Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 25:23

"So on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and they were entered into the place of hearing with the chief captains and principal men of the city, at the command of Festus Paul was brought in." — Acts 25:23 (ASV)

When Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp.—It is probable that the description comes from one who had been an eyewitness of the stately parade and was able to report with precision all that had passed. This was the first fulfillment of the promise that the Apostle was to bear His witness before “kings” as well as rulers (Acts 9:15). The Greek word for “pomp” (more literally, show) is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. There is an almost tragic pathos in the thought, which must have been present to the mind of the historian, and perhaps also to that of others: that this display of the pride of state was exhibited in the very city that had witnessed the terrible chastisement of a similar display in his father. The vice was inherited; the lesson had not been learned.

The chief captains.—Literally, chiliarchs, as in Acts 21:31.