St. Paul had been sometime there, before he ceased to preach to the Jews, and began to preach to the Gentile inhabitants of the city t; he was there a year and six months longer, even dated from the time of his vision ", before the insurrection of the Jews in the time of Gallio ; and he remained there a good many days still, even after that w. It is clear, then, that we cannot compute the whole length of his stay at less than one year, and nine or ten months of another; which, being dated from the spring quarter of A. U. 803. in the tenth of Claudius, will place his departure early in the winter quarter of A. U. 805. in the

twelfth.

When he had left Corinth, and was come to Ephesus, he was on his way to keep some feast; concerning which, as it must have been some feast one year and nine or ten months, at least, distant from the spring quarter of A. U. 803. there can be no doubt that it must have been the Passover, A. U. 805. in the twelfth of Claudius, which fell that year on April 3: and by an argument from the Epistle to the Galatians, hereafter, I shall prove demonstratively that it was. Now the length of time necessary for a journey even from Troas to Jerusalem, and even in the summer season, if we make the requisite allowances for such stoppages as would naturally take place by the way, cannot be computed at less than five or six weeks, or the interval between Passover and Pentecost: and if so, the length of time necessary for such a journey from Corinth, which is a great deal further-and partly in the winter season, when all travelling took up more time-cannot be computed at less than two months. About one month, then, before the Passover A. U. 805. that is, early in the month of March, St. Paul would be passing through Ephesus, having probably left Corinth early in the February preceding: he would accomplish his purpose by arriving in Jerusalem at the beginning of April: and, as he made no stay there, but simply went up and saluted the Church, he would, con

sequently return to Antioch, between the Passover and the Pentecost of A. U. 805. that is, between April 3. and May 24; about three years from April 5. or May 26. when we supposed that he left it last, A. U. 802.

I have said nothing on the controverted point respecting the vow which is mentioned Acts xviii. 18. because I do not think any certain conclusion can be grounded upon it. The grammatical construction undoubtedly requires that xespάuevos should be referred to Aquila, not to St. Paul, as the proper subject of the vow; and it is equally probable that the vow itself was the ordinary vow of separation, or the Naziræatus-the minimum for which in respect of time was thirty days, or one month, but the maximum was indefinite. To shave the head, under ordinary circumstances, was to declare the consummation of this vow, and preparatory to offering the sacrifices, which the law required in token of that consummation a. But here we have Aquila shaving his head at Cenchrea; whereas the sacrifices could begin, or be offered, only at Jerusalem.

The doctrine of the Mishna with respect to the Naziræatus is peculiarly complex, and full of nice distinctions. Among other things it is said that it could not be kept any where but in the land of Israel, Extra terram Israelis b; yet we find Aquila keeping it either at Corinth, or at Ephesus: where he was left by St. Paul c. It is true, that the due continuance and completion of the vow might be prevented by some accidental pollution; in which case the Nazarite was required to shave his head, and to begin his computation of time afresh. Mere tonsure of the head under such circumstances destroyed the thirty days, but did not oblige to any other ceremonial rite d. This might be Aquila's case. But it is not necessary to suppose he had made a vow of separation for a month only; he might have made it for a much longer time called the Naziræatus magnus, or a separation of sixty days; which would admirably agree to what we have supposed concerning the distance of time be2 B. Jud. ii. xv. 1. Mishn. iv. 346. 11. xix. vi. 1.

a Acts xxi. 23. 24. Ant. Jud.

biv. 346. 11. e Acts xviii. 19. d Mishn. iii. 165. 3. 5.

fore the Passover, when Paul left Corinth, viz. as about two months; and also account for Aquila's staying at Ephesus, while St. Paul continued his journey to Jerusalem. He would not go up to Jerusalem until the time of his vow was expired.

we may

If I am right as to the time when St. Paul left Corinth, the attempt of the Jews to prosecute him before Gallio must have been later than the autumn of A.U.804: whence infer that this was in the first year of Gallio's office. It is not necessary for me to trace the history of the province of Achaia, from the time of the partition of the provinces A. U. 727. when Augustus assigned it to the people, to A. U. 768. when it was resumed by the Emperor Tiberius; or A.U. 797. when it was again restored to the people; or A. U. 819. or 820. when it was declared independent by Nero; or A. U. 827. or 828. when, according to the opinion of Eckel e, its liberty was abolished by Vespasian. Nor is it necessary to prove that, though two only of the twelve popular provinces f, Asia Proper, and Africa, were strictly proconsular, yet the governors of the remaining ten, who were of prætorian dignity, bore the title of proconsul officially to this fact a cloud of historical witnesses might be produced, and it is eminently true of the governors of Achaia and of Cyprus, to each of whom St. Luke has applied its.

