Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Paul, having begun to plead his own case in the council, is ordered by the Pontiff to be struck. To whom he says: God shall strike thee, thou whited wall. Then, proclaiming himself a Pharisee, and casting the apple of discord between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, lest he be killed, he is led away by the tribune. Christ appears to him, commanding him to be steadfast: for he must also preach at Rome. Soon, v. 12, the Jews conspire to kill Paul: but the plot being detected, Paul is sent by the tribune to Caesarea to Felix the governor.
Vulgate Text: Acts 23:1-35
1. And Paul, looking earnestly upon the council, said: Brethren, I have lived with all good conscience before God until this present day. 2. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike his mouth. 3. Then Paul said to him: God shall strike thee, thou whited wall. For dost thou sit and judge me according to the law, and contrary to the law dost thou order me to be struck? 4. And those who stood by said: Dost thou revile the high priest of God? 5. And Paul said: I knew not, brethren, that he is the prince of the priests. For it is written: Thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people. 6. But Paul, knowing that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the council: Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees: concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. 7. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. 8. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. 9. And there arose a great cry. And some of the Pharisees rising up, strove, saying: We find no evil in this man: what if a spirit hath spoken to him, or an angel? 10. And when there had arisen a great dissension, the tribune, fearing lest Paul should be pulled in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. 11. And the night following, the Lord standing by him, said: Be constant: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. 12. And when day was come, some of the Jews gathered together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty men that had made this conspiracy. 14. Who came to the chief priests and the elders, and said: We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will taste nothing till we have slain Paul. 15. Now therefore do you with the council signify to the tribune, that he bring him forth to you, as if you meant to know something more certain concerning him. And we, before he come near, are ready to kill him. 16. Which when Paul's sister's son had heard, of their lying in wait, he came and entered into the castle and told Paul. 17. And Paul, calling to him one of the centurions, said: Bring this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him. 18. And he indeed taking him, brought him to the tribune, and said: Paul, the prisoner, desired me to bring this young man to thee, who has something to say to thee. 19. And the tribune, taking him by the hand, went aside with him privately, and asked him: What is it that thou hast to tell me? 20. And he said: The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldst bring forth Paul tomorrow into the council, as if they meant to inquire something more certain about him: 21. but do not thou believe them, for there lie in wait for him more than forty men of them, who have bound themselves by oath neither to eat nor to drink till they have killed him: and they are now ready, looking for a promise from thee. 22. The tribune therefore dismissed the young man, charging him to tell no one that he had made known these things to him. 23. Then having called two centurions, he said to them: Make ready two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, for the third hour of the night: 24. and provide beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe to Felix the governor; 25. (For he feared lest perhaps the Jews might take him away by force and kill him, and he should afterwards be brought into the reproach of having taken money) 26. writing a letter containing these things: Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, greeting. 27. This man, being taken by the Jews, and being about to be killed by them, I rescued, coming in with the soldiery, understanding that he is a Roman: 28. and wishing to know the cause which they objected unto him, I brought him forth into their council. 29. Whom I found to be accused concerning questions of their law; but having nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bands. 30. And when it was told me of the ambushes that they had prepared for him, I sent him to thee, signifying also to his accusers that they should plead before thee. Farewell. 31. Then the soldiers, according as it was commanded them, taking Paul, brought him by night to Antipatris. 32. And the next day, leaving the horsemen to go with him, they returned to the castle. 33. Who, when they were come to Caesarea, and had delivered the letter to the governor, set Paul also before him. 34. And when he had read it, and had asked of what province he was, and understood that he was of Cilicia: 35. I will hear thee, said he, when thy accusers have come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall.
Verse 1: Looking Earnestly Upon the Council; I Have Lived With All Good Conscience Before God
1. NOW PAUL, LOOKING EARNESTLY UPON THE COUNCIL, — ἀτενίσας, that is, fixing his eyes, and gazing upon the council with fixed eyes. This word notes in Paul, first, confidence; secondly, innocence, because he was most conscious of himself; thirdly, boldness; fourthly, prudence and prudent circumspection, that he might adapt himself, and his speech and gesture, to the minds and ears of his hearers, namely his enemies; fifthly, courage; sixthly, benevolence. For orators are accustomed, by gazing with a cheerful countenance into an assembly of people or of judges, to win them over: for the greatest force of speaking consists in the gaze and in the ardor of the eyes. These eyes therefore in Paul, as also in Stephen, the indwelling Holy Spirit was sharpening and kindling, so that sparks of divine wisdom and love seemed to flash forth. Whence also the countenance and gaze of Stephen were as that of an angel, Acts vi, 15. Moreover Augustus Caesar by the natural brilliance of his eyes struck those who looked upon him. For, as Suetonius writes in his Life, chap. LXXIX: "He had clear and bright eyes: in which he even wished there to be considered a kind of divine vigor, and he rejoiced if anyone, gazing more keenly upon him, lowered his face as though to the brightness of the sun." So also that the eyes of the Emperor Tiberius flashed forth light, the same author testifies in his Life, chap. LXVIII. Hence Varro judged that eyes (oculi) were so called because God hid them (occuluit) beneath the coverings of the eyebrows. Or, because they reveal the hidden things of the heart; for, as Demosthenes says: "The eyes are indicators of character."
MEN, BRETHREN. — He does not add "and fathers," as he added in chap. xxii, 1, either because freedom of speech and spirit had grown in him while in bonds, or because he turned his speech to the Pharisees, whom, as similar in sect, he was eager to win over to himself by the address "brethren," as indeed he won them over to himself, ver. 9.
I HAVE LIVED WITH ALL GOOD CONSCIENCE BEFORE GOD, — both in Christianity, and in a certain way in Judaism: for in the latter I was a zealot of the law of Moses given by God, and in it I followed my conscience, although erring. For this was dictating to me that Christians should be persecuted, that Judaism might be established. This conscience of Paul therefore was good, that is, sincere, without flattery and hypocrisy, says Vatablus. Secondly, good by reason of its object and good end: because he intended to defend the law and the worship of God; but not according to knowledge, and therefore ignorant and erring. Finally, it was good civilly and politically with regard to the Jews and the judges, who thought Judaism to be good and Christianity evil. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I am not conscious to myself that in Christianity, much less in Judaism, I have injured you; that I have inflicted anything evil upon you or your law, and therefore I have committed nothing worthy of these chains, says Chrysostom. So also Dionysius and Cajetan.
