Minucius Felix

Marcus Minucius Felix was a Christian lawyer at Rome who wrote the Octavius, a polished dialogue in which his friend Octavius answers the pagan Caecilius and wins him to the faith. It is the earliest surviving Christian work in Latin prose from Rome and argues largely from reason and the philosophers rather than from Scripture.

Dates

fl. early third century (disputed)

See or city

Rome

Region

Italy

Also known as

Marcus Minucius Felix; Minucius

Notes

Known only from his one work and from brief notices in Lactantius and Jerome (Lives of Illustrious Men 58), who calls him a distinguished advocate at Rome. His date depends on the disputed relation between the Octavius and Tertullian's Apology.

Works

• OctaviusOctavius · ca. 197–250 · CPL 37 (unverified)