DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4569#0019
11
Zenobia
conquers
great part of
Afia,
O F P A L M Y R A.
relian's active fpirit to compleat the work. While the two firft years
of his reign were fuccefsfully employed againft the Goths, Germans, and
Vandals, and in reforming the police at Rome, Zenobia added a great
part cf Alia Minor to her dominions. *
It may be worth while to take a fhort view of Zenobia's prefent fitua-
tion. She is now arrived at the higheft pitch of her glory, and furnifhes
an example of one of the moft rapid and extraordinary changes of fortune
we meet with in hiftory.
A fmall territory in the defart, under the government of a woman, ex-The extent
tends its conquefts over many rich countries and confiderable ftates. Thequeit" c
great kingdoms of the Ptolemy's and the Selucida^ are become part
of the dominions of a fingle city, whofe name we in vain looked for in
their hiftory; and Zenobia lately confined to the barren plains of Palmyra,
has now Egypt in her dominions to the fouth, and to the north com-
mands as far as the Boiphorus and black fea.
Her fuccefs had hitherto been very little interrupted; Claudius thought
it the moft prudent meafure to employ his whole force in the fuppreffion
of evils nearer home. This conduct had Aurelian's approbation, as we
fee both in his letter a to the fenate, and by his taking the fame fteps; for he
intirely fubdued the Goths, and then marched to the relief of the eaftern
empire. He crofted the Bofphorus at Byzantium, and except at Tyana, a
town of Cappadocia, which he took by ftratagem, met with no oppofi-
tion in his march to Antioch.
:S of
Antioch and
At this city and at Emefa, were fought thefe two battles by which Au-Batties
relian recovered the provinces of the eaft, and Zenobia was reduced to eS
take flielter within the walls of her own capital.
The moft remarkable things in thefe two actions, the laftof which was
very obftinate, were the fuperiority the Palmyrenes had in their cavalry, and
the Romans in the art of war. The fame country exeells in horfes and
horfemanftiip at this day.
Aurelian proceeded to Palmyra, greatly harraffed in his march by the Sy-^j
rian banditti, and having taken proper precautions to have his army fup- Au*S
plied with provisions, befieged the town. The obftinacy with which the gar-
rifon defended it, is particularly taken notice of in a letter b from Aurelian
to Mucapores, as an apology for the length of the fiege.
At laft tired out with unfuccefsful attempts, he was refolved to try the ef-
fects of negotiation, and accordingly wrote0 to Zenobia, but in a ftyleHe litest*
yra is
befieged by
ian.
Zenobia.
a Preferved in Treb. Pol. vit. Zenob.
b Quoted by Vopifcus. vit. Aurelian.
c The letter is preferved in Vopifcus. Aurelianus impera-
tor Ro. orbis & receptor Orientis, Zenobias, csterifque quos
ibcietas tenet bellica.—Sponte faccre debuiftis id quod meis
litteris nunc jubetur : deditionem prsecipio impunitate vitas
propofita, ita ut illic, Zenobia, cum tuis agas vitam, ubi te
ex fenatus ampliffimi fententia collocavero. Gemmas, argen-
tum, aurum, fericum, equos, camelos in asrarium Ro'. conieras.
Palmyrenis jus fuum fervabitur : Vopifcus adds. Hac epiftola
accepta, Zenobia fuperbius infolentiufque refcripfit quam
.ejus fortuna poicebat, credo ad terrorem. The fame author
G
gives the following copy of her letter. Zenobia regina Ori-
entis Aureliano Augufto.------Nemo adhuc, praster te, quod
pofcis litteris petiit: virtute faciendum eft quicquid in rebus
bellicis eft gerendum. Deditionem meam petis, quafi nefcias
Cleopatram reginam perire maltiiffe quam.in qualibet vi-
vere dignitate: nobis Perfarura auxilia non defunt, quas jam
fperamus. Pro nobis funt Saraceni, pro nobis Armenii. Latrones
Syri exercitum tuum, Aureliane, vicerunt; quid igitur fi ilia
venerit manus, quas undique fperatur ? Pones profecto fuper-
cilium, quo nunc mihi deditionem, quafi omnifariam victor
imperas. Vid. Vopfc. in vita Aurelian*
which
Zenobia
conquers
great part of
Afia,
O F P A L M Y R A.
relian's active fpirit to compleat the work. While the two firft years
of his reign were fuccefsfully employed againft the Goths, Germans, and
Vandals, and in reforming the police at Rome, Zenobia added a great
part cf Alia Minor to her dominions. *
It may be worth while to take a fhort view of Zenobia's prefent fitua-
tion. She is now arrived at the higheft pitch of her glory, and furnifhes
an example of one of the moft rapid and extraordinary changes of fortune
we meet with in hiftory.