Note: For conversatus sum ante Deum, the Greek is πεπολιτεύμαι τῷ Θεῷ, which Vatablus first translates, "I have conducted the things which were of God." Secondly, Gagneius: "I have performed my office for God," that is, the office entrusted to me by God I have duly fulfilled, according to His will, for His glory. For, as Budé says in his Commentary on the Greek Language, πολιτεύεσθαι does not have regard to citizens, but to magistrates, and signifies to administer the office entrusted to one. This office in Paul was the apostolate and the preaching of the Gospel, just as in Judaism it had been the care and defense of the Mosaic law: he carried out both, in his time, faithfully and strenuously.
Verse 2: And Ananias the High Priest; He Commanded Those Standing By to Strike Him on the Mouth
2. AND ANANIAS THE HIGH PRIEST. — It is uncertain who this Ananias is. Some think him to be Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, to whom Christ was first led when seized and bound, John xviii, 13. This is favored by the fact that Paul, in chap. xxii, 5, intimates that letters were given him by this high priest some 24 years before, to persecute Christians. If so, Annas would indeed have been advanced in years, 70 or 80 years old. Others, perhaps more probably, think Ananias to be Ananus, the last-named son of Annas. For Annas had five sons, and saw them all in turn as high priests: the last of them was Ananus, who five years later, namely in the year of Christ 63, killed James the brother of the Lord, and therefore so displeased the people and King Agrippa, that he deprived him of the pontificate. This is favored by the fact that this Ananus was bold, cruel, fierce, and of the Sadducee sect, as Josephus testifies, Antiquities bk. XX, ch. VIII. Thirdly, Sigonius, bk. V On the Hebrew Commonwealth, ch. I, writes that this Ananias, son of Nebedaeus, was made and removed as high priest by Agrippa, king of Chalcis, concerning whom Josephus speaks, bk. XX, ch. III. Fourthly, others judge that Ananias by another name was called Ishmael, son of Phabi: for that this man held the pontificate in the last years of Felix the governor, to whom Paul was sent bound, Josephus teaches, bk. XX, ch. VI; although Baronius and others judge Josephus to be in error here.
HE COMMANDED THOSE STANDING BY HIM TO STRIKE HIM ON THE MOUTH. — Why? I answer: First, because he was full of malevolence, gall, and hatred of Christ and of Paul, as of enemies of his Judaism and Pontificate, especially because a little before the whole people had shouted against Paul, as the betrayer of his own nation: Away with him, chap. xxii, ver. 22. Therefore he cannot bear to hear the voice of Paul, especially that by which he proclaims his innocence and his good conduct: he therefore orders his mouth, as impious and blasphemous, to be ignominiously struck and stopped up, just as once the mouths of many Martyrs, because of their freedom in speaking and rebuking, were ordered by governors to be beaten and stopped up, because they despised their sayings and edicts and their gods. For they interpreted this as contumely to themselves and blasphemy to their gods: their mouths therefore, as blasphemous, rebellious, contumacious, and slanderous, they punished by beating and stopping up. Whence secondly, Dionysius judges that this Pontiff, inflated with pride, did not bear Paul's boldness, especially because he had called himself and all the Pontiffs brethren, not fathers and lords, and therefore had not paid him the honor due, by greeting him humbly. The impious Pontiff thought that Paul, terrified by the blow, would desist: on the contrary, Paul even by his very voice indicates that he would remain in the same fortitude. For to suffer adversities is not always a mark of virtue: for many out of pusillanimity suffer, not daring to resist; but Christian patience has joined to it fortitude of soul, according to that saying: "Yield not to evils, but go on more boldly against them."
Verse 3: God Shall Strike Thee, Thou Whited Wall; And Contrary to the Law Thou Commandest Me to Be Struck
3. GOD SHALL STRIKE THEE, THOU WHITED WALL. — So he calls him because he was a hypocrite: so that, though by the name and stole of the Pontiff he might glitter outwardly, inwardly he was sordid with muddy concupiscences, with spite and hatred, says St. Augustine in the book On Lying, ch. XV. Paul said this with Apostolic authority, threatening out of zeal for justice, and foretelling to an unjust judge the just vengeance and plague of God, especially that, in the presence of the tribune who had delivered him from the scourges, he might defend his own right and dignity. So St. Chrysostom and Oecumenius.
Mystically St. Augustine, bk. I On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, ch. XIX, teaches that this word of Paul sounds not so much as reproach but as prophecy, that those who had understanding might perceive that the whited wall — that is, the hypocrisy of the Jewish priesthood — was to be destroyed through the advent of Christ. Less probably St. Jerome, bk. III Against the Pelagians, acknowledges here a lapse of Paul out of human infirmity, because he did not answer as mildly as Christ, who said to the one who struck Him: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?" For that Paul said these things calmly is clear from the fact that he soon answered so mildly, saying: "I knew not that he is the Prince of priests." For this cannot so quickly be done by those who are indignant and disturbed, says St. Augustine, in the book On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, ch. XIX. Some, instead of percutiet ("shall strike"), as the Roman and Greek have, read percutiat ("may strike") optatively, so that it is a curse, that is, not only a prediction and threat of evil, but also an imprecation, which Paul seems to acknowledge upon himself at ver. 5. And often among the Hebrews there is an interchange of moods, so that the future is put for the optative, and the optative for the future or the indicative, as St. Augustine teaches on Psalm LXXVIII, and St. Jerome on Psalm XI.
Further, a whited wall, or one overlaid with plaster, is a proverb, signifying a feigned and painted man. So Christ calls the Scribes whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outwardly, but within are filled with the bones of corpses and all uncleanness. So Seneca asserts that Philosophers, who while teaching honorable things yet lived basely, are like certain apothecaries' boxes, whose labels promise remedy, while within they conceal poison. On the contrary, those who are better within than they show forth in face and speech, Plato in the Symposium of Socrates compared to the Sileni of Alcibiades. Sileni were little divided images, which when closed had a ridiculous and monstrous appearance of a flute-player, but when opened suddenly showed forth a deity. Such, he says, was Socrates, whom if you had seen only on the outer skin, you would not have valued at a penny: for his face was rustic, his look bullish, his nostrils flat and dripping, his dress neglected, his speech simple and plebeian, his fortune slender, his wife worthless and abusive: when asked what he knew, he answered that he knew nothing. And yet this man had a mind illustrious with wisdom and virtue, so much so that he was named by the oracle of Apollo as the wisest of mortals. Such Sileni were rather the Apostles, unlettered, rude, poor, ignoble, feeble outwardly, but full within of the Holy Spirit and His charisms: likewise the Anchorites, the Silentiaries, and similar Saints, according to Col. III, 3: "You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." See what is said there. Therefore hypocrites and the impious are whited walls and sepulchres, but the simple and the Saints are blackened basilicas and dark temples. So Lucian, in the Gallus, compares the pomps of kings and princes to an idol which outwardly is golden, crowned, and marked with a scepter, within clay and full of spiders and mice. For the life of kings outwardly splendid is inwardly bitter, namely full of cares, suspicions, annoyances, afflictions.
