Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/488



[Greek: skênopoios] (skenopoios,) which is the word used in Acts xiii. 3, to designate the trade of Saul and Aquilas. Pollux mentions that in the language of the old Grecian comedy, [Greek: skênopoios] was equivalent to [Greek: mêchanopoios], (mechanopoios,) which Michaelis very erroneously takes in the sense of "a maker of mechanical instruments," and this he therefore maintains to have been the trade of Saul and Aquilas. But it is capable of the most satisfactory proof, that Julius Pollux used the words here merely in the technical sense of theatrical preparation,—the first meaning simply "a scene-maker," and the second "a constructor of theatrical machinery,"—both terms, of course, naturally applied to the same artist. (Mich. Int. IV. xxiii. 2. pp. 183-186. Marsh's translation.—Hug, II. § 85, orig. § 80, trans.)
 * hension of the meaning given by Julius Pollux, in his Onomasticon, on the word

The Fathers also made similar blunders about the nature of Saul's trade. They call him [Greek: skytotomos], (skutotomos,) "a skin-cutter," as well as [Greek: skênorraphos], "a tent-maker." This was because they were entirely ignorant of the material used for the manufacture of tents; for, living themselves in the civilized regions of Greece, Italy, &c. they knew nothing of the habitations of the Nomadic tent-dwellers. Chrysostom in particular, calls him "one who worked in skins."

Fabricius gives some valuable illustrations of this point. (Biblioth. Gr. IV. p. 795, bb.) He quotes Cotelerius, (ad. Apost. Const. II. 63,) Erasmus, &c. (ad Act. xviii. 3,) and Schurzfleisch, (in diss. de Paulo, &c.) who brings sundry passages from Dio Chrysostom and Libanius, to prove that there were many in Cilicia who worked in leather, as he says; in support of which he quotes Martial, (epig. xiv. 114,) alluding to "udones cilicii," or "cilician cloaks," (used to keep off rain, as water-proof,)—not knowing that this word, cilicium, was the name of a very close and stout cloth, from the goat's hair, equally valuable as a covering for a single person, and for the habitation of a whole family. In short, Martial's passage shows that the Cilician camlet was used like the modern camlet,—for cloaks. Fabricius himself seems to make no account of this leather notion of Schurzfleisch; for immediately after, he states (what I can not find on any other authority) that "even at this day, as late books of travels testify, variegated cloths are exported from Cilicia." This is certainly true of Angora in Asia Minor, north-west of Cilicia, (Mod. Trav. III. p. 339,) and may be true of Cilicia itself. Fabricius notices 2 Cor. v. 1: and xii. 9, as containing figures drawn from Saul's trade.

HIS EDUCATION.

But this was not destined to be the most important occupation of Saul's life. Even his parents had nobler objects in view for him, and evidently devoted him to this handicraft, only in conformity with those ancient Jewish usages which had the force of law on every true Israelite, whether rich or poor; and accordingly he was sent, while yet in his youth, away from his home in Tarsus, to Jerusalem, the fountain of religious and legal knowledge to all the race of Judah and Benjamin, throughout the world. To what extent his general education had been carried in Tarsus, is little known; but he had acquired that fluency in the Greek, which is displayed in his writings, though contaminated with many of the provincialisms of Cilicia, and more especially with the barbarisms of Hebrew usage. Living in daily intercourse, both in the way of business and friendship, with the active Grecians of that thriving city, and led, no doubt, by his own intellectual character and tastes, to the occasional cultivation of those classics which were the delight of his Gentile acquaintances, he acquired a readiness and power in the use of the Greek language, and a