the birth of Jesus would be found
registered. Both appear to be based, not upon any actual document
that Justin had seen, but upon the bold assumption that the
official documents must contain a record of facts which he knew
from other sources [Endnote 107:1]. In regard to Cyrenius he
evidently has the Lucan version in his mind, though he seems to
have confused this with his knowledge that Cyrenius was the first
to exercise the Roman sovereignty in Judaea, which was matter of
history. Justin seems to be mistaken in regarding Cyrenius as
'procurator' [Greek: epitropou] of Judaea. He instituted the
census not in this capacity, but as proconsul of Syria. The first
procurator of Judaea was Coponius. Some of Justin's peculiarities
may quite fairly be explained as unintentional. General statements
without the due qualifications, such as those in regard to the
massacre of the children and the conduct of the disciples in
Gethsemane, are met with frequently enough to this day, and in
works of a more professedly critical character than Justin's. The
description of the carpenter's trade and of the crowd at the
Crucifixion may be merely rhetorical amplifications in the one
case of the general Synoptic statement, in the other of the
special statement in St. Mark. A certain fulness of style is
characteristic of Justin. That he attributes the genealogy to Mary
may be a natural instance of reflection; the inconsistency in the
Synoptic Gospels would not be at first perceived, and the simplest
way of removing it would be that which Justin has adopted. It
should be noticed however that he too distinctly says that Joseph
was of the tribe of Judah (Dial. 78) and that his family came from
Bethlehem, which looks very much like an unobliterated trace of
the same inconsistency. It is also noticeable that in the
narrative of the Baptism one of the best MSS. of the Old Latin (a,
Codex Vercellensis) has, in the form of an addition to Matt. iii.
15, 'et cum baptizaretur lumen ingens circumfulsit de aqua ita ut
timerent omnes qui advenerant,' and there is a very similar
addition in g1 (Codex San-Germanensis). Again, in Luke iii. 22 the
reading [Greek: ego saemeron gegennaeka se] for [Greek: en soi
eudokaesa] is shared with Justin by the most important Graeco-
Latin MS. D (Codex Bezae), and a, b, c, ff, l of the Old Version;
Augustine expressly states that the reading was found 'in several
respectable copies (aliquibus fide dignis exemplaribus), tho