Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 34.10

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

Summary: God who made man from nothing can remake him; no body is lost to God, whatever happens to it.

Latin text · CSEL 2:49

ceterum quis tam stultus aut brutus est, ut audeat repugnare, hominem a Deo, ut primum potuisse fingi, ita posse denuo reformari? nihil esse post obitum, et ante ortum nihil fuisse? sicut de nihilo nasci licuit, ita de nihilo licere reparari? porro difficilius est, id quod non sit incipere, quam id quod fuerit iterare. tu perire et Deo credis, si quid oculis nostris hebetibus subtrahitur? corpus omne siue arescit in puluerem siue in umorem soluitur uel in cinerem comprimitur uel in nidorem. tenuatur, subducitur nobis, sed Deo elementorum custodi reseruatur. nec, ut creditis, ullum damnum sepulturae timemus, sed ueterem et meliorem consuetudinem humandi frequentamus.

English · Claude translation

Besides, who is so foolish or stupid as to dare to deny that man, as he could first be formed by God, can be formed anew? That he is nothing after death, and was nothing before birth? That as he could be born from nothing, so he can be restored from nothing? Moreover, it is harder to begin what does not exist than to repeat what has existed. Do you think that anything perishes for God too, if it is withdrawn from our dull eyes? Every body, whether it dries up into dust, or is dissolved into moisture, or is compressed into ashes, or thinned into smoke, is withdrawn from us, but is kept for God, the guardian of the elements. Nor, as you believe, do we fear any loss from the manner of burial; but we keep to the old and better custom of burying in the earth.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:49 · 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.
Topics
Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The last sentence answers Caecilius's charge that Christians condemn cremation (11.4).

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 34.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/34/10/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 34.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/34/10/).

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