Octavius 5.2

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

Summary: Caecilius argues that everything in human affairs is uncertain.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:6–7

proinde si mihi quasi nouus aliqui et quasi ignarus partis utriusque considas, nullum negotium est patefacere, omnia in rebus humanis dubia, incerta, suspensa, magisque omnia uerisimilia quam uera.

English · Claude translation

So if you sit by me as someone new, as it were, and ignorant of both sides, it is no trouble to show that everything in human affairs is doubtful, uncertain, in suspense, and that all things are more probable than true.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:6–7 · 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.): patefacerè → patefacere.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/5/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 5.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/5/2/).

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