Morally St. Gregory, bk. VII Morals, ch. XV, notes that wondrous was the loftiness of soul of Paul and of the other Prophets and Apostles, although outwardly oppressed, and thence their boldness of speaking and of rebuking princes. "For," he says, "caught up inwardly above themselves, they fix their soul on high, and whatsoever they suffer in this life they behold as though it were slipping far below and alien to themselves, and, so to speak, while they strive with the mind to be outside the flesh, they almost do not know the things they endure. In the eyes of such men indeed, whatsoever is eminent in time is not high: for placed as it were on the summit of a great mountain, they wholly despise the joys of the present life: and transcending themselves by spiritual sublimity, they see within themselves as beneath them whatsoever outwardly swells with carnal glory. Whence also they spare no powers against the truth, but those whom they see exalted by haughtiness, they press down by the authority of the spirit. Hence it is that Moses says to Pharaoh: Thus says the Lord: How long wilt thou refuse to submit to Me? And Nathan to David: Thou art the man, who hast done this thing. And Elijah to Ahab: I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house. And Elisha to king Joram: What have I to do with thee? Go to the prophets of thy father. And Peter to the princes: If it be just in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. And Paul to the Pontiff: God shall strike thee, thou whited wall. And Stephen to the Jews: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. But because holy men break forth into words of such loftiness out of zeal for the truth, not out of the vice of elation, they openly show this, manifesting their own humility and charity." He then shows this in each one, and in particular in Paul, from what he says: "For we preach not ourselves, but our Lord Jesus Christ, and ourselves your servants through Jesus," II Cor. IV.
AND CONTRARY TO THE LAW THOU COMMANDEST ME TO BE STRUCK. — For the law of nature, divine and human, commands that no one be struck or punished, unless he first be heard, and having been heard, be condemned; but I have not yet been heard, much less condemned; since therefore thou unjustly orderest me to be struck, God will justly punish and strike thee. St. Chrysostom says that the Pontiff, struck as by a thunderbolt by this so just response of Paul, was stupefied, and being speechless and half-dead could not respond even a word: whence others standing by did and said it for him.
Verse 4: Dost Thou Revile the High Priest of God?
4. DOST THOU REVILE THE HIGH PRIEST OF GOD? — λοιδορεῖς, that is, dost thou hurl insults? So the Zurich Bible. St. Cyprian reads, in bk. I, epistle 3 to Cornelius: "Dost thou thus rush upon the priest of God by cursing?" Therefore here a curse is called an insult, namely that Paul called the Pontiff a whited wall. Secondly, a curse can be taken for an imprecation of evil, namely if you read or understand it through the optative, in this way: "May God strike thee," as I have already said, as if to say: Thou cursest, that is, thou not only foretellest evil, but also implorest it, threatenest it, and proclaimest it against the High Pontiff.
Verse 5: I Knew Not, Brethren, That He Is the Prince of the Priests; Thou Shalt Not Speak Evil of the Prince of Thy People
5. I KNEW NOT, BRETHREN, THAT HE IS THE PRINCE OF THE PRIESTS. — Paul could have replied: The Pontiff does not treat me as a citizen, nor do I treat him as Pontiff; he acts as hypocrite and buffoon, he is heard as hypocrite and buffoon, according to that saying of St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Witty is that of Domitius: Why should I regard thee as a prince, when thou dost not regard me as a senator?" And that saying of Crassus, in Cicero, bk. III On the Orator, who said "he was no consul to him, to whom he himself was no senator." And that of St. Jerome, epistle 62 to Theophilus, against the errors of John the Bishop of Jerusalem: "Either let him as Pontiff command all equally, or as imitator of the Apostle let him serve the salvation of all equally: if he show himself such, we willingly offer our hands. Let him understand that in Christ, as we are subject to all the Saints, so also we are subject to him, etc. But let them be content with their honor: let them know that they are fathers, not lords, especially among those who, despising the ambitions of the age, prefer nothing to quiet and leisure." But Paul did not wish to say this, and willed to give a public example of modesty and reverence toward Prelates, even impious and tyrannical ones, both for those present and for posterity, lest the Jews accuse him as arrogant, and be more sharply roused against him, and rush upon him with raging spirits and hands.
Whence St. Cyprian, bk. I, epistle 3 to Cornelius (which in the edition of Pamelius is the 55th): "If thus," he says, "Paul revered the Pontiff, who bore only the empty name and shadow of a Pontiff, how are the Catholic and Roman Pontiffs to be revered, in whom sacerdotal authority and power are confirmed by divine condescension? For neither did heresies arise from any other source, nor schisms come to be, than from this: that the priest of God is not obeyed, and there is not thought to be in the Church one priest at a time, and one judge at a time in the place of Christ: to whom if the whole brotherhood obeyed according to the divine teachings, no one would move anything against the college of priests, no one after divine judgment, after the suffrage of the people, after the consent of fellow-bishops, would now make himself a judge over not the Bishops but God: no one would split the Church of Christ by the discord of unity; no one pleasing himself and swelling with pride would establish a heresy apart and outside." He inveighs against Novatus and Novatian rising up against Cornelius and the Church: let the Innovators ruminate on this.
Question: How did Paul, learned and most versed in Jerusalem, not recognize the High Pontiff, especially from the very order of seating? For he sat first on the more august throne. First answer, Oecumenius: Paul did recognize him, but feigned ignorance for the edification of those standing by. But thus Paul would have lied, by saying: "I knew not, brethren, that he is the Prince of priests." Secondly, Bede: I knew not, he says, that he was Pontiff, because through the Gospel the Mosaic priesthood had now ceased; and yet Paul corrects himself thus, as though he had sinned, in order to teach others that reverence is owed to those in whose power we are. So also St. Augustine, bk. I On the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, ch. XIX, as if to say: I recognize no other Pontiff than Christ, whom it is not lawful to curse; and yet you curse, since in me you hate nothing other than His name. Whence the same, epistle 5 to Marcellinus, and from him Lorinus, judges that Paul here speaks ironically and mockingly, as if to say: I knew not that he was Pontiff, because from his furious manner of speaking he does not seem to be pontiff, but tyrant. Yet though the former may be true, it nevertheless seems rather subtle and mystical than genuine and literal; the latter does not sufficiently correspond to the simplicity and candor of Paul. But to this it might conveniently be answered, that Paul prudently "plays the fox with foxes," namely deals craftily with the crafty, and answers cleverly and mockingly to the cunning and the mockers, according to Psalm CXVII, 27: "With the elect thou wilt be elect, and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted," for which Genebrardus and the Zurich Bible translate: With the upright thou wilt act uprightly, and with the crafty craftily: for this is what the Hebrew תתפתל titpattal means. And that text: "Answer a fool according to his folly," Prov. xxvi, 5. Wherefore this subtle and sharp sense, not unworthy of Paul's character, indeed agreeable and apposite to his genial and versatile genius and disposition, seems to fit.
