“ The form of the dialogue is modelled on the De natura deorum and De divinatione of Cicero and its style is both vigorous and elegant if at times not exempt from something of the affectation of the age. ”

“ If the doctrines of the Divine unity, the resurrection, and future rewards and punishments be left out of account, the work has less the character of an exposition of Christianity than of a philosophical and ethical polemic against the absurdities of polytheism. While it thus has much in common with the Greek Apologies it is full of the strong common sense that marks the Latin mind. Its ultimate appeal is to the fruits of faith.
The Octavius is admittedly earlier than Cyprian’s Quod idola dii non sint, which borrows from it ”