"THAT the Cenfus in the end of Herod's reign should have produced no disturbances may seem strange, when it is remembered that the fubfequent enrolment under Cyrenius occafioned the fedition of Judas. But the temper of a nation is not always the fame. Much depends on the wisdom and address of those who are at the head of affairs. Herod was himself a man of extraordinary abilities, and had officers under him dextrous in managing the humours of a multitude; and therefore it cannot be thought strange, that the enrolment in his reign should have been tamely fubmitted to, while that which Quirinus made after Archelaus's banishment threw the nation into such confufion*." Of the infurrection raised by Judas, Jofephus gives this account: "All sorts of mischiefs sprang from these men [Judas and his faction]. One violent war came upon the back of another, and we loft our friends who ufed to alleviate our pains. There were also very great robberies and murders of our principal men. This was done indeed on pretence for the public welfare, but in reality from the hope of gain to themselves. Hence arofe feditions and murders, which fometimes fell on their own people and fometimes on their enemies t.” * Macnight, Chron. Dissert, i. p. 75. † Ant. xviii. I, I. CHAP. S CHA P. III. CHRONOLOGY of AUGUSTUS CESAR. 1. His Birth. UETONIUS connects the nativity of this famous perfonage, with the 24th September, in the confu late of M. Tullius Cicero and C. Antonius, the year of Catiline's confpiracy, and confequently in the 691ft of the Varronian era *. This date is confirmed by two authentic notations; the one in Tacitus +, who has preferved a curious remark of the populace at the very time of his death ;-"That the fame day of the year was the first of his magiftracy, and the laft of his life"-the other is taken from the fame Suetonius, who affirms in the life of Octavius §, that he invaded D. Octav. cap. 5. This author mentions a different date, though of the fame year; but as a vulgar tradition, and resting on the authority of an aftrologer, P. Nigidius-the 13th December;-that very night when the fenate was deliberating on the fate of the confpirators, cap. 94. But the place and manner of mentioning this report fhews, that this judicious writer repeated it, with no fmall degree of academic faith. † Annal. 1. cap. 9, 19th Aug. § Cap. 26. the the confulate in the 20th year of his life. With this arrangement Paterculus, a contemporary writer, agrees, and is more determinate. "He entered on his consulate when he wanted but one day to complete his 20th year*, and "that this was 72 years before the confulate of Marcus Vinicius," A. U. C. 783. Hence deduct 72, the furplus 711 is the true term. All these notations are in exact harmony, except that in Tacitus. 2. His firft Confulate. THIS date is already afcertained. It only remains to be observed, that the ease and perfpicuity of computation require that his magiftracy be fuppofed to commence about 18 months earlier, from the affaffination of the firft Cæfar on the 15th March 710, Thus the confulfhip of Julius and Antony, and that of Hirtius and Panfa, for a part of the next year, are fuperfeded. This is the reckoning of Jofephus, and accords much better with the chronological characters in the gospels. 3. His Age and Death. THIS fubject of disquisition has likewise been in part anticipated. A few points are briefly to be retouched, with additional remarks. If the time of his death can, with certainty, be discovered, the deduction of a small quantity, both from his life and reign, will be requifite and neceffary. L. i 65. SUETONIUS SUETONIUS fuggefts one circumftance, (generally omitted by the other hiftorians), fubfervient to this difcovery. "A law having been paffed, on a motion from the confuls, appointing Tiberius to be joined with Auguftus in the administration of certain provinces, and in the celebration of the next luftrum, and this laft folemnity having been finished, Tiberius inftantly fet out for Illyricum, one of those provinces committed to his government; and Auguflus accompanied him part of the way, but died before his return to Rome*." THIS criterion of time, though defective, fhows that Auguftus died a very short space after the exhibition of a luftrum. But Livy fupplies this defect t. "In the Varronian year of Rome 450, it is faid that Q. Fabius Maximus, the cenfor, inftituted the folemn proceffion of the Roman knights, of which the anniversary is the 15th July." The ceremony is thus defcribed by a late author: "Every fifth year the Equites rode up to the Cenfor, feated in his curale chair, before the capitol, and difmounting, led along their horfes in their hands before him, and in this manner were reviewed t." Auguftus, by every account, died on the 19th August, A. U. C. 766, or 35 days after the luftrum, and according to Suetonius, just as many before the conclufion of his 76th year §. USHER, Prideaux, and others, connect his decease with the number of the Julian Period 4727, coincident • Vita. Tib. Neronis, cap. 21. Dr. Adams's Roman Antiquities, p. 28. D. Octay. Aug. cap. Ico. + Lib. ix. 46. with the Varronian year 767. This date is brought too low by one year: for, by the computation of Suetonius, 766-691-75, leaves but 75 for the age of this emperor, and the laft incomplete. Thus one year must be retrenched from his life. The rotations of the luftrum are an infallible character of time, from the very date of the inftitution, in the firft of Servius Tullius, Ann. Varron. 176. This fum deduct from 766, and the difference, 590, divided by 5, quotes 118 lustra, without a remainder. Though this folemnity was omitted for 16, or even 40 years occafionally, never did one deviation happen from the regular returns of this circulating period. Two years muft alfo be deducted either from this, or from the fubfequent reign; for, if 56 full years be affigned to the one, and 23 to the other, the interval, from the flaughter of Julius to the death of Tiberius, is 79 years; which exceed the truth by two. For a reafon, afterwards to be produced, the reign of Augustus must be abridged. 4. Decree of Enrolment at Bethlehem. "It came to pass, in those days, (of Herod's reign), that a decree went forth from Cefar Auguftus, that ALL the WORLD fhould be taxed *." In the Roman phrafeology ALL the WORLD was a term equivalent to the then widely-extended EMPIRE of that people. But provifion having been made by a conftitutional ordinance, • Luke, ii. 1. (the |