THE Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother were murdered in the year 235. We may convey a just impression of the period that followed this odious1 crime by the brief observation that in forty years nearly forty Emperors appeared on the darkened stage of the Roman Empire, and that nearly every one of them perished at the hands of Roman soldiers. The anarchy2 was arrested for a time when, in the year 270, the energetic Aurelian came to the throne. People and Senate greeted the strong man with genuine enthusiasm, and among the cries of joy or hope with which the Senators hailed him we find this singular aspiration3: “Thou wilt4 deliver us from Zenobia and Vitruvia.” It is a piquant5 contrast with the disdain6 that their fathers had had for women—a confession7 that their vast Empire was now dominated by two women, without male consorts8. But for the timely appearance of Aurelian there was a prospect9 that they would divide the rule of the world between them. One was a Syrian, the other a Gallic, queen; but each of them bore the title of Augusta, and they are the next commanding personalities10 to engage our interest.
Many years were to elapse between the death of Mam?a and the appearance of these two remarkable11 women, but we need do no more than glance at the many Empresses of an hour whose names are hardly discernible in that turbulent era. The huge barbarian12 who had purchased the throne by a brutal13 murder did not long enjoy234 it. The Empire heard with horror and disdain that this Thracian shepherd had seized the mantle14 of Antoninus and Marcus. The people of Rome, in particular, recollected15 with alarm the contempt they had shown him in his earlier years, and offered prayer in the temples that the gods might divert his steps from the south of Italy. He met their disdain with vindictiveness16, and ruthlessly executed those who remembered his humble17 origin, or whose wealth could add to his revenue. His Empress, Paulina, vainly endeavoured to restrain his bloody18 hand, and succeeded only in drawing it upon herself.18 At length his exactions struck a spark of rebellion in Africa, and a new Emperor was appointed.
The African Proconsul, Gordianus, was an excellent Epicurean of the fine old Roman type. He had wealth, culture, character, and taste. After filling the highest offices at Rome with grace and applause, he was now quietly discharging the duties of Proconsul, and relieving the long hours of leisure with a tranquil20 enjoyment21 of letters, at the little town of Thysdrus, about a hundred and fifty miles to the south of Carthage. With him in Africa was his son Gordianus, an epicure19 rather than an Epicurean, who solaced22 his exile from Rome with the engaging company of twenty-two ladies. Their respective pleasures were violently interrupted in the beginning of the year 238. The father, a white-haired old man, with broad red face, was resting in his house after his judicial24 labours, when a band of men, with blood-smeared swords, burst into the luxurious25 villa26, told him that they had rebelled against the tyrant27, and peremptorily28 informed him that he was Emperor. His objections were unheeded, and he set out, with misgiving29, for Carthage. But the pride of the Carthaginians was quickly chilled by the news that Maximinus’s commander in Africa was advancing against their city. An armed force was hastily equipped, sent out under the lead of the younger Gordian, and cut235 to pieces. The younger Emperor had died on the field: the white-haired old man hanged himself.
Rome, meantime, had recognized the rule of the Gordians, and was now throbbing30 with a just apprehension31 of the vengeance32 of Maximinus. The certainty of punishment inspired it with a measure of courage, and two new Emperors were created—a vigorous son of the people, Pupienus Maximus, and a perfumed representative of the nobles, Balbinus. The choice did not please the people, who beset33 the Senate with sticks and stones, so a handsome boy, such as Rome loved, was associated with them. He was a Gordianus, the fourteen-year-old son of the elder Gordian’s daughter. The city rang with preparations for war, and in the early summer Maximus led out his weak and apprehensive34 force. The terrible Maximinus and his legions had crossed the Alps, and were descending35 on the plains of Italy. Luckily for Rome, they met a desperate resistance at Aquileia. Protected by strong and well-equipped fortifications, with ample provisions, the inhabitants repelled36 the fiercest attacks of Maximinus, and jeered37 at him and his dissolute son from the walls. When the thongs38 of their slinging-machines wore out, the women of Aquileia gave their long tresses to the soldiers to weave into cords. Maximinus vented39 his temper on his own troops, and one morning the besieged40 were delighted to see the soldiers advancing with the grisly heads of Maximinus and his son on the tips of their spears.
