8. To go forth (é€eASezv). The word is used of going forth as a misstonary in Luke ix. 6; 8 John 7.
5. Were established (€orepeodvto). Rather, were strength- ened. Another word is used for established. See ch. xiv. 22; xv. 32,41; xviii. 23. There is a difference, moreover, between being strengthened and established. See 1 Pet. v. 10.
6. Asia. See on ch. ii. 9.
8. Passing by Mysia. Not avozding, since they could not reach Troas without traversing it; but omdtting it as a preach- ing-place.
Came down. From the highlands to the coast.
10. We sought. Note the introduction, for the first time
here, of the first person, intimating the presence of the author ~with Paul.
Cu. XVIL.] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 529
Assuredly gathering (cuuPiBdfovres). See on proving, ch. ix. 22.
11. Came with a straight course (evIudpounoaper). Lit., we ran @ straight course. A nautical term for sailing before the wind.
12. Chief (parm). Some explain, the first city to which they came in Macedonia.
A colony (xod#va). Roman towns were of two classes: municipia, or free towns, and colonies. The distinction, how- ever, was not sharply maintained, so that, in some cases, we find the same town bearing both names. The two names involved no difference of right or of privilege. The historical difference between a colony and a free town is, that the free towns were taken into the state from without, while the colonies were off- shoots from within. “The municipal cities insensibly equalled the rank and splendor of the colonies; and in the reign of Ha- drian it was disputed which was the preferable condition, of those societies which had issued from, or those which had been received into, the bosom of Rome” (Gibbon, ‘“ Decline and Fall”).
The colony was used for three different purposes in the course of Roman history: as a fortified outpost in a conquered country ; as a means of providing for the poor of Rome; and as a settle- ment for veterans who had served their time. It is with the third class, established by Augustus, that we have to do here. The Romans divided mankind into citizens and strangers. An inhabitant of Italy was a citizen; an inhabitant of any other part of the empire was a peregrinus, or stranger. The colonial policy abolished this distinction so far as privileges were con- cerned. The idea of a colony was, that it was another Rome transferred to the soil of anothercountry. In his establishment of colonies, Augustus, in some instances, expelled the existing inhabitants and founded entirely new towns with his colonists ; in others, he merely added his settlers to the existing population of the town then receiving the rank and title of a colony. In
34
530 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XVI.
some instances a place received these without receiving any new citizens at all. Both classes of citizens were in possession of the same privileges, the principal of which were, exemption from scourging, freedom from arrest, except in extreme cases, and, in all cases, the right of appeal from the magistrate to the em- peror. The names of the colonists were still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. The traveller heard the Latin language and was amenable to the Roman law. The coinage of the city had Latin inscriptions. The affairs of the colony were regulated by their own magistrates, named Duwmviri, who took pride in calling themselves by the Roman title of praetors (see on ver. 20).
13. Out of the city (€&w tis modews). The best texts read mums, the gate.
River. Probably the Gangas or Gangites.
Where prayer was wont to be made (od évouifeto mpo- cevy7 eivat). The best texts read évouiGowev mpocevynv, where we supposed there was a place of prayer. The number of Jews in Philippi was small, since it was a military and not a mercan- tile city; consequently there was no synagogue, but only a proseucha, or praying-place, a slight structure, and often open to the sky. It was outside the gate, for the sake of retirement, and near a stream, because of the ablutions connected with the worship.