TJie Roman Empire to the Triumph of Christianity 277 treasury, he was tried by the same law, and looked to the same armies for protection. At the accession of Augustus the Roman Empire from Rome The suffer- outward to the very frontiers of the provinces was sadly in p"ovinces^ need of restoration and opportunity to recuperate. The eastern ^g^^^^^^^f domains, especially Greece, where the most important fighting civil war of the long civil war had occurred, had suffered severely. All the provinces had been oppressed and excessively overtaxed or even tacitly plundered under the Republic (p. 239). Barbarian invaders had seized the undefended cities of the provinces and even established robber-states for plundering purposes. Greece herself never recovered from the wounds then suffered, and in general the eastern Mediterranean had been greatly demoralized. It was not until Caesar's time that Pompey cleared it of the pirates, who had almost taken possession of it. The cost of the century of civil war had been borne by the provinces. The civi- lized world was longing for peace^ Augustus now succeeded brilliantly in restoring order and in establishing those stable conditions out of which prosperity grows. In Italy the policy of Augustus was in all directions governed The at- by that respect for the traditions of older Rome which he had toration by displayed in organizing the new State. Everywhere he endeav- A"g"stus ored to restore the old days, the good old Roman customs, the beliefs of the fathers. The state temples, which had frequently fallen into decay, were repaired ; new ones were built, especially in Rome ; and the services and usages of Roman state religion were revived. The people were urged to awaken their declining interest in the religion of their fathers, and the old religious feasts were celebrated with increased splendor and impressiveness.^ The purpose of Augustus in reviving old Rome as far as possible was evidently to nationalize Italy, and to establish there a Roman nation forming a stable nucleus within the Roman Empire. 1 Had it been possible for Augustus to know the history of the Orient for six centuries before his own time, he would have discerned how vain is any attempt of authority to turn back the hand of time and restore old conditions (see p, 84).
