Ordo rerum quae in hoc tomo continentur

is the banquet polluted with incest which is cast up against the Christians, as it is established that the heathens are in truth guilty of incest. The banquets of the Christians are not only chaste, but sober also. In fine, so far absent is the desire of incest, that to some even chaste wedlock is a matter for blushing. 349

Chap. XXXII. Neither can it be said that the Christians conceal what they worship because they have no shrines and no altars. Since they are persuaded that God cannot be circumscribed by any temple, nor any image of Him fashioned. Moreover, being everywhere present, He sees all things, even the more secret thoughts of our mind; and we live near to Him, and in His bosom. 353

Chap. XXXIII. Yet if God be said to have profited the Jews nothing, certainly the writers of the Jewish annals are most trustworthy witnesses that they forsook God before they were forsaken by Him. 356

Chap. XXXIV. Moreover it is no wonder if this world is at length to be consumed by fire, since all things which have a beginning have an end also. Nor do the ancient philosophers shrink from the opinion concerning the conflagration of the world. Moreover it is established that God is able to raise up from death unto life the man whom He fashioned out of nothing. And all nature meditates a future resurrection. 358

Chap. XXXV. Next Octavius shows that righteous and pious men are to be gifted with everlasting happiness, while the unrighteous are to be visited with eternal punishments. Then he clearly demonstrates that the morals of the Christians are much holier than those of the heathens. 363

Chap. XXXVI. And no less perspicuously he teaches that fate is nothing else than what God has spoken. The mind is free; and therefore the act of a man, not his birth, is judged. After these things he makes it most manifest that the poverty reproached against the Christians is not a disgrace, but a glory; and that their suffering bodily ills is not a punishment, but a warfare. 365

Chap. XXXVII. Spectacles worthy of God are the tortures most iniquitously inflicted for the confession of Christ. Which indeed Octavius clearly shows by instituting a comparison of certain most brave heathens with the holy martyrs. Furthermore, he declares that the Christians do not attend spectacles and processions for the reason that they knew more surely than what is sure that they are no less impious than cruel. 367

Chap. XXXVIII. The same men abstain from things offered to idols also, lest anyone should think that they either yield to demons or are ashamed of their religion. Yet they do not spurn every colour and odour of flowers. For they are wont to use them scattered, loose, and soft, and to twine their necks with garlands; but to crown the head of a dead man they judge superfluous and useless. With the same tranquillity also wherewith they live, they bury the dead, awaiting with most sure hope the crown of eternal happiness. Therefore their true religion, when the superstitions of the heathens have been rejected, is to be received by all. 370

Chap. XXXIX. Furthermore, when Octavius had concluded these things, Minucius and Caecilius, stupefied into silence for some time, kept their countenances intent. And Minucius indeed, rapt into admiration of Octavius, held his peace, silently revolving within himself those things which he had heard. 373

Chap. XL. And Caecilius exclaimed that, having been conquered by Octavius, he was now the conqueror of error, and even then professed the Christian religion: a fuller instruction in the mysteries of the faith being put off in the meantime until the morrow. 374

Chap. XLI. Finally, all depart joyful and cheerful: Caecilius, because he has believed; Octavius, because he has conquered; and Minucius, because the former has believed and the latter has conquered. 375

Epistle of Lucas Holstenius concerning the spits of Diana. 375

DISSERTATION OF DOM LE NOURRY ON THE OCTAVIUS. 381

Chap. I. Analysis of the book. Who was its author; and who were Caecilius and Octavius, who are introduced disputing in it. 381

Art. I. Analysis of this book. 381

Art. II. Whether Minucius Felix is the author of this book, and who he was. 390

Art. III. Who were Caecilius and Octavius who are introduced disputing in this book. 393

Chap. II. Concerning the age, style, title, subject, divisions, manuscript codices, and editions of this book; concerning the observations of various scholars upon it and concerning corrupted passages; and what Minucius culled from others, and others from him. 397

Art. I. At what time this book was published. 397

Art. II. In whose words or in what style this book was composed, what is its title, what is the aim of Minucius Felix in it, and whether he pleaded the cause of the Christians fully and completely. 399

