Israelite" was, or "Thomas the Ishmaelite," as some copies call him.
Dr. Tischendorf has found some fragments of another Latin text considerably more ancient than the one here printed. These fragments are in a Palimpsest MS. at Vienna and are thought to be of the fifth or sixth century. As we should expect, they approach nearer to the first Greek text, and nearer still to the Syriac in some respects. Some of the readings differ from all the other texts, but may be partly traced in Pseudo-Matthew, which made free use of Pseudo-Thomas.
The Syriac recension altogether omits the name of Thomas, and is simply called "The Boyhood of our Lord Jesus." Dr. Wright's copy is of the sixth century, and exhibits a more ancient text than any other now extant complete. It has been less subject to expurgation on the one hand and to additions on the other. Manipulation it has most likely undergone, but much of its primitive heretical aspect remains. The great antiquity of the copy, and the interest and importance which attach to it, justify my giving it a place in this volume.
