In the harbour of Caesareia there was no convenient ship about to sail for Rome ; and the convoy was put on board of an Adramyttian ship which was going to make a voyage along the coast towns of the province Asia. Communication direct with Rome might be found in some of the great Asian harbours, or, failing any suitable ship in the late season, the prisoners might be taken (like Ignatius half a century later) by Troas and Philippi and the land road to Dyrrachium, and thence to Brundisium and Rome.
• The direct run from Lycia to the S3>rian coast was often made, but it is hardly possible that a direct run from Syria back to Myra was ever attempted by ancient ships. They never ventured on such a run except when a steady wind was blowing which could be trusted to
Sec. i. Ccesareia to My ret*. 317
last. But westerly breezes blow with great steadiness through the summer months in the Levant ; and it is certain that ancient ships westward bound sailed east of Cyprus, as the Adramyttian ship now did. Luke explains why they sailed on this side of Cyprus ; and he must, therefore, have expected to take the other side. Now, a sailor or a person accustomed to these seas would not have thought of making any explana- tion, for the course of the ship was the normal one. But Luke had come to Sidon from Myra by the west side of Cyprus, and he, therefore, was impressed with the difference, and (contrary to his usual custom) he gives a formal explanation ; and his explanation stamps him as a stranger to these seas.
The ship worked slowly along the Cilician and Pam- phylian coast, as the sailors availed themselves of temporary local tend breezes and of the steady west- ward current that runs along the coast. The description given in the Periodoi of Barnabas of a voyage from Seleuceia in Syria to Cyprus in the face of a prevailing steady westerly wind, the work of a person familiar with the circumstances, illustrates perfectly the voyage on this occasion. The Adramyttian ship crept on from point to point up the coast, taking advantage of every oppor- tunity to make a few miles, and lying at anchor in the shelter of the winding coast, when the westerly wind made progress impossible.
Smith in his masterly work collects several other examples of the same course which was adopted by the Adramyttian ship. Modern sailing ships, even with their superior rig, have several times been forced by the steady westerly wind towards the north, keeping
3 1 8 The Voyage to Rome. Chap. XIV.
east of Cyprus, and using the breezes which blow at intervals from the Caramanian coast.
In this description there is an addition made in the Later Syriac version and some other authorities, which Westcott and Hort put in the margin as one " which appears to have a reasonable probability of being the true reading ". The ship, in this addition, is saic! to have spent fifteen days in beating along the Cyprio- Pamphylian coast. This addition obviously suits the situation, and may be unhesitatingly accepted as true, whether as written by Luke or as a well-informed gloss. Most probably it is Lukan, for Luke gives rough state- ments of the time throughout this voyage ; and an exact estimate at this point is quite in his style. It perhaps dropped out of most MSS., as wanting interest for later generations.
If we may judge from the Periodoi Barnabce, the coasting voyage was accomplished comparatively rapidly as far as Myra (see also p. 320).
In the harbour of Myra, the centurion found an Alexandrian ship on a voyage towards Italy. He embarked his convoy on board of this ship. It is characteristic of the style of Luke that he does not mention the class of ship or the reason of its voyage from Alexandria to Italy ; but simply tells facts as they occur. Now, Egypt was one of the granaries of Rome ; and the corn trade between Egypt and Rome was of the first importance and of great magnitude. There is, therefore, a reasonable probability that this ship was carrying corn to Rome ; and this inference is confirmed by Luke himself, who mentions in v. 38 that the cargo was grain.