676. Apost. Const. vii. 46 τῆς δὲ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ Λαοδικείας [ἐπίσκοπος] Ἄρχιππος, Κολασσάεων δὲ Φιλήμων, Βεροίας δὲ τῆς κατὰ Μακεδονίαν Ὀνήσιμος ὁ Φιλήμονος. The Greek Menæa however make Philemon bishop of Gaza; see Tillemont I. p. 574 note lxvi.
677. See Tillemont I. pp. 290, 574, for the references.
678. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3814 Νέικανδρος καὶ Ἀφφία γυνὴ αὐτοῦ. In the following inscriptions also a wife bearing the name Apphia (Aphphia, Aphia) or Apphion (Aphphion, Aphion) is mentioned in connexion with her husband; 2720, 2782, 2836, 3446, 2775 b, c, d, 2837 b, 3849, 3902 m, 3962, 4141, 4277, 4321 f, 3846 z17, etc.
M. Renan (Saint Paul p. 360) says, ‘Appia, diaconesse de cette ville’. Like other direct statements of this same writer, as for instance that the Colossians sent a deputation to St Paul (L’Antechrist p. 90), this assertion rests on no authority.
679. They speak of Ἀπφία as a softened form of the Latin Appia, and quote Acts xxviii. 15, where however the form is Ἀππίου. Even Ewald writes the word Appia.
680. Ἀπφία, no. 2782, 2835, 2950, 3432, 3446, 2775 b, c, d, 2837 b, 3902 m, 3962, 4124, 4145: Ἀφφία, no. 3814, 4141, 4277, 4321 f, 3827 l, 3846 z, 3846 z17. So far as I could trace any law, the form Ἀφφία is preferred in the northern and more distant towns like Æzani and Cotiæum, while Ἀπφία prevails in the southern towns in the more immediate neighbourhood of Colossæ, such as Aphrodisias. This accords with the evidence of our MSS, in which Ἀπφία is the best supported form, though Ἀφφία is found in some. In Theod. Mops. (Cramer’s Cat. p. 105) it becomes Ἀμφία by a common corruption; and Old Latin copies write the dative Apphiadi from the allied form Apphias.
The most interesting of these inscriptions mentioning the name is no. 2782 at Aphrodisias, where there is a notice of Φλ. Ἀπφίας ἀρχιερείας Ἀσίας, μητρὸς καὶ ἀδελφῆς καὶ μάμμης συγκλητικῶν, φιλοπάτριδος κ.τ.λ.
681. no. 2720, 3827.
682. Ἄπφιον or Ἄφφιον 2733, 2836, 3295, 3849, 3902 m, 4207; Ἄφιον 3846 z34 and Ἄφειον 3846 z31; and even Ἄφφειν, 3167, 3278. In 3902 m the mother’s name is Ἀπφία and the daughter’s Ἄπφιον.
683. Ἀφφίας, 3697, 3983; Ἀφίας 3879.
684. Ἄφφη 3816, 3390, 4143; Ἄπφη 3796, 4122.
685. It is met with at the neighbouring town of Hierapolis, in the form Ἀπφίανος no. 3911. It also occurs on coins of not very distant parts of Asia Minor, being written either Ἀπφίανος or Ἀφφίανος; Mionnet III. p. 179, 184, IV. p. 65, 67, Suppl. VI. p. 293, VII. p. 365.
