Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Acts 20:13-14

Ac 20:13-38. Continuing His Route to Jerusalem He Reaches Miletus, Whence He Sends for the Elders of Ephesus--His Farewell Address to Them.

13-14. we ... sailed--from Troas.

unto Assos; there ... to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot--"to go by land." (See on Mr 6:33). In sailing southward from Troas to Assos, one has to round Cape Lecture, and keeping due east to run along the northern shore of the Gulf of Adramyttium, on which it lies. This is a sail of nearly forty miles; whereas by land, cutting right across, in a southeasterly direction, from sea to sea, by that excellent Roman road which then existed, the distance was scarcely more than half. The one way Paul wished his companions to take, while he himself, longing perhaps to enjoy a period of solitude, took the other, joining the ship, by appointment, at Assos.