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Minucius Felix

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Introductory Note

[1761] Otherwise, “Far from his guileless subtlety is so crafty a trickery.” But the readings are very unsettled.

Chapter XVII.—Argument: Man Ought Indeed to Know Himself, But This Knowledge Cannot Be Attained by Him Unless He First of All Acknowledges the Entire Scope of Things, and God Himself. And from the Constitution and Furniture of the World Itself, Every One Endowed with Reason Holds that It Was Established by God, and is Governed and Administered by Him.

[1762] Some read, “the Lord God.”

[1763] Scil. “atoms.”

[1764] According to some, “point out” or “indicate.”

[1765] Olives ripen in the month of December.

Chapter XVIII.—Argument: Moreover, God Not Only Takes Care of the Universal World, But of Its Individual Parts. That by the Decree of the One God All Things are Governed, is Proved by the Illustration of Earthly Empires. But Although He, Being Infinite and Immense—And How Great He Is, is Known to Himself Alone—Cannot Either Be Seen or Named by Us, Yet His Glory is Beheld Most Clearly When the Use of All Titles is Laid Aside.

[1766] [In the case of Darius Hystaspes.]

[1767] Eteocles and Polynices.

[1768] Pompey and Cæsar.

[1769] According to some, “one fate.”

[1770] These words are omitted by some editors.

Chapter XIX.—Argument: Moreover, the Poets Have Called Him the Parent of Gods and Men, the Creator of All Things, and Their Mind and Spirit. And, Besides, Even the More Excellent Philosophers Have Come Almost to the Same Conclusion as the Christians About the Unity of God.

[1771] Homer, Odyss., xviii. 136, 137.

[1772] Virgil, Æneid, vi. 724.

[1773] Some read, “For these things are true.”

[1774] Virgil, Georgics, iv. 221; Æneid, i. 743.

[1775] Otherwise, “Speusippus.”

[1776] The ms. here inserts, “Aristoteles of Pontus varies, at one time attributing the supremacy to the world, at another to the divine mind.” Some think that this is an interpolation, others transfer the words to Theophrastus below.

[1777] Otherwise, “Aristo the Chian.”

[1778] [See note on Plato, chap. xxvi.]

Chapter XX.—Argument: But If the World is Ruled by Providence and Governed by the Will of One God, an Ignorant Antipathy Ought Not to Carry Us Away into the Error of Agreement with It: Although Delighted with Its Own Fables, It Has Brought in Ridiculous Traditions. Nor is It Shown Less Plainly that the Worship of the Gods Has Always Been Silly and Impious, in that the Most Ancient of Men Have Venerated Their Kings, Their Illustrious Generals, and Inventors of Arts, on Account of Their Remarkable Deeds, No Otherwise Than as Gods.

[1779] Some editors read, “mere wonders,” apparently on conjecture only.

[1780] Otherwise, “was pleased.”

[1781] Four early editions read “instantius” for “in statuis,” making the meaning probably, “more keenly,” “more directly.”

Chapter XXI.—Argument: Octavius Attests the Fact that Men Were Adopted as Gods, by the Testimony of Euhemerus, Prodicus, Persæus, and Alexander the Great, Who Enumerate the Country, the Birthdays, and the Burial-Places of the Gods. Moreover He Sets Forth the Mournful Endings, Misfortunes, and Deaths of the Gods. And, in Addition, He Laughs at the Ridiculous and Disgusting Absurdities Which the Heathens Continually Allege About the Form and Appearance of Their Gods.

 

 

 

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