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12. ἐκάλουν τε τὸν Βαρνάβαν Δία, τὸν δὲ Παῦλον Ἑρμῆν, and they called Barnabas, Jupiter [Zeus]; and Paul, Mercurius [Hermes]. Of course this was not known until afterwards. We can understand how the heathen people concluded that if any deity came to visit them with a beneficent purpose it would be that god Jupiter whose temple was before their city, and to whom therefore their chief worship was paid; and Mercury was counted as the principal attendant on Jupiter, and moreover as the god of eloquence. It was obvious, therefore, to assign that name to the chief speaker, and the name of Jupiter to that one of the two Apostles who had the more commanding presence. That St Paul was not such a figure we know from his own words, and tradition describes him as ἀνὴρ μικρὸς τῷ μεγέθει, ψιλὸς τῇ κεφαλῇ, ἀγκύλος ταῖς κνήμαις, Acta Pauli et Theclæ, 2. Of the aspect of Barnabas, Chrysostom writes, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως ἀξιοπρεπὴς εἶναι ὁ Βαρνάβας.
ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ ἡγούμενος τοῦ λόγου, because he was the chief speaker. This character is always assigned to Hermes by the heathen writers. Cf. Macrobius, Sat. I. 8, ‘Scimus Mercurium vocis et sermonis potentem,’ and Iamblichus, de Mysteriis ad init., says of him θεὸς ὁ τῶν λόγων ἡγεμών.