storm from that quarter accounts most perfectly for the ship's movements and the measures employed to control them, which are mentioned or intimated in the sequel of the narrative. The other principal readings are εὐροκλύδων, compounded of εὖρος and κλύδων, Eurus fluctus excitans, or as De Wette thinks more correct, fluctus Euro excitatus; and εὐρυκλύδων from εὐρύς and κλύδων, broad wave. It appears, therefore, that the gentle southern breeze with which they started, changed suddenly to a violent northern or north-eastern wind. Such a sudden change is a very common occurrence in those seas. An English naval officer in his Remarks on the Archipelago says: "It is always safe to anchor under the lee of an island with a northern wind, as it dies away gradually; but it would be extremely dangerous with southerly winds, as they almost invariably shift to a violent northerly wind." V. 15. ovrugnαsévros, being seized, caught by the wind. artoqDahuɛiv, to look in the face, withstand. It is said that the ancients often painted an eye on each side of the prow of their ships. It might not be easy to determine whether the personification implied in this mode of speaking, arose from that practice, or whether the practice arose from the personification. ¿zidórtes, giving up to the wind sc. τὸ πλοῖον as most prefer, on account of what precedes, or ἑαυτούς in anticipation of the next verb. See Raph. Annott. 2. p. 197.— ¿qɛgóμɛdα, we were borne, not hither and thither, but at the mercy of the wind, the direction of which we know from the next verse. V. 16. Nηolor - Khaýdyv, running under a certain small island called Claude. This island Ptolemy calls Claudos. It bears now the name of Gozzo. As the gale commenced blowing soon after the departure from Fair Havens, the ship in order to reach Claude, must have been driven to the south-east. Their course, had they been near Phoenix at the commencement of the storm, would have been due south. The effect which the wind produced, shows what the direction of the wind was; it must have been from the north or north-east, which agrees, as we have seen, with the probable import of the name which Luke has employed to designate the wind. In the nautical language of the ancients as in that of the moderns, to run appears to have meant to sail before the wind. Comp. 16: 11. vò in the participle according to the view suggested on v. 4, would signify that they passed Claude so as to have the wind between them and that island, that is, since the direction of the wind has been already determined, they went to the south-east of it instead of the north. That they approached near to the island at the same time, may be concluded from the next words. Others infer their vicinity to the island from 1850.] Notes. 755 the preposition, which they take to be, under the coast; but as in the other case they suppose that this was the southern coast from the direction in which such a wind must have driven the ship. — μókus — — rys oxáns, we were able with difficulty to secure the boat. Those expert in maritime affairs say that the boat of a large vessel cannot be taken on board while the vessel is scudding before a strong gale, without extreme danger. Hence it is probable, that when on the southern side of Claude, they were sheltered somewhat against the storm, and were able to arrest the progress of the ship sufficiently to enable them to accomplish this object. Yet the sea even here was still apparently so tempestuous as to render this a difficult operation. It may have added to the difficulty that the boat having been towed more than twenty miles through a raging sea, could hardly fail to have been filled with water. They had omitted this precaution at the outset because the weather, was mild, and they had expected to be at sea but a few hours. It will be observed that Luke has not stated why they found it so difficult to secure the boat. We are left to conjecture the rea sons. V. 17. Bondeíais Exporro, they used helps, i. e. ropes, chains and the like, for the purpose specified in the next clause. So the expression is understood by most scholars. De Wette thinks that Bordelais may denote helping expedients in general, of which vnosorrúrzes rò aλolor, undergirding the ship, was one. It cannot well mean the services of the passengers as some maintain; for the limiting term which that sense of the expression would require, is wanting. Falconer in his Marine Dictionary describes the mode of undergirding ships as practised in modern navigation, in the following terms: "To frap a ship (ceintrer un vaisseau) is to pass four or five turns of a large cablelaid rope round the hull or frame of a ship, to support her in a great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea. This expedient, however, is rarely put in practice." In ancient times it was very common to resort to this process. The larger ships on their more extended voyages carried with them vzoopara or ropes for undergirding, so as to be prepared for any emergency which might require them. The Attic arsenals kept a supply of them always on hand for public use. This mode of strengthening a ship at sea, although not adopted so often as it was anciently, is not unknown in the experience of modern navigators. In 1815, Mr. Henry Hartley, was employed to pilot the Russian fleet from England to the Baltic. One of the ships under his escort, the Jupiter, was frapped round the middle by three or four turns of a stream-cable. Sir George Back on his return from his Arctic voyage in 1837, was forced in consequence of the shattered and leaking condition of his ship, to undergird her. The Albion, a British frigate, in 1846, encountered a hurricane on her voyage from India, and was under the necessity of frapping her hull together, to prevent her from sinking. To these more recent instances many others of an earlier date might be added. The common representation in regard to the ancient mode of applying the hypozomata to a ship, makes it different from the modern usage. Boeckh's view is the one followed in most of the recent works. According to his investigation, the ropes instead of being passed under the bottom, and fastened on deck, “ran in a horizontal direction around the ship from the stern to the prow. They ran round the vessel in several circles, and at certain distances from one another. The length of these tormenta as they are called in Latin, varied accordingly as they ran around the higher or lower part of the ship, the latter being naturally shorter than the former. Their number varied according to the size of the ship." 3 Mr. Smith in his Dissertation on the Ships of the Ancients, controverts the foregoing opinion, as being founded on a misapprehension of the passages in the ancient writers, which have been supposed to prove it. He maintains that the cables instead of being applied lengthways, were drawn around the middle at right angles to the ship and parallel to it.4 The other mode, he says, "must have been as impracticable as it would have been unavailing for the purpose of strengthening the ship." Luke states a fact simply in relation to this matter; he does not describe the mode. The question, therefore, is one of archaeological interest merely; it does not affect the writer's accuracy. — unixniowot, lest they should be stranded upon the Syrtis, lit. fall out, i. e. from the sea or deep water upon the land or rocks: comp. vs. 26, 29, 30. Syrtis Major is here meant which was on the coast of Africa, south-west from Crete. This gulf was an object of great dread to See Mr. Smith's work, pp. 65, 66. 