ell his
Roman fellow-countrymen something about the region in which he had
resided. We therefore look with interest to see whether these two books
of Pliny contain any notices respecting Cyprus, which might reasonably
be explained in this way; and our curiosity is not disappointed. In the
second book, besides two other brief notices (cc. 90, 112) relating to
the situation of Cyprus, Pliny mentions (c. 97) an area in the temple of
Venus at Paphos on which the rain never falls. In the eighteenth book
again, besides an incidental mention of this island (c. 57), he gives
some curious information (c. 12) with respect to the Cyprian corn, and
the bread made therefrom. It should be added that for the second book,
in which the references to Cyprus come late, Sergius Paulus is the
last-mentioned Latin authority; whereas for the eighteenth, where they
are early, he occupies an earlier, though not very early, place in the
list. These facts may be taken for what they are worth. In a work, which
contains such a multiplicity of details as Pliny's Natural History, we
should not be justified in laying too much stress on coincidences of
this kind.

From the Sergius Paulus of Luke the physician we turn to the Sergius
Paulus of Galen the physician. Soon after the accession of M. Aurelius
(A.D. 161) Galen paid his first visit to Rome, where he stayed for three
or four years. Among other persons whom he met there was L. Sergius
Paulus, who had been already consul suffectus about A.D. 150, and was
hereafter to be consul for the second time in A.D. 168 (on this latter
occasion as the regular consul of the year), after which time he held
the Prefecture of the City [296:1]. He is probably also the same person
who is mentioned elsewhere as proconsul of Asia in connection with a
Christian martyrdom [296:2]. This later Sergius Paulus reproduces many
features of his earlier namesake. Both alike are public men; both alike
are proconsuls; both alike show an inquisitive and acquisitive
disposition. The Sergius Paulus of the Acts, dissatisfied (as we may
suppose) alike with the coarse mythology of popular religion and with
the lifeless precepts of abstract philosophies, has recourse first to
the magic of the sorcerer Elymas, and then to the theology of the
Apostles Barnabas and Saul, for satisfaction. The Sergius Paulus of
Galen is described as 'holding the foremost place in practical life as
well as in philosophical studies;' he is especially mentione