It is certain, from one of the Epistles of Seneca, that his brother Gallio, whom he calls Dominum suum, in consequence of his having served the office either of prætor or of consul, before that Epistle was written, was sometime governor of Achaiah: Illud mihi in ore erat domini mei Gallionis; qui cum in Achaia febrem habere cœpisset, protinus navem ascendit, clamitans, non corporis esse sed loci morbum.

If it is reasonable to assume this was in the autumn-and that he was now leaving his government-it might be the autumn of A. U. 805: but not the autumn of A. U. 804. Paul might have been tried before him after the latter, but he Eckel. iv. 241. Acts xiii. 7. 8. 12.

vi. 332. xviii. 12.

f Strab. xvii. 1186.

h Ep. 104.

could not after the former. Moreover, Corinth was the capital of the province, and the proconsul's place of residence --and Gallio was there when St. Paul was brought before him; which also implies that he was brought before him after or in the autumnal quarter of A. U. 804: for we shall see, hereafter, that, from the commencement of the spring quarter, the governors of provinces would not be found stationary in the seat of the proconsular government, but were employed in visiting their province, and administering justice elsewhere. There can be little question that Gallio was serving Achaia as prætor: into possession of which province he might come after three or four years' time-—and as his brother Seneca had been made tutor to Nero, A. U. 802. it is nothing unlikely that he might have been admitted to the prætorship, even before that. The number of prætors in the reign of Claudius was annually never less than ten, and sometimes as many as eighteen.

The length of the stay at Antioch is not specified, except in general terms, which would lead to the inference that it was not very considerable; yet we have shewn elsewhere i that it was sufficiently long to allow for the coming thither of Peter also from Jerusalem, and for the arrival of certain persons from James, while both he and St. Paul were still there together. It is probable, therefore, that the latter would not set out on his visit to the churches of Galatia and of Phrygiak, or upon that circuit of the upper regions, which ended in his finally settling at Ephesus, before the midsummer of this year at least. For this journey, therefore, beginning from Antioch, but embracing the tour of Asia, as far as the Euxine sea, and, possibly, even the Hellespont, we cannot allow much less than eight or nine months. I assume, then, that Paul would not come to Ephesus and settle there, agreeably to his promise, the preceding year1, before the beginning of the thirteenth of Claudius A. U. 806.

After this arrival, three months were spent before the separation of the disciples, when Paul began to dispute

daily in the schola of one Tyrannus; and two years more, posterior to that, before the formation of the design to return, through Macedonia and Achaia, to Jerusalem, preparatory to a journey to Rome: and, even after this, St. Paul himself still remained somewhat longer in Asia— though he had sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia -until at last the disturbance excited in Ephesus by Demetrius, whether earlier, or not, than he had always intended, rendered it necessary or expedient that he should leave it m.

In this account, then, of the residence at Ephesus, there is a positive reckoning of two years and three months, which bring us from the beginning of the thirteenth of Claudius A. U. 806. to the beginning of the spring quarter of A. U.808. the middle of the first of Nero; and an indefinite reckoning of some time more, the length of which must be otherwise determined. The entire duration of his residence is stated by St. Paul himself, in his farewell address to the elders of the Ephesian Church, when they met him at Miletus, as a τpiería, or period of three years n; which, being understood, as it may be, of current years, and not necessarily complete, will determine it as more than two years, but less than three: and I shall shew, hereafter, by a comparison with the Epistles, that the two years and three months, above specified, terminated at, or before, a Passover at least; and that the stay of St. Paul, even after that, extended to, or beyond, the ensuing Pentecost: which would make the whole length of his residence in Ephesus from first to last, a period of two years, and more than six months. This conclusion may be confirmed at present even by what passed in the city, immediately before his departure.

In the speech of the townclerk, the ypaμuareùs, scribe, or recorder, of the city, we meet with the phrase, άyópaιos ἄγονται, καὶ ἀνθύπατοί εἰσιν °. The phrase, ἀγοραίους (scilicet uépas) ayen, is analogous to the Latin, forum agere, or

Acts xix. 8. 10. 21. 22. 23. 41. XX. I.

n Ib. xx. 31.

• Ib. xix. 38.