Octavius 26.6

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

Summary: Oracles were invented or biased and faded as people became less credulous.

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Latin text · CSEL 2:38

de Pyrro Ennius Apollinis Pythi responsa confinxit, cum iam Apollo uersus facere desisset: cuius tunc cautum illud et ambiguum defecit oraculum, cum et politiores homines et minus creduli esse coeperunt. et Demosthenes, quod sciret responsa simulata, φιλιππίζειν Pythiam querebatur.

English · Claude translation

Ennius invented the answers of Pythian Apollo about Pyrrhus, when Apollo had already stopped making verses; that cautious and ambiguous oracle of his failed at the time when men began to be both more refined and less credulous. And Demosthenes, because he knew the answers were feigned, complained that the Pythia was 'philippizing'.

About this passage

Source: CSEL 2:38 · 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

"Philippizing" (Greek φιλιππίζειν): siding with Philip of Macedon.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/6/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/26/6/).

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