corn-ship only on the chance that Paul might be one of the passengers. Julius was able to

allow the Apostle a respite of seven days which he spent with the Christians at Puteoli.

They evidently took the opportunity of sending a messenger to the Christians of Rome,

who responded by sending representatives to meet the Apostle at the Appii-Forum and

the Three Taverns. The Appian way, along which the Apostle was conducted, was the

oldest of the Roman roads, and called, in comparison with all others, "The Queen of

Roads". Eight hundred years after its construction Procopius described it in terms of

astonishment. He speaks of the stones that formed it as "so fitted to each other, that they

seem to be thus formed by nature, rather than cemented by art".

A few miles beyond Terracina (a map is still desirable in following the route, Puteoli,

Capua, Terracina) the traveler had the choice of traveling along the canal made by

Augustus for draining the marshes, or along the road itself. Not knowing which of the

routes the centurion would take, the representatives from Rome came out as far as the

Appii-Forum, and there waited. Horace, in his Satire, has described the place as full of

low tavern-keepers, bargees and hucksters.  Here these few Christians from Rome

welcomed the Apostle, in spite of his chains. Ten miles further on, at Tres Tabernae, a

place mentioned by Cicero, a second group of believers welcomed him, "whom when

Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage" (Acts 28: 15). Not many miles further

on, Paul would have caught the first view of Rome, a city that he had often planned to

visit but never saw until he looked upon it as a prisoner handcuffed to a soldier.

Passing under the Porta Capena, which was perpetually dripping, because of the

aqueduct that passed over it, and through which victor and vanquished, prince and

beggar, Greek, Roman, Jew and Christian must pass, Paul was conducted to the barracks

of the Prætorian cohorts, and handed over to Burrhus, the Prætorian Prefect, one of the

best men that ruled under Nero. We learn from Josephus that when Agrippa was cast into

prison under the suspicion of Tiberius, that it was from this Prefect that his friends

obtained the privilege that the soldier who guarded him should be a humane person and

not a brute. It is therefore probable that the words, "but Paul was suffered to dwell by

himself with a soldier that kept him" (Acts 28: 16), indicate a similar extension of

human kindness on the part of the bluff but good-natured soldier, Burrhus, who perceived

that Paul was no criminal but the victim of Jewish spite. These circumstances and the

good report of Julius, acting on a man of the character of Burrhus, obtained for Paul that

kind of military custody known as observatio. Different opinions have been expressed as

to the "lodging", xenia (verse 23) or "his own hired house", idion misthoma (verse 30),

but it seems a natural inference to draw from the two expressions used that, upon his

arrival, the Apostle was glad to avail himself of the hospitality of his Christian friends,

whereas when it became evident that his trial was to await the caprice of Nero, and might

lengthen out the period of waiting for months, or even, as it turned out, for two years, the

Apostle, using the financial help sent to him by the church at Philippi (Phil. 4:), hired an

apartment in which he was able to receive visitors and where he dictated, with a Roman

soldier ever beside him, the blessed epistles Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and

Philemon. We can but hope that through these circumstances many a rough soldier

passed from death unto life and became a member of the body of Christ. For more

reasons than one it was most important that Paul should consult with the leaders of the