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THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS, OR ACTS OF PILATE (II.)
Narrative of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of his holy Resurrection.
COMPILED BY A JEW NAMED ÆNEAS; TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW TONGUE INTO THE ROMAN BY NICODEMUS, A ROMAN TOPARCH.[1]
After the kingdom of the Hebrews was abolished, four hundred years had passed away, and the Hebrews were tributaries under the government of the Romans, the king of the Romans appointing for them a king; Tiberius Cæsar at length wielded the Roman sceptre, and in the eighteenth year of his reign he appointed as king in Judea, Herod, the son of that Herod who slew the infants in Bethlehem, and he had Pilate for governor in Jerusalem; Annas
- ↑ It will be observed that here Nicodemus is a Roman, and only the translator of a book written by Æneas. Part of the preface seems to indicate that it was the work of a contemporary, but part of it suggests more truly that it was done in after times. The Greek text, from which this second version of Nicodemus is made, seems to be less ancient than the first, and to have been revised and polished by its editor. I suppose the name of Æneas not to be older than the account of the Journey to the Underworld, which has been added to the original composition, and follows the present recension of Nicodemus as Part II.
