Acts 22:28 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But I was free born.— This is thought, by some, to have been in consequence of his being a native of Tarsus; but Dr. Lardner has produced many strong arguments against admitting that city to have been a colony, or what the Romans call municipium, that is, a place where all the natives were free of Rome by birth. It seems therefore much more probable, that St. Paul's father, or some other of his ancestors, might have been rewarded with the freedom of the city for his fidelity and bravery in some military service, as an auxiliary to the Romans, as Josephus says several Jews were. It is also most certain that the freedom of the city of Rome might be bought.