‘Wealth, influence, and knowledge of the law prevented the lower classes from making full use of the legal system, and neither the formulary system nor the officials presiding over it made allowances for this fact’.6 Two implications follow for our consideration of Paul’s circumstances in Acts: first, we should expect Acts—a document fully embedded in the Roman context—to disclose indications of sensitivity to rank and status in contexts where Paul finds himself embroiled in judicial proceedings.