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Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying.

1. See him, when he speaks to those outside, not refusing also to use

the helps derived from the laws. Here he shames him by his citizenship. Thus he also said before: 'They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, who are Romans, and have cast us into prison.' For when he was asked, 'Are you the Egyptian?' 'I am,' he says, 'a Jew.' Having said this, he immediately cleared him of this suspicion. Then, so that he would not be thought a Jew by nation, he states the religion; 60.326 for indeed elsewhere he calls himself under the law of Christ. What is this? Does Paul lie? God forbid. What then? Did he not deny? By no means; for he was both a Jew and a Christian, observing what was necessary, since he himself most of all obeyed the law by believing in Christ, and speaking with Peter he says: 'We are Jews by nature.' 'But I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.' And this is proof that he does not lie, if indeed he brought all as witnesses. Consider him again speaking with mildness. And this again is a very great proof that he is responsible for nothing, that he is so ready for a defense, and wishes to enter into a discussion with the people of the Jews. 60.327 See the disciplined man, see the economy; if the chiliarch had not come, if he had not bound him, he would not have needed to make a speech in defense, he would not have enjoyed so much silence. And when he had given him leave, Paul, standing on the stairs. And from the place there was much ease, for him to speak to the people both from a high place and in chains. What is equal to this sight, to see Paul addressing the people, bound with two chains? How was he not disturbed, how was he not confused, seeing so great a populace stirred to war with the ruler standing by? First he diverted them from their anger, then he speaks; and see how prudently. For what he did in the Epistle to the Hebrews, this he also does here; first he attracts them by the kinship of his voice; then by its gentleness; which is why, indicating this, he adds: 'And when there was a great silence, he addressed them,' it says, 'in the Hebrew language, saying: “Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defense which I make now to you.”' See how the speech is free from flattery and has a mildness. For he did not say, 'Masters,' nor 'Lords,' but, 'Brethren'; which they most desired, as if he said: 'I am not a stranger to you, nor against you.' 'Men, brethren, and fathers,' he says. This is of honor, that of genuineness. 'Hear my defense which I make now to you.' He did not say, 'Teaching,' nor, 'Public address,' but, 'Defense'; he places himself in the position of a suppliant. And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept the more silence. Do you see how the common language won them over? For they had a certain respect for that tongue. And see how he prepares the way for his speech, beginning thus and saying: 'I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.' 'I am,' he says, 'a Jew'; which most of all they longed to hear. 'Born in Tarsus of Cilicia.' So that they might not again think him of another nation, he added the religion. 'But brought up in this city.' He shows his great zeal for the worship, in that, having left so great a fatherland so far away, he chose to be raised here for the sake of the law. See how from the beginning he was attentive to the law. He says these things not only in defense to them, but also showing that he was not brought to the preaching for a human purpose, but by a divine power; for he would not have been so taught and suddenly changed. For if he were one of the many, it would be reasonable to suspect this; but if of the

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Παῦλος ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν κατέσεισε τῇ χειρὶ τὸν λαόν. Πολλῆς δὲ σιγῆς γενομένης, προσεφώνησε τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ, λέγων.

αʹ. Ὅρα αὐτὸν, ὅταν πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω διαλέγηται, οὐ παραιτούμενον καὶ τοῖς

