Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν µέσῳ τοῦ ᾿Αρείου πάγου, ἔφη,
"Ανδρες ᾿Αθηναῖοι, κατὰ πάντα ὡς δεισιδαιµονεστέρους ὑμᾶς θεωρῶ.
interests of life were sacrificed to this characteristic (note imperfect tense), rest- less inquisitiveness, their great orator, Demosthenes, knew when he contrasted this idle curiosity with the vigour and ability of Philip of Macedon, Philippic I., p. 43. The words go to support the inter- pretation that there was no formal indict- ment, but they do not destroy the view that there may have been an examinaton into the Apostle’s teaching, Curtius, w. s., Ρ. 520.--καινότερον: certainly there is, as Blass says, ‘“‘mirus consensus” as to this characteristic of the Athenians; see instances in Wetstein: Dem., Philippic I., 43, and Philipp. Epist., 156, 157; Thuc,, iii., 38; Theophr., CAar., iii., περὶ hoyorotas μὴ λέγεταί τι καινότερον; cf. Seneca, Epist., 74. Lit., ‘some newer thing,’’ something newer than that which had just preceded it as new up to the time of asking. The comparative may therefore indicate more vividly the vo- racious appetite of the Athenians for news, although it may be also said that the comparative was the usual degree used by the Greeks in the question What news? (usually νεώτερον); indeed their fondness for using the comparative of both γέος and καινός is quite singular (Page, see also Winer-Moulton, xxxv., 4; Blass, Gram., p. 138). The words of Bengel are often quoted, “‘ nova statim sordebant, noviora querebantur,” but it should be noted that he adds ‘ Noviora autem quzrebant, non modo in iis que gentilia accidunt; sed, quod nobilius videtur, in philosophicis,” see for a practical and forcible lesson on the words, F. D. Maurice, Friendship of Books, pp. 84, 85.
Ver. 22. σταθεὶς, Lucan, see i. 15. --ἓν µέσῳ τοῦ ᾿Α. π., {.ε., in the midst of the Council or Court of Areopagus, see above on ver. 19, cf. iv. 7, Peter stood in the midst of the Sanhedrim. Ramsay pertinently remarks that the words “in the middle of Mars’ hill” are far from natural or clear, and those who adopt them usually omit the word “ midst,” and say that Paul stood on Mars’ hill, justifying the expression by supposing that ἐν péog is a Hebraism for ἐν, i. 15, ii. 22. But whilst a Hebraism would be natural in the earlier chapters referred to, it would be quite out of place here in this Attic scene, cf. also ver. 33, Ramsay, Expositor, September, 1895, so too Curtius, 4. s., Ῥ. 529, in support of the rendering adopted by Ramsay.—AvSpes ᾿Αθην.:
usual way of beginning a speech ; strange to allege it as a proof that the speech is not genuine: ‘according to the best MS. evidence, Demosthenes habitually, at least in some speeches, said av8pes ᾿Αθηναῖοι without & It is therefore a mistake to note as unclassical the use of the vocative here without 6, cf. i. 14, xix. 35,” Simcox, Language of the New Testament, p. 76, note.—Kata πάντα: ‘in all things I perceive that ye are,” R.V., meaning that wherever he looked he had evidence of this characteristic— the A.V. would imply that in all their conduct the Athenians were, etc. The phrase which is common in classics is only found here, in iii. 22, Col. iii. 20, 22, Heb. ii. 5, iv. 15, in Ν.Τ.- ὡς, see Grimm-Thayer, sub v., i., d., Winer- Moulton, xxxv., 4.---δεισιδαιμ..: “ some- what superstitious,” R.V., but in mar- gin, ‘‘ somewhat religious,” so in xxv. 19 the noun is rendered “ religion,” R.V. (in margin, ‘‘ superstition’), where Festus, in speaking to Agrippa, a Jew, would not have been likely to call the Jewish religion a superstition. R.V. gives a better turn to the word than A.V. with Tyndale, “' too superstitious,” cf. Vulgate, superstitiosiores, as it is incredible that St. Paul should have commenced his re- marks with a phrase calculated to offend his hearers. The R.V. has modified the A.V. by introducing ‘‘ somewhat” in- stead of ‘‘ too,” according to the classi- cal idiom by which the comparative ofan adjective may be used to express the deficiency or excess (slight in either case) of the quality contained in the positive. But the quality in this case may be good or bad, since the adjective δεισιδαίµων and the cognate noun may be used of reverence or of superstition, cf. for the former Xen., Cyr., iii., 3, 58; Arist:, Pol... v., στι ο. ς Ἱ. ασ. 27GgDi Jos., Ant., x., 32; Polyb., vi., 56, 7, and for the latter, Theoph., Char., xvi. ; Plut., De Superstit., 10; Jos., Ant., xv., 8, 2; M. Aurelius, vi., 30, and instances in Philo, cf. also Justin Martyr, Apol., i., 2 (see Hatch, Biblical Essays, p. 43). Ram- say renders: ‘‘ more than others respect- ful of what is divine’’; so Renan, ‘le plus religieux’; Holtzmann, '' Gottes- farchtige,’’ so Weiss, so Zockler, * religio- siores ceteris Grxcis '’ (Horace, Sat., i., 9, 70), cf. Winer-Moulton, xxxv., 4. In thus emphasising the religious spirit of the Athenians, St. Paul was speaking in