui sanguine suo libat et uulneribus suis supplicat, non profanus melius esset quam sic religiosus? aut cui testa sunt obscena demessa, quo modo deum non uiolat qui hoc modo placat, cum si eunuchos deus uellet, posset procreare, non facere? quis non intellegat male sanos et uanae et perditae mentis in ista desipere et ipsam errantium turbam mutua sibi patrocinia praestare? hic defensio communis furoris est furentium multitudo.
What of him who makes libation with his own blood and supplicates with his own wounds: would he not be better profane than religious in this way? Or he whose private parts are cut off: how does he not outrage God who appeases him in this way, since if God wanted eunuchs he could have them born so, not make them? Who would not see that those of unsound, vain, and ruined mind are raving in these things, and that the very crowd of the erring provides mutual protection for itself? Here the defence of the common madness is the multitude of the mad.
Notes and citation
Summary: Self-wounding and castration in worship are madness excused only by the numbers who do it.
- The digital text has no sections 24.5–24.7.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 24.4 (CSEL 2:35; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-24-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
24.8CSEL 2:34–35
nudi cruda hieme discurrunt, alii incedunt pilleati, scuta uetera circumferunt, pelles caedunt, mendicantes uicatim deos ducunt: quaedam fana semel anno adire permittunt, quaedam in totum nefas uisere: est quo uiro non licet, nonnulla absque feminis sacra sunt, etiam seruo quibusdam caerimoniis interesse piaculare flagitium est: alia sacra coronat uniuira, alia multiuira, et magna religione conquiritur quae plura possit adulteria numerare.
Naked, they run about in the raw winter; others go about wearing felt caps, carry around old shields, beat hides, lead gods begging from street to street. Some shrines they allow to be visited once a year, some it is altogether unlawful to see; there is one where a man may not go; some rites are without women; for a slave even to be present at certain ceremonies is an offence needing expiation. Some rites are crowned by a woman married once, others by a woman married many times, and with great religious care they seek out the one who can count the most adulteries.
Notes and citation
Summary: Roman rites are full of arbitrary and shameful customs.
- "A woman married once" (uniuira) and "married many times" (multiuira) refer to priestesses of particular cults; the last clause is sarcastic.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 24.8 (CSEL 2:34–35; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-24-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 25
25.1CSEL 2:35
At tamen ista ipsa superstitio Romanis dedit, auxit, fundauit imperium, cum non tam uirtute quam religione et pietate pollerent. nimirum insignis et nobilis iustitia Romana ab ipsis imperii nascentis incunabulis auspicata est.
"'But still, this very superstition gave, increased, and established empire for the Romans, since they were strong not so much by valour as by religion and piety.' No doubt the distinguished and noble justice of Rome was inaugurated from the very cradle of the infant empire!
Notes and citation
Summary: Octavius ironically answers the claim that Rome's piety won its empire.
- The first sentence restates Caecilius's argument (6.2–3); the second is ironic.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "E" for "R".): Eomanis → Romanis.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.1 (CSEL 2:35; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.2CSEL 2:35
nonne in ortu suo et scelere: collecti et muniti immanitatis suae terrore creuerunt? nam asylo prima plebs congregata est: confluxerant perditi, facinerosi, incesti, sicarii, proditores, et ut ipse Romulus imperator et rector populum suum facinore praecelleret, parricidium fecit. haec prima sunt auspicia religiosae ciuitatis.
Did they not at their origin gather together in crime and grow strong, protected by the terror of their own savagery? For the first populace was assembled in an asylum: the ruined, the criminal, the incestuous, assassins, traitors had flowed together; and, so that Romulus himself, their commander and ruler, might surpass his people in crime, he committed fratricide. These are the first auspices of the religious city.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome was founded by criminals, and Romulus murdered his brother.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.2 (CSEL 2:35; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.3CSEL 2:35
mox alienas uirgines iam desponsatas, iam destinatas et nonnullas de matrimonio mulierculas sine more rapuit, uiolauit, inlusit, et cum earum parentibus, id est cum soceris suis bellum miscuit, propinquum sanguinem fudit. quid inreligiosius, quid audacius, quid ipsa sceleris confidentia turpius?
Soon he carried off, violated, and mocked other men's maidens, some already betrothed, some promised, and some young wives out of their marriages, against all custom; and he stirred up war with their parents, that is, with his own fathers-in-law, and shed kindred blood. What is more irreligious, more audacious, more shameful than this very confidence in crime?
Notes and citation
Summary: Romulus's Romans seized the Sabine women and fought their own in-laws.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.3 (CSEL 2:35; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.4CSEL 2:35–36
iam finitimos agro pellere, ciuitates proximas euertere cum templis et altaribus, captos cogere, damnis alienis et suis sceleribus adolescere cum Romulo regibus ceteris et posteris ducibus disciplina communis est.