Witty is that saying which in Plutarch's Life of Sulla Carbo is recorded to have said. For when Sulla was waging war not only by open Mars (combat), but also by stratagems, he said: "I wage war with both fox and lion (both of which dwelt in Sulla's spirit), but I am more vehemently distressed by the fox." And that of Lysander in the same author: "If the lion's skin is not enough, the fox's must be added": by which he signified that war must be accomplished more by stratagem than by open force. For, as Virgil says, "Stratagem or valor, who would inquire in an enemy?"
Thirdly, Baronius answers that besides the High Pontiff there was another, second in order, set over the rest, who was called Prince of priests, and that he sat first opposite the side of the High Pontiff, so that Paul doubted which was the High Pontiff. But concerning this second Pontiff we read nothing anywhere: for the firstborn of the priestly families were Pontiffs, equal among themselves, over whom the High Pontiff alone presided. Fourthly, more simply Chrysostom, Lyranus, and Dionysius answer that Paul did not recognize the High Priest because he had been absent from Jerusalem for a long time, and this pontiff was new, and was surrounded by many bystanders. Sanchez and others add that Paul heard the voice of the Pontiff but, because of the crowd, did not know from whom the voice had been emitted, especially because this council seems to have been convened not in the ordinary place, namely the temple, but in the fortress of Antonia, where the seating was tumultuous and confused, and consequently the High Priest was not seated on his throne, but on a chair or bench, mixed with other priests and judges.
THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK EVIL OF THE PRINCE OF THY PEOPLE, — thou shalt not detract, not revile, not despise: for this is the Hebrew קלל kalal. See what was said on Exod. xxii, 28. Thus St. Cyprian, bk. IV, epistle 9 to Florentia, asserts that in a vision he heard this voice from God: "He who does not believe Christ when He makes a priest, will afterwards begin to believe Him when He vindicates the priest."
Verse 6: Of the Sadducees; I Am a Pharisee
6. OF THE SADDUCEES. — "Which sect is the most cruel of all the Jews in judging," says Josephus, bk. XX Antiquities, ch. VIII, where he also adds that Ananias (whom many wish to be this Ananias) was a Sadducee high priest.
I AM A PHARISEE. — For this was the better and more honored sect of the Jews: for it believed in the immortality of the soul, abstained from delicacies, and devoted itself to the law and to wisdom. This is the apple of discord which Paul prudently throws between the Pharisees and Sadducees, that he may set them against one another; for both were unjustly conspiring for the death of Paul, and consequently were not investigating his case as fair judges, but were precipitating it as furious witnesses. It was therefore better that they should contend among themselves divided, than that they should unanimously impugn the truth. Therefore Paul piously and prudently breaks their wicked concord by sowing schism, that through this both sides might be rendered weaker for perpetrating evil, since it dissents and disputes more strongly among itself.
Note: To sow discord among citizens is impious. Therefore the political axiom of Machiavelli is impious: "If you wish to reign, divide." For this is not of a prince, but of a tyrant. But if enemies and impious men unjustly conspire among themselves for my evil or that of the republic, for instance in sedition, heresy, impiety, or any other crime, it is lawful to sow dissension among them; nay rather, this is the only means of dissolving an impious faction and conspiracy, as St. Thomas teaches, II-II, Question XXXVII, art. 1, ad 2.
And St. Gregory, bk. XXXIV Morals, ch. IV, says: "The unity of the wicked is harmful, and therefore must be split apart, according to that of Psalm LIV, 10: Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues. Thus God divided the tongues of the builders of Babel, and so dispersed their insane construction and tower. Thus He divided the wicked union of Abimelech the fratricide with the Sichemites, Judges IX, ch. XXIV. Thus He divided Rehoboam and Jeroboam, or Judah from Israel, III Kings xii. Thus Cato, as Plutarch testifies in his Life, used to sow little dissensions among his slaves, lest they should conspire in thefts or other damages of their master. The same is evident in heretics: for these, like Samson's foxes by their tails, conspire together and set fire to the Church, but with their heads they go in different directions: wherefore discord and war among heretics is the peace of the Church."
This Cardinal Hosius — emulator of that great Hosius of Cordova in defending the faith — wisely saw and proclaimed. For when at the Polish parliament, in Cracow, the Lutherans and Calvinists were urging that the Trideists and Anabaptists be expelled from the kingdom, Hosius resisted: "Let them rather devour one another," he said, "that they may be consumed by one another: for the war of heretics is the peace of the Church. Either let all who have departed from the Church be proscribed together, or let all be tolerated together. For truth must drive out falsehood, not falsehood truth. To eject only the Trideists and Anabaptists is to canonize the Lutherans and Calvinists, and to increase their power and nourish their boldness. If you wish to be insane, rather receive the perfidy of the dominant impious Trideist Gregory, and call it the Polish little faith too: or if you wish to come more quickly and without trouble to the perfection of the Lutheran Gospel, renounce the entire Christian faith all at once, and say: Let us eat, let us drink, for tomorrow we die. For why so many roundabouts? why so many circumlocutions? The perfection of the Lutheran Gospel is atheism and epicureanism. For nothing else was Satan's purpose when he raised Luther from the depths, than that through him he might root out faith in God from the souls of mortals. But he did not wish to display his horns at once, lest he immediately frighten men away by the foulness of the matter. He is as much anathema, as much pagan and publican, who does not hear the Church in many things, as he who does not hear her in a few: just as he is as drowned who is covered by a hand-breadth of water, as he who is covered by the abyss of the sea. Hence that most wicked impostor produced a book about the three impostors of the world, Moses, Christ, and Mohammed. Thus from small beginnings one ascends to the highest degree of impiety. If one is concerned for the peace of the kingdom, the first to be expelled are the Lutherans and Calvinists. For these in France, England, and Germany have stirred up civil wars. And from these have been born the Trideists and Anabaptists. These seeds of wars and uprisings must be rooted out. Do we lament that the peace of the Church has been torn? Luther tore it. Do we lament temples ruined, burned, profaned, monasteries overturned, fields, villages, cities laid waste? Luther ruined them, overthrew them, laid them waste. Do we lament that civil wars have been stirred up? Luther stirred them up. Do we long for the Mores, the men of Rochester, the Carthusians? Luther took them away." See Stanislaus Rescius in the Life of Hosius, bk. II, ch. XXI.
