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—Aristotle’s pupil—some three hundred years later. It is also said that the last of their kings bore the title “Ptolemy,” for they used to call every sovereign of theirs “Ptolemy,” just as the Copts called their ruler “Pharaoh,” the Abyssinians theirs “Negus,” the Persians theirs “Kisrā,” and so on. Turning away, then, from the path of the prophets and messengers to the path of unbelieving, idolatrous deniers is nothing but manifest error.
Their own books recount that when Paul came to Athens, the stronghold of the philosophers—where idols were also worshipped—he found inscribed upon the doorway of the scholars’ hall: “The Hidden God.”
- صَاحِبِ أَرِسْطُو - بِنَحْوِ ثَلَاثِمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ.
وَيُقَالُ:
إِنَّهُ آخِرُ مُلُوكِهِمْ كَانَ
(بَطْلَيْمُوسَ)
وَكَانُوا يُسَمُّونَ الْمَلِكَ مِنْ مُلُوكِهِمْ
(بَطْلَيْمُوسَ)
كَمَا يُسَمُّونَ الْقِبْطُ مَلِكَهَا
(فِرْعَوْنَ)
وَالْحَبَشَةُ مَلِكَهَا
(النَّجَاشِيَّ)
وَالْفُرْسُ
(كِسْرَى)
وَنَحْوُ ذَلِكَ. وَحِينَئِذٍ فَعُدُولُكُمْ عَنْ طَرِيقَةِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَالْمُرْسَلِينَ. إِلَى طَرِيقَةِ الْكُفَّارِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ الْمُعَطِّلِينَ مِنَ الضَّلَالِ الْمُبِينِ.
وَفِي كُتُبِهِمْ:
أَنْ بُولِصَ لَمَّا صَارَ إِلَى
(أَيْثِينِيَّةَ)
دَارِ الْفَلَاسِفَةِ، وَفِيهَا دَارُ الْأَصْنَامِ،
وَجَدَ مَكْتُوبًا عَلَى بَابِ دَارِ الْعُلَمَاءِ:
الْإِلَهُ الْخَفِيُّ