Acts 22:25
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
And as they bound him with thongs,.... To a pillar, in order to be scourged, according to the Roman manner {d}. Nor was the Jewish form of scourging much unlike, and perhaps might be now used, which was this; when they scourge anyone they bind both his hands to a pillar, here and there --and they do not strike him standing nor sitting, but inclining {e}; for the pillar to which he was bound was fixed in the ground, and so high as for a man to lean upon {f}; and some say it was two cubits, and others a cubit and a half high {g}: and the word here used signifies an extension, or distension; perhaps the stretching out of the arms to the pillar, and a bending forward of the whole body, which fitly expresses the stooping inclining posture of the person scourged, and was a very proper one for such a punishment: now as they were thus fastening him with thongs to the pillar, and putting him in this position,
Paul said unto the centurion that stood by; to see the soldiers execute the orders received from the chief captain:
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? Though the apostle puts this by way of question, yet he knew full well what the Roman laws were in such cases; he did not put this through ignorance, or for information, but to let them know who he was, and to put them in mind of these laws, and of their duty; for, according to the Porcian law, Roman citizens were not to be beaten {h}. Hence, says {i} Cicero,
"it is a heinous sin to bind a Roman citizen, it is wickedness to beat him, it is next to parricide to kill him, and what shall I say to crucify him?''
And, according to the Valerian law, it was not lawful for magistrates to condemn a Roman without hearing the cause, and pleading in it; and such condemned persons might appeal to the populace {k}.
{d} Lipsius de Cruce, l. 2. c. 4.
{e} Misna Maccot, c. 3. sect. 12, 13.
{f} Bartenora in ib.
{g} Yom Tob in ib.
{h} Cicero pro Rabirio Orat. 18.
{i} In Verrem Orat. 10.
{k} Pompon. Laetus de Legibus, p. 157.