ἀπὸ τῶν νόμων κεχρῆσθαι βοηθήμασιν. Ἐνταῦθα αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐντρέπει. Οὕτω καὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἔλεγε· Τύψαντες ἡμᾶς δημοσίᾳ ἀκατακρίτους ἀνθρώπους, Ῥωμαίους ὑπάρχοντας, ἔβαλον εἰς φυλακήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπυνθάνετο, Σὺ εἶ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος; Ἐγώ εἰμι, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπος Ἰουδαῖος. Οὕτως εἰπὼν, εὐθέως αὐτὸν ταύτης ἀπήγαγε τῆς ὑποψίας. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ νομισθῇ τὸ ἔθνος Ἰουδαῖος, λέγει τὴν θρησκείαν· 60.326 καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ἔννομον ἑαυτὸν Χριστοῦ καλεῖ. Τί τοῦτό ἐστι; Παῦλος ψεύδεται; Ἄπαγε. Τί οὖν; οὐκ ἠρνήσατο; Μὴ γένοιτο· Ἰουδαῖος γὰρ ἦν καὶ Χριστιανὸς ὅσα ἔδει φυλάττων, ἐπεὶ καὶ τῷ νόμῳ μάλιστα πάντων αὐτὸς ἐπείθετο, τῷ Χριστῷ πιστεύων, καὶ πρὸς Πέτρον διαλεγόμενός φησιν· Ἡμεῖς φύσει Ἰουδαῖοι. ∆έομαι δέ σου, ἐπίτρεψόν μοι λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν λαόν. Καὶ τοῦτο τεκμήριον, ὅτι οὐ ψεύδεται, εἴ γε πάντας ἐπήγετο μάρτυρας. Σκόπει αὐτὸν πάλιν μετὰ ἐπιεικείας διαλεγόμενον. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τεκμήριον πάλιν μέγιστον τοῦ μηδενὸς εἶναι ὑπεύθυνον, τὸ οὕτως ἕτοιμον εἶναι πρὸς ἀπολογίαν, καὶ βούλεσθαι εἰς λόγον καταστῆναι τῷ δήμῳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. 60.327 Ὅρα τεταγμένον ἄνδρα, ὅρα οἰκονομίαν· εἰ μὴ χιλίαρχος ἦλθεν, εἰ μὴ ἔδησεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐδεήθη λόγου πρὸς ἀπολογίαν, οὐκ ἂν τοσαύτης ἀπέλαυσε σιγῆς. Ἐπιτρέψαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ, ὁ Παῦλος ἑστὼς ἐπὶ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου πολλὴ ἡ εὐκολία, τὸ καὶ ὑψηλὸν ὄντα δημηγορεῖν καὶ δεδεμένον. Τί τούτου ἴσον τοῦ θεάματος, δυσὶν ἁλύσεσι δεδεμένον ἰδεῖν Παῦλον δημηγοροῦντα; πῶς οὐκ ἐταράχθη, πῶς οὐ συνεχύθη, τοσοῦτον δῆμον ἐκπεπολεμωμένον ὁρῶν τοῦ ἄρχοντος ἐφεστῶτος; Πρότερον ἀπέστησεν αὐτοὺς τοῦ θυμοῦ, εἶτα διαλέγεται· καὶ ὅρα πῶς φρονίμως. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῇ ἐποίησε, τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα· πρῶτον τῇ συγγενείᾳ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοὺς ἐπισπᾶται· εἶτα αὐτῷ τῷ ἡμέρῳ· διὸ καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν ἐπάγει· Πολλῆς δὲ σιγῆς γενομένης, προσεφώνησε, φησὶ, τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ λέγων· Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, ἀκούσατέ μου τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς νῦν ἀπολογίας. Ὅρα καὶ κολακείας ἀπηλλαγμένον τὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ ἐπιεικὲς ἔχοντα. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, ∆εσπόται, οὐδὲ Κύριοι, ἀλλὰ, Ἀδελφοί· ὃ μάλιστα ἐπόθουν, ὡσεὶ ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ἀλλότριος ὑμῶν ἐγὼ, οὐδὲ καθ' ὑμῶν. Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, φησί. Τοῦτο τιμῆς, ἐκεῖνο γνησιότητος. Ἀκούσατέ μου τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς νῦν ἀπολογίας. Οὐκ εἶπε, ∆ιδασκαλίας, οὐδὲ, ∆ημηγορίας, ἀλλὰ, Ἀπολογίας· ἐν τάξει ἱκέτου ἑαυτὸν καθίστησιν. Ἀκούσαντες δὲ, ὅτι τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ προσεφώνει αὐτοῖς, μᾶλλον παρέσχον ἡσυχίαν. Ὁρᾷς, πῶς αὐτοὺς εἷλε τὸ ὁμόφωνον; εἶχον γάρ τινα αἰδῶ πρὸς τὴν γλῶτταν ἐκείνην. Ὅρα δὲ καὶ πῶς προοδοποιεῖ τῷ λόγῳ οὕτως ἀρχόμενος καὶ λέγων· Ἐγὼ μέν εἰμι ἀνὴρ Ἰουδαῖος, γεγεννημένος ἐν Ταρσῷ τῆς Κιλικίας, ἀνατεθραμμένος ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ παρὰ τοὺς πόδας Γαμαλιήλου, πεπαιδευμένος δὲ κατὰ ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ πατρῴου νόμου, ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθὼς πάντες ὑμεῖς ἐστε σήμερον. Ἐγὼ μέν εἰμι, φησὶν, ἀνὴρ Ἰουδαῖος· ὃ μάλιστα πάντων ἐπόθουν ἀκοῦσαι. Γεγεννημένος ἐν Ταρσῷ τῆς Κιλικίας. Ἵνα μὴ πάλιν νομίσωσι τὸ ἔθνος ἄλλο, τὴν θρησκείαν ἐπήγαγεν. Ἀνατεθραμμένος δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ. Τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ δείκνυσι σπουδὴν τὴν περὶ τὴν λατρείαν, ὅπου γε καὶ πατρίδα τηλικαύτην ἀφεὶς τοσοῦτον ἀφεστῶσαν, ἐνταῦθα εἵλετο τραφῆναι διὰ τὸν νόμον. Ὅρα πῶς ἄνωθεν προσεῖχε τῷ νόμῳ. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐ πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀπολογούμενος μόνον φησὶν, ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνῳ σκοπῷ πρὸς τὸ κήρυγμα ἤχθη, ἀλλὰ θείᾳ δυνάμει· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτω πεπαιδευμένος ἀθρόον μετέστη. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν τις τῶν πολλῶν, εἰκὸς ἦν τοῦτο ὑποπτεῦσαι· εἰ δὲ τῶν