Octavius 8.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Caecilius describes Christians as a secret, low-class conspiracy that despises the gods.

Latin text · CSEL 2:12

qui de ultima faece collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis sexus sui facilitate labentibus plebem profanae coniurationis instituunt, quae nocturnis congregationibus et ieiuniis sollemnibus et inhumanis cibis non sacro quodam, sed piaculo foederatur, latebrosa et lucifuga natio, in publicum muta, in angulis garrula: templa ut busta despiciunt, deos despuunt, rident sacra, miserentur miseri ipsi, si fas est,

English · Claude translation

They gather from the lowest dregs the more ignorant men and credulous women, who fall easily through the weakness of their sex, and establish a rabble of profane conspiracy, which is bound together by nocturnal gatherings, solemn fasts, and inhuman food, not by any sacred rite but by an abomination: a skulking, light-shunning tribe, silent in public, chattering in corners. They despise temples as tombs, spit upon the gods, laugh at sacred rites; wretched themselves, they pity, if it is lawful to say so,

About this passage

Source

CSEL 2:12 · 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

Fasting

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 8.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/4/).

Plain text

Minucius Felix, Oct. 8.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/8/4/).