But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city - better, 'I am a Jew of Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city, of Cilicia.' 'The answer of the apostle (remarks Humphry) to the two questions of the Roman captain is such as to show at once that he could speak Greek with elegance, and that he was entitled, to respectful treatment. The word rendered "citizen" х politees (G4177)] (he adds), implying the possession of civil rights, is emphatic and appropriate; for Tarsus was a free city, having received its liberty from Mark Antony (Appian, Bell. Civ. 5: 7). It was "no mean city," for it enjoyed the title of metropolis of Cilicia, which, together with other privileges, was conferred on it by Augustus (Dio Chrys. Orat. 34:, p. 415). Strabo, in his interesting account of Tarsus (Lib. 14: 674), says it surpassed even Athens and Alexandria in its zeal for philosophy, differing from those great schools in one respect-that its students were all natives, and it was not resorted to by foreigners. The natives, however, were not content with a home education, but went abroad to complete their studies, like Paul (Acts 22:3), and often did not return. Rome was full of them. Tarsus derived its civilization, and indeed its origin, from Greece, having been rounded, as its mythology shows, by an Argine colony.'