The other, perhaps unanswerable, question is whether such quotations do
argue for familiarity with the literature, or whether they had become
common currency in the way that Shakespearean phrases often are: Folks
say things like "to thine own self be true" but never read Hamlet.
On the other hand, I like to think that Paul did know Aratus' poem.
Their birthplaces in Cilicia were close to one another, and Aratus was
the local celebrity par excellence: The city dedicated a portrait
statue, and his face appeared on coins.
Mary Pendergraft
Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109-7343