detriment of his own upstart family, and her resentment was inflamed by
discovering that he had given orders on leaving Judea, that she should
be put to death in the event of his being sacrificed by Octavius. There
was little need of artifice to effect the destruction of one who laid
herself open so fearlessly to the wrath of a tyrant, however he might be
besotted by his love. The foes of Mariamne pretended that she had
plotted to poison her husband. She was seized, examined, and sentence of
death formally passed upon her. The sentence may have been intended only
to intimidate her; but its execution was urged by the jealous passions
of Salome, and Herod's fears were worked upon till he consented to let
the blow fall. Her misery was crowned by the craven reproaches of her
mother Alexandra, who sought to escape partaking her fate by basely
cringing to the murderer. But she, the last daughter of a noble race,
endured with constancy to the end, and the favour of her admiring
countrymen has not failed to accord to her a distinguished place in the
long line of Jewish heroines.
They recorded with grim delight the tyrant's unavailing remorse, his
fruitless yearnings for the victim he had sacrificed, the plaintive
exclamations he made to echo through his palace, and the passionate
upbraidings with which he assailed her judges. He strove, it was said,
by magical incantations to recall her spirit from the shades, and, as if
to drive from his mind the intolerable recollection of her loss,
commanded his attendants always to speak of her as one alive. Whether or
not the pestilence which ensued might justly be regarded as a divine
judgment, the sharp disease and deep settled melancholy which afflicted
the murderer formed a signal and merited retribution for his crime.
JULIA DOMNA.
[240.]
GIBBON.
The second wife of the Emperor Severus deserved all that the stars could
promise her. She possessed, even in an advanced age, the attractions of
beauty; and united to a lively imagination a firmness of mind and
strength of judgment seldom bestowed on her sex. Her amiable qualities
never made any deep impression on the dark and jealous temper of her
husband; but in her son's [Caracalla's] reign she administered the
principal affairs of the empire with a prudence that supported his
authority, and with a moderation that sometimes corrected his wild
extravagances. Julia applied herself to letters and philosophy with some
success, and with the most splendid reputation. She was the patroness of
every art, and the friend of every man of genius. The grateful flattery
of the learned has celebrated her virtue; but, if we may credit the
scandal of ancient history, chastity was very far from being the most
conspicuous virtue of the Empress Julia.
She had experienced all the vicissitudes of fortune. From an humble
station she had been raised to greatness, only to taste the superior
bitterness of an exalted rank. She was doomed to weep over the death of
one of her sons, and over the life of the other. The cruel fate of
Caracalla, though her good sense must have long taught her to expect
it, awakened the feelings of a mother and of an empress. Notwithstanding
the respectful civility expressed by the usurper [Macrinus] towards the
widow of Severus, she descended with a painful struggle into the
condition of a subject, and soon withdrew herself, by a voluntary death,
from the anxious and humiliating dependence.
[So far Gibbon; to which Guizot adds:] This princess, as soon as she
heard of Caracalla's fate, entertained the idea of starving herself to
death. She was reconciled to life by the respect with which Macrinus
treated her, by whom she was permitted to retain her court and
establishment. But if we may draw any safe conclusion from the curtailed
text of Dion and Xiphilin's imperfect abridgment, she conceived new
ambitious projects, and aspired to empire. She wished to follow in the
steps of Semiramis and Netocris, whose ancient country bordered on her
own. Macrinus ordered her immediately to quit Antioch, and retire
wherever she would. Recurring to her original design, she died of
hunger.
ZENOBIA.
[300.]
GIBBON.
Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women, who have sustained
with glory the weight of empire; nor is our own age destitute of such
distinguished characters. But if we except the doubtful achievements of
Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose superior genius
broke through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by the climate
and manners of Asia. She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings
of Egypt, equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed
that princess in chastity and valour. Zenobia was esteemed the most
lovely, as well as the most heroic of her sex. She was of a dark
complexion (for in speaking of a lady, these trifles become important).
Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled
with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice
was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was strengthened and
adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but
possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian
languages. She had drawn up for her own use an epitome of Oriental
history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under
the tuition of the sublime Longinus.
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; he pursued with
ardour the wild beasts of the desert,--lions, panthers, and bears,--and
the ardour 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 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 far 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 people
of Rome revered a stranger who had avenged the captive emperor; and even
the insensible son of Valerian accepted Odenathus for his legitimate
colleague.
With the assistance of her most faithful friends, Zenobia [after the
death of her husband] 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 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 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
appeared magnificent and liberal. The neighbouring 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 ancestors,
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. 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 successes 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 doubtful title of Queen of the East.
When Aurelian passed over into Asia, Zenobia would have ill deserved her
reputation had she indolently permitted the Emperor of the West to
approach within an hundred miles of her capital. The fate of the East
was decided in two great battles, so similar in almost every
circumstance, that we can 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 Palmyra animated the armies by
her presence, and devolved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who
had already signalised his military talents by the conquest of Egypt.
After the defeat of Emesa, Zenobia found it impossible to collect a
third army. Palmyra was the last resource of the widow of Odenathus. She
retired within the walls of her capital, made every preparation for a
vigorous resistance, and declared, with the intrepidity of a heroine,
that the last moment of her reign and of her life should be the same.
The firmness of Zenobia was supported by the hope, that in a very short
time famine would compel the Roman army to repass the desert; but
fortune, and the perseverance of Aurelian, overcame every obstacle. It
was then that Zenobia resolved to fly. She mounted the fleetest of her
dromedaries, and had already reached the banks of the Euphrates, about
sixty miles from Palmyra, when she was overtaken by the pursuit of
Aurelian's light horse, seized, and brought back a captive to the feet
of the emperor. Her capital soon afterwards surrendered, and was treated
with unexpected lenity. Subsequently, when provoked by the intelligence
that the Palmyrenians had massacred the governor, Palmyra felt the
irresistible weight of his resentment. But it is easier to destroy than
to restore. The seat of commerce, of arts, and of Zenobia, gradually
sunk into an obscure town, a trifling fortress, and at length a
miserable village.
VALERIA.
[BORN 276. DIED 315.]
GIBBON.
When Diocletian conferred on Galerius the title of Caesar, he had given
him in marriage his daughter Valeria, whose melancholy adventures might
furnish a very singular subject for tragedy. She had fulfilled and even
surpassed the duties of a wife. As she had not any children herself, she
condescended to adopt the illegitimate son of her husband, and
invariably displayed towards the unhappy Candidianus the tenderness and
anxiety of a real mother. After the death of Galerius, her ample
possessions provoked the avarice, and her personal attractions excited
the desires, of his successor Maximin. He had a wife still alive, but
divorce was permitted by the Roman law, and the fierce passions of the
tyrant demanded an immediate gratification. The answer of Valeria was
such as became the daughter and widow of emperors, but it was tempered
by the prudence which her defenceless condition compelled her to
observe. She represented to the persons whom Maximin had employed on
this occasion, "that even if honour could permit a woman of her
character and dignity to entertain a thought of second nuptials, decency
at least must forbid her to listen to his addresses at a time when the
ashes of her husband and his benefactor were still warm, and while the
sorrows of her mind were still expressed by her mourning garments." She
ventured to declare, that she could place little confidence in the
professions of a man whose cruel inconstancy was capable of repudiating
a faithful and affectionate wife.
On this repulse, the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and as
witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for him to
cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings, and to assault
the reputation as well as the happiness of Valeria. Her estates were
confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics devoted to the most inhuman
tortures, and several innocent and respectable matrons, who were
honoured with her friendship, suffered death on a false accusation of
adultery. The empress herself, together with her mother, was condemned
to exile; and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place
before they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of
Syria, they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of the
East, which, during thirty years, had respected their august dignity.
