Cities of Paul. By William Burnet Wright. (A. Constable and
Co. 4s. 6d. net.)—The reader may learn something from Mr. Wright, who sees many things in the books which he studies— sometimes more than there really are—and has a way of putting them forcibly. He finds an apt parallel to the "rings" which sometimes rule in 'United States cities in a certain Boethus, who robbed the people of Tarsus, and he points the moral, as one might expect, very forcibly. But why does he suppose that St. Paul had a special acquaintance with maritime matters ? The writer of the Acts had technical knowledge ; Paul was a travelled landsman. The suggestion that St. Paul in speaking of the "spiritual rock that followed" Israel was referring to a Rabbini- cal legend should not be called "absurd." The commentators who have accepted it cannot be so lightly dismissed. Mr. Wright is inclined to refer the " rock " to the Acro-Corinthus. This can hardly be said to supply the city. There was a fountain, Peirene, under the summit, and another at the foot of this hill. From the latter the city was supplied. As Peirene had no visible outlet, it was supposed, says Strabo, to fill the lower fountain. But he remarks that there were many, wells in the city, and that he was told that there were others in the mountain, but that he did not see any. The other cities besides Tarsus and Corinth are Philippi, Thessalonica, Colossae, Ancyra, and Tyana.
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