Maximus returned to gladden Rome with the news, but it was decreed that six Emperors were to die that year. The soldiers, who had had another fight with the Romans during the war, were sullen41 and treacherous42. Balbinus they hated for his effeminacy, Maximus for his rigour. The returning troops brought grievances43 of their own, and it was only the loyalty44 of the German soldiers that held the guards off the palace. Then there came a day when the delight of the games drew most of the soldiers away, and the guards marched upon the palace.236 Maximus hastily ordered the loyal troops to be summoned: Balbinus cancelled the order. Their relations had been strained for some time, and each looked upon this sudden onslaught as a device of the other. The German troops arrived at last, to find the palace empty, and learn that the three Emperors were in the hands of the guards. They started at once for the camp, and found the bleeding remains45 of Maximus and Balbinus on the street. With them another ephemeral Empress passes dimly before us. The coins seem to indicate that Maximus was the husband of Quintia Crispilla at the time of his death.
The youthful Gordian had been taken to the camp, and Rome was forced to acknowledge him as sole Emperor. Intoxicated46, as so many had been, by the sudden obtaining of so vast a power, he seemed at first inclined to the model of Caligula. His uncle’s concubines and his mother’s eunuchs were in a fair way to rule the ruler. But a wise tutor, Timesitheus, obtained a better influence over him, and he soberly chose his daughter, Furia Sabina Tranquillina, as his Empress. The whole prospect of the Empire changed with his marriage, in 241 or 242, but the evil genius of Rome intervened once more. The Persians had again crossed the eastern frontier, and the Emperor and his father-in-law went to Asia to take command. The war was proceeding47 with success, when Timesitheus contracted a mysterious illness and died. Gordian gave his command to a dashing cavalry48 leader named Philip—the man who, we have strong reason to think, had poisoned Timesitheus. Philip was a handsome Arab, whose father had led a band of robbers in the desert. But the son was astute49, and Gordian suspected nothing. Before many months the camps were simmering with discontent. Pay was reduced, and the troops were reluctantly informed by Philip that it was the command of the Emperor. Regiments50 found themselves quartered in districts where it was impossible to obtain sufficient food, and Philip begged them to regard the youth and military inexperience of Gordian. The plot culminated51 in the early spring of 244. Gordian was slain52,237 and the son of the Arab pillager53 of caravans54 received the purple from the soldiers.
MARCIA OTACILIA SEVERA
The new Empress of Rome, Marcia Otacilia Severa, attracts our attention for a moment on account of the claim of the early Christian56 writers that she belonged to the new religion. The claim must have had some foundation, but the story on which it is generally based is regarded with reserve by historians. St. Chrysostom and others declare that, when Philip and Otacilia passed from the Euphrates, where Gordian had been murdered, to Antioch, they went to the Christian church for service on Easter-eve; and that the bishop57 refused to admit them in any other character than that of penitents58 expiating59 a foul60 crime. Duruy ridicules61 the idea that a bishop would have dared so to address an Emperor in public before the middle of the third century, and it is certainly difficult to believe. Indeed, historians generally suspect that, as the story itself implies, Otacilia supported her husband in his criminal ambition, and are reluctant to regard her as a Christian. Her nationality is unknown, and she hardly emerges from the obscurity in which the scanty62 chronicles have left the reign63 of her husband.
Let us hasten through the pages of ghastly adventure, and come to more interesting women. In the year 249 the troops in M?sia pressed the purple on one of the ablest Roman generals, Decius, and Philip was slain in the contest that followed. Otacilia fled with her son to the Pr?torian camp, but the guards killed the boy in her arms, and sent her back sadly into the common ranks from which she had so unhappily risen. The wife of Decius, Herennia Etruscilla, who is known to us only from coins and an inscription64, had little better fortune, since Decius perished in a war with the Goths two years later (251). His son and successor, Hostilianus, died in the following year, not without a suspicion of crime. The colleague of Decius and successor of his son, Gallus, was murdered in 253, together with his son Volusianus, with whom he had shared the Empire; and the rival and successor of Gallus was238 assassinated66 within four months. Then Valerianus, an aged67 and distinguished68 Senator, came to the throne, and we begin to have less fleeting69 glimpses of the ladies of the court, and to make acquaintance with the two remarkable women who will especially occupy us.
