' The newly-founded towns remained indeed unimportant, but still notably restricted the field of the free inhabitants of the mountains, and general peace must at lengtfi have made its triumplial entrance also here' (T. Momnisen, The I'roi'incea (if the Roman Empire-, Eng. tr., 19U9, i. 337).
240
PIT
PITY, COMPASSION
In St. Paul's time Pisidia formed part of the province of Galatia. In his first missionary journey he traversed this wildly picturesque rcKion (Ac 13'''), then comparatively settled, but still by no means free from 'perils of robbers' (see 2 Co 11-™). His route through it can only be conjectured. Conybeare and Howson (The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, new ed., 1877, i. 204) think that he chose tlie steep pass leading from Attalia to Lake Ascania [Buldur Gbl). W. M. Ramsay (TIte Church in the lioman Empire, 1893, p. 19) holds that ' the natural, easy, and direct course is along one of the eastern tributaries of the Cestrus to Adada.' On the return journey St. Paul and Barnabas 'passed through Pisidia' (SieKBSvTe^ Tr)i> Y[i.<nSlav, Ac H"), a phrase which, according to Ramsay, implies that some missionary work was attenijited on the way. But it must have been diliicult to get into touch with mountain tribes who did not know the Greek language, and apparently no church was founded in this part of Roman Galatia till a much later date. Yet a trace of the journej- seems to be found in the name of Kara Bavlo — the modern equivalent of ' Paul ' — which is borne by the ruins of Adada. It is im- possible to decide whether the name is based upon a genuine tradition or is merely a conjecture hazarded after the town was Christianized, but the latter supposition is perhaps the more likely. In a forest about 1 mile S. of Adada stand the ruins of a church of early date. The modern town, 5 miles S. of the ancient site, is also called Bavlo.
In A.D. 74 Vespasian transferred a great part of Pisidia to the new double province of Lycia- Pamphylia. The name Pisidia was gradually extended northward till it included most of Southern Phrygia. Thus Antioch, which in St. Paul's time was not strictly ' Pisidian ' (though St. Luke so describes it in Ac 13") but only 'Antioch towards Pisidia' ('Ai/Ttdxeta, 17 ^/jis IltcriSi? [Strabo, XII. viii. 14]), was at a later time correctly designated ' Antioch of Pisidia ' (TTj^ ilio-idtai ; so the TR of Ac 13", following the Codex Bezre, which reflects the usage of the 2nd century).
The mountainous parts of the country are to- day inhabited by Karamanians who are as wild and rapacious as the Pisidians of two thousand years ago.
LlTERATPRB. — C. Lanckoronski, Les Villes cU la Pamphj/lie et de la Pisidie, 18fl0 ; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire^, 1897, p. 18 ff. JaMES STEAHAN.
PIT.— See Abyss.
PITY, COMPASSION The noun 'pity' occurs
only once in the AV of the NT (Mt IS^^, RV 'mercy'), and once in RV (Ja 5"). The adjective ' pitiful ' occurs in AV ( Ja 5" and 1 P S^, RV 'tender-hearted'). The Greek equivalents for these words are iXeelv (iXeav), eOatrXayx'"'^! iroXu- <r?r\ci7X'''"- The word ' compassion ' is of much more frequent occurrence, being represented in the following 21 passages of the two versions : Mt 9^* 14" 153- 18=^ 20^*, Mk 1" 5'» (RV ' mercy ') 6*" S' Q"-\ Lk 7'= 10« 15™, Ro 9", Pii 2> (AV 'mercies'), Col 3>-(AV 'mercies'). He 5- (RV 'bear gently') 10=" ( AV ' mercy ') W\ 1 Jn 3" (AV ' bowels'), Jude '' (RV 'mercy'). The adjective form 'compassion- ate ' occurs in 1 P 3* ( AV ' having compassion '). The Greek words corresponding to these are airXdyxva, airXayxvi^^aBaL, oiKTcipetv, olKTip/ji.6s, iXeetf (iXeav), cri//t7ra9ijs, fitrpLOiraSdv. It should be noted that the noun inr\dyx''a is found in the original with ditl'erent translations in the following cases : Lk 1™ {'tender mercy'), 2 Co 6'= (AV 'bowels,' RV ' aiiections '), Ph l^ (AV ' bowels,' RV ' tender
mercies'), Philem '■ "s- » (AV 'bowels,' RV ' heart '). The noun oUrip/iSt occurs in Ro 12' ('mercies'), 2 Co I' ('mercies'), the adjective olKTlpiiwi' in Ja 5" (RV 'merciful,' AV 'of tender mercy '). iXcfTf and fXeos occur numerous times with the standing translation ' to have mercy,' ' mercy.' avixiraBuv occui's in He4" (' to be touched with the feeling of).
