labor still awaited the indefatigable Aurelian; to
suppress a dangerous though obscure rebel, who, during the revolt of
Palmyra, had arisen on the banks of the Nile. Firmus, the friend and
ally, as he proudly styled himself, of Odenathus and Zenobia, was no
more than a wealthy merchant of Egypt. In the course of his trade to
India, he had formed very intimate connections with the Saracens and the
Blemmyes, whose situation on either coast of the Red Sea gave them an
easy introduction into the Upper Egypt. The Egyptians he inflamed with
the hope of freedom, and, at the head of their furious multitude, broke
into the city of Alexandria, where he assumed the Imperial purple,
coined money, published edicts, and raised an army, which, as he vainly
boasted, he was capable of maintaining from the sole profits of his
paper trade. Such troops were a feeble defence against the approach of
Aurelian; and it seems almost unnecessary to relate, that Firmus
was routed, taken, tortured, and put to death. Aurelian might now
congratulate the senate, the people, and himself, that in little more
than three years, he had restored universal peace and order to the Roman
world.

Since the foundation of Rome, no general had more nobly deserved a
triumph than Aurelian; nor was a triumph ever celebrated with superior
pride and magnificence. The pomp was opened by twenty elephants, four
royal tigers, and above two hundred of the most curious animals from
every climate of the North, the East, and the South. They were followed
by sixteen hundred gladiators, devoted to the cruel amusement of the
amphitheatre. The wealth of Asia, the arms and ensigns of so many
conquered nations, and the magnificent plate and wardrobe of the
Syrian queen, were disposed in exact symmetry or artful disorder. The
ambassadors of the most remote parts of the earth, of AEthiopia, Arabia,
Persia, Bactriana, India, and China, all remarkable by their rich or
singular dresses, displayed the fame and power of the Roman emperor, who
exposed likewise to the public view the presents that he had received,
and particularly a great number of crowns of gold, the offerings of
grateful cities. The victories of Aurelian were attested by the long
train of captives who reluctantly attended his triumph, Goths, Vandals,
Sarmatians, Alemanni, Franks, Gauls, Syrians, and Egyptians. Each people
was distinguished by its peculiar inscription, and the title of Amazons
was bestowed on ten martial he