The elder Valerian does not long remain on the stage. The weakness into which the Empire had fallen was soon observed by its enemies on every side, and the frontier provinces were being devastated70. Investing his elder son, Gallienus, with the purple, Valerian went to the East to oppose the Persian monarch71, Sapor, who threatened the whole of Roman Asia, and after a time fell, with his army, into the hands of the enemy. Whether or no it be true that the proud Persian used to step on the person of the aged Emperor to mount his horse, it is at least certain that Valerian died among the Persians after some years of ignominious72 captivity73, and his skin, stuffed and padded to the proportions of a man, was long exhibited as the most glorious of Sapor’s many trophies74. There are later writers who assert that his second wife, the Empress Mariniana, was captured with him, and brutally75 treated until she died, but the authority is slender. Cohen, the great authority on Roman coins, warns us that, though there are coins of a certain Mariniana, who seems to have been a lady of Valerian’s court, it is not certain that she was his wife.
So feeble did the Empire now become that its enemies made the most extensive and destructive inroads. The Persians advanced so far as to sack Antioch, the Franks overran Spain and reached Africa, the Alemanni spread terror in the north of Italy and even threatened Rome, and the Goths poured over Greece and Asia Minor76. Gallienus received the news of each successive disaster with an insipid77 joke. Glittering with the jewels which encrusted his belt, his dress, and even his shoes, his hair powdered with gold dust, he dined from dishes of solid gold, in the company of his concubines, while his father suffered in captivity, and his subjects groaned78 under the hardship of invasion, famine, pestilence79, and earthquake. His Empress,239 Cornelia Salonina, seems to have disdained80 his cowardly luxury, and she was replaced in his affection, though not in her position, by a charming barbarian. Attalus, King of the Marcomanni, had a beautiful daughter named Pipa or Pipara, whose attractiveness was brought to the notice of Gallienus. He frivolously81 submitted to the Senate that, since Rome had so many enemies, it were wise to disarm82 some of them; and he asked Attalus for the hand of his daughter. The shrewd barbarian stipulated83 for a large part of Pannonia, and in return for that valuable slice of the Empire permitted his pretty daughter to be the concubine of the Roman Emperor. She never appears on the coinage, while Salonina—whose grave, intellectual features suggest that she found solace23 in culture—remains Augusta to the end. Serviez finds an admirable trait of Salonina’s character in the punishment of a man who had sold her some false jewels. He was sentenced to the lions; but when the terrible gates were opened, a harmless fowl84 flew out upon him, and he was discharged with the fright. The Roman historian, however, ascribes the trick expressly to Gallienus.19
In the eight years of Gallienus’s complete control of the Empire (260–268) it was distracted and worn with misery85 and anarchy. The “Historia Augusta” estimates that “thirty tyrants” arose in that short period to dispute the power of the corrupt86 Gallienus; Gibbon reduces the number to nineteen; Duruy counts twenty-eight claimants to the throne. There was, in any case, a period of profound demoralization, and as nearly all these generals met with a violent death, involved many others in their fall, and very frequently led their troops in civil warfare87, the drain on the impoverished88 system was disastrous89. It is amongst these “thirty tyrants” that we find Zenobia and Victoria.
240 Zenobia was the wife of Odenathus, the ruling man in the independent town of Palmyra. The town, which had become an important commercial centre, lay on the edge of the Syrian desert, and had long maintained a position of neutrality between the Romans on the west and the Parthians to the east. It had the title of a Roman colony, and Odenathus cannot have been more than its leading citizen and, perhaps, head of its Senate. To this little State came the news that the Roman Emperor was detained in ignominy by the King of Persia. Odenathus sent to Sapor a most polite suggestion that his conduct was improper90, and gilded91 his remonstrance92 with a caravan55 of valuable presents. The presents were disdainfully thrown into the Euphrates, and the blustering94 Sapor threatened to punish his insolence95. With great boldness the leading citizen of Palmyra formed an irregular army out of the neighbouring villages and the Arabs, with a few Roman troops, and inflicted96 a substantial reverse on the Persian troops. Gallienus gracefully97 acknowledged his service, and extended the Imperial title to him and his wife Zenobia, who became the representatives of Roman power in the East.
