Venetian map soon after
Three points require final consideration : (1) The title and position of ‘Publius.’ If Malta was by this time enfranchized, the πρῶτος may have been a semi-official position corresponding to that of the princeps alain at Pisz (see Woolsey, quoted by Hackett, in loc.). Otherwise he might be the legate of the Ba) ae of Sicily (Cicero, in Verr. IV. xviii.). radition, supported by excavations, we the Rom. governor’s house at Citta-Vecchia.
ut Playfair mentions the ruins of an important house, now covered up for protection, apparently near the Church of St. Paul ad mare, certainly on the east side of St. Paul’s Bay.
(2) Malta has now no venomous snakes; but the increase of population and cultivation may well have killed thant out. Venomous snakes, again, do not hang on after biting. The smooth snake (Coronella levis) is said to do so (Tristram), but it is not venomous. But to peasant-folk all reptiles, even lizards, are venomous.
(3) A question of more far-reaching interest is the history of the local tradition, which modern research so remarkably confirms, of the site of St. Paul’s shipwreck. Apart from the variation above mentioned as to the side of the bay. the general accuracy of the tradition is remarkable. ow did it originate? Have we here a unique instance of local tradition remounting to the actual landing of St. Paul, or the happy conjecture of a later date, which fixed upon a Likely spot near at hand to the capital? The matter cannot be settled with our present knowledge. All one can say is, that the tradition was clearly old when the first maps of Malta were made (after 1530). Before that time no writer appears to allude to the place; but Quintinus (see above) and Fazelli (about 1555) both take its identity for granted. The Church of St. Paul ad mare was rebuilt in 1610 by the Grand Master Vignacourt, who also built the neighbouring Torre diS. Paulo. The statue of St. Paul which crowns the isle of Selmun is modern (1845).
The first known bishop of Malta (the Episcopate of Publius is assumed in the Roman Martyrolo with no known evidence) is Acacius, at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. But Caruana claims the existence of Christian area era and inscrip- tions as early as the 2nd cent. This makes it just credible that there may have been a continuous Christian tradition in Malta since St. Paul’s days. But if the gospel were reintroduced at a later date, tae mention of Melita (Ac 28") would lead to
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with St. Paul, including the cave where he lodged during his sojourn. And the foundation of a Church of St. Paul ad mare in the neighbourhood of the capital, the original centre of tradition, would be natural.
LireraTuRE.—The ancient commentaries on the Acts contain nothing bearing on the question. Oecumenius in his summary of St. Paul’s journeys (Migne, Pat. Gr. cxviii. 312D) does not mention Melita by name. The ancient map reproduced above was published at Venice by ‘D. B.’ Another by Battista Agnese (Ven. 1554) is similar in treatment, but marks ‘Cala de 8. Paulo’ at Koura Head. A similar map was published at Rome in 1551. Other maps published (at Rome and Nurnberg) in 1565 have also been consulted. Quintinus’ Descriptio Melite
533) is feat in P. Burmann’s aurus, xv. 110. Fazelli,
rebus Siculis, ed. by D. Vito e Statella (Catan. 1749), 1, 16, 27 (sensible refutation of Dalmatian theory. Refers to virtue of stone from St. Paul’s cave against snake-bite, immunity of persons born in any country on Conversion of St. Paul, Jan. 25, etc.); Descripgao da Famoza Itha de Malta (Lisbon, 1761), Part I. based on Fazelli; Historisch-Geographische Beschreitung M.'s (Frankf. 1782), unimportant; (0. Bres] Recherches His- toriques, etc., sur Malte (Paris, An. vii., te. 1798), anonymously ; Onorato Bres, Malta Antica Ilustrata (Rome, 1816, dedicated to the Prince eget) zene Const. Porphyr. (supra) and Don Ignazio Georgi, the Benedictine of Ragusa, the chief modern
vocate of the Dalmatian theory (1730). Bres is worth con: sulting. Mitge, Histoire de Malte (Paris, 1840), 2, 15ff., formerly French consul at Malta, no topographical references, but argues against continuous Christian Church in M. from time of St. Paul. Neueste 7 von Malta (Ronneburg and Leipzig, 1800); Playfair (Sir R. L.) (Murray’s], Mediter- ranean (Lond. 1890), very useful ; Porter, Hist. of the Knights of M. (Lond. 1858), for the later nistorye See also Sicilia Sacra, ii. 900-928 ; Ferres, Descriz. storica delle Chiese di M.e Gozzo; Saint Pres, M. par un Voyageur Frangais; W. M. Ramsay, Expositor (5th Ser.), vi. 154, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 314 ff. ; Caruana, Reports on Phan. and Rom. Antiquities in M. (1881 and 1882); James Smith, Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul (1866), very important; Con. and Howson, St. Paul, vol. ii. (most useful). ‘Malta’ in Ency. Brit. by Miss L. Toulmin Smith; also Smith's Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Geog., both with fuller reff. to Literature. A. ROBERTSON.
MELONS (ona ’abattihim, réroves, pepones).— The cognate name bottikh in Arab.=melon, with the testimony of the ancient VSS, leaves no reason to doubt the identity of the fruit mentioned (Nu 11°) along with cucumbers, leeks, onions, and garlic. The term in Arab. is generic. It includes all the varieties of cucurbitaceous fruits known as water-melons, bottikh akhdar=‘ green melon,’ and cantelopes or muskmelons, bottikh asfar=‘ yellow melon.’ Melons of excellent quality (under the name of battikh or bittikh) are still produced in Egypt, and their succulent pulp was remembered with great regret by the Israelites in the burning sands of the Desert of the Wandering. Had their faith or their knowledge been greater, they needed not to sin by their impatient expressions of long- ing, for Palestine and Syria produce melons no less renowned for their excellence than those of Egypt. The water-melons of Jaffa are specially ἘΣ ᾿ their luscious pulp. Those οἵ Hems and Lattakia, where the fruit is called yabas, are also of very fine quality. Melon patchesare to be seen everywhere, often on the driest of hillsides. The vine has the power of extracting moisture from a soil which appears entirely parched and barren. The fruit is very cheap, and forms an important part of the diet of the poorer classes, but is equally enjoyed by the rich in Bible lands. During the season long trains of camels and donkeys transport melons from place to place, and boat-loads are constantly entering the seaports. G. E. Post.