The life and work of St. Paul

518 THK LIFE AND WOSK OS1 ST. PAUL.
St. Paul would perhaps think, with a smile, of Dagon, " when he fell flat, and
shamed his worshippers," or point to it as a symbol of the coming day when
all idols should be abolished at the returning dawn of the Sun of Righteousness.
The empire of the sea, which this huge statue had been reared to com-
memorate, had not passed away more completely than the worship of Apollo
should pass away ; and to St. Paul the work of Chares of Lindos, spite of all
its grace and beauty, was but a larger idol, to be regarded with pity, whereas
the temple reared to that idol by the apostate Idumean usurper who had called
himself king of the Jews could only be looked upon with righteous scorn. 1
Next day, passing the seven capes which terminate the mountain ridge of
" verdant Cragus," and the mouth of the yellow river -which gave its name of
Xauthus to the capital of Lycia, and so catching a far-off glimpse of temples
rich with the marbles which now adorn our British Museum, the vessel which
bore so much of the fortune of the future, turned her course eastward to
Patara. Beneath the hill which towered over its amphitheatre rose also amid
its palm-trees, the temple and oracle of Apollo Patareus. A single column,
and a pit, used possibly for some of the trickeries of superstition, alone
remain as a monument of its past splendour; 2 and it was due in no small
measure to the life's work of the poor Jewish Apostle who now looked up at
the vast world-famed shrine, that Christian poets would tell in later days how
" The oracles are dumb,
No voice nor hideous hum
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving ;
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving;
No nightly trance or breathed spell
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.*1
They could now no longer avail themselves of the vessel in which BO far
they had accomplished a prosperous, and, in spite of all misgivings, a happy
voyage. Either its course ended there, or it would continue to coast along
the shores of Pamphylia and Cilicia. But here they were fortunate enough
to find another vessel bound straight for Phoenicia, and they at once went on
board, and weighed anchor. Once more they were favoured by wind and
wave. Sailing with unimpeded course through sunlight and moonlight at
3
the rate of a hundred miles a day, they caught sight at dawn of the snowy
peaks of Cyprus, and passing by Paphos whore Paul would be reminded of
Sergius Paulus and Elymas in some four days, they put in at Tyre, where
their ship was to unload its cargo. The Apostle must have ceased to feel
anxiety about being at Jerusalem by Pentecost, since, owing to providential
circumstances, he had now a full fortnight to spare. There were some disciples
i 8 The Pythium.
Sprat and i. Forbes, 30 ; ap. 0. and H. U. 232.
* jud. 3, ivcufxivivTts,
of. aperire (see Ps. Luoian, Ver. Hist. 38, p. 687) ; the opposite
technical term is, in-oitpvirreiv, abscondere (Thuc. v. 65 ; Virg. J2n. iii. 275, 291).