Zenobia was, says Trebellius Pollio in the “Historia Augusta,” “one of the most noble of all the women of the East, and also one of the most beautiful.” Her nobility rests upon her claim that she descended98 from Cleopatra, a point that we are unable to examine. The portrait-bust of her in the Vatican does not so much suggest exceptional beauty as exceptional power. It is a face of extraordinary strength and peculiar99 features. We can very well imagine her, as she is described for us, riding out on horseback before the assembled troops, her piercing black eyes aflame with spirit, a military helmet on her head, and a purple robe, embroidered100 with gems101, so attached to her person as to leave naked the fine arm with which she emphasized her orders. She maintained a court of Persian magnificence, but was far removed from Persian insolence. She did not disdain to drink with her officers, and even to endeavour241 to surpass them in drinking. Yet it is uniformly stated that this remarkable independence of Syrian ideas as to a woman’s position was united with a chastity of the most sensitive and peculiarly scrupulous102 character. When we add that she was a woman of exceptional culture, spoke103 Latin, Greek, and Egyptian, had so complete a command of the history of the East that she wrote a book on it, and enjoyed the daily companionship of the philosopher Longinus, who was tutor to her sons, we seem to have exhausted104 possible merit, and ventured into the province of legend. But we have still to say that her military and political ability was no less than her beauty, her culture, or her virtue105. We shall see later that the finest Emperor of the age, Aurelian, spoke with extraordinary appreciation106 of her skill in warfare and in polity.
Even as the wife of Odenathus, Zenobia was not inactive. She is said to have urged his bold attack on Persia, and she shared the longest marches of the soldiers when the campaign began. But she was soon the sole ruler of the East, in the interest, at first, of Rome. During the Persian war Odenathus quarrelled with a relative and officer, named M?onius, and was only prevented by the intercession of his son, Herodes, from putting him to death. Herodes was the son of Odenathus by a former wife, and would be the natural heir to his dignity. The two sons whom Zenobia had borne him, Timolaus and Herennianus, were mere107 boys, but Zenobia had an older son, Vaballath, by a former husband. We can understand that there would be some jealousy108 in the family, now that the Roman purple and a practical sovereignty of the East were conferred on the “king of Palmyra.” Zenobia could not but dislike and despise Herodes. He adopted the voluptuous109 ways of the East, and received from his father, as an immediate110 share of his heritage, the jewels, silks, and fair ladies which he had detached from the baggage of Sapor when that monarch retired111 before him.
Yet there is no ground for the assertion that Zenobia was privy112 to the conspiracy113 which removed Odenathus and242 Herodes. M?onius was consulting his own ambition, as well as appeasing114 his hatred115, in having them assassinated. For a moment Zenobia was in a position of some anxiety, but she acted with vigour116. She thrust her son Vaballath—the “Historia Augusta” at first says her two younger sons, but afterwards corrects this—before the Palmyreans as the most worthy117 heir of the power of Odenathus, and M?onius passes into a significant obscurity. Vaballath was declared Augustus, and Zenobia became “Queen of the East,” as she liked to call herself. The two younger boys were entitled C?sars. Within a short time it was felt at Rome that a new and rival power had arisen in the East.
