Octavius 5.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Caecilius asks Marcus, though a Christian, to judge the debate impartially.

Latin text · CSEL 2:6

Tum sic Caecilius exorsus est: Quamquam tibi, Marce frater, de quo cum maxime quaerimus non sit ambiguum, utpote cum diligenter in utroque uiuendi genere uersatus repudiaris alterum, alterum conprobaris, in praesentiarum tamen ita tibi informandus est animus, ut libram teneas aequissimi iudicis nec in alteram partem propensus incumbas, ne non tam ex nostris disputationibus nata sententia quam ex tuis sensibus prolata uideatur.

English · Claude translation

Then Caecilius began thus: "Although for you, brother Marcus, the question we are chiefly inquiring into is not in doubt, since, having carefully lived in both ways of life, you have rejected the one and approved the other, still for the present you must so dispose your mind as to hold the balance of a most impartial judge and not lean inclined to one side, lest your verdict seem not so much born of our arguments as brought forth from your own feelings.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:6 · 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; 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.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/5/1/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/5/1/).