As contirmatory of this have been adduced the two other facts above referred to as mentioned in the epis- tle itself, viz. the visit of Apollos to Crete, and Paul's in- tention to winter at Nicopolis. From Acts xix, 1 we learn that during the time Apollos was residing at Cor- inth, whence he had gone from Ephesus, Paul was en-
gaged in a tour through the upper coasts (viz. Phrygia and (Jalatia; comp. Acts xviii, 23), which ended in his return to Ephesus. This tour was commenced after the apostle had been at Jerusalem and Antioch (ver. 22). It appears, therefore, that Paul left Antioch much about the same time that Apollos reached Corinth. But Apol- los went to Corinth from Ephesus, Paul went to Jerusa- lem from Ephesus. At this city, therefore, they may have met; and before leaving it Paul perhaps wrote this e]iistle, and gave it to Apollos to deliver to Titus at Crete, on his way to Corinth.
Further, Paid went up to Jerusalem to keep the feast ; after which he visited Antioch, and then travelled for some considerable time in Upper Asia. He, therefore, is supposed to have spent the winter somewhere in Asia Minor. (On the contrary, he seems to have rapidly passed through that region.) Now there was a town named Nicopolis, between Antioch and Tarsus, near to which, if not through which, Paul must pass on his way from Antioch to Galatia (Strabo, xiv, 4G5, ed. Casaubon, fol. 1587). May not this have been the very jilace re- ferred to in Tit. iii, 12? In such a locality it was quite natural for Paul to desire to spend the winter; and as Titus was a native of Asia, it would be well known to him, especially if he knew what route the apostle de- signed to pursue. All this, it is held, supports the hy- pothesis that Paul wrote this epistle befure leaving Ephesus to go to Syria.
Another circumstance alleged in favor of this hypoth- esis is the close resemblance in sentiment and phraseol- ogy between this epistle and the first Epistle to Timo- thy. This resemblance is so close, and in some partic- ulars so peculiar, that we are naturally led to conclude that both must have been written while the same lead- ing ideas and forms of expression were occupying the apostle's mind. Now the First Epistle to Timothy is held by the maintainers of this theory to have been written after Paul had left Ephesus the second time to go into Macedonia, that is, about two years and a half after the period when Hug supposes the Epistle to Titus to have been written. To some this may appear too long a time to justify any stress being laid upon the similarity of the two epistles in this question of their respective dates; but when it is remembered that during the interval Paul had been dealing at E|)hesus with very much the same class fif persons, to whom a great, part of both epistles refer, and that both are addressed to persons bidding the same peculiar office, the force of this objection will be weakened.
Against this date, on the contrary, may jnstly be adduced the many precarious, and (as above seen) some positively inaccurate, assumptions necessary to its sup- port. The main objection, however, is the exceeding improbability that Paul, while on his way from Cor- inth to Palestine, which he was in haste to reach by a given day (Acts xviii, 18, 20, 21), could have found time to stop at Crete, found numerous churches there (Tit. i, 5), and leave Titus in charge of them. Nor have we any evidence that on the voyage in question Paul was accompanied by Titus; nor yet that tlic indi- viduals mentioned in iii, 12, 13, were at that time so lo- cated with reference to Paul and Titus. For these and other reasons, this hy])othesis must be discarded as too problematical throughout.
3. As to the time and place and other circumstances of the writing of this epistle, the following s^'heme of filling up Paul's movements after his first imprisonment will satisfy all the conditions of the case : We maj' sup- pose him (possibly after accomplishing his long-project- ed visit to Spain) to have gone to I^ihestis, and taken voyages from thence, first to JNIacedoiiia and then to Crete; during the former to have written the First Epis- tle to Timothy, and after returning from the latter to have written the Epistle to Titus, being at the time of despatching it on the point of starting for Nicopolis, to which place he went, taking Miletus and Corinth on the way. At Nicopolis we may conceive him to have
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