The voluptuous Gallienus could at times start from his rose-strewn couches and the arms of his mistresses, and conduct an energetic raid upon the opponents of his Empire. The victories of Odenathus seem to have inspired one of these fits of vigour. The legions in Gaul had cast off their allegiance to their degraded ruler, put his son Saloninus to death, and chosen as Emperor their able and upright commander, Cassianus Postumus. Gallienus marched against him, pressed him hard for a time, and then returned to Rome to enjoy a magnificent triumph. One hundred white oxen, with gilded horns, two hundred white lambs, several hundred lions, tigers, bears, and other animals, and twelve hundred gladiators, in superb costumes, preceded his car. The more serious Romans looked on in disdain. Some of the mimes118, or comedians119, dressed as Persians, and went about in the procession, staring in each other’s faces, and saying that they were “looking for the Emperor’s father.” Gallienus had them burned alive.
But the chief interest of this dash into Gaul is that it first brings to our notice the famous Gallic princess Vitruvia or Victoria.20 We find her supporting Postumus243 against Gallienus. When he is hard pressed, she persuades him to associate her son, Victorinus, with him in the Empire, and presently she herself becomes Augusta and “Mother of the Camp”—a proof that she accompanied the army. Victorinus is said by one of the contemporary writers to have been more manly120 than Trajan, more clement121 than Antonine, graver than Nerva, and a better financier than Vespasian; but this paragon122 of excellence123 had the one serious defect that he could not withhold124 his covetous125 eyes from the prettier wives of his officers. The responsibility of power sobered him for a time, but before long he led astray the wife of one of his officers, and was assassinated. At his mother’s suggestion he, with his dying voice, named his young son his successor, but the angry soldiers murdered the boy.
Victoria now put forward as candidate one of the soldiers themselves, a brawny126 officer named Marius, who had at one time been armourer or smith to the camp. He was accepted, but a slight that he was imprudent enough to put upon one of his old associates led to his receiving in his own breast one of the swords he had himself forged, after enjoying the delirious129 dignity of the purple for two days. The “thirty tyrants” were playing their parts with great rapidity. Tetricus, the commander of the troops and a Senator, was next put forward by Victoria, and he left her in control of the affairs of Gaul while he led the army into Spain. Victoria’s power was not of long duration, and the references to her in the chronicles are too meagre to enable us to picture her remarkable personality. For many years her power in Gaul was so great that her fame ran through the Empire, and Zenobia, as she afterwards told Aurelian, had the design of communicating with her and proposing to divide the Roman world between them. Her end is obscure. When Tetricus returned from Spain, he is said to have resented her domination and put her to death; though it is elsewhere said that her death was due to natural causes. She did not live to witness or share the humiliation130 of Tetricus a few years later.
244 We return to Zenobia, who had in the meantime become an independent sovereign. Gallienus had taken alarm at the growth of her power, and sent his general Heraclian with secret instructions to dislodge her. Zenobia divined the real intention of Heraclian and his troops, treated him as an invader131, and destroyed his force. An invitation was then received, or obtained, from Egypt, and Zenobia sent 70,000 men to expel the troops of Gallienus from what she regarded as the kingdom of her fathers. Egypt was added to her dominions132. Rome was now fully93 alarmed at the success of the two barbaric women, while every other province of the Empire was overrun by invaders134 or detached by locally-chosen Emperors. One of these rivals at length drew Gallienus from his palace once more, and gave an opportunity to remove his insolent135 weakness from the throne. The Emperor was besieging136 the pretender to the throne in Milan, when some of the leading officers conspired137 to assassinate65 him. He was drawn138 from his tent one night in March (268) by a false alarm that the besieged had made a sally, and, devoid139 alike of guards and armour127, he was soon stricken with a mortal wound. Salonina is said by some to have perished with him, but of this there is no evidence.
His successor, Claudius, an experienced soldier of obscure descent but great personal merit, decided140 to leave Zenobia and Victoria in possession of their power until he had rid the Empire of the formidable Goths. They were said to have an army of 320,000 men, and the whole of Greece and the north of Asia Minor had been plundered141 by them. The instruments of Roman comfort or luxury that they took back into the bleak142 forests of the north seemed to be drawing an inexhaustible stream of marauders upon the debilitated143 south. Two years were occupied by Claudius in destroying their power, and he had just cleansed144 the Roman territory of their presence when he died of the pestilence, in the spring of 270. The obscure brother of so virtuous145 and valorous a ruler was deemed a worthy successor to the purple, but the army245 made choice of a strong and capable commander, Aurelian, and, after two or three weeks’ timid enjoyment of his power, Quintilius opened his veins146 and gracefully yielded the throne.
