Upper Danube, and whose valor had been severely tried in
the Alemannic war. [67] After the defeat of Emesa, Zenobia found it
impossible to collect a third army. As far as the frontier of Egypt, the
nations subject to her empire had joined the standard of the conqueror,
who detached Probus, the bravest of his generals, to possess himself of
the Egyptian provinces. 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.

[Footnote 65: At a place called Immae. Eutropius, Sextus Rufus, and
Jerome, mention only this first battle.]

[Footnote 66: Vopiscus (in Hist. August. p. 217) mentions only the
second.]

[Footnote 67: Zosimus, l. i. p. 44--48. His account of the two
battles is clear and circumstantial.]

Amid the barren deserts of Arabia, a few cultivated spots rise like
islands out of the sandy ocean. Even the name of Tadmor, or Palmyra,
by its signification in the Syriac as well as in the Latin language,
denoted the multitude of palm-trees which afforded shade and verdure to
that temperate region. The air was pure, and the soil, watered by some
invaluable springs, was capable of producing fruits as well as corn.
A place possessed of such singular advantages, and situated at
a convenient distance [68] between the Gulf of Persia and the
Mediterranean, was soon frequented by the caravans which conveyed to the
nations of Europe a considerable part of the rich commodities of India.
Palmyra insensibly increased into an opulent and independent city, and
connecting the Roman and the Parthian monarchies by the mutual benefits
of commerce, was suffered to observe an humble neutrality, till at
length, after the victories of Trajan, the little republic sunk into the
bosom of Rome, and flourished more than one hundred and fifty years in
the subordinate though honorable rank of a colony. It was during that
peaceful period, if we may judge from a few remaining inscriptions,
that the wealthy Palmyrenians constructed those temples, palaces, and
porticos of Grecian architecture, whose ruins, scattered over an extent
of several miles, have deserved the curiosity of our travellers. The
elevation of Odenathus and Zenobia appeared to reflect new splendor on
their country, and Palmyra, for a while, stood forth the rival of Rome