“839. MELITA TO ROME—ACTS 28:11-31”

Melita to Rome—Act_28:11-31

Three weeks spent in Melita brought round the time when the ancients considered the navigation of the seas practicable, and Julius secured for his soldiers and prisoners a passage to Italy in another corn-ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the island, and which was called the Castor and Pollux, twin demigods, who were regarded as the special patrons of sailors. With a fair wind, Syracuse, in Sicily, was but a day’s sail from Melita; and on reaching that famous port and emporium, a stay of three days was made, probably for the purposes of trade. Whether or not Paul went ashore here, we cannot tell. Doubtless the courteous centurion would have allowed him to do so, had this been his wish; but after three months on land people do not care much for going ashore after merely a day’s voyage, unless they have friends is the place to which they come, and it is not likely that the apostle had any at Syracuse.

From this port they proceeded by an indirect course, the weather not being at first favorable, to Rhegium, at the entrance of the Straits of Messina, and put into the harbor there, the wind not allowing them to pass through the straits. But after one day it became fair, they set sail, and the next day reached Puteoli, in the Bay of Naples. The harbor of Puteoli was then as it is now, the most sheltered port of the Bay of Naples. It was the principal port of the south of Italy, and, in particular, it was the great emporium for the Alexandrian cornships. The advance of such ships, as distinguished from others, was always known as soon as they hove in sight, from the fact that they alone were allowed to enter the bay with their topsail set; and by the time the vessel reached the pier, it was always sure to be crowded with observers and idlers, to witness the debarkation of passengers. It was through such a crowd, and under the escort of the soldiers, that the centurion conducted the apostle and his fellowprisoners. As they were to remain a week in this place, probably to await orders from Rome, Julius allowed Paul to spend the time among the Christian brethren he found there.

At the end of that time the party commenced the march to Rome, distant one hundred and fifty miles. And when they had proceeded thirty-one miles, they found themselves upon the famous Apian Way, the track of which still remains. The foundation of this road, which was thirteen or fourteen feet broad, was of concrete or cemented rubble work, and the surface was laid with large polygonal blocks of the hardest stone, and so nicely fitted to each other that the whole seemed the work rather of nature than of art. The distances were marked by mile-stones; and at intervals of twenty miles were mansions or post-stations, where vehicles, horses, and mules were provided for the convenience of travellers, and the transmission of government dispatches.

It was usual among the Romans, as it still is in the East, for persons apprized of the approach of friends, or of those they delight to honor, to go forth to meet them on the road they must travel, the honor being proportioned to the distance. The Christians at Rome were numerous, and many of them persons of consideration. They had heard from Puteoli of Paul’s expected approach; and when he arrived at the Appii Forum, he found a large party of them who had come to the unusual distance of fifty-one miles, to honor the great apostle of the Gentiles, and to testify the sense they entertained of his great services and sufferings in the cause of Christ. When Paul saw them, he “thanked God, and took courage.” He was deeply moved by such affectionate zeal, and was encouraged by finding that the Roman brethren were not ashamed of his chain, but were rather stimulated thus publicly to avow their fellowship with him in the bonds of the Gospel. From Appii Forum the company of Roman Christians proceeded with Paul’s party eighteen miles, to the Three Taverns, a well-known stage upon this road. Here another large party of Christian brethren was found, composed probably of persons of maturer age, or whose departing from Rome had been too late for further progress. The united parties must have rendered the attendance from this point very considerable; and the approach of Paul to the metropolis of the world, was more like a triumphal procession than the forced march of a prisoner.

On arriving at Rome, the centurion completed the responsible task he had so ably and discreetly performed, by resigning the charge of the prisoners into the hands of the praetorian prefect, a high office which was at this time held by Burrhus, one of the most influential as well as most sagacious of Nero’s advisers. It was in all probability the favorable mention of Paul made to him by Julius, together with the tone of the letter which he brought from Festus to the emperor, that procured for him very considerate treatment, and as much freedom as consisted with his safe detention. Instead of being detained in the barracks of the praetorium, he was allowed to take up his abode in a hired house, which, we must suppose was near enough to facilitate the military inspection under which he lived, and for the convenience of “the soldier that kept him,” and to whom he was chained when he went abroad, if not within doors. Note: This cut, from the arch of Severus, shows a Roman soldier about to fasten to his own arm the chain by which a prisoner is bound. Much of a prisoner’s comfort depended upon the character of the men with whom he was brought into such close connection; and therefore pains were taken, and influence used, to obtain select and well-behaved soldiers for this office. Thus, when Herod-Agrippa was in like custody at Rome, the empress Antonia influenced Marco, the then praetorian prefect, to see that the centurion who had charge of the prisoner, and the soldiers who interchangeably kept him, should be men of mild and easy nature and that he might have leave to bathe himself daily, and that his friends and servant, should have free access to him. There seems every indication that, through the spontaneous kindness of Burrhus, or the influence of Paul’s friends with him, similar means were taken to make his confinement easy.

