Minucius Felix

Footnotes

^[1737] Some have corrected this word, reading “without consideration,” scil. “inconsulte;” and the four first editions omit the subsequent words, “concerning the divinity.”

^[1738] There are various emendations of this passage, but their meaning is somewhat obscure. One is elaborately ingenious: “Ita illis pavorum fallax spes solatio redivivo blanditur,” which is said to imply, “Thus the hope that deceives their fears, soothes them with the hope of living again.”

Chapter IX.—Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley.

^[1739] Otherwise read “abominable.”

^[1740] This charge, as Oehler thinks, refers apparently to the kneeling posture in which penitents made confession before their bishop.

^[1741] This calumny seems to have originated from the sacrament of the Eucharist.

^[1742] Scil. Fronto of Cirta, spoken of again in ch. xxxi. [A recent very interesting discovery goes to show that our author was the chief magistrate of Cirta, in Algeria, from a.d. 210 to 217. See Schaff, vol. iii. p. 841.]

Chapter X.—Argument: Whatever the Christians Worship, They Strive in Every Way to Conceal: They Have No Altars, No Temples, No Acknowledged Images. Their God, Like that of the Jews, is Said to Be One, Whom, Although They are Neither Able to See Nor to Show, They Think Nevertheless to Be Mischievous, Restless, and Unseasonably Inquisitive.

^[1743] Otherwise, “no consecrated images.”

^[1744] Otherwise, “we are contained and bound together.”

^[1745] [These very accusations, reduced back to Christian language, show that much of the Creed was, in fact, known to the heathen at this period.]

Chapter XI.—Argument: Besides Asserting the Future Conflagration of the Whole World, They Promise Afterwards the Resurrection of Our Bodies: and to the Righteous an Eternity of Most Blessed Life; To the Unrighteous, of Extreme Punishment.

^[1746] [1 Tim. iv. 7.]

^[1747] “And I have already shown, without any trouble,” is another reading.

^[1748] Otherwise, “without a body or with.”

^[1749] Otherwise, “too credulous.”

Chapter XII.—Argument: Moreover, What Will Happen to the Christians Themselves After Death, May Be Anticipated from the Fact that Even Now They are Destitute of All Means, and are Afflicted with the Heaviest Calamities and Miseries.

^[1750] Otherwise, “while you consider, while you are yet alive, poor wretches, what is threatening after death.”

^[1751] Some read, “with shivering.”

Chapter XIII.—Argument: Cæcilius at Length Concludes that the New Religion is to Be Repudiated; And that We Must Not Rashly Pronounce Upon Doubtful Matters.

^[1752] This is otherwise read, “Academic Pyrrhonists.”

^[1753] Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 22.

Chapter XIV.—Argument: With Something of the Pride of Self-Satisfaction, Cæcilius Urges Octavius to Reply to His Arguments; And Minucius with Modesty Answers Him, that He Must Not Exult at His Own by No Means Ordinary Eloquence, and at the Harmonious Variety of His Address.

^[1754] “Plautinæ prosapiæ.” The expression is intended as a reproach against the humble occupations of many of the Christian professors. Plautus is said, when in need, to have laboured at a baker’s hand-mill. Cæcilius tells Octavius that he may be the first among the millers, but he is the last among the philosophers. Stieber proposes “Christianorum” instead of “pistorum”—“Christians” instead of “millers.”

Chapter XV.—Argument: Cæcilius Retorts Upon Minucius, with Some Little Appearance of Being Hurt, that He is Foregoing the Office of a Religious Umpire, When He is Weakening the Force of His Argument. He Says that It Should Be Left to Octavius to Confute All that He Had Advanced.

^[1755] Scil. “Octavius.”

Chapter XVI.—Argument: Octavius Arranges His Reply, and Trusts that He Shall Be Able to Dilute the Bitterness of Reproach with the River of Truthful Words. He Proceeds to Weaken the Individual Arguments of Cæcilius. Nobody Need Complain that the Christians, Unlearned Though They May Be, Dispute About Heavenly Things Because It is Not the Authority of Him Who Argues, But the Truth of the Argument Itself, that Should Be Considered.

^[1756] Some read, “in the light.”

^[1757] Cæcilius.

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