Octavius 21.11

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

Summary: If gods were born, why are no new gods born now?

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Latin text · CSEL 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?

English · Claude translation

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?

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:30–31 · 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. 21.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/21/11/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/21/11/).

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