Whoever forces you to go one mile, go two with him.

– The Story of Jesus 9.2

[Adapted from Mt 5:41]

The wellbeing and security of any kingdom depended on effective communication, so governments maintained outposts of dedicated riders to speed messages throughout the realm. Virtually every ancient empire had a complex system of communication throughout its domain. The Persian’s operated the chapar khaneh, a network of roads and mounted couriers. The Greek historian Herodutus was so impressed with its efficiency, he wrote, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness of night prevents from accomplishing each one the task proposed to him, with the very utmost speed.” The Persian system was adopted by the Greeks and later modelled by the Romans.  Angaria was the postal service of the Roman Empire, which operated in Judea at the time of Christ.

Horses and their maintenance were supplied by each territory. Such compulsory service did not endear any ruling power to its constituents, particularly when officials could commandeer animals, personnel, or property for government-related tasks. The Latin angere (“press” or “squeeze”) is exactly what the Romans did to local inhabitants to maintain the Angaria and cursus publicus (“public way”, Roman highways). Over time, angaria came to mean any compulsory work begrudgingly performed. The modern English terms “anguish”, “angst”, “anxiety”, and “anger” are derived from the same root, all denoting the same feeling of being choked or strangled. 

As the ruling power, Roman soldiers could legally force any civilian or their property (horse, mule, oxen, cart, boat) into service at any time. This was called impressment, which was easily abused and often caused conflict. Thus, a limit of one mile was imposed to reduce hostility between soldiers and civilians. Jesus’ teaching about being forced to go one mile was likely a reference to this practice. 

The Roman mile (mille passus, “a thousand paces”) was the distance a Roman soldier would travel in a thousand “double steps”, that is, the left foot hitting the ground 1000 times. The Latin word for thousand – mille – is where the English “mile” originates. The Roman foot was standardized after length of the renowned general Agrippa’s own foot. One pace equaled five Roman feet, so a mile was 5000 feet. 

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