The life and work of St. Paul

PJLTTL AffB TSLIX. 551
moral forco. seat for hiia not unfrequeutiy to converse with Mm respecting
his beliefs. But this apparent interest in religious Dtibjeets was. in reality,
akin to that vein of superstition which made him the ready clnpe of Simon
aad it did not exclude a certain hankering after a bribe, which he
Magus, -
felt sure that Paul, who had brought considerable sums of money to Jerusalem,
could either procure or give. He took care to drop hints which should
leave n0 doubt as to his intentions. But Paul was innocent, and neither
would he adopt any illicit method to secure his liberty, nor in any ease would
he burden the affection of his converts to contribute the ransom which he was
too poor to offer. He did not wish by dubious human methods to intorfove
with God's plan respecting him, nor to set a questionable example to the
future libellatici. He therefore declined to take the hints of Felk, and two
years glided away, and he was still in prison.
Towards the end of that time he must have been startled by a terrible
clamour in the streets of Csesarea. Disputes, indeed, were constantly occurring
in a city composed half of Jews and half of Greeks, or Syrians, between
whom there was a perpetual feud for precedence. All the splendour of the
place its amphitheatre, its temples, its palace was due to the passion for
building which animated the first Herod, lha Jewish population was largo
and wealthy, and since their king had done so much for the town, they claimed
it as their own. It was quite true that, but for Herod, Caesarea would never
have been heard of in history. Its sole utility consisted in the harbour which
he had constructed for it at enormous cost of money and labour, and which
was extremely needed on that inhospitable coast. But the Greeks maintained
that it was their town, seeing that it had been founded by Strato, and called
Strato's Tower until Herod had altered the name in his usual spirit of flattery
towards the Imperial House. Towards the close of Paul's imprisonment, the
Greeks and Jews came to an open quarrel in the market-place, and the
Greeks were being worsted in the combat by their enraged adversaries, when
Felix appeared with his cohorts and ordered the Jews to disperse. As his
command was not instantly obeyed by the victorious party, Felix, who like all ths
Romans sided with the Gentile faction, let loose his soldiers upon them. The
1
soldiers were probably not Romans, but provincials. They were therefore
delighted to fall on the Jews, many of whom were instantly put to the sword.
Not content with this, Felix, whose dislike to the whole race only deepened
every year, allowed them to plunder the houses of the wealthier Jews.2 This
crowning act of injustice could not pass unnoticed. Felix, indeed, as Tacitus
tells us, had so long learnt to rely on the overwhelming influence of Pallas
over Claudius, that he began to think that he might commit any crime he
liked without being called to question. But Claudius had now been dismissed
1 There were no Jews among them, becauso no Jew could servo in the army without
a constant necessity of breaking the rules of his religion, so that on this ground they
were exempted froia the liability to conscription.
3 The scenes which took place on this occasion ware analogous to those which happened
at Alexandria under Flaccus.