Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 9.3

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

Summary: Caecilius repeats the slander that Christians worship an ass's head.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Latin text · CSEL 2:13

nec de ipsis, nisi subsisteret ueritas, maxime nefaria et honore praefanda sagax fama loqueretur. audio eos turpissimae pecudis caput [asini] consecratum inepta nescio qua persuasione uenerari: digna et nata religio talibus moribus!

English · Claude translation

Nor would shrewd rumour speak of the most wicked things about them, things to be mentioned only with an apology, unless truth lay beneath. I hear that, by some foolish persuasion or other, they worship the consecrated head of a most disgraceful beast: a religion worthy of such morals and born of them!

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:13 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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

  • The editor deletes "asini" ("of an ass") as an explanatory gloss, so it is not translated; the charge of worshipping an ass's head is answered in 28.7.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 9.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/3/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 9.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/9/3/).

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