CHAP.  XXXVin. — ARGUMENT:  CHRISTIANS  ABSTAIN
FROM  THINGS  CONNECTED  WITH  IDOL  SACRI-
FICES, LF-ST  AN^'  ONE  SHOULD  THINK  En'HER
THAT  THEY  YIELD  TO  DEMONS,  OR  TH.AT  THEY
ARE  ASHAMED  OF  THEIR  RELIGION.  THEY  DO
NOT  INDEED  DESPISE  ALL  THE  COLOUR  AND
SCENT  OF  FLOWERS,  FOR  THEY  ARE  ACCUSTOMED
TO  USE  THEM  SCATTERED  A  BOLT  LOOSELY  AND
NEGLIGENTLY,  AS  WELL  AS  lO  ENTWINE  THEIR
NECKS  WITH  GARI^ANDS  ;  BIT  TO  CROWN  THE
HEAD  OF  A  CORPSE  THEY  THINK  SUPERFLUOUS
AND     USELESS.        MOREOVER,     WITH     THE     SAME


2  Otherwise.  ••  unhoped-for."  [This  chapter  has  been  suppo!^  '  ^  This  passapc  is  peculiar;  the  original  is,  "  Ut  inccnium  eorum
to  indic;»tc  that  the  work  was  written  in  a  time  of  persecution.  Faint  perdiiac  mentis  hcentia:  potestaiis  libcrac  nundincntur, '  niih  various
tokens  of  the  same  have  been  imagined  also,  in  capp.  29  and  33,  «»/ra.  j     moditicaiiuns  of  reading.
THE  OCTAVIUS   OF  MINUCIUS   FELIX.
197


TRANQUILLITY  WITH  WHICH  THEV  LI\'E  THEY
BUBV  THEIR  DEAD,  WAITING  WHH  A  VERY  CER-
TAIN HOPE  THE  CROWN  OF  ETERNAL  FELICITV.
THEREFORE  THEIR  REUGION,  REJECTING  ALL  THE
SUPERSTITIONS  OF  THE  GENTILES,  SHOULD  BE
ADOPTED  AS  TRUE  BY  ALL  MEN.
