[Footnote 2: That is to say, in the Semitic dialect.]

It matters little for our present object to push this delicate
analysis further, and to endeavor to reconstruct in some manner, on
the one hand, the original _Logia_ of Matthew, and, on the other, the
primitive narrative such as it left the pen of Mark. The _Logia_ are
doubtless represented by the great discourses of Jesus which fill a
considerable part of the first Gospel. These discourses form, in fact,
when detached from the rest, a sufficiently complete whole. As to the
narratives of the first and second Gospels, they seem to have for
basis a common document, of which the text reappears sometimes in the
one and sometimes in the other, and of which the second Gospel, such
as we read it to-day, is but a slightly modified reproduction. In
other words, the scheme of the _Life of Jesus_, in the synoptics,
rests upon two original documents--first, the discourses of Jesus
collected by Matthew; second, the collection of anecdotes and personal
reminiscences which Mark wrote from the recollections of Peter. We may
say that we have these two documents still, mixed with accounts from
another source, in the two first Gospels, which bear, not without
reason, the name of the "Gospel _according_ to Matthew" and of the
"Gospel _according_ to Mark."

What is indubitable, in any case, is, that very early the discourses
of Jesus were written in the Aramean language, and very early also his
remarkable actions were recorded. These were not texts defined and
fixed dogmatically. Besides the Gospels which have come to us, there
were a number of others professing to represent the tradition of
eye-witnesses.[1] Little importance was attached to these writings,
and the preservers, such as Papias, greatly preferred oral