CHAPTER VII.
Next day a detachment of legionaries went to the desolated palace, and, closing the gates permanently, plastered the corners with wax, and at the sides nailed a notice in Latin: "THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF THE EMPEROR." In the haughty Roman idea, the sententious announcement was thought sufficient for the purpose--and it was.
The day after that again, about noon, a decurion with his command of ten horsemen approached Nazareth from the south--that is, from the direction of Jerusalem.

The place was then a straggling village, perched on a hill-side, and so insignificant that its one street was little more than a path well beaten by the coming and going of flocks and herds.

The great plain of Esdraelon crept close to it on the south, and from the height on the west a view could be had of the shores of the Mediterranean, the region beyond the Jordan, and Hermon.

The valley below, and the country on every side, were given to gardens, vineyards, orchards, and pasturage.

Groves of palm-trees Orientalized the landscape.