A fmall territory in the defart, under the government of a woman, ex-The extent
tends its conquefts over many rich countries and confiderable ftates. Thequeit" c
great kingdoms of the Ptolemy's and the Selucida^ are become part
of the dominions of a fingle city, whofe name we in vain looked for in
their hiftory; and Zenobia lately confined to the barren plains of Palmyra,
has now Egypt in her dominions to the fouth, and to the north com-
mands as far as the Boiphorus and black fea.
Her fuccefs had hitherto been very little interrupted; Claudius thought
it the moft prudent meafure to employ his whole force in the fuppreffion
of evils nearer home. This conduct had Aurelian's approbation, as we
fee both in his letter a to the fenate, and by his taking the fame fteps; for he
intirely fubdued the Goths, and then marched to the relief of the eaftern
empire. He crofted the Bofphorus at Byzantium, and except at Tyana, a
town of Cappadocia, which he took by ftratagem, met with no oppofi-
tion in his march to Antioch.
:S of
Antioch and
At this city and at Emefa, were fought thefe two battles by which Au-Batties
relian recovered the provinces of the eaft, and Zenobia was reduced to eS
take flielter within the walls of her own capital.
The moft remarkable things in thefe two actions, the laftof which was
very obftinate, were the fuperiority the Palmyrenes had in their cavalry, and
the Romans in the art of war. The fame country exeells in horfes and
horfemanftiip at this day.
Aurelian proceeded to Palmyra, greatly harraffed in his march by the Sy-^j
rian banditti, and having taken proper precautions to have his army fup- Au*S
plied with provisions, befieged the town. The obftinacy with which the gar-
rifon defended it, is particularly taken notice of in a letter b from Aurelian
to Mucapores, as an apology for the length of the fiege.
At laft tired out with unfuccefsful attempts, he was refolved to try the ef-
fects of negotiation, and accordingly wrote0 to Zenobia, but in a ftyleHe litest*
yra is
befieged by
ian.
Zenobia.
a Preferved in Treb. Pol. vit. Zenob.
b Quoted by Vopifcus. vit. Aurelian.
c The letter is preferved in Vopifcus. Aurelianus impera-
tor Ro. orbis & receptor Orientis, Zenobias, csterifque quos
ibcietas tenet bellica.—Sponte faccre debuiftis id quod meis
litteris nunc jubetur : deditionem prsecipio impunitate vitas
propofita, ita ut illic, Zenobia, cum tuis agas vitam, ubi te
ex fenatus ampliffimi fententia collocavero. Gemmas, argen-
tum, aurum, fericum, equos, camelos in asrarium Ro'. conieras.
Palmyrenis jus fuum fervabitur : Vopifcus adds. Hac epiftola
accepta, Zenobia fuperbius infolentiufque refcripfit quam
.ejus fortuna poicebat, credo ad terrorem. The fame author
G
gives the following copy of her letter. Zenobia regina Ori-
entis Aureliano Augufto.------Nemo adhuc, praster te, quod
pofcis litteris petiit: virtute faciendum eft quicquid in rebus
bellicis eft gerendum. Deditionem meam petis, quafi nefcias
Cleopatram reginam perire maltiiffe quam.in qualibet vi-
vere dignitate: nobis Perfarura auxilia non defunt, quas jam
fperamus. Pro nobis funt Saraceni, pro nobis Armenii. Latrones
Syri exercitum tuum, Aureliane, vicerunt; quid igitur fi ilia
venerit manus, quas undique fperatur ? Pones profecto fuper-
cilium, quo nunc mihi deditionem, quafi omnifariam victor
imperas. Vid. Vopfc. in vita Aurelian*
which