him letters, and wrote for him the first lesson which is from A to T, and began to caress him and to teach him. But the instructor smote the Child on the head; and the boy, when he had received the blow, said to him, I ought to teach thee, and not thou to teach me. I know the letters which thou wouldst teach me, and I know that ye are unto me as vessels out of which proceed sounds only and not wisdom.[1] And beginning the lesson, he said through the letters from A to T very rapidly. And he looked at the master and said to him, Thou who knowest not how to interpret what A is and B; how wilt thou teach others? O hypocrite, if thou knowest and wilt tell me about A, then I will tell thee about B. But when the doctor essayed to teach him about the first letter, he was not able to give him an answer. And Jesus said to Zacchæus, Hear me, doctor; understand the first letter. Observe how it hath two lines; in the middle, advancing, remaining, giving, scattering, varying, menacing: threefold and doubly mingling: like the mind at the same time having all things common.[2]
When Zacchæus saw that he so divided the first letter, he was astonished at the first letter, and at such a man and teaching, and he cried out and said, Alas for me, I am confounded; I have hired shame
