Octavius 17.7

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

Summary: The regular seasons testify to their Creator.

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Latin text · CSEL 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.

English · Claude translation

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.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:22 · Karl Halm, ed., M. Minucii Felicis Octavius; Iulii Firmici Materni Liber de errore profanarum religionum, CSEL 2 (Vienna: Gerold, 1867), 1–56 · Latin text: K. Halm (CSEL 2, 1867), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in CSEL 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Divided there by chapter only.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/7/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/7/).

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