‘And when it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.'
No time notice is given but in the end a determination was made to send Paul to Rome. We will never know what Festus finally put in his correspondence with Caesar as to the charge laid against Paul. But accompanying Paul was Luke (‘we'), together with Aristarchus (Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24). Both accompanied him to Rome. We may surmise that Luke went along as his physician, and Aristarchus as his servant, which would give them official positions. There may possibly have been other companions, and there were some other fellow-prisoners. There may have been three or more. In charge of the prisoners was a centurion named Julius. The ‘Augustan band' might have been a cohort of auxiliaries, as legionary cohorts were not usually given names. Alternately they may have been a special group used for this kind of work, possibly originally set up by Augustus.