686. Suidas Ἄπφα: ἀδελφῆς καὶ ἀδελφοῦ ὑποκόρισμα, and so Bekk. Anecd. p. 441. Eustath. Il. p. 565 says ἄπφαν τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ἀττικῶς μόνη ἡ ἀδελφὴ εἴποι ἂν, καὶ πάππαν τὸν πατέρα μόνος ὁ παῖς κ.τ.λ., and he adds ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ὡς ἐρρέθη ἄπφα γίνεται καὶ τὸ ἄπφιον, ὑποκόρισμα ὂν ἐρωμένης· τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄπφα ὑποκόρισμα φασὶν Ἀττικόν. These words were found in writers of Attic comedy (Pollux iii. 74 ἡ παρὰ τοῖς νέοις κωμῳδοῖς ἀπφία καὶ ἀπφίον καὶ ἀπφάριον; comp. Xenarchus τοὺς μὲν γέροντας ὄντας ἐπικαλούμεναι πατρίδια, τοὺς δ’ ἀπφάρια, τοὺς νεωτέρους, Meineke Fragm. Com. III. p. 617): and doubtless they were heard commonly in Attic homes. But were they not learnt in the nursery from Phrygian slaves? Ἀπφάριον appears in two inscriptions almost as a proper name, 2637 Κλαυδία ἀπφάριον, 3277 ἀπφάριον Λολλιανή. In no. 4207 (at Telmissus) we have Ἑλένη ἡ καὶ Ἄφφιον, so that it seems sometimes to have been employed side by side with a Greek name; comp. no. 3912 a Παπίας ... ὁ καλούμενος Διογένης, quoted above p. 48. This will account for the frequency of the names, Apphia, Apphion, etc. In Theocr. XV. 13 we have ἀπφῦς, and in Callim. Hym. Dian. 6 ἄππα, as a term of endearment applied to a father.
687. This appears from the fact that Ammias and Ammianos appear sometimes as the names of mother and son respectively in the same inscriptions; e.g. 3846 z82, 3847 k, 3882 i.
689. See Boeckh Corp. Inscr. III. p. 1085 for the names Νάνας, etc.
690. We have not only the form Ἄππη several times (e.g. 3827 x, 3846 p, 3846 x, 3846 z46, etc.); but also Ἄππης 3827 g, 3846 n, 3846 z77, still as a woman’s name. These all occur in the same neighbourhood, at Cotiæum and Æzani. I have not noticed any instance of this phenomenon in the names Apphia, Apphion; though probably, where Roman influences were especially strong, there would be a tendency to transform a Phrygian name into a Roman, e.g. Apphia into Appia, and Apphianus into Appianus.
691. In the Greek historians of Rome for instance the personal name is always Ἄππιος and the road Ἀππία; so too in Acts xxviii. 15 it is Ἀππίου Φόρον.
692. The point to be observed is that examples of these names are thickest in the heart of Phrygia, that they diminish in frequency as Phrygian influence becomes weaker, and that they almost, though not entirely, disappear in other parts of the Greek and Roman world.
693. ver. 2 τῇ ἀδελφῇ. See the note.
694. So Theodore of Mopsuestia. But Chrysostom ἕτερόν τινα ἴσως φιλόν, and Theodoret ὁ δὲ Ἄρχιππος τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτῶν ἐπεπίστευτο.
695. It occurs in two Smyrnæan inscriptions, no. 3143, 3224.
696. Col. iv. 17 βλέπε τὴν διακονίαν ἣν παρέλαβες ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἵνα αὐτὴν πληροῖς.
697. So the Ambrosian Hilary on Col. iv. 17.
698. Ephes. iv. 11 bears testimony to the existence of the office of evangelist at this date.
699. It is adopted by Theodore of Mopsuestia. On the other hand Theodoret argues against this view on critical grounds; τινὲς ἔφασαν τοῦτον Λαοδικείας γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκαλον, ἀλλ’ ἡ πρὸς Φιλήμονα ἐπιστολὴ διδάσκει ὡς ἐν Κολασσαῖς οὗτος ᾤκει· τῷ γὰρ Φιλήμονι καὶ τοῦτον συντάττει: but he does not allege any traditional support for his own opinion.
703. ver. 2 τῷ συνστρατίωτῃ ἡμῶν. See the note.
704. e.g. Chresimus, Chrestus, Onesiphorus, Symphorus, Carpus, etc. So too the corresponding female names Onesime, Chreste, Sympherusa, etc.: but more commonly the women’s names are of a different cast of meaning, Arescusa, Prepusa, Terpusa, Thallusa, Tryphosa, etc.
