"I give thefe Boola,
\ for. the founding <sf a College in. this Colony'

• YmH°¥JMn¥lEI&SIITrY«>

THE BEARING OF RECENT DISCOVERY
ON THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF
THE NEW TESTAMENT

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
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London: HODDER AND STOUGHTON

The fames Sprunt Lectures delivered at Union Theological
Seminary in Virginia

THE BEARING OF RECENT
DISCOVERY ON THE TRUST
WORTHINESS OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT

BY
Sir W. M. RAMSAY

SECOND EDITION

HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXV

THE JAMES SPRUNT LECTURES
In 1911 Mr. James Sprunt of Wilmington, North Caro
lina, gave to the Trustees of Union Theological Seminary
in Virginia the sum of 30,000 dollars for the purpose of
establishing a perpetual lectureship which would enable the
institution to secure from time to time the services of dis
tinguished ministers and authoritative scholars outside the
regular Faculty as special lecturers on subjects connected
with various departments of Christian thought and Christian
work. The lecturers are chosen by the Faculty of the
Seminary and a committee of the Board of Trustees, and
the lectures are published after their delivery in accordance
with a contract between the lecturer and these representa
tives of the institution. The second series of lectures on
this foundation, delivered by Sir William Mitchell Ramsay,
Hon. D.C.L., Oxford; Litt.D., Cambridge ; LL.D., St.
Andrews, Glasgow and Aberdeen; D.D., Edinburgh and
New York University, 28 October to 4 November, 1913, is
presented in this volume.
W. W. MOORE
President, Union Theological Seminary
in Virginia

PREFACE
The following pages have been almost wholly re
written since the Great War began, and in one respect
show the influence of the situation. The very exist
ence of our country was staked on the uncertain issue ;
and the individual could not hope or wish to survive
the nation. I felt that this book might be my last will
and testament, and attempted to put into it the gist
of what I had learned in the struggle of life and the
study of books.
I describe no striking discoveries. My aim is to
state certain principles that result from modern dis
covery, and to illustrate their bearing on the New
Testament. The method is to show through the ex
amination, word by word and phrase by phrase, of a
few passages, which have been much exposed to
hostile criticism, that the New Testament is unique
in the compactness, the lucidity, the pregnancy and
the vivid truthfulness of its expression. That is not
the character of one or two only of the books that
compose the Testament : it belongs in different ways
to all alike, though space fails in the present work to
try them all.
A great discovery has resulted from modern investi
gation, viz. the wide and familiar use of writing in
Western Asia as furnishing the basis on which the

vi Preface.
Roman bureaucratic administration was able to rest.
That is really a great principle ; and yet how little is
its importance understood ! I adhere to the inferences
drawn in the first chapters of the " Letters to the
Seven Churches " and in the paper on " The First
Written Gospel " in " Luke the Physician and other
Studies in the History of Religion ". Yet many of
us will wait until some German scholar has stated the
same conclusions before accepting them.
The only way, the necessary and the useful method,
is to go over the New Testament sentence by sentence,
and to show how great principles and big ideas form
the texture of the thought everywhere.
Carrying out the view stated twenty years ago in
" St. Paul the Traveller," pp. 303 to 309, I see in
the earliest Church history the religion of freedom
engaged in a conflict with the Imperial power. Luke
shows the conflict beginning at Christ's birth. The
strange situation in which He was born was caused
by an order of Augustus, a world-wide order express
ing a vast force that moves through many centuries
of history and always makes for slavery. The worse
side of Imperial policy, as embodied in that order,
drove Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And what
was the result? Only the fulfilment of the ancient
truth and prophecy that in Bethlehem, the humble
village which was the centre of old Hebrew tradition,
there must be born, when the fulness of the time was
come, the King of the Jews and the Saviour of the
world. Autocracy compasses its own destruction, and

Preface. vii
the freedom of the Divine Will works out its perfect
expression through the autocrat's error.
The episodes in the first and third Gospels, describ
ing the circumstances of the Saviour's Birth, are of the
highest importance ; Luke sets that event in relation
with the tides and forces of Imperial world-history ;
and Matthew describes how the traditional wisdom of
Asia recognized the new-born King. On the other
hand, John says nothing about such mundane matters,
because his thought moves on a far higher plane, and
his eye is fixed only on the infinite Divine nature ;
while Mark restricts himself to recounting what he
had learned about the public career of Jesus as a
Teacher. It is necessary to insist on the immense importance
of these episodes, and to illustrate this from various
points ofview, pp. 145 f., 248 f., 272 f. No one can
comprehend Luke or Matthew, so long as his mind
is clogged with the old ideas about the puerility and
untrustworthiness of those episodes. Yet I am wrong
in calling those ideas old ; here is what was said only
a few years ago by one of the most distinguished and
famous of Scottish theologians in his commentary on
Luke's narrative, il i f. : —
" One could almost wish that v. 2 had been omitted,
or that there were reason to believe, as has been
suggested by several writers, that it is a gloss that
has found its way into the text, and that Luke is not
responsible for it— so much trouble has it given to
commentators."

viii Preface.
These words were written by Dr. A. B. Bruce in
the maturity of his career, after a life devoted to the
exposition of the Gospels. They crystallize in a gem
of criticism the inadequate method and the falseness
of view, which could result in the thought that the
convenience of the commentator should be put as a
test of truth.
The breadth and dignity of the ideas in the New
Testament are such that its outlook over human
history must be ranked on the loftiest level. For
example : " Not merely are all the statements in Luke
ii. 1-3 true. They are also in themselves great
statements, presenting to us large historical facts,
world-wide administrative measures, vast forces work
ing on human society through the ages," see p. 304.
Those who miss this may delude themselves with the
fancy that the passage is a legend or an invention.
Those who have eyes and historic sense to see
know that nothing but truth can be so grand and so
simple. In the prefaces to several books, I have referred to
the charge brought against me of having slighted the
opinions of the Germans. I have learned much from
the greater German scholars in my own subject ; but
their teaching was to judge for myself and to accept
no man's dictum on the credit of his name and
fame. In 1885 Mommsen spent a week in Oxford
as my guest, and among many memories I will quote
one : we were speaking of English translations of
German books, and he said, "you should not translate

Preface. ix
our books : you ought to write history from your point
of view : we need to see the past from your point of
view as well as from ours".
I do not follow the prevailing tendency of German
criticism of the New Testament. It is wrong because
it is narrow, and because it judges from erroneous
premises and unjustifiable prejudices ; and one wel
comes any signs of a return to a saner and better in
formed judgment. Many very learned scholars have
been blind to the grandeur of the thought in the New
Testament ; and the cosmic ideas which inform it
throughout have generally passed over their heads.
Where they dimly caught the meaning of a cosmic
idea, they called it " eschatological ". This mirage of
the " eschatology " of the New Testament arose from
fettering great moral truths, expressed in terms of
the infinite, with the precise hard and wholly in
adequate expression of dull logical conception.
In the few cases where questions of text are
concerned I give no details, but simply state the
verdict of Westcott and Hort and my own argu
ments. No reading is adopted which they do not
print as resting on good authority. Any one that
wishes to go behind them ought to investigate the
evidence for himself. It must, however, be added
that the work of those two great scholars seems to
me far from being final, and their method results in
establishing the text of a fourth or late third century
school ; but the school contained men of real learning,
whose text was a great achievement. Now, however,

x Preface.
it is necessary to go back behind that text to an older
period. It was not easy to complete the book amid the
many duties and the mental strain imposed by the
Great War ; and I apologize for many deficiencies
whose existence I dread. They will rise before me
when it is too late.
I owe the photographs to Lady Ramsay, and the
indexes to the Rev. Principal Perry, Coates Hall,
Edinburgh. It is an honour to be able to speak of
the latter as one of my own pupils at Aberdeen.
W. M. RAMSAY.
24 December, 19 14.

CONTENTS
PART I. PRELIMINARY
CHAP. pAGE;
I. Explanation of Method and Order  3
II. Introductory Statement  y-

PART II. THE LECTURES
III. The First Change of Judgment . . . .35
IV. Iconium and the Frontier  53
V. The Language Spoken at Iconium . . . .65
VI. General Impression of Trustworthiness in the Acts . yg,
VII. Trial Scenes in the Acts  90
VIII. The Magicians in the Acts of the Apostles . . . 106-
IX. Simon the Magician  117
X. Paul and the Magicians . . . . .132
XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus  140
XII. Sergius Paullus and his Relation to Christian Faith . 150
XIII. " Salvation " as a Pagan and a Christian Term . . 173,
XIV. Prayers for Salvation among the Pagans of Asia Minor 178
XV. The Imperial Salvation  191
XVI. Trustworthiness ofthe Acts, Chapters 1. to xn. . . 199-
XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl .... 209.
xi

xn

Contents.

XVIII. Approach to the Gospel of Luke .
XIX. Luke's Account of the First Census
XX. The Augustan Census- System
XXI. When Quirinius was Governing Syria
XXII. Analogies and Fulfilment of Prophecy
XXIII. " Your Poets have said " .

PAGE 222 238 255
275 301
319

PART III. ASSOCIATED QUESTIONS
XXIV. The Old Testament in the Roman Phrygia .
XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke
XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia ....
XXVII. The Pauline Churches in the Third Century

INDEXES : 1. Passages quoted
2. Personal Names
3. Geographical Names

35337o385
412
423
42442S

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES
TO PACE PAGE
I. Basis of the first statue erected in Pisidian Antioch, prob
ably 8 B.C., in honour of Caristanius, praefectus of Qui-
rinius, honorary duumvir of the Colony while governor
of Syria  285
II. Blassius Nigellio, a speculator of the Legion VII. Claudia,
travelling with his servant. A third horse is loosely
harnessed to the car to ensure speed (Belgrad) . .315
III. Two gravestones from Blaundos, now at Ushak . . -358
IV. Part of the outer wall of the Sanctuary on the mountain
over Pisidian Antioch  374

CUTS IN THE TEXT
FIG. PAGE
1. Tombstone in the form of an altar with epitaph in the Ico-
nian Graeco-Phrygian patois  73
2. In honour of Sergius Paullus  151
3. Honour to Sergia Paulla and her husband erected by their
son  154
4. Vow to Papa Men for salvation  184
5. Vow to Zeus the Thunderer for salvation . . . .186
6. Dedication to Zeus the Thunderer on behalf of the family
(Dorylaion)  • • 189
7. A Roman Courier travelling with his servant (Belgrad) . 315
8. Epitaph mentioning Deuteronomy (Blaundos) . . .359
xiii

xiv List of Illustrations.
PIG. PAGE
9. Dedication to the God M£n by L. Tillius Crito and his wife,
engraved on a buttress of the outer wall of the Sanctu
ary at Pisidian Antioch  374
10. Dedication to M£n by Gamos and his family, engraved on
the outer wall of the Sanctuary at Pisidian Antioch . 378
11. Dedication to Men by Gamos and his family, engraved on
the outer wall ofthe Sanctuary at Pisidian Antioch . 379
Map . . .... ... 64

PART I. PRELIMINARY

CHAPTER I
EXPLANATION OF METHOD AND ORDER
HISTORICAL criticism is subject to great variety of judgment.
With obviously equal honesty some critics will praise the
trustworthiness of an authority whom others decry as pre
judiced and utterly untrustworthy. Even in regard to an
author who is so carefully and so dispassionately studied as
Thucydides, the most contradictory opinions are maintained.
Most scholars regard him as the greatest of historians and
a model of impartial judgment and dispassionate statement,
but a few go to the opposite extreme, and pronounce him a
skilful perverter of historical truth.
It is therefore not to be wondered at that, in a sphere where
the feelings of mankind are deeply engaged, where opposing
emotions and tendencies are concerned, and where dis
passionate consideration is hardly practicable — as is the
case in the domain of religion — similar diversity of opinion
should reign in an equal or greater degree. Hence the long
dispute about the trustworthiness of the New Testament,
and about the authenticity of the books contained in it.
Did Luke write the Acts of the Apostles, and, if so, can
what he says there be accepted as trustworthy ? * Such is
the character of the problem ; and many on both sides of
the discussion seem to enter on it with their minds already
1 It may, of course, be taken for granted that, if Luke did not write the
Acts, it could not possibly be accepted. The case for belief rests on his
personality. (3)

/. Order and Method.

made up on crucial questions and with their feelings deeply
stirred. As the variety of opinions in these typical cases proves,
arguments regarding the trustworthiness of the ancient
authors generally cannot be dissociated from a certain ele
ment of subjectivity, and made purely scientific. Human
beings always have judged and will judge diversely in such
matters, according to their varying idiosyncrasy, and will'
come to opposite conclusions on the same evidence. Even
about contemporary history, where the facts in their super
ficial outlines are known and admitted, diametrically op
posite judgments are pronounced by skilled and educated
onlookers. Taking the verbatim report of a speech delivered
on any question of public affairs, some will condemn it as
trifling with truth and glossing over the facts, while others-
praise it as an impartial and correct statement of the critical
points in the case. People decide in accordance with their
predilections and prejudices, and in general one could tell
beforehand which of one's acquaintances would praise the
speech and which would condemn it.
We must therefore frankly acknowledge that a thor
oughly scientific character cannot be given to the present
or to any similar argument regarding historical trustworthi
ness ; the same reasoning which convinces one, will fail to
convince another ; each reader will estimate according to
his own character, and every statement of the argument
will vary according to the quality of the writer. On this
account it seems better to give to these lectures a form
that is in accordance with the elementary conditions of
the case. The personal qualities of the author must in
fluence his statement of the reasoning. Let us admit at the
outset the subjective element in the present treatment of
this subject. The case is stated as it appears to the writer,

/. Order and Method.

and others will judge for themselves ; but it seems then
necessary to premise a statement regarding his bent and
attitude of mind, so that readers may be in a position to
judge what allowance to make for his prejudices and pro
clivities and personal bias. The writer, of course, cannot
describe his own personal quality ; and yet the readers, if
any be found, ought to have in their hands some means of
gauging and correcting the reasoning according to his
tendencies. While it would obviously be impossible for him to
make any useful estimate of his own character and bias,
it is possible to mention the stages in the growth of the
plan which guides the writer's work, keeping the statement
as objective as can be ; and this is attempted in the following
chapter. Such an attempt must, from its nature, be per
sonal, and may be condemned by some or by many as
impertinent and egotistical. Those who so judge are
begged to omit the rest of the introduction, and proceed to
Part II, where the course of lectures begins. Some, who
are likely to be in sympathy with the method that governs
the book as a whole, will find that the introduction is an
essential part of it.1
In the main part of the book there is no attempt to
follow a strictly scientific order, because, as has just been
said, the subject is not susceptible of strictly scientific treat-
1 The following chapter was not part of the actual lectures, but was
given as an explanatory statement in a different place. People frequently
asked how it had come about that I had been exploring in Asiatic Turkey
for thirty-four years ; what first led me there ? what made me continue to go
there ? It seemed unusual that a teacher in a Scottish University should
spend much of every year's vacation in Asiatic Turkey. In trying to answer
the question I came to see that it was entirely pertinent, and was prompted
by a right instinct of intelligent curiosity; the answer is an integral and
proper part of the book.

/. Order and Method.

ment. It must partake of the author's personality ; and
therefore the order followed is the order of discovery, i.e,
the order of the growth of opinion and belief in an indi
vidual mind. The introductory chapter states the growth
of opinion in the same mind from an earlier point, and
makes the later stage of life and work more intelligible and
the writer's prejudice more easily estimated ; but nothing
is described unless it seems to have in some degree formed
the judgment and determined the opinions of later life.
A certain idea of work and plan of life took possession of
my mind at an early age. The idea was at first vague and
misty. It did not control my life, because it was unformed
and therefore weak. The stages by which it grew were not
determined by me ; they were forced on me in the struggle
of life ; and they can be described as they arose.
Sometimes it will be necessary to dwell at some length
on a slight and apparently trivial incident, because it proved
to be typical and determinative in the future : especially is
that the case with the genesis of the idea. Often an interval
of several years offers nothing worth recording in this view :
the purpose did not apparently develop during that time or
become clearer ; rather it seemed to recede and fade away,
and if external circumstances had been unfavourable, or the
indwelling desire weaker, it might have died. Yet it was
always there beneath the surface, waiting for the favourable
moment where outward conditions should give it strength.

CHAPTER II
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
In March, 1868, at the end of my second year at the Uni
versity of Aberdeen, I was feeling every day that college
work had been an unalloyed happiness, and every moment
spent in class-work or in preparation a delight. Even the
details of syntax and word-formation had their fascination,
and the inflection of the Greek verb was interesting. True, we
never passed one throughout two years of class-work with
out some student being called on to conjugate it, though years
before I entered college I could and did often write out the
parts of every common verb without an error, and the best
of my class-fellows I do not doubt had done the same. Yet
the unexpectedness of the parts made this work like voyag
ing on an unknown sea : in that primitive period no ex
planation was given us how those strange vagaries were all
obedient to more deep-lying laws; but one was vaguely
beginning to feel that some hidden principle lay under the
apparent caprice.
The idea was simmering unconsciously in my mind that
scholarship was the life for me : not the life of teaching,
which was repellent, but the life of discovery. Why should
I not continue to voyage on that adventurous sea, where
one always as it were had one's life in one's hand, where
no slip or omission was ever pardoned, where the smallest
fault in grammar was a deadly sin and a maximus error,
where there was the excitement of continual exploration
(7)

8 II. Introductory.

and the finding of the unknown ? Ideas of history, too,
were beginning to shape themselves in my mind, not taken
in cut-and-dry form from a text-book, but gathered fresh
out of the difficulties of Sophocles and Juvenal. I was
learning for myself out of Greek and Latin grammar and
the sentences of great authors, that, as Plato expresses it in
the " Theaetetus," word is spoken thought, and thought is
unspoken word. But all was in embryo, I could not have
told what was in my mind in those days, as we waited for
the declaration of results in the class examinations.
At that time in Aberdeen the prizes and places in each
subject were not announced until the final day, when they
were declared publicly for each of the four classes in separ
ate session. The old class-system was still in full force,
the same system which about 1760 was carried to Phila
delphia and introduced into the University of Pennsylvania
by William Smith of Aberdeen, first Provost of the Uni
versity,1 and which spread thence over the whole of the
United States, being accepted by all the older Universities
except the University of Virginia, and adopted by almost
all the new foundations. Every student belonged to the
class of his own year, studied the regular subjects in a
fixed order, and passed through the curriculum among the
same body of associates. He belonged for life to that
"class," and in Aberdeen many of these classes kept up the
custom of meeting once a year, and occasionally publishing
a record of the fortunes of each individual. The annual
meeting of the classes is in America associated with a public
function of the University, and officially used as a powerful
engine for preserving its unity and its connexion with
former graduates. In Aberdeen the meeting remained
1 This interesting fact of University history is given on the authority of
the present Provost, who told the whole story to the present writer in 1913.

II. Introductory.

always a private gathering of any class which chose to hold
such a re-union, and the University took no part in it and
no notice of it. Occasionally some Professor was invited
to the meeting, but as a rule it was purely a students'
gathering of a single class.
The class-system at Aberdeen, now much destroyed by
the Royal Commission of 1894,1 was then a power in
University life and exercised a strong influence on every
student. That was the case with us, although our class
was one which has never held any re-union or met in any
general fashion after the fourth year ended ; and this ex
planation of the system is needed to explain why that
meeting of the class to hear the declaration of the prizes
was felt as a momentous occasion for young students.
On the final day we of the Second Year gathered in the
Latin class-room. The feeling was in my mind that
morning that something determining was going to happen :
I rose with a vague anticipation of some event, and walked
with a dreamy half-consciousness of an impending change.
The subjects in the Second Year were a class of mathe
matics, two distinct classes of Greek, and two of Latin.
The mathematical declaration put me fourth, Greek twice
first, and Latin the same. The Professor of Greek, who
knew every student by face and position, glanced round the
room before beginning to read his list, until he saw me ;
and as I caught his eye, I knew before he spoke that I was
1 Royal Commissions rarely do the good that might be expected ; but that
cf 1890-94 was peculiarly unsuccessful. Hardly any member of it had been
educated at a Scottish University, or showed any sympathy with the national
tradition of college life ; and Aberdeen was represented on the board of fifteen
by a retired professor, eighty years of age, who lived far away in his own
country, and knew the University only during his very efficient professoriate.
The students now still struggle to maintain the old custom in spite of adverse
circumstances.

to II. Introductory.

the outstanding figure in his mind. The Professor of Latin
mentioned that I stood apart in the list. In that room
my life was determined : I formed the resolve to be a
scholar, and to make everything else subservient to that
purpose and that career.
In the class-room, also, one other matter settled itself
The border-land between Greece and the East, the relation
of Greek literature to Asia, had already a vague fascination
for me ; and this was to be the direction of the life that I
imagined in the future. As it has turned out, that thought of
the relation between Greece and the East was an anticipation
of my life ; but the form developed in a way that I did not
imagine until many years passed. I thought of work in a
room or a library, but it has lain largely in the open air
and on the geographical frontier where Greek-speaking
people touched the East. I thought of Greek literature in
its relation to Asia ; but the subject widened into the rela
tion between the spirit of Europe and of Asia through the
centuries. The difficulties in this career I did not count, because I
could not know them. How was one to live ? I knew
enough to judge that the only path lay in an Oxford Fellow
ship. That was arranged before the meeting ended, and
always was before my mind in the following two years, but
it was never mentioned to my most intimate friends. I
was intended by my family to compete for an appointment
in the Indian Civil Service ; and, as instability was a
deadly sin in the eyes of some of my relatives, I did not
speak of the change. For the time, the ordinary Aberdeen
course was the path to either goal ; and the new plan was
not spoken of at home, until the end of the curriculum in
March, 1871. Then there was strong disapproval, not in
my mother's household, but outside, for many thought it

II. Introductory. 1 1

foolish to turn to an Oxford course with its vague un
certainties. That path was then untrodden, though it has
become a common one since for Aberdeen students.
A scholarship was necessary ; and as I was now over
twenty, the limit at that time in most Oxford Colleges,1
opportunities were few. I had only one acquaintance at
Oxford, who recommended me to enter for an exhibition at
his own College, New, where nothing would be open till
the following spring, 1872, and I spent a year in apparent
idleness. It might have been more profitably spent : but I
had no advisers, and muddled on in my own ignorant
fashion. In March, 1872, it chanced that the University Intellig
ence in the " Times," which I read every day in the public
Reading-room, contained one Friday an " amended
notice " issued by St. John's College : one of the two
scholarships previously announced for competition was now
stated to be open without age-limit. Here was an opening.
The examination began on the ensuing Monday at 9 A.M.
in the College Hall, and names with proper documents had
jto reach the President not later than Saturday. There was
barely half-an-hour to catch the mail ; I posted a letter from a
shop, saying that the needed documents would be sent later ;
and then went to the rooms of an intimate college friend
to discuss whether or not I should risk the journey. He
confirmed my wavering resolution. My name and all the
proper documents were already in the hands of the Warden
of New College, where the competition was to begin a week
later ; but my friend undertook to procure copies, while I
packed and started for Oxford, a long journey at that time.
I arrived on Sunday at 1.30 P.M.; had lunch, found the
1 In some the age was nineteen, as it soon afterwards was fixed generally.

12 II. Introductory.

Post Office and the College, and returned to my hotel,
where I slept as one sleeps after spending twenty-two hours
in the train.
One of the Fellows at St. John's took some interest in
me ; and on Thursday at the end of the paper-work I learned
that the scholarship lay between a man from Trinity College,
Dublin, and myself, and that the loser would be offered an
Exhibition of almost equal value, created for the occasion.
The decision was made on Saturday morning on viva voce
translation at sight ; this was my strong point at any time,
but in the elation of success after a tedious year I could
have made something of Lycophron at sight, and Aristotle,
an author new to me, seemed simple.
A thing that impressed me was that my New College
friend chanced to meet me in the street after the final test ;
and when I told him what had happened, he explained that it
was fortunate he had not known, as he would have warned
me not to try at St. John's, because this Trinity man (whom
he knew by reputation) was considered certain of anything
he might try for in Oxford ; if St. John's had remembered
in time about the unlimited nature of that single scholarship
(which was open only once in five years), my adviser (by
whom I was in this matter guided absolutely) would have
prevented me from trying. My competitor came to St.
John's, took his First, and soon afterwards was made
Principal of a colonial University.
The importance of this scholarship lay in its size (£100
a year as compared with £60 at New), in its tenure for a
fifth year, which as things turned out was invaluable for
me, and in the free position that it gave me. At New they
would have dosed me with teaching, for which I was too
mature ; and I should have grown sick of college work.
At St. John's they let me alone to take my own course in

II. Introductory. 13
my own way — often a wrong way, but I had to learn to
take the chances and trust myself. With this and an
Aberdeen graduate scholarship I was started for five years.
Carrying out my old dream about the contact between
Greece and the East, I began in 1 874 to study Sanskrit^
thinking that in this speech of an Aryan people who had
melted into Asia one could best approach the historical
problem, and spent three months at Gottingen during the
long vacation,1 studying with Benfey, who gave up his usual
autumn holiday in Switzerland to continue the lessons. In
Benfey I first came in contact with a really great scholar of
the modern type, and learned something of German method.
He opened to me a new world, and gave me fresh courage
and hope, telling me that he looked to me to continue
his work on the Rig- Veda. The way of scholarship had
been hitherto arid in my education, the sense of dis
covery was never quickened, and the power of perceiving
truth was becoming atrophied. Scholarship had been a
learning of opinions, and not a process of gaining real
knowledge. One learned what others had thought, but not
what truth was. Benfey was a vivifying wind, to breathe
life into the dry bones, for he showed scholarship as dis
covery and not as a rehearsing of wise opinions. From
him I returned to Oxford, and there my eyes were opened
by another teacher.
In October of that year work for the Final School of
Literae Humaniores began, embracing classical philosophy,
history and scholarship — the typical Oxford school and a
wonderfully stimulating and educative course, in spite of
the fact that an examination is its goal. Now in philosophy
I had been brought up at the feet of Professor Bain, whose
1 Immediately after the First Public Examination in June, 1874.

14 II Introductory.
ability stood out conspicuous in the University of Aberdeen,
and whom I regarded as having said the final word in the sub
ject, viz. that all philosophers had been mere jugglers with
phrases, who succeeded in bamboozling the world into the
belief that there was some meaning under their words, where
as in reality there was none. Bain's class of Logic had been
the one class at Aberdeen in which I eagerly aimed at
gaining the first place ; and it had been a severe blow when
1 came out twenty-first.
As it was now necessary to know something about one
of those jugglers with words, named Plato, and I was
perfectly ignorant as to his particular way of deluding
people, I felt bound to attend the lectures of Mr. Bidder on
the Republic. Going across the quadrangle to the first
lecture I remarked to a friend that I should now have to
spend two years in learning how Plato had been able to
delude mankind.
The lecturer walked up and down the room with his
thumbs in his waistcoat pockets talking lightly and easily
about the development of thought and language in Greece
before Plato. He put a question to me at an early stage,
which I answered from the lofty level of a devotee of Bain.
He airily tore my reply to tatters and explained clearly
what I ought to have said. Thereafter, he continued every
few minutes to put a question to me and to exhibit the
helpless inadequacy of my reply. In one hour I learned
what a fool I was — a very salutary lesson for a young man
— and at the end of the hour I remarked to the same friend :
" Bidder is evidently a man of ability, and he seems to think
that Plato had some meaning in his words : I must try to
find out whether that is true ". One hour had changed
my whole attitude towards philosophy, and made it possible
for me to begin to understand Greek thought.

77. Introductory. 15

In Oxford there were many other able lecturers on philo
sophy, and at St. John's in particular there was an excellent
man, from whom I learned much ; but Bidder with his incisive
speech was the one man that could have opened my eyes.
I shall always remember Aubrey Moore with deep gratitude
but his words would have passed me by and made no im
pression on my unopened mind. He could never have un
sealed my eyes, though he taught me more than Bidder
after my eyes were open.
It was a great step to make in that first hour with
Plato. If you want to understand the relation between
Greece and Asia, you must begin by understanding
Greece ; but I remained blind and deaf to the true
spirit of Hellenism, however much I might admire and
love Greek literature, so long as the mind was closed to
Plato. Benfey recommended me to Max Mulier, who took a
generous interest in my scheme of studying Sanskrit, and
gave me the opportunity of meeting at his house people
from the greater world ; but he strongly advised me to
finish the Final Schools before spending serious labour on
the language. A visit to Cambridge, and interviews with
Peile, the master of Christ's, author of a book on the young
science of Comparative Philology, and with Cowell, the
Professor of Sanskrit, confirmed Max Miiller's warning that
there was no career in Sanskrit except as a sequel to the
regular schools. Then Benfey's attempt to procure for me
a presentation from Government of the vast Commentary
of Sayana on the Rig- Veda proved unsuccessful. Like
many later disappointments, it was a blessing in disguise.
Had the book been given me, honour would have bound
me to justify the gift and to labour at Sanskrit. As it was,
I was free to act on Max Miiller's advice, and thus was

1 6 II. Introductory.

rescued from a cui de sac. The path of Sanskrit had nothing
for me : the men who wrote Sanskrit cared nought for
mundane things, and the history of action would have be
come no clearer from its study. I shut the books, intend
ing to return to them after twenty-two months, and have
never opened them again.
In 1876 the Final Schools were approaching, and with
them a Divinity examination, involving either the Thirty-nine
Articles or some substitute. I could not with years of
labour pass an examination in the Articles : to read them
was as impossible as to fly to the moon. In childhood I
could have committed them to memory like the Shorter
Catechism, without understanding what I repeated ; but at
the age of twenty-four that was impossible. I took refuge in
the Epistle to the Galatians, and communed with Lightfoot,
whose transparent honesty was invigorating and delightful.
My mother's love for Paul began to move in my mind ; and
she and I read together Conybeare and Howson's Life and
translation of the Letters, a thoroughly scholarly book.
I was now full of Aristotle's most advanced treatises, and
came to Paul with a new mind, finding him the true successor
of the Stagirite.
The letter to the Galatians I was free to regard as the
work of Paul, for it was admitted in the Tubingen School,
which at this time was my guide in criticism. The logical
skill with which Baur and his associates carried out their
premises to their foregone conclusion had impressed me
deeply, and I did not inquire into the premises, which in
fact were accepted as necessary by a follower of Bain, but
should not have been accepted by one who was beginning
to think that he might succeed in understanding Plato. I
was still under the domination of schools, and accepted the
principles taught by such great writers and teachers as had

II. Introductory. 17

first caught me, and as yet I had not learned to go back to
first principles for myself.
In the summer before the Final Schools I spent two
months near Robertson Smith, and under his care read
everything recent that he thought most worth reading on
the Old Testament, worshipped Wellhausen, dipped into
the study of comparative religion and folklore, and fell in
love with J. F. MacLennan's anthropological researches.
Most advisers would have regarded this as a reckless and
insane throwing away of chances in the Final Schools, and
they are right as regards some students, but wrong as regards
others. I had been hesitating about a Special Subject in
addition to the prescribed work, and was ready to offer either
comparative philology with the elements of Sanskrit, or the
metaphysical " Trilogy " of Plato, or the Metaphysics of
Aristotle ; I had read them all with equal care, with equal
interest, and doubtless with equally little understanding,
and two months spent on the Old Testament was health-
giving ; probably a Second Class might have been my lot, if
I had not wandered on to the solid ground of history for
two months. That ground was slippery : Wellhausen and
others were reconstructing Hebrew history after their own
free will ; but they were at least free and they were con
structing, though after a fashion which seems to me now
to ignore vital conditions of the problem.
There is some truth in a remark that I heard Walter
Pater make : talking of a college tutor's work he said, " I
prefer pass students to honours students; you occasion
ally find a passman who can take an interest in the subject
for its own sake ; but honours men are so entirely occupied
with their next examination that they have no time to think
about their subject ". I think there are now probably
some honours men who would escape the censure.
2

1 8 //. Introductory.

I had not such good fortune in the lectures that I heard
in Oxford on Greek history as on Greek philosophy, and I
heard none on Roman history. The new men had not
begun, and the old lecturers (so far as I heard them) were
hardened in the narrowness of an older school. In 191 3 an
Oxford historian read a paper fixing exact dates in primi
tive Greek history. I listened, and reflected with intense
amusement that every sentence in it would have been re
garded by Oxford opinion in my undergraduate days as
sheer lunacy; yet here in 191 3 an audience of the best
lecturers in Oxford regarded it as the serious work of a
serious historian. One draws a moral for the study of New
Testament history. Perhaps the next generation may draw
a moral for Old Testament history (as some already do).
At the end of the fourth year the problem of a livelihood
confronted me. I had come to Oxford to be a scholar ;
there was no other path open to that life, so far as I could
see, except a fellowship ; and a fellowship was as far off as
ever. I was not on good terms with my own College,
partly from my own fault, partly from the fact that the
College, accustomed to boys fresh from school, was puzzled
by an incomprehensible student who aimed at being a
scholar, and could not believe that he was genuine. This
again was fortunate. Had the College approved of me, it
would have found a place for me ; and circumstances would
have forced me into the life of a College lecturer and tutor,
for which I was not suited. The College acted for my best
interest, and for its own also, I am sure.
I was on the outlook for any opening, and was ready to
go off to English Literature, if there had been any places
in that line of University work, such as now exist in fair
number. The subject interested me, and there were no ex
aminations to prepare for, which would prevent one from

II. Introductory. 19
serious work. I had read pretty widely, subscribed to the
New Shakespere Society from its foundation, and made
addresses to Students' Societies on subjects of English
literature. Nothing however presented itself, and the pro
spect was dark.
Then, as it appeared, the stroke of fate fell, and I was
ordered by a doctor to go abroad and wander for a year,
reading nothing, but keeping my ears and eyes and mind
open, living in the open air, and reversing all the course of
my life. To go down from Oxford at that stage was to go
down for ever : the absent is forgotten, and new men come
up:— To have done is to hang
Quite out of fashion like a rusty mail
In monumental mockery.
And so I said farewell to Oxford, and " went out sighing,"
thinking never to see the fair city again. I had learned
much there, though not in the conventional way.
I had just enough with the last year of my scholarship
at St. John's to pay all I owed, and start on my travels
with nothing. I did not pay all I owed till several years
later, and never regretted it, for I found that accounts
presented to an undergraduate going down were charged
on a lordly scale ; but some were afterwards rendered on a
distinctly humble grade.
Those of my friends and relatives who had disapproved
my Oxford venture, now found that their disapprobation
had been fully justified : I had made a disastrous failure,
none the less a failure that it had been nearly a success.1
1 Many incidents, which are omitted because they have no bearing on the
present plan, show that the phrase, " nearly a success," is justified. Other
colleges had Fellowships : but, as has been said, a Fellowship of the ordinary
type would have ruined my aspirations in life.

20 II Introductory.

Those who had approved were now my helpers ; and my
uncle Mr. Drake told me that ;£ioo was at my disposal at
any time. I went off to Germany, Switzerland, and Italy
with £25 in my pocket, to which a second .£25 was soon
added. I had the fortune to make new friends, to get a
valuable part of my education, to earn some money, and at
last to return with as much in my pocket as when I started.
Always since then I have cherished a warm feeling towards
Americans, because it was from Americans that much ofthe
enjoyment and profit of that year came, and it was they
that taught me to live in the world of Europe.
In leaving Oxford I had the fortune to propitiate one
who was notja friend, and to make a new friend. I called
on the President of St. John's, who had not liked me and
made nojsecret of his dislike. He never hid his opinions
in such matters. If he thought that a man was a fool or a
knave, he 1 told him so "in good round terms". I often
said in those weary years of undergraduate life at Oxford,
that if we 'had met at some house in the country we should
have got on very well ; for I always admired his blunt
directness and honesty of language ; but in a college with
its schoolboy rules,, he was puzzled and annoyed with my
views, which had been expressed to him with a directness
and honesty like his own. Now that I was going down, I
felt free to; explain the reason of some things, and he said,
" If your time here were to begin over again, I should act
differently towards you ". This was about as near as Bellamy
ever came to making an apology to an undergraduate.
When the Asia Minor Exploration Fund was started, Pro-
fessor|Pelham, who managed it, found that the President
of St. John's was the readiest of subscribers every year.
The day before I went down I received an invitation from
the Master of Balliol, Dr. Jowett, to call on him. It hap-

II. Introductory. 21
pened that, while I was in Gottingen two years before, a
young Balliol philosopher, now Professor J. Cook Wilson,
came there to study with Lotze ; and he afterwards spoke
of me to Jowett. T. H. Green, one of the Examiners in the
Final Schools, had also mentioned me to the Master : he
had himself invited me to call on him after the examination
was over, an honour that I valued very highly.
Jowett said he wished to learn whether he could help me
in any way ; and when he heard that I was going abroad
next day, he said, " If you come back to Oxford, call on me,
and I will do what I can to help you ". Seven years later,
in January, 1884, I called on him and reminded him of this
promise, as having been always a support to me in a time
full of uncertainties. He had not forgotten; and not
very long afterwards, being (as it chanced) one of the
electors to the newly instituted Professorship of Greek
Art and Archaeology, he wrote inviting me to dine with
him five weeks later, on the night after the election, " to meet
Sir Charles Newton," another of the electors. It was a
remarkable act, one of those bold and unconventional
things that few men would dare to do, and which can be
pardoned only when they have been justified by success ;
and we took it as a proof that he hoped I should feel in
good spirits two hours after the electors made their choice.
The Professorship was a small one, and candidates in that
subject were few and already well known. We said nothing
to anyone about the invitation until after the event. As
Jowett had the reputation of caring only for Balliol men,
this seems worth mentioning as a trait in the character of a
noteworthy personality.
Professor Bywater, a very fine scholar and a great Aris
totelian, also invited me to call on him, hearing of my
interest in Aristotle ; and it was refreshing to converse with

22 II. Introductory.

him, or rather to listen to his epigrammatic talk. By a
coincidence translation from Aristotle, which had decided
the entrance scholarship, played a part also in the Final Ex
aminations ; the " Metaphysics " was my Special Subject,
and among the unseen translations was a piece from the
" Physics ". Of this I gave two renderings, one straight and
the other treating the passage as an unintelligent mixture
of the notes made by two different pupils who heard the
same lecture and wrote what they could understand of it,
these separate notes having been put together by a third
pupil, who edited the lecture. This theory, caught from
Trendelenburg, I had in private study applied to some
other parts of Aristotle ; and it was excellent training for
the treatment of similar theories as applied by some scholars
to the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul.
At Max Miiller's house I had met Professor Sayce,
and afterwards saw him pretty often. He was the first
person who treated me frankly as a scholar, not as an
undergraduate. The examinations that divided me from
other dons did not exist for him. He saw only the interest
in scholarship and the love of truth ; and my inclination
towards the Asian borderland was much stimulated in
talking with him. He was for several years the only cor
respondent that I had in Oxford to keep the connexion
living. So far as work in life, or even the way of earning a liveli
hood was concerned, the outlook was darker than ever. In
Oxford after the Final Schools, a friend and I had planned
to make an edition of the Nicomachean Ethics, and that
work was just begun when my Oxford life was brought ap
parently to an end. The deciding event was now at hand ;
but it came very slowly. At Rome in January, 1878,
when talking with a young Oxford graduate, a Modern

II. Introductory. 23

History Fellow who was learning Italian for his special
work, I chanced to mention what my aim had been in life,
a thing which I never mentioned to any one in Oxford,
after it had led to trouble in my own college, and that now
no path seemed open except a place in the British Museum.
He at once said that he could get for me an introduction
to Mr. Stuart Poole, Keeper of Coins there ; and in due
course he procured a letter from Mr. R. Lane Poole (now
Fellow of Magdalen and Lecturer in Diplomatic in the
University) to his uncle at the Museum. On my way
home to Scotland about the end of March I presented this
letter. Mr. Poole received me very kindly, and asked me
to lunch to meet Sir Charles Newton, Keeper of Greek and
Roman Antiquities, who, as it turned out, was to play a
determining part in my life. At the time there was no
opening in the Museum. Mr. Poole said that, if he had
known sooner, he might have got me an opening in his
Department : but he had already advertised the place for
public competition, and could not withdraw from this. He
suggested, however, that I should enter the competition,
and said that he felt sure about the issue. I replied that I
had resolved to enter no more examinations, and moreover
could not compete against candidates so much junior to
myself. In Scotland sixteen months later, July, 1879, I received
a letter from Mr. Poole, telling that a Studentship of £300
a year for three years had been instituted in the University
of Oxford for Travel and Research in the Greek lands, and
advising that I should come up to the Museum and study
there in preparation for it. He said that some candidates
were spoken of, but the outstanding candidate was a young
graduate who had the reputation of being extraordinarily
able, but who in his opinion would not be a good appoint-

24 II Introductory.

ment. By this time I was married, and my wife and I were
spending the vacation at my sister's house in Sutherland-
shire. Next morning we started for London.
We were under no illusions as to the financial side of the
case. My brother-in-law advised us to go, but pointed out
that it would take £500 a year to do the work in Greece.
However, as we had married on a salary of £100 a year for
one year, the need of earning the additional £200 was
merely a restatement of the present problem. Robertson
Smith was giving me work for the " Encyclopaedia Britan-
nica," and we hoped to send letters to the newspapers from
the Greek world.
The next three months were spent at the Museum, a time
of unalloyed happiness, thanks largely as before to the
kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Drake, who gave us the use
of their house in town, while they were away in the
country. Of the other candidate, who was two years junior to my
self, we saw little. His name and fame I had heard as
early as 1874. He was of Trinity College, Dublin; and
my Trinity rival and friend had heralded his coming to
Oxford, describing him as a man of quite extraordinary
ability. He finished his Oxford course with a most brilliant
reputation : it was the smallest item in his fame that he had
got his First with less work than any other man in the
memory of history. As scholar, critic, dramatist, poet, he
was the man of the future. I refer to Mr. Oscar Wilde.
He occasionally appeared at the Museum, and admired the
art. One would see him rapt in ecstasy before a statue ;
but, as Newton was quick to see, the statues that he most
admired were Roman ; and Newton could not look at any
thing that was not of the finest Greek period and style.
Personally I thought, and still think, that something could

II. Introductory. 25

be said on Wilde's side in this dispute ; but it was not, and
is not now, my business to say it.
In October, 1879, we had to return to Aberdeen, where I
was assistant to the Professor of Greek ; and Sir Charles
Newton remarked that it would be necessary to hold an
examination to decide between Wilde and myself. " In that
case," I replied, " I am not a candidate." He asked the
reason. I said I had long resolved that I would not com
pete against men junior to myself, and also that I did not
like the examination system. " But," he replied, " what is
to be done when two candidates are nearly equal ? How
are we to decide?" "If you have any doubt, prefer the
junior man." And so we went off to Aberdeen, understand
ing that this door also was closed against us, as I knew that
his colleagues the four Oxford electors were sure to prefer
a man of Wilde's deservedly high reputation, and it was
evident that Sir Charles Newton desired to hold an ex
amination ; now he was a man that liked to get his own
way. Late in January, 1880, a letter came from Sir Charles
Newton saying that I was elected to the Studentship, asking
when I should be ready to enter on the duties, and inviting
my wife and myself to live in his house and talk Greek with
him for some time before going out to Greece, so as to learn
in this way something about the country and the work. I
could not get away till the latter part of February, when
the advanced senior class which I taught in Aberdeen came
to an end.
We dreamed now of Athens ; but Newton said " Don't go
to Athens, which is pre-occupied by the Germans and the
French ; go to the west coast of Asia Minor, where the
great Greek cities offer a better field to a new man ".
Accordingly in early May, 1880, we landed in Smyrna ; and

26 II Introductory.

it happened that, on the same day Major (after i88r
Sir Charles) Wilson, Consul-General for Anatolia, came
down to Smyrna for one day ; and Mr. Dennis the Consul
(afterwards Sir George Dennis) invited us to meet him at
lunch. Sir Charles Wilson, hearing of Newton's advice,
said " Come into the inner country of Anatolia. The
coast-lands are open to explorers ; any one can go there,
but the inner country is unknown. People think that it is
difficult to travel in the centre of Turkey, but it is not
really so. Come and make a journey with me ; and you
will soon learn how to travel."
The presence of Sir Charles Wilson in Smyrna for one
day to see Lady Wilson off by the steamer to Europe, was
the cause that directed us to the upper country.1 Every
other person in Smyrna warned us against this : the English
were disliked by the Government, all officials would be
hostile to us, troubles and dangers would confront us.
After some weeks the Consul informed me that he had
written to the Foreign Office clearing himself of all
responsibility for our movements and our fate, as we had
persisted in going on dangerous excursions in defiance of
his prohibition. The truth was that the danger, such as it
was, was almost confined to the brigand-haunted neighbour
hood of Smyrna ; and we consulted good authorities before
we started on any excursion in that region.
The Consul, a very well-meaning person, would have liked
to keep us as in a sheepfold, safely tucked in every night ;
he knew nothing about the state of the country, and he
did not wish to be troubled by any incidents in his province.
Had we listened to his orders, we should have remained
in Smyrna for the three years ofthe studentship, except when

1 Acts XIX. I, Ta avureptKa ixzpr}.

II. Introductory. 27
he went out himself with a guard of armed servants, police
men, and soldiers : in which case he was most courteous in
inviting us to accompany him. In the spring of 188 1 I
rode wjth Sir Charles Wilson from Smyrna zig-zag across
country to Sivas and Samsun, and got a first glimpse of
the real Turkey.
Thus it came about, with no conscious choice and after
many vain essays in other directions, that in October, 1881,
we found ourselves starting on our first larger venture into
the Phrygian country, "weird with fable," the enchanted
land of Midas the King.
It had been a long apprenticeship to live through before
we found ourselves at last started to explore on the borders
between Greece and the East, between Europe and Asia.
In 1 88 1, when we began our more extended journeys,
the Ottoman Railway was in process of extension from
Aidin, the old terminus, towards the East, and rail-head was
at a village called Kuyujak. There we had our first experi
ence of life in our own tent at the uncompleted station :
there was a considerable difference from travelling in Sir
Charles Wilson's company, with tents and well-trained ser
vants ; but that experience had been useful in many ways.
We learned what were the indispensable accompaniments of
life, and how much we could do without.
We began to travel in the old Turkey of caravans and
mediaevalism. We have lived and travelled and observed
through the years of transformation ; and now we are still
travelling in the half-modernized Turkey of railway trains
and French-speaking officials.
The expedition begun in October, 1881, more by luck
than good guidance, resulted in the discovery of many
Phrygian monuments. That gave us a start; but the
Studentship was coming to an end rapidly.

28 //. Introductory.

In June, 1882, a letter from Professor Bywater reached us
at Iconium (Konia), offering a research fellowship at Exeter
College, tenable for five years, the conditions being two years'
exploration followed by three years' study and publication at
home. The letter also promised that in case of acceptance an
Asia Minor Exploration Fund should be formed to provide
the means of exploration, and requested a reply if possible
before the College meeting in the end of June. The tele
graphic reply cost five francs, which implies brevity. In
work such as we had drifted into, three years is nothing ; it
took three years to learn what the problems of Asia Minor
are, and how one should start to seek the evidence.1
This is an example of the way in which our exploration
of inner Anatolia progressed. Something always turned
up, when travel seemed to be reaching its end. My "last
journey " to Asia Minor became a family joke : I often said
good-bye with ceremony and pathos to inner Anatolia —
there was no more money — and ever the means to return
offered themselves. It was always the unexpected that
happened. Even the Three Years' Studentship which took us out
to Asia Minor came to an end, when we no longer needed
it, and was not renewed. It was created by Mr. Montague
Bernard who expected that the commission for reforming
the University (of which he was a member) would make it
a permanent institution. He died before the three years
ended, and the Commission made no foundation of this
1 It is astonishing that in this country people now regard a Fellowship of
£T5° or £200 for one or two years as the endowment of Research. In
America more reasonably they call this sort of thing " Post-graduate
study " ; and the hideous character of the word " post-graduate " should not
blind us to the truth that the Americans are right in principle and we are
wrong.

II. Introductory. 29

kind.1 The Montague Bernard Studentship seemed to have
been made for us, and then to cease.
Thus our exploration has lasted during thirty-four years.
Only in the nine years after 1891 I stayed at home,
except in 1 899. An attack of cholera, contracted in a ship
coming from Alexandretta, incapacitated me for some years ;
and I aimed at finding and financing a successor rather than
continuing field-work myself. The successor, J. G. C
Anderson,2 did much excellent work, travelling for a
number of years very widely in Asia Minor ; but he was
appointed to office in Christ Church, and travelling was not
for a Senior Student and lecturer. Then the opportunity of
returning for a summer was offered me by a friend in Bir
mingham ; and in 1901 we found ourselves again resident in
Konia as a centre for exploration.
Even after we settled to explore in central Asia Minor,
my ideas about a sphere of work still needed to be
altered in one respect. My inclination was entirely towards.
Greek, in literature and in art ; and I spent no time willingly
on Latin. In the spring of 1886 I was a candidate for the
Professorship of Greek in Aberdeen, a position where the
long summer vacation from April to October promised the
free time needed for travel ; but was not appointed by the
Crown. Several weeks later came a letter from a friend in
Aberdeen saying that the Chair of Latin would be vacant
within a few days, and urging me to be a candidate : he
stated that certain misapprehensions had led to my being
ruled out in the previous candidature, and explained how
they could easily be dispelled. Had I learned about this
vacancy in Latin through the newspapers, it would not have
1 The University itself made some provision in other ways for travel ira
Greece. 2 A pupil in one of my earliest years at Aberdeen.

30 II. Introductory.

occurred to me to be a candidate; my mind was set on
Greek ; but, when the idea was put into my head, it
fastened itself there and took root, and in a few hours be
came a resolve ; and I was made Professor of Latin, not
dreaming what the result must be.
The reading of the Roman authors turned inevitably,
owing to my bent of mind, to a study of Roman society
and administration. One can spend a lifetime in Greek
literature, taking only the faintest interest in the government
ofthe Greek cities, and never looking towards the Hellenistic
cities of the larger Greece in Asia. But the Roman litera
ture clings closer to the actual conditions of life. Unless
one is blinded by a habit acquired in Greek literature, one
cannot study Virgil and Horace without being plunged into
contemporary history and forced to understand the policy
of Augustus and the glory of Italy and Rome. Thus I was
led on to work at the relation of the Graeco-Roman litera
ture to the life ofthe Empire, and to fill my mind with the
Roman idea. I had found my proper work, the study of
Roman institutions in Asiatic Greece, and the influence of
Asia on the Graeco-Roman administration. If I had been
appointed to a Professorship of Greek, as I wished, or had
remained a Professor of Classical Archaeology, none of my
proper work could have been done rightly.
The most important department of that subject still
escaped me ; but Sir W. Robertson Nicoll after many re
quests induced me in October, 1888, to send him a long
article on " Early Christian History in Phrygia " (" Ex
positor," Oct., 1888, to Feb., 1889); those papers caught
Dr. Fairbairn's attention, and led to an invitation to give
six lectures at Mansfield College, which were published
under the title of " The Church in the Roman Empire
before A.D. 170".

II. Introductory. 31

In every case the course was marked out by the judgment
and will of others. In each step I had no thought of the
succeeding step, but drifted without plan as fate chose. In
the few cases where I formed a plan, and started on my
own initiative, I was usually disappointed, and afterwards
found that the disappointment was a necessary stage in
education, and that success would have been a calamity.
I had gone to Oxford with the aim of getting a Fellow
ship as the way towards a life of Research. If this aim
had been successful at the time and in the way that at first
I anticipated, I should have inevitably sacrificed my dream
and ambition and drifted into some other line. I left a
failure ; and was invited to come back successful in my
own fated line of life. Nature and the world were wise
and kind, and always guided where I was erring and
ignorant : or dare one venture to use a more personal form
of the idea, and speak of Providence ?
The story of those long years has been told, not be
cause the writer's history is of any account, but because
the following chapters stand in relation to a human being ;
and those who care to weigh their value scrupulously and
accurately will take into account the mind which wrote
them and was moulded by the facts stated in them.
This was the way that brought me to the study of Luke
and Paul and the New Testament generally, when I found
that my prepossessions and pre-formed opinions were wrong.
The following chapters will show how the discovery of new
evidence, partly by others, partly by myself, changed the
judgment and formed opinions of one who had aimed at
truth and lived for truth.

PART II.
LECTURES AT UNION SEMINARY, RICHMOND, VA„ ON
THE BEARING OF RECENT DISCOVERY
ON THE
TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

CHAPTER III
THE FIRST CHANGE OF JUDGMENT
(MAP ON P. 64)
The work that marked itself out for me in Asia Minor
was to study the art, history, and antiquities of the country.
Everything that fell between the dawn of history and the
final conquest by the Turks lay within my period. The
methods were to be determined by experience ; and, under
the impulse of Sir Charles Wilson's advice and example, it
was quickly borne in on me that historical study must in
a country like this be founded on geography and topo
graphy. On this last point a more definite and complete statement
is needed to make my present intention clear from the be
ginning. There did not exist at that time any trustworthy
map of the country in its ancient or even in its modern
state. The situation of a few important ancient cities in
inner Asia Minor was known, such as Dorylaion, Colossae,
Laodicea, Antioch of Pisidia, Caesarea of Cappadocia, and
some others ; but occasionally doubts were expressed even
as to the correctness of the site ascribed to one or other of
them. About their history, their foundation, fortunes, and
decay, hardly anything was known. The evidence had not
been collected and weighed. The accounts of the leading
ancient cities, given in geographical and historical works,
were scanty and often untrustworthy in details. True and
untrue statements were placed side by side, and, as a whole,
(35)

36 III. The First Change
the generally accepted and (so to say) " official " statements
were quite uncertain.1
The inadequacy, the inaccuracy, and the frequent lack
of information in the modern works on ancient geography
made it necessary as a first step to read afresh all the
original authorities, and to find others hitherto unnoticed.
Into this programme of work New Testament subjects
did not enter. It was generally understood at that time, in
1880 and the years immediately following, that these fell
under the heading of " Religion," and should be kept apart
from the kind of historical study on which I was engaged.
Everything in the department of " Religion " ought to be
reserved for theologians, and mere scholars kept aloof
from it. In 1880-3 I considered the time almost lost
that was spent in copying Christian inscriptions ; they were
outside my province, and while a sense of duty made me
take copies of them, yet I grudged the moments thus.
spent. In truth, it must be acknowledged that the Christian in
scriptions which then were already known and published
contained the absolute minimum of historical information.
They were of a late period, and with hardly any exception
were valueless in almost every respect to any kind of
students, whether theological or non-theological. This
naturally produced a prejudice against the whole class ;,
but in the progress of discovery, hew groups of Christian
inscriptions gave a different character to the subject ; and
1 The same remark applies to some of the latest accounts given ini
Pauly-Wissowa, " Realencyclopasdie " ; the articles on Eastern geography are
far below the standard of other departments. The brief remarks in Mar-
quardt's " Staatsverwaltung," though much older, are usually right, because
Marquardt confines himself to positive statements on explicit evidence ; but
even he sometimes misinterprets, and his few negative statements should
usually be set aside, as the evidence was not sufficient to justify a negative-

of Judgment. 37

many were found of the highest historical and religious
importance. In a few cases the newly found proved that
certain epigraphic documents previously published were
Christian, though their religion, being studiously concealed,
had not been detected until many similar ones were dis
covered. The earliest Christian epitaphs belonged to the period
when the religion was proscribed and forbidden, and when
it was necessary to avoid drawing public attention to the
Church by the use of language that was patently and
explicitly religious. Yet even in that period certain forms
and turns of expression were employed which conveyed a
meaning to those who were in the secret.1 The investiga
tion of these private signs was at first entirely conjectural,
and the way was uncertain and unmapped ; but most of
our early conjectures have been confirmed in later discovery.2
In this way the realm of Christian epigraphy began to be
included in the domain of Graeco-Roman social and poli
tical history.
Among other old books that described journeys in Asia
Minor the Acts of the Apostles had to be read anew.
I began to do so without expecting any information of
value regarding the condition of Asia Minor at the time
when Paul was living. I had read a good deal of modern
criticism about the book, and dutifully accepted the current
1 Monsignor Duchesne was perhaps the first to publish the discovery of
one highly important class of Christian epitaphs, though more recently he
has apparently abandoned his opinion, and dates one of the most remarkable
epitaphs of this class in the fifth century ; see Part III, p. 416.
2 The entire body of evidence will appear in Professor H. Gregoire's
collection of the Christian inscriptions of Asia Minor, the publication of
which at Brussels was hoped for soon (beginning with Part I in the end of
1914), but the development of politics and war has indefinitely postponed it
(see also below, last chapter of Part III).

38 III. The First Change
opinion that it was written during the second half of the
second century by an author who wished to influence the
minds of people in his own time by a highly wrought and
imaginative description of the early Church. His object
was not to present a trustworthy picture of facts in the
period about A.D. 50, but to produce a certain effect on his
own time by setting forth a carefully coloured account of
events and persons of that older period. He wrote for his
contemporaries, not for truth. He cared nought for geo
graphical or historical surroundings of the period A.D. 30
to 60. He thought only of the period AD. 160-180, and
how he might paint the heroes of old time in situations
that should touch the conscience of his contemporaries.
Antiquarian or geographical truth was less than valueless
in a design like this : one who thought of such things was
distracting his attention from the things that really
mattered, the things that would move the minds of men in
the second century.
Such was the commonly accepted view in the ¦ critical
school about 1870 to 1880, when I had been studying
modern opinions. It is now utterly antiquated. There is
not one point in it that is accepted. Everything is changed
or discarded. But about 1880 to 1890 the book of the
Acts was regarded as the weakest part of the New Testa
ment. No one that had any regard for his reputation as a
scholar cared to say a word in its defence. The most con
servative of theological scholars, as a rule, thought the
wisest plan of defence for the New Testament as a whole
was to say as little as possible about the Acts.
I began then to study the Acts in search of geographical
and antiquarian evidence, hardly expecting to find any,
but convinced that, if there were any, it would bear on the
condition of Asia Minor in the time when the writer lived.

of Judgment. 39

If he knew the country at first-hand, the knowledge might
show itself in his narrative ; but any knowledge that might
appear would be what the writer knew by experience : he
would not dream of spending energy on revivifying for
gotten details of long-past history and antiquities.
The first thing that made me begin to doubt the judg
ment which I had formed, or rather, had accepted from
others, about the late origin of " the Acts of the Apostles "
was a discovery regarding the geographical statement in
XIV. 5 : " They fled (from Iconium) to the cities of Lycaonia
and the surrounding region ".1 In these words it is implied
that Paul and Barnabas fled over a frontier into Lycaonia,
i.e. the border of Lycaonia lay between Iconium and Lystra,
and Iconium was not in the country called Lycaonia.
This piece of information is purely a matter of geography :
it has no bearing on religion and on the Church questions
of the second century. It is technical, narrow, and in a sense
external to the narrative, which as one might think would
run equally well although this detail were absent.2
As the point is a technical one, it needs some technical
explanation, which leads us amid the minutiae of Anatolian
topography ; but here at least the soil, though dry, offers
firm footing, when one takes the trouble to get hold of the
facts. The technical argument is stated in chapter IV.
apart. At present it need only be said that the main
facts are : (1) Iconium is described in the modern treatises
on ancient geography as a city of Lycaonia ; (2) we were
1 -r) wepixupos is a noun, the region that lies round (the cities) : i.e. Lycaonia
contained two cities and a stretch of country around, where there were no
cities but only villages organized after the Anatolian style, not according to
the Hellenic municipal fashion.
2 In further study, however, one finds that the matter is essential and
carries much weight in the purpose of the book, although at first it had seemed
almost accidental and unnecessary for the author's purpose.

40 III. The First Change
assuming that this description was true in A.D. 50, whereas
a little investigation would have shown that it was false
(see ch. IV.).
One authority, familiar to every schoolboy, describes
Iconium as the last city of Phrygia. That authority is
Xenophon, who in the Anabasis tells how the ten thousand
Greeks (among whom he himself was marching) reached
Iconium on their way from north-west to south-east and
after leaving it crossed the frontier into Lycaonia. Now
the author of the Acts had read a good deal of Greek litera
ture, and could appreciate it ; and beyond doubt he was
influenced by it. There is no improbability in the supposi
tion that he may have read the Anabasis, and remembered
this fact.
What was true, however, about the period described by
Xenophon, 400 B.C., was not necessarily true about the
period described in Acts, A.D. 47. In that long lapse of
time many changes occurred in the boundaries of countries
and regions of Asia Minor.
The evidence of Cicero, who visited Iconium, seemed clear.
He speaks of Iconium as being in Lycaonia almost exactly
a century before Paul visited it. Some other authorities
agree, but the testimony of one witness like Cicero seemed
sufficient. Then to speak of fleeing from Iconium into
Lycaonia, when we take Iconium as the chief city of
Lycaonia, is as if one were to speak of going from Rich
mond into Virginia, or from London to England. The ex
pression does not ring true. Suppose a tramp came to ask
help and told a pitiable story of his sufferings at the hands
of an infuriated crowd of rioters in Chicago, and said that
he had barely succeeded in boarding a freight-train and
getting away into the State of Illinois, you would feel at
once that he was inventing a story, and that he never had

of Judgment. 4 1

been in that part of the world, or he would know that
Chicago was itself in Illinois ; and you would conclude that
his story as a whole was false, because he was evidently in
venting the story of the train ; and you would probably
dismiss him as an impostor, unless you were extraordinarily
compassionate and slow to wrath.
Just in the same way it was understood that this detail
of the journey of Paul and Barnabas was deliberately
invented by the writer (who was under a false impression
about the situation of Iconium and the frontier) with the
intention of imparting to the story plausibility and the
interest of personal experience ; and the writer of the
book was condemned as an impostor attempting to rouse the
readers' sympathy and thus to trade on their credulity. I
adopted this argument from others : but I made it my own
by believing it and judging accordingly. We are all equally
condemned for bad critical method and wrong judgment.
It seemed, therefore, to others and to myself then, that
the author of the Acts, knowing the testimony of Xenophon,
had attempted to impart the semblance of local exactitude
to a story which he was writing up : he had not before him
any narrative of the facts resting on real personal acquaint
ance : yet he does assume the show of first-hand knowledge.
He sometimes uses the first person, as if he had been
present at certain incidents of the history. He does,
beyond all question, convey the impression that his story
depends throughout on the very best and most unimpeach
able evidence.
Here in Acts XIV. 5, we have a test case: at this point
it seemed to me, when I began this study of Anatolian
geography, that the story had been proved to ring false.
The author of the book imparts a piece of topographical
information incidentally, as his narrative hurries on ; but the

42 III. The First Change
information is false and results from his applying a piece of
schoolboy knowledge, true in regard of 400 B.C., to the
different circumstances of A.D. 47. Not merely did this
statement seem to us to be wrong : it is given in this
incidental fashion as part of the travel narrative, so that it
appears as if it were part of the actual experience of the
wandering Apostles.
But after all, as is shown in the following chapter at length,
Iconium was not in Lycaonia at that period. It belonged
to a different region or district of Asia Minor.1 Its people
were of a different stock, and they did not speak the
Lycaonian tongue. The proof of this statement involves
the quotation of many ancient testimonies and the results
of exploration and excavation, and this whole investigation
will be better kept separate. Here it need only be said
that the proof is complete, certain, and (as I think) no
longer a matter of dispute, but universally accepted by
scholars. Now read the narrative of the residence in Iconium and
in Lycaonia from this new point of view. How luminous
it becomes as a story of personal experience ! The Apostles
heard people shout their appeal to the gods in the Lycaonian
tongue (xiv. 11): this impressed Paul, because he had heard a
different language spoken familiarly in home life at Iconium.
There they spoke Phrygian : in Lystra they spoke Lycaon
ian. The contrast struck him, and afterwards in telling
the story to the author, he almost unconsciously intro
duced that slight detail ; and Luke — let us call him so>
for brevity's sake, because it is the right name, though I
shall not found any argument on it for the present— why,
Luke remembered it and gave it a place in his book, because
1 Xenophon and many later writers say that the region was Phrygia.

of Judgment. 43

it fulfilled a purpose in his conception of a luminous historical
narrative. It is, from one point of view, a matter of indifference
whether those Lystrans called out in the Lycaonian
language, or in the Greek, or in the Phrygian. The import
ant matter is that they uttered this meaning, " The gods
have manifested themselves to us in the form of human
beings," and that they applied the words to Paul and
Barnabas. To us, reading the words in Greek or in English,
they are just as effective as if a Lycaonian version were
printed or read alongside of them ; but to Paul it was not
so. He had been used to hear the Iconian speech, and
the new language struck his ear and remained in his memory.
This small detail remains as a sign and proof that the ear
of Paul plays a part in the narrative. We listen with him,
and hear the shout in Lycaonian, and are struck with
the strangeness of the sound, and remember this when we
tell the story. In my book, the " Church in the Roman
Empire," it is argued that visitors to Iconium must have
heard the Phrygian language spoken there, and that there
fore there remain so many testimonies by visitors to the
Phrygian character of the city.1 As those visitors re
membered the sound of the Phrygian in Iconium, so Paul
remembered the Lycaonian at Lystra.
In XIV. 5, it is stated that the two Apostles crossed the
frontier into Lycaonia. That was correct alike in the time
of Xenophon and in the time of Paul. Possibly there may
have been a boundary stone on the road by which they
travelled, and the exact frontier line will be known when
this stone shall be discovered at some future time. It has
fallen down, and been covered by the soil of that level
1 That book was published in 1894 ; and it was only in 1910 that the proof
of the use of that language in Iconium was discovered : see p. 72.

44 HI- The First Change
plain ; and it will not be found until cultivation and deep
ploughing may perchance reveal it. Similar boundary
stones are well known. I found one in 1882 lying on the
road-side between Apameia and Apollonia : it marked the
boundary between those two cities (and incidentally between
the provinces Galatia and Asia). This stone is not covered
up, because it was erected at the top of a lofty steep slope,
where the road going east reaches the pass level, and on
those bare and arid mountains there is no dust or loose
soil to cover the stone ; but it has fallen on its side. It is
a very large stone in shape like an altar, about five feet high,
bearing the inscription : " On behalf of the salvation and
everlasting continuance of the Emperor Caesar Hadrian, son
of the god Trajan, grandson of the god Nerva (then follow
the titles, giving the date A.D. 1 35), the senate and people of
the city Apollonia, settlers from Lycia and Thrace, (dedi
cated) to the Frontier-gods."1
The sight of such a frontier stone would remain fixed in
Paul's memory,2 as the discovery of a boundary like that
Apolloniate stone remains in the memory of any modern
traveller. A certain emotion is stirred in the mind of the modern ;
the stone is a mark revealing much history and topography ;
he has been long on the outlook for historical evidence, and
at last finds it after toil and hardship. The sight of it and
the pleasure of deciphering the worn and difficult letters
scratched faintly on the hard stone and conveying so much
information, make the memory last for life.
Paul had no stimulus of that kind, as we may assume,
1 Published in " Historical Geography of Asia Minor," p. 172.
2 Similarly Luke noted the boundaries of the territory of the city Rome
far in the south of Latium (xxviii. 14), and distinguishes between this wider
Roman territory and the city proper : " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 347.

of Judgment. 45

to make hira mark and remember the boundary ; but there
was another cause equally effective. He and Barnabas
were fleeing from a hostile mob, and the boundary meant
safety. They now passed beyond the limits of Iconium,
and were under a different administration. It would be a
crime, not merely against law, but against the Frontier-gods,
for any Iconian to lift a hand against them after they had
passed the boundary stone. Piety and religious feeling re
strained the mob and forbade pursuit. Paul rejoiced here to
be safe,, because his work in Iconium (and in Antioch) was
incomplete. He had to return to consolidate the congrega
tions there, to encourage the young converts, and to appoint
presbyters (xiv. 22). The residence in Lycaonia was a time
of waiting.
So St. Thekla, in the early Christian legend, fleeing from
Iconium to escape from pursuit and a " marriage-by-capture,"
reached safety at the frontier. If we had the legend in its
oldest form, we should perhaps find this detail in imitation
of the story of Paul. As it is, the detail was changed, and
Thekla found refuge in the mountain, which opened to receive
her, as the local legend still has it, though in the Acta of
Paul and Thekla it is subjected to further alteration.
Reading the narrative in this way, and imagining ourselves
with Paul, seeing with his eyes the boundary plainly marked,
and hearing with his ears the shouting of the mob at Lystra,
and feeling with his heart the anxious care of the churches,1
we perceive that the incident of the lame man occurred at
the very beginnning of the residence in Lystra. If we
follow the narrative of Luke, carefully attending to the ex
act force of the Greek tenses (which is neglected even in the
revised version, English and American), this is clear : " they
1 As in 2 Corinthians xi. 28.

46 III The First Change
fled from Iconium into Lycaonia, with its cities Lystra and
Derbe, and the region around the cities ; and there they
engaged in preaching the good news ; and at Lystra a
certain man impotent in the feet was sitting, one lame
from his birth, one who never walked : this man was listen
ing to Paul preaching, and Paul, gazing fixedly on him (as
if reading his very soul) x and seeing that he has the faith
for being saved,2 called loudly to him, ' stand on thy feet up
right'". In this passage the descriptive imperfect tenses — they
were engaged in preaching — he was sitting — he was listen
ing — are followed by the sharp instantaneous perception
and cry (aorist). A scene is described : the various details
of the situation are, as usual, expressed in the imperfect : 3
then follows the action expressed by the aorist, and the
action proceeds stage by stage, each stated by an aorist,
except the process of attempting to walk, which is an im
perfect tense.4
The intention now seems plain to represent the first part
of the Lystran narrative as synchronous with the beginning
1 The allusion to this fixed gaze of Paul occurs only where there is strong
emotion behind the look, where the soul of one gazes into the soul of the
other (so in xm. g).
2 Salvation here has hardly the Christian sense, but is used practically in
the common pagan sense, on which see the " Teaching of Paul in Terms of
the Present Day," pp. 94 f. This is a proof of early date.
8 This is the regular usage of the language : the imperfect shows that all
the parts of the scene are co-existent contemporaneously. Out of this scene as
background stands forth the action in its successive stages (aorist).
4 If one takes the action more minutely in detail, Paul fixed his eyes on the
man (as something in the man caught his attention: the great orator is
sensitive to everything and appreciative of the nature of an individual in the
audience) : he saw his capacity for salvation : he called out loudly in a sharp
voice six words : the man sprang up, and set about walking (a slower and
more difficult process : he had to learn how to walk). The loud sharp voice
was needed to startle and rouse the soul and the dormant will of the man.

of Judgment. 47

of the preaching : they were engaged in preaching, and he
was sitting and listening. An effect is painted of marvel
lously rapid character. The Apostles came to Lystra, and
at once this remarkable event occurred ; and they were
forthwith accepted by the populace as divine beings, Hermes
and Zeus, Mercury and Jupiter.
Immediately the people called out that this was a real
epiphany : the gods had assumed human form and come
down from heaven to Lystra. One sees that this was said
about strangers who had just arrived in the town. The
story would seem less natural if this aspect is neglected : if
Paul and Barnabas had been in Lystra for some time, they
would have become familiar to the people of that small
rustic town ; and familiarity would have made it more
difficult to take them as gods. But, as it is, the scene shows
them as two strangers. People know every one by face in
a small town like this, and perceive that these are strangers.
Then the lame man walks ; and the populace, quick to
appreciate divine power and disposed to believe that the
gods appear from time to time on the earth like men, con
clude that here before their eyes is an epiphany of their two
chief and associate deities, Zeus and Hermes. Then they
call out in the Lycaonian language. It was the first time
that Paul had ever heard that speech, and the contrast to
Iconium with its Phrygian and its Greek caught his attention
and his memory.
The two gods whom the people understand to have come
down among them are Zeus and Hermes (Jupiter and
Mercury in the Latin names). There must have been at
Lystra a tendency to believe that those two gods were com
monly associated with one another and likely to appear on
earth together. Zeus was the supreme god, and spoke to
men through his messenger Hermes ; he sits quiet, and acts

48 III. The First Change
through his agent and subordinate god. We must, then,,
understand that Barnabas had not yet spoken ; Paul had
led off the preaching,1 and Barnabas was the more statuesque
figure, who sat or stood by, appreciative and marking all
things from his calm superiority, while Paul delivered the
message from the quiet and supreme god. The situation in
every respect suits best the first appearance of the Apostles-
in Lystra.
That Zeus and Hermes were commonly regarded in that
region as associated gods is now well known. In my first
books on the subject 2 I could quote in illustration only the
epiphany of those same two gods to the old couple Baucis-
and Philemon, as described by Ovid, ." Metamorphoses,"
VIII. 621-719.3 This epiphany is said to have occurred
"among the Phrygian hills" (621), and the people around
were the Tyriaians (722).* Tyriaion was a small town in
south-eastern Phrygia, not far from Iconium ; so that Lystra,
though in Lycaonia, might share in similar religious ideas.
A better example occurs in an inscription found in 1909
in Lycaonia, south-west of Lystra, where certain devotees
dedicate a statue of Hermes to Zeus ; such dedication takes
place only where there is a close relation between the two
3 Tiyotifievos rod \6yov, XIV. 12.
2 "Church in the Roman Empire," p. 58, "St. Paul the Traveller," p..
117. In " Pictures of the Apostolic Church," p. 131, a second example is
added. 3 This quotation is mentioned rightly by most of the commentators from
Wetstein onwards.
4 The manuscripts give such forms as tirinthius, trineius, tyreneus,
thyrneius ; and the older editions conjecturally give " Tyaneius " ; but this is
impossible because : (1) Tyana is a city of Cappadocia remote from Phrygia,
whereas the event occurred in Phrygia ; (2) Tyaneius is an impossible form,
whereas Tyrigius is a correct form, Greek Tvpid'ios, from Tyriaion ; (3)
Tyrieius is nearer the MS. reading. Wesseling on Hierocles, " Synecd. "
(s.v. Briana Phryg.), suggests Brianeius, recognizing that Tyaneius is un
suitable ; but objections (2) and (3) apply to this word.

of Judgment. 49

gods ; and here Zeus needs Hermes as his agent to speak
and act for him.1
An even better example is mentioned to me by Dr.
Sundwall;2 it is a dedication to Zeus and Hermes, and
comes from the same region as the last mentioned. He has
published it in an article in the Finnish language, which I
cannot read, and notes the bearing on this passage of the
Acts. I have not seen this inscription, which was discovered
by an Austrian Expedition to Isauria and Pisidia in 1 902.
These three cases sufficiently prove that the association
of those two gods was familiar in the region round Lystra
and likely to occur to the people when they saw a marvellous
cure wrought by two strange men entering the town. All
character and life disappear if we suppose that the two
men had been living for some time in that little city.
We must, then, take the plain implication of the narrative,
viz. that this incident occurred as Paul was beginning his
work in Lystra. What force is then added to his words
(Gal. TV. 12-4) in writing to those same people: "You
did not treat me ill ; you know the facts ; illness was the
reason I came preaching to you on the earlier of my two
visits,3 and you did not despise or abhor my physical
ailment — trial as it was to you — but welcomed me as a
messenger of God ".
In those words we have a patent allusion 4 to the sudden
1 See Calder in Classical Review, 1910, p. 76 ff., and Expositor, July,
igio, p. 1 ff.
2 He is one of the small, but growing, band of scholars that direct their
work largely to Asia Minor. His Einheimische Namen der Lykier, 1913, is an
admirable work.
s As is very common in the New Testament the construction is parataxis
for hypotaxis ; "you know that because of illness I preached, and you did
not despise my ailment " (as in the English Versions), is equivalent to the
complex sentence, " when I preached because of illness, you did not despise
my ailing body, as you well know ".
4 Recognized by Lightfoot, and sorrowfully abandoned by him,
4

50 III. The First Change
and deep impression which he had made at Lystra. A
similar instantaneous impression was made at Antioch ;
Paul came, saw, conquered ; they received him straightway
on the first sabbath as the messenger of God.1 There was
no such situation as has been pictured by many modern
scholars, that Paul came into Galatia and was there taken
ill, and in his illness was cared for kindly by the Galatians,
and then succeeded in evangelizing them successfully. On
the contrary he is welcomed at his first appearance as God's
messenger, though they might well have cast him out with
horror as one who was accursed by the Divine power and
punished by God with the Divine fire which was consuming
him without external affection of any part or member.2
What Paul here lays stress on, what he mentions as a
fact well known to the Galatians, is the instant welcome
which they gave him ; they had some excuse for supposing
him to be under punishment as an enemy of God, but
they welcomed him as the messenger of God ; his physical
illness was a real trial and offence to them, but they paid
no heed to it and opened their hearts to him, and gave him
of their dearest and best.
This situation is exactly that which is described in the
Acts (except that there Paul's ailment is never mentioned).3
The completeness of Paul's success on his first journey (xiv.
27, XV. 3, 4, 12) was a great encouragement to him. It
stamped his mission from Antioch onwards as under the
favour and blessing of God. The work in Cyprus and in
Pamphylia on the contrary was not blessed in the same
1 This I did not comprehend rightly in " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 99 ;
but it is explained in detail in the " Cities of St. Paul," p. 298 f.
2 See the " Teaching of Paul in Terms of Present Day," p. 327.
8 This omission is one of the notable omissions in Acts, and is to be
placed along with the total omission of the name of Luke and of the person
ality of Titus.

of Judgment. 5 1

way ; it was not a subject of interest to him afterwards (XV.
39 f.) ; and it is never mentioned in his letters.
It is a striking fact that both the narrative in the Acts
(when rightly read) and the Epistle to the Galatians should
insist so strongly on the quick, and almost instantaneous,
success of the mission in Galatia. Here was the "open
door ". This was the fact that most deeply impressed Paul ;
and it must be remembered that it is his account to Luke,
transmitted to us through the latter, which lies before us in
the Acts. The Epistle states his general impression, but
does not describe the facts : the history simply narrates
facts and leaves the general impression to be gathered from
•them. Hence the agreement has not been noticed as it
ought to be by modern scholars. Yet this agreement and
"undesigned coincidence" constitutes the most decisive
proof that the two written authorities are what they claim
to be, and what they have been accepted as, viz. the work
of Paul and of his disciple, coadjutor, and personal friend.
How completely this agreement is ignored can be
gathered from the words used by the Bishop of Ely (Dr.
Chase) on this subject : x he simply expresses definitely the
general attitude of those who think with him. According
to him Paul and Barnabas " entered the ' Galatian district '
. . . they halted at Pessinus . . . Paul had no plan . . .
he was bewildered : he allowed himself to drift ... he in
tended so far as he had a plan at all to pass through the
cities in the west corner of Galatia and so to journey farther
north to the cities in the east of Bithynia and of Pontus :
but the wanderer became once again an evangelist . . .
an attack of illness brought him to a standstill . . . before
he recovered, he learned to feel an interest in the Galatians

^Expositor, Dec, 1893, p. 415.

52 III. The First Change of Judgment.
... he stayed in Galatia for a time, ' doing the work of
an evangelist'".1
There is in this no quick effect, only drifting of a traveller
without a plan, who does not even begin to evangelize until
he has learned in the course of an illness to like the people
who were caring for him and nursing him. The writer
thinks of modern conditions, in which the homeless invalid
is tended by " warm-hearted Galatians ". There is nothing
like that in paganism : the want of it is conspicuous, as is
pointed out below in chapter IX. Such care of the sick
stranger is the creation of Christianity.2 Moreover, this
fanciful account takes no note of the one important word
" received " or " welcomed " : it was a newcomer whom the
Galatians received as a " messenger of God " (Gal. IV. 1 3),.
when he first appeared among them.3
Acts rightly understood is the best commentary on the
letters of Paul, and the letters on the Acts. If Luke had
never known or read those letters,4 then all the more re
markable is it as a proof of the truth and historicity of both
that the agreement is so perfect. But personally I am dis
posed to think that Luke knew the letters, though he does
not make them his authority, because he had a still higher
and better, viz. Paul's own conversation.
1 As I read this interpretation of Paul's journey and method of work
twenty-one years after it was written, I am struck with wonder. It could not
be written nowadays. It is as un-Pauline in its ideas as it is impossible in its
geography. 2 Below, p. 120 f., and " Luke the Physician," pp. 352, 404 f.
3 The force of the Greek verb 8e'xo/xoi is free from all doubt : when Paul
writes to a distant people, among whom he had been, his words cannot mean
" I was living among and you came to regard me as a messenger of God " ;
they must imply " you welcomed me as a messenger of God, when I came to
you ".
4 It is the general opinion among modern scholars that the letters were
unknown to him, or at least never read by him.

