and Neapolis, the port-town of Philippi. A letter from Smyrna left
there would be carried a considerable distance on its journey to
Philippi. Some friendly hand might convey it from thence to its
destination. Psyria and Syria are words so akin in sound that a
transcriber of Polycarp's letter, copying from dictation, might
readily mistake the one for the other; and thus an error creeping
into an early manuscript may have led to all this perplexity.
Letters in those days could commonly be sent only by special
messengers, or friends traveling abroad; and the Philippians
had made a suggestion to Polycarp as to the best mode of keeping
up their correspondence. They had probably some co-religionists
in Psyria; and a letter sent there to one or other of them, could,
at the earliest opportunity, be forwarded. But another explanation,
perhaps quite as worthy of acceptance, may solve this mystery.
Syria was the ancient name of another island in the Aegaean Sea,
and one of the Cyclades. Though it is not so much as Psyria in
the direct course between Smyrna and Philippi, it is a place of
greater celebrity and of more commercial importance. Like Psyria,
in the course of ages its name has been contracted, and it is now
known as Syra. Between it and Smyrna there has been much intercourse
from time immemorial. It has been famous since the days of Homer, [28:1]
and it was anciently the seat of a bishop, [28:2]--an evidence
that it must soon have had a Christian population. It is at the
present day the centre of an active trade; and a late distinguished
traveller has told us how, not many years ago, in an afternoon,
he and his party "left Syra, and next morning anchored in front
of the town of Smyrna." [28:3] Syria is not, as has been intimated,
in the direct route to Philippi; but the shortest way is not always
either the best or the most convenient. At present this place is
the principal port of the Greek archipelago; [29:1] and probably,