AUG 



habitants is reckoned at 9205 by an enumeration. Swin- 

 burne lays its population amounts to 16,000 perfons. Tra- 

 vels, vol. iv, p. 116. 



Augusta, a county of Vircrinia, in North America, 

 lying partly on the eaft and partly on the weft of the 

 North Mount, a ridge of the Alleghany. The foil is fer- 

 tile, and the country contains 10,886 inhabitants, including 

 1567 (laves. In this dilbift there is a remarkable cafcade, 

 called 'I the falhng fpring," which is a branch of the James, 

 where it is called Jackfon's river, rifing in tlie mountains 

 twenty miles fouth-weft from the " warm or hot Ipripg " 

 in N. lat. 38° 9'. W. long. 80° 6'. At the « falling fpring" 

 the water falls two hundred feet, being fifty feet hiirher 

 than the fall of Niagara ; and the (beet of water is "only 

 twelve or fifteen feet wide above, and fomewhat v/ider be- 

 low. 



Augusta, a town of North America, in the upper di- 

 ftria of Georgia, fituate on a fine plain in Richmond 

 county, on the fouth-wcft bank of the Sava mah river, 

 where it is near five hundred yards broad, at a bend of the 

 river, 127 miles north-wefl from Savannah, and 934 fouth- 

 weft from Philadelphia. At the tirft fcttlement of the co- 

 lony, general Oglethorpe erefted a fort here for protefting 

 the Indian trade, and holding treaties with the natives. In 

 1787, it contained 200 hoiifes. The country round it has 

 an excellent foil, which, together with its central iituation 

 between the upper and lower countries, infurcs its improve- 

 ment. N. lat. 33° 19'. W. long. 80° 46'. 

 Augusta, a town of Upp^r Canada. 

 Augusta, a river in the fouth-ealt part of the ifland of 

 Cuba, in the Weft Indies, navigable for feveral leagues 

 from the mouth, in which is Cumberland harbour. 



Augusta, Hjjloria, is the hiftory of the "Roman empe- 

 rors from the time of Adrian to Carinus, compofed by fix 

 Latin writers, ^1. Spartiar.us, Julius Caijitoliuus, JEX. Lam- 

 pridius, Vulcatius, Gallicanus, Trebellius PoUio, and Fla- 

 vius Vopifcus. They all lived in the reign of Dioclefian, 

 though fome of them flourifhed under his fucceflbrs, near the 

 end of the third and beginning of the fourth centuiy. They 

 are rather biographers than hiitorians, and take more care to 

 inform us of the good and bad qualities of the emperors, of 

 their birth, edncatiun, ftature, mien, and even their diet, 

 and the clothes they wear, than to defcribe their wars, the 

 laws they enatled, and the great revolutions that happened 

 during their refpeftive reigns. Vopifcus, who was a Syra- 

 eufan, and who is faid, in the life of Probus, to have imi- 

 tated Suetonius, according to the general opinion of the 

 learned, far excels the reft, both as to his method and ftyle ; 

 nsvcrthelefs he has many imperfeflions, and is not to be 

 compared with any of the Latin hiftorians. The other 

 five betray great want of judgment in their choice, and of 

 method in digefting their materiids. Of thefc fix writers, 

 Capitohnus is the moft confufed and injudicious ; whence 

 fome have fufpefted that the author of this colleftion had 

 blended together the relations of Capitolinus, Spartian, and 

 fome others. Their ftyle is vulgar and unpolifhed, their 

 expreffions uncouth, and fometimes hardly intelligible. Vo- 

 pifcus obferves, that Lampridius and Capitolinus attended 

 more to truth than to elegance in their narrations. Pollio 

 acknowledges that his ftyle has nothing of the dignity of 

 the ancients. Fabr. Bibl. Latin, vol. ii. p. 37, S:c. Anc. 

 Un. Hift. vol. xiv. p. 67. The hillories of thefe writers 

 were publiftied together, with the notes of Cafaubon, Sal- 

 mafius, and Grater, in two vols. 8vo. 1671 ; and re-pub- 

 liftied bv I. P. Schmidt, in 1 77 1. 



