Octavius 26.12 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 2:38–39

quid Plato, qui inuenire Deum negotium credidit, nonne et angelos sine negotio narrat et daemonas? et in Symposio etiam suo naturam daemonum exprimere conititur? uult enim esse substantiam inter mortalem inmortalemque, id est inter corpus et spiritum mediam, terreni ponderis et caelestis leuitatis admixtione concretam, ex qua monet etiam t nos procupidinem amoris, et dicit informari et inlabi pectoribus. humanis et sensum mouere et adfectus fingere et ardorem cupiditatis infundere.

English · Claude translation

What of Plato, who thought it a labour to find God? Does he not also speak of angels and demons without labour? And in his Symposium too does he not strive to express the nature of demons? For he holds it to be a substance between mortal and immortal, that is, midway between body and spirit, compounded of a mixture of earthly weight and heavenly lightness; from which he also warns us of the desire of love, and says that it is formed and slips into human hearts, moves the senses, shapes the affections, and pours in the ardour of desire.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:38–39 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

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

Plato, Symp. 202d–203a (Plato (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

Plato, Symp. 202d–203a. The phrase about love is corrupt ("monet etiam t nos procupidinem"; the "t" is probably the editor's crux, †); the sense given is probable.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/12/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/12/).