Octavius 39.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Marcus and Caecilius sit in amazed silence after Octavius's speech.

Latin text · CSEL 2:55

Cum Octauius perorasset, aliquamdiu nos ad silentium stupefacti intentos uultus tenebamus, et quod ad me est, magnitudine admirationis euanui, quod ea, quae facilius est sentire quam dicere, et argumentis et exemplis et lectionum auctoritatibus adornasset, et quod maleuolos isdem illis quibus armantur, philosophorum telis retudisset, ostendisset etiam ueritatem non tantummodo facilem sed et fauorabilem.

English · Claude translation

When Octavius had finished his speech, for some time we kept our faces fixed in silence, struck dumb, and as for me, I was lost in the greatness of my admiration, because he had adorned with arguments, with examples, and with the authority of readings what it is easier to feel than to say; and because he had beaten back the ill-disposed with those same weapons of the philosophers with which they arm themselves; and because he had shown that the truth is not only easy but also attractive.

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:55 · 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. 39.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/39/1/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 39.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/39/1/).