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Aristeas Aristobulus

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

I.

and Palestinian sages, and especially the solsanction of the Greek translation, have for their sole objects the legitimation of the version, and the obtaining for it of equal authority with the original text. Philo, who otherwise follows Aristeas, goes beyond him in attributing divine inspiration to the translators, and in making them by divine influence priest,

emn

produce an identical translation, and in calling them prophets ("Vita Mosis," ii. 7). This exaggeration must be considered simply as a popular develop-

ment

of the legend, and Philo's regard in his exegesis for the translation as a holy text testifies to the general appreciation in which it was held. When the use of the Septuagint in the synagogue service speedily surrounded it with an atmosphere of sanctity.pious belief easilyaccommodateditself to amyth, the material and form of which closely resembled the familiar legend of the restoration of the holy books by Ezra under divine inspiration a legend which is found for the first time in IV Esdras, but which is certainly far older. The Christian Church received the Septuagint from the Jews as a divine revelation, and quite innocently employed it as a basis for Scriptural interpretation. Only when Jewish polemics assailed it was the Church compelled to investigate the true relationship of the translation Influence to the original. Origen perceived the of insufficiency of the Septuagint, and, in Aristeas. his "Hexapla," collected material for a thorough revision of it. But the legend long adhered closely to the Septuagint and was further embellished by the Church. Not only were " the Seventy " (the usual expression instead of Seventy-two) credited with having translated all the Sacred Scriptures instead of the Law only (according to Epiphanius, a whole mass of Apocrypha besides), but the miraculous element increased. At one time we are told the translators were shut up in seventy cells in strictest seclusion (pseudo-Justin and others) at another, in thirty -six cells, in couples. Epiphanius in his work, " De Mensuris et Ponderibus " (written 392), furnishes the most highly elaborated and most widely accepted form of the story. The legend became a weapon in the battle which was waged around the Bible of the Church the " inspired " Septuagint was not easily surrendered. The rigid orthodoxy of the fourth century, which resulted in the ruin of all knowledge in the Church, did not scruple to set this legend in its crassest form in opposition to the promising beginnings by Origen of a proper Biblical text criticism, and so to arrest the latter comOnly Jerome, who as a philolpletely at the start. ogist understood the value of Origen's work, made use of his material, and in the Vulgate preserved for the Western Church this most precious legacy, exercising, consistently with his usage, a rational criticism upon the legend. Thus Aristeas plays a great, even a fateful, role in the Church. The varying opinions as to this legend very often reflect dogmatic views about the Bible in general, and the understanding, or the misunderstanding, of his critics concerning textual



questions.

The ed. princeps of the Various editions Greek text, by S. Schard, Basel, 1561, upon which all subsequent editions are based. M. Schmidt's ed. in Merx, Archiv f. WtesenschaftUrhe Erforschung des A. T. (Halle, 1868),

Bibliography





94

Ar intern ad Philocratem Epistula, cum Ceteris de Interpretum cum Testimoniis ex Oriuine Vertsioiiis L. Mendctxsiiluiii Schedti, ed. P. Wendland, Leipsic, 1900. Schmidt depends mainly upon one Paris manuscript, but Mendelssohn compared all manuscripts extant. Wendland's index shows the importance of Aristeas for the study of Hellenistic Greek, by comparison with the LXX, with inscriptions, papyri Paragraph references in in the Ptolemaic age, and Polybius. the above article are those in Wendland's edition. Wend241-312;

land,

LXX

German

translation with introduction, in E. Kautszch,

Die Apoltrjiphen und Pseudepigraphen des A. T. ii. 1Freiburg im Breisgau, 1899. Other literature is quoted by Schilrer, Qesch. des Judischen Volkes, 3d ed., in. 470.

81,

P.

T.

W.

ARISTIDES MAREIANTJS OF ATHENS



lived about the middle of the second century. He is described by Jerome as having been a most eloquent man. Both the author and his

Christian apologist

work



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a defense of Christianity addressed to the emperor, Antoninus Pius are, so to speak, new discoveries. Beyond a brief notice of Aristides and his "Apology" by Eusebius ("Hist. Eccl." iv. 3; id. "Chron. Ann." 2140), he remained until recently entirely unknown. Some Armenian fragments of the " Apology " had been published, in 1878, when, in 1891, Harris surprised the learned world with a complete Syrian text of the work and at the same time Robinson pointed out the interesting fact that in "Barlaam and Josaphat" the Greek text of the " Apology " had been almost wholly preserved. The " Apology " which he presented to the Emperor Hadrian between the years 123 and 126, is of great interest, not only for the early history of Christianity, but also for Judaism. For Aristides is one of the few Christian apologists, of ancient or modern times, who strive to be just to the Jews and this not alone concerning their monotheistic faith which he characterizes as the true one but also as regards their religious practises, of which he remarks " They imitate God by the philanthropy that prevails among them for they have compassion on the poor, release the captives, bury the dead, and do such things as these, which are acceptable before God and well-pleasing also to man " (Syrian text, xiv.). The only thing to which he takes exception is that their ceremonial practises do not propitiate God whom they wish to serve by them but the angels (I.e.). This complaint against the Jews is not made from actual observation of their life, but rests solely on a theory borrowed from the New Testament (Col. ii. 18; Gal. ii. 8, 10), and the New Testament Apocrypha Kr/pvynaUhpov; see Clement of Alexandria, "Strom." vi. 41). What Aristides defends so ably and so eloquently in his " Apology " is not specifically Christian doctrine, much less dogmatic Christianism, but the moral side of the religion, which, according to his own words, represents an excellence not to be denied to Judaism likewise. Aristides seems to be strongly influenced in his apologetics by the Jewish

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" Didache " and his argument for monotheism (see chaps, i., ii., iii.) recalls the favorite Jewish Haggadot touching the conversion of Abraham to the time faith (see Abraham in the Apocrypha and in Rabbinical, Literature). Directly or indirectly, Aristides must have learned of these traditions. His remarks upon the religious life of the Jews in Greece in his time (ch. xiv.) are interesting: he states that they do not observe the ceremonial laws as they should. These remarks perhaps refer to the results of the edict of persecution issued by Hadrian, when