surrender, and laid siege to Edessa. Valerian, who was at this time emperor, marched to its relief, and the two sovereigns encountered each other in the neighbourhood of that city. Valerian was defeated and made prisoner. Sapor then crossed the Euphrates, and advanced to Antioch, which he took by surprize, and sacked. He next made himself master of Tarsus, in Cilicia, and then laid siege to Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, which after a time, submitted to his power. His victorious arms were checked by the Roman general Balistus, who obliged him to retire towards the Euphrates. At this time Odenatus, the Palmyrene, who had formerly been treated with great insolence by Sapor, appeared as his enemy, and after various successes, drove him across the river. In the mean time the Persian monarch tarnished the glory of his success against Valerian, by his ungenerous and inhuman conduct towards his unfortunate captive. Odenatus afterwards twice advanced as far as Ctesiphon, and reduced to his obedience the countries between Palmyra and the Tigris. After his death, his widow, the celebrated Zenobia, maintained her independence against the Persian arms. Sapor, amidst a variety of fortune, continued to aggrandize himself at the expence of the neighbouring sovereigns till his death, which happened in the year 271 or 272, after a reign of 31 years.

NARSES, a king of Persia, who was defeated by the emperor Maximianus Galerius, in the seventh year of his reign. A. D. 294.

SYRIA.

ODENATUS, a celebrated prince of Palmyra. He very early inured himself to bear fatigues, and, by hunting leopards and wild beasts, accustomed himself to the labours of a military life. He was a faithful friend to the Romans; and when Aurelian was taken prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, Odenatus solicited his release, by writing to the conqueror, and by sending him presents. The Persian tyrant was offended at this liberty, tore the letter, and ordered the presents to be thrown into a river; and commanded Odenatus to appear before him, on pain of being devoted to instant destruction. Odenatus despised this haughty summons, and opposed force by force. He obtained considerable advantages over the troops of Sapor, and took his wife prisoner, with a great booty. In return for these services Gallienus, then emperor, named Odenatus his colleague, and gave the title of Augustus to his children, and of Augusta to his wife, Zenobia. Odenatus, thus invested with new power, resolved to signalize himself more conspicuously,

but he perished by the dagger of one of his own relations whom he had slightly offended at a domestic entertainment. This happened at Emessa about A. D. 267, and Zenobia succeeded him.

ZENOBIA, queen, was a native of Syria, who claimed descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt. This female was celebrated for the beauty of her person, the harmoniousness of her voice, her mental talents and literary acquirements, and her distinguished heroism and valour, as well as her modesty and chastity. "Her manly understanding," says Gibbon, after recounting her personal beauties and excellencies, "was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, and possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages; she had drawn up for her own use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of the sublime Longinus." She was allied by marriage to Odenatus, king of Palmyra, and delighted in those exercises of war and the chace to which he was devoted. Many of his victories have been ascribed to her military skill and valour. After the death of her husband, about the year 267, she assumed the sovereignty of the East, and governed with equal vigour and policy; so that by her success in warlike expeditions, as well as by the wisdom and firmness of her administration, she aggrandized herself in Asia, and in her authority was recognised both in Cappadocia and Bithynia, when Aurelian succeeded to the Roman empire. Envious of her power, and determined to dispossess her of some of the rich provinces that were comprehended within the extent of her dominion, he marched at the head of a most powerful army to Asia, and having defeated the queen's general, Zabdas, near Antioch, she retreated to Emessa, whither she was pursued by Aurelian. Under the walls of that city another engagement with Zenobia, which was commanded and animated by herself, took place, in which the emperor was again victorious. The queen, thus unfortunate, withdrew the relics of her vanquished forces to Palmyra, her capital, and was pursued thither by Aurelian. The favourable terms that were offered to Zenobia being refused, the city was besieged, which, after long resistance, the queen determined not to surrender, but as she apprehended famine within the walls, she mounted a swift dromedary and hastened towards the Euphrates, with a view of seeking an asylum in the Persian territories. But being overtaken in her flight she was brought back to Aurelian, who received her with a stern countenance, and questioned her, how she could dare to resist the emperors of Rome. She replied, "Because I could not acknowledge as such a Gallienus and others like him; but I recognise by that title you, who know how to conquer." At Emessa the fate of Zenobia was submitted to the judgment of a

tribunal, at which Aurelian presided; and the Roman soldiers demanded her death. She, in a manner unworthy of her former fame, saved her own life by throwing the blame of her resistance on her ministers and counsellors; Longinus was one of these, who, with several others, was put to death in the year 273. Zenobia was reserved to grace the triumph of Aurelian, and on the appointed day she preceded, on foot, following a magnificent chariot, which she had designed, in the days of her prosperity, for a very different kind of entry into Rome. She was encircled, it is said, with chains of gold, and almost sunk under the loads of jewels with which she was adorned. Afterward she was treated with humanity by the victor, and had assigned to her an agreeable residence near the Tiber, where she passed the remainder of her days as a Roman matron. Whether she contracted a second marriage with a Roman senator, as some have affirmed, is uncertain; but however this be, her surviving son, Vhaballat, withdrew into Armenia, and possessed a small principality granted to him by the emperor, and her family was not extinct in the fifth century.

BRITAIN.

