Verse 13
13. A compass A curve in the ship’s course. According to Mr. Lewin the wind was from the west; but Mount Etna obstructing the breeze left them becalmed, and obliged them to make an outward circuit in order to fill their sails.
Rhegium Here, as the north wind blowing down through the strait made navigation impossible, they were detained for one day, after which the favourable south wind blew, and the next day, after a sail of one hundred and eighty-two miles, they arrived at Puteoli.
A corn ship now arrives at Puteoli, the earliest of the spring! It was always a great arrival, and of all that sailed into this the great Roman harbour, the Alexandrian ship alone was not required reverently to lower her topsail, but might sail into port in towering triumph.
It was the bay still renowned as the Bay of Naples into which Paul now sailed. Celebrated for its beauty, this wonderful bay had another celebrity derived from its performing the office (for which the small port of Ostia at the month of the Tiber was wholly insufficient) of harbour to the imperial city. Through this harbour of Puteoli passed the great current of intercourse by sea between Rome and the whole world.
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