Excerpt from The Improvement Era, Vol. 9: Organ of Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations On this Cilician plain, near the Taurus mountains, on the Cydnus river, twelve miles from its mouth, was the city of Tarsus. It was a center of business, education, and political power. Vast quantities of timber cut in the mountain forests were floated from it to the Mediterranean. Vessels brought to it treasures from Europe. Riches from the regions around it were here gathered to be sent to Greece and Italy. Its streets and markets and bazaars were scenes of busy life. Varied kinds of dress and different lan guages showed that people of different nations lived Within its walls. It was a great contrast to the squalid Mohammedan city of to-day. Tarsus was the Roman capital of Cilicia. The people were compelled to obey Roman laws and to aid in fighting the enemies of Rome. Yet they were allowed to make some laws for themselves and to choose some of their officers. So Tarsus was called a free city. Saul's father was probably a Roman citizen: so was he. This gave him protection in times of trouble. As we shall see. When Tarsus was no longer his home, he remembered it with interest and honest pride. He spoke of it as no mean city. Ever since his day its name has been linked with his. If we would understand the life of Saul, we must remember some things about the nations that lived two thousand years ago. Only three of them were civilized-having learning, refinement and good government. They were the Jews, Greeks and Romans. The Jews were the worshipers of the true God, having the Old Testament Scriptures, which taught them about him and Jesus Christ whom they called the Messiah. All other nations were Gen tiles. They were Pagans - worshipers of false gods. Such were the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks were noted for their learn ing - not the wise things taught in the Scriptures, but what they learned without the Bible, much of which was contrary to its teachings. The Roman nation was noted for its vast dominion, its power over other nations, and its great wealth. Augustus Caesar, the greatest of the Roman emperors, ruled over a very large part of mankind. Rome, his capital, was full of riches obtained of the nations he had conquered. It was adorned with magnificent temples and palaces. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.