CHAPTER IV
ICONIUM AND THE FRONTIER
(MAP ON P. 64)
THE matter which formed the subject of chapter III. forms,
in a sense, the foundation on which the views which the
writer holds were gradually built. Each new detail rested,
or seemed to rest, on suitable evidence ; but the beginning
lies in Acts XIV. 5. It will therefore be well to state the
evidence in this first case minutely, more so than is done
in the remainder of these lectures : and this detailed
investigation is placed here in a chapter by itself, so that
this whole discussion of authorities may stand separate, and
the effect may not be weakened by working it into the
general argument, while any one that desires to proceed
with the argument may pass over the minuter discussion.1
The purpose of this chapter is to prove that to the
ancients of the Roman period Iconium was, (1) not a city
of Lycaonia, but (2) a city of Phrygia. The first assertion
is, as I think, now admitted generally, though the inevitable
inferences from it are not considered. The second is
stubbornly resisted by many, but it is of very great im
portance for the proper interpretation of the Acts and of
the Lukan picture of early Christian history.
As was stated in the previous chapter, I accepted at
first the statements current in modern treatises on ancient
geography : Iconium was a city of Lycaonia. So far as I
looked for evidence, that was supplied by Cicero, an ex-
1 The result, so far as it adds to Chapter in., is stated on p. 60.
(53)

54 IV- Iconium

cellent witness, a man of the highest education, who
travelled across Asia Minor from Ephesus to Tarsus, and
spent ten days at Iconium, and wrote many letters to his
Italian friends from the country. What better witness
could be found ? I was, as it happened, familiar with the
letters, which are on many grounds exceptionally interesting
and valuable.
Cicero in one place says that Iconium was in Lycaonia,1
and on a superficial view certainly any reader gets the im
pression that he thought of Iconium as a Lycaonian city.
The geographical impression is the same. Iconium lies
on the edge of the great Lycaonian plain : true, it is under
the shadow of the mountains that fringe the plain on the
west,2 and the mountains are not classed as Lycaonian ; but,
though near the limiting mountains, Iconium is distinctly
in the level plain. So far as geographical considerations
are concerned, the city belongs to Lycaonia.
When the question is raised, however, it must be ac
knowledged that the impression which we gathered from
ancient writers is largely moulded by modern opinion and
text-books, for we read the references already convinced
that Iconium was in Lycaonia, and interpret the words
according to our preconceived idea. In one letter 3 Cicero
speaks of his intention to hold the Lycaonian and the
Isaurican assizes for his own convenience 'exceptionally at
Laodicea. Every commentator explains \that ordinarily
the Lycaonian assizes met at Iconium ; but the truth is
that the Lycaonian assizes were held at Philomelium 4 and
1,1 Fam.," xv. 4, 2. i „
2 They rise very steep and sharp from the level plain about five miles
west of the city.
3"Att.," v. 21, 9.
4 Pliny, " Nat. Hist.," v. 95, writes under the influence of the same feeling
(i.e. he quotes an authority under its influence) about Philomelium as part

and the Frontier. 55
the Isaurican at Iconium. This clears up the situation :
Cicero classified Iconium in the purely geographical view
to Lycaonia, but in the Roman administration he regarded
it as the centre of Isaurican business to which the Isaurian
people resorted : : he was a Roman, and careless of Ana
tolian nationalities : 2 Iconium must be whatever Rome
chose that it should be: racial facts and reasons had
ceased to exist under Roman rule : the Roman unity
disregarded and trampled on mere national distinctions
within the Empire.
Cicero, therefore, ceases to be an authority on either side :
he must be set apart as unconcerned with such minutiae,
unworthy of Roman consideration.3 This, however, was
unknown to me, when my studies in this department were
beginning. The first . perception of the truth came from the "Acta
of the Lycaonian diocesis (assize district), transferred to Asia after Cicero's
time. The passage is quoted and translated fully in a later note, p. 57. It
is unnecessary to go more minutely into the name of the assizes, as the
opinion stated in the text above will at once convince any one who studies
the map and the possibilities of the situation. The matter is so simple that
either on the one hand it requires no further explanation, or on the other hand
it would need a very detailed discussion of topography.
1 In the one case where Cicero speaks of Iconium as in Lycaonia, " Fam.,"
xv. 4, 2, he is giving a careful geographical description of his journey in a
report to the Senate. Where he is writing about administrative matters,
" Att.," v. 21, 9, he speaks of the Isaurican assizes, meaning the conventus
meeting at Iconium. In a report to the Senate, xv. 2, 1, he describes his
march across the province towards Cilicia as being through Lycaonia
(Philomelium and associated towns to the east) and the [country of the] Isauri
(Iconium, etc.) and Cappadocia.
2 Strabo, p. 629, speaks very strongly about the way in which the Romans
disregarded racial distinctions in arranging their assizes.
3 One other trace of the " Isaurican assizes " may be found in Ptolemy v.
4, 12, where he puts Savatra in Isauria : that cannot be explained except as
due to the fact that Ptolemy used as his authority a list of the cities meeting
in the Isaurican conventus.

56 IV. Iconium

of Justin the Martyr ". Justin was tried with several other
Christians at Rome in A.D. 163. One of these, a slave
named Hierax, when asked who his parents were, replied :
" my earthly parents are dead ; and I have been brought
here (a slave) torn away from Iconium of Phrygia".1 So
strange did this appear to that excellent editor Ruinart,
that he proposed to correct " Phrygia " to " Lycaonia," in
order to keep Hierax right. This is the only case in which
the testimony of a native of Iconium is preserved ; and to
change his testimony would violate the most fundamental
principles of criticism. When I read this passage I re
membered Acts XIV. 5, and saw that it was correct. Alike
Xenophon in 394 B.C. and Hierax in A.D. 163 knew Iconium
as a Phrygian city. This evidence supports and confirms
Luke : Iconium was not in Lycaonia, and Paul, when going
to Lystra, crossed the frontier into Lycaonia.
There is abundant testimony to the same effect. Fir-
milian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was present at a
Council held in A.D. 232 at Iconium of Phrygia.2 An
Eparchia of Lycaonia was formed before A.D. ISO;3 but
Iconium was not included in it, remaining part of the pro-
1 As a slave he had a nationality : slaves and sailors of the fleet and
foreigners were in Roman usage ranked together : they were all classed by
nationality. The sailors Classiarii originally had been servile, and the cus
tom of servile naming was official in their case, as Mommsen has pointed out
in his beautiful article on the designation of Roman soldiers in " Hermes,"
1884 (especially p. 33). Hierax was probably a foundling (9pe-n-r6s), brought
up by foster-parents for purposes of slave-trade : on this side of Graeco-
Roman life, see Pliny, "Epist.," 65, 66, and " Cities and Bishoprics of
Phrygia," 11. p. 546 f.
2 See Cyprian, " Epist.," 71.
3 It was part of the large province of the Tres Eparchise, Cilicia-Isauria-
Lycaonia. In 295 the cities of the Eparchia Lycaonia were attached to the
new province Isauria : that is the case in the lists of the Nicene Council, 325,
which has caused some difficulty to modern scholars (e.g. Harnack, " Verbrei-
tung," 11. pp. 187, 193).

and the Frontier. 57
vince Galatia, and therefore in close relation with Antioch,
the secondary capital of that province. About A.D. 295 a
province Pisidia was formed with Antioch and Iconium as
its first and second cities, and on that account Iconium is
called by Basil, writing in 372, a city of Pisidia.
Pliny, " Nat. Hist.," V. 41 (145), mentions Conium (i.e.
Iconium) as one of the ancient and famous Phrygian cities ;
this may be set against his other seeming statement in V.
25 (95), that it was in Lycaonia ; but, as we see on closer
reading, he in the latter passage denies that the Lycaonian
•connexion was true in his own time.1
Ptolemy v. 6, 16, whose value as an authority2 on such
a point is small in this region, was evidently puzzled
by the testimony, for he separates Iconium and 'a part of
Lycaonia from the province Galatia 3 and puts them in
Cappadocia, a patent and absolute blunder.
Strabo also has been read as assigning Iconium to
Lycaonia ; but this is not quite clear. On p. 568 he de
scribes Iconium vaguely as being "somewhere in these
1 " The Pisidians are bounded by Lycaonia, which has been transferred to
the jurisdiction of the province Asia, with which gather (in conventus) the
people of Philomelion, Thymbrion, etc. Further a tetrarchy (division of the
province Galatia) has been furnished out of Lycaonia on the side where it
touches Galatia (i.e. the three tribes), consisting of fourteen cities, Iconium
the most famous. Of Lycaonia proper the following cities are celebrated,
Thebasa, etc." Here three parts of Lycaonia are distinguished, one a con
ventus handed over to Asia, one a tetrarchy added to Galatia, and one non-
Roman, the true Lycaonia of king Antiochus.
On the Lycaonian tetrarchy see "Studia Biblica," iv. p. 46 ff. The his
tory of that Philomelian conventus has never before been rightly explained.
On the Antiochiane see "Histor. Geogr. of Asia Minor," p. 372.
2 He is full of errors of detail in this whole region.
3 Including several towns which continued to be in province Galatia till
a.d. 295. The Lycaonian cities which were in the new province of Tres
Eparchia; he assigns to Antiochiane. In v. 4, 10, he gives another part of
Lycaonia in the province Galatia. In truth Ptolemy was utterly puzzled by
the contradictoriness of his authorities of different ages.

58 IV. Iconium

districts," but he has just enumerated " these districts " as
being the bare, cold, dry plains of Great Phrygia and of the
Lycaonians, viz. Tatta and the districts round Orkaorkoi
and Pitnisos (all Phrygian) and the plains of the Lycaon
ians.1 This passage affords as much apparent authority to
infer that Strabo called Iconium a Phrygian as a Lycaonian
city ; and at least it is evident that his words are vague ;
now Strabo, when he makes a vague statement, has always
some intention in his vagueness : usually he is very precise.
At last in 372 a new province of Lycaonia was instituted
by Valens, and Iconium was made its metropolis ; and this
has been its place in the ecclesiastical lists ever since.
Stephanus, therefore, mentions it as a city of Lycaonia •
but in his notice he quotes the legend of Annakos or Nan-
nakos, king at Iconium, in the days of the Flood, whose
subjects were Phrygians ; and other authorities call Anna
kos a Phrygian king.
It remains, therefore, plain and certain that the writers
of the Imperial time do not as a rule assign Iconium to
Lycaonia, and that the most authoritative of them call it a
city of Phrygia, or a city whose people were Phrygians.
The legend of Annakos which was widely known in Hellen
istic times and is mentioned by Herondas in the third
century is quite clear regarding that racial character. The
Lycaonian connexion can hardly be definitely supported by
any author of the Imperial time before A.D. 372, when the
province Lycaonia was formed. The most definite state-
1 ivravBa 5e -rrov Kal to '\k6viov c(Tti, p. 568. He defines rohs t6ttovs
roirovs twice in the immediate context, once as quoted above, once as
the districts where Amyntas's flocks were pastured : now it is beyond doubt
that the plains west of Tatta up to Pitnisos and Orkaorkoi (all in Great
Phrygia) were part of his sheep-runs: Mr. Calder and I have been studying
this region and its Imperial estates (inherited from Amyntas by Augustus and
his successors).

and the Frontier. 59

ments regarding the Lycaonian character of Iconium are
all later than 372, viz. Stephanus, Eustathius's note on
Dionysius Periegesis, and the Etymologicum Magnum.
I refrain from relying on Joannes of Damascus, who in
his " Life of Artemius," says : " having traversed all Phrygia
and come to its last city, called Iconium ". This might
quite fairly be attributed to his memory of Xenophon ; the
same expression is used that occurs in the " Anabasis " ; x
and it might be supposed (as we all used to think about
Acts XIV. 5) that recollection of Xenophon and a desire
to display antiquarian knowledge influenced this writer.
But, at any rate, the statement is in perfect accordance with
Acts, and the verbs used are favourite terms with Luke.2
It is not derived from the facts of Joannes' time, but was
drawn from older authority.
• Phrygian invaders from the north-west had captured the
city many centuries B.C. This marked the limits of their
power : it was the last city of the Phrygians. In the
presence of other nationalities the Phryges maintained their
national feeling and speech. Iconium was a Phrygian city ;
and many of its people spoke the Phrygian tongue in home
life, though Greek was the language of all educated people ;
and it was, of course, in Greek that Paul addressed his
hearers. Greek was, so to say, the sacred language of the
Christian Church in the first two centuries, and even the
Roman congregation was Greek-speaking. It was the
1 rrjs 4>pvyias ftiKiv ia%i.T-rjv is the expression of Xenophon.
2 SieXfl&v a-rraaav r^v Qpvytav leal irpbs tV iaxi.rr\v airTJs ir6\rv rb ua\oip.evov
'\uiviov KaravT-qcras : SUpxop-ai with accusative is almost a technical term with
Luke, and is rare elsewhere than in Acts or imitators : Karuv-rav occurs nine
times in Acts. The expression of Joannes can best be understood as a de
liberate imitation of Luke's style and thought with a Xenophontine touch
added, which is in perfect agreement with Luke's statements.

6o IV. Iconium

influence of Christian Greek that gradually killed the native
languages of Asia Minor.
The truth is that those ancient writers who had actually
visited Iconium call it a Phrygian city, although strangers
and Cicero sometimes call it a city of Lycaonia. The writer
who composed this history, which we call the Acts of the
Apostles, must therefore be ranked along with those who
had visited Iconium.1 No proof exists that he personally
had ever been there, but his narrative rests on the first-hand
testimony of men who had visited the city, and reproduces
their correct way of describing it. So far the statement of
Luke is found to be fully justified ; but there is more to say.
We have failed to find any authority in the Roman
Imperial period for classing Iconium as a city of Lycaonia.
Ancient authority of the highest and most varied character
assigns it ethnically and linguistically to Phrygia. The
question, however, arises : how was it classed administra
tively under the Empire? As has been said above, the
Romans under the Republic and the earliest Empire per
sistently and, as one might almost say, intentionally, dis
regarded national considerations, and arranged their
administrative and judicial divisions in utter violation of
ethnical affinities. In Cicero's time Iconium was the
meeting-place of the Isaurican conventus (see p. 54) ; but
no trace of conventus in this region is known under the
Empire; and it must be concluded that that system of
division (which continued in the province Asia) had fallen
out of use in the province Galatia. The reason obviously
was that the Imperial Galatia was not a survival of the
Republican administration, but an adaptation of the
1 Xenophon, Luke, Hierax, Firmilian, constitute a chain of evidence of
the strongest character, running through the centuries, confirmed by local
legend and municipal pride.

and the Frontier. 6i

Galatian kingdom of Amyntas. Augustus took over this
realm, and made it as it was into a Roman province with
the least possible change : it was contrary to Roman
method to alter existing conditions more than was
necessary. Now in this Roman province ' Galatia a part is often
mentioned under the name Phrygia or Mygdonia. Pliny 1
speaks of Mygdonia as bordering on the southern side of
Great Phrygia and as being alongside of Lycaonia and
Pisidia. This description would remain obscure, and
would be taken as probably referring to some more ancient
facts which Pliny had not quite correctly appreciated,2 had
it not been for an inscription found at Pisidian Antioch, in
which a " regionary centurion " who had acted as guardian
of peace and order (in the region), is praised by Mygdonia for
his success in perserving peace and saving human life.3
There can be no doubt that this region is here called
Mygdonia, and that it lay around Antioch, and that, as
other considerations show, Antioch was the capital of the
region. Mygdonia is a poetic equivalent for Phrygia,
derived from the name of the old Phrygian chief Mygdon :
and the use of this form is natural in the rude metrical
epigram of that inscription ; but the occurrence in Pliny
shows, further, that there was some recognized appropriate
ness in that name. No other reference to the name is
known except that this must be the Mygdonia which is
mentioned by Stephanus as a part of Phrygia.
1 Pliny, " Nat. Hist.," v. 145.
2 He has, however, given at least unmistakable evidence of the geographi
cal situation : Mygdonia was on the south side of the large Phrygia (in
cluded in the province Asia), and adjoining both Pisidia and Lycaonia.
There can be no doubt what this indicates.
3 Published by Professor Calder in "Journal of Roman Studies," ign,
p. 80 f. It is on two sides of a large altar, one side in ordinary prose, one
which mentions Mygdonia in very rude metre.

62 IV. Iconium

The name Phrygia often occurs in inscriptions, as desig
nating one of the parts or regions composing the large
province Galatia.1 Dr. Brandis remarks that the name in
such cases applies only to a part of the Great Phrygia (most
of which was in the province of Asia), viz., the part lying
between Pisidia and Isauria and Lycaonia,2 and containing
the cities of Antioch and Apollonia. This definition is
fairly correct.
Moreover, we notice that Strabo calls Antioch a city
of Pisidian Phrygia, so that he recognized the existence
of this separate portion of Phrygia and the need for
making the distinction clear by a limiting epithet. His
Pisidian Phrygia is equivalent to Pliny's Mygdonia, i.e.
Phrygia of the province Galatia.
In this sense Phrygia (i.e. Pisidian Phrygia or Mygdonia)
has to be classed as one of the parts or regions of the
province ; and, as Professor Calder says, these regiones are
the administrative divisions of the province Galatia.3 In
the inscription just quoted the " regionary centurion " com
manded all " the stationes of soldiers who kept the peace
along the main highways of trade and administration " in
the region Mygdonia or Phrygia.4
Now Iconium under the earlier Empire before A.D. 295,
is persistently assigned to Phrygia, and it seems beyond
doubt that this city also must be regarded as part of the
1 Examples are C.I.L. in. 6818 and 68rg ; Frankel, " Inschriften von
Pergamos," No. 451; Cumont, "Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres," etc.,
Bruxelles, 1905, p. 205.
2 In these words Dr. Brandis comes very close to the words of Pliny v. 145,
as quoted above ; yet he evidently was not thinking of Pliny's testimony, for
he adds needlessly and vaguely the name Isauria.
3 See his very full commentary in the " Journal of Roman Studies," ign,
p. 80 f.
4 Calder, loc. cit.

and the Frontier- 63
Galatic region Phrygia. There are only two possible alter
natives. It must belong either to the administrative region
Lycaonia of the Roman system or to the administrative
region Phrygia ; now the authorities are clear that it does
not belong to Lycaonia until after A.D. 295, and that it does
belong to Phrygia.1
Judging from the accepted handbooks this result is not
what we should have expected, and the earlier modern
scholars did not dream of it ; yet the ancient authorities
compel assent, and justify Luke's account in the most
complete way. It may be supposed that, when Amyntas
held that large kingdom, he discontinued the Roman
arrangements (as we see them in Cicero), and revived the
old national divisions, Pisidia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, combin
ing them in some way as yet undetermined with the three
tribes of Gauls.2 Then when in some year about A.D. 138,
Lycaonia was assigned to the newly created province of
the Three Eparchiae, Iconium did not so pass,3 but con
tinued to be part of frovincia Galatia, regio Phrygia.
1 Isauria was perhaps not one of the regiones, but was included in
Lycaonia: it is once mentioned, C.I.L. in. 6818 (next to Lycaonia, and
perhaps regarded as joined to it by et understood) : it is possible, however,
that Isauria was a regio of the province, which, being the smallest, was not
often mentioned. I assume that in northern Isauria the Lycaonian language
was spoken.
2 The Romans, taking over the kingdom of Amyntas as the province
Galatia, continued all the good arrangements that he had made. There is,
as Gardthausen says, no hint that any reorganization took place ; but the
record is scanty.
3 Imhoof Blumer, " Kleinasiatische Muenzen," n. p. 415, published in igo2,
differed on this point ; but conclusive proof has been discovered to justify the
opinion that I maintained long previously. Imhoof's statement and list are
probably due to a mere slip of memory, as he gives not only Iconium, but
also Laodiceia and Parlais and Lystra as cities of the Koinon of the Lyca
onians all wrongly.

CHAPTER V
THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT ICONIUM
As a last stage in the demonstration, it may be asked
why visitors felt that Iconium x was Phrygian. Geographi
cally, its situation would mark it as Lycaonian. There is no
possibility of mistaking the limits or ignoring the character
of the Lycaonian plain. Von Moltke in his " Letters " from
Turkey quotes from some authority the statement that it is
the most level plain in the world : certainly none can be
more level.
A visitor, therefore, recognizing the obvious character of
the great plain, would naturally regard Iconium as a city of
Lycaonia. Later, he became aware that it was a city of
the Phrygians, and this perception came in such a way as
to abide in his memory, and make him call the city Phrygian
when he spoke of it. There can be only one way to explain
this. Anyone who stayed in the city heard the Phrygian
speech of the people : he knew in this way that it was a city
of Phrygians from their tongue.2
Those who study the history of Asia Minor know how
ethnical and national distinctions persist there. In the
same little valley one finds villages of three or four different
nationalities. The people live side by side. They never
1 It is quite remarkable how often this memory of the language and the
racial character persists in the references quoted : " of Phrygia " is added
needlessly, natives were proud of it : visitors remembered it.
2 This was pointed out in the " Church in the Roman Empire before 170,"
p. 38, as long ago as i8g3 (lectures of i8g2).
(65) 5

66 V. The Language Spoken
intermarry. An observant traveller will detect the differ
ence of racial character, but only if he is on the outlook
for ethnographical distinctions, because all speak the same
language, viz. Turkish, all are Moslem of one kind or
another, and only the women have any noteworthy difference
in dress.1 First Christian Greek, and then Turkish, have
been levelling languages in Asia Minor.
In ancient time the local dialects lasted long. Neither
Hellenism nor Roman civilization could obliterate or even
seriously weaken national characteristics. The Romans at
first attempted to make their " provinces " supreme over the
national distinctions ; but after a century they found that
nationality was a far stronger power than " provinciality ".
The unity of the Roman province was external : the unity of
each nation was deeper. Yet for nearly a century the
Romans tried to impose the " provincial " unity, and the
people seemed, in their enthusiasm of gratitude for the peace
and order of the Empire, to accept whole-heartedly the
Roman unity of the province. Iconium, a Hellenistic city,
called itself Claudeikonion, i.e. "Imperial Claudian Icon
ium " : and so Derbe called itself Claudioderbe, while
Antioch was apparently Roman to the core ; Coloniae
were, so to say, isolated fragments of Rome itself.
Yet this appearance was only on the surface. The racial
character continued, and outlived the " provincial " character.
Hellenism was a stronger power than Romanism in the
East : but strongest of all was the old language in a town
like Iconium. The people did not cease to speak Phrygian
in their home life. Greek was the speech of education and
' I do not take into account the difference which is emphasized by religious
diversity, Christian, Yezidi, etc. ; but only the variety of Moslems, Osmanli,
Turkmen, Yuruk, Kurd of the western clans (different in many ways from
the Eastern Kurds), and so on.

at Iconium. 6 J

public intercourse, for the city was a Hellenistic organiza
tion, but Phrygian survived. This language the visitors to
Iconium heard, as in Lystra they heard the Lycaonian.1
More definite proof, however, than this general probability
was naturally desired by the world of scholars, who are
disposed to be a little sceptical about such statements as
this regarding the language of Iconium, statements resting
on a general estimate of the local conditions. Even those
scholars who were maintaining against me that the people
of Iconium would prefer to be addressed by their racial
name (which those scholars believed to be Lycaonian), and
not by the Roman provincial designation as " Galatian,"
were doubtful or incredulous when I maintained that Phry
gian was the home language of the ordinary Iconium popu
lation in the first and the second centuries.
There is only one proof that is conclusive, and that is the
discovery of epigraphic evidence that the Phrygian tongue
was actually used in Iconium in the first and second
centuries after Christ. This proof I did not venture to
hope for owing to the position of the city.2
As is shown more fully in the " Cities of St. Paul," p.
317 f, Iconium is marked out by nature as a centre of
population, and as a great city throughout the history of
organized society; the abundant water-supply and the
1 Prof. Holl of Berlin has proved in an excellent article in " Hermes," 1908,
that the native languages persisted for centuries after the Christian era.
Quite independently he reached the same conclusion which I have maintained
for thirty years, that it was only the Christian Greek, and not the Greek of
the old civilization, that was strong enough to eradicate the Phrygian and
other native languages.
2 It is, of course, beyond question that Paul and Barnabas addressed only
the Greek-speaking population ; they spoke to the common middle class
people, the tradesmen and artisans, though with an intermixture of the higher
classes, Asiarchs in Ephesus, the Council of Areopagus in Athens, Roman
officials in some places, as well as local magistrates.

68 V. The Language Spoken
favourable surroundings ensure this. Hence it has been a
large city, sometimes capital of an empire, throughout
mediaeval times down to the present day. Much popular
feeling is attached to it, and a good deal of native pride
gathers round it. " See all the world, but see Konia," is an
old saying about it ; and every visitor is told that " those
who go once to Konia always return there seven times "„
As, in the East, every strong feeling tends to take religious-
form, Konia ranks as holy.
Iconium has therefore been a difficult place to explore.
Systematic excavation would tax the resources of a million
aire, for the whole surface would have to be bought ; and
even the unoccupied land on the outskirts of the modern
town l is protected by official and popular jealousy, and by
the feeling that Konia is a holy city.
There was hardly any chance of finding new evidence
except when a house was being built on the outskirts or
rebuilt in the heart of the city. Then it appeared in pre-
paring'thei foundations that the soil a few feet below the
presentjsurface is full of ancient stones ; and every new
house yielded some inscriptions.
Hence the gradual discovery of the complete proof lasted
through a long series of years. The time from 1880 to
1 890 was occupied in acquiring the first-hand knowledge of
the country which made the ancient narratives more intel
ligible, and thus enabled me better to understand and
appreciate Luke's history, and strengthened my confidence
in my own judgment.
In two 'books that were published in 1893 and 1895 2 the
1 The modern town is not so large as the mediaeval city, and excavations
on the outskirts show the wider extent.
2 "The Church inlthe Roman Empire," 1893; " St. Paul the Traveller,'*
1895.

at Iconium. 69

meaning of the narrative whose scene lay in Iconium and
Lystra was explained in a way that seemed convincing to
some, but not to others. Only in 1910 did a fortunate
conjunction of circumstances place in our hands the op
portunity of unearthing the final proof. Every year from
1 90 1 onwards Konia had been our headquarters and centre
of exploration ; but we could only put ourselves in the way,
so as to be ready when influences which we could not con
trol opened the door before us.
The principle on which I have worked has been stated
often from 1883 onwards: the evidence is there : one has
only to search long enough and it will be discovered.
Patience is needed. The life ofthe explorer in such a land
consists of nineteen disappointments to one discovery.
Knowledge is needed. Without thorough acquaintance
with the problems and the whole range of evidence little
can be learned by the explorer. Money is needed.
Travelling to be effective is expensive,1 and excavation is
triply expensive.
That principle should be made the rule of the explorer's
life. The evidence to test all important history, and
especially the Old and the New Testaments, exists and can
be discovered with patience, knowledge, ingenuity, and
money. It was not until 19 10 that the final proof was discovered.
Only one kind of evidence in regard to a question of lan-
1 1 have tried every way. I have travelled for weeks with a single Turkish
servant and one led horse carrying all our baggage ; and I have gone with
tents and servants and horses and waggons. The traveller who goes with an
imposing accompaniment gets far more from the Turks of all classes. The
traveller who goes with one servant is troubled and may often be stopped.
In the Greek regions it is different, for the Greeks welcome the archaeological
explorer quite as heartily, if he is poor, as if he bears the external signs of
wealth*

70 V. The Language Spoken
guage is perfect and unanswerable : and that is epigraphic
proof of its use.
In the beginning of May of that year 'we came to the
city at an interesting moment.1 The municipality, desiring
to get stones for building purposes, had recourse to the
usual kind of quarry in Turkey, viz. the ruins of the ancient
city. In the modern town there is a low hill, on which
stands the Mosque of Ala-ed-Din, also the old church of
St. Amphilochius,2 the modern Greek church of the Trans
figuration, and the Armenian church. Here also are some
scanty remnants of the once stately palace of the Seljuk
Sultans, i In this hill the municipality proceeded to dig,.
and at once began to find inscribed stones. These were
seized by the Imperial Museum, which, however, declined to
pay any part of the expense of finding them. The Muni
cipality then refused to dig for the benefit of the museum
and stopped the excavation.
At this moment we arrived and heard of the situation.
I called on the Pasha, the governor ofthe Province (Vilayet)
of Konia, and offered to conduct the excavations at the ex
pense of the Fund, giving to the museum all the inscribed
stones and to the Municipality all the rest. The offer seems
to us fair and even generous : but to the Turks it seemed to
hide some subtle plan 3 for getting possession of gold (which
must of course be there, but which was not mentioned in
the proposal). Were the infidels to get all the gold ? Some
1 My companion in that year was Professor Calder of Manchester, an old
pupil in Aberdeen, and Craven Fellow in Oxford.
2 Taken by the Turks long ago, and transformed to a mosque, but, as
every one who went to pray there died, they abandoned it ; and it stands
empty and unused, and is called Sa'at, " The Clock ".
3 This difficulty always has to be faced in Turkey. There is an ingrained
suspicion regarding one's motives, partly caused by some really unfair action
on the part of Europeans, partly due to the Oriental belief that the ultimate
reason for action must be gold, and the settled disbelief in ideal motives.

at Iconium. Ji

negotiation was required ; and we proposed the condition that
the town engineer should conduct the excavation, fix its
limits, take possession of all finds, and distribute them be
tween the different interests concerned. Thus it came about
that we had the opportunity — which I had never ventured
even to hope for — of digging in the hill of Ala-ed-Din. We
could not go very far as there was said to be some danger to
the buildings on the centre of the hill ; and after four weeks
the engineer announced that the digging must stop.
The walls which we uncovered were the basement of the
old Seljuk Palace ; and it is evident that the hill, though
doubtless in part natural, is largely the accumulation of soil
and dust over ancient or mediaeval walls. The wind-blown
dust is caught and detained by every eminence, and thus
heaps are formed under the protection ofthe walls.1
These basement walls of the Seljuk Palace contained a
number of inscribed stones, about forty-five in all. They
belonged to the century between 150 and 250 A.D., and
among them were two inscribed in the Phrygian language.
Now Phrygian inscriptions of that period are rare, not be
cause the language was not spoken, but because it was not
a language of education. Greek was the educated speech.
All who got any education received it in Greek. Almost
all who wrote, wrote in Greek. Hence even epitaphs in
the Phrygian tongue are rare, and a number of these are
bilingual, written partly in Greek and partly in Phrygian.
The writers were able to use both languages, but for some
reason preferred not to abandon wholly the non-literary
Phrygian tongue. Even in country districts where there is
reason to think that the use of Phrygian was customary and
general, epitaphs in that language are not numerous : such
1 We had the opportunity of observing the results of this process on the
long-deserted site of Pisidian Antioch during the excavations of 1913.

72 V. The Language Spoken

districts would make a poor show in a map of ancient
civilization. Both the Phrygian inscriptions at Iconium are engraved
on altars. The longer and more important is here added.
In the translation the uncertain Phrygian words are left
untranslated. The monument belongs to the period be
tween A.D. 150 and 250.
The inscription has been published by Professor Calder
(who copied it in 1910 along with me) in his "Corpus In-
scriptionumNeophrygiarum "("Journal of Hellenic Studies,"
191 1, p. 188 f). It is written in a mixture of Phrygian and
the Greek of the Koine dialect, showing the way in which
the old language was being supplanted by the colloquial
Greek. This process is natural in an old Phrygian city, in
which the language of education and of government had
been Greek for more than two centuries. One could hardly
say with confidence whether this should be called a Phrygian
inscription modified by Greek influence, or a Greek inscrip
tion modified by Phrygian influence ; it is predominantly
Greek, but yet Phrygian words, even prepositions, are
mixed up with the Greek ; lines 11-14 are in real, though
bad Greek ; 1-10 are in a Phrygian patois.
"HXior Ta'ios ayo- Helios Gaios pur-
puvi axaves t6- chases an empty ?
¦rrov Kaoavia place in Kaoania
-rpay/xaTiic- state-sanctioned ?
5 6v, or a ica on which also
ciVravi rt- he places a base-
4\to. na t)\i- ment and super-
o SiBpetya structure
<ra irpieis ['A]Jp- for his sister ? Aur-
10 r\\iav Bo<r[oc • elia Basa :
So-tis 4ir[i&id- whosoever shall forcibly
o-no-re, 5<i[<rei enter, shall pay
t£ <pto-K[a to the Fiscus
14 (B-nvapia) d. one thousand denarii.

at Iconium.

73

pWoo^iocAro" Pa ni ax an ecro
fTONKAOAM\A TTpArMATlKONATU) \< a
€1CTA NI TT
€ ATAKAHAI*
aa i epei'A
CATTPl£|C\VP

Fig. i. — Tombstone in the form of an altar with epitaph in the Iconian
Grsco-Phrygian patois. The shaded part is broken off, and the form is
restored conjecturally on the analogy of similar tombstones.

74 V. The Language Spoken
The general sense of this epitaph is clear ; but there are
many difficulties which cannot be discussed here. Some
of them are explained in Mr. Calder's elaborate commentary.
The only doubtful reading is in line 9, where et is far
from clear, and as regards the [A ?] I made the note that A
was not engraved, also that the second last letter could not
be X, but 7 was certain (differing in form from Y else
where). See Note on p. 78.
I follow Professor Calder's transcription in lines 9 f.>
though on the stone I convinced myself (I think with his
agreement) that there never had been an A. I am disposed
to think that Helia, not Aurelia, was the sister of Helios.
Prieis certainly denotes some female relationship, and is
commonly used as a woman's name in East Phrygian in
scriptions. The legal penalty at the end is expressed in
tentionally in the Greek language, as it relates to a matter
of law ; and Greek was the language of justice and the law-
courts and municipal affairs.
The rest of the inscription is expressed in the Iconian
patois, mixed of Greek and Phrygian. On the analogy of
darrdvm (i.e. icndvm) and similar forms a verb ayopdvm is
constructed ; but I incline to a different view from Mr.
Calder ; it seems very probable that Keramon Agora (men
tioned by Xenophon as a city of Phrygia) was, as I have
elsewhere suggested,1 the market ofthe city afterwards called
Akmonia, and that Agora was used in the sense of " market "
in Phrygian, in which case the verb ayopavco might be a
true Phrygian verb. It is well known that the operations
and equipments of commerce were highly developed in
Lydia (and Phrygia), and that this development took place
specially along the line of the Royal Road from Sardis to
1 " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," 11., p. 5g5.

at Iconium. 75

the East, passing through Keramon Agora. The meaning
" market " in that case was adopted from Anatolia for the
Greek word along with many of the devices of commerce
(including coinage).1
^Kaoania is probably the Phrygian form ofthe city name,
which was hellenized as Konion (Pliny and some Byzantine
references 2) and modified to 'Iicovtov or EIkovlov to suggest
a connexion with eUcov an image, giving rise to a legend
about a sacred statue in the city.
The stone is rather pretentious, and cannot be the grave
stone of a very poor person. The fine, too, is considerable,
and fines were proportioned in some degree to the value of
the property. The monument was of a common type :
there was a substructure, on which stood some double
erection (SiSpe-yfra) to contain the coffin or sarcophagus.
Everything points to the conclusion that the monument
belonged to a household of some wealth and standing in
the middle classes ofthe Iconian population. The Phrygian
language was therefore not wholly disused even in the class
of Iconian society where education was likely to have spread.
In Iconium it is remarkable that any Phrygian inscrip
tions should survive. The city was Greek-speaking as well
as Phrygian-speaking, and Greek was the language of cul
ture and of epigraphy. The wonder is, not that only two
Phrygian inscriptions should remain in a city where that
language was spoken, but that even two should exist
where Greek was also in current use. This is a decisive
proof that the old language still had a strong hold on the
city as late as A.D. 200.
1 " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," n., p. 416 f. ; Radet, " Lydie et le
Monde Gree," p. 155 ff. The Greek word means in Homer the Council :
Herodotus has it as " the market," and so the Attic usage.
" " The Thousand and One Churches," p. 512.

*j6 V. The Language Spoken
The work of years was completed. Ethnically Iconium
was a Phrygian, not a Lycaonian city, and the use of the
Phrygian language appeared to visitors noteworthy even
in the third century after Christ. The statement of Pliny
that Iconium was one of the old Phrygian cities is con
firmed on all hands. Even the local mythology is markedly
Phrygian in character.1 Its heroes are Nannakos, the
old Phrygian king, and Perseus as symbolic of Greek
influence penetrating into an Eastern land. The goddess
of the country was a form of the Great Phrygian Mother,
Meter Zizimmene or Zizimene, whose home was in the
mountains on the north-west and north of Iconium. This
title has impressed various scholars independently as a
Phrygian name, a dialectic variety of Dindymene.2 Those
theological critics in this country who can accept nothing
unless it is made in Germany may with clear conscience
accept this identification, as it has been stated by Kret-
schmer, not as a mere hypothesis but as a positive fact.
As his authority for the word Zizimmene he quotes the
German magazine where my article appeared proposing
the same identification ; there was no other authority for
the word when he wrote ; but he does not mention that
I there identified it with Dindymene. Yet he has read my
comment, because he uses the same illustration which I
gave (viz. Nadiandos) and no other, though many others
1 That is shown at some length in my " Cities of St. Paul," p. 3ig f. ; but
much remains that has since been discovered in1 this subject. Such dis
coveries, however, are, like all mythological d;,,^ sions, too speculative for
the present book. i ,
2 1 suggested this when publishing the f .o./n inscription of this class
in " Mittheil. Athen. Instituts,' 180^, ,,£ his,/', Mr. Arkwright in Jan., igi4,
writes me on the subject, giving new reasons for the same opinion, which
came to him independently. I do -not, however, regard it as anything more
than a possibility, which may reasonably be mentioned ; but the fact that it
strikes every philologist as possible, and Kretschmer as certain, proves that
this word has the Phrygian character and feeling.

at Iconium. 77

might be given and one has been stated by me in " Histori
cal Geography," p. 348.1 I am used to this way of adopting
my opinions without acknowledgment in some cases, and
of carefully specifying my name in others where the opinion
is not accepted. So long as the truth wins acceptance in
the long run I can afford to wait ; but I have repeatedly
had to plead, as for example in "The Education of
Christ," p. 66 f, that "the truth is this, and it is a truth
which will soon be discovered and emphasized by the
Germans and will then be brought over and accepted
among us".
I would not have even alluded to the matter had it not
proved an obstacle in Great Britain to the acceptance of
obviously true statements by critics, who accept others less.
evidently true, because they can quote them from a German
authority, ignorant of the fact that ultimately they are to
be found in the writer's " Historical Geography," or some
other early work.
Now, both Xenophon in the Anabasis and Strabo, p.
663, say in the most explicit way that the traveller, as he
went along the road, passed out of Phrygia into Lycaonia.
The ' geographer Strabo is describing in that passage a
traveller's route along the great road across Asia Minor
from Ephesus to the Euphrates ; and the traveller Xeno
phon is describing the march of Cyrus from Sardis to the
Cilician Gates. Strabo's evidence carries us back to the
second century B.C., for he quotes the statistics from
1 Kretschmer, " Einleitung in d. Gesch. d. gr. Sprache," p. ig6, where.
there is a misprint 287 for 237 in quoting the authority for the existence of
Zizimmene. The perfect generosity and exquisite courtesy with which the
Austrian scholars Dr. Keil and Ritter von Premerstein have acknowledged to
the full every matter in which we agree forms a striking contrast: some
other German scholars of distinguished standing have also shown the finest
courtesy, e.g. Direktor Wiegand and Dr. Harnack.

j8 V. The Language Spoken at Iconium.
Artemidorus ; but it gives his own knowledge, for he had
himself traversed that part of the road.
Similarly, Luke is describing the victorious march of
Paul across Asia Minor ; and exactly as Xenophon does,
he remembers to record the passage across the frontier on
the road between Iconium and Lystra.
No more striking and arresting parallel has ever been
found between writers so utterly unlike, so absolutely
independent of each other, yet all describing from totally
different points of view the progress along a great inter
national road, and marking the stages of the way by the
nations which they traversed.
There cannot remain a doubt in the mind of any com
petent judge who takes the trouble to read the evidence.
Paul passed the frontier between Phrygia and Lycaonia in
Acts xiv. 5. From xiii. 13 to xiv. 4 he had been in
Phrygia. Note (p. 74). — One of the doubtful symbols of 1. 9, inter
preted in the text (p. 72) as a ligature of e and 1, is
justified by the use of the same ligature in a spelling exer
cise written during the first century on an ostrakon in
Egypt, and published by Wilcken in Mitteis-Wilcken,
" Papyruskunde," Vol. I., Pt. II., page 165. The use of
ei on the ostrakon for the proper letter, which should be
simply 1, is the misspelling of some careless schoolboy ;
and the error is due to the unpractised hand slipping into
cursive writing. So here in 1. 9 the engraver degenerates
from the very humble standard of the earlier part of the
inscription. This may justify the reading of ^ as A.
Hence the worse form of the upsilon at the end of the line.

CHAPTER VI
GENERAL IMPRESSION OF TRUSTWORTHINESS IN THE ACTS
The inference from these facts, as just stated, was plain.
This passage in the Acts is correct : the boundaries
mentioned are true to the period in which the action lies :
they are not placed through the mistaken application by a
later author of ancient statements to a time when they had
ceased to be pertinent : they are based on . information
given by an eye-witness, a person who had been engaged
in the action described. The reader, if he reads the narra
tive rightly, can see with the eyes and hear with the ears of
a man who was there and witnessed all that happened.
The reversal of our judgment, then, was complete.1
We had imagined that this detail was a blunder due to
stupidity or ignorance or misplaced ingenuity on the part
of the author : it has now been found to show excellent
knowledge and the minute accuracy which comes from the
faithful report of an eye-witness and participator in the
action. Now the condemnation which, as soon as it was tested
in respect of one detail, had been proved hasty and false,
evidently could not be relied on in respect of other details
without being tested. Fresh examination of the whole
question was needed. The reasons and grounds for our
unfavourable judgment regarding the book of the Acts
1 " Our " means those scholars whose judgment was then widely domin
ant, and was accepted by me as a humble and convinced follower.
(79)

8o VI, General Impression of
must be reconsidered. Prejudice must be set aside. Ignor
ance of the circumstances of every event must so far as
possible be replaced by knowledge through fuller study.
Every condition had to be revalued. Every point had to
be scrutinized again.
Of course, there is a certain presumption that a writer
who proves to be exact and correct in one point will show
the same qualities in other matters. No writer is correct
by mere chance, or accurate sporadically. He is accurate
by virtue^ of a certain habit of mind. Some men are accur
ate by nature : some are by nature loose and inaccurate.
It is not a permissible view that a writer is accurate occasion
ally, and inaccurate in other parts of his book. Each has
his own standard and measure of work, which is produced
by his moral and intellectual character.
It may be said that the writer of Acts happened to have
access to a good authority in one detail, and not in others.
That, however, had not been our argument : the condemna
tion which we pronounced had been general, and it was
now proved false in the first test. To try to bolster it up
by such a new supposition would be wholly unscientific.
Instead of trying to find arguments in its favour, we must
frankly confess that it was wrong, and re-try the case as a
whole. Moreover, that way of juggling with the supposed author
ities of Luke, too, has been abandoned since then by all
competent scholars. The idea that the writer of the Acts
had good authorities to rely on for one or two details alone
would not now be suggested or tolerated. That writer had
a certain general level of knowledge and information and
judgment. He has to be estimated as a whole. It has
probably never been suggested that he depended on an
informant who was trustworthy about the twenty miles of

Trustworthiness in the Acts. 81

road between Iconium and Lystra and untrustworthy or
unavailable elsewhere : such a suggestion, doubtless, would
always have been rejected as absurd and would certainly be
rejected in modern times.
The question among scholars now is with regard to
Luke's credibility as a historian ; it is generally conceded
that he wrote at a comparatively early date, and had
authorities of high character, even where he himself was
not an eye-witness. How far can we believe his narrative?
The present writer takes the view that Luke's history is
unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness. At this point
we are describing what reasons and arguments changed the
mind of one who began under the impression that the
history was written long after the events and that it was
untrustworthy as a whole.
In the special work on which I was engaged at the
time, some fresh investigation of the case was indispensable.
Good and safe evidence about Asia Minor in the Imperial
time or earlier was urgently required by an explorer and
discoverer. If I could find such evidence, and test it in the
country, a long vista of profitable work opened itself before
me. The eager desire for discovery and historical recon
struction had always possessed me and guided my life (as
already described). I was finding from day to day other
unused ancient evidence on a small scale ; and if Luke's
narrative was trustworthy, it was for me exceptionally
valuable, as giving evidence on a larger scale. There was
nothing else like it. No other ancient traveller has left an
account of the journeys which he made across Asia Minor J ;
and if the narrative of Paul's travels rests on first-class
authority, it placed in my hands a document of unique and
exceptional value to guide my investigations. To determine
1 Xenophon gives little more than names and distances.
6

82 VI. General Impression of
the value of this narrative was a fundamental condition for
my future work.
Strabo, as we know, travelled across Asia Minor from
Tarsus to the ^Egean Sea. He has given us no account
of his journey ; but we can follow his steps, guided by the
superior vividness and quality of what he says about the
places which he passed through. A number of the pilgrims
in the first three crusades wrote accounts of the march that
they made across the country, often photographically accur
ate about superficial details ; but the pilgrims were uninter
ested in the country, unscientific in their attitude of mind,
poorly educated ; they gave very little useful information,
and only about a much later period, A.D. 1100-1185. A
few of the Byzantine historians had seen the parts of Asia in
which lie some of the incidents of their narrative ; x but most
of them know nothing about the country and the scenes.
A word from a witness who has seen what he describes
may often throw more light on the situation than a page of
vague description from one who has not seen. A Pauline
narrative of Paul's journeys would be invaluable for the
study of Asia Minor in the first century, quite apart from
the religious aspect of the case.
There was then, and there still is a strange and quite wide
spread prepossession that an early Christian, like Paul, must
have been wholly occupied with the religious propaganda, so
that he could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing, and
observe nothing except the chance of converting some
1 1 include the case of historians who followed the account of an eye-wit
ness. Nicetas describes at great length the campaign of Manuel Comnenus,
ending in his defeat in the Tchyvritzi Kleisoura, a.d. 1175. Either he had
seen the pass, or he used well the narrative of an eye-witness. No one can
doubt this who has seen the locality. The last stand of Manuel where seven
glens meet is easily recognized.

Trustworthiness in the Acts. ._ 83
heathen individual or group of persons. This prepossession,
that Christian authors lie outside the pale of real literature
and that early Christians were not to be estimated as
men, has been the enemy for me to attack ever since I
began to look into the Christian authors with unprejudiced
eyes. It may be true of some smaller figures and narrower
minds. It is not true of the greater men. The wide variety
of interest and information contained in the Cappadocian
writers of the fourth century is illustrated in another work ; x
and I have for more than twenty years been maintaining the
same truth in respect of the writers in the New Testament
and the greatest of their successors. " In becoming Chris
tians those writers did not cease to be men : they only
gained that element of thoroughness, sincerity, and en
thusiasm, the want of which is so unpleasing in later classical
literature." 2
When the Acts is read from this point of view, as the
real travels of real men along roads or over seas, it be
comes vivid in the highest degree. Yet in spite of the direct
statement of Luke in Acts, xxi. 15, that a large party of
travellers used horses, a statement interpreted and confirmed
by Chrysostom, it has seemed almost sacrilegious to some
modern scholars to suggest that Paul ever made a journey
except on foot.
He was probably able to swim (2 Corinthians XL 25),
and the impossibility of any other mode of travel made it
necessary to admit that he often voyaged on shipboard.
Why should he not ride, when friends gave him a horse ?
It is a question of evidence ; and Luke says that the party
used horses, Acts xxi. 1 5.3
1 " Pauline and other Studies in the History of Religion," pp. 369-406.
2 " The Church in the Roman Empire before a.d. 170," p. 176.
3 The passage is discussed in " Pauline and other Studies," p. 267.

84 VI. General Impression of
Again, Paul expresses in the most emphatic way his
gratitude to the Galatians for their kindness ; J they were
ready to give him anything, however dear and valuable, so
far as physical possibilities permitted. When that was the
case, why should we assume that they allowed Paul and
Barnabas to walk from Antioch to Iconium? why not
furnish their two guests with a waggon for the journey ? I
cannot feel any doubt in this matter (as is maintained in
the " Church in the Roman Empire," p. 68)2. His deep
gratitude to the Philippians for sending him money, even
though it was contrary to his custom to accept any money
from his congregations, is paralleled by his profound
gratitude to the Galatians for giving him every kind of
hospitality and for facilitating his journeys, even though he
ordinarily travelled on foot and kept himself by his own
labour. It seems also probable that when Paul made the
land journey from Troas to Assos, while most of the com
pany went by sea, he was riding : the word used (wefjj)
implies only " by land " as distinguished from the other
travellers who preferred shipboard, but gives no basis for
inferring that he walked and did not ride.
It is singular that commentators seem not to have
thought of any other possibility in this case ; yet the con
trast is here expressly drawn between sea and land travel,
and it is a recognized principle of the lexicons and of classi
cal and ordinary Greek, that, where that contrast is clearly
in the writer's mind, 7re£o5, ire^y, and ire&vetv cannot be
taken to imply travel on, 'foot. Even where horses are
actually at hand, Homer says " if you prefer to go 7re£o9, by
land not by sea, here are horses and a car" (" Od.," Hi. 324).
The facts stated in the two preceding chapters showed that
1 Galatians iv. 15. 2 See p. 313.

Trustworthiness in the Acts. 85
it was necessary to read again chapters XIII.-XX. of the Acts
without any prejudice as to the origin, in order to see what
could be learned from the book for my special subject, viz.
the topography, social conditions, political divisions, muni
cipal institutions, etc. , of Asia Minor. A new authority of
the highest value for the first century was thus placed in my
hands. In many details Luke's narrative is confirmed by
other evidence, some previously known, some more recently
discovered. In other details no confirmation is known,
but no contradictory evidence exists that will stand investi
gation ; and the supposition of his accuracy ought to be
admitted universally, at least as a " working hypothesis ".
One could not but notice that the ordinary non-theo
logical scholars quoted the writings of Luke without hesita
tion for facts of Roman antiquities. Scholars who aimed
simply at collecting facts, and had evidently no bias either
for or against him, seemed to regard him as a sufficient
authority, whereas the theological scholars, who came with
a strong bias on certain issues, looked on him as utterly
untrustworthy. Only on one point of Roman antiquities all
were agreed, from all sides, in denouncing his statements
as incredible : this was the famous passage in the Gospel
of Luke II. 1-3, which every one regarded as a tissue of
blunders of the most marked and worst kind. To this
passage we shall return later in this book and for the
present deal only with the Acts.
Further study of Acts XIII.-XXI. showed that the book
could bear the most minute scrutiny as an authority for the
facts of the ^Egean world, and that it was written with such
judgment, skill, art, and perception of truth as to be a model
of historical statement. It is marvellously concise and yet
marvellously lucid.
What I was at that time in search of beyond all else was

86 VI. General Impression of
some authority for the constitution and relation of the parts
in the great Roman province of Galatia. Mommsen in his
volume on the "Provinces of the Roman Empire," sums up
together in one chapter all the provinces of Asia Minor,
and describes them after the analogy of the most thoroughly
Grecized parts of the province Asia. This proceeding,
however, is not admissible. It is certain that a wide diver
sity existed between the Greek cities of the ^Egean coast
in the province Asia and the general character of the pro
vince Cappadocia, where Greek and Roman manners hardly
began to touch the population in Imperial times. It is also
certain that the province Galatia was in some ways and in
some parts almost as Oriental and non-Hellenic as Cap
padocia : the cities were in part Hellenized or Romanized,
but only in part, while the country regions round the cities
remained almost purely Oriental. Among the cities the
Roman Colonies stood on a higher rank in all respects,
being, so to say, parts of Rome itself.
In the Acts then there was a considerable amount of in
formation about the province Galatia, far more than in any
other source or even in all other sources put together.
The inscriptions, few as they were, made it possible to
criticize, to control, and to understand the evidence of the
Acts. With this book as a basis of investigation a general
conception of the province Galatia during the first century
was gradually formed and stated in outline in " St. Paul
the Traveller," pp. 102 ff. ; and all subsequent investigation
has confirmed that beginning.
One of the first results of this study was rebellion against
the old and dominant " North-Galatian theory". Be
ginning to write an introduction to the volume of "Mansfield
College Lectures " above referred to,1 1 attempted to describe
1 " The Church in the Roman Empire before 170."

Trustworthiness in the Acts. 87
the state of Asia Minor as Paul found it, and did so on the
basis of the dominant opinion. As the description proceeded,
I realized that it was hopelessly incongruous with the
narrative in the Acts, and gradually the whole had to be
rewritten. Then the character of the provincial organization
stood forth clearly outlined in the pages of Luke ; and this
vitally affects the history and the chronology of Paul, in his
travels and his letters.
In the light of this new view, old in a way, but rejected
in later criticism, the whole of the action in those chapters
of travel is natural and probable. It is in perfect accord
with all that we know about the society of the eastern pro
vinces under the Roman Empire. We have been learning
a great deal on that subject in the last thirty years ; and
since 1890 the accumulating results grow clearer every
month through the illumination which they supply each to
the other.
In an earlier period it was possible for scholars with a
fixed idea prepossessing their minds to maintain that the
action described in those chapters was often improbable,
because little corroboration or illustration could be found.
Since 1 890-1 900 that period has come to an end. The
comparative dearth of illustrative examples was due solely
to want, of knowledge, and to the failure to comprehend the
real character of the recorded illustrations. Incidents and
passages in the previously known documents began to
assume a new aspect in the light of recently discovered
facts. Everything had to be studied afresh. So far as this
branch ofthe subject was concerned, the older commentators,
useful in other respects as their work was, and deserving of
high respect and praise, had no longer any value and were
misleading. The same must be said about Blass's com
mentary on Acts, an excellent and splendid work, but

VI. General Impression of

written by a Greek scholar of the old type, who studied
literature and paid the minimum of regard to the circum
stances and facts of social life (except so far as these
expressed themselves in words). For grammar and sense
his commentary is most suggestive and valuable ; but for
society and history it is misleading. The commentaries
of Professors Bartlet and Knowling belong to a new and
better period.
In his work in the cities Paul is brought into contact
with a great variety of people in all ranks of life, kings,
and Roman governors of provinces, the Asiarchs (who were
chief men of the province Asia and high-priests in the Im
perial worship), members of the high Council of Areopagus
in Athens, priests of the local gods at Lystra, Roman
citizens like Gaius Titius Justus at Corinth (who hospitably
entertained Paul and all Christian visitors to the city),1
leading women in many cities (some as opponents, some as
friends and helpers), tradesmen, magicians, and sorcerers
and fortune-tellers and exorcists.
The variety is remarkable. The propriety of the re
ferences, and the naturalness and suitability ofthe incidents,
are perfect. The more one knows about Graeco-Roman
society in the east, the more deeply is one impressed with
the life-like character of the scenes described in rapid suc
cession, so briefly yet so pregnantly, in those chapters of
the Acts.
Everywhere Paul is the centre of the action : he beckons
with his hand, he opens his mouth, and all listen to him.
Where Paul is, every one else is secondary in the picture
that Luke paints. With what boldness and freedom, and
yet with what courtesy and respect, Paul addresses Festus

1 Acts xvm. 7 ; Romans xvi. 23.

Trustworthiness in the. Acts. 89
the governor, and Agrippa the king ! He perhaps loses his
temper once and blazes forth in indignation at the callous
command of the high-priest ; J but immediately he recovers
himself, and apologizes with perfect politeness and self-
command, when he learns that the person who had issued
the brutal order was a ruler of the people.
The more I have studied the narrative of the Acts, and
the more I have learned year after year about Graeco-
Roman society and thoughts and fashions, and organiza
tion in those provinces, the more I admire and the better
I understand. I set out to look for truth on the borderland
where Greece and Asia meet, and found it here. You
may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any
other historian's, and they stand the keenest scrutiny and
the hardest treatment, provided always that the critic knows
the subject and does not go beyond the limits of science and
of justice. Too often, when one reads some foolish criti
cism, the words of Shakespeare rise in one's memory, that
here is " folly doctor-like controlling skill ".
Contrast with Luke's history the tale of Thekla, com
posed by an Asian presbyter in the second century, and
condemned by the Church. It contains many details that
are historical and many that are not, some good geography
and some bad ; but the religious teaching is hysterical and
false, and the story is only a legend, the heroine being a
christianized form of an ancient Iconian mythological-
geographical figure. There is a groundwork of fact and
truth, but the superstructure is unhistorical.2
1 Acts XXIII. 2.
2 On the historical details see " The Church in the Roman Empire before
170," ch. xvi. A study ofthe origin of the Thekla-figure is much needed.

CHAPTER Vll
TRIAL SCENES IN THE ACTS
TAKE, for example, that scene which is alluded to in the
paragraph almost immediately preceding (Acts XXIII. 2 ff.).
It has been much criticized. How could Paul, it is asked,
be ignorant that it was the high-priest who issued the order
to smite him on the mouth ? The dress and insignia of the
high-priest were unmistakable, also his position in the
meeting as the president of the Council. If you start on
that line of thought and inference, either you must conclude
that Paul told a polite fiction when he said, " I did not
know it was the high-priest," and (as some do) you moralize
about the lower standard of truth that was accepted and
acted upon among the ancients and the Jews generally ; or
you infer that Paul was too blind to recognize the insignia
and rank of the president (though he blazed out in indigna
tion against the person who had spoken) : or that the scene
(as many say) is invented and unnatural. When we con
sider the circumstances, however, it is clear that this
was not a formal meeting of the Council of the nation, it
was an assemblage of leading men hastily summoned as
advisers by the Roman officer in command at Jerusalem.
The officer was in authority : he was the one man that could
judge and give a decision : the rest were only his assessors.
By no means could a proper meeting of the Council be
called in the way followed on this occasion. He summoned
"the chief priests and all the Council"; they were the
(9o)

VII. Trial Scenes in the Acts. 91
persons whom he would naturally ask for the information
he needed ; but this does not constitute a proper meeting of
the Council for its own business.
Accordingly, instead of either cavilling at the inaccuracy
of the incident, or going off on wrong lines of reasoning
about the possibilities at a meeting of the supreme Council
of the Jewish nation, we should take the scene as a picture
of what would happen when the Roman officer hastily called
together the chief priests and the members of the Council :
the officer was the president : with him rested the authority
to stop the business and break up the meeting when he
pleased ; x he therefore presided. A moment's considera
tion is sufficient to show that it was not possible for the
Roman to stand apart, as a mere outsider. The dignity of
Rome would not permit such procedure. Either the officer
must be in authority at the meeting, or he could not be there.
The objection may be advanced against our view that
the Roman officer himself in his report to the Governor of
the province calls the meeting "the Council" (xxiv. 28).
It is, however, evident that the officer in this report is not
very accurate: thus he asserts that he interfered at the
riot because he had learned that Paul was a Roman,
whereas the truth (as Luke has it) is that he interfered first
on other grounds and afterwards learned about Paul's right
as a citizen. Moreover, Westcott and Hort regard the
words " I brought him down unto their Council " as being an
alternative reading, and place them within brackets in their
text.2 Perhaps then they do not belong to the report ; and
the omission would make the report consistent with the
truth, for the words are inconsistent with Luke's account
1 As he practically does in xxm. 10.
2 This implies that they are probably right, but some good authorities omit
them.

•92 VII. Trial Scenes
of the facts. The officer's report however is designed to
set his own conduct in the most favourable light as a careful
and well-informed administrator; and in carrying out his
design he does not allow himself to be hampered by pedantic
considerations of minute accuracy. Here, as always, safety
for us lies in the most careful reading and interpretation of
Luke's own words. He fully understood that the officer
misrepresented facts ; but it is part of his literary art to
state the precise truth, and let his readers see for themselves
how the Roman officer treated the case. The officer's re
port is, if anything, a more complete justification of Paul
than the facts narrated by Luke are ; the Roman takes the
most favourable view, and practically says " there is no case
that I can find against the prisoner, but these Jews hate
him so much on religious grounds that his life is not safe
here ". Roman policy at the beginning favoured the free
teaching, as Luke loves to show.
At the meeting Paul took the initiative. This course
was unexpected, and it annoyed the high-priest. More
over, Paul used the Hellenic and wholly anti-Hebrew ex
pression, " I have lived the life of a citizen ". The very
word was an offence to the stricter Jews : the thought ex
pressed in such a word was Hellenistic and not Palestinian.
One can hardly imagine that a man like Paul, so sensitive
to the atmosphere and emotion of the audience which he
addresses, would use the term " citizen " in apostrophizing
a Jewish Council ; but here he is speaking with the officer
as his judge, and he has to make his defence so as to con
vince the Roman. Nominally he has to address the Jewish
notables ; but his real audience is the officer. The last
words which he had spoken to the latter contained the
word " citizen," and he now continues on the same key, " I
have lived as a citizen ".

in the Acts. 93

Everything that seems at first sight difficult in the des
cription finds its natural place and function as illuminating
the whole situation, as soon as we imagine the actual
circumstances, Paul with the officer and his assessors, the
accusation which the latter are to make, and the sudden
stroke by which Paul anticipates and wards off what they
are about to say.
Not even in Jerusalem would it be imaginable that the
Council should be both accusers and judges. The officer
wishes to learn what accusation is made against Paul, and
summons the leaders and the Council as the accusers ; but.
the decision and future action rest with the Roman. We
must imagine the scene. Paul is set before the Jewish
leaders;1 i.e. over against them. He is not in their midst
(as he is in the Council of Areopagus, XVII. 22 and 32).
Paul is on one side, the Jewsi on the other, and the officer
between. But in the confusion of the following dissension,
the relative positions change ; and the change is clearly
marked in the Greek, though not in the English Version.
After Paul's words in v. 6, the crowd of Jews was split into
two parts. It was customary in Roman meetings for those
who approved of a speaker's opinion to go over and stand
beside him. The scribes of the sect of the Pharisees stood
up and took part with Paul, and fought for him, asserting
that he was right. Then Paul was like to be torn asunder
between the two factions : his supporters were on one side
of him, i.e. behind him, while the Sadducees, his opponents,.
were over against him as before ; and he thus was in their
midst. Accordingly the officer ordered the guard to snatch
Paul out of the midst of them.
The relative positions have changed during the proceed-
1 eis aiirovs.

94 VII. Trial Scenes
ings, and at the end Paul occupies the same position in regard
to the Jews that he occupied among the Areopagus Council
from the beginning to the end of the meeting in Athens.1
Thus the very brief description becomes lucid and reveals
the course of the meeting, if the reader places himself at the
right point of view.
So it is everywhere with Luke. The reader must see the
incident, keeping its successive stages before his eyes. In
some cases it may make all the difference whether or not
you have in imagination placed the interlocutors in their
proper positions relative to one another. If you have got
the wrong idea even on such a matter as their place on one
side or other of the hall, you may go wrong in interpreting
the action. Get them right ; then apply the successive
verbs describing the action, and you see the whole incident
run its course stage after stage.
The effect of misconceiving the situation is perceptible
in Prof. Vernon Bartlet's discussion of this scene in his
Commentary (which is as a general rule so excellent and so
informing). He is forced to the conclusion that " the
account seems to suffer from the fact that Luke was no
longer an eye-witness ".
It seems to us infinitely more probable that Luke was in
the " circle of bystanders," which was a marked feature of
every such meeting in the Roman world. All readers of
the Roman literature of the first century know how import
ant was the corona adstantium. Prof. Bartlet says that an
essential part of the action has been omitted, viz. the state-
1 No one who wishes to interpret rightly the scene in Athens will delude
himself with the fancy that Paul stood "in the midst of the hill," xvn. 22,
and then " went out from the midst of them," v. 32. He stood in the midst
of (the Council) Areopagus, and went out from their midst. All round stood
the corona adstantium, a great crowd of Athenians, as the description implies.

in the Acts. 95

ment of the case against Paul for the officer's information.
It is, however, apparent that the officer was as much
bewildered at the end as he was at the beginning of this
meeting, hearing in the melee only that nothing but obscure
matters ofthe Jewish Law and belief were involved.1 If any
formal statement of the case against Paul had been made
for the information of the officer, the charge would have
been of provoking a riot and causing profanation of the
Temple, as we know from xxiv. 5, 6. It is evident that
"the statement of the case against Paul for the officer's
information " never was made at this meeting.
Luke's account is quite clear, and omits nothing essential.
The officer called together all the leading Jews, viz. " the
chief priests and the whole Council," and he " brought Paul
down, and set him before them". The action of "setting
before them" implies a few explanatory words from the
officer, stating the situation and asking definite information
as to the charge that was brought against the prisoner.
Then Paul intervened, fixing those glowing eyes of his on
the councillors as they stood in a body massed over against
him.2 We know the look of those eyes from other allusions,
XIII. 9 in indignation, xiv. 9 in sympathy and insight that
pierce to the soul.
Examine the scene as you please, pull it about, try it de
tail by detail ; but do this with proper knowledge and in
sight. It all hangs together : every part contributes to the
whole effect. This sort of account cannot be invented. It
is real life and action that stand out before the reader's
eyes and mind.
1 So he reports in xxm. 29.
2 If he had been at this time in the midst of the Council who were acting as
his judges, he could not have fixed his eyes on them. They must have been
in a body over against him, as Luke implies.

96 VII. Trial Scenes
Another feature of this book must now be mentioned.
Even the language changes according to the situation. As
we have mentioned the scene before the Council of Areopagus,
it may be added that there the very words are Attic.
Norden in his recent book, in which he studies the scene
and the speech which Paul delivered, infers from the style
and language that this passage cannot be written by the
same author as the rest of the book. Evidently this dis
tinguished scholar (whose work lies usually in another realm
of letters) has not studied the Acts very thoroughly. Hence
he has not rightly considered the work of Luke. In Jeru
salem and Palestine Luke's language designedly is far more
Hebraistic in type : in Athens it has an Attic flavour : in
the Greek world generally Luke uses the general dialect.
The whole description of the Athenian incident, and the
action of Paul, are Athenian in tone. He discusses philo
sophic questions in the market-place with all comers, like
another Socrates ; whereas in Ephesus he lectures regularly
in the school of Tyrannus. A vulgar word of Attic slang
is used by some speakers who had lost their temper. The
entire incident is bathed in the light and brilliance of
Attica. What is most specially characteristic of Luke is
selected by Prof. E. Norden as a reason for condemning
the whole passage as a scrap of late second century com
position. That the Acts contained and described a series of impro
bable incidents was a view that has not been tenable or
possible since 1890 except through total disregard of recent
advance in knowledge. It had by that time become evident
that every incident described in the Acts is just what might
be expected in ancient surroundings. The officials with
whom Paul and his companions were brought in contact
are those who would be there. Every person is found just

in the Acts. 97

where he ought to be : proconsuls in senatorial provinces,
asiarchs in Ephesus, strategoi in Philippi, politarchs in
Thessalonica, magicians and soothsayers everywhere.1 The
difficulties which the Apostles encountered were such as
they must inevitably meet in ancient society. The magis
trates take action against them in a strictly managed Roman
colony like Pisidian Antioch or Philippi, where legality and
order reigned ; riotous crowds try to take the law into their
own hands in the less strictly governed Hellenistic or
Hellenic cities like Iconium and Ephesus and Thessalonica.2
Lystra is an exceptional case ; but in Lystra the Roman
element was weak from the beginning and quickly melted
into the older population.3 Yet how differently does the
catastrophe proceed in Antioch and in Philippi, or in
Iconium and Thessalonica and Ephesus. The variety is
endless, as real life is infinitely varied. A work composed
in late time for hortatory purposes would have no such
variety, and no such local truth.
Legal proceedings are taken against Paul and his friends
in many places, and accusations have to be made in
each case according to the forms of the Roman law. The
accusation varies in each case ; it is nowhere the same as in
any other city ; yet it is everywhere in accordance with
Roman forms.
It was a novel case, this teaching. In itself the mere
1 I lay no stress on the Areopagus Council at Athens, for even the humblest
writer of history knew that it was typical of that city ; but the chapter about
Athens is filled with the Attic spirit and the scene could be nowhere else.
2 On the difference of Greek and Roman municipal administration see
Statius, " Silvae," hi. 5, 85-94, especially 11. 88 and 94. See below, p. 101.
'Colony Lystra was founded 6 B.C. ; and Latin was dying out there under
Trajan, a century and a half earlier than in Antioch the Pisidian. This
character is seen in the incidents at Lystra described by Luke. Still the four
Pauline cities were centres of Romanism in this half-Romanized province
(p. 86) ; whereas Apollonia rather maintained its Hellenistic memories.
7

98 VII. Trial Scenes
teaching and lecturing was quite permissible by Roman
law and practice ; and therefore an .accuser had to elicit
some crime out of Paul's conduct and to make a charge
against him accordingly. In Philippi he had interfered
with the livelihood of a small private firm ; in Ephesus he
was hindering the trade of a powerful corporation; in
Thessalonica he was preaching about another sovereign,
and was thereby guilty of treason to the sovereign
(maiestas') ; in Corinth he was tampering with the law of
the Jews ; in Athens, the University city of the world, he
was encroaching on the privileges of the corporation of
recognized professors in philosophy, i.e. the four schools.1
Here again the variety is infinite; each new case is different
from the old, and yet each is natural, each is typical of the
society and the period, each rises necessarily out of the pre
ceding situation.
In one case the accusation was blundered badly. At
Philippi the accusers appealed simply to the common pre
judice against the Jews : this was the weakest form legally
that was ever given to the accusation against Paul, and the
tardy perception of this weakness made it necessary for the
magistrates to apologize on the following day. It was not
simply the Roman citizenship of Paul and Silvanus that
weighed with them (though that of course was very im
portant) ; it was the fact that after all no real crime, such
as would be accepted in the view of the Roman law, was
charged against them, but mere anti-Jewish prejudice was
deliberately excited. The Imperial policy disapproved that
prejudice. 1 Only two of the four schools are mentioned : the Academic and the
Peripatetic philosophers take no part. Such variety is natural. The heads
of the four schools had a salary from the Emperor, and must be Roman
citizens; Mommsen, "Gesammelte Schrifter," Jur. m., p. 388 f.

in the Acts. 99

Again, it is characteristic of an early period in the history
of the Christian faith that the religion itself is never made
a charge. Beginning from the Flavian period,1 Christianity
was treated as in itself a crime ; the very name constituted
a grave charge whose penalty was death. There was never
any difficulty in regard to the form of the accusation against
any Christian teacher from about A.D. 78 onwards. After
that time no accuser would stop to formulate small charges,
when this great and capital charge was ready to his hand.
Why trouble to get witnesses in support of a less serious
accusation, when the great accusation required no witnesses,
and was proved by the mere acknowledgment of the accused
person, " I am a Christian," and was followed forthwith by
the death penalty ?
On this one consideration the argument for the early
date of the Acts, and its absolute truth to the circumstances
in which the action occurred, might be rested quite securely.
Now this is fatal to the theory of a second century date, in
any form in which that theory has ever been advanced ; for
every form of the theory presupposes that the writer was
trying to make a work which would influence his own con
temporaries, and that he was content to use poor authorities
or mere oral tradition, distorted by fabricated and miracu
lous accompaniments. The miraculous accompaniments,
according to every form of the theory, formed the sufficient
proof that the authorities used were poor.
There is one delicacy of terminology — so delicate that it
has never been sufficiently noted — which characterizes the
language of Acts. We are too apt to think and speak of
the population in all those Anatolian cities as Hellenes,
1 Some would say " Beginning from the time of Nero," but I have no
change to make in my expressed opinion on this subject, " Church in the
Roman Empire," p. 242 f.

ioo VII. Trial Scenes
when we desire to speak accurately ; but that is really
inaccurate. There was a certain generic character in the
population of those cities, if we set aside the Italians, i.e..
Roman citizens ; but in a Romany colony this native popu
lation was the plebs (o^Xo?),1 while in a Hellenistic city like
Iconium it was called the Hellenes. Luke is right in this ::
he uses the term ' ' multitude " (6'^Xo?, plebs) at Antioch and
Lystra, but Hellenes at Iconium.
Now, as to the motives actuating Paul's accusers, how
different they are in different places ! how naturally they
arise out ofthe incidents and circumstances ! how character
istic they are of Eastern Graeco-Roman society ! People
are moved to dislike Paul, to regard him as an enemy, and
to accuse him of some crime, with the intention of getting
him expelled or cut off; but they are moved in diverse
ways. In Cyprus the magician Etymas Bar-jesus feels that
Paul is endangering his influence with the Roman governor.
In Ephesus the guild of Shrine-makers perceive that Paul
is lessening the demand for shrines of the goddess, and de
stroying their trade. At Philippi the owners of a fortune-
telling slave girl find that she has lost her power when she:
has stood over against Paul, and that their livelihood is,
ruined. In Athens the professors of philosophy discover
that Paul is tempting away their auditors, a very trying ex
perience for the ordinary professorial mind.2 In many places
the Jews cause the trouble, because Paul was a thorn in
their side, partly hurting their self-esteem because he placed
the despised pagans on the same level of religious privilege
1 The term &x^os is used of the native population on the Imperial estates
in this part of the province Galatia ; " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia,"
i. p. 283. In a colony the population consisted of (1) the coloni, brought in
from Rome, (2) the incolce, who are native and non-Roman.
2Experto crede : I speak as a professor in two Universities, and have seerv
it in many cases.

in the Acts. 101

with them, partly interfering with the standing and income of
the synagogue by drawing the God-fearing Gentiles away
to follow himself: these persons, who formed a fringe of
believers attached externally to the Jewish faith, must cer
tainly have constituted a source of income to the synagogue
as well as of social influence to the " Nation of the Jews "
in the city.1
There is, however, one case in which the forms of the
Roman law are not observed. What is the reason for
that? The exception is Athens, and Athens was a free
city which governed itself according to its own laws in its
ancient fashion through its own courts. Here Paul appears
before the old Athenian Court of Areopagus which had
been highly important in the old Athens of early Greek
history, and which became again very important in the
"University city of Imperial times.
The proceedings here have no analogy to the stricter
procedure of a Roman court. Things are done in an easy
going fashion. There appears in the scene what Statius
calls the libertas Menandri, the free life of a Greek city
which Menander knew and expressed in his verses. We
praise in Statius the correct appreciation of the difference
between the Hellenic spirit of city life and the spirit of a
Roman municipality; andi we comprehend his love for
Naples, a city of mixed origin, half Greek and half Roman,
where the stricter Roman spirit was tempered with the
freer Greek tone :
"What need to praise the 'sea-born city,' where the free
dom of the Attic Comedy prevails, where Roman dignity is
mixed with the Greek capriciousness ? "
1 The term " nation ofthe Jews " was technical as designating this people in
the Empire, forming part of it, yet distinct from all the rest and recognized as
distinct by the administration. No other " nation " was permitted within the
Empire. The national distinction was non- Roman, servile and hostile, p. 56.

102 VII. Trial Scenes
Quid laudem litus libertatemque Menandri
Quam Romanus honos et Graia Hcentia miscent ? :
We should equally admire the delicate truth with which
Luke in his narrative catches the soul of both Roman and
Greek life, and exhibits them to us in the account of what
befell Paul at the various cities that he visited. Here you
have real life in all its truth and variety, expressed with a
vividness which can spring only from the eye-witness
telling what he saw and heard.
Yet, instead of appreciating this exquisite picture of
Athenian life, many scholars persist in misinterpreting
Areopagus as the Hill, instead of the Court. It is really
astonishing, sometimes, to see how commentators prefer
the darkness to the light, and error to truth.
As the visit of Paul to Athens has been referred to, and
as the true interpretation of the incident depends on the
meaning assigned to the term Areopagus,2 it will be well to
add a few words on this point. The leading teachers of
two out of the four great philosophical schools "brought
Paul before the Areopagus," i.e. the Council of Areopagus,
and set him in the midst of the Council. These words are
commonly interpreted " brought him to the hill called
Areopagus, and set him in the middle of the hill ". Which
is right ? It is not intended here to discuss this matter as
a whole ; it has been treated in " St. Paul the Traveller " ;
but merely to add a fuller discussion than is there given of
one point, viz. the meaning of the term Areopagus. This
discussion is intended to illustrate the importance of notic
ing dialect and even colloquialism in studying the Acts and
the narrative of Paul's journeys.
A familiar example in English usage will illustrate and
1 Statius, " Silvae," in. 5, 93 f. 2'Apeios -ndyos.

in the Acts. 103

explain the importance of this point. We commonly use
the term " the House," when we are speaking of Parliament.
This is a colloquialism, which has become' almost admissible
in literature. In Oxford familiar usage " the House "
means Christ Church. To some " the House " is the
Stock Exchange, to others the poorhouse. One can tell a
great deal about the experiences of a stranger by noticing
his use of technical terms peculiar to certain places. In
the Athenian scene Luke uses Attic terms with perfect
naturalness and correctness.
It shows how carelessly statements are made in denial of
the new and reasonable interpretation of Acts that even
Blass, a scholar who in respect of Attic usage is usually
most accurate, denied that the term Areopagus could by
any possibility be used in the sense of the Council ; and as
serted that it is used only to mean the actual hill.1 The
denial is unjustifiable and incorrect. There are at least two
cases in which the word Areopagus (fApeio*} 7^270?) desig
nates the Council, and cannot possibly mean the hill : these
are an inscription of Epidaurus,2 and Cicero Att, I. 14, 5.
The latter case shows the character of this usage : it is
colloquial Attic : Cicero heard it in Athens when he resided
there, and he used it in familiar speech and letters. The
man who employed the word in this way knew the current
way of talking in Athens. In ordinary conversation the
formal expression " The Council of the Areopagus " 3 was
cumbrous ; a vivacious people like the Athenians would not
spend so much time on a name ; and in ordinary conversa-
1 In his Commentary, p. 190, stating reasons against this interpretation,
he concludes : quod maximum, non dicitur "Aptios -rrdyos nisi de loco.
2 Cawadias " Fouilles d'Epidauros," 1., p. 68, No. 206.
3 7] iv 'Apelwirdycp (or ^| 'Apeloo -rrdyov) fiouK-r) '. rb ev (or ££) A. -rr. SiKaoT-qpiov
or ovveSpiov.

104 VII. Trial Scenes
tion they shortened the designation to the simple form " the
Areopagus ".
Cicero, a stylist and a purist in language, would use no
vulgar term. He is a perfect witness that " Areopagus " in
educated Athenian conversation was used to mean the
Council in the first century B.C. The other example be
longs to the period A.D. 50-100. This usage was heard in
Athens by Paul and his friends. The whole account is ex
pressed by Luke in the tone and style of language in which
the action was transacted. That is a fair specimen of the
marvellous lifelike and truthful character of the book in even
such small details. This scene is bathed in the light of
Attic suns.
The preceding two examples were quoted in my first dis
cussion of the subject.1 I think that there are others,
though the Lexicon of Pape-Benseler goes too far when
it says that " Areios pagos designates sometimes the hill,
but mostly the judgment-hall or the Council itself". Many
of the examples which it quotes for the latter sense might
be explained as cases of synecdoche, the hill being used for
the Council that met originally on the hill. Some of the ex
amples, however, would perhaps pass muster ; and, obviously,
such a figure of the formal literary speech would naturally
and inevitably pass into the colloquial usage, as described ;
but we may leave it to students of the Attic dialect to in
quire more nicely.
The two examples quoted already are sufficient proof of
Attic colloquial usage ; and to them may be added Seneca,
who in " de Tranq," v., speaks of Athens as " the state in
which was Areos pagos, a most revered judgment-council ".
Though Seneca is writing Latin, he quotes the Greek word,
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 261.

in the Acts. 105

spelling it in Latin letters,1 so that he is a witness for the
Greek usage, contemporary with Paul. Valerius Maximus
speaks in pure Latin of " that most holy Council the Areo
pagus " ; 2 it might indeed be argued that what is true of a
Latin term may not be true of the corresponding Greek
term in Greek usage ; but it seems probable that Valerius
would not have used Areopagus thus, if the Greek term was
incapable of bearing the same sense.3 He also is of the
first century after Christ.
These examples prove the Attic usage as belonging to
the educated colloquial speech of the Pauline period. We
hear with Paul's ears and see with his eyes in Athens, just
as we do at Lystra (see chapter III.).
1 In qua civitate erat Areos pagos, religiosissimum indicium. The Latin
term is Areopagus, but the single word is practically never used in Greek.
2 "Val. Max.," n. 64, sanctissimum consilium Areopagus.
3 None of the four examples are quoted by Pape-Benseler, though they are
so strong on their side. The last two are in Wetstein's Commentary.

