In 146 B.C. Macedonia received a provincial organization, and Thcssalonica was made the scat of government. Including part of lllyria as well as Tliessaly, the jnovince extended from the Adriatic to the .-Egean, and was traversed by the Via Eqnatia, which joined Dyrrhachium and Apol- lonia in the We.st with Amphipolis and another Apollonia in the East. ,\ugustus made it a sena- torial province in 27 li.C, 'I'ibcrius an lm|]erial in A.D. 15, and Claiulius rcstoreil it to the senate in A.D. 44. In St. Paul's time it wjis therefore governed by a proconsul of praetorian rank.
In the Acts and the Epistles Macedonia is often linked with Achaia (Ac 19»', Ko 15™, 2 Co 9-, 1 Th l'-'), and as the latter term can denote only the province, it is natural to suppose that Maccdoni.i has also its olhoial Roman meaning. St. Paul's entry into Europe was occasioned by the vision of 'a man of Macedonia' (.Ac 10"). Ramsay (.S'<. Paul, 1895, p. '20211'.) has hazardcci the suggestion that this man was no other than the historian of the Acts; in which case the night vision would doubtless be preceded and followed by substantial arguments by day. The theory is supposed to account for the abundance of detail, as well as tlie apparent Ij' keen personal interest, with which St. Luke tells this part of his story. He seems to ' hurry breathlessly over wide tracts of Asia Minor.
MADIAX
MAIJCE
until he gets St. Paul down to Troas and across the yEgean (Ac 10'"")i after which his style of narration at once heconies leisnrrly and exjiansive (see Luke). St. Paul founded Macedonian cliurches in Philippi, Beroea, and Thessalonica ; to two of them he wrote letters that are extant ; and all of them were consjiicuons for their loyalty to, and all'ection for, their founder. He had hajipy memo- ries of ' the grace of God in tlie rhurche.s of Mace- donia' (2 Co 8') and of 'all tlie bretliren in all Macedonia' (1 Th 4'°). He loved to re-visit his lirst European mission-field (Ac 19-' 20i-', 1 Co 1G», 2 Co 1=" 2" 7" 81 9-<), and among other 'men of Macedonia' who aided an<l cheered him were Gains and Aristarchus (Ac 19-'"), Secundus of Tlies- salonica (20*), Sopater of Beroea (2U*), and Epaphro- ditus of Philippi (Pli 2-'). One of the most re- markable features of all the churches of Jlace- donia was the ministry of women, on which see J. B. Lightfoot, PlLilippians*, 1878, p. 56.
James Strahan. MADIAN.— See Midian.
MAGIC— See Divination.
MAGISTRATE — The word 'magistrates' in tlie NT is as a rule a translation either of the abstract word a! dpx"' (literally 'the authorities'), as in Lk 12", Tit 3', or of the cognate word, originally a participle, ol dpxovTes. The former term is the more general of the two, but an examination of the two passages suggests that dpxai is an allusion to magistrates, while i^omlat is rather a reference to governors, if indeed we can distinguish words which had long been used by Greek-speaking Jews of the world ot spirits. There is less doubt about the other equivalent, &pxovTei, which occurs in the singular in Lk 12^*, where the reference is clearly to two litigants going before a magistrate (corre- sponding to the English alderman and the Scottish bailie) in a civil case (a comparison with || Mt 5-*'- will show that Luke is more explicit).
The variety of magistrates tliroughout the Roman Empire was infinite. In Rome the magis- trates were called jjrcetores (see art. PEjETOR). Throughout the Italian and Western communities generally the city-constitution approximated to that of Rome. In colonke it was a copy as nearly as possible. The names by which tlie magistrates were called varied. For example, at Arretium in Etruria (Persius, Sat. i. 130) and at Ulubrie in Latium (Juvenal, Sat. x. 102) they were called mdiles ; an inscription at the latter place mentions also a praefectzis iure dicundo, a special com- missioner sent from Rome to try cases (see Mayor's note). At other places they were called prm'tores (cf. below), the original name of the consuls at Rome, e.g. at Fundi in Latium. (Horace [Sat. I. v. 34-36] mocks at the consequential airs and dress of one of them.) In yet other eases they were known as duo iiiri (ediles, with duo viri inre dicundo forming a board of four. They held office for one year. The competence of such magistrates was strictly defined, and higher cases were sent to Rome for trial. So in the provinces the governor had to try the most important cases, botli civil and criminal, while ordinary cases were doubtless left to the judicial machinery already in existence in the province. The Romans commonly left tlie system current already in each country, unless it was radically bad.
St. Luke is an authority of primary value for the jurisdiction of magistrates in an Eastern town. From him we learn that in Philippi, a colonia, they were called crpaTtiyol (an exact translation oi prcetores). They unknowingly transgressed the law in flogging the two Roman citizens, St. Paul and Silas, without trial. Their chagiin was all
the greater as they prided themselves on theii true Roman spirit. At Thessalonica St. Luke's accuracy is particularly evident, as there he applies to the magistrates a title comparatively rare throughout the Gricco-Roman world, but attested for Thessalonica by a number of inscriptions — the t\l\<i politnrchs (TroXiT-dpxai, Ac 17""'); this title occurs also in Egypt. At Thessalonica the rabble were hostile to the new religion, but the politarchs and the better-educated classes generally looked upon it with more favour (see also AUTUOlilTIES, Roman Empirk, Town-Clerk, etc.).