Octavius 7.3 · Sophia Scriptura

Latin text · CSEL 2:10–11

testis mater Idaea, quae aduentu suo et probauit matronae castitatem et urbem metu hostili liberauit: testes equestrium fratrum in lacu, sicut se ostenderant, statuae consecratae, qui anheli spumantibus equis atque fumantibus de Perse uictoriam eadem die qua fecerant nuntiauerunt: testis ludorum offensi Iouis de somnio plebei hominis iteratio; et Deciorum deuotio rata testis est: testis et Curtius, qui equitis sui uel mole uel honore hiatum profundae uoraginis coaequauit.

English · Claude translation

Witness the Idaean Mother, who by her arrival both proved a matron's chastity and freed the city from fear of the enemy; witness the statues of the horsemen brothers consecrated at the pool where they had shown themselves, who, panting, on foaming and steaming horses, announced the victory over Perseus on the same day they had won it; witness the repetition of the games, when Jupiter had been offended, from the dream of a man of the people; and the self-sacrifice of the Decii is a valid witness; witness too Curtius, who filled the chasm of a deep abyss with the bulk, or with the honour, of his rider's body.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:10–11 · 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

Translation notes

The stories: the arrival of Cybele's image (204 BC) and Claudia Quinta; Castor and Pollux at the Lake of Juturna announcing the victory at Pydna (168 BC); the repeated games after the dream of Titus Latinius; the Decii devoting themselves to death in battle; Marcus Curtius leaping into the chasm in the Forum.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR: "n" for "u".): offensi Ionis → offensi Iouis.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 7.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/7/3/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 7.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/7/3/).