CHAPTER VIII
THE MAGICIANS IN THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
A MARKED and interesting fact in the society of that period
was the influence of magicians and soothsayers. They were
extraordinarily numerous. It may be confidently said that
in the Graeco-Roman world there were few cities, if any,
even of moderate size that did not possess several of them.
They were to be found everywhere, for they catered to the
taste of a large portion of ordinary pagan society.
Very few in that age were wholly superior to the belief in
magical power, and not many could refrain throughout their
life from recourse at some time and in some crisis or trouble
to the help offered through magical arts. It is true that
many, including all the more educated and thoughtful and
respectable part of pagan society, believed that sorcerers
were dangerous, disreputable and maleficent ; they warned
young people against having any intercourse with them ; x
but the reasons which actuated the wiser and more religious
or philosophical section of society, and caused this anti
pathy, betray a general belief in the powers which the
sorcerers could exert. People disliked the practisers of
magical arts, not because they were mere impostors whose
claims were false, but because they really possessed powers
which they misused for evil purposes. They were hated,
1 An example of this can be found in the early part of the Pseudo-Lucian's
"Onos," where the reckless young man is portrayed as eager to see some
examples of magical powers, and as warned vainly by a good friend.
(106)

VIII. Magicians in the Acts of the Apostles. 107
because they were feared. Such incredulity as Lucian pro
fesses, such frank and sweeping ridicule of magicians as
mere quacks, was rare ; and in truth, while Lucian describes
individual impostors as mere cheats, he does not express
disbelief universally in the real existence of such powers.
The current conception of magical powers was that they
were means of interfering with the order of nature, non-
religious and illicit ; and people resorted to magicians
mainly in the hope of procuring what they could not obtain,
or were unwilling to seek for, through prayers and acts of
religious character. Religion could work wonders ; magic
could work wonders ; the marvels wrought by magic, how
ever, were unnatural and involved a secret and illicit tam
pering with the proper and moral government of the
universe. Magic loved secrecy and darkness ; religion was
open and fair.
The ancient art of magic has been much studied in
recent times, and forms the subject of a large number of
treatises. The discovery of new documents has been less
important , than the fresh study of those which had long
been known, chief among which was a most important
manuscript in Paris, full of magical records. The discovery
of the new documents — some of these being in themselves
of a very foolish character, mere charms and spells intended
to avert evil expressed in a meaningless jargon, or senseless
repetition of formulae, for puerility is a general character
istic of the magical writings — directed attention to the old,
as the new had to be published and the old had to be
studied to throw light on them.1
1 The Bibliography is very fully given by M. H. Hubert in Daremberg and
Saglio, " Diet, des Antiq. Gree. et Rom.," under " Magia," in. 1495 ff. ;
more recent literature in Professor H. A. A. Kennedy's " St. Paul and
the Mystery Religions ".

108 VIII. The Magicians in
Moreover, the deeper and more intelligent study of
ancient religion has incidentally led to the study of ancient
superstition and magic as throwing light on religion.
Pagan religion and superstition are allied, and the transition
from one to the other is easy ; witness the difficulty in
determining whether Deisidaimonia and the cognate adjec
tive in Acts XVII. 22 are to be understood in a good sense
as religion or in a bad sense as superstition : x witness also
the teaching of many, stated most pointedly to us by
Lucretius, that there was no distinction between the two,
that religion was the cause of infinite evils, that it
dominated and distorted the minds of men, tormenting
them always with unreal terrors and leading them in their
fears to seek to save themselves by hideous crimes and even
by sacrificing their own children. All men were praying or
wishing for Salvation ; they tried to win it through religion,
and they tried to gain it by magical arts and superstitious
practices 2 (see chapter xiii.).
Magicians could make the moon come down from heaven,
raise the dead, make animals and stones speak, change men
into animals and animals back again into men, and do other
marvellous things.3 These things proved the magicians'
: I do not doubt that Paul had the good sense uppermost in his mind ; but
the bad is always close at hand; and many educated hearers in ancient
times, especially the Epicureans who were prominent among Paul's Athenian
opponents, had the double sense always before them and in truth consistently
held that all religion was superstition. See " The Teaching of Paul in
Terms of the Present Day," p. 279 f., and above in Chapter vh.
2 On the nature of their conception of " Salvation," and on its relation to
the Christian conception expressed by the same word, the present writer has
written in " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. 10,
94 f., etc. : also in Chapter xi. of the present book.
3 This paragraph is only a statement in brief of the description given by
Monsieur H. Hubert in Daremberg and Saglio's " Diet, des Antiq." s.v.
" Magia," in. p. i8g5- See also E. Le Blant on Artemidorus in " Memoires
de l'Acad.," xxxvi. pt. 11. ; and Cumont, " Astron. and Religion," Index.

the Acts of the Apostles. 109
power ; but the populace resorted to them mainly for help
in the difficulties and troubles of life. Lovers sought charms
and means of enslaving the minds or possessing the person
of the objects of their affection. People in general sought
protection against thieves, or recovery of lost property, or
rain in drought, or calm weather at sea, or the prevention
of hail-storms dangerous to the corps, or the cure of diseases,
or prosperity and fertility in farming and in business gener
ally, or any of the thousand things that men desire ; and
where they shrank from praying the gods for these ob
jects, if illicit and likely to be refused by the divine power,
or where they had prayed and prayed in vain in the way of
religion, they tried to obtain them by magical arts. Especi
ally where people desired to injure or hurt those whom
they disliked, they could not hope that the gods would aid
them, and they had recourse to magic.
Magic was in close relation to astrology, though the two
domains must be distinguished. Strictly speaking, magic
aims at modifying the course of events, which astrology
predicts ; but the modification is effected by knowing and
misusing the forces and powers through which the motions
of the heavenly bodies affect the life and fortunes of indi
viduals. Similarly, magic rules a realm distinct from alchemy.
The magicians made use, or tried to make use, of the pro
cesses taught through alchemy and discovered by alchemists.
Yet, inasmuch as the methods and aims of the latter were
commonly wild and unscientific and their processes were
expressed in forms that partook of the secrecy and mystery
of magic, the relation between the two was close.1
Again, divination in all its forms, the art of prophecy, the
2See the extracts from Zosimos in Notes to Reitzenstein's "Die hel-
lenistischen Mysterienreligionen ".

no VIII. The Magicians in
interpretation of dreams, necromancy, etc., are more or less
closely . allied to magic. Necromancy especially must be
directly classed as a branch of magic.
Yet divination and prophecy, in their origin, are both
religious, and their magical employment comes through the
deterioration of religion.
There was a widespread and deep-seated feeling in the
pagan mind, that the divine power was always ready and
even desirous to communicate its will to men, and that the
signs which reveal the divine intention either are clearly
visible around mankind, if men have only the will and the
skill required to read the signs (divination), or are revealed
to the mind and soul of men (prophecy).
Intimations of the divine will were conveyed especially
through phenomena occurring in the atmosphere or in the
heavens, such as the flight of birds, thunder and lightning,
etc., and through the appearance (external and internal) and
behaviour of the victims offered by men in sacrifice. The
art of reading all those signs was the pseudo-science of
divination, which was very liable to be tortured into forms
nearly allied to magic, because that element ofthe secret,
the incomprehensible, the marvellous, and the absurd or
unnatural," which is essential to and characteristic of magic,1
is rarely wanting in any of the forms of the elaborated
divination. Prophecy was of a higher order, and spoke more to the
reason and the spiritual nature of mankind ; but even
prophecy tended to be stereotyped in certain forms, and to
be localized at certain places called oracles or prophetic
centres, and thus to become almost professional and pseudo-
scientific, being subjected to the caprice and ultimately to
1 Hubert, loc. cit., p. I4g5 A.

the Acts of the Apostles. in
the cupidity of men : where a fee or reward was at stake,
the answer must be given, whether or not the prophet was
ready to speak. In this way it came to be often harnessed
under the yoke of magic.
It would be an error to regard those magicians as mere
pretenders and impostors. They varied, of course, very
greatly as regards character, intellectual power, and the
degree of knowledge that they possessed. A satirist like
Lucian may have been ready to look on them all as
impostors making money out of their dupes by trickery
and sham ; but that simple formula is insufficient to explain
the almost universal belief in, and influence of, those persons.
In the first place, some of them had a certain knowledge
of the powers and processes of nature : these were the
" scientists " of their time. Such knowledge of natural and
physical science as existed at that time they possessed. In
a similar way the alchemists of the mediaeval world were
the founders of modern chemistry. Until within the last
few years the problems which the alchemists proposed to
themselves for solution (such as the transmutation of metals)
were considered by modern chemists to be impossible and
delusive ; but the transmutation at which they laboured and
experimented, has been brought back within the purview
of modern chemistry, as some of the most distinguished
scientific investigators hold. In an American city in 191 3
I received a letter from an eminent chemist, who confused
me with my more distinguished namesake the Professor of
Chemistry in London University : he reminded me of a
former visit which I had paid to his laboratory, and invited
me to come again to see how much progress he had made
in the problem of transmutation since I had last visited him.
Those men practised research with a view to acquiring
power and wealth ; but we need not deny that some of

112 VIII. The Magicians in
them may have become interested in the pursuit of know
ledge, and that this nobler aim may have come to play some
part in their lives and interests. Science has raised itself
gradually from < humble beginnings, humble morally as well
as in other ways. Some magicians were, after all, one genus
of the "wandering scholar," seeking for a career and a
livelihood in the line that they had chosen, and yet liable
to become so enamoured of the knowledge which they had
at first regarded as a means that they ended by looking on
it as an end in itself. Such is a common fact of life.
We should never blind ourselves to this possible side of
the ancient magician's character, though we must acknow
ledge that the influence of scientific study on the nobler
side of human nature grows stronger as knowledge increases
and as the acquisition of it absorbs more completely the
faculties of the mind. The love of knowledge has become
a far stronger motive as the range of knowledge has
widened ; but it was not absolutely wanting in that time,
unscientific and superficial as the age was.1
In the second place, some (perhaps many) of those
magicians in the first century seem to have been the pos
sessors in some degree of that knowledge which has been
traditional in the East from remote ages, regarding certain
mysterious and obscure powers and processes of the nature
of mesmerism, psychic influence, thought-reading, and so
on. The character and limits of this domain are too obscure
to be more than alluded to ; but probably it is not possible
to understand the position and influence of such persons as
Simon of Samaria and Elymas Barjesus without assuming
that they had some knowledge in this realm as well as in
the one described in the immediately preceding paragraph.
1 " Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. 242 ff.

the Acts of the Apostles. 113
Probably Simon was more powerful in this occult domain,
while Barjesus had more of the character of a student of
the powers and processes of nature, in which aspect he was
an object of interest to the judicious and philosophic Roman
governor of Cyprus.
Yet, in the third place, after all is said that can be said in
explanation of the many-sidedness and the possible virtues
of the magicians in the Graeco-Roman cities, the fact remains
that they were a noxious growth, condemned by the edu
cated part of society as evil in action and intention, making
a living out of the worst tendencies in human nature, its
greed and its fears and its malevolence. They had to live
on the credulity of others ; they were fighting for life,
and did curious things. In this position they had to be
always ready, and it was necessary to dupe their devotees
by the practice of tricks and mere imposture.
The use of magic rites in the casting out of devils is an
important side of this subject, which will come more suit
ably in the following chapter.
It is needless to enumerate any more of the manifold
species of arts and practices that come under the general
title of Magic ; enough has been said to show its very varied
character, and the many diverse types of individual practi
tioners who would be found among this general class, so
widely spread in the Graeco-Roman world as we see it por
trayed in the Acts. There is no class of opponents with
whom the earliest Christian Apostles and missionaries are
brought into collision so frequently, and whose opposition
is described as being so obstinate and determined, as the
magicians. They play a very considerable part in the book
ofthe Acts. At Samaria, at Paphos, at Philippi, and re
peatedly at Ephesus, wizards of various kinds meet and are
overcome by Peter and Paul. Their diversity is endless. No
8

114 VIII. The Magicians in
one is of the same type as another. They show the infinite
variety of nature and truth.
Those scenes of conflict are picturesque; they throw
much light on the character of society in the cities ; but
Luke does not describe them so often and at such length
merely because they were picturesque, or because they
illustrated the character of contemporary society. It is
not on such grounds that he apportions the space in his
highly compressed history.
The magicians possessed certain powers ; but the
Apostles are exhibited as always possessing far greater.
Luke was not averse from recording such instances of the
great power which true faith and inspiration conferred ;
but it would be an error to suppose that this consideration
alone furnishes sufficient explanation of the attention and
space allotted to encounters with magicians in the Acts.
That motive, taken alone, is beneath the level of this his
torian, who moves and writes on a higher plane.
These incidents, numerous as they are, find a proper
place in Luke's history, because he is refuting an accusation
that was commonly brought against the Christians. Like
the magicians, so the Christians also were stigmatized by
the populace as maleficent, malevolent, and haters of the
human race. The violent antipathy which the mob
cherished towards the adherents of the new religion was
justified to the world on the pretext that these Christians
were like magicians, practising secret rites, unlawful arts,
and abominable hidden crimes. Lucian describes the im
postor and quack Peregrinus (who was of the genus, though
almost too silly and pretentious for a proper magician) as
having been in close relation with the Christians and actually
one of their company for a time ; but the satirist, true to his
purpose of portraying Peregrinus as untrue in everything,

the Acts of the Apostles. 115
makes him out to be even a false Christian and a false
magician. The supposed letter of the Emperor Hadrian to Julius
Servianus (Consul III, A.D. 134) is a good witness attesting
the popular belief that the Christians dealt in magical arts :
" there is no presbyter of the Christians that is not an
astrologer, a diviner, and a professional carer for people's
physical condition ".1 Though the letter is fictitious, it none
the less shows what was the popular belief about the Chris
tians, and it is quoted by Vopiscus as a proof of his state
ment to that effect.
Luke makes no direct answer to this or any other charge
against the Christians. He merely exhibits in history the
Christians as inevitably in conflict with all magicians and as
invariably superior in power to them. The magicians are
set over against the truth of Christianity, as having neither
part nor lot in the faith, as causing evil and bitterness all
around them, as children of the devil, enemies of all right
eousness, distorters of the truth, and also as feeble impostors
who shrivel 'into nothing in the light of the sun and the
pure reality of life. Such are the actual words that the
persons in the narrative use, and the facts that the historian
relates. For this purpose it is necessary to show the Apostles
frequently in contact and contrast with the magicians and
•wizards and soothsayers and exorcists and practisers of
1 Nemo Christianorum presbyter non mathematicus, non haruspex, non
aliptes. Deissmann prefers to render aliptes " quacksalver," " Bible Studies,"
p. 336 (" Bibelstudien," p. 18 f.) ; but I think that the original and proper
sense of the word was not wholly lost here (compare what is said in the fol
lowing chapter on the interest shown by Christian missionaries in the physical
health of the people). Vopiscus himself, in quoting the letter, renders
aliptes as medicus ; the letter of Hadrian is in " Script. Hist. Aug. Satur-
mini," 8.

116 VIII. Magicians in the Acts of the Apostles.
curious arts, and thus to demonstrate completely the in
variable antagonism between them, and the immeasurable
superiority, even in superficial acts of power, that belonged
to all who were really possessed of the Spirit.
There was, of course, a certain generic character, a sort
of family likeness, that attached to all magicians and to
the practice of magical arts, and this generic type would
be familiar to any late compiler of past history. Such a
compiler in a later age might have introduced specimens
of the genus magician in his narrative ; but the mere
inventor or repeater of stories about collisions in long past
time between his religion and the power of evil could never
attain the infinite variety of real life and truth. He had a
didactic object which would control the narrative and im
part a generic sameness to the incidents.
The incidents described in the Acts, however, are so in
dividual and so varied that they must come from actual life.
The stories are true to life because they are so diverse,
while all belong to one generic type. No one magician
was exactly like any other, and no one magician in the
Acts is like another. They varied widely in their degrees
of knowledge, in their command of the occult Oriental
power, and in the extent to which they admitted mere
trickery and legerdemain to supplement their knowledge
and powers.
It is proposed, therefore, in the next chapters to look at
each of the encounters from this point of view, and to show
very briefly how individual each is, amid the generic type.
Every one of these stories derives light from the recent study
of ancient magic, and is far more full of meaning to those
who are most familiar with the results of that study.
Note. — The possible existence of the higher type of
magicians is illustrated on page 139.

CHAPTER IX
SIMON THE MAGICIAN
THERE is a marked analogy between Simon of Samaria
and Alexander of Abonoteichos in Paphlagonia, whose
career of imposture is described by Lucian. There is, of
course, a certain difference in individual character. Simon
makes the impression of having been in rather less degree
than Alexander a mere impostor and quack, and in rather
greater degree a real possessor of power ; but Lucian aims
at effect rather than at truth, while Luke aims at gaining
effect through absolute truth. Yet those who would under
stand the position of Simon should read the account of
Alexander. Simon had gained great influence through certain
wonders and miracles that he had wrought in Samaria.
These struck the people with astonishment (vv. 9 and 11),
and they were so deeply impressed that they regarded the
magician as a manifestation of the divine power in human
form. He was an epiphany (to use the Greek term), or
avatar (to use the Hindu), of that Supreme Power, of which
even the gods themselves are only partial and inferior en-
visagements and embodiments. The Samaritans called him
the "Power of God which is called Great," a very remark
able title. An excellent parallel occurs in a Lydian in
scription : " There is one God in the heavens, great Men the
Heavenly, the great power of the ever-living God "}
1 Keil and Premerstein, " II Reise in Lydien," p. no, iieydXt] Siya/iis toS
&0avdrov Beov.
(H7)

1 1 8 IX. Simon the Magician.
The word " power " (Bvvaftisi) was technical in the lan
guage of religion, superstition, and magic, and was one of
the most common and characteristic terms in the language
of pagan devotion. " Power " was what the devotees re
spected and worshipped ; any exhibition of " power " must
have its cause in something that was divine.1 The wonders
that Simon could perform were exhibitions of the power,
through which he was marked out as being no ordinary
magician, but the epiphany of the supreme power of God.
The term " power " in plural was used to denote actions
exhibiting power like that of God. The goddess who
" makes impossibilities possible " is thanked in a Phrygian
inscription.2 The nearly synonymous term " authority "
is mentioned later in this chapter.
The word " great " also was in religion one of the most
characteristic. Men prayed to any god whom they wor
shipped as "great" and they revered his "greatness".3
The "greatness of God" was equivalent to the "power of
God ".
Simon in his turn was struck with astonishment at the
effect exercised in Samaria by Philip, who swayed the minds
of men in a way that any magician would have longed to
equal. Such influence over the human mind was what
magicians aimed at; through such influence men became
their slaves and devoted servants. Simon's attention was-
1 It is unnecessary to give examples of the use of iivaius bearing on this
subject in writers and inscriptions. See Buresch " aus Lydien," p. 113, a
dedication to the goddess, e(v)\oyuy trov ras Svydfiis.
"" Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," 1. p. 153 f.
3 Examples in " Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. 141 ff., and
" Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," 1, p. 151. On gems we find niya-
rb ovofia ^apd-mSos, and in Aristides, I. p. 467 (Dind.), fieyas S ' A.o-KKn-m6s, an
important parallel justifying the accepted text of Acts xix. 28, where I in
clined to follow the reading in Codex Bezae.

IX. Simon the Magician. 1 1 9
arrested, and he came over to join the company of Philip,
and believed, and was even baptized. He thus had the
opportunity of observing in detail the proofs of Philip's
power in the exhibitions of it which took place.
In short, Simon recognized the power of God. The powers
of this world recognized the true power of God. Even the
devils believed and trembled. It is a universal feature in
these encounters with magicians, that the latter with their
sensitively organized physique always recognize the divine
power inherent in the Apostles and messengers of God;
they feel themselves in the presence of a power greater than
their own. They are astonished, and the astonishment
shows itself in different ways in the various incidents of
this class.
Simon for a time was apparently one of the faithful fol
lowers of Philip ; but it appeared after a little that he was
only a disciple and pupil anxious to learn the secret of this
power and the way in which it could be wielded. He was
eager to improve in his own line of life. He felt that he
was in the presence of a more powerful magician, and he
was ready to become a pupil in the hope of attaining to be
an Adept.
All the wonders which Philip wrought were in the way
of healing ; people possessed with evil spirits and afflicted
with palsy or lameness were cured. The want of all medical
attention, and the utter ignorance of nursing and the care
of the sick, constitute a most painful feature in the life of
an eastern village or town at the present day. In Asiatic
Turkey there are nowhere, except in a very few of the
greatest cities, any trained doctors, or any one possessed
even of rudimentary acquaintance with nursing or the art
of medical attention ; that whole side of life is left to the
Christian missionaries ; and even those who have no special

120 IX. Simon the Magician.
training have learned in civilized life some small degree of
medical knowledge which is useful and which helps to give
them influence. Mere living in a rational and sanitary
fashion may seem to us to require no medical skill ; but,
when one beholds the character and consequences of the
rude village life in Asiatic Turkey, one learns that it is the
result of skill and the practical embodiment of science and
experience. There is undoubtedly no surer or quicker way to the
hearts of men than through some small help given to them
or their families during sickness.
Although Philip treated the sick, so far as we are told,
only through their soul and their minds, and is not said to
have given them any medical care in the strict and proper
sense, yet there is implied in VIII. 7 some kindly attention
to, and thought for, sufferers ; x and this is always a passport
to the hearts of an uncared-for population. Amid the
suffering caused in an Asiatic Turkish village through ignor
ance and the utter lack of attention or nursing, nothing has
more deeply impressed the present writer than the fact that
a word of interest and kindliness with a letter of introduction,
or even the simple advice to go to some American mission
ary or some British consul's wife, trained as a nurse and
able to advise, has elicited the warmest gratitude, shown in
both deeds and words.
The position of Philip in Samaria is best comprehended
by those who have seen such social conditions as those
which have just been described.
This character was given to the Christian teaching and
life from the outset. The Saviour's compassionate care for
1 Mr. F. C. Eeles mentions to me a book by F. C. Puller, " The Anointing
of the Sick in Scripture and Tradition," London, 1904, which I have not
seen.

IX. Simon the Magician. 121
the physical health of all sufferers is a remarkable trait —
remarkable when we consider how unprecedented it was.
The careful study of physical health is, in truth, a feature
of, and a factor in making, the higher civilization. It be
longs to the most progressive races, and is almost wanting
in the unprogressive nations. The Turks, in some respects
a very kindly people, have generally treated their own sick
and wounded with a callousness that seems to us brutal ;
but it does not really imply that the intention is brutal :
it is rather akin to the spirit that makes birds kill any
sickly neighbour of their own species : the invalid cannot
be tended and its existence weakens the whole community.
The ancient Greeks gradually raised medicine to the
rank of a true science, and among their achievements in
the development of knowledge, the enthusiastic study of
medicine by many of their race is perhaps the greatest.
The same character can be observed throughout the early
centuries of Christian history ; see the remarks on the sub
ject in "Pauline and other Studies in Christian History,"
pp. 380,402; "Luke the Physician and other Studies in
the History of Religion," pp. 352, 404 f., and above all
Harnack in " Texte und Untersuchungen," VIII. ; also
" Analecta Boll.," xii. p. 297,1 and Puller quoted already.
In Asia Minor and Greece proper, especially in the
former, early religion was not wholly devoid of this interest.
The importance of medicine is recognized in the medical
skill of the god Asklepios, in the personification of Health,
Hygieia, as a goddess, and in the attribution to many gods
of a certain healing power. At the great religious centres
of Asia Minor some sort of primitive medical advice and
even medical care was imparted. The advice was often
1 On treatment of diseases, see Prof. Macalister in Hastings' " Diet. Bib.,"
s.v. Medicine.

122 IX. Simon the Magician-
addressed to the mind and designed to work through faith,
and it was sometimes of a puerile or even of a merely super
stitious character ; but there are traces of better things.
The statements of cures recorded by the sufferers x rarely
mention any treatment that partakes even in the smallest
degree of rational curative discipline; they usually record
only puerile forms of medical agency ; but such narratives,
written by untrained and superstitious persons, must not
be taken as fully trustworthy and complete. Those ignor
ant people would record all that seemed to them to attest
the direct work of the god or the goddess, and would pass
over anything in the way of mere ordinary medical treat
ment or advice as unimportant, because it did not glorify
the divine power. To us the medical attention seems the
really important matter, but to those devotees it was a
negligible detail.
That side of the early Greek and Anatolian religion
tended to degenerate in the later age ; but the Greek medi
cal authorities caught it up as a science, took it out of the
domain of religion, and carried it to a high level of scientific
achievement. There is no authority in what is recorded, and not the
smallest probability, that Simon had hitherto been apprecia
tive of this side of life ; but he now was struck with it when
he saw the position and influence that Philip acquired. As
the sequel proved, he did not understand that it was the
appeal to the soul and spirit, and to the higher nature, of
his hearers, that gave Philip his power over the people. He
thought that Philip possessed an art and a system of know
ledge which could be acquired and used by others. More
over, it is not in itself improbable, and it is even suggested
1 The records have been found at Epidaurus, and published by Cavvadias.

IX. Simon the Magician. 123
by what is said, that at the beginning Simon was really
affected in some degree by the sympathetic and human
aspect of the situation in Samaria, though he was not able
to maintain himself on this higher plane of conduct, but
gradually relapsed to the ordinary level of the struggle for
existence. It is very far from rare to find individuals and
whole peoples who in the enthusiasm of a great crisis are
able to rise to a high level of self-denying action ; but the
hard thing is to live permanently on that plane. Considera
tions of a lower class come in ; one must live ; it is a matter
of life and death for us ; and gradually or suddenly there
ensues a relapse to the old level and below it ; the last state
Is worse than the first.
When Peter and John came to Samaria, and through their
prayers and their hands the Divine Spirit was communicated
to the Samaritan Christians, Simon perceived that the mar
vellous powers which he had wondered at and admired
when he saw them exercised by Philip could be readily
transferred to others. He imagined that the visible process
of the laying on of hands was the way of transferring
the powers. He had no perception of the spiritual change,
the transformation of heart and soul, that had occurred in
the recipients. He had himself undergone no such change,
and he did not know that it had taken place in others. He
fancied that the Apostles, being possessed of such remark
able powers, were able further, by mere imposition of hands,
to make these powers pass into those to whom they chose
to impart them.
Now the acquisition of power like this had always been
Simon's object. He thought that these teachers belonged
to the same class as himself, and that they aimed at influence
and a career, with wealth as the ultimate reward. They
possessed a knowledge and a power that he coveted, and

124 IX. Simon the Magician.
he proposed to learn from them at a great fee,1 so that they
might pass him rapidly over the earlier stages and carry
him quickly to the highest stage of initiation. He regarded
this as a fair business proposal. He was willing to pay
well for all he asked. " Give me too this power (literally,
position of authority),2 that on whomsoever I lay my hands
he may receive the Holy Spirit." He had caught the lan
guage of the new teaching ; but he had no conception what
was the meaning of that term, " Holy Spirit," which he
used. His employment of the term "authority" proves
this : the point is important, and needs careful notice.
This Greek word, rendered variously as "authority"
or "power" (i^ovaia) s is frequently, used in magical docu
ments, and Simon employs it precisely in the same fashion
as a magician would, when he asks Peter and John to give
him the same authority and power that they possessed
(VIII. 19). This same Greek word was used to translate
both the annual potestas that was entrusted to the Emperors
(containing the whole authority and power of the Roman
tribunes), and the imperium of the Roman consuls : it indi
cates the full powers granted by the ultimate sovereign
authority to an individual. The Roman tribunes were en
trusted with that extraordinarily wide and overriding
power : any single tribune could step in and arrest by a word
1 The Greek says only xp^Mwra, moneys ; but the sense of the context
implies that the sum was large in proportion to ordinary fees paid by pupils
to teachers.2 The word iipvaia is used here and universally in the same sense : so for
example in 1 Corinthians xi. 10 the veil is the authority of the woman. A
veiled woman is a power in the East: unveiled, she is a thing despised
whom anyone may insult ; see " Cities of St. Paul," p. 203.
3 In its more characteristic usage, especially in Roman time, it denotes
legal and constitutional power ; but Thucydides has it in the sense of might
as distinguished from right.

IX. Simon the Magician. 125
the action of the highest magistrates in order to guard the
rights ofthe humblest citizen : only in certain circumstances
the imperium could, in its turn, override even the tribunes.
Such was the "authority" of a great magician.
Peter's reply, which is too familiar to need quotation in all
its length, and which must not be weakened by excision
of parts, was almost incomprehensible to Simon. That it
was a refusal and an indignant refusal, and that nothing
could be gained by offering a higher fee at this moment, he
understood clearly ; but the nature of his fault and the
reason for the Apostles' indignation he utterly failed to
comprehend. Their thought and their life moved on a
plane to which he could not rise. As before, so still he
thought that the power lay entirely in the Apostles ; x they
could help if they were willing ; the authority to bind and
to loose was with them ; the people with whom they dealt
were mere automata to be moved hither and thither as
they chose. " Pray ye for me to the Lord, that none of the
things which ye have spoken come upon me." His own
soul and nature did not matter in his estimation ; the
prayers of Peter and John were all-important ; and there
can be no doubt that he thought of their prayers as similar
in nature to the charms and incantations of his old magic.
The relation of Simon to the really Christianized converts
among the Samaritans recalls to my memory the experience
and testimony of a friend, a foreigner, a Catholic, and a
distinguished scholar, who spent a considerable time in
the Belgian Congo investigating the facts of the rubber
1 Though Peter alone speaks, as the leading spirit of the pair, yet action
and power were common to both. The plural is used throughout, both in
verses 17 to 19 and in 24 f. Indeed we must always remember that John
was still very young : this is an essential factor in the situation, too often.
forgotten.

126 IX. Simon the Magician.

trade. Expressing high admiration of the Baptist mission
aries, he said that the Catholic missionaries made a hundred
converts where the Baptists made one ; but the one was a
real convert, a man of changed character, while the hundred
remained savages as they were before. Simon the converted
remained in his innermost nature exactly the same as he
had been before.
In this first recorded collision with a practiser of magic
arts, the strongest stress is laid on the utter incapacity of
the magician to understand the nature and character of the
Christian teaching, on the essential and inevitable antagon
ism between him and it, and on the indignant contempt with
which his proposals are rejected and he himself practically
expelled from the Church. Not merely was it advisable to
give strong expression to this antagonism on the first occa
sion : it was necessary also to do so for another reason.
At the first general meeting of the Church the outward
phenomena accompanying possession by the Holy Spirit
(Acts II. 3 f, 8, 11-13, 15-18) show unmistakable analogy
to certain phenomena that occur at a " spiritualistic seance " :
the sound as of a wind pervading the house is characteristic,
and the other phenomena are similar.1 In such phenomena
as those of " spiritualism " lay the powers of the magicians
(as has already been said). The analogy in certain external
respects should not be denied, but also it should not be
misunderstood or exaggerated.
The incident of Simon the Magian furnished the means
to correct any misunderstanding. The analogy is practic
ally acknowledged in the narrative, for Simon finds that
the Apostles do far more effectively what he would like
3 1 take this from a letter which Andrew Lang sent me on the subject. I
doubt not that he has said the same in some of his books, but cannot quote.

IX. Simon the Magician. 127
to be able to do himself. Then this fancied similarity is
shown to be external and unreal.
It is, however, characteristic of Luke's method that this
acknowledgment and antagonism are not formally ex
pressed in the way of reflection or exposition by the his
torian. They appear only in the acts and words which he
records. He does not obtrude his own. opinion and judg
ment. He leaves the facts to speak for themselves.
In the second place, Simon's full recognition of the
superior power of the Christian teachers must be noticed.
Other magicians recognize the same fact, but they behave
in very different ways and give expression to it in diverse
forms, as we see in the remaining cases (on which see the
following chapter).
This acknowledgment by the magician of the Christians'
power, however, had a dangerous side. The populace saw
that the magicians recognized an analogy between them
selves and the Christians, acknowledging the superiority of
their rivals. On this was founded the popular idea that
all Christian teachers were "astrologers, diviners, and
physicians ".1 Hence in this case where the analogy is most
fully recognized by belief and baptism, the antagonism is
most pointedly expressed.
Simon, as a believer and disciple, tries to buy the teach
ing. None of the other wizards and soothsayers take this
attitude. Each tries a different way: one fights vainly
against it, some try to steal it, one gently submits.
As the magical use of the Greek term has been touched
on in this Chapter, a misconception ought to be guarded
against. It is not to be believed that in 1 Corinthians
VIII. 9 this word i^ovaia carries with it any implication of
1 " Script. Hist. Aug. Saturnini," vii. 4, mathematici, haruspices, medici :
compare ib., viii. 3 quoted and discussed in the previous chapter.

128 IX. Simon the Magician.
magical influence or stands in any relation to magical
usage ; J and in this opinion Prof. H. A. A. Kennedy en
tirely agrees and confirms me. This is one of many cases
where Christian expression used as convenient and even
necessary for its purposes a word which was involved in one
or several pagan connexions and usages. One might as
well say that the salvation of which Paul spoke was the same
thing that the pagans were praying for and trying to secure
by magical rites, as that the " power " which enabled a
strong-minded brother to eat without harm of meat offered
to idols was in any way the same as the power given
through magical arts. Paul means the moral power of the
strong mind. How completely the modern scholars who
bring him down to the level of pagan superstition and
magic fail to comprehend the quality of his thought ! 2
The same holds of many other cases in which the same
Greek word i^ovaia is used to indicate the power over
evil spirits, as in Luke IV. 36. There is a notable analogy
between the Christians' power and the magicians' over those
evil forces, but the differences are equally marked : it is only
the immediate and external purpose that is the same, viz.
exorcism, while the means are different in kind and in
manner of operation.
The belief in demoniac possession is here brought into
relation i to the magicians. It was evidently the cures
wrought in cases of this class that were most likely to affect
and astonish Simon. This belief was a strong factor in
social life in western Asia, and it still is a factor in the life
1 It is rendered "liberty" in the Revised Version, but this is a mistrans
lation of the Greek Qovo-la. The margin has " power ".
2 On the use of such pagan terms as salvation, etc., in a new Christian
sense by the earliest Christian writers, see " The Teaching of Paul in Terms
of the Present Day," pp. g5, etc., and below, Chapter xiii.

IX. Simon the Magician. 129
of inner Turkey at the present day. There is much need
for a discussion of the whole subject by competent authority,
which is impossible without medical training. It is beyond
doubt that many ailments which seem to the Orientals to
be of an unusual or abnormal kind are explained as due to
possession by a devil or by devils, though physicians would
certainly class them under some recognized category of
disease ; but the question must be raised whether it would
be safe or justifiable to hold that all cases of so-called de
moniac possession could be explained in this way.
Deafness, dumbness, and other defects of the senses, seem
to be classed as possession in Luke IX. 39, Mark IX. 17 and
25, Matthew XII. 22; but although an individual case of
dumbness is so classed, it is not clear that every dumb man
would have been declared by the popular voice to be
possessed by a devil. That seems highly improbable
a priori, and quite inconsistent with the account given by
Mark IX. 17: it is also not confirmed by anything that I
have learned about current beliefs in Asiatic Turkey. The
essential feature in the case described by Mark was not the
dumbness, but the abnormal behaviour of the boy.
While I do not presume from the little I have seen to
make any positive statement; yet on the ground of what I
have heard and what I saw in the one case that came under
my own observation, I should be inclined to think that the
essential feature is an effect produced on the mind and
nature of the sufferer, whereby he seems given over wholly
to the dominion of wickedness, doing and suffering evil
without any good impulse striving to counteract the wicked
intent, abandoned absolutely to the sway of maleficence and
malevolence and apparently lost to all human feeling, and
bereft in an extraordinary and appalling degree of even the
outward appearance of humanity, and at the same time
9

130 IX. Simon the Magician.
himself suffering pain in his own person from the power of
evil in many ways. In the case that I saw, the demoniac
(as he was called) had probably suffered injustice, and he
was ultimately cured (as was said) by a strolling magician ;
but we learned later from the magician that he had cured
the sufferer through rousing the hope of vengeance in his
mind. Thus he taught the man to prefer the future to the
present, and restored the sway of reason in his mind.
Even though the effect came through a dangerous and
malevolent motive, yet at least the result was that the
man could balance one consideration against another, and
endure the present evil in the hope of compensation here
after. He was restored in this way to human semblance,
and ceased to be wholly under the dominion of one single
hideous impulse which would not even have been vengeance
on the wrongdoer.1
Cases of abnormality, like those described, are specially
open to treatment addressed to the mind ; and many sur
prising cures, such as astonished Simon, might be wrought
in this way by a powerful and impressive benevolent
personality like Philip. Whether this is the whole, or even
the most important part of these cures, I would not venture
to dogmatize; but at least a puts us on the right way to
understand the subject, as I venture to think.
Exorcists were an order in the early Church, and the
name lasted long, but their functions were gradually re
stricted to mere ceremonial of a general kind without refer
ence to the curing of individuals.
The people then believed, as they do now, in the frequency
of demoniac possession. At that time the magician's trade
1 The demoniac was trying to tear away a young girl, his daughter, from
her mother, and as the villagers said and believed, he was going to carry her
off to the hills and murder her.

IX. Simon the Magician. 131
as a practical business lay to no small degree in this class
of cases. At the present day the two chief lines of business
for a magician in a remote Turkish city are said to be in
love-charms and exorcism.
The prevalence of the mental phenomena that produce
this belief is caused by the ill-balanced nature of the
sufferer. The almost total lack of home training for the
child is in fault. So long as he does not annoy his elders
too much, he is left to the freedom of his own caprice.
When he does provoke them, he is punished with extraor
dinary incapacity. At Djenin in Palestine I looked down
over a garden, in which a father was trying to chastise a
little boy, and failing to inflict on him any suffering. The
boy screamed and writhed, but only from passion, not from
pain. He was being punished, not for wrong-doing, but
because his father was cross ; and he knew that this was so.
A child grows like a weed untended, as nature ministers
the power of growth. He is taught no self-control, until
it is forced on him in the school of poverty and hard work.
Those of better nature, who after all are the great majority,
iearn for themselves in a remarkable way. Those who are
unbalanced or evil by nature degenerate often until they are
said to be possessed by the devil, and seem to be in fits of
passion wholly given over unresistingly to the domination
of evil.
Note (pp. 114, 127). — It is possible that the same danger
was guarded against by the Saviour, when he forbade the
devils to recognize him publicly, Mark I. 34, III. 12, Luke
iV- 33> 41- See below, p. 310.

CHAPTER X
PAUL AND THE MAGICIANS
The germ of all that has been said in this present book
regarding the magicians in the Acts was stated formerly
in discussing1 the conflict between Paul and the Magian
Etymas Bar-Jesus at Paphos ; and it is not necessary in this
chapter to repeat any part of the study of that scene, as
there given. All that was there said may be assumed ; but
something may be added.
This is the only case in which the natural antagonism
between the Christian teachers and the magicians is carried
to a direct conflict and trial of strength. Bar-Jesus pits
himself against Paul, and forthwith his strength is withered
up. The power of the Spirit, looking through the eyes of
Paul, pierces him to the soul and temporarily paralyses the
nervous system so far as vision is concerned.2
That a stroke like this, though marvellous, is physically
possible, I cannot doubt. We may be sure that a person
who made his livelihood in such ways as Bar- Jesus, possessed
a sensitive temperament, and was peculiarly susceptible to
the influence that flashed through the gaze of Paul. Those
who have studied the range of psychic phenomena could
certainly quote cases quite as wonderful.
What was peculiar about this case was that Paul and the
other Christian teachers made no claim to have any power
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," pp. 73-81.
2 A physician would express this in a more scientific way.
(132)

X. Paul and the Magicians. 133
in themselves : it was the Divine Spirit that spoke and
acted through them. Unless we apprehend this funda
mental fact clearly, and hold to it throughout, we shall never
understand the Acts of the Apostles. Pagan contempor
aries, and the populace especially, never grasped this : they
thought that Paul was here performing a feat similar in
character to the wonderful acts by which magicians aston
ished the crowd, but surpassing even the most marvellous
of their deeds. They ignorantly regarded Paul as the
greatest of the magicians. Out of this popular fancy
grew the legend of the anti-Pauline party, identifying Paul
with Simon of Samaria, who played such a mean part in
contact with the Hebrew Peter.
Also, we shall never understand the personal achieve
ments of Paul, unless we appreciate the power of his eyes,
through which his soul and the Spirit spoke. The scene
in the Council, as described above,1 cannot be properly
conceived until we feel how much is implied in the state
ment that Paul "fixed his eyes on the members of the
Council ". The memory of Paul's eyes lasted in Asia
Minor, and the tradition there during the second century
described him as having at times the face of an angel : 2
an angel is the bearer of the Divine power.
To the ordinary pagan observer at that time the scene
would undoubtedly appear like an exhibition by Paul of his
own marvellous command of magic power. This was a real
danger to the Christians ; and Luke guards against the
consequences (which as he knew had occurred in some
degree before the time when he was writing) by bringing
out so strongly the essential antagonism between the Chris-
1 See p. go f.
2 The description (quoted in " The Church in the Roman Empire before
170," p. 32) is from the Acta of Paul and Thekla.

134 X. Paul and the Magicians.
tian and the magical intention and spirit. It was, however,
not easy to disabuse the people and the government of a
fixed idea. To them both Paul and Bar- Jesus belonged to
the class of "wandering scholars"1 who were so numerous
in the Roman time, o/ten men educated in the Universities
of the East, who sought a career and a livelihood in the
world and went about till they could find or make a place
for themselves. The University of Tarsus, in particular,
sent out a large number of scholars, aspiring youths from
the Eastern provinces, especially Cilicia, Cappadocia, and
Syria, who could find no career at home, where culture was
backward and education had hardly touched the masses.
As Strabo tells us, many students from the countries which
furnished the clientele ofthe Tarsian University went abroad
to study and often they remained abroad.2 Paul was under
stood to be one of those scholars, and those who knew
about his birth and early life would call him one of the
many Tarsian aspirants, and would think that he was seek
ing to play the same part in the entourage of the Procon
sul Sergius Paullus that Athenodorus the Tarsian did with
Augustus.3 It must be set to the credit of the Governor that he did
not retain this view permanently. He wished to know the
truth and to keep his mind open ; and his intelligent curio
sity led him to send for the two "wandering scholars," and
to hear what sort of teaching they had to offer. He began
then by holding the ordinary popular view ; but he soon
changed when he listened. Precisely how much is im-
] " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 75 ; " The Cities of St. Paul," p. 218.
2 The account which Strabo gives is usually mistranslated, as if he said
that Tarsus was superior to Athens and Alexandria. On the right interpre
tation see the " Cities of St. Paul," p. 232 f.
3 The typical example of Tarsian wandering scholars is Athenodorus, the
tutor and friend of Augustus : " Cities of St. Paul," pp. 216-28.

X. Paul and the Magicians. 135
plied in saying that " he believed " it is not easy to say ;
but at least it must imply that a very marked impression
was produced on his mind and character. Luke does not
waste words. On this point more is said in the following
chapter XII.
This was the person that Luke introduces as " a man of
understanding," i.e. an educated, intelligent man, who did
not judge from superficial appearance alone, like the un
thinking crowd. The fact that he considered Bar-Jesus
worthy of a place among his friends and companions must
be taken as a sufficient proof that the latter deserved to be
ranked among the higher class of magicians, who had some
interest in science and the investigation of the normal pro
cesses of nature. So much we may say with confidence :
all beyond that is matter of conjecture. Bar-Jesus was
regarded by the Paphian populace as one of the magicians,
and Paul was classed as another of the same type after his
striking exhibition of power. The populace does not
usually make delicate distinctions. No serious effect is
said to have been produced on anyone at Paphos except
the Roman Proconsul, " a man of understanding ". So far
as the people are concerned the visit to Paphos must be
regarded as practically fruitless in Luke's estimation.
At Ephesus many Jews, including the sons of Sceva, of a
leading priestly family, were aware of the power which Paul
had, calming the passions, and curing the diseases, of many
sufferers. It was a situation like that in which Philip and
Peter were placed in Samaria. Yet how different is the
working out of the entanglement! The sons of Sceva
watched Paul to discover the secret of his influence, and
detected that it seemed to lie in naming the Name of Jesus
over the poor sufferers. They tacitly acknowledged the
power, but they were not, like Simon, willing to pay a fair

136 X. Paul and the Magicians.
market price (as he thought) for the knowledge ; they tried
to steal it. They thought they had found the secret ; but
the Name was valueless without the faith that lay behind
it ; and when they tried to use the power of the Name, they
only exposed themselves to disgrace and discomfiture.
Other magicians in Ephesus frankly confessed their fault,
abjured their practices, and burned their books of formulae.
They resembled Simon in his first stage of conduct, and we
hear no more about them. Did any of them go on to
believe and to seek baptism ? We know not ; but their
action is quoted mainly to reinforce the contention of Luke,
that Christian teaching was the enemy of magic.
An instructive account is given in the Acts XVI. 16-18
of the slave-girl, who brought much gain to her owners by
sooth-saying. There is little to add to the considerations
stated in an earlier work.1 The slave recognized forthwith
the superior spiritual power that breathed through Paul.
Her naturally sensitive temperament,2 trained to even greater
sensitiveness by the daily experiences of her life, was aware
of Paul's character and influence.
Here, again, the same danger confronted Paul. The
populace would at once interpret the relation between the
sooth-sayer and him as the competition between two of a
trade. The very words which the slave-girl used suggested
this to the people : " These men are slaves of the Most High
God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation ". All those
pagans were praying and making vows and offerings for
salvation ; 3 their religious acts, their superstitions, and
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," pp. 215 ff.
2 Only a person with a highly sensitive nervous system can make any suc
cess in her way of life.
s" The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. g4 1., etc. ;
see also chapter xiii. below.

X. Paul and the Magicians. 137
their recourse to magic rites,1 were very often directed to
attain salvation ; various methods of attaining were pointed
out to them in reply to their requests. The sooth-sayer in
dicates that Paul and his companions are declarers of " a
way of salvation ". She speaks of them, too, as " slaves of
the Most High God," a title for the Supreme Divine power
used among the pagans, and specially characteristic of that
mixture of Jewish and pagan religious custom which was
common at the time.
The cries with which she followed Paul through the
streets were, therefore, troublesome, and constituted an im
pediment to his success. As he was obviously not a priest
of any recognized religion, her words were by the mob taken
to show that he was a minister of superstition or of magic.
Accordingly, after she had done this "for many days,"
Paul in vexation turned on her, and spoke, not to her, but
to the evil spirit that possessed her, " I charge thee in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her ". Instantly 2 the
spirit and her power left her.
The story is reported by Luke for several reasons, but
especially it serves to disprove the charge of magic made
against the Christians.
This poor girl was aware of Paul's power ; but she neither
tried to steal it like the sons of Sceva, nor sought to learn
it as a pupil, like Simon. She had the simple mind of a
1 M. H. Hubert in the article quoted at the beginning of the preceding
chapter mentions " Salvation " as one of the objects of magic.
2 Literally " the same hour " : the ancients had no shorter division of time
than the hour, viz. the time that the shadow on the dial took to pass from
one mark to the next (i.e. one-twelfth of the sun's visible passage across the
heavens) : hence this phrase is used (as in xxii. 13) where we should say
" on the instant ". Compare Horace, " Sat." I, 1. 7. A good example lies
in the comparison of Rev. xvn. 12 with the expression of the same thought
by Paul in 2 Cor. iv. 17 ; see " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present
Day," p. 57.

138 X. Paul and the Magicians.
young girl : she spoke what her sensitive nature perceived.
She sought nothing for herself. She was only the slave
and the chattel of others. Had she learned any way of
greater power, it would have benefited only her owners ;
but it was apparently no such consideration that weighed
with her. She is represented as simple and direct in con
duct, acting without ulterior aims. One cannot but feel
strong sympathy for this poor benighted soul in her helpless
and hopeless condition as the slave of greedy owners.
The suggestion has been made that the owners of this
slave-girl were a man and his wife. This seems to be in
consistent with ancient custom and with the situation as
Luke describes it. The owners lodged a charge against
Paul and Silas. They seized the two missionaries, and
dragged them before the magistrates. They claimed to be
Romans, who were being wronged by contemptible Jews.
Action like this is quite inconsistent with the part that a
woman would play in a Roman colony ; and we must sup
pose that the owners were a small company who had
clubbed their money to carry on a slave-dealing business.
It used to be maintained that the contest between Paul
and Bar-Jesus was invented as a pendant to the story of
Peter and Simon the Magian ; as Peter in old legend had
triumphed over a magician, so Paul also must have his own
triumph. Only prepossession with a theory could make
critics so blind to the higher qualities and purposes of a
historian as to imagine stuff like this. All the differ
ences between the one incident and the other are vital to
the historian's purpose. He remembers the second because
it was different. Had it been a mere repetition, it would
have been valueless to him. Moreover, the author is not
content with making his hero (according to the theory)
vanquish one magician; he makes him convince a large

X. Paul and the Magicians. 139
number, and break their power. Peter does not vanquish
a magician ; he simply rebukes him for his inability to
understand Christian truth ; there is no contest of power at
Samaria : Simon was a humble pupil, and an unsatisfactory
one. All these magician incidents are equally essential to the
historian's purpose. Their variety in details makes their
agreement in effect all the more telling ; out of the great
variety emerges the one invariable result that Christian
teaching hated and conquered and destroyed magic, and
that the popular charge against the Christians was mere
calumny. Note (Ch. VIII-XI). — The possibility that, as we have
stated, some ancient magicians had a higher character and
nobler aims than a mere livelihood gained by any means,
is supported by the following extract from "The Peri
odical," Oxford, 1 91 4, p. 90: —
" In ' The Book of the Key of Solomon ' just published
by Mr. Milford — supposed to have served as the oracle of
all sorcerers throughout history — occurs a paragraph show
ing that the magic art was looked upon as a serious oc
cupation. It is thus translated by Professor H. Gollancz : —
" ' I beg and command any one into whose hands this
compilation may fall, that he will give it to no man unless
he be of a retiring disposition, able to keep a secret, ener
getic in the performance of this kind of work ; and I adjure
him by the Living God, the Creator of the Universe, that
in the same manner as he would guard his own soul, he will
guard this book, and not reveal it to such as are unjust.
And should he not listen (to this admonition) I place my
supplication before Him who has graciously imparted this
knowledge to me, that He shall not suffer him to prosper
in all the actions and desires which he seeks to bring about.
Amen, May this be His will.' "

CHAPTER XI
THE MAGI AT THE BIRTH OF JESUS
In one passage of the New Testament, the word Magian or
magician appears in an incident where a totally different
connotation is popularly attached to it from that which it
bears in all the other cases. Matthew II. I says : " Now
when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of Herod the king, behold, Magians from the east came to
Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the
Jews ? " In making up their conception of the magicians
in the New Testament and their encounters with Christi
anity, modern scholars usually omit this passage and judge
of them on the other passages alone, while in this one case
it is assumed that the name must refer to a different class
of persons.
That procedure is unscientific. There is no ground for
thinking that the word was applied to two totally different
classes of persons, or that Matthew has in mind one ofthe
two classes, while Luke thinks only of the other. The
same class is meant in the New Testament in^ every case,
and our conception of its character must be widened so as
to embrace the whole record regarding them. In fact Luke
uses the term Magian only of Bar-Jesus. Simon of Sam
aria is not called a Magian, though the verb and the ver
bal noun x are applied to his way of living and acting. In
respect of the other dealers in sorcery and sooth-saying
1 /j.ayeiaiv, Acts vin. g, fiayia, VIII. II.
(I40)

XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus. 141
none of these words is employed ; but terms are used, which
indicate other sub-species of the class that we have roughly
called magician.
In our view it is necessary to embrace all these incidents
under the same class. In Matthew we notice that the
Magians were familiar with Jewish books. That is known
to have been a characteristic of ancient magic : it was a
mixture of ideas and forms and names caught from various
religions, including the Hebrew, which was acknowledged
to be specially powerful. The acknowledgment was ap
parently not confined to votaries of the Hebrew faith, but
was general in the world where the Hebrews were known.
Jews were, by natural character, likely to be adepts in the
art of utilizing for their livelihood the weaknesses of human
nature : hence Jews of low character, even though they were
of high birth, appear among the magicians or exorcists at
Ephesus.1 The Magians were astrologers. They watched the stars
and saw the present and the future written in the heavens.
This again is one of the characteristics of the class of
magicians. They were also prophets, in the sense that the divine
power spoke directly to their souls. Bar-Jesus was a
" false prophet," which implies that he had turned the
belief that one should listen watchfully to catch the divine
voice into a means of individual gain : he had degraded the
best thing in life to the worst. The term " false prophet "
does not mean that he did not try to do and to be what
prophets did and were ; but that he took away the spirit
and the truth out of the prophet's life. He was a prophet
1 At Ephesus l\opKiardi and to. -rrepiepya -rrpd^avres are the terms used. At
Philippi the slave-girl was a sort of prophetess (/jiavTevoiievn) or diviner (exooo-a,
vvev/ia mdwva).

142 XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus.
who had lost, or never got, the spirit that makes the prophet ;
but he wore the outward semblance of a prophet.1 So thfe
false brethren of Galatians ill. 3 were in outward guise and
profession Christians, but lacked the spirit and the soul.
The theory that the story in Matthew is an idle, empty
myth, I set aside at once as totally irrational, although it
is still widely accepted, and|the difficulty is to get people
to regard the tale itself as worthjdiscussion. A myth is not
idle and empty, but is well worthy of careful consideration :
probably, however, those who call it an idle myth mean
that it is a mere piece of popular gossip, but they do not
explain how it has found its way into a book which is now
regarded by every reasonable scholar as a serious attempt
to make a trustworthy record.2
There seem to be only two views possible for an unpre
judiced and rational thinker to entertain. One is that the
story is the expression of a certain belief regarding the re
lation of this great event, the Birth of the Saviour, to a
certain class of persons who exercised a distinct influence in
the ancient world, and to a certain accumulated store of
ancient wisdom and teaching which was supposed to be in
their possession ; and that this belief clothed itself in mythic
form during the gradual growth of a body of Christian
tradition in the first century, under the influence of a
creative impulse due to half-conscious speculation about the
cosmic importance of such an event. Some who maintain
this theory might hold that the Birth of Jesus was a real
1 In 1 Corinthians xn. 2 Paul says, if I rightly catch the meaning, that
there was a kind of inspiration in the faith of dumb idols, and that this in
spiration produced a sort of prophecy, which lacked the real divine Spirit.
2 Dr. Moffatt seems (if I rightly interpret his obscure and brief reference)
to regard it as a " free composition," p. 24g, having a historical nucleus in
" speculation amongst Babylonian astrologers " about the " conjunction of
the planets Jupiter and Saturn," which took place in 6 B.C.

XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus. 143
event, some that it never occurred ; but that is immaterial
so far as the possible growth of a belief and a myth is con
cerned. The other possible view is that the narrative is an account
of a real incident, which was remembered and recorded
because it expressed an important truth. Many things
were forgotten, as less important ; but this was remembered
owing to what was implied in it.
The purpose of the present chapter is to advocate the
second view. It is, however, evident that the meaning
which was implied in the event, and which led to its being
recorded, is open to the other interpretation ; and that the
deep truth which lay in and under the facts might very
well be regarded as a growing and creative idea in the early
Church, gradually working itself out in the myth. I do not
know at present anything that can absolutely disprove this
better form of the myth theory ; and the theory is likely to
commend itself to many, who are repelled by the fact
that Matthew alone mentions the story. In this form
the myth-theory is totally distinct from the view which we
have unhesitatingly rejected, that the story is a piece of
empty gossip. It holds that the belief in the world-wide
importance of the event sought expression in a narrative of
acts done by representative personages, i.e. personages who
exist to give expression to a true idea : the truth is real, but
the acts are only created in order to body forth the idea to
a public which preferred the concrete to the abstract, and
disliked mere philosophic statement as alien to its character
and incomprehensible to its way of thinking. The myth is
the more concrete expression of philosophic truth.
From the view which we have taken in all the chapters
on this subject, it follows that, in the Gospel of Matthew,
the Magians must be taken as representing, or rather as

144 XI- The Magi at the Birth of Jesus.
being the embodiment of, the hereditary store of knowledge
in the Oriental world, as knowledge was at that time.
The customary translation "Wise Men" for the name
Magians in Matthew II. I, will suit the purport of this
chapter well. The "Wise Men " are examples of the best
type of the ancient magician. In them the devotion to
knowledge and the interest in truth are the most prominent
characteristics. They appear in this one incident, they
show this supreme quality, and then they disappear. If
the narrative about Simon of Samaria had concluded with
the statement in Acts VIII. 13, that he " also believed ; and
being baptized he continued with Peter," then we should
have unhesitatingly classed him with "Wise Men".
Now, as we have observed in all the cases of contact with
the new Faith, the magicians recognize intuitively the power
of the Spirit that acts through the new teachers. Accord
ingly in Matthew II. 1 the Magians became aware, through
their own previous investigation into truth, that the new
power which must come had come at last into the world,
and they travelled far to do homage to the king. They did
not fully comprehend the truth, but they believed without
understanding. The Wise Men are the embodiment of the past : they
welcome and worship the future. Their visit embodies
in concrete form and action, the great truth that the birth
of Jesus was the completion of past history and the starting-
point of a new age. The expression is Oriental and
Hebraic in type, not philosophic and abstract. The best
of the extra- Judaic world welcomes its new-born Saviour,.
but being outside of Judaism it does not fully comprehend.
It is not right, nor is it implied by the terms of the story,.
to suppose (as is sometimes done) that the Wise Men when
watching the heavens in their astrological pursuits saw some

XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus. 145
wholly new and unexpected star, or other astronomic
phenomenon such as a conjunction of planets, and recog
nized that this must portend the birth of a king of the Jews.
Such an explanation does not fulfil the conditions of the
story. It is clearly implied in the tale that the Wise Men
had other knowledge from other sources, making them ex
pect the coming of some special king of the Jews, whose
birth was an event of universal interest to the world. There
is implied both a certain store of traditional knowledge, and
a certain expectation of the cosmic event. It was not the
birth of any common king of the Jews that roused their
adoration and prompted their journey. It was some special
king whose advent was looked for by them and by all that
studied history.
The belief was widespread in the world at that time or
earlier that the Epiphany, or coming of a god in human
form on earth, was imminent, in order to save the human
race from the destruction which the sins of mankind deserved
and had brought nigh. The world was perishing in its
crimes, and only the coming of the God Himself could save
it. This belief can be observed in various forms during the
years that preceded. It prompted the Fourth Eclogue of
Virgil and it is seen in the Second Ode of Horace. To
them it means the glory and the triumph and the perman
ence of Rome.1 The West shall rule over the East. A
new war of Troy shall be fought, and a new European leader
shall conquer the representative city of Asia, and shall re
strain the raids of the Median cavalry. That is the " Sal
vation " which Rome has to offer, as is shown in chapter
1 On the ideas which Virgil derived from Isaiah through a Greek transla
tion and incorporated in that Eclogue, see the last chapter of Part II in the
present book. IO

146 XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus.
XV., where the real nature of that paternal government is
described as it worked itself out in history.
This belief in the King of the Jews, the Messiah, the
Conqueror, was universal among the Jews for a long time
before and after the birth of Christ, and was one of the re
markable features in that strange people, which drew the
attention of the Roman historian in describing them.
Tacitus speaks of the general conviction among the Jews
before 1 the great rebellion of A.D. 67-70, a conviction based
on the ancient books of their priests, that the East should
revive and that men sprung from Judea should rule the
world.1 Suetonius mentions the same belief, evidently deriving it
from the same ultimate source as Tacitus ; 2 but points out
what was in his opinion the real meaning of the prophecy,
viz. that one coming from Judea, to wit Vespasian, should
obtain the empire of the world. This was an explanation
after the event of a prediction which had been current in the
East before the event.
These Roman authorities show what were the forms in
which this expectation was current in the pagan world dur
ing the century from Virgil to Vespasian. In the Hebrew
prophecy the restoration of power to the East, and the end
of the domination of the West, were implied ; but the
Romans understood, and Suetonius carefully explains, that
the real meaning was the domination of the West over the
East. All, however, interpret the prophecy as referring to
the great struggle of East and West, that immemorial con
flict which reaches through all history from the beginning
1 Tacitus, "Annals," v. 13: fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudaea
rerum poterentur.
2 Suetonius, "Vesp.," 4 : esse in fatis ut eo tempore Iudaea profecti rerum
potirentur.

XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus. 147
down to the present day, and which must continue in the
future. The Magi in the East saw the star, the rising of the
Morning Star x of hope ; and they, of course, accepted the
Oriental interpretation. An Asiatic king, a king of the
Jews, had arisen in the world. That the East was struggling
against European domination is a great historical fact.
Mithradates derived all his importance from being the
champion of Asia in the long conflict. He had been de
stroyed ; but that was only one stage in the struggle. The
Magi eagerly welcomed the child, who was born King of
the Jews.
It is a narrow view, very different from the truth and the
kingdom of Christ. Yet the disciples themselves cherished
it, and even after the Crucifixion and the Resurrection they
asked, " Lord, dost thou at this time restore the Kingdom
to Israel ? " 2 The Magians were pervaded with the ideas of
their age and their race ; and it would be absurd to attribute
to them conceptions more universal and elevated than those
of the Twelve.
They are remembered in history and chronicled by
Matthew, not as witnesses to, or believers in, the true char
acter of Christ, but as furnishing by their journey the evidence
that the stored wisdom of the world was prepared for the
birth of Jesus at this time, and ready to accept Him when
He came according to their conception of His mission.
The incident had to be. It was necessary that the world
should of itself and through its own natural instinct recognize
its Lord. " Then comes the check, the change, the fall."
1 1 accept the general lines of Colonel Mackinlay's interpretation in his
hook on " The Magi : How They Recognized Christ's Star " (Hodder and
Stoughton, 1007).
2 Acts 1. 6.

148 XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus.
The world could not maintain itself on this high level of
intuition ; but for the moment the consciousness that this-
overpoweringly great event had happened, penetrated to
the mind ofthe Magi.
The same truth is expressed in historical form by Luke.
He is a Greek, and has the historian's instinct. In that
most wonderful passage, II. 1-3, where he describes the cir
cumstances that led to the birth of Jesus, he brings into
the sweep of his conception some of the greatest forces
that move through all ancient and modern history, and
shows how they cross one another at one point, acting and
reacting, and that point is the birth of the Saviour, the
central fact in all history. ?
In Matthew the truth is presented to us in concrete
form as a series of acts performed by individuals. There
is a certain resemblance here to myth ; but it is not a myth,
any more than Jesus Himself is a myth. He must come.
The whole history of the world leads up to Him, and finds
its explanation and justification in Him. That this world
with the stored-up wisdom of the past, imperfect as it is,
should recognize Him was another event that must be.
This is what Paul puts into the form of a " philosophy of
history " in Romans VIII.
The story of the Magians appealed to the simpler heart
of the Mediaeval world. Painters and sculptors loved it as
a subject. Matthew, having to use words only, might
omit the number of the Wise Men, but when a painter
showed the scene he must represent the actual number,
either precisely as two or three, or vaguely as a multitude.
During the third century the number is two in a painting
in the Catacomb of SS. Peter and Marcellinus ; but as early
as the fourth century the tradition established itself finally
that the number was three ; this, however, was merely a

XI. The Magi at the Birth of Jesus. 149
result of the artist's need. The number three is a natural
one to select, as believed to be the perfect number, and
liaving artistic advantages : moreover, three kinds of gifts
were brought by them.1
•See V. Schultze, " Christi. Archaeol.," p. 329.

CHAPTER XII
SERGIUS PAULLUS AND HIS RELATION TO CHRISTIAN
FAITH
So far as Sergius Paullus himself is concerned this episode
described in Acts XIII. 6-9 seems unmotived and abrupt.
He passes for the moment conspicuously across the stage
of history, and then disappears. His name seemed almost
to have perished, and the first edition of the great " Berlin
Dictionary of Roman Biography " in 1 898 had little to say
about him and nothing about his family ; J such continued
to be the case until 191 2 when we began the systematic
excavation of Pisidian Antioch, starting with the great
Sanctuary on the hill-top overhanging the city some miles
away, and continuing in the city proper.
Naturally, this work gave us from time to time the
opportunity of gaining access to inscriptions concealed in
private houses in the modern town, near the old site. Such
inscriptions are always difficult to find owing to the jealousy
with which the Turks seclude their homes. In one of these
occurs the name of Lucius Sergius Paullus the younger,
whom we at once confidently recognized as the son of the
Proconsul of Cyprus. Professor Dessau confirms our
opinion on this point ; and in a letter which he kindly sent,
he adds a brief statement of the family career in Roman
J " Prosopographia Imp. Rom.," 11. p. 221 (1
(150)

XII. Sergius Paullus. 151
Imperial history, with the comment, "evidently no member
of this family was Christian ". In this I quite agree, so far
as the distinguished members are concerned ; but in my
turn I ask, " Does this disagree with, or does it confirm
what Luke says about the Proconsul ? " x
The text is engraved in good letters of about A.D. 60
to 100, on a block of stone which once must have formed
part of the wall of a building. It was copied at Salir, one
of the outlying quarters of Antioch, by Mr. J. G. C. Ander
son and myself in 191 2.

L7 SERGlO-LrFPAVLLO

Fl UOHTilVlR^OTRIfl

MILaEC'VKERR<2VAEST

Fig. 2. — In honour of Sergius Paullus.

L Sergio, L(uci) f(ilio), Paullo " To L(ucius) Sergius Paullus the
filio, quattuorvir(o) v(iarum) c(uran- younger,2
darum), tri[b(uno)] son of Lucius, one of the four com-
mil(itum) leg(ionis) vi Ferr(atae), missioners in charge of the Roman
quaest(ori), streets, tribune of the soldiers of the
sixth legion styled Ferrata, quaestor,
etc."
1 Professor Dessau is the first authority on the subject, editor of the " Pro-
sopographia Imperii Romani," and engaged on the new and greatly enlarged
edition of that work. His experience in tracing the history of the great
Roman families gives unique value to his opinion.
2 In Latin, " son ". In Greek inscriptions the same distinction between
son and father of the same name is much more frequent, and is usually ex
pressed by veos or yedrepos.

152 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
The rest of the career was engraved on a separate stone,
which has not yet been found. The course of office is that
which was regular and customary for men of senatorial
rank. The second filio, written in full, distinguishes this Sergius
Paullus from a well-known father ; and the character of the
lettering shows that, as Mr. Anderson remarked, the in
scription should be assigned to the latter half of the first
century after Christ. L. Sergius Paullus must have served
as an official in the province Galatia before he attained the
consulship ; l and the inscription was then placed in his
honour by the Colony Antioch. His office was most prob
ably the governorship of the province, because there was
no other official of senatorial rank in the province except
the governor ; and this office was regularly held before
the consulship. Inscriptions in honour of governors are
very common in Antioch ; but inscriptions in honour of
senatorial officials other than Governors are not found
there, except when the official belonged to an Antiochian
family and governed another province.
From this inscription we learn that the Proconsul of
Cyprus, L. Sergius Paullus (such is the correct Roman
spelling) had a son who passed through the regular sena
torial course of office ; and the first stages in the career of
the latter are recorded in this inscription. The Proconsul
Paullus had also a great-grandson of the same name, who
was consul about A.D. 150, and again in 168.2
A new aspect, however, is imparted to the whole question,
when we take into consideration another inscription which
1 If he had attained the consulship, this would in ordinary course be stated
immediately after his name and before the earliest office of his career.
2 The interval seems too long for the consul of 168 to be regarded as
grandson of the Proconsul of Cyprus in 47.

Relation to Christian Faith. 153
has been published for nearly thirty years, but formerly was
totally misunderstood. It was republished by Mr. Chees-
man of New College, Oxford, from a revised copy in the
present year. The inscription, as it remains, occupies the
whole of a large block of limestone ; but, large as it is, it is
only a part of a much larger inscription, placed in honour of
a distinguished citizen of Antioch who was in the highest
course of Imperial service, viz. the senatorial, and of his
wife, whose name was in part lost. Her second name was
Paulla. Often as this inscription had been seen, it was only
in 191 3 that the full name of the lady was discovered. She
was Sergia Paulla.1
With this discovery the inscription assumes a new in
terest. From a document similar to several hundreds of
others, it becomes a memorial associated with the drama of
early Christian history and throws a light (which, as I hope
to show, is great) on the narrative of the Acts.
The full meaning and bearing of the inscription cannot
be understood without considerable explanation. The
marriage of a Roman lady of the senatorial nobility, like
Sergia Paulla, to a mere citizen of Antioch, is in itself
somewhat remarkable. We shall see that this marriage was
a determining factor in an interesting episode of history.
The situation was as follows.
The most prominent family in Antioch was that of the
Caristanii Frontones, whose history Mr. Cheesman has traced
1 For all details see Mr. Cheesman's article in " Journal of Roman Studies,"
1913, p. 262 f. The inscription, which every visitor to Antioch must see as
he walks through the streets near the Bazaar, is clear and well preserved,
but parts of the stone are broken. We have often seen it and verified Prof.
Sterrett's published copy ; but only in 1913 did I observe that in one slight
detail the type of his printed epigraphic text does not reproduce sufficiently
the appearance of the stone, and that on this slight point depends the great
value.

ANA0YK1
rATEPA-riAYAAAN rYNAlKA'FAlQY-KA
TPlZTANJoY^IPOrT
TXlNOSTTTEZBEy TQYAYTO KPAT OP<|
KAlZA^OSl ZEBA2LT»-|
KTfaTpAT-roY-AYK^ •fcArnAM$YAlAX

NTJQNH
Q SIT O Y aiEAYTOi-

Ro. 3.-Honour to Sergia Paulla and her husband erected by their son. Horizontal shading indicates loss or break of the stones (originally
part of wall of tomb ?) : oblique shading indicates erasure of the name of Domitian, The stones are restored as alternately long and short
y overs is common in the Koine of Asia Minor for yoveas,

[Gaius Caristanius Fronto, son of Gaius,
military tribune, praefect of a squadron of horsemen Bospo-
rani, enrolled in the Senate among former tribunes
of the people and former praetors, legatus
with praetorian rank of Pontus and Bithynia, ,
legatus of the deified Emperor Vespasian Augustus
of the Ninth Legion Hispana in Britain,
legatus of the Emperor Caesar (Domitian) Augustus
with praetorian rank of Lycia and Pamphylia]

[The most excellent Ser-]
gia Paulla, daugh
ter of Lucius, wife of Gaius
Caristanius Fron
to, legatus of the
Emperor Caesar (Domi)
tian Augustus
with praetorian rank of
Lycia and Pamphylia

[Gaius Caristanius Fr]onto, son and grandson of Gaius,
[did honour with loving duty] to his own [sweetest parents]

N.B. — The left-hand column is restored from a contemporary Latin titulus of C. Caristanius
Fronto : the Greek translation of some of the Latin technical terms is not always the same.

156 XII Sergius Paullus and his
through five generations. It was an Italian family, probably
from southern Latium or the Campanian frontier, which had
come to Antioch with the first Roman colonists about 24
B.C.1 The family had only equestrian rank, until a certain
Gaius Caristanius Fronto was promoted to the senatorial
career and the highest course of office in the Empire. The
date of this promotion is fixed by Mr. Cheesman, a very
careful and cautious scholar, to the joint censorship of
Vespasian and Titus in A.D. 73-4. On this date compare
a special note at the end of this chapter.
Now when we consider that this Gaius Caristanius was
the husband of a noble Roman lady, we cannot doubt that
Mr. Cheesman is correct in attributing the early promotion
of an obscure Roman knight from a citf of Galatia to the
influence of the family into which he had married. The
wife carried her husband with her into Imperial favour.
He must undoubtedly have been a man of outstanding
merit, otherwise the marriage would not have been arranged ;
and he knew how to use the opportunities which it gave
him. Further, the marriage may undoubtedly be connected
with the governorship of L. Sergius Paullus in the province
Galatia. The Governor visited Antioch, and the inscription
already published was erected in his honour. His atten
tion was attracted by the young Gaius Caristanius, whose
merit and wealth made him a suitable match for the sister
(or daughter) of Sergius Paullus ; and the governor recom
mended him to the Imperial notice and favour. The promo-
1 As King Amyntas died in 25 B.C., leaving his kingdom as a Roman pro
vince, it can hardly have been earlier than 24 that the province was organized
and the colony founded. The first of the Caristanii will appear later in con
nexion with the life of Quirinius, Governor of Syria in the year that Christ
was born : see the Gospel of Luke 11. 2, and below in chapter on Quirinius.

Relation to Christian Faith. 157

tion serves to date the tenure of Galatia by Sergius Paullus
to the period about 72-4,1 and the marriage falls in the
same period. There seems no other time or way in which
a Senator of high Roman family could be present in the
colony of Antioch. Now as the father of the governor of
Galatia had been only Proconsul of Cyprus in A.D. 47, a
rather humble office held by persons before the consulship,
it seems improbable that the son was old enough to have a
marriageable daughter in A.D. 73. We may, therefore, take
Sergia Paulla as his sister, and as daughter of the Proconsul
who was in contact with Paul at Paphos.
The period 72-4, then, probably marks the tenure of the
province Galatia by Sergius Paullus, the marriage of his
sister, and the promotion of her husband to the senatorial
career, first to the grade of tribune and then to that of
praetor. From this we may infer that Caristanius was pro
bably about thirty-two years of age in A.D. 74,2 and was
born about 42.
Thus we are coming closer to the Proconsul ; we have
found his daughter ; can we now discover anything more
about her ?
Sergia Paulla and Caristanius had at least two sons.
The eldest took the father's name, while the younger had a
cognomen Paullinus derived from his mother according to
a common custom in that age.* The names Sergianus and
Paullinus, as we observe in passing, can both be observed in
the province of Galatia : the latter very often ; it was very
common for provincials who were promoted to the Roman
1 Calpurnius [Nonius] Asprenas governed Galatia from 6g to probably a.d.
72. See Dessau, " Prosopographia ".
2 The lowest legal age for holding the tribunate was twenty-five, for the
praetorship thirty, and for the consulship thirty-three.
» See Cagnat, " Manuel d'Epigr. Lat.," p. 66 (Ed. 3).

158 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
citizenship to take names derived from the governor whose
official sanction had been given to the honour.1
The eldest son, Gaius Caristanius Fronto, erected this
inscription to his parents. We observe that he wrote in
Greek. It is remarkable that the son of a Roman senator,
bound by Roman custom to the career and the language of
a Roman, should prefer Greek to Latin. The very name
Caristanius, too, disappears now from Roman epigraphy.
The two facts must be connected. The son of a Roman
senator and a noble Roman lady degenerates from Roman
to Greek custom, and his family and name disappear from
Roman history. He sank consciously and intentionally
from Roman custom : he became a mere Greekling : the
ways of Roman honour knew him not. This is a fact so
noteworthy as to call for further examination.
It was, indeed, the case that gradually the Roman
citizens of Pisidian Antioch forgot the use of Latin and
became merged in the Greek-speaking population of the
province ; 2 but that is a fact of a later time. The leading
families of Antioch even so late as the early fourth century
still used Latin on formal occasions, though evidently
Greek was more familiar to them. A careful Austrian
scholar has studied the process, and dates in the third
century 3 the early stages of the degeneration from the use
of Latin. Even if we suppose that it began earlier, we
cannot place the first steps in the process before the late
second century. Here, however, we have a case which must
1 The names of all the governors of this period can be traced in the
epigraphy of Galatia : Nonius, Asprenas, Caesennius, Pomponius, etc. We
find even Nonius Paullus and Nonia Paulla, uniting the names of the two
governors, who went and came in 71 probably. We presume confidently
that the governor's sanction was needed.
1 z Thei degeneration at Antioch is described in " Cities of St. Paul," p. 278.
5 Kubitschek in " Wiener Studien," xxiv. 2. My dating has been the
same.

Relation to Christian Faith. 159
be dated after A.D. 81 and not later than A.D. 83. The
other cases, too, are found in mere provincial surroundings ;
but here we have a Roman in the line of Imperial service,
son of Romans of the higher nobility.
The more carefully we observe the facts, the more we are
struck with their unusual and non-Roman character.
The hypothesis forces itself on us that the reason lay
in religion. As yet the suggestion that follows must re
main a mere theory ; but further evidence may be found in
Antioch during the future excavations ; and the hypothesis
may guide and sharpen the search.
We recognize here the external signs of Christianity at
this period. Unwillingness to take public office was a wide
spread characteristic of the Christians, who shrank from
positions in which they were obliged to assist at pagan
ceremonies and even to take a leading part in the ritual.
On account of their reluctance to serve the State, they
were bitterly blamed and stigmatized as unpatriotic and
traitors and enemies of their country.1 Greek was the
language of Christian teaching at that time. The Church
in Rome itself used Greek and ranked as a Greek-speaking
Church until well on in the second century. Accordingly,
if the young Caristanius was a Christian, the situation is
forthwith seen to be natural and almost inevitable. His
religion came to him from his mother, and it came to her
from her father the Proconsul. Thus we are gradually
getting closer and closer to the story that Luke relates.
It may be urged as an objection to the result stated as a
conjecture in this chapter, that it seems to conflict with a
general principle of the Roman bureaucratic system under
the Empire : certain duties were imposed on the descendants
1 " Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. 352.

160 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
of a senator to the third generation,1 and in particular the
son of a senator was obliged to undertake a magistracy
and so enter the senate.2 This compulsion, however,
rested on the ancient principle that every Roman citizen was
bound to perform any public duty which the choice of the
people imposed on him, and the presiding officer at an elec
tion could compel any citizen to stand for office by placing
his name against his will in the list of candidates. In
practice, however, as Mommsen says,8 the compulsion was
restricted to pressure of an indirect kind. There would be
something very unusual, but not at all impossible, in the
conduct which our hypothesis attributes to the youngest
C. Caristanius ; but our hypothesis is founded on the undeni
able fact that there was something quite unusual in the
situation, and this element must be recognized and ex
plained. The question will at once be put, whether this hypothesis
is not disproved by the facts which we admit as practically
certain. The brother and the husband of Sergia Paulla,
and the descendants of her brother, were all pagan, and
engaged in the ordinary Imperial service. Is it possible, is
it in accordance with a reasonable view of the situation,
that the older Sergius Paullus the Proconsul, with his
daughter, should have been either Christian or half-way on
the road towards Christianity, while such near relatives
were pagans ? This must be carefully considered ; and, as
I believe, the discussion will prove instructive.
In the first place, consider the relation of the younger
Sergius Paullus, governor of Galatia, to his father the Pro-
1 Mommsen, " Staatsrecht," m. 468 f.
2 Ibid., 1. 476: see also Mommsen's paper in the " Festschrift Hirschfeld,"
p. 1 ff.
8 Loc. cit., p. 1, note 4.

