Octavius 22.7

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

Summary: Myths make gods out of those who died violent deaths.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:32

Erigone suspensa de laqueo est, ut uirgo inter astra ignita sit, Castores alternis moriuntur ut uiuant, Aesculapius ut in deum surgat fulminatur, Hercules ut hominem exuat, Oetaeis ignibus concrematur.

English · Claude translation

Erigone was hanged from a noose, so that as a virgin she might be set on fire among the stars; the Castors die by turns so as to live; Aesculapius is struck by lightning so as to rise to be a god; Hercules is burned up in the fires of Oeta so as to put off the man.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:32 · 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. 22.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/22/7/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 22.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/22/7/).

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