Apologetical Works; Octavius

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION nHE OCTAVIUS of Marcus! Minucius Felix is called after the Christian interlocutor in the first Christian dialogue in Latin. We know very little about the life of its author, but we are able to draw a general picture by linking up the few facts which he himself mentions in his work. 2 According to these statements, he probably came from North Africa and was a pagan by birth. In his youth, he had received an excellent education, especially in rhetoric, and had accumulated a vast store of knowledge through extensive readings in literature, particularly Latin. During his years of study, he had formed a lasting friendship with Octavius Januarius,3 who, like himself, was a lawyer. Their profession had given them ample opportunity to take part in trials against Christians. During these trials; they saw the absurdity of the accusations, the lack of evidence offered to prove the guilt of the defendants, the complete dishonesty of court procedure , and, above all, the heroic behavior of so many Christians more enduring in suffering and death than were their enemies in torturing and killing. All this made a deep impression on the two friends and set them thinking. As a result , after mature consideration, Octavius embraced the new faith and Minucius followed his example. While Octavius had remained in his native country and, I This is the name under which Minucius Felix appears in the dialogue. 2 The information about the author. furnished by Lactantius (Divinae institutiones 1.11.55; 5.1.21f.) and St. Jerome (Dc lIiris ilillstribllS 58; Ep. 70.5) are drawn from the Octavius, and do not add anything new to the meagre indications in the dialogue itself. 3 This is the surname given to Octavius in the dialogue. 313 314 MINUCIUS FELIX at the same time the dialogue took place, was in Rome only on a visit, Minucius had established himself as a lawyer in the capital of the Empire. Apparently, however, he held no public office at that time, since such a position might have compelled him to take part in trials against his co-religionists. The dialogue acquaints us with a friend of both men, Caecilius Natalis, the pagan interlocutor in the dialogue, also a North African, and perhaps from the city of Cirta (modern Constantine). He also had taken up his residence in Rome, for, in the dialogue, he is said to associate freely with Minucius . At the time the dialogue was written, Octavius, and probably Caecilius as well, were no longer alive. Thus, the dialogue also represents a touching and lasting memorial of his two friends. The treatise On Fate, promised in Chapter 36.2, if it was written at all, has not come down to us. The Octavius is written in the literary form of a dialogue, which is, however, sui generis. The usual form of literary dialogue , especially as practiced and brought to perfection by Plato, and imitated by Cicero in his De natura deorum, presents several interlocutors who carryon a dialogue in the form of a conversation, enlivened by questions and answers, difficulties raised and solutions given, in the manner of a serious conversation. The Octavius begins in the manner of a Platonic dialogue, with the introductory narrative of the one who is recounting the whole. The loss of Octavius, the intimate friend of his youth, brings back to Minucius' mind the vivid discussion Octavius and a pagan friend, Caecilius, had concerning the truth of the Christian religion. The discussion took place during a pleasure trip the three friends made from Rome to Ostia to enjoy the invigorating sea breezes and salt baths. The author gives a beautiful description of nature, in some instances reminiscent of Theocritean naturalism: the mild OCTAVIUS 315 autumn weather, the gentle breeze blowing from the sea, the beach where the sand yields to the footsteps, the play of the waves, the boats drawn up on their baulks, the breakwater of piled rocks running out into the sea, the merry scene of boys eagerly engaged in the sport of throwing flat stones and making them skim over the water. The setting possesses such a graceful charm that it can hardly be surpassed by any other piece of its kind in Latin literature. Yet, while the setting follows the Platonic, or Ciceronian, pattern, the main body of the work, the dialogue itself, touched off by Caecilius paying homage to an image of the god Serapis, is not in the form of a conversational dialogue, but resembles...