Minucius Felix

Footnotes

^[1828] πῦρ σωφρονοῦν is an expression of Clemens Alexandrinus, so that there is no need for the emendation of “rapiens” instead of “sapiens,” suggested by one editor.

^[1829] “Are known as” is another reading.

Chapter XXXVI.—Argument: Fate is Nothing, Except So Far as Fate is God. Man’s Mind is Free, and Therefore So is His Action: His Birth is Not Brought into Judgment. It is Not a Matter of Infamy, But of Glory, that Christians are Reproached for Their Poverty; And the Fact that They Suffer Bodily Evils is Not as a Penalty, But as a Discipline.

^[1830] Fatus.

^[1831] Otherwise read, “both more truly.”

^[1832] Some read, “I will speak at length.”

^[1833] Probably a better reading is “strive for them.”

Chapter XXXVII.—Argument: Tortures Most Unjustly Inflicted for the Confession of Christ’s Name are Spectacles Worthy of God. A Comparison Instituted Between Some of the Bravest of the Heathens and the Holy Martyrs. He Declares that Christians Do Not Present Themselves at Public Shows and Processions, Because They Know Them, with the Greatest Certainty, to Be No Less Impious Than Cruel.

^[1834] “Arridens,” but otherwise “arripiens,” scil. “snatching at,” suggesting possibly the idea of the martyrs chiding the delays of the executioners, or provoking the rush of the wild beasts.

^[1835] Otherwise, “unhoped-for.” [This chapter has been supposed to indicate that the work was written in a time of persecution. Faint tokens of the same have been imagined also, in capp. 29 and 33, supra.]

^[1836] This passage is peculiar; the original is, “Ut ingenium eorum perditæ mentis licentiæ potestatis liberæ nundinentur,” with various modifications of reading.

Chapter XXXVIII.—Argument: Christians Abstain from Things Connected with Idol Sacrifices, Lest Any One Should Think Either that They Yield to Demons, or that They are Ashamed of Their Religion. They Do Not Indeed Despise All the Colour and Scent of Flowers, for They are Accustomed to Use Them Scattered About Loosely and Negligently, as Well as to Entwine Their Necks with Garlands; But to Crown the Head of a Corpse They Think Superfluous and Useless. Moreover, with the Same Tranquillity with Which They Live They Bury Their Dead, Waiting with a Very Certain Hope the Crown of Eternal Felicity. Therefore Their Religion, Rejecting All the Superstitions of the Gentiles, Should Be Adopted as True by All Men.

^[1837] The probable reading here is, “You apply to a lifeless person, either if he has feeling, a torch; or, if he feels not, a garland.”

^[1838] “We who do not,” etc., is a conjectural reading, omitting the subsequent “we.”

Chapter XL.—Argument: Then Cæcilius Exclaims that He is Vanquished by Octavius; And That, Being Now Conqueror Over Error, He Professes the Christian Religion. He Postpones, However, Till the Morrow His Training in the Fuller Belief of Its Mysteries.

^[1839] Otherwise read, “and I believe concerning God.”

^[1840] [i.e., he will become a catechumen on the morrow.]

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