Relation to Christian Faith. 161
consul of Cyprus. Before a.d. 72-4, the younger Paullus
had been praetor and then doubtless served as commander
of a legion (legatus) for three years and filled some other
office before he came to Galatia. Probably he was quite
forty years of age by that time, unless he had risen to the
praetorship in the earliest legal year of his age.
When the father was in Cyprus there is no probability
that his son was with him. On the contrary it may be
taken for granted that he was being educated in Italy as
young Roman nobles were educated in preparation for the
work of their life. An interesting and valuable picture of a
school for such boys at Naples is given by the poet Statius,
whose father was the principal of the school.1 The young
Sergius Paullus may quite possibly have been one of the
pupils. If the older Sergius Paullus had become a Christian, or
even had acquired a leaning to and an appreciation of
Christianity, there is no likelihood that a boy of the age of
his son and educated like him for the Roman service, would
be affected by his father's change of mind, about which he
would learn only after his father's return to Rome. What
ever may have been the feeling and belief of his father, the son
probably was already fixed in his Roman career. The fact
that in patriarchally administered homes2 of an Eastern
1 No passage is more instructive about the best side of Imperial life than
" Silvse," v. 3, 146-90. About that side one hears nothing from Juvenal or
Martial or even Tacitus, except by indirect inferences from miscoloured
records. No one can understand the Imperial system who has not studied
and digested the " Silvae " in great part. He may know the facts : Statius
shows the spirit, as a poet who passionately admired the beautiful in art and
morals saw it.
2 Oh the character of such households as those of Lydia, who came from
Asia Minor, and of the jailer, something may be learned from those of Phrygia
described in my " Studies in the History of the Eastern Roman Province,"
pp. 150, 373, etc. II

1 62 XII . Sergius Paullus and his
town like Philippi, belonging to a comparatively humble
class, the whole family were baptized with the head of the
household,1 cannot be taken as proof of what would happen
in such an aristocratic family as the Sergii Paulli with a son
in the circumstances usually attending that position. The
son would naturally continue his own life and work, with
out change of religion, whatever were the case with the
father. On the other hand, a daughter was often in a very dif
ferent relation to her father. Much of course depended on
the character of the father ; but a certain interest in study
and science was evidently hereditary in this family, and
the contemplative spirit is favourable to the affection and
the life of the home. The daughter would in all probability
not be with her father in Cyprus : the Roman system did
not favour the presence of wives with their husbands in the
province or the camp ; of old that had been forbidden ;
but it had become more common under the Empire, though
some objected to it, and would have restored by stringent
rule the old prohibition.2 Quite probably Sergia Paulla
was too young, or not even born, in A.D. 47. In Rome,
in her father's house, during his residence in the city, she
might naturally and probably come to think as he did about
the interesting nature and noble quality of the teachers of
the new faith. As to the question whether he became in
the fullest sense a Christian, the answer depends on the
interpretation of Acts XIII. 9, on which see the later para
graphs of this chapter.
As Lightfoot pointed out,3 a certain Sergius Paullus is
1 In passing we may remark that probably the children of those households
were young and under control of the head of the house.
2 See the debate in the Senate reported by Tacitus, " Annals," in. 33 f.
3 "Contemporary Review," May, 1878, p. 290 f. ; Meyer- Wendt quotes also
Hausrath, " N.T. Zeitgesch.," n. p. 525.

Relation to Christian Faith. 163
quoted in Pliny's list of authorities for statements made in
his second and eighteenth books ; and in both of those
books various facts are recorded regarding Cyprus ; hence
probability is distinctly in favour of the estimate just stated
of the Proconsul's character. Similar character belongs to
his grandson or great-grandson, the Consul of A.D. 152 and
168 (as already stated). In fact, the known character of
the youngest Paullus was formerly regarded by some as a
proof that this philosophic and scientific governor mentioned
by Luke was a sort of reflection of the second-century consul,
as mirrored in the mind and memory of the supposed late
concocter of the Acts. Lightfoot retorted by showing the
probability that the old proconsul was a man of similar
tastes to his great-grandson.1
So much is certain : the little that we do know gives a
favourable conception of the family, as a whole, and is in
accordance with Luke's account.
Moreover, we know that in that period there was a cer
tain admixture of Christianity in some noble Roman fami
lies ; but it would be absurd to suppose that, because one
member of the house was Christian, therefore all were
Christian. Domitilla, niece of the Emperor Domitian, and
Flavius Clemens his cousin, and Pomponia Graecina (wife of
Aulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain), were almost cer
tainly Christians. It has never been imagined that their
entire families were of the same religion. So it is with the
Sergii Paulli. One must understand that there was during
this period a certain informal agreement in such families,
otherwise family life would have been impossible. The
character of Pauline Christianity in Phrygia, and the system
of mutual allowance which existed there during the second
1 The relationship was not then assured. Now through the intermediate
stage Professor Dessau considers it may be taken as certain.

164 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
and third centuries, is described by the present writer else
where.1 That tolerant system was quite in the spirit of
Paul, who fully contemplates and makes rules for Christian
conduct in mixed households. It, however, was destroyed
by the massacre of Diocletian ; the moderate and tolerant
were to a great extent exterminated then in Central Asia
Minor ; and a new generation arose which did not under
stand the spirit or preserve the tradition of Paul. The pre
sent writer, without being conscious of the similarity, has
described the like effect produced in a much less degree
by the persecution of Domitian.2
The Sergii Paulli belong to this period; and if there
was any Christianity among them, as Luke says, we have
no reason to think either that it was universal in the family,
or that it led to the total break-up of family life. The
progress of discovery goes entirely to confirm this estimate
of the situation.
Now comes the question how much we can infer with
confidence from Luke's words in Acts XIII. 9 ; that " the
Proconsul believed, being astonished at the teaching of the
Lord". What is the force of the term " believe " {tnareva) in the
Acts? Does it necessarily imply that all who "believed"-
were converted and permanently became Christians in the
complete and final sense ?
First let us take the general question, without prejudice-
due to this special case.
The example of Simon Magus seems to furnish a very
strong argument. Simon believed3 and was baptized. Yet
JThe evidence, so far as known in 1894, is collected in "Cities and
Bishoprics of Phrygia," 11. chap. xn.
2" Church in the Roman Empire before 170," pp. 275 f., 296.
3 Acts vm. 13.

Relation to Christian Faith. 165
it is hard to suppose that he became in the final sense a
Christian, although for the time he was a member of the
Church. The language of Luke, on the whole, suggests
that he fell away from the Faith, though certainly this is
not distinctly stated. Simon, it is true, after his baptism
" continued with Philip ; and beholding signs and great
wonders wrought, he was amazed" (e^taraTo). Yet no
word is said to mitigate the final condemnation pronounced
on him by Peter : " thou hast neither part nor lot in this
matter ; for thy heart is not right ". He is not described
as repenting, but only as asking, in fear of the future, that
Peter should pray for him.
It seems highly probable that Luke knew the reputation
which the magician afterwards acquired,1 and that he re
garded the subsequent history of Simon as the natural re
sult of what occurred at the beginning of his connexion
with the Christians.
Luke seems to regard belief as the first stage in a process.
The second stage is "turning to the Lord," 2 of which the
seal is baptism, and which is consequent on believing.
Later there ensues the settled Christian life of those who
are styled in the perfect tense ire'irurTevKOTes, who are in
the state of them that have come to believe.3
A process is here presumed which regularly and usually
passed through these stages; and in various places, e.g.
xviii. 27, this process is described as a whole by mentioning
only the first stage, belief, and assuming that the normal
continuation followed. The context is the proof that
1 Without accepting as historical the presumptions of the pseudo-Clemen
tine treatises, one must regard them as having a certain foundation in the
belief and tradition of the Church about Simon.
2 Acts XI. 21, Marevov Kal 4PanTi(ovro, xviii. 8, cp. VIII. 13.
3 Acts xxi. 20, 25 ; xix. 18, etc.

1 66 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
" belief" implies all this. But is that always the case? does
iria-Tevco always imply that the person who believed went
on through the later stages, and became a Christian in the
fullest sense ? If so, why should Luke often add a second
verb, indicating one or other of the subsequent stages ? I
think that the state of mind called believing (iria-revetv)
sometimes advanced no farther than intellectual assent and
emotional impression ; and it would not be safe to assert
that belief always was followed even by baptism.
There is no sign, and no probability, that the Proconsul
was baptized. It is not likely that Luke, who pays so
much attention to the attitude of the Romans to the new
religion,1 would have omitted to say so if it had been the
case. It may reasonably be doubted whether his words
imply more than intellectual belief resulting from amaze
ment at what had been heard and seen, i.e. some very
deep impression on the mind, but nothing beyond that of
an openly avowed and permanently religious character.
The use of eicirKrjTTonat, elsewhere by Luke — three times
in the Gospel, here alone in Acts — does not suggest that
astonishment was a sure prelude to conversion. His em
ployment of the almost synonymous i^Larafiai is equally
unfavourable to that view. Mere astonishment is not the
state of mind which favours real conversion ; it produced
the unreal and evanescent conversion of Simon Magus ; it
made the mob of Samaria his devotees.
One piece of evidence seems strong. Luke IV. 32
uses the same words about the people of Capernaum as
about the Proconsul, "they were astonished at his teach
ing " ; but they were not converted. The Proconsul was
astonished at Paul's teaching ; he admired it as a moral
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 304 ff.

Relation to Christian Faith. 167
and intellectual display ; he was delighted with the bold
ness and the power of these itinerant lecturers ; but this
spirit Luke does not regard as a proof of real conver
sion, and he adds the words, "he was astonished at the
teaching of the Lord," to show the limitations of the case.
Meyer-Wendt and probably almost all ordinary readers
consider that the Proconsul was converted ; and Blass even
connects " he believed in the teaching of the Lord, being
astonished at the miracle " (eiricrevcrev eVt Tr} BiSa^rj rov
Kvpiov) — regardless of the Greek order and of the analogies
which he quotes (Luke IV. 32 ; Mark I. 22); but he has
not persuaded Wendt to accept this translation, and is not
likely to find others ready to follow him.
Mr. Rackham, on the contrary, takes a very different
view, and has a judicious and cautious note in his edition
of the Acts, to which I may refer the reader ; and he
concludes that a real conversion of the Proconsul would
have had more serious consequences, whereas Paullus ' ' had
no more dealings with the Apostles, who leave Cyprus ".
I would ask, however, how we know that Paullus had no
more dealings with the Apostles ; we are informed here
only about the moment : there remains much to say, that is
not here said. Mr. Rackham is rightly sensitive to a certain
abruptness in the incident, regarding which see below.
Luke lays full emphasis on the highly favourable impres
sion which Paul made on the first Roman official with
whom his mission work brought him in contact. This is
in accordance with his general plan, and illuminative of his
purpose in this history (as is pointed out in " St. Paul the
Traveller," pp. 304-9).
Some will be disposed to set no value on Mr. Rackham's
first argument : " it seems incredible that at this date a
Roman Proconsul could have been converted — it would

1 68 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
have made a great stir in the Church and in the world, of
which some echo must have reached us ". Admitting all
this, they would simply add that Luke, not being a trust
worthy historian, incorrectly represents Paullus as having
been converted ; thus the mistranslation of the statement
in the Acts would be made into a charge against the trust
worthiness of the writer.
We do not, however, admit Mr. Rackham's presumption
that, if the Proconsul had been converted, it would have
caused a great stir in the world — any more than we should
admit the reply that Luke gives an untrustworthy account
of the incident. The presumption rests only on the view
that the world was interested in this new religion, and
watched keenly for every trace of its progress. Quite the
opposite is the case. Hardly anyone except the few
Christians felt any interest in the new faith. The great
world was profoundly indifferent to the rise of another
Oriental "superstition": there were already a score of
them, and the addition of one to the list was not worthy
of any sensible person's notice. That is the spirit of the
first century. It was affected in some degree by Nero's
capricious and unreasonable action in A.D. 64-6, the act of
a detested tyrant whose memory was condemned and
whose acts were annulled ; but ultimately the attack made
by the despot resulted, as Tacitus says,1 in rousing sym
pathy for the sufferers ; and thus Tacitus dismisses the case.
No permanent change was produced in the public attitude.8
1,1 Annals," xv. 44: "unde . . . miseratio oriebatur, tamquam non
utilitate publica sed in saevitiam unius absumerentur ". Tacitus shows
clearly that this sympathy was misplaced, and that the Christians all
deserved death ; but that knowledge arose from subsequent history, and
was not in the minds of the Romans at the time.
2 This is one of the most important aspects of Tacitus's narrative. His
condemnation of all Christians as evil-minded springs from later experi
ence, and anticipates cruelty.

Relation to Christian Faith. 169
The case which Luke presents to the Roman world rests
on this general attitude : the State had decided, first through
the action of a provincial governor (Junius Gallio, Seneca's
brother), and afterwards by the formal judgment of the
Supreme Court of the Empire,1 that the government should
take no heed of such matters, i.e. that teachers might
teach and preachers preach as they pleased (so long of
course as they did not make themselves liable to prosecu
tion for treason or disrespect to the Emperor or any other
crime). The world of Rome, therefore, was not in the smallest
degree affected by the change of philosophic or religious
attitude in Paullus, if such a change occurred. His friends
might remark over the dinner-table,2 that he had taken up
with a new Oriental doctrine, just as they might tell how
another acquaintance had been initiated at Eleusis, or a
third had fitted up a private chapel for the rites of Isis ; and
this or other such tales might become public gossip for a
moment at the baths. Beyond this it is quite clear that
during the first century public opinion did not concern itself
with the doings of individuals, except for a time under Nero
and again under Domitian, both Emperors whose acts were
repealed at their death. Pliny had some difficulty: he
knew that the general principle condemning all Christians
as disloyal and enemies of society had been established ; but
the matter was not quite clear to him. When had the
principle been established ? Obviously no act of Domitian
or Nero was valid, therefore only Vespasian remains. He
had come to the opinion that State policy required the
extermination of the Christians ; but he did not actually
carry it out, as Domitian did. Trajan reviewed the whole
1 In the first trial of Paul at Rome.
2 Juvenal, " Satire " I. : " nova nee tristis per cunctas fabula cenas ".

170 XII. Sergius Paullus and his
case and confirmed the principle, but discouraged all activity
in action against the proscribed Christians.
Thus it is contrary to everything we know about the
position of the Christians to suppose with Rackham that the
conversion of a Proconsul would cause any great stir in the
world at that time.
Here comes in the evidence of the Antiochian inscriptions.
They point probably to the conclusion that Christianity
came into the female branch of the Sergian family, and
therefore that Sergius Paullus must have believed in a very
thorough-going way, though this could not safely be taken
as implying baptism and full membership.
There is more to be found in the future' regarding this
governor. Another case where the same term is used with uncertain
force is Acts XVII. 34 : " certain men also clave unto him
and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite,
and Damaris," etc. In this case I believe that no Church
was formed, and no baptism administered at the time.
Doubtless the effect produced on a few persons was
genuine and deep, but Paul did not then remain in Athens
to follow it up. This we gather from a casual phrase of his
in 1 Corinthians XVI. 15, which opens up a wide question,
and cannot be treated in this place. See below in chapter
" First-fruits of Achaia ".
Even if we take the words of xiii. 12 in their lightest
implication, the tendency and favourable opinion that
Paullus felt for the new faith might very well result in his
daughter at Rome gradually going farther. But certainly,
while this must be admitted, the simplest sense, which
practically every reader takes from that verse, is distinctly
favoured by the interpretation which has been proposed for
these Antiochian inscriptions ; though we fully acknowledge

Relation to Christian Faith. 17 x
that the interpretation remains a hypothesis for the present.
New evidence may be found if the excavations be com
pleted ; but the completion is a work of years and much
expense. In the opening paragraph of this chapter we spoke of the
abruptness with which the Proconsul is dismissed ; but this
would disappear entirely if he continued to be a personage
known among the Christians, for whom the historian wrote.
The incident was merely the introduction. of a well-known
figure in their history : they knew the rest : a complete
history of the work of the Holy Spirit in the world (which
it was Luke's aim to write in outline) would have more to
say about him.
This consideration, that Luke addressed a public to whom
many personages in his story were familiar as household
words, must be kept in mind when we are estimating his
work, and its purpose and quality.
The same remark applies to Simon of Samaria as to
Sergius Paullus. He, too, appears for one occasion in the
history, and then is lost to us ; but we know that he con
tinued to play a part in the drama of the early Christian
time, though legend and invention have obscured the real
facts of his subsequent career.
In both cases there remained much to tell. Luke knew,
as he was writing, that he was dealing with figures of im
portance, and that later Christian annals would know those
twoi persons : and there is a certain abruptness in the way
they are dismissed which becomes intelligible if there is
more in the future to tell.
That such abruptness indicates that there is more to say
which is not said at the moment, either because it was
familiar to the readers at that time, or because it was going
to be stated in the course of the history, is suggested by the

172 XII. Sergius Paullus.
abrupt dismissal of Philip in VIII. 40. He is brought to
Caesarea and left there. There is no apparent reason why
Caesarea is mentioned, until we come to xxi. 16, when the
purpose becomes evident. This relation between VIII. 40
and xxi. 16 was recognized even by some of the old
Tubingen School, who were not prone to see purpose or
plan in the Acts.
Note (p. 156). — It is known that Vespasian after his
accession in 69 advanced several of his personal friends
to places in the Senate ; but Caristanius cannot have ranked
among these. Mommsen considers that, until the assump
tion of the censorship for life by Domitian, emperors exer
cised the right of adlectio in senatum, i.e. inter tribunicios,
aedilicios, etc., only when they were actually holding the
censorship (" Staatsrecht," II. ed. 3, p. 944). This view is
not fully justified ; but exceptions were rare and are of such
a character as to suggest that they were contrary to a
usual practice. Assuredly Vespasian is not likely to have
promoted Caristanius between his act of 69 and the censor
ship, during which he made a large number of such pro
motions. On the whole question see Groag in "Arch. Ep.
Mitth. aus Oesterreich," 1897, p. 49; he considers it likely
that Vespasian did not use the right oi adlectio after 69 until
he assumed the censorship and exercised the right on a large
scale; and he points out the exceptions to the rule that
Mommsen laid down in his " Staatsrecht," loc. cit.

CHAPTER XIII
" SALVATION " AS A PAGAN AND A CHRISTIAN TERM
What was the salvation which the lame man at Lystra
was capable of receiving ? It has been pointed out already J
that the word in this place "has hardly the Christian sense,
but is used practically in the common pagan sense " ; and
that ' ' this is a proof of early date ". At the same time the
rendering in the Revised Version " faith to be made whole "
seems strangely narrow and unsatisfactory. The Authorized
Version " faith to be healed " is far better. There is no
reason why the revisers should have changed the rendering,
unless they wished definitely to exclude any possible wider
intention than mere physical restoration to health. This.
narrowing of the scope must, however, be condemned as
unjustifiable. To the pagans salvation was safety, health, prosperity -r
but even in pagan usage " the word never wholly excludes
a meaning that comes nearer to reality and permanence " ;
it is never wholly material and ephemeral ; " there is latent
in it some undefined and hardly conscious thought of the
spiritual and the moral, which made it suit Paul's purpose
admirably".2 Such was the usage among the pagans. In
such a context, when he is describing his first appearance.
1 See above, p. 46 : though the noun is not used, but only the cognate
verb (irio-Tiv) tov aaBrpiai, yet this is equivalent to rrjs <ra>Tiiptas, which was
avoided as ambiguous and almost suggesting the meaning " the confidence;
that springs from salvation," cp. Col. n. 12, etc.
2 ' ' The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," p. 95.
(173)

174 XIII. "Salvation" as a Pagan
as a preacher in a pagan city, it is inconceivable that
Paul should have used the word with a more restricted
intention than the pagans attached to it, when they em
ployed it in a religious connexion.
The lame man wished for salvation as he could imagine
it, safety and health. Paul read his mind by a flash of insight.
This passage well illustrates the close relation between
the pagan vows for salvation, and the offer of salvation
which Paul brought to the Graeco-Roman world. He
offered them something that they wanted and were praying
for ; and in the offer he took the opportunity of purifying
and spiritualizing their conception of that salvation, which
they were trying " to purchase by vows or to extort by
prayers and entreaties from the gods".1 He gave them
what they wanted, and yet something far above what they
could ask or even think.2
The word " Salvation " (crooTTjpta) was especially suited
through its pagan religious use for employment in making
the Christian Gospel intelligible to the Graeco-Roman world.
The world wished and was praying for something like the
"Salvation" that Paul announced to all. The study of
this word is peculiarly instructive in respect of the relation
between the teaching of Paul and the religious longings and
conceptions of the Graeco-Roman public, and especially the
syncretistic religion of the great pagan Mysteries. There
are striking analogies between the pagan and the Christian
use ; and in modern time some scholars have been so im
pressed with these analogies as to forget or ignore the even
more startling differences.3
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," p. gs.
2 Ephesians in. 20.
3 Loisy, catching the analogies from some German scholars, has empha
sized them with extreme superficiality, being blind to everything except what

and a Christian Term. 175
That the earlier Christians (whom Paul followed) derived
their use of this word from the Greek translation of the Old
Testament is, of course, certain. They did not use it be
cause it was commonly employed by the pagans in pagan
religious expression, but because it was familiar to them
selves in their own Scriptures. To the pagans, however,
the word carried meaning and power, not because it was
in the Septuagint, but because it expressed the desire of
their hearts, and was familiar to them in their own religious
observances. The general fact that this term " Salvation " was so im
portant in the pagan mystic religions may be assumed as
familiar. The evidence has been stated from different sides
by several scholars, and is put prominently in Professor
H. A. A. Kennedy's " St. Paul and the Mystery-Religions " :
those religions "may be said to offer salvation to those
who have been duly initiated" (p. 199): "but it is im
portant to note that the salvation was invariably assured
' by the exact performance of sacred ceremonies ' " (p. 216) x :
" above all, it did not necessarily involve a new moral ideal "
(ibid.). Yet Professor Kennedy is fully alive to the germs
of higher ethical and religious ideas involved : " no unbiassed
mind can fail to read between the lines almost pathetic
indications of a craving for fullness of life, for a real and
enduring salvation" (p. 95). The salvation was gained
through a new birth : " the initiates are fed with milk as
being born again ".
In paganism the association of their " Salvation " with
the idea of rebirth or of death and a future life, was invari-
catches the eye on a first view of the subject ; see " The Teaching of Paul
in Terms of the Present Day," pp. 286, 304, etc.
1 The last seven words are quoted from Cumont, " Les Religions
Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain," p. xxii.

176 XIII. "Salvation" as a Pagan
able. Both Paul and the Mysteries " taught the Way of
Salvation, or simply ' the Way ' ; but in the Mysteries the
Way was literally a path marked by a white poplar tree
and other signs, which the soul of the dead man had
learned in life through the esoteric and mystic lore "} The
simple inscription on a rather elaborately sculptured tomb
stone of the type of a door, found at Akmonia in Phrygia,
was probably an expression of the mystic teaching : — 2

fr-

They

«"["]

live,

fieyav k(v$v-

great danger

\_v\ov imreQev-

having es

\y]6res

caped.

These words are incised rather carelessly and irregularly
near the edge of the stone, while the middle, where the
inscription usually stands, is left blank. The reference is
to safety gained in a future life from the dangerous situa
tion of man in the present world with its " hard and
dreadful servitude to the power of the demonic rulers,
organized in a sort of hierarchy of evil forces, ' angels and
principalities and powers ' (Romans VIII. 38) under ' the
ruler of the power of the air ' (Ephesians II. 2)." 3 Such
safety and life is the " Salvation " of the Mysteries. As
Professor Kennedy on p. 95 says " the hope of immortality
is conveyed to their votaries through an elaborate ritual,"
the centre of which was formed by " grotesque myths " in
which was " embodied the return to life of Osiris and Attis ".
There is a certain outward resemblance between some
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," p. 302.
2 It is published from copies by myself and Professor Sterrett of Cornell
in " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," n. p. 564 f., no. 465, among the
Christian inscriptions ; but I should now prefer to assign it to the mystic
paganism. 3 " Teaching of Paul," p. 304.

and a Christian Term. 177
of this teaching, so far as it contains the. germs of finer
ideas, and the purely spiritual teaching of Jesus and Paul ;
but no true analogy exists between them. Only those who
ignore the difference between mere prescribed ritual and
what is really spiritual can mistake superficial resemblance
for real organic analogy. " It is painfully evident in the
writings of the school whose views we are discussing that
they are so habituated to consider ritual the essence of
religion as to miss the essential character of the Pauline
'Way '." 1
Among the pagans, then, the term " Salvation " was
largely material in its connotation, and salvation was gained
by ritual and ceremonial. There were three chief depart
ments, so to say, of salvation among the pagans : the
salvation gained by religious duties and vows and prayers,
the salvation sought by magic rites,2 and the Imperial
salvation. As in every other department of life, so here,
the policy of the Empire enters to dominate and to guide
the thoughts and acts and even the prayers and wishes of
all its subjects : chapter XV.
The salvation that was sought by magic was practically
the same that the devout pagans prayed for. Magical art
grows out of the degeneration and degradation of religion ;
and the only difference between magical and religious salva
tion was that the devotees of magic were on the whole
lower in moral and mental character than the other pagans,
and their conception of salvation was therefore more
material and more vulgar. In the following chapter XIV.
some examples are quoted of the ordinary pagan religious
salvation. 1 " Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," p. 304.
2 Hubert in Daremberg-Saglio, " Diet, des Antiq.," under " Magia " gives
salvation as one of the objects sought by magic arts.
12

CHAPTER XIV
PRAYERS FOR SALVATION AMONG THE PAGANS OF
ASIA MINOR
WE must try to comprehend more clearly by looking both
at the subject of chapter XIII. as a whole and at some
typical examples, first how Paul thought about his own
teaching in its relation to the pagan world, and secondly
what was involved in the prayers and vows which the
pagans were making.
To understand the feelings of his pagan contemporaries,
and so to be able to make his message intelligible to them by
showing them that it satisfied their vague and " ignorant " x
gropings after thigher religious and ethical ideas, was a
necessity for Paul, and is now a necessity for us, if we are
to comprehend the history of his work as contained in the
Acts. Some paragraphs of the Epistle to the Romans
especially,2 and many allusions elsewhere, show that Paul
was fully alive to the existence in the contemporary pagan
mind of such germs of better thought. It has been the
purpose of the present writer from the beginning to exhibit
the close relation of Paulinism to the highest conceptions of
right and good among the pagans.
By the term Paulinism it is needful to explain that
I mean Christianity as expressed by Paul to the Graeco-
Roman world — not a development out of the Teaching of
Jesus, nor a superstructure built upon that Teaching, but
1 Acts xvn. 23. 2 Romans 1. 19 f., n. 13-15, vin. 18 ff.
(1/8)

XIV. Prayers for Salvation among Pagans. 179
the expression of it in a form which could be readily com
prehended by his pagan hearers, and become vital and
creative among them. That vitality and creativeness rested
first on a certain organization, which was necessary in
order to knit together a really growing society, a congrega
tion, and in the complete stage a Church, and secondly on a
common teaching so expressed as to be comprehended by
all. Both conditions were fundamental, and implied in
Paul's idea of the unity of the Church. No unity, no per
manent harmony and brotherhood, can exist among
scattered congregations, divided both by long distances and
by diversity of training and blood and ideals, except through
a certain machinery of organization. Such organization
was necessary to maintain the vitalizing and unifying inter
communication among the separate congregations which
was the life-blood of the Universal Church ; it was needed
also to maintain permanence of tone and ideals in the in
dividual congregations. That such organization of the
congregations was contemplated by Paul from the beginning
of his mission to the Roman world, and is described to us
in the pages of Luke, I have always maintained. Some
modern scholars discredit and ignore all this creative side
of Paul's character and work, but hardly any have gone
quite to such an extreme as Professor Deissmann of Berlin
in his recent " St. Paul : a Study in Social and Religious
History".1 The fundamental forms of such an organization were
floating in the atmosphere of the Roman world. They
were Roman forms, but not pure Roman ; they were the
forms suited for the society that existed in Asia, uniting
1 The concluding chapter of the present writer's " Teaching of Paul " is
devoted to a criticism of Dr. Deissmann's book.

180 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among
elements that partook of the genius and the nature both of
Jews and of Hellenes, varying in details from Imperial pro
vince to province, yet everywhere bearing a generic type
as Roman. These forms were at hand. Paul did not imi
tate any existing organism ; he merely worked with the
conceptions and used the forms of his age, adapting them
to his purpose ; and his successors developed them to new
uses. Along with the religious conceptions and the organizing
forms, Paul (and in much smaller degree the pre-Pauline
teachers) adopted the names and words of existing society.
He did not attempt to create a new Christian language : J
such an attempt must have proved vain, and would have
stultified itself : he must . speak to his audiences in their
own language if he wished to reach their heart.2 But the
already existing words he filled with a fuller and richer and
more spiritual content.3 Thus the words of the early Chris
tian teaching were old, and yet in a sense they were new :
the sound was old, but the meaning was so much developed
that they were new. Yet the change of meaning was such
that they were still intelligible in a certain degree to the
pagans — not indeed fully intelligible : who has ever grasped
the full meaning of Paul's teaching ? what pagan or what
Christian theologian has ever fully understood all that is set
forth in the letter to the Romans ? The teaching of Paul
remains always on a higher level than we can attain, and
yet it is always in a degree intelligible and vitalizing even
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," ch. liii.
2 As Ennius said, he had three hearts, because he had three languages : I
do not dogmatize about the meaning of the word heart. A friend who knew
the Turks very intimately said that a Turk to whom you talked in French be
came a totally different person when you talked to him in Turkish ; and this
friend was a diplomatist of thirty years' experience.
3 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. 285, 410.

the Pagans of Asia Minor. 181
to the simplest religious heart ; and there is a power in it
that is even more effective and intelligible to the simple
religious consciousness than to the complex theological
mind. There are, therefore, two things which must be kept in
mind, as we try to understand the history contained in the
Acts. We must have always before us, first the relation
of Paul to the pagan religious ideas current in society, and
secondly his relation to the Imperial organization.
These two matters the present writer has always tried
to state emphatically and as clearly as possible, from the
beginning of his work in this department ; and the present
chapter is intended to serve the same purpose. In the
first place I shall quote some brief typical sentences from
earlier books, and in the second place I shall add some
illustrations from contemporary documents of the early
Christian period.
The modern world has awakened to the complexity and
the intensity of the religious questionings that were then
burning in the pagan world.1 In paganism Paul saw also
that there was, or rather had originally been, an element of
truth and real perception of the Divine nature.2 The regions
where the new religion spread at first most rapidly were
those where the people were becoming aware of the beauty of
Greek letters and the grandeur of Roman government, where
they were awaking from the stagnation and inertness of an
Oriental people, and their minds were stirred and receptive
of all new ideas, whether Greek philosophy or Jewish
or Christian religion.3 Here and always we find that
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms ofthe Present Day," p. 284.
2 " Pauline and Other Studies in the History of Religion," 1906, p. 166
(in a reprint of a paper read to the Oriental Congress about 1891 or 1892).
3 " The Church in the Roman Empire before a.d. 170," p. 147.

1 82 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among
the spread of Christianity was favoured by intelligence
and freedom of mind in those among whom it was first
preached.1 The Asiarchs, who were Paul's friends, had no
doubt held, many of them, priesthoods of the native deities
before they became officials of the Imperial cultus.2 Paul
did not make speeches at Ephesus inveighing against the
goddess of the city. In the denunciation of images he
stands on the footing of the philosophers. His teaching
was introduced to his pagan audiences in the language ot
the purest and simplest theology current among educated
men. From this he proceeded to more advanced teaching.
Hence the instantaneous and electrical effect produced on
the Galatian cities.3
The new Empire transcended national distinctions and
national religions : this new unity required a new religion
to consecrate it, and to create a common idea and a tie . . .
the new Empire set about creating a new religion, taking up
the existing religions and giving them a place in its scheme :
the Emperor represented the majesty, the wisdom, and the
beneficent power of Rome, and he was in many places con
ceived as an incarnation of the god worshipped in that dis
trict : 4 this new Imperial religion was the expression of
Roman patriotism, the bond of Roman unity, and the pledge
of Roman prosperity : 6 it was the keystone of the Imperial
policy.6 Christianity also created a religion for the Empire
transcending all distinctions of nationality ; and the path
of development for the Empire lay in accepting the religion
1 " The Church in the Roman Empire before a.d. 170," p. 134
2 Ibid., p. 133. 3 " St. Paul the Traveller," pp. 146-9.
4 " The Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. 191.
6 Ibid., p. 209.
6 Ibid., p. 324 : this expression has been quoted by Mommsen as the per
fect expression of the importance of the Imperial cultus in the State : see
" Expositor," July, 1893, p. 2.

the Pagans of Asia Minor. 183
thus offered it to complete its organization. Universal
citizenship, universal equality, universal religion, a universal
Church, all were ideas which the Empire was slowly
working out, but which it could not realize till it merged
itself in Christianity.1
A few typical dedications may now be quoted as ex
amples of these two fundamental conditions in the relation
between Pauline Christianity and the established social and
religious system of the Empire. They are all selected as
bearing on the longing felt, and the vows and the prayers
offered, for " Salvation " by the pagans among whom Paul
moved and preached. They are for the most part later than
the first century, because the native spirit in Anatolia did
not express itself in writing on stone at that time ; but there
is every reason to think that they are as characteristic of the
first century as of the second. Towards the end of the
third century there appears a new tendency to compete
with and to outdo Christianity by adopting some of its ideas
and forms.2
We have spoken about the frequent occurrence of the
term " Salvation " in pagan vows. It is common ; but
there is an even larger number of cases in which it is left to
be understood, and there can be no doubt what word is to
be supplied from the analogy ofthe cases where " Salvation "
is mentioned.3 Two examples are therefore given in the
accompanying cuts, and others are quoted.
I. The first was found at Dorylaion (Eski Sheher), and is
published by Professor G. Radet in his " En Phrygie," p. 147.
1 " The Church in the Roman Empire before 170," pp. 191 and ig2.
2 " Pauline and other Studies in the History of Religion," art. iv.
3 In the " Teaching of Paul," p. 94 f., I have spoken too strongly, writing
from memory, about the frequency of the term in dedications, and " very
many " should be changed to " many " ; but the words are right if one in-
clud es the cases where the term is to be understood. \

184 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among
It is a work of the rudest kind, and that is the reason why
it is selected. We here have the prayer and vow of the
common, poor, and uneducated peasant. The language is
as rude as the art ; but still the meaning is certain, except
that the opening word can be understood in more ways
than one. It may probably mean " To (the god) Papas,"

Fig. 4. — Vow to Papa Men for salvation.
neMriy nairSs To Papas Papas
TeKvwv aar- [for] his children's sal
ivas Miji/1 vation to Men
evX-r)" 1 & vow.
with another title Men applied to him later in the dedication.
This seems to me the most likely interpretation ; but it
is also possible to translate : " Papa son of Papa " (or even
1 In line 2 Professor Radet has E and reads Tenvip Hearripias, " For Papas,
child of Neoteria, Papas (made) a vow to Men ". This cannot be defended,
and is evidently a mere slip : the form that results is in several ways contrary
to all usage.

the Pagans of Asia Minor. 185
" the son of Papas, Papas ") made the vow.1 The patronymic
sometimes occurs before the son's name in Anatolian dia
lects ; see a paper by the writer : , " Inscr. en Langue Pisidi-
enne" in "Revue des Universitis du Midi," 1905, p. 358,
no. 5.
Papas literally means "father," and this title was com
monly applied to the supreme God in Asia Minor, especially
in Bithynia and North Phrygia. It also was one of the
commonest personal names all over Anatolia, especially in
the less hellenized districts. The dedication then means
" To Papas (the Father God), i.e. to M6n, Papas (the man)
MJ&r] the children's salvation (makes, or pays) a vow".2
Another interpretation, however, is possible after the analogy
of f hat group of epitaphs in which the making of the grave
__for a deceased member of the family is at the same time
¦pribed as the making of a vow to the god : an example
offtiis class is given below as no. IV. in the present chapter.
Inlthat case there would be omitted between line 1 and
line1; 2 a line 3 containing the words /cal virep, and the mean
ing Jyould be : " To (his son) Papas and on behalf of the
ition of the children Papas to Men (makes) a vow ".
Se form and style of this rude monument are similar to
those which are described in the chapter on Luke's Name.
TheHpreposition virep or irepi is omitted in line 2 ; the
[a regularly has the preposition. The two prepositions
as is the usual nominative with papa in genitive and dative ; but
iis season to think that sometimes a (possibly Phrygian) inflexion, Papa,
igerlfitive Papas, may have been used : " Essays in the History of the Eastern
JRortianBrovinces," p. 321, 10, where read &rl [irpa>]Ta[paK\i]Tov kip. Hwrras.
2!Thelnystic identification of several different gods as varying forms of
pamel ultimate divine nature was widespread in Anatolia. Numerous
loccur : one of the most elaborate is No. 197 in " Cities and
|of Phrygia," n. p. 375 ; compare pp. 34, 104, 263 f., 293 f., and Nos.
1 the same book.
bgraver was unskilful, and certainly omitted something: that he
vhole line is the easiest supposition.

1 86 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among

are used in these dedications practically as equivalent.1
Also in the Christian form that Jesus died for man, both are
used ; and in I Thessalonians V. I O the true text is doubt
ful, as both virep and irepL have good MS. authority. On
the analogy of the Christian and the pagan forms more is
said at a later point in this chapter.
II. The following, found at Nakoleia, was copied by me
in 1883:—

Fig. 5.— Vow to Zeus the Thunderer for salvation.

MriTp6<pi\os '[Ac-
«Xij7r5(s) trvv yvvai-
nl 'A^./j.ia irepl eavT&v
Kt tGiv IZlrav Re rSrv
KO-pTTWV Ke T7JS K&-
pL-ns o-uT-ripias [Ail
BpovTtivTi e\yxh"

Metrophilos son of
Asklepas 2 with his wi|
Ammia for their own
and their family's an*
the crops' and the vii
lage's salvation to ~
the Thunderer a vo

1 Out of the equivalents uire'p and -rrepi a novel Byzantine forn
evolved. I have copied this twice, but doubted my own copy, or th|
thinking that + rrept was intended. Professor H. Gregoire confirms thi ' orn
2 The inscription reads: "Metrophilos Asklepas," a double name ; but
probably sigma is an accidental dittography, hence I translate adHe/e.

the Pagans of Asia Minor. 187
This vow is comprehensive. The inclusion of the
family is common. It is evident that the family life was
very closely united in the ^Egean countries in the less hel
lenized circles of society. In Phrygia the family unity even
included the married sons with their wives : the " brides "
(vvfitfiai) were part of the household.1 Hence the salvation
is besought for the family as a whole ; and, when the head
of a household found salvation (as in the case of Lydia and
the jailer at Philippi) the entire household shared in it, and
if the salvation took a Christian form, they received baptism
in a body. The same, doubtless, was the case with the
household of Stephanas at Corinth : see chapter " First-
fruits of Achaia ". The thought expressed here is typical
of Anatolian and Macedonian custom.2
III. Another dedication found at Kuyujak, between Dory-
laion and Nakoleia, was copied by Professor Sterrett in
1883. I have not seen the stone.
aewa'ldaovos Xeuna Jason's
<riv$ios repl tS>- wife on behalf of her
v ISiav o-arripi- family's salvation
01 Wnvl Oirpavi- to Men the Heavenly
<f k\ 'A-k6\\uvi (god) and Apollo
evxhy a vow.
This dedication is given because it offers a good parallel to
the case of Lydia. Xeuna acts on behalf of her family in
this vow for their salvation. Apparently her husband is
living, but is not interested in religious matters. The
parallel, however, is not perfect, for Lydia changed the
religion of her family, which it can hardly be supposed that
her husband would have consented to, if he had been living
1 See " Studies in the History of the Eastern Provinces," pp. 71, 82, 150,
372. 2 Zeus Bronton is almost entirely confined to the northern part of
Phrygia about Dorylaion and Nakoleia : he is also the Father, Pappas or
Papas.

1 88 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among
and near her ; but no one would wonder that Xeuna made
a vow on her own account for her family, even though her
husband was not interested.
Vows on behalf of the entire family, without the defining
word " salvation," are quite common.1 As was said above,
it may be assumed that the purpose of the vow in such cases
is the " salvation " of the family.
IV. An example of the omission of the defining word
" Salvation " is added in Fig. 5, which was copied atDory-
laion by me in 1883, and was afterwards published by
Domaszewski and by Radet, whose copies differ as to one
of the names ; but they are proved incorrect since another
dedication to a different deity by the same persons 2 has
been found and published.3
This is an inscription of a remarkable kind. It is an
epitaph in memory of Timon, and at the same time it is a
dedication to Zeus4 for (the salvation Of) the household.
To make the grave was a religious duty, and the erection of
the epitaph over it is the record ofthe vow.6 This class of
gravestones is common in Phrygia. The word salvation is
sometimes expressed in such cases, and sometimes omitted.
1 vrrep twv iSiav -rrdvTmv. -rrdvTuv is sometimes omitted, sometimes ex
pressed, virep tov oIkou also occurs.
2 Domaszewski, " Arch. Epigr. Mitth. aus Oesterreich," 1883, p. 178, reads
'A-rriavos; Radet "En Phrygie," p. 149, reads Ka-rrlraivos ; but "l-rrrtuivos is
confirmed by the inscription in " Essays in the History of the Eastern Pro
vinces," p. 271. Supply both ehx-liv and aarrripias.
3 I read iSiav with blank at the beginning, but both Domaszewski and
Radet have the form eiSiav.
* In one case Zeus the Thunderer, in the other inscription Zeus of the
district Dagoutta in Bithynia.
5 On this subject see a paper in "Journal of Hellenic Studies," vol. v.,
1884, on " Sepulchral Customs in Phrygia," by the writer, also " Essays on
the History ofthe Eastern Provinces," p. 271 f. In some cases of this class
the formula is "to so-and-so and to the god a vow " ; the first inscription
in the present chapter may be understood in that way ; and there are other
varieties.

the Pagans of Asia Minor-

189

NOEKAlAMEIACTei
MoNiePErrTOKAl ATtQa AftNIOT
kAiAioMYDOLL^N
TPOQ^^fTTEPTON F/AtQMAH BPON
^TOMTl TJ^

Fig. 6. — Dedication to Zeus the Thunderer on behalf of the family (Dory-
laion). The top is restored conjecturally as an example of a common
type of votive or sepulchral tablet. Some symbol was placed above
the inscription (perhaps eagle or thunderbolt).

KevavSpos "Imra-
vos ko.1 'Afietas Tei-
/j.uivl Bpe-rrT$, xal
'AtroW&vios
Kal Atopvaios o-vv-
Tp6<pa inrep tu>v
ettiwv AttBpov-
tcovti

Menander son of Hipp-
on and Amias to Ti-
mon their foster-child,
and Apollonios
and Dionysios to their
foster brother on behalf 01
the family's (salvation) to
Zeus the Thunderer (a vow).

190 XIV. Prayers for Salvation among Pagans.
It is remarkable that the idea of " Salvation " should be
so closely connected with the making of the grave. Re
spect to the dead is a prayer for the whole family and its
permanence and prosperity. The dead has gone to be a
god with the gods ; the tomb is his temple ; and the worship
of this new god is inaugurated with the grave and epitaph,
which are the discharge of a vow to secure his blessing
for the entire household. In the two dedications Timon
the foundling is regarded as identified with Zeus the
Thunderer and with Zeus of Dagoutta.
Evidently virep with the simple genitive implies virep
aoivrnpiac; with the genitive. Is not the same explanation to
be given of the use of virep in the Christian formula that
Christ died for men (virep and irepi)7 He died for (the
salvation of) men.
It is not quite clear whether Apollonios and Dionysios
are children or only foster-children of Menander and Amias :
but the form suggests as perhaps more probable that they
are only foster-children. If the latter is the case, then
Menander would seem to have made a trade of bringing up
foundlings, who were usually well treated and who occupied
a recognized place in the household ; they are sometimes
distinguished from the slaves, but in other cases it looks as
if they were practically slaves. The custom of selling them
as slaves was certainly not infrequent.1
1 On this subject see Pliny's well-known letter on the subject to Trajan and
the Emperor's reply, with Hardy's commentary; also the discussion in
" Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," 11. p. 546. Such foundlings brought up in
a strange family are called Bpeirrol, Bpep.p.aTa, even Bpeirrd in one case. The
parents are Bp4\f/avres, and this term is used about Menander and Amias in the
second inscription mentioned above, but not quoted in full.

CHAPTER XV
THE IMPERIAL SALVATION
ANOTHER form of dedication, which is extremely common,
is for the salvation and everlasting continuance of the
Emperor and his house.
From the beginning of its history Christianity was
brought into the closest relations with the state and the
religion of the Emperors. Paul obscurely hints at the
worship of the reigning Emperor, "him that calls himself
God," and the dead Emperors in 2 Thessalonians II. 1-12.
The Revelation of John is absorbed in the conflict against him
that sits on the throne of Satan. After the time of Vespa
sian "a charge of Christianity was tested by calling on the
accused to perform the ceremonies of loyalty and worship
of the Emperors ".1 From the beginning to the end of the
contest with the State this worship of the Emperors was
the immediate enemy of the Christians in a far more press
ing way than the worship of Jupiter or the other gods.
A few indulgent governors of provinces were willing to
accept as the test of loyalty for accused Christians their
oath by the salvation of the Emperor ; 2 and even Tertullian
permitted this oath to be taken by Christians.3
What then was the " salvation " of the Emperor ? It
1 " Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. 275.
2 Ibid. p. 323 f. in footnote.
3 " Apologet.," 32 ; but the oath per genium Augusti was forbidden.
(190

192 XV. The Imperial Salvation.
was a very vague term, and we can attempt only to de
scribe its most prominent aspect.
This class of dedication is specially characteristic of the
custom on the Imperial estates, which embraced a very
large part of the best land throughout Asia Minor. Those
estates were most extensive in the less hellenized provinces,
like Cappadocia and Galatia, where the Roman Emperors
inherited the vast properties of the kings, as well as those
of the great religious centres. The population on the
estates were in a specially close relation to the reigning"
Emperor ; they were not like ordinary provincials, but stood
on a different platform of rights : in fact they had no rights
except such as the Imperial pleasure and the force of custom
allowed them. They were not far removed from being the
slaves of the Emperor, though they were not actually slaves,
nor were they even serfs attached to the soil, though their
status had considerable analogy to that of serfs and steadily
degenerated towards it, until after the middle of the fourth
century they may be fairly called in the fullest sense serfs,
bound to live on and cultivate the soil and passing with the
soil by purchase or inheritance to the next owner.
The cultivators of those great Imperial estates, therefore,
being in a status and legal position that approximated to
slavery, had the right of slaves to be considered a part of
the household of the Emperor.
Hence the frequency on the estates of vows and prayers
for the salvation of the Emperor and his household. The
whole household formed a unity, as in private life ; and the
members of the household prayed for the entire body.1
Slaves and freedmen made vows for their master; their
1 Similarly, in the preceding case, a villager prays for the salvation of the
village: chapter xiv., p. 186.

XV. The Imperial Salvation. 193
most sacred oath was by the genius of their lord, who stood
to them in the relation almost of father and god — these two
relations approximated in the mind of the common people
— and in making such vows and prayers they included
themselves as part of the household. They seem to have
hardly thought themselves free to approach the god, except
through their master, who was to them the embodiment on
earth of the divine power. All those ideas, however, were
fluid, and must not be treated or reasoned about as if they
were definite logical principles.
Thus the vows for salvation of the Emperor illustrate
the unity of the household, a feature so marked in Acts
XVI- 15. 33. 1 Corinthians xvi. 15. They also show how
closely the person of the Emperor was connected with the
life and conduct of the people in the provinces, in the first
place ofthe cultivators ofthe great estates, and in the second
place of the ordinary provincials who came to imitate more
and more the fashion that ruled on the estates.
The vows for the Emperor's salvation are often signed
by long lists of the coloni,1 who cultivated the estate. They
present no feature of interest except what lies in the words.
An example is given which was found at Saghir, the
religious centre of the great Imperial estates near Pisidian
Antioch, and copied by Professor Sterrett of Cornell Univer
sity and afterwards by myself: —
" For the fortune and victory and eternal continuance of
our Lords and the salvation cf his whole household the
(association of coloni called) ' Guest-friends of the Symbol *
dedicated a bronze (statue of) Fortune " ; then follows a list
3 The word coloni, as denoting the cultivators of the great estates, must
be distinguished from the coloni or citizens of a Roman Colony. The dif
ference was world-wide, yet in origin they were the same.
13

194 XV. The Imperial Salvation.
of names and subscriptions with date by the secretary of
the society.1
This inscription was incised on the pedestal of the
statue of Good Fortune, which was erected with the money
contributed by the association of cultivators of the estates.
An example of a similar dedication, erected by the city
of Apollonia, is published on p. 44 above.
Here the Emperor and his family, who are summed up
as " our Lords," are conjoined with the body of tenants
(coloni). The latter are organized as a religious association
uniting in the worship of the Lords Emperors. In this case
the identification of the Imperial family as a whole with the
gods of the association is unusually clear : the Imperial
family is the divine family, the god, the goddess, and the
child. Such an association of coloni was obviously a body of
servants and slaves of the god, SovXot tov 0eov, as Paul calls
himself. The coloni on the estate considered themselves to
be absolutely the property of the Lord God their Master.
The date of this inscription is certainly a little after A.D.
200 ; and the family may be that of Elagabalus or more
probably Alexander Severus; but the constitution of the
cultivators as an association goes back to Augustus, and
was unquestionably an inheritance slightly romanized, with
out essential modification, from the arrangements under
King Amyntas the previous landlord.
An institution like this is obviously inconsistent with any
1 [inrep Kv]plav tvxvs "al [vi]Kris Kal alaviov Siafiovrjs xal tov aiivrra.vTos avrov
oXkov o-airriptas avetrr-no-av %4voi TeK/iopeToi Tixv X^K€0,/ ^"£1 av]aypatpeos Aip.
Tla-rra Sis ktA, " Studies in the History of the Eastern Roman Provinces," p.
333 f. The construction is illogical, as the single reigning Emperor is not
specified except through aorov. Had it not been for avrov, one might have
supposed that Kipioi were two joint Emperors.

XV. The Imperial Salvation. 195
personal liberty in a political sense.1 The god is the father
of his people according to the Roman fashion, with power
of life and death over all his children. Hence dedications
occur to the Emperor as the Father God (iraTpl 0em). This
principle was carried out thoroughly in the institutions for
the government of the estate and its cultivators. As the
god himself could not be' present with his worshippers, he
was represented by his procurator, who fulfilled the duty of
priest ex officio. The old Asian principle that the priest is
the representative on earth of the god was thus carried out
in a very literal fashion.2 Augustus, indeed, probably did
not insist very strongly on the identification of himself
with the god and of the Empress with the goddess ; but
the theory was there, and the institutions carried it out in
practice. As the divinity of the Emperor became more and more
explicitly and openly a part of the Imperial system, it
followed that on those great estates near Antioch the
identification ofthe Imperial god and goddess with Men and
Selene was necessary. Since the local goddess was also re
garded as Cybele, and was most frequently invoked as
Artemis, various difficulties must have arisen for the logical
mind ; but the worshippers were not logical, and disregarded
all the difficulties of personality. Cybele, Artemis, Selene,
1 The administration of the Anatolian estates is best described by the
brilliant Russian exponent of the economy of the Empire, Rostowzew, in his
"' Studien zur Geschichte des rom. Kolonates," passim. He there adopts and
approves everything that I had inferred from the series of inscriptions of this
class in the Studies, pp. 306-70 (as already quoted). Some remarkable con
firmations are given in " Annual of Brit. School at Athens," 1912, xviii., p. 62.
2 The Anatolian practice commonly seems to have been that the priest
wore the dress and bore the name of the god, disusing his personal name and
assuming the sacred name when he succeeded to the priesthood, e.g. Atis at
Pessinus.

196 XV. The Imperial Salvation.
Julia Domna, Tranquillina, are they not all varying aspects
and titles of the single ultimate divine nature ?
Finally, this Imperial association was a very convenient
instrument for co-ordinating to one purpose the strength of
all the members. Apparently this was done on a great
scale during the struggle between the Emperors and the
Christians during the third century. The association was
essentially pagan. No one could belong to it who did not
worship the God -Emperor. Yet any Christian cultivator
on the estate must necessarily be a member of the associa
tion. What then was to be done with such a disaffected
colonus ?
Probably the idea of the membership was not carried out
to its logical extreme before the third century, and the re
ligious nature of the association was allowed to be ignored
by those members who did not approve.1 In the third
century, however, the religious aspect was made prominent,
so that membership was a proof of loyalty ; and then the
entrance into the association became an act of renunciation
of the Christian faith, and was coupled with some rite of a
novel character, designated by a newly invented word ; 2 and
this rite was performed in some cases two or three times in
succession. The system of the Imperial estates gradually affected the
1 There is no trace of any very thorough-going persecution in Anatolia
during the second century. Isolated, and perhaps fairly numerous cases of
martyrdom of individuals occur ; hut the State forbade the hunting of Chris
tians ; only those who were denounced and caught were punished. In central
Asia Minor there seems to have been great freedom on the whole at that
time : see Chapter xn. of my " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," and
Chapters x.-xiv. of the " Church in the Roman Empire before 170 ".
2 The verb reKjwpebeiv, to show the Tekmor or secret sign, is a novel
word : some other words were invented in this Tekmoreian Association,
see " Journal of Roman Studies," 1912, p. 158 ff.

XV. The Imperial Salvation. 197
free cities in the disorder of the third and fourth centuries.
Already examples occur of freemen and burgesses from the
self-governing cities preferring the system of the estates
with their practical serfdom as early as the first half of the
third century,1 and the customs spread. Thus serfdom
became the goal of the Imperial order,2 and produced the
developed serfdom of the mediaeval land-system, which
lasted in Russia until about 1 860.
This is the " Salvation " of the dedications on the great
estates. To explain its nature has called for a rather long
historical review ; but it is impossible to understand the
nature of any human institution or of any such object of
human prayers, until we trace it in its development and its
effects. The paternal government was " Salvation " in the
estimate of the cultivators on the estates. It had its ad
vantages. The Father God through his procurators pro
tected his people, advised them, told them their duty,
looked after peace and order, punished them for their faults,
and in general made life easier for them. In the degenera
tion and growing disorganization of the Empire, freedom
lost its charm, and gradually ceased. The freeman was
more exposed to oppression and insult than the serf. He
could not protect himself, while the serf had his master to
protect him from some of the evils of life.
The logical issue of the paternal system of government,
as we see it fully carried out under the Roman Empire, was
the negation of freedom. In its opposition to the Imperial
policy the religion of Christ was the champion of freedom.
Such is its spirit in central Asia, where we can best see it,
during the second century. Such is its spirit as declared
1 " Studies in the History ofthe Eastern Roman Provinces," p. 357.
2 Zulueta in VinogradofPs "Oxford Studies": there is a vast body of
literature on this subject.

198 XV. The Imperial Salvation.
by Paul to the people of Antioch, Iconium, etc. : " ye were
called for freedom," and " for freedom did Christ set us free :
stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke
of bondage ".1 He spoke to nations of slaves, the Phrygi
ans and the Lycaonians, raised in some small degree from
the condition of slavery by the Graeco-Roman education,
but liable to slip back again as the Imperial system de
veloped its paternal character thoroughly. The " Salvation "
of Jesus and of Paul was freedom : the " Salvation " of the
Imperial system was serfdom.
The fourth century saw a gradual change. The Chris
tian religion was taken under the protection of the State
in the new Empire, and acquiesced in most of the evils of
the Imperial system. That, however, lies outside of our
subject, which is the truth, not the deterioration, of Chris
tianity. We take it as it is set before the world at the
beginning. 1 Galatians v. 13 and 1.

CHAPTER XVI
TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE ACTS, CHAPTERS I TO XII
In beginning to appreciate the great historical value and
trustworthiness of the Acts, I was at first guided in some
degree by old-fashioned ideas about sources and authori
ties employed by the author of the book, drawing on my
former experiences in respect of Aristotle and my studies
in Old Testament history (as described on pp. 16 f. and
1 8). Being very careful not to go beyond the evidence,
I did not in my first book venture to argue for more
than "that the narrative in Acts of Paul's journeys is
founded on, or actually incorporates, an account written
under the immediate influence of Paul himself".1
The conviction became steadily stronger in my mind
that the book was a unity, and that one part could not be
separated from the rest as true, while the remainder of the
book stood on a lower level of trustworthiness. The author
is very emphatic about the excellence of his authorities
(Luke I. 1-3), and allows no exceptions : he is trustworthy
as a whole, or not at all. The quality of his work is as
uniform as the style. Those parts in which the historian
speaks as an eye-witness, the " We-passages," are not more
or less Lukan in character, not more free from marvellous
accompaniments, than the rest. This is fully acknowledged
1 " Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. 6.
(199)

200 XVI. Trustworthiness of the Acts,
by Dr. Harnack,1 who concludes that Luke had a constitu
tional tendency towards the marvellous, and could not
avoid seeing events in that light. This judgment is a
matter of personal quality, and is quite in the critical style
of the nineteenth century, whereas Harnack writes often
from the point of view of the twentieth century. The
present writer's experience leads him to feel more and more
convinced, as the years pass, that the world around is full
of the marvellous and the incomprehensible, if one has eyes
to see rightly.
There is among many modern people a strong inclination
to doubt such general statements as those in Acts V. 12,
" by the hands ofthe Apostles were many signs and wonders
wrought among the people," or VIII. 7, " from many of
those which had unclean spirits they came out ; and many
that were palsied and that were lame were healed". Along
with this doubt follows a general tendency to rate low the
credibility of the book in which such statements occur,
and the intelligence of the author who admits them. But
we should take into consideration the character of an
Oriental population, where physicians and medical attend
ance are almost unknown and magicians abound, where
ignorance and a low standard of living and of thought are
prevalent, and where that peculiar class of trouble or disease
called in the New Testament " possession by devils " is rife.
I feel convinced that those who can appreciate from experi
ence the actual situation and conditions of such a state of
society, will be the slowest to doubt the credibility of state
ments like those which have just been quoted. Now
imagine that amid this Oriental population, keenly suscept-
1 Harnack, " Lukas der Artzt Verfasser des III. Evang. und d. Apostel-
gesch," p. 60, points out that the " We-passages " are thoroughly Lukan in
style : see " Luke the Physician and other Studies," pp. 4, 34, 38.

Chapters I to XII. 201
ible to religious emotions and strongly influenced already
by many superstitious ideas and customs, a great religious
idea is introduced and propagated widely through the
degraded masses by one extraordinary personality and by
a devoted enthusiastic group of followers, all themselves
men and women of eminent power and magnetic influence.
Take into consideration the strange and yet indubitable
facts of faith-healing, and similar phenomena. No one
who weighs the conditions of this question can regard these
general statements in the Acts as improbable in themselves,
or as detracting from the credibility of the book as a whole.
The present writer can only assert his own conviction that
those statements express just what would be likely to occur.
Some slight account of the situation where belief in de
monic influence grows strong is given above in chapter IX.
At the same time it must be frankly acknowledged that
the general prevalence of such conditions must always lead
to the too ready acceptance without investigation of parti
cular instances ; and that many of the individual cases
would not stand rigorous examination. Not every mendi
cant who pretends to be ill is really so. Imposture and
trading on pretended diseases would be detected in many
cases. Yet none the less do even these examples of common
delusion attest the reality of the curative influence. The
public mind and body have as a whole been diseased, and
they undergo a health-giving renovation. The impostor
who deludes the world with his pretended disease of body
is really diseased in soul ; and it is no small thing that his
mind should be cured and his life transformed into a healthy
one. But most of the so-called impostors are physically
diseased to some extent as well as morally diseased in their
whole nature. Exceptions indeed occur, in which the pre-

202 XVI. Trustworthiness of the Acts,
tended sufferer from incurable disease or loss of eyesight
or so on, is perfectly sound ; but generally there is nervous
or other malady of some kind as well as moral disease.
Cures effected in these cases furnish real proofs of
the power which the new religious idea exerts on those
whom it seizes. The medical expert would not label the
disease and the cure exactly as the popular opinion does ;
but there is in each case a disease, and a cure is effected.
Luke, however, claims to be a good authority, because he
has his narrative from the authority of eye-witnesses ; and
in most cases we can determine who were the witnesses.
Yet the strictly scientific inquirer will not be satisfied with
the evidence even of eye-witnesses in the case of every cure,
or of raising from the dead. Was the witness competent
to distinguish death from mere suspended animation ? Did
the witness really test the case ? I have myself seen a man
brought in from the harvest-field, washed and prepared for
burial, mourned in the vehement Oriental style, carried to
his grave and buried ; but I should be a bad witness to his
death, because the suspicion has always haunted me that
the man was perhaps not dead. Of those scores of wit
nesses, probably only my wife and myself had any doubt as
to the man's death ; and in the hurry of events — for little
more than two hours elapsed between the man's collapse in
the field and his deposition in the tomb — everything was so
convincing that it was only after all was over that we began
to ask each other, " was that man really dead ? " x
That the circumstances in all those incidents occurred as
Luke relates there is not the smallest reason to doubt. The
1 Nothing is more difficult than to be quite certain that death has occurred,
even for a physician. I know well a man who, after long illness, was pro
nounced dead by the excellent doctors and nurses in Paris who had been attcnd-
i ng him, yet he recovered.

Chapters I to XII. 203
inference from the facts may, however, be doubtful. That
the lame man at Lystra was really lame, and not an arrant
impostor, must be taken as certain : he was known from
childhood as lame : he had been a beggar x familiar to every
one in the small city of Lystra, and all believed in the reality
of his lameness and the extraordinary nature of the cure.
Yet, when the medical expert comes to examine the case,
he will ask whether the theory of unconscious imposture
might not be admissible. The physician can give many ex
amples of mental disease simulating such bodily conditions
as lameness. The case was not critically examined at the
time. We have started from the assumption that mental
and nervous diseases of an obscure kind must have been
numerous in the state of society which existed at that time
in western Asia.
Even supposing, however, that the lame man might have
been an unconscious impostor, who thought he was lame
and had never walked, the incident remains just as marvel
lous as if he were really lame.2 His mind was cured, and
he saw his real self. Such apparent lameness might be
due to nervous causes ; but none the less it is lameness.
There is little to be gained for our purpose by investigat
ing each case. That is a subject for the medical expert
The question in such an investigation would be how the
facts should be labelled. What scientific name shall we
apply? The facts stand recorded in their external as-
1 The man is not stated to have been a beggar ; but what is said about
him leaves no doubt in the mind of anyone acquainted with the habits of
the Mediterranean peoples, that he was sitting (perhaps at a gate as a good
beggar's station) a mendicant (Acts xiv. 7).
2 The state of his ankles and feet, after many years spent without walking,
would have been exactly as described in Acts. The account states as the
climax, that " he never walked ". That was the outcome of the evidence as
known to an eye-witness.

204 X VI. Trustworthiness of the Acts,
pect, as they would appear to unscientific witnesses. They
are sufficient evidence that the individual was abnormal and
diseased in some way, and that he was restored to normal
existence and to happiness.
Such incidents, too, attest sufficiently the remarkable
spiritual power over the minds and bodies exerted by the
Apostles in the way of bringing men to a reasonable, natural
and healthy condition ; but this in itself does not prove that,
because a person who believes is cured, therefore his belief
is truth. Belief in a delusion may sometimes produce a
•curative effect, though only in exceptional cases. That this
was not a case of delusion has to be proved by other
reasons, of which there is abundance.
A strong and general popular belief is a great power.
The new idea as preached by the Apostles had this great
power supporting it and pushing it forward. And there
was no pretence on the side of the Apostles and of the
Church. They felt and knew what a revolution they were
making in the world. They saw with their own eyes that
the souls and bodies of men were growing healthier around
them ; and they knew that the cause was simply and solely
belief in the Jesus whom they were preaching. Their own
faith was made stronger by those cures, as well as the faith
and character of the people that were cured.
We need not enter on the question whether the Apostles
were possessed of any personal healing power, which acted
independently of any faith or belief felt by the patient. For
our purposes that is immaterial ; x but the remarkable
article by Dr. Schofield in the " Contemporary Review,"
March, 1909, on "Spiritual Healing," maybe quoted as
evidence that modern medical science accepts the view that
1 They always claimed to act and to have power only in the name of
Jesus.

Chapters I to XII. 205
some people possess such personal power.1 Still even on
his showing the fact is clear that the faith of the patient is
an enormously potent influence and by far the most common.
Cure by the simple power of the healer must be always rare
and exceptional ; and the record of a cure seems more
credible when it lays stress on the faith of the person cured.
That was the case with the lame man at Lystra. Paul,
fixing his gaze on him, saw that he had the faith which gave
him the capability of being saved.
It is, however, needless, irrational, and unfair to require
that Luke's narrative should be like the report of a nerve-
specialist. He tells us what seemed to the spectators to-
happen, just as he had heard it from them, or as in various
cases he had himself seen it. He is very careful in many
cases to define, with accuracy unusual in an ancient writer,.
exactly how much was vouched for to him and how much.
he was prepared to guarantee.2
The best and probably the most scientific way is to read
the Acts simply, gather from it the opinions of those
who were eye-witnesses, and give this its full value, but
always to remember that they were not medical experts.
The general opinion and impression will prove quite good
enough for a fair judgment.
It is matter for a special book to study the authorities
whom Luke used for the first part of his history. The
present writer's view is that Luke was careful to indicate
his authorities, not indeed by formal quotation as a modern
writer would, but indirectly. A good deal rests on the
authority of Philip the Deacon, with whom Luke was long
1 The fact that some people are, so to say, walking stores of typhoid
infection, without themselves developing fully the disease, is not exactly
parallel, for degeneration is more catching than health.
2 In " St. Paul the Traveller " this feature is pointed out in several cases-
At Lystra the disciples " supposed that Paul was dead ".

206 XVI. Trustworthiness of the Acts,
in intimate relation, first when Paul and his company landed
in Caesarea, and afterwards during Paul's imprisonment
there. Those parts which describe Philip's own action are
marked by great modesty: he keeps himself secondary,
and speaks of Peter and John as standing on a higher rank,
and wielding more authority than himself.
The episode of the Ethiopian is an exception : this
figure, in short, finds a place in Luke's pages mainly for the
purpose of bringing into relief the character and power and
influence of Philip, and not as indicating an important direc
tion in the growth of the new Faith towards the south.
Such a story was not gathered from Philip himself, but
from a warm admirer of Philip. Yet admiration does not
affect the representation of the facts. r The same limitation
to Philip's power is observable here as at Samaria. Philip
can only baptize ; his influence does not carry with it the
gift of the Spirit.
Our view, therefore, is that the Ethiopian episode was
included by Luke rather with a view to showing the char
acter of Philip than with the intention of describing a step
in the growth of the Church. Luke appreciated the great
men who had made the early Church, and was resolved
that his readers should appreciate them also. He knew
that no impressive view of history can be given or acquired,
unless the dominating figures are set in their true light.
He was writing for the congregations of the Graeco-Roman
world ; and one of his main objects was to move them, and
to affect their life. To do this it was above all things neces
sary to put before them in their true colours the great
figures Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul. Luke had at the
same time the Greek sense of historic truth and of propor
tion : he shows those figures to us in action, and never
merely describes them.

Chapters I to XII. 207
For example, the scene of the voyage and shipwreck in
chapter XXVII. is not directly important in itself for the de
velopment of the Church; but it is highly important as
illuminating the character of Paul and showing how, even as a
prisoner and a landsman at sea, he became the dominating
personage in a great ship's company as soon as danger
threatened ; and it also draws the reader's attention to the
central and critical importance of the scene towards which
it leads up, viz. the trial of Paul in Rome.
So, also, the Ethiopian episode places Philip before the
reader in a new light. Henceforth we realize his character
and his action in a very different way; Philip now rises
from the level of a second-rate figure almost to the higher
plane on which Peter and Paul move. Even the Samarian
episode assumes a different character, when it is read in the
light of the Ethiopian incident.
Such seems to be the intention of Luke, when he gives
the story of the Ethiopian eunuch a place in his history.
He heard it, not from Philip himself, but from the pro
phetesses his daughters, one or all. It was the prophetesses
who imparted the spirit of the Old Testament to the story,
regarding their father after the fashion of an old Hebrew
prophet, who went forth into the wilderness, to whom the mes
senger of the Lord spoke, who was caught away by the Spirit
when he had done what he was ordered to do. The narrative
impressed the imagination of Luke, and has been recorded
by him in the same tone in which he heard it. It is markedly
different in certain ways from the Samarian narrative.
It shows us how Philip impressed those among whom he
lived ; and we recognize in him the person who was fitted
to write the Epistle to the Hebrews.1 He was a great ad-
1 The writer's view on this subject is stated in a paper in " Luke the
Physician," pp. 301-28.

208 XVI. Trustworthiness of the Acts.
mirer of Peter, and yet he had the freedom of mind that
fitted him to appreciate Paul. The self-suppression that
characterizes the part of the Acts where he was Luke's
authority is also evident in the Epistle, where the writer
never mentions himself, and where the first person singular
appears only as a literary form.1 The personality of this
great leader of the early Church will yet be recovered in far
more complete fashion by a careful study of the Epistle to
the Hebrews in its relation to the portions of the Acts
which depend on the testimony of Philip.
Luke had known John Mark, and he had certainly seen
and entered the house of Mary his mother. The way in
which he uses evidence gathered there is studied as regards
one incident in the following chapter XVII.
1 See " Luke the Physician," p. 324.

CHAPTER XVII
RHODA THE SLAVE-GIRL
The writer's view is that Luke has always a definite pur
pose in mentioning any individual — a purpose bearing on
the plan of his history, and not a mere desire for literary
effect. The case of the slave-girl Rhoda in chapter XII.
may seem to be an exception. It ma)' be thought that
the details of her action are recorded only for their pictur
esque and literary value. While Luke was certainly quite
sensible of this value, he has another purpose in view. He
knows the very inmost feelings in Rhoda's mind, her joy
as she heard the voice of Peter, her fluttering eagerness
which defeated her own desire by leaving Peter in the
street in danger of discovery while she ran into the inner
house to tell the news, her confidence that she was right
while the others disbelieved her and thought she was mad.
This is the way in which Luke intimates to us that he had
himself talked to Rhoda, and had her own evidence to go
upon. Only from her, or from some one who took a warm
personal interest in her, could he have learned these details ;
and there was no one who would interest himself in the
slave-girl's emotions, and treasure up such information
to retail to Luke. We have here personal recollection,
narrated to Luke by the maid herself, and caught by his
sympathetic and appreciative mind.
Incidentally, we notice here the close and friendly rela
tion between the slave-girl and the family and its friends.
(209) 14

210 XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl.
Rhoda knows Peter's voice, is full of joy at hearing it, forgets
in her joy her duty as a servant, and runs in to impart
the glad news to the family as a friend. She is in the
most real sense a part of the household, fully sharing in
the anxieties and the joys of the family, knowing the
family's friends as her own friends. As has been said
above, it is impossible to judge ancient society and life
from the proper point of view, unless this unity of the
household is fully appreciated.1
The story of Peter's release from prison is palpitating
with life. There is nothing quite so picturesque, after a
certain fashion, in the whole of Luke's work as this scene :
but the fashion is not exactly that of Luke's pictures gener
ally. This scene stands apart by itself, just as the Ethiopian
scene also stands alone. Some special authority was followed
by Luke in each case for one scene and no more. The
ultimate authority for the facts of Peter's escape was,
necessarily, himself. No other had seen the facts. No
other person could tell what thoughts, and what confusion,
filled Peter's mind. No one heard his soliloquy, when
the angel left him in the street. But the description of the
scene was not got by Luke from Peter's lips : it has all the
character of a narrative by a spectator, who was present
in Mary's house and listened with eager interest and reten
tive memory to his hurried account of his deliverance.
The listener's attention, of course, was concentrated on
Peter ; and the Apostle's narrative was brief and confined
to the facts which were most important in his hearers'
estimation and his own. He had already lost some valu
able minutes while Rhoda was talking with the incredulous
people inside and maintaining that Peter himself was at
1 See above, pp. 187, ig2.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 211
the door. His escape might be noticed at any moment, an
alarm raised, and strict search made for the fugitive.
Accordingly, when he is relating all that had happened,
neither does Peter tell, nor do the hearers ask, what the
two soldiers watching in his cell were doing, what the two
sets of sentinels on guard outside the cell — " the first and
the second ward" — were doing, whether all were asleep.
We gather later that the escape was not discovered until the
next morning. As Peter had been roused from sound
sleep by a blow on his side, and was as in a dream throughout
the whole escape, and only awoke to full consciousness after
he was clear of the prison and the angel had left him, his
account would naturally take little notice of surrounding
circumstances, and be restricted to the facts that had most
strongly impressed him ; he saw nothing else, and was con
scious only of those urgent facts, and that in a dim and
half-dreamy fashion. No questions were put to him by
any of his hearers on those other circumstances, or, if put
(which is extremely improbable), they were not answered : x
although information about them might be useful in view
of his escape from Jerusalem and the chances of immediate
pursuit. It was sufficient for the little crowd of listeners
to have a clear conception of the really important factors
in the situation — the distress of the Church in the prospect
of losing its most influential and guiding spirit : 2 the earnest
prayers of its members : the wonderful deliverance by " a
messenger of the Lord " at the very moment when those
1 Implying that Peter either had no information to give or no desire to
give it. But, considering the character of the Oriental audience, I should
feel very confident that no questions were asked, and that the description
of the scene is perfect and complete in all essentials.
2 James was now evidently regarded as the head of the Church in Jeru
salem ; but that was probably due to the frequent absence of Peter on
external duty (vm. 14, 25, ix. 32, Gal. n. 12).

212 XVII Rhoda the Slave- Girl.

prayers were being made most insistently and distressfully
in the last night before the execution. These are the
features set clearly and strongly before the reader in the
whole narrative, and only one of them, viz. the deliver
ance, belongs to Peter himself or could originate from him.
His story is, in the strictest sense, only subsidiary to the
greater story of the Church's need ; and it is placed before.
us from that point of view.
In short, as has been said, we have here the authorita
tive statement of a Christian who listened to Peter, and had
prayed for Peter. But the circumstances were such as
to impress Peter's words indelibly on the memory of his
hearers : we have the scene before us in all its intensity
and anxiety, yet in every stage deliberate and unhurried.
Even Peter's dressing is described point by point ; he and
his guide move on in the light, but the light shines in dark
ness, and all that does not concern their acts from moment
to moment is shrouded in the darkness.
The narrator was Rhoda. Luke had listened to her.
He had doubtless heard the tale from others, e.g. fromi
John Mark, perhaps, when they were together in Rome x
or elsewhere. Probably he heard Rhoda tell the story in
the house of Mary, and in the presence of other witnesses
who could corroborate or correct her. But she needed no
correction. It was the great event of her life, and she told
it in that striking fashion in which we read it. Luke re
cognized that her narrative gave the true spirit of the
scene ; and he used the narratives of others only as sub
sidiary. If we are right in this interpretation of the source, the
story of Peter's deliverance lies before us almost in his very
1 Colossians iv. ; Philemon.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 213
words and certainly in the exact details of the facts, as they
were described within an hour after they occurred by the
one man who knew them. This has a most important bear
ing on the trustworthiness of the Acts. There is no room
here for invention or for the growth of legend. People
were too eager : the need was too great : no one could do
anything except under the overpowering urgency of the
danger. All the persons who played a part in the scene
were compelled by the circumstances to be themselves for
the moment, and to strip off all pretence and regard to out
ward appearance. Eripitur persona : manet res.
That this interpretation is the true one must be felt by
every one who has the literary and the historic sense for
reality. Luke, according to his custom,1 gives the story of
his informants with an added touch of literary skill, but
never such a touch as to disturb the simplicity and the vivid
rush and hurry of the original ; and Rhoda is the main
authority. Now, given this tale, based on this supremely excellent
testimony, related to Luke thirteen years after the event,
and, doubtless, often related in the interval, what are we
to make of it ? We have here a test case of the worth of
the class of evidence on which (as I believe) ultimately the
whole three Synoptic Gospels rest, as well as much of Acts :
the evidence is that of eye-witnesses, and absolutely honest,
truthful witnesses. What is its value ? what are its defects ?
It is obvious, on the surface, that we in one sense do not know
exactly what happened in the prison, but that much is en
veloped in obscurity, and observed almost in a dream ; and
1 Harnack has demonstrated this custom fully in his " Lukas der Artzt ".
Salmon has anticipated in his brief and telling fashion most of the correct
views in Harnack's book ; and the very notable agreement in point after point
reveals a certain kinship in nature between the two.

214 XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl.
that in another sense we know on the very best evidence
all the really important and critical facts of the case.
As has been said, Peter's escape is described to us by
Luke in words closely approximating to those in which the
fugitive narrated it to the group of the Saints at Mary's
door within an hour after it occurred. It would be difficult
to find any narrative of an escape from prison better authen
ticated, or related amid circumstances which exclude more
absolutely the supposition either of falsification, or of the
growth of legend. The description of the scene at the house
must convince the unprejudiced judge, who examines the
evidence critically, that Luke had listened to the story as it
was related in the presence of several other witnesses of the
scene by Rhoda herself, and that he intends to convey to
his readers that he had been in the house and heard the
story there.
In the story we hear not a word about the conduct ofthe
guards, of whom three sets had to be passed. Were they,
so to say, hypnotized by the angel, or drugged, or bribed ?
Did Peter and the messenger pass among them without
being visible ? The supposition that they were asleep
naturally cannot be entertained where so many were con
cerned, all bound by their duty to be vigilant and all re
sponsible for their vigilance with their life. Under the head
of hypnotism we may include any and every kind of super
human influence which prevented the guards from observ
ing what was going on. The Divine power, if we adopt
the theory that the deliverance was accomplished in a super
natural manner, acts through natural means so far as pos
sible ; and there must have been some reason evident to an
observer why the guards did not take notice of what was
going on, not even of the opening of the outer gate, until
the morning.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 215
Peter's story explains in part why he observed so little,
and why the circumstances are left so obscure. He was
wakened out of sleep — evidently a deep sleep — by a blow
on the side ; but he was still in such a confused, half-
awakened state, that he believed all was a dream, until out
in the street he found himself alone, after the " messenger
of God " had disappeared. Then at last the cold night
air and the continuous exercise restored his faculties, and
he began to review the situation. He was a practical man,
not an observer and student of psychical phenomena. He
misses out what would interest the man of scientific temper :
" when he was come to himself he said, ' Now I know of a
truth, that the Lord hath sent forth His messenger and
delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the
expectation of the people of the Jews ' ". He pictures to
himself the scene on the morrow, the disappointment of
the people, and the annoyance of the monarch whose hand
and power had proved so feeble. He was conscious of
this side of the situation first ; and then later came the
thought of escape, and of what immediate steps he should
take to save himself. The order of his thoughts shows a
calm and sane intellect, with a distinct sense of humour.
A fussy or timid person would have thought at such a mo
ment only of flight and safety. Peter, as we can gather
from this scene, even if we knew nothing else about him,
was a man far above the common in respect of coolness,
courage, and presence of mind. He resolved that the best
thing to do was to retire to some obscure spot, after first
relieving the anxiety of the brethren about his safety.
We observe that Peter had to think over the situation
before he came to the conclusion that his deliverer was a
messenger of the Lord. He had not as yet been conscious
of anything apparently supernatural in the circumstances,

216 XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl.
except that the gate " opened of its own accord ".l He
knew of no agent or instrument pushing it, but saw it open
before him. Otherwise the accompaniments were all
natural : the light was needed in the dark cell : he fastened
his girdle round his tunic, and put on his thick upper gar
ment and his sandals, before going out into the cold night.
The chains had indeed dropped off from his hands; but
this occurred first of all at the very moment that he was
wakened, and he had no knowledge how the fastenings
were unloosed. The " messenger" or " angel " appeared to
him, therefore, in ordinary human form ; and Peter only
inferred his superhuman mission from subsequent reflexion
about the circumstances. During the escape from the
prison Peter was not in a condition to think ; he simply
obeyed and acted. When, standing alone in the street,
he collected his thoughts and reviewed the situation, he
concluded that the deliverance was the act of God.
Now, since previously the steps of the action had pro
ceeded without his observing anything supernatural in
the appearance or conduct of the deliverer, it is not
necessary to understand from the conclusion which he
stated, that the deliverer was a supernatural being. In the
life of such people in modern times as Dr. Barnardo, who
from small means have built up vast and beneficial organiza
tions in reliance on the help of God, that help has come
always in apparently natural ways. When a stranger in a
hotel in Oxford, noticing Barnardo's name in the visitors'
list, told him that he would make the first Village Home
for girls, " we need not say that Dr. Barnardo and his friend
1 This is a very vague thought in the mind of an Oriental, and is perfectly
consistent with other explanations besides that of supernatural action. At
the same time, I do not doubt that Luke understood it to imply supernatural
agency.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 217
received this as an answer to prayer, doubting not that the
hand of God was in it ". Was Peter, or were any of the
early Christians at that time, less able or likely to recognize
the hand of God in the affairs of the world than Dr. Bar
nardo and his friend ? On the contrary, the Oriental mind
is far more prone to see the hand of God in everything that
goes on around us than the English mind is. To the Orien
tal God is always very close. The Oriental thinks and
speaks of God far more frequently and familiarly than we
do ; and yet in his way of introducing the Divine name
and supposing the Divine presence and action in the most
common affairs of life, there is no irreverence. He does
so, because he feels that God is always moving in all that
goes on, great and small ; that " not a sparrow falls to
the ground without Him ". We, on the other hand, tend
to reserve the action of God for the big things, with the
result that the logical mind, which cannot see any reason
able distinction between the small and the big things, fails,
and must necessarily fail, to see that hand anywhere. Was
not Barnardo more near the truth when he saw the hand
of God in the bestowal of a needed subscription, and read
in this act the fulfilment of his prayers ?
Such is the Oriental view, at any rate"; and there cannot
be a doubt that, whether or not Peter actually knew his
deliverer to be a real human being, he would equally con
fidently conclude that this was an angel, the bearer of the
power of God. Peter's words should be judged from his
own point of view, as they were meant. The Church was
in the direst need, when its leader was on the eve of death.
The Church engaged in earnest prayers. The prayers were
answered. So much is certain ; and we may safely assert
that, whether the deliverer was man or a supernatural being,
he was equally " the messenger of God," in Oriental phrase.

