Apparently there were other passages in the gospel (besides the '99 sheep') which demonstrated a Roman provenance to the gospel as a whole. From Bede citing Jerome:
Before discussing the basics of the calculation of time, we have decided to demonstrate a few things, with God's help, about that very useful and easy skill of flexing the fingers, so that when we have conveyed maximum facility in calculation, we may then, with our readers' understanding better prepared, attain equal facility in investigating and explaining the sequences of time through calculations. For one ought not to despise or treat lightly that rule with which almost all the exegetes of Holy Scripture have shown themselves well acquainted, no less than they are with verbal expressions. Many have said other things [on this topic], and even Jerome, that translator of the sacred narrative, says in his treatise on the evangelical precept1 (and [Jerome] did not hesitate to take up the aid of its discipline): The thirty-fold, sixty-fold and hundredfold fruit,though born /269/of one earth and one seed, nevertheless differ vastly as to number. Thirty refers to marriage, for this conjunction of fingers depicts husband and wife, wrapped and linked in a tender kiss. Sixty refers to widows, because their position is one of confinement and tribulation; hence they are pressed down against the upper finger, for the more the will of a [sexually] experienced person suffers in abstaining from sin, the greater the reward. Finally the hundred-fold number (pay careful attention, reader, I pray!) is transferred from the left hand to the right, and symbolizes the crown of virginity by making a circle with the same fingers, but not on the same hand, by which marriage and widowhood are signified on the left hand.
2
So when you say ‘‘one’’, bend the little ¢nger of the left hand and fix it on the middle of the palm. When you say ‘‘two’’, bend the second from the smallest ¢nger and fix it on the same place. When you say ‘‘three’’, bend the third one in the same way. When you say ‘‘four’’, lift up the little ¢nger again. When you say ‘‘five’’, lift up the second from the smallest in the same way. When you say ‘‘six’’, you lift up the third finger, while only the ¢nger in between, which is called medicus, 3 is fixed in the middle of the palm. When you say ‘‘seven’’, place the little finger only (the others being meanwhile raised), on the base of the palm. When you say ‘‘eight’’, put the medicus beside it. When you say /270/ ‘‘nine’’, add the middle ¢nger. When you say ‘‘ten’’, touch the nail of the index finger to the middle joint of the thumb. When you say ‘‘twenty’’, you insert the tip of the thumb between the middle joints of the index and middle fingers. When you say ‘‘thirty’’, you join the tips of the index and middle fingers in a gentle embrace. When you say ‘‘forty’’, you pass the under side of the thumb over the side or top of the index finger while holding both erect. When you say ‘‘fifty’’, you rest the thumb, bent at the last joint into the shape of the Greek letter gamma, against the palm. When you say ‘‘sixty’’, you carefully encircle the thumb, bent as before, by curving the index finger forward. When you say ‘‘seventy’’, you fill the index ¢nger, bent as before, by inserting the thumb, with its nail upright, through the middle joint of the index finger. When you say ‘‘eighty’’, you fill the index ¢nger, curved as before, with the thumb extended full length and its tip placed against the middle joint of the index finger. When you say ‘‘ninety’’, you place the tip of your bent index finger against the base of your upright thumb. So much for the left hand. You make one hundred on the right hand the way you make ten on the left, two hundred on the right the way you make twenty on the left, three hundred on the right the way you make thirty on the left, and the rest in the same manner up to nine hundred. You make one thousand on the right hand the way you make one on the left, two thousand on the right hand the way you make two on the left, three thousand on the right hand the way you make three on the left, and so forth up to nine thousand. Then when you say ‘‘ten thousand’’, you place your left hand £at on the middle of your chest, /271/ but with the ¢ngers pointing upwards to the neck. When you say ‘‘twenty thousand’’, place the same hand, spread out sideways, on your chest. When you say ‘‘thirty thousand’’, place it flat but upright with the thumb on the breastbone.When you say‘‘forty thousand’’, turn it on its back upright against the belly.When you say‘‘fifty thousand’’, lay it £at but upright, with your thumb against your belly. When you say ‘‘sixty thousand’’, grasp your left thigh with your flattened hand. When you say ‘‘seventy thousand’’, turn [your hand] on its back on your thigh. When you say ‘‘eighty thousand’’, lay it £at on your thigh. When you say ‘‘ninety thousand’’, grasp your hip with your thumb turned towards the groin. One hundred thousand, two hundred thousand and so forth up to nine hundred thousand, you perform in the same manner as we said, but on the right side of the body. When you say ‘‘one million’’, cross your two hands, linking your thumbs together.4
http://ceulearning.ceu.edu/pluginfile.p ... f_Time.pdf
