Page:The Apocryphal New Testament (1924).djvu/127

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
COPTIC LIVES, ETC., OF THE VIRGIN
89

is mentioned that Mary was working when the Annunciation took place.

4. The Discourse of Cyril of Alexandria.

In this the care of Mary for her child, and her intercourse with him, is rather prettily described. 'She used to take hold of his hand and lead him along the roads, saying, "My sweet son, walk a little way", in the same manner as all other babes are taught to walk. And he, Jesus, the very God, followed after her untroubled. He clung to her with his little fingers, he stopped from time to time, and he hung on to the skirts of Mary his mother, he upon whom the whole universe hangeth. He would lift up his eyes to her face ... and she would catch him up to herself and lift him up in her arms, and walk along with him.'

At p. 721 is essentially the same description of the Virgin's habits that we have found in Robinson, II A, and Demetrius.

These documents on the whole show great negligence in the use of ancient sources and great licence on the part of the writers; and I think this is rather characteristic of the Christian literature of Egypt. When we come to the Passion-narratives and the Acts and Apocalypses we shall encounter some striking instances of the taking of liberties with texts.


A MODERN INFANCY GOSPEL

By way of a curiosity, and to dispel illusions that may perhaps be entertained, I add a short note on a modern forgery, 'The childhood of Christ—translated from the Latin by Henry Copley Greene, with original text of the manuscript at the monastery of St. Wolfgang. New York: Scott-Thaw Co. London: Burns & Oates. 1904.' This is the form in which some readers may have met the book. The original is: 'L'Évangile de la jeunesse de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ d'apres S. Pierre.' Latin text and French version by Catulle Mendés: Paris, Armand Colin, 1894. All that we are told of the provenance of the Latin text is that it was 'found some years ago in the ancient abbey of St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut'. The opening words of the prologue attribute the work to St. Peter. It is a sentimentalized compilation from Protevangelium, Pseudo-Matthew, the Latin Thomas, and the Arabic Gospel. It claims to be at least mediaeval in date, put the claim is made null by the simple fact that the Latin contains many phrases from Sike's Latin version of the Arabic Gospel, which was written in 1697. Perhaps one specimen of the turn which is given to the original stories may be given. In the case of the boy who runs against Jesus, Jesus laments, saying, 'Non ploro quia malum mihi inflixum est, sed quia malum altero inflixurus sum. Euh! frater mi,' &c, He then puts his hand on the boy’s forehead, saying, 'Quoniam pulsavisti, cade, et quoniam vitae in me currens offendisti, siste in morte'. (Because you have pushed me, fall; and because by running against me you have offended (or stumbled against) life, continue dead.) The boy dies and Jesus mourns for twelve days.

Presumably the Latin text as well as the French version may be regarded as the work of Catulle Mendés.