o overflow; while
for all civil purposes, and dates of kings' reigns, they used a year of
three hundred and sixty-five days, which, of course, had a movable
new year's day. But by the orders of Augustus all public deeds were
henceforth dated by the new year of three hundred and sixty-five days
and a quarter, which was named, after Julius Caesar, the Julian year. The
years from B.C. 24 were made to begin on the 29th of August, the day
on which the movable new year's day then happened to fall, and were
numbered from the year following the last of Cleopatra, as from the
first year of the reign of Augustus. But notwithstanding the many
advantages of the Julian year, which was used throughout Europe for
sixteen centuries, till its faultiness was pointed out by Pope Gregory
XIII., the Egyptian astronomers and mathematicians distrusted it from
the first, and chose to stick to their old year, in which there could
be no mistake about its length. Thus there were at the same time three
years and three new year's days in use in Egypt: one about the 18th
of July, used by the common people; one on the 29th of August, used by
order of the emperor; and one movable, used by the astronomers.

By the conquest of Egypt, Augustus was also able to extend another of
the plans of his late uncle. Julius Caesar, whose powerful mind found all
sciences within its grasp, had ordered a survey to be taken of the whole
of the Roman provinces, and the length of all the roads to be measured
for the use of the tax-gatherers and of the army; and Augustus was
now able to add Egypt to the survey. Polyclitus was employed on this
southern portion of the empire; and, after thirty-two years from its
beginning by Julius, the measurement of nearly the whole known world was
finished and reported to the senate.

At Alexandria Augustus was visited by Herod, who hastened to beg of
him those portions of his kingdom which Antony had given to Cleopatra.
Augustus received him as a friend; gave him back the territory which
Antony had taken from him, and added the province of Samaria and the
free cities on the coast. He also gave to him the body of four hundred
Gauls, who formed part of the Egyptian army and had been Cleopatra's
bodyguard. He thus removed from Alexandria the last remains of the
Gallic mercenaries, of whom the Ptolemies had usually had a troop in
their service.

[Illustration: 007.jpg PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA]

Augustus visited the royal burial-place to see t