Octavius 29.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Pagans worship rulers as gods, but Christians do not worship crosses.

Latin text · CSEL 2:42–43

etiam principibus et regibus, non ut magnis et electis uiris, sicut fas est, sed ut deis turpiter adulatio falsa blanditur, cum et praeclaro uiro honor uerius et optimo amor dulcius praebeatur. sic eorum numen uocant, ad imagines supplicant, genium, id est daemonem eorum implorant, et est eis tutius per Iouis genium peierare quam regis. cruces etiam nec colimus nec optamus.

English · Claude translation

Even to princes and kings false flattery shamefully fawns, not as to great and chosen men, as is right, but as to gods, although honour is more truly given to a distinguished man and love more sweetly to the best. So they call upon their divinity, make supplication to their images, implore their genius, that is, their demon; and it is safer for them to swear falsely by the genius of Jupiter than by that of the king. Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:42–43 · 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. 29.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 29.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/5/).