RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Minorites Miracles
authors of everything evil. They, too, had caused hatred and persecutions against Christianity, circulating all those rumors and reproaches more justly applying to the heathen service of idols. With moral indignation Octavius paid ample tribute to the purity of the Christians' manner of life, divine worship and faith; and spoke of the righteousness and goodness of God. Their doctrine of the end of all things contradicted neither the laws of nature nor the teachings of the philosophers. Christians welcomed adversity as a school for virtue; the prosperity in which the heathen rejoiced was transitory and fallacious and heathens' pleasures were censurable and indecent. This discourse made a powerful impression upon Csecilius, who admitted his defeat, and the three returned to the city.
So it is plain that the colloquy did not turn upon
the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, neither is
it an apology in the proper sense. At-
4. Purpose tempts at explanation are widely diverand Struc- gent, although the difficulties are not to
ture of be waived. Some have sought to prove Dialogue, the dialogue a polemic against Crescentius the Cynic or the Epicurean Celsus, or, finally, against Cornelius Fronto, the rhetorician. The most natural explanation, however, lies in the author's purpose of disarming the prejudices then current against Christianity in cultured circles by proving that the views of the philosophers coincided essentially with the faith of the Christians; that the heathen mythology was shameless, whereas the new faith was pure and lofty. Hence, in the work of Minucius Felix, Christianity appears wholly as a moral and philosophic religion. Minucius, frequently finding himself obliged to meet attacks against his religion, had to examine them carefully and confute them. The structure of the dialogue is so excellent that even to-day certain critics regard it as having actually taken place. The introduction especially has a poetic charm, and likewise worthy of praise is the drawing of the leading characters. Minucius was well read in the poetic works of the Greeks and Romans, and had a good knowledge of the works of Cicero, whom he adopted as his model. Traces of decadent Latinity appear nevertheless; still the language of Minucius is comparatively pure for that age.
The repeated attempts to discover whether the
dialogue of Octavius was influenced by any other
apologetic have led to no generally
5. Sources recognized result, for he does not menand Manu- tion his sources. There undoubtedly
scripts of exists a dependent relation between Minucius. Minucius, Tertullian, and Cyprian. The latter, in his treatise " On the Vanity of Idols " (c. 245), copied Minucius and Tertullian. The priority of Tertullian's " Apology " (c. 200), which has various points of contact with " Octavius," was long held to be incontestable, but now, especially since Ebert's investigations, Minucius is rated the earlier. He wrote between 150 and 245, probably before 200. The " Octavius " is appended to the seven books of Arnobius " Against the Heathen " in a manuscript dating from the ninth century preserved in Paris. There is a transcript in Brussels. From the former there was VII.— 25
printed the first edition of Arnobius (Rome, 1543), wherein the " Octavius " appeared as the eighth book. It was first edited separately by Francis Baldwin (Heidelberg, 1560). Since then, the dialogue has been frequently published (e.g., ed. C. Halm, in CSEL, Vienna, 1867; in MPL, iii. 239- 276; ed. J. J. Cornelissen, Leyden, 1882; ed. A. Bahrens, Leipsic, 1886). Eng. transls. are by D. Dalrymple (Edinburgh, 1781; new ed., Cambridge, 1854); in ANF, iv. 173-198; and in A. A. Brodribb, Pagan and Puritan; The Octavius of Minucius, freely translated, London, 1903. H. Boenig. Bibliography: Lists of literature are to be found in Le Musee Beige, xvi (1892), nos. 2-3, and in ANF, Bibliography, pp. 47-50. Consult: C. Roren, Minuciana, part i., Bedburg, 1859, part ii., Brilon, 1877; A. Soulet, Essai sur I'Octavius de Minucius Felix, Strasburg, 1867; T. Keim, Celsus, pp. 151-168, Zurich, 1873; idem, Rom und das Christenthum, pp. 383-384, 468-486, Berlin, 1881; P. de Felice, Etude sur I'Octavius de Minucius Felix, Blois 1880; V. Schultze, in JPT, vii (1881), 485-506; R. Kiihn! Der Octavius des Minucius Felix, Leipsic, 1882; R. Schwenke,inXPT,ix (1883), 263-294; M.L.Massebieau, in Revue de Vhist. des religions, xv (1887), 316-346; F. Wilhelm, De Minucii Fclicis Octavio, Breslau, 1887; E. Kurz, Ueber den Octavius des Minucius Felix, Burgdorf, 1888; B. Seiller, De sermone Minuciano, Augsburg, 1893; M. Schanz, in Rheinisches Museum, 1 (1895), 114-137; H. Boenig, Marcus Minucius Felix; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Litteratur, Konigsberg, 1897; E. Norden, De Minucii Felicis cetate et genere dicendi, Greifswald, 1897; Ceillier, Auteurs sacris, i. 550-557; Kruger, History, pp. 138-142; Schaff, Christian Church, ii. 833 sqq.; Harnack, Litteratur, i. 647, 743, ii. 2, pp. 324-330, 408; idem, Dogma, ii. 196 sqq.; DCB, iii. 920-924; A. Elter, Prolegomena zu Minucius Felix, Bonn, 1909.
MIRACLE PLAYS. See Religious Dramas.