CHAPTER II.
INFANCY AND YOUTH OF JESUS--HIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
Jesus was born at Nazareth,[1] a small town of Galilee, which before his time had no celebrity.[2] All his life he was designated by the name of "the Nazarene,"[3] and it is only by a rather embarrassed and round-about way,[4] that, in the legends respecting him, he is made to be born at Bethlehem.

We shall see later[5] the motive for this supposition, and how it was the necessary consequence of the Messianic character attributed to Jesus.[6] The precise date of his birth is unknown.

It took place under the reign of Augustus, about the Roman year 750, probably some years before the year 1 of that era which all civilized people date from the day on which he was born.[7] [Footnote 1: Matt.xiii.54, and following; Mark vi.

1, and following; John i.

45-46.] [Footnote 2: It is neither named in the writings of the Old Testament, nor in Josephus, nor in the Talmud.] [Footnote 3: Mark i.