now called Malta, an island in the African or Mediterranean Sea,
between Africa and Sicily, twenty miles in length and twelve in breadth,
formerly reckoned a part of Africa, but now belonging to Europe. St.
Paul suffered shipwreck upon the coast of Malta, Acts xviii, 1–3. In the
opinion of Dr. Hales, the island where this happened was not Malta, but
Meleda. His words are: “That this island was Meleda, near the Illyrian
coast, not Malta, on the southern coast of Sicily, may appear from the
following considerations: 1. It lies confessedly in the Adriatic Sea,
but Malta a considerable distance from it. 2. It lies nearer the mouth
of the Adriatic than any other island of that sea; and would of course,
be more likely to receive the wreck of any vessel driven by tempests
toward that quarter. And it lies north-west by north of the south-west
promontory of Crete; and came nearly in the direction of a storm from
the south-east quarter. 3. An obscure island called Melite, whose
inhabitants were ‘barbarous,’ was not applicable to the celebrity of
Malta at that time, which Cicero represents as abounding in curiosities
and riches, and possessing a remarkable manufacture of the finest linen;
and Diodorus Siculus more fully: ‘Malta is furnished with many and very
good harbours, and the inhabitants are very rich; for it is full of all
sorts of artificers, among whom there are excellent weavers of fine
linen. Their houses are very stately and beautiful, adorned with
graceful eaves, and pargetted with white plaster. The inhabitants are a
colony of Phenicians, who, trading as merchants, as far as the western
ocean, resorted to this place on account of its commodious ports and
convenient situation for maritime commerce; and by the advantage of this
place, the inhabitants frequently became famous both for their wealth
and their merchandise.’ 4. The circumstance of the viper, or venomous
snake, which fastened on St. Paul’s hand, agrees with the damp and woody
island of Meleda, affording shelter and proper nourishment for such, but
not with the dry and rocky island of Malta, in which there are no
serpents now, and none in the time of Pliny. 5. The disease with which
the father of Publius was affected, dysentery combined with fever,
probably intermittent, might well suit a country woody and damp, and
probably, for want of draining, exposed to the putrid effluvia of
confined moisture; but was not likely to affect a dry, rocky, and
remarkably healthy island like Malta.”
between Africa and Sicily, twenty miles in length and twelve in breadth,
formerly reckoned a part of Africa, but now belonging to Europe. St.
Paul suffered shipwreck upon the coast of Malta, Acts xviii, 1–3. In the
opinion of Dr. Hales, the island where this happened was not Malta, but
Meleda. His words are: “That this island was Meleda, near the Illyrian
coast, not Malta, on the southern coast of Sicily, may appear from the
following considerations: 1. It lies confessedly in the Adriatic Sea,
but Malta a considerable distance from it. 2. It lies nearer the mouth
of the Adriatic than any other island of that sea; and would of course,
be more likely to receive the wreck of any vessel driven by tempests
toward that quarter. And it lies north-west by north of the south-west
promontory of Crete; and came nearly in the direction of a storm from
the south-east quarter. 3. An obscure island called Melite, whose
inhabitants were ‘barbarous,’ was not applicable to the celebrity of
Malta at that time, which Cicero represents as abounding in curiosities
and riches, and possessing a remarkable manufacture of the finest linen;
and Diodorus Siculus more fully: ‘Malta is furnished with many and very
good harbours, and the inhabitants are very rich; for it is full of all
sorts of artificers, among whom there are excellent weavers of fine
linen. Their houses are very stately and beautiful, adorned with
graceful eaves, and pargetted with white plaster. The inhabitants are a
colony of Phenicians, who, trading as merchants, as far as the western
ocean, resorted to this place on account of its commodious ports and
convenient situation for maritime commerce; and by the advantage of this
place, the inhabitants frequently became famous both for their wealth
and their merchandise.’ 4. The circumstance of the viper, or venomous
snake, which fastened on St. Paul’s hand, agrees with the damp and woody
island of Meleda, affording shelter and proper nourishment for such, but
not with the dry and rocky island of Malta, in which there are no
serpents now, and none in the time of Pliny. 5. The disease with which
the father of Publius was affected, dysentery combined with fever,
probably intermittent, might well suit a country woody and damp, and
probably, for want of draining, exposed to the putrid effluvia of
confined moisture; but was not likely to affect a dry, rocky, and
remarkably healthy island like Malta.”