Acts 28:2 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness In our distressed circumstances; for they kindled a fire, &c., because of the present rain Which had followed the storm; and because of the cold With which, in our wet clothes, we were ready to perish. It must be observed, that the Romans and Greeks termed all people barbarians that differed from them in their language or customs. All mankind are therefore comprehended by the apostle under the distinction of Greeks and Barbarians, Romans 1:14. The Greeks and Romans, however, were in many respects more barbarous themselves (according to the common meaning of that term) than these islanders, who, as we learn from Diodorus Siculus, (lib. 5. page 204,) were noted for their civility to strangers, and who certainly, on this occasion, gave a striking proof of that civility. They were not, indeed, as here appears, much cultivated, but the generosity which they showed to these shipwrecked strangers was far more valuable in the sight of God, and all good men, than any varnish which the politest education could give, where it did not teach humanity and compassion.