]

He did not, however, take to himself any great show or state. He lived
in his family abode, and dressed and walked about the streets like any
other Roman gentleman of consular rank, and no special respect was paid
to him in speech, for, warned by the fate of Julius, he was determined
to prevent the Romans from being put in mind of kings and crowns. He was
a wise and deep-thinking man, and he tried to carry out the plans of
Julius for the benefit of the nation and of the whole Roman world. He
had the survey finished of all the countries of the empire, which now
formed a complete border round the Mediterranean Sea, reaching as far
north as the British Channel, the Alps, and the Black Sea; as far
south as the African desert, as far west as the Atlantic, and east as
the borders of the Euphrates; and he also had a universal census made of
the whole of the inhabitants. It was the first time such a thing had
been possible, for all the world was at last at peace, so that the
Temple of Janus was closed for the third and last time in Roman history.
There was a feeling all over the world that a great Deliverer and
peaceful Prince was to be expected at this time. One of the Sybils was
believed to have so sung, and the Romans, in their relief at the good
rule of Augustus, thought he was the promised one; but they little knew
why God had brought about this great stillness from all wars, or why He
moved the heart of Augustus to make the decree that all the world should
be taxed--namely, that the true Prince of Peace, the real Deliverer,
might be born in the home of His forefathers, Bethlehem, the city of
David.

The purpose of Augustus' taxing was to make a regular division of the
empire into provinces for the proconsuls to govern, with lesser
divisions for the propraetors, while many cities, especially Greek ones,
were allowed their own magistrates, and some small tributary kingdoms
still remained till the old royal family should either die out or
offend the Romans. In these lands the people were governed by their own
laws, unless they were made Roman citizens; and this freedom was more
and more granted, and saved them from paying the tribute all the rest
had to pay, and which went to support the armies and other public
institutions at Rome, and to provide the corn which was regularly
distributed to such citizens as claimed it at Rome. A Roman colony was a
settlement, generally of old soldiers who had had lands granted to them,