Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 38.5

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

Summary: Christians reject the sceptical philosophers praised by Caecilius, whose lives contradict their words.

Latin text · CSEL 2:54

proinde Socrates scurra Atticus uiderit, nihil se scire confessus, testimonio licet fallacissimi daemonis gloriosus, Arcesilas quoque et Carneades et Pyrro et omnis Academicorum multitudo deliberet, Simonides etiam in perpetuum conperendinet: philosophorum supercilia contemnimus, quos corruptores et adulteros nouimus et tyrannos et semper aduersus sua uitia facundos.

English · Claude translation

So let Socrates, the Attic buffoon, see to it, who confessed that he knew nothing, though he boasted of the testimony of a most deceitful demon; let Arcesilaus too, and Carneades, and Pyrrho, and the whole multitude of the Academics deliberate; let Simonides also postpone for ever: we despise the haughty brows of the philosophers, whom we know to be corrupters, adulterers, and tyrants, and always eloquent against their own vices.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:54 · 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

  • These are the philosophers Caecilius cited (13.1–4).

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 38.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/38/5/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 38.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/38/5/).

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