[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."J SIR,—In the article
entitled "St. Luke as Artist" which appeared in the Spectator of February rat the following words occur :—" The behaviour of the Jewish rabble before Gallio, when with utter inconsequence they beat Sosthenes in the Judgment Hall because they could not be revenged on Paul." [The italics are mine.] Surely this is hardly an accurate account of the incident. Gallio had just explained that "if it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness reason would that I should bear with you." By this he meant that if it were a question as to a breach of the criminal law it would be his duty to deal with that judicially, but that the complaint against St. Paul was not of this nature. The Jews would seem by their action in beating Sosthenes to have shown Gallio at once that if a breach of the criminal law was necessary to call the judicial machinery into action they would supply what was required. They expected that Gallio would have to try those who had beaten Sosthenes. Had such a trial taken place the complaint against St. Paul would have been brought forward as part of the evidence for the defence, as allowing the circumstances which led up to the attack on Sosthenes. The Jews thus hoped by a side- issue to force Gallio to investigate their complaint against St. Paul, which he had refused to consider when brought before him directly. If this explanation is correct, I think that the writer of the article in question will agree that the action of the Jews in beating Sosthenes, though it failed to attain its object, can hardly be described as inconsequent.—
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