Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/63

Rh peritome, (peritome, that is, circumcision,") are in the Latin, "Cumque accepisset parhithomum infans — parhithomus id est circumcisio," and look like a lame translation out of Greek, with an explanatory gloss. The barbarous parhithomus for περιτὀμη (peritomé) may, however, not be chargeable upon the translator. The age of 112 assigned to Simeon is a fiction, and not much better is the assertion that Anna "had been a widow now for 84 years;" and I may say the same of the intimation that the wise men came to Jerusalem after two years (chap. xvi.), and that Joseph was warned to flee into Egypt, one day before the murder of the infants.

The second portion of the book introduces us into the true region of the marvellous, and we encounter prodigies at every step. Where did these fables come from? I suppose the Christian Hagadists fancied they might make a pretty story out of any Old Testament text they chose. The Psalmist says "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons," so dragons come out of a cave and worship Jesus. The prophet speaks of wolves feeding with lambs, and of lions eating chaff with oxen, so lions and leopards and all sorts of wild beasts, form a sort of body guard for the Holy Family in