Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 37.11

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

Summary: Christians avoid the public games, rooted in idolatry and full of violence.

Latin text · CSEL 2:53

nos igitur, qui moribus et pudore censemur, merito malis uoluptatibus et pompis uestris et spectaculis abstinemus, quorum et de sacris originem nouimus et noxia blandimenta damnamus. nam in ludis currulibus quis non horreat populi in se rixantis insaniam? in gladiatoriis homicidii disciplinam?

English · Claude translation

We, therefore, who are judged by our conduct and modesty, rightly abstain from your evil pleasures and processions and shows, whose origin we know to be from sacred rites, and whose harmful allurements we condemn. For at the chariot races who would not shudder at the madness of the people brawling among themselves? At the gladiatorial shows, at the training in homicide?

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:53 · 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: stray period inside a sentence.): spectaculis. abstinemus → spectaculis abstinemus.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/11/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 37.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/37/11/).

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