Octavius 12.2

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

Summary: Most Christians are poor, so their God is either weak or unjust.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:16

ecce pars uestrum, et maior, melior, ut dicitis, egetis algetis, opere fame laboratis, et Deus patitur dissimulat, non uult aut non potest opitulari suis: ita aut inualidus aut iniquus est.

English · Claude translation

See, part of you, and the larger and better part, as you say, are in want, suffer cold, labour with toil and hunger; and your God allows it, pretends not to see; he does not wish or is not able to help his own: so he is either powerless or unjust.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:16 · 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. 12.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/2/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 12.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/12/2/).

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