The ship evidently stopped every evening. The reason lies in the wind, which in the ^Egean during the summer generally blows from the north, beginning at a very early hour in the morning ; in the late afternoon it dies away ; at sunset there is a dead calm, and there- after a gentle south wind arises and blows during the night. The start would be made before sunrise ; and it would be necessary for all passengers to go on board soon after midnight in order to be ready to sail with the first breath from the north.
In v. 14 our translation (agreeing with Blass) assumes that the reading awefiaXev is correct ; but the great MSS. read avvefiaWev, and perhaps the imperfect may be used, implying that Paul did not actually enter Assos, but was descried and taken in by boat as he was nearing the city. On Monday, April 25, they reached Mitylene before the wind fell ; and on Tuesday afternoon they stopped at a point opposite Chios (probably near Cape Argennum). Hence on Wednesday morning they ran straight across to the west point of Samos, and thence kept in towards Miletus ; but
294 The Voyage to Jerusak?n. Chap. XIII.
when the wind fell, they had not got beyond the promontory Trogyllia at the entrance to the gulf, and there, as the Bezan Text mentions, they spent the evening. Early on Thursday, April 28, they stood across the gulf (which is now in great part filled up by the silt of the river Maeander) to Miletus. Here they found that they could reckon on a stay of some days, and Paul sent a messenger to Ephesus. The messenger could not reach Ephesus that day, for the land road round the gulf made a vast circuit, and the wind would prevent him from sailing across to Priene in the forenoon. Moreover, it would take some time to land, and to engage a messenger. In the early afternoon there would arise a sea-breeze blowing up the gulf (called in modern times Imbat, iix^drrj^), which would permit the messenger to sail to the north side of the gulf. He would probably land at Priene, cross the hills, and thereafter take the coast road to Ephesus, which he might reach during the night. Some time would be required to summon the presbyters ; and they could not travel so fast as a single chosen messenger. They would show good speed if they reached Priene in the evening and were ready to sail to Miletus with the morning wind. The third day of Paul's stay at Miletus, then, was devoted to the presbyters ; and we cannot suppose that the ship left Miletus before Sunday morning, May 1, while it is possible that the start took place a day later.
On that day they reached Cos, on May 2 Rhodes, May 3 Patara, May 4 Myra, and, probably, May 7 Tyre.
In Tyre they stayed seven days, and sailed on May
Sec, 5. The Voyage to Casareia. 295
13 for Ptolemais, where they spent the day, and on May 14 they reached Caesareia. As Pentecost was on May 28, they had still a considerable time before them. If Paul remained several days in Caesareia, then, the reason must be that there was still plenty of time to do so without endangering his purpose.
We reach the same conclusion from observing the author's concise style. After stating the object of the journey in v. 16, he leaves the reader to gather from his silence that the object was attained. The fact was clear in his own mind, and he was content with one single incidental allusion to it, not for its own sake (he as a Greek felt little interest in Jewish festivals), but to explain a point in which he was interested, viz., the sailing past Ephesus without touching there.
The statement in v. 16 has led to a common mis- conception that Paul was sailing in a vessel chartered by himself, whose stoppages he could control as he pleased. But if Paul had been able to fix where the vessel should stop, it was obviously a serious waste of time to go to Miletus and summon the Ephesian elders thither ; the shorter way would have been to stop at Ephesus and there make his farewell address. Clearly the delay of three days at Miletus was forced on him by the ship's course, and the facts of the journey were these. From Neapolis they sailed in a ship bound for Troas. Here they had to transship ; and some delay was experienced in finding a suitable passage. Paul would not voluntarily have spent seven days at Troas : the length of a coasting voyage was too uncertain for him to waste so many days at the beginning, when he was hastening to Jerusalem. After a week,