Octavius 21.10

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

Summary: The divine has neither beginning nor end, so born or dead men cannot be gods.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:30

inuitis his denique hoc nomen adscribitur: optant in homine perseuerare, fieri se deos metuunt, etsi iam senes nolunt. ergo nec de mortuis dii, quoniam Deus mori non potest, nec de natis, quoniam moritur omne quod nascitur: diuinum autem id est, quod nec ortum habet nec occasum.

English · Claude translation

In fact, this name is given to them against their will: they wish to go on being men; they fear being made gods, and, though already old, they do not want it. So gods do not come from the dead, since God cannot die, nor from the born, since everything that is born dies; but that is divine which has neither rising nor setting.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:30 · 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. 21.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/21/10/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 21.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/21/10/).

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