Acts 25:12

μετὰ τοῦ συμβ., i.e., his assessors, assessores consiliarii, with whom the procurators were wont to consult in the administration of the law. They were probably composed, in part at all events, of the higher officials of the court, cf. Suet., Tiber., 33, Lamprid., Vita Alex. Sev., 46, Jos., Ant., xiv., 10, 2, Schürer, Jewish People, div. i., vol. ii., p. 60, E.T.; and see further on the word Deissmann, Neue Bibelstudien, p. 65, and references in Grimm-Thayer, sub v. It would seem that the procurator could only reject such an appeal at his peril, unless in cases where delay might be followed by danger, or when there was manifestly no room for an appeal, Dig., xlix., 5, and see Bethge, Die Paulinischen Reden, p. 252, and Blass, in loco. Κ. ἐπικ.: no question, W.H [393], R.V., Weiss (as in A.V.); “asynd. rhetoricum cum anaphora,” Blass, cf. 1 Corinthians 7:18; 1 Corinthians 7:21; 1 Corinthians 7:27. The decision of the procurator that the appeal must be allowed, and the words in which it was announced were not meant to frighten Paul, as Bengel supposed, but at the same time they may have been uttered, if not with a sneer, yet with the implication “thou little knowest what an appeal to Cæsar means”. Moreover, Festus must have seen that the appeal was based upon the prisoner's mistrust of his character, for only if the accused could not trust the impartiality of the governor had he any interest in claiming the transference of his trial to Rome.

[393] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.