Octavius 37.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: A Christian facing torture and death bravely is a beautiful sight to God.

Latin text · CSEL 2:52

Quam pulchrum spectaculum Deo, cum Christianus cum dolore congreditur, cum aduersum minas et supplicia et tormenta componitur, cum strepitum mortis et horrorem carnificis inridens inculcat, cum libertatem suam aduersus reges et principes erigit, soli Deo, cuius est, cedit, cum triumphator et uictor ipsi, qui aduersum se sententiam dixit, insultat! uicit enim qui quod contendit obtinuit.

English · Claude translation

"How beautiful a spectacle for God, when a Christian grapples with pain, when he is matched against threats and punishments and tortures, when he tramples, laughing, on the din of death and the horror of the executioner, when he raises up his liberty against kings and princes and yields to God alone, whose he is, when, triumphant and victorious, he insults the very man who pronounced sentence against him! For he has conquered who has obtained what he strove for.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:52 · 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

Martyrdom, Persecution

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/1/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/1/).