ienus. You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my
sovereign." [73] But as female fortitude is commonly artificial, so it
is seldom steady or consistent. The courage of Zenobia deserted her in
the hour of trial; she trembled at the angry clamors of the soldiers,
who called aloud for her immediate execution, forgot the generous
despair of Cleopatra, which she had proposed as her model, and
ignominiously purchased life by the sacrifice of her fame and her
friends. It was to their counsels, which governed the weakness of her
sex, that she imputed the guilt of her obstinate resistance; it was on
their heads that she directed the vengeance of the cruel Aurelian. The
fame of Longinus, who was included among the numerous and perhaps
innocent victims of her fear, will survive that of the queen who
betrayed, or the tyrant who condemned him. Genius and learning were
incapable of moving a fierce unlettered soldier, but they had served to
elevate and harmonize the soul of Longinus. Without uttering a
complaint, he calmly followed the executioner, pitying his unhappy
mistress, and bestowing comfort on his afflicted friends. [74]

[Footnote 73: Pollio in Hist. August. p. 199.]

[Footnote 74: Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 219. Zosimus, l. i. p. 51.]

Returning from the conquest of the East, Aurelian had already crossed
the Straits which divided Europe from Asia, when he was provoked by
the intelligence that the Palmyrenians had massacred the governor and
garrison which he had left among them, and again erected the standard
of revolt. Without a moment's deliberation, he once more turned his
face towards Syria. Antioch was alarmed by his rapid approach, and the
helpless city of Palmyra felt the irresistible weight of his resentment.
We have a letter of Aurelian himself, in which he acknowledges, [75]
that old men, women, children, and peasants, had been involved in that
dreadful execution, which should have been confined to armed rebellion;
and although his principal concern seems directed to the reestablishment
of a temple of the Sun, he discovers some pity for the remnant of
the Palmyrenians, to whom he grants the permission of rebuilding and
inhabiting their city. 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.
The present citizens of Palmyra, consisting of thirty or forty
families, have erected