XI.

descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, C HA P. equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed that princess in chastity * and valour. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as her beauty well as the most heroic of her sex. She was of a and learning;

dark complexion, (for in speaking of a lady, these trifles become important.) Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up for her own use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato, under the tuition of the sublime Longinus.

This accomplished woman gave her hand to her vaOdenathus, who, from a private station, raised lour. himself to the dominion of the East. She soon became the friend and companion of a hero. In the intervals of war, Odenathus passionately delighted in the exercise of hunting; he pursued with ardour the wild beasts of the desert, lions, panthers, and bears; and the ardour of Zenobia in that dangerous amusement was not inferior to his own. She had inured her constitution to fatigue, disdained the use of a covered carriage, VOL. II. generally

D

* She never admitted her husband's embraces but o the sake of posterity. If her hopes were baffled, in the ensuing month she reiterated the experiment.

CHA P. generally appeared on horseback in a military XI. habit, and sometimes marched several miles on foot at the head of the troops. The success of Odenathus was in a great measure ascribed to her incomparable prudence and fortitude. Their splendid victories over the Great King, whom they twice pursued as far as the gates of Ctesiphon, laid the foundations of their united fame and power. The armies which they commanded, and the provinces which they had saved, acknowledged not any other sovereigns than their invincible chiefs. The senate and people of Rome revered a stranger who had avenged their captive emperor, and even the insensible son of Valerian accepted Odenathus for his legitimate colleague.

She revenges her husband's death,

After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers of Asia, the Palmyrenian prince returned to the city of Emesa in Syria. Invincible in war, he was there cut off by domestic treason, and his favourite amusement of hunting was the cause, or at least the occasion, of his death *. His nephew, Mæonius, presumed to dart his javelin before that of his uncle; and though admonished of his error, repeated the same insolence. As a monarch, and as a sportsman, Odenathus was provoked, took away his horse, a mark of ignominy among the barbarians, and chastised the rash youth by a short confinement. The offence was soon forgot, but the punishment

was

*Hist. August. p. 192, 193. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 36. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 633. The last is clear and probable, the others confused and inconsistent. The text of Syncellus, if not corrupt, is absolute nonsense.

XI.

A.D. 250.

was remembered; and Mæonius, with a few CHA P. daring associates, assassinated his uncle in the midst of a great entertainment. Herod, the son of Odenathus, though not of Zenobia, a young man of a soft and effeminate temper*, was killed with his father. But Mæonius obtained only the pleasure of revenge by this bloody deed. He had scarcely time to assume the title of Augustus, before he was sacrificed by Zenobia to the memory of her husband +.

over the

With the assistance of his most faithful friends, and reigns she immediately filled the vacant throne, and East and governed with manly counsels Palmyra, Syria, Egypt. and the East; above five years. By the death of Odenathus, that authority was at an end which the senate had granted him only as a personal distinction; but his martial widow, disdaining both the senate and Gallienus, obliged one of the Roman generals, who was sent against her, to retreat into Europe, with the loss of his army and his reputation ‡. Instead of the little passions which so frequently perplex a female reign, the steady administration of Zenobia was guided by the most judicious maxims of policy. If it was expedient to pardon, she could calm her resentment; if it was necessary to punish, she could impose silence on the voice of pity. Her D 2 strict

Odenathus and Zenobia often sent him, from the spoils of the enemy, presents of gems and toys, which he received with infinite delight.

† Some very unjust suspicions have been cast on Zenobia, as if she was accessary to her husband's death.

Hist. August. p. 180, 181.

XI.

CHA P. strict œconomy was accused of avarice; yet on every proper occasion she appeared magnificent and liberal. The neighbouring states of Arabia, Armenia, and Persia, dreaded her enmity, and solicited her alliance. To the dominions of Odenathus, which extended from the Euphrates to the frontiers of Bithynia, his widow added the inheritance of her ancestors, the populous and fertile kingdom of Egypt. The emperor Claudius acknowledged her merit, and was content, that, while he pursued the Gothic war, she should assert the dignity of the empire in the East *. The conduct, however, of Zenobia was attended with some ambiguity; nor is it unlikely that she had conceived the design of erecting an independent and hostile monarchy. She blended with the popular manners of Roman princes the stately pomp of the courts of Asia, and exacted from her subjects the same adoration that was paid to the successors of Cyrus. She bestowed on her three sons † a Latin education, and often shewed them to the troops adorned with the Imperial purple. For herself she reserved the diadem, with the splendid, but doubtful title of Queen of the East.

When

Sce in Hist. August. p. 198. Aurelian's testimony to her merit; and for the conquest of Egypt, Zosimus, 1. i. p. 39, 40.

Timolaus, Herennianus, and Vaballathus. It is supposed that the two former were already dead before the war. On the last, Aurelian bestowed a small province of Armenia, with the title of King; several of his medals are still extant. See Til lemont, tom. iii. p. 1. 90.

XI.

The expe.

dition of Aurelian,

A.D. 272.

When Aurelian passed over into Asia, against c HAP. an adversary, whose sex alone could render her an object of contempt, his presence restored obedience to the province of Bithynia, already shaken by the arms and intrigues of Zenobia * Advancing at the head of his legions, he accepted the submission of Ancyra, and was admitted into Tyana, after an obstinate siege, by the help of a perfidious citizen. The generous, though fierce temper, of Aurelian abandoned the traitor to the rage of the soldiers; a superstitious reverence induced him to treat with lenity the countrymen of Appollonius the philosopher †. Antioch was deserted on his approach, till the emperor, by his salutary edicts, recalled the fugitives, and granted a general pardon to all who, from necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the service of the Palmyrenian queen. The unexpected mildness of such a conduct reconciled the minds of the Syrians, and, as far as the gates of Emesa, the wishes of the people seconded the terror of his arms ‡.

peror de

Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputa- The emtion, had she indolently permitted the emperor feats the of the West to approach within an hundred miles Palmyreof her capital. The fate of the East was de- the batcided in two great battles; so similar in almost tles of

* Zosimus, 1. i. p. 44.

D 3

nians in

Antioch every and Eme

Vopiscus (in Hist. August. p. 217.) gives us an authentic letter, and a doubtful vision of Aurelian. Appollonius of Tyana was born about the same time as Jesus Christ. His life (that of the former) is related in so fabulous a manner by his disciples, that we are at a loss to discover whether he was a sage, an impostor, or a fanatic.

Zosimus, 1. i. p. 46.

sa.