Short answers, pulled from the story.
Arnobius was an early Christian apologist of Berber origin who died around 330. Before his conversion, he was a distinguished teacher of rhetoric at Sicca Veneria, the city now called El Kef in Tunisia. He wrote during the reign of Diocletian (284-305).
Adversus nationes is a seven-book apologetic work written by Arnobius around 303. It responds to arguments that Christians had provoked the anger of Rome's traditional gods and brought divine punishment onto the empire. The work defends monotheism, argues for the divinity of Christ, and includes detailed descriptions of Graeco-Roman pagan practice in books III through VII.
Book II section 4 of Adversus nationes contains the first known version of the argument later called Pascal's Wager. Arnobius argues that when two outcomes are uncertain, it is more rational to choose the path that carries some hope of reward than the one that carries none. He states explicitly that if the faith proves true and is rejected, the cost is "the greatest loss, even the loss of salvation."
In Book II of Adversus nationes, sections 14 through 62, Arnobius argues that the human soul is not the work of God but of an intermediate being. He holds that the soul is not immortal by nature but can acquire immortality as a form of grace. He also contends that believing in the soul's natural immortality would remove moral restraint from human behavior.
According to Jerome, Arnobius wrote the work around 303 to convince the bishop of Sicca Veneria of the sincerity of his conversion, which the bishop doubted. The work also replies to arguments used to justify Diocletian's persecution of Christians, specifically the claim that Christians had brought the anger of Rome's traditional gods onto the empire.
Adversus nationes survives in a single ninth-century manuscript held in Paris. A second copy exists in Brussels but is regarded as a poor transcription of the Paris original. The Paris manuscript also contains the Octavius of Marcus Minucius Felix.