2 Many scholars suppose that Horace alludes to this practice in Od. I. 14. 6 : — Sine funibus vix durare carinae Possint imperiosius Aequor. The writer was once explaining this passage according to that view, to a college-class, when one of the members who had been at sea, stated that he himself had assisted in such an operation on board a vessel approaching our own coast. This is quoted from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 880, Eng. ed. The account rests on Boeckh's authority. The writer of the article Navis in Pauly's Real-Encyclopaedie der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft, follows the same authority. See Band V. S. 463. The mode of executing this manoeuvre as I am informed, is to sink the ropes over the prow, and then draw them towards the middle of the ship fastening the ends on deck. 1850.] Notes. 757 mariners on account of its dangerous shoals. The other Syrtis was too far to the west, to have been the one to which they would have felt exposed in their present situation. — χαλάσαντες τὸ σκεῦος, καυing lowered the gear. The latter term is indefinite and may be applied to almost any of the ship's appurtenances, as sails, masts, anchors and the like. Many have supposed it to refer here to the mast, or if there were more than one in this case, to the principal mast; but it would seem to put that supposition out of the question, that according to all probability the masts of the larger sailing ships among the ancients were not movable, like those of the smaller vessels, but were fixed in their position and would require to be cut away; a mode of removal which the accompanying participle shows could not have been adopted in the present instance. See Juv. 12. 59. The surprising opinion of some that oxɛvos is the anchor, contradicts the very next words which follow. Of the other applications of the word, the only one which the circumstances of the ship at this juncture naturally suggest, is that it refers to the sail. It is not certain how we are to take the article here. It leads us to think most directly perhaps of the large square sail, which was attached to the principal mast. The ancients had vessels with one, two and three masts. To would then point out that sail: by way of eminence. The presumption is that if the ship carried: other sails as cannot well be doubted, they had taken them down before. this; and now having lowered the only one which they had continued to use, they let the vessel "scud under bare poles." This is the gen-eral view of the meaning. It would follow from this, that the wind, must have changed its direction before they were wrecked on Melite; for some thirteen days elapsed before that event, during which the storm continued to rage; and within that time, had they been con- stantly driven before a north-east wind, they must have realized their fear of being stranded on the African coast. If, on the contrary, we assume that the storm blew during all this time from the same point, we must suppose that they adopted some precaution against that danger, which Luke does not mention, although he may imply it. The only such precaution according to the opinion of nautical men, which they could have adopted in their circumstances, was to turn the head of the vessel as far towards the north-west as the direction of the wind would allow, and at the same time keep as much sail spread, as they could carry in so severe a gale. For this purpose, they would needthe principal sail; and the sail lowered is most likely to have been the sail above it, i. e. the top-sail or supparum as the Romans termed it. By the adoption of these means they would avoid the shore on which they were so fearful of being cast, and drift in the direction of the VOL. VII. No. 28. 64 island on which they were finally wrecked. zò according to this supposition would refer to the sail as definite in the conceptions of the writer, or as presumptively well known to the reader.-ovros ¿qéqorro, thus, i. e. with the ship undergirded, and with the main-sail lowered; or it may be, with the top-sail lowered and the storm-sail set, they were borne on, at the mercy of the elements. Here closes the account of the first fearful day. V. 18. 7. The night brought to them no relief. The return of day disclosed to them new dangers. It was evident that the ship must be lightened, or founder at sea. Their next step, therefore, was to try the effect of that measure. - ἐκβολὴν ἐποιοῦντο, lit. they made a casting out, of what the expression does not define; perhaps of the supernumerary spars and other rigging, and some of the heavier articles of merchandise with which the ship was laden. The wheat which appears to have constituted the bulk of the cargo, they reserved till the last; see v. 38. V. 19. z Toit. The third day arrives and the storm has cot abated. They are obliged to lighten the ship still more. This renewed necessity appears to indicate that the ship was in a leaking condition, and that the danger from this source was becoming more and more imminent. · αὐτόχειρες — ἐῤῥίψαμεν, we cast out with our own hands the furniture of the ship, such as tables, beds, chests and the like. oxevy is variously explained. Meyer, De Wette, and others attach to it the sense given above. Some understand it of the masts, yards, sails and other equipments of the ship, similar to these. If we adopt this interpretation, we must limit it so as to make it consistent with vs. 18, 29, 44. Some again, as Wetstein, Kuinoel, Winer, suppose it to denote the baggage of the passengers. holov must then be taken as the genitive of the container = on board the ship. V. 20. ure dè, etc. The absence of the sun and stars increased their danger, since it deprived them of their only means of observation. The Greeks and Romans, in the most improved state of navigation among them, were reluctant to venture out to sea beyond the sight of land. During the day they kept the high lands or shore or some island in view, to direct. them; and at night depended for the same purpose on the position, the rising and setting of different stars. nheiovas quigas, several days. These include probably the three days which have been mentioned, but how many of the eleven days which followed before the final disaster, is uncertain. We do not know how long the interval was between Paul's address and that event. — 201zor, for the future, thenceforth. They relinquish now their last hope of escape; destruction seemed to be inevitable. In their condition they |