And from thence
That is, from Rome, whither they were going:
when the brethren heard of us;
when the Christians at Rome heard that the apostle and his
friends were landed at Puteoli, and were on their journey to
Rome: these were the members of the church at Rome; for there was
a church state here before this time. The apostle had before this
written a letter to them, called the Epistle to the Romans, in
which he treats them as a church. The Papists say that the
Apostle Peter was the first bishop of it, and pretend an
uninterrupted succession from him; though it is questionable
whether he ever was at Rome; and if he was, it is not probable
that he should take upon him the care of a single church, which
was not consistent with his office as an apostle: in the "first"
century, the bishops or pastors of this church were as follow;
after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter, Eusebius F12 says,
Linus was the first bishop of it, the same that is mentioned in (
2
Timothy 4:21 ) and according to the same writer F13,
Anencletus succeeded him, and then Clement, a fellow labourer of
the Apostle Paul's, ( Philippians
4:3 ) ; who wrote two epistles to the Corinthians, which are
still extant; though Eusebius {n}, not consistent with himself,
makes Clement in another place to succeed Linus; and some make
Clement even to be before him; and some place one Cletus before
Anencletus and him: such an uncertainty is there, and such a
puzzle attends the first account of this uninterrupted
succession; and which seems designed in Providence to bring it
into contempt: in the "second" century, Euarestus succeeded
Clement; and then followed him Alexander, Sixtus, or Xystus,
Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, Eleutherius, and
Victor: in the "third" century, Victor was succeeded by
Zephyrinus; and after him were Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus,
Anterus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Sixtus, or
Xystus II, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, and Gaius: in the
"fourth" century, Marcellinus succeeded Gaius; who was followed
by Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Julius, Liberius,
Felix II, Damasus, and Siricius F15; and further than this age,
it is not worth while to follow them; the man of sin began to
grow apace, and in a century or two afterwards, proclaimed
himself universal bishop:
they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and the Three
Taverns;
these were both of them towns that lay in the Appian way to Rome;
the former of these Horace F16 makes mention of, in the
account of his journey from Rome to Brundusium; first he says, he
came to Aricia, or Rizza, which is about 160 furlongs, or 21
miles from Rome, and from thence to Appii Forum: that Appii Forum
was further from Rome than the Three Taverns, appears from what
Cicero says F17, who dates his letter to Atticus
from Appii Forum, at four o'clock, and tells him, that be had
sent him another a little before from "Tres Tabernae", or the
Three Taverns; and indeed, Appii Forum was one and fifty miles
from Rome, and the Three Taverns but three and thirty: so that
the sense must be, that some of the brethren from Rome came as
far as the Three Taverns, and others as far as Appii Forum;
which, as before observed, were two towns upon the road: hence
the former of these was not a statue of Appius, near the city of
Rome, as some have F18 said; nor a market in the city
itself, as says Jerom F19, or a writer under his name; whose
words are, Appii Forum is the name of a market at Rome, from
Appius, formerly a consul, and from whom the Appian way had its
name: but this was a town at some distance; there were several
towns in Italy of a like appellation; as Julii Forum, Cornelii
Forum, now Imola, Livii Forum, now Forli: Pliny F20 makes
mention of an Appii Forum; and there was a town in Calabria,
called Taberna: and as the one was not a mere market place, so
the other does not design three houses for public entertainment;
for the words should not be translated "three taverns", nor
indeed translated at all; nor are they by Luke, who retains the
Latin name, as the name of a place; and here it was that Severus,
the Roman emperor, was killed by Herculius Maximianus {u}; and
this, in Constantine's time, was the seat of a bishop; for among
the bishops assembled on account of Donatus, mention is made of
one "Felix a Tribus Tabernis" F23, or Felix bishop of Tres
Tabernae, the same place we call "the Three Taverns":
whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took
courage;
that is, when he saw the brethren that came to meet him, he gave
thanks to God for the sight of them, which he had so much
desired; and he took heart and courage, and went on cheerfully,
and in high spirits, towards Rome; in hope of seeing the rest,
and believing that God had some work for him to do there.
F12 Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 2.
F13 Ib. c. 13.
F14 Ib. c. 4. 15.
F15 Magdeburg. Eccl. Hist. cent. 2. c. 10. p. 165 cent. 3. c. 10. 193 cent. 4. c. 10. p. 736, &c.
F16 Sermonum, l. 1. Satyr 5.
F17 Ad Atticum, l. 2. ep. 11.
F18 Isidor. Pelusiot. Ep. l. 1. ep. 337.
F19 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 95. K.
F20 Nat. Hist. l. 14. c. 6.
F21 Aurel. Victor. Epitome, p. 346.
F23 Optat. de Schism Donat. l. 1. p. 26.