Octavius 17.9

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

Summary: Sea, trees, tides, springs, and rivers all follow ordered laws.

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Latin text · CSEL 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.

English · Claude translation

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.

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. 17.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/9/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 17.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/17/9/).

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