SERVILIA: The straightforward meaning of the Cobbler’s remark is that he has an honest trade mending the soles of shoes; but his statement has a clever second meaning.

RALPH: In Shakespeare’s day the word “safe” often was used in a Christian sense; it referred to being “saved” from eternal damnation in hell.

SERVILIA: The word conscience was also sometimes used in a religious sense—as a way to refer to the knowledge of God’s teaching.

RALPH: The word sole is an obvious pun on a shoe’s “sole”  and a person’s “soul.”

SERVILIA: So the second meaning of the cobbler’s remark is that he saves men’s souls through his knowledge of the gospel.

RALPH: These implied references to Christianity are anachronisms, or, to use the adjective, you could say they’re anachronistic.

SERVILIA:  Anachronistic just means ‘not according to chronology’ – so, out of order with respect to time or history.

RALPH:  In this case, the Christian meaning of these lines couldn’t have existed in ancient Rome.  The historical events depicted in the play took place about 50 years before the birth of Jesus.