ALLUSIONS IN SACKED I300KS OF THE EAST. 



209 



orthodox Jew could so think of a calendar, the imposition of 

 which, by a Gentile emperor, was fresh in his memory ; indeed, 

 no Jew, unless he were ignorant of the origin of the Julian 

 calendar, could regard it as divine at all. Enoch is given in the 

 same heaven an explanation of Leap Year, and this, too, was 

 arranged by J ulius Caesar and established by Augustus. This 

 section, therefore, must also belong to a late date, for the author 

 of the " Secrets " must have lived long after the great Roman 

 emperor for it to be possible for him to consider these arbitrary 

 regulations of the calendar as divinely appointed, and as com- 

 pletely abrogating the calendar institutions of the Mosaic Law. 



The fifth heaven was the home of the former companions of 

 the fallen angels. In the sixth heaven, Enoch saw " seven 

 bands of angels . . . and these orders arrange and study 

 the revolutions of the stars," recalling the function of Haptok- 

 ring, the seven stars in the Iranian heavens. In the seventh 

 heaven the conductors showed Enoch " the Lord from afar 

 sitting on His lofty throne," and A adds : — 



"for it is that upon which God rests. In the tenth heaven, in the 

 tenth heaven is God. In the Hebrew language it is called Avarat. 

 And 1 saw the eighth heaven, which is called in the Hebrew 

 language Muzaloth, changing in its seasons in dryness and moisture, 

 with the twelve signs of the Zodiac, which are above the seventh 

 heaven. And I saw . . . the ninth heaven, which in the 

 Hebrew is called Kukhavim, where are the heavenly homes of the 

 twelve signs of the Zodiac ... In the tenth heaven Avaroth, 

 I saw the vision of the face of the Lord."* 



Dr. Charles urges that in A there are three notable interpola- 

 tions. Eirst, the mention of the great cycle of 532 years in 

 Chapter XVI, 5, since this was first proposed by Victorius of 

 Aquitaine about a.d. 457, and must therefore have been 

 unknown to the author of the " Secrets," assumed to be writing 

 between a.d. 1 and oO.f 



Next, the titles to the chapters and divisions. For this 



* This' is a most distinct reference to the Ptolemaic system of ten 

 spheres ; i.e., the seven spheres of the planets, the sphere of the Signs of 

 the Zodiac, the sphere of the actual stars, and the sphere of the diurnal 

 motion, the primum mobile. The passage is, therefore, not earlier than 

 the latter part of the second century a.d. 



t This line of argument is open to most serious objection. The date 

 of a document (where unknown independently) ought to be derived from 

 the information afforded by the text. It is doubly illegitimate to assume 

 a date and reject all information given by the text where this is incon- 

 sistent with it. 



P 