705. e.g. in the Corp. Inscr. Lat. III. p. 323, no. 2146, p. 359, no. 2723, p. 986, no. 6107 (where it is spelled Honesimus); and in Muratori, CC. 6, DXXIX. 5, CMLXVIII. 4, MIII. 2, MDXVIII. 2, MDXXIII. 4, MDLI. 9, MDLXXI. 5, MDLXXV. 1, MDXCII. 8, MDXCVI. 7, MDCVI. 2, MDCX. 19, MDCXIV. 17, 39; and the corresponding female name Onesime in MCCXXXIX. 12, MDXLVI. 6, MDCXII. 9. A more diligent search than I have made would probably increase the number of examples very largely.
706. e.g. Corp. Inscr. Lat. III. p. 238, no. 1467, D. M. M. AVR · ONESIMO · CARPION · AVG · LIB · TABVL · FILIO. In the next generation any direct notice of servile origin would disappear; but the names very often indicate it. It need not however necessarily denote low extraction: see e.g. Liv. xliv. 16.
707. Menander Inc. 312 (Meineke Fragm. Com. IV. p. 300), where the Ὀνήσιμος addressed is a slave, as appears from the mention of his τρόφιμος, i.e. master; Galen de Opt. Doctr. I (I. p. 41 ed. Kühn), where there is a reference to a work of Phavorinus in which was introduced one Onesimus ὁ Πλουτάρχου δοῦλος Ἐπικτήτῳ διαλεγόμενος; Anthol. Græc. II. p. 161, where the context shows that the person addressed as Onesimus is a slave; ib. II. p. 482, where the master, leaving legacies to his servants, says Ὀνήσιμος εἵκοσι πέντε | μνᾶς ἐχέτω Δάος δ’ εἰκοσι μνᾶς ἐχέτω· | πεντήκοντα Σύρος· Συνέτη δέκα, κ.τ.λ. See also the use of the name in the Latin play quoted Suet. Galb. 13 (according to one reading).
708. It occurs as near to Colossæ as Aphrodisias; Boeckh C. I. no. 2743.
709. Ign. Ephes. I. ἐν Ὀνησίμῳ τῷ ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἀδιηγήτῳ ὑμῶν δὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπισκόπῳ ... εὐλόγητος ὁ χαρισάμενος ὑμῖν ἀξίοις οὖσιν τοιοῦτον ἐπίσκοπον κεκτῆσθαι; see also §§ 2, 5, 6.
710. Melito in Euseb. H.E. iv. 26 Μελίτων Ὀνησίμῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν. Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ἠξίωσας κ.τ.λ.
711. Aristot. Pol. i. 4 (p. 1253) ὁ δοῦλος κτῆμά τι ἔμψυχον, Eth. Nic. viii. 13 (p. 1161) ὁ γὰρ δοῦλος ἔμψυχον ὄργανον, τὸ δ’ ὄργανον ἄψυχος δοῦλος. See also the classification of ‘implements’ in Varro, de Re rust. I. 17. 1 ‘Instrumenti genus vocale et semivocale et mutum: vocale, in quo sunt servi; semivocale, in quo boves; mutum, in quo plaustra’.
712. Dig. iv. 5 ‘Servile caput nullum jus habet’ (Paulus); ib. l. 17 ‘In personam servilem nulla cadit obligatio’ (Ulpianus).
713. Plaut. Pseud. I. 2, 6 ‘Ubi data occasiost, rape, clepe, tene, harpaga, bibe, es, fuge; hoc eorum opust’; Ovid. Amor. i. 15. 17 ‘Dum fallax servus’.
714. Cicero speaks thus of Phrygia and the neighbouring districts; pro Flacc. 27 ‘Utrum igitur nostrum est an vestrum hoc proverbium Phrygem plagis fieri solere meliorem? Quid de tota Caria? Nonne hoc vestra voce vulgatum est; si quid cum periculo experiri velis, in Care id potissimum esse faciendum? Quid porro in Græco sermone tam tritum est, quam si quis despicatui ducitur, ut Mysorum ultimus esse dicatur? Nam quid ego dicam de Lydia? Quis unquam Græcus comœdiam scripsit in qua servus primarum partium non Lydus esset’: comp. Alciphr. Epist. iii. 38 Φρύγα οἰκέτην ἔχω πονηρόν κ.τ.λ.; Apollod. Com. (Meineke, IV. p. 451) οὐ πανταχοῦ Φρύξ εἰμι κ.τ.λ. This last passage refers to the cowardice with which, besides all their other bad qualities, the Phrygians were credited: comp. Anon. Com. (ib. IV. p. 652) δειλότερον λαγῶ Φρυγός, Tertull. de Anim. 20 ‘Comici Phrygas timidos illudunt’: see Ribbeck Com. Lat. p. 106.
