found their fine scheme of abusing Paul under the sanction of the Roman tribunal, perfectly frustrated; nor was their calamity confined to this disappointment; for all the Greeks who were present at the trial,—indignant at the scandalous character of the proceeding,—took Sosthenes, the ruling elder of the synagogue, who had probably been most active in the persecution of Paul, as he was the regular legal chief of the Jews, and gave him a sound threshing in the court, before he could obey the orders of the Proconsul, and move off from the tribunal. Gallio was so far from being displeased at this very irregular and improper outbreak of public feeling, that he took no notice of the action whatever, though it was a shameful violation of the dignity of his tribunal; and it may therefore be reasonably concluded that he was very much provoked against the Jews, and was disposed to sympathize with Paul; otherwise he would have been apt to have punished the outrage of the Greeks upon Sosthenes.
"The name of this proconsul was Marcus Annaeus Novatus, but being adopted
by Lucius Junius Gallio, he took the name of his adopted father; he was brother to
the famous Seneca, tutor to Nero. That philosopher dedicated to Gallio his book,
"De Vita Beata." The Roman historians concur in giving him the character of a
sweet disposition, an enemy to all vice, and particularly a hater of flattery. He was
twice made proconsul of Achaia, first by Claudius, and afterwards by Nero. As he
was the sharer of his brother's prosperity, so he was of his misfortunes, when he fell
under Nero's displeasure, and was at length put to death by the tyrant, as well as his
brother." (Calmet's Comment. Poole's Annot. Williams on Pearson.)
"In Acts xviii. 12-16, we find Paul is brought before Gallio by the Jews, but this proconsul refused to judge any such matters, as not coming within his jurisdiction. The character for justice, impartiality, prudence, and mildness of disposition, which this passage gives to Gallio, is confirmed by Seneca, his brother, in these words:—Solebam tibi dicere, Gallionem fratrem meum (quem nemo non parum amat, etiam qui amare plus non potest,) alia vitia non nosse, hoc etiam, (i. e. adulationem,) odisse.—Nemo enim mortalium uni tam dulcis est, quam hic omnibus. Hoc quoque loco blanditiis tuis restitit, ut exclamares invenisse te inexpugnabilem virum adversus insidias, quas nemo non in sinum recipit. (L. Ann. Seneca, Natural. Quaest. lib. iv. in praef. op. tom. iv. p. 267, edit. Bipont.) In our translation Gallio is styled the deputy, but the real Greek word is [Greek: Anthypateuontos], proconsul. The accuracy of Luke in this instance is very remarkable. In the partition of the provinces of the Roman empire, Macedonia and Achaia were assigned to the people and Senate of Rome. In the reign of Tiberius they were, at their own request, made over to the emperor. In the reign of Claudius, (A. U. C. 797. A. D. 44,) they were again restored to the Senate, after which time proconsuls were sent into this country. Nero afterwards made the Achaians a free people. The Senate therefore lost this province again. However, that they might not be sufferers, the emperor gave them the island of Sardinia, in the room of it. Vespasian made Achaia a province again. There is likewise a peculiar propriety in the name of the province of which Gallio was proconsul. The country subject to him was all Greece; but the proper name of the province among the Romans was Achaia, as appears from various passages of the Roman historians, and especially from the testimony of Pausanias. [Greek: Kalousi de ouch' Hellados, alla' Aachias hêgemona hoi Rômaioi[Rhômaioi?] dioti echeirôsanto Hellênas de Achaiôn, tote tou Hellênikon proestêkotôn.] (Pausanias Descript. lib. vii. p. 563. Lardner's Works, 4to. vol. I. p. 19.)
"The words [Greek: Galliônos de anthypateuontos] ought to be rendered, with Heumann, Walch, Antiqq. Corinth, p. 35., and Reichard, (as indeed is required by the context,) 'when Gallio had been made Proconsul,' or 'on Gallio's entering on the Proconsulship.' (Kuin.) In the same sense it was also taken by Beza and Piscator; and this
