This accomplished woman gave her hand to Odenathus, who from a private station raised 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; 5 he pursued with ardor the wild beasts of the desert-lions, panthers, and bears—and the ardor 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, generally appeared on horseback 10 in a military 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 far15 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 the people of Rome revered 20 a stranger who had avenged their captive emperor, and even the insensible son of Valerian' accepted Odenathus for his legitimate colleague. After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers of Asia, the Palmyrian prince returned to the 25 city of Emesa in Syria. Invincible in war, he was there cut off by domestic treason, and his favorite 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 30 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 forgotten, but the punishment was remembered, and Mæonius, with a few 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. With the assistance of his most faithful friends, she 10 immediately filled the vacant throne, and governed with manly counsels Palmyra, Syria, 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 15 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 20 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 strict economy was accused of avarice; yet on every proper occasion she ap-25 peared magnificent and liberal. The neighboring 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 an-30 cestors, 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. 8 5 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 showed them to the troops adorned with the imperial purple. For herself she reserved the diadem, with the splendid but 10 doubtful title of Queen of the East. When Aurelian passed over into Asia, against 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 in-15 trigues 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 Apollonius,' 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 25 necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the service of the Palmyrian queen. The unexpected mildness of such 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. Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation had she indolently permitted the Emperor of the West to approach within a hundred miles of her capital. The fate of the East was decided in two great battles, so similar in almost every circumstance 5 that we can scarcely distinguish them from each other, except by knowing that the first was fought near Antioch and the second near Emesa. In both the Queen of Palmyra animated the armies by her presence, and devolved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who had already signalized his military talents by the conquest of Egypt. The numerous forces of Zenobia consisted for the most part of light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in complete steel. The Moorish and Illyrian horse of 10 Aurelian were unable to sustain the ponderous charge of their antagonists. They fled in real or affected disorder, engaged the Palmyrenians in a laborious pursuit, harassed them by a desultory combat, and at length discomfited this impenetrable but unwieldy body of 15 cavalry. The light infantry, in the mean time, when they had exhausted their quivers, remaining without protection against a closer onset, exposed their naked sides to the swords of the legions. Aurelian had chosen these veteran troops, who were usually stationed on the 20 Upper Danube, and whose valor had been severely tried in the Alemannic war. After the defeat of Emesa, Zenobia found it impossible to collect a third army. As far as the frontier of Egypt, the nations subject to her empire had joined 25 the standard of the conqueror, who detached Probus, the bravest of his generals, to possess himself of the Egyptian provinces. Palmyra was the last resource of the widow of Odenathus. She retired within the walls of her capital, made every preparation for a vigorous 30 resistance, and declared, with the intrepidity of a heroine, that the last moment of her reign and of her life should be the same." 10 XXXVII. THE DELECTABLE MOUNTAINS. BY JOHN BUNYAN.' 5 THEY went till they came to the Delectable Mountains; which mountains belong to the Lord of that Hill of which we have spoken before; so they went up the mountains to behold the gardens and orchards, the vineyards, and fountains of water; where also they drank, and washed themselves, and did freely eat of the vineyards. Now, there were on the tops of these mountains Shepherds feeding their flocks, and they stood by the highway-side. The Pilgrims, therefore, went to them, and leaning upon their staves, as is com-10 mon with weary pilgrims, when they stand to talk with any one by the way, they asked, "Whose Delectable Mountains are those? and whose be the sheep that feed upon them?" SHEPHERDS. These mountains are Immanuel's land, 15 and they are within sight of the City; and the sheep also are his, and he laid down his life for them. CHRISTIAN. Is this the way to the Celestial City? CHR. How far is it thither? SHEP. Too far for any but those who shall get thither indeed. CHR. Is the way safe, or dangerous? SHEP. Safe for those to whom it is to be safe, "but transgressors shall fall therein." 20 25 |