715. Ter. Phorm. i. 4. 13 ‘aliquid convasassem, atque hinc me protinam conjicerem in pedes’.
716. Sall. Cat. xxxvii. 5 ‘Romam sicuti in sentinam confluxerant’: comp. Tac. Ann. xv. 44.
717. 1 Cor. vii. 22.
718. Eth. Nic. viii. 13 (p. 1161) φιλία δ’ οὐκ ἔστι πρὸς τὰ ἄψυχα οὐδὲ δίκαιον· ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ πρὸς ἵππον ἢ βοῦν, οὐδὲ πρὸς δοῦλον ᾗ δοῦλος· οὐδὲν γὰρ κοινόν ἐστιν· ὁ γὰρ δοῦλος ἔμψυχον ὄργανον, τὸ δ’ ὄργανον ἄψυχος δοῦλος· ᾗ μὲν οὖν δοῦλος, οὐκ ἔστι φιλία πρὸς αὐτόν, ᾗ δ’ ἄνθρωπος κ.τ.λ. On the views of Aristotle respecting slavery see Becker’s Charikles III. p. 2 sq. (ed. 2, 1854) with the editor K. F. Hermann’s references to the literature of the subject, p. 5.
719. 1 Cor. vii. 21 sq., Gal. iii. 28, Col. iii. 11. With this contrast the expression attributed to a speaker in Macrob. Sat. i. 11 ‘quasi vero curent divina de servis’.
720. Philem. 16.
721. ver. 12.
722. Dig. i. 6 ‘In potestate sunt servi dominorum; quae quidem potestas juris gentium est: nam apud omnes peraeque gentes animadvertere possumus dominis in servos vitae necisque potestatem fuisse’. Comp. Senec. de Clem. i. 18 ‘Cum in servum omnia liceant’.
723. So the mistress in Juv. Sat. vi. 219 sq. ‘Pone crucem servo. Meruit quo crimine servus supplicium? quis testis adest? quis detulit?... O demens, ita servus homo est? nil fecerit, esto. Hoc volo, sic jubeo, etc.’ Compare the words of the slave in Plautus Mil. Glor. ii. 4. 19 ‘Noli minitari: scio crucem futuram mihi sepulcrum: Ibi mei sunt majores siti, pater, avos, proavos, abavos’.
724. See Acta Sanct. Boll. xvi Febr. (II. p. 857 sq. ed. nov.) for the authorities, if they deserve the name.
725. If we take the earlier date of the Epistles of St Ignatius, A.D. 107, we get an interval of 44 years between the Onesimus of St Paul and the Onesimus of Ignatius. It is not altogether impossible therefore that the same person may be intended. But on the other hand the language of Ignatius (Ephes. 1 sq.) leaves the impression that he is speaking of a person comparatively young and untried in office.
727. For these ecclesiastical legends see Act. Sanct. l.c. p. 858 sq.
728. Hieron. Comm. in Philem. Præf. VII. p. 743 ‘Pauli esse epistolam ad Philemonem saltem Marcione auctore doceantur: qui, quum cæteras epistolas ejusdem vel non susceperit vel quædam in his mutaverit atque corroserit, in hanc solam manus non est ausus mittere, quia sua illam brevitas defendebat’. St Jerome has in his mind the passage of Tertullian adv. Marc. v. 21 ‘Soli huic epistolæ brevitas sua profuit, ut falsarias manus Marcionis evaderet’.
729. ib. p. 742 sq. ‘Qui nolunt inter epistolas Pauli eam recipere quæ ad Philemonem scribitur, aiunt non semper apostolum nec omnia Christo in se loquente dixisse, quia nec humana imbecillitas unum tenorem Sancti Spiritus ferre potuisset etc.... His et cæteris istius modi volunt aut epistolam non esse Pauli quæ ad Philemonem scribitur aut, etiamsi Pauli sit, nihil habere quod ædificare nos possit etc.... sed mihi videntur, dum epistolam simplicitatis arguunt, suam imperitiam prodere, non intelligentes quid in singulis sermonibus virtutis et sapientiæ lateat’.
730. Argum. in Philem. ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ τινές φασι περιττὸν εἶναι τὸ καὶ τάυτην προσκεῖσθαι τὴν ἐπιστολήν, εἴγε ὑπὲρ πράγματος μικροῦ ἠξίωσεν, ὑπὲρ ἑνὸς ἀνδρός, μαθέτωσαν ὅσοι ταῦτα ἐγκαλοῦσιν ὅτι μυρίων εἰσὶν ἐγκλημάτων ἄξιοι κ.τ.λ., and he goes on to discuss the value of the epistle at some length.
731. Spicil. Solesm. I. W. 149 ‘Quid vero ex ea lucri possit acquiri, convenit manifestius explicare, quia nec omnibus id existimo posse esse cognitum; quod maxime heri jam ipse a nobis disseri postulasti’; ib. p. 152 ‘De his et nunc superius dixi, quod non omnes similiter arbitror potius se (potuisse?) prospicere’.
732. Franke Præf. N. T. Græc. p. 26, 27, quoted by Bengel on Philem. 1.
733. Die Sendschreiben etc. p. 458.
734. L’Antechrist p. 96.
735. L’Apôtre Paul p. 194. He goes on to say; ‘Never has the precept which Paul himself gave at the end of his letter to the Colossians been better realised, ὁ λόγος ὑμῶν πάντοτε ἐν χάριτι, ἅλατι ἠρτυμένος κ.τ.λ. (Col. iv. 6).’
736. Paulus p. 476.
737. Plin. Ep. ix. 21.
738. On slavery among the Hebrews see the admirable work of Prof. Goldwin Smith Does the Bible sanction American slavery? p. 1 sq.
739. In Ezra ii. 65 the number of slaves compared with the number of free is a little more than one to six.
740. Boeckh Public Economy of Athens p. 35 sq. According to a census taken by Demetrius Phalereus there were in the year 309 B. C. 21,000 citizens, 10,000 residents, and 400,000 slaves (Ctesicles in Athen. vi. p. 272 B). This would make the proportion of slaves to citizens nearly twenty to one. It is supposed however that the number of citizens here includes only adult males, whereas the number of slaves may comprise both sexes and all ages. Hence Boeckh’s estimate which is adopted in the text. For other calculations see Wallon Histoire de l’Esclavage I. p. 221 sq.
741. Athen. l.c. p. 272 B, D. The statement respecting Ægina is given on the authority of Aristotle; that respecting Corinth on the authority of Epitimæus.
742. Athen. l.c. Ῥωμαίων ἕκαστος ... πλείστους ὅσους κεκτημένος οἰκέτας· καὶ γὰρ μυρίους καὶ δισμυρίους καὶ ἔτι πλείους δὲ πάμπολλοι κέκτηνται. See Becker Gallus II. p. 113 (ed. 3).
743. Plin. N.H. xxxiii. 47.
744. On the condition of Greek and Roman slaves the able and exhaustive work of Wallon Histoire de l’Esclavage dans l’Antiquité (Paris 1847) is the chief authority. See also Becker and Marquardt Röm. Alterth. v. 1. p. 139 sq.; Becker Charikles II. p. 1 sq., Gallus II. p. 99 sq. The practical working of slavery among the Romans is placed in its most favourable light in Gaston Bossier, La Religion Romaine II. p. 343 sq. (Paris 1874).
745. Röm. Alterth. l.c. p. 184 sq.; Gallus II. p. 144 sq. In this, as in other respects, the cruelty of the legislature was mitigated by the humanity of individual masters; and the inscriptions show that male and female slaves in many cases were allowed to live together through life as man and wife, though the law did not recognise or secure their union. It was reserved for Constantine to take the initiative in protecting the conjugal and family rights of slaves by legislature; Cod. Theod. ii. 25. 1.
