Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 30.3

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

Summary: Child sacrifice to Saturn in Africa followed the example of the god.

Latin text · CSEL 2:43

et haec utique de deorum uestrorum disciplina descendunt: nam Saturnus filios suos non exposuit, sed uorauit. merito ei in nonnullis Africae partibus a parentibus infantes immolabantur, blanditiis et osculo comprimente uagitum, ne flebilis hostia immolaretur.

English · Claude translation

And these things surely come down from the teaching of your gods: for Saturn did not expose his sons but devoured them. Fittingly, in some parts of Africa infants were sacrificed to him by their parents, their crying stifled with caresses and kisses so that a weeping victim might not be sacrificed.

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.

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (OCR: stray accent on a capital.): Îmmolaretur → immolaretur.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 30.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/30/3/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 30.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/30/3/).

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