Octavius 34.12 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Many wish there were no afterlife because they fear judgment; God's patience is not indifference.

Latin text · CSEL 2:49–50

quid festinas, ut cruda adhuc hieme reuiuescat et redeat? expectandum nobis etiam corporis uer est. nec ignoro plerosque conscientia meritorum nihil se esse post mortem magis optare quam credere: malunt enim extingui penitus quam ad supplicia reparari. quorum error augetur et in saeculo libertate remissa et Dei patientia maxima, cuius quanto iudicium tardum, tanto magis iustum est.

English · Claude translation

Why do you hurry for it to revive and return while winter is still raw? We must wait for the spring of the body too. Nor am I unaware that most people, conscious of what they deserve, wish rather than believe that they will be nothing after death; for they prefer to be utterly extinguished rather than to be restored for punishment. Their error is increased both by the liberty allowed them in this world and by the very great patience of God, whose judgment is the more just the slower it is.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:49–50 · 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.

Scripture

2 Pet 3:9 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Eschatology

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 34.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/34/12/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 34.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/34/12/).