ing, upon which he lets them know that he will commit the cognizance of the affair to such or such an one. In consequence of this justice is usually done them. HARMER, vol. iv. p. 203. No. 504.-xxii. 24. The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging.] To put one to the questions was a punishment among the Romans. They put criminals to the question, or endeavoured to extort confession from them by scourging them. Some think that the offender was stripped to his waist, and that his hands were tied to a pillar, that his back might be stretched out to receive the blows. Others are of opinion, that his hands were fastened to a stake driven into the ground of a foot and a half or two feet high, so that the criminal stooping with his face towards the ground might present his naked back to such as were appointed to Scourge him. ་ No. 505.-xxv. 11. I appeal to Cæsar.] This way of appealing was frequent among the Romans, introduced to defend and secure the lives and fortunes of the populace from the unjust encroachments and overrigorous severities of the magistrates. In cases of oppression, it was lawful to appeal for redress and rescue. This practice was more than once sanctioned by the Valerian laws. These appeals were generally made in writing, by appellatory libels given into the court, and containing an account of the appellant, the person against whom, and from whose sentence he appealed; but where it was done in open court, it was enough for the criminal verbally to declare that he did appeal. In great and weighty cases, the appeal was made to the prince himself, whereupon, not only at Rome, but in all the provinces of the empire, every proconsul and gover nor was strictly forbidden to execute, scourge, bind, or put any badge of servility upon a citizen, or any that had the privilege of a citizen, who had made his appeal, or any ways to hinder him from going to Rome to obtain justice at the hands of the emperor. In the case of St. Paul, the privilege of appealing seems to have been so fully established by the Roman laws, that Festus durst not deny his demand. STACKHOUSE'S Hist. of Bible, vol. ii. p. 1567. No. 506.-xxvi. 1. Then Paul stretched forth the hand.] ELSNER (Observ. vol. i. p. 478.) shews this to have been esteemed at that time a very decent expression of an earnestness in one that spoke in public, though some of the most illustrious Greek orators in earlier ages, such as Pericles, Themistocles, and Aristides, thought it a point of modesty to avoid it: but this was the effect of a false taste; and it is plain the eloquent Demosthenes often used the same gesture with St. Paul here. No. 507.-xxvi. 5. After the straitest sect of our religion I lived a pharisee.] The pharisees were in general exceeding rigid and particular in all the ceremonies which they professed to observe; and as a spirit of emulation may well be supposed to have influenced those who were so much under the government of pride, they would certainly endeavour to obtain the highest degree of supposed sanctity. It appears from the gospels that many rigorous severities were used by them; and Witsius assures us, that they used to sleep on narrow planks, that falling down from them they might soon be awakened to prayer; and that others lay on gravel, and placed thorns so near them, that they could not turn without being pricked by them. (Meletem. cap. 1. § 15.) No. 508.-xxvii. 34. There shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.] Some think this alludes to a custom among mariners, to make vows in times of extremity, and to shave their heads in consequence of them, and so interpret these words as if it were said, you need not vow your hair, you shall be safe without that expedient; but it appears to have been a proverbial and general expression of entire safety. (1 Kings i. 52. Matt. x. 30. Luke xii. 7.) DODDRIDGE, in loc. No. 509.-xxviii. 11. Castor and Pollux.] It was the custom of the ancients to have images on their ships, both at the head and stern; the first of which was called wagaonov, the sign, from which the ship was named; and the other was that of the tutelar deity to whose care the ship was committed. There is no doubt but they had sometimes deities at the head, and then it is most likely, if they had any figure at the stern, it was the same, as it is hardly probable the ship should be called by the name of one deity, and be committed to the care of another. Doddridge, in loc, No. 510.-ROMANS vii. 24. · Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? "Wretched man that I am! do I often cry out, in "such a circumstance, with no better supports and in"citements than the law can give. Who shall rescué "me, miserable captive as I am, from the body of this "death? from this continual burden which I carry "about with me; and which is cumbersome and odious as a DEAD CARCASE tied to a living body, to be drag"ged along with it wherever it goes?" Thus are the words paraphrased by Dr. Doddridge, to which he subjoins this note. "It is well known that some ancient wri"ters mention this as a cruelty practised by some tyrants on miserable captives who fell into their hands; and 66 a more forcible and expressive image of the case re"presented cannot surely enter into the mind of man.” That such a cruelty was once practised is certain from Virgil: Quid memorem infandas cædes? quid facta tyranni Mortua quin etiam jungebat corpora vivis, Componens manibusque manus, atque oribus ora, Tormenti genus; et sanie taboque fluentes Complexu in misero, longâ sic morte necabat. En. lib. viii. ver. 483. The same practice is also mentioned in Valerius Maximus, (lib. ix. cap. 2. § 10.) No. 511. viii. 19. Earnest expectation.] The word αποκαραδοκία, which our translators well render earnest expectation, signifies to lift up our head, and stretch our selves out as far as possible, to hear something agreeable and of great importance; to gain the first appearance and glimpse of a friend that has long been absent; to gain the sight of a vessel at sea that has some precious freight that we have a concern in, or carries some passenger very dear to us. No. 512.-viii. 23. Waiting for the adoption.] Among the Romans there was a twofold adoption, the one private, the other public. The former was only the act of the person who was desirous of receiving a stranger into his family, with respect to the object of his choice, and was a transaction between the parties; the latter was an acknowledgment of it in the forum, when the adopted person was solemnly declared and avowed to be the son of the adopter. To this circumstance Mr. Howe (Works, vol. i. p. 680.) supposes the apostle alludes in these words. No. 513.-xii. 13. Hospitality.] Hospitality has always been highly esteemed by civilized nations. It has been exercised from the earliest ages of the world. The Old Testament affords numerous instances of its being practised in the most free and liberal manner. In the New Testament it is also recommended and enforced. The primitive christians were so ready in the discharge of this duty, that even the heathens admired them for it. Hospitable as they were to all strangers, they were particularly so to those who were of their own faith and communion. In Homer and the ancient Greek writers, we see what respect they had for their guests. From these instances we turn with satisfaction to view the kind and friendly disposition of less polished people. Modern travellers often mention the pleasing reception they met with from those among whom they made a temporary residence. VOLNEY (Trav. vol. ii. p. 76.) speak |