Active c. A.D. 200

Marcus Minucius Felix

Worth knowing

A Roman lawyer, writing for readers who were Roman first and curious about Christianity second.
Octavius is a dialogue: three friends walking on the beach at Ostia, one pagan, one Christian, one listening.
It never quotes Scripture directly. It makes its case from reason and from the classical authors its pagan reader already respected.

In Scholar’s Dream, Marcus Minucius Felix has one book

OctaviusMinucius Felix, OctaviusNatural TheologyRationality

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“The bees have one king; the flocks one leader; among the herds there is one ruler. Can you believe that in heaven there is a division of the supreme power, and that the whole authority of that true and divine empire is broken apart?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain, lightly modernized).

from Octavius

“I hear the common people, when they lift their hands to heaven, say nothing else but ‘Oh God,’ and ‘God is great,’ and ‘God is true,’ and ‘if God shall permit.’ Is this the natural discourse of the common people, or is it the prayer of a confessing Christian?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).

from Octavius

“Is it not ridiculous either to grieve for what you worship, or to worship that over which you grieve?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 21, on the rites that mourn a dead god (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).

from Octavius

“How beautiful is the spectacle to God when a Christian does battle with pain… For he has conquered who has obtained that for which he contends.”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 37 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain). The ellipsis is a list of the threats and tortures.

from Octavius

Words Marcus Minucius Felix’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“The bees have one king; the flocks one leader; among the herds there is one ruler. Can you believe that in heaven there is a division of the supreme power, and that the whole authority of that true and divine empire is broken apart, when it is plain that God, the Parent of all, has neither beginning nor end?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain, lightly modernized).public domain

How it works in the game: the move One Ruler

Natural TheologyArgument · power 55 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe argument from monarchy: every ordered thing in nature answers to one head, and the world is the most ordered thing there is. Octavius reasons up from the hive to the throne of heaven.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 1)

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Steelman

RationalityType shift

In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 5)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 10)

“The very beauty of our own figure especially confesses God to be its artificer: our upright stature, our uplooking countenance, our eyes placed at the top, as it were, for outlook; and all the rest of our senses as if arranged in a citadel.”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Argument from Design

Natural TheologyArgument · power 76 · 100% accurate

In the gameA made thing argues for its maker. The body stands upright with its senses set high like a garrison; the world goes on being worth looking at long after the workman has gone. Either one is evidence, and neither had to be that way.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 10)

Strong against

×2.5Nein!an argument · why?

Paul did not preach to Athens from the Word alone. He started with their altar and their poets. If Barth is right, Acts 17 should not have been written.

“I hear the common people, when they lift their hands to heaven, say nothing else but ‘Oh God,’ and ‘God is great,’ and ‘God is true,’ and ‘if God shall permit.’ Is this the natural discourse of the common people, or is it the prayer of a confessing Christian?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 18 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move The Common Tongue

PresuppositionArgument · power 50 · 100% accurate

In the gameListen to how ordinary people talk when they are frightened or grateful. They do not say “the gods.” Frequently deflates the foe’s Contend — it is hard to argue from a position your own mouth keeps leaving.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 13)

Strong against

×2"We Are All Religious"an argument · why?

Minucius Felix noticed that ordinary Romans, when frightened or grateful, cried out to God, not to the gods. Even a city of many altars spoke of one God.

“And you behold the swallow and the cymbal of Isis, and the tomb of your Serapis or Osiris empty, with his limbs scattered about… Is it not ridiculous either to grieve for what you worship, or to worship that over which you grieve?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 21 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain) — both halves are in chapter 21, with a paragraph on Isis mourning Osiris between them.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Ridicule

RationalityArgument · power 50 · 75% accurate

In the gameHold the thing up and let the room see it. It can be devastating and it convinces nobody who was not already close — the least reliable argument in the book, and the one most worth hearing.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 16)

“Is it not ridiculous either to grieve for what you worship, or to worship that over which you grieve?”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 21 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Sarcasm

RationalityArgument · power 60 · 95% accurate

In the gameSay the argument back to it, straight-faced and in full, until the shape of it does the refuting. Often finds the telling stroke — and occasionally goes too far and misses.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 19)

“How beautiful is the spectacle to God when a Christian does battle with pain; when he is drawn up against threats, and punishments, and tortures; when, mocking the noise of death, he treads under foot the horror of the executioner… For he has conquered who has obtained that for which he contends.”
Minucius Felix, Octavius 37 (trans. Wallis, ANF 4, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Martyr’s Witness

HistoryArgument · power 65 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe record of those who died rather than recant. Nobody dies for what they know they made up. No rhetorical fog can blur it.

Learned byOctavius (Lv 22)

Strong against

×2A View of the Evidences of Christianitya book · why?

Paley’s first proposition is that the apostles suffered for what they reported. He cites Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp as witnesses.

Who else was alive

Marcus Minucius Felix against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window