Octavius 18.6 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 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.

English · Claude translation

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.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:24 · 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.

Extrabiblical texts

Herodotus, Hist. 3.84–87 (Herodotus, Histories) · allusion, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

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).

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/6/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 18.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/18/6/).