The _Octavius_ is different from other early writings in defense of Christianity, inasmuch as it bases no argument upon the Bible and makes no appeal to the emotions. These peculiarities are most easily explained by the theory that Minucius wrote his treatise as a reply to a speech of Fronto against Christianity, that he put the substance of Fronto’s speech into the mouth of Cæcilius, and then, in the person of Octavius, refuted it point for point. In style Minucius attains at times an almost classic elegance and simplicity, though he shows the influence of the rhetorical schools of the Silver Age and is sometimes needlessly emphatic. He continues the tradition of the classical school, with no trace of the affectations or innovations of Fronto or Apuleius. Apart from its interest as the earliest specimen of Christian writing in Latin, the _Octavius_ deserves to be read as the most attractive Latin prose after the time of Trajan. Minucius Felix is known to us by only one short work, in which he displays conservative literary taste, cultivated imagination, and ability to conduct an argument calmly and dispassionately. [Sidenote: Tertullian.] Tertullian, a much more important figure than Minucius in the history of the church, is known by a great body of writings, in which the qualities he shows are almost the opposite of those we admire in Minucius. Yet Tertullian is an interesting and powerful figure in the history of literature as well as in that of the church. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was born at Carthage, probably about 160 A. D., and may have died about 230 A. D. At any rate, the period of his chief activity was in the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla. In early life he was a pagan, but was converted to Christianity, possibly through his wife, who was a Christian. He attained the position of presbyter in the church. In middle life he became a Montanist—that is, a follower of Montanus, an enthusiast of Ardaba, in Mysia, who declared himself the Comforter promised by Christ, claimed prophetic powers, declared that the end of the world was at hand, and promulgated a variety of strict doctrines and rules for conduct. The writings of Tertullian are from beginning to end controversial. Some of them are in defense of Christianity against the heathen, while others are directed against those Christian beliefs and practises which he does not approve. To the second class belong the writings in support of Montanism, for Tertullian was of such a passionate nature that an argument in support of any doctrine necessarily becomes an attack upon those who hold any other views. As the chief advocate of Montanism in the west, Tertullian softened some of its more obviously absurd doctrines, but could not modify them so far as to make them acceptable to the church at large. He was therefore in constant opposition to the church during the latter part of his life, and at a later time his writings came to be regarded as heretical.