218 XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl.
Further, we may take it as certain that the escape occurred
in the darkest part of the night, before the moon rose. The
night following the last day of Unleavened Bread was the
twenty-second of the moon, which therefore rose very late.
The deliverance was doubtless timed, so that Peter should
have a long period of darkness to place himself beyond the
reach of pursuit. All the more remarkable is it that his
escape was not observed until the next morning. The
dawning was not very early at that season of the year ; and
several hours must therefore have elapsed before the guards
observed the facts, and began to inquire what had become
of Peter. It is not stated whether the outer gate closed
behind the fugitive, or remained open. Peter observed
only what bore on his immediate movements, and evidently
never looked behind him, until he collected his thoughts
in the street at some distance from the prison. But we
cannot suppose it possible that the outer gate of the State
prison remained open for hours, especially after the moon
had risen, without some one perceiving it and giving the
alarm. The gate, therefore, must certainly have been
closed by the same agency which, unseen by Peter, had
opened it, naturally or supernaturally, to let him go out.
Now there cannot be a doubt that the "messenger"
who struck Peter on the side and guided him had human
form, and had opened the door of the cell ; for Peter, who
described the other details so exactly, seems to assume that
this door was open, and that only the outer iron gate at the
top of the seven steps needed to be opened before them.1
But, though the "messenger" had the form of a man (like
" the messenger " who appeared to Cornelius),2 he was
1 The seven steps are mentioned only in the Western Text.
2 Acts x. 30 : when Cornelius tells the story he speaks only of " a man in
bright apparel " ; others speak of a " messenger," or " angel," of God.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 219
to Peter merely an instrument used by the Divine power.
God works through natural instruments and agents ; and
Peter had none of the desire which we feel to investigate
and state precisely the nature of each stage in his escape.
The supernatural and the natural were not separated to his
mind by any clear dividing line ; the one melted into the
other, and he was not interested in drawing the line between
them. Luke also was not interested to divide precisely the region
of the natural from that of the supernatural. On the con
trary, it would rather seem that he in many cases purposely
leaves a debatable ground between the two. Those who,
like the present writer, assume as the starting-point of their
thought, that the Divine Power does continually exert itself
in the affairs of the world, must recognize that at some
point the Divine intervention (which is in its origin beyond
our ken) becomes knowable to us, i.e. at some point it be
gins to act through means and in ways that are amenable
to the ordinary laws of experience and reason. But where
does that point lie? To answer that question is always
difficult. To answer it in the case of Peter's deliverance is
impossible, because Luke intentionally or unintentionally — •
the present writer believes, intentionally — leaves the line of
demarkation in obscurity. Does the so-called natural action
in this process begin only when Peter stood alone in the
street, and was lit previously all " supernatural " ? Or did
it begin with the agent of the deliverance, in whose heart
the thought was born and the means were carefully planned
out ? We cannot say with certainty. But we can say with
certainty that every one, whether he prefers to make the
" supernatural " element larger or smaller, must acknowledge
that at some point that element ceases and the ordinary and
" natural " begins ; and we can feel great confidence that

220 XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl.
Luke, who was generally disposed to enlarge the sphere of
the supernatural, purposely leaves the transition obscure.
Now there is no doubt that at the court of the Herods,
just as later at the court of many Roman Emperors, the
Christians had friends, sympathizers, and even adherents.
Slight references occur in the Gospels and the Acts, which
may half reveal a considerable background of fact. The
wife of Herod's steward was a follower of Jesus. The
"" foster-brother " of Herod,1 Menahem, was one of the lead
ing Christians, prophet or teacher, at Antioch. Others
have observed and collected these indications ; and it is
not necessary here to enlarge on them. There is therefore
nothing improbable in the supposition that some person
influential in the entourage of Herod Agrippa I. had skil
fully engineered the escape of Peter. The occasion was well
chosen, as we have seen, in respect of darkness. Even if
Peter had suspected or known who the deliverer was, he
would not have mentioned the name at a street door ; and
he would equally have regarded his helper as "the messen
ger of God ".
This case is typical of what can fairly be expected in the
narrative ofthe New Testament, and ofthe limitations which
must be allowed for. The essential facts and the spiritual
truth are placed beyond doubt in this story, for they rest
on evidence of the highest kind. But those who are bent
on knowing the commonplace facts, those who regard it as
the most important part of this historical scene to learn who
1l cannot wholly agree with Prof. Deissmann's argument in his
" Bible Studies," p. 310 ff., that this term was merely a court title. I think
that every one who comes into contact for a time with the life of the Levant
lands, and knows how great a part in it is played by foster-mothers and
foster-brothers, will be slow to accept some of the sentences in his argument.
He writes like one used to German ways of life, and taking these as univer
sally applicable.

XVII. Rhoda the Slave-Girl. 221
managed the escape, and how the guards were evaded, will
be disappointed : it is utterly impossible from the evidence
to do more than make a vague conjecture, founded on
general considerations and not on the special evidence, about.
these matters. The reason is that such things were indif
ferent both to Peter and to Luke : they are mere details*
which do not in any way affect Peter's conceptions of real
and spiritual truth, and the evidence does not even in the
remotest way bear on matters of this class. The historian.
and the sociologist may long to know what was the relation
of the royal court to the new Faith : it would be to such.
scientific inquirers a matter of real value to know whether
some person who possessed influence at court managed the
escape. Luke, however, did not write for them. Luke
wrote for the Christian congregations of the Graeco-Roman
world : and he told what was of permanent value for those-
whom he had in mind as readers. This principle must be
applied in general throughout the New Testament narrative.
In the houses of Philip and of Mary, and in other houses.
of Palestine and Jerusalem, Luke had learned the general
tradition of the early Church at its source within less than
thirty years after the Crucifixion. It is this general tradi
tion that dictates the conceptions which are expressed
in his history. The historian caught the idea as it was still
fresh and young and living in the hearts and lives of eye
witnesses, and it lives for us in his pages. This gives a.
unique value to both the Gospel and the Acts.

CHAPTER XVIII
APPROACH TO THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
In two books already mentioned x the result of some years
of study were stated ; the opinions in the first are much less
developed than in the second. In the former it is main
tained that the Acts may justly be quoted as a trustworthy
historical authority. In the latter the purpose is to show
that Luke is a historian of the first rank ; not merely are
his statements of fact trustworthy ; he is possessed of the
true historic sense ; he fixes his mind on the idea and plan
that rules in the evolution of history ; and proportions the
scale of his treatment to the importance of each incident.
He seizes the important and critical events and shows their
true nature at greater length, while he touches lightly or
omits entirely much that was valueless for his purpose. In
short, this author should be placed along with the very
greatest of historians.
It is no part of the present plan to repeat, or even to
give a r6sume of, the argument stated in those two volumes ;
but only to show how they form a step in the growth of a
better, fuller, and truer understanding of the meaning and
the immense value of the historian Luke's work in two
parts, the Gospel and the Acts.
The second of those volumes was reviewed at some length
by a distinguished foreign scholar. He gave a quite fair
resume of the book, and then disproved the opinion which
1 " The Church in the Roman Empire before a.d. 170 " (1892) ; " St. Paul
the Traveller " (1894). (222)

XVIII. Approach to the Gospel of Luke. 223
is championed in it about Luke's rank as a historian in one
brief concluding sentence : if Luke is a great historian,
what would the author of this book make of Luke II. 1-3 ?
Nothing more was needed. This brief question was sufficient.
It was at that time fully admitted on all hands that the
statements in that passage are entirely unhistorical. Not
merely did theological critics brush them aside as incredible,
every one that had any acquaintance with Roman Imperial
history regarded them as false and due either to blundering
or to pure invention. There are in it four statements about
the action of the Roman Imperial government which the
critics of the New Testament pronounced to be incredible
and false.
Now we are bound by the principle which has been
already stated on p. 80. The great historian is great in
virtue of his permanent quality of mind. If an author can
be guilty of any such perversion of history as has been
attributed to the writer of Luke II. 1-3, he cannot deserve
the rank and name of a historian. After reading the review
I began for the moment to feel guilty of pronouncing an
opinion on part ofthe evidence : I had not taken the Gospel
of Luke into consideration, but had written with my eye
on the Acts of the Apostles and mainly on the second half
of the book. I had assumed that, if Luke shows himself a
true historian there, he must be so everywhere ; and the
critic retorted in crushing style that, since he showed himself
not to be a trustworthy historian elsewhere, he could not
be so in the second half of the Acts.
The retort could be answered only in one way. Either
Luke II. 1-3 is good history, or there was something
seriously wrong about my contention. If this passage is
historically trustworthy, some proof or probability must be
established in its favour.

224 XVIII. Approach to the
It was not with any intention of replying to the criticism
that I began to investigate this subject afresh. The review
had been impersonal and unbiassed : it stated my position
fairly — with a gentle sarcasm, indeed, but still with fairness
— and there was no call to make a formal reply to the con
cluding question. When some years later I set about
writing a small book on the subject, " Was Christ born at
Bethlehem ? " it did not take the form of a reply to criticism,
but was an investigation to discover truth.
The investigation was undertaken purely for my own
satisfaction. A serious difficulty required serious considera
tion, and might possibly entail either modification of my
opinion or other wide-reaching results in some other way.
Bad history and good history could not both come from the
same author. No rest was possible until I had reached some
definite conclusion about the Gospel as well as the Acts ;
and it was necessary to begin from those three verses, as
being by universal consent the weakest in the work of Luke.
First of all, a brief recapitulation of opinion on this
subject is needed ; and we shall state separately the opinion
of theological critics and of Roman historians. The theo
logical critics were far more savage in their expression of con
tempt for and disbelief in Luke's description of the incident
than the historians ; but it may be presumed that the
historians know more about the subject than the critics. I
shall not quote the opinions stated by any historian of
Rome except Mommsen, Gardthausen, and Wilcken.1 If I
1 Wilcken is not strictly a historian, but he is one of the foremost authorities
on the economics of the Empire in the East, and mainly in Egypt. Gardt-
hausen's " Life of Augustus" is the largest and most ambitious study ofthe
history under that Emperor. I lay no stress on Rostowzew (quoted later),
the most brilliant and suggestive writer on Roman economics ; the critics do
not recognize a Russian scholar.

Gospel of Luke. 225

were to mention the opinions of English historians, the
objection might be advanced that they were prejudiced 1 in
favour of Luke, or that they were English.
None of those three distinguished authorities has any
prejudice in favour of Luke. Wilcken speaks ofthe passage
Luke 11. 1-3 as " the Lukan legend" (das Lukas-legende),
and the expression is in exact agreement with the spirit ofthe
other two. Yet we shall find that, when details are ex
amined, the historians differ markedly from the theological
critics in respect of historical values.
A number of the German critics, followed by many out
side of Germany, used until recently to say without hesita
tion that Augustus never issued any decree ordering a census,
that there never was under the Empire any regular system
of census, that where any casual census was held the presence
of the wife was not required but only of the husband, and
that his presence was never required at his original home.
Here are four distinct and separate points, in regard to
each of which accuracy is demanded from any historian,
and in regard to each of which Luke was declared confidently
and triumphantly to fail. Certainly he flatly contradicts
the assertions of the modern critics ; but, as we shall see, he
is right and they are wrong.
The reason for that feeling of triumph on the part of
many critics lay of course in the desire to discredit the
superhuman element in the history. Their hostility to
Luke arose out of their refusal to admit the superhuman
element in the government of the world.
Further, in respect of the dating by the governorship of
Quirinius, it was asserted by a large number of critics, (1)
that Quirinius never governed Syria until A.D. 5-6, nine years
1 " Instar theologorum " is the expression used about them by Mommsen.
15

226 XVIII. Approach to the
after the death of Herod, and (2) that the census which he
then made in Palestine was transferred by Luke's simple
blundering to the reign of Herod, who died in 4 B.C. Then,
when this transference had been made in defiance of his
torical truth, the circumstances and manner of a Roman
census (which as a matter of fact were unknown to the
critics) were manipulated and misrepresented by Luke so as to
make it appear that Joseph of Nazareth came to Bethlehem
to be counted (which there was no need for him to do), and
that Mary also came to be counted (although, even if her
husband had for some reason been required to appear at
Bethlehem, there was no possible cause why her presence
should also be called for). The theory of the critics was that
these fictions were concocted by Luke in order to explain
why and how the son of persons who lived at Nazareth
came to be born in Bethlehem. Then to give dignity to
this whole series of inventions, Luke, according to the
critics' theory, added that the census was universal for the
Roman world, and that the decree ordering a universal
census was issued by the Emperor (who was the only
authority able to issue such a universal regulation, and who
therefore was introduced for the purpose).
Luke has already been proved in the process of discovery
to be correct in almost every detail of his statement. No
where in the whole range of historical study has there
ever been such a complete revolution of opinion and of
established knowledge as in respect of this statement, which
brings into its sweep so much of the general principles of
bureaucratic government and so many details of administra
tion. The story is now established, and the plea now is that
Luke's story is a legend because it is true to facts (ch. XX.).
In this supposed series of errors and fabrications con
cocted by Luke, we are struck with the fact that most of

Gospel of Luke. 227

them are entirely unnecessary. Why should Luke intro
duce any reference to Augustus, or to the universality of the
census, or to Quirinius, or to this census being the first,
unless he had some ground for the statements ? Gratuitous
and needless blundering was the crime charged against him.
No explanation was given why he inserted such a tissue of
falsehoods in his history, except perhaps the desire of an
ignorant person to show off his scraps of learning, without
the ability to put them correctly.
The journey of Joseph and of Mary, however, was a
necessary and integral part of the fabrication. The other
details might have been cut out, without affecting the
Evangelist's purpose — those critics would not allow him the
title of historian — but the journey of the parents was a
necessary invention in order to bring about an agreement
with old Hebrew prophecy.1 Those few critics who have
regarded Jesus as a mythical and unhistorical figure, con
sidered the entire set of details as equally fictitious. Those
who admitted that a real Jesus had once existed, maintained
that he was born at Nazareth of parents who lived there ;
and that the birth at Bethlehem was a fiction of later time,
unknown to the Evangelist Mark and to the author of the
Fourth Gospel.
Such was the general state of opinion among the so-
called "critical" theologians; and it was not easy to make
any headway in opposition to the strong tide of opinion.
There was hardly any attempt to show up the fallacy,
ignorance, and pretentiousness of the " critics ". As an
example of the attitude which was maintained over against
them by those theologians who refused to accept their
1 The whole value of the agreement with prophecy lay in its being natural
and unsought. A fabrication to produce the agreement destroys its import
ance entirely : see chapter on " Analogies and Fulfilment ".

228 XVIII. Approach to the
reasoning, take the words used by Dr. Plummer in his
Commentary on Luke (in the International Critical Com
mentary series), 1896, p. 50 : —
" We must be content to leave the difficulty unsolved.
But it is monstrous to argue that because Luke has (pos
sibly) made a mistake as to Quirinius being governor at
this time, therefore the whole story about the census and
Joseph's journey to Bethlehem is a fiction. Even if there
was no census at this time, business connected with enrol
ment might take Joseph to Bethlehem, and Luke would
be correct as to his main facts. That Luke has con
fused this census with the one in A.D. 6, which he himself
mentions in Acts v. 37, is not credible. We are warranted
in maintaining (1) that a Roman census in Judea at this
time, in accordance with instructions given by Augustus, is
not improbable ; and (2) that some official connexion of
Quirinius with Syria and the holding of this census is not
impossible. The accuracy of Luke is such that we ought
to require very strong evidence before rejecting any state
ment of his as an unquestionable blunder."
We cannot, however, be content with any such partial and
conditional correctness as Dr. Plummer argues for. In this
matter either Luke is correct, or he is untrustworthy. It is
not a case in which some degree of correctness in some
parts of the story is of any value. It is all or nought.
Some attempt was made to improve the conditions for
Luke by the theory that Quirinius governed Syria twice,
and that the census at the birth of Jesus occurred in his
first governorship, while the census mentioned by Josephus
was held in his second governorship. Dr. P. W. Schmiedel,
however, will have none of this.1 He dismisses this first
governorship of Quirinius as a mere groundless fiction,
1 The historians of Rome agreed with him to a certain point ; see below.

Gospel of Luke. 229

ignorant apparently that the best modern historians regard
it as a fairly certain fact. Although he writes in the
" Encyclopaedia Biblica " for a general public, which could
not be expected to know the opinion of Roman historians,
Dr. Schmiedel does not warn his readers that such unpre
judiced and high authorities as Mommsen and others were
dead against him on this point ; and he could hardly have
expressed himself as he has done, if he had been aware of
the state of educated historical opinion. His words are as
follows ("Encyclop.Bibl.," II. 1780): "Quirinius was governor
of Syria A.D. 6, ten years after this time. The most plausible
explanation suggested is, perhaps, that Quirinius was twice
governor of Syria ; but there is no direct, and scarcely any
indirect evidence to justify the belief. There is also no
proof that Mary's presence was obligatory." x
As was observed before in another context, p. 85, we
remark here that the mere commonplace historians of Rome
are much more merciful to Luke's account of the census
than the theological critics. We have just seen what a host
of errors the latter find in those three verses. Contrast their
criticism with Mommsen's remarks : 2 " if we have been right
in the demonstration that Quirinius governed Syria for the
first time in 3-2 B.C., then Luke, when he fixes the date of
Christ's birth about 2 B.C. under the government of Quirinius,3
has made no assertions that are not probable, except that he
has wrongly introduced Herod and has transferred the census
from the second to the first administration of Quirinius ".
1 The italics in this extract are Schmiedel's, who is apparently so excited
in the contention against Luke, that mere words are too weak to express his
stern resolve, and he has recourse to such typographical devices to obtain
additional emphasis. Or should we understand that the italics are due to
the editor, whose zeal is said to have led him into taking liberties with the
articles of contributors ? Schmiedel's objections are both false.
2 " Res Gestae Divi Aug.," p. 176 f.
3 Mommsen fixes that date for Quirinius' first governorship.

230 XVIII. Approach to the
There will be more to say regarding the matters in respect
of which Mommsen condemns Luke for inaccuracy ; but for
our purpose at the moment it is highly important to note
that, in Mommsen's opinion, all the other points which come
up in Luke's account are correct. Can we press Mommsen's
words to their legitimate issue ? or must we say that he has
written a little hastily ? If we can venture to assume that
he meant all that lies in his words, then it follows that ac
cording to the highest single authority on such a matter —
in a work published in 1883 and never retracted : it is a
second edition and represents his most mature and long-
considered judgment — Luke's other statements are probable,
viz. that Augustus issued the decree ordering a world-census,
and that every person, man and woman, had to go to the
proper domicile in order to be counted.
Some might argue that it is doubtful whether Mommsen
fully meant this, and that probably he thought only of the
instructions issued by Augustus to Quirinius ordering a
census of Syria and Palestine ; those instructions would be
comprised in the general mandata stating what Quirinius
as governor should do. Those of us, however, who have
studied Mommsen most carefully and deeply, and have kept
company with him and his work day after day and year
after year, know that he means what he says, and that a
definite historical judgment like this was not stated in a
loose fashion by him. We must remember that the quota
tion is from a second edition of his work, almost wholly
re-written ; and that he had carefully considered and recon
sidered his opinion on all these matters and modified them
in some respects.1
1 He had in his earlier life denounced the famous Venetian inscription
mentioning Quirinius as forged in the interest of theological orthodoxy ; but
he recalled that opinion immediately when part of the actual stone was found

Gospel of Luke. 231

We are bound to accept his words as stating his mature
judgment : all that Luke says about the institution and
manner of the census is according to him probably correct.
Yet the critics continued for many years later to take no
notice of his opinion, but to reiterate their confident asser
tion that all the details of the manner of taking the census
were false. Mommsen's personal friends will feel all the
more bound to insist that he meant what he said in this
sentence, because now it is completely proved that what he
said there is true. Luke is correct in every detail, and
Mommsen was right in admitting so far the probable truth
of his statements.
Mommsen, as we see, has no prejudice in favour of Luke.
He thinks that Luke was all wrong about Herod, and about
Quirinius ; and he has nothing but condemnation for those
who would suggest that Quirinius twice made a census of
Palestine, during his first and again during his second
tenure of office in Syria. He declares in the most emphatic
terms his opinion on this point ; it is not possible that
Quirinius could have held such a census when he first
governed Syria, for it is an inadmissible supposition that
Palestine could have been subjected to a census by the
governor of Syria, before it was incorporated in the province ;
and only theologians or persons like theologians, whose
reason is fettered, would advance such an opinion. As he
adds, those who know anything about Roman history will
assert unhesitatingly that Luke made foolish use of Josephus,
and mixed truth with falsehood in his account ofthe census ;
and Tertullian rightly saw what a blunder Luke had been
guilty of, for he throws Quirinius overboard and states that
Jesus was born during the census which was held in Judea
after having long been lost, and the genuineness of the inscription could no
longer be doubted.

232 XVIII. Approach to the
by Sentius Saturninus, 8 B.C. (obviously on the ground that
the latter governed Syria while Herod was still living).
As to the other prominent authority on the reign of
Augustus, Gardthausen, in his very large work, Vol. I, p.
921 f, takes a distinctly less favourable view of Luke than
Mommsen does, without being nearly so harsh to him as
the theologians were. Besides those faults which Mommsen
stigmatizes, Gardthausen also declares that Augustus never
ordered a general census, for if he had done so he would
certainly have mentioned this in his review of his own
achievements ; also that there never was any census-system
under the Roman Empire, though isolated census were
made sporadically in all the provinces of the Empire.
All that Gardthausen says beyond Mommsen's assertions
may be disregarded ; but two remarks are needed in regard
to the latter.
In the first place, evidently Mommsen has read Luke
rather hurriedly and therefore has not rightly apprehended
his assertion about the census. Luke does not say (as
Mommsen declares) that Quirinius conducted the census in
the year of Christ's birth ; he asserts only that the census
was made during the time when Quirinius was governing
Syria. Mommsen has transformed a mere date, given after
the common ancient fashion by a governor, into an assertion
that the governor made the census in Palestine. Tertullian,
it is true, understands the matter so, and asserts that
Sentius conducted the census ; but Luke is more careful.
We must not attribute to him statements that he does not
make. In the second place, there followed from this another
incorrect charge against Luke. Mommsen says that no
census of Palestine could possibly have been held by the
governor of Syria before Palestine was incorporated in that

Gospel of Luke. 233

province. Now, under Herod the king, Palestine was, so to
say, an independent and extra-Roman kingdom, where a
Roman census by a governor of a province could not take
place. This whole charge falls to the ground when we re
member what Luke does actually say about Quirinius, viz.
that the first world-wide census was made while Quirinius
was governing Syria. Obviously Quirinius is not stated here
to have made the census anywhere except in his own province.
He had nothing to do with the census which was assuredly
made in Egypt, and in Asia, and elsewhere, in that year.1
The argument brought forward by Mommsen under this
head reduces itself automatically, then, to the assertion that
a census of the Roman world did not apply to Judea, which
was an independent kingdom not amenable to the orders of
the Emperor Augustus. This is a very bold statement,
and Mommsen would hardly have cared to commit himself
to it, had he not been carried away by his misapprehension
about the control attributed to Quirinius over the census.
We know very little about the relation of those so-called
independent kingdoms to the Roman State. They were not
independent, but in the strictest sense dependent kingdoms.
It was pointed out in my book on the subject that they
formed part of the Roman world, and were understood in
the Roman system to be outlying countries, which were
not yet sufficiently well trained to be capable of receiving
the more honourable rank of provinces, but were in process
of being trained in obedience and educated up to that level.
Strabo, who knew the Roman world widely under the rule of
Augustus, states this in quite clear and emphatic terms.2
Augustus's order ran in Judea, when he wished it. Herod
had to obey, when Augustus ordered, and to be on the out-
1 1 assume here the results stated in the following chapter.
2 Strabo, final chapter. " Was Christ Born at Bethlehem ? " p. 120 f.

234 XVIII. Approach to the
look even to anticipate what Augustus would desire, and, if
he did not wish to carry out the order, he had to be careful
to send an explanation of his reasons and views and to ask
for permission to disregard the Imperial command.
Whether the order regarding a census of the Roman
world would apply to the dependent kingdoms was a matter
for Augustus to say. His word was final.
In this case we may conclude that Augustus intended the
edict instituting an Imperial census to apply to the depend
ent kingdoms. For this confident statement there are two
reasons. In the first place, Luke assumes that it did apply to Judea
and was carried into effect there, presumably by Herod :
perhaps he had Roman soldiers to help, but the details are
quite uncertain.
In the second place, the census of A.D. 34 was enforced
in the dependent kingdom of Archelaos,1 on the border-land
between the provinces of Galatia and Syria-Cilicia. This
kingdom was in a position perfectly analogous to Palestine
under Herod. What applies to the one almost certainly
applies to the other.2 The execution of the order provoked
disturbance among the tribes of Taurus ; and it is only on
account ofthe disturbance that we are informed ofthe census.
As to the view held by Wilcken, our third non-theological
witness, regarding the details of the census, we shall quote
below in chapter xx. his statement of all these details, and
his opinion that these are correctly described by Luke, and
that, in fact, Luke evolved his " legend " out of the real facts
of a census, as he saw it performed period after period
around him.
1 This was afterwards given to King Antiochus.
2 "Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? " p. 161 f., and Tacitus, "Annals,"
vi. 41.

Gospel of Luke. 235

What Wilcken calls a legend, however, would more cor
rectly be styled a fraudulent invention. A legend is vague
and shadowy. Luke, as he thinks, worked up a falsehood
so as to be true to the external features of a Roman census.
As he says, Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem in
the legend, because at the census every one, male and
female, must appear personally for enrolment.1
The theological critics try in one way or other to leave
Luke some rag of unintentional mistake, so as not to accuse
him (or the earlier authority whom he quotes) of absolute
falsification and invention ; but Wilcken regards the legend
of Joseph and Mary and the child as intentionally
constructed with an eye on the real details of ordinary
Roman procedure. According to the critics Luke, while
desiring to be true, was guilty of an astonishing series of
blunders in fact. According to Wilcken he tried to palm
off a falsehood on the world by keeping it true in every de
tail of fact and accompaniment. These theories are mutually
destructive. One cannot accept both: we accept neither.
As in the opening chapter HI. of these lectures, it has
seemed best to give in this chapter a brief statement of the
general position and the results of modern discovery, and
afterwards to state these in more detailed fashion in the
following chapters. Discovery confirms the correctness of
all the facts that Luke mentions regarding the census and
its manner and its date.
The final criticism, however, remains. The truth of the
historical surroundings in which Luke's narrative places
the birth of Jesus does not prove that the supreme facts,
which give human and divine value to the birth, are true.
It may be — in fact it must be — admitted as true that " the
1 The same principle was observed at the Epikrisis : Mitteis and Wilcken,
" Papyruskunde," i. i. p. 194.

236 XVIII. Approach to the
first enrolment " really took place, that Quirinius was
governing Syria during at least the first half of the year,
and that the general order was issued in Syria for all to
return to their own homes in preparation for the enrolment.
Yet this does not prove that Mary was the mother of Christ,
as Luke describes Him, and as John and Paul saw Him and
believed in Him.
The surrounding facts are matter of history, and can be
discussed and proved by historical evidence. The essential
facts of the narrative are not susceptible of discussion on
historical principles, and do not condescend to be tested by
historical evidence. That truth exists and moves on a
higher plane of thought. It is known through the absolute
insight into the heart of human life and divine nature. It
comes to, or is granted to, or is forced upon, a man as the
completion of his experience and the crown of his life and
the remaking of his nature. It proves itself to the soul of
man. When he sees it, he knows that it is the one truth —
the one ultimate truth — in a world of half-truths, a world
of preparation, where he is being moulded, and fashioned,
and hammered into a condition in which he can receive the
truth. This knowledge cannot be proved by mere verbal argu
ment. It is not in word, but in power. It does not
spring from any more fundamental principle. It is the
fountain from which all other so-called principles flow. It
is the guarantee of all other truth. There is nothing true
without God ; and there is nothing true except the Divine
in the infinite variety of His manifestation.
No man can make historical investigation and historical
proof take the place of faith ; and it is not the purpose of
these lectures to put the one for the other. The Christian
religion is a matter of living, not of mere intellectual know-

Gospel of Luke. 23/

ledge ; and " the just shall live by faith ". Yet it is not
without its value to have the truth of the concomitant cir
cumstances demonstrated. One must remember that
Christianity did not originate in a lie, and that we can
and ought to demonstrate this, as well as to believe it. The
account which it gives of its own origin is susceptible of
being tested on the principles of historical study, and
through the progress of discovery the truth of that account
can be and has been in great part proved. There is, how
ever, more to do. The evidence is there, if we look for it.

CHAPTER XIX
LUKE'S ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST CENSUS
WHAT does Luke say about the census ? That had never
been determined. Mutually inconsistent and thoroughly
unjustifiable (if one may venture to use such an adjective
regarding the opinions of great theological critics) l inter
pretations of his brief statement on the subject were advo
cated ; and the simple, natural, and obvious translation was
not, so far as I am aware, ever considered seriously.
The critical question is this : what is the meaning of
" first " ? Why is this census called the first? Everything
else depends on the answer to this question.
On the principles laid down in " St. Paul the Traveller,"
pp. 27 f., there could not be for me any doubt. Luke says
this was "the first," in order to distinguish it from later
occasions on which the census was taken. He knew of
several such occasions of census-takings, and one of these
he actually mentions as "the census,"2 viz. the one which
was made in A.D. 6 when Judea was organized as a pro
vince of the Empire. Now if Luke describes a census as
the first, we are led on inevitably to the supposition of a
series of census-takings, and something in the way of a
regular census-system. See Note on p. 254.
1 Such as, for example, that irpdrn Kvpiviov meant the census before
Quirinius was governor of Syria. These interpretations need not be enumer
ated : they are all wrong and impossible in Greek usage.
2Acts v. 37 : this practically means " the census," the great census.
(238)

XIX. Luke' s Account of the First Census. 239
No one thought of attributing such a meaning to Luke's
words. It was too absurd even for him. Not even the
harshest critic would attribute such a foolish meaning to
him. Accordingly, every one had set about discovering or
inventing possible meanings for his words, as the plain and
obvious one could not have been in his mind.
For me, however, there was no alternative. I had de
clared my principles, and stated how Luke's words ought
always to be taken. This passage could only mean that
Luke referred to some system of taking the census from
time to time, that this system was inaugurated by a decree
of the Emperor Augustus, and that Jesus was born in the
year of the first census-taking.
Then I asked myself whether any person could invent the
story of such a system. Every contemporary would know
that there was no such census-system ; and no historian of
any kind or class would state a falsehood whose falsity was
obvious to every reader. A bad or unprincipled writer
might invent a false incident, if his only public consisted
of strangers who did not know the facts ; but no one puts
in writing an evident falsehood, which must instantly be
detected. The conclusion was evident. Luke trusted to his
readers' familiarity with the facts and the census-system.
He spoke of the first census, knowing how much that would
imply to them. They knew the system as it was carried
out in the Roman Empire.1
If that was so, then we might expect to find some refer
ences to such a census-system. It is not one of the things
that attracted or interested ancient historians ; they loved
1 By Luke and his contemporaries the Empire was called " the world,"
i.e. the civilized world : see " Was Christ Born at Bethl. " p. 119 f. The
Roman Empire always claimed a monopoly of civilization.

240 XIX. Luke's Account of
to write of battles and sieges and dynastic facts, and all the
" great events of history " ; but the minute details of bureau
cratic government were not a subject on which they ever
give information. Still, there are occasional references to
census-taking in various provinces ; and some of them have
been stated by Gardthausen in the chapter in which he
rightly emphasizes the importance that Augustus attached
to the collecting and co-ordination of statistics in his system
of administering the provinces in all respects as regards the
manner of taking the census, and as to the requirement of
personal presence at the original home.
Such unconnected and unclassifiable traces of a census as
these were of no use in the present state of our knowledge,
and many of them may relate to a different type of census :
but an allusion in Pliny is much more valuable. He tells
that, during the census conducted by Claudius in A.D. 48, a
man was found at Bologna who returned his age as 150.
This great age roused the Emperor's attention, and on in
vestigating the records of previous enrolments it was cor
roborated by his statements on those occasions.1
Here we have a clear allusion to a census-system. This
man had given to the Imperial officials a statement of his
age from time to time. The records were preserved, and
the officials knew at once where to turn in order to test his
accuracy. This implies a regular system, in which statistics
about population were collected and preserved, evidently
to form a basis for good administration of State in
terests. Such a system involves, obviously, that enrolments
must have been taken at regular intervals ; and this one
passage of Pliny taken in conjunction with Luke's term
1 Pliny, " Nat. Hist.," vii. 48 (159) ; other notices ofthe operations of Claud
ius in the census when he was censor, A.D. 48, occur in Tacitus, " Annals,"
xi. 25, 31 ; Suetonius, " Claud." 16.

the First Census. 241
" first census," reveals the outlines of the system, while the
details remain obscure.
The interval between the enrolments could not be re
covered from the scattered references to a census. One
in A.D. 35 has been already mentioned in the previous
chapter. The one mentioned by Pliny occurred in 48
apparently.1 Tacitus mentions a census held in the pro
vinces of Gaul at the end of the events of A.D. 61.
Vespasian and Titus were censors in 73-74. We now see
that these correspond in a loose way to the census periods
of A.D. 34, 48, 62 and 76 ; but the correspondence is in
exact. Even taking in, as connected in some possible fashion,
the great year of census and reviewing of resources in 8 B.C.,
one could not possibly recover any outline or dim shadow
of a system from the facts. Yet that some sort of system
existed was distinctly implied by two Christian writers,
who, however, were set aside as absolutely valueless by
critics, just because they were Christian.
Now we grant at once that if a writer merely borrows
from Luke what he tells us about the first census, he does
not add in any way to the strength of Luke's statement,
regarded as historical evidence ; but if a later writer says
something that is not in Luke, and evidently had access to
some other authority, then there is added the weight of
that other authority, whatever it be.
Clement of Alexandria, in the latter part of the second
century, mentions that Christ was born " in the 28th year,
when first they ordered enrolments to be made ".2 This 1 is
1 Tacitus, loc. cit., speaks of Claudius as holding a census review at Ostia
personally in 48 ; but the general operations probably belong to a.d. 49.
2 Strom., I. 21, 147, ore rrpSnov l*.k\evaav airoyparpSis yeveaBai ; " Was
Christ Born at Bethl." p. 128. The mention of year 28 leads on to the
16

242 XIX. Luke s Account of
not simply taken, or mistaken, from Luke. Clement thought
of a series or system of enrolments : he was personally
familiar with it, and speaks of it as a matter of Roman life.
As we now know, this must have been in Clement's mind,
because such was the situation in which he lived ; and on
a fair estimate of his words no reasonable scholar can doubt
that this is the meaning of his words.
He was familiar with the census-system as it was performed
periodically around him throughout his life in Egypt ; he
had filled up his own census paper, and had seen his
parents and friends do the same ; and he believed that the
same periodic system of census was practised in Palestine,
and had begun, like the Egyptian census, under Augustus
and by order of Augustus just as Luke says ; but he is not
simply borrowing his statement from Luke. He is con
firming Luke from his own knowledge.
That is all reasonable, natural, and simple,1 but it was
regarded as too absurd even for Clement ; and so it was
not even taken into consideration ; but now we know that
this system of periodic enrolment did exist, and that
Clement had seen it in operation throughout his life, and
recognized that Luke was speaking of the first census of this
system in his Gospel II. 1-3.
One thing more we can infer from Clement. He had no
question how and why it was that the Christian era came to be wrongly
calculated, and thus the Birth of Christ was placed in what we know to be
the fourth year after the death of Herod. This error, originating in the
second century, has caused much trouble. It is confusing to say that
Herod died 4 B.C., and yet Jesus was born in the days of Herod the king.
The "Christian Era" is a mere convention among chronologists, and is
wrongly placed ; but that is apart from the subject of this investigation.
1 As I read the quaint arguments of the critics on subjects like this, the ex
pression which I have often used about the Turks rises in my mind, " any
thing may happen in Turkey except what is reasonable and natural and
possible ".

the First Census. 243
thought that the census was peculiar to Egypt : he implies
that it would take place in Palestine after the same fashion
as in Egypt. On this he could hardly be mistaken : it was
a thing that must have been well known.1
The records of these successive enrolments were pre
served and could be consulted, as we have learned from
Pliny. If such vast records could be consulted many years
later, as he says, then they must have been classified for
consultation. In fact, no rational ruler would plan a sys
tem of periodic enrolments, unless the statistics were to
be classified and tabulated. Without that a census has no
value. Tertullian evidently consulted the records, and he made a
remarkable discovery.2 He says that Jesus was born when
the census was made in Syria by Sentius Saturninus. We
have the excellent evidence of Josephus that Sentius gov
erned Syria 8-6 B.C.
Formerly Tertullian's statement was set aside as absurd
and valueless, because no one put the birth of Jesus so
early as that ; but, as we shall see, the first enrolment in the
Augustan system coincides with the government of Sentius,
and forthwith Tertullian's statement acquires unsuspected
weight. He corroborates Luke as regards the time of the
census during Herod's life, but not as regards the name of
the Roman official. He must, therefore, derive from a
different source of information independent of Luke, because
on one essential point he diverges from him ; and, at the very
least, his statement proves that there existed different written
1 Justin Martyr refers to the same census ; but his words might quite well
be founded on Luke alone, and do not necessarily imply any other authority
or any knowledge of his own, but only his belief that records of census did
exist and might be consulted.
2 "Adv. Marc." iv. 19.

244 XIX. Lukes Account of
sources of information, which is an important fact for the
historian. If Tertullian had only the authority of Luke to rest on,
it is inconceivable that he could have named Sentius as
the officer that made the census, for he regarded Luke as a
perfect authority. He therefore had access to another good
authority. Now it is evident that if this census had been a mere
fiction invented by Luke, there could not be other sources
of knowledge about it. There must lie behind these two
statements, partly harmonious, partly diverse, some historical
reality and some independent tradition. A historical pro
cess that is mentioned by only one witness might be a
fabrication ; but a process that is attested by two totally
independent authorities cannot be set down by sane criticism
as a pure invention.
We must therefore accept what Tertullian says as giving
a fixed point in this investigation. He had access to
records, and as we shall see they were trustworthy records,
showing that the first Enrolment or Census took place
in 8 B.C., and that Saturninus directed the operation.
It is not necessary to understand that he got both facts
from the same source. Probably he knew from one
authority1 the nature and times ofthe periodic Enrolments ;
and he consulted another source for the official's name.
Finally, he depended on Luke's authority for the fact that
Jesus was born at this first census.
Simply from the severe but intelligent study of the two
most definite ancient authorities, any truly rational criticism
must infer that the statement of Luke II. 1-3 is not an in-
1 This authority would naturally be the actual recurring system, as
Tertullian knew it in his own experience. Clement of Alexandria knew it
as a familiar act in ordinary life.

the First Census. 245
vention of his own, concocted stupidly from half-knowledge
and from misuse of the fact that Quirinius was connected
with another provincial census in A.D. 6-J~. Luke must have
had information from some source or other about events of
that period, and this information was trustworthy and of
inestimable value, for it gives a picture of the beginning of
that most remarkable institution, the periodical census of
the East.
Why does Tertullian say that Sentius took the census
when Jesus was born, whereas Luke says that Jesus was3,*
born while Quirinius was governing Syria, and Josephus
again declares that Sentius was governor of Syria ? It has
been thought that Tertullian contradicts Luke, but that ¦¦
is not so. They make different statements. Luke gives a
date after the usual ancient fashion (followed by him on a
great scale in III. 1, 2): Tertullian makes an assertion about
the official who took the census. On the officials in Syria
at the time see chap. XXI.
Probably the counting of Roman citizens was performed
in a different way from the counting of the subject popu
lation for taxation purposes. Augustus records the number
of Roman citizens whom he counted at the census held in
28 B.C., 8 B.C., and A.D. 14.1 The first is older than the
institution of periodic enrolments ; the second agrees ; but
the third is remote from agreement. Apparently, during
Augustus's weak health in old age, the proper occasion, A.D.
6, was passed, and his colleague and successor Tiberius
counted the citizens for him in the year of his death.
Later the two operations presumably were carried out
-egularly at the due periods, each in its own fashion.
As to this system which Luke seemed to imply, I did
1 He does not allude to any enrolment of tax-paying subjects ; but he
writes as a Roman for Romans. (See also p. 294, note 1.)

y

246 XIX. Lukes Account of
not think, when starting on the investigation, that the
design of Augustus was likely to have been successfully
carried into effect and to have become permanent in the
Empire. As we now know it was successful, and lasted
for 250 years or more, before it stopped in the disorganized
and weakening Empire; but at that time, in 1895, with
only Luke's brief statement to rest on, I was quite pre
pared to find that a measure contemplated and ordered by
Augustus proved unsuccessful ; and even yet we have far
more evidence about it in the Eastern provinces,1 which had
an old and settled organization, than in the west. The
machinery needed for a great census-system is large ; the
operations are complicated ; perhaps the system (as I
thought) might not have become universal, for the Imperial
civil and military service was certainly carried out by what
seems to us a very small number of persons ; but it cerj
tainly could be traced in the East.
Moreover, it was by no means certain then that later
Emperors appreciated so thoroughly as Augustus did the
importance of basing administration on the collection and
grouping of facts. We can now say that the system and
principles established by Augustus were maintained and
developed by later Emperors on the lines that he sketched
out. In seeking for evidence about the initiation of the
system under Augustus, we were faced with one difficulty.
Information is most .inadequate. The inscriptions available
were not so numerous or so important 2 as for a later period ;
1 This is mainly due to the fact that paper lives in Egypt for thousands of
years, but decays quickly in the damp soil of other countries.
2 Of course there are some few notable exceptions to this statement, such
as the " Res Gestae Divi Augusti," the recital of his own achievements by
Augustus, written by a Roman for Romans, and influenced by that fact.

the First Census. 247
and the literary authorities are extraordinarily scanty.
Horace, Virgil, and even Propertius have an important
political aspect in their works. Ovid has no value in that
view : he saw only what concerned his pitiful self.
Hence the latter part of the reign of Augustus, in fact
the whole period from about 15 B.C. to the beginning of
the reign of Tiberius in A.D. 14, is almost completely
hidden from our knowledge.1 No historian illumines it.
Suetonius and Velleius hardly mention anything in it except
some dynastic matters. There was nothing else, from their
point of view, worthy of mention ; there reigned an almost
unbroken peace except for some frontier wars, and the
bureaucratic system of Augustus worked, on the whole, so
efficiently, that there was nothing striking to record except
the German war and the tragic defeat of Varus. Had a
formal history of Augustus's reign been preserved by a
writer like Tacitus, he would probably have lamented the
want of great events, and would have mentioned little
except dynastic gossip during that period. It did not oc
cur to the ancient historians that it was a worthy task to
record — what we in modern times most desire — an account
of the bureaucracy, a study of the provinces, details about
the improvements whereby Augustus made the provinces
contented and happy, and through which he deserved —
if man could deserve — to be idolized by the nations
whom he had found in slavery and misery and had made,
to a certain degree, free and progressive.
1 As an illustration of its obscurity take the following. A certain Favonius
is known , from an inscription found recently, to have held the very highest
offices of state in the last years of the reign of Augustus ; but except from
one single stone found in Phrygia, he seems to be utterly unknown, unless
the conjecture be admitted — a conjecture which has nothing in its favour
— that Favonius is an otherwise unrecorded cognomen, attached to the name
of some known historical figure.

248 XIX. Lukes Account of
A glance into any account of the history of Augustus,
written according to the old-fashioned type usual forty years
ago, will show the obscurity of this period. Take Smith's
"Dictionary of Ancient Biography". To Augustus are
given fourteen columns and a half, of which eight or ten
short sentences exhaust this period, and these are dynastic
or touch on German frontier wars. One would not say that
this is good history, or right method ; but it is the old-
fashioned style of history, and it is the sort of knowledge
by whose standard the New Testament has been judged too
often in the past fifty years and at the present day.
The extract from Luke II. 1-3 plunges us right into the
midst of provincial administration with its minute detailsi
the " enrolment " of the provinces, as it was seen in one
of them, the first enrolment of a series1 implying that
there followed systematic enrolments at intervals, the
action of a member of the bureaucracy, the implication
that many other members of the bureaucracy must have
co-operated in such a vast administrative work, which
was begun by an order of the governor calling back every
individual to his own city.
Luke gives a very striking picture of a splendid piece of
governmental work. He tells of a bold law for the whole
Empire, instituting a series of enrolments, a regular census-
system. Taking into account what machinery is required
to hold a census, to tabulate and use its results, to make
this a universal system for the Empire, and to repeat the
Imperial census at intervals, the historian is struck with
admiration of the Augustan idea. The statesman who
thought of making such a system universal knew that wise
1 1 have been criticized for maintaining that Luke distinguished in
meaning rrpwros from trp6repos ; but now discovery has proved conclusively
that in this passage at least " first " must mean " the first of many " ; and
I have nothing to retract.

the First Census. 249
government depended on the collection, classification, and
registration of details ; and he must have expected that his
bureaucracy would prove equal to the work. If he thought
of a system, he must have determined his system by regular
recurrence at regular intervals : no other way need or can
be thought of. If Augustus could plan out such schemes
as this, it is no wonder that his great Imperial foundation
lasted so long, and that his bureaucratic system of adminis
tration fixed the general type for all modern methods of
government. Anyone who has a true feeling for history
must be thankful to the great historian who has sketched
for us in such brief and masterly fashion by a few pregnant
words such a skilful picture. He has lit up the obscurity
of this dark period, and given us a specimen of Imperial
administrative method. The historians of the century that
follows the age of Augustus were so occupied with the
"great events of history" that they would not mention
such humble matters as enrolment and its methods ; and
Luke was left to tell the tale alone. Such very slight
corroboration as has been recorded by Tacitus inter
venes incidentally, and is alluded to in such slight and
contemptuous fashion that it gives only the minimum of
information, and was not even recognized as corroborative
until the whole census-system was cleared up in the gradual
progress of research.
Most recent writers on the New Testament, however,
had stood placidly and contentedly apart from the mod
ern developments of Roman Imperial history, and had
evolved the theory that Luke had invented this incident
"all out of his own head" (in the children's phrase),1 to ex-
1 His starting-point (as it is supposed) lay in a blunder about Quirinius,
who did actually take another census in Judea (the second of the series).
According to this fashionable theory, Luke misplaced the census of a.d. 6
to a date in the reign of Herod who died 4 B.C.

250 XIX. Lukes Account of
plain how Jesus could be born in Bethlehem of parents who
lived in Nazareth.
Assume for the moment that this is so. What genius
for historical fiction is implied in the invention ! Luke had
no foundation in fact to go upon ; his starting-point was
only his blunder about the date of a totally different kind
of enrolment made by Quirinius in Palestine in A.D. 6,1
when that governor conducted the survey and valuation of
the country which was now for the first time being con
stituted as a province of the Empire. All the rest of his
story is, according to the fashionable theory, pure fiction.
How comes it that Luke could imagine all that is implied
in his picture? How could he invent a vast process which
hangs together so well in itself, and which puts before us a
quite wonderful piece of bureaucratic administration, ex
tremely complicated, requiring the collaboration of a great
many officials, and yet all purely fictitious? Still more
wonderful is this when we find from recent discovery that
every detail in Luke's picture can be paralleled from ad
ministrative practice in the Empire at a later period. The
historian was not merely a genius, but also a prophet. He
foresaw what the subsequent Emperors were going to do ;
and he imagines Augustus doing it all before the death of
1 It must be remembered that, if Quirinius in a.d. 6 was not making a
periodic census, his enrolment would not be a model from which Luke
could draw the picture 'given in 11. 1-3. On our view there were combined
in the enrolment of that year the valuation and inquisition which were re
quired for Roman administrative purposes in a new province, along with the
counting by household (d-rroypacpti Kar olntav) of the periodic census. It was
perhaps the former part that did most to provoke the great disturbances
among the Jews as recorded by Josephus. The counting by households
necessitated an inquiry into home life that was offensive to the Asiatic mind
and society ; but the other inquisition was probably even more unpopular and
detested, as implying the beginning of complete domination by the great
alien Empire.

the First Census. 251
Herod in 4 B.C. The scholar who now says that Luke in
vented the picture which is drawn in II. 1-3 has to face these
alternatives : either he must glorify Luke as a genius in
fiction and a prophet in history, or he must confess that his
own theory is wrong.
Let us, however, investigate more strictly what is implied
in the theory of false invention. The whole procedure,
according to the writers of this class, was a fiction: Jesus
was born in Nazareth (only a very few go so far as to deny
that he was ever born or had any historical existence) ; and
after a legend connecting Him with Bethlehem had grown
up, Luke set about inventing historical circumstances and
conditions to explain and give plausibility and historical
background to the legend. But observe how much this
theory implies : it may be doubted whether those who hold
it have ever put clearly to themselves or their readers all
that they really are contending for. They are really main
taining : —
1. That Luke, without possessing any true historical in
stinct (such as was the heritage of the Greeks, making them
seek after and value for its own sake historical truth), yet
had a certain untrained craving for a historical setting to his
story ; that he cast about in the past, to search for some
thing suitable as a historical background ; and that finding
a census recorded as occurring in A.D. 6-j, he took this and
transferred it to a different time. It is not made quite clear
whether the argument is that Luke committed this blunder
from pure chronological inability and historical ignorance,
fancying that it afforded some explanation, or that he de
liberately and knowingly transferred the census to a wrong
time ; the commoner view seems to be that he acted through
ignorance and incapacity.
2. That Luke invented without any authority the state-

252 XIX. Lukes Account of
ment that Augustus ordered a census or enrolment of the
whole Empire to be made ; there could (as these writers
assume) be no record of such an impossible act, but Luke
supposed that the order of Augustus x regarding the Pales
tinian census of A.D. 6 (which he misplaced) was univers
ally applicable to the Roman world. The argument in this
¦case is that Luke, without any need or any authority, in
vented the statement. That census in A.D. 6 was, of
course, taken on the instructions issued by Augustus to the
Governor of Syria ; but to invent unnecessarily a general
edict of Augustus, and thus transform a local process at the
organization of a new Province into an Imperial regulation
for the Empire, shows not merely gross ignorance about
facts and methods of government, but also deliberate
forgery of historical testimony performed for the purpose
•of imparting a false air of historicity to a legend. Careless
ness in a historian is bad, but such calculated falsehood is
much worse.
3. The fashionable theory implies further that Luke in
vented, not merely one world-wide Augustan census under
Herod, but also the idea of a series of enrolments, of which
this was the first. Now, why should he do this? His
other inventions were hid in the far-away times of King
Herod and might deceive the unwary ; but a series of en
rolments was a thing that could be tested by every reader
from his own experience.
One feels that this part of the accusation overtaxes one's
power of belief. No rational writer could or would go to
1 The instructions (mandata) given by the Emperor to his legatus, whom
he sent to Syria in a.d. 6, would, of course, contain a provision for making
the usual valuation, etc., required in constituting the new province. No
special edict was needed for this action in a single new province. Out of
this Luke, according to the fashionable theory, has evolved an edict issued to
the whole Empire.

the First Census. 253;
such an extreme of needless and useless invention. If this.
is all false it adds nothing to the verisimilitude of the narra
tive ; and it must have forthwith betrayed its falseness to
every reader at the time when Luke's Gospel was written.
We cannot admit such an incredible accusation. The theory
destroys itself.
4. The fashionable theory, further, maintained that the
idea of every person going to his own home to be enrolled
was a pure fiction, and could not possibly have been true ::
it was a mere device to explain how Jesus could be born
in Bethlehem of parents who lived in Nazareth : it was a.
false explanation of an invented occurrence : Jesus, if born
at all, was born in the home of his parents. From modern.
discovery, however, it now appears that the order to return
to the original home, though in a sense non-Roman in spirit
was the regular feature of the census in the Eastern pro
vinces, as will be shown in the sequel.
From a fair, unprejudiced and rational consideration of
the evidence of Luke, Pliny, Tacitus, Clement and Ter
tullian, we conclude that the statements of Luke are all
probable in themselves, and that the theory either of inven
tion or of stupid error on his part is unreasonable and un
justifiable. Any theory of that form only casts discredit on
the historical acumen of those who proposed or accepted it:
as probable ; and yet it was not merely regarded as pro
bable, but was generally accepted as demonstrated and'
certain truth. Even Mommsen's plea that most of what
Luke says was probably correct was ignored and remained
ineffective. This theory is an astonishing example of modern
European capacity for making false judgments. From
1 Strauss and others were, at least, stating their opinion in books of in
vestigation, good or bad ; but Schmiedel was stating in the " Encyclopaedia

254 XIX. Lukes Account of the First Census.
Strauss to Schmiedel,1 what a series of distinguished and
famous scholars have blindly assumed that their inability to
estimate historical evidence correctly was the final and sure
criterion of truth. This we can now say freely, because the
whole matter, so far as the census is concerned, has passed
out of the sphere of speculation into the region of definite
historical truth. We know that Luke was right in the ex
ternal facts, because the records have disclosed the whole
system of the census ; but as to the inner facts, the birth
and the divine nature of Jesus, there can (as said above) be
no historical reasoning, for those are a matter of faith, of
intuition, and of the individual human being's experience
and inner life.1
Note (p. 238).— In "St. Paul the Traveller," p. 27 f., dis
cussing Luke's use of irpStros, I wrongly admitted that in
Stephen's speech, Acts VII. 12, the speaker used irp£>Tov
where irporepov would be right. So it had been asserted,
and I allowed it ; but this is not so. Three visits were
made by the sons of Jacob (as both Genesis and Stephen
say) : the first is expressed by irp&Tov, the second by ev ra>
Bevrepq), and the third by a changed form.
Biblica " for general use views which should have been certain and funda
mental; and he states his own blunders more dogmatically than almost any
other scholar. It is no wonder that this audacious self-confidence misled the
less educated public.
1 See the last three paragraphs of Ch. xviii.

CHAPTER XX
THE AUGUSTAN CENSUS-SYSTEM
WHEN I had reached the conclusion that the balance of
probability, judging on mere historical principles, was de
cisively in favour of Luke being correct in his description
of the census, the discoveries made in Egypt offered
themselves. Three scholars almost simultaneously an
nounced that there existed in Egypt a census-system
extending from A.D. 90 to 258. The incidence and nature
of the census was proved by the enrolment papers that had
been preserved in the dry soil. The idea occurred to me
that this was the system which Luke mentions as put
in action for the first time under Herod ; and the periods
when reckoned back gave a system originating from the
completion of the Imperial authority of Augustus on 29
June, 23 B.C., and falling due for the first time in 9 B.C.
In describing the census-system, I shall ignore the
variations in regard to the beginning of the new years,
which varied much. I speak of the periodic census years
as 9 B.C., A.D. 6, 20, 34, 48, 62, etc. ; but it will be under
stood that in applying these years to Egypt, or to Asia
Minor, one who seeks to be accurate would call those years
10-9 B.C., A.D. 5-6, A.D. 19-20, because in those countries
the new year began not on 1 January, but on some day in
the late summer or autumn.
It will also be remembered that the actual enrolment
was almost always made in the year following, as the
(255)

256 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
intention was to count every person who had come into
existence up to the end of the periodic year. Hence the
actual census-taking was in 8 B.C., A.D. 7, A.D. 21, and so
on, and most frequently in the later months of those years.
The census papers are all carefully dated and leave no
doubt on these points.
It will be convenient to give a very brief summary of
Wilcken's statement on the subject.1 He is the most
cautious and sure of scholars, and anything that he states
as demonstrated fact may be accepted without the smallest
hesitation. Augustus seems to have left the old Ptolemaic system of
annual census in Egypt undisturbed, when the country was
brought under the Empire in 30 B.C.2 After some interval
the fourteen-year-cycle was introduced. Actual census
papers have been found of the periodic year 62 [add also
34] after Christ.3 Indirect references occur to the census
of A.D. 20 and 48.* Grenfell and Hunt rightly argue that
Augustus must have originated this cycle. Beyond this
there is no certainty, and we must await the discovery of
fresh material.
Before the periodic year 62 the form of census was not
quite the same as it became on that occasion and continued
thereafter in unbroken series down to A.D. 258. s In parti-

1 Mitteis and Wilcken, " Papyruskunde," I, 1. p. ig2 f.
2 Wilcken, 1. p. 192, arguing from Grenfell's 1. 45 and 46.
3 Wilcken, ibid. I have added the period 34 from a Strassburg Papyrus
recently published in " Philologus," confirmed by a letter from Dr. Hunt
answering my question about this document, which is strange in expression.
This papyrus was published since Wilcken wrote : he knew no census paper
earlier than 62.
4 Wilcken, ibid, from Grenfell and Hunt, " Oxy.," n. 254 and 255.
5 No census papers of a later date have been found but no change or
reason for change is attested, except that about this time the whole ad-

XX. The Augustan Census- System. 257
cular the term " household enrolment " : is not known until
A.D. 62. That earlier period is therefore a time of transi
tion. At this point I would add to Wilcken that the Augustan
system, as found in Egypt, could not, even on the Egyptian
evidence, be taken as applying to Egypt only. The system
is calculated, not on the Egyptian reckoning of the reign
of Augustus, but on the Imperial reckoning. Augustus
counted his reign in the Empire generally by the tribunician
authority conferred on him, 29 June, 23 B.C.,2 whereas in
Egypt he exercised his sovereignty on a different footing,3
starting from 29 August, 30 B.C. ; and any device intended
for Egypt alone would be arranged accordingly.
Now there are practically only two alternatives : a device
like this, found in Egypt, must be either restricted to
Egypt or universal for the Empire.4 We have found that
it is not confined to Egypt, therefore it is Imperial, and
the decree that ordered it must, as Luke says, have gone
forth to " the whole world ".
This is a fair and probable inference from the Egyptian
evidence, taken by itself. When we further consider the
weight of authority for a wider census, as stated in Chap.
xix., there can remain no reasonable doubt. It is, how
ever, not admitted by Wilcken, for he makes no suggestion
ministration of the Empire everywhere was slackening and growing weaker,
and its strength was diminishing. The Christian Empire, as Mommsen says,
reinvigorated the State as a whole. Wilcken, I. p. 193.
1 Kar' olxtav ctoroypaipl).
2 This reckoning was followed by the later Emperors; each reigned as
champion of the Commons, and counted the years as Trib. Potest. 1., 11.,
and so on.
3 On its nature see the statement later in this chapter, and also Chap. xv.
* The supposition that the census should have been ordered only for a few
Eastern provinces cannot be admitted. There is no reason to think that
Augustus ever restricted his orders after that fashion.
17

258 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
as to the origin of the census-periods. The inference was
drawn in my book,1 which Wilcken does not mention. In
fact he attributes to Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt the dis
covery that the census-system originates from Augustus ;
and this he admits, only leaving a doubt whether the first
periodic year was 9 B.C. or A.D. 6. That discovery, how
ever, as the two English scholars mention, was stated by
me a year before their volume appeared,2 containing their
first statement of their opinion on this subject. So far as
I am concerned, the matter is of no consequence ; but as it
relates to Luke, it has some interest. The discovery was
made by taking Luke's account as trustworthy and search
ing for evidence bearing on the subject. I took as a work
ing hypothesis that there was an oecumenical decree of
Augustus, instituting a census, and the investigation was
directed accordingly. That is a procedure that is not
merely scientifically permissible : it is in the present state
of knowledge the only scientific method. This is a point
of supreme importance.
In every case that has been sufficiently tested 3 Luke has
been proved to state, not merely correctly in a superficial and
external fashion, but correctly with insight and fine historic
sense, the facts of history and of Roman organization in
municipal and provincial and imperial government. Such
1 " Was Christ Born at Bethl.," Chap, vn., after having been published
already in the " Expositor," May, 1907.
2 " Oxyrynchus Papyri," Vol. II, i8gg, p. 207 ff.
3 The statement about the insurrection led by Theudas in Acts v. 36 has
not been, and cannot at present be, sufficiently tested. This statement is
uttered by Gamaliel, about a.d. 30, and his speech is reported by Luke.
Josephus mentions a rebel Theudas, who lived and died in a.d. 44. The
little that is mentioned about these two rebels does not agree ; and there is
no reason to doubt that an older rebel named Theudas may have been known
to Gamaliel, but not mentioned by Josephus, who certainly did not mention
every insurrection that was made in Judea against Rome.

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 259
progress as the present writer has been enabled to make in
discovery is largely due to the early appreciation of the fact
that Luke is a safe guide. From this follows the principle
that the path of the explorer lies in the careful study of
Luke's narrative, wherever it bears in any way on the sub
ject of investigation ; and it will always be found best to
begin by fixing clearly before our eyes in its proper perspec
tive a picture according to Luke.
We now resume the account given by Wilcken. The
household enrolment in Egypt was subsidiary to taxation
purposes, for the poll-tax was levied on all who had reached
the age of fourteen, which determined the census-period.
The intention of the census was to reckon completely the
population according to their home (LSla), and hence the
order was issued by the governor of Egypt that every man
must return to his own home (IBCa) for the census, exactly
as Luke relates in respect of Judea.1 Generally, and
perhaps always, the edict ordering the return to the home
for the census was different from and later than the edict
stating the imminence of the census and the arrangements
for it.2
The order is stated in the edict of the Prefect Vibius
Maximus in A.D. 104, "that all who for any reason what
ever are away from their own Nomos should return to
their home to enrol themselves ". By this edict, however,
certain exceptions are permitted at Alexandria, in the
cases of persons who are needed by the city. The only
city in Egypt was Alexandria, and its citizens had the right
of self-government by their own magistrates. The governor
of the land of Egypt makes this exception from respect to
the city. The rest of Egypt was imperial property, one vast
1 Wilcken, I. p. 193.
*Ibid. p. 193 f., 11. pp. iv., 235 f., no. 202.

260 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
estate on which the cultivators occupied much the same
relation towards the Emperor as is described above in Chap.
xv. The Emperor stood in the place of the old Pharaohs
and of the Ptolemaic kings ; and the people were his sub
jects and almost his slaves.
Egypt, therefore, was not in the strict sense a province of
the Empire. It was the property of the Emperor himself ;
and the account given of the provinces and the provincials
must not be applied to this unique country. No member
of the Senate was permitted to land in Egypt without a
special pass from the Emperor.
There can be no doubt as to the purpose of this remark
able order, which apparently was repeated regularly at
every census. It was intended to bring the cultivators back
to their own home, to keep them on the land, and to pre
vent them going off to other avocations and leaving the land
without sufficient hands to cultivate it. The harvest of
Egypt was of immense importance for the economy of the
Empire, and no risk must be incurred that the land might
pass even in a small degree out of cultivation. The order
to return to the home was an economic measure intended
to ensure that the supply of food should be maintained for
the Empire by keeping a sufficient number of cultivators on
the land. It was also a device for keeping up the value
of the vast Imperial estates all over the East. Their value
to the Emperor as owner depended on the high state of
cultivation and productiveness in which they were main
tained. Now in the ages when freedom was valuable and valued,
there was some temptation for the cultivators to leave the
estates and try to merge themselves in the free population
of the self-governing cities. Even if they could not easily
become burgesses of a city where they settled, they could

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 261
be ranked as resident strangers, of whom there were many
in every city.
Later, and markedly during the growing degeneration of
administration and security in the third century, the social
condition of the whole Empire deteriorated, freedom
ceased to have much charm, and the free citizens began to
drift towards the Imperial estates. The condition of the
cultivators was bad, but they could appeal to their Lord
and Master, and it was to his interest not to let their state
become too miserable lest their value should deteriorate.
This we saw in Chap. xv. The cultivators had in some
small degree a protector during that later period of decay,
but the free citizens had none.
In the first and second centuries, however, all over the
East, it seemed important to the Imperial policy to counter
act the tendency of the cultivators on the estate to move
towards the cities.
Now Rostowzew has rightly inferred from the nature of
the edicts ordering return to the home for the census, that
there was no law compelling the cultivators even in Egypt
to remain on the land. The change of domicile was still
legal ; and the cultivators possessed the rights of freemen.
Yet the Imperial government aimed at preventing the
cultivators from leaving the land in too great numbers ;
and they took advantage of the census to compel return to
the home once in fourteen years. This regulation clipped
the wings of freedom, and served the purpose of the govern
ment for the time.
Very few scholars would have been disposed to accept as
a regular Roman principle this rule that the census must be
taken of each individual at his original and proper home
(t'Sia). The present writer did not do so, and on this
point his book on the subject was wrong. The error was

262 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
not due to doubt about the accuracy of Luke, but simply
to ignorance of the Roman custom, which had not become
known. Wherever the present writer followed Luke's
authority absolutely and with knowledge he was right down
to the last detail. Where want of knowledge obscured the
way, he was wrong. He advanced the hypothesis that this
regulation was special to Judea, and was due to the desire
of Herod to conduct the census in a way that would be less
offensive to the Hebrew feeling than the ordinary Roman
custom. We now know that the regulation mentioned by Luke
was the customary Roman method of making the census.
This is a noteworthy fact, and opens up a great vista of
history.1 When the writer had recourse to a supposed concession
by Herod to Hebrew feeling, he was groping in the proper
direction. It is quite true that the principle of the return
to the home is an example ofthe influence of native Oriental
custom on the practical administration of Roman rule in the
East ; but this was no mere exception due to Hebrew
prejudice. It was a far bigger and more wide-reaching
principle than that.
In Greece and the East the Roman rule was applied to
people with a very ancient civilization, with national
customs and elaborate legal forms fixed by the usage of
countless generations ; and, above all, the Romans were
here in contact with peoples so proud as the Greeks and so
antagonistic in spirit as the Semites and other Orientals.
Government could not safely be carried on in such countries
without very careful adaptation to the character of the
people. The Romans never intentionally destroyed an
i
1 It is expressly mentioned in Palestine, Thrace and Egypt, but that implies
the whole East, at least.

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 263
existing civilization within the Empire (perhaps with the
solitary exception of the Carthaginian) : they used it, and
built upon and around it.
Even in the barbarian West there can be no doubt that,
while Rome imposed her own law and customs upon these
provinces, she was not wholly unmindful of native custom
and character. In the Three Gauls she adapted her rule
to the tribal system. In southern Britain and in Nar-
bonensian Gaul the tribal system was destroyed. This
difference of treatment, due to difference in native character
and circumstances, was probably accompanied by differ
ence in the degree to which pure Roman law was adminis
tered in these neighbouring yet diverse countries.
Thus, for example, if I may diverge for the moment to a
side illustration, it is quite false method to assume (as many
recent writers in Germany and England have done) that St.
Paul and his correspondents were familiar with the pure
Roman law. The Apostle could never have seen this ad
ministered, either in Tarsus or in Palestine : Tarsus and
Antioch were free cities, in which the Roman law was
not applied : Palestine was governed according to Jewish
law. Even in ordinary provincial cities, like Iconium or
Derbe or Perga, the Roman law was (as Mitteis has shown)
strongly affected by the hereditary law and custom of the
Greek East. Paul in his letters was not writing to people
who knew the pure Roman law ; and in his legal figures he
has in mind the law that was familiar to his correspondents.
In Pisidian Antioch the colonists were Roman citizens, and
here Paul, perhaps for the first time, experienced the strictly
Roman law in a city of the East. Paul's legal references are
usually to facts and ideas, such as adoption and will-making,
that were common to the Graeco-Asiatic and the Roman
custom ; but he has a few which are not expressed in har-

264 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
mony with pure Roman law ; x and it is as a whole unjustifi
able to illustrate his legal allusions by quoting from the pure
Roman law of the Republican period. Illustrations from
Imperial rescripts, even of later time, are much more pertin
ent, because, although issued later, the rescripts quoted
usually were to a great extent a systematizing and authoriz
ing of current administrative custom in the East.
In the East, therefore, we have always to think more
about Graeco-Asiatic law as developed by Imperial policy
than about the strict Roman law. It was the former that
the readers and hearers of Paul or of Luke knew ; and to it
Paul went for his illustrations and his metaphors.
If that was the case with the general rules of law, much
more must it have been true that Roman practical adminis
trative devices were suited to the Eastern peoples, and were
as a rule only the modifications of pre-Roman local custom.
The Roman census-system was simply an adaptation of
earlier Ptolemaic custom in Egypt ; and it was not justi
fiable to expect (as we did) that it should be purely Western
in character and method.
No evidence has survived about the method of the census
under Augustus ; but later, as we have seen, the Prefect of
Egypt issued an edict, evidently as a regular custom at the
approach of the census, ordering every one to return to his
own home in anticipation of the enrolment.2 Similarly the
magistrates of Mesembria in Thrace summoned the whole
population to come into the town to be enrolled according
to the law of the city and according to the custom.3
1 Examples are given in " Historical Commentary on Galatians," pp.
349-74 and 385-91.
2 " Papyri Brit. Museum," III, no. 904 ; also Milligan, " Selections," no.
28, p. 72 f. The edict is of a.d. 104. See p. 259.
s Cagnat, " Inscr. Grasc. ad res R. pertinentes," 1. 769, from Dumont and
Homolle, p. 460, no. nie. Quoted by Rostowzew, " Stud. z. Gesch. d. rom.
Kolonats," p. 305.

A^A^. The Augustan Census-System. 265
These are examples, the only three attested by the scanty
evidence, of what must have been a general custom in the
East. The administrative order was issued by the proper
authority, viz. in a free European city by the elected magis
trates, in subject Egypt by the Prefect, who was viceroy
and lord over a population of servants ; but the authority
for this method comes from the Emperor Augustus, or his
successor for the time being.
Such was the custom of the census at a later period after
Luke was dead. It is clear that, if he was inventing this
general order, he like a prophet described exactly what
was going to be the method at a later time. Such an idea is
absurd ! It is beyond doubt or dispute that he was describ
ing the method of the periodic census, as he knew it in
regular practice.
In the Ptolemaic period similar papers, couched in re
markably similar terms, used to be issued for the census in
Egypt. There can be no doubt that Augustus only modified
the old census of the country and extended it generally
over the East. Probably the return to the home was a de
vice older than Augustus.
Joseph and Mary obeyed the administrative order, and
went to their own proper home at Bethlehem : in Nazareth
they were only resident aliens and could not be counted there.
Accordingly Rostowzew l infers without any hesitation
from Luke that " already in the beginning of the Imperial
period all people, whether inhabitants of cities or of villages,
were summoned to return to their proper domicile (IBia) for
the census exactly as was customary in Egypt ". He con
siders Luke's words a sufficient proof that this was the
general Augustan rule.
1 " Studien z. Gesch. d. rom. Kolonats," p. 305.

266 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
This regulation about holding the census only at the
original home is diametrically opposed to our modern ideas
of a census. It is destructive of many of the purposes for
which a census is valued in modern administration. It tends-
to prevent free settlement, to impede trade, and to put
fetters on intercourse through the country. Why should
Rome impose such a condition in the East? For the
strengthening of the Empire it was urgently required that
national distinctions should be obliterated in the wider
patriotism of the universal citizenship ; and many of Augus
tus's measures show that he was aiming at a progressive
unification of the whole Roman world through the weaken
ing of the merely national or tribal unions and the encour
agement of oecumenical patriotism and sense of common
and universal brotherhood. Yet here the Augustan census
is, according to Luke, accompanied by a thoroughly retro
gressive regulation which seems to mean that every one
ought to stay at home, that no one can acquire the right to
be away from home for more than a few years, and that all
must be counted at their own proper home at every census,
as if they were bound to that home and could only be
temporary sojourners everywhere else.
Such a regulation was opposed to the general tendency
and to the best side of the Augustan system ; and we had
some apparent ground to rest on, when we pronounced the
regulation to be non-Roman. But we wrongly assumed
that the Augustan system was perfected, and that all parts
of it were carried out on the same general principles. On
the contrary, the Imperial system was incomplete, wavering,
often partaking ofthe nature of compromise ; and so far from
rejecting as non-Roman the bond of attachment to the original
domicile, both Augustus and his successors seem to have used
this principle wherever it seemed convenient for them.

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 267
Mr. Zulueta, in a remarkable essay published in Vino-
gradoff s " Oxford Studies," 1909, p. 42,1 states well the
purpose and nature of this principle (die Lehre von der Ih'ux,,
as it is called in German) ; and I quote his words, which
seem almost like a commentary on Luke, though it may be
taken as certain that the learned writer of this Essay on the
later Roman law had in his mind no thought of explaining
or defending St. Luke.
He points out that, while the Imperial policy rarely, and
only in critical times, made any use of the old Oriental
principle of the corvie, according to which the population
might be called upon to perform forced labour for the public
service, yet " The government held in reserve a more far-
reaching principle, which was asserted whenever political or
economic troubles threatened to bring the industry of the
country to a standstill. This was the principle that every
man had a [personal attachment to the home and soil of his
birth] (l&la), a place of origin in which he had his proper
sphere of activity and to which he could be held in
the public interest. [There is] a remarkable series of texts
testifying to the operation of the rule of IBia from the
Ptolemaic period onwards.2 We may quote as typical the
edict of the prefect of A.D. 154 (BGU 372), which con
cludes with the following threat " : " if any person ... is
found straying on alien land, he shall be arrested and brought
before me as no longer merely suspect but actually a con
fessed malefactor"; and "the general duty is " to devote
'Zulueta, "De Patrociniis Vicorum". Each of the two Essays in the
volume has its separate paging.
2 He quotes in illustration : OGIS 90, 19 f. ; P. Taur. vm. 13 f., ig f. ; P.
Tebt. 1. 5, 7 (118 B.C.). P. Oxy. 11. 251-3 ; OGIS 669, 34 ; P. Lond. 11. 260,
120 (all cent. 1.) ; BGU 372 (a.d. 154), 15 ; 1. 475, 902, go3 ; P. Frohner (W.
in " Festchrift Hirschfeld ") ; P. Gen. ig ; P. Tebt. n. 327, 43g (all cent. 11.) ;
BGU i5g ; P. Gen. 16.

268 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
oneself to agriculture on one's proper soil. Precisely similar
terms are found in the royal ordinance of 1 18 B.C. In A.D.
415 a new idea was added, viz. the protection of the interest
of a dominus in his tenants or labourers by means of local
servitude. In the census there was a special need, and the taking of
the census had to encounter many difficulties. To make a
census accurate enough to serve as a basis of administra
tion is no easy matter ; a successful census is a triumph of
skilful government and good method. It was an accepted
Roman principle to permit, and even to encourage, free inter
course through the Empire, and thus to foster a feeling of
Imperial unity. Yet the existence of a floating population
and of many travellers made the census difficult. How
and where should the migratory population be counted ?
These immigrants and travellers could not be numbered as
they stood at any single moment, which is the modern way.
The staff of administration was totally inadequate in Roman
time for such a vast undertaking : even the most elementary
acquaintance with Roman Imperial facts teaches any student
that government was carried on with an .extremely small
staff, and as a matter of fact we know well that the staff was
hardly capable of coping with the ordinary duties of govern
ment : for example, the maintenance of public order and
security, and the suppression of brigandage on the public
roads, were far from thorough and satisfactory. For an
extraordinary effort like the census the Imperial civil ser
vice was quite ineffective ; the census (like the guarding of
public security) had to be largely carried out as a branch of
military duty ; and the only possibility of doing the work at
all was to distribute it over the whole year, and to order the
household returns to be sent in by each householder at
some time during the year.

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 269
To meet the difficulty the government, in Mr. Zulueta's
words, asserted the far-reaching principle of the proper home
or ISCa, an old Oriental fact. Every man must return to his
proper home or ISta for the census. This we see in Egypt,
in Thrace, and in Palestine (according to Luke), as appears
from the references quoted above. To judge from Luke it
was not only the householder but also his family, that must
return to the IBta, and Wilcken elicits from an Egyptian
Prefect's decree the universal rule that all were ordered
to return to the proper home, not merely the male house
holder, but the family, so that the enumeration should be
really a Household-enrolment (see p. 272).
The principle of the ISta is based deep in human nature,
not merely in the East, but also in the West. There is a
tendency to distrust the stranger and the wanderer. Experi
ence shows that only too often he has emancipated himself
from the controlling power of his original surroundings and
society, without substituting any other sufficient guidance
in his life. Such is the danger. The overcoming of the
danger produces a higher standard of thought and morality ;
but that is not the invariable result, and least commonly so
in stagnant and backward society.
It is too much to expect that the Imperial government
should have refused to descend to the employment of such a
principle. Even in modern life, and in the most progressive
societies, this tendency manifests itself in various ways, often
disguised. In the great international railway-station of
Budapest it refuses to recognize any international lan
guage, and orders that every inscription on every door and
office shall be in Magyar alone. It makes the English dis
believe every German official utterance, and the German dis
trust every English official statement, as devices of an enemy.1
1 This paragraph was printed in the year igi2.

270 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
In the unprogressive countries, such as Turkey, the ten
dency rules supreme. The stranger is disliked as a danger :
a partial exception is made in favour of Europeans as being
different in nature, but they are only tolerated, not liked.
Other strangers are probably hostile. One frequently hears
the principle invoked. You pass on the road in Turkey two
or three Circassians, and you know that there is no Circassian
village within twenty hours distance. The inference is at
once drawn that these strangers can be after no good so far
from home. The police arrest them, if they dare. The
traveller flees from them, if he can. The principle justifies
itself in most cases, because the reasoning founded on it
proves true. Only if the stranger goes direct to a guest
house or a khan, is it admitted that he may perhaps be
honest, although appearances are rather against him ; but
he has a claim in universal custom to hospitality " for a day
and a night and a morrow ".
Education overcomes this tendency ; and through the
growing power of education dislike and distrust of the
stranger grows rarer and weaker, and disguises itself under
the form of patriotism or otherwise. But in countries which,
like the Roman Empire, are degenerating from a higher
plane of civilization, the operation of the tendency grows
wider and deeper as the years pass. It had been always
strong in the Eastern provinces. Its history can be studied
in them for centuries before Roman legions had been seen
there. It was connected with the story of conquest and the
domination of victorious races in the regions which they sub
dued. The land was treated as estates, of which the con
querors were lords, and which the older population tilled as
subjects ofthe new masters. The presence ofthe old popula
tion was necessary. They had the agricultural tradition,
and without them the land would have relapsed into desert,

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 271
as the water, which generally had to be artificially supplied,
ceased to flow through channels that were not properly
maintained, and as other subsidiary operations were neg
lected. The new lords were soldiers and not agriculturists.
There was, however, at first only a tendency to remain,
and not a tie to bind the cultivator to the soil. Neither
custom nor positive law had at that time transformed the
tendency into a thoroughly binding tie. The convenience
of government and the advantage of the landlord gradually
strengthened it.1
The tie to the soil was created and strengthened by the
needs of the case and by the custom of the country. Under
the legal-minded Romans the tie was stereotyped, and after
wards became a matter of formal law. The lord of the
estate established a legal right to have the benefit of the
work of the cultivators on his land. If the cultivators left
the estate and went elsewhere, the landlord suffered financial
loss. When there were abundant cultivators, the loss
caused by the departure of some was not felt ; but when
cultivators were few, as was in later times the case, agricul
ture suffered, the loss was serious and attempts were made
by law to guard the interest of the landlord in the labour
of the people on his land.
In A.D. 415 Imperial law recognized formally this right
of the landowner to the work of his cultivators.2 They
must remain on the soil to cultivate it, lest the owner
should lose the value of his property. That is the earliest
and as yet hardly complete recognition in express legal en
actment of what had long existed in embryo, viz. the
1 On this gradual growth of the tie see Mr. Zulueta's paper, already
quoted. Fustel de Coulanges and Mommsen were the pioneers in the
study of this rapidly growing branch of history.
2Zulueta, loc. cit., p. 42 f.

