to humble. Finding her kingdom menaced by so powerful a foe,
she set herself to defend it, and met the approaching enemy a hundred
miles from her capital. Here the tide of fortune turned against the
hitherto prosperous queen. In two successive battles she suffered
defeat, and then she shut herself up in Palmyra, hoping to starve
Aurelian into leaving her in peace; but his star was yet in the
ascendant, the last obstacle was overcome, and Palmyra fell.

Zenobia, with some of her attendants, fled; but was overtaken and
brought back a prisoner, destined to grace the triumph of her conqueror.
She who had for more than five years ruled a powerful nation so nobly
and so well, was henceforth to be subjected to the indignities of a
captive.

With Zenobia, fell the dominion of the East, and its once beautiful
capital dwindled into insignificance.

HYPATIA.

Rather more than a century had passed since the subjugation of Zenobia
and her Empire by pagan Rome, when Hypatia, the philosopher of
Alexandria, attracted the attention of the then civilized world by her
marvelous talents and varied accomplishments. The daughter of Theon, the
celebrated mathematician of Alexandria, she possessed unusual
facilities--for a woman--for acquiring knowledge; and especially for
becoming acquainted with the abstruse sciences. Of these facilities she
availed herself with commendable earnestness; and at an early age she
had made herself mistress of both Geometry and Astronomy, as far as
either science was then understood or taught in any of the schools. As
is the case with less profound natures, the mind grew on what it fed
upon; reasoning, and the elucidation of knotty mathematical problems,
became her delight; and, by general consent, she ranked as one of the
first philosophers of her time, if not indeed the very first.

It has often been asserted that the possession of great mental power
unfits the woman possessing it for the common amenities of life. That
it does not necessarily do any thing of the kind, is sufficiently
evidenced in the life of Hypatia. Though elevated to the very pinnacle
of fame, in consequence of her mental attainments, she was nevertheless
gentle and courteous in her manners, toward those by whom she was
surrounded. She was very beautiful, yet without vanity; indeed, true
strength of mind precludes the idea of vanity, for few but the mentally
weak are vain; and she was as chaste as she was mentally strong and
physicall