ABSTRACT
Early in the fifth century ce, the Spanish Christian historian Orosius, author of aHistory Against the Pagans, written at the request of Augustine, recalled how Christ came into a Roman world united and at peace:
In the whole world there was one peace among all, not because of the cessation of wars, but because of their abolition; . . . that first and greatest census was taken, since in this one name of Caesar all the peoples of the great nations took oath, and at the same time, through participation in the census, were made part of one society.