272 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
bond of custom that fastened the cultivator to the soil and
deprived him of his natural freedom to leave his home. The
cultivator, once nominally free, who had been in a sense
joint owner of the land, degenerated gradually into a serf
bound to the soil (adscriptus glebes), and the bond was
rivetted by the enactment which recognized the claim of
the landlord to the agricultural service of the cultivators.
Here we have a historical and social force running through
the centuries. Luke is perhaps the earliest historian who
takes notice of it as a factor in human history. The signifi
cance of the tendency had not been observed when he wrote.
Administrators used it, but did not discuss its nature. No
one knew what it would become, and probably no one
thought of it as a power that was remaking human society
for the worse in the Mediterranean world. Luke notices it
only because it produced the regulation that led Joseph and
Mary to Bethlehem in order to facilitate the taking of an
Imperial census.
A feature like this cannot be invented. How should a
mere inventor divine the future law of history, and attach to
it the fate of the puppets whose motions he was devising ?
A true and great historian may have the divine gift of insight
into the laws that govern human history ; but this gift
belongs only to those who love and study the truth, and not
to inventors of airy fiction.
Wilcken has observed another important feature of the
Household enrolment: Not merely were written census
returns handed in ; but the entire population had to
present themselves personally for inspection. This he
infers from a passage in a London Papyrus with practical
certainty, and rightly calls it a very important point.1
1 Lond., n. 55, 1. 3g: Mitteis- Wilcken, I, 1. p. 194.

XX. The Augustan Census-System. 273
" Accordingly," as he says, " Joseph and Mary in the
legend of Luke must both go to Bethlehem." The argu
ment which Wilcken has in mind is that Luke, who knew
this regulation to hold in every census, invented this detail
regarding the journey of Mary in order to be true to the
custom. Luke's narrative used to be called a legend, because it
was historically false. Now it is called by Wilcken a legend
because every detail has been demonstrated to be exactly
correct. There is no way of satisfying those people who
have made up their minds. Whatever proof they advance
for their opinion, is shattered ; but they pluck victory out
of the jaws of defeat, and in the disproof of their former
argument they find a new one. One thing alone they
reckon certain and necessary : Luke was an incapable and
untrustworthy historian, and this must be demonstrated at
all hazards and in any way that serves.
The critics ridiculed the story of the journey, because it
was absurd and inconceivable that Joseph should be called
to his original home for enrolment. It is now known that
this order to return to the home was regularly issued and
enforced. The critics ridiculed the idea that Mary should have to
return to the home, even if by any chance Joseph had to do
so. The head of the house was sufficient. Wilcken has
shown that every member of the household had to be
present for enrolment, and that therefore Mary would have
to go with Joseph. The only inference which he draws
from this is that the legend arose out ofthe law and 'practice.
May we not infer that it is a piece of real history, that
Joseph and Mary did present themselves for the census at
Bethlehem, and that Jesus was born there ? It is contrary
to every canon of historical criticism that the story should
18

274 XX. The Augustan Census-System.
be set aside as a legend, because all the details in it are
true. There is no other instance in history of an invention
like this, where so many circumstances and conditions of
the Imperial administrations are transferred to a false date
and applied to make up a false story, yet all with perfect
truth to the circumstances and conditions of a different time.
As the census involved that everyone should person
ally present himself or herself to the officer for enumeration,
it follows that the modern method of counting every person
in his actual position during one day could not be applied.
A year was open for the census ; and people might present
themselves at their place of origin for registration at any
time during the year ; but the later months of the year
were most frequently used. We in modern time make the
census for one fixed and universal moment, catching our
migratory population at the given instant, as if by an in
stantaneous photograph. The Romans tried to cope in
another way with the difficulty of numbering people who
might be far from home, viz. by bringing them at some
time during the enrolment-year to their proper and original
home ; and they permitted them to come for enrolment at
any time during the year. On this rule there is much
more to say.

CHAPTER XXI
WHEN QUIRINIUS WAS GOVERNING SYRIA
THERE remains the difficulty connected with Luke's
dating of the first census " in the time when Quirinius was
governing Syria ". This loose method of dating is to our
conceptions of chronology extremely unsatisfactory. It
does not even imply a definite year, for governors of Syria
often retained office for three years continuously.1 It was,
however, quite in accordance with the ancient custom ; and
it is in Luke's own style, as we see in the dating of the
coming of John in III. I, 2, "in the time when Pontius
Pilate was governing Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of
Galilee, and Philip his brother was tetrarch of the Iturean
or Trachonitic region,2 and Lysanias was tetrarch of the
country of Abila". In that case the exact year of the
reign of Tiberius is stated also, a unique date in Luke's
work in respect of minuteness. Such vagueness in respect
of time was characteristic of ancient literary style;3 and
Luke wrote for his own time and the audience of his con
temporaries, not for our modern taste.
1 Legati of the Emperor very commonly governed for a period of three
years : under Tiberius, who disliked changes, some held office in a province
for a much longer time.
2 This geographical definition is very often mistranslated and misunder
stood : it indicates one region, not two regions, viz. the region which might
be called equally well from different points of view Itursean and Trachonitic.
There is no geographical term Ituraea, only the tribe Ituraei and the
adjective: see " Expositor," Jan., i8g4, p. 52 ; on Lysanias, p. 2g7 below.
3 " St. Paul the Traveller," pp. 18, etc., and Index III.
(275)

276 XXI. When Quirinius
Such as it is, the dating by Quirinius has been a serious
difficulty ; and in solving it Egyptian discovery has given
as yet no help. The progress of exploration in Asia Minor,
however, has come to the aid of Luke, and has shown that
his words give an almost exact date, certainly a date under
Herod the king, which is the really important and indis
pensable fact. A year or two up or down in Herod's reign
is a matter of modern chronological exactitude ; but a date
under Herod is necessary, if Luke and Matthew are right.
Here we are deprived also of Mommsen's support. It
was mentioned above in Chap. xix. that that great historian
regarded all the other statements of Luke in II. 1-3 about
the manner and origin of the census as probably right ; but
he felt no doubt that Luke was wrong about Quirinius and
the date, on the double ground that Quirinius did not
govern Syria until after the death of Herod, and that he
made no census of Judea before A.D. 6.
In these two negative statements, as we shall see,
Mommsen went beyond the evidence accessible in his time ;
and, in fact, his clear summary of the evidence shows
that the statements are merely his individual estimate of
the outcome of considerations which are far from producing
certainty. It is rare for Mommsen to speak with absolute
confidence where the evidence only warrants probability;
but he was here carried away by the inveterate nineteenth
century prejudice against the superhuman relations involved
in the narrative : there must be something wrong some
where in Luke's recital ofthe circumstances.
Mommsen's statements in respect of Quirinius have
since been quoted frequently by the critics who were hostile
to Luke; but, as has been already mentioned, none of
them ever mentioned his decision in favour of Luke in all
other respects. This they omitted quietly. I do not

was Governing Syria. 277
mean that they intentionally concealed either evidence
or testimony unfavourable to their view ; but only that
they were constitutionally incapable of judging fairly and
of seeing the natural import of Mommsen's words. They
were on the outlook for evidence and opinions that could
be quoted against Luke; and statements favourable to
him made no impression on their mind, and did not
remain in their memory.
Gradually the opinion of modern scholars has crystallized
into the conclusion that Quirinius governed Syria twice,
the second occasion being in A.D. 6-7. The reasons for
this conclusion were stated most powerfully by Mommsen
in 1883,1 on which occasion he revised some of his earlier
judgments. Until new evidence was discovered, there was
nothing to add to his discussion of the whole subject.
Yet Prof. P. W. Schmiedel, in a work intended to be a
storehouse of assured facts for the general public and for
students, the " Encyclopaedia Biblica," dismisses as fanciful
that supposition of the two governorships of Quirinius
with an airy and pretentious but quite ignorant dictum.
His words are quoted above on p. 229. If Dr. Schmiedel
had taken the trouble to make himself master of the history
of Augustus's reign as stated by modern scholars, he would
not have dared to print his assertion ; but as it stands in
the Encyclopaedia it is regarded by credulous English and
American scholars as possessing the authority of accepted
historical judgment.
Mommsen's reasoning convinced the cautious and careful
compilers of the great Biographical Dictionary of the
Empire,2 de Rohden and Dessau, who speak of the first
government as " sine dubio ". I shall follow the detailed
1 " Res Gestae Divi Augusti," p. 168 ff.
2 " Prosopographia Imperii Romani," in. p. 287 f.

278 XXI. When Quirinius
biography of Quirinius as stated by them and by Mommsen,
and it will be found that the simplest way is to throw the
present chapter into the form of a biography of Quirinius,
and thus to bring his governorship of Syria into its proper
relation with the other events of his career.
We are able to found the biography of Publius Sulpicius
Quirinius on Tacitus's sketch in the Annals, III. 48 (com
pare II. 30 and III. 22, 23), given on the occasion of his
death in A.D. 21 at an advanced age. This account is in
valuable, because it is in chronological order, although, as
usual with Tacitus, no precise dates : are stated.
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was sprung from a very ob
scure family in the small Latin town of Lanuvium ; and
fought his way by sheer merit and hard work to a foremost
position in the State. He was evidently one of those cap
able and energetic, but hard and unlovable, military officers,
whom Rome produced in such numbers, as occasion re
quired. He probably fought his way up in the army ; but
no record of the humbler stages in his career is preserved,2
though the words of Josephus and Tacitus clearly point to
such a period.3
After his praetorship, the date of which is not known, he
1 So his biography of Agricola has no dates, for Tacitus evidently thought
dates unliterary and beneath the level of his subject. Only in a sort of ap
pendix, c. 44, he gives the dates of birth and death, leaving the rest of the
career to be apportioned between those limits. In " St. Paul the Traveller,"
p. 18, I illustrated Luke's custom in such matters by this biography, which
soars above chronology. A reviewer retorted that the " Agricola " is one of
the most certain and perfect pieces of chronological statement : he trusted to
school texts where all the dates are given in the margin (not always correctly).
It has taken much study and comparison of many other sources of knowledge
to fix the dates, and more than one is uncertain. Many modern scholars de
clared that Tacitus gives a wrong date for Agricola's birth.
2 It was not usual to record any position lower than equestrian in the career
of one who attained senatorial rank.
8 Josephus, " Ant. Jud.," xvm. 4, 1 ; Tacitus, " Annals," Hi. 48.

was Governing Syria. 279
apparently governed Crete and Cyrene, and in this position
conducted the war against the nomad tribes of the Cyrenaic
desert to a successful issue.1 How difficult a matter this
must have been we can imagine from the troubles which
the Italians recently encountered in the same region, warring
against the descendants of the same nomads, and from the
very moderate success which they achieved.
The victory of Quirinius proved his ability, and marked
him out for further work of a similar kind in the East. There
was a war to which Augustus was in honour bound. The
Homonadenses, a tribe of the Cilician Taurus region, had
defeated and killed Amyntas, one of the client-kings, in
25 B.C., and Augustus as his heir was required by law and
religion and duty to take up the quarrel and pay the debt,
because he had accepted the inheritance. The heir was
bound to accept every obligation along with the estate, viz.
the kingdom of Amyntas, which was organized as the new
Imperial province of Galatia.
The Homonadenses are ranked by Strabo and Tacitus in
Cilicia,2 and the command in the war against them naturally
fell to the governor of Syria, of which province Cilicia
formed a part. Moreover there were no legions in
the continent of Asia except those stationed in Syria.
Quirinius, therefore, naturally was appointed governor of
Syria in order to conduct this war ; and the question is what
date should be assigned to this office.
In order to govern Cilicia Quirinius must be consul ; and
1 This office is conjectural. Florus says that he conquered the Musulamii
and Garamantes; but a proconsul did not usually have command of an army.
2 Tacitus says per Ciliciam; Mommsen, Nipperday-Andresen, etc., would
read super Ciliciam; but there can be no doubt that the name Cilicia ex
tended to cover all this part of the Taurus country, as Appian and Strabo
show. This region was excluded from the province, but the relations with it
naturally fell within the purview of the governor of Syria and Cilicia.

280 XXI. When Quirinius
he was appointed in 12 B.C. The next office in his career
mentioned by Tacitus is his proconsulship of Asia. Between
those two falls the war in the Taurus region conducted by
him as legatus of the Emperor in Syria. According to
Mommsen there is open for the proconsulship of Asia either
3 B.C. or the period between A.D. 2 and 5 (see p. 295).
The other years are filled by known proconsuls.
Mommsen placed the proconsulship of Asia in A.D. 2-3, and
the war against the Homonadenses in 3-2 B.C. ; but against
so late a date there were two strong arguments, which he
did not sufficiently estimate : (1) It is improbable that the
task of avenging the death of Amyntas would have been so
long postponed. Urgent and pressing needs of the State
prevented Augustus from discharging that sacred and im
perative duty until 12 B.C. ; but then there was more leisure,
and the Emperor was free to think of the Homonadenses.
It is difficult to think that this task was postponed long after
12 B.C. (2) Mommsen's theory is that between 12 and 3
B.C. nothing worthy of note occurred in the career of Quirin
ius, and no office was held by him ; but that between 3 B.C.
and A.D. 6, there came in succession an extraordinarily rapid
succession of great events, and that Quiriniuswas successively
governor of Syria, commander in a great war, proconsul of
Asia, in charge of Armenia, married to one of the noblest
Roman ladies, and governor of Syria a second time. This
also seems improbable.
Both these reasons are negative, and merely show that
Mommsen's chronology is involved in a certain improba
bility ; but positive reasons might be strong enough to
overcome the negative. There are, however, no positive
reasons. He rested his chronology mainly on the impro
bability of any other system ; and he apparently did not
consider a dating so early as we shall see cause to adopt.

was Governing Syria. 281
In fact it is now proved that the Homonadensian war
during which Quirinius held the government of Syria, must
have occurred much earlier ; and it may be confidently
said that the consulship of Quirinius in 12 B.C. was intended
to qualify him for commanding the armies of Syria, and to
organize the preparation for that war. This is the outcome
of a series of inscriptions found in Asia Minor in the
southern parts of the province Galatia along the northern
outskirts of the Homonadensian part of the Taurus region,
and in the Pisidian Taurus westwards from the Homona
densian territory. This evidence was unknown to Momm
sen when he was writing about Quirinius in 1883 ; and,
as I know from himself, he saw that it affected the question.
Since he died the evidence has been much strengthened
and is now determining.1
In treating this subject Mommsen could approach it only
from the side of Syria and Cilicia, where some literary
evidence was at hand, mainly Tacitus and Josephus. There
was also the Tiburtine fragment of the epitaph of Quirinius.2
There is, however, another important side to the operations.
The war was naturally waged from the north, i.e. the
Galatian side, as well as from the south and south-east,
the Cilician side. That was, of course, obvious and
necessary ; the Homonadenses were caught between the
two Roman provinces, and operations on both sides must
have been carried on ; but no evidence was known when
Mommsen was discussing the subject. The evidence has
1 In my book " Was Christ Born at Bethlehem ? " (i8g8), I placed the
war from 8 to 6 B.C. The latest discoveries point probably to a date so
early as 10-7 B.C. Herod the king lived till 4 B.C.
2 In that epitaph the name of the deceased is lost, but part of his career
remains, including his second administration of Syria. The epitaph was re
stored to Quirinius by a series of scholars, culminating in Mommsen's
decisive argument, " Res Gestae Divi Aug.," p. 168.

282 XXI. When Quirinius
now been discovered : it lies in the purpose and the early
history of the Roman Colony at Pisidian Antioch and of
the other colonies in Galatia, along the southern frontier of
the province. The statement of this evidence is simply the
statement of Augustus's design in founding " Colonia
Caesarea Antiochea," 24 B.C.
In 25 B.C. news reached Augustus that Amyntas, king of
Galatia, had been killed by the Homonadenses, and had
made the Emperor his heir. Augustus accepted the in
heritance.1 The situation in the East was critical. The
tribes of Taurus were free to ravage the fertile plains on the
north, especially towards Pisidian Antioch, which had lost
the protection of Amyntas and his army, now defeated.
The death of the king proves that his army must have
suffered very severely. The character of the Taurus region
exposed the invaders to great peril ; and Amyntas, while
evidently a man of activity, seems not to have had much
military experience,2 and there is no reason to think that he
possessed the caution and skill needed for pressing an in
vasion in such a difficult country.
The most urgent matter for Augustus was to ensure the
safety of the southern regions. No reorganization of the
province was, apparently, attempted.3 It was taken over as
Amyntas had arranged its various regions. For the defence of
the south the city of Antioch, the old guardian ofthe southern
1 By Roman law the heir was free to accept or reject an inheritance ; but
he accepted it with all the burdens of the previous owner, the discharge of
which was a religious duty. Hence " sine sacris hereditas," an inheritance
without any religious burdens, was a proverbial expression for a lucky wind
fall. 2 He had been the secretary of king Deiotarus.
3 Gardthausen notes that nothing is said of any reorganization ; it is true
that the records are scanty, and silence on such a matter causes no wonder ;
but other reasons show the probability that the organization of Amyntas was
accepted by Augustus.

was Governing Syria. 283
Phrygian lands, was reconstituted as a Roman garrison
city, i.e. a "Colonia". We must date the foundation as
early as possible;1 for the new Colonia played a consider
able part in the events of the first years of the province.
We can dimly see the character of the situation, but the
details elude us.
Now 25 B.C. is too early, because there was not time to,
send the coloni after the news reached Augustus; there
fore 24 represents the actual operation.2 There were among
the coloni soldiers of the Fifth Legion called Gallica, and
perhaps of the Seventh Legion ; four epitaphs of veterans
of the former and two of the latter have been found.
In official usage, the new city lost its old name Antioch,
and was called Colonia Caesarea for about seventy years ;
but under Claudius or Nero the original name was officially
added. This implies that in the ordinary language of the
old population, the name Antioch was never disused, and
that it forced its way even into Latin official custom as
early as 45-60. The name in Greek was always Antioch.
The primary purpose of Colonia Caesarea (Antioch) was
to ward off the attacks of the Homonadenses and the
Pisidian mountaineers. It was on that account a place of
Imperial interest ; and the honour was allowed it to elect
Drusus Germanicus, the stepson of Augustus, to be its
duumvir, or chief magistrate, for two successive years.3 A
squadron of auxiliary cavalry was stationed at Antioch,
and took the name Germaniciana from Drusus. War was
the duty of the city, and its magistrates were soldiers. The
1 The proof lies partly in the early importance of the Colonia and the
urgency of the crisis, partly in the Latin epitaph of an original colonist, which
uses twice the ending -ai for -ae in dative singular feminine (unpublished).
2 Probably, however, 25 B.C. may have been the official date, while 24 was
the actual settlement.
3 Calder in "Journal of Roman Studies," 1912, p. 100.

284 XXI. When Quirinius
Imperial hold on the southern part of the province Galatia
was maintained through its military power. The Homona
denses had one broad and tempting way open for their
plundering raids : they descended on the rich valley of
lake Trogitis, lying deep among their own mountains, and
swept north along lake Caralis, until they came up against
the walls of Colonia Caesarea (Antioch).1
The Roman colonists must have been familiar with the
name and deeds of that tribe ; they had little rest until the
great war came. That the war was coming must have
been known to them from the first. Their history was de
termined, and their importance was measured, according
to a standard of the Homonadenses.
The warlike character of Colonia Caesarea would suggest
that the election of Drusus Germanicus for two years as
duumvir took place immediately after his German victories
in 11 B.C. He died in 9 B.C., and the title Germanicus was
bestowed after his death. Probably the name was given to
the ala, when news of his death in office and of his title
arrived. Then Quirinius was elected for 8 B.C. (See p. 286.)
It had never been suspected that Quirinius was brought
into any relations with Antioch; but, as soon as the
early history of the Colonia Caesarea is taken into consider
ation, we see that his operations during the war must
have been followed there with the keenest interest. Yet
I felt astonished when my eyes lit on his name in the
following inscription at Antioch, and still more when in
the following year I found a second inscription in his honour.
All the importance of this evidence flashed on my mind as I
1 The description given by Strabo in pp. 569, 570, 668, 680, is clear when
they are read in connexion with each other. The plain with many av\wves
of which he speaks is the deep gap in the Homonadensian Taurus where
Trogitis lies against the indented mountain-wall.

To face p. 285

Plate I. — Basis of the first statue erected in Pisidian Antioch, probably 8 B.C.,
in honour of Caristanius, prasfectus of Quirinius, honorary duumvir of the
Colony while governor of Syria. The stone is now lying on its side.

was Governing Syria. 285,
read the name in the first of these two inscriptions, for the
evidence had been clear before me since writing on the sub
ject ; and in this te*xt I read the confirmation of all that I had
contended for, viz. that the war and his governorship of
Syria must have taken place several years earlier than.
Mommsen had allowed, " in the days of Herod the King ".
The following inscription was copied at Antioch in 191 2.
by Mr. J. G. C. Anderson of Christ Church, Oxford, and in
191 3 by Professor Calder ; and by myself on both occasions.
The photograph is by Lady Ramsay.
C. Carista[nio To Gaius Caristanius
C. F. Ser. Front[oni (son of Gaius, of Sergian tribe)
Caesiano Iuli[o, Fronto Caesianus Juli[us,
praef(ecto) fabr(um), pon[tif(ici), chief of engineers, pontifex,
sacerdoti, praefecto priest, prefect of
P. Sulpici Quirini duumvpri, P. Sulpicius Quirinius duumvir,
praefecto M. Servili. prefect of M. Servilius.
Huic primo omnium To him first of all men
publice d(ecurionum) d(ecreto) statua at state expense by decree of the
posita est. decuriones, a statue was erected.
In 1 91 2 I had the great advantage of stating my views
about this inscription to Professor H. Dessau, of Berlin,
who since Mommsen's death stands in the foremost rank as
an authority on such matters as are involved. In regard to
the date between 10 and 7 B.C. and the general bearing, he
confirms the views which are here stated.1
1 1 am permitted to quote the words of his letter : " mit der Erklarung uncE
zeitlicher Ansetzung der Inschrift des Caristanius Fronto Cassianus habens
Sie zweifellos recht. Nur in ein paar Einzelheiten mochte ich mir erlauben
von Ihnen abzuweichen." Then follow remarks (which I adopted) about.
Julius and Servilius. His reading Iulio, for Iuliano, was confirmed in 1913
by the discovery of the following inscription. The three cognomina and the
use of Julius as degraded to a cognomen already at this early period, he de
fends by quoting C.I.L. in. 551, xiv. 3606 (Inscr. Sel. 921), C.I.L.
vi. 1403 (Inscr. Sel. 966), ix. 4197, and later vin. 12,442 and in. 15,208.
(Inscr. Sel. 11 10).

286 XXI. When Quirinius
Gaius Caristanius Fronto was either one of the original
colonists or the son of one of them. In Antioch, as other
inscriptions show, his family played a leading part for more
than a century ; his great-grandson rose to senatorial rank,
and attained the consulship and perhaps also the proconsu
late of Asia. The first statue which was erected in the
colony at the expense of the colonial government in accor
dance with a decree of the decuriones, stood on the basis
which bore this inscription. Now as to the facts which
brought him in contact with Quirinius.
Quirinius was elected chief magistrate (duumvir) of the
colony Antioch ; and he nominated Caristanius as his prce-
fectus to act for him. This sort of honorary magistracy
was often offered to the reigning Emperor by colonice ; but
in such cases the Emperor was elected alone without a col
league. Under the early emperors, and especially under
Augustus, the same compliment was sometimes paid to
other distinguished Romans, chiefly members ofthe Imper
ial family. Exceptional cases occur in which the field of
choice was wider.1 This inscription is the most complete
example of the wider choice : it mentions two such cases :
both Quirinius and Servilius were elected in this way.
There must have been some special reason in these two
cases. Quirinius was not a man of any special distinction.
Why should he be elected in so complimentary a fashion a
magistrate of this remote colony in south-eastern Phrygia.
(i.e. or southern Galatia) ? He had neither Imperial connex
ion nor outstanding reputation to commend him to the Anti
ochian coloni. But everything is clear when we remember
that he conducted the war against the Homonadenses, with
whom Antioch was constantly at strife. It was at the
time of that war that they elected Quirinius a duumvir.
1 Mommsen, " Staatsrecht," n. 814, 828.

was Governing Syria. 287
It is not at first sight obvious why M. Servilius was
elected to the chief magistracy. He was indeed a noble ; x
but of his career nothing eminent or creditable is known,
except that he was consul in A.D. 3 ; he was, however, a
favourite of Tiberius. He also must have been in some way
brought into relation with the colony ; and the obvious pro
bability is that he was governor of Galatia. This would
fully account for the compliment. On this view it is
tempting and plausible to suppose that he was duumvir
along with or immediately after Quirinius,2 and that they
co-operated as governors of the two Eastern provinces Syria
and Galatia, in the war, operating from the south and the
north respectively. The friendship lasted, see p. 296.
On the interpretation which has just been stated, the
governors of the two provinces concerned both nominated
Caristanius to act for them in Antioch. This would have
the effect of putting all the force of the Colonia Caesarea
under the direction of one man, and would have a similar
effect to the old Roman method of naming a dictator in
critical times and putting the whole force of the State under
his control.
Now as to the date of this event, which fixes the time
when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Several reasons,
stated by Mr. Cheesman, place it early.
(1) The fact mentioned about the statue of Caristanius,
1 Tacitus, "Ann.," in. 48. I follow Professor Dessau's identification.
I had thought of an older M. Servilius, legate of Brutus and Cassius in Asia
in 43 B.C.
2 When the Emperor was elected to an honorary duumvirate, he had no
colleague. When any other person was thus elected, he had a colleague in the
ordinary fashion, as Mommsen thinks (" Staatsrecht," n. 828). Mr. Chees
man, who published in " Journal of Roman Studies," 1913, all the inscriptions
ofthe Caristanii, mentions an example of a governor of a province being elected
to an honorary magistracy by a city of the province.

288 XXI. When Quirinius
that it was the first erected at state cost in the colony,
would in itself suggest an early date. Not many years are
likely to have elapsed after the foundation of the colony,
before a statue was erected in the city. The connexion of
Caristanius with the glorious events of the Homonadensian
war gives a good reason for the honour of a statue.
(2) Whereas Colonia Caesarea Antiochea was fdunded
immediately after the formation in 25 B.C. of the province
Galatia,1 the five Pisidian colonies were founded together,
and at a different time from Antioch, as appears from the
names which mark them as a group founded on one
plan : — 2 Julia Augusta Prima Fida Comamenorum
Julia Augusta Felix Cremnensium
Julia Augusta Olbasena
Julia Augusta Felix Gemina Lustra 3
Julia Augusta colonia Parlais.4
The first three of these colonias commanded the roads
leading north from the Pamphylian cities Attaleia and
Perga ; and they had no connexion with the Homonadenses,
but were founded as part of a general plan for the peaceful
administration of the whole mountain regions of the
Cilicians and Pisidians.8 Lystra or Lustra, the fourth,
commanded the point where the Isaurican road issues from
1 " Cities of St. Paul," p. 268.
2 Colonia Caesarea Antiochea was in the survey of Agrippa, before 12 B.C.,
and thence Pliny took it ; but none of the Pisidian coloniae were known to
Pliny or mentioned in that survey, and they are therefore later.
3 Lustra in Latin on coins and inscriptions (evidently under the influence
of popular Roman etymology) : Lystra in Greek.
4 The names of Parlais and Olbasa may probably have been lengthened
by pther titles. We possess only late coins, in which the titles of these
colonia are usually cut short (e.g. at Lystra).
6 Strabo, p. 569, describes the danger from the Cilicians and Pisidians : the
Cilicians whom he means are the Homonadenses, pp. 668, 679.

was Governing Syria. 289
the hills on to the plain of Lycaonia. The fifth, Parlais,
stood at the south-eastern corner of lake Caralis, and
blocked the road leading direct from the Homonadensian
country towards Antioch : it held the crossing of the con
siderable river which flows from lake Caralis into lake
Trogitis : see p. 284.
That these five Augustan coloniae were founded together
is proved by the fact that they were connected with Colonia
Caesarea Antiochea by a great road-system called Via
Sebaste. Several milestones of the system have been found
between Antioch and Lystra, and one was found actually
on the site of Comama. All give the distance from Antioch
(C.I.L, III. 12217 ; J.H.S., 1902, pp. 102, 105): they are
all practically identical except for the number.
The five Pisidian colonies, therefore, must have been
founded at this time, 6 B.C. ; and the operation resulted
from the Homonadensian war, and formed part of the paci
ficatory settlement. The war was completed by the system
of roads and garrison cities ; and this system was so effec
tual that the coloniae seem never to have been called upon
to act. Their presence was sufficient to keep the peace
after the war ; but only one of them was designed by its
position to be a check on the Homonadenses.1
The war therefore falls between 10 and 7 B.C. Quirinius,
consul in 12, probably came to Syria in 11, and the war
would begin in 10. The description which Strabo gives
of the country corresponds with that drawn by Professor
1 On Mommsen's side it might be said that the coloniae were founded to
restrain the Homonadenses before the war; but the scheme is far wider than
that. It relates to the whole of Pisidia ; and probably the Roman power was
not strong enough in these mountain regions to maintain a colony at Parlais
until after the war. If the Imperial government had been able to found and
maintain this system of colonies before the war, there was no reason why it
19

290 XXI. When Quirinius
Sterrett and with the truth ; it is cut by very deep canons,
with sides rising almost perpendicularly, in which flow the
Calycadnus and its tributaries ; and passage across the
country is slow and difficult for a small party of travellers,
and much worse for armies. There were doubtless many
fortified villages which had to be reduced, one by one.
Amyntas had captured some of them before his death.
The war probably lasted more than two years, as
Quirinius' successes were rewarded by two supplications ;
and the end was crowned by the bestowal of the insignia
of a triumph. The triumphal ornaments were not fre
quently granted by the Emperors, and only for complete
success in a war of real importance. This occupied the
years 10-8 B.C. Then followed the general reorganization
ofthe mountain-region in 7 and 6 B.C. This was naturally
left to the governor of Galatia, in which all the garrison
cities were situated.1 The work of Quirinius was ended.
So much might be inferred from the first Antiochian in
scription about Quirinius. The statue tells a tale of
victory. The coloni were proud of their connexion with
Quirinius and their place in the war, and the first public
statue that was erected in the colonia was in honour of their
own citizen who acted as praefectus of the great general.
The next inscription confirms these inferences. It de
pends on my own copy alone. The stone on which it is
engraved is built into the wall of a courtyard in the village
of Hissar-ardi, close to Antioch. The house is near the
should have waited till 6 b.c. No sufficient power was applied sooner.
The war marks the beginning of a general system of safety and strength.
Previous to the war all rested on Colonia Caasarea.
1 The territory of the Homonadenses was situated towards the northern
side of Taurus, i.e. " within Taurus," as Strabo, p. 668, says. This corres
ponds with the situation of their mountains above and on the flanks of lake
Trogitis, as already described.

was Governing Syria. 291
mosque, in a street that runs off at right angles from the
stream on the opposite bank ; and when the gate is opened,
it hides the stone. Moreover, the stone is below the sur
face of the ground, and only a few letters appear.
C. Caristanifo C. F. Ser(gia) To Gaius Caristanius (son of Gaius,
Frontoni Caesiano of Sergian
Iulio praef. fabr., tribuno mil. tribe) Fronto Caesianus Julius,
leg(ionis) XII fulm(inatae), praef(ecto) chief of engineers, tribune of soldiers
coh(ortis) Bos(porianae), of legion XII Fulminata, praef ect of a
pontif(ici), praef(ecto) P. Sulpici Bosporan cohort,
Quirini pontifex, praefectus of P. Sulpicius
II vir(i), praef(ecto) M. Servili, praef Quirinius
(ecto) duumvir, praefectus of M. Servilius,
praefectus of
It appears from this second inscription that the praefectus
of Quirinius became a man of some distinction in the Im
perial service. Before the war he had only been " chief of
the engineers," a merely titular position, forming an intro
duction to the career of colonial magistracy. After the war
lie commanded a cohort of infantry, raised in the territory
of King Polemon of Bosporus, and he was also a tribune in
the twelfth legion Fulminata. According to a famous tale,
this was the legion which, being wholly or mainly Christian,
was able by its prayers to cause a storm of rain and thus to
save the army of Marcus Aurelius from perishing of thirst ;
and from this incident it was called the " thundering
legion " ; but here we have the name attached to it more
than 1 50 years before the time of Marcus.1 See concluding
Note, p. 296.
After the Imperial offices the colonial service of Caris
tanius is stated ; most of this is mentioned in the first
inscription. The order of enumeration is not chrono
logical ; it is clear that Caristanius was praefectus fabrum,
and afterwards held all the colonial offices mentioned in the
1 The name means " having the thunderbolt in its insignia ".

292 XXI. When Quirinius
first inscription. Then his military career in the Imperial
service was continued as commander of an auxiliary
cohort and tribune of the twelfth legion, which both
probably took part in the Homonadensian war, and which
always continued to be a part of the Eastern armies. It is
probable that the cohort was sent by King Polemon for
this war, and that it now was enrolled for the first time
among Roman troops.
The second inscription breaks off at the most tantalizing
point. It was evidently engraved on a wall, and continued
on a lower stone. Caristanius was praefectus of another
honorary magistrate in the colonia. His municipal career,
therefore, was remarkable. He was the outstanding
citizen, nominated on his merits by three distinguished
Romans, who were elected titular duumvir of Antioch.
Probably the name of the third noble duumvir would clear
up the whole situation, if the other stone be ever found.
As it is we have the records of a typical yet eminent:
Antiochian colonus. The colonia was a frontier fortress
in Phrygia "towards Pisidia," as Strabo puts it. Its early
history was of frontier wars. Its leading citizens were
soldiers. A year or more before 6 B.C. it paid Quirinius
the compliment of electing him an honorary magistrate ;
but this was no mere empty compliment : it was part of
the organization of resources for the Homonadensian war.
It is also a crowning step in the proof that the story in
Luke II. 1-3 is correct, for it exhibits to us Quirinius as
engaged in the war, and therefore as governor of Syria
before 6 B.C. Now Servilius was succeeded as governor of
Galatia by Cornutus Aquila, who still held office 6 B.C.,
when the construction of the Via Sebaste and the founda
tion of the Pisidian colonies was going on : and Quirinius
governed at the same time as Servilius (or earlier).

was Governing Syria. 293
The exact year is a matter of chronological interest ; but
it was in the reign of king Herod. Every circumstance
narrated by Luke has been conclusively proved to be
natural and probable. The circumstances are those which
ordinarily accompanied a Roman census, and Quirinius was
in office about that time for several years. See p. 300.
Two other matters, however, demand comment, which
may be brief.
Why does Tertullian say that Sentius Saturninus held
the census, if Quirinius was in office? Two answers are
possible: (1) If Quirinius governed Syria part ofthe year,
and was succeeded by Sentius, both Luke and Tertullian
would be technically correct. We have seen that the taking
of the census lasted a whole year, and that the method
was not definitely fixed in all details until A.D. 62. It
may well be, aad in fact it may be regarded as inevitable,
that there was a good deal of difficulty in working the first
census, especially in Palestine.
(2) It might be suggested — and this is the most probable
solution of the difficulty — that both Quirinius and Sentius
were legati of Augustus in Syria at the same time with
different duties. It would be difficult for Quirinius to
attend to the purely Syrian business, when he had this war
on his hands. It is well-established that, in various other
cases, two legati of the Emperor were present in a province
at the same time. If Quirinius commanded the legions and
military resources of Syria, while Sentius looked after the
delicate and complicated political relations in Syria and
Palestine, both would have enough to do. When Quirinius
in A.D. 6 returned to administer Syria this would naturally
lead to the expression in his epitaph " legatus of Syria
again " (legatus iterum Syriae). An excellent example
occurs on a milestone in Africa. Rutilius Gallicus was sent

294 XXI. When Quirinius
there, probably in A.D. 75, to hold the census.1 At the
same time the ordinary commander of the African army
held office. On the milestone both are mentioned, followed
by the joint title " legatos Augusti ". The milestones were
placed in regular course under the authority of the governor
of the province. In this case both the ordinary and the
extraordinary legatus are mentioned as authorizing the
supervision of the road and the placing of the milestone.
Again, as to the year of the " first census " in Palestine,
that is a matter of chronology, and leads into other and
wider fields. We have shown that Luke's words are exactly
correct. We have also pointed out on Wilcken's authority
that the early census-periods were a little irregular, and that
it took more than fifty years to stereotype the process (ch.
XX.). Elsewhere I have shown that the actual counting
might possibly have been postponed as late as 6 B.C.;*
and the sharp criticism of this part of my theory by Messrs,
Grenfell and Hunt has not shaken or altered it even in the
smallest degree.3 It stands as it was written, a possibility,
not (as they assume it to be) an assertion of confident
dating ; and a corroboration of the possibility of such post
ponement is stated in "Expositor," Nov., 1901, pp. 321 f.4
The postponement remains a possibility ; but Tertullian's
authority confirms the date 8 or 7 B.C. under Sentius, and
1 Ad census accipiendos : the census year in the ordinary system was 75-6,
and the provincials were counted in 76-7. We have stated the probability
that the cives Romani were counted earlier than the provincials ; see ch. xx.
We see also that the duty of taking the census lasted probably longer than a
year, the Romans being counted in 75-6, and the provincials in 76-7. See the
remarks on p. 245.
2" Was Christ Born at Bethlehem ? " ch. ix.
3 " Oxyrynchus Papyri," Vol. II, pp. 207 ff.
* The operations in incorporating Paphlagonia in the province Galatia
were postponed long. Even such a slight and simple matter as the taking of
the oath of allegiance was performed more than a full year too late.

was Governing Syria. 295
other considerations favour the date 8 : see ch. XI. The
one argument against this early date is that it makes Jesus
almost exactly 32 years of age when His ministry began,
while Luke says He was "about 30".
Now if Luke could calculate the other dates so carefully, he
could have stated the exact age of the Saviour ; and he had
probably some reason for the vaguer words "about 30".
It might be suggested that the later rule among the Jews
that public life should begin at the age of 30, was already
known as a common practice ; and that Paul's entry on
Jewish public business began at that age. Thus there was
a motive prompting Luke to speak of 30 approximately :
Jesus fulfilled the Jewish custom : so did Paul.
Note I. — The later career of Quirinius need not detain us.
He was proconsul of Asia in 3 B.C.,1 and in A.D. 2 he
married ^Emilia Lepida,2 whom he afterwards divorced.'
She was a great heiress, betrothed to Lucius Caesar, and the
marriage must be dated after his death in A.D. 2. The
Romans showed the minimum of delicacy in such matters
especially where the hand of an heiress was concerned ; and
we may take it that the marriage occurred very shortly after
the death of Lucius.4
Then news came of the death of Lollius, the adviser of
Gaius Caesar in Armenia ; and the ability of Quirinius, com
bined with his experience in the East, recommended him
for the responsible position of guide to their heir-apparent
in his Eastern expedition. During A.D. 3 and part of 4,
1 Mommsen and the Prosopogr. agree that 3 B.C. and a.d. 2 or 4 are open
for this office, but a.d. 2 is too long after his consulship.
2 Called by a slip Domitia Lepida in " Was Christ Born etc.," p. 234.
3 His action against her in a.d. 20 was later than the divorce.
4 Mommsen places the marriage in a.d. 4 or 5, after Quirinius returned from
Armenia, and supposes an interval of 16 years ; but this is more difficult to
reconcile with Suetonius' expression " the twentieth year".

296 Notes to Chapter XXI.
Quirinius was in the East. Lucius Caesar died on the
Lycian coast on 21 February, A.D. 4. It was probably on
the way to or from Armenia that Quirinius paid court to
Tiberius, an exile at Rhodes. This attention was not for
gotten by Tiberius when he returned to power. In 6
Quirinius was sent as legatus of Syria for the second time.
He remained there two years or more, and then seems to
have resided in Rome as an old man who had finished his
public career.
In advanced age, A.D. 20, " in the twentieth year " after his
marriage, Quirinius brought a charge against his divorced
wife ; this action was certainly a stage in the obscure and
tortuous Imperial policy; and his old ally in the East,
Servilius, appeared as a witness on his behalf. It was re
garded as a duty in Rome to support one's friends in a law
suit by testimony ; and the acquaintance gave Servilius
the means of knowing the circumstances of Quirinius'
household. Note II (p. 292). — In "Klio," XIV. p. 57, Prof. E. Groag
advances the hypothesis — needless to say on good grounds
— that there was a legio XII. in the west under Octavian J "and
another legio XII. antiqua in the east under Antony, and he
further adds the theory — more hazardous, but still quite
probable, otherwise it would not have been stated by such
a scholar — that Octavian, after his victory over Antony,
united the two in the legio XII. Fulminata. On the other
hand Henzen and Domaszewski think that Antony's legio
XII. antiqua was an old legion of Caesar's army which
Augustus retained, calling it first paterna, and thereafter
1 It was, as inscribed bullets show, part of the forces that attacked L.
Antony in Perusia, 40 B.C. : "Eph. Ep." vi. p. 66 f., no. 79 f. (C.I.L. xi. 6721,
28 ff.) ; it was in Sicily, C.I.L. x. 7349, and probably at Actium, C.I.L. v. 2502,
2520 (cf. Mommsen on p. 240, and Gardthausen, " Augustus," 11. i. p. 216).
That x. 7349 belonged to the troops on Augustus's side, however, is uncertain.

Notes to Chapter XXI. 297
Fulminata.1 In any case it is beyond doubt that the title
Fulminata is as old as the time of Augustus.
Note III (p. 293). — Misapprehension and error were
caused to some readers of my former argument about
Quirinius by their confusing between two governors of Syria
named Saturninus : one L. Volusius Saturninus in A.D. 4-5,
and the other Sentius Saturninus in 8-6 B.C.
Note IV — \ am indebted to Dr. Moffatt's article in the
"Expositor," January, 1913, for directing attention to "the
discovery of a new Greek inscription at Suk Wadi Barada,
the site of Abila," described with a facsimile in the " Revue
Biblique," 191 2, pp. 533 ff. It turns out, however, to be only
a new and improved copy of an inscription known for more
than a century, and published, according to Pocock's copy,
in the Berlin Corpus of Greek Inscriptions, III, no. 4521. 2
While we are grateful for the improvement in the text and
the confirmation of the genuineness and general trustworthi
ness of Pocock's publication, we must grant Pocock the
credit of having got everything in his copy that was im
portant. All that was inferred from the new copy could
be elicited with almost equal certainty from the old ; but
a second copy always adds to the assurance of the first ;
and hence Mommsen in Vol. Ill of the Corpus of Latin In
scriptions mentions from time to time any new copy of pre
viously published inscriptions.
It is the dedication of a temple, etc., " on behalf ofthe sal-
'Henzen, "Bull. d'Inst.," 1867, p. 178 f . ; von Domaszewski, "Arch.
Fpigr. Mitt.," xv. i8g2, p. 188, 30. Legio paterna, C.I.L. xi. 1058. Veterans of
Antony's legio xn. were settled by Augustus in Patrae of Achaia, C.I.L. in.
p. g5 ; Mommsen, " Res Gestae d. Aug.," ed. 11. pp. 74, 119 ; P. M. Meyer,
" Heerwesen d. Ptol. u. Rom.," p. i4g f. ; Vaglieri in Ruggiero's " Diz.
Epigr.," in. p. 335.
2 Dr. Moffatt mentions this in the later part of his short article.

298 Notes to Chapter XXI.
vation of the Lords Imperial and their whole household ""
by " Nymphaios a freedman of Lysanias the tetrarch ".
During the time when tetrarchs were in power at Abilene
there was only one period when there could be a prayer
and vow for the salvation of the Augustan Lords ; and
that was between the beginning of the reign of Tiberius in
A.D. 14 and the death of his mother Julia Augusta in A.D_
29. How long exactly Lysanias ruled we know not ; but
between those two limits his freedman could offer a dedica
tion and vow for the Augusti, Tiberius and Julia.1 It is no
great step to suppose that Luke was right, when he dated
the first appearance of John the Baptist (III. 1), A.D. 25,
in the time when Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, the
district of which Abila was the capital.
Why not take the step ? Why not say that the reference
in Luke is correct ? There has been absolutely no justifica
tion for the unreasonable charge that this dating in Luke
III. 1 was wrong. The most extraordinary suggestion was
that he had misplaced a king, Lysanias, who reigned in
Abila three-quarters of a century earlier. It was actually
maintained that Luke had transferred that king to this
much later period, and had miscalled him "tetrarch," pre
sumably because the name " tetrarch " was commoner in
that later time than it had been in the middle of the first
century B.C. It was, however, known and used even then.
The older Lysanias was a king : the younger was a tetrarch.
That the two ought to be regarded as different persons, dis
tinguished by title and by period, was sufficiently assured
on Luke's sole authority. That is an elementary deduction
from the most fundamental principles of historical criticism :
any other opinion involves the holder in absurdity : the
1 Augustus did not associate his wife with himself as Empress. After his
death Livia was recognized as Julia Augusta, one of the Imperial gods.

Notes to Chapter XXI. 299
authority was quite good enough to justify a highly pro
bable inference.
In addition to this, however, we have the inscription of
Abila, mentioning the tetrarch Lysanias in the time of the
associated Lord and Lady, Tiberius and his mother, some
where close to the very year when Luke asserts that the
tetrarch was living and reigning. Here is the external
authority of contemporary registration to confirm the natural
interpretation of Luke's statement as good historical evi
dence. The confirmatory authority was published and well
known. Why was it disregarded ? There is only one
sufficient reason, and that is ignorance ; the critics did
not inquire into such matters of Roman custom when they
told in favour of Luke; they took interest in them only
when something against Luke might be expected from
them. It really almost looks as if that were so. This
inscription was sometimes misinterpreted as a dedication to
Augustus and Tiberius as associated Emperors ; but no
such joint inscriptions are known. Tiberius was recog
nized as a colleague early in A.D. 1 2 ; but there is no
reason to think that Augustus associated him as joint owner
of the estates, or that the people recognized him as landlord
and god before Augustus died. The inscription is a dedica
tion to Tiberius and his mother, who were regarded as joint
deities. The dedication is a good example of the prayer for the
salvation of the Imperial deities, as described in Chap. xv.
The freedman of Lysanias regards his master as a client
of the Imperial household, and thus the freedman comes
to be a part of that great household.
Coins bearing the name and title of Lysanias the tetrarch
are assigned by numismatists to King Lysanias of Chalcis
on the assumption that he took the humbler title on coins.

300 Notes to Chapter XXI.
This is rather strange, and it is possible that they should
be restored to the tetrarch of Abila ; but that is for
numismatists to consider.
Schiirer maintains Luke's correctness, but that did not
stop the doubts (which are repeated in Dr. A. B. Bruce's
Commentary). Note V (p. 284). — The early importance and subsequent
military insignificance of Antioch and the " Phrygian region "
may explain a problem of the Roman auxiliary troops.
There existed at one time seven Alae Phrygum. Of these
only the seventh is actually mentioned in any known in
scription ; the other six disappeared. Mr. Cheesman in his
treatise on the auxiliary troops connects these Alae with
the province Galatia (though five-sixths of Phrygia was in
Asia) ; and he is certainly right. It may be conjectured
that the whole seven were originally designed for the de
fence of Galatic Phrygia or Mygdonia against the Homona
denses and the Pisidians. With them ranks Ala Augusta
Germaniciana, which is mentioned only in Antiochian in
scriptions. When the need for defence ceased, all these
Alae except one ceased to be recruited. The Roman army
was strong enough without them. Hereafter the progress
of discovery at Antioch may prove this conjecture.
Note VI (p. 293). — The chronology is most probably as
follows : all the steps have been separately established on
independent evidence, and all point to the same result : —
Drusus duumvir at Antioch I and II 10 and g B.C.
Quirinius duumvir at Antioch 8 b.c
Servilius duumvir at Antioch either 7 or 8 B.C.
Cornutus governed Galatia before and during 6 b.c
Thus Quirinius and Servilius were governing the two
adjoining provinces, Syria-Cilicia and Galatia, around the
year 8 B.C., when the First Census was made.

CHAPTER XXII
ANALOGIES AND FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY
An ancient Hebrew view is expressed in the Song of
Deborah : " the stars in their courses fought against Sisera ".
To put this in modern and Western fashion takes away that
vague majesty which belongs to it in its Hebrew form ; but
we must try to conceive it in our fashion, which is more de
finite and logically precise than the Semitic cast of thought.
The will of God has imposed a certain harmony on His
world. Those who resist His will find that His whole
world fights against them. Every reader of the Greek epic
and the Greek drama, especially yEschylus, is familiar with
Greek expression of the same thought : that audacity and
arrogance in man outrages and antagonizes the order of
nature, the purpose of the supreme God, whether He choose
to be called Zeus or by any other name.1
The stars, the winds, the clouds, the storm, and every
other phenomenon of nature, are the messengers of God and
the bearers of His power. As Isaiah says, " Jehovah rideth
on a swift cloud ". Such thought leads to a certain
reverent observation and study of the phenomena of nature,
and lends dignity to the original form of astrology : that
pseudo-science, however, rapidly and generally was degraded
from a handmaid of religion to an instrument of magic, but
it has in its origin an element of truth and right. The stars
in their courses fight against the enemies of God, therefore
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. gi ff.
(301)

302 XXII. Analogies and
their courses should be observed, and they can suitably be
used in prophetic anticipation of the Divine action in the
world. This study, however, is not really astrology, though
analogous in some degree to it.
Something of this thought expresses itself in the story of
the Magi and their visit to Bethlehem (see above Ch. XI.) :
the Magi envisage to us the relation in which the ac
cumulated wisdom of the East stood to the expected
appearance of the Divine Saviour. His coming was
looked for, and was heralded at the proper time by His
star — not a new star, but the rising x of the proper star " in
the fulness of the time ". The time had come : the world
was ready : the wisdom of the East knew approximately
that the event was at hand : the rising of the star marked
the crisis. What the star was I do not presume to judge ;
nor can one tell certainly without some knowledge of
Eastern doctrine.2
The book of the New Testament in which this aspect of
cosmic influence is treated as highly important is the
Apocalypse of John, the most thoroughly Hebraic part of
the whole, and the part which was last in obtaining canonical
recognition. Because the Hebraic element is so strong, the
wider Christian outlook is less evident; but that wider out
look, the Christian view which surveys from a point above
the Hebrew, seeing everything that the Hebrew sees, and
1 Matthew n. 2 : " We have seen his star in the rising " : avaroKt), the ris
ing of the star : i.varo\at, "the risings (of the heavenly bodies)," i.e. the East.
Such is Matthew's distinction in 11. 1 and 2 and g. It is therefore a mis
translation in A.V. and R.V. to put it, " we have seen His star in the East ".
2 Col. Mackinlay has an interesting speculation, well worth study, in his
book, " The Magi : how they knew Christ's star " (Hodder and Stoughton),
on which I have said what I think to be probable in a paper in " Luke the
Physician and other Studies in the History of Religion ". The chronological
reasons point probably to the date which is indicated by his theory, 8 B.C.

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 303
more than the Hebrew saw, belongs after all to the
Apocalypse and justifies the final inclusion of it in the New
Testament. There is an element in it which is required to
complete and unify the wide range of the New Testament ;
that element, however, is not simply Hebrew but greater
than Hebrew ; it is Hebraism raised to its highest power.1
This Hebrew view was not in accordance with Luke's
Western mind ; he does not include the story of the Magi
in his gospel ; but that does not prove either that he was
ignorant of it, or that he rejected it. It appealed to the
Semitic mind : Luke writes for the Graeco-Roman mind,
as exemplified in Theophilos.2 Yet he expresses the same
view in Western fashion': the shepherds under the guid
ance ofthe Divine messengers in the heavens express the
recognition of the new-born Saviour by the general world :
Simeon and Anna utter the same recognition in the name of
1 1 regret that Canon Charles is too completely occupied with the Hebrew
aspect in his most interesting and instructive lectures on the Interpretation
of the Apocalypse, and that he therefore becomes rather insensitive to the
higher, the Christian, element in the book. After reading his work, one must
wonder how the Apocalypse ever came to find its way into the New Testa
ment : were its champions, and the general sense of the Church at last, un
aware of the spirit and essence of Christianity ? I see that Dr. Charles regards
me as accepting and upholding the astrological interpretation of the
Apocalypse (see his p. 53). Readers of my " Letters to the Seven
Churches " will wonder at his statement, for the idea of astrology never occurs
in that book as a help to interpretation ; he depends on a sentence or two in
my introduction to Dr. Lepsius' instructive but one-sided championing of
that interpretation ; and the introduction as a whole shows that the sentences
either do not justify his charge or fail to convey adequately my view. The
introduction appears in several months' issue of the " Expositor " for ign
and igi2.
2 That Theophilos is a definite Roman official is proved by the technical
Roman title, Kpdrio-ros. Still he is a sample of the audience which Luke
had most in mind. Blass's view that KpdriOTos is a mere honorary vague ex
pression cannot he accepted, and his own examples tell against him : " St.
Paul the Traveller," p. 388.

304 XXII. Analogies and
Hebrew prophecy and old Hebrew traditional wisdom (11.
32 and 34 £).
It is noteworthy that Luke assumes, without expressly
stating the Matthaic and Hebrew point of view, that the
Saviour must be born in Bethlehem. He tells how it came
about that Jesus was born there ; but he does not mention
that it was a fulfilment of prophecy : he simply assumes
this in 11. 4 and II. I. 69 f. as familiar to his readers.1
The Lukan historical point of view, however, is expressed
in II. 1-4. There, in the severest and simplest terms of
history, the Birth of Jesus is set amid its proper surroundings
as an event in the development of Roman Imperial relations.
We have just seen what marvellous insight into great im
perial bureaucratic problems is here displayed (pp. 250, 272).
Not merely are all the statements in Luke II. 1-3 true.
They are also in themselves great statements, presenting to
us large historical facts, world-wide administrative measures,
vast forces working on human society through the ages.
He sets before us the circumstances in which Jesus came
to be born at Bethlehem, not at Nazareth, as caused by the
interplay of mighty cosmic forces. This is not the fancy
of some commonplace inventor of pseudo-romantic fiction,
as the episode has been pronounced by the critics to be.
It is the view of history as history is conceived by a true
historian, who can look into the heart of things, and who
thinks on a grand scale.
Seen rightly, of course, every event may be thus con
ceived. The forces of the universe make each individual
man in their interplay, and unmake him when his brief span
of existence is ended. But he who pictures or describes
1 Similarly in ii. 4 he assumes the essence of what Matthew tells more fully
in 1. 18 ff. I assume the accepted text of Luke here.

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 305
the process whereby the man comes to be, is a true historian
in the highest sense, or a poet.
According to Luke's conception of this epoch-making
historic event, Augustus formed a wonderful plan of world-
survey and world-registration, and promulgated his order
that all the world should be counted. The term used is
" the inhabited and ordered world," which was practically
restricted to the Roman Empire by the Romans ; but there
lies behind it the vague conception that, rightly seen, the
Empire is co-extensive with civilization, that what lies out
side the Empire is mere barbarism, and that it is the destiny
of the Empire gradually to assimilate the outer nations and
raise them up to the level of the Imperial " salvation," and
then admit them into the Imperial unity.
The edict went forth, and it was followed in the East x by
another, which directed to the service of the State a force
of peaceful and contented ignorance, the force of inertia,
closely akin to slavery, which we see through the ages
ordering human affairs under the domination of masters and
lords.2 It suited the Imperial purpose to use this force for
the enrolment; and the order that was issued affected
among others Joseph and Mary, and brought them to
Bethlehem. The highest rank and the humblest are brought
together in this wonderful historical picture of a great
bureaucratic device.
I confess that, when I see the self-satisfied and preten
tious ignorance of the critical theologians miscalling and
vilifying this most wonderful little gem of historical insight
and word-painting, I find it difficult to restrain my indigna
tion. These are the dull and blind savants whom the
modern world has accepted as learned, and to whom so
1 No independent proof exists about the West. s See p. 267.
20

306 XXII. Analogies and
many have humbly bowed down and done homage and
worship. The man who cannot see the splendour of this passage,
when he sets aside all theological or anti-theological bias,
must be blind to the spirit of history. Augustus, the mighty
Emperor, and Mary with her infant child, are set over against
one another. Luke was sensitive to the dramatic character
of the episode : in fact, some critics have distrusted him,
because he has too clear perception of the dramatic and
literary aspect of his subject. He knew what he was telling.
The autocracy of the Empire, the free voluntary obedience
of the Church to its legitimate orders and its freedom where
the Imperial right ceased : these were the chief factors in
history as Luke saw it. Here they are set side by side in
this opening scene, the Birth of Jesus.
In a sense this scene is not necessary to the Gospel. It
is not alluded to by John or by Mark. It can be omitted,
and the Gospel remains intact and complete. Yet it is
needed to place the religion of Jesus in its proper relation
to human history. It is the indispensable introduction to
the long struggle between the Church and the Empire.
Luke throughout his history takes care to mention inci
dents bringing Christ into relation with the Empire.1 There
were not many such incidents ; and the other Evangelists
hardly allude to them. Luke alone records that Pilate thrice
pronounced Jesus to be innocent ; John records Pilate's de
claration twice, and the others only once. The Roman
centurion and the commendation pronounced by Jesus,
setting his faith above all that He had found in Israel, are
mentioned by Luke and Matthew. As this Evangelist noted
those matters, so he marks emphatically the relation of Jesus
to the Empire even in His birth.
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 307.

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 307
For centuries the religion of freedom was destined to
contend against the power of the great Empire ; and it is
an arresting fact that even in His birth the Founder of that
religion was tossed hither and thither at the command of
the Emperor. And what was the result ? Only the triumph
of Jesus. His poor mother must travel far to Bethlehem ;
and the Child was there born ; but all that the Emperor
achieved was to stamp the Child as the Fulfiller of prophecy
and the promised Messiah. As in the death of Christ the
sarcastic statement of His crime which Imperial policy
placed over Him, was a placard blazoning Him to the world
as the King of the Jews, so in His birth the Imperial order
which drove the unborn Child to Bethlehem qualified Him
to be the governor, who should be the shepherd of Israel
(Matt. II. 5 f).
Such analogies with sayings of Scripture, or with events
in the life of the Saviour, lay very near the heart of the
early Christians, and were always being observed by
them. The Smyrnaeans saw in Polycarp's death, beyond a
doubt, a succession of features and conditions that marked
out their great Bishop as a successor very like his Master ;
and they were right, for his courtesy, dignity, patience, and
sweetness of temper make him worthy of being compared
in his death to Jesus. But the impressiveness of the ana
logies lay in their springing naturally and spontaneously
from the surrounding conditions, and in their being entirely
unforced and not intentionally emphasized.
Such coincidences were a feature of that early Christian
literature, because they are a feature of life. This leads
us into the wide and difficult subject that is called fulfil
ment of prophecy. There was no fulfilment of prophecy,
if an individual designedly got himself up to correspond to
prophetic description. In order to fulfil prophecy, the

308 XXII. Analogies and
fulfilment must be unintentional. What we should call
now-a-dayS'" undesigned coincidence" is in the truest sense
fulfilment of prophecy. If Mary, hoping that the son
who was about to be born of her should be apparent to
the world as the promised Messiah, had gone purposely to
Bethlehem in order that the child might be born there, the
fulfilment of prophecy would not have been so striking as
it was when her journey to Bethlehem was forced on her by
the constraint of external power. The order of nature, the
law of the Roman world, drove her there without any in
tention or plan for her son, and thus was brought about
the coincidence between the prophecy and the event.
Whether or not Luke intended it, he brings out in II. 1-3
the wholly unintentional character of the incident. The
Emperor ordered, God planned, Mary did as they willed
her to do without any design except obedience.
That there are many such unintended coincidences
between the life of Paul and the life of the Saviour was the
idea of Luke ; but he never forces this idea on his readers,
or emphasizes the facts so as to impress the thought on
them. As has been pointed out elsewhere,1 the advent of
Paul to the strange land of Macedonia was pictured by
Luke like the coming of Jesus to the strange, almost hostile
country of Samaria. Paul went out along the bank of a
stream, and sat down, and spoke to the women that were
met there ; and a woman, a foreigner living there, listened,
and was moved and converted and baptized with her
household. So Jesus had sat down weary by the spring
near Sychar,2 and a woman came for water, and He spoke
1 " Teaching of Paul in Terms ofthe Present Day," p. 55.
8 It is called a spring or fountain of flowing water in John iv. 6 (twice)
and 14. The Orientals always seek for running water to drink (compare iv.
10), if any can be obtained. The " well " of iv. 11 and 12 is a real difficulty

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 3°9

to her.1 In each case the woman opened the way to affect
the whole town where she lived ; and both Jesus and Paul
were pressed to remain. Those who knew the subsequent
history of Lydia, i.e. the contemporary readers for whom
the book was written, were aware how much is implied in
this suggestion that she was influential in opening the door
at Philippi. I have never been able to feel any hesitation
on this point. Lydia, like Sergius Paullus and Simon of
Samaria and Mnason,2 is one of those figures in the Acts
who were full of historic significance. They appear for a
brief episode, and disappear from the book ; but the abrupt
ness of their disappearance was suggestive. It has always
seemed to me highly probable that Lydia, i.e. the " Lydian
woman," was merely a familiar name, used according to a
very frequent custom in the ^Egean world and Asia Minor
generally. She had her own personal name, which would
appear in legal documents, and wherever more formal courtesy
was aimed at or was employed naturally by persons who
were used to be more gravely polite. Paul was of the last
class : he never speaks of Priscilla or of Silas, but of Prisca
and Silvanus. Lydia was not the name by which he would
speak of this lady in writing to the Church of Philippi. She
is either Euodia or Syntyche of Phil. IV. 2, we know
not which.3
not as yet solved. Probably it springs from popular speech mixing the words
for " well " and " spring ". In modern Greek m\ydSi is a well.
1 John IV. 27, £xd\et fiera yvvauc6s : so in Acts xvi. 13, cA.aA.oS/iEy rats yvvai£iv.
9 Mnason was the authority for the episodes of ./Eneas and Dorkas : hence
his place in this history. Luke thus introduces in his own way an important
authority. 3 We might perhaps suppose that Paul would name her first, because she
was the earliest Christian ; but there may be a lesson and a hint here conveyed
by naming her last. Syntyche is a name known in Lydia and the Phrygian
borderland. The matter remains uncertain ; but something may yet be
found to determine our opinion.

310 XXII. Analogies and
In the immediate sequel of the narrative regarding Paul's
fortunes at Philippi, there occurs an equally clear parallel to
the life of the Saviour. There are two remarkable passages
in the early part of Mark's Gospel, I. 34 and III. 12. " He
suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him " ;
and " The unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld Him, fell
down before Him, saying ' Thou art the Son of God ' ; and
He charged them much that they should not make Him
known ".
These two incidents cause difficulty in some ways owing
to their unusual character. In other places Jesus does not
avoid coming in contact with demoniacs. He appears also
in Luke IV. 33, 41, to forbid the demons to express their
recognition of Him and respect for Him. Yet He openly
confers such power on others, and speaks about it. So in
Matthew VIII. 4, He charges the leper who was healed to tell
no man; but elsewhere, e.g. Matthew XI. 5, He appeals to
such cures as publicly known.
Why does He act thus in these cases ? There must be
some reason for the difference of action at different stages
of His career. The two incidents are mentioned only
by Mark and Luke. Matthew, though he made so
much use of Mark, omits those two passages ; perhaps he
observed the difference of the Saviour's attitude in these
from other places. They all left out a great deal, and re
corded (as John expressly says, XXI, 25) what seemed to
them most characteristic of His life, and most instructive, or
most easily comprehended by the public. We cannot say
confidently ; but for one reason or another Matthew omitted
those two incidents, which are so striking in their diversity
from the rest of the Gospel record, and on that account
all the more valuable to us as revealing a certain side
of Christ's action, less common but still a present force in

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 311
His life and thought. He did at times forbid the evil spirits,
who always seemed to recognize and shrink before Him,
from giving public expression to their knowledge.
Similarly at Philippi Paul felt much troubled by the
slave-girl, who followed him, calling out that he and his com
panions were slaves and servants of the Most High God,
and preachers of the Way of Salvation. He was annoyed
at this public and oft-repeated recognition. He knew how
it was caused, and he ordered the spirit that possessed the
girl to leave her. She at once lost her sensitiveness of tem
perament, and her power of sympathetic comprehension of
the nature of Paul and of all those with whom she had to
deal professionally ; and she could no longer produce any
gain for her owners.
The analogy here to the passages just quoted from Mark
is evident. We notice also that this case differs from the
usual practice of Paul and of the Apostles (Acts VIII. 7
and XIX. 1 2). In this case alone he is said to have forbidden
the recognition of his character ; but we may fairly assume
that such recognition was a common and even a regular
feature : it is implied as a usual accompaniment by the lan
guage of Acts XIX. 15:" The evil spirit retorted on them
' Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? ' " x
An explanation has been suggested in Chap. X. of the
reason for Paul's action in this case : the public of Philippi
would regard the words of the slave-girl, herself a servant
of magic, as indicating her recognition that Paul was a
magician, greater and stronger than herself, but still a
magician. Paul was at the beginning of his career in a new
city and a new country ; and he wished to ward off this real
1 In this passage the power ofthe mere Name of Jesus is assumed to be
already familiar to the public, and the knowledge is derived rather from
general practice than from that of Paul alone.

312 XXII. Analogies and
danger at the moment. Permanently it could not be
avoided : it was always a trouble and a hindrance and a
scandal among the ignorant mob and even among the more
educated, as has been stated already.
There is no reason to think that this episode in Paul's
career was introduced for the sake merely of bringing out
the analogy between his action and the Saviour's. It was
recorded by Luke for the reason just stated ; but certainly
Luke loved to dwell on such analogies as they arose
spontaneously and unforced amid the adventurous career of
his hero, the great Apostle.
A similar analogy occurs in the story of the shipwreck,
Acts XXVII. Paul suggests to the whole company to take
food, in order to strengthen themselves for the escape from
the ship. This was a wise and a necessary act. It was
forced on Paul by the situation ; yet he was the only one
that preserved sufficient coolness and courage to think of
preparing for the immediate future.
In this action, rising so naturally out of the circumstances,
the analogy springs to light. Paul standing among the
great multitude, almost all pagans, treated the meal as if it
were the celebration of the Eucharist. He took the bread
and gave thanks, and brake it. Compare Luke XXII. 19,
where the succession of verbs is the same.
In later time the same feeling is observed. The example
of Polycarp's death has been quoted above. An instructive
example is the following, derived from epigraphic discovery.
It is an interesting remark of Monsieur S. Reinach that the
action of Avircius, the Phrygian bishop of the second cen
tury, who travelled through the Christian world, " holding
Paul in his hands," was like the conduct of the Ethiopian
eunuch, who read the prophet Isaiah as he rode in his car.
I have always understood the epitaph in the sense that the

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 313
bishop carried in his hands his own copy of the letters of
Paul, and in my translation I tried to bring this out clearly ;
but the analogy with Acts VIII. 27-8 escaped me.1
If this hypothesis, that Avircius Marcellus, composing
about A.D. 1 90 the epitaph for his own grave according to the
Phrygian custom, had in mind the incident of the Ethiopian
reading as he travelled the book of the prophet Isaiah, be
accepted — and it seems to me convincing, as we learned
that it seemed to Monsignor Duchesne (when it was stated
at the Academy of Inscriptions in Paris in July, I9I4)2 —
then some interesting inferences follow from it.
(1) Avircius Marcellus probably travelled in the same
fashion as the Ethiopian in his car. This had not previously
occurred to me ; but it is evidently necessary. The Bishop
did not travel on foot, visiting all the Churches from Rome
to the Euphrates and beyond it. Time and strength do
not allow that an ecclesiastic whose proper sphere of work
lay in the Pentapolis of Phrygia should expend his energy
in such kind of work. He was sent on from congregation to
congregation, as a rule, in a car (according to the suggestion
made above with regard to Paul in the Galatian regions).8
The kind of travelling car which was used in journeys
along the postroads of the Danube provinces, and doubtless
generally, is described by Professor M. Rostowzew of Petro-
grad in a paper published in 191 1.* A Roman military
1 The translation which is printed in my article on the subject in the
41 Expositor," 1889, p. 255, and repeated in Lady Ramsay's " Everyday Life
in Turkey," p. 184, is: "I followed, holding Paul in my hands ". That
meaning seems inevitable.
2 I quote from a summary in the " Figaro," kindly sent me by a courteous
correspondent whose name I could not decipher, in September, 1914.
3 See p. 84 : also " Pauline and Other Studies," p. 266.
4 " Ein Speculator auf der Reise," in " Mitt. Arch. Inst. Rom.," ign, p.
268 ff. This relief is in the Museum at Belgrad : the inscription is in Dessau's

314 XXII. Analogies and
courier x is shown on his tombstone riding in a car along a
road, as he had travelled in life. The two-horse car is in
rapid motion ; a third horse is loosely harnessed on the near
(left) side ; and all are galloping. There are two travellers
in the car, doubtless the courier and his personal attendant
slave. The courier, though a legionary soldier, is unarmed ;
his duty was to travel, and to traverse rapidly long distances
in official service at the order of the governor of the pro
vince ; and arms would have been only an incumbrance in
such duties.
According to the legend, which is quite untrustworthy as
historical evidence, being composed not earlier than the end
of the fourth or during the fifth century, Avircius travelled
with one personal attendant, a slave no doubt ; and possibly
this detail may be part of a true tradition. More probably,
however, it is merely suggested by the ordinary custom :
people who were not wealthy regularly travelled in that way
with an attendant slave.
On this sort of car the attendant sat behind. We are
not informed whether the Ethiopian, as a wealthy man with
many attendants, had a more luxurious conveyance. In
any case there was room for Philip to sit in the car with him,
and to speak as they travelled.2 It is to be noticed that in
the three reliefs where the attendant sits behind, he is re
presented as looking towards the rear (in the same fashion
" Inscr. Lat. Select.," 2378. Two similar scenes on Gallic tombstones may
be found in Daremberg and Saglio, "Diet, des Antiq.," 1. p. g28, no. ng7,
and 111. p. 862, no. 5g3g.
1 The nearest equivalent for "speculator" would probably be "gen
darme " ; but no term is exact : see p. 317.
2 In Daremberg and Saglio, on the same page as above quoted, the follow
ing figure shows a car of similar, but more elaborate, character with two
people sitting side by side: the travellers are represented in a higher position
than the driver, who sits on the front of the car with his feet on the pole.

To face p. 315

Plate II. — Blassius Nigellio, a speculator of the Legion VII. Claudia,
travelling with his servant. A third horse is loosely harnessed to the
car to ensure speed (Belgrad).

Fulfilment of Prophecy,

315

Fig. 7. — A Roman Courier travelling with his servant (Belgrad).

.3 1 6 XXII. Analogies and
as on the back seat of a modern dogcart); and his seat
seems to be only a bundle of baggage.
The courier's horses are represented galloping. In the
other reliefs the progress is quieter. We have to remember
that the courier was bound to travel faster. In my calcula
tions with regard to rates of travel,1 I have supposed that
ordinary travellers went regularly 25 miles a day, and
couriers at double that rate ; and that the stages and equip
ment of travel were arranged accordingly. Foot travellers
on a journey did between 1 6 and 1 7 miles per day. These
rates are very slow in comparison with what Friedlander
and other German scholars suppose ; but they have done
their travelling in the study ; and I have quoted considerable
evidence to prove that these rates are likely to be correct,
and are not too slow for truth. Mr. Hunter, in the last
number of the "Journal of Roman Studies," 191 3, has an
article on Cicero's journeys in Asia Minor, based on the
Roman governor's letters and dates : and he finds that
Cicero travelled 25 miles a day until he reached the army,
but very much slower after that; yet Cicero was hurrying
to his army.
(2) Not merely was Avircius, in composing his epitaph,
mindful of the scene in Acts VIII. : he could feel confident
that his Christian readers (to whom the symbolism and the
cryptic language used in his epitaph were intelligible) would
be able to understand the allusion. He travelled and
read Paul, as the Ethiopian travelled and read Isaiah. The
incidents described in the Acts were therefore familiar to
the congregations of the Phrygian Pentapolis in the latter
part of the second century (which might be taken for granted,
though a confirmation is always welcome). See also p. 84.
1 " Roads and Travel in New Testament Times," in Hastings' " Dictionary
of the Bible," Vol. V.

Fulfilment of Prophecy. 317
(3) In these two episodes all the details are different, and
characteristic of different countries and occasions. Yet
the general analogy is unmistakable to the unprejudiced and
unbiassed reader.
(4) It will illustrate what has been said above, especially
in Chapter VI., if we describe the character of this scene
more fully. The speculatores were part of the officium or
special service-staff of the governor of a province. One of
their principal duties was to act as gendarmerie or armed
police. They officiated as executioners, and Domaszewski
seems to regard this — perhaps in rather too narrow a view
— as their most characteristic duty, for he calls them
" gerichtsofficialen " : it is, however, often a not unfair
rendering of the conception that has been entertained in
central and south-eastern Europe regarding gendarmerie,
and a not unjust expression of the work of the modern
gendarmerie in the Balkan provinces, to call them torturers.
and executioners. The speculatores also acted as couriers,
but perhaps only in urgent business, as when Caligula an
nounced his victories to Rome (Suetonius Calig. 44), and
when the Syrian armies' oath to Vespasian was reported to>
Vitellius (Tacitus, " Hist." II. 73). They were all legionary
soldiers (ten were in each legion) ; and in a very rough way
they may be said to correspond to a humble grade, but not
the lowest grade, of non-commissioned officers in our army
— so far as mere ranfc is concerned, though the duties are:
wholly different.
Even on their police-duties they had often to travel from
the governor's headquarters to outlying parts of the pro
vince. Both on such missions, and when acting as couriers,
they were of course empowered to use the Imperial postal
service, and the cars in which they are represented as
travelling belonged to that equipment, and in one case are

318 XXII. Analogies and Fulfilment of Prophecy.
represented as bearing the Imperial insignia ; these insignia
(heads of Emperors) are usually omitted, as the reliefs are
on too small a scale to show such slight details.
Their conduct to the provincials is described as generally
tyrannical, unjust, greedy and domineering. A stick is the
mark of their rank, but it seems on the rude reliefs (in
which it is regularly carried by the attendant, as a magi
strate's fasces by his attendant lictors) to be more like
a heavy spear or even an axe. They had the right to
commandeer on the public service any of the posses
sions, even the ploughing cattle, of the peasantry, and
complaints are rife in the inscriptions that their requisi
tions were often illegal : we learn of these complaints,
because they were inscribed by cultivators of Imperial estates
who had brought their case successfully to the knowledge
of their Imperial Lord and God ; had their prayer to him
been unsuccessful, it would not have been permitted to be
inscribed. Such was the Imperial "Salvation" (described1
from another point of view in Ch. XV.).
1 On the speculatores see also Domaszewski, Rangordnung d. roem,
Heeres, pp. 32 and 63 f., and in Rhein. Museum, xlv. pp. 2og f. ; Mommsen,
Strafrecht, p. g24 f. ; Marquardt, Handbuch d. roem. Staatsverw., 1. p. 560,
1. p. 547 f.

CHAPTER XXIII
"YOUR POETS HAVE SAID"
At every point in the early history of Christianity we find
that the relation to the Roman autocracy has to be taken
into account as a factor in the problem. The Church and
the Empire, the Imperial and the Christian "Salvation,"
stood over against one another. The Empire was striving
to solve the same problems that the new religion was at
tacking. Its spirit, on the whole, setting aside some de
generate Emperors, was good. Its aims were noble. It
sought to benefit the whole population of the world, and to
raise the provincials and the outer people on the fringe of
the Empire to the level of the Roman civilization. It was
satisfied that Roman culture was perfect, that the civilized
world was the Roman world, and that the best thing for
every nation was that it should be initiated into the Roman
culture, and brought into the Empire as soon as it was
worthy of that privilege.
In Christian opinion Rome knew not that it was wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked : it thought
that it was rich and had need of nothing.1 Rome flattered
herself that she sat a Queen ; but her sins reached even unto
lieaven.2 Her culture was vicious at the heart. The re
ligion that she created to strengthen and maintain the
Imperial patriotism was the worship of Satan, sitting in the
temple of God, setting himself forth as God : 3 it deified the
1 Rev. in. 17. 2 Rev. xvm. 7 and 5. 3 Rev. n. 13 ; 2 Thess. 11. 4.
(319)

320 XXIII . " Your Poets have Said"
State and the Emperor as embodying the majesty of the
State. Yet it is not enough to look at the Empire as painted by
its enemy. We must look at it as it presented itself to the
world. The Imperial " Salvation " was a great idea : it was
a restraining power,1 averting anarchy and bestowing on the
nations a certain order and quiet, as Paul and Luke knew.
Here we can only take the Imperial idea at its birth, and
show how it appeared to those poets who saw its origin and
knew by experience what it was doing for the " civilized
world": they had "looked before and after" its birth.
They did not know, or did not care that the paternal gov
ernment of the Emperor was the antithesis of freedom, and
must, as it developed, destroy liberty in the Roman world.
We have seen in Chap. XV. something of that line of develop
ment.2 We now look for a moment at its beginnings.
The first perception of what Virgil and Horace saw in
the Roman Imperial idea was the opening of a new world
to me. The expression of that idea in plain and sober
prose in an inscription of Asia Minor about the time when
Christ was born shows marvellously close analogy to the
Christian ideas regarding the coming of Christ into the
world. Some scholars, who apparently had never noticed
the poetic expression in the great Augustan poets, were so
struck with the statement in prose as to imagine that the
language of the New Testament had been influenced by the
words of an inscription ofthe year 9 B.C., and that the story
of the Birth of Jesus was modelled on the pagan conception
of the holiness of Augustus's birthday.3
1 2 Thess. 11. 7. 2 See also Chap. xx.
3 One inscription was in my mind while writing "The Church in the
Roman Empire," after I had copied parts of it at Apameia in 1886 and 1887 ;
another is quoted by Deissmann, " Bibelstudien," p. 277, with unjustifiable
inferences.