CONCERNING THE HOPE AND RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD I AM JUDGED. — Some distinguish hope from resurrection, in that hope regards the felicity of the other life, whose object is God and the vision and enjoyment of God; while resurrection signifies the state of bodies to be joined again, both of the damned and of the blessed. Others take hope as the thing hoped for, namely Christ promised to the Jews, whom Paul accordingly in Acts xxviii, 20, calls "the hope of Israel," saying: "For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." The Syriac more simply and naturally joins these two, and thus by hendiadys translates and explains: Concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead I am judged. For the hope of Christians is none other than the resurrection of the dead, as Tertullian says.
For the Jews were not raising a lawsuit against Paul concerning the hope of eternal felicity, but concerning the resurrection of Christ and of Christians. Hence Vatablus also explains it thus, as if to say: I am accused for this reason, that I defend and assert that the resurrection of all is to be hoped for: for the Jews, and especially the Sadducees who deny the resurrection, whose head is Ananias the Pontiff, persecute me because I teach that Christ, whom they themselves killed in order to extinguish Him and abolish His name and sect, has risen, and is to return for judgment, that He may be their judge and avenger and of all, and that our resurrection is to be expected from Him, not from Moses, not from the law, nor from elsewhere. Therefore Paul does not lie here, but is silent about those things which I have supplied; which were prudently to be kept silent in such a place and time. The "of the dead," therefore, understand of Christ and of Christians, who hope to pass through death and by death to resurrection and immortality. Therefore Hugo's exposition is impertinent, which is this: "Of the dead," that is, for the dead who are in Purgatory or heaven: for there was no question between the Jews and Paul concerning this matter. Again, those who are in heaven do not have hope, but the reality and certitude already of eternal felicity, rather than of resurrection to be eternalized.
I AM JUDGED. — In Greek κρίνομαι: which some take for διακρίνομαι, that is, I am separated, parted, as a Pharisee believing the resurrection from the Sadducees who deny it; concerning which exposition and others Sanchez has much here. But the Syriac translates plainly and genuinely, "I am called to judgment"; Vatablus, "I am accused"; others, "I am condemned, and unheard, as if condemned by prejudgment, I am beaten." Note here again the liberty and spirit of Paul in chains, in the midst of his enemies, who were his judges.
Wherefore you may truly apply to him the eulogies with which St. Cyprian celebrates the confessor Celerinus, in bk. IV, epistle 5 to the Presbyters, Deacons, and people: "This man was the first to the battle of our time, the standard-bearer among the soldiers of Christ; this man amid the fervent beginnings of the persecution engaged with the very prince and author of the infestation, and while he conquers his adversary with the unconquerable firmness of his combat, he made a way of conquering for the rest: a victor not by a brief abridgment of wounds, but a triumpher by the miracle of a long struggle with adhering and persistent pains. For nineteen days he was enclosed in the custody of prison, in the stocks and in iron; but with his body placed in chains, his spirit remained loose and free. The flesh wasted away by the long duration of hunger and thirst, but God fed with spiritual nourishment the soul living by faith and virtue. He lay among torments stronger than his torments, enclosed greater than those enclosing him, lying loftier than those standing, bound firmer than those binding, judged more sublime than those judging; and although his feet were bound by the stocks, the trampled serpent was crushed and conquered. The clear marks of wounds shine on his glorious body, the impressions stand out and appear in the man's sinews and on his limbs consumed by long wasting. Great are they, marvelous are they, the things which the brotherhood may hear concerning his virtues and praises."
The same, in bk. V, epistle 9 to Successus: "I beg these things," he says, "to be made known through you and to your colleagues, that by their exhortation the brotherhood may be strengthened and prepared for the spiritual contest, so that each of our people may not think of death more than of immortality; and being dedicated with full faith and total virtue to the Lord, may rejoice rather than fear in this confession, in which they know that the soldiers of God and Christ are not destroyed, but crowned."
Verse 7: And the Multitude Was Dissolved
7. AND THE MULTITUDE WAS DISSOLVED, — by separating, not into the home, but into various opinions and factions. For in Greek it is ἐσχίσθη (Our [Vulgate translator] reads ἐλύθη, that is, was dissolved) τὸ πλῆθος, that is, the multitude was cut apart. So the Tigurine; the Syriac: the people was divided.
Verse 8: For the Sadducees Say There Is No Resurrection; Neither Angel, Nor Spirit
8. FOR THE SADDUCEES SAY THERE IS NO RESURRECTION. — Whence Christ proves the same against them in Matt. xxii, 23 and 32, from that of Exodus III, 15: "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: for He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
NEITHER ANGEL, NOR SPIRIT. — Therefore the Sadducees denied: first, that the rational soul is spiritual and immortal; secondly, that there are demons; thirdly, that there is a Holy Spirit (so Nazianzen, oration 5, which is on the Holy Spirit); fourthly, the Holy Trinity — for the generation of the Word is spiritual, and takes place in spirit; fifthly, that God is a spirit; for they thought that in God there was only one person, just as one nature, and that corporeal, such as that of man.
So Tertullian held that angels are corporeal, that the soul of man likewise is corporeal, indeed that it is itself a body shaped and colored, namely of an airy and luminous color, that it has its own senses, "eyes, ears, and other limbs, through which it makes use of itself in thoughts and operates in dreams," and that this is the inner man whom St. Paul often names and celebrates. Thus St. Augustine reports concerning Tertullian, in bk. X On Genesis according to the Letter, in the last two chapters. Tertullian's reasoning was this: that the soul seems to be from traduction. For when a father generates a son, it seems that the father's soul transmits from itself and propagates the son's soul, just as one plant propagates another: but that which propagates and is propagated is body, not spirit. St. Augustine adds that Tertullian thought God to be corporeal, and consequently that nothing in the world is incorporeal: which was the heresy of the Vadians, who from this were called Anthropomorphites. Hence Tertullian also says that the soul of man, namely of Adam, is from the matter of God, in bk. IV Against Marcion, ch. XXXVII. Pamelius however, in his Paradoxes of Tertullian, excuses him from this error, on the grounds that he understood by "body" substance, which in God and the angels is spiritual, in men corporeal.