Art. III. Concerning the manuscript codices and various editions of this book. 402

Art. IV. Concerning the notes and animadversions of various scholars upon this book. 404

Art. V. Concerning certain corrupted passages, or passages suspected of corruption, of this book. 409

Art. VI. What Minucius culled from other writers—Cicero, Seneca, Tertullian—and in turn Cyprian and others from this book of the same Minucius. 413

Chap. III. New annotations upon the book of Minucius Felix; and first the arguments are weighed whereby Caecilius denies, and Octavius proves, that God exists. 419

Art. I. What will be treated in these notes and how; and first it is inquired whether the Christians are to be rejected from this disputation. 419

Art. II. The arguments are weighed whereby Caecilius strives to prove that it is not lawful for the Christians and others to dispute concerning God. 425

Art. III. The replies of Octavius are set forth whereby he refutes and overturns the foregoing arguments of Caecilius. 427

Art. IV. The arguments are examined whereby Caecilius denies, and Octavius demonstrates, that God exists. 431

Art. V. Another argument of Minucius is weighed, whereby he demonstrates that God, known by the inmost sense of men and by their conscience itself, truly exists. 434

Chap. IV. Concerning the one God. 437

Art. I. The argument is examined whereby Octavius shows by the authority of the heathen poets Homer and Virgil, and of the philosophers Thales, Anaximenes, Diogenes of Apollonia, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, and Xenophanes, that there is one God only. 437

Art. II. Concerning the other heathen philosophers: Antisthenes, Speusippus, Democritus, Strato, Epicurus, Aristotle, Heraclides Ponticus, Theophrastus, Cleanthes, Zeno, Chrysippus, Diogenes of Babylon, Xenophon, Aristo, and Plato. 442

Art. III. Another argument of Octavius concerning the one God is weighed, taken from the examples of earthly kingdoms and natural things. 449

Chap. V. Concerning the name, nature, and attributes of God. 451

Art. I. Who and what God is, or what is His name, and how He is known by man, although He cannot be seen with bodily eyes. 451

Art. II. By what arguments Minucius proved that God is infinite, eternal, immense, and knows all things. 456

Chap. VI. Concerning divine Providence. 457

Art. I. The arguments are examined whereby Minucius shows that the world, and all things, and each detail are governed by the Providence of God; wherein concerning Britain, the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Indus. 457

Art. II. The arguments of the heathen Caecilius against divine Providence, drawn from the prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the good, are sifted; wherein concerning Dionysius the tyrant, Phalaris, Rutilius, Socrates, Camillus, and the misery of the Jews and Christians. 462

Art. III. How Octavius weakens and destroys the foregoing arguments of Caecilius. 466

Art. IV. How Octavius refuted the argumentation drawn by Caecilius from the tortures and death of the martyrs, wherein the proposed examples of Scaevola, Regulus, and Aquilius are set forth; and concerning the great number of the martyrs, and the necessity of divine grace for undergoing martyrdom. 470

Art. V. How the last argument of Caecilius against divine Providence, drawn from the opinion of the Christians concerning fate, is solved by Octavius. 473

Chap. VII. Concerning other dogmas of the Christian religion. 475

Art. I. The arguments are sifted whereby Caecilius impugns the resurrection of our bodies, and Octavius defends it; wherein concerning metempsychosis and the authors and assertors of this opinion, Pythagoras and Plato. 475

Art. II. Other arguments of Octavius for proving the resurrection of our bodies, and the contrary arguments of Caecilius, are examined. 478

Art. III. The arguments are weighed whereby it is shown that wicked men are to be tortured with eternal punishments and everlasting fire, while the pious and righteous are to be gifted with perpetual happiness; wherein concerning the fires of Mount Etna and Vesuvius, the Stygian marsh, and the fiery river of hell. 482

Art. IV. The arguments are examined whereby Octavius against Caecilius proves that the world will one day perish by fire

And concerning the opinions of the Stoics, Epicureans, and Plato on that matter. 486

Chap. VIII. Concerning the three execrable crimes—infanticide, eating human flesh, and incest—whereof the Christians were accused by Caecilius and other heathens. 491

