part of Armenia and Asia Minor. Thus her dominions extended from
the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, and over all those vast and fertile
countries formerly governed by Ptolemy and Seleucus. Jerusalem, Antioch,
Damascus, and other cities famed in history, were included in her
empire, but she fixed her residence at Palmyra, and in an interval of
peace she turned her attention to the further adornment of her
magnificent capital. It is related by historians, that many of those
stupendous fabrics of which the mighty ruins are still existing, were
either erected, or at least restored and embellished, by this
extraordinary woman. But that which we have most difficulty in
reconciling with the manners of her age and country, was Zenobia's
passion for study, and her taste for the Greek and Latin literature.
She is said to have drawn up an epitome of history for her own use; the
Greek historians, poets, and philosophers were familiar to her; she
invited Longinus, one of the most elegant writers of antiquity, to her
splendid court, and appointed him her secretary and minister. For her he
composed his famous "Treatise on the Sublime," a work which is not only
admirable for its intrinsic excellence, but most valuable as having
preserved to our times many beautiful fragments of ancient poets whose
works are now lost, particularly those of Sappho.

The classical studies of Zenobia seem to have inspired her with some
contempt for her Arab ancestry. She was fond of deriving her origin from
the Macedonian kings of Egypt, and of reckoning Cleopatra among her
progenitors. In imitation of the famous Egyptian queen, she affected
great splendor in her style of living and in her attire; and drank her
wine out of cups of gold richly carved and adorned with gems. It is,
however, admitted that in female dignity and discretion, as well as in
beauty, she far surpassed Cleopatra. She administered the government of
her empire with such admirable prudence and policy, and in particular
with such strict justice toward all classes of her subjects, that she
was beloved by her own people, and respected and feared by the
neighboring nations. She paid great attention to the education of her
three sons, habited them in the Roman purple, and brought them up in the
Roman fashion. But this predilection for the Greek and Roman manners
appears to have displeased and alienated the Arab tribes; for it is
remarked that after this time their fleet cavalry, inured to th