Then to drive neighbours from their land, to overthrow nearby cities with their temples and altars, to force captives into submission, to grow by others' losses and their own crimes: this is the common practice of Romulus, of the other kings, and of the generals after them.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome grew by conquest, plunder, and crime.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.4 (CSEL 2:35–36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.5CSEL 2:36
ita quicquid Romani tenent, colunt, possident, audaciae praeda est: templa omnia de manubiis, id est de ruinis urbium, de spoliis deorum, de caedibus sacerdotum: hoc insultare et inludere est, uictis religionibus seruire, captiuas eas post uictorias adorare. nam adorare quae manu ceperis, sacrilegium est consecrare, non numina.
So whatever the Romans hold, cultivate, and possess is the plunder of audacity: all their temples come from the spoils of war, that is, from the ruins of cities, the plunder of gods, the slaughter of priests. This is to insult and mock, to serve conquered religions, to adore them as captives after victories. For to adore what you have taken by force is to consecrate sacrilege, not divinities.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome's temples come from plunder, and worshipping captured gods is sacrilege.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.5 (CSEL 2:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.6CSEL 2:36
totiens ergo Romanis inpiatum est quotiens triumphatum, tot de diis spolia quot de gentibus sunt tropaea. igitur Romani non ideo tanti, quod religiosi, sed quod inpune sacrilegi.
So as often as the Romans triumphed, so often they committed impiety; there are as many spoils taken from gods as trophies taken from nations. The Romans, then, are not so great because they are religious, but because they are sacrilegious with impunity.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome is great not by piety but by unpunished sacrilege.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.6 (CSEL 2:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.7CSEL 2:36
neque enim potuerunt in ipsis bellis deos adiutores habere, aduersus quos arma rapuerunt, sed quos prostrauerant, detriumphatos colere coeperunt. quid autem isti dii pro Romanis possunt, qui nihil pro suis aduersus eorum arma ualuerunt? Romanorum enim uernaculos deos nouimus: Romulus, Picus, Tiberinus et Consus et Pilumnus ac Volumnus dii.
For in the wars themselves they could not have as helpers the gods against whom they took up arms; but those whom they had overthrown they began to worship once triumphed over. And what can these gods do for the Romans, who had no power for their own people against Roman arms? For we know the native gods of the Romans: Romulus, Picus, Tiberinus, and Consus, and Pilumnus and Volumnus are gods.
Notes and citation
Summary: The conquered gods could not protect their own people, and Rome's native gods are mere men.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.7 (CSEL 2:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.8CSEL 2:36
Cloacinam Tatius et inuenit et coluit, Pauorem Hostilius atque Pallorem, mox a nescio quo Febris dedicata: haec alumna urbis istius superstitio, morbi et malae ualetudines. sane et Acca Larentia et Flora, meretrices propudiosae, inter morbos Romanorum et deos computandae.
Tatius both discovered and worshipped Cloacina; Hostilius Fear and Pallor; then Fever was dedicated by someone or other. This is the superstition nursed by that city: diseases and ill health. Surely Acca Larentia and Flora too, shameless prostitutes, must be counted among the diseases and the gods of the Romans.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome worships sewers, fear, fever, and deified prostitutes.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.8 (CSEL 2:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.9CSEL 2:36
isti scilicet aduersus ceteros, qui in gentibus colebantur, Romanorum imperium protulerunt: neque enim eos aduersum suos homines uel Mars Thracius uel Iuppiter Creticus uel Iuno nunc Argiua, nunc Samia, nunc Poena, uel Diana Taurica uel Mater Idaea uel Aegyptia illa non numina, sed portenta iuuerunt.
These, of course, extended the Roman empire against the others that were worshipped among the nations! For neither Thracian Mars, nor Cretan Jupiter, nor Juno, now of Argos, now of Samos, now of Carthage, nor Taurian Diana, nor the Idaean Mother, nor those Egyptian not divinities but monstrosities, helped them against their own people.
Notes and citation
Summary: Other nations' gods did not help them against Rome.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "u" for "iu".): portenta uuerunt → portenta iuuerunt.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.9 (CSEL 2:36; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.10CSEL 2:36–37
nisi forte apud istos maior castitas uirginum aut religio sanctior sacerdotum, cum paene in pluribus uirginibus, set quae inconsultius se uiris miscuissent, Vesta sane nesciente, sit incestum uindicatum, in residuis inpunitatem fecerit non castitas tutior, sed inpudicitia felicior.
Unless perhaps among these Romans the virgins are more chaste or the priests holier in religion, when in very many of the virgins (those, that is, who had rather incautiously had relations with men), Vesta certainly not knowing, unchastity has been punished, while in the rest it was not safer chastity but luckier unchastity that brought impunity.
