Octavius 29.7

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

Summary: Roman military standards and trophies are themselves shaped like crosses.

BothLatinEnglish

Latin text · CSEL 2:43

nam et signa ipsa et cantabra et uexilla castrorum quid aliud quam inauratae cruces sunt et ornatae? tropaea uestra uictricia non tantum simplicis crucis faciem, uerum et adfixi hominis imitantur.

English · Claude translation

For what else are your standards themselves, and the banners and flags of the camps, than crosses gilded and adorned? Your victory trophies imitate the shape not only of a simple cross but also of a man fixed to it.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:43 · 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. 29.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/7/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 29.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/29/7/).

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