746. Wallon II. p. 177 sq.; Röm. Alterth. l.c.; Gallus II. p. 145 sq.; Rein Privatrecht der Römer p. 552 sq. Hadrian first took away from masters the power of life and death over their slaves; Spart. Vit. Hadr. 18 ‘Servos a dominis occidi vetuit eosque jussit damnari per judices, si digni essent’. For earlier legislative enactments which had afforded a very feeble protection to slaves, see below p. 393.
747. Tac. Ann. xiv. 42. This incident took place A. D. 61. The law in question was the Senatusconsultum Silonianum, passed under Augustus A. D. 10.
748. Senec. Ep. Mor. 47 ‘Deinde ejusdem arrogantiæ proverbium jactatur totidem hostes esse quot servos’; comp. Macrob. i. II. 13. See also Festus p. 261 (Ed. Mueller) ‘Quot servi tot hostes in proverbio est.’]
749. See the saying of Haterius in the elder Seneca Controv. iv. Præf., ‘Impudicitia in ingenuo crimen est, in servo necessitas, in liberto officium’, with its context. Wallon (I. p. 332) sums up the condition of the slave thus: ‘L’esclave appartenait au maître: par lui même, il n’était rien, il n’avait rien. Voilà le principe; et tout ce qu’on en peut tirer par voie de conséquence formait aussi, en fait, l’état commun des esclaves dans la plupart des pays. A toutes les époques, dans toutes les situations de la vie, cette autorité souveraine plane sur eux et modifie leur destinée par ses rigueurs comme par son indifference. Dans l’âge de la force et dans la plénitude de leurs facultés, elle les vouait, à son choix, soit au travail, soit au vice; au travail les natures grossières; au vice, les natures plus délicates, nourries pour le plaisir du maître, et qui lorsqu’il en était las, étaient reléguées dans la prostitution a son profit. Avant et après l’âge du travail, abandonnés a leur faiblesse ou a leurs infirmités; enfants, ils grandissaient dans le désordre; viellards, ils mouraient souvent dans la misère; morts, ils étaient quelquefois délaissés sur la voie publique....’
750. G. Smith Does the Bible etc.? pp. 95, 96.
751. 1 Cor. vii. 21 sq.
752. The clause, ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ δύνασαι ἐλεύθερος γενέσθαι, μᾶλλον χρῆσαι, has been differently interpreted from early times, either as recommending the slave to avail himself of any opportunity of emancipation, or as advising him to refuse the offer of freedom and to remain in servitude. The earliest commentator whose opinion I have observed, Origen (in Cram. Cat. p. 140), interprets it as favourable to liberty, but he confuses the meaning by giving a metaphorical sense to slavery, δοῦλον ὠνόμασεν ἀναγκαίως τὸν γεγαμηκότα. Again, Severianus (ib. p. 141) distinctly explains it as recommending a state of liberty. On the other hand Chrysostom, while mentioning that ‘certain persons’ interpret it εἰ δύνασαι ἐλευθερωθῆναι, ἐλευθερώθητι, himself supposes St Paul to advise the slave’s remaining in slavery. And so Theodoret and others. The balance of argument seems to be decidedly in favour of the former view.
(1) The actual language must be considered first. And here (i) the particles εἰ καὶ will suit either interpretation. If they are translated ‘even though’, the clause recommends the continuance in slavery. But καὶ may be equally well taken with δύνασαι, and the words will then mean ‘if it should be in your power to obtain your freedom’. So above ver. 11 ἐὰν δὲ καὶ χωρισθῇ: comp. Luke xi. 18 εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς ἐφ’ ἑαυτὸν διεμερίσθη, 1 Pet. iii. 14 ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ πάσχοιτε διὰ δικαιοσύνην. (ii) The expression μᾶλλον χρῆσαι seems to direct the slave to avail himself of some new opportunity offered, and therefore to recommend liberty; comp. ix. 12, 15.
