τὴν πολιτιείαν ταύτην ἐκτησάμην, obtained I this citizenship. It was the Roman boast ‘I am a Roman citizen’ (Cic. in Verr. v. 63). The sale of the freedom of Rome was at times the perquisite of some of the Imperial parasites and favourites, who made what they could of such a privilege.

ἐγὼ δέ καὶ γεγένμαι, but I am a Roman born. How St Paul came to be a Roman citizen by birth we cannot tell; probably some ancestor for meritorious conduct had been rewarded with enfranchisement. Tarsus was a free city, and had its own laws and magistrates, but that did not constitute its inhabitants Roman citizens.

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Old Testament