Of these several Greek words ixeTpiovaBeiv may be left out of account, since in the one passage where it occurs (He 5-) it has nothing to do with compassion. It signifies literally 'to have a medium-emotion.' While this may be in contrast to utter lack of sympathy, the context in our passage compels us to understand it in contrast to excess of indignation against sin. Hence RV^ has the correct rendering ' who can bear gently,' whereas AV, ' who can have compassion,' trans- lates the word as if it were equivalent to
(XVixwadeXv.
The other words are distinguished in their mean- ing as follows: ffir\ayx''^i'«'Sai is from aTr\dyx''''.= the viscera nobilia of the chest (heart, lungs, liver, spleen). This word denoted in classical Greek the seat of all violent passions, and the passions tliem- selves, but the Hebrew D'pqi for which the LXX (7Tr\dyx''a is the equivalent, stands only sensu bono for the seat of the tender attections and then for the affections themselves. Both in classical and in biblical Greek, therefore, i7jrXd7xi'a covers more than 'compassion.' Tittmann {cle Synonymis in Novo Tesiamento, p. 68) is quite correct in claim- ing this wider sense for Lk 1"* and Col 3'-, where airXayx"". is the generic concept, which is more speciiically determined by the genitives iXiovs and oUrlpfiai'. We may add Ph 2', where trirXdyxva and oiKTip/iol are co-ordinated ('bowels and mercies'). ff7rXd7x™ is also used in a general sense in 2 Co 6'- 7'^ Philem '-i^-so. The verb ffirXayxfl^eireat seems to be a coinage of the later Greek. It does not even occur in the LXX except in the active form ffirXayx'-il^eiy in 2 Mac 6* = 'to eat the in- wards.' Its specific sense in the NT is that of a strong inward movement of sympathetic feeling aroused by the sight of misery. The notion of intentness upon attbrding relief remains in the background, much more so than in iXcciv. From this strong emotional colouring of the word is to be explained the fact that in the Gospels it does not occur in the appeals addressed by suffering persons or their friends to Jesus, except in Mk 9--, where the critical nature of the case necessitates an appeal to the profoundest compassion of Jesus. In ordinary cases the appeal naturally employs the word in which the impulse to help is most clearly connoted, and this is iXeeiv. To express the strength and inward character of the feeling the English versions often render ' to be moved with compassion,' but neither AV nor RV con- sistently (cf. the two versions in Mt 20** and Mk 6**). The verb is predicated both of God (Jesus) and of man. Its object is not merely physical but also spiritual distress (cf. Mk 6*", Mt 9« with 14"). 'EXceif and fXeos are distinguislied from cr7rXaTX'''s'- ca-eai by the implication of the intent to help. The same difference exists between iXeeiv and oUTelpciv, the latter being the word that in classical Greek comes closest to avXayxvlieaBai. So far as the ele- ment of feeling is concerned, both aTrXayx'l-io^Sai. and olKTeipeiv are stronger words than iXeeii'. olKTelpeiv is connected with of and oTktos and de- notes such sympathetic feeling as seeks expression in tears and lamentation. On the other hand, eXeeii', being connected with i'Xaos, lXd<TKe(r6at, is the stronger word, so far as the impulse and readi- ness to afford relief require expression. A criminal begs Acos of his judge, whereas hopeless suffering can be the object of oUnpiibt (cf. Grimm-Thayer",