Year/Century: 18th century
Language: Latin
Subject: History
Binding: Vellum
Description: Minucius Felix OCTAVIUS Leyden, C. Boutestein and S. Luchtmans, 1709 (20),496,(24) p., ed. J. Gronovius. Title page with an etched printer's mark, one engraved plate, and a few images. Original vellum school prize binding with an inscription and the Minerva gilded coat of arms on both covers Double blindstamped borders with floral embellishments in each inner panel corner, gilded spine; Lugd[uni] Bata[vorum] (Leiden). Occasionally a little foxed; title page has a closed tear. Absence of connections; some vellum soiling Manuscript title in pen and ink in the lower left blank corner, written in 19th century hand on the spine Dimensions: 5 1/4 by 8 1/4"; Latin text. Marcus Minucius Felix, one of the first Christian apologists to write in Latin, was born in Africa and passed away in Rome about the year 250. A Roman lawyer, he composed the Octavius, which is a discussion between Minucius' friend and fellow skeptic Caecilius Natalis, a pagan, and the Christian Octavius Januarius, a Christian, on Providence and Christianity in general. Written primarily for educated non-Christians, the arguments are derived from Christian sources, primarily the Greek Apologists, and Cicero, particularly from his De natura deorum ("Concerning the Nature of the Gods"). Rather than uniqueness, the treatise's classical refinement makes it stand out. Quod idola dii non sunt (c. 250; "That Idols Are Not Gods"), which takes from the Octavius, was written before Bishop St. Cyprian of Carthage wrote it. It is unclear, however, whether Minucius was influenced by Tertullian's Apologeticum and Ad nationes (197; "To the Nations") or vice versa.

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