Diocletian made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate the misfortunes
of his daughter; and, as the last return that he expected for the
imperial purple which he had conferred on Maximin, he entreated that
Valeria might be permitted to share his retirement of Salona, and to
close the eyes of her afflicted father. He entreated; but as he could no
longer threaten, his prayers were received with coldness and disdain,
and the pride of Maximin was gratified in treating Diocletian as a
suppliant, and his daughter as a criminal. The death of Maximin seemed
to assure the empresses of a favourable alteration in their fortune. The
public disorders relaxed the vigilance of their guard, and they easily
found means to escape from the place of their exile, and to repair,
though with some precaution, and in disguise, to the court of Licinius.
The behaviour of Licinius in the first days of his reign, and the
honourable reception which he gave to the young Candidianus, inspired
Valeria with a secret satisfaction, both on her own account and on that
of her adopted son. But these grateful prospects were soon succeeded by
horror and astonishment, and the bloody executions which stained the
palace of Nicomedia sufficiently convinced her that the throne of
Maximin was filled by a tyrant more inhuman than himself. Valeria
consulted her safety by a hasty flight, and, still accompanied by her
mother Prisca, they wandered about fifteen months through the provinces,
concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. They were at length
discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of their death was
already pronounced, they were immediately beheaded, and their bodies
thrown into the sea. The people gazed on the melancholy spectacle, but
their grief and indignation were suppressed by the terrors of a military
guard. Such was the unworthy fate of the wife and daughter of
Diocletian. We lament their misfortunes; we cannot discover their
crimes; and whatever idea we may justly entertain of the cruelty of
Licinius, it remains a matter of surprise that he was not contented with
some more secret and decent method of revenge.
EUDOCIA.
[BORN 393. DIED 460.]
GIBBON.
The story of a fair and virtuous maiden, exalted from a private
condition to the imperial throne, might be deemed an incredible romance,
if such a romance had not been verified in the marriage of Theodosius.
The celebrated Athenais was educated by her father Leontius in the
religion and sciences of the Greeks; and so advantageous was the opinion
which the Athenian philosopher entertained of his contemporaries, that
he divided his patrimony between his two sons, bequeathing to his
daughter a small legacy of one hundred pieces of gold, in the lively
confidence that her beauty and merit would be a sufficient portion. The
jealousy and avarice of her brothers soon compelled Athenais to seek a
refuge at Constantinople, and, with some hopes, either of justice or
favour, to throw herself at the feet of Pulcheria [the sister of
Theodosius]. That sagacious princess listened to her eloquent complaint,
and secretly destined the daughter of the philosopher Leontius for the
future wife of the emperor of the East, who had now attained the
twentieth year of his age.
She easily excited the curiosity of her brother by an interesting
picture of the charms of Athenais--large eyes, a well-proportioned nose,
a fair complexion, golden locks, a slender person, a graceful
demeanour, an understanding improved by study, and a virtue tried by
distress. Theodosius, concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his
sister, was permitted to behold the Athenian virgin. The modest youth
immediately declared his pure and honourable love, and the royal
nuptials were celebrated amid the acclamations of the capital and the
provinces. Athenais, who was easily persuaded to renounce the errors of
paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name of Eudocia; but the
cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of Augusta till the wife of
Theodosius had approved her fruitfulness by the birth of a daughter, who
espoused, fifteen years afterwards, the emperor of the West.
The brothers of Eudocia obeyed the imperial summons with some anxiety;
but as she could easily forgive their fortunate unkindness, she indulged
the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister, by promoting them to
the rank of consuls and prefects. In the luxury of the palace, she still
cultivated those ingenious arts which had contributed to her greatness,
and wisely dedicated her talents to the honour of religion and of her
husband. Eudocia composed a poetical paraphrase of the first eight books
of the Old Testament, and of the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah; a
cento of the verses of Homer, applied to the life and miracles of
Christ; the legend of St Cyprian, and a panegyric on the Persian
victories of Theodosius; and her writings, which were applauded by a
servile and superstitious age, have not been disdained by the candour of
impartial criticism.
