When one keeps this principle clearly in mind, the interpretation of Clem. Rom. i. 5 becomes evident and certain. Clement says of St. Paul that ‘after he had preached in the East and in the West, he won the noble renown which was the reward of his faith, having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and having reached the furthest bounds of the West.’ If Clement had caught the least spark of the Pauline and the Roman spirit and thought, he could not have called Rome (as some modern scholars maintain that he did)* ‘the goal of the West’ or ‘his limit towards the West,’ 7d répua ris Sicews ; and Light-
* It is, of course, necessary for those who believe that St. Paul was put to death at the conclusion of the two years’ imprison-
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foot has rightly expressed the general Roman point of view in that age, which looked on Rome as the centre of empire, not as its limit, nor as belonging to the Western part of the Empire.
ii, SEASONS AND ROUTES OPEN FOR TRAVEL- LING. — The route of communication was not always the same throughout the whole year. When the crossing of any considerable stretch of sea formed an essential part of a line of com- munication, the route in question was closed almost completely during a considerable part of the year. The times were stated by the ancients themselves as follows:—The sea was closed from 10 November to 10 March; but perfectly safe navigation was only between 26 May and 14 Sep- tember,* while there were two doubtful periods 11 Mar.-26 May, and 15 Sept.-10 Nov., when mer- chants might risk sailing, but fleets of war vessels were loath to do so.
It is not the case that the closure was absolute. In case of necessity or urgency a voyage was at times attempted in the season when navigation was closed. Julius Czeesar’s army crossed from Brundisium to Epirus during Nov. 49,}+ and Pom- pey’s army had crossed similarly in Jan. 49. +
Again, Claudius proposed great inducements to traders who carried corn to Italy during the winter, guaranteeing a certain rate of profit, and insuring them against loss of their vessels by storm. His proposal probably applied chiefly to the short voyages from Sardinia and Africa, in which it was possible to watch an opportunity for a less dangerous voyage even in the stormy season ; but, in the long voyage from Alexandria, such waiting upon opportunities would be a much more serious matter. See Suet. Claud. 18.
When Flaccus was recalled from the government of Egypt, early in October A.D. 38, he sailed im- mediately, and had much stormy weather at sea; but Philo (in Flac, 13-15) gives no information as to the route. Shortly afterwards Philo and four other envoys sailed from Alexandria, in urgent need, to present a petition to Caligula: their route also is not recorded, and the length of their voyage is uncertain ; but they were in Rome in the spring of A.D. 39, and had an audience there of the Emperor ; and Philo refers in feeling terms to their troubles on the sea.§ In both cases we need not doubt that the ships sailed along the coast, accord- ing to the opportunities of getting on from point to point.
But only the exigencies of government service, or of urgent religious and national duty (and to the ancients national duty was necessarily a matter of religion, for patriotism was a religious idea), would cause such winter voyages. Doubtless, Philo and the other four envoys had to pay largely to induce any ship to sail after 11 November. In ordinary circumstances the regular course was to lay up at the beginning of winter and wait for
ment in which he wrote Colossians and Philemon, to force this unnatural meaning on the plain words of Clement—words which no person at that time could have misunderstood. Only aloofness from the spirit of the first century makes it possible to doubt as to the meaning.
* Secura navigatio, Vegetius, iv. 39, v. 9; statos cestivis Slatibus dies et certa maris, Tacitus, Hist. iv. 81.
+ Nominally, Jan. 48 in the unreformed old calendar (which was 67 days wrong in B.c. 47).
{ Nominally, March a.p. 49. When the old calendar differed by two months from the true calendar, obviously the rules could not be calculated by the days of the existing calendar, but by the stars.
§ They sailed wévov yeiudivos ; but this phrase cannot be pressed to mean about the winter solstice : it might mean only ‘in full winter,’ as distinguished from Flaccus’ departure opxoneévov xsavos in October, The Jewish envoys had every reason to hurry after him in order to present their case to Caligula. Moreover, they sailed at no great interval after Agrippa had visited Alexandria in July or early August 38 (Philo, in Flac. 16, de Leg. 28). Their voyage probably began not later than
November, perhaps already in October.
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spring. Thus Horace speaks (Od. iii. 7. 5) of Gyges as returning from Bithynia, but detained at Oricum in Epirus until spring returned and the Adriatic was open; and of another Roman sailor waiting (probably in Syria, Od. iv. 5. 9)* till spring returned and he could cross the Carpathian Sea (the sea near Rhodes).