Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 36.1

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

Summary: Fate is no excuse: the mind is free and people are judged by their actions.

Latin text · CSEL 2:50–51

Nec de fato quisquam aut solacium captet aut excuset euentum: sit sors fortunae, mens tamen libera est, et ideo actus hominis, non dignitas iudicatur.

English · Claude translation

"Nor let anyone either seek comfort from fate or excuse what happens: let chance belong to fortune, yet the mind is free, and therefore it is a man's actions, not his station, that are judged.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:50–51 · 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.
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (OCR: words run together.): excuseteuentum → excuset euentum.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 36.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/36/1/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 36.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/36/1/).

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