Ac 6:9. This word is from the Latin libertinus, which signifies a freedman, that is, one who, having been a slave, either by birth or capture, has obtained his freedom; or one born of a parent who was a freedman. The "synagogue of the Libertines" stands connected with the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, both of whom were of African origin; it is therefore supposed by some, that the Libertines were of African origin also. It is, however, most probable that this word denotes Jews who had been taken captive by the Romans in war, and carried to Italy; and having there been manumitted, were accustomed to visit Jerusalem in such numbers as to erect a synagogue for their particular use; as was the case with Jews from other cities mentioned in the context. They originated the persecution against Stephen, which resulted in his martyrdom. See SYNAGOGUE

Ac 6:9. Descendants of Jews who, having been taken prisoners by Pompey and other Roman generals in the Syrian wars, were enslaved and afterward emancipated, and who returned to their native land. Many Jews at Rome were freedmen allowed by Augustus to settle beyond the Tiber. Four thousnd freedmen were expelled to Sardinia, others were to leave Italy unless they game up Judaism (A.D. 19 under Tiberius (Tacitus, Annals ii. 85; Josephus, Ant. 18:3, section 5; Philo Legat. ad Caium). Humphrey conjectures that, having made their way to Jerusalem, they naturally were Stepben's bitterest opponents as having suffered so much for that religion which Christianity was supplanting. They had a synagogue at Jerusalem.

Ac 7:8 brings the Libertines forward as a group or synagogue amongst the Hellenistic Jews concerned in the prosecution of Stephen. There is no sufficient reason for emending the text. And, the text standing as it is, the conclusion at once follows that the men in question came from Rome. The 'Libertines,' or 'Freedmen' of Rome, were a considerable class. Among the vast bodies of slaves composing the imperial and aristocratic households, emancipation was a common occurrence. The Freedmen frequently held positions of great influence, and sometimes played a noble, oftener an ignoble, part. Amongst the Libertines were found many Jews, not a few of them being the descendants of the Jerusalemites, carried away by Pompey. Some of these latter, having bought their freedom and returned to the Holy City, would probably be men of more than average force and earnestness. Hence they were natural leaders in the opposition to Stephen's destructive criticism of Jewish institutionalism.

Henry S. Nash.

These are supposed to have been Jews who after having been captured by the Romans had been set at liberty: hence their name. It is well known that there were such. They formed a party at Jerusalem, and were among those who persecuted Stephen. Ac 6:9.

Lib'ertines.

This word, which occurs once only in the New Testament--

Ac 6:9

--is the Latin libertini, that is, "freedmen." They were probably Jews who, having been taken prisoners by Pompey and other Roman generals in the Syrian wars, had been reduced to slavery and had afterward been emancipated, and returned, permanently or for

LIBERTINES. Mention is made of the synagogue of the Libertines, Ac 6:9; concerning whom there are different opinions, two of which bid fairest for the truth. The first is that of Grotius and Vitringa, that they were Italian Jews or proselytes. The ancient Romans distinguished between libertus and libertinus. Libertus was one who had been a slave, and obtained his freedom; libertinus was the son of a libertus. But this distinction in after ages was not strictly observed; and libertines also came to be used for one not born, but made free, in opposition to ingenuus, or one born free. Whether the libertini, mentioned in this passage of the Acts were Gentiles, who had become proselytes to Judaism, or native Jews, who having been made slaves to the Romans were afterward set at liberty, and in remembrance of their captivity called them recites libertini, and formed a synagogue by themselves, is differently conjectured by the learned. It is probable the Jews of Cyrenia, Alexandria, &c, built synagogues at Jerusalem at their own charge, for the use of their brethren who came from those countries; as the Danes, Swedes, &c, build churches for the use of their own countrymen in London; and that the Italian Jews did the same; and because the greatest number of them were libertini, their synagogue was therefore called the synagogue of the Libertines. The other opinion, which is hinted by OEcumenius on the Acts, and mentioned by Dr. Lardner, as more lately advanced by Mr. Daniel Gerdes, professor of divinity in the university of Groningen, is this, that the Libertines are so called from a city or country called Libertus, or Libertina, in Africa, about Carthage. Suidas, in his Lexicon, on the word ??????????, says it was ????? ??????, nomen gentis. [The name of a nation.] And the glossa interlinearis, of which Nicolas de Lyra made great use in his notes, hath over the word libertini, e regione, denoting that they were so styled from a country. In the acts of the famous conference with the Donatists at Carthage, A.D. 411, there is mentioned one Victor, bishop of the church of Libertina: and in the acts of the Lateran council, which was held in 649, there is mention of Januarius gratia Dei episcopus sanctae ecclesiae Libertinensis; [Januarius by the grace of God bishop of the holy church of Libertine;] and therefore Fabricius, in his "Geographical Index of Christian Bishoprics," has placed Libertine in what was called Africa Propria, or the proconsular province of Africa. Now, as all the other people of the several synagogues, mentioned in this passage of the Acts, are denominated from the places from whence they came, it is probable that the Libertines were so too; and as the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, who came from Africa, are placed next to the Libertines in that catalogue, it is probable they also belonged to the same country. So that, upon the whole, there is little reason to doubt of the Libertines being so called from the place from whence they came; and the order of the names in the catalogue might lead us to think, that they were farther off from Jerusalem than Alexandria and Cyrenia, which will carry us to the proconsular province in Africa about Carthage.