BUT THE PHARISEES CONFESS BOTH. — The Syriac, for "both," translates "all things": for there are here three things which the Sadducees denied, but the Pharisees confessed, namely resurrection, angel, and spirit. But Luke joins angel and spirit as one thing and of the same nature and kind, and opposes them to the resurrection, which is of bodies. So Chrysostom and Oecumenius. Wherefore Cajetan less correctly thinks that spirit, that is, the rational soul, should be reckoned as one with the resurrection and opposed to the angel.
Verse 9: Certain of the Pharisees; What If a Spirit or an Angel Hath Spoken to Him?
9. CERTAIN OF THE PHARISEES. — In Greek, οἱ γραμματεῖς τοῦ μέρους τῶν Φαρισαίων, that is, the Scribes who were of the party of the Pharisees, as if to say, the literate and learned doctors of the Pharisees.
THEY STROVE, — they contended, they fought, not from zeal for truth, but from defending their own sect.
WHAT IF A SPIRIT (namely God, or the Holy Spirit) OR AN ANGEL HATH SPOKEN TO HIM? — Supply: who would blame, or accuse, Paul? They allude to that ecstasy in which Paul said he was carried away by God, taught, and sent, ch. xxii, ver. 17, and at the same time they reproach their own adversaries and Paul's, the Sadducees, who denied angels and spirits, as if to say: We Pharisees, with Paul, believe there are angels and spirits, just as resurrection, which the angels have taught us, and the very nature of the soul demonstrates. For if the soul is spirit, therefore immortal, therefore it will rise again and assume a body again: for by natural weight it inclines toward the other, and cannot be eternally without it: for thus it would be eternally in an unnatural and violent state. What then if Paul has had this very thing and the rest that he teaches revealed to him in ecstasy by an Angel or the Spirit of God, what do you have, O Sadducees, to carp at in him and object to him? For what he himself thinks and teaches, we also think and teach. If you accuse him, you accuse us. If you touch him, you touch us. Whence the Greek adds μὴ θεομαχῶμεν, that is, let us not fight with God and the Spirit of God, as those proud giants of old whom God therefore destroyed. But this addition seems to have crept in from a marginal note, drawn from a similar sentence of Gamaliel by which he defends the Apostles, ch. v, ver. 39. Behold what love of one's national sect does. The Pharisees fight for Paul, otherwise their enemy, as for their altars and hearths, because he professed himself a Pharisee and son of a Pharisee.
Verse 10: To Descend
10. TO DESCEND, — from the upper place of the fortress of Antonia to the lower, where was the assembly of the priests, in order to snatch Paul from there, as a Roman citizen, lest he be torn apart by the Sadducees.
Verse 11: And the Following Night the Lord Standing By Him; Be Constant
11. AND THE FOLLOWING NIGHT THE LORD STANDING BY HIM. — From this it seems that Christ appeared through an angel in a vision to Paul as he slept, and consequently Paul here did not really see, nor hear Christ. So Dionysius.
BE CONSTANT, — θάρσει, Paul, that is, dare, Paul, according to that of John xvi, 33: "Have confidence, I have overcome the world." The Syriac: fortify thyself. Truly St. Pantaleon the martyr said in his torments: "Since Thou art with me, Lord, what is there that I should fear?" "For why do you fear, O man, in the bosom of God?" says St. Augustine.
Verse 12: And When Day Was Come; They Bound Themselves Under a Curse
12. AND WHEN DAY WAS COME. — The Syriac: when morning had come.
THEY BOUND THEMSELVES UNDER A CURSE, — swearing and saying that they wished to be destroyed by God, and blotted out as an anathema, unless they should kill Paul, says Vatablus. For in Greek it is ἀνεθεμάτισαν ἑαυτούς, as if to say, they devoted themselves as an anathema. So the Decii devoted themselves for their country.
Secondly, they devoted themselves to hunger and death, namely that they would not taste anything of food until they should kill Paul, and consequently would die of hunger unless they should remove him out of the way: for thus this devoting of theirs is explained by the following words. So Bede, Lyranus, and others.
Thirdly, and genuinely, joining both senses, as if to say: They devoted themselves with curses, swearing and execrating, saying for example: May God destroy us, if we eat or drink anything before we kill Paul. For this is what they say in ver. 14: "With a devotion we have devoted ourselves to taste nothing until we kill Paul," where the Greek has, "with an anathema we have anathematized ourselves," namely, with execration we have execrated ourselves to eat nothing until we kill Paul.
Baronius surmises, in the year of Christ 58, ch. CXXXVI, that these forty conspirators in Paul's death were those priests whom Josephus in his Life writes were sent bound by Felix to Rome on a trifling charge, to plead their cause before Caesar. "Whom," he says, "in order to rescue from danger, especially since I heard that even in calamity the care of piety had not departed from them, and that they sustained life on figs and nuts; I went to Rome, where through Aliturus, a Jewish friend of Poppaea, wife of Caesar, I became known, and immediately through her I obtained absolution for those priests; and being moreover gifted by her with great gifts, I returned to my country." Baronius surmises that these men, since they had sworn they would not eat unless they had killed Paul, when they were unable to fulfill their vow, abstained from bread and ate only dry things, lest they should perish utterly. But this conjecture is ambiguous and obscure, especially because when Paul was sent to Rome by Festus, Felix's successor, the Jews who were at Rome said they had heard nothing of him, Acts xxviii, 21, who certainly would have heard many things about him from those priests, if they themselves had been sent bound to Rome on Paul's account.
Verse 15: That He May Bring Him Forth to You
15. THAT HE MAY BRING HIM FORTH TO YOU. — The Greek adds αὔριον, that is, tomorrow, and the Latin and Greek explicitly have this in ver. 20. For they desired to accomplish the matter on the spot, and so to be released from their oath and vow. So Lyranus.
Verse 16: And When Paul's Sister's Son Had Heard of Their Lying in Wait
16. AND WHEN PAUL'S SISTER'S SON HAD HEARD OF THEIR LYING IN WAIT, — namely that ambushes were being constructed against Paul by the Jews. Whence the Greek plainly has: "But when Paul's sister's son had heard of the ambushes." Whether he heard by chance, or on purpose, because, being concerned for his uncle, he secretly investigated the counsels which the Jews were stirring up against him, as Lyranus thinks, is uncertain.
Verse 21: Awaiting Thy Promise
21. AWAITING THY PROMISE, — not made; but to be made, as if to say: They are awaiting that you should promise them that you will tomorrow bring Paul forth into their assembly.