Notes and citation
Summary: Many Vestal virgins were punished for unchastity, and the rest were merely luckier.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.10 (CSEL 2:36–37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.11CSEL 2:37
ubi autem magis a sacerdotibus quam inter aras et delubra conducuntur stupra, tractantur lenocinia, adulteria meditantur? frequentius denique in aedituorum cellulis quam in ipsis lupanaribus flagrans libido defungitur.
And where are debaucheries arranged by priests, pimping transacted, and adulteries plotted more than among the altars and shrines? In fact, burning lust is satisfied more often in the little rooms of the temple-keepers than in the brothels themselves.
Notes and citation
Summary: Temples are centres of vice more than brothels.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "m" for "in".): m ipsis lupanaribus → in ipsis lupanaribus.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.11 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
25.12CSEL 2:37
et tamen ante eos Deo dispensante diu regna tenuerunt Assyrii, Medi, Persae, Graeci etiam et Aegyptii, cum Pontifices et Aruales et Salios et Vestales et Augures non haberent nec pullos cauea reclusos, quorum cibo uel fastidio res publica summa regeretur.
And yet before them, by God's ordering, the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, and also the Greeks and Egyptians held kingdoms for a long time, though they did not have Pontiffs and Arval Brothers and Salii and Vestals and Augurs, nor chickens shut up in a coop, by whose eating or refusing to eat the highest affairs of state were governed.
Notes and citation
Summary: Other empires flourished without Rome's religious institutions, by God's providence.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.12 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-25-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Chapter 26
26.1CSEL 2:37
Iam enim uenio ad illa auspicia et auguria Romana, quae summo: labore collecta testatus es et paenitenter omissa. et obseruata feliciter.
"Now I come to those Roman auspices and auguries which you have collected with the greatest labour and declared to have been neglected to men's regret and observed with good fortune.
Notes and citation
Summary: Octavius turns to the Roman auspices Caecilius praised.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "u".): nenio → uenio.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.1 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-1).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.2CSEL 2:37
Clodius scilicet et Flaminius et Iunius ideo exercitus perdiderunt, quod pullorum solistimum tripudium exspectandum non putauerunt. quid Regulus?
Clodius, of course, and Flaminius and Junius lost their armies because they did not think they should wait for the favourable omen of the chickens' feeding. What of Regulus?
Notes and citation
Summary: Roman generals lost battles, supposedly for ignoring the sacred chickens.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: name misread (Junius, as in 7.4).): et unus ideo → et Iunius ideo.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.2 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-2).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.3CSEL 2:37
nonne auguria seruauit et captus est? Mancinus religionem tenuit, et sub iugum missus est et deditus. pullos edaces habuit et Paulus, apud Cannas tamen cum maiore populi Romani parte prostratus est.
Did he not observe the auguries, and was captured? Mancinus kept religion, and was sent under the yoke and surrendered. Paulus too had greedy chickens, yet at Cannae he was laid low with the greater part of the Roman people.
Notes and citation
Summary: Others obeyed the omens and were defeated anyway.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.3 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-3).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.4CSEL 2:37
Gaius Caesar, ne ante brumam in Africam nauigia transmitteret, auguriis et auspiciis renitentibus, spreuit: eo acus et nauigauit et uicit.
Gaius Caesar, when the auguries and auspices opposed his sending ships across to Africa before the winter solstice, spurned them: all the more easily he both sailed and won.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Caesar ignored the omens and won.
- "All the more easily" renders the probable sense; the digital text reads "eo acus", apparently a corruption of "eo facilius".
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.4 (CSEL 2:37; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-4).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.5CSEL 2:37–38
quae uero et quanta de oraculis prosequar? post mortem Amphiaraus uentura respondit, qui proditum iri se ob monile ab uxore nesciuit. Tiresias caecus futura uidebat, qui praesentia non uidebat.
What, and how many, things shall I recount about the oracles? Amphiaraus gave answers about the future after his death, who did not know that he would be betrayed by his wife for a necklace. Tiresias, blind, saw the future, who did not see the present.
Notes and citation
Summary: Famous seers could not foresee their own fates.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.5 (CSEL 2:37–38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-5).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.6CSEL 2:38
de Pyrro Ennius Apollinis Pythi responsa confinxit, cum iam Apollo uersus facere desisset: cuius tunc cautum illud et ambiguum defecit oraculum, cum et politiores homines et minus creduli esse coeperunt. et Demosthenes, quod sciret responsa simulata, φιλιππίζειν Pythiam querebatur.
Ennius invented the answers of Pythian Apollo about Pyrrhus, when Apollo had already stopped making verses; that cautious and ambiguous oracle of his failed at the time when men began to be both more refined and less credulous. And Demosthenes, because he knew the answers were feigned, complained that the Pythia was 'philippizing'.
Notes and citation
Summary: Oracles were invented or biased and faded as people became less credulous.
