Traduction Masquer
The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher - Translated from the Syriac

XIII.

But it is a marvel, O King, with regard to the Greeks, who surpass all other peoples in their manner of life and reasoning, how they have gone astray after dead idols and lifeless images. And yet they see their gods in the hands of their artificers being sawn out, and planed and docked, and hacked short, and charred, and ornamented, and being altered by them in every kind of way. And when they grow old, and are worn away through lapse of time, and when they are molten and crushed to powder, how, I wonder, did they not perceive concerning them, that they are not gods? And as for those who did not find deliverance for themselves, how can they serve the distress of men?

But even the writers and philosophers among them have wrongly alleged that the gods are such as are made in honour of God Almighty. And they err in seeking to liken (them) to God whom man has not at any time seen nor can see unto what He is like. Herein, too (they err) in asserting of deity that any such thing as deficiency can be present to it; as when they say that He receives sacrifice and requires burnt-offering and libation and immolations of men, and temples. But God is not in need, and none of these things is necessary to Him; and it is clear that men err in these things they imagine.

Further their writers and their philosophers represent and declare that the nature of all their gods is one. And they have not apprehended God our Lord who while He is one, is in all. They err therefore. For if the body of a man while it is many in its parts is not in dread, one member of another, but, since it is a united body, wholly agrees with itself; even so also God is one in His nature. A single essence is proper to Him, since He is uniform in His nature and His essence; and He is not afraid of Himself. If then the nature of the gods is one, it is not proper that a god should either pursue or slay or harm a god. If, then, gods be pursued and wounded by gods, and some be kidnapped and some struck dead by lightning, it is obvious that the nature of their gods is not one. And hence it is known, O King, that it is a mistake when they reckon and bring the natures of their gods under a single nature. If then it becomes us to admire a god which is seen and does not see, how much more praiseworthy is it that one should believe in a nature which is invisible and all-seeing? And if further it is fitting that one should approve the handiworks of a craftsman, how much more is it fitting that one should glorify the Creator of the craftsman?

For behold! when the Greeks made laws they did not perceive that by their laws they condemn their gods. For if their laws are righteous, their gods are unrighteous, since they transgressed the law in killing one another, and practising sorcery, and committing adultery, and in robbing and stealing, and in lying with males, and by their other practises as well. For if their gods were right in doing all these things as they are described, then the laws of the Greeks are unrighteous in not being made according to the will of their gods. And in that case the whole world is gone astray.

For the narratives about their gods are some of them myths, and some of them nature-poems (lit: natural:--phusikai), and some of them hymns and elegies. The hymns indeed and elegies are empty words and noise. But these nature-poems, even if they be made as they say, still those are not gods who do such things and suffer and endure such things. And those myths are shallow tales with no depth whatever in them.

Traduction Masquer
L'Apologie d'Aristide

XIII.

Les Égyptiens, les Chaldéens et les Grecs ont donc grandement erré en adorant ces dieux, en faisant leurs statues et en divinisant des idoles sourdes et privées de sens. Et je m’étonne que, voyant leurs dieux sciés et taillés par des ouvriers,¹ se briser et tomber en ruine par le temps, se décomposer et se fondre, ils n’aient pas compris que ce ne sont pas des dieux. Puisqu’ils ne peuvent rien pour leur propre salut, comment auraient-ils souci des hommes? Mais leurs poètes et leurs philosophes, ceux des Chaldéens, des Grecs et des Égyptiens, voulant glorifier leurs dieux dans leurs poèmes et dans leurs ouvrages, ont bien davantage étalé et mis à nu leur honte devant nous. Si donc le corps de l’homme, étant composé de plusieurs parties, ne rejette aucun de ses propres membres, mais, ayant dans tous ses membres une unité indissoluble, est d’accord avec lui-même, comment y aurait-il dans la nature divine pareil combat et discorde? Si la nature divine est une, un dieu ne doit pas en persécuter un autre, ni le tuer, ni lui faire du mal. Si donc les dieux sont persécutés, tués; volés ou foudroyés par des dieux, il n’y s plus une nature, mais des pensées partagées et toutes malfaisantes, de sorte qu’aucun d’eux n’est dieu. Il est donc évident, ô Roi, qu’il y a une grande erreur dans cette explication des dieux.

Comment les sages et les savants d’entre les Grecs n’ont-ils pas compris que ceux qui font des lois sont jugés par leurs propres lois? Si donc les lois sont justes, leurs dieux sont tout à fait injustes en les transgressant, en commettant des meurtres, des sortilèges, des adultères, des vols, des crimes contre nature. Si au contraire ils ont ainsi bien agi, alors les lois sont injustes et en opposition avec les dieux. Or, les lois sont, bonnes et justes, louant la vertu et réprouvant le vice; les actions de leurs dieux en sont la transgression. Leurs dieux sont donc transgresseurs, et ceux qui ont adoré de tels dieux sont tous dignes de mort et impies. Si les récits qui les concernent sont fabuleux, ce ne sont que des mots; s’ils sont réels, ceux qui ont fait et souffert ces choses ne sont pas des dieux. Si ces histoires sont allégoriques, ce sont des fables et rien d’autre.

Il est maintenant évident, ô Roi, que tous ces objets de culte polythéiste sont des oeuvres d’erreur et de perdition. On ne peut appeler dieux ceux qu’on voit, mais qui ne voient pas. Mais il faut adorer le Dieu invisible qui voit toutes choses et qui a tout créé.