Augustus (which means "worthy of praise and worship") Caesar was seen as the human ruler that would bring about everlasting peace. He was well-liked and, generally, a good man. He once paid the year's taxes for the whole province of Asia with his own money. If the State treasury or a friend was out of money, he would finance it with his own money. In the words of Stauffer "Augustus was a blessing to mankind." To give you some idea as to his popularity and apparent achievements, here a couple of writings about him from shortly after his death:
"The emperor, ruler of oceans and continents, the divine father among men, who bears the same name as his heavenly father--Liberator, the marvelous star of the Greek world, shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Savior." - an inscription found on the island of Philae after Augustus conquered Egypt
"The whole of mankind would have been almost destroyed in internecine strife, if one man and leader, Augustus, had not appeared, who is worthy to be called the hero who averted disaster, who healed the common afflictions of the Greek and Barbarian worlds. It was he who not merely loosened but burst the chains which bound and oppressed the dwellers of the earth. It was he who led all the cities of the earth to freedom, who made order out of chaos, who preserved freedom, and gave each man his due." - an Alexandrian Jew
While all of this is going on, a tiny infant is born in the dirt and crap of a backwater town in Israel.
Augustus wasn't your average ruler. He was a good and kind ruler, and was looked upon as the Savior of the world. However, shortly after his death, the same cycle of strife and violence hit the Roman Empire (and, therefore, the rest of the world). His dream of everlasting peace failed. The greatest example of the homo imperiosus that the world had known was dead and everything returned to the way it had always been; an endless cycle of war and violence. You could say that the movement died with the mover.
Meanwhile, the tiny infant grew to be a man. He began to say things like, "I have come to set the captives free." "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives..." This man was saying things that sounded awfully familiar to a people under Roman rule. He was speaking of bringing peace to the world. He was making the claims of a king. But surely this would turn out like all the rest. Things would go well for awhile, but one day he would die and everything would return to the way it's always been. Right?
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