CARAUSIUS, emperor of Britain, was a native of Flanders, and by his skill as a pilot gained the confidence of the emperor Probus and his successors, who entrusted to him several maritime commands. Maximian employed him to defend the coasts of Gaul against the piratical Franks and Saxons. In this situ

ation he acquired so much wealth by his prizes as to excite the jealousy of the emperor, who intended to put him to death. Carausius, apprized of his design, sailed for Britain, where he assumed the imperial title in 287. He kept up a formidable fleet, and by retaining possession of Boulogne, was enabled to resist all the attempts of the Romans to expel him. They were obliged also to acknowledge his independance by a treaty. Carausius ruled in an arbitrary manner, and was murdered by one of his domestics in 293. Several of his coins are extant. ALLECTUS, the confidential friend and prime minister of Carausius, emperor of Britain, who apprehending punishment for several crimes with which he was chargeable, murdered his master, A. D. 294, and usurped the imperial dignity, which he maintained for three years. During this period Constantius was preparing for the recovery of Britain; and at length the principal squadron, destined for this enterprise, which was assembled in the mouth of the Seine, was entrusted to the command of the prefect Asclepiodorus. The weather proved favourable, and under

the cover of a thick fog the invaders escaped the fleet of Allectus, which had been stationed off the Isle of Wight to receive them, and landed in safety on the western coast; and convinced the Britons, says Gibbon," that a superiority of naval strength will not always protect their country from a foreign invasion." As soon as the troops were landed, the intrepid commander set fire to the ships, and marched forward to meet the enemy. The usurper had posted himself near London in expectation of an attack from Constantius, who commanded the fleet of Boulogne; but upon hearing of the descent of Asclepiodorus, he made forced marches to oppose his progress. With a small body of harassed and disheartened followers, Allectus encountered the imperial troops, and the engagement soon terminated in his total defeat and death; so that a single battle decided the fate of this great island. When Constantius landed on the shores of Kent, he was welcomed by the loud and unanimous acclamations of obedient subjects; and Britain, after a separation of ten years, was thus restored, A. D. 297, to the body of the Roman empire.

SCOTLAND.

ATHIRCO, the 29th king of Scots, according to Buchanan, succeeded his father, Ethodius II., A. D. 238. Like Nero, he is said to have begun well; but having afterwards degenerated into a monster of lust and cruelty, Nathalocus, one of his chiefs, whom he had irritated by violating two of his daughters, took arms against him; whereupon Athirco killed himself.

NATHALOCUS, king of Scotland, succeeded Athirco. He, behaving tyrannically, was killed by his nobles in the eleventh year of his reign, A. D. 253.

FINDOCUS, succeeded to the throne of Scotland on the death of Nathalocus. He proved a good monarch, but was killed while hunting by the instigation of his brother Carausius, in the eleventh year of his reign, A. D. 263.

DONALD II., succeeded to the Scottish throne on the death of his brother, Findocus. He reigned only one year, being killed in battle by Donald III., lord of the isles.

DONALD III. usurped the Scottish throne on the death of Donald II., and reigned twelve years. He was killed by Crathilinthus, the son of Findocus, A. D. 277.

CRATHILINTHUS, king of Scotland, succeeded Donald III., and proved a good monarch. Meantime his uncles Carausius, had acquired great fame by his repeated victories

over the Romans, and was elected king of the Britons. Crathilinthus died after a reign of twenty-four years, A. D. 301. FINCORMACHUS, king of Scotland, succeeded his cousin Crathilinthus, He was a brave and pious prince, and assisted Octavius, king of the Britons, in a successful battle against the Romans, wherein 16,000 Romans were slain, and 15,000 Britons; for which service Westmoreland and Cumberland were ceded to Scotland. He died in the forty-seventh year of his reign, A. D. 348.

ROMACHUS, nephew of Crathilinthus, succeeded Fincormachus, king of Scotland. He, for his cruelty, was beheaded by his nobles, A. D. 351.

PHILOSOPHY.

AMMONIAS, surnamed Saccas, was born in Alexandria. He was one of the most celebrated philosophers of his age; and adopting, with alterations, the Eclectic philosophy, laid the foundation of that sect which was distinguished by the name of the new Platonics. This learned man was born of Christian parents, and educated in their religion; the outward profession of which, it is said, he never deserted. As his genius was vast and comprehensive, so were his projects bold and singular; for he attempted a general coalition of all sects, whether philosophical or religious, by framing a system of doctrines which he imagined calculated to unite them all, the Christians not excepted, in the most perfect harmony. In pursuance of this design, he maintained, that the great principles of all philosophical and religious truths were to be found equally in all sects; that they differed from each other only in their method of expressing them, and in some opinions of little or no importance; and that, by a proper interpretation of their respective sentiments, they might easily be united into one body. Accordingly, all the Gentile religions, and even the Christian, were to be illustrated and explained by the principles of this universal philosophy; and the fables of the priests were to be removed from Paganism, and the comments and interpretations of the disciples of Jesus, from Christianity. In conformity to this plan, he insisted, that all the religious systems of all nations should be restored to their original purity, and reduced to their primitive standard, viz. the ancient philosophy of the East, preserved uncorrupted by Plato; and he affirmed, that this project was agreeable to the intention of Jesus Christ, whose sole view in descending upon earth was to set bounds to the reigning superstition, to remove the errors that had blended themselves with the reli