Octavius 17.8

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

Summary: Spring and autumn soften the shift between winter and summer.

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Latin text · CSEL 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.

English · Claude translation

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!

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. 17.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/8/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/8/).

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