Orator
Orator [1]
2. It stands for ῥήτωρ , the title applied to Tertullus (q.v.), who appeared as the advocate or patronus of the Jewish accusers of the apostle Paul before Felix ( Acts 24:1). The Latin language was used, and Roman forms observed in provincial judicial proceedings, as, to cite an obviously parallel case, Norman-French was for so many ages the language of English law proceedings. The trial of Paul at Caesarea was distinctly one of a Roman citizen; and thus the advocate spoke as a Roman lawyer, and probably in the Latin language (see Acts 25:9-10; comp. Val. Max. 2:2, 2; Cicero, Pro Coelio, c. 30; Brutus, c. 37, 38,41, where the qualifications of an advocate are described; see Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1:3; 2:348). (See Advocate).