- "Philippizing" (Greek φιλιππίζειν): siding with Philip of Macedon.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.6 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-6).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.7CSEL 2:38
At nonnumquam tamen ueritatem uel auspicia uel oracula tetigerunt. quamquam inter multa mendacia uideri possit industriam casus imitatus, adgrediar tamen fontem ipsum erroris et prauitatis, unde omnis caligo ista manauit, et altius eruere aperire manifestius. spiritus sunt insinceri, uagi, a caelesti uigore terrenis labibus et cupiditatibus degrauati.
'But sometimes auspices or oracles have touched the truth.' Although among many lies chance may seem to have imitated design, yet I will approach the very source of error and depravity, from which all this darkness has flowed, and dig it out more deeply and lay it open more plainly. There are spirits, impure and wandering, weighed down from heavenly vigour by earthly stains and desires.
Notes and citation
Summary: Octavius explains that impure spirits lie behind oracles.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.7 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-7).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.8CSEL 2:38
isti igitur spiritus, posteaquam simplicitatem substantiae suae onusti et inmersi uitiis perdiderunt, ad solacium calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi iam perdere et deprauati errorem prauitatis infundere et alienati a Deo inductis prauis religionibus a Deo segregare.
These spirits, then, after they lost the simplicity of their substance, burdened and sunk in vices, do not cease, for the consolation of their calamity, being ruined themselves, to ruin others, and, being depraved, to pour in the error of depravity, and, estranged from God, to separate others from God by introducing depraved religions.
Notes and citation
Summary: Fallen spirits seek to draw others away from God through false religions.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.8 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-8).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.9CSEL 2:38
eos spiritus daemonas esse poetae sciunt, philosophi disserunt, Socrates nouit, qui ad nutum et arbitrium adsidentis sibi daemonis uel declinabat negotia uel petebat.
The poets know that these spirits are demons, the philosophers discuss it, Socrates knew it, who at the nod and will of the demon attending him either declined or pursued affairs.
Notes and citation
Summary: Poets and philosophers, including Socrates, knew of demons.
- Socrates' "daimonion": cf. Plato, Apol. 31c–d.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Apol. 31c–d (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.9 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-9).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.10CSEL 2:38
magi quoque non tantum sciunt daemonas, sed etiam quicquid miraculi ludunt, per daemonas faciunt: illis adspirantibus et infundentibus praestigias edunt, uel quae non sunt uideri, uel quae sunt non uideri.
The magicians too not only know demons, but whatever marvel they perform in sport, they do through demons: by their breathing upon them and pouring in, they produce illusions, making what is not appear to be, or what is appear not to be.
Notes and citation
Summary: Magicians work their tricks through demons.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.10 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-10).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.11CSEL 2:38
eorum magorum et eloquio et negotio primus Hostanes et uerum Deum merita maiestate prosequitur et angelos, id est ministros et nuntios Dei sed ueri, eius uenerationi nouit adsistere, ut et nutu ipso et uultu domini territi contremescant. idem etiam daemonas prodidit terrenos, uagos, humanitatis inimicos.
Of these magicians, the first both in eloquence and in practice, Hostanes, both honours the true God with the majesty due him and knows that angels, that is, ministers and messengers of the true God, stand by to venerate him, so that they tremble, terrified at the very nod and look of their Lord. The same man also made known that demons are earthly, wandering, enemies of humanity.
Notes and citation
Summary: The magus Hostanes acknowledged the true God, his angels, and hostile demons.
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.11 (CSEL 2:38; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-11).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
26.12CSEL 2:38–39
quid Plato, qui inuenire Deum negotium credidit, nonne et angelos sine negotio narrat et daemonas? et in Symposio etiam suo naturam daemonum exprimere conititur? uult enim esse substantiam inter mortalem inmortalemque, id est inter corpus et spiritum mediam, terreni ponderis et caelestis leuitatis admixtione concretam, ex qua monet etiam t nos procupidinem amoris, et dicit informari et inlabi pectoribus. humanis et sensum mouere et adfectus fingere et ardorem cupiditatis infundere.
What of Plato, who thought it a labour to find God? Does he not also speak of angels and demons without labour? And in his Symposium too does he not strive to express the nature of demons? For he holds it to be a substance between mortal and immortal, that is, midway between body and spirit, compounded of a mixture of earthly weight and heavenly lightness; from which he also warns us of the desire of love, and says that it is formed and slips into human hearts, moves the senses, shapes the affections, and pours in the ardour of desire.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Plato describes demons as beings between mortal and immortal who stir human desires.
- Plato, Symp. 202d–203a. The phrase about love is corrupt ("monet etiam t nos procupidinem"; the "t" is probably the editor's crux, †); the sense given is probable.
Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Symp. 202d–203a (Plato (works); allusion)
Cite (SBL): Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.12 (CSEL 2:38–39; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17-1/#p-26-12).
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.