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80 III Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar, son of a niece of Julius Caesar, is normally called the first Roman emperor since he effectively established his one-man rule between 31 and 27 BC and occasionally used the title “imperator,” governing Roman territories with little challenge until his death in AD 14. Our author’s very brief account of Augustus fits together some familiar fragments of the Christmas story. “And there went forth from Caesar Augustus a decree that all the world should be taxed.” For him the great peace associated with Augustus parallels the great peace brought by Christianity. He pursues this association of the early Roman Empire with the birth of Christianity more fervently in his story of Tiberius, which follows. He passes on without judgmental comment the story of the massacre of runaway slaves under Augustus. The fifth-century Christian historian, Orosius, had explained that the deed was important for its symbolism, a warning that those who do not recognize their heavenly master are lost. when Julius was slain, Augustus, who was his sister’s son, took over the Empire after him. Although he never knew the fear of God, he still established, after he was chosen judge, a peace in all his dominions, the likes of which they had never known before. And then the king decreed an amnesty for all men throughout the Empire who were captive, or in chains, or had been thrown into a dungeon. This exalted king then went on to decree that over this earth all people—mothers with children and husbands with wives—had to return to the place of their birth. This song tells us, too, that he would not allow any slaves who had run away from their masters in the Empire. One day, so we hear the book Augustus Caesar 81 say, he had more than thirty thousand runaway slaves slain, men and women alike. Caesar Augustus went on to establish a coin of standard weight called the “drachma,” and decreed under pain of hanging that the people in his Empire, whether they were poor or rich, should pay him four pennies of this weight. This tax remained until the day when the true Savior, who was sent from heaven with the promise of help for us, freed us from this tax. Agrippa was then sent to govern the Rhineland, where he added to the Romans’ fame by building a fortified city. He gave it its name, calling it Agrippina, but now it is called Köln [Cologne]1 , and it is the just pride of all the Frankish lands. One of his men named Metius founded Metz. From Trier, an old fortified city that adorned Roman authority, the Romans sent wine a long distance under the earth in stone pipes to please all the lords who settled around Cologne. Great was the Romans’ might! Augustus, that man of whom there is so much to tell, established order at Rome with great authority. Augsburg still bears his name. Indeed, he wore the crown—as the Book tells us truly—fifty-six years and three months. Finally, the Romans plotted foully against his life and succeeded in poisoning him. 1. Agrippina, granddaughter of Agrippa, Augustus’ commander in Germany, named her native town “Colonia Agrippina” after her mother, the daughter of Agrippa and Augustus’ daughter Julia, who was also named Agrippina. ...

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