“Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods which are made with hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.”[148] These inflammatory words roused the workmen: they were repeated through all the shops in the city. A gathering mob began to surge through the streets with clamor and threatenings. The one continuous cry of the mob was, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” The infuriated populace coming across two of Paul’s companions and friends, Gaius and Aristarchus, seized them, and dragged them into the theatre, an immense enclosure, without a roof, where tiers of stone seats rose one above another, affording room for an immense assembly. As soon as the news reached Paul, the intrepid man wished immediately to rush into the theatre, in the endeavor to rescue his friends; but even the officers of the city entreated him not thus to peril his life. With difficulty they dissuaded him from the rash and hopeless movement. The tumult in the theatre was fearful. “Some cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.” At length the mayor of the city, an officer next in dignity and authority to the governor, entered the city, and endeavored to allay the tumult. Having succeeded in obtaining silence, he addressed the mob as follows:―― “Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?[149] Seeing, then, that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another. But, if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters,[150] it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.”[151]