Notes on Milton's Nativity Ode. 327 



On this occasion, the gates of the temple of Janus were prob- 

 ably closed from A.U.C. 746 to 753. The}' had been twice closed 

 before the time of Augustus: (1) under Numa; (2) in 519. To these 

 must be added, under Augustus: (3) 725, Jan. li ; (4) 729 (728?); 

 (5) as above. For the calculations, see Shuckburgh's note on Sue- 

 tonius, Augustus, chap. 22 ; Mommsen, Res Gestcc Divi Augusti, 

 pp. 50—51 ; Fairley, in Reprints from the Ong. Sources of Eur. 

 Hist. (Philadelphia, 1898) V. 1. Besides the ancient writers briefly 

 quoted above, cf. Dio Cassius 51. 20; Velleius Paterculus 2. 34, 

 38, 89; Florus 2. 3; 4. 12; Plutarch, Numa 19; Fort. Rom. 9; 

 Horace, Od. 4. 15. 8-9 (and all of 4. 14 and 15); Ep. 2. 1. 253-5. 

 Virgil, jEn. 1. 291-4; 7. 607-10; Ovid, Ep. e.x Pont. 1. 2. 126; 

 Martial 8. 66. 9—12. On the Augustan idea of peace in general, 

 see Virgil, jEn. 6. 607 ff. ; Horace, Carm. Scec. 57—60 ; Ovid, F. 

 1. 697—704, 709—722 ; Gardthausen, Augustus und seine Zeit 1. 479 ff. 

 On the possible relation of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue to Messianic 

 prophecy, see Mayor, Fowler, and Conwa}', Virgil's Messianic Ec- 

 logue (London, 1907). 



Merivale {pp. cit.) sums up as follows : ' The actual state of the 

 world, even of the world of the Romans, will hardly at this or 

 perhaps any other period bear out such an assertion in its literal 

 sense. On their frontiers at least, if not in the interior of their 

 subject provinces, the Romans were always in arms, and enjoyed 

 hardly a momentar}' respite from active operations. Nevertheless 

 the government of Augustus was substantially peaceful ; there was 

 entire cessation form all civil wars ; the Romans were engaged in 

 no desperate rivalry with any equal enemy. . . . Certainly in a 

 broad sense it might be truly said that the reign of Augustus was 

 an interval of peace throughout the world known to the Romans. 

 The prophec}' of the Hebrew Scriptures was substantially fulfilled.' 



53. No war. Spenser, describing the Saturnian reign, says {F.Q. 

 5. hit. 9): 



No warre was knowne, no dreadfuU trompets sound; 

 Peace universall rayn'd mongst men and beasts. 



With this and the following may be compared Mantuan (see under 

 29, above) Parth- 3. 1 {Opera 1. 67b): 



Jam mare, jam tellus Italo deterrita Marte, 

 Caesaris imperium Romanaque jura ferebat. 

 Pax erat, et domitum late placaverat orbem 

 Tuta quies ; nusquam litui, non arma sonabant, 

 Et sua bifrontem ducebant limina Janum. 



