Cross and standards. Census.
Text: CENSVM POPULI EGI
I carried out a census of the people.
Extract from Mon.Anc. 8:
Et in consulatu sexto censum populi conlega M. Agrippa egi.
In my sixth consulship with Marcus Agrippa as my colleague I carried out a census of the people.
Text on the banner: IAM NOVA PROGENIES CAELO DEMITTUR ALTO.
With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.
Extracts from Virgil, Eclogue 4. 3-7.
Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
Has come and gone, and the majestic roll
Of circling centuries begins anew:
Justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign,
With a new breed of men sent down from heaven.
Roman standards one each side, with eagles on the top and a half-moon in the middle, refering to the province of Syria.
The comet in the middle is the Arabian star of Bethlehem, depicted at the bottom.
The motive of the stamp is a mixture of ancient Roman and Christian symbols, and it refers to Augustus, and the birth of Jesus.
"Progenies" has several meanings in latin: race, family, descendants, ofspring, son, daughter.
The meaning in Virgil's Eclogue, which proclaims a new age, is certainly "race" or "breed of men",
but the Christian church interpreted that as a prophecy of the birth of Jesus.
It may also be understood as a prophecy of the rise of Fascist regime.
The fascists introduced a new time calender starting from the March on Rome in 1922.
The mixture of motives may also refer to the agreement between the regime and the Vatican church in 1929.
The Lateran pact ended a conflict that had been between the Italian state and the Vatican since 1861.
Michel 579, Sassone 419, AFA 511
Date of issue: 1937
Face value: 25 c.
Date created: 22/03/00 11:41:49