meeting of brothers--yet, of strangers, and a confusion of
wonder, curiosity, vague expectation, and doubt, possessed
the soul of each. I trust and believe, that notwithstanding
the different political bias which sways each, the ancient
ties which bound us together as brothers will again unite us.
The countenance of Calpurnius, though dark and almost stern
in its general expression, yet unbends and relaxes frequently
and suddenly, in a manner that impresses you forcibly with
an inward humanity as the presiding though often concealed
quality of his nature. I can trace faintly the features which
have been stamped upon my memory--and the form too--chiefly
by the recollected scene of that bright morning, when he with
our elder brother and venerable parent, gave us each a last
embrace, as they started for the tents of Valerian. A warmer
climate has deepened the olive of his complexion, and at the
same time added brilliancy to an eye, by nature soft as a
woman's. His Persian dress increases greatly the effect of his
rare beauty, yet I heartily wish it off, as it contributes
more, I believe, than the lapse of so many years, to separate
us. He will not seem and feel as a brother, till he returns to
the costume of his native land. How great this power of mere
dress is upon our affections and our regard, you can yourself
bear witness, when those who parted from you to travel in
foreign countries have returned metamorphosed into Greeks,
Egyptians, or Persians, according to the fashions that have
struck their foolish fancies. The assumed and foreign air:
chills the untravelled heart as it greets them. They are no
longer the same. However the reason may strive to overcome
what seems the mere prejudice of a wayward nature, we strive
in vain: nature will be uppermost--and many, many times have I
seen the former friendships break away and perish.
"I could not be alive to the general justness of the comparison
instituted by Isaac, between Calpurnius and Julia. There are
many points of resemblance. The very same likeness in kind
that we so often observe between a brother and sister--such as
we have often remarked in your nephew and niece, Drusus and
Lavinia--whose dress being changed, and they are changed.
"No sooner had I greeted and welcomed my brother, than I turned
to Isaac and saluted him, I am persuaded with scarcely less
cordiality.
"'I sincerely bless the gods,' said I, 'that you have escaped
the perils of two such passages through the desert, and are
safe in Palmyra. May every wish of your heart, concerning your
beloved Jerusalem, be accomplished. In the keeping of Demetrius
will you find not only the single talent agreed upon, in
case you returned, but the two which were to be paid had you
perished. One such tempest upon the desert, escaped, is more
and worse than death itself, met softly upon one's bed.
"'Now, Jehovah be praised,' ejaculated Isaac, 'who himself has
moved thy heart to this grace. Israel will feel this bounty
through every limb: it will be to her as the oil of life.'
"'And my debt,' said Calpurnius, 'is greater yet, and should in
reason be more largely paid. Through the hands of Demetrius I
will discharge it.'
"'We are all bound to you,' said Fausta, 'more than words or
money pay.'
"'You owe more than you are perhaps aware of, to the rhetoric
of Isaac,' added Calpurnius. 'Had it not been for the faithful
zeal and cunning of your messenger, in his arguments not less
than his contrivances, I had hardly now been sitting within the
walls of Palmyra.'"
Isaac, after narrating the particulars of an affray in which he
became involved in the streets of Ecbatana, by disputing the
sincerity of a Persian false prophet, who was 'speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after him,' closes with the following
beautiful and pathetic defence of the 'ancient covenant people:'
"'One word, if it please you,' said Isaac, 'before I depart.
The gentile despises the Jew. He charges upon him usury and
extortion. He accuses him of avarice. He believes him to
subsist upon the very life-blood of whomsoever he can draw into
his meshes. I have known those who have firm faith that the
Jew feeds but upon the flesh and blood of Pagan and Christian
infants, whom, by necromantic power, he beguiles from their
homes. He is held as the common enemy of man--a universal
robber--whom all are bound to hate and oppress. Reward me now
with your belief, better than even the two gold talents I have
earned, that all are not such. This is the charity, and all
that I would beg; and I beg it of you--for that I love you
all, and would have your esteem. Believe that in the Jew there
is a heart of flesh as well as in a dog. Believe that some
noble ambition visits his mind as well as yours. Credit it
not--it is against nature--that any tribe of man is what you
make the Jew. Look upon me, and behold the emblem of my tribe.
What do you see? A man bent with years and toil--this ragged
tunic his richest garb--his face worn with the storms of all
climates--a wanderer over the earth; my home--Piso, thou hast
seen it--a single room, with my good dromedary's furniture
for my bed at night, and my seat by day; this pack--my only
apparent wealth. Yet here have I now received two gold talents
of Jerusalem!--what most would say were wealth enough, and
this is not the tythe of that which I possess. What then? Is
it for that I love obscurity, slavery, and a beggar's raiment,
that I live and labor thus, when my wealth would raise me to
a prince's state? Or is it that I love to sit and count my
hoarded gains? Good friends, for such you are, believe it not.
You have found me faithful and true to my engagements; believe
my word also. You have heard of Jerusalem, once the chief city
of the East, where stood the great temple of our faith, and
which was the very heart of our nation, and you know how it
was beleaguered by the Romans, and its very foundations rooted
up, and her inhabitants driven abroad as outcasts, to wander
over the face of the earth, with every where a country, but no
where a home. And does the Jew, think you, sit down quietly
under these wrongs? Trajan's reign may answer that. Is there no
patriotism yet alive in the bosom of a Jew? Will every other
toil and die for his country, and not the Jew? Believe me
again, the prayers which go up morning, noon, and night, for
the restoration of Jerusalem, are not fewer than those which go
up for Rome or Palmyra. And their deeds are not less--for every
prayer there are two acts. It is for Jerusalem, that you behold
me thus in rags, and yet rich. It is for her glory, that I am
the servant of all, and the scorn of all; that I am now pinched
by the winters of Byzantium, now scorched by the heats of Asia,
and buried beneath the sands of the desert. All that I have and
am is for Jerusalem. And in telling you of myself, I have told
you of my tribe. What we do and are, is not for ourselves, but
for our country. Friends, the hour of redemption draweth nigh!'"
Soon after Calpurnius's return--who has imbibed a hatred of Rome
during his long captivity, and who espouses Zenobia's cause with
great zeal--the Roman ambassadors leave Palmyra, bearing with them,
from the Queen to Aurelian, a virtual declaration of war. The busy
note of preparation for contest resounds through the city, the whole
aspect of which is changed. Even Fausta makes ready for battle, and
dons her armor. Of the latter, and how it became the noble Palmyrene
maiden, the annexed extracts speak:
"As I descended to the apartment where we take together our
morning meal, and which we were now for the last time to
partake in each other's company, I found Fausta already there,
and surveying with sparkling eyes and a flushed cheek, a suit
of the most brilliant armor, which, having been made by the
Queen's workmen, and by her order, had just now been brought
and delivered to her.
"'I asked the honor,' said the person with whom she was
conversing, 'to bring it myself, who have made it with the
same care as the Queen's, of the same materials, and after the
same fashion. So it was her order to do. It will set, lady,
believe me, as easy as a riding dress, though it will be all
of the most impenetrable steel. The polish too, is such, that
neither arrow nor javelin need be feared; they can but touch
and glance. Hercules could not indent this surface. Let me
reveal to you diverse secret and perfect springs and clasps,
the use of which you should be well acquainted with. Yet it
differs not so much from that in which you have performed your
exercises, but what you will readily comprehend the manner of
its adjustment.'"
* * * * *
"She was now a beautiful vision to behold as ever lighted upon
the earth. Her armor revealed with exactness the perfection of
her form, and to her uncommon beauty added its own, being of
the most brilliant steel, and frequently studded with jewels of
dazzling lustre. Her sex was revealed only by her hair, which
parting over her forehead, fell toward either eye, and then
was drawn up and buried in her helmet. The ease with which she
moved, showed how well she had accustomed herself, by frequent
exercises, to the cumbrous load she bore. I could hardly
believe, as she paced the apartment, issuing her final orders
to her slaves and attendants, who pressed around, that I was
looking upon a woman reared in all the luxury of the East. Much
as I had been accustomed to the sight of Zenobia performing the
part of an emperor, I found it difficult to persuade myself,
that when I looked upon Fausta, changing so completely her sex,
it was any thing more than an illusion."
We make the following striking extract, for the purpose of
contrasting it with a kindred picture, though reversed:
"The city itself was all pouring forth upon the plains in its
vicinity. The crowds choked the streets as they passed out,
so that our progress was slow. Arriving at length, we turned
toward the pavilion of the Queen, pitched over against the
centre of the army. There we stood, joined by others, awaiting
her arrival--for she had not yet left the palace. We had not
stood long, before the braying of trumpets and other warlike
instruments announced her approach. We turned, and looking
toward the gate of the city, through which we had but now
passed, saw Zenobia, having on either side Longinus and Zabdas,
and preceded and followed by a select troop of horse, advancing
at her usual speed toward the pavilion. She was mounted upon
her far-famed white Numidian, for power an elephant, for
endurance a dromedary, for fleetness a very Nicoean, and who
had been her companion in all the battles by which she had
gained her renown and her empire.
"Calpurnius was beside himself: he had not before seen her when
assuming all her state. 'Did eye ever look upon aught so like a
celestial apparition? It is a descent from other regions; I can
swear 'tis no mortal--still less a woman. Fausta--this puts to
shame your eulogies, swollen as I termed them.'
"I did not wonder at his amazement, for I myself shared it,
though I had seen her so often. The object that approached
us, truly seemed rather a moving blaze of light than an armed
woman, which the eye and the reason declared it to be, with
such gorgeous magnificence was she arrayed. The whole art
of the armorer had been exhausted in her appointments. The
caparison of her steed, sheathed with burnished gold, and thick
studded with precious stones of every various hue, reflected
an almost intolerable splendor, as the rays of a hot morning
sun fell upon it. She too, herself, being clothed in armor of
polished steel, whose own fiëry brightness was doubled by the
diamonds--that was the only jewel she wore--sown with profusion
all over its more prominent parts, could be gazed upon scarcely
with more ease than the sun himself, whose beams were given
back from it with undiminished glory. In her right hand, she
held the long, slender lance of the cavalry; over her shoulders
hung a quiver, well loaded with arrows; while at her side
depended a heavy Damascus blade. Her head was surmounted by a
steel helmet, which left her face wholly uncovered, and showed
her forehead like Fausta's, shaded by the dark hair, which,
while it was the only circumstance that revealed the woman,
added to the effect of a countenance unequalled for marvellous
union of feminine beauty, queenly dignity, and masculine power.
Sometimes it has been her usage, upon such occasions, to appear
with arms bare, and gloved hands; they were now cased, like the
rest of the body, in plates of steel.
"'Calpurnius,' said Fausta, 'saw you ever in Persia such
horsemanship? See now, as she draws nearer, with what grace and
power she moves? Blame you the enthusiasm of this people?'
"'I more than share it,' he replied; 'it is reward enough for
my long captivity, at last to follow such a leader. Many a
time, as Zenobia has in years past visited my dreams, and I
almost fancied myself in her train, I little thought that the
happiness I now experience, was to become a reality. But, hark!
how the shout of welcome goes up from this innumerable host.'
"No sooner was the Queen arrived where we stood, and the whole
extended lines became aware of her presence, than the air
was rilled with the clang of trumpets, and the enthusiastic
cries of the soldiery, who waved aloft their arms, and made a
thousand expressive signs of most joyful greeting. When this
hearty salutation, commencing at the centre, had died away
along the wings, stretching one way to the walls of the city,
and the other toward the desert, Zenobia rode up nearer the
lines, and being there surrounded by the ranks which were
in front, and by a crowd of the great officers of the army,
spoke to them, in accordance with her custom. Stretching out
her hand, as if she would ask the attention of the multitude,
a deep silence ensued, and in a voice clear and strong, she
thus addressed them: 'Men and soldiers of Palmyra! Is this the
last time that you are to gather together in this glittering
array, and go forth as lords of the whole East? Conquerors
in so many wars, are you now about to make an offering of
yourselves and your homes to the Emperor of Rome? Am I, who
have twice led you to the gates of Ctesiphon, now to be your
leader to the footstool of Aurelian? Are you thinking of any
thing but victory? Is there one in all these ranks who doubts
whether the same fate that once befel Probus shall now befall
Aurelian? If there be, let him stand forth! Let him go and
intrench himself within the walls of Palmyra. We want him not.
(The soldiers brandished and clashed their arms.) Victory,
soldiers, belongs to those who believe. Believe that you can do
so, and we will return with a Roman army captive at our chariot
wheels. Who should put trust in themselves, if not the men
and soldiers of Palmyra? Whose memory is long enough to reach
backward to a defeat? What was the reign of Odenatus, but an
unbroken triumph? Are you now, for the first time, to fly or
fall before an enemy? And who the enemy? Forget it not--Rome!
and Aurelian! the greatest empire and the greatest soldier
of the world. Never before was so large a prize within your
reach. Never before fought you on a stage with the whole world
for spectators. Forget not, too, that defeat will be not only
defeat, but ruin! The loss of a battle will be not only so many
dead and wounded, but the loss of empire! For Rome resolves
upon our subjugation. We must conquer, or we must perish; and
forever lose our city, our throne, and our name. Are you ready
to write yourselves subjects and slaves of Rome!--citizens of a
Roman province?--and forfeit the proud name of Palmyrene? (Loud
and indignant cries rose from the surrounding ranks.) If not,
you have only to remember the plains of Egypt and of Persia,
and the spirit that burned within your bosoms then, will save
you now, and bring you back to these walls, your brows bound
about with the garlands of victory. Soldiers! strike your
tents! and away to the desert!'
"Shouts long and loud, mingled with the clash of arms, followed
these few words of the Queen. Her own name was heard above all.
'Long live the great Zenobia!' ran along the ranks, from the
centre to the extremes, and from the extremes back again to the
centre. It seemed as if, when her name had once been uttered,
they could not cease--through the operation of some charm--to
repeat it again and again, coupled, too, with a thousand
phrases of loyalty and affection."
The Queen takes farewell of her sorrowing friends, and departs at the
head of her armed ranks, while the Princess Julia and Piso ascend
the walls of the city, and from the towers of the gate observe the
progress of the army:
"We returned to the city, and from the highest part of the
walls, watched the departing glories of the most magnificent
military array I had ever beheld. It was long after noon,
before the last of the train of loaded elephants sank below
the horizon. I have seen larger armies upon the Danube, and in
Gaul. But never have I seen one that in all its appointments
presented so imposing a spectacle. This was partly owing to
the greater proportion of cavalry, and to the admixture of the
long lines of elephants, with their burdens, their towers,
and litters--but more, perhaps, to the perfectness with which
each individual, be he on horse or foot, be he servant, slave,
or master, is furnished, respecting both arms, armor, and
apparel. Julia beheld it, if with sorrow, with pride also.
"'Between an army like this,' she said, 'so appointed, and so
led and inflamed, and another like that of Rome, coming up
under a leader like Aurelian, how sharp and deadly must be the
encounter! What a multitude of this and that living host, now
glorious in the blaze of arms, and burning with desires of
conquest, will fall and perish, pierced by weapons, or crushed
by elephants, nor ever hear the shout of victory! A horrid
death, winding up a feverish dream. And of that number, how
likely to be Fausta and Zenobia.'"
After some delay, during which time all Palmyra is vibrating between
hope and fear, intelligence is brought of a battle before Antioch,
between the forces of Zenobia and Aurelian, in which the army of the
former is completely routed, and compelled to retreat upon Emesa.
These events are thus narrated:
"Upon the approach of Aurelian, the several provinces of Asia
Minor, which by negotiation and conquest had by Zenobia been
connected with her kingdom, immediately returned to their
former allegiance. The cities opened their gates, and admitted
the armies of the conqueror. Tyana alone, of all the Queen's
dominions in that quarter, opposed the progress of the Emperor,
and this strong-hold was soon by treachery delivered into his
power. Thence he pressed on without pause to Antioch, where
he found the Queen awaiting him. A battle immediately ensued.
At first, the Queen's forces obtained decided advantages, and
victory seemed ready to declare for her, as always before,
when the gods decreed otherwise, and the day was lost--but
lost in the indignant language of the Queen, 'not in fair
and honorable fight, but through the baseness of a stratagem
rather to have been expected from a Carthaginian than the great
Aurelian.' 'Our troops,' she writes, 'had driven the enemy from
his ground at every point. Notwithstanding the presence of
Aurelian, and the prodigies of valor by which he distinguished
himself anew, and animated his soldiers, our cavalry, led by
the incomparable Zabdas, bore him and his legions backward till
apparently discomfited by the violence of the onset, the Roman
horse gave way and fled in all directions. The shout of victory
arose from our ranks, which now dissolved, and in the disorder
of a flushed and conquering army, scattered in hot pursuit
of the flying foe. Now, when too late, we saw the treachery
of the enemy. Our horse, heavy-armed, as you know--were led
on by the retreating Romans into a broken and marshy ground,
where their movements were in every way impeded, and thousands
were suddenly fixed immovable in the deep morass. At this
moment, the enemy, by preconcerted signals, with inconceivable
rapidity--being light-armed--formed; and, returning upon our
now scattered and broken forces, made horrible slaughter of all
who had pushed farthest from the main body of the army. Dismay
seized our soldiers--the panic spread--increased by the belief
that a fresh army had come up and was entering the field, and
our whole duty centered upon forming and covering our retreat.
This, chiefly through the conduct of Calpurnius Piso, was
safely effected; the Romans being kept at bay while we drew
together, and then under cover of the approaching night, fell
back to a new and strong position.
"'I attempt not, Longinus, to make that better which is bad. I
reveal the whole truth, not softening or withholding a single
feature of it, that your mind may be possessed of the exact
state of our affairs, and know how to form its judgments. Make
that which I write public, to the extent and in the manner that
shall seem best to you.
"'After mature deliberation, we have determined to retreat
farther yet, and take up our position under the walls of Emesa.
Here, I trust in the gods we shall redeem that which we have
lost.'
"In a letter to Julia, the Queen says, 'Fausta has escaped
the dangers of the battle; selfishly, perhaps, dividing her
from Piso, she has shared my tent and my fortunes, and has
proved herself worthy of every confidence that has been reposed
in her. She is my inseparable companion in the tent, in the
field, and on the road, by night and by day. Give not way to
despondency, dear Julia. Fortune, which has so long smiled
upon me, is not now about to forsake me. There is no day so
long and bright, that clouds do not sail by and cast their
little shadows. But the sun is behind them. Our army is still
great and in good heart. The soldiers receive me, whenever I
appear, with their customary acclamations. Fausta shares this
enthusiasm. Wait without anxiety or fear for news from Emesa.'"
But Zenobia is again destined to defeat, and soon after writes from
Emesa: 'Our cavalry were at first victorious, as before at Antioch.
The Roman horse were routed. But the infantry of Aurelian, in number
greatly superior to ours, falling upon our ranks when deprived of the
support of the cavalry, obtained an easy victory; while their horse,
rallying and increased by rëinforcements from Antioch, drove us in
turn at all points, penetrating even to our camp, and completed the
disaster of the day. I have now no power with which to cope with
Aurelian. It remains but to retreat upon Palmyra, there placing our
reliance upon the strength of our walls, and upon our Armenian,
Saracen, and Persian allies. I do not despair, although the favor of
the gods seems withdrawn.'
Great consternation now pervades the city, and the people, clustering
together in knots, seem paralyzed or struck dumb, finding little joy
save in again beholding their Queen, now anxiously expected, with the
remnant of her gallant army. At length, 'far off their coming shone:'
"As I sit writing at my open window, overlooking the street and
spacious courts of the Temple of Justice, I am conscious of an
unusual disturbance--the people at a distance are running in
one direction--the clamor approaches--and now I hear the cries
of the multitude, 'The Queen, the Queen!'
"I fly to the walls.
"I resume my pen. The alarm was a true one. Upon gaining the
streets, I found the populace all pouring toward the gate of
the desert, in which direction, it was affirmed, the Queen was
making her approach. Upon reaching it, and ascending one of its
lofty towers, I beheld from the verge of the horizon to within
a mile of the walls, the whole plain filled with the scattered
forces of Zenobia, a cloud of dust resting over the whole, and
marking out the extent of ground they covered. As the advanced
detachments drew near, how different a spectacle did they
present from that bright morning, when, glittering in steel,
and full of the fire of expected victory, they proudly took
their way toward the places from which they now were returning,
a conquered, spoiled, and dispirited remnant, covered with the
dust of a long march, and wearily dragging their limbs beneath
the rays of a burning sun. Yet was there order and military
discipline preserved, even under circumstances so depressing,
and which usually are an excuse for their total relaxation. It
was the silent, dismal march of a funeral train, rather than
the hurried flight of a routed and discomfited army. There was
the stiff and formal military array, but the life and spirit
of an elevated and proud soldiery were gone. They moved with
method to the sound of clanging instruments and the long,
shrill blast of the trumpet, but they moved as mourners. They
seemed as if they came to bury their Queen.
"Yet the scene changed to a brighter aspect, as the army drew
nearer and nearer to the walls, and the city throwing open her
gates, the populace burst forth, and with loud and prolonged
shouts, welcomed them home. These shouts sent new life into the
hearts of the desponding ranks, and with brightened faces and
a changed air, they waved their arms and banners, and returned
shout for shout. As they passed through the gates to the ample
quarters provided within the walls, a thousand phrases of
hearty greeting were showered down upon them, from those who
lined the walls, the towers, and the way-side, which seemed
from the effects produced in those on whom they fell, a more
quickening restorative than could have been any medicine or
food that had ministered only to the body.