The new Emperor was the bold and sturdy son of a provincial147 peasant, who had cut his way to the position of commander. Marriage with the daughter of a wealthy noble had further improved his position, and his temperance, zeal148 for discipline, skill, and bravery had made him a most effective leader. His first care was to complete the victory over the Goths, who were again advancing. After an exhausting struggle he entered into friendly alliance with them, drove back the other barbaric tribes who threatened or ignored the northern frontier of the Empire, and then turned his eyes toward the East. Gibbon makes him first apply himself to the restoration of Gaul, but the historians Vopiscus and Zosimus expressly say that he dealt first with the Queen of the East.
Zenobia had now, in 272, enjoyed her remarkable power for about four years, and seemed, owing to the preoccupation of Rome with the northern barbarians149, to have established a solid and durable150 kingdom. Parthia and Persia respected her southern boundaries; Egypt peacefully acknowledged her rule; and even the cities of Asia Minor were beginning to bow to her title. But Palmyra was not a Rome, and provided too slender a base for so vast a dominion133. As Aurelian and his formidable legions marched across Asia Minor, the cities returned at once to the Roman allegiance, and Zenobia prepared for a severe struggle. She led her army out in person from Antioch, and met the Romans near the river Orontes. Modern historians usually follow the account of the battle which describes Aurelian as stealing a victory by stratagem151. He is said to have noticed the weight of Zenobia’s heavily-armoured cavalry, drawn them into a wild gallop152 by a feigned153 retreat, and then wheeled his troops, when they showed signs of fatigue154, and scattered155 them. But the “Historia Augusta,” the nearest authority, tells us that246 Aurelian’s troops were really routed at first, and then recovered—owing to a miraculous156 apparition—and won.
Zenobia retired to Antioch. Her general, Zabda, deluded157 the inhabitants with a false report of victory, and trailed through the streets a captive whom he had dressed as Aurelian. But the Emperor was advancing, and they fled during the night to Emesa, where they were still able to put 70,000 men in the path of Aurelian. The second battle proved as disastrous to Zenobia as the first, and it was decided to retire at once on Palmyra. For a long time the city held Aurelian at bay, and he magnanimously allowed that its successful resistance was due to the sagacity of Zenobia. In the midst of the long siege he wrote to a friend at Rome:
“I hear that it is said that I do not the work of a man in triumphing over Zenobia. Those who blame me have no idea what kind of a woman she is—how prudent128 in counsel, how assiduous in arrangement, how severe with the troops, how liberal when it is expedient158, how stern when there is need for sternness. I may venture to say that it was due to her that Odenathus put Sapor to flight, and advanced as far as Ctesiphon. I can assure you that she was held in such terror in the East and in Egypt that the Arabs, the Saracens, and the Armenians were afraid to move.”
So difficult and protracted159 did the siege prove that Aurelian at length wrote to her, offering to spare her life if she would surrender. The answer seems to have been preserved in one of those libraries of valuable documents at Rome, from which the writers of the “Historia Augusta” obtained their material, as they tell us. It ran:
“Zenobia, Queen of the East, to Aurelius Augustus. No one has ever yet made by letter such a request as you make. In matters of war you must obtain what you want by deeds. You ask me to surrender, as if you were unaware160 that Cleopatra preferred to die rather than lose her dignity. We are expecting auxiliaries161 from Persia, and the Saracens and Armenians are with us. The robbers of Syria beat your army, Aurelian. What will happen to you when our reinforcements come? You will assuredly247 have to lay aside the pride with which, as if you were a universal conqueror162, you call on me to surrender.”
The expectation of reinforcements was sincere, but was destined163 to be disappointed. Day after day Zenobia and her officers looked out over the desert from their invincible164 walls, and descried165 no sign of the deliverers. Persia was distracted by the death of Sapor; the Armenians and the Saracens had been seduced166 from her by Aurelian. Food began to fail, and the iron legions clung tenaciously167 to the little strip of country and intercepted168 whatever aid came to her. Zenobia resolved to go to Persia herself in quest of aid. Under cover of the night she stole out of the town, and fled toward Persia on a dromedary.
