450 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. Of the literarycharacterof the dialogue,it is sufficient to quotethe testimonyof the lateDean Milman : " Perhaps no latework, eitherPagan or Christian,reminds us of the golden days of Latin proseso much as the Octaviusof Minu- ciusFelix."1 In consideringthe claimof the dialogueto such praiseas this,itmust be borne in mind thatthe text as we have it is very uncertain,and often certainlycorrupt; so that many passagesseem to us confused,and some hopelesslyobscure. Only one manuscript of the work has come down to us, which isnow in the Imperial Library in Paris. It isbeau tifullywritten. Some editorshave spoken of two other mss.; but it is now known that they were wrong. They supposed that the firsteditionwas taken from a different MS. than the Codex Regius,and they were not aware thata codex in Brusselswas merely a transcriptof the one in Paris. The Octaviusappears in the MS. as the eighth book of Arnobius,and at firstit was publishedas such. To Fran- ciscusBalduinus (1560)isdue themeritof having discovered the realauthor. There are very many editionsof the Octavius. Among the earlier,those of Gronovius (1709) and Davies (1712) are valuable. Among the later,Lindner (1760), Eduard de Muralto (1836),and Oehler (1847) may be mentioned. There is a very good English editionby the Rev. H. A. Holden, M.A., Cambridge 1853. The most recent edition is that of Carl Halm, publishedunder the auspicesof the Imperial Academy of Lettersin Vienna, Vindobonae 1867. Both Holden and Halm give new recensionsof the Codex Regius. 1Milman'sHist.ofChristianity,vol.in.bookit.eh.iii.