Art. I. What and of what sort was that accusation, what were its occasions, and how long it lasted. 491

Art. II. The general reasons are weighed whereby Octavius refutes the charges cast up against the Christians by Caecilius and the heathens. 495

Chap. IX. It is demonstrated how false are the first two crimes cast up against the Christians—that an infant is slain by them amidst the sacred mysteries and its flesh afterwards devoured—and that on the contrary the heathens are in truth guilty of them. 497

Art. I. The arguments are sifted whereby Minucius altogether clears the Christians from both these crimes. 497

Art. II. It is shown how surely Minucius convicts the heathens of homicide, as being men who exposed their newborn children or slew them by abortion, and that the Carthaginians even sacrificed their own children to Saturn, the devourer of his own children, and then endeavoured to suppress their groans with caresses and kisses, and for what cause. 502

Art. III. In what way further Minucius shows that strangers were sacrificed by the Taurians, the Pontians, and the Egyptian Busiris, men to Mercury by the Gauls, and a Greek man and a Greek woman, a Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman, and others to Jupiter Latiaris by the Romans. 507

Art. IV. Concerning other crimes proceeding from that savage custom of slaughtering men: namely, the conspiracy of Catiline with human blood, the sacred rites of Bellona steeped in the blood of men, the medicine sought for the falling sickness (epilepsy) by drinking it, and the beasts fattened therewith and devoured by men in the arena. 511

Chap. X. Concerning the third crime, namely infamous debauchery, adultery, and incest after banquets, whereof the Christians were said to be guilty. 513

Art. I. How greatly the Christians shrank from this crime, how chaste was their wedlock, and how many persevere in perpetual virginity. 515

Art. II. How Minucius turns back the argument of Caecilius against the heathens, and demonstrates from their own records that they enter into marriage with mothers and sisters, and that their gods were polluted with debauchery, adultery, and incest. 517

Chap. XI. Concerning the absurd worship which Caecilius most falsely casts up that the Christians paid to the head of an ass and to the genitals of the priest. 519

Art. I. How false is this accusation, and whether the Jews or the Gnostics gave occasion to it, and first of all in truth adored the head of an ass. 519

Art. II. How Minucius proved that the heathens are guilty of this and of a like or worse crime, who impiously worshipped and venerated asses together with Epona and Isis, and the heads of oxen and wethers. 523

Art. III. How Minucius further proved that gods mixed of a goat and a man, and displaying the countenances of lions and dogs, are worshipped and adored by the heathens, likewise the ox Apis, serpents, crocodiles, and other birds and beasts, and often even the breaking of wind from the belly. 526

Art. IV. That it is false that the genitals of the priest are adored by the Christians; and that the heathens are convicted of fouler shameful deeds; and what was the occasion of accusing the Christians of that most foul veneration. 531

Chap. XII. Other accusations of Caecilius, and the replies of Octavius to them, are examined. 533

Art. I. How undeservedly Caecilius condemns the assemblies and fasts of the Christians, and says that they are men of a desperate faction, a light-shunning tribe, recognizing one another by secret signs, and loving one another before they know one another. 533

Art. II. By what right Caecilius said that temples are despised as tombs by the Christians, and that they have no temples, no altars, no known images; and the inept cavils of more recent iconoclasts are refuted. 536

Art. III. How Octavius refutes Caecilius casting up that a man fastened to a cross for a crime is worshipped by the Christians, wherein concerning the supreme divinity of Christ; how perspicuously the same Octavius shows that a wicked man is honoured with divine worship by the Egyptians, and kings and emperors by the Romans, and oaths sworn by their genii; and whether it was lawful for Christians to swear by their safety. 543

Art. IV. In what way Minucius said that crosses are neither worshipped nor wished for by the Christians. 546

Art. V. How Minucius turns back against them the dart of the heathens casting up against the Christians the worship of the cross, who honoured crosses in the statues of their gods, in standards (cantabra), banners, and trophies, and the sign whereof is represented in the swelling sails of ships, in a yoke, and in a man praying with outstretched arms. 549

