Minucius Felix
(Late Second or Third Century)

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Synopsis

MINUCIUS FELIX, Marcus, author of the dialogueOctavius,which, in spite of its lack of originality, and profound theological intuition, occupies a prominent place among the ancient apologies of the Latin Church, both on account of its genuine enthusiasm and elegant form, and on account of the clear and pointed manner in which it presents and refutes all the various objections to Christianity at that time circulating among educated Pagans. Of the personal life of the author we only know that he was a successful lawyer in Rome when he was converted to Christianity: even the date of his great work is, somewhat doubtful. Formerly critics generally agreed in placing Minucius betweenTertullian andCyprian. Certain parts ofOctaviusseem to be based on Tertullian’sApologeticus,and certain parts of Cyprian’sDe idolorum vanitateare evidently borrowed fromOctavius.Now, as theApologeticuswas written in 207, and theDe idolorum vanitatein 247,Octaviusmust have been written in the first decades of the third century. In 1762, however, in an epistleAdGerhardum Meermann, J. D. Van Hoven drew attention to thc fact that the general state of Christianity, arid the specific Pagan objections to it, such as represented inOctavius,do not correspond to a period so late as the first decades of the third century; and, incourse of time, more and more scholars adopted the view that Minucius preceded Tertullian, and wrote hisOctaviusin the reign of Marcus Aurelius. In 1868, finally, A. Ebert produced almost conclusive evidence in favor of this view by showing that there exists a direct relation betweenOctaviusand Cicero’sDe naturadeorum, while all the corresponding passages ofThe Apologeticusseem to have been derived fromOctavius.Of the work of Minucius, there exists only one manuscript, which was presented by Leo X. to Francis I. It was first published by Faustus Sabaeus, Rome, 1543, afterwards often; best by Balm, inCorp. Script. EccI. Lat.,ii., Vienna, 1867. [There are translations into English in REEVE:Apologies of Justin Martyr,ii., and in vol. 2 of theWritings of Cyprian,in the Ante-Nicene Library, Edinburgh, 1873. See also P. FELICE:Etude sur l’OctaviusdeMinucius Felix,Blois, 1880; H. KUHN:Der Octaciusd.Minucius Felix,Leipzig, 1882.]

Mangold, "MINUCIUS FELIX," Philip Schaff, ed.,A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 3. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. p.1521.

Bibliographies

T.P. Halton & R.D. Sider, "A Decade of Patristic Scholarship 1970-1979,"The Classical World 76 (1982-1983): 112.

Primary Sources

	Jerome,Lives of Illustrious Men 58.
	Jerome,Letters 49.13; 60.10; 70.5.
	Lactantius,Divine Institutes 1.11.55. (=Octavius 21.5-7)
	Minucius Ferlix,Octavius (Christian Classics Etheral Library)
	Minucius Felix,Octavius, M. Pellegrino, ed. Turin: Paravia, 1963.
	Minucius Felix,Octavius, G.H. Rendall, translator. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press, 1931. Hbk.
	Minucius Felix,Octavius, Arbesmann et al, translators. Fathers of the Christian Church, Vol 10. Washington, DC.: Catholic University of America Press, 1950. Hbk.
	Minucius Felix,Octavius, G.W. Clarke, translator. Ancient Christian Writers, Vol. 39. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. Hbk. ISBN: 0809101890. pp.424.
	John Henry Freese [1852-1930],The "Octavius" of Minucius Felix. Translations of Christian Literature. Series II: Latin Texts. London: SPCK / New York: Macmillan, n.d. Hbk. pp.102. pdf[This material is in the Public Domain]

Secondary Sources

	H.J. Baylis,Minucius Felix and His Place Among the Early Fathers of the Latin Church. London: SPCK / New York & Toronto: MacMillan, 1928.
	G.L. Carver, "Tacitus' Dialogs as a Source of Minucius Felix' Octavius,"Classical Philology 69 (1974): 100-06.
	G.L. Carver, "Minucius Felix and Cyprian: The Question of Priority,"Transactions of the American Philological Association 108 (1978): 21-34.
	G.W. Clarke, "The Literary Setting of the Octavius of Minucius Felix,"Journal of Religious History 3 (1965): 195-211.
	G.W. Clarke, "The Historical Setting of the Octavius of Minucius Felix,"Journal of Religious History 4 (1967): 267-286.
	Peter James Cousins, "Great Lives in Troubled Times: The Date and Setting of the Octavius by Minucius Felix,"Vox Evangelica 27 (1997): 45-56.
	F.L. Cross,The Early Christian Fathers. Studies in Theology 1. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1960. Hbk. pp.146-148.
	Minucius Felix (Paul Lejay)
	J.F. O'Connor, "The Conflict of Rhetoric in the Octavius of Minucius Felix,"Classical Folia 30 (1976); 165-73.
	Did Tertullian use Minucius Felix'Octavius? (Roger Pearce)
	Gilles Quispel, "A Jewish source of Minucius Felix,"Vigiliae christianae 3.2 (1949): 113-122.
	Carsten Peter Thiede, "A Pagan Reader of 2 Peter: Cosmic Conflagration in 2 Peter 3 and the Octavius of Minucius Felix,"Journal for the Study of the New Testament 26 (1986): 79-96.
	D.S. Wiesen, "Virgil, Minucius Felix and the Bible,"Hermes 99 (1971): 70-91.