Octavius 14.5

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

Summary: Those often deceived end up doubting everything.

BothLatinEnglish

Latin text · CSEL 2:19

itaque quo saepius adseuerationibus credunt, eo frequentius a peritioribus arguuntur: sic adsidue temeritate decepti culpam iudicii sui transferunt ad incerti querellam, ut damnatis omnibus malint uniuersa suspendere quam de fallacibus iudicare.

English · Claude translation

So the more often they believe assertions, the more frequently they are refuted by the more skilful; thus, constantly deceived by their rashness, they transfer the blame of their own judgment to a complaint about uncertainty, so that, having condemned everything, they prefer to suspend judgment on all things rather than judge between deceptive ones.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:19 · 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. 14.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/14/5/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 14.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/14/5/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage