2. When Christianity was first proclaimed in the Jewish quarter, Rome with its environa had far outgrown the old walls of Servius Tullius, and con- tained a population probably of IJ millions (Fried- liinder, i. 23 ; Champagny, Lcs Cwsars, iv. 347-353 ; Kenan, p. 53. Merivale, Hist, of the RoDians, v. 58, estimates it at 700,000). Lauded by poets and orators as ' the queen of cities,' ' the home of the gods,' 'golden Rome,' ' the epitome of the world,' Rome even at the beginning of the Christian era was impressive mainly by reason of its great ex- tent, and not in virtue of any distinctive beauty or grandeur. The movement begun by Augustus to make Rome worthy of the majesty of the empire, led to great changes, and to the building of many palatial mansions, of ornate temples {e.g. the Pantheon and the Temple of Apollo), and large basilicas for the transacting of banking and law, notably the Basilica Julia in the Forum com- menced by Julius and completed by Augustus. Great aqueducts are associated with the names of Agrippa and the emperor Claudius, bringing the water then as now chiefly from tlie hills of Alba Longa, and making possible the life that centred around the thcrmcB, corresponding very closely to the club life of our own day. To what an extent this afterwards developed may be seen from the imposing remains of the Baths of Caracalla and of Diocletian. The patrician's day was divided be- tween the forum and the thrrmw. The I'^rum was now embellished on all sides ; the Triumphal Arch of Tiberius spanned the lower part of the ascent to the Capitol ; the palace of the Ca'sars on the Palatine, ' wnth gilded battlements, conspicuous far,' looked worthy of an imperial city (see Meri- vale, V. 18-48 ; Conybearo and Ilowson, St. Paul, ii. 449-^54). But notwithstanding all tlie changes that had been ellecled, down even to the great lire in A.D. 64, in the reign of Nero, Rome was built on no regular plan ; its streets were narrow and dirty, the houses, several storeys high, were flimsily buut
• Two of the catacombs arc exclusively Jewish. One was dis- covered by L'.osio on Monte Verde, and containi-d many Bla>»s with the seven-branched candlestick inscribed, ond one on which the word CYNAfOOr was jilninly lepible. The other waa dls covered In 1S69 In the Villa "lUndanini on the Appian Way, about 2 miles out of Rome (see CimUero dnili antteJii Ebrei, illuslrato da KalToele Oarucci, Roma, 1802). In It the candle. slick, the dove, the olive branch and the dove are the favourite emblems. Many of the Inscriptions have been removed to the I^ateran Museum. There Is no authority for tlie statement, sometimes made, that the Colosseuni was erect«d by forced Jewish labour.
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ROME
ROME
and often tumbling dow-n. 'The vici,' says Men- vale, ' were no better than lanes or alleys, and tliere were only two via?, or paved ways, tit for the trans- port of heavy carriages, the Sacra and the Nova, in the central parts of the city.' ( For a vivid picture of the shops and streets, see Martial, vii. 61). It was desolated by frequent hres ; it was subject to earthquakes and inundations ; fever, as was plainly indicated by the many altars dedicated to it, was never absent ; the unhealtliiness of the site mani- fested itself ill the unhealthy pallor of the in- habitants. Yet from the vastness of its extent, the density of its crowds representative of every nationality, religion, and race, from its being the natural treasure-house of all that was valuable and curious in the empire, from its being the centre of political and intellectual life, from the elaborate amusements pro\aded gratuitously for the inhabitants, it fascinated and drew to itself patriots as well as adventurers of all types. ' The rich man went to Rome to enjoy himselt, the poor to beg; the new citizen to give his vote, the citizen who had been dispossessed to reclaim his rights.' The rhetorician from Asia, the Greek philosopher, the ChaldiBan astrologer, the nia§:ician from Egypt, the begging priest of Isis, all jostled each other in the struggle for existence m the metropolis (Champagny, L 41 ; Strabo, V. iii. 8). The picture of Milton {PR iv. 36-68) furnishes a vivid if idealized representation of Rome as it would appear to St. Paul and his fellow-travellers as they came along the Via Appia from Puteoli (Pozzuoli), and passing tlirough the Market of Appius and tlie Three Taverns (both as yet unidentified) entered the city through the Porta Capena, the Dripping Gate (,1/'-, ikla) of Martial and Juvenal (long since closed, but whose position was determined by the dis- covery in 1584 of the first milestone of the Via Ajipia, and since then confirmed by the discovery of tlie walls of the gate). These may now be seen in the cellar of the Osteria della Porta Capena. All Rome is historic ground and of special interest to the student of NT times, for the places associated with the names of the apostles and their friends and converts are in many instances still to be seen, in some few cases unchanged since apostolic times. They will be treated of under the respective names. 3. When and by whom the gospel was first pro- claimed in Rome is uncertain. As sojourners from Rome were in Jems, on the day of Pentecost, some of them may have been among the 3000 converts (Ac G'"- •"). St. Paul refers to Romans who were in Christ before him (Ro 16'). Many of the Jews who had been banished by the edict of Claudius were brouglit under the influence of St. Paul, and on returning to Rome swelled the ranks of the missionaries and converts there (Ac IS--'-'*, Ro Ig3-7.9.i2) Prisca and Aqnila should be specially noted in this connexion. In A.D. 59 (or 58), when the Ep. to the Romans was WTitten, there was in existence a strong Church, partly composed of Jews, partly of Gentiles. St. Paul hail for many years cherished a strong desire and resolution to see Rome (Ac 19=' 25", Ro l"'"). From the time of the Second Missionary Journey it had been quite clear to him that his mission was to the Roman Empire qita Empire, and all his subsequent move- ments are governed by this dominant idea. Hence he goes to Ephesus, the door of the East toward the West, afterwards to Rome, and we find him purposing to visit Spain, the great province of the West. There is much plausibility in the view that his pu/pose in appealing to Cte.sar was to gain recognition for Christianity as a religio Ikita (cf. Ranisay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 308) : and he apparently succeeded for the time being, for after hi? first trial the emperoc left Jews and Christians in peace.