The king then, without delay, sent some of the Magi under his dominion with gifts, the star showing them the way. And when they returned, they narrated to the men of that time those same things which were also written on the plates of gold, and which were to the following effect:--
When we came to Jerusalem, the sign, together with our arrival, roused all the people. How is this, say they, that wise men of the Persians are here, and that along with them there is this strange stellar phenomenon? And the chief of the Jews interrogated us in this way: What is this that attends you, [1070] and with what purpose are you here? And we said: He whom ye call Messias is born. And they were confounded, and dared not withstand us. But they said to us, By the justice of Heaven, tell us what ye know of this matter. And we made answer to them: Ye labour under unbelief; and neither without an oath nor with an oath do ye believe us, but ye follow your own heedless counsel. For the Christ, the Son of the Most High, is born, and He is the subverter of your law and synagogues. And therefore is it that, struck with this most excellent response as with a dart, [1071] ye hear in bitterness this name which has come upon you suddenly. And they then, taking counsel together, urged us to accept their gifts, and tell to none that such an event had taken place in that land of theirs, lest, as they say, a revolt rise against us. But we replied: We have brought gifts in His honour, with the view of proclaiming those mighty things which we know to have happened in our country on occasion of His birth; and do ye bid us take your bribes, and conceal the things which have been communicated to us by the Divinity who is above the heavens, and neglect the commandments of our proper King? And after urging many considerations on us, they gave the matter up. And when the king of Judæa sent for us and had some converse with us, and put to us certain questions as to the statements we made to him, we acted in the same manner, until he was thoroughly enraged at our replies. We left him accordingly, without giving any greater heed to him than to any common person.
And we came to that place then to which we were sent, and saw the mother and the child, the star indicating to us the royal babe. And we said to the mother: What art thou named, O renowned mother? And she says: Mary, masters. And we said to her: Whence art thou sprung? [1072] And she replies: From this district of the Bethlehemites. [1073] Then said we: Hast thou not had a husband? And she answers: I was only betrothed with a view to the marriage covenant, my thoughts being far removed from this. For I had no mind to come to this. And while I was giving very little concern to it, when a certain Sabbath dawned, and straightway at the rising of the sun, an angel appeared to me bringing me suddenly the glad tidings of a son. And in trouble I cried out, Be it not so to me, Lord, for I have not a husband. And he persuaded me to believe, that by the will of God I should have this son.
Then said we to her: Mother, mother, all the gods of the Persians have called thee blessed. Thy glory is great; for thou art exalted above all women of renown, and thou art shown to be more queenly than all queens.
The child, moreover, was seated on the ground, being, as she said, in His second year, and having in part the likeness of His mother. And she had long hands, [1074] and a body somewhat delicate; and her colour was like that of ripe wheat; [1075] and she was of a round face, and had her hair bound up. And as we had along with us a servant skilled in painting from the life, we brought with us to our country a likeness of them both; and it was placed by our hand in the sacred [1076] temple, with this inscription on it: To Jove the Sun, the mighty God, the King of Jesus, the power of Persia dedicated this.
And taking the child up, each of us in turn, and bearing Him in our arms, we saluted Him and worshipped Him, and presented to Him gold, and myrrh, and frankincense, addressing Him thus: We gift Thee with Thine own, O Jesus, Ruler of heaven. Ill would things unordered be ordered, wert Thou not at hand. In no other way could things heavenly be brought into conjunction with things earthly, but by Thy descent. Such service cannot be discharged, if only the servant is sent us, as when the Master Himself is present; neither can so much be achieved when the king sends only his satraps to war, as when the king is there himself. It became the wisdom of Thy system, that Thou shouldst deal in this manner with men. [1077]
And the child leaped and laughed at our caresses and words. And when we had bidden the mother farewell, [1078] and when she had shown us honour, and we had testified to her the reverence which became us, we came again to the place in which we lodged. And at eventide there appeared to us one of a terrible and fearful countenance, saying: Get ye out quickly, lest ye be taken in a snare. And we in terror said: And who is he, O divine leader, that plotteth against so august an embassage? And he replied: Herod; but get you up straightway and depart in safety and peace.
And we made speed to depart thence in all earnestness; and we reported in Jerusalem all that we had seen. Behold, then, the great things that we have told you regarding Christ; and we saw Christ our Saviour, who was made known as both God and man. To Him be the glory and the power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
[1057] Edited from two Munich codices by J. Chr. von Aretin, in his Beiträge zur Geschichte und Literatur, anno 1804, p. ii. p. 49. [I place this apocryphal fragment here as a mere appendix to the Genealogical Argument. An absurd appendix, indeed.]
[1058] Which is extant in two mss. in the Electoral Library of Munich, and in one belonging to the Imperial Library of Vienna.
[1059] The mss. read gar, for.
[1060] The term in the original (alklariais) is one altogether foreign to Greek, and seems to be of Arabic origin. The sense, however, is evident from the use of synonymous terms in the context.
[1061] There is a play upon the words, perhaps, in the original. The Greek term for Juno (Era) may be derived from era, terra, so that the antithesis intended is, "She is no longer called Earthly, but Heavenly."
