2. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew: or of the Birth of Mary and the Infancy of the Saviour.
This is not so ancient as the Pseudo-James, having probably not been written before the 5th century. It is not in any proper sense an original composition, but a compilation, apparently from three other documents, with incidental additions, and rhetorical developments. It may be divided into three portions according to its chief sources: (1) Chapters i.-xvii., from the Protevangelium; (2) chapters xviii.-xxv., from same unknown document; (3) chapters xxvi.-xlii., principally from the Pseudo-Thomas. The author or compiler may have written in Greek, as he sometimes follows the Septuagint version, but this is not decisive, as he may have translated what he found in his Greek authorities. No Greek copy has been found, and the Latin of chapters i.-xxiv. was first published by Thilo. The inscription which says it was written in Hebrew by Matthew, and translated into Latin by Jerome, is spurious.
Tischendorf prefixes a pretended correspondence between Jerome and two bishops, Chromatius and Heliodorus, but both the letters are a forgery. There is a third epistle, professedly written by Jerome on
