prove of this censure passed upon his author, by our most learned and excellent archbishop. It is observable, that they both use here the word city [urbis censu]. I hope, however, they mean not the city of Rome only, and the country round about it, but the Roman citizens all over the Roman empire, or at least all Italy for otherwise, with submission, I should think them, in this particular, almost as unreasonable as Suidas. It is incredible, that there should have been at Rome and in the country round about it, besides strangers and slaves, which were very numerous, so many Roman citizens, as are mentioned on the Ancyran marble; even though all who were entered in a census, be set down there; which, however, is denied by some. I suppose then, that by the muster of the city, these learned men mean the muster or census of Roman citizens in any part of the Roman empire, as opposed to all the people in general, living in the same empire. And in this sense only m I adopt their censure of Suidas; and cannot but think it very just. The number of the inhabitants of the Roman empire must needs have exceeded the numbers mentioned by Suidas, or on the marble; though it should be supposed, that none are included in these numbers, but those who were arrived at military age. This might be sufficient to show that the number of the Ancyran marble is not the number of all the people of the Roman empire: but other reasons will appear presently.

n

I must in the next place, take the liberty of considering what Prideaux has said upon this subject, who, with Huet and others, thinks that this description or survey in Judea belonged to one of the surveys made by Augustus; and that, in particular, it was a part of his second census, The first was in the year when he himself was the sixth time, and M. Agrippa, the second time consuls, that is, in the year before the christian æra 28. The second time in the consulship of C. Marcius Censorinus, and C. Asinius ⚫ Gallus, that is, in the year before the christian æra 8. And the last time in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius Nepos, that is, in the year of the christian æra 14. In the first ' and last time he executed this with the assistance of a 'colleague; but the second time he did it by himself alone, and this is the description which St. Luke refers to. The 'decree concerning it was issued out the year I have mentioned, that is, in the 8th year of the christian æra, which His Orbis Romani is afterwards exTherefore his urbis census imports Demon. Evang. ubi supra, sect. iii.

"I think this evidently Kuster's sense. plained by tetius imperii Romani incolas. Roman citizens living any where,

6

6 was three years before that in which Christ was born.— 'That we allow three years for the execution of this decree, 'can give no just reason for exception. -The account 'taken by the decree of Augustus at the time of our Sa'viour's birth, extended to all manner of persons, and also to their possessions, estates, qualities, and other circum'stances. And when a description and survey like this was ' ordered by William the Conqueror, to be taken for England only, I mean that of the Doomsday book, it was six ' years in making: and the Roman province of Syria was 'much more than twice as big as all England.'

To all this I shall only say, 1. That the surveys made by Augustus were of Roman citizens only. So he says himself, in the inscription of the Ancyran marble. And the Roman historians say the same thing. But the census or description made in Judea, according to St. Luke's account, was of all the inhabitants of that country, which certainly were not, all of them, Roman citizens.

2. The years which Prideaux mentions, were not the years in which the decrees were issued out, but in which the surveys were finished. This appears to me the most natural meaning of the words of the inscription.

Perhaps it will be objected, that the consulships here set down, do not denote the years in which a census was finished, but in which it was resolved upon and entered in the Fasti, or public acts; and that the sense of the inscription may be thus: In such and such consulship I made a census, by which census, when finished, the number of citizens was found to be so and so. It may be likewise said, that the phrase Lustrum feci, does not necessarily import the making the Lustrum, which was done when the census was over, but that Lustrum is here synonymous with census. And it may be urged, that when Lustrum denotes the solemn sacrifice at the conclusion of the census, the verb condo is used, and not facio, which we have here.

To this I answer, that by the account here given of the

• Prideaux Conn. Part. ii. p. 650, 652. 8vo. Edit. 1718.

P Et in Consulatu. Sexto. Censum. populi. Collega. M. Agrippa. Egi.— Quo. Lustro civium Romanorum. Censita. sunt Capita. Quadragiens. Centum. Millia. Et. Sexaginta. Tria.-Cum-Nuper. Lustrum. Solus. Feci. Legi. Censorum. 1. Sinio. Cos. Quo. Lustro. Censa. sunt. civium Romanorum. Quadragens. Centum. Millia. et Ducenta. Triginta. Tria-In consulatu. Fi.Cum. nuperrime-Lustrum. Cum. Lega. Tiberio. Sext. Pompeio. Et. Sext. Apuleio. Cos. Quo. Lustro. Rom. Capitum. Quadragens. Centum. Mil.— Iginta. Et. Septem. Mil. Legi.

Recepit et morum legumque regimen æque perpetuum: quo jure, quanquam sine censuræ honore, censum tamen populi ter egit. Suet. in Aug. c. 27.

third census, we are obliged to suppose, that the consulships here named, denote the times when each census was finished. Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius, in whose consulship the last census is placed, were consuls A. U. 767, A. D. 14. And Augustus died the 19th of August that very same year. If the census had been only begun, and not finished, he could not have set down on the table, as he has done, the number of citizens which was found in that census. Moreover, it is plain from Suetonius, that Tiberius was nominated for colleague of Augustus in this census, the year before, if not sooner. It is likely, the census might be then entered in the public acts: but however that be, it is plain, that the date on the Ancyran marble signifies the completing of the census. And I think, that the passage I have just quoted from Suetonius may remove the scruple relating to the phrase; since he has used the verb condo; by which we are fully assured, that the cênsus was finished, and the solemn sacrifice performed at the conclusion of it, in the year set down on the Ancyran marble.

Farther, Augustus, in the Ancyran marble, places his first census in his own sixth consulship, Agrippa being his colleague. And Dio says expressly, that Augustus made, or finished the census in that year. This being the case as to the first and third census of Augustus, we may conclude the same thing also with reference to the second, and that it was finished the eighth year before the christian æra: consequently, it is impossible that St. Luke's description should have been a part of it.

