Rome, viz. (the spring of) A.O. 62 to (the spring of) A.O. 64, i.e. the autumn ·of A.O. 63. Some notice should here be taken of the theory ( supported by Schulz, Schott, Bottger, Wiggers, Thiersch, Reuss, Schenkel, Zockler, Meyer) that this Epistle, with those to the Ephesians and Colossia.ns, was written, not from Rome, but from Cresarea. The evidence for or aga.in~t this opinion is not very abundant, but, BUch as it is, it mostly looks in one direction. It is clear from vers. 9 and 10 that the Epistle was written during a long imprisonment of the writer. Now, the outline of St. Paul's career up to about A.O. 62 is clearly known from the acco11I1t in the Acts of the Apostles, and there a.re in it only two long imprisonments-at Cresarea, and that (the first) at Rome. If it does not date from the one of these, then it must from the other. 1. But (ver. 1) Timothy was with him when he wrote. Now, it would appear from Phil. i. 1 that Timothy was with St. Paul at Rome, but there is no trace of his ever having been at Cresarea. 2. He was a.t Cresarea kept in a confinement (Acts :u::i.v. 23) which, ·during the latter part of the time, was a close and severe one (Acts xxiv. 27), and this would at once hinder him from preaching the gospel, and render it improbable that Onesimus would come under his notice. No such difficulty existed at Rome (Acts xxviii. 30, 31). 8. There is not the slightest indication that at Ccesarea the apostle could have had any such expectation of speedy rele>i~e as is implied in ver. 22 (Acts xix. 21 ; xxiii. 11; Rom. i. 13, 15). His imprisonment steadily deepened in severity towards the end. At Rome, on the contrary, the mild- ness of his treatment ( Acts xxviii. 30, 31) might well encourage such a hope. All the indications, therefore, point steadily towards Rome, as''the place where the Epistle was written, and are thus in favour of the traditional view. Mayer's argument from the presumed order of the journey (Rome, EphesUB, Colossie; or Cresarea, Colossie, Ephesus) is ingenious, but so pre- carious that nothing can be founded upon it. Colossre was about midway from the sea, from one end of the road at Ephesus, from the other at Attalia, and it does not appear but that either might have conceivably been the mute, even from Rome.
§ 2. OCCASION AND CIRC'IJMSTANCES. These are entirely a matter of inference, and the essentially private nature of the entire incident renders it by no means surprising that no historical corroborations of them can be adduced. Onesimus had, it i~ not obscurely intimated, escaped from the rule of his master, and fled. Whither he went at the time must be doubtful; but at length he found his way, as it seems, to Rome. The number of slaves in Asia Minor, a;, in Attica, was very large. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor were long the chief sourcei, of the supply of slaves, and they were chiefly obtained, no doubt. from the interior of Asia, which lay behind these colonies; just M 19 jy INTRODUCTION TO
even up to the present day Egypt hu been the chief slave-market, because the breadth of the continent of Africa lies behind it, and affords, or did afford. an inexhauistible supply of this human merchandise. Then, as nuw, the trade of the slave-dealer was disreputable, but large fortunes were frequently amassed by it. It was customary to carry on workshops and manufactories by slave-labour, and as a mere investment of capital (Demosth., • In Aphob.,' i.): The form of slavery, therefore, waa. aomewha.t more severe in Greece and Asia Minor than in Rome and Italy, wheh> it was principally pnedial or domestic, and on the whole milder in character. Hence e,-,ca.pes of slaves, and even insurreotious among them, were not unfrequent; and manumissions were more seldom granted than' at Home. It was contrary to law to receive or assist a fugitive slave. He oould not be legally sold by a new poBBessor, and to conceal him from pursuit was eq ui valen t to theft ( KA07n1, ft1,rtt1,m ). It is not, therefore, BO improbable a ciroumsta.nce as Baur seems to have thought (' Paul: his Life and Works,' vol. ii. oh. 6) that Onesimus should have escaped from his slavery, which it was a common occurrence for a slave to do, or at least to attempt; or that, suoceeding, he should have then directed himself towards Rome. There may, too, have been momentary oircumsta.nces which deter- mined the direotion of his flight, of which we can now learn nothing. H& may have been to Rome on aome former occasion, or even have been sent there upon his maBter's e.ff'airs, and have absconded instead of returning. And it is not to be overlooked that a Boman conn~ction is at least sug- gested by the ne.me of the wife of Philemon (Apphia, i.e. Appia.). Com- mentators generally assume the identity of the two names. But this conclusion is weakened, if not destroyed, by the fact the.t Apphia is a Dative Phrygia.n name, as Bishop Lightfoot has shown (' Introduction,' p. 372). "All roads lee.d to Rome," se.id a medilllval proverb, and it is probable that, while travelling would be comparatively easy and unobserved on the main lines of oommunioe.tion, and e.mong the crowds the.t used them, a runaway slave would have been noticed and stopped instantly had he turned aside into less-frequented towns. The stream flowed forward and backward from the provinces to Rome, and fugitives 'D&turally go with the ■tream. So Onesimus. Onesimus, however, whether he were oi.xlTT/i; (purchased) or ouco-rpu/! (born in the master's house), must have been of considerable value to his Dl8Bter, and his flight must have occasioned a certain loss to Philemon, though it hardly seems a damage which the apostle would think it right to 888etlS or offer to make good, as he does in vers. 18, 19. It would be otherwise if Onesimus had, at the time of his flight, appro- priated funds or property belonging to hit1 master, and it is not altogether elear how he oould have made his way from his home in or near Colot1slll to Rome--& journey of probably a thousand miles-without any funds at all, or even by the help of any peeu,lit1,m which he might have acquired. It bM THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON.