said to them, I was among you with children, and ye knew me not. I have talked with you as with wise men, and ye have not understood my voice, because ye are inferior to me, and of little faith.
CHAPTER XXXI.
The teacher Zaccheus, a doctor of the law, again said to Joseph and Mary, Give me the boy, and I will hand him over to the teacher Levi, to teach him letters, and to instruct him. Then Joseph and Mary coaxing Jesus, led him to the school, that he might be taught his letters by the old man Levi. When he entered he was silent: and the master, Levi, told one letter to Jesus, and beginning at the first letter, Aleph, said to him. Answer. But Jesus was silent and answered nothing. Wherefore, the preceptor, Levi, being angry, took a rod of a storax-tree,[1] and smote him on the head. And Jesus said to the teacher Levi, Why dost thou smite me? Know in truth, that he who is smitten rather teacheth him who smiteth him, than is taught by him. For
- ↑ Or, "a storax-tree stick," for such is no doubt the meaning of "virgam storatinam." The storax is never mentioned in the canonical works, but its odoriferous product is named in Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 15 (Anglican version), or xxiv. 21 (Latin Vulgate). Jerome's version also introduces it in Gen. xliii. 11, but with no apparent authority. It should be observed that the storax-tree is still found in Palestine. Mr. Tristram, for instance, speaks of it as abundant in Carmel ("Land of Israel," p. 492). The adjective storatina is of course put for storccina, from storax or styrax.