AUGUSTALES, or Sodaks Augustales, or Fla- 

 mines AuGusTALESjWere the priefts of Auguftus, appointed 



8 



AUG 



after the deification of that emperor by Tiberius, and inft^ 

 tuted by him, to perform the fervicc of the new god. 

 Three of tlicfe were Drufns, Claudius, and Germanicue ; 

 and the others, who fupplitd the number of twenty-one, 

 were chofen by lot among the citizens of the firfl familic* 

 in Rome. The fame name of Auguftalcs was alio applied 

 to other colleges of priefts, inftituted in honour of the fuc- 

 ctlTors of Auguftu3, and who like him were dtitied. The 

 appellation is alfo extended to thofc who conduftcd the f.rll 

 ranks of the army ; to the prcfcfts of Eg^pt, who were 

 eftablKhed by Auguftus after the defeat of Antony and 

 Cleopatra ; to all the ofEcers of the impcri;J palace ; and to 

 thofe citizens in the colonics and municipia. who held the 

 middle rank between the decuiions and the people. The 

 Aiiguftales of the provinces were probably fcl apart for 

 the worlliip of Auguftus in the fame manner with thofc of 

 Rome. 



AUGUSTALTA, in ylntlquliy, a feaft inftituted in ho- 

 nour of the emperor Auguftui. 



This feftival was firll eftablifhcd in the year of Rome 

 735, being the fourth after he had ended all his warj, and 

 fettled the affairs of Sicily, Greece, Afia, Syria, and the 

 Parthians. The day whcrton he made his entry into Rome, 

 being the fourth of the ides of Oclober, was appointed to 

 be kept a feall, and was called jlugujlalls. 



Aucustalia was alfo a name given to the games cele- 

 brated in honour of the fame prince, on the fourth of the 

 ides of Odlober. 



AUGUSTALIS, or Pr.rfcaus yfugujlalls, a Roman 

 magiftrate who was appointed to govern Egypt, with a 

 power much like that of a proconful in other provinces. 

 AUGUSTAN, relating to Auguftus or Augufta. 

 Augustan JEra. See Actian. 



Augustan, orAuGSBURO ConfiJJ!on,\a Ecclefiajllcal Ifif- 

 tory, denotes a celebrated confeffion of faith, drawn up by Lu- 

 ther and Melandlhon, on behalf of themftlves and other an. 

 cient reformers, and prefented, in 1530, to the emperor 

 Charles V. at the diet of Augufta or Augfburg, in the name 

 of the evangelic body. This confelTion contains twenty-eight 

 chapters, of which the grtatell part is employed, in re- 

 prefenting, with perfpicuity and truth, the religious opi- 

 nions of the protellants, and the reft in pouiting out the 

 errors and ahufcs that occaiioned their fcparation from the 

 church of Rome. The ftyle in which it is written is plain, 

 elegant, grave, and perfpicuous, fuch as becomes the na- 

 ture of the fubjeit, and does honour to the eloquent pen of 

 MelanAhon. The matter of this confcflion was fupplied by 

 Luther, who, during the diet, relidcd at Coburg, a town 

 in the neighbourhood of Augfburg ; and even the form it 

 received from tlie acute judgment of his colleagues was au- 

 thorifed by his counfel and approbation. The Roman Ca- 

 tholics attempted a refutation of this confeffion : this rcfuta. 

 tion was read publicly in the afl'embly ; and the emperor 

 demanded fubraiirion on the part of the Proteftant members ; 

 but the Proteftants were not fatisfied, and requelled a copy 

 of this reply, that they might demonftrate at large its in- 

 fufficiency and wtaknefs. 'i'he emperor rtfifted this reqnell, 

 interpofed by his authority to fufpend any further proceed- 

 ing, and folcnmly prohibited the publication of any new 

 writings or declarations that might contribute to lengthen 

 out thtfe religious drbates. Mclandhon prepared an anlwcr, 

 which was prcftntcd to the cmpe-or, but he refufed to re- 

 ceive it. This anfwef was afterwards enlarged and piib- 

 lifhed in 15^1, with the other pijccs that related to the 

 doArine and difciplint of the Lutlieran church, under the 

 title of " A Defence of the Confeffion of Augfburg," ff 

 " Apologia Coafcffionis Aiiguftaux." In compofmg this^ 



Jcfcncf, 