Within a few days the anxious Palmyreans again saw their Queen—a captive in the hands of the Roman soldiers. It is probable that she had been betrayed. Aurelian, at all events, heard of her flight, and sent a company of horse in pursuit. They reached the banks of the Euphrates just as Zenobia and her attendants had entered a boat, and brought her back to the camp. She was one hour too late to save her liberty, or sacrifice her life. Palmyra sadly opened its gates, and Aurelian transferred its priceless treasures and rare curiosities to his wagons169. Its chief officers and Zenobia he led away to Emesa, and put them on trial for rebellion.
The reader of Gibbon will expect that we have now reached a point where the virility170 of Zenobia faints and the eternal feminine reveals itself. Gibbon records, indeed, the bold answer which Zenobia made to Aurelian’s complaint of her infidelity to Rome; but he goes on to say that, as the fierce demands of the soldiers for her death fell on her ears, she tremblingly pleaded for life, and, with a cowardice171 that her sex only could palliate, insisted that Longinus and the others had seduced her from her duty. Happily, we have a clear right to quarrel with the procedure of the great historian at this point. There are two versions of the behaviour of Zenobia: that of the Latin historians, Trebellius Pollio and Vopiscus in the “Historia Augusta,”248 and that of the Greek historian Zosimus. The Latin writers, who lived at Rome in the generation after Zenobia, make her reply boldly to Aurelian, and do not say a word about her casting the blame on others. The Greek writer, a much later compiler, represents her as, in the words of Gibbon, “ignominiously purchasing life by the sacrifice of her fame and her friends.” Gibbon affects to reconcile the two by making the woman’s weakness follow upon the momentary172 show of courage.
To this method of reconciling contradictory173 and unequal authorities we may justly demur174. The much later version of Zosimus is not only less entitled in itself to acceptance, but it is seriously enfeebled when he goes on to make the wildly erroneous statement that Zenobia died on the way to Rome, and her companions were sunk in the Bosphorus. We have every right to follow the Latin historians. Zenobia was brought before Aurelian, and the soldiers fiercely demanded that she should be put to death. Exasperated175 as the Emperor was, he refused to slay176 a woman, and asked her why she had dared to resist the majesty177 of Rome. “In you,” she replied, “I recognize an Imperial majesty, because you have vanquished178 me, but I saw none in Gallienus.” Her life was spared. What Roman general could have resisted the wish to grace his triumph at Rome with a greater than Cleopatra? The troops, with their vast treasures and their captives, moved slowly homeward, after executing Longinus and some others.
ZENOBIA
ENLARGED FROM THE COIN IN THE BERLIN MUSEUM
In the triumph which Aurelian had so splendidly earned, and no less splendidly celebrated179, we catch our last certain glimpse of the Queen of the East, one of the most notable women of all time. Along the flower-strewn lane between the dense180 walls of citizens passes one of the longest and grandest processions that ever led a victor to the Capitol. An immense number of tamed elephants, lions, tigers, leopards181, bears, and other beasts move slowly and sullenly182 along, and eight hundred pairs of gladiators give promise of the impending183 spectacles. Then there are cars heavily laden184 with the gold, silver, and jewels of Palmyra, the rare249 presents of Persia, the purples of India, and the silks of China. Then there is the long and extraordinary train of captives, representing the nineteen nations which Aurelian has subdued185, even women who have been taken, in male costume, in the sternest battles. At last the melancholy186 line is closed by the lithe187 bronzed figure, with brilliant black eyes and teeth like pearls, of the woman whose beauty, genius, and daring have been on the lips of Rome for several years. Clothed for the last time in the heavily-jewelled robes of a queen—she had complained that she was not strong enough to walk under the load of jewels—she drags along the golden chains which bind188 her hands and feet, and a slave sustains the weight of the gold band round her throat. Beside her, in scarlet189 cloak and Gallic trousers, is Tetricus, Victoria’s last Emperor in Gaul. The whole Empire is again subject to Rome. And before the car of the conqueror three empty chariots are driven: one is the gold and silver car of Odenathus, one, of gold studded with gems, is a present from Persia, and the third is the car which Zenobia had made for her triumphant190 entry into Rome. Never had Emperor looked from his car on so superb a triumph. In less than a year Aurelian would be assassinated.
