160 THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AND

the twelve tribes of Israel. The lot fell upon that good old man, Joseph."

Returning now to the Protevangelium, we are told that when the fact became known that Mary had conceived, Joseph and she were brought before the priests for judgment. The story then goes on:—

"And 1 the priest said, ‘Mary, why hast thou done this and hast humbled thy soul? Thou hast forgotten the Lord thy God, thou who wast brought up in the Holy of Holies and didst receive food at an angel's hand, and didst hear the hymns ... Why hast thou done this?’ But she wept bitterly, saying, ‘As the Lord God liveth, I am pure in His sight, and I know not a man.’"

Afterwards we are informed that Joseph and Mary went from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Failing to find room in the caravansarai at the latter place, they went to abide in a cave, and there the Lord Jesus was born. The words of the original, omitting as usual everything not connected with our present purpose, may be thus translated:—

"And 2 he found a cave and led her in ... But 3 I,
1 Protevangelium Iacobi Minoris, capp. 15.
2 Op. cit., cap. 18.
3 The scene here described is not mentioned in the Qur'an itself nor do Muhammadan traditions clearly record it in reference to the birth of Christ. It is upon this description that Milton dwells in his Ode "On the morning of Christ's Nativity":
CHRISTIAN APOCRYPHAL BOOKS. 161

Joseph, looked up into the heaven and saw the vault of the heaven stationary 1 and the birds of the air trembling. And I looked upon the earth, and saw a dish laid out and workmen seated (ανακειμέ-νους), and their hands were in the dish, and those who were raising [the food to their lips] did not raise it, and those who were putting it into their mouths did not put it in, but the faces of them all were looking upwards. And I saw sheep being driven, and the sheep stood still; but the shepherd

"No war, or battle's sound
Was heard the world around:
The idle spear and shield were high up hung,
The hooked chariot stood
Unstained with hostile blood,
The trumpet spake not to the armed throng.

But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of Light
His reign of peace upon the earth began:

While the birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.
The stars, with deep amaze,
Stand fixed in steadfast gaze. ..."

But something of the same thing has left its trace upon later Muhammadan legend, only in reference to Muhammad's birth. Thus in the Raudatu'l Ahbab, Fatimah, daughter of Abdu'llah, is reported as having said: "I was with Aminah" (Muhammad's mother) "when the symptoms of her approaching confinement set in: and, on looking up to heaven, I saw the stars to such an extent incline towards the earth that I thought they must fall down." Or, according to another account, "The stars were so near the earth that I thought they would fall upon my head." (Quoted by Dr. Koelle, Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 257.)
1 Cf. Plautus, Amphitruo, Act I., Sc. i., vv. 115-20.