Chap. XIII. Other heads of the most iniquitous accusations of Caecilius are weighed. 551

Art. I. With how great injustice Caecilius imputes it as a fault to the Christians that they abstained from honourable pleasures, spectacles, processions, circus and gladiatorial games, and the foul scenes of the theatre. 551

Art. II. How Minucius replies to the other disparagements of Caecilius, that the Christians do not attend public banquets and sacred contests, and abstain from things offered to idols; wherein it is shown what those public banquets of the heathens were, and how greatly they differed from the Christians. 556

Art. III. Other censures of Caecilius are examined, whereby he blames the Christians for this reason, that they did not grace the head with flowers nor the body with perfumes, reserved ointments for funerals, and denied crowns to the dead, whose bodies they did not burn, but buried; wherein concerning the custom of burying bodies and its antiquity. 558

Art. IV. That the morals of the Christians were as holy as those of the heathens were corrupt; why their discipline is called lesser by Caecilius; how greatly the same Christians excelled the heathen philosophers in piety and doctrine; yet that heathens and Christians were friends, and addressed one another by the name of brethren. 562

Chap. XIV. The arguments of Caecilius are sifted whereby he endeavours to prove that his gods in truth exist, and that accordingly the religion of the heathens is true. 565

Art. I. The first argument of Caecilius is explained, whereby he strives to prove from the tradition of ancestors and the most ancient worship of the gods that his gods are true: namely, of Eleusinian Ceres, the Phrygian Mother or Cybele, Epidaurian Aesculapius, Chaldaean Belus, Syrian Astarte, Taurian Diana, and Gallic Mercury. 565

Art. II. How Octavius refutes the argument of Caecilius, and shows that neither is the worship of the gods of so great antiquity, nor are the impious and superstitious traditions of ancestors to be followed, such as were those concerning Scylla, the Chimaera, the Hydra, and the Centaurs. 569

Chap. XV. The arguments are weighed whereby he shows that the gods of the heathens are false. 571

Art. I. With what absurdity the heathens proclaimed that men had been made gods on account of merits of virtue, or benefits conferred upon other men. 571

Art. II. The argument of Minucius is examined whereby he proves from their origin, native land, death, and sepulchres that the gods of the heathens are false, and especially of Dictaean Jupiter, Delphic Apollo, Pharian Isis, and Eleusinian Ceres. 575

Art. III. The argument of Minucius is examined whereby he proves that the gods of the heathens are fictitious from the epistle of Alexander the Great to his mother, wherein he testified that a secret concerning the gods had been betrayed to him, and made Vulcan their chief; and a disputation concerning the sistrum of Isis at the swallow, and the empty sepulchre of Serapis or Osiris. 578

Chap. XVI. How valid are the other arguments whereby Octavius against Caecilius proves that the gods of the heathens are false and non-existent. 581

Art. I. How clearly Octavius shows from the first origin of the gods that they were not gods, but mere men; and first indeed their chief, Saturn, a fugitive from Crete, received in Italy by Janus, where he taught men many things, and especially to stamp coins and to form letters, and from whose name Saturnia was named. 581

Art. II. How preposterously the heathens said that Saturn was sprung from heaven and earth: whence this opinion arose; whether the account of it given by Minucius is rightly refuted by Lactantius; and that thence nevertheless it is made out that Saturn was not a god, but a mere man. 583

Art. III. By what weight of reasons Octavius (printed Caecilius) demonstrates that the divinity of Jupiter and of others who had been begotten of men, or who by the caprice and pleasure of others—as Romulus and Juba—were proclaimed gods, is false. 587

Chap. XVII. Of how great weight is another argument of Minucius against the gods of the heathens, drawn from their ridiculous forms and figures, and their unworthy and foul deeds and shameful acts. 591

Art. I. How absurdly Vulcan is fashioned by the heathens

as lame, Apollo beardless, Aesculapius bearded and sometimes beardless; Neptune with sea-green eyes, Minerva with grey-blue, Juno with ox-like, Mercury with winged feet, Pan hoofed, Saturn fettered, Janus two-faced and four-formed. 591

