the genuineness of the work have been renewed, it may not be
out of place to call attention to some illustrations of the narrative
which recent discoveries have brought to light. No ancient work affords
so many tests of veracity; for no other has such numerous points of
contact in all directions with contemporary history, politics, and
topography, whether Jewish or Greek or Roman. In the publications of the
year 1877 Cyprus and Ephesus have made important contributions to the
large mass of evidence already existing.

1. The government of the Roman provinces at this time was peculiarly
dangerous ground for the romance-writer to venture upon. When Augustus
assumed the supreme power he divided the provinces under the Roman
dominion with the Senate. From that time forward there were two sets of
provincial governors. The ruler of a senatorial province was styled a
proconsul ([Greek: anthupatos]), while the officer to whom an
imperatorial province was entrusted bore the name of propraetor ([Greek:
antistrategos]) or legate ([Greek: presbeutes]). Thus the use of the terms
'proconsul' and 'propraetor' was changed; for, whereas in republican
times they signified that the provincial governors bearing them had
previously held the offices of consul and praetor respectively at home,
they were now employed to distinguish the superior power under which the
provinces were administered without regard to the previous rank of the
governors administering them. Moreover, the original subdivision of the
provinces between the Emperor and Senate underwent constant
modifications. If disturbances broke out in a senatorial province and
military rule was necessary to restore order, it would be transferred to
the Emperor as the head of the army, and the Senate would receive an
imperatorial province in exchange. Hence at any given time it would be
impossible to say without contemporary, or at least very exact
historical knowledge, whether a particular province was governed by a
proconsul or a propraetor. The province of Achaia is a familiar
illustration of this point. A very few years before St Paul's visit to
Corinth, and some years later, Achaia was governed by a propraetor. Just
at this time, however, it was in the hands of the Senate, and its ruler
therefore was a proconsul as represented by St Luke.

Cyprus is a less familiar, but not less instructive, example of the same
accuracy. Older critics, even when writing on the apologetic side, had