on horseback or on foot, at the head of his troops; and many of his victories have been ascribed to her skill and valour.
Odenatus was assassinated, with his son Herod, by his nephew Maronius, about the year 267, in revenge for a punishment Odenatus had inflicted on him. Maronius then seized upon the throne; but he had hardly assumed the sovereign title, when Zenobia, assisted by the friends of her husband, wrested the government from him, and put him to death. For five years she governed Palmyra and the East with vigour and ability; so that by her success in warlike expeditions, as well as by the wisdom and firmness of her administration, she aggrandized herself in Asia; and her authority was recognised in Cappadocia, Bithynia, and Egypt. She united with the popular manners of a Roman princess, the stately pomp of the Oriental courts, and styled herself "Queen of the East." She attended herself to the education of her three sons, and frequently showed them to her troops, adorned with the imperial purple.
When Aurelian succeeded to the Roman empire, dreading the power of such a rival, and determined to dispossess her of some of the rich provinces under her dominion, he marched, at the head of a powerful army, into Asia; and, having defeated the queen's general, Zabdas, near Antioch, Zenobia retreated to Emessa, whither she was pursued by Aurelian. Under the walls of that city another engagement, commanded and animated by Zenobia herself, took place, in which the emperor was again victorious. The unfortunate queen withdrew the relics of her forces to Palmyra, her capital, where she was pursued by Aurelian. Having closely invested the city, he found the besieged made a most spirited resistance, so that although Aurelian appeared confident of final success, yet he found the conquest of Palmyra so difficult that he proposed very advantageous offers to Zenobia, if she would submit and surrender the city. She rejected his terms in a haughty reply, which, although not prudent, exhibited her courage and patriotism in a strong light.
After protracting the siege as long as possible, Zenobia, determined not to surrender, mounted one of the swiftest of her dromedaries, and hastened towards the Euphrates, with a view of seeking an asylum in the Persian territories. But being overtaken in her flight, she was brought back to Aurelian, who sternly demanded of her, how she dared to resist the Emperors of Rome. She replied, "Because I could not recognise as such, Gallienus and others like him; you, alone, I acknowlege as my conqueror and my sovereign."
At Emessa, the fate of Zenobia was submitted to the judgment of a tribunal, at which Aurelian presided. Hearing the soldiers clamouring for her death, Zenobia, according to Zosimus, weakly purchased her life, with the sacrifice of her well-earned fame, by attributing the obstinacy of her resistance to the advice of her ministers. It is certain that these men were put to death; and as Zenobia was spared, it was conjectured her accusations drew down the vengeance of the emperor on the heads of her counsellors; but the fact has never been proved. One of the victims of this moment of cowardice, was the celebrated Longinus, who calmly resigned himself to his fate, pitying his unhappy mistress, and comforting his afflicted friends. He was put to death in 273.
Zenobia, reserved to grace the triumph of Aurelian, was taken to Rome, which she entered on foot, preceding a magnificent chariot, designed by her, in the days of her prosperity, for a triumphal
