, written with equal arrogance and
eloquence; she defied the utmost of his power; and, alluding to the fate
of Cleopatra, expressed her resolution to die like her rather than yield
to the Roman arms. Aurelian was incensed by this haughty letter, even
more than by dangers and delays attending the siege; he redoubled his
efforts, he cut off the succors she expected; he found means to subsist
his troops even in the midst of the desert; every day added to the
number and strength of his army, every day increased the difficulties of
Zenobia, and the despair of the Palmyrenes. The city could not hold out
much longer, and the queen resolved to fly, not to insure her own
safety, but to bring relief to her capital--such at least is the excuse
made for a part of her conduct which certainly requires apology. Mounted
on a fleet dromedary, she contrived to elude the vigilance of the
besiegers, and took the road to the Euphrates; but she was pursued by a
party of the Roman light cavalry, overtaken, and brought as a captive
into the presence of Aurelian. He sternly demanded how she had dared to
oppose the power of Rome? to which she replied, with a mixture of
firmness and gentleness, "Because I disdained to acknowledge as my
masters such men as Aureolus and Gallienus. To Aurelian I submit as my
conqueror and my sovereign." Aurelian was not displeased at the artful
compliment implied in this answer, but he had not forgotten the
insulting arrogance of her former reply. While this conference was going
forward in the tent of the Roman emperor, the troops, who were enraged
by her long and obstinate resistance, and all they had suffered during
the siege, assembled in tumultuous bands calling out for vengeance, and
with loud and fierce cries demanding her instant death. The unhappy
queen, surrounded by the ferocious and insolent soldiery, forgot all her
former vaunts and intrepidity; her feminine terrors had perhaps been
excusable if they had not rendered her base; but in her first panic she
threw herself on the mercy of the emperor, accused her ministers as the
cause of her determined resistance, and confessed that Longinus had
written in her name that eloquent letter of defiance which had so
incensed the emperor.

Longinus, with the rest of her immediate friends and counsellors, were
instantly sacrificed to the fury of the soldiers, and the philosopher
met death with all the fortitude which became a wise and great man,
employing his last mo