XXIII . " Your Poets have Said" 321
The striking analogy in language arises from the exist
ence of a general belief that only the coming of God into
the world could save it. The fact that such a belief was
generally entertained seemed to Paul to prove that the
"fulness of the times had come," and that the world
was now ripe for and expectant of a Saviour ; and he
declared to men the true nature of the salvation which
they were groping after.1 This fact is important and arrest
ing; but only a very prosaic mind could suppose that it
either created or affected the Christian idea of a Saviour
and of salvation. There was an analogy between the Im
perial and the Christian conceptions of " Salvation," because
the Empire was seeking some cure for the same evils that
the new religion wished to heal ; but the analogy grew
weaker as time passed and as the worse side of Imperialism
became more pronounced. As Virgil saw it and described
it, the Roman idea was capable of a higher future than it
ever attained.
The Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, with its hope and confident
prophecy of a better age which had already surely begun,
was only one indication, though the most striking one, of
a dawning hope, which was spreading in the Roman Empire.
This poem was also the first clear and articulate expression
of that hope ; and indubitably exercised considerable in
fluence in giving form and definition to the vague emotion
which was stirring in the popular mind, felt by many, and
expressed by one great writer.
The Fourth Eclogue had its origin in an interesting
episode of literary history ; and, if it were regarded solely
from the literary point of view, it might almost be called
an occasional poem. But what might have been a mere
1 " The Teaching of Paul in Terms of the Present Day," pp. g4, 285.
21

322 XXIII . " Your Poets have Said"
occasional poem in the hands of a lesser poet, became, in
passing through the mind of Virgil, a work of far wider and
higher character. It is, however, essential to a right com
prehension of this Eclogue that it should be studied in its
origin. Only in this way can its relation to the popular
conceptions of the time be understood.
It was through the relations between Virgil and Horace,
so friendly and for the latter so important, that this poem
of Virgil's took its actual form.1 Horace was an officer,
who served in the army of Brutus and Cassius, and took
part in the disastrous battle of Philippi, which wrecked the
aristocratic and republican party, late in the year 42 B.C.
He fled from the rout of Philippi and returned to Italy,
where he found that the landed property, which he had
inherited from his father, had been confiscated and assigned
(like many other Italian estates) to the soldiers of the
victorious armies. He came to Rome, where, as he says,
Bereft of property, impaired in purse,
Sheer penury drove me into scribbling verse.
The metropolis was the only place which offered at that
time a career to a young man conscious of literary power,
and compelled to seek a living thereby. Horace had now
neither property nor patron nor influential friend. As an
adherent of the defeated and unpopular party, the young
poet's career was doubly difficult ; and we could not sup
pose that his republican and aristocratic sentiments were
blazoned by him in Rome when he settled there. That
these sentiments were now concealed by him is proved by
the fact that he found employment as a clerk in one of the
1 The thought must have been simmering in the mind of Virgil, but the
form was suggested as a reply to a poem of Horace. My own personal view
is that the two poems inaugurated the personal relations and intimate friend
ship of the two poets.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 323
government offices : a pronounced aristocrat would not have
received, and would hardly have asked, such a position.
Horace's mind was not that of a zealot or an extremist.
He had fought for the side which he believed in, and he ac
cepted the result of the fight. The question for him was
settled, and he now accommodated himself unreservedly to
the new situation. Moreover, he had unquestionably lost his
faith in his former party, from causes at which the historian
can guess without any difficulty. He recognized that it
was incapable and dead, and that Rome had nothing to
hope from it, even if it had been successful in the fight.
Every reader of his works knows that such was his feeling,
and such was the widespread feeling of the Roman world.
Men recognized that the degeneration of the Mediterranean
world had proceeded one stage further, and that the repub
lican party had failed decisively to govern the Empire
which it had conquered. Horace represents the general
opinion of the pagan world. He stands in the world of
men, not above it (as Virgil did) ; he expresses the senti
ments of the world from a sane, common-sense point of
view ; and, as he emerged from penury, he attained a high
level of wisdom, propriety, and self-respect in his outlook on
the world, and a singularly lofty level of easy and graceful
yet dignified expression of popular philosophy and worldly
experience. From him we gather the best side of popular
sentiment and popular philosophy, as they were trained in
the stern school of life.
In one of Horace's poems the popular estimate of the
situation in which the Roman world was placed found full
expression. This poem is the Sixteenth Epode, which
stands at the end of the first period of his literary activity
and prepares the entrance on his second period. In the
first period he was the hungry wolf, the impoverished and

324 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
disappointed writer, who had felt the injustice of the world
and was embittered by his experience. In the Sixteenth
Epode he pours forth unreservedly the disappointment
which he and the people generally felt about the existing
situation of the Roman world. The long civil wars had
sickened and disgusted the popular mind, except in so far
as they had brutalized it into positive enjoyment of the
apparently endless series of intestine wars and massacres,
each more bloody than its predecessor. The Roman Empire
and Roman society were drifting steadily towards ruin,
and their motion onwards towards the abyss was becoming
ever more rapid.
This consciousness of degeneration and approaching ruin
generally turned to utter despair. No hope was apparent.
The Roman people had outgrown its old religion, and had
found no new religion to take its place. Hence there was no
religious consolation for it, no God to whom it could look
for help and salvation. To which of the deities should the
Roman people turn : what prayer would avail to importune
Vesta and the old Divine patrons of the State and compel
them to help the city and the Empire in their need ? So
asks Horace in the second Ode of the first book, a poem
written at a considerably later date, when he thought he
had found a new god and a present help. But in the first
period of his literary work he had no hope. He had not
even a political party to which he could join himself and
for which he could fight. He had lost his old faith in the
Republican party, and found nothing to replace it; the
mind of man craved for the help of God, and there was no
God known to it. So Horace consoled himself by an ex
cursion into the land of fancy and of dreams. The Ro
mans, as he says, had now only one chance left. They
could abandon their country, and go far away from Italy

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said. 325
into the Western Ocean, to find that happy land of which
legend tells and poets sing, where the Golden Age, of quiet
and peace and plenty is always present, because there the
degeneration which had affected the whole Mediterranean
world had never begun. And so the poet calls upon all
true men and good patriots to abandon their country, to
desert Rome, and sail far away into the Atlantic Ocean,
seeking a " new world to redress the balance of the old
world," to dwell in The rich and happy isles
Where Ceres year by year crowns all the untill'd land with sheaves,
And the vine with purple clusters droops, unpruned of all her leaves ;
Where the olive buds and burgeons, to its promise ne'er untrue,
And the russet fig adorns the tree, that graffshoot never knew ;
Where honey from the hollow oak doth ooze, and crystal rills
Come dancing down with tinkling feet from the sky-dividing hills ;
There to the pails the she-goats come, without a master's word,
And home with udders brimming broad returns the friendly herd.
For Jupiter, when he with brass the Golden Age alloy'd,
That blissful region set apart by the good to be enjoy'd ;
With brass and then with iron he the ages sear'd, but ye,
Good men and true, to that bright home arise and follow me I '
Evidently, this fanciful description of the Golden Age
in the Western Isles, with the advice of the Romans to
take refuge there, does not express any serious belief.
Horace and the popular mind generally had no cure to sug
gest for the malady of the State. To them the world of
reality had sunk beyond salvation, and human life had de
generated into a riot of bloodshed and strife. Only in
dreamland was there any refuge from the evils of actual
life. Horace is here only " the idle singer of an empty
day," singing in the brief interval between the last mas
sacre and the next one. There is no faith, no belief, no
reality in the poem, because the poet had no religion, while
1 From the translation of Sir Theodore Martin.

326 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
the popular mind knew in a vague fashion that God alone
could help now. Despair was seeking a moment's oblivion,
and cheating itself with the false words of hope in this
poem. But, while there is no reality in the proposed remedy, no
one can doubt, or has ever doubted, that the poem is politi
cal, and touches on the real facts of the Roman situation.
This was what the people thought and felt and vaguely
said. The old Rome could not stand : the Republican and
aristocratic party, which had fought to maintain the old
Rome, was mistaken and practically dead, and its policy
had utterly failed. The poem is really the expression of
a despairing acquiescence in the tyranny of the triumvirate
and the autocracy of the coming Empire. This was the re
luctant and hopeless view with which Tacitus a century
later (and many for whom Tacitus speaks) regarded the
government of the Flavian Emperors : a republican con
stitution, though the best, was too good for the Roman
people, and autocracy was the only government that was
practically possible. And, after a similar fashion, in the
Sixteenth Epode Horace abandoned definitely his Re
publican views, to dream about freedom, and to acquiesce
in the slavery of Imperialism.
For our purpose the most important feature of the Epode
is its expression of the general opinion that no salvation
could be hoped for except through some superhuman aid.
Man, left to himself, had degenerated and must degenerate.
The almost universal pagan view was to that effect ; and
history confirms it. Paul makes this view the starting-
point for his philosophy of history : God alone can give
help and preserve true civilization. In this the Apostle of
the Gentiles agrees with the almost universal Gentile
thought. What he adds to it is the evangel of the Way,

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 327
revealed first to the Hebrews imperfectly, now perfectly to
all men.
The opinion of Virgil stands by itself, practically solitary
in pagan literature. In his mind there sprang into exist
ence a new idea, the hope of an immediate and present
salvation through a new-born child.
It may be assumed, for the moment, that chronology and
general conditions permit the supposition that Virgil's poem
started from and gave the answer to Horace's.1 The late
Professor Kiessling, of Berlin, pointed out that Virgil in
this poem caught up and echoed two of Horace's phrases.
It seems beyond doubt that
nee magnos metuent armenta leones
is not independent of Horace's
nee ravos timeant armenta leones ;
and similarly that Virgil's
ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae ubera
has some connexion with Horace's
illic iniussae venient ad mulctra capellae
refertque tenta grex amicus ubera.
Two contemporary poets, known to one another, each
(as we may be certain) familiar with the other's work, do
not write in this way by accident. The resemblance is
intentional, and was regarded, both by themselves and by
the world, as a compliment paid by the imitator to the
imitated. The question might be raised, however, which
was the imitator ; and there is a certain probability, a
priori, that Horace, as the younger and less distinguished,
was the imitator ; for we know of other places in which
beyond doubt that was the case. But in this instance
Kiessling concludes that Virgil was the one who echoed
1 The Book of Epodes was not published collectively till 30 B.C. ; but it is
a well-established fact that important single poems like this were known.

328 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
Horace ; and his reasoning from internal evidence seems
conclusive.1 Moreover, Virgil's poem was written in the
year 40 B.C., and (as is universally accepted) in the
latter part of the year, whereas Horace's poem, which arose
through the horrors and suffering of the bloody Perusian
war and expresses the feeling of repulsion excited thereby
in the poet's mind, can hardly be placed later than the early
months of 40 or the end of 41 B.C. The imitation is a
graceful compliment paid by the older and more famous
poet to his young and as yet little known contemporary.
We can appreciate how much the compliment meant to
Horace ; and we can understand how the language of his
Ode addressed to Virgil is not hyperbolic, but perfectly
sincere and well deserved. It was the kindness and courtesy
which Virgil showed to Horace when he was still struggling
with poverty that endeared him to the latter ; and this
spirit of kindness and courtesy prompted Virgil to pay this
graceful compliment, which may be regarded as the begin
ning of the friendship between the two poets. That friend
ship opened the door of society to Horace. After a time
Virgil introduced him to Maecenas, who became his patron
and intimate friend. In the sunshine of moderate pros
perity his character expanded and blossomed into the genial
temper of his maturer work. A deep gulf, caused by a pro
found difference of tone and spirit, separates that maturer
work from his earliest work. While he was struggling amid
hard fortune, he was bitter and narrow. What he quickly
became after he met Virgil, the world knows and appre
ciates. Now, looking at the Fourth Eclogue from this point of
view, let us place it beside the Sixteenth Epode, and see
1 I write without recurring to books ; and it is many years since I read
Kiessling, but I think the above statement is correct.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 329
what meaning it gathers from the collocation. Horace had
said that no hope for the Romans existed, except that they
should abandon Italy and Rome, to seek a happy life in the
islands of the Western Ocean. Virgil replies that the
better age of which Horace dreams is here in Italy present
with them, now just beginning. The very words in which
Horace had described a fabulous island and a legendary
Golden Age are applied by Virgil to describe Italy as it
will soon be, as the child already born in Italy will see it.
What are mere fanciful marvels when told about an un
known isle of the Ocean become real in the imaginative
vision of Virgil, for they are being now realized in Italy
under the new order, through the power of the peace and
good order and wise administration, settled government and
security of property, which have been established in the
country. Reading the two poems together, and remembering that
they were written within a year of one another by two
friends, one cannot doubt that they were companion and
contrasted pieces, responding one to the other. They say
to Rome respectively : " Seek your happiness by fleeing far
into the Western Ocean " ; and " Your happiness is now
being wrought out before your eyes in Italy ". A glance
suffices to show the intention to anyone who has eyes
to see. But in literary criticism inability to see more than
one has been taught and habituated to see is a striking
characteristic of some very learned scholars. Wagner, the
learned and devoted and dull pupil of a great master, who
can understand only what his teacher put before him and
into him, is regarded by Goethe as a typical German pro
fessor, but he has analogies among us.
Virgil is the prophet of the new age of Italy. He was
always thinking about Italy and imagining what it might

330 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
be made by the application of prudence, forethought, and
true knowledge. The subject of the Georgics is to describe
what Italy might become, if agriculture were wisely and
thoroughly carried out. "You have all you need in Italy,
the most beautiful and the best country of the whole world,
if you will only use it right." The intention of the poem
is to force this lesson home to the Roman mind.
The practical and skilful administration of Augustus
appealed to Virgil. He saw that Augustus had wise plans,
and skill to carry them into effect. He was a convinced
adherent and apostle of the Emperor. The union of science
and government had made the Mediterranean world fertile.
The science had originally been supplied by the theocratic
order, when the accumulated experience and growing wisdom
of a people was concentrated at the hieron of each district,
where the Goddess educated and guided, nourished and
tended her people. The union of science and government
was now beginning to make Italy perfect under the new
Empire ; that union would soon destroy every noxious plant
and animal, produce all useful things in abundance from
the soil, tame all that was wild, improve nature to an infi
nite degree, make the thorn-tree laugh and bloom with
flowers : it would naturalize in Italy all that was best in
foreign lands, and thus render Italy independent of imports,
and so perfectly self-sufficient that navigation would be
unnecessary. This was the imperial salvation, on which see
Chap. xv.
In this last detail we have one of those startingly modern
touches, which so often surprise us in Roman literature.
Virgil would have no free trade. The ideal he aimed at
was that Italy should depend on itself alone, and not on
sea borne products. His ideal is here different from and
narrower than the Imperial. He does not think of binding

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 331
the lands of the whole Empire into a unity, as the Emperors
desired ; he wishes only that Italy should learn to produce
everything for itself and that thereafter the "estranging
sea " should once more separate the lands, and navigation
should cease. He probably had not thought of all that
was implied in this ideal ; but the modern form would be
that the single Empire should be self-sufficient within its
own limits, and not that Italy alone should produce all that
it needs. That the Fourth Eclogue stands in close relation with
the new Empire is obvious. It is the wise new system of
rule that is to produce these blessed results for Italy. But
there is as yet no trace of the autocratic idea in the poem.
Augustus is neither named nor directly alluded to.
Virgil thinks of the continuance, in an improved form,
of the old Roman system of constitutional government by
magistrates (honores), of the political career open to all
Romans in the old way, and of the military training which
was the foundation and an essential part of the Roman
education. War must continue for a time, in order that
the young Roman may be educated in the true Roman
fashion. But it will be foreign war, carried on in the East ;
new Argonauts must explore and conquer and bring under
the Roman peace the distant Orient ; a new Achilles was
sailing for another Troy in the person of Antony, who was
charged with the government of the whole East and the
conduct of the Parthian war. The triumvirate, Antony,
Augustus,1 and Lepidus, was not in appearance an autocracy ;
it was, in name at least, a board of three commissioners
1 For convenient reference we may use by anticipation this title, which
was not bestowed till January, 27 B.C. ; it marked a great step forward in
the personal and autocratic rule of Augustus, and a noteworthy step in the
way towards his deification.

.332 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
for establishing the Republic, professedly a temporary ex
pedient to cure the troubles of the state. To speak or
think of a single Emperor, or to connect the salvation of
Rome with any single human being, was treason to the
triumvirate, and was specially out of place at the moment
when Virgil was writing, shortly after the peace of
Brundisium had established concord and equality between
Antony and Augustus. In the Eclogue a more obvious
allusion is, in fact, made to Antony than to Augustus, for
every one at the time recognized Antony in the new Achilles
who was starting for an eastern war : the Provinces east
of the Adriatic Sea were under Antony's charge, and a
Parthian war was in progress.
But, while Antony is more directly alluded to, the
thought that incites the poem and warms the poet's
¦enthusiasm is the wise and prudent administration of Italy
by Augustus. That is the real subject. The enlightened
forethought of Augustus and Agrippa made their rule the
beginning of a new era in Italy ; and Virgil looked forward
to a continuous growth in the country.
Still less is there any dynastic thought in the Fourth
Eclogue. The idea that an expected son of Augustus, or
the son of any other distinguished Roman, is alluded to, is
anachronistic and simply impossible. Every attempt to
identify the young child mentioned in the poem with any
actual child born or to be born has been an utter failure,
and takes this Eclogue from a false point of view.
Least of all is there any idea in the Fourth Eclogue of
deifying either Augustus personally or a son of his who
might hereafter be born.1 That view is not merely untrue
1 The idea of some literary critics is that the poem celebrates the birth
of an expected son, who unfortunately for the poet turned out to be a
daughter. This idea is really too absurd for anyone but a confirmed

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 333
to the existing facts of the conjoint government and the
union of Augustus and Antony ; it misunderstands and
misrepresents the development of the Imperial idea and the
growth (or growing perversion) of thought in Rome ; it
places Virgil on a plane of feeling far too low ; it is a hope
less anachronism in every point of view. Schaper, in a
very interesting paper, pointed out many years ago that
the deification of Augustus and his son and his dynasty was
wholly inconsistent with the composition of the Eclogue
so early as 40 B.C. The paper was convincing and, in a
certain way, conclusive. But instead of drawing the in
ference that the deification of the dynasty is a false idea,
read into the poem under the prejudice caused by the-
development of history in the years following after A.D. 40,.
he propounded the impossible theory that the poem was.
composed at a later time, viz. in the period ending June,
23 B.C., when Augustus was governing no longer as triumvir,
but as consul, and was practically sole master ofthe Empire,.
though maintaining the Republican forms and the nominal.
election of another consul along with himself. To support
this theory, Schaper eliminated the illusion to Polio's.
consulship, which fixes the composition to the year 40 B.C.,.
reading Solis instead of Polio.1 To make this theory
possible chronologically, and reconcile it with the date of
publication of the Eclogues not very long after 40 B.C.,.
Schaper supposed that the Fourth Eclogue was composed
at a later date, and inserted in a revised second edition of
the Eclogues.2
literary and " Higher " Critic. A poet does not work so ; even a " poet.
laureate" could not work under such conditions.
1 As he pointed out, the correct spelling of the name was Polio, and not
Pollio. 2 Two others, the Sixth and the Tenth, were also supposed by Schaper
to have been composed for the enlarged second edition.

334 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
These impossible buttresses of Schaper' s theory were uni
versally rejected ; the faults of his paper distracted atten
tion from its real merits ; and the perfectly unanswerable
argument from which he started was tacitly set aside, as if
it shared in the error of the theory which he had superim
posed upon it.
The truth is that the poem belongs to an earlier stage of
thought than the worship of Augustus ; and the Divine
idea in it was still so vague that it was readily capable of
being developed in accordance with subsequent history.
But it was equally capable of being developed in a different
direction and in a nobler and truer style. Had the Pauline
idea of Christianity as the religion ofthe Empire been suc
cessfully wrought out during the first century, the Fourth
Eclogue would have seemed equally suitable to that line of
development. The later popular instinct, which regarded
the poem as a prophecy of the birth of Christ, was not
wholly incorrect. The poem contained an inchoate idea,
unformed and vague, enshrining and embodying that uni
versal need which indicated " the fulness of time " and the
world's craving for a Saviour. The Roman world needed
a Saviour ; it was conscious of its need ; it was convinced
that only Divine intervention could furnish a Saviour for it.
Paul was fully aware that this universal craving and unrest
and pain existed in the Roman world ; and he saw therein
the presage of the birth of Divine truth. "The whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now."
The political side of the Fourth Eclogue is emphatically
marked, and was indubitably recognized universally at the
time. It suited the situation, and it glorified the wise
policy of Augustus. We are not blind to it. But the
significance of this aspect should not blind us to the fact
that this alone is quite insufficient to explain the genesis and

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 335
the full meaning ofthe poem. Professor Mayor x here seems
to us to be in the right, as has been argued from additional
reasons in the later part of this paper. Virgil had learned
something from Hebrew poetry and especially from Isaiah.
The Hebrew idea of a growth towards a happier future
through the birth of a Divine child was simmering in his
mind, when Horace's despairing poem declaring that no
happiness for Rome could be found except in voluntary
exile to the Islands of the West caught his attention, and
drew from him a reply. As a convinced and enthusiastic
supporter of Augustus, he declared that peace and happiness
was being realized in Italy by the wise rule of the triumvir.
With this he interwove the almost universal thought of his
contemporaries that Divine aid alone could afford real and
permanent improvement in the condition of the state ; and
this Divine aid expressed itself to him in the form that he
had caught from the Hebrew poetry.
Whom then did he think of as the child ? He must have
had some idea in his mind. There can be no doubt as to
this, if we simply look at the genesis of the Imperial cult.
The power of that cult lay in a certain real fact, the majesty
and dignity and character of the Roman people, which was
assumed to be represented by the Emperor as the head of
the state. Augustus permitted worship of himself only in
the form of a cult of" Rome and Augustus ". To a Roman
like Virgil in 40 B.C., the Divine child, who embodies the
future of Rome, who has to go through the education of
war and magistracies (as the poem declares), could only be
" Rome," i.e. the Roman people collectively, the new gen
eration of Rome, born under happier auspices and destined
to glory and advancement in power and in happiness. As
'See his paper in the "Expositor," April, 1907.

336 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
Virgil elsewhere apostrophizes the one Roman as typical of
the race and its destiny,1 and as Macaulay, imitating him,
uses the same figurative speech, " Thine, Roman, is the
pilum," to paint the Roman racial character, so here the
Latin poet, with the Hebrew thought of a child in his mind,
can describe the birth and infancy of the child as really
taking place with the natural concomitants.2
There was more than this in Virgil's poem, more than
he was fully conscious of; but this he had in his mind. He
did not see, what we can now see, that there was placed
before the Empire a dilemma and a necessity. It was a
necessity that a new religion should arise for the consolida
tion of the Empire. There was proposed for the Empire
by Paul the new religion of Christ. The Emperors, in re
fusing the proposal, were inevitably driven to lay stress
more and more upon the Imperial religion and the Imperial
God. It is not always fully realized that this cult was not
very much insisted on until the reign of Domitian, under
whom the opposition to Christianity was first developed
fully to its logical consequences. Augustus, who instituted
the Imperial cult as a support of the state, was always a
little ashamed of it ; and his successors 3 had something of
the same feeling, until Domitian began to take a real
pleasure and pride in it.
It seems to the present writer, as it does to Professor
J. B. Mayor,4 impossible to understand the Fourth Eclogue
without the supposition that Virgil had experienced a certain
influence from Hebrew poetry ; and other reasons for this
1 In the famous line, often quoted, tu regere imperio populos, Romane
memento. 2 As in lines 6o f.
3 It is difficult to make up one's mind whether Caligula did not regard it
as all a joke, when he talked of his brother Jupiter.
* " Expositor," April, 1907.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 2>2>7
opinion besides those mentioned by Professor Mayor will
be mentioned in the following pages.
But, whereas Professor Mayor is inclined to reject the
supposition that this influence came direct to Virgil from
the works of Isaiah as translated (we must, of course, under
stand a Greek, not a Latin, translation), and argues that
the Roman poet knew no more of the Hebrew poet than
what filtered through the poor medium of the Sibylline-
Books, I confess that this appears to me an inadequate-
hypothesis, and that there seems no difficulty to prevent:
us from believing Virgil to have been acquainted with a.
Greek translation of Isaiah. It is mentioned by ancient
authorities that he had read widely in remote regions of
philosophy ; and as Isaiah had certainly been translated
into Greek, and as the lofty religious thought of the Jews
had certainly exercised a strong influence over many
Roman minds and over the popular imagination of the:
ancient Roman world, it seems quite a fair supposition that
he had become acquainted with Isaiah in Greek.
I shall not, however, enter on this question, except to<
remark that the influence on Virgil's metre in this poem.
(which will be pointed out in the sequel) seems inconsistent:
with the idea that he was indebted to the Sibylline verses.
alone. I am not concerned to deny or to affirm anything,
about his having seen the Sibylline poems ; but it seems;
quite safe to assert, in the first place, that no such common
place lines as make up those poems could have any influence
on Virgil's metrical form — one might as soon imagine that
Shelley was influenced in his metrical form by Shadwell or
Pye ; and, in the second place, that only the original expres
sion of the ideas in the suitable metrical form by a great
poet could have determined Virgil to make this unique
experiment in Latin metre — an experiment which he never
22

338 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
repeated — or could have inspired him to express the antici
pations of the champions of the New Empire in so Hebraic
and un-Roman a form.
We may assume all that Professor Mayor has so well said
about the relation of Virgil's details and words to Isaiah.
I shall add some remarks on the Hebrew and non-Roman
character of the main subject and of the metre, and on the
form in which Virgil develops an idea which was floating
before the minds of many in Italy at the time. To show
how naturally our results rise from the facts, I shall use the
statement which I made on the subject many years ago to
a meeting of the Franco-Scottish Society, only slightly
modifying the form, but leaving the thoughts unchanged.
There are two facts which determine the evolution of
this ideal picture in Virgil's poem. Virgil is perfectly
sure that the glorified and idealized Italy of his vision is
being realized in their own time and before their own eyes,
and he connects that realization with a new-born child.
These are two ideas to which no real parallel can be found
in preceding Greek or Roman literature. The Better Age
had been conceived by the Greeks as lying in the past, and
the world's history as a progress towards decay. Even
where a cycle of ages was spoken of by the Greek philoso
phers, it was taken rather as a proof that no good thing
could last, than as an encouragement to look forward to
a better future. Moreover, Virgil's new age, though spoken
of in his opening lines as a part of a recurring cycle, is not
pictured before his view as evanescent ; it is coming, but
its end is not seen and not thought of by him.
How does Virgil arrive at his firm conviction that the
best is last, and that the best is surely coming, nay that
it now is ? We cannot regard it as arising entirely from
his own inspiration, springing mature and full-grown,

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 339
like Athena from the head of Zeus. Rather we must
agree with Professor Mayor that we ought to trace the stages
in its development to the perfect form which it has in this
poem. Again, the association of a young child with this coming
age is something entirely alien to Greek and Roman thought.
It springs from a sense of a divine purpose, developing in
the growth of the race and working itself out in the life
of other new generations, a thought not in itself foreign
to the philosophical speculation of Greece, but taking
here a form so unusual that it imperatively demands
our recognition and explanation. It was too delicate for
the philosophers, though one finds it to a certain degree
in the poets. Nowhere can we find any previous philosophy
or religion that had grasped the thought firmly and unhesi
tatingly, except among the Hebrew race. To the Hebrew
prophets, and to them alone, the Better Age lay always
in the future : — The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.
The Hebrews always recognized that the divine purpose
reserved for them a future better than the past, and they
alone associated the coming of the Better Age with the birth
of a child. We must, I think, look to the East and to
Hebrew poetry for the germ from which Virgil's poem
developed, though in the process of development nourish
ment from many other sides determined its growth and
affected its character.
Looking at the poem from another point of view, we
recognize that it is a metrical experiment, which Virgil
tried in this one case and never repeated. Its metrical
character seemed to him appropriate to his treatment of
this one subject ; but he found no other subject which it

340 XXIII. il Your Poets x have Said."
suited, and he considered that the true development of the
heroic verse lay in another direction.
Landor, in his criticisms on Catullus's twelfth ode, has
the following remarks on the metrical character of this
Eclogue. "The worst, but most admired, of Virgil's
Eclogues, was composed to celebrate the birth of Pollio's
son in his consulate. In this Eclogue, and in this alone,
his versification fails him utterly. The lines afford one
another no support. For instance this sequence (lines
4-6) :- Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis setas.
Magnus ab integro sasclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna.
Toss them in a bag and throw them out, and they will
fall as rightly in one place as another. Any one of them
may come first ; any one of them come last ; any one of
them may come immediately ; better that any one should
never come at all." But in this criticism (apart from the
fact that the force of the lines would suffer seriouisly if
they were transposed, though grammar and metre might
be uninjured), Landor has not observed that Virgil is
deliberately trying an experiment in order to obtain a
special effect. We do not maintain that the ruling metrical
form would be suitable for ordinary Latin use, but its em
ployment in this case is obviously intentional and dictated
by the subject ; it is no case of accidental failure in versi
fication. The two most distinguishing and salient metrical char
acteristics of this Eclogue are, first, that the stops coincide
more regularly with the ends of lines than in any other
passage of Virgil, so that to a large extent each single verse
gives a distinct sense; and, secondly, that in a number
of cases the second half of the line repeats with slight

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 341
variation the meaning of the first half, or, when the sense
is enclosed in two hexameters, the second repeats the mean
ing of the first. These characteristics are unlike any pre
vious treatment of the hexameter. As to the first, it is
true that in the earliest stages of Virgil's metre the stops
are placed at the ends of lines to a much greater extent
than in its later stages. But there is a general agreement
among Latin scholars that the fourth Eclogue is not the
earliest ; and even compared with the earliest, its metre is
seen to be something peculiar and apart.
These characteristics are distinctly those of Hebrew
poetry ; and it appears to me that the metrical treatment
of this Eclogue can hardly be explained except as an experi
ment made in imitation of the same original, from which
sprang the central conception of the Better Age surely
approaching, and inaugurated by the birth of a child.
Virgil found the idea and the metrical form together ;
that is to say, he did not gather the idea from a secondary
source, but had read it (in translation) as expressed by a
great writer, whose poetic form dominated his mind for the
moment. Only a writer of the loftiest poetic power could
have so affected the mind of Virgil. We notice, too, that
the peculiar metrical form is most marked where the ex
pression approaches the prophetic type, while in the de
scriptive parts the metre is closer to the form common in
the Eclogues.
That such an origin for Virgil's idea is possible, will be
doubted by no one who takes properly into account both
the width of his reading, and the influence which the strange
and unique character of the Jewish nation and religion
(and here the religion made and was the nation) already
had exerted and was exerting on the Grseco-Roman world.
That is a subject over which there hangs, and must always

342 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
hang, a thick veil ; but enough is known to give us increasing
certainty, as time goes on, that the fascination which
Judaism exerted on a certain class of minds was very strong,
and its influence on Roman society far greater than is appar
ent in the superficial view which alone is permitted us in
the dearth of authorities.
Finally, the often quoted analogies with several passages
of the prophet Isaiah afford some indication as to the
identity of the great poet whose words, either in a Greek
translation or in extracts, had come before Virgil, and
influenced the development of his thought. It is true that
there are numerous points in this Eclogue which go back
to Greek models. The ideas taken up by Virgil from a
Semitic source are developed in a mind rich with Hellenic
knowledge and strong with a vigorous Italian life. Virgil
is never a mere imitator except in his most juvenile work ;
he reforms and transforms everything that he has learned
from his great instructors. It is an Italian idyll that he
has given us, not a mere transplantation of a foreign idea,
or of any number of foreign ideas.
The aim of the writer is rather to add to what Professor
Mayor has said than to differ from him. The process of
adding, however, may sometimes change the point of view,
though it does not really express any essential difference of
opinion, but merely builds on what he has said already very
well. Thus, though I think that mere knowledge of Sibyl
line verses is not sufficient to explain the origin of the Fourth
Eclogue, I should entirely agree in thinking that most
probably Virgil was acquainted with those verses.1 In all
that Professor Mayor has said on this curious subject I must
1 Most of the Sibylline books, as we have them, are later, but some are
earlier, than Virgil, and there were almost certainly more in his time that
have been lost.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 343
be taken as agreeing cordially ; and I quite admit that Virgil
may have ideas from them and have been directed in his
reading by them ; but I cannot consider that they are the
sole or the chief foundation of the Fourth Eclogue.
Professor Mayor sees quite clearly and rightly that the
Fourth Eclogue must be studied as simply one moment in
the long evolution of pagan thought. He sees that ancient
thought and philosophy always turned on the idea of a
steady degeneration in human life and in the history of the
world. Even where there was among the ancients some
conception of a cycle in mundane affairs, the cycle consisted
of a degeneration culminating in total destruction, following
by a fresh beginning on a better scale. This is not really
anything more than a degeneration and a recreation by
divine power. We have here nothing in any degree corre
sponding to the modern idea of development and growth
and steady improvement.
Now the modern theory of human history, and especially
of the history of religion, is that it is a continuous evolution
from the savage state to the civilized, from cruelty to kindli
ness, from ignorance to knowledge. Is the modern theory
based on a true assumption, or on a false one? It is cer
tainly based on a very big assumption ; and I cannot see
that any real attempt is ever made to establish the assump
tion on a firm basis. We are now all devotees of the theory
of evolution ; it is no longer to us a theory, it has become
the foundation and guiding principle of all our thought.
We must find some principle of development everywhere and
in all things ; and we arrange our view of history accordingly.
But this is all very good, if we get hold of the right principle
of development in history : then it is a truly scientific process
that we are following. But what if we have got hold of
a false principle? Then our whole procedure is pseudo-

344 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
scientific, and only leads further and further away from the
truth. The ancient view was diametrically the opposite of the
modern. To the ancient all history was a progress towards
decay, a degeneration from good to bad. We are too apt
to set aside this old view without a thought as pure pre
judice and as the ancient fashion ; all people used to think
so. We remember the usual tendency of old persons to
moralize on the better state of the world in their youth, and
on the decay of good conduct and good manners. But is
that all that lies underneath the ancient view ? When we
remember the practical universality of that view, and the
way in which it colours all ancient literature, I cannot think
that this is a sufficient explanation of the phenomenon. It
was not merely the conscious expression of philosophers or
of popular moralists : it was the deep, almost unconscious,
hardly articulate view of all men. It caused that undertone
of sadness which one hears in all Greek and Roman poetry,
a certain note of hopelessness which makes itself felt every
where. Every person who has to lecture on ancient poetry,
and especially Roman poetry, to young students must often
call their attention to this deep-seated feeling. It is the
same that every one who lives in Constantinople at the
present day x becomes conscious of. It arises from the
inevitable perception that one is in an atmosphere of decay,
degeneration, degradation, and that there is no improvement
to be hoped for. The contemplation of and living among
the degenerate aspects of modern civilization, as seen in
great cities, produces something of the same feeling ; but the
sense of hopelessness is here not so strong ; the evil and the
decay are equally conspicuous, but there is also a correcting
1 This was first written 20 years ago. It is true in 1914, though in the
period of hope, igo8 onwards, it ceased for a time to be the case.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 345
impression of error that may be rectified and fault that must
be struggled against.
But that hopelessness was the almost universal feeling
in the world of Greek and Roman paganism. To regard
it as mere popular fallacy, and lightly to set it aside as of
no account, as the modern writers generally do, is neither
scientific nor justifiable. That the professional philosophers
should have erred is not impossible or even improbable ; but
the universal deep-lying feeling of the people, underlying all
their poetry and guiding their half-articulate expression of
thought, cannot be wrong, and must be accounted for. To
one who looks at ancient history in the Mediterranean lands
it must seem to rise from a perception of the truth and the
facts. It was patent to every observer in late Greek and Roman
times that the history of the Mediterranean lands had on
the whole been a process of degeneration and decay ; and
as we now look back over that history we must come to the
same opinion. In the sphere of agriculture we can trace in
outline the peaceful conquest in remote time of a naturally
rocky and barren land for the use of man. We can recover
through recent research some faint idea of the way in which
prosperity, civilization, and well-being in the Mediterranean
lands were built up in early time — ofthe knowledge, accumu
lated experience, wisdom and forethought which were applied
in order to lay the foundations of that prosperity — of the
order, peace, settled government and security of property
which made that slow, laborious process possible. Of this
subject the present writer has published a brief study in his
" Like the Physician and other Studies," p. 171, entitled
" The Peasant God ".
And to take just one example in the intellectual sphere,
we new know that the art of writing was well known and

346 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
familiarly practised at a very early time in the Mediterranean
world (especially the East Mediterranean) ; and that practical
administration presupposed the existence of that knowledge
and familiar use of writing. The processes of government
and law were based on the principle that everything must
be written down at the moment, e.g. that all sales and con
veyance of important property must be registered in writing.
But this inestimably important fact we have learned only
in quite recent times from the discovery of the writings
themselves : a process of discovery in which this University
has played the leading part. We know that people wrote
at a very early time, because we have found the documents
which they wrote — on stone, on bronze, on pottery, partly
incised or in relief, partly in ink. The use of ink is an
extremely important fact, because ink was never invented
for use on materials of that kind ; it was invented for the
purpose of writing on more perishable materials, such as
paper or skins or parchment ; ink-written pottery implies
the previous and contemporary use of those less durable
materials.1 But Egypt is the only country which is dry
enough to preserve such perishable substances; and the
wider knowledge and use of ink furnishes the proof that
similar perishable materials for writing were used in other
countries besides Egypt.
In this way we are beginning to elaborate an outline of
the ancient Mediterranean civilization, and to trace the
steps of its history and its gradual decay.
Its decay arose from inner weakness ; and the inroads
of eastern barbarians, which finally destroyed it, became
dangerous only when its weakness increased. There is
always going on the same historic conflict between civilisation
1 See " The Letters to the Seven Churches," chap. I.

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 347
and barbarism ; and so long as civilization is true to itself,
healthy in its construction, or, as Paul would say, so long as
it listens to God, it can resist and overcome the forces of
barbarism. Paul, in his brief way, sums up the stages of
decay as the stages in the degeneration of human sympathy
with and knowledge of the Divine nature, i.e. in the growth
of idol'atry. We may work them out in more detail, and
show the precise changes in circumstance and outward
form by which the decay proceeded. We may trace how
the inner weakness showed itself first in one region, then in
another. We may see that Sicily and Greece were already
a prey to ruin, when some other parts of the Mediterranean
world were still growing and healthy. We can delight
ourselves with the picture which Statius draws, as late as
A.D. 92, of the improvement effected by wisely planned
operations on the bare rocky headland of Surrentum (Sor
rento), on the southern horn ofthe Gulf of Naples, where the
barren expanse of stone was subdued to the use of man and
became docile to his hand, where the projecting rocks were
cut down to the level, and the soil brought and laid down,
so that groves of trees could grow, where no soil, but only
bare stone, formerly was seen ; where a marvel greater than
the fables of Orpheus and of Amphion was taking place
before the sight of living men, under the orders of a wise
owner, who made the rocks move and the tall forests follow
after him. In that picture you have an account which may
be applied all round the Mediterranean Sea in ancient times,
and which still applies to a few regions like Malta (naturally
a bare rock, where almost all the soil has been introduced
by man).
Not merely was this idea of a continuous degeneration
of the Mediterranean world practically universal in Greek
and Roman thought, it is also a fundamental principle in

348 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
the view of the Apostle Paul. There was only this one
mighty difference : the pagan opinion was hopeless and
despairing — with one remarkable exception, which we must
proceed to study in its character and extent — whereas Paul
made this opinion the foundation on which to base his
argument that all nature and all men were eagerly looking
for a Saviour from this impending ruin and death, and that
the Saviour was before them, and offered to them, if they
would only recognize and believe.
In this way Paul presented his doctrine to the men of the
Graeco-Roman world as the completion and culmination
of their own philosophy and their own experience. He did
not denounce their philosophical or religious views as wholly
wrong. He maintained that in their original opinions there
was contained some true knowledge about the nature of God
and about His relation to mankind; but that there had
been a degeneration from this fair beginning. The reason
of the degeneration lay in the growth of false ideas about
the nature of God, i.e. in idolatry. Yet man, as Paul says,
never becomes so wholly corrupt that it is impossible for him
to recover his lost advantages and return to the truth.
Some of the Gentiles, knowing not the higher truth of the
Law as revealed to the Jews, are a Law unto themselves ;
but in most of them this instinct towards the truth has
become so obscured by wrong-doing that they have lost all
consciousness of it, and cannot and will not hear the voice
of God in their hearts. Still in the most utterly vitiated
pagan man there remains a sense of misconduct, a feeling
of pain, and a consciousness that he is wrong. This remnant
of the original power of apprehending the Divine truth is
traceable in the sorrow and the pain and regret from which
no man is free entirely. So long as this pain lasts, hope
exists that the man may return to God. The pain is an

XXIII. " Your Poets have Said." 349
accompaniment of the coming birth of higher ideas, of
regeneration and redemption.
This Pauline view, as stated in Romans I. 19 ff., II. 14 f.,
VIII. 19 ff., has been described more fully in the " Teaching of
Paul in Terms ofthe Present Day," pp. 132, etc.
The Pauline theory of degeneration is simply the applica
tion to human history of the ultimate fact from which he
begins, and on which his whole mind and being rests — his
consciousness that the Divine alone is real, and that all else
is mere error and false appearance. From this initial fact
it follows that a serious error as to the nature of God dis
torts and vitiates the nature of man. If the error goes on
increasing and deepening, the distortion and vitiation of
man's nature becomes worse and worse : in other words, the
history of man and of society, in a state of idolatry and
thorough misconception of the Divine nature, must be a
process of steady, continuous degeneration. There can be
no standing still in human life. The mind which sees God
and hears His voice must move towards Him, and compre
hend His nature better and better. The mind which is
closed against the Divine voice is necessarily involved in a
process of hardening, of increasing blindness, and of pro
gressive degradation.
Thus the universal pagan view about the history of the
Mediterranean lands seemed to Paul merely the correct per
ception of the facts of life, a proof of the original affinity
that united human nature to truth and the Divine ; and the
tone of melancholy in pagan literature was to him a symptom.
ofthe pain which afforded some hope that the Graeco-Roman
world might awaken to the consciousness and true perception
of God.
The degeneration of the pagan world had worked itself
out by certain stages, which it is the business of the historian

350 XXIII. " Your Poets have Said."
to trace in detail. Paul's business was only to insist on the
fact of this degeneration, to prove it from the universal
consciousness of men, to insist on the one and only possible
remedy, and to point out that this remedy was open and
ready and certain for the whole world.
Now, as we have said, there was one exception to this
universal hopelessness in the pagan world ; and this excep
tion was born out of the most desperate straits to which the
Mediterranean world had yet been reduced, viz. the Civil
Wars of Italy, and the apparently imminent ruin of the one
great remaining power of order in the Mediterranean. The
terrible suffering entailed by those wars and disorder proved,
just as the Pauline view declared, the birth-pangs of a new
hope. It was in this situation that the Fourth Eclogue
sprang into being, the announcement by a great poet of the
hope which was coming into being in the minds of many at
this crisis.

PART III.
ASSOCIATED QUESTIONS

CHAPTER XXIV
THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE ROMAN PHRYGIA
THE position and numbers and influence of the Jews under
the Roman Empire outside of Palestine is an interesting and
obscure subject which has been discussed (to mention only
moderns) by many scholars, such as Reinach, Levy, etc.,
since Schurer's great collection of the statistics appeared.
Even more interesting is the question as to the character,
the religious feelings and beliefs, the conduct and moral
standard of action of the extra-Palestinian Jews.
At present we are concerned only with those Jews so far
as they are set before us in the Acts, and mainly in the Pauline
provinces of Asia Minor, viz. Asia and Galatia ; and even
there we have only to publish a new document and to
show what important light it throws on other memorials
already known, and hardly suspected J to be Jewish. The
present writer has had something to say from time to time
on this subject, especially on the character and conduct of
the extra-Palestinian Jews. One most important fact is
the following : yet his attempts to draw attention to it have
failed (" Pauline and other Studies," p. 347).
So long as the Jews were living in a small country like
Palestine, it would be possible, in the disposition of the
calendar and fixing of the proper full moon for the Passover,
1 My suggestion that they were perhaps Jewish (which is mentioned in
the sequel) was received with scepticism ; and it was considered that I was
suspecting Jewish influence without any justification or sound reason.
(353) 23

354 XXIV. The Old Testament
to be guided by local conditions and actual experience of
the first visible appearance of the new moon ;. but when
Jews were coming to the Passover from distant parts of the
Mediterranean world, and even sometimes from places out
side of the Mediterranean basin, it was necessary that the
calendar should be fixed long beforehand, so that travellers
to Palestine should know whether to expect the Passover
in March or thirty days later. Thus the sacred month had
to be fixed at least in the previous year and published then
through the Jewish world. For this purpose astronomical
considerations alone could be taken into account ; and there
was abundant astronomical knowledge available at the time.
It is, of course, highly probable that the local conditions
were observed in the traditional sacred fashion, and the first
appearance of the new moon duly reported to the high-priest,
who then put out the proper advertisement of the approaching
feast : but it was already known that the moon was there,
and the day of the feast had been unofficially advertised in the
calendar a year or several years previously. Without this
admission of scientific knowledge, the problem of keeping the
distant Jews true to the holy custom of the holy city would
have been far harder. After A.D. 70, when the city was de
stroyed and the feast no longer drew the Jews to Jerusalem,
the whole situation changed.
That there were large settlements of Jews in the Phrygian
cities is well known. On one single occasion, about 200 B.C.,
Antiochus king of Syria brought two thousand Jewish
families from Babylonia, and settled them in the cities
which he and his predecessors had found in Phrygia ; and
the statements of Cicero in his oration on behalf of Flaccus,
the governor of the Roman province Asia, show that there
was a population of very many thousands of Jews there in
the last century before Christ.

in the Roman Phrygia. 355
Those Jews were placed there as supporters and trusted
upholders of the power of the Greek kings, the successors
of Alexander the Great, helping to maintain their hold of
the country. Every foreign power ruling the country found
the Jews useful and trustworthy. They were servants of
foreign rulers, and therefore they were an aristocratic, con
servative, dominant caste. This position powerfully influ
enced their character and history, and not wholly for the
better (" Cities of St. Paul," Part II).
The correct understanding of the position and character of
the Hellenist Jews in Asia Minor and Syria is of extreme
importance for the proper appreciation of Luke's history.
Paul's work lay among them largely at his first entry into
any of the great cities of Asia and Galatia ; and the impres
sion is forced on us by the narrative that they were present
in large numbers everywhere he went, and that they exer
cised great influence. In Europe, on the contrary, they
were less important, and had evidently a struggle to
maintain their position : in Philippi they were apparently
not more than a mere handful.
The work of Paul in the Anatolian cities starts from the
Jews, is conditioned by their attitude to him, and is often
brought to an end through their opposition. They can move
the magistrates or the mob to take action against the new
teaching, finding various charges under which they can mask
their religious hatred and wear the guise of vindicators of the
Roman law. That law depended always on voluntary pro
secutors to set it in motion ; and the Jews appeared as
delatores in the Roman courts.1 See Chapter VI.
1 The term delator was in the first century applied almost exclusively
to one class of prosecutors, viz. those who brought charges under the law of
treason in the interest of the Emperor. The Jews at Thessalonica appear in
this guise, so familiar to us in the pages of Tacitus. But all voluntary ac
cusers are equally entitled to be called delators.

356 XXIV. The Old Testament
This character ought to be recognized more clearly and
definitely than is usually the case in the commentaries on
the Acts. The Jews had to appear in the courts either as
Roman citizens, if they possessed the civitas, or as ordin
ary provincials. They possessed certain limited powers
in their relation to members of their own race, and could
in that way act through the synagogue against them as
Jews ; but they desired to inflict on Paul and his compan
ions more serious penalties than their Jewish powers were
capable of ; and they had to subject themselves to Roman
regulations in order to secure Paul's expulsion or any
severer punishment. As Romans or provincials they ap
peared under Roman or Greek names, which they bore in
the city ; but they had another aspect in which they ap
peared to Paul and to their compatriots in the synagogues.
That double character has to be clearly understood. In the
case of Paul it corresponds to his double name, " Saul other
wise called Paul ".1
An interesting discovery fell to our lot in 1914, when my
wife and I passed through Ushak on our way to Antioch.
the Pisidian. It throws some light on this subject, both
directly and indirectly.
Those Jews of Asia Minor for the most part either died out,,
or melted gradually into the surrounding population, a
unique fact in Jewish history. They were too favourably-
situated. First the kings of Syria, then Julius Caesar, then
the Roman Emperors, regarded them as faithful friends and
subjects, and granted or confirmed many privileges in their
J It goes without saying that Paul had a complete Roman name, as to
which our Hellenic historian does not inform us. Perhaps he was " C. Julius
Paullus otherwise called Shaoul ". See " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 31. The
frequent conjunction of the names Julius Paullus (or feminine) in Lycaonia.
gives some ground for this conjecture.

in the Roman Phrygia. 357
favour. There can be little doubt that the Jews married
into the dominant families. The case of Timothy's mother
in the Acts XVI. 2 f., may be safely regarded as typical ; it
is an incidental example of the flood of light which the
rational study of and trust in that great historical work
throws on Roman social history in the Eastern Provinces.
So much is necessary to explain the importance of the
new discovery. A great deal more may be found in the
three chapters on the Jews in Tarsus and in Antioch, and
on Hellenism and Hebraism in my " Cities of St. Paul " ;
and also in the chapter XV. on the Jews in Phrygia in the
*' Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," Vol. II. Here it need
only be said that discovery has been gradually proving the
view there maintained regarding the large number of Jews
and their influential position in the provinces of Galatia and
Asia under the Roman Empire. The task of tracing these
Jews is very difficult, because they adopted Greek or Roman
names, and avoided anything distinctive in outward appear
ance. Even in their epitaphs they are hard to detect.
Critics of those books have sometimes expressed distrust
or disbelief in these statements, and have doubted whether
Jews would hide their nationality so persistently. These
critics apparently hold that the Jews (whose existence in
those regions can hardly be denied) have hardly left any
known memorials of themselves, because these were pro
bably buried in separate cemeteries which have not yet been
discovered. They can point to the existence of separate Jewish ceme
teries in Rome. There is, however, this difference between
Rome and Phrygia. The Jewish cemeteries in Rome are
the burying-place of a humble and despised caste ; but the
Phrygian Jews were largely the nobles and the rich (as I
have maintained). A humble and poor population clings

358 XXIV. The O.T. in Roman Phrygia.
to its distinctive religion, whereas a rich or aristocratic caste
adapts itself to circumstances and refrains from blazon
ing the distinguishing marks of religion, even when it still
retains the religion.
In May, 191 4, we found at Ushak two gravestones, about
five feet high, in shape tall square altars, surmounted by a
pointed ornament like a conventionalized pine-cone. One
of these was unimportant in every respect, except as prov
ing that the same form of gravestone was common at the
place of origin (which, as will be stated, was Blaundos) in
the period A.D. 220-50.1
I. One of these gravestones was inscribed on two sides :
on the principal side there is a long epitaph of the ordinary
type, stating the name and family of the maker of the grave
and its purpose, and finishing with a curse against any vio
lator of the sepulchre : on the other side is a recital of
the honours in the state which had been held by the maker
of the tomb. At the top of the principal side is the date,
equivalent to A.D. 248-9. Then follows the epitaph : —
" Aurelius Phrougianos, son of Menokritos, and Aurelia
Juliana (his) wife, to Makaria (his) mother and to Alexandria
(their) sweetest daughter, constructed (the sepulchre) while
still living, in remembrance. And if any one after their
burial, if any one (so /) shall inter another corpse or do in
jury in the way of purchase, there shall be on him the curses
which are written in Deuteronomy." 2
1 A third was found with the other two, more ornate than the others, but
of similar form and arrangement of lettering. See a later footnote.
2 In July, igi4, I received from Mrs. Wingate of Csesarea in Cappadocia
another copy (sent through Miss Dodd). The copy is correct except in some
small details, especially the last word of the longer inscription.
The texts of the two sides of this stone are as follows : —
(a) Irovs r\y' (anno 333 of the Phrygian era = a.d. 248-g). Aup^Aios
Qpovyiavbs MnvoKptrov Kal Alp. 'lovAiavT) yvvi) ai/rov Marcapia. firirpl Kal 'AAeJ-

To face p. 358-

Plate III. — Two gravestones from Blaundos, now at Ushak.
The epitaph of Aur. Phrougianos is engraved on two sides
of the upright stone. Weather prevented a photograph
of the inscribed sides.

AYP-dpPOYriANOC MHNOKPITOVKAIAYP I O YAI A N H f Y N H AYTOV
MKAPlAMJiTPlKAlA a ei fYi-riS-^ na?i
A ©^Vi^^V-H^ rPI
TA VU^TATfMJ ZPN
T£ C (^ATfCcM/j K€Y
XA l0UL-v^-47 PIN

6lA6T|CMeTAToTe6rNAI
A vToYc e IT 1 c etfe itTe Po N
NEKPoNHAMKHcelAofO

/7\ TO PAC IA CfcClXl AVTfaAl A PAT
JHrePAMM£rVA»£NTfiA£YT£PC

NOM<T}

Fie. 8. — Jewish epitaph from Blaundos, dated in the year 233, corresponding
to a.d. 248-9. Square altar stone with rounded top. On one side is the
second part of the epitaph : on the back is a band-mirror in a sunk
panel : the fourth side is blank.

360 XXIV- The Old Testament
On the other side are inscribed the honours : —
'Stewardship of the market-place, corn-purchasing,
guardianship of order, having filled all municipal offices and
duties and having held the post of strategos or commander." l
We were informed by a good authority that the two
gravestones with some other stones had been brought from
Blaundos, a city on the frontiers of Lydia and Phrygia,
about eight hours south of Ushak. Marbles are brought in
large numbers from the ancient sites for building purposes
to the large modern towns like Ushak ; but statements of
the provenance of such monuments always require to be
scrutinized. In this case the authority is good. My
informant, one of the richest and most respected Turks in
Ushak, had nothing to gain from false information ; when
he had no information he said so plainly : he was aware
that digging had recently been going on to a considerable ex
tent at Blaundos, and wished to take us there to see all
that had been discovered. Moreover, the stones, though of
a type similar to the Phrygian altar-stones, differ in form from
the strictly Phrygian character (such as occurs at Akmonia) ;
and an origin from Blaundos would suit well.2
avSpia Bvyarpl yKvKvraTTi £avres KareacrKevao-av fj-v-fi/xris X^-Plv- e* 8e tis fiera
rb Teflijyai airovs, et tis Bdifrei erepov vexpbv, r) a$iK-r)<rei \6yip ayopaa-las, iarai
abrtp al apal i] yeypafijxevai £v t§ o'evrepovo'p.w.
if) ayopavofiia, rreiTurveia., irapaipvKaKeiq., TraVas apxas Kal Keirovpylas re\4-
o-as, Kal a-Tpari)y-r)o-avTa. The construction is so confused and ungrammatical
that it is difficult to tell whether the first three offices are to be treated as nomin
atives, or as datives with Koan-nBels or some similar word understood, " hon
oured with stewardship," etc.
1 The enumeration is stated in the most illogical way and in total defiance
of grammar ; the participles are ap£as and <rTparriyi)o-avTa, nom. and accus.
2 The stone published by Director Th. Wiegand, " Athen. Mitth.," 1911,
p. 393, as found at Thyatira, was made by the same hand as the two which we
saw at Ushak, and must be attributed also to Blaundos. We saw it in Berlin,
and recognized its provenance instantly. Mr. Buckler tells me that it bears
no resemblance to the stones of Thyatira, of which he has made a careful
study.

in the Roman Phrygia. 361
This is perhaps the earliest writing that has come down
to us stating the name of a book in the Old Testament.
Older references to some of those books occur, but the hand
writing in which the references were originally inscribed
has perished.
The allusion at the end of the principal inscription is to
the great chapters of curses, Deuteronomy XXVII. -XXIX. The
curses there written are not specifically against violators of
graves ; but the same curses as are there written are here
invoked against violation. Aurelius Phrougianos, son of
Menokritos, therefore, was a Jew, and probably his wife
also. The same custom of appealing to the curses in Deuter
onomy can now be recognized in a number of other Phrygian
epitaphs, found in widely separate cities of central Phrygia.1
The invariable Greek form of the name Deuteronomy is
Aevrepovofuov. Here the 1 is omitted. This is, as we may
feel certain, due only to local pronunciation, in which u
before a vowel was pronounced as y and left unexpressed in
the writing. There is not the smallest reason to think that
the name was in Phrygian Jewish circles AevTepovofios, or
AevTepovofio?.2 We should really read in the inscription
ev tw Aevrepovopym, leaving the accent as in the nominative
and accusative of the name.
II. (564 in " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia ") was found
1 The complete Greek text of them all except VIII. is published in the
" Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," under the numbers mentioned. I give
here only the English translation of the part that bears on our purpose.
2 I thought at first that the form intended was Sevrepo (for Sevrepip) vi/j.tp,
but although the spelling is very bad, yet I hesitate to think that o could be
used for a in the dative termination at such an early date as this. Such
misspelling might occur in the seventh or ninth century after Christ, but
hardly in a.d. 24g. I should add that Mrs. Wingate's copy has Sevrepip vop.it?,
but I took special note of o in Sevrepo, and doubt if my eye (though sometimes
failing to see small lines) could have omitted iota here.

362 XXIV. The Old Testament
at Ushak : I have not seen it : it is dated A. D. 243-4. The
inscription contains a curse strikingly similar in character
to the epitaph of Phrougianos ; after which comes a legal
penalty in the form of a fine : —
" And after the burial of me Alexander and my wife
Gaiana, if any one shall open the tomb, there shall be upon
him the curses as many as are written in (the book), on his
sight and his whole body and his children and his life ; and
if any one shall attempt to open (the grave), he shall pay
to the treasury in the way of fine 500 denarii."
This inscription was brought from Akmonia to Ushak (as
is the case with a large number of the inscriptions at
Ushak). It is described by MM. Legrand and Chamonard,
as being engraved on a quadrangular altar, a form very com
mon in Phrygia generally and at Akmonia : the ornamental
top which is the distinguishing feature at Blaundos (see no.
1) is here absent. Accordingly, though the real bearing of
the curse can be understood only through the epitaph from
Blaundos, there can be no doubt that they belong to different
cities. So in no. 9 we shall find an Apamean epitaph
whose meaning was misapprehended, until the inscription of
Blaundos threw an unexpected light on it.
The reference to the curses in Deuteronomy is therefore
a general feature in the Jewish custom of Central Phrygia,
and not a special feature of one family or one city.
The Phrygian Jews were in the habit of adapting to the
sepulchral purpose that part ofthe Law of Moses, which
they found convenient for their purpose without any regard
to its force in its own context. Such procedure is in accord
with the Jewish way of using the words of the Bible. In this
curse avyeiypa/j.fievai1 means written in (the Book of Deuter-
1 avyeypafip.4vai : avaypdipeiv is used to indicate the careful entry in a
book or on a stele, of laws, etc.

in the Roman Phrygia. 363
onomy, or the Law of Moses). " It is written" is a usual
way of referring to the Scriptures.1
III. Akmonia (465, 466). I have hesitated much
whether to assign Jewish or Christian character to this
tomb ; and I conclude " probably this epitaph marked the
grave of a Jewish Christian ; but it would appear that the
Church here was of a debased type, much infected by non-
Christian elements " (p. 566). The doubt would now appear
to be decided ; the inscription is Jewish ; the part that bears
on our subject is as follows : —
" And if anyone shall attempt after Amerimnos has been
buried to intrude any other corpse, he shall have [to reckon
with the most high God] " ; the end is lost. On another
side of the stone : —
"[If any of them] shall bury any other, may they receive
the unexpected stroke which their brother Amerimnos [re
ceived] ; and if any of them shall not fear these curses, may
the sickle of curse enter into their houses and leave no
survivor." This epitaph belongs to Akmonia, and the following also
is from the same city ; each helps to complete the other.
IV. Akmonia (563). " [If any one shall intrude another
corpse], he shall have to reckon with the most high God ;
and may the sickle of curse [enter] into his house [and
leave no survivor]."
V. Akmonia (565). "Ammia, daughter of Eutyches,
prepared the tomb for Salimachos her husband and herself
from her own dowry ; and there shall be a curse extending
to children's children prohibiting any other from being
(here) buried except my son Eutyches and his wife."
VI. Akmonia (566). " Gaius [son of — ] in his lifetime
1 yeypairrai is the form in the New Testament.

364 XXIV. The Old Testament
made [the tomb for himself and his wife? and after] the
burial of these two whoever shall open or destroy or sell the
grave, there shall be a curse on him extending to his house
and children's children."
VII. Akmonia (567). "Ammia [made the tomb] for
Gaius Vibius Crispus and Tyche her foster-parents during
their lifetime in remembrance : after the burial of the two
whosoever shall dig up the grave may an iron broom raze
his house ? : and [the same] to any accomplice."
VIII. At Ushak : probably from Akmonia ; published by
J. Keil & A. von Premerstein, " Zweite Reise in Lydien,"
P- 137:—
" Tiberius Claudius Julianus [made the tomb] for himself
and his wife in remembrance, and Chelidon for her own
foster-parents in remembrance ; and whosoever shall do
harm to this grave, children's children shall have the
curse." x
The suggestion which was made in publishing this group
of inscriptions (see my "Cities and Bishoprics," p. 652 f),
that the curses in them " distinguish them from the ordin
ary Phrygian type," and " may all arise through Jewish in
fluence," must now be unhesitatingly accepted.
IX. Apameia (399 bis). This epitaph must now be
interpreted in a different fashion : —
" Aurelius Rufus, son and grandson of Julianus, made the
heroon for myself and my wife Aurelia Tatiana : and into
it another shall not be intruded ; and if any one shall bury,
he knows the Law of the Jews."
1 e£ei r4nva t4kvwv apdv : the change of subject is awkward, and one
might interpret on the hypothesis that this is an ungrammatical condensation
of the usual fuller form, " he shall have the curse [extending to] children's
children " ; but this involves too great a violation of elementary Greek
usage, though these epitaphs are very ungrammatical (see a later paragraph).

in. the Roman Phrygia. 365
On this I suggested that the law which is meant must be
some special law of the municipality of Apameia for the
protection of the graves of the Jews of that city : my reason
was that the Mosaic law makes no provision of this kind,
and therefore cannot be intended here. This view must
now be rejected. We have here a reference to the
Mosaic Law, and the passage specially in the mind of
Aurelius Rufus was Deuteronomy XXVII.-XXIX. The fact
that those chapters have no bearing on impiety towards
sepulchres was a serious argument, when this epitaph seemed
to stand alone ; but now that it is established that the
Phrygian Jews in their epitaphs appealed to those chapters,,
the bearing of the safeguard in this case is unquestionable.
In few of these epitaphs are" there any names that de
monstrate religious character or racial affinity. Even the
names of women are pure Greek or Roman,1 though,
owing to the character of Oriental society, the names of
women are generally more typical than those of men ; for
example at the present day in some villages of the Hermus
valley, where the men have for several centuries conformed
to Islam and bear always Moslem names, the women use
Christian names still. Only in I Makaria has the look of
being, not Jewish, but Christian : the adjective /jLa/cdpio<;,
" blessed," had become by the time to which these epitaphs-
belong typically Christian. Amerimnos, too, " who takes
no thought for the morrow," though it has a certain look
of Christian nomenclature, is quoted as a pagan name
(C. I. Art., 194).
Yet among the names certain tendencies can be observed ¦¦
1 Makarios is a personal name in the fifth century b.c ; see Thucydides, in.
100, and Makaria occurs both in mythology and in ordinary pagan life : see
Pape-Benseler : but in the third century one would expect that Makaria should
be Christian.

366 XXIV. The Old Testament
Alexander and Alexandria are common among the Hellenist
Jews, and it will probably be found that names taken from
the Seleucid kings were also common. This may seem
strange to those who think only of the Palestinian Jews and
their hatred for those kings. But the Hellenist Jews of
Asia Minor and Syria were friends of the kings. The kings
trusted them, employed them as trusty colonists and adher
ents in their garrison cities of those lands, and bestowed
many favours on them. The old-fashioned Palestinian
Jews, who made the Maccabean revolt, were disposed to
look down on the Hellenist Jews as too liberal and too
much affected by foreign customs and Gentile ways.
Again, the names Eutyches (and Tyche) x point to the
Hebrew Naaman ; and Herzog in " Philologus," LVI. p. 50 ff.
regards Eutyches as a translation of the Semitic name.
At Sala in Phrygia on the Lydian frontier near Blaundos,
there occur frequently on coins the names of Meliton
Salamon and C. Valerius Androneikos Salamon, perhaps
father and son. These are probably Roman citizens, with
a Greek cognomen and they often add their Hebrew name
as a second cognomen.2 As the names are all in the geni
tive, some might understand " of Meliton, son of Salamon,"
and " of C. Valerius Andronicus, son of Salamon " ; but
Meliton and Androneikos cannot reasonably be regarded
as brothers on account of the dates (Meliton 1 00-117;

'Tyche is a shortened form of Eutychia, " she who is fortunate ".
2 Meliton never mentions his Latin names, but either the Greek alone, or
the Greek and Hebrew names. It is only through C. Valerius Androneikos
that we learn of the Roman citizenship and Roman name of Meliton.
Androneikos sometimes omits the Hebrew name, and sometimes calls himself
only by the Greek name : sometimes he has the Greek and Hebrew names
without the Latin names. This case throws much light on the case of Paul
otherwise called Saul.

in the Roman Phrygia. 2>^7
Androneikos 130-65).1 The Hebrew name was an ad
ditional cognomen used by both those Jews ; and we may
infer that in many other cases the additional cognomen or
alternative name was omitted amid the Greek and Roman
surroundings in which the inscription was placed.
There is some probability, then, that those Phrygian
Jews still kept Hebrew names in their home life and the
relations of the Synagogue as late as the third century :
certainly this can be proved for the second century. There
is a possibility that in V the strange name Salimachos may
be a transformation of some Hebrew name : it would then
be connected with Salem, " peace ". The analogy of L.
Julius Pius Salamallianus, in which an old Carthaginian
name, Salam-Allah, " the peace of God," survived late in
the Imperial period, suggests that here in Phrygia the name
should be understood, Salem-malchos, " Peace ofthe King ".
The loss of the / before ch can be paralleled in the dialect
of Greek spoken in Phrygia.2
Debbora is known at Antioch the Pisidian.3
Thus the use of Hebrew names at least as alternative
and occasionally perhaps as the sole name * is established as
probable or certain as late as towards A.D. 200. The
Hebrew tradition was still alive at that date ; and the
general character of the Hebrew people would suggest that
1 Moreover, the form knl 'AvSpo ~S.aKafj.avos is hardly reconcilable with
the interpretation that A. was son of S.
2 See the explanation of the forms xalc<^liaTa, Kaxelrris, for xa\K<£/uaTa,
KaXxeirris (dialectic for xa^K^TV') >n Phrygia Galatica, in my article in
" Journal of Hellenic Studies," 1912, p. 160, with note by Mr. G. F. Hill.
3 On Debbora, Deborah, see " Cities of St. Paul," p. 256. The tendency
to retain women's names was naturally stronger, as has been said.
4 Though Salimachos is the only name mentioned, the example of
Androneikos Salamon proves that a strictly Greek name also may have been
used in civic surroundings by this person.

368 XXIV. The Old Testament
these few facts may be taken as signs of more far-reaching
conditions. On the other hand these facts are all associated with
burial, and the tombstones are without exception devoid
of any Hebrew characteristic,1 and almost all markedly
Phrygian in type. It is evident that the Phrygian Jews
had adopted in regard to sepulture the custom of the
country, and refrained from placing anything markedly
national on the gravestone. They were therefore becoming
to some extent assimilated to the people among whom they
lived. The inscribing of a curse against violation of the
tomb was probably borrowed from Phrygian usage ; and,
while a certain difference of cast is given to the curse, yet
this is recognizable as Hebrew only in the two cases I and
IX. Yet there is no sign that there was any danger to the
family in the confession of Hebrew origin : besides I and
IX, there is a case where the maker of the tomb is
"Alexander a Jew".2 These Jews were a powerful body,
and as a whole they enjoyed Imperial favour. They had
much to gain by living like their neighbours, and they did
so. It has been pointed out in the book already quoted that
the Jews probably so far conformed to Imperial custom as
to become high- priests in the worship of the Emperors.
This statement depends on the evidence of coins ; and
neither of the Jewish inscriptions in which the offices held
by the maker of the tomb are mentioned alludes to a priest
hood. Few, however, could be of such rank and wealth as
to hold a high-priesthood, and perhaps also those who had
held one would not like to blazon this on their tombs ; for
1 Only in one case have I seen a seven-branched candlestick on a grave
stone in Phrygia: " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," ii. p. 651 f., no. 561.
2 " Cities and Bishoprics," 11. p. 652, no. 562.

in the Roman Phrygia. 369
the fact would have been an outrage on the Book which
they quoted, or had in mind, in the epitaph.
The discovery confirms some of the most typical details
in the picture given elsewhere of the Phrygian Jews.
The incorrectness of the Greek in almost all these
epitaphs is very marked. The Greek of the Christians was
bad : x that of the Jews is quite as bad, and yet some of
those who sin most were persons of high rank in their cities.2
1 This is noteworthy in their epitaphs, and is animadverted on by Aristides :
see " Church in the Roman Empire," p. 351 f.
2 In I KaTeo-a-Keiao-av : generally the spelling is more correct than in any
other of these epitaphs : ei ris is repeated unnecessarily : earai has the plural
apdi as subject ; 7) is written for ai. Three of the offices are in the nomina
tive (or dative), i.yopavo/ila, etc., then follow apxas . . . reAeo-as, but arpar-n-
yrja-avra. I do not admit Sevrepo as dative for Sevreptp.
In II \onrr)aas (01 for v), ivvgr) (v for 01), pivrifuov, Hire, \f\aiv : the construc
tion eis tipatnv etc., is rather mixed.
In III eiire'AfloiTo (middle for active, was loved in Phrygia: see examples
quoted in my papers in " Philologus," Neue Folge, 1. p. 755, and
Zft. f. vgl. Sprachforschung, N. F., vm. p. 389) : so also ivKaraKefyero
(e for 01) : perfilvav is doubly wrong.
In IV Zkov for oIkov.
In V the construction of the curse is loose : 7W/01K1 for accusative.
In VI rro\-r)o-ei and yovrdptov (on the latter see under VIII).
In VII %dvairo (see under III) : [ojlxaiyo, if I rightly take it for of«o», is
a monstrum. (Compare roivfiova for rbfifiov in a Graeco-Phrygian epitaph :
Ramsay in Oesterr. Jahreshefte, 1905, Beib. pp. 79-120, no. xxxi.)
In VIII KKvSios (v for ou) : ris for iaris : itoiaei: the curse has an unusual
form (see footnote on the text). The word yoivrr) (compare VI) is not Greek.
The words yativrr) and yovrdpiov are evidently names indicating the grave
or some part or accessory of it. The latter is a formation from the former, in.
which v expresses probably a slight nasalization of r (a use of v of which
many examples occur in the country). The word may perhaps be Phrygian:
in origin : it is not Hebrew or Semitic (as Prof. A. R. S. Kennedy tells me),
nor is it either Greek or Latin. Keil and Premerstein quote from an inscrip
tion of North Italy the word guntha (with guntharii), and if this is connected,
it must have been brought to Italy by natives of Asia Minor.
In XI ov reBrj (conjunctive apparently) : the construction of conditional
sentences is always a difficulty in these and in very many Phrygian epitaphs.
24

CHAPTER XXV
THE NAME OF THE EVANGELIST LUKE
THE origin of the name Loukas has always presented
difficulty, and has roused a good deal of discussion. The
name belongs to the class of familiar or pet names (called
in German Kosenamen), which are usually shortened x from
a longer original form.
Loukas is a Greek and not a Latin name. In Latin the
prenomen Lucius could not produce a Kosenamen Loukas ;
and those scholars who are thinking of the Latin name
Lucius cannot recognize any connexion between it and
this Greek name Loukas.
The difficulty presented itself at an early period : what
is the full, proper, legal name of which the popular and
familiar corresponding form was Loukas ? Several manu
scripts ofthe Old-Latin (which must, as Professor A. Souter
says, be attributed to the fifth century) give the name of
the Evangelist as Lucanus. There was therefore as early
as Cyprian a certain school or group in the West, where
the Latin Bible was used, which believed that Lucanus
was the correct name. Did this belief rest on an old
tradition, or was it the result of educated speculation about
the name? If it rested on a really ancient tradition, it
would have great weight ; but this is improbable ; there is
1 Some are made by adding a suffix of the proper kind, and the name is
thereby lengthened, so for example Iulia, Kosenamen Iulitta.
(370)

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. 371
no reason to think that such a tradition would be preserved
in one small part of the West alone. The Latin manuscripts
have, as a rule, elsewhere the reading secundum Lucam.
The reading secundum Lucanum must therefore be due to
learned speculation and discussion about the origin of the
form, and has only the authority that attaches to the educa
tion and philological knowledge of the school. The form
was strange ; it was Greek, not Latin ; and they asked how
it originated. We also must put the same question, and
seek for evidence. Philological speculation among the
ancients had not much value, because it was not guided by
authority and method, but largely by fancy ; and we are
perfectly free to set aside their philological speculation as of
no real value.
How should the question be put ? The right formulation
of the problem is scientifically of the highest importance.
We ought not to ask what Latin name would be most likely
to become Loukas ; such a way of putting the question is
unscientific. The matter belongs to Greek usage, not Latin.
The name Loukas is Greek, and doubtless originated in the
mouths of Greek-speaking persons, treating names according
to Greek tendencies and fashions. Moreover, it is certain
on other grounds that the great writer and historian in the
New Testament who bore the name Loukas, was a Hellene,
living in Hellenic society. We have to ask whether or not
the Greek name Loukios, borrowed from the Latin Lucius,
-could according to Greek custom have as a familiar by-form
the Kosenamen Loukas.
This question must be treated as a matter ot evidence.
Are there any examples of the equivalence Loukios =
Loukas ? If such examples exist, then there ceases to be
any question, for it would be evident that people who
spoke of Loukas knew that they were speaking of one

372 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.
whose more ceremonious and proper name was Loukios.1
If no examples of the equivalence occur, there would be a
certain presumption that the two forms were not equivalent ;
and this presumption would increase in proportion to the
extent of our knowledge of colloquial and familiar forms in
Greek. Hitherto no proof could be given that the two names
were used as equivalents in the East. No case was
known in which any individual was called indifferently
Loukios and Loukas ; and without some proof of the equi
valence it seemed unsafe to maintain that the fuller Loukios
ever degenerated into Loukas. Accordingly there came to
be among modern scholars a growing strength of opinion
that Lucanus was the proper Latin form of the name of the
Evangelist.2 Professor V. Schultze,3 however, thought otherwise, and
unhesitatingly maintained the opinion that Loukas, the
familiar name, implied a more formal Loukios as the proper
name of the historian. As for the present writer, he could
not go with Schultze, but held that the balance of evidence
accessible was against the equivalence.
We have not a large store of evidence about the equival
ence of full names and corresponding familiar names among
the Greek-speaking peoples ; and, therefore, the recent dis-
1 Similarly in English custom those who speak to or of Charlie or Willie
or Johnnie know that the person so mentioned bears the name Charles or
William or John in more ceremonious style. The occasional giving of a
diminutive name to a child as his proper name is due to individual freaks of
taste, and is not proved to have been common in the early Imperial age.
2 I think that I have somewhere stated this opinion, but new evidence
has convinced me of my error.
3 Professor Deissmann reminded me of his view. Schultze had kindly sent
me his article, when it appeared ; but I am at present not able to find the
copy.

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. ^75
covery at Pisidian Antioch of a considerable number of in
scriptions expressed in popular colloquial style, and
containing names of the Kosenamen type, presents some
interest. Parts of the south-west and north-west walls of the
peribolos, which surrounded the sanctuary of the god of
Antioch, Men Askaenos, one of the wealthiest and most
powerful gods of Asia Minor, are covered with dedicatory
inscriptions recording vows to the god. These all belong
to the Roman period, and a certain number of them are ex
pressed in Latin. The Latin vows are, in general, the
oldest ; and some of them are perhaps as early as the time
of Augustus and his immediate successors. The vast
majority, however, of them are the work of Greek-speaking
people, who bore Roman names.
The dedications in the Greek language were therefore
made, as a rule, not by the original Latin-speaking colonists
of Antioch, a sort of aristocracy in the town, but either by
the Greek-speaking population, who sprang from the pre-
Roman inhabitants of Antioch, or by the descendants of the
old Roman colonists, who gradually degenerated from the
Roman standard and were merged in the Greek-speaking
people. These Greek-speaking inhabitants (incolae) were
gradually elevated to the Roman citizenship ; and it is
proved in a paper by Mrs. Hasluck (" Journal of Hellenic
Studies," 191 2, pp. 144 ff.) that there exists among the
dedications an overwhelming majority of Roman names.
Some are slave-names, others are the names of freedmen
(liberti) or of incolae,1 and a few are probably names of de-
1 Incolae were distinguished from the coloni in a colonia like Antioch.
They were the older non-Roman population in the colonia, but they had a
share in the privileges of a colonia, and they were gradually advanced to the
dignity of Roman citizens and took Roman names.

374 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.

scendants of the original Roman colonists. The dedications
are often expressed in the familiar speech, and give some
interesting evidence about the Greek usage in respect of
Latin names.

Yyiy^A M n i
" '¦'/'"/ "A
Fig. 9. — Dedication to the God Men by L. Tillius Crito and his wife,
engraved on a buttress of the outer wall of the Sanctuary at Pisidian
Antioch.
1. Copied by Mr. J. G. C. Anderson, Mr. W. M. Calder,
and myself in 191 2.
In very rough and rude lettering on the south-west wall
of the sanctuary of Men : letters small and hard to read : —
AovKas Novfie- Loukas Tillios
TiWio- pia Oie- Kriton (and)
9 Kpirm- voder- Noumeria Ve-
v a nousta
Mijvl to Men
evXnv a vow

To face p. 374

Plate IV.— Part ofthe outer wall of the Sanctuary on the mountain over Pisidian Antioch.
(Fig. 8 is indicated by a cross.)

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. 375
The names of the man and woman are inscribed in two
spaces marked off by lines as aediculae of the type usual in
these vows to the god of Antioch. The name of the god
and the statement of the vow written beneath was intended
to be common to the two aediculae. The two names are
therefore a pair, i.e. husband and wife.
Although the name of the god and the vow are written
only at one corner 1 under the two aediculae there can be no
doubt that the aediculae are a connected pair, and that the
vow is common to both. The aediculae are often grouped
in this way at the Sanctuary, sometimes as many as five
being connected together. In the accompanying photo
graph of a small part of the Sanctuary wall there are groups
of two, three, four, and five aediculae, and also single
aediculae. The general appearance rarely leaves any doubt
whether a group or a single aedicula is intended. The
surface generally was smoothed to receive the carving, and
the shape of the cutting is usually sufficient indication of
the grouping (as in this case), while other signs also conspire.
Aediculae of different groups vary in shape and size, and
grouping is indicated by placing the members of the group
close together and making them identical in shape and
size. This, therefore, is a joint dedication by L. Tillius Crito
(and his wife) Numeria Venusta to the god of the sanctuary.
Both bear Latin names (except the Greek cognomen of the
husband) : both are cives Romani. Yet they are a Greek-
speaking family to whom Greek comes more naturally than
Latin. There cannot be the slightest doubt that Loukas Tillios
Kriton was a Roman citizen, whose name in Latin must
1 A crack running across the stone compels this arrangement of the letters.

2,^6 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.
have been Lucius Tillius Crito. In the Greek that was
spoken at Antioch Loukios and Loukas were evidently felt
to be equivalent ; and Crito writes himself in Greek as
Loukas. His third name suggests that he was perhaps a
freedman ; but it is (as Mrs. Hasluck says) x difficult or
even impossible to distinguish the names of freedmen
from the names of incolae who had received the Roman
citizenship and had assumed the full name of the civis
Romanus.
This single case would be sufficient and conclusive : one
clear example is legally as strong as a hundred. The
equivalence was accepted at Antioch ; and there can be no
reason for thinking that Antiochian custom differed from
that of other Greek-speaking towns of Asia Minor and the
Roman East generally : Loukas was a Greek Kosenamen
of Loukios.
This case does not stand alone. There are several
examples among these Antiochian dedications, in which the
same individual or family repeats the inscription, usually
with some variations. In one of these pairs the same per
son is mentioned once as Loukios and once as Loukas.
The two dedications in question, which are engraved very
near one another, are seen on pp. 378-9.
2. On the sixth buttress from west corner of S.W. wall
of the Great Sanctuary : —
Mrjvl To Men
evx[rjv a vow
Tdp,o<i 'A^aaicdv\r- Gamos (son) of Abas-
ov p,e [y]w[at*o?. kantos with his wife.
Aovkio<; vto?. Loukios a son.
IIov/j,irovkio<; vlo<; Pompilius a son.
1 " Journal of Hellenic Studies," 1912, p. 145, note 67.

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. t>77
3. On the wall close to the same buttress : —
Mr)v\ evxvv To Men a vow
Td(w<; 'Aftdcncavrov Gamos son of Abas-
vo<s, Kal AovkS,<; Kal kantos, and Loukas, and
IIovfjL7rovfiXio<; (sic f) Pompilius
xal EvSogos. and Eudoxos.
The second of this pair of dedications was correctly read
by Mrs. Hasluck, Mr. Calder, and myself in 1911, and
published by Mrs. Hasluck in the "Journal of Hellenic
Studies," 191 2, p. 130, with one slight difference.1
The other we failed to read completely in 191 1 : part of
it is published by Mrs. Hasluck on p. 127. In 191 2 2 we
deciphered it entirely, and then found that the two are
almost duplicates.
The modern Greek form fie for fierd is here used, and is
a good example and proof of the colloquialism of the
dedications. Other examples of fie occur in the epigraphy
of central Anatolia in the fourth century ; but the com
plete form is far more common.
In the second dedication, which is apparently later than
the first, Eudoxos is mentioned : in the first the wife of the
dedicant Gamos occurs.
This difference must be carefully noted. Probably
1 She gives the name as Gallos, not Gamos ; but states in her commen
tary that Gamos is quite possible. I appended in a footnote to her paper
that my reading was unhesitatingly Gamos, and quoted a Bithynian example
of this name. Re-examination in 1912 by Mr. Anderson, Mr. Calder, and
myself, confirmed this reading. It is often difficult to distinguish \K from /*
in these dedications.
2 When we first uncovered them in 1911, the letters were filled with soil,
of the same colour as the stone, being decomposed from it. During the
winter of 1911-12 the stones were washed clean by rain : the cleansing made
them easier to read, but even in igi2 this and many others ofthe dedications
were difficult. This one was read by Mr. J. G. C. Anderson, Mr. Calder, and
rriyself.

€.VX H
rAAAOCAB ACK/fW
0 V\A LfMff Y

Q

^Yfe0'gc

Fig. 10. — Dedication to Men by Gamos and his family, engraved on the outer
wall of the Sanctuary at Pisidian Antioch.

