Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/385

 OF THE ROMAN^ EMPIRE. 361 adversary whose sex alone could render her an object CHAP, of contempt, his presence restored obedience to the ' province of Bithynia, already shaken by the arms and The expe- intrigues ofZenobia'^. Advancing at the head of his ^'^'"Jfj°^ legions, he accepted the submission of Ancyra, and was A.D. 272. 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 ap- proach, till the emperor, by his salutary edicts, re- called the fugitives, and granted a general pardon to all who, from necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the service of the Palmy renian 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^ Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation, had The empe- she indolently permitted the emperor of the west to [J^ p^my. approach within an hundred miles of her capital. The renians in fate of the east was decided in two great battles ; so of Antioch similar in almost every circumstance, that we can ^°^ Emesa. scarcely distinguish them from each other, except by observing that the first was fought near Antioch*, and the second near Emesa ". In both, the queen of Pal- myra animated the armies by her presence, and de- volved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who had already signalized his military talents by the con- quest of Egypt. The numerous" forces of Zenobia con- sisted for the most part of light archers, and of heavy '1 Zosimus, 1. i. p. 44. ' Vopiscus (in Hist. August, p. 217.) gives us an authentic letter, and a doubtful vision of Aurelian. Apollonius 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. tion only this first battle. " Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 217, mentions only the second.
 * At a place called Immae. Eutropius, Sextus Rufus, and Jerome, men-