[1062] i.e., Fountain, Spring, or Stream.
[1063] The initial letters of the Greek 'Iesous Christos Theou Huios Soter, i.e., "Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior," when joined together, make the word hichthus, i.e., fish; and the fathers used the word, therefore, as a mystic symbol of Christ, who could live in the depth of our mortality as in the abyss of the sea. [Vol. ii. p. 297.]
[1064] i.e., as sea, land, and sky
[1065] theias tuches sullemma.
[1066] ellraphos.
[1067] empraktou.
[1068] The text gives throbadei, for which Migne proposes thorubethi.
[1069] praktikous phorous.
[1070] ti to epomenon, perhaps meant for, What business brings you?
[1071] huper manteias aristes hosper katatoxeuomenoi.
[1072] hormomene.
[1073] Bethleoton.
[1074] makras tas cheiras according to Migne, instead of the reading of the manuscript, makrin ten keran echousa.
[1075] sitochroos.
[1076] diopetei.
[1077] The manuscripts give antartas, for which Migne proposes anthropous or antergatas. [Unworthy, wholly so, of our author. This curious specimen of the romances of antiquity might better have found its place with other Protevangelia in vol. viii., this series.]
[1078] suntaxamenoi.
juliusafricanus extant_fragments anf06 juliusafricanus-extant_fragments The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus /ccel/schaff/anf06.v.v.html
The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus
III.--The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus.
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I. [1079]
On the Mythical Chronology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans.
The Egyptians, indeed, with their boastful notions of their own antiquity, have put forth a sort of account of it by the hand of their astrologers in cycles and myriads of years; which some of those who have had the repute of studying such subjects profoundly have in a summary way called lunar years; and inclining no less than others to the mythical, they think they fall in with the eight or nine thousands of years which the Egyptian priests in Plato falsely reckon up to Solon. [1080]
(And after some other matter:)
For why should I speak of the three myriad years of the Phoenicians, or of the follies of the Chaldeans, their forty-eight myriads? For the Jews, deriving their origin from them as descendants of Abraham, having been taught a modest mind, and one such as becomes men, together with the truth by the spirit of Moses, have handed down to us, by their extant Hebrew histories, the number of 5500 years as the period up to the advent of the Word of salvation, that was announced to the world in the time of the sway of the Cæsars.
[1079] In Georgius Syncellus, Chron., p. 17, ed. Paris, 14 Venet.
[1080] The text is:...sumpiptousi tais okto kai ennea chiliasin heton, has Aiguption oi para Platoni hiereis eis Solona katarithmoutes ouk aletheuousi.
II. [1081]
When men multiplied on the earth, the angels of heaven came together with the daughters of men. In some copies I found "the sons of God." What is meant by the Spirit, in my opinion, is that the descendants of Seth are called the sons of God on account of the righteous men and patriarchs who have sprung from him, even down to the Saviour Himself; but that the descendants of Cain are named the seed of men, as having nothing divine in them, on account of the wickedness of their race and the inequality of their nature, being a mixed people, and having stirred the indignation of God. [1082] But if it is thought that these refer to angels, we must take them to be those who deal with magic and jugglery, who taught the women the motions of the stars and the knowledge of things celestial, by whose power they conceived the giants as their children, by whom wickedness came to its height on the earth, until God decreed that the whole race of the living should perish in their impiety by the deluge.
[1081] In Georgius Syncellus, Chron., p. 19, al. 15.
[1082] The text here is manifestly corrupt: epimichthenton auton, ten aganaktesin poiesasthai ton Theon.
III. [1083]
Adam, when 230 years old, begets Seth; and after living other 700 years he died, that is, a second death.
Seth, when 205 years old, begot Enos; from Adam therefore to the birth of Enos there are 435 years in all.
Enos, when 190 years old, begets Cainan.
Cainan again, when 170 years old, begets Malaleel;
And Malaleel, when 165 years old; begets Jared;
And Jared, when 162 years old, begets Enoch;
And Enoch, when 165 years old, begets Mathusala; and having pleased God, after a life of other 200 years, he was not found.
Mathusala, when 187 years old, begot Lamech.
Lamech, when 188 years old, begets Noe.
[1083] In Georgius Syncellus, Chron., p. 81, al. 65.
IV. [1084]
On the Deluge.
God decreed to destroy the whole race of the living by a flood, having threatened that men should not survive beyond 120 years. Nor let it be deemed a matter of difficulty, because some lived afterwards a longer period than that. For the space of time meant was 100 years up to the flood in the case of the sinners of that time; for they were 20 years old. God instructed Noe, who pleased him on account of his righteousness, to prepare an ark; and when it was finished, there entered it Noe himself and his sons, his wife and his daughters-in-law, and firstlings of every living creature, with a view to the duration of the race. And Noe was 600 years old when the flood came on. And when the water abated, the ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, which we know to be in Parthia; [1085] but some say that they are at Celænæ [1086] of Phrygia, and I have seen both places. And the flood prevailed for a year, and then the earth became dry. And they came out of the ark in pairs, as may be found, and not in the manner in which they had entered, viz., distinguished according to their species, and were blessed by God. And each of these things indicates something useful to us.