Octavius 25.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Rome's temples come from plunder, and worshipping captured gods is sacrilege.

Latin text · CSEL 2:36

ita quicquid Romani tenent, colunt, possident, audaciae praeda est: templa omnia de manubiis, id est de ruinis urbium, de spoliis deorum, de caedibus sacerdotum: hoc insultare et inludere est, uictis religionibus seruire, captiuas eas post uictorias adorare. nam adorare quae manu ceperis, sacrilegium est consecrare, non numina.

English · Claude translation

So whatever the Romans hold, cultivate, and possess is the plunder of audacity: all their temples come from the spoils of war, that is, from the ruins of cities, the plunder of gods, the slaughter of priests. This is to insult and mock, to serve conquered religions, to adore them as captives after victories. For to adore what you have taken by force is to consecrate sacrilege, not divinities.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:36 · 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. 25.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/25/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 25.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/25/5/).