as there any
one of the Roman nobility more esteemed by Aurelian, as well as by
his successors. [84]

[Footnote 82: Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 199. Hieronym. in Chron.
Prosper in Chron. Baronius supposes that Zenobius, bishop of Florence in
the time of St. Ambrose, was of her family.]

[Footnote 83: Vopisc. in Hist. August. p. 222. Eutropius, ix. 13. Victor
Junior. But Pollio, in Hist. August. p. 196, says, that Tetricus was
made corrector of all Italy.]

[Footnote 84: Hist. August. p. 197.]

So long and so various was the pomp of Aurelian's triumph, that although
it opened with the dawn of day, the slow majesty of the procession
ascended not the Capitol before the ninth hour; and it was already dark
when the emperor returned to the palace. The festival was protracted by
theatrical representations, the games of the circus, the hunting of wild
beasts, combats of gladiators, and naval engagements. Liberal donatives
were distributed to the army and people, and several institutions,
agreeable or beneficial to the city, contributed to perpetuate the
glory of Aurelian. A considerable portion of his oriental spoils was
consecrated to the gods of Rome; the Capitol, and every other temple,
glittered with the offerings of his ostentatious piety; and the temple
of the Sun alone received above fifteen thousand pounds of gold. [85]
This last was a magnificent structure, erected by the emperor on the
side of the Quirinal hill, and dedicated, soon after the triumph, to
that deity whom Aurelian adored as the parent of his life and fortunes.
His mother had been an inferior priestess in a chapel of the Sun;
a peculiar devotion to the god of Light was a sentiment which the
fortunate peasant imbibed in his infancy; and every step of his
elevation, every victory of his reign, fortified superstition by
gratitude. [86]

[Footnote 85: Vopiscus in Hist. August. 222. Zosimus, l. i. p. 56. He
placed in it the images of Belus and of the Sun, which he had brought
from Palmyra. It was dedicated in the fourth year of his reign, (Euseb
in Chron.,) but was most assuredly begun immediately on his accession.]

[Footnote 86: See, in the Augustan History, p. 210, the omens of his
fortune. His devotion to the Sun appears in his letters, on his medals,
and is mentioned in the Caesars of Julian. Commentaire de Spanheim, p.
109.]

The arms of Aurelian had vanquished the foreign and domestic foes of the
republic. We are assured, that, by his salutary