Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 3.6

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

Summary: The boys competed to see whose skipped shell went farthest and bounced most.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Latin text · CSEL 2:5–6

is lusus est testam teretem iactatione fluctuum leuigatam legere de litore, eam testam plano situ digitis conprehensam inclinem ipsum atque humilem quantum potest super undas inrotare, ut illud iaculum uel dorsum maris raderet [uel enataret], dum leni impetu labitur, uel summis fluctibus tonsis emicaret [emergeret, dum adsiduo saltu subleuatur. is se in pueris uictorem ferebat, cuius testa et procurreret longius et frequentius exsiliret.

English · Claude translation

The game is to pick up from the shore a shell made smooth by the tossing of the waves, to hold the shell flat in the fingers, and, bending oneself as low as possible, to send it spinning over the waves, so that the missile either skims the back of the sea while it glides with a gentle impetus, or, shaving the tops of the waves, flashes up and is lifted by continual leaps. That boy counted himself the winner among the boys whose shell both ran farthest and leapt most often.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:5–6 · 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.

Notes

Translation notes

  • The editor deletes "uel enataret" ("or swims out") and "emergeret" ("emerges"; its bracket is unclosed in the digital text); neither is translated.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/3/6/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 3.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/3/6/).

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