It seems probable that the vulgar were not allowed to approach too near to this grotesque but time honoured figure; and that the artists of antiquity sometimes drew on their fancies in the representations of her; for even in the coins of Ephesus, the goddess is not always represented in precisely the same manner.35 The idol was preserved from decay by resinous gums which were inserted in cavities made for that purpose.36

The best representation of this remarkable image appears to be that on a silver medallion bearing the heads of Claudius and Agrippina, which is the more curious as being nearly contemporary with the period of Saint Paul's visit to Ephesus. These pieces were doubtless in circulation. throughout all Asia Minor, and could be obtained by devotees at the shrine of the Ephesian goddess.

AVGVSTA. The heads of Claudius and Agrippina side by side.

R. DIANA EPHESIA. The statue of Diana Ephesia.

35 See the coins of Antoninus Pius and of Otacilia, engraved in illustration of a paper on the Coins of Ephesus, Num. Chron. vol. iv. art. xii. On the latter there is a small figure of a stag on each side the figure of the goddess, as on the silver medallions of Hadrian, struck, in all probability, on the same occasion as the above.

36 Vitruvius, De Architect. lib. ii. c. ix. Plin. Hist. Nat. Lib. xvi. c. xl.

The figure on the reverse of this example has a vraisemblance which we do not discover on the coins of a later reign. The form and style are decidedly archaic; and the arms project from the sides as though they did not originally constitute a part of the idol, but were the addenda of a later period. Pliny marvels that though so small it was not of one piece, a circumstance which indicates a very primitive style of art.37

§ 7.-" AND CERTAIN OF THE CHIEF OF ASIA.”
Acts xix. 31.

Τινὲς δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἀσιαρχῶν. The Asiarchs, or “ chief of Asia," here mentioned, were not only the presidents of the public games and festivals held in the most celebrated cities of Asia, but they also bore, like the Roman Ediles, the whole expense of them; hence, none but the wealthiest persons could take upon them such an office: "hujus sacerdotii honos non mediocris, nec mediocri pecunia constat." Strabo says that on this account the Asiarchs were generally selected from amongst the Trallians, who were reckoned the wealthiest of the Asiatics.38 They wore a rich official costume, and on their heads golden crowns. The engraving here given is from the reverse of a coin of Hypæpa, in Lydia, with the portrait of Plautilla, the wife of Caracalla. The type represents a military figure pouring the contents of a patera upon an altar, with the fire kindled, while Victory behind places a garland on his head. The legend is ΕΠΙ (Μ)ΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ Β. ACI ...... CTP. ΥΠΑΙΠΗΝΩΝ -επι Μενανδρου Β. Ασιαρκου (και) ΣΤΡατηγου Υπαιπηνων—i.e. (Money)

37 Hist. Nat. lib. xvi. c. xl.

38 Lib. xiv.

of the people of Hypæpa under Menander, for the second time39 Asiarchus and Prætor.

The mention of the friendship of the Asiarchs for Paul appears to add another to the numerous proofs of the contemporaneous character of these narratives; and it may truly be said with Duchal, as quoted by Paley,40 "it doth not appear that it ever came into the mind of these writers, how this or the other action would appear to mankind, or what objections might be raised upon them. But without at all attending to this, they lay the facts before you, at no pains to think whether they would appear credible or not. If the reader will not believe their testimony, there is no help for it: they tell the truth and attend to nothing else. Surely this looks like sincerity, and that they published nothing to the world but what they believed themselves."

The foregoing remarks are especially applicable to the

39 A coin of Antoninus, struck at Hypæpa, bears the name of Julius Menander, who may probably be the same personage, as the Asiarchs were not only allowed to hold their office a second time, as seen by the coin here represented, but were so styled in courtesy during the rest of their lives.

This coin, as well as that here engraved, was described by me in an article communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine for August, 1835.

40 Evidences, Part II. chap. iii.

passage at the head of this section. That the very maintainers and presidents of the heathen sports and festivals of a people to whom the doctrine of Christ and the resurrection was foolishness were the friends of Paul, was an assertion which no fabricator of a forgery would have ventured upon. We cannot penetrate the veil which antiquity has thrown over these events, and are only left to conjecture, either that Christianity itself had supporters, though secret ones, who feared the multitude, in these wealthy Asiatics; or that, careless of the truth of what the apostle preached, they admired his eloquence, and wished to protect one whom they considered highly gifted.

§ 8.-" AND WHEN THE TOWN CLERK HAD APPEASED THE PEOPLE."-Acts xix. 35.

The word Пpapμaтeùs, rendered in our version of the New Testament" town clerk,"41 is to be differently understood as it occurs in different places in Holy Writ. As in our days "lawyer" may be used in speaking of several kinds of legal functionaries, so the word scribe occurs in both the Old and New Testaments. In its general sense, and as used in the gospels, it doubtless signifies a lettered person; as may be inferred from its obvious derivation from ypáμμaτa, letters or book-learning. When a scribe of a superior order is indicated there is generally some affix, as in the Septuagint (2 Kings xii. 10), where the king's scribe, ὁ γραμματεὺς τοῦ βασιλέως, is described as the confidential officer of the Jewish monarch. mentioned as appeasing the clamour of the Ephesian mob

The scribe here

41 Wiclif renders it "scribe:"-" and whanne the scribe hadde ceesid the puple."

was a personage of great importance in the Greek and Asiatic cities. That the office was a most honourable one may be inferred from a coin of Nysa, in Caria, on which Tiberius Cæsar is styled scribe of that city.42 The scribe was elected yearly, like the archon; and on the coins of Ephesus we find that the office was held several times by the same person. Thus, Cusinius the scribe, whose name is placed on the coin here represented, appears by the inscription to have been elected to that office four times. The obverse bears the heads of Drusus and Antonia, side by side; the reverse has the figure of a stag, and the legend, EQE. KOYCINIO2 To. A.; i.e. (Money) of the Ephesians, Cusinius, (scribe) for the fourth time.

Æ T

ΝΙΟΣ

That Cusinius was the scribe we learn from a coin of Livia, cited by Mionnet.43 On the coins of Nero, the name of the Proconsul appears instead of that of the scribe.44 But for this circumstance the name of the "town clerk," whose tact and promptitude dispersed the Ephesian mob, might probably have been known.

The stag is the common type of the autonomous coins of

42 Frölich, Quatuor Tentamina, p. 154.

43 From the Cab. Cousinery. Descr. tom. iii. p. 93.

44 See § 10. That of the scribe appears again under Domitian, on whose coins we find the name of Cæcennius Pætus. See Remarks on the Coins of Ephesus while under the Roman dominion, Numismatic Chronicle, Vol. IV. art. xii.