0)5 av eK<f)ol3oiixL r/xa?, tonquam vellm vos terrere^ which agrees with our translation. These particles serve to soften the ex- pression, and are equivalent to as if perhaps^ or, so to sjyeaJt'. There is evident allusion to the false representations made by the false teachers, that Paul wrote in the authoritative tone which he assumed merely to frighten his readers, having neither the power nor the purpose to carry his threats into execution. By letters^ or, hy the letters^ i. e. the letters which he had already written or intended to write.
10. Por (his) letters, say they, (are) weighty and powerful ; but (his) bodily presence (is) weak, and (his) speech contemptible.
There was reason for his not wishing to appear as assum- ing a tone of threatening in his letters, for this was the very reproach cast upon him. His letters^ they say, {4>'n^^-, here, as often, used impersonally, ' one says,' sagt man,) are iceighty (/Sapelai, i. e. impressive) and ptowerful, (laxvpat,) including the ideas of vigour, authority and severity. But his bodily 2)res- ence is iceah. This passage, probably more than any other, has given rise to the impression, in accordance with a tradi- tion neither very ancient nor well sustained, that Paul was small in stature, weak and unattractive in his personal appear- ance. The words here used, howev'er, even supposing that this language of his enemies expressed the truth, do not neces- sarily imjoly this. The phrase r] irapova-ia tov crco/xarog probably refers not to his personal appearance, but to his deportment. He wrote boldly, but acted teebly. There was not that ener- gy and decision in his acts which one would expect from his language. This was the representation of his enemies ; the truth of which, however, the apostle denies. The same re- mark applies to the next clause, his speech contemptible. This does not refer to feebleness of voice, but to the impression made by his oral instructions and addresses. He dared not assume any such authority in speaking to the people that he did in Avriting to them. The whole history of the apostle, his unceasing labours, his constant journeyings, his innumerable suflerings which he sustained so heroically, prove that he was not physically a man of feeble constitution. And his own declarations, as well as his clearly revealed character, prove that there was no such want of correspondence between his