The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Minucius Felix
fl. c. 200 – 250 · Roman advocate · Latin apologist · Rome (African origin)
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Minucius Felix was
A Roman lawyer of African background and author of the Octavius, the most elegant of the Latin apologies — a dialogue set on the beach at Ostia in which the pagan Caecilius and the Christian Octavius debate before Minucius as arbiter, the pagan yielding gracefully at the close. Written in polished Ciceronian Latin free of technical theology, it answers the standard slanders (incest, infant-sacrifice, worship of a donkey’s head) with urbane reason rather than scripture. Its relationship to Tertullian’s Apology is debated — which borrowed from which — but its charm is undisputed; Lactantius and Jerome prized it. He wrote for the educated pagan who would never open a Gospel.
Common questions
When was Minucius Felix active?
Minucius Felix is dated fl. c. 200 – 250 in the archive, which places Minucius Felix in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Minucius Felix write?
Minucius Felix has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Octavius.
Which early sources mention Minucius Felix?
Minucius Felix is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Lactantius, Jerome and Jerome of Stridon. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Minucius Felix from?
The archive associates Minucius Felix with Rome (African origin).
Writings (1)
Octavius
c. 200–250We do not speak great things, but we live them; we glory in having attained what others seek with utmost effort and cannot find.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Divine Institutes V.1 ('Minucius Felix, in the book which bears the name Octavius')
c. AD 311On Illustrious Men 58
c. AD 393Minucius Felix, a distinguished advocate at Rome, wrote a dialogue called Octavius… and another book which is entitled On Fate, or Against the Astrologers.Jerome · 58 · source text
Letter 70.5 (ranked among the Latin defenders)
c. AD 397Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 180 · The Scillitan martyrs, AD 180
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Minucius Felix.
- 1Rome