Salute all them that have the rule over you,.... The pastors and officers of the church of the Hebrews, the same with those in Heb 13:7 and all the saints; the several members of the church, who were set apart to holiness by God; whose sins were expiated by Christ; to whom Christ was made sanctification; and who were internally sanctified by the Spirit of God, and lived holy lives and conversations; to these the apostle wished all prosperity, inward and outward, spiritual and temporal; and he uses the word "all" in both clauses; and, including every officer and member, expresses his universal love to them, whether high or low, rich or poor, greater or lesser believers:they of Italy salute you; that is, the brethren, as the Vulgate Latin version reads; the Italian brethren; such as were at Puteoli, and other places, in that country; see Ac 28:13.
Italy is a famous and well known country in Europe; a very fruitful and delightful one; of which Rome, where the apostle very likely now was, is the chief city: it has been called by different names, as Saturnia from Saturn; and Ausonia, Aenotria, and Hesperia Magna; and it had its name Italy, some say, from Italus, the son of Penelope and Telegonus; others, from Italus, a king of the Arcadians, or, as some say, the Sicilians; but, according to Timsaeus and Varro , it was so called from the multitude of oxen in it, which in the old Greek language were called italoi, "Italoi", to which comes near in sound the Latin word "vituli", used for "calves"; and Italy is frequently, by Jewish writers called Nwy lv ayljya, "Italy of Greece"; and formerly it was inhabited by Greeks, and was called Great Greece : it is bounded on the east with the Adriatic sea; and on the west by the river Var, with the Alps, which separate France from Italy; and on the south with the Tyrrhene, or Tuscan sea, called the lower, and on the north, partly with the Alps, which are on the borders of Germany, and partly with the Adriatic sea, called the higher.
There were Christians in this country before the Apostle Paul came to Rome, both at Rome, and other places, as before observed. It is said , that Barnabas was first at Rome, and planted the church there; that he went round Lombardy, and lived at Milain; that in the "first" century, Apollinaris preached at Ravenna, and Hermagoras at Aquileia; and there were Christian churches in the "second" century, not only at Rome, but in many other cities and places; and so likewise in the "third" century, as at Verona, Spoletum, Beneventum, &c.
and in the "fourth" century, there were great numbers of churches in this country; as at Verona, and Capua, in Calabria, Campania, and Apulia; and which might be traced in following centuries. Apud Aul.
Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 11. c. 1. Vid. Apollodor. de Orig. Deorum, l. 2. p. 101. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 67. fol. 59. 4. T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 2. R. Sol. Jarchi in Gen. xxvii. 39. lsidor. Hispal. Origin.
l. 14. c. 4. Hist. Eccl. Magdeburg. cent. 1. l. 2. c. 2. p. 17. cent. 2. c. 2. p. 4. cent. 3. c. 2. p. 4. cent. 4. c. 2. p.