Our knowledge ol the government of the provinces under Augustus is too limited to admit of any clear ana full description of it. Suetonius (Auf/ust. 47) has given us the principles on which he acted in dividing the provinces between himself and the Senate, in these words; "The provinces which could neither be easily nor safely governed by annual magistrates he undertook himself.' In other words, those that required a strong force to hold them in subjection, or whose frontiers were exposed to attack on the part of restless and powerful enemies, he retained in his own hands. The other'^. which could be easily
landed over to the hands almost the %\ Emperor's legates, C' only appointed by hi
speiH
val of
The provinces were divided into groups according they were administered by consuls, prsetors, or simply knighu. Even those that appeared to be entirely under the control of the Senate were restricted in their appointments by the Emperor, as the list of those eligible had to be submitted t him, and all on the list must have served, witl five years, as consuls or pnetors. In the case of Syria we find an Imperial province exposed to inroads from warlike peoples on its Northern and Eastern borders, and therefore in need of a military more than a civil commander over it to act as its hegemoii. The term answers best to our Viceroy. This was the position which Quirinius probably held, and he would have power from Augustus to allow in Herod's dominions a census that would as little as possible offend Jewish prejudices. Each set of provinces bad its own separate treasury. The
AUGUSTUS
AUGUSTUS
145
1 flowed into the Emperc
highways for Christianity. To the Senate, Augustus granted the right of
the great military roads, which became the highways for ug lintinp copper only, reserving gold and silver for the Imperial
care on the selection of his legates, closely watched over their administration, and made it all hut impossible for a corrupt gfovernor to escape swift punishment. To this in great measure the Empire owed its popularity in Augustus' time.
There -was another remarkable preparation for the \\orld-census in the ordnance survey initiated by Julius Caesar, and completed only after 25 years of labour on the part of four of the greatest sur- veyors of the age. The main object of it, no doubt, was the taxation of land, the most profit- able source of revenue under the Empire. Thus a completely organized and a world-wide Empire, in absolute dependence upon its supreme ruler in Eome, had become an accomplished fact ere tlie Christian era had dawned.
As this new era approached, signs were multi- plying of a desire for peace on the part of ruler and ruled, though it is scircely true that the actual year of the birth at Bethlehem was distinguished by the prevalence of universal peace. To the im- mediately preceding period, B.C. 13-9, belongs the famous ' Altar of Peace,' whose actual site has been laid bare within very recent years (1903- 1904) imder the Via in Lucina, a little way oil from the Corso, the old Flaminian Way. The very same year in which Augustus became Ponti- fe.\ Maximus owing to the death of liis former co-triumvir Lepidus, the Senate decreed the erec- tion of an 'Altar of Peace,' which at iirst was to have been set up in the Senate-house, but was
to which it belongs was the closing of the temple of Janus. Horace, writing in B.C. 13 {Epp. II. i. 255 and Odes IV. xv. 9), speaks of the closing as a recent occurrence. Twice before in the reign of Augustus, in B.C. 29 and B.C. 25, this temple had been closed (jl/oH. Am:. 13), ' when peace throughout
and sea li.-ul 1 n iilil:ii I l.y i iriui i.'^/ .-iihl' ■oiilv
twice bi'l..r.' his liiilh ,-iiii'i' I lir luuiul.il lun of the city,' in all five times iii, lu tlic Clirislinii era. The Gades (Cadiz) inscription is a remarkable confirmation of B.C. 13 as the date of the third closing of the temple of Janus in Augustus' time.
; entitled the ' .\ r I lul- NuLH-ti ' is of unusual proportionaandof exquisitt «' I • i. i: inn the walls of
a massive marble screen thiiv ■ ; , i ; ilin- on an ele- vated base, pyramidal, and li;r,: ,_ ,. hafling up to it. The screen was spleudi.lli ,h.,,iiii-l li'.lli within and without with sculptures in liii;li rtliif. Tin- .jutcr side of the screen had two distinct bands of ornament.ation : the lower floral,_the upper a procession with figures, many of which might
The altar was a splendid tribute to Peace, but it was a peace after many and bloody victories, re- minding us of the saying, ' where they make a desert they call it peace ' (Tac. Agricola, 30), and it was also a peace that was not to last. Yet there the altar stood on the field of Mars, as the reign of the ' Prince of Peace ' was ushered in, and became for ages thereafter a witness to the Pax Romana of the Augustan age. Far more of it remains to the present time than of the triple arch of Augustus set up in celebration of his victories, of which only the bare foundations can be seen between the temple of Julius and tliat of Castor and Pollux.