Art. II. With how great madness Diana has been sung of by the heathens as high-girt, a huntress, the Ephesian with many breasts, and Trivia with three heads and many hands; Jupiter now bearded, now beardless, Ammon with horns, Capitolinus bearing thunderbolts, Latiaris drenched with blood, Feretrius not heard, of whom there are as many monsters as names. 595

Art. III. Another argument of the same weight is set forth, which Minucius drew from the unworthy and most foul deeds of the gods, whereby Erigone was reported hung in a noose, Castor and Pollux dying by turns, Aesculapius struck by a thunderbolt, and Hercules burned in the fires of Oeta. 600

Art. IV. Why and how Minucius shows that the gods of the heathens are false from the books of Homer read continually by all for the instruction of life and morals, wherein are sung Venus wounded, Mars bound and wounded, Jupiter delivered by Briareus, weeping over Sarpedon, and enticed by the girdle of Venus, Hercules carrying out dung, Apollo feeding the flock of Admetus, Neptune repairing the walls of Laomedon, the thunderbolt of Jupiter forged together with the arms of Aeneas, the adultery of Mars and Venus, Ganymede carried off by Jupiter, and how deservedly Homer was cast out of his commonwealth by Plato. 602

Chap. XVIII. The argument of Caecilius is examined whereby the gods of the heathens are proved to exist for this reason, that the Romans in return for their worship merited the empire of the whole world. 605

Art. I. That argument of Caecilius is set forth. 605

Art. II. How Minucius refutes the argument of Caecilius, and demonstrates that the empire of the Romans was by no means founded by their religion towards the gods, but by impiety and crimes, and that the gods brought no help to the same Romans for extending the bounds of their kingdom—not even in the first place the foreign and stranger gods, Thracian Mars, Cretan Jupiter, Argive, Samian, and Carthaginian Juno, nor Taurian Diana, nor the Idaean Mother. 609

Art. III. That the native gods were of no help to the Romans for extending the bounds of the empire: Romulus, enrolled among the gods by the perjury of Proculus, Picus, Tiberinus, Pilumnus, Picumnus, Consus, Cloacina, Pavor, Pallor, Febris, Morbus, Acca Larentia, and Flora; wherein concerning the Larentialia, and the Consualia and Floralia. 613

Art. IV. How false it is that on account of the honours granted to the Vestals and priests, and the privileges given them, the bounds of the Roman empire were enlarged by the gods; how great were the incontinence and shameful deeds of both, and the adulteries and sacrileges in the temples themselves. 618

Art. V. How Minucius shows that the empire of the Romans was neither founded nor increased by piety towards the gods, because the Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Egyptians reigned before them, and before their pontiffs, Arval Brethren, Salii, Vestals, and augurs. 620

Chap. XIX. The arguments are weighed whereby Caecilius thought that the gods could be proved to exist from miracles, oracles, auspices, auguries, dreams, and other predictions. 621

Art. I. Whether Caecilius proved that the gods exist from the miracles of Claudia Quinta, who was reported to have drawn by her girdle alone the ship wherein the statue of the Idaean Mother was carried; of Castor and Pollux, who announced the victory won by the Romans over King Perseus; the dream of Latinius, whereby the games were renewed; the self-devotion of the Decii, whereby the enemies were routed and conquered; and the like self-devotion of Curtius, whereby a chasm of the earth is narrated to have been wonderfully filled up. 621

Art. II. That the presence of the gods is not proved by Caecilius from oracles and the replies of seers, to which Minucius opposes the examples of Amphiaraus, Tiresias, and Pythian Apollo, and the ambiguity and failure of the oracles. 626

Art. III. The argument of Caecilius is proposed whereby he strives to prove that on account of the auspices and auguries despised by Sulpicius, Claudius, Junius, Flaminius, and Crassus, the armies of the Romans were cut to pieces and routed by the vengeance of the gods, who therefore exist. 628

Art. IV. How Minucius utterly overturns the foregoing argument of Caecilius by other examples of Regulus, Mancinus, Paulus, and Julius Caesar; wherein concerning the perfect sacred omen (solistimum tripudium). 630