The last phase of Zenobia’s life is not quite clear. Zosimus is certainly wrong in his reproduction of a story that she died, or took her life, before she reached Rome. Still later and equally negligible writers ventured to say that she became a Christian, and even that Aurelian married one of her daughters. The “Historia Augusta,” which we may follow, as it was written in Rome a generation later, tells us that Aurelian gave her a villa near Hadrian’s palace at Tivoli, where she spent the rest of her life in the education of her children and the prosy duties of a Roman matron, and, we may conjecture191, in looking back with sad but proud recollection on the stirring romance of her career. Bishop Eusebius observes briefly192 in his “Chronicle” that she lived to a great age, and was held in the greatest regard at Rome.
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3
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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4
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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5
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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6
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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7
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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8
consorts
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| n.配偶( consort的名词复数 )；（演奏古典音乐的）一组乐师；一组古典乐器；一起v.结伴( consort的第三人称单数 )；交往；相称；调和 | |
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9
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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11
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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12
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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13
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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14
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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15
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
vindictiveness
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| 恶毒；怀恨在心 | |
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17
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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18
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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19
epicure
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| n.行家，美食家 | |
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20
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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21
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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22
solaced
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的过去分词 ) | |
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23
solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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24
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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25
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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26
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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27
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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28
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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29
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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30
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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31
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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32
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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33
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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34
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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35
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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36
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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37
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
thongs
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| 的东西 | |
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39
vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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42
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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43
grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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44
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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45
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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46
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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47
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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48
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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49
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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50
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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51
culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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53
pillager
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| n.掠夺者 | |
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54
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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55
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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56
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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57
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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58
penitents
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| n.后悔者( penitent的名词复数 )；忏悔者 | |
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59
expiating
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| v.为（所犯罪过）接受惩罚，赎（罪）( expiate的现在分词 ) | |
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60
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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61
ridicules
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| n.嘲笑( ridicule的名词复数 )；奚落；嘲弄；戏弄v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的第三人称单数 ) | |
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62
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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63
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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64
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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65
assassinate
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| vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤 | |
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66
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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67
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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68
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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69
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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70
devastated
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| v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的 | |
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71
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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72
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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73
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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74
trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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75
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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76
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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77
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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78
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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79
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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80
disdained
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| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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81
frivolously
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| adv.轻浮地，愚昧地 | |
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82
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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83
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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84
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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85
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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86
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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87
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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88
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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89
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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90
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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91
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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92
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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93
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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94
blustering
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| adj.狂风大作的，狂暴的v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的现在分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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95
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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96
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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98
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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99
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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100
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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101
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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102
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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103
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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104
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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105
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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106
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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107
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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108
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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109
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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110
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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111
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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112
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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113
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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114
appeasing
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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115
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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116
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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117
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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118
mimes
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| n.指手画脚( mime的名词复数 )；做手势；哑剧；哑剧演员v.指手画脚地表演，用哑剧的形式表演( mime的第三人称单数 ) | |
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119
comedians
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| n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 ) | |
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120
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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121
clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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122
paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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123
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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124
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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125
covetous
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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126
brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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127
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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besieging
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的现在分词 ) | |
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conspired
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| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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138
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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141
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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debilitated
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| adj.疲惫不堪的，操劳过度的v.使（人或人的身体）非常虚弱( debilitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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144
cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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147
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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durable
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| adj.持久的，耐久的 | |
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stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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161
auxiliaries
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| n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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tenaciously
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| 坚持地 | |
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intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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170
virility
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| n.雄劲，丈夫气 | |
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171
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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175
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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176
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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177
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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179
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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180
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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181
leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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182
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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185
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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188
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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189
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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190
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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191
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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192
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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