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would hardly have condemned a Roman citizen whom Felix and Lysias, Festus and
Agrippa all deemed innocent of any capital crime.
#20.
The Voyage from Caesarea to Rome (Acts 27:, 28:).
pp. 135 - 139
We must soon consider the Apostle's trial before Nero, but before we come to this we
must say something about the intervening journey from Jerusalem to Rome. The student
is strongly advised to have a map open for reference, so that the various incidents in the
voyage may be more fully appreciated.
"And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and
certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band. And
entering a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia, one
Aristarchus a Macedonian of Thessalonica being with us" (Acts 27: 1, 2).
It seems a natural reading of this passage to suppose that Aristarchus purposed
accompanying Paul as far as his native city, where Paul would be taken on to
Dyrrhachium. As will be seen from the map, Dyrrhachium in Illyricum is divided from
Brundusium in Italy by the Adriatic very much as Calais is divided from Dover by the
English Channel. This was the route traversed by Ignatius, who refers to his Roman
guards as his "ten leopards", and says of the journey that "he fought with wild beasts all
the way".
We read in verse 3 that at Sidon Julius gave leave to Paul "to go unto his friends and
refresh himself". This indicates that Julius was a kindly man, and wherever he is
mentioned throughout the story, Luke associates him with some pleasant incident. There
were many things to make the journey unpleasant in the extreme. The fact that the
Roman soldiers were responsible with their own lives for the security of their prisoners
led to the painful custom of never leaving them unchained to one or other of the guards.
The close confinement of the ship and the enforced company of the soldiers would all
add to the other unpleasantness of the journey. The words used in Acts 27: 3 imply
that Julius allowed Paul to visit his friends in Sidon "to be cared for". His two years'
detention may have weakened his health, and the permit would enable him to obtain
certain necessary comforts for the voyage.
Two writers who have given exhaustive study to this voyage are James Smith, who
published his "Voyage and Shipwreck" in 1848, and Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, whose
manuscripts was used by Conybeare and Howson. The standard work on the ships of the
ancients is that by James Smith. We learn from this that the Greeks and the Romans were
ignorant of the use of the compass. They used instead instruments that resembled the
modern quadrant and sextant, but were unassisted by nautical charts. Thus when "neither
sun nor stars appeared" and danger threatened, the sailors would hesitate to put to sea.