e when word came to him
that the Palmyrians whom he had spared had risen in revolt and massacred
his garrison. Instantly turning, he marched back, his soul filled with
thirst for revenge. Reaching Palmyra with great celerity, his wrath fell
with murderous fury on that devoted city. Not only armed rebels, but
women and children, were massacred, and the city was almost levelled
with the earth. The greatness of Palmyra was at an end. It never
recovered from this dreadful blow. It sunk, step by step, into the
miserable village, in the midst of stately ruins, into which it has now
declined.

On his return Aurelian celebrated his victories and conquests with a
magnificent triumph, one of the most ostentatious that any Roman emperor
had ever given. His conquests had been great, both in the West and the
East, and no emperor had better deserved a triumphant return to the
imperial city, the mistress of the world.

All day long, from morning to night, the grand procession wound on. At
its head were twenty elephants, four royal tigers, and about two hundred
of the most curious and interesting animals of the North, South, and
East. Sixteen hundred gladiators followed, destined for the cruel sports
to be held in the amphitheatre. Then came a display of the wealth of
Palmyra, the magnificent plate and wardrobe of Zenobia, the arms and
ensigns of numerous conquered nations. Embassadors from the most remote
regions of the civilized earth,--from Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, India,
and China,--attired in rich and singular dresses, attested the fame of
the Roman emperor, while his power was shown by the many presents he had
received, among them a great number of crowns of gold, which had been
given him by grateful cities.

[Illustration: THE RUINS OF PALMYRA.]

A long train of captives next declared his triumph, among them Goths,
Vandals, Franks, Gauls, Germans, Syrians, and Egyptians. Each people was
distinguished by its peculiar inscription, the title of Amazons being
given to ten Gothic heroines who had been taken in arms. But in this
great crowd of unhappy captives one above all attracted the attention of
the host of spectators, the beauteous figure of the Queen of the East.
Zenobia was so laden with jewels as almost to faint under their weight.
Her limbs bore fetters of gold, while the golden chain that encircled
her neck was of such weight that it had to be supported by a slave. She
walked along the streets of Rome, preceding the ma