DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49369#0111
STORY OF ZOSIMUS
93
but from the leaves of trees growing in gardens. Neither do we
wear garments made by the hand of man ; nor is a word of lying
heard in our land. No man marries two wives neither does the
son die before his father. The young do not speak before the
old; our women dwell with us, they neither corrupt us nor we
them ; and when the wind blows we smell through it the smell of
gardens (Eden ?). In our land there is neither summer nor winter,
neither cold nor hoar frost; but on the contrary, a breath of life.
And when I heard this of them I wished to dwell among
them ; and my ears grew weary of hearing their voice.
Then Peter and Andrew blessed God for His having revealed
to their eyes the place to which they were to go.”
It is almost self-evident that the words, ‘ nine orders and a
half order [of angels] whom God brought to the earth,’ contain a
mistranslation. The true rendering must be, ‘ nine tribes and a
half tribe whom God brought to this land.’ The allusion to
the 144000 Innocents brings the passage above into connexion
with Greek legend : for in the Greek Acta Matthaei (Tischendorf,
Acta Apost. Apocr. p. 168) we have an indication that in a part
of these Acts now lost, which preceded the portion which we
possess, Matthew had seen a vision of Paradise and of the souls
of the Innocents. Out of the several clauses which prove this,
it will be enough to quote one. Matthew says to our Lord, who
appears to him in the form of a child : otl pev lBov σε ev τω
παραδείσω ώς εψαλλες peTa των άΧΧων νηπίων των dvcupe0evTa>v
ev ΒηθΧοίρ, ακριβώς έπίσταραιν πώς δε ενταύθα έΧήΧυθας άφνω
πανυ pe τούτο θαυράζ€ί.
The recurrence of the description of the Lost Tribes in three
documents so widely separated in origin and date as are the Story
of Zosimus, the Conflict of Matthew, and the poems of Commodian,
seems to me to point to the fact that in some earlier lost book,
and that most likely a Jewish Apocalypse1, there occurred a
1 If a conjecture is to be hazarded, I would suggest that the Prophecy of Elclad
and Modad may have dealt with the matter. The Targum says that, according to
some, these two elders prophesied of Armillus and the last times. If this were so,
we might be able to see a reason for the assumption of the name Eldad by the
famous impostor who in the ninth century pretended to have visited the Ten Tribes
in their distant dwelling place. See Neubauer l.c. p. 98 sqq. The impassable river
93
but from the leaves of trees growing in gardens. Neither do we
wear garments made by the hand of man ; nor is a word of lying
heard in our land. No man marries two wives neither does the
son die before his father. The young do not speak before the
old; our women dwell with us, they neither corrupt us nor we
them ; and when the wind blows we smell through it the smell of
gardens (Eden ?). In our land there is neither summer nor winter,
neither cold nor hoar frost; but on the contrary, a breath of life.
And when I heard this of them I wished to dwell among
them ; and my ears grew weary of hearing their voice.
Then Peter and Andrew blessed God for His having revealed
to their eyes the place to which they were to go.”
It is almost self-evident that the words, ‘ nine orders and a
half order [of angels] whom God brought to the earth,’ contain a
mistranslation. The true rendering must be, ‘ nine tribes and a
half tribe whom God brought to this land.’ The allusion to
the 144000 Innocents brings the passage above into connexion
with Greek legend : for in the Greek Acta Matthaei (Tischendorf,
Acta Apost. Apocr. p. 168) we have an indication that in a part
of these Acts now lost, which preceded the portion which we
possess, Matthew had seen a vision of Paradise and of the souls
of the Innocents. Out of the several clauses which prove this,
it will be enough to quote one. Matthew says to our Lord, who
appears to him in the form of a child : otl pev lBov σε ev τω
παραδείσω ώς εψαλλες peTa των άΧΧων νηπίων των dvcupe0evTa>v
ev ΒηθΧοίρ, ακριβώς έπίσταραιν πώς δε ενταύθα έΧήΧυθας άφνω
πανυ pe τούτο θαυράζ€ί.
The recurrence of the description of the Lost Tribes in three
documents so widely separated in origin and date as are the Story
of Zosimus, the Conflict of Matthew, and the poems of Commodian,
seems to me to point to the fact that in some earlier lost book,
and that most likely a Jewish Apocalypse1, there occurred a
1 If a conjecture is to be hazarded, I would suggest that the Prophecy of Elclad
and Modad may have dealt with the matter. The Targum says that, according to
some, these two elders prophesied of Armillus and the last times. If this were so,
we might be able to see a reason for the assumption of the name Eldad by the
famous impostor who in the ninth century pretended to have visited the Ten Tribes
in their distant dwelling place. See Neubauer l.c. p. 98 sqq. The impassable river