i. THE COMING TO ROME. (XXVIII II) AND AFTER THREE MONTHS WE SET SAIL IN A SHIP OF ALEXANDRIA, WHICH HAD WINTERED IN THE ISLAND, WHOSE SIGN WAS "THE TWIN BROTHERS". (12) AND TOUCHING AT SYRACUSE, WE TARRIED THERE THREE DAYS. (13) AND FROM THENCE, BY TACKING, WE ARRIVED AT RHEGIUM. AND AFTER ONE DAY A SOUTH WIND SPRANG UP, AND ON THE SECOND DAY WE CAME TO PUTEOLI : (14) WHERE, FINDING BRETHREN, WE WERE CONSOLED AMONG THEM, REMAINING SEVEN DAYS;1 AND THEREUPON WE CAME TO ROME. (15) AND FROM THENCE THE BRETHREN, HEARING THE NEWS ABOUT US, CAME TO MEET US AS FAR AS "APPIUS* MARKET " AND " THREE TAVERNS " : WHOM, WHEN PAUL SAW, HE THANKED GOD AND TOOK COURAGE. (16) AND WHEN WE ENTERED INTO ROME [the centurion delivered the prisoners to the stratopedarch,
1 The text of most MSS., " we were entreated to tarry with them seven days," seems irreconcilable with Paul's situation as a prisoner. However friendly Julius was to Paul, he was a Roman officer, with whom discipline and obedience to rule were natural. With Blass, we follow the text of the inferior MSS. (see p. 212)
(344)
Sec. i. The Coming to Rome. 345
and] PAUL WAS SUFFERED TO ABIDE BY HIMSELF WITH THE SOLDIER THAT GUARDED HIM [outside of the camp\ . . . (30) AND HE ABODE TWO YEARS IN HIS OWN HIRED DWELLING, AND RECEIVED ALL THAT WENT IN UNTO HIM, (31) AND PREACHED THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND TAUGHT WHAT CONCERNED THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WITH ALL BOLDNESS, NONE FORBIDDING
him (see note, p. 362).
The wreck took place before the middle of November (p. 322) ; therefore they sailed from Malta in February. That is earlier than the usual beginning of over-sea navigation ; but we may understand that favourable weather tempted them to an early start ; and as the autumn was unusually tempestuous, it is probable that fine weather began early. Luke does not tell what sort of wind blew, leaving the reader to understand that it was from a southerly quarter (as otherwise no ancient ship would attempt the over-sea voyage). The wind fell and they had to wait three days in Syracuse. Then, though the breeze was not from the south, they were able by good seamanship to work up to Rhegium.1 Here, after one day, a south wind arose ; and they sailed across to Puteoli, arriving there on the second day.
The passage probably took not much over twenty- four hours, beginning one day and ending the following morning : with a following wind, these large merchant vessels sailed fast. The passengers landed in Puteoli ; but the cargo, doubtless, was carried to Ostia, where it
1 Westcott and Hort prefer the text of the great MSS. rrtptt\6rrcs, which could hardly mean more than " casting off," an unnecessary piece of information here, though important in XXVII.
346 SV. Paul in Rome. Chap. XV.
had to be transshipped to smaller vessels which could go up the Tiber to Rome.
Luke mentions the name of the last vessel, but not of any of the others. The reason lies in the circum- stances. He heard the news about the last vessel before he saw it ; but he became acquainted with the others by seeing them. Probably the news that the Dioscuri, of the Alexandrian Imperial fleet, was lying in the great harbour, reached the shipwrecked party during the three days when they were in Poplius's house ; and was so noted in Luke's memoranda. But he had not the sailor's mind, who thirks of his ship as a living friend, and always speaks of her by her name ; hence the other ships were to him only means of conveyance, whereas the name of the Dioscuri was the first fact which he learned about her.
Puteoli, as a great harbour, was a central point and a crossing of intercourse ; and thus Christianity had already established itself there. All movements of thought throughout the Empire acted with marvellous rapidity on Rome, the heart of the vast and complicated organism ; and the crossing-places or knots 1 on the main highways of intercourse with the East — Puteoli, Corinth, Ephesus, Syrian Antioch — became centres from which Christianity radiated. At Pompeii, which is not far from Puteoli, the Christians were a subject of gossip among lonngers in the street before it was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79.