Chap. XX. The general reply of Minucius is weighed, whereby he demonstrates that miracles, oracles, auspices, auguries, dreams, and other extraordinary deeds among the heathens proceeded not from the power of their gods,

but from the frauds and juggling tricks of demons. 633

Art. I. Of what sort Minucius thought the nature of demons to be, and how rightly he said that they were known to the poets, to the philosophers, and above all to Plato and Socrates, and even more and especially to Hostanes. 633

Art. II. The arguments of Minucius are set forth whereby he demonstrates why and how all those things which seemed to be effected above the accustomed powers of nature were done by the arts and juggling tricks of demons; wherein many things concerning dreams, various lots, and the frenzy of seers. 636

Art. III. How evidently Minucius demonstrated that demons adjured by the Christians, and cast out of the possessed bodies of men, openly declared that they themselves were the authors of the extraordinary effects among the heathens; and those are refuted who prattle that these things and the oracles of seers were uttered solely by the contrivances and frauds of the heathen priests. 641

Chap. XXI. Concerning the images and statues of the gods, lurking under which the demons were believed to work certain wonders, and which were impiously worshipped by the heathens. 643

Art. I. With how great impiety the heathens worshipped and adored the statues of their gods, under which demons dwelt, and sought and awaited divine help from them, though made by the hands of men sometimes out of the filthiest vessel. 643

Art. II. Concerning the fashioned, anointed, and crowned statue of Serapis which Caecilius adored; wherein concerning the varied rite of the heathens in adoring statues, and whether that statue of Serapis was a boundary-statue (Terminale). 647

Chap. XXII. The argument of Minucius is weighed whereby from the sacred rites themselves, the mysteries, and the feasts which the heathens celebrated in honour of their gods, he argues that they do not exist. 649

Art. I. Concerning the sacred rites and mysteries of Isis, wherein she was feigned to seek with Cynocephalus (Anubis) her lost son or husband, and when he was found, to rejoice; how ridiculous was the procession of these mysteries transmitted from the Egyptians to the Romans, and how valid an argument against the gods of the heathens is drawn thence. 649

Art. II. Concerning the Eleusinian mysteries and the feast-day celebrated in memory of Ceres seeking her daughter Proserpina carried off by Pluto; concerning the sacred rites of Jupiter and also of Dindymene Cybele, or Ceres, or Rhea, or the Mother of the Gods, and of the castrated Attis, which were performed by the Galli or emasculated men. 654

Art. III. Concerning other superstitious and absurd rites of the heathens, whereby many made libation with their own blood, and made supplication with wounds and the cutting off of their genitals, and led their gods about begging from street to street; concerning the Luperci running about naked in raw winter, striking those whom they met and beating skins; concerning the capped Salii carrying old shields around. 657

Art. IV. Concerning temples the approach whereof stood open either once only in the year, or never to anyone, or never to men; concerning certain sacred ceremonies which were forbidden either to women or to slaves, and concerning other sacred rites which a woman married once only or a woman married many times crowned. 661

Chap. XXIII. Concerning a certain book which Minucius seems to have promised that he would write, and concerning certain obscure passages, and several writers and atheists recounted by him. 663

Art. I. Whether Minucius wrote a book Concerning Fate, or promised that he would publish it; and certain obscure passages of Minucius are explained: wherein concerning the sea-baths at Ostia on the Tiber, concerning the court holidays and the autumn season; what are the oaken rollers laid under ships, what is the boys' game of skipping potsherds upon the sea, or epostracismus; what are suns after suns (mock suns), and concerning mists, clouds, lightning, thunderbolts, and the eclipses of the moon. 663

Art. II. Concerning certain writers cited by Minucius—Nepos, Cassius, Thallus, Diodorus—and the atheists Theodorus, Diagoras, and Protagoras. 668

ANONYMOUS.

CHRONICLE WRITTEN UNDER ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 671

PROLEGOMENA. 671

I. Various opinions of learned men concerning the author of this Chronicle. 671

II. Some thought that it should be attributed to Hippolytus, bishop and martyr. 671

III. Yet its author seems to be held to be either Heron, from a philosopher become a Christian