Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens..... That is, for Silas and Timotheus:
his spirit was stirred in him; not only his soul was troubled and his heart was grieved, but he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: he was in a paroxysm; his heart was hot within him; he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing, and could not stay; his zeal wanted vent, and he gave it:
when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry; or "full of idols", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it. So Cicero says {x} that Athens was full of temples; and Xenophon {y} observes that they had double the feasts of other people; and Pausanias {z} affirms, that the Athenians far exceeded others in the worship of the gods, and care about religion; and he relates, that they had an altar for Mercy, another for Shame, another for Fame, and another for Desire, and expressed more religion to the gods than others did: they had an altar dedicated to twelve gods {a}; and because they would be sure of all, they erected one to an unknown god; in short, they had so many of them, that one {b} jestingly said to them, our country is so full of deities, that one may more easily find a god than a man: so that with all their learning and wisdom they knew not God, 1 Corinthians 1:21.
{x} De responsis Aruspicum.
{y} De Athen. Polit.
{z} Attica, p. 29, 42.
{a} Thucydides Bell. Peloponness. l. 6.
{b} Petronius.