After Augustus's death, there were three books found among his papers: and one of these is alleged as a proof, that there had been made some general survey of the Roman empire, and that about this time. Prideaux's words are these, Of the book, which Augustus made out of the 'surveys and descriptions, which were at this time returned to him out of every province and depending kingdom of the Roman empire, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dio

u

A Germaniâ in urbem post biennium regressus, triumphum, quem distulerat, egit.- Dedicavit et Concordiæ ædem. Ac non multo post lege per coss. latâ, ut provincias cum Augusto communiter administraret, simulque censum ageret, condito lustro in Illyricum profectus est. Vit. Tiber. c. 20, 21.

Και τας υπογραφας εξετέλεσε. Lib. liii. p. 496. c.

Cum proferri libellum recitarique jussit. Opes publicæ continebantur. Quantum civium, sociorumque in armis: quas classes, regna, provinciæ, tributa aut vectigalia, et necessitates et largitiones, quæ cuncta suâ manu perscripserat Augustus. Tacit. Ann. lib. i. c. 11.

"De tribus voluminibus, uno mandata de funere suo complexus est: altero,

Cassius, make mention, and represent it to be very near of the same kind with our Doomsday book above men'tioned.'

But I do not see how Augustus's having had by him a little book, (libellum, Breviarium imperii), written with his own hand, containing a small abridgment of the public taxes, imposts, and revenues, cau be any proof, that this state of the empire was formed upon a survey made at this time, or indeed, upon any general survey made at any other time, by virtue of any one single decree, (that is St. Luke's phrase,) for the whole empire. This statement, which Augustus had by him, of the public strength and riches, might have been formed upon surveys made at different times. Nay, he might have in this book the state of dependent kingdoms, in some of which a census had never been made. And it is likely, it may appear in the progress of this argument, that there were several countries, branches of the Roman empire, which had never been obliged to a census.

Beside that there is not found in any ancient Roman historian any account of a general census of all the countries and people of the Roman empire; there are considerations taken from the nature of the thing, which render it very improbable, that a general census should ever have been appointed at one time. The Roman assessments were always disagreeable things in the provinces, and often caused disturbances. An universal census at the same time seems to have been impracticable. And there does not appear in any Roman historian so much as a hint, that such a thing was ever thought of by any of their emperors.

What is just now said of the difficulty of making a general survey at one and the same time, affects chiefly Prideaux's sentiment, who seems to think that the taxing St. Luke speaks of was a proper Roman census. They who suppose that it was only a numbering of the people, are not particularly concerned with it.

2. I am of opinion, that St. Luke speaks only of a taxing in Judea; and that the first verse of his second chapter ought to be rendered after this manner; "And it came to pass in those days, that there went forth a decree from Co

indicem rerum a se gestarum, quem vellet incidi in æneis tabulis, quæ ante Mausoleum statuerentur: tertio, breviarium totius imperii, quantum militum ubique sub signis esset, quantum pecuniæ in ærario et fiscis, et vectigalium residuis. Suet. in Aug. c. 101.

* Το τρίτον τα τε των τρατιωτων και τα των προσόδων, των τε αναλωματων των δημοσίων, το τε πλήθος των εν τοις θησαυροις χρημάτων Dio. 1. lvi. p.

591. B

sar Augustus, that all the land should be taxed." So L'Enfant has translated it." Bynæus likewise is of the same sentiment, and has supported it, in my judgment, very well.

I have shown in anothery place, that the word we have here does sometimes denote a particular country only, and that St. Luke has used it for the land of Judea. And he must be so understood in this place. The decree relates to the land of Judea only, because the account that follows is of that country only. And must every one perceive some deficiency, if ouμevŋ be here rendered the whole world, or the Roman empire? Let us see what St. Luke says, omitting at present the parenthesis. "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth." If the account of the decree had been worded by St. Luke so generally, as to comprehend the whole world, would he not have taken some notice of the land of Judea, before he came to relate particularly what was done in it?

If it be enquired: If the land of Judea only be meant, what does the term "all" signify? I answer, it was very necessary to be added. At the time when St. Luke wrote, and indeed from the death of Herod, which happened soon after the nativity of Jesus, the land of Judea, or of Israel, had suffered a dismembering. Archelaus had to his share Judea properly so called, together with Samaria and Idumea; and the province of Judea, which was afterwards governed by Roman procurators, was pretty much of the same extent. But Galilee, Iturea, and other parts of the land of

En ce temps lá, il fut publié un édit de la part de César Auguste, pour faire un denombrement de tout le païs. Nouveau Test. voyez les notes. * Antonius Bynæus de Natali J. Christi. lib. i. c. 3. sect. v. vi.

more.

y See p. 253. n. 4. Some time after this whole chapter was in a manner quite finished, I met with Keuchenii Annotata in N. T. He has upon this text alleged some other examples of this use of oursμevn. I rely upon those I have produced in the place referred to, and shall not trouble the reader with What is above was written several months before I had seen Keuchenius. But my sentiments are so much confirmed by what he has said upon the same subject, that I am persuaded the reader will allow me to take the advantage of subjoining here from him what follows: Præterea, an veri speciem habet, Augustum uno eodemque tempore descriptionem per totum orbem Romanum instituere voluisse? accedit quod omnes, v. 3. ad civitatem patriam profecti leguntur, ut describerentur: nimirum illud παντες respicit ad πασαν την οικεμένην, cujus descriptio injuncta fuisse vers. 1. legitur, et istius mandata auctoritate omnes impulsi, et ad propriam civitatem profecti esse memorantur.