AAHNI 6YXHN

AMOCABACKANTOY] VOCKAlAOVKACkAl

TTOYMTTOVMAlOC

KAl£YAO?OC

\

Fig. ii.— ^Dedication to Mln by Gamos and his family, engraved on the outer
wall of the Sanctuary at Pisidian Antioch. The line on the left repre
sents the edge of the buttress on which the other dedication by Gamos
is incised.

380 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.
Eudoxos is a son born since the earlier dedication, while
the mother is now left out. It is a plausible, and even
highly probable interpretation of the facts, that the vows
were both made by the family in a season of danger. The
whole family, father, mother and two sons, made the first
dedication : the father and three sons made the second :
the mother had passed away in the interval. The period
of childbirth was a dangerous one, when doctors were few
and medical practice in an elementary condition. Dr. W.
R. Macdonell has established by a wide survey of the evi
dence,1 that under the Empire the expectation of life for
young women was less than for men, and for elderly and
old women greater. The reason obviously lies in that one
supreme danger. In the family of Gamos we have an in
dividual case of the general principle.
It follows, then, that Loukios in the first vow is the same
as Loukas in the second : he was the eldest son of the de-
dicant Gamos.
Two witnesses suffice. An accumulation of other ex
amples would not really strengthen the argument. Loukios
and Loukas were felt as equivalent names by the Antiochian
Greeks, one formal and the other familiar.
It has often been pointed out, and is a familiar fact, that
the two names, the polite and the familiar, are known in the
case of several persons mentioned in the New Testament,
Apollds and Apolldnios, Priscilla and Prisca, Silas and
Silvanus. Of these Apoll6nios is found only in the Bezan
Codex ; but its presence there is a sufficient proof.2 By its
form Apoll6s is proved to be a Kosenamen ; and Apolldnios
is the full name. The same man was called Apolldnios
in formal and polite speech, Apollos in familiar usage.
1 See his paper in " Biometrika," 1913, ix., pp. 366-386.
2 " Church in the Roman Empire before 170," p. r52.

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. 381
It happens that Loukios is not attested in any document
as the formal name of the Evangelist ; but we now have
the proof that in Antioch, and therefore generally, Loukas
was known to be the familiar form of Loukios.
Another point also has to be observed, as indicative of
popular custom at Antioch. The wife and mother is al
luded to, but not named : and the omission of the wife's
name is very common at this Sanctuary. Among the
vows there are others where the mother is named with
her children ; and there we may conclude that she is
the head of the family, either because she survived her
husband or for some other reason. The omission of the
wife's name puts her in a secondary position as a mere
adjunct, and this is hardly in accordance with Anatolian-
custom, in which the position of women was important and
influential.1 In this case it may be accounted for by the
character of the cult of Men ; the personality of the god in
the Antiochian religion gradually became more and more
dominant, while that ofthe goddess associated with him sank
into the background (as Mr. Anderson has shown clearly).2
In these three inscriptions there occur two different
usages. In no. I Loukios or Loukas is a Roman preenomen .-
Lucius Tillius Crito was a Roman citizen with a proper
Roman name. His cognomen Crito, however, shows that
he was a Hellene by race, who had been promoted to the
citizenship : 3 either he was libertine in origin, or he was an
incola who had attained the Roman citizenship.
In nos. 2, 3, Loukios seems to be used as the full and
sole name of a Hellene. Pranomina were often taken over
1 " Church in Roman Empire," pp. 67, 161.
2 See his article in the " Journal of Roman Studies," 1913, p. 272.
3 Possibly his family had been promoted to citizenship and he inherited.
civitas (like Paul).

382 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.
into Greek usage and employed as the full and sole name
of Hellenes.1 The mixture of Roman and Greek names in
the same family is characteristic of a colonia.
With regard to the name of the evangelist, there are two
possibilities open. On the one hand Lucius may have been
his prcenomen as a Roman citizen ; and in that case it would
follow almost certainly that the physican Loukios was a
freedman, who acquired the full Roman name when he was
set free ; for the custom of society would make it probable
that this physician, who led for many years the life of a
companion of Paul, was not born a Roman citizen (as per
haps Silvanus was). Physicians were often freedmen ; and
freedmen were frequently addressed by their prcenomen,
which marked their rank.2
On the other hand the evangelist might have been a
Hellene bearing the simple name Loukios, which was often
adopted in Greek from the Latin as an individual name.
Loukios was in such cases not a prcenomen, and did not
imply Roman citizenship ; in fact this usage was a complete
proof that the man whose name in full was simply Loukios,
without nomen or cognomen? was not a Roman citizen. We
may also infer with equal certainty that a person named
Loukios simply was not a slave ; the Roman name could not
be degraded to a slave name in that age. Such a Loukios
would be an ordinary free Hellene.
1 A number of examples are mentioned in an article published by the pre
sent writer in "Journal of Hellenic Studies," 1883, p. 36: Lucius, Gaius
Marcus, Quintus, are all found in use, single and complete, as names of
Hellenes. 2 See Horace, " Satires," 11. 5, 32 : and the commentators thereon
" Quinte," puta, aut " Publi " : gaudent prcenomine molles auricula.
3 This does not apply to cases where in casual mention a man is spoken
of by his pranomen alone. I refer only to cases where the full legal name
was Loukios.

XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke. 383
No evidence is known sufficient to prove which of these
alternatives applied to the Evangelist Luke. The former
would suit specially well with the profession of a doctor ;
but a libertus usually remained in close relation to his
former master, who continued to be his patronus. Luke
was perfectly free to go about the world in Paul's company,
and has no appearance of being in connexion with a patron.
Exceptional cases might, however, occur. Perhaps some
unnoticed detail may yet furnish a decisive argument.
The correspondence of the Latin Lucius through the
Greek Loukios with Loukas can be established by other
similar cases which I quote from the excellent article
and list of examples published by M. Lambertzin "Glotta,"
I9i3,Vol. IV, pp. 78-143, and W. Schulze, " Graeca Latina,"
p. 12. From the Latin name Geminus comes the form
Geminas, "which," as Lambertz says, "is in itself interest
ing on account of the vivification of the Latin stem Geminus
with the common Greek abbreviation-suffix as ". He then
quotes from Schulze the following similar examples : —
Longinas (from Longinus), Rufas (from Rufus), Tiberas
(from Tiberius), and Loukas.1
The last case is the one with which we have been deal
ing. Schulze and Lambertz, both scientific philologists,
assume its character and origin as obvious. We have now
furnished two clear examples from ordinary life in the
Eastern provinces.
The conclusion may now be called certain. . The name
of the Evangelist Loukas implies an original form Lucius,2
1 Tiberas is a perfect parallel to Lucas ; the latter occurs in a Roman
name C. Julius Lucas (Lepsius, Monum. aegypt. inscr., vi. 17685).
2 Lambertz's exact words are added, " Te/nvas, der an sich interessant ist
durch die Verquickung des lat Namenstammes (Geminus = AtSv/ios) mit der
haufigen griech. Kurzformendung-Ss ". This sentence states in the brief
terms of philological science exactly what is printed in the text in full. I did

384 XXV. The Name of the Evangelist Luke.
but this original Latin name was used in the corresponding
Greek form.
The evidence is convincing and beyond doubt that the
Evangelist was named Loukios or Loukas. Professor
Deissmann has an article in preparation on this subject, to
which I hoped to refer; but the war of 19 14 has probably
postponed this and many other studies by many scholars.
It would have contained the inscriptions here republished,
with Deissmann's comments, which are in perfect agreement,
as I understand, with the view taken in this paper (reprinted
from the "Expositor").1
I understand from Dr. Deissmann that he has other views
to propound with regard to the personality of Loukios,
which I leave it to him to state at his own time and in his
own way. As stated in brief they did not convince me,
but his full argument may be more effective.
not see Lambertz's article until this chapter was in type, as " Glotta " does not
come to any library accessible to me except that of the University of Aber
deen. Brouttaras is also quoted as derived through the Greek from a Latin
original by another Greek suffix.
1 It is here enlarged, but the opinion maintained and the line of argu
ment are the same. The confirmation from " Glotta " came to my knowledge
by chance in September, 1914.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ACHAIA
A GOOD deal of difficulty has been found in this description,
which is applied by St. Paul in I Corinthians XVI. 15 to the
household of Stephanas of Corinth. It has been understood
to imply that Stephanas was the first convert from the
province of Achaia. How is this to be reconciled with
Luke's statement about Paul's work in Athens, Acts XVII.
34 : " certain men also clave unto him and believed, among
whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and Damaris," etc. ?
In the first place the view of the present writer may be
stated, as this can be done very briefly. Both Luke and
Paul are perfectly correct. All that is needed is to under
stand their words. The remarks that have been made in
an earlier chapter about the meaning of the word " believe "
in the Acts must be kept in mind.1
The evident meaning of Luke is that in Athens there
was produced on a few persons an effect genuine and deep :
" they believed ". Paul, however, did not remain at Athens
to follow it up. No Church was formed there, and in all
probability no baptism was administered.
It is, on the other hand, most likely that the brief refer
ence to Dionysius and Damaris was very significant to
Luke's readers : they knew what was implied in the naming
of Dionysius : the " woman named Damaris " carried with
1 See Chapter xn.
(385) 25

386 XXVI. The First fruits of Achaia.
her many memories to the Christians of the first century.
This is one of the passages in the Acts where the thought is
present in the author's mind that he was writing for readers
who knew a great deal. He wrote in advanced life about
A.D. 77-81, while Titus was ruling the Roman Empire ; x and
his plan and purpose were calculated for the Church as it was
after the religion had been proscribed by the Imperial policy ;
but he wrote with the vivid memory of all that he had seen
and heard as the events occurred. He had seen much. He
had heard Paul's own description of the earliest missionary
journeys. He had listened to Rhoda telling how she, in
her glad and eager haste to tell the good news, had forgotten
to open the door to Peter, and how her news was disbelieved
until they opened and saw him standing in the street. He
had known Mark and Philip. He made abundant use of
Mark's Gospel. His excellent sources of information, " as
they delivered them to me, who were eye-witnesses and
ministers ofthe Word," were utilized to meet the situation
produced by the Imperial action ; and the narrative was in
a very advanced stage (Book I, the Gospel, being complete
and perfect already, and Book II needing only the final
touches) about A.D. 80.
Now consider the case of Sergius Paullus, as discussed in
Chapter xii. Evidently he did not become a member of
a Christian congregation at Paphos ; the supposition is irre
concilable with all our conceptions of Roman and Graeco-
Roman society. When a Church was formed at Paphos
or elsewhere in Cyprus, the first baptized and received
member of the congregation would be called, rightly and
fairly, " the firstfruits of Cyprus".
After the same analogy, it is not Dionysius or Damaris,
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 387.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 387
but Stephanas with his household to whom belongs the
title "firstfruits of Achaia". In his case, as in those of
Lydia and the jailer at Philippi, it may safely be assumed
that the household consisted of persons who were fully
under the authority x of the head ; in other words, the
children were young. Slaves were attached and obedient
members of the household, and custom was that the head
should think for them, and that they should lovingly and
trustfully follow his advice in such matters. Children, as
they grew up, thought for themselves according to Greek
custom. The jailer at Philippi was not likely to have a
household of slaves ; but he would be likely to have a
family. See p. 193 and note on p. 186.
It is hardly reconcilable with Greek or Graeco-Asiatic
custom that grown-up children should change their religion
at a moment's notice and at the order even of a parent ;
nor is it reconcilable with the spirit of freedom which be
longs to Christianity that grown persons should be received
for baptism except on their own free and deliberate choice.
There is no rational and sufficient explanation of those
cases, except that they are examples of the baptism of
infants and young children or slaves, for whom the parents
or master can act as the responsible parties.
Stephanas, therefore, being baptized with his young
children and probably his slaves, was "the firstfruits of
Achaia," in spite of the existence of people at Athens who
believed, even if we take that word in the full sense of being
converted to Christianity.
1 There was in the Greek world nothing comparable to thepatria potestas,
the absolute authority extending even to power of life and death, which be
longed to Roman custom and which also existed among the three Gaulish
tribes of North Galatia (see " Historical Comment, on Galatians," p. 131).
This Roman power was valid over fully grown children, even married sons.

388 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
In the next place, we may examine some other opinions
that have been advanced on this question.
It has been maintained that if Luke's statement is true,
Dionysius or Damaris or some Athenian must have been
the first convert in the province, and therefore either Luke's
narrative is inconsistent with Paul's words and therefore
incorrect, or the phrase " firstfruits of Achaia " has not the
meaning that has usually been taken from it.
The former supposition we must forthwith dismiss : we
hold that Luke is trustworthy and that his account is neces
sarily in perfect agreement with Paul's words, provided
that both are correctly translated and understood The
latter opinion is followed by Dr. Steinmann, formerly a
Privatdocent in the University of Breslau.1 He holds
that Achaia as the province t'd not include Athens, and he
draws from this a number of inferences^ which I have not
succeeded in properly understanding (as they seem mutually
contradictory), but which have the appearance of being far
from consistent with our opinion of the high value of both
Luke's and Paul's evidence.
Dr. Steinmann 2 maintains that Athens was not a city of
the province Achaia, but, as a free and allied city, it was
outside the province and outside of the Roman Empire, an
externa civitas, i.e. a foreign and non-Roman city. If this
were so, many interesting questions would arise, on which
we need not enter. The previous question is whether Dr.
Steinmann's statement, that in Roman usage Athens was
not part of Achaia, can be accepted as correct : he admits,
1 I sent a copy of an article on the same subject, less complete than the
chapter here printed, to his address in the University ; but the packet
was returned after some time to me, marked " Unbekannt " and " Adresse
nicht ermittelt ".
2" Leserkreis des Galaterbriefes," pp. 88-94.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 389
of course, that popular Greek usage might have loosely
called Athens a city of the province, but infers that, if St.
Paul spoke in that way, he followed, not proper Roman,
but loose and inaccurate Greek custom.
This matter, if considered at all, must be treated on a
considerable scale. It opens up questions of Roman ad
ministration in the East, and of the varying rights of different
classes of cities and bodies of population in the provinces,
which are rather complicated. The Roman task of govern
ing a number of cities possessing very diverse privileges was
not a simple one, but required great freedom and variety in
the practical application of the fundamental Roman prin
ciples. If the matter is opened up at all, the character of
that complicated system has to be indicated. It might
perhaps be better to leave it to a more convenient occasion ;
but, on the whole, there are advantages in treating it here,
in order to form some picture of the relation in which the
provinces stood to Rome in the Imperial system.
As was stated in Chap. xv. the keystone of the Imperial
system was the worship of the Emperor (in the strict and
original usage, of Rome and the Emperor as the embodiment
of the majesty of Rome). The unity of the province lay in
the association of all the units composing the province in
this worship. The province was thus made into a single
organism ; all the parts met together in this ritual. Simi
larly, as has been pointed out in Chap, xv., the popula
tion of a great Imperial estate was united in an associa
tion or religious fraternity for the worship of the Lord
Emperor. Ancient thought demanded inexorably a religious bond
to hold together every association, as has been repeatedly
shown. None of the old national religions could be of any
service in this case. All were national and separatist, though

390 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
only two carried their separatist principles to such a degree
as to involve a hostile relation to the Imperial unity ; these
were Druidism, which was proscribed by Claudius as hostile,1
and Judaism, which obtained a peculiar toleration and was
allowed to continue as a separatist cult.2 Still all confined
themselves to narrow circles of worshippers. None had any
positive idea to impart, except Judaism and the shadowy and
barely animate pretensions of the Mysteries. None could
in any way be made into a bond to hold together the unity
of each individual province and of the Empire as a whole.
The Emperor Augustus caught the idea that the majesty,
the wisdom, and the beneficent power of Rome might form
the unifying bond ; and the people first of the East and then
of the West insisted on giving personality to this idea by
regarding it as embodied in the reigning monarch. Thus
the system grew.3
A national and racial character for the province was
aimed at in the East, where the Greek term " Nation "
(edvos) was applied to the provincial unity. Asia, with its
numerous races and stocks and once separate countries,
was " the Nation Asia " (i) 'Aaia ro e0vo<;) : so Lycia,
Galatia, etc. ; and rot o-vveyyvs edvij was used as the official
translation of adiacentes provinciae, " the neighbouring pro
vinces". This use, however, though common in epigraphy
and found even in historians, is really only an extension of
the " genealogical fiction ".
1 Christianity was proscribed de iure by Vespasian, but not de facto in the
fullest way till Decius and again by Diocletian.
2 Hence " the nation of the Jews " was permitted to continue as a separate
body in the great cities, so to say outside of the Empire and yet in the Em
pire. The very term " nation" was anti-Roman and hostile (see p. 56), but
it was permitted to the Jews to preserve the term and the legal fact ; and yet
they were treated as subjects. Nothing is more wonderful than the position
and treatment of the Jews under the Empire.
3 " Church in the Roman Empire," pp. igi, 323, 354, etc.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 391
In passing it may be mentioned that friends have asked
why I did not reply to Dr. Steinmann's book on the Gala
tian question, which is written to a large extent in polemic
against my views. I waited till time and fresh discoveries
should make their reply on my behalf. The constitution of
the province Galatia has been gradually revealed, and many
difficulties have been cleared away. The subject, however,
is an extremely complicated one, and can never be under
stood properly without a great deal of careful and minute
study and a considerable knowledge of Roman provincial
administration. In respect of such matters I regret to be obliged to say
that Dr. Steinmann's book leaves much to be desired ; and
I cannot find in it any argument to which I could reply
without a long and detailed discussion of Roman law in the
Eastern provinces generally and in Galatia specially. On
one page after another I find in his book statements at
which I can only wonder. It is unprofitable to carry on a
discussion when there is so little in which we are agreed.
In regard to the most fundamental facts and principles of
Roman administration in the East I should have to express
my dissent from him. If discussion is to be profitable, there
must be some common foundation on which we could build
up, detail by detail, a serviceable structure of reasoned know
ledge. Otherwise nothing can be gained by controversy.
Argument should be constructive, and should leave the reader
wiser and more able to appreciate ancient life than he was.
Of this hopeless disagreement about the facts of Roman
administration examples occur broadcast. At present we
shall take one which has no connexion with the Galatian
question : Athens and the province Achaia and the mean
ing of " firstfruits of Achaia ". To discuss this needs much
consideration of elementary principles.

392 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
Here we are entirely outside of the province Galatia. Dr.
Steinmann, however, cannot shake off the thought of Gala
tia. He goes into the question, not for its own sake, but in
order to bang the South-Galatian theory. With this idea
his mind is prepossessed, and consequently he has not been
so careful about matters of Roman history and antiquities
as he otherwise doubtless would have been.
Dr. Steinmann's conclusion, p. 94, seems to amount to
this, that, if Paul used the term Achaia to include Athens,
he was not in accordance with Roman ideas and custom,
because the Roman usage of the term Achaia, as he thinks,
excluded Athens.1 Accordingly, he considers that Achaia
meant the country of Greece, and that this was an old
Greek pre-Roman usage, but he quotes no proof of such
Greek usage, and it is contrary to everything that I know
or have been taught from childhood.2
What I have always learned and understood to be the
accepted teaching is that to the Greeks of pre-Roman time
Achaia was the strip of land on the north coast of the Pelo
ponnesus, between Arcadia and the Gulf of Corinth, and
that Corinth itself was not a part of Achaia in the Greek
sense. The use of " Achaia " for Greece as a whole is
Roman, due to popular inaccurate usage, like the Roman
use of " Asia " for the kingdom of the Attalids and there
after for the Roman province : the Romans spoke of Greece
as " Achaia," because the Achaean League included most
of Greece, and they gave this name to the province.
Dr. Steinmann simply assumes without any proof, con-
1,1 Athen von der roemfschen Provinz Achaja ausgeschlossen war."
2 He actually quotes Pausanias's express statement, vn. 16, 7, that the
Romans used the name Achaia in the sense in which the Greeks used Hellas,
and Pausanias's correct explanation of the origin of this Roman usage. He
does not realize that Pausanias is denying what he is asserting about the
Greek sense of the name Achaia.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 393
trary to all modern teaching, that this wide use of the term
Achaia was " beyond all doubt a very ancient " (Greek)
custom.1 From every statement in this conclusion and
every step in the argument I would dissent : and, especially,
the method of substituting a " beyond doubt " for the quota
tion of ancient authorities is unscientific.
On p. 108 Dr. Steinmann says that in Pauline usage
" Achaia is equivalent either to Corinth or to the whole of
Greece, including Athens" — a pretty wide choice, destruc
tive of any belief that the learned scholar has reached any
clear geographical view — " and therefore is in no case fully
coincident with the Roman official circuit of the province ".
Now Dr. Steinmann proves at considerable length that
Athens was a " free " and " allied " city (libera and fcederata).
This proof was unnecessary ; every one admits the fact,
which is a matter of the most rudimentary knowledge.
Here, where all text-books agree and give the ancient
evidence, Dr. Steinmann repeats the proof. Where he
differs from the accepted opinion, he merely says " doubt
less," and quotes no evidence.
The question which really matters is whether such " free "
and " allied " cities were or were not reckoned as cities of
the province. That concerns not Athens alone, but a
number of other " free " and " allied " cities. It is no
answer to the question to quote at length the privileges of
such cities. Those privileges were honourable and highly
esteemed. Governors of the province dismissed their
lictors when they entered a free city. The citizens did not
pay tribute.2 The lawsuits in a free city were decided ac
cording to its own laws by the elected magistrates.
This whole subject requires retreatment, and a well-in-
1 " Ohne Zweifel sehr alt war."
2 We assume that all libera civitates were also immunes.

394 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
formed discussion would have been welcome. Dr. Steinmann,
however, follows mainly Marquardt's " Handbuch," and
quotes none of the more recent investigations on constitu
tional and legal points. He uses Mommsen's History, but
not his later articles. These later studies, along with
Liebenam's " Stadteverwaltung im roem. Kaiserreiche," and
Mitteis' works, etc., are the basis for the following remarks.
The privileges granted to the free cities, according to a
common Roman method of governing its subjects, had
a great show of honour, but the Government set them
aside as often as it chose. Contributions and taxes were
frequently imposed on the free cities, at the discretion of
the governor or of the central administration. Free cities
were degraded at any time when it suited Government to
do so.1
This " freedom " was, after all, little more than nominal.
Holm, IV. 1 47, remarks that modern ideas of independence
should not be introduced into the libertas of the "free"
cities. It was absolutely inconsistent with Roman system
to have a state within a state. The " free " state could
exercise its freedom and use its laws only in so far as con
duced to the well-being of the Empire.2 "Even in the
East, where Roman favour allowed many privileges to exist,
it was evident that this ' freedom ' meant really nothing,
since the word of any Roman governor could nullify it."s
When Maximus was sent to govern Achaia, Pliny wrote to
him, VIII. 1 4, urging him not to deprive Athens and Sparta
of that nominal and shadowy freedom which they had
possessed. The right of " free " cities to govern according to their
1 See Liebenam, p. 466.
2 " Ein Staat im Staate war undenkbar," Liebenam, p. 472.
3 Liebenam, p. 473,

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 395
own laws caused after all no very great practical difference.
True, the ordinary cities of the province had to accept
the Roman law, but in practice Rome allowed great in
fluence to local custom in the civilized Eastern provinces.
Hence the law as administered in these provinces was a
sort of compromise between strict Roman law and native
custom. In some notable cases extraordinary care was
taken to act according to the usage of the city. On this
subject see Mitteis' " Reichsrecht und Volksrecht " and
later works ; also Liebenam, p. 466 ff., and the authorities
quoted by him. I have followed Mitteis in my " Historical
Commentary on Galatians " (see the Preface).
As a proof that Athens and other allied cities were outside
the province, Dr. Steinmann quotes the fact that the
Areopagus Court decided a criminal case in the reign of
Tiberius. Doubtless it did so ; but that was the privilege
of all free cities: we know it at Amisos in the province of
Bithynia-Pontus, from Pliny's correspondence with the
Emperor Trajan, while he was acting as governor. It is
certainly wholly inconsistent with Pliny's conception of his
duties and power to say that Amisos was outside of his pro
vince : he had distinct duties there, but these were narrower
than in the ordinary cities of the province (civitates stipen
diaries). The question as to the limit of his power in
Amisos exercised his mind a little, but there was no
question that he had power there. He was doubtful
whether he should prohibit the continuance of clubs (eranoi)
in Amisos, and consulted Trajan on this point. The
Emperor's reply was that Amisos should be allowed to
keep its clubs, if they were in accordance with its own
laws. A hint, however, is appended that the proconsul
should keep himself informed whether the clubs tended to
encourage riotous conduct and unlawful assemblies. The

396 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
Emperors always reserved the power of annulling the rights
of a civitas fcederata, if this seemed advisable for Imperial
interests ; x and, if clubs in Amisos were found conducive to
disorder, the analogy of Imperial policy in other cases
shows that the governor would be directed to interfere and
probably to do away with the agreement (fcedus). But
Amisos was one of the Pontic cities associated in the cult
of the Emperors by the province ; and no more conclusive
proof can be given that it ranked officially as part of the
province : see p. 389.
Dr. Steinmann tries to demonstrate that " Athen gehore
gar nicht zur Provinz Achaia ". There is, of course, a
pedantic sense, almost a legal fiction, in which this state
ment is true under the Empire.2 In certain matters of
courtesy and form the fiction of independence ofthe " allied "
and the " free " cities (civitates fcederatce and libera) was
maintained. Marquardt points out that their autonomy
was rather shadowy — I need not go into details — but he
did not know, what is now proved, that, although the free
city administered its own law there was always allowed an
appeal from the judgment of the city to the Roman gover
nor of the province, and that even if an appeal were made
1 As Marquardt says, p. 74, Augustus deprived several civitates faederata
of their libertas, because they were using it in a way dangerous to public
peace, Suet., " Aug.," 47. Byzantium was originally foederata (Tac. " Ann.,"
xn. 62) : after the province Macedonia was formed, Byzantium was subject to
the governor on the footing not of fcederata but of libera civitas (Cic. " in
Pis.," in. 6). In a.d. 53 it was subject to Bithynia and was stipendiaria
{Tacitus, I.e.) ; but Pliny then calls it libera (" Nat. Hist.," iv. n). Vespasian
deprived it of libertas (Suet., "Vesp.," 8), which it regained and kept till Severus
punished the city for a short time (Dio., lxxiv. 14).
2 Dr. Steinmann applies facts and principles of the Republican period re
specting the allied and the free cities too directly to the Imperial time. It
has now become clear that the Imperial administration interfered very freely
with the rights of these cities, whenever there was any occasion ; the tendency
of discovery is to illustrate this truth.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 397
within the allied or free city to the Emperor, it could only
take effect through the governor and with his sanction. This
is known for both Achaia and Asia ; and is doubtless true
of all provinces. I quote Mommsen in " Zft. der Savigny-
St. f. Rechtsgesch.," 1890, pi. 36 f. : " es ist fur die Stellung
derfreien Stadte von Wichtigkeit dass sowohl von Athen wie
von Kos nicht bloss an den Kaiser sondern selbst an den
Proconsul appellirt werden kann. . . . Nicht minder bemer-
kenswerth aber ist es, was Ramsay mit Recht der Inschrift
entnahm, dass der Staathalter danach der Appellation an der
Kaiser und iiberhaupt wohl der Beschickung des Kaisers-
aus seiner Provinz Folge zu geben wohl berechtigt, aber nicht
verpfiichtet ist." x Why did not Dr. Steinmann quote this
important fact, which puts a very different aspect on the
whole question ?
I do not fancy that even Dr. Steinmann would press the
fiction of the freedom of allied cities to the extent of main
taining that they as allies of Rome (fosderatce civitates), and
standing outside of the Empire (externa), were independent
of the Emperor. The Emperor was the ultimate fountain
of law for them ; and any matter could be appealed from.
the Athenian courts to him. The governor of Achaia is an
intermediate power ; appeal to him is made from the city
courts ; and even an appeal to the Emperor, as already said,
must be sanctioned by the governor of the province before-
it can go forward to Rome.
To talk about Athens, or Kos, or Amisos, or Tarsus,
or Mopsouestia in Cilicia, or Sagalassos, or Ephesus, or
Smyrna, or a host of other cities, as being in any real sense
outside of the province in which they were situated, is mere
trifling. Many of them were outside the Roman Empire
1 Reprinted in his collected papers on legal subjects, Vol. Ill, p. 388.

398 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
in the legal sense that an exile from Rome might live there ;
they administered their own affairs, indeed, but according
to a lex civitatis which was fixed by Rome ; their rights
could be diminished or taken away by the Emperor, when
he thought advisable ; and, although the governor of the
province did not interfere in their suits, yet any suit could
be carried before him by appeal. The last is a decisive
criterion : the governor of the province is the higher power
in all law-cases, while the city officials are the subordinate
power. The advantage of being free (libera et immunis)
was in some respects great,1 but in other respects this free
dom would have been positively prejudicial, if it had not
been in practice completely disregarded.
Moreover, a grave misconception pervades the whole of
Dr. Steinmann's reasoning on this subject. He seems
never to have taken into consideration the great variety of
privilege and honour and standing which existed among
the cities and other units out of which a province was
built up. This inequality of rights is a general feature of
Roman administration at all periods. Cities were not
treated all after the same fashion : their civic rights varied
greatly according to their individual character and ser
vices to Rome, or according to historical circumstances.
As in Italy in the period from 270 to 89 B.C.,2 so in
the Eastern provinces in the first and second centuries,
1 Marquardt points out that the privilege of sheltering a Roman exile,
while an apparent honour as implying independence, sometimes meant
that the exiled Roman noble made himself a tyrant in the city where he
settled. 2 The differences of name persisted long after the Social War, go-8g B.C.,
but the persistence was merely a historical survival : there were still the old
names and classes, colonise, municipia, praefecturse, and so on, and the old
names of local town magistrates continued, but there was no real distinction
of rights.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 399
there was a wide diversity of rights and standing among
the cities. The most privileged and honourable class was
the Colonies : in Greece these were Corinth and Patrae, in
Macedonia Philippi, in Asia Parium and Troas, in Galatia
Antioch and the Pisidian colonies. Next came the allied
cities (fcederata) which were also free and immune from
tribute. After them came the cities which were free and
exempt from tribute (libera et immunes) without having a
treaty with Rome.1 After them came the ordinary cities,
which were subject to tribute (stipendiaria). Then the
dimoi or peoples which did not possess the Hellenic city
constitution, but apparently were organized on the Anatolian
village system (though we really possess hardly any quite
trustworthy knowledge about them).2 Last of all come the
ethni, in which Rostowzew recognizes the population of the
great Imperial estates, whose position approximated to
that of serfs (though technically they were free), and whose
organization continued to be as in the pre-Roman period
with the Emperor substituted for the ancient lord, whether
priest or king or noble.3 The ethnos of a single estate
lived in villages, each of which had its own headman and
1 Practically they had the same rights as the fcederata, but the rights of
the latter were perhaps a little more permanently certain, and the former
could not with the same legal right call themselves " friends ".
2 What we can say about them is largely reconstruction from general con
siderations, and, though it is highly probable and approximates in part to
confident assurance, still is not free from hypothesis.
3 These estates had in many cases belonged to one or other of the
great Sanctuaries, whose gods were often extremely wealthy as owners of
lands and lords over the cultivators. Brandis on " Asia " (Pauly-Wissowa,
" Realencyclop.," p. 1556 f.) gives a different explanation of eBv-q in this usage ;
but Rostowzew rejects it in his " Studien zur Gesch. des rom. Kolonats," p. 262.
I go with Rostowzew, though acknowledging that the matter remains un
certain and hypothetical : but Rostowzew's view seems to me the most
reasonable and probable. See above, ch. xv.

400 XXVI The Firstfruits of Achaia.
officers ; x its administrative arrangements approximated in
character to the village system of the dimoi, though on an
apparently less favourable footing, as the dimos was
evidently freer and was called by a Greek constitutional
name, while the ethni are mentioned last in the list and
bear a name which was reckoned more alien to Roman
character and system.
In such a province as Asia all these various classes of
states were brought together as the body politic of the pro
vince. The ethni were hardly perhaps honourable enough
to be ranked along with the really free peoples. They
were the private property of the Emperor and looked to
him, not to the governor of the province. The Emperor's
procurator and slaves managed their affairs. So far as they
were outside of the province it was because they were un
worthy of that honour : they corresponded in status rather
to the people of client-kingdoms, not yet worthy of admis
sion to the rank of provincials. Yet these ethni are in cer
tain inscriptions ranked as members of the Commune 2 of the
province Asia, and this is the absolute proof that they enter
into the ultimate and fundamental being of the province.
In the province of Achaia there were some differences
from Asia ; but the general principle remains the same.
Now why should the free and allied cities be deemed by
Dr. Steinmann too honourable to be degraded into the pro-
1 The best known estate is that large block of Phrygian land near
Pisidian Antioch on the north, where a considerable amount of information
has been found ; this is published and discussed by the writer in " Studies in
the History ofthe Eastern Provinces," pp. 304 ff. (the account there given has
been entirely approved by Rostowzew). Some additional details have been
found and published in "Journal of Hellenic Studies," igi2, pp. 151 ff. and in
" Annual of British School Athens," igi2.
2 The Commune of Asia is the union of the whole province in the worship
of Rome and the Emperors : at its head are the Asiarchs or High-priests of
Asia.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia- 401
vince, when the Coloniae, whose burgesses were all Roman
citizens,1 and which were, so to say, outlying portions of
Rome itself, serving as garrisons in the province, are ranked
by him as parts of the province ? That he does so rank
them, though he never actually says so, is proved by the
fact that his whole argument is directed to show that, while
the Colonia Corinth was part of the province, Athens was
not. There is, of course, a sense in which the Coloniae were
outside the province ; all its citizens, as Romans, were even
more completely emancipated from subjection to the pro
vincial governor than the citizens of free and allied
cities. Yet Corinth was the capital and official residence of the
proconsul of Achaia : Lugudunum (Lyon) occupied the
same position in the Three Gauls : Pisidian Antioch was
the military centre and a sort of secondary capital of
the southern part of the province Galatia. It was a special
honour to a province to contain one or more Coloniae
which represented the full Roman qualification as the
ideal in front of the province. The province, ideally speak
ing, was a sort of imperfect Rome, i.e. it was a foreign nation
in the process of being made fully Roman : the Colonia was
the perfect Rome in visible and material form within the pro
vince. It would be false to the Roman idea of the province
to put the Colonia outside of it : the Colonia was the visible
soul. Next, let us look at a closely analogous case. Smyrna
offers an excellent parallel to Athens. Smyrna is given by
Marquardt as only a free, but not an allied city. He has,
1 The incolae, who had not Roman citizenship in a colonia, were not bur
gesses and had no place in the popular assembly : they were mere residents,
yet they had privileges of their own. 26

402 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
however, omitted the evidence of Cicero in his Eleventh
Philippic, II. 5 (which is quite conclusive), "a city which
ranks as one of our most faithful and most ancient allies ".
The account of the Asian War and the treaty that ended it
in Livy, XXXVII. f, must be understood as implying a treaty,
though the treaty (being of older date) is not actually men
tioned there.
As an allied state Smyrna had the right of sheltering
exiles from Rome, i.e. exiles who were expelled from the
Roman Empire could go to live there and had the right of
being received as citizens. This constituted it a civitas
extera, i.e. legally outside the Roman Empire.1 The same
right belonged to Thessalonica and Cyzicus and Patrae ; 2
but no one, so far as I am aware, has ever thought or argued
that these were not parts of the provinces Macedonia and
Asia and Achaia, or not parts of the Empire.
As regards Smyrna, Tacitus has preserved the report of
the argument which it laid before the Senate in support of
its claim to construct a provincial temple dedicated to
Tiberius and Livia and the Senate.3 Now Smyrna was the
oldest ally and the most faithful friend of Rome in the East,4
occupying an honourable position corresponding to Mar
seilles (Massalia) in the West. Its chief glory and its special
characteristic as a city of the Empire was its faithfulness.
It laid its case before the Senate, because it was a city of
the province. It had no standing in this matter except as
a city of the province. The Commune of the province6 had
resolved to have this temple as a new seat of the Imperial
cult, and eleven cities of the province claimed the honour
1 Marquardt, p. 80, with note 1.
2 Marquardt, loc. cit. 3 " Annals," iv. 55.
4 See the chapter on Smyrna in " Letters to the Seven Churches ".
3 On the Commune see note above on p. 400.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 403
of being chosen as seat of the new temple. Smyrna was
one of these. It assumes to have the right to compete for
the privilege : other ten cities claim to be preferred : all
the eleven present their claim as cities of the province. If
Smyrna had been extra provinciam, it would not have sought
an honour which was reserved for the province. If other
cities had thought that Smyrna was not a city of the
Province, they would have argued that Smyrna was dis
qualified as being outside the province. The right to com
pete is accorded to Smyrna by universal consent.
The argument in this case is the most perfect proof that
Smyrna was a city of the province Asia, accepted and hon
oured as such by the Senate and by the whole province.
Yet, if there were any city which was pre-eminent in the
East as the friend and ally of Rome, the conspicuous " free
and allied city " in the fullest sense, that city was Smyrna.
Athens had massacred its Roman inhabitants, joined Mithra-
dates, and been besieged and captured by Sulla. In that
same war Smyrna's sympathy and loyalty to Rome had
been conspicuous. In the public Assembly the citizens,
hearing of the sufferings of Sulla's soldiers from the winter
cold, stripped themselves of their outer garments (which
were of thicker material), and sent them to the shivering
Romans. Any honour and privilege that attached to a
civitas faderata belonged above all others to Smyrna ; yet
it claimed the title " first and fairest (city) of (the province)
Asia," x and engraved this on its coins and embodied it in
its official inscriptions.
It is instructive to read the earlier chapter (IV. 15) in
which Tacitus describes the nature of the case. The Com
mune of Asia was the expression of the provincial unity and
1 'Asia means the province Asia.

404 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
loyalty : it was the association of all the cities of the pro
vince in the common worship of the Imperial god and his
divine ancestors. To be a member of the Commune was
to be a member of the province.
It would be valueless to argue that Smyrna in its case
before the Senate appeals to its conduct in 195 B.C., when
it dedicated the first temple to Rome long before a Roman
province existed, and to infer that the construction of a
temple to Tiberius did not prove it to be a city of the pro
vince. The point, however, is this. Smyrna might have
built its own special temple to the Emperor, and this would
not prove any provincial connexion ; but the temple, which
it was finally selected by the Senate to build, was a temple
of (the province) Asia, and only cities of the province could
have such a temple. A special legate of the proconsul of
Asia was appointed to superintend the building.
Dr. Steinmann, p. 94, is possessed with the strange idea
that Achaia could not acquire a Roman name until A.D. 44,
because it had previously been classed with Macedonia
under the same governor, and was only in that year separated
from Macedonia and given to the senate as a province.1
But even when it was under the same governor as Macedonia
it was the Roman province Achaia, and not merely a part
of Macedonia. The province was Macedonia et Achaia 2
(Tac. Ann. I. 80, V. 10; Dio Cass. LVIII. 25) : Cicero often
speaks of Achaia, meaning the Roman province.
Again, if free cities were outside the province, not merely
1 He forgets that it was made a separate province in 27 b.c. He also
forgets that the constitution of Achaia was regulated by the lex Mummia,
imposed by its conqueror in 146 B.C. (Liebenam, p. 469), whereas Macedonia
was regulated by the lex Aemilia, 167 B.C.
2 Like Lycia et Pamphylia, two provinces under one governor : so the
united Galatia and Cappadocia between A.D. 74 and 106 or later, and the
Tres Eparchiae.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 405
Athens, but also Sparta, all the Eleutherolacones, Delphi,
Thespiae, Tanagra, Abae, Pharsalus, Elatea, Patrae, Nico
polis, Mothone, Pale and Pallantion, also the Ozolian
Locrians and Amphissa,1 were so. Brandis in Pauly-
Wissowa, I. 191, adds Thyrreion (an allied city), and Plataea
(a free city), and states that it is false to think that Achaia
did not become a province until 27 B.C. : it had been a pro
vince from 146 B.C.
In A.D. 67 Nero made all Greece free. The freedom re
leased the country from taxation, but it would be absurd to
suppose that this took Greece out of the Empire : moreover
this act was a freak and not a sober Roman device for
government. The nature of that sham freedom appears from the fact
that the democratic constitution was suppressed in the free
cities, and a timocratic and oligarchic organization was
substituted by Rome.
In C.I.L. VIII. 7059 an official is mentioned who was
acting as governor in Athens, Thespiae, Plataeae, and
Thessaly simultaneously, and Dr. Brandis infers from this
that Thessaly belonged to the same province as Athens,
Thespiae and Plataeae, i.e. he takes those cities as being all
included in the province of Achaia.
The criticism to which Dr. Steinmann's argument about
Athens exposes itself is this. Whereas Marquardt's account
of Achaia accommodates itself naturally to the new evi
dence (of which a brief outline has been given in these
pages), Steinmann's assertions are in contradiction with it ;
and yet the latter founds his argument solely on Mar
quardt, and quotes hardly any other authority. The reason
for this is that Marquardt confines himself to stating
1 Marquardt gives two inconsistent lists, p. 325, 10, and p. 328, 2.

406 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
facts and their necessary implication, and therefore the
recently discovered facts come in to complete the picture
which he draws in bare outline ; Steinmann, on the con
trary, selects certain facts from Marquardt to suit a pre
conceived purpose ; he groups them to produce a certain
effect ; he slurs over the facts stated by Marquardt which
tell against him, mentioning some of them without pointing
out their bearing on his case ; and his apparently most
telling arguments are really unproved assertions regard
ing matters of which we have no knowledge (owing to
the lack of data), which is false and unscientific method.
The consequence is that the newly discovered facts are
absolutely inconsistent with Steinmann's opinion. Let
any person read through Marquardt's non-partisan state
ment in the light of the new knowledge, and he will see
for himself that this is so.
While Marquardt mentions that, so far as the right of
sheltering Roman exiles was concerned, certain cities in the
provinces were externa, he never applies this survival of
ancient right as a proof that those cities were outside of the
province. In practice he always treats these provincial
allied cities under their province, showing his opinion that
they after all belonged to it ; and he lays little stress on their
special standing, but calls it a mere shadow of freedom.
He expressly calls Amisus the most easterly city of the
province Bithynia (p. 350), and gives its municipal custom
as a proof of Roman behaviour towards provincial cities
(p. 143); and so on. Only with regard to Athens does
he use an expression that might be misinterpreted in too
sweeping a sense about the shadowy liberty x that was left
to it, and says that it was exempt from the authority of
1 Pliny, " Epist.," vin. 24 ; Dio. Chrys., 11. p. 200 R. ; Plutarch, " praec.
ger. reip.," 32, § 8 (quoted by Marquardt, p. 86).

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 407
the proconsul : the authorities on whom he relies are not
sufficiently clear to prove this in its full sense, and Mommsen
(quoted by Steinmann) expresses the fact more carefully :
"Athens was not under the fasces of the proconsul," i.e.
when he entered the city the proconsul was not preceded
by axe-bearing lictors. The fact that cases were carried on
appeal from courts in Athens to the hearing of the proconsul
proves that the city was not really exempt from his authority.
Marquardt mentions that Athens differed from the rest
of the province Achaia in never using the provincial era ;
and Steinmann religiously follows him, quoting this as a
very weighty proof that Athens was exempt from the pro
vincial Roman system of dating. There is nothing in this
antiquated fallacy. (1) There prevailed extreme and
capricious variety in regard to chronology in Hellenistic
and Hellenic cities; and Athens, like many other. Greek
cities, dated by its own magistrates. (2) No provincial era
was used in Achaia,1 and neither Athens nor any other city
of the province dated by a provincial era.2 This piece of
evidence is worse than valueless ; it is fictitious. A more
careful study of discoveries regarding Achaian facts is needed
before writing about the province.
Even in regard to the chief glory of Athens, the University
and its administration, the Emperor interfered as he pleased.
It was required that the four masters of the Schools should
be Roman citizens; and this regulation, according to
Mommsen, must certainly have been made early in the
Empire and probably by Augustus.3 The regulation was
1 Some rare cases are known in which a provincial era seemed to be used
by a city of Achaia, but these are now better explained ; the dating is not
from the foundation of the province, but from a different era.
2 Kaestner de Aeris, 66 f., Kubitschek Aera in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Enc.
3 Mommsen in " Zft. d. Savigny St. f. Rechtsgesch.," i8gi, p. 152 f.

408 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
relaxed by Hadrian, who permitted the head of the Epicu
rean School (and probably the others on the same principle)
to be chosen from all, whether Roman citizens or non-
Romans. This we learn from his rescript, which was dis
covered and first published in 1890, and immediately
commented on by Diels, Mommsen, and others.1
Dr. Steinmann's long discussion of the rank of Athens,
and its relation to the province, therefore, is vitiated by
neglect of important facts. The neglect was, of course,
unintentional : he would not willingly have passed over any
fact bearing on his subject, as his whole intention is to be
judicial and complete. But he simply follows a book pub
lished in 1 88 1, taking it as his final statement of the law,
though anyone who studied Roman law or Roman history
or the Eastern provincial administration, would have put
him on the line of modern investigation, if he had sought
to learn what is known on the subject.
Other considerations of a general character point to the
same conclusion. It was a great source of wealth to any
city that the governor should reside, or should even hold
the assizes, in it,2 and any free or allied city which had the
opportunity would not have wasted it by vainly pleading
that it was outside the province. Many free and allied
cities were seats of conventus : Thessalonica and Antioch
were always the residence of the governors of Macedonia
and Syria, Ephesus and Tarsus of the governors of Asia
and Cilicia. Ephesus and Tarsus and Smyrna and
^'Archiv f. Gesch. d. Philosophie," iv. 487 f . ; "Zft. d. Savigny St. f.
Rechtsgesch.," i8gi, p. 152 f. It is an interesting fact that the students of
the School co-operated in the selection of a Scholarch (as was previously
known), and were even empowered to depose an unworthy Professor and
appoint a successor to him (which was revealed by the newly discovered
inscription containing this rescript).
2 On this enrichment see, for example, " Cities of St. Paul," p. 273.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 409
Laodiceia on the Lycus were conventus from the beginning.
In Ephesus (Acts xix.) the Secretary (ypa/ifiarev?) warned
the people in the theatre that if they did not dissolve this
irregular assembly (one which was not permitted in the
charter of the city),1 the city would be called to account
(obviously before the proconsul, whom the Secretary has
just previously mentioned as the fountain of justice).
Dr. Steinmann admits that several allied and free cities
of this class were the residence of the governor of the prov
ince, and that in others the Roman assizes (conventus) were
held by the governor. These admitted facts give away his
case. What meaning can be attached to his statement that
those free cities were outside of the province, if these facts
are true? It was the basis of provincial administration
that a governor could not reside outside his province, or
exercise his power legally anywhere except in his province.
Now at the conventus the governor exercised the full and
absolute authority over the provinces ; he represented the
judicial dignity and the power of Rome. If Athens or
Smyrna or any of the other free and allied cities were out
side the province, the governor could not possibly exercise
his supreme judicial authority or fix his residence perma
nently in any of them. To be the residence of the governor
of the province, a city must be in the province
It is vain to attempt to bolster up the case by pleading
that Thessalonica and the other cities which we have men
tioned were not allied, but belonged to the lower class of
free cities. The rights of the two classes, however, were
the same ; 2 the superiority of the allied cities lay in the
more assured permanence of the rights. The question that
1 v6pios in the Acts : lex civitatis was the technical Roman term.
2 Marquardt asserts this quite positively, p. 80 : see also Mommsen,
" Staatsrecht," in. p. 654, n. 4, and 658.

410 XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia.
concerns us is whether these rights caused the city that
possessed them to be ranked outside the province or not ;
and although Ephesus or Tarsus might lose its rights more
easily than Athens or Amisos, yet so long as it possessed
those rights, the effect on status was the same. In fact,
allied cities are frequently described simply as " free " (for
example, so always by Pliny) ; and the occurrence of a city
in a list of libera civitates does not prove that it did not
belong to the other and higher class oi faderata}
Except in certain quite unimportant details, therefore,
the free and allied cities were regularly counted as cities of
the province. They ranked along with the other cities as
members of the Commune or Association of provincial cities.
Ordinary usage and, so far as is known, Roman custom
ranked them as provincial cities ; they were places into
which the governor of the province entered in performance
of his duty, although he respected the rights which they
possessed. Paul and Luke thought and spoke of Athens
and Smyrna and other free cities as cities of Achaia or Asia,
and they were justified by Roman custom. When Paul
speaks of a Corinthian as the " firstfruits of Achaia," he is
thinking of the province, and his expression is in perfect
agreement with Roman and general custom. The meaning
of the words must be sought in the direction indicated at
the beginning of the chapter.
Note (p. 387). — The nature of the household, and the
relation of slaves to the master, come up constantly from
many points of view in our study of Christianity amid its
social surroundings under the early Empire ; and correct
conceptions on this subject are essential to a correct view
of early Christian history. As to slavery we must always
1 See Mommsen, loc. cit.

XXVI. The Firstfruits of Achaia. 411
remember that in Rome a man's most trusted and faithful
servants were his slaves ; and that there was a strong pre
judice against all paid labour in every department as un
trustworthy. Paid servants were " hirelings," x who had
no personal interest, in their duty, but looked to get money
alone. We are now-a-days accustomed to hate slavery as
barbarous and degrading to all concerned, alike owners and
slaves ; and in the state in which the institution of slavery
has been practised in modern times, this hatred was fully
justified. So also in the Roman system the application of
slave labour in great gangs to the cultivation of large
estates, a custom learned from the Carthaginians, was an
unmingled evil, and produced many permanent and in
creasing disorders and diseases in the body politic. House
hold slavery, however, was a different and a comparatively
humane institution; and the faithfulness of slaves to a
master, and the general custom of trusting them with the
most important and confidential business, bear witness to
this. The whole body of slaves of the Emperor formed
the " household of Caesar " (Philippians IV. 22) ; and, as we
have seen on the Imperial estates (see Chap. XV.), their
Imperial master was their God and they were his people.
The dislike of the Romans for " hired workers " may be
illustrated in modern times by the German feeling that an
army raised by voluntary enlistment is a mere force of
mercenaries, while an army raised by conscription and
national service stands on a far higher level of duty. So
Naaman's Hebrew slave girl was genuinely interested in
his welfare, 2 Kings V. 3. 1 Mercennarii.

CHAPTER XXVII
THE PAULINE CHURCHES IN THE THIRD CENTURY
THE great importance of the Churches of the Two Regions
(as Luke would probably have called them), i.e. the
Churches of Galatia, stands out more and more impress
ively as we comprehend better the Acts and the Epistles of
Paul. Paul gives a brief account of his work in founding
those Churches of Phrygia and Lycaonia, when he writes
to Timothy : " Thou didst follow my teaching, conduct,
purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, patience, persecutions,
sufferings : what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium,
at Lystra : and out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution."
This passage to Timothy is a resum6 of the teaching of
Paul's second visit to those three cities, as described in the
Acts : " They returned to Lystra, and to Iconium and
Antioch,1 confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting
them to continue in the faith, and that through many
tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God ".
Here are two brief statements of the same period of
teaching in the same three stages: (i) confirmatory in
struction ; (2) the inevitableness of persecution for all
Christians without exception ; (3) the final deliverance.
Both statements come from Paul. One is written by him
1 Acts xiv. 21-3. See p. 422.
(412)

XX VII . Pauline Churches in Third Century- 413
direct to Timothy. The other comes to us indirectly
through Luke from Paul's mouth ; and Luke associates
himself with the statement of the second and third stages
by using the pronoun " we ". This is not a case similar to
the later " we-passages," which are incidental to travel and
indicate the personal presence of the historian. In this
place the historian identifies himself in spirit and experi
ence with the teaching of Paul as regards persecution. It
is pointed out elsewhere x how much importance belongs to
this phrase, in which the deep emotion of Luke breaks
through his usual self-suppression.
That this teaching, as summarized in 2 Timothy III. 10-
12, belongs to the second visit of Paul to the Galatian
Churches, is clear from the omission of Derbe. Paul turned
back from Derbe to revisit Lystra and Iconium and Antioch
after a considerable absence. In this passage Paul recurs
to that visit, and to the teaching then given. That is the
occasion that rose to his memory in the last message to
Timothy, when he knew he was near the gate of death. It
is not so much the first visit and the conversion, as the
second visit and the confirmation, that suits his present pur
pose. He had not been in Derbe the second time on that
journey, and his teaching there had been of the order of
conversion combined with farewell messages. Hence Derbe
is omitted at this moment.
Paul also recalls to Timothy's memory that he had fore
warned the three Churches against " evil men and impostors,"
who " shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being de
ceived ". In his letter to the Galatians, also, he says that
he had by word of mouth forewarned the Galatians against
evil men — "that they who practise such things shall not
1 " St. Paul the Traveller," p. 123.

414 XXVII. The Pauline Churches
inherit the kingdom of God" — and against false teachers
(i.e. impostors) — •" as we said before, so say I now again : if
any man preacheth unto you any Gospel other than that
which ye received, let him be anathema".1
The striking agreement between the words to Timothy,
to the Galatians, and to Luke, constitutes a proof of real
value that the same mind lies behind them all as the common
source and origin.
We see how largely those Churches bulked in the mind
of Paul and of Luke. We observe the great space which
Luke allots to them in his highly compressed history. We
notice that Paul's feet turn back again and again to the
cities, and his memory recalls them in the imminence of
death. Now what became of those Churches ? What was
their future history ? How did they die out ? This ques
tion must arise in every mind. Was all Paul's care and
anxiety for them lavished on a niggardly and grudging
soil ? or did their future deeds repay his toil ? Did they
desert his Gospel " so quickly " (Gal. I. 6), or were they re
called by his Epistle to a right mind ?
If there is any historic value in the second letter to
Timothy, the four Churches 2 were Paul's to the end of his
life. His letter to them was successful. Apart from any
other argument, this reference alone furnishes conclusive
testimony.3 Later a veil falls over them. History has
almost forgotten them.
Only in recent years archaeological evidence is restoring
to us some slight outline of their fate. The number of
1 Galatians v. 21, 1. 9, 10.
2 I add Derbe, though Paul's purpose omits it to Timothy.
3 Even those critics who do not accept the three Pastoral Epistles as Paul's
composition, are almost all agreed that at least Second Timothy is in part
genuine, and that its historical testimony is trustworthy.

in the Third Century. 415
inscriptions which remain in those regions and the close
adjoining districts is very large : they begin in the second
century, and become numerous in the third and in Lycaonia
still more so in the fourth.
Their history was one of "tribulation," ending in death.
The Churches were almost exterminated by Diocletian's
soldiers. Paul's last word about them was prophetic of
their fate. They did not recover from the persecution, but
new people took their place, and a new tone. It is not suit
able to our present purpose to write the story ; but I add
one single memorial, which has been discovered since I at
tempted to sketch the fortunes ofthe four Pauline Churches.1
The memorials of their existence have been recognized by
the use of certain formulae, and by far the most common of
these is the appeal to the Judgment of God.2
At Synnada, a small but important city of Phrygia, metro
polis in the Byzantine period of the province Phrygia
Pacatiana, there was found in June, 1907, and sent to the
Museum of Broussa, one of the most remarkable of the
early Christian monuments that are now being slowly dis
covered, year after year, one here and one there, in Asia
Minor (chiefly in Phrygia and Lycaonia). I have not seen
it, but take all the description that is here given from the
excellent Catalogue of the Museum, published by Monsieur
G. Mendel, formerly of the French School of Athens.
This monument is a small box of marble, about six inches
long in its largest part (where the moulding projects most
prominently) ; and it has the form of a tiny sarcophagus,
differing only in being higher than its length, whereas
1 "The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," ch. xn. (last sections).
2 iarai oury irpbs rbv Beiv : Siicrei \6yov Be$ : and several variations of the
formula occur.

41 6 XXVII. The Pauline Churches
sarcophagi generally are longer than they measure in height.1
With the box, and apparently inside it, though the account
is not quite clear and explicit on this detail, there were found
fragments of a skull. On the body and on the lid of the
sarcophagus are inscriptions : —
(i) On the body: —
<5Se eva Tpo- Within are Tro-
cpifiov rov fi- phimus the M-
dprvpos bo-re- artyr's bones.
a
(2) On the lid :—
t« av Se rav- And whosoever
ra ra bcrrea shall these bones
eK^aXrj irore, ever cast out,
errrai avrm he shall have to
Trpo? r[bv] deb- reckon with God.
z/2
M. Mendel and Monsieur H. Gregoire, whose opinion
he quotes, are agreed in regarding this box as having been
intended to contain part of the remains of Trophimus from
Pisidian Antioch, who suffered at Synnada in the short per
secution under the Emperor Probus, A.D. 276-82. There
are no two scholars whose opinion on a matter of Christian
antiquities in Asia Minor ranks higher ; and their agreement
may be taken as very strong, though, as M. Mendel states,
Mgr. Duchesne regards the box and the inscriptions as later
than the fourth century.3
1 1 speak of the height including the lid or cover (which is a separate piece
both in the large sarcophagi and in this small box).
2 Grammatically the only difficulty lies in iva, apparently a vulgarism for
iveari or evi, a relic of local Phrygian Greek.
3 1 had always understood that Mgr. Duchesne was one of the first to re
cognize that this formula was Christian and belonged to the third century.
Many occurrences of the formula are on the stones dated in that century.
None are dated later.

in the Third Century. 417
MM. Mendel's and Gregoire's arguments are (as they
both recognize) founded largely on the criteria of the dating
of Christian inscriptions in Phrygia,, which are laid down in
my "Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," II, chapter XII.
I have sometimes feared that my views might be considered
to exaggerate the antiquity of Christian monuments in
Phrygia ; and it is a great encouragement to find that the
same reasons which in 1894 appeared conclusive to me are
still regarded by two such excellent scholars as decisive.
The discoveries of the intervening sixteen years have
distinctly tended to confirm the main lines of my chrono
logical system.1 In our view the formula "he shall have
to reckon with God " belongs to the third century, when
Christianity, in its public appearance, was still concealing
itself under cryptic symbols and language. After the
triumph of Christianity, in the epoch to which Mgr.
Duchesne assigns this monument, one can hardly suppose
it possible that no cross or other open sign of religious
character should appear in the epitaph or on some other
part of the box. The use of the cross in Christian epitaphs,
or of some equivalent symbol, became almost universal
soon after A.D. 340.2
The inscriptions, brief as they are, are marked not merely
by the presence of an early formula, but by the absence of
any late and stereotyped Christian expressions. At the
date to which Mgr. Duchesne assigns the monument, we
1 The character of the Lycaonian Christian inscriptions of the late third,
fourth, and fifth centuries, and the principles on which they should be
tentatively placed in chronological periods, are described in " Luke the
Physician " (concluding paper).
2 The usage had not been established when Bishop Eugenius of Laodicea
of Lycaonia prepared his sarcophagus in a.d. 341 ("Expositor," November,
1908). 27

41 8 XXVII. The Pauline Churches
should expect a term like the Holy Martyr.1 The public
cult of the holy martyrs was fully established by that time,
and an adjective of respect could hardly be omitted. In
that later period this monument would naturally have to
be regarded as a reliquary made to contain relics (sup
posed or real) of the Saint, and preserved in a Church for
general reverence and worship. We can hardly suppose
that a tomb, with a sepulchral inscription, was made for
the bones of a person who had died a century and a half,
or even more, previously. But this monument is marked
as sepulchral, for that character is guaranteed by scores of
similar examples. The form of the inscription cannot be
mistaken. Had this box been a reliquary, much greater horror would
have been expressed at the thought of the bones being
thrown out, and a more definite and severe punishment
would probably have been denounced against sacrilege.
The whole style of the epitaph is early, and has nothing in
it that recalls the thought or expression characteristic of the
fifth century or later.
M. Mendel also points out that the form of the letters in
the epitaph favours a date distinctly earlier than the fifth
century : but (as he says) this consideration could not be
relied on as a quite conclusive prcof of date.
The small size of the box must be explained by the
supposition that the Christians did not obtain the corpse
from the Roman authorities. They only succeeded in
getting a part which they buried. The words which I have
used in the " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," II. p. 730,
' ' Rome did not war against the dead ; and the remains
of the martyrs were allowed to be buried by their friends "
1 rov aylov pidprvpos.

in the Third Century. 419
— while true of the case there mentioned and of many
others — are too absolutely expressed ; and exceptions must
be admitted even in the earlier persecutions, still more in
the later. The Roman officials observed the eagerness of
the Christians to get possession ofthe corpses of the martyrs,
or even parts of them, and probably dreaded lest some
mystic or magical power might be imparted by the relics of
the dead.1 Accordingly, as early as the martyrdom of Poly
carp (probably A.D. 1 5 5), the body was refused to the Church.
The high respect and veneration for the martyrs, which
began quite early, passed gradually into a public cult, and
gave rise to some abuses as early as the time of Diocletian.
Each new fact regarding the state of Christianity in Asia
Minor during the third century has its distinct value ; and
we are gradually collecting the materials out of which a
clearer idea of the beginnings of the Eastern Church can
be formed. M. Gregoire accepts the early date assigned
to Paul the Martyr of Derbe (whose tombstone was
published by Miss Ramsay in " Studies in the History of
the Eastern Provinces," p. 62), remarking that a common
place sepulchral formula, such as is employed in the epitaph,
is not the sort of inscription that would have been placed
over a martyr in the time following the triumph of the
Church. He here recognizes fully and confirms by his
authority our principle that those simple forms of sepul
chral inscription, which are either common to pagans and
Christians, or only slightly modified in Christian usage from
pagan phraseology, belong to the period before Constantine,
and disappear with the generation which was living at the
time when the peace of the Church was finally assured.
The same scholar also accepts my interpretation of the
1 On the magical powers attributed in pagan circles to the Christians in
the early centuries, see above, ch. vni.-x.

420 XXVII. The Pauline Churches
epitaph of the five Phrygian " children, who on one single
occasion gained the lot of life " : they are five martyrs, who
suffered at Hieropolis, not far from Synnada, probably in
the persecution of Decius A.D. 249-51, and were buried by
their spiritual father, doubtless the Bishop of the Church.1
On the other hand M. Gregoire is not convinced by the
conjecture advanced by Mr. Anderson and myself in the
"Studies in the Eastern Provinces," pp. 125, 201, that
Bishop Akylas (Aquila), whose epitaph we have published,
was a martyr. The language of the epitaph is obscure, and
the text is not complete. For my own part I still believe
that the view taken by Mr. Anderson is highly probable,
and that further discovery is likely to confirm it. In any case
it is a gain to have three assured and generally accepted
graves and epitaphs of martyrs belonging to the third
century. The Acta of the martyrs Trophimus and his companions
are published in "Acta Sanctorum," of September, VI. pp.
12 ff., and in Migne's "Patrol. Gr.," cxv. pp. 733 ff. See
also Harnack, "Gesch. d. altchr. Litt," II. 2, p. 481 note ;
Goerres, "Jahrb. f. protestant. Theol.," XVI. 1890, pp.
616 f. (who denies the authenticity of the " Acta ") ; Allard,
" Hist des Persecutions," III. p. 279, 4 ; and Aub6,
"L'Eglise et 1'Etat," p. 52 f. (who both,^ maintain the
authenticity).2 My impression has always been that the
"Acta," which are extremely interesting and well deserve
a special publication, are of the fourth century, and pro-
1 " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," n. p. 730 ff.
2 See also Mercati, " Studi et itesti," 5, "Note di letterature biblica e
cristiana antica," xv. pp. 206-26 ; " Un apologia antiellenica sotto forma di
martirio". On the formula "he shall have to reckon with God," see
"Monumenta Ecclesia? liturgica," by Cabrol and Leclerc, 1., "relliq.
liturg.," section I., "relliq. epigraph.," p. 12*, no. 2798.

in the Third Century. 421
bably quite trustworthy in the main outlines, though they
give a later view of the situation.
The discovery of this monument how gives assurance to
the rather bold series of inferences which have been drawn
from the study of the whole group of inscriptions marked
by the concluding formula, that any violator of the grave
¦"shall have to reckon with God". These inferences are
stated at length in the chapter already mentioned.1 Giv,en
on the one hand the narrative of Paul's work founding the
original Churches in the provinces Asia and Phrygia, and
on the other hand their character in the third century, there
stands out the story of an early and forgotten Christian
society, which was destroyed with fire and sword, and
practically extirpated, by Diocletian. Nothing of it has
remained except those epitaphs. It produced no great
writers, whose works might form its memorial. The very
names of its bishops and leaders have perished. Men,
women and children perished, as Eusebius says, " calling
on the God Who is the power over all ".2 The story of the
great central atrocity in the Phrygian churches has been
discredited by some with irrational scepticism. It rests on
the authority of two practically contemporary historians,
Eusebius and Lactantius. They differ only in the slight
detail that Eusebius says an entire city with all its people
was destroyed, while Lactantius states only that the whole
population with their church were destroyed, implying that
they assembled at the church and were burned there. To
one who has by the patient toil of years tracked out those
Christian communities by their formula of appealing to
" the God," it comes as one of those startling and convincing
1 "Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," ch. xn.
2 Eusebius, " Hist. Eccl.," viii. ii. Compare Lactantius, " Inst. Div.,"
v. 11.

422 XXVII. Pauline Churches in. Third Century .
details of real life and truth that the only thing recorded in
history regarding that destroyed people is that they died
" appealing to the God Who is over all ". Unconsciously
Eusebius writes as the epitaph over the ashes of the des
troyed people the thought and almost the very words by
which we have recognized the epitaphs which they used to
place on the graves of their families.1
These are the fruit of Paul's work. They perished and
a different class of Phrygian or Lycaonian Christians suc
ceeded them. The Church was now taken under the pro
tection of the State, and in gratitude to the Constantinian
dynasty condoned and accepted many of the false principles
which were knit into the fabric and constitution of the
Roman Empire. The Pauline Churches were practically
destroyed in central Asia Minor, where they had been
almost universally dominant during the third century
among the population.
Note (p. 412). — The reading which Westcott and Hort
print as secondary, resting on good early authority, must
be preferred in Acts xrv. 21 : ek is omitted before
'Avribxeiav, making Iconium and Antioch a pair of cities in
the same region, while Lystra is kept apart as a city of a
different region. 1 " Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia," 11. p. 507 f.

INDEX

I. New Testament Quota
tions —
Matthew —
i. 18 f., 304, Preface.
ii. 1, 140 f . ; 1, 2 and 9, 302 ; 5 f.,
307.
viii. 4, 310.
xi. 5. 3*°-
xii. 22, 129.
Mark —
i. 22, 167; 34, 131, 310.
iii. 12, 131, 310.
ix. 17, 129.
Luke —
222 I., Preface.
i. 1-3, igg, 238 f.
ii. 1-3, 85, 148, 156, 223 ff. ; 32
and 34 f., 304.
iii. 1 and 2, 245, 275, 2g8 ; 23,
2g5.
iv. 32, 166 f. ; 35 and 41, 131 ; 33
and 41, 310; 36, 128.
ix. 39, I2g.
xxii. 19, 312.
John- Preface.
iv. 6 f., 308 f.
xxi. 25, 310.
Acts —
79 ff.
i.-xii., igg f. ; xiii.-xxi., 85.
i. 6, 147.
ii. 3 f., 126.
v. 12, 200; 36, 258; 37, 228,
238.
vii. 12, 254.
viii. 7, 120 f., 200, 311 ; g. 11,
140, 117 f. ; 13, 144, 164, 165 ;
14 and 25, 211 ; ig, 124 ; 27 f.,
313 f. ; 40, 172.
ix. 32, 211.
x. 30, 218.
xi. 21, 165.

(423)

I. New Testament Quota
tions (continued) —
Acts —
xii., 209 f.
xiii. 6, 132 f., 150 f. ; g, 46 ; 13 f.,
78, 85, gs, 164 f.
xiv. 5, 3g, 41, 43, 53, 56, sg, 78 ;
6 f., 46, 203 ; 9, 95 ; n, 42 ; 12,
48 ; 22, 45 ; 21-3, 412 ; 27, 50.
xv. 3. 4. 12, 50; 39 f., 51.
xvi. 2, 357; 13, 309; 15, 193;
16-18, 136; 33, 193.
xvii. 22. 32, 93, 94, 108 ; 34, 170,
385-
xviii. 7, 88 ; 8, 165 ; 27, 165.
xix. 15, 311 ; 18, 165 ; 28, 118 ;
35. 4°9-
xxi. 15, 83 ; 16, 172 ; 20 and 25,
165.
xxn 13, 137.
xxiii. 2, 89 f. ; 10, 91 ; 28, gi ;
29, 95-
xxiv. 5-6, 95.
xxvii. 207, 312.
xxviii. 14, 44.
Romans —
i. 19 ff., ii. 13-15, viii. 18 ff., 178,
349-
viii., 148 ; 38, 176.
xvi. 23, 88.
1 Corinthians —
viii. 9, 128.
xi. 10, 124.
xii. 2, 142.
xvi. 15, 193, 385 f.
2 Corinthians —
lv. 17, 137.
xi. 25, 83 ; 28, 45.
Galatians —
i. 6, 414.
ii. 3, 142 ; 12, 211.
iv. 12-14, 49 ; 13, 52 ; 15, 84.
v. 21 ; cf. i. 9. 10, 414.

424

Index.

I. New Testament Quota
tions (continued) —
Ephesians —
ii. 2, 176.
iii. 20, 174.
Philippians —
iv. 2, 309; 22, 411.
Colossians —
iv., 212.
1 Thessalonians —
v. 10, 186.
Philemon —
212.
2 Timothy —
iii. 10-12, 412 f.
Revelation —
3°3 f-
xvii. 12, 137.
II. Personal Names and
Books —
Acta Sanctorum, 420.
^schylus, 301.
Akylas, Bishop, 420.
Allard, 420.
Anderson, Mr. J. G. C, 285,
374 f., 420.
Annakos, 58, 76.
Aristides, 118.
Arkwright, 76.
Artemidorus, 78.
Aube, 420.
Avircius Marcellus, 312 f.
Bartlet, Prof., 88, 94.
Blass, Prof., 87, 103, 167, 303.
Blant, E. Le, 108.
Brandis, Dr., 62, 399, 405.
Bruce, A. B., 300, Preface.
Buresch, 118.
Cabrol and Leclerc, 420.
Cagnat, 157, 264.
Calder, Prof., 74, 283, 285, 374 f.
Catullus, 340.
Chamonard, 362.
Charles, Canon, 303.
Chase, Bp., 51.
Cheesman, Mr., 153, 287, 300.
Cicero, 40, 53-4, 60, 63, 103, 396,
402 f.
Clementine-Pseudo, 165.
Clement of Alexandria, 241, 244.
Cumont, 108, 175.
Darenberg and Saglio, 107-8,
314-

II. Personal Names and
Books (continued) —
Deissmann, 115, i7g, 220, 320,
372. 3»4-
Dessau, Prof., 151, 157, 163, 277,
285, 287, 314.
Diels, 408.
Dio Cassius, 396, 404.
Dio Chrys., 406.
Domaszewski, 188, 296-7, 317 f.
Duchesne, Monsignor, 37, 313,
416.
Dumont and Homolle, 264.
Eugenius, Bishop Laod., 417.
Eusebius, 421 f.
Firmilian, 56, 60.
Fustel de Coulanges, 271.
Gardthausen, 63, 232, 240, 282,
2g6.
Goerres, 420.
Gollancz, Prof., I3g.
Gregoire, Prof. H., 37, 416 f.
Grenfell and Hunt, 256.
Groag, Prof. E., 2g6.
Hadrian (Letter of), 115.
Hardy, Prof. Ross, igo.
Harnack, Dr., 77, 121, 200, 213,
420.
Hasluck, Mrs., 373 f.
Hastings' Diet., 311.
Hausrath, 162.
Henzen, icfo-y.
Herzog, 366.
Herodotus, 75.
Hierax, 56, 60.
Hill, G. F., 367.
Holm, 394.
Homer, 75, 84.
Horace, 137, 145, 247, 320 ff., 382.
Hubert, 107, 108, 177.
Hunt, Dr., 256.
Hunter, Mr., 316.
Isaiah, 301, 313.
Joannes of Damascus, 5g.
Josephus, 231, 258, 278.
Justin Martyr, 243.
Juvenal, 161, i6g.
Kaestner, 407.
Keil and Premerstein, 77, 117,
364-
Kennedy, A. R. S., 36g.
Kennedy, H. A. A., 107, 108, 177.
Kiessling, Prof., 327 f.
Knowling, Prof., 88.

Index.

425

II. Personal Names
Books (continued) —

and

Kretschmer, 76 f.
Kubitschek, 158.
Lactantius, 421.
Lambertz, 383.
Legrand and Chamonard, 362.
Liebenam, 394.
Lightfoot, 162 f.
Livy, 402.
Loisy, 174.
Lucian, 106, ill, 113, 117.
Lucretius, 108.
Macdonell, 380.
Mackinlay, 147, 302.
Marquardt, 318, 394 f.
Martial, 161.
Mayor, Prof., 335 f.
Menander, 101.
Mendel, 415.
Mercati, 420.
Meyer- Wendt, 162, 167.
Meyer, P. M., 297.
Migne, 420.
Milford, Mr., I3g.
Milligan, Dr., 264.
Mitteis, 263, 3g4 f.
Moffatt, Prof., 142, 2g7.
Moltke, 65.
Mommsen, 86, g8, 160, 22g f.,
253, 257. 271, 276 f., 286, 295,
318, 394 f., Preface.
Nannakos, see Annakos.
Nicetas Choniata, 82.
Nipperdey-Andresen, 27g.
Ovid, 48.
Pape-Benseler, 104, 365.
Paul of Derbe, 4ig.
Pauly-Wissowa, 3gg, 405, 407.
Pausanias, 3g2.
Philip the Deacon, 313 f.
Pliny, Nat. Hist., 57, 76, 163,
240 f., 3g6.
Pliny, Epist., 169, 394, 395, 406.
Plummer, Dr., 228.
Plutarch, 406.
Pocock, 297.
Premerstein, Ritter von, 77, 117,
364.
Ptolemy, 57.
Puller, Fr., 120 f.
Rackham, Rev. R. B., 167 f.
Radet, 183, 188.
Ramsay, Lady, 285, 313, Pref.
27

II. Personal Names and
Books (continued) —
Ramsay, Miss, 419.
Reitzenstein, log.
Rohden and Dessau, 277.
Rostowzew, igs, 261, 264, 313,
399-
Ruggiero, 297.
Salmon, Dr., 213.
Schofield, Dr., 204.
Schmiedel, Prof., 228, 253, 277.
Schiirer, 300.
Schultze, 149, 372 ; W., 383.
Seneca, 104.
Schaper, 333.
Souter, Prof., 370.
Statius, 97, 101 f., 161.
Steinmann, 388 ff.
Stephanus, Byz., 58 f.
Sterrett, Prof., 193, 290.
Strabo, 55, 57 f., 62, 77, 82, 134,
233, 279, 284, 28g f., 2g2.
Strauss, 253.
Suetonius, 146, 240, 295, 317,
396.
Sundwall, 49.
Tacitus, 146, 161, 162, 168, 240 f.,
247, 278 f., 287, 317, 326, 396,
402 f.
Tertullian, 191, 231, 243 f., 293 f.
Thekla, 45, 89, 133.
Thucydides, 365.
Trophimus Mart., 416 f.
Vaglieri, 297.
Valerius Maximus, 105.
Vinogradoff, 197, 267.
Virgil, 145, 247, 320 ff.
Vopiscus, 115.
Westcott-Hort, 91, 422, Pref.
Wesseling, 48.
Wetstein, 48, 105.
Wiegand, Th., 77, 360.
Wilcken, 78, 225, 234 f., 256 f.,
272 f.
Xenophon, 40, 41, 56, 59, 77.
Zulueta, 267 f.

III. Geographical Names-
Achaia, 385 ff.
Africa, 294.
Akmonia, 342 f.
Alexandria, 259.
Amisos, 395 f., 406 f.
Amphissa, 405.

426

Index.

III. Geographical Names
(continued) —
Anatolia, 3g, 41, 187, ig5 f.
Antioch Pisid., 35, 45, 50, 62, g7,
100, 151 f., 158, ig3, 263, 282 f.,
353 f-. 4°o f-. 412, 422.
Antioch Syr., 220, 263.
Apameia, 44, 320, 364 f.
Apollonia, 44, 62, 193.
Assos, 84.
Athens, 67, 84, 100 f., 385 f.
Attaleia, 288.
Babylonia, 354.
Bethlehem, 225 f., 250, 265, 271 f.,
3°5 f-
Bithynia, 51, 185, 395, 406.
Blaundos, 360 f.
Britain, 263.
Broussa, 415.
Buda-pesth, 269.
Caesarea Capp., 35 ; Caesarea
St rat., 206.
Cappadocia, 48, 86, 133, 192, 404.
Caralis, 284, 289.
Chalcis, 299.
Cilicia, 134, 279, 281, 397.
Claudiconium, 66.
Claudioderbe, 66.
Colossae, 35.
Conium, 57.
Corinth, 98, 385 f.
Crete, 279.
Cyrene, 22g.
Cyprus, 50, 100, 113, 161 £
Cyzicus, 402.
Delphi, 405.
Derbe, 46, 263, 412 f., 422.
Dorylaion, 35, 183, 187 f.
Egypt, 255 f., 346 ; ch. xix., xx.
Elatea, 405.
Eleutherolacones (the), 405.
Ephesus, 54, 67, 97, g8, 100, 113,
135, 182, 408 f.
Galatia, 44, 50-1, 57, 60 f., 86, 152,
157, 182, ig2, 234, 27g, 281 f.,
353 f-. 387, 390, 412 f.
Gaul, 263.
Greece, 262.
Hermus valley, 365.
Hierapolis, 420.
Iconium, 3g, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46,
48, 52 f., 66, g7, 100, 263, 412.
Isauria, 49, 62 f.
Jerusalem, 93, 95, 221.

III. Geographical Names
(continued)— Keramon Agora, 74.
Konia, 68 f.
Kos, 397.
Kuyujak, 187.
Laodicea, 35, 54, 63, 409.
Latium, 44.
Lugudunum, 401.
Lycia, 44, 3go, 404.
Lycaonia, 3g, 40, 42, 4s, 46, 48,
52 f., 28g, 412.
Lydia, 44.
Lycus, 409.
Lystra, 3g, 42, 45, 46-g, 63, 97,
203, 280, 28g, 412, 422.
Macedonia, 187, 402, 404, 408.
Massalia, 402.
Mesembria, 264.
Mopsouestia, 3g7.
Mothone, 405.
Mygdonia, 61, 300.
Nakoleia, 186.
Nazareth, 250, 264.
Naples, 101.
Nicopolis, 405.
Olbasa, 288.
Orkaorkoi, 58.
Ozolian Locrians (the), 405.
Pale, 405.
Palestine, gs, 221, 250, 262 f.
Pallantion, 405.
Pamphylia, 50, 404.
Paphlagonia, 2g4.
Paphos, 113, 135, 386.
Parlais, 288.
Patrae, 402, 405.
Perga, 288.
Pessinus, 51.
Pharsalus, 405.
Philippi, g7, g8, 100, 113, 187,
309, 353. 386.
Philomelium, 54.
Phrygia, 40, 43, 48, 32 f., 163,
185, 187, 188, ig8, 247, 263,
2g2, 300. 313. 354 f-, 412. 415
(Pacatiana).
Pitnissos, 58.
Pisidia, ig, 57, 61 f., 2g2.
Plataea, 405.
Pontus, 51.
Rome, 66, 2g6, 320 ff., 357.
Sagalassos, 397.
Saghir, 193.

Index.

427

III. Geographical Names
(continued) —
Sala, 366.
Samaria, 113, 117 f., 308.
Sardis, 74, 77.
Smyrna, 397, 400 f., 407.
Sparta, 405.
Surrentum, 347.
Sychar, 308.
Synnada, 415.
Syria, 134, 22s f., 233. 252. 275 f-.
353 f-. 4°8.
Tanagra, 405.
Tarsus, 54, 134, 263, 357, 397,
408.

III. Geographical Names
(continued) —
Tatta, 58.
Taurus, 281, 290.
Thespiai, 405.
Thessalonica, 97, 98, 402.
Thessaly, 405.
Thrace, 262, 264.
Thyatira, 360.
Troas, 84.
Trogitis, 284, 289.
Turkey, 270.
Tyana, 48.
Tyriaion, 48.
Ushak, 358 f.