Bede : And teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness without hindrance. He was not only not prohibited from preaching in Rome, but also, with Nero's empire not yet firmly established, and with crimes not yet erupting as much as the histories tell about him, he was sent to preach the Gospel of Christ also in the regions of the West, as he himself says to the Romans: Now therefore I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. And shortly after: Therefore, when I have completed this, I will pass through you into Spain. Later, that is, in the last year of Nero, he was detained by him, and was crowned with martyrdom. He explains both these things in the second Epistle to Timothy, which he dictates while being in chains: At my first defense, no one came to my support, but all deserted me. But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it, and I was rescued from the lion's mouth (II Timothy 4). Very clearly indicating that Nero is the lion because of his cruelty. And in the following: And he saved me, and will save me for his heavenly kingdom (Ibid.), which evidently indicated that he felt his impending martyrdom. Hence, in the same Epistle, he had prefaced by saying: For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (Ibid.). — Commentary on Acts Eusebius of Caesarea : And Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, brought his history to a close at this point, after stating that Paul spent two whole years at Rome as a prisoner at large and preached the word of God without restraint. Thus after he had made his defense it is said that the apostle was sent again upon the ministry of preaching and that upon coming to the same city a second time he suffered martyrdom. In this imprisonment [Paul] wrote his second epistle to Timothy, in which he mentions his first defense and his impending death. But hear his testimony on these matters. "At my first answer," he says, "no one stood with me, but all forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." He plainly indicates in these words that on the former occasion, in order that the preaching might be fulfilled by him, he was rescued from the mouth of the lion, referring, in this expression, to Nero, as is probable on account of the latter's cruelty. He did not therefore afterward add the similar statement, "He will rescue me from the mouth of the lion"; for he saw in the Spirit that his end would not be long delayed. Wherefore he adds to the words "and he delivered me from the mouth of the lion" this sentence, "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom," indicating his speedy martyrdom; which he also foretells still more clearly in the same epistle, when he writes, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." In his second epistle to Timothy, moreover, he indicates that Luke was with him when he wrote that at his first defense not even Luke was there. So it is probable that Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles at that time, continuing his history down to the period when he was with Paul. But these things have been adduced by us to show that Paul's martyrdom did not take place at the time of that Roman sojourn that Luke records. It is probable indeed that as Nero was more disposed to mildness in the beginning, Paul's defense of his doctrine was more easily received; but that when he [Nero] had advanced to the commission of lawless deeds of daring, he made the apostles as well as others the subjects of his attacks. — ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 2.22.1-8