MƐгAC AгPINNAC. IAOKAICAP. King Agrippa the Great, lover of Cesar. R. KAI CAPIA H. ΠΡΟΣ. ΤΩ» CEBACTO» AIMENI, i. e. Cæsarea ad portum Sebastum. Fortune standing with her attributes. E SW. § 3. "THE DEPUTY OF THE COUNTRY, SERGIUS PAULUS." Acts xiii. 7. Ὃς ἦν σὺν τῷ ἀνθυπάτῳ Σεργίῳ Παύλῳ. The accuracy of Saint Luke in applying the term ȧv0úmaтos to the governor of Cyprus has been called in question by more than one commentator, 19 on the ground that Cyprus was governed by a proprætor, not by a proconsul at the time when Saint Paul visited it; and a passage from Strabo20 has been brought forward, in which, after describing the mission of Marcus Cato to take possession of the island of Cyprus, he adds, ἐξ ἐκείνου δ' ἐγένετο ἐπαρχία ἡ νῆσος, καθάπερ καὶ νῦν 'σTÌ, σтρATNYIKǹ. The authors, too, of our version of the New Testament appear to have felt some difficulty here, as, instead of giving the word ȧvúπаTоs its literal meaning, "proconsul," they translated it "deputy," a term applying to "proconsul," or "proprætor," indifferently. We have, both from Strabo21 and Dio Cassius, 22 an account 19 Hammond. Grotius. 21 Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 840. D. 20 Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 685 A. 22 Dion Cass. liii. 12. of the division of the Roman Provinces by Augustus, with the names of those respectively allotted to the Emperor and to the Senate; and they both agree in stating, that in this division Cyprus was allotted to the Emperor. But Strabo omits a circumstance which Dio Cassius mentions, that, soon after the first division, Augustus exchanged Cyprus and Gallia Narbonensis with the senate for Dalmatia. In a subsequent passage23 he repeats this statement, and adds, kai οὕτως ἀνθύπατοι καὶ ἐς ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἔθνη πέμπεσθαι ἤρξαντο. Here, then, we not only have the statement of Strabo corrected, and by authority fully equal to his, but we have the same word as that used by St. Luke applied to the governor of Cyprus. It cannot be objected that, in the above-quoted passage, Dion is speaking of several Roman provinces, "one of which was certainly governed by a proconsul; and that, therefore, for the sake of brevity, he used one term for all of them, whether it applied to them or not;" he is speaking but of two, and he uses the word ἀνθύπατοι (in the plural). Bishop Marsh24 further remarks on this passage, "That Cyprus however ought not to be excepted, and that the title which he (Dion Cassius) employed, as well as Saint Luke, really did belong to the Roman governors of Cyprus, appears from an inscription on a Greek coin belonging to Cyprus itself, and struck in the very age in which Sergius Paulus was governor of that island. It was struck in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, whose head and name are on the face of it; and, in the reign of Claudius Cæsar St. Paul visited Cyprus. On this coin the same title, åvОúπаTOя, is given to Cominius 23 Dion Cassius, lib. iv. 24 Lectures, part v. ment, Lect. xxvi. p. 85. commas is from the same Lecture. On the authenticity of the New Testa- Proclus which is given by Saint Luke to Sergius Paulus; and the coincidence which it shews is of that description that it is sufficient of itself to establish the authenticity of the work in which the coincidence is found." The writer of the foregoing passage quotes the coin from Morell; but the engraving here given is from an actual specimen, which, though not in the most perfect preservation, retains sufficient of its type and legend to answer our purpose. Obv.-(TI) (CL)AVDIVS CAESA(R) (AVG). Laureated head of Claudius to the left. R. EIII KOMINIOY (ПIPOKA)OY ANOYIA(TOY) KY- The name of Proclus is here partly obliterated; but on some, in other respects less perfect examples, the name is plainly decypherable. There is, however, other monumental evidence which may not be uninteresting to the antiquary and historian, and it is therefore given in the annexed table. G 43 § 4.-" AND FROM THENCE TO PHILIPPI, WHICH IS THE CHIEF CITY OF THAT PART OF MACEDONIA, AND A COLONY."-Acts xvi. 12. 66 Ἐκεῖθέν τε εἰς Φιλίππους, ἥτις ἐστὶ πρώτη τῆς μερίδος τῆς Μακεδονίας πόλις κολώνια. The Vulgate has, “ indeque in Philippos, quæ est prima partis Macedoniæ civitas, colonia;" and some have proposed to read, "a city of the first part of Macedonia, and a colony." 21 But, as this reading involves the change from πρώτη to πρωτης, a change unsupported by the authority of a single MS., it cannot be adopted in these illustrations. Philippi, as a Roman colony, was certainly "urbs primaria," which is the meaning some of the best commentators have agreed in giving to πράτη TÓMIS.22 Livy 23 gives an account of the division of Macedonia into four parts; and this is confirmed by coins, of which examples are here engraved. Obv.-Head of Diana on the Macedonian buckler. R.-MAKEAONON ПРQтн; i. e. (Money) of the Macedonians of the first province. A club within an oaken garland: in the field various monograms. 21 Wiclif gives it, " thennes to Filippis that is the first part of Macedony, the city colony." But the versions of Tyndale and Cranmer, and of Rheims and Geneva, are similar to our own. 22 Vide Kuinoel, Comment. Hist. et Critic. in Act. xvi. 12. 23 Liv. lib. xlv. c. 29. |