Octavius 9.2 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Caecilius repeats the rumour that Christian 'brothers and sisters' commit incest.

Latin text · CSEL 2:13

occultis se notis et insignibus noscunt et amant mutuo paene antequam nouerint: passim etiam inter eos uelut quaedam libidinum religio miscetur, ac se promisce appellant fratres et sorores, ut etiam non insolens stuprum intercessione sacri nominis fiat incestum. ita eorum uana et demens superstitio sceleribus gloriatur.

English · Claude translation

They know each other by secret marks and signs, and love one another almost before they know one another; everywhere also a kind of religion of lust is mingled among them, and they call one another brothers and sisters indiscriminately, so that even ordinary debauchery becomes incest by the use of the sacred name. So their vain and mad superstition glories in crimes.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:13 · 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. 9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 9.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/2/).