Rome. On the defeat of the forces of the "Queen of the East," and the capture of the city, its glory faded away.

When the Emperor Aurelian stood before the walls of Palmyra, he was convinced that he had a stubborn enemy to treat with, and valorous withal, although commanded by a woman. On his progress across the desert, his army suffered much annoyance from the hordes of Arabs who attacked his legions, as they were unable to pursue their rapid movements. He, therefore, had a difficulty of maintaining a base of operations for supplies with his commissariat. Under these disadvantages he commenced the siege of Palmyra, and, but for his own valour, the resistance of the besieged might have caused him to raise it. But he led on his legions with incessant vigour, and was himself wounded by a dart in one of the attacks. One of his letters is extant, expressing his opinion of Zenobia and her defence, in which the following occurs:- "The Roman people speak with contempt of the war which I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both of the character and of the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations, of stones, of arrows, and of every species of missile weapons. Every part of the walls is provided with two or three balista, and artificial fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with a desperate courage. Yet still I trust in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hitherto been favourable to all my undertakings." Instead of depending upon the protection of the gods, or continuing the siege, Aurelian deemed it more prudent to offer advantageous terms for a capitulation. To Zenobia he guaranteed an honourable retreat, and to the citizens of Palmyra their full enjoyment of ancient privileges. These were re

jected with scorn, accompanied by some insulting remarks.

The beleaguered inhabitants and their courageous queen were the more confident of holding out as they expected succour from the eastern kings, especially the king of Persia, who would assist his ally to resist the encroachments of the Romans. Moreover, they calculated that, as the season advanced, Aurelian and his legions would be compelled by famine to raise the siege, as supplies across the desert lessened, or the convoys were intercepted. But he was better prepared than they imagined to meet these contingencies. The slender succours that came to the relief of Palmyra were easily intercepted and cut off by his veteran troops, or, when necessary, he bought them off by his liberality. His base of operations with Syria was also well maintained in spite of the Arab hordes, so that a regular succession of convoys with supplies reached his camp in safety. And he had the satisfaction of seeing the valiant general, Probus, return from a successful campaign in Egypt with his victorious troops to reinforce his army.

At this juncture, Zenobia saw that operations would be renewed with greater force, and the city be captured by the victorious Romans. She then resolved upon flight; and mounting the fleetest of her dromedaries, made for the banks of the Euphrates. Before she had gone sixty miles from Palmyra, she was overtaken by the light horse legion of Aurelian, seized and brought back a captive to the feet of the emperor. The citizens of her capital, seeing that all was lost, surrendered, and to their surprise were treated with great lenity. The arms, horses, and camels, with an immense amount of treasure in gold and silver, besides precious stones and silk, were all delivered to the conqueror.

When

Zenobia was brought into his presence, he sternly asked her how she had presumed to rise in arms against the emperors of Rome? In reply, she said, "Because I disdained to consider as Roman emperors an Aurelius or Gallienus. You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign." There was a prudent mixture of respect and firmness in this answer, but it did not satisfy Aurelian, who was desirous of implicating others in her rebellion to the Roman sway.

After this, we have to record that the courage of Zenobia deserted her, when she heard the angry clamours of the soldiers, who called aloud for her immediate execution. In order to secure her own life, she named many of her friends, who had counselled her to the warlike course she had pursued. These men were seized by the cruel Aurelian, and sacrificed to his vengeance. Among them was the philosopher Longinus, who deemed himself innocent, but calmly resigned himself to his fate, pitying his unhappy mistress, and bestowing comfort on his afflicted friends. Of the subsequent life of Zenobia, history makes no mention; but no doubt a woman of her noble disposition must have felt the betrayal of her friends as the saddest act of her life. Leaving this aside, she showed, in her intrepid career, that she was entitled to be considered a heroine in time of peril.

Boadicea:

A VALIANT QUEEN OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

NOT only do we find among the annals of the Roman Empire in ancient times examples of illustrious matrons in the east, but instances are related of courageous women in the west of Europe. As the Roman legions extended their conquests through Gaul, their historians relate how the women accompanied the men into the field of battle and bravely opposed their progress. In like manner, when Julius Cæsar invaded ancient Britain, he found his army opposed by the warlike inhabitants, both male and female. But their barbarous mode of warfare gave way before the disciplined legions of the Roman generals, one of whom defeated Caractacus in a great battle, took him prisoner, and sent him to Rome. Still the Britons were not subdued, even in the reign of Nero, when a renowned general, named Suetonius Paulinus, was invested with the command. Finding that the Druid priests and priestesses were most inimical to the Roman rule, and stirred up the people to fight, he determined to attack their stronghold of Mona, or the Isle of Man. Accordingly, he concentrated his forces in the west of England, and made a sudden descent on the "sacred isle." His landing was opposed both by the force of arms and terrors of the Druidical rites. "The women and priests were intermingled with the soldiers on the shore; and running about with flaming torches in their hands, and tossing their dishevelled hair, they struck great terror into the astonished Romans by

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their howlings, cries, and execrations, more than the real danger from the armed forces was able to inspire. Suetonius, however, exhorting his troops to despise the menaces of a superstition which they despised, impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the Druids in the same fires which those priests had prepared for their captive enemies, and destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars."

Suetonius having so far triumphed over the Britons by destroying the centre of Druidical superstition and power, thought his future progress would be easy in reducing the people to subjection. But he was disappointed in his expectations, and found a warlike opponent, worthy of his steel, in the person of a woman. This was Boadicea, the valiant Queen of the Iceni, or Eastern Britons. She was the wife of Prasutagus, whose tribe inhabited that part of England now known as Norfolk and Suffolk. He was a brave and skilful soldier for a barbarian, and on the capture and banishment of Caractacus, saw the policy of acknowledging the Roman supremacy in Britain. Moreover, he had amassed a great amount of riches, and his army was well equipped with war chariots, and the missiles in use amongst his people. About the time of the Roman general's massacre of the Druids, he lay on his deathbed. Calling his wife, his two daughters, and his most valued kinsmen around him, he made his will. Knowing that in similar cases, on the demise of a British prince, the rapacious Roman officers seized all his effects, he adopted a device resorted to in those times to save some portion of his property to his family. This was to bequeath his wealth, which was very great, to the Emperor Nero on the one part, and his two daughters on the other part. By this means, he hoped to confine the Emperor to a