Octavius 29.4

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

Summary: The Egyptians worship a man who knows he is only a man.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:42

Aegyptii sane hominem sibi quem colant eligunt: illum unum propitiant, illum de omnibus consulunt, illi uictimas caedunt. at ille, qui ceteris deus, sibi certe homo est, uelit nolit: nec enim conscientiam suam decipit, si fallit alienam.

English · Claude translation

The Egyptians, to be sure, choose a man for themselves to worship: him alone they propitiate, him they consult about everything, to him they slay victims. Yet he who is a god to others is certainly a man to himself, whether he will or not; for he does not deceive his own conscience, even if he deceives another's.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:42 · 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. 29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/4/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/4/).

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