Voyage  by  Samothrace  to  Neapolis.  —  Philippi.  —  Constitution  of  a  Colony.  —  Lydia.  —  The
Demoniac  Slave. — Paul  and  Silas  arrested.  —  The  Prison  and  the  Jailer.  —  The  Magis-
trates. —  Departure  from  Philippi.  —  St.  Luke.  — Macedonia  described.  —  Its  Condition  as  a
Province.  —  The  Via  Egnatia. —  St.  Paul's  Journey  through  Amphipolis  and  Apoilonia. —
Thessalonica.  —  The  Synagogue.  —  Subjects  of  St.  Paul's  Preaching.  —  Persecution,  Tumult,
and  Flight.  —  The  Jews  at  Beroea.  —  St.  Paul  again  persecuted.  —  Proceeds  to  Athens.  •

THE  weather  itself  was  propitious  to  the  voyage  from  Asia  to
Europe.  It  is  evident  that  Paul  and  his  companions  sailed  from
Troas  with  a  fair  wind.  On  a  later  occasion  we  are  told  that  five  days
were  spent  on  the  passage  from  Philippi  to  Troas.^  On  the  present
occasion  the  same  voyage,  in  the  opposite  direction,  was  made  in  two.
If  we  attend  to  St.  Luke's  technical  expression ,2  which  literally  means
that  they  "  sailed  before  the  wind,"  and  take  into  account  that  the  pas-
sage to  the  west,  between  Tenedos  and  Lemnos,  is  attended  with  some
risk,^  we  may  infer  that  the  wind  blew  from  the  southward.*  Tlic
southerly  winds  in  this  part  of  the  Archipelago  do  not  usually  last  long,
but  they  often  blow  with  considerable  force.  Sometimes  they  are
sufficiently  strong  to  counteract  the  current  which  sets  to  the  southward
from  the  mouth  of  the  Dardanelles.*     However  this  might  be  on  the  day


1  Compare  Acts  xvi.  11,  12,  with  xx.  6.
For  the  expression,  "  sailed  from  Philippi  "
(xx.  6),  and  the  relation  of  Philippi  with  its
harbor,  Neapolis,  see  below,  p.  249,  n.  4.
2  It  occurs  again  in  Acts  xxi.  1,  evidently
in  the  same  sense.
