presupposed in the Epistle?

Such then was the motley population of the numerous Seleucid colonies which were planted in Lydia,

Phrygia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia during the third century, and in Cilicia during the second century BC. The

language of the settlers was Greek, the language of trade and education; and it was through these cities that

a veneer of Greek civilisation was spread over the Asiatic coasts.

Figure 9: Sardis --First Metropolis of Asia, of Lydia, and of Hellenism

The jealousies and rivalries of those great cities are a quaint feature of their history in the Roman period.

The old Greek pride in their patris, their father-land--which to them was simply their city--had no longer the

opportunity of expressing itself in the field of politics. No city could have a foreign policy. Even in municipal

matters, while the Empire nominally allowed home rule, yet in practice it discouraged it: the management of

city business was more and more taken out o f the hands of the cities: the Emperor was there to think for all

and provide for all better than they could for themselves. Municipal pride expressed itself in outward show,

partly in the healthier direction of improving and beautifying the cities, partly in the vainglorious invention

of names and titles. In every Province and district there was keen competition for the title first of the

Province or the district. Every city which could pretend to the first place in respect of any qualification

called itself "first," and roused the jealousy of other cities which counted themselves equally good. Smyrna

was "first of Asia in size and beauty," Ephesus first of Asia as the landing-place of every Roman official,

Pergamum first as the official capital, and Sardis boldly styled itself "first metropolis of Asia, of Lydia, of

Hellenism" on the arrogant coin represented in Figure 9. Similarly in the Province Bithynia Nicomedia and

Nicaea competed for the primacy. So again in Cilicia Tarsus and Anazarba, in one distric t of Macedonia

Philippi and Amphipolis (see chapter 14), disputed with one another about those empty titles. A temporary

agreement between the three chief cities of Asia, implying a lull in their rivalry, is attested by the coin shown

in Figure 10, chapter 14.

The prosperity, both material and intellectual, of the cities was very great under the kings. As the dynasties

decayed, the Romans took over their power, and during the disintegration of the Roman Republic and the

long Civil Wars the cities suffered severely from misgovernment and extortion. But prosperity was restored

by the triumph of the new Empire, which was welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm by the Graeco-Asiatic

cities. The Roman Empire did not, as a rule, need to found cities and introduce new population in order to

maintain its hold on Asia Minor. It stood firmly supported by the loyalty of the city population. Only on the

South-Galatian frontier was a line of Coloniae--Antioch, Lystra, etc.--needed to protect the loyal cities from

the unsubdued tribes of Mount Taurus. The two Roman Coloniae in Asia, Troas and Parium, were founded

for sentimental and economic reasons, not to hold a doubtful land.

But the history of those cities, and the letters of the New Testament, show that a very high degree of order,

peace and prosperity may result in a thoroughly unhealthy life and a steady moral deterioration, unless the

condition of the public mind is kept sound by some salutary idea. The salutary idea which was needed to

keep the Empire sound and the cities healthy was what Paul preached; and that idea was the raising of the

Gentiles to equality with the Jews in religion and morality.

An amalgamation of Oriental and Hellenic religious ideas had been sought by many philosophers, and was

practised in debased forms by impostors who traded on the superstitions of the vulgar. It was left for

Christianity to place it before the world accomplished and perfected.