Roman Soldier and Prisoner

Paul had been only three days at Rome when he began to bestir himself in the cause he had most at heart. He sent first for the leading men among the Jews, who were very numerous at Rome, and sought to remove any impression to his disadvantage, that they might have derived from his appearance in the imperial city as a prisoner from Judea. They assured him, in reply, that they had not yet received from Judea any information to his disadvantage. They only knew generally that he was a leading man of the Nazarenes, who were “everywhere spoken against,” but they were very willing to hear him on that subject. There was something promising in this; but when, on the day appointed, they came to his lodging to hear him further, the great truths of the Christian doctrine, which he set forth with much fullness, were not found palatable to more than a few of their number. Observing their disagreement with him, and their distaste to his teaching, he sent them away with a rebuke for the hardness of their hearts, and with the intimation: “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles.” Accordingly, Paul remained for two years in his hired house, preaching the Gospel with eminent success to all who came to hear him. Nor was this all his labor, for to this period we are to ascribe his epistle to the Ephesians, the epistles to the Philippians and the Colossians, the epistle to Philemon, and perhaps the epistle to the Hebrews, of which he is generally supposed to have been the writer. To these we must add the second epistle to Timothy, if there was but one imprisonment at Rome. Here also was written, at the close of this period, the Acts of the Apostles by Luke; for he brings his history no further than this, leaving Paul still a prisoner, after two years’ captivity at Rome. The Gospel of the same evangelist had been previously written, probably at an earlier date in this captivity, for he makes a distinct allusion to it in his introduction to the Acts.

The subsequent history of Paul, after Luke closes the record, which we have hitherto followed with so much interest, is involved in great uncertainty and doubt. Whether he was liberated from this confinement, or that it ended in his martyrdom; if liberated, by what means it was accomplished; the course, extent, and duration of his subsequent travels; and even the time and manner of his death—are points of which nothing can be very positively affirmed. The somewhat muddy current of tradition is, however, in favor of his liberation from this imprisonment; after which he revisited the churches he had established, and executed the intention he had formerly announced of journeying through the western parts of the Roman empire, even unto Spain, Note: Rom_15:24; Rom_15:28. and, as some have fancied, even to the British isles. He then returned to Rome, whether freely or as a prisoner even tradition leaves doubtful. There he became involved in the results of the persecution which was raised against the Christians on account of the burning of Rome, falsely ascribed to them, and in consequence of which the fullest measure of Roman cruelty was expended upon them. The apostle was kept for some time in confinement; and it is alleged that in this second imprisonment, he was not allowed the comparatively easy custody of “the soldier that kept him,” but was committed to prison. The Mamertine prison, which still exists, is indeed particularly indicated as that in which he was detained; and we are inclined to attach some credit to this indication, from finding it frequently mentioned in old martyrologies as the place in which many of the early martyrs were confined, as well as from our knowledge that it was adapted to and used for such purposes in Nero’s time. The Mamertine prisons date from the earliest times of Rome. They consist of two extensive apartments, built with large uncemented stones, and lying one over the other. The upper one has no entrance but through a hole in the top, and there is access to the lower chamber only through an aperture in the floor of the upper one. The lower dungeon, called the Tullianum (from the king Servius Tullius, to whom it was ascribed), is that in which Paul is supposed to have been confined.

The Tullianum

A more horrible place for the detention of a human being could not well be conceived; and Sallust, who described it when still in use, says that from darkness, uncleanness, and foul air, it was altogether a loathsome and frightful place. From this dungeon we are told that Paul was dragged to Aquae Salvia, the Tyburn of Rome, situated about two miles beyond the present limits of the city, and there bowed to the stroke which laid his venerable head in the dust.

Autor: JOHN KITTO