ος 3739 R-NSM παραγγελιαν 3852 N-ASF τοιαυτην 5108 D-ASF ειληφως 2983 5761 V-RAP-NSM εβαλεν 906 5627 V-2AAI-3S αυτους 846 P-APM εις 1519 PREP την 3588 T-ASF εσωτεραν 2082 A-ASF φυλακην 5438 N-ASF και 2532 CONJ τους 3588 T-APM ποδας 4228 N-APM αυτων 846 P-GPM ησφαλισατο 805 5662 V-ADI-3S εις 1519 PREP το 3588 T-ASN ξυλον 3586 N-ASN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
24. The inner prison. Some have supposed this to be the lower prison, being misled by the remains of the Mamertine prison at Rome, on the declivity of the Capitoline, and near the Arch of Septimius Severus. This consists of two chambers, one above the other, excavated in the solid rock. In the center of the vault of the lower chamber is a circular opening, through which it is supposed that prisoners were let down into the dungeon. Modern excavations, however, have shown that these two chambers were connected with a series of large chambers, now separated by an alley from the prison of St. Peter. The opening into the passage leading to these was discovered in the lower dungeon. Under this passage ran a drain, which formed branch of the Cloaca Maxima, or main sewer. Six of these chambers have been brought to light, evidently apartments of a large prison in the time of the Roman kings. Mr. John Henry Parker, from whose elaborate work on the primitive fortifications of Rome these details are drawn, believes that the prison of St. Peter now shown to tourists formed the vestibule and guard-room of the great prison. It was customary to have a vestibule, or house for the warder, at a short distance from the main prison. Thus he distinguished the inner prison from this vestibule. With this agrees the description in the Rev. John Henry Newman's "Callista:" "The state prison was arranged on pretty much one and the same plan through the Roman empire, nay, we may say throughout the ancient world. It was commonly attached to the government buildings, and consisted of two parts. The first was the vestibule, or outward prison, approached from the praetorium, and surrounded by cells opening into it. The prisoners who were confined in these cells had the benefit of the air and light which the hall admitted. From the vestibule there was a passage into the interior prison, called Robur or Lignum, from the beams of wood which were the instruments of confinement, or from the character of its floor. It had no window or outlet except this door, which, when closed, absolutely shut out light and air. This apartment was the place into which Paul and Silas were cast at Philippi. The utter darkness, the heat, and the stench of this miserable place, in which the inmates were confined day and night, is often dwelt upon by the martyrs and their biographers."Stocks (xulon). Lit., the timber. An instrument of torture having five holes, four for the wrists and ankles and one for the neck. The same word is used for the cross, ch. v. 30; x. 39; Gal. iii. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 24.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
16:24 {Into the inner prison} (eis ten eswteran fulaken). The comparative form from the adverb es" (within), Ionic and old Attic for eis". In the LXX, but in the N.T. only here and #Heb 6:19. The Roman public prisons had a vestibule and outer prison and behind this the inner prison, a veritable dungeon with no light or air save what came through the door when open. One has only to picture modern cells in our jails, the dungeons in feudal castles, London prisons before the time of Howard, to appreciate the horrors of an inner prison cell in a Roman provincial town of the first century A.D. {Made their feet fast} (tous podas esfalisato autwn). First aorist (effective) middle of asfalizw, from asfales (safe), common verb in late Greek, in the N.T. only here and #Mt 24:64ff. The inner prison was safe enough without this refinement of cruelty. {In the stocks} (eis to xulon). xulon, from xu", to scrape or plane, is used for a piece of wood whether a cross or gibbet (#Ac 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Ga 3:13; 1Pe 2:24) or a log or timber with five holes (four for the wrists and ankles and one for the neck) or two for the feet as here, xulopede, Latin _vervus_, to shackle the feet stretched apart (#Job 33:11). this torment was practiced in Sparta, Athens, Rome, and Adonirom Judson suffered it in Burmah. xulon is also used in the N.T. for stick or staff (#Mt 26:47) and even a tree (#Lu 23:31). Tertullian said of Christians in the stocks: _Nihil crus sentit in vervo, quum animus in caelo est_ (Nothing the limb feels in the stocks when the mind is in heaven).