Verse 23: Prepare Two Hundred Soldiers, and Seventy Horsemen, and Two Hundred Spearmen; To Caesarea; From the Third Hour of the Night
23. PREPARE TWO HUNDRED SOLDIERS, THAT THEY MAY GO AS FAR AS CAESAREA, AND SEVENTY HORSEMEN, AND TWO HUNDRED SPEARMEN. — The two hundred soldiers seem to be different from the two hundred spearmen: perhaps "soldiers" are called by a common name those of light armament, such as velites, slingers, and the like, who fought with javelins and bows; while "spearmen" are those who fought with lances or long pikes: for these in Greek are called δεξιολάβοι, just as now in the army there are musketeers, and lancers or pikemen, who armored carry long pikes, and are as it were the triarii and the strength of the army: both, therefore, seem to have been foot-soldiers, because here they are distinguished from horsemen. Others, however, think that the spearmen were horsemen, because they are joined to them, but are here distinguished from common cavalrymen because these fought with javelins, bows, or other arms, while the spearmen fought with lances; just as now some horsemen are musketeers, others lancers, like the Epirotes or Albanians, whose leader and chief was George Castriota, the terror and scourge of the Turks, who was therefore by the Turks surnamed Scanderbeg, that is, Alexander the Great. Some however think the two hundred soldiers are the same as the two hundred spearmen, so that the καὶ is exegetic, and explains the two hundred soldiers. Verse 32 favors this, where besides the horsemen, only soldiers are named, as if they were the same as the spearmen. But to this others reply that the spearmen were foot-soldiers or horsemen, but armed with spears, and are placed in the last position because they were last in the battle line, as it were triarii, as they still are last. Here therefore Paul was conducted by 470 guards. For the Tribune feared lest those forty who had conspired in Paul's death should draw with them many crowds of people.
TO CAESAREA. — Caesarea was at that time the seat of the Governor, because the capital of Judea. So Mariana from Tacitus, bk. XVIII; especially because Herod, having adorned it, had named it Caesarea in honor of Caesar, and had built a praetorium in it, as is clear from ver. 35. So Ravenna, not Rome, was the seat of the Exarchs of Italy.
See here how much fairer, more sincere, and more humane the Gentiles and Romans are toward Paul than the Jews raging against him contrary to law. Behold there the courtesy of the Centurion, with which he obeys the bound Paul, and brings his nephew to the tribune. The tribune with equal courtesy takes him by the hand, hears him aside, commands silence, and on his report, in order to protect Paul from the ambushes of the Jews, sends him with 470 soldiers as escort to the governor at Caesarea.
Let those note this who are puffed up by office and grow insolent, and therefore admit only the powerful and rich to converse with them. For it is the duty of a magistrate to hear all kindly, to join mercy with justice, not to be proud on account of his power, to acknowledge himself the servant of others; to defend orphans, widows, and the poor against the injuries of the powerful: tyrants do the opposite. Suetonius praises Augustus Caesar, in his Life, chaps. XXXIII and LXXII, that he would persist into the night in audience, even under porticoes, also using a litter for a tribunal, if he was somewhat unwell in body, or even lying down at home. Pliny, in the Panegyric, celebrates Trajan, that he was assiduous on the tribunal, "so that he seemed to be refreshed and restored by labor." Demonax, asked by someone how he might best administer the province committed to him, answered: "If you speak the least, you will hear the most." Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus, surnamed Mnemon — that is, the Mindful — not only showed himself easy and affable to those wishing to approach, but also ordered his wife to be carried in a chariot with the curtains removed, that to those who wished to meet her, access might be open even on the journey. So Plutarch in the Apophthegms of Kings. Famous is Vespasian's saying: "It is not fitting that anyone should depart from Caesar sad." So Suetonius in his Life. Aristippus, when on one occasion he interceded with Dionysius on behalf of a friend, and the latter would not admit his entreaties, prostrating himself began to embrace the king's feet, and obtained his request. When some blamed this deed as more abject than befitted a Philosopher: "It is not I who am at fault," he said, "but Dionysius, who has ears in his feet." So Laertius, bk. II, ch. VIII. The Lacedaemonian envoys, coming to the tyrant Lygdamis, when he was putting them off and pleading infirmity, said: "By Jove, we did not come here to wrestle with him, but to converse." So Plutarch in the Laconian Sayings. An old woman demanded of Philip that he hear her case, and when he said he had no leisure, she cried out: "Then do not even wish to be king"; whereupon Philip lent easy ears not only to her but to others. So Plutarch in the Apophthegms of Kings. Among Christians the Emperor Gratian was illustrious, of whom Ausonius says: "It is praiseworthy for an Emperor to lend easy access to those interrupting him, and not to plead occupation as an excuse. You confirm those still hesitating; even when complaints are unfolded, lest anything still be left in silence, you question them." St. Augustine celebrates the accessibility of St. Ambrose, having experienced it himself: for he was surrounded "by crowds of busy men, whose infirmities he served: it was not customary for anyone to be forbidden to enter, nor for those coming to him to be announced."
FROM THE THIRD HOUR OF THE NIGHT. — Refer this to "let them go," as if to say: That at the third hour of the night they may begin to go and set out with Paul to Caesarea. Furthermore the Romans, and from them the Jews, just as they divided the day into four parts or hours, so they also divided the night into four watches or hours, each of which encompassed three of our hours: at the beginning of which there was, in camps and watches, a changing of the guards and sentinels. Therefore, just as the third hour of the day is the third from sunrise, so the third hour of the night is the third from sunset, which the Italians call the third of the night. Differently Dionysius, who interprets "the third" as the third after midnight, or the third watch of the night. The former opinion is plainer: for there follows in ver. 31: "They led Paul by night to Antipatris," etc.
Verse 24: And Prepare Beasts; To Felix the Governor
24. AND PREPARE BEASTS, — namely horses, asses, or mules, for carrying Paul and his companions. So Dionysius. The Syriac translates: prepare a beast, that you may make Paul ride upon it, and rescuing him, conduct him to Felix the governor. See here how God not only protects Paul but also honors him. For he went on horseback, escorted by a guard of 470 horsemen and foot-soldiers, who were assigned to him for the protection of his body against the Jews. Whence Suidas and others translate δεξιολάβους, that is, spearmen, as παραφύλακας, that is, bodyguards. What prince or king goes about surrounded by 470 guards and attendants? So Paul goes here. Truly precious in the sight of the Lord is not only the death, but also the life of His saints.
TO FELIX THE GOVERNOR. — This Felix, according to Suetonius in Claudius, ch. XXVIII, was the brother of Pallas, who, having been made a freedman by the Emperor Claudius from a slave, was powerful in favor and authority with him: and so he arranged the marriage of Agrippina, mother of Nero, with Claudius, and so was the cause that Nero succeeded Claudius in the empire. Therefore in favor of Pallas, Claudius set Felix his brother over Samaria, and afterwards Nero set him over all Judea. But Felix, made governor from a slave, was puffed up and fell, concerning which see the following chapter, ver. 3. Wisely Salvian to Eucherius: "Arrogance is generally the attendant of new honor." And Ausonius: "Hold fortune reverently, whoever suddenly / will advance rich from a humble place."