The fondness of the emperor was not abated by time and possession; and
Eudocia, after the marriage of her daughter, was permitted to discharge
her grateful vows by a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her ostentatious
progress through the East may seem inconsistent with the spirit of
Christian humility. She pronounced, from a throne of gold and gems, an
eloquent oration to the senate of Antioch, declared her royal intention
of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a donation of two hundred
pounds of gold to restore the public baths, and accepted the statues
which were decreed by the gratitude of Antioch. In the Holy Land, her
alms and pious foundations exceeded the munificence of the great Helena;
and though the public treasure might be impoverished by this excessive
liberality, she enjoyed the conscious satisfaction of returning to
Constantinople with the chains of St Peter, the right arm of St Stephen,
and an undoubted picture of the Virgin, painted by St Luke. But this
pilgrimage was the fatal term of the glories of Eudocia. Satiated with
the empty pomp, and unmindful, perhaps, of her obligations to Pulcheria,
she ambitiously aspired to the government of the Eastern empire; the
palace was distracted by female discord; but the victory was at last
decided by the superior ascendant of the sister of Theodosius.
The execution of Paulinus, master of the offices, and the disgrace of
Cyrus, praetorian prefect of the East, convinced the public that the
favour of Eudocia was insufficient to protect her most faithful friends;
and the uncommon beauty of Paulinus encouraged the secret rumour, that
his guilt was that of a successful lover. As soon as Eudocia perceived
that the affection of Theodosius was irretrievably lost, she requested
the permission of retiring to the distant solitude of Jerusalem. She
obtained her request; but the jealousy of Theodosius pursued her in her
last retreat; and Saturninus, count of the domestics, was directed to
punish with death two ecclesiastics, her most favoured servants. Eudocia
instantly revenged them by the assassination of the count. The furious
passions which she indulged on this suspicious occasion seemed to
justify the severity of Theodosius; and the empress, ignominiously
stripped of the honours of her rank, was disgraced, perhaps unjustly, in
the eyes of the world. The remainder of the life of Eudocia, about
sixteen years, was spent in exile and devotion. The approach of age, the
death of Theodosius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a
captive from Rome to Carthage, and the society of the holy monks of
Palestine, insensibly confirmed the religious temper of her mind. After
a full experience of the vicissitudes of human life, the daughter of the
philosopher Leontius expired at Jerusalem in the sixty-seventh year of
her age, protesting, with her dying breath, that she had never
transgressed the bounds of innocence and friendship.
HYPATIA.
[415.]
BRUCKER.
To the list of Alexandrian philosophers must be added the celebrated
Hypatia, whose extensive learning, elegant manners, and tragical end,
have rendered her name immortal. Hypatia was the daughter of Theon, a
celebrated mathematician of Alexandria. She possessed an acute and
penetrating judgment, and great sublimity and fertility of genius; and
her talents were cultivated with assiduity by her father and other
preceptors. After she had made herself mistress of polite learning, and
of the sciences of geometry and astronomy, as far as they were then
understood, she entered upon the study of philosophy. She prosecuted
this study with such uncommon success, that she was importuned to become
a public preceptress in the school where Plotinus and his successors had
taught; and her love of science enabled her so far to subdue the natural
diffidence of her sex, that she yielded to the public voice, and
exchanged her female decorations for the philosopher's cloak. In the
schools, and other places of public resort, she discoursed upon
philosophical topics, explaining, and endeavouring to reconcile, the
systems of Plato, Aristotle, and other masters. A ready elocution and
graceful address, united with rich erudition and sound judgment,
procured her numerous followers and admirers. But that which reflects
the highest honour upon her memory is, that although she excelled most
of the philosophers of her age in mathematical and philosophical
science, she discovered no pride of learning; and though she was in
person exceedingly beautiful, she never yielded to the impulse of female
vanity, or gave occasion to the slightest suspicion against her
chastity.