Bath.
_Gesmas and Desmas_ (Vol. vii., pp. 238. 342.).--The names of the two
thieves crucified with our blessed Saviour are variously written. In the
verses quoted by A. B. R. (p. 238.) they are written _Gesmas and Desmas_.
In the edition of the Gospel of Nicodemus, quoted by W. C. H. (p. 342.),
_i.e._ the edition of "William Hone, Ludgate Hill, 1820," the names are
written _Gestas and Dimas_. He also gives an authority for the spelling
"_Dismas and Gestas_." I find them written in the edition I have of the
Gospel of Nicodemus, _i. e._ "Hutman's, London, 1818," _Dismas and Gesmas_
(pp. 87, 88.). Elsewhere I have met with them written as in the following
verse, _Gistas and Dismas_:
"Gistas damnatur, Dismas ad astra levatur,"
which I have ventured to translate:
"Gistas to hell--with Dismas all goes well;"
or perhaps better thus:
"Gistas goes down, Dismas receives a crown."
The names of these two men in early life is said to have been _Titus_ and
_Dumachus_: see the _Evangelium Infantiæ_, quoted by Hutman (p. 13.).