Verse 25: For He Feared; As If About to Receive Money
25. FOR HE FEARED. — This verse is missing in the Greek and the Syriac.
AS IF ABOUT TO RECEIVE MONEY. — Supply: from the Jews, if he had permitted Paul to be killed by them. For in many cases that saying of Cato in Gellius, bk. XI, ch. XVIII, is true: "The thieves of private thefts pass their lives in the stocks and chains, the thieves of public thefts in gold and purple." Splendidly Nazianzen to Julian the Apostate growing insolent in his purple, oration 3: "Will you not," he says, "object the purple to the Tyrians, from whom that shepherd's dog came forth, who, having gnawed a murex and his lips drenched with gore, showed the flower to the shepherd; and through them stretched out to you Emperors that cloth, mournful and proud for the wicked?" For, as Elias explains in the same place, the dog was the discoverer of purple and its dye. For when it had devoured a murex, and from the expressed juice its mouth had become red, the shepherd, thinking that his dog had been wounded and was shedding blood, caught the juice with wool, which, seeing it become purple thereby, and flowing from the murex, made the matter known. Furthermore Nazianzen calls the purple a mournful cloth, both because purple gives proud princes the haughtiness with which they oppress the wretched, and from this brings mourning to the wretched oppressed; and because the purple color admonishes them to shed their blood with ready spirits for the safety of their subjects: which since they do not remember (to whom they are by no means such), they take from it the occasion of haughtiness and arrogance.
Verse 26: Most Excellent
26. MOST EXCELLENT, — κρατίστῳ, which firstly can be translated "most powerful," from κράτος, that is, strength, dominion: so Vatablus; secondly, "most outstanding," so that it is the superlative of the comparative κρείττων, that is, better, more outstanding: so Pagninus; thirdly, "most victorious": so the Syriac, from κρατεῖν, that is, to conquer; fourthly, "most excellent." So Our [Vulgate translator].
Note that this epithet was customarily attributed to governors, princes, and nobles, who received their name from "the best," namely because they were or ought to be best and most outstanding in fortitude, clemency, justice, in services to the commonwealth and in every virtue (for such men were once chosen as governors). Wherefore Dio in his account of Trajan says that he, above all titles of honor, rejoiced in the name of "Optimus." Whence it was customary to acclaim the Emperors: "May the Emperor live, more fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan!" Moreover, just as Candidates, according to Seneca, bk. I, ep. 3, were greeted with this title, "Good men"; so those who had already obtained the magistracy were called "the best." Wherefore Paul without lying, ch. xxiv, ver. 3, says: "Most excellent Felix"; and ch. xxvi, ver. 25: "Most excellent Festus," although they themselves were wicked, because "most excellent" is a title of the most ample dignity, not a praise of the person; signifying however that such ought to be the person who is to discharge a public dignity and magistracy properly.
Verse 27: I Rescued Him, Having Learned That He Is a Roman
27. I RESCUED HIM, HAVING LEARNED THAT HE IS A ROMAN. — The Tribune lies, in order to show himself zealous for the Roman name, and so to court the favor of the Governor and the Romans. For when he rescued Paul from the hands of the Jews, he did not know that he was a Roman citizen, but learned this from him afterwards, when he wished to scourge him contrary to law and custom. So Lyranus.
Verse 29: Nothing
29. NOTHING. — In Greek, μηδέν, that is, none, namely no crime. Note here how great was Paul's innocence; so that the Gentile tribune testifies that in him, though laden with calumnies by the Jews, he found no crime.
Verse 31: They Led Him by Night to Antipatris
31. THEY LED HIM BY NIGHT TO ANTIPATRIS. — Antipatris was distant from Jerusalem by seventeen leagues, or hours, as is clear from the Geographical tables: therefore that journey could not be completed in one night, especially since they began to set out at the third hour of the night, ver. 31. Wherefore, continuing the journey through the day, after midday — indeed toward evening — they arrived at Antipatris, and there, weary after the long journey, resting and spending the night, "the next day, having dismissed the horsemen to go with him to Caesarea," which was distant from Antipatris about eight hours, "they returned to the camp," which was at Jerusalem in the fortress of Antonia, as I have often said. Furthermore Antipatris, formerly called Capharsalama, a beautiful and pleasant city, situated in an excellent plain, rich in trees and rivers, lay near the Mediterranean Sea, halfway between Joppa and Caesarea, and equally distant from each, namely about eight leagues or hours. Near this place Nicanor was slain by Judas Maccabaeus, I Maccabees ch. vii, ver. 31. Herod, king of Judea, building this city, named it Antipatris from his father Antipater. In the time of the Holy War it was besieged by Godfrey of Bouillon, but in vain, and was finally captured by Baldwin, who after Godfrey was made king of Jerusalem: today it is a village, which is called Assur, say Brocardus, Bredembachius, and Adrichomius, in their Description of the Holy Land.
Verse 32: The Horsemen Being Dismissed
32. THE HORSEMEN BEING DISMISSED — that is, the seventy, with the two hundred spearmen, if these were likewise horsemen but armed with spears; but if the spearmen were foot-soldiers, they returned to Jerusalem with the other soldiers: concerning which I have spoken at ver. 23.
Verse 33: They Set Him Before Him and Paul
33. THEY SET HIM BEFORE HIM AND PAUL, — παρέστησαν, that is, they stood him before his tribunal, as that of the highest judge and governor. Rightly does Dionysius here exclaim: "O Felix the governor, how truly happy you would have been, had you recognized of what kind and how great a man this was who was directed to you, and for a time placed under your hands! How humbly you would have received him, and how reverently you would have treated him, as Cornelius the Centurion did Peter! And now, because you did not know this, nor did you merit to be converted through Paul — though I do not doubt that he often prayed for your conversion — you have been wretched and unhappy, rather than happy."
Verse 35: And He Commanded Him to Be Kept in Herod's Praetorium
35. AND HE COMMANDED HIM TO BE KEPT IN HEROD'S PRAETORIUM. — The praetorium was the palace in which the Praetor, or governor of the place, or prince, dwelt, such as Herod had been who, having been made king of Judea by Augustus Caesar, in his honor enlarged and adorned the Tower of Strato, and named it Caesarea after Caesar, and among other buildings, built in it a praetorium for himself and his descendants; in which therefore forensic cases were tried, the bound accused were kept, and judgment was pronounced: there, then, with the others, Paul, as an accused man, was kept under guard.