Now this letter was not quite a truthful account of what had happened: Claudius Lysias told the story most favourably for himself, by making it appear that he rescued St. Paul because he was a Roman citizen; whereas he did not know that fact, till he was on the point of scourging the prisoner--a circumstance of which he makes no mention. In relating anything, either by word of mouth or by letter, we should be very careful to state exactly what happened, whether it is favourable to ourselves or not. Saying that he had given commandment to the accusers to go down to Cæsarea with their complaints, was different; because by the time the letter reached Felix, the command would be given. Of course he could say nothing to the Jews that evening, as it was needful to send the Apostle away secretly; but we may be sure that the next day, when the Council demanded that St. Paul should be brought before them for further examination, this advice was given to them. The third hour of the night was about nine o'clock in the evening, and "then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris," a city about thirty-eight miles from Jerusalem, and twenty-seven from Cæsarea. It had been rebuilt, like many other cities, by Herod the Great, who called it Antipatris, after his father Antipater. Here St. Paul was quite out of reach of the Zealots who had banded to kill him, and so large a guard was therefore quite unnecessary: so that "on the morrow" the soldiers "left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle" of Antonia. The horsemen went on, "who, when they came to Cæsarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province" the prisoner was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia, "I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall." Herod's judgment hall, in which Felix commanded the Apostle to be kept till his accusers should come down, was a large building erected by Herod the Great as a palace for himself: part of it was afterwards made into a residence for the Roman governor of Judæa; and part of it was used as a prison for prisoners, not charged with any great or serious crime. Here, then, St. Paul was kept for five days. "And after five days Ananias the high priest descended," or went down to Cæsarea, "with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul."