The sun of Italy never poured a flood of more golden light upon the great
capital and its surrounding plains than on the day of Aurelian's triumph.
The airs of Palmyra were never more soft. The whole city was early abroad,
and, added to our own overgrown population, there were the inhabitants of
all the neighboring towns and cities, and strangers from all parts of the
empire, so that it was with difficulty and labor only, and no little
danger too, that the spectacle could be seen. I obtained a position
opposite the capitol, from which I could observe the whole of this proud
display of the power and greatness of Rome.
A long train of elephants opened the show, their huge sides and limbs
hung with cloth of gold and scarlet, some having upon their backs
military towers or other fanciful structures, which were filled with the
natives of Asia or Africa, all arrayed in the richest costumes of their
countries. These were followed by wild animals, and those remarkable for
their beauty, from every part of the world, either led, as in the case of
lions, tigers, leopards, by those who from long management of them
possessed the same power over them as the groom over his horse, or else
drawn along upon low platforms, upon which they were made to perform a
thousand antic tricks for the amusement of the gaping and wondering
crowds. Then came not many fewer than two thousand gladiators in pairs,
all arranged in such a manner as to display to the greatest advantage
their well-knit joints, and projecting and swollen muscles. Of these a
great number have already perished on the arena of the Flavian, and in
the sea fights in Domitian's theatre. Next, upon gilded wagons, and so
arranged as to produce the most dazzling effect, came the spoils of the
wars of Aurelian--treasures of art, rich cloths and embroideries,
utensils of gold and silver, pictures, statues, and works in brass, from
the cities of Gaul, from Asia and from Egypt. Conspicuous here over all
were the rich and gorgeous contents of the palace of Zenobia. The huge
wains groaned under the weight of vessels of gold and silver, of ivory,
and of the most precious woods of India. The jewelled wine cups, vases,
and golden sculpture of Demetrius attracted the gaze and excited the
admiration of every beholder. Immediately after these came a crowd of
youths richly habited in the costumes of a thousand different tribes,
bearing in their hands, upon cushions of silk, crowns of gold and
precious stones, the offerings of the cities and kingdoms of all the
world, as it were, to the power and fame of Aurelian. Following these
came the ambassadors of all nations, sumptuously arrayed in the habits of
their respective countries. Then an innumerable train of captives,
showing plainly in their downcast eyes, in their fixed and melancholy
gaze, that hope had taken its departure from their breasts. Among these
were many women from the shores of the Danube, taken in arms fighting
for their country, of enormous stature, and clothed in the warlike
costume of their tribes.
But why do I detain you with these things, when it is of one only that you
wish to hear. I cannot tell you with what impatience I waited for that
part of the procession to approach where were Zenobia and Julia. I thought
its line would stretch on forever. And it was the ninth hour before the
alternate shouts and deep silence of the multitudes announced that the
conqueror was drawing near the capitol. As the first shout arose, I turned
toward the quarter whence it came, and beheld, not Aurelian as I expected,
but the Gallic Emperor Tetricus--yet slave of his army and of
Victoria--accompanied by the prince his son, and followed by other
illustrious captives from Gaul. All eyes were turned with pity upon him,
and with indignation too that Aurelian should thus treat a Roman, and
once--a Senator. But sympathy for him was instantly lost in a stronger
feeling of the same kind for Zenobia, who came immediately after. You can
imagine, Fausta, better than I can describe them, my sensations, when I
saw our beloved friend--her whom I had seen treated never otherwise than
as a sovereign Queen, and with all the imposing pomp of the Persian
ceremonial--now on foot, and exposed to the rude gaze of the Roman
populace--toiling beneath the rays of a hot sun, and the weight of jewels,
such as both for richness and beauty, were never before seen in Rome--and
of chains of gold, which, first passing around her neck and arms, were
then borne up by attendant slaves. I could have wept to see her so--yes,
and did. My impulse was to break through the crowd and support her almost
fainting form--but I well knew that my life would answer for the rashness
on the spot. I could only therefore, like the rest, wonder and gaze. And
never did she seem to me, not even in the midst of her own court, to blaze
forth with such transcendent beauty--yet touched with grief. Her look was
not that of dejection of one who was broken and crushed by
misfortune--there was no blush of shame. It was rather one of profound
heartbreaking melancholy, Her full eyes looked as if privacy only was
wanted for them to overflow with floods of tears. But they fell not. Her
gaze was fixed on vacancy, or else cast toward the ground. She seemed like
one unobservant of all around her, and buried in thoughts to which all
else were strangers, and had nothing in common with. They were in Palmyra,
and with her slaughtered multitudes. Yet though she wept not, others did;
and one could, see all along, wherever she moved, the Roman hardness
yielding to pity, and melting down before the all-subduing presence of
this wonderful woman. The most touching phrases of compassion fell
constantly upon my ear. And ever and anon as in the road there would
happen some rough or damp place, the kind souls would throw down upon it
whatever of their garments they could quickest divest themselves of, that
those feet, little used to such encounters, might receive no harm. And as
when other parts of the procession were passing by, shouts of triumph and
vulgar joy frequently arose from the motley crowds, yet when Zenobia
appeared, a death-like silence prevailed, or it was interrupted only by
exclamations of admiration or pity, or of indignation at Aurelian for so
using her. But this happened not long. For when the Emperor's pride had
been sufficiently gratified, and just there where he came over against the
steps of the capitol, he himself, crowned as he was with the diadem of
universal empire, descended from his chariot, and, unlocking the chains of
gold that bound the limbs of the Queen, led and placed her in her own
chariot--that chariot in which she had fondly hoped herself to enter
Rome in triumph--between Julia and Livia. Upon this the air was rent with
the grateful acclamations of the countless multitudes. The Queen's
countenance brightened for a moment as if with the expressive sentiment,
'The gods bless you!' and was then buried in the folds of her robe. And
when after the lapse of many minutes it was again raised and turned toward
the people, every one might see that tears burning hot had coursed her
cheeks, and relieved a heart which else might well have burst with its
restrained emotion. Soon as the chariot which held her had disappeared
upon the other side of the capitol, I extricated myself from the crowd and
returned home. It was not till the shades of evening had fallen, that the
last of the procession had passed the front of the capitol, and the
Emperor reposed within the walls of his palace. The evening was devoted to
the shows of the theatres.
Seven days succeeding this first day of the triumph have been devoted to
games and shows. I attended them not, but escaping from the tumult and
confusion of the city, passed them in a very different manner--you will at
once conjecture where and with whom. It was indeed as you suppose in the
society of Zenobia, Julia, and Livia.
What the immediate destination of the Queen was to be I knew not, nor did
any seem to know even so late as the day of the triumph. It was only known
that her treatment was to be lenient. But on the day after, it became
public in the city, that the Emperor had bestowed upon her his magnificent
villa, not far from Hadrian's at Tibur, and at the close of the first day
of the triumph a chariot of Aurelian in waiting had conveyed her there.
This was to me transporting news, as it will be to you.
On the evening of that day I was at Tibur. Had I been a son or a brother,
the Queen could not have received me with more emotion. But I leave it to
you to imagine the first moments of our interview. When our greetings were
over, the first thought, at least the first question, of Zenobia was,
concerning you and Gracchus. All her inquiries, as well as those of Julia,
I was happily able to answer in the most exact manner, out of the fulness
of your letter. When I had finished this agreeable duty, the Queen said,
'Our happiness were complete, as now it can be, could Fausta and Gracchus
be but added to our numbers. I shall hope, in the lapse of days or months,
to entice them away for a season from their melancholy home. And yet what
better can I offer them here? There they behold their city in ruins; here
their Queen. There they already detect some tokens of reviving life; here
they would have before them but the picture of decay and approaching
death. But these things I ought not to say. Piso, you will be glad to
learn the purposes of Aurelian concerning Palmyra. He has already set
apart large sums for the restoration of its walls and temples; and what is
more and better, he has made Gracchus governor of the city and province,
with liberal promises of treasure to carry into effect whatever designs he
may conceive as most likely to people again the silent streets, and fill
them with the merchants of the East and the West.'
'Aurelian, I am persuaded,' I replied, 'will feel upon him the weight of
the strongest motives to do all that he can to repair the injuries he has
inflicted. Then too, in addition to this, his nature is generous.'
'It is so,' said Julia. 'How happy if he had been less subject to his
passions! The proofs of a generous nature you see here, Piso, every where
around us. This vast and magnificent palace, with its extensive grounds,
has he freely bestowed upon us; and here, as your eye has already informed
you, has he caused to be brought and arranged every article of use or
luxury found in the palace of Palmyra, and capable of transportation.'
'I could hardly believe,' I said, 'as I approached the great entrance, and
beheld objects so familiar--still more, when I came within the walls and
saw around me all that I had seen in Palmyra, that I was indeed in the
vicinity of Rome, and had not been by some strange power transported
suddenly to Asia. In the rash violence of Aurelian in Syria, and in this
reparation, both here and there, of the evil he has committed to the
farthest extent possible, you witness a genuine revelation of his
character. Would that principle rather than passion were the governing
power of his life!'
Although I have passed many days at Tibur, yet have I seen but little
of Zenobia. She is silent and solitary. Her thoughts are evidently never
with the present, but far back among the scenes of her former life. To
converse is an effort. The lines of grief have fixed themselves upon her
countenance; her very form and manner are expressive of a soul bowed and
subdued by misfortune. Her pride seems no longer, as on the day of the
triumph, to bear her up. It is Zenobia before me, but--like her own
beautiful capital--it is Zenobia in ruins. That she suffers too from the
reproaches of a mind now conscious of its errors I cannot doubt. She
blames Aurelian, but I am persuaded she blames with no less severity
herself. It is, I doubt not, the image of her desolated country rising
before her, that causes her so often in the midst of discourse with us,
or when she has been sitting long silent, suddenly to start and clasp
her hands, and withdraw weeping to her apartments, or the seclusion of
the garden.
'It will be long, very long,' Julia has said to me, 'before Zenobia will
recover from this grief--if indeed she ever do. Would that the principles
of that faith, which we have learned to believe and prize, were also hers!
Life would then still place before her a great object, which now she
wants. The past absorbs her wholly--the future is nothing. She dwells upon
glories that are departed forever, and is able to anticipate no other, or
greater, in this world--nor with certainty in any beyond it.'
I said, 'But doubtless she throws herself at this season upon her Jewish
faith and philosophy. She has ever spoken of it with respect at least, if
not with affection.'
'I do not,' Julia replied, 'think that her faith in Judaism is of much
avail to her. She has found pleasure in reading the sacred books of the
Jews, and has often expressed warmly her admiration of the great
principles of moral living and of religious belief found in them; but I do
not think that she has derived from them that which she conceives to be
the sum of all religion and philosophy, a firm belief and hope of
immortality. I am sure she has not. She has sometimes spoken as if such a
belief possessed likelihood, but never as if she entertained it in the way
the Christian does.'
* * * * *
You will rejoice, dear Fausta, to learn that Zenobia no longer opposes
me; but waits with impatience for the day when I shall be an inmate of
her palace.
What think you is the news to-day in Rome? No other and no less than
this--which you may well suppose has for some time been no news to
me--that Livia is to be Empress! It has just been made public by
authority; and I despatch my letter that you may be immediately informed
of it. It has brought another expression upon the countenance of Zenobia.
Curtius and Lucilia have this moment come in, and full of these tidings
interrupt me--they with Portia wish to be remembered to you with
affection. I shall soon write again--telling you then especially of my
interviews with Aurelian, and of Probus. Farewell.
Note.
Piso, it will be observed, makes no mention of, nor allusion to, the story
recorded by the historian Zosimus, of the Queen's public accusation of
Longinus and the other principal persons of Palmyra, as authors of the
rebellion, in order to save her own life. It is well known that Zenobia,
chiefly on the authority of this historian, has been charged with having
laid upon Longinus and her other counsellors, all the blame of the revolt,
as if she had been driven by them against her will into the course she
pursued. The words of Zosimus are as follows:
'Emisam rediit et Zenobiam cum suis complicibus pro tribunali stitit. Illa
causas exponens, et eulpa semet eximens multos alios in medium protulit,
qui cam veluti fæminam seduxissent; quorum in numero et Longinus
erat.--Itidem alii quos Zenobia detulerat suppliciis adficiebatur.'
This is suspicious upon the face of it. As if Aurelian needed a formal
tribunal and the testimony of Zenobia to inform him who the great men of
Palmyra were, and her chief advisers. Longinus, at least, we may suppose,
was as well known as Zenobia. But if there was a formal tribunal, then
evidence was heard--and not upon one side only, but both. If therefore the
statements of Zenobia were false, there were Longinus and the other
accused persons, with their witnesses, to make it appear so. If they were
true--if she had been overruled--led--or driven--by her advisers, then it
was not unreasonable that punishment--if some must suffer--should fall
where it did.
But against Zosimus may be arrayed the words of Aurelian himself, in a
letter addressed to the Roman senate, and preserved by Pollio. He says,
'Nec ego illi (Zenobiæ) vitam conservassem nisi cam scissem multum Rom:
Reip. profuisse, quum sibi vel liberis suis Orientis servaret imperium.'
Aurelian here says that he would not have spared her life but for one
reason, namely, that she had done such signal service to the republic,
when either for herself or for her children she had saved the empire in
the East. Aurelian spared her life, if he himself is to be believed,
_because of services rendered to Rome,_ NOT because by the accusation of
others she had cleared herself of the charge of rebellion. Her life was
never in any danger, if this be true; and unless it were, she of course
had no motive to criminate Longinus in the manner related by Zosimus.
Longinus and his companions suffered therefore, not in consequence of any
special accusation--it was not needed for their condemnation--but as a
matter of course, because they were leaders and directors of the revolt.
It was the usage of war.
Why are Pollio (the biographer of Zenobia) and Vopiscus (the biographer of
Aurelian) and Zonaras all silent respecting so remarkable a point of the
history of Zenobia? Pollio does not hesitate to say that she had been
thought by some to have been partner in the crime of murdering Odenatus
and his son Herod--a charge which never found credit in any quarter. Such
a biographer surely would not have passed over in silence the unutterable
baseness of Zenobia in the accusation of Longinus, if he had ever heard of
it and had esteemed it to have come to him as well vouched at least as the
other story. Omission under such circumstances is good evidence that it
came to him not so well vouched--that is, not vouched at all.
Supposing Zenobia to have been guilty of the crime laid to her charge,
could Aurelian have treated her afterwards in the way he did? He not only
took her to Rome and gave her a palace at Tibur, and the state of a Queen,
but according to some, [Footnote: Filiam (Zenobiæ) unam uxorem duxisse
Aurellanum; cæteras nobilibus Romanis despondisee.--Zonoras, lib. xii.
p. 480.] married one of her daughters. Could he have done all this had
she been the mean, base and wicked woman Zosimus makes her out to be? The
history of this same eastern expedition furnishes a case somewhat in point,
and which may serve to show in what light he would probably have regarded
Zenobia. Tyana, a city of Asia Minor, for a long time resisted all his
attempts to reduce it. At length it was betrayed into his hands by one of
its chief citizens, Heraclammon. How did Aurelian receive and treat him
after entering the city? Let Vopiscus reply: 'Nam et Heraclammon
proditorem patriæ suse sapiens victor occidit.'--'Heraclammon who
betrayed his country the conqueror wisely slew.' But this historian has
preserved a letter of Aurelian, in which he speaks of this same traitor:
'Aurelianus Aug: Mallio Chiloni. Occidi passus sum cujus quasi beneficio
Tyanam recepi. Ego vero proditorem amare non potui; et libenter tuli quod
eum milites occiderunt: neque enim mihi fidem servare potuisset qui patriæ
non pepercit,' etc. He permits Heraclammon to be slain _because he could
not love a traitor_, and _because one who had betrayed his country could
not be trusted_--while Zenobia, if Zosimus is to be believed, whose act
was of the same kind--only infinitely more base--he receives and crowns
with distinguished honor, and marries her daughter!
'Zosime pretend,' says Tillemont, 'que ce fut Zenobie mesme qui se
déchargea sur eux des choses don't on l'accusoit, (ce qui répondroit
bien mal a cette grandeur d'ame qu'on lay attribue.')--Hist, des Emp.
t. II. p. _212_.
The evidence of Zosimus is not of so high a character as justly to weigh
against a strong internal improbability, or the silence of other
historians. Gibbon says of him, 'In good policy we must use the service of
Zosimus without esteeming him or trusting him,' and repeatedly designates
him as 'credulous,' 'partial,' 'disingenuous.' By Tillemont he is called a
'bad authority.'
Nothing would seem to be plainer, than that Aurelian spared Zenobia
because she was a woman; because she was a beautiful and every way
remarkable woman; and as he himself says, because she had protected and
saved the empire in the East; and that he sacrificed Longinus and the
other chief men of Palmyra, because such was the usage of war.
Page 122. Piso speaks of the prowess of Aurelian, and of the songs sung
in the camp in honor of him. Vopiscus has preserved one of these.
'Mille mille, mille, decollavimus,
Unus homo mille decollavimus,
Mille vivat qui mille occidit.
Tantum vini habet nemo
Quantum fudit sanguinis.
'Mille Sarmatas, mille Francos
Semel et semel occidimus
Mille Persas quærimus.'
The two letters on pages 135 and 137, it will be observed, are nearly the
same as those found in Vopiscus.
On page 172, Aurelian is designated by a soldier under the nick-name of
'Hand-to-his-Sword.' Vopiscus also mentions this as a name by which he was
known in the army. 'Nam quum essent in exercitu duo Aureliani tribuni,
hic, et alius qui cum Valeriano captus est, huic signum (cognomen)
exercitus apposuerat "Mannus ad ferrum,"' &c.
Page 280. Piso represents Aurelian as wearing a crown. He was the first
since the Tarquins who had dared to invest his brow with that symbol of
tyranny. So says Aurelius Victor. 'Iste primus apud Romanos Diadema capiti
innexuit; gemmisque et aurata omni veste, quod adhuc fere incognitum
Romanis moribus videbatur, usus est.'
On the same page, in the account of the triumph, a chariot of Zenobia is
stated to have been exhibited, in which it was her belief that she should
enter Rome in triumph, which indeed had been made for that very purpose.
This singular fact is confirmed by Vopiscus--'tertius, (currus) quem sibi
Zenobia composuerat sperans se urbem Romanam cum eo visuram; quod eam non
fefellit, nam cum eo urbem ingressa est victa et triumphata.'