Philippians and Philemon - MR Vincent - 1906.pdf

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INTRODUCTION
and Eusebius. What is the date of Paul's departure from Caesarea?
What are the exact dates of the Epistles of the Captivity? Do
Tacitus and Eusebius refer to the same event ? Both Lightf. and
Hort quote Herzberg's supposition that the two notices refer to
two different earthquakes, and that, since Tacitus mentions Laodi-
csea only, the first one did not extend to Colossse.
It may be added that the plans of the apostle, as indicated in both
Philippians and Philemon, agree better with the hypothesis of the
Roman captivity. In Caesarea all his plans would have pointed to
Rome. Moreover, his situation in Rome, if we may judge from
the account in Acts, afforded the slave much greater facilities for
intercourse with him than he could have had in Caesarea.
This letter cannot be appreciated without some knowledge of
the institution of slavery among the Romans, and its effect upon
both the slave and the master. Abundant information on this
subject is furnished by the elaborate work of Wallon {Nistoire de
rEsclavage dans PAntiqinte, 2d ed. 1879), by the Roman jurists
and the Roman codes, and by the comedians and satirists. The
excursus on the slaves, in Becker's Galliis, trans, by Metcalfe, will
also be found very useful, and ch. ii. and iv. of Lecky's History
of European Morals will repay reading.
Slavery grew with the growth of the Roman state until it
changed the economic basis of society, doing away with free
labor, and transferring nearly all industries to the hands of slaves.
The exact numbers of the slave population of the Empire cannot
be determined ; but they were enormous. Tacitus speaks of the
city of Rome being frightened at their increase (Ann. xiv. 45);
and Petronius (37) declared his behef that not a tenth part of
the slaves knew their own masters. (See Wallon, Liv. ii. ch. iii.)
Most of them were employed on the country estates, but hundreds
were kept in the family residences in the cities, where every kind
of work was deputed to them. In the imperial household, and in
the houses of nobles and of wealthy citizens, the minute subdi-
visions of labor, and the number of particular functions to each of
which a slave or a corps of slaves was assigned, excite our laughter.
(See note on Phil. iv. 22.) Some of these functions required
intelligence and culture. The familia or slave-household included
not only field-laborers and household drudges, but architects,
sculptors, painters, poets, musicians, librarians, physicians, readers