Marcus Minucius Felix

Marcus Minucius Felix (died c. 250 AD in Rome) was one of the earliest of the Latin apologists for Christianity. He is now exclusively known by his Octavius, a dialogue between the pagan Caecilius Natalis and the Christian Octavius Januarius.

Quotes

Octavius

• Quod est in liberis amabilius—adhuc annis innocentibus et adhuc dimidiata verba temptantibus, loquellam ipso offensantis linguae fragmine dulciorem.
  • Children still at the lovable stage of the years of innocence, trying to form broken words, in the pretty prattle which the broken efforts of a stumbling tongue render still sweeter.
  • II, 1 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

• Hic non videri potest: visu clarior est; nec comprehendi: tactu purior est; nec aestimari: sensibus maior est, infinitus, immensus et soli sibi tantus, quantus est, notus.
  • God cannot be seen: he is too bright for sight; nor grasped: he is too pure for touch; nor measured: for he is beyond all sense, infinite, measureless, his dimension known to him- self alone.
  • XVIII, 8 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

• Ita corpus in sepulcro, ut arbores in hiberno: occultant virorem ariditate mentita. ... Expectandum nobis etiam corporis ver est.
  • The body in the grave is like trees in winter; they conceal their greenness under a show of dryness. ... We too must wait for the springtime of the body.
  • XXXIV, 11 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

• Vos scelera admissa punitis, apud nos et cogitare peccare est; vos conscios timetis, nos etiam conscientiam solam.
  • You punish crimes committed, with us the thought of crime is sin; you fear the voice of witnesses, we the sole voice of conscience.
  • XXXV, 6 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

• Actus hominis, non dignitas iudicentur.
  • Man’s doing, not his dignity, is judged.
  • XXVI, ? (Tr. R. E. Wallis)

• Beatior in hoc itinere vivendi, qui paupertate se sublevat, non sub divitiarum onere suspirat.
  • As he who treads a road is the happier the lighter he walks, so happier is he in this journey of life who lifts himself along in poverty, and does not breathe heavily under the burden of riches.
  • XXVI, ? (Tr. R. E. Wallis)

• Nobilitate generosus es? Parentes tuos laudas? Omnes tamen pari sorte nascimur, sola virtute distinguimur.
  • Are you of noble lineage? proud of your ancestry? Yet we are all born equal, virtue alone gives mark.
  • XXXVII, 10 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

• Non eloquimur magna sed vivimus.
  • We do not preach great things but we live them.
  • XXXVIII, 6 (Tr. G. H. Rendall)

External links

• T. R. Glover; Gerald H. Rendall; W. C. A. Kerr, Tertullian · Minucius Felix (LCL, 1931)