(2) The immediate context will admit either interpretation. If slavery be preferred, the sentence is continuous. If liberty, the clause ἀλλ’ εἰ καὶ ... μᾶλλον χρῆσαι is parenthetical. In this latter case its motive is to correct misapprehension, as if the Apostle would say, ‘When I declare the absolute indifference of the two states in the sight of God, I do not mean to say that you should not avail yourselves of freedom, if it comes in your way; it puts you in a more advantageous position, and you will do well to prefer it’. Such a corrective parenthesis is altogether after St Paul’s manner, and indeed instances occur in this very context: e.g. ver. 11 ἐὰν δὲ καὶ χωρισθῇ κ.τ.λ., ver. 15 εἰ δὲ ὁ ἄπιστος χωρίζεται κ.τ.λ. This last passage is an exact parallel, for the γὰρ of ver. 16 is connected immediately with ver. 14, the parenthesis being disregarded as here.
(3) The argument which seems decisive is the extreme improbability that St Paul should have recommended slavery in preference to freedom. For (i) Such a recommendation would be alien to the spirit of a man whose sense of political right was so strong, and who asserted his citizenship so stanchly on more than one occasion (Acts xvi. 37, xxii. 28). (ii) The independent position of the freeman would give him an obvious advantage in doing the work of Christ, which it is difficult to imagine St Paul enjoining him deliberately to forego. (iii) Throughout the passage the Apostle, while maintaining the indifference of these earthly relations in the sight of God, yet always gives the preference to a position of independence, whenever it comes to a Christian naturally and without any undue impatience on his part. The spirit which animates St Paul’s injunctions here may be seen from vv. 8, 11, 15, 26, 27 etc.
753. Ephes. vi. 5–9, Col. iii. 22-iv. 1.
754. G. Smith Does the Bible etc.? p. 121.
755. Athenag. Suppl. 35 δοῦλοί εἰσιν ἡμῖν, τοῖς μὲν καὶ πλείους τοῖς δ’ ἐλάττους. It would even appear that the domestic servant who betrayed Polycarp (Mart. Polyc. 6) was a slave, for he was put to the torture. Comp. Justin. Apol. ii. 12.
756. Ignat. Polyc. 4 μὴ ἐράτωσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ κοινοῦ ἐλευθεροῦσθαι, Apost. Const. iv. 9 τὰ ἐξ αὐτῶν, ὡς προειρήκαμεν, ἀθροιζόμενα χρήματα διατάσσετε διακονοῦντες εἰς ἀγορασμοὺς τῶν ἁγίων, ῥυόμενοι δούλους καὶ αἰχμαλώτους, δεσμίους, κ.τ.λ.
757. It must not however be forgotten that, even before Christianity became the predominant religion, a more humane spirit had entered into Roman legislation. The important enactment of Hadrian has been already mentioned, p. 387, note 746. Even earlier the lex Petronia (of which the date is uncertain) had prohibited masters from making their slaves fight with wild beasts in mere caprice and without an order from a judge (Dig. xlviii. 8. 11); and Claudius (A.D. 47), finding that the practice of turning out sick slaves into the streets to die was on the increase, ordered that those who survived this treatment should have their freedom (Dion Cass. lx. 29, Suet. Claud. 25). For these and similar enactments of the heathen emperors see Wallon III. p. 60 sq., Röm. Alterth. V. I. 197, Rein Privatrecht d. Römer p. 560 sq. The character of this exceptional legislation is the strongest impeachment of the general cruelty of the law; while at the same time subsequent notices show how very far from effective it was even within its own narrow limits. See for instance the passage in Galen, v. p. 17 (ed. Kühn) λακτίζουσι καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορύττουσι καὶ γραφέιῳ κεντοῦσιν κ.τ.λ. (comp. ib. p. 584), or Seneca de Ira iii. 3. 6 ‘eculei et fidiculæ et ergastula et cruces et circundati defossis corporibus ignes et cadavera quoque trahens uncus, varia vinculorum genera, varia pœnarum, lacerationes membrorum, inscriptiones frontis et bestiarum immanium caveæ.’
On the causes of these ameliorations in the law see Röm. Alterth. V. 1. p. 199.