ITALY PraMa). This, like most geographical names, was differently applied at different periods. In the earliest times the name Italy' included only the little peninsula of Calabria (Strabo, v. t). The country now called Italy was then inhabited by a number of nations distinct in origin, language, and government : such as the Gauls, Ligurians, and Veneti, on the north; and the Pelasgi, Sabines, and Etrurians, etc., on the south. But as the power of Rome advanced, these nations were suc cessively annexed to the great state, and the name Italy' extended also. The time when it came to be applied to the whole country south of the Alps cannot be ascertained ; but Polybius seems to em.
ploy it in this sense (i. 6 ; 14). In the age of Augustus the name was definitely used as a geo graphical term, in the same sense in which it is used at the present day, and Rome was its acknow ledged capital. Italy was then the nucleus of the Roman empire—the centre of its wealth, its go vernment, and its power. What England is now to the British empire, Italy was then to the Roman empire. It was evidently in this sense the N. T. writers used the name. Italy was to them the seat and centre of Roman authority. Luke tells us (Acts. xviii. 2) of a certain Aquila and Priscilla lately come from Italy (to Corinth), because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart front Rome.' It would seem that by foreig,ners and all those in distant countries Rome' and Italy' were used as almost synonymous. So when Paul ap
pealed to Cmsar, and Agrippa resolved to send him to Rome, Luke writes, It was determined that we should sail into Italy' (Acts xxvii. 1). The phrase al TFIS 'IraMas in Heb. xiii. 24 has been variously interpreted. Some have regarded it as clearly indicating that the writer was in Italy at the time ; while others affirm that it proves the very contrary, showing the locality of the writer to have been out of Italy, otherwise ol /v 'IraXict. would have been used. The fact is however, as has been stated by Winer, that A critical argument re garding the place where the letter was written should never have been drawn from this passage.' The phrase simply means those belonging to Italy,' whether in that country or out of it (Winer, Grammar of N. T. Diction, p. 651 ; Delitzsch, Der Brief an die Hebrder, ad loc.) Christianity must have taken root in Italy at a very early period. The Epistle to the Romans, written only about twenty-five years after the crucifixion, shows that there was then a large and flourishing chu-rch there. Notwithstanding repeated and terrible per secutions, the church continued to prosper, until at length Rome became the centre of ecclesiastical as well as of civil authority.—J. L. P.