300
ZENOBIA.
less known to us than that of the republic, a fact which few
persons seem to be aware of. We may indeed string together
the scattered accounts, but that will never make a history, and,
besides, the contradictions which they contain are quite mons-
trous. The only correct historical sources are the coins; and
they again frequently contradict the wι itten statements, so that
it is utterly impossible to make up a genuine history. All that
can be done has been accomplished by Gibbon, whose work
will never be excelled.
Aurelian spent the five years of his reign in incredible ac-
tivity : he had to march from one frontier to another, and to
carry on wars upon wars of the most dangerous kind. It was
a wise measure of his to conclude peace with the Goths, to
whom he gave up Dacia, which seems to have been in a con-
dition like that of Gaul in the fifth century. He removed the
Roman colonies of that country, as well as the garrisons, which
may still have been in the inaccessible parts of Transylvania.
This sacrifice- was necessary, for the population of Dacia had
been so much reduced by the wars that it could scarcely have
been maintained; whereas, those who left their abodes gave
additional strength to Rome in Bulgaria where they were now
settled.
The great Zenobia had cherished the idea of founding an
Eastern empire: she was formidable to the Persians, and had
perhaps a Syrian militia which made an imposing impression
upon them, whereas the Romans were unwilling to put arms
into the hands of their subjects on the frontier, and carried on
the war with mercenaries. But when Aurelian marched
against Zenobia she was conquered at Antioch and Emesa, in
two great battles, which decided her fate. She withdrew
to Palmyra, where she was besieged by Aurelian. Her de-
fence of her capital does not come up to our expectations of
her: she fled from the city, and fell into the hands of the
Romans. Her conduct in captivity is still less in keeping with
her former pride, for she sacrificed her best and wisest advisers,
such as Longinus, as political seducers ; and this act shews
her true Asiatic nature. She may not, however, have been quite
wrong in charging those men with having given her bad advice ;
Aschaffenburg form exceptions, for they took the ancients as their models. But
the chronicles enable us to restore the history of the 12th and 13th centuries
much more satisfactorily than is possible with that of the Roman empire.
DEATH OF AURELIAN.
301
for it is not impossible that many men may at that time have
entertained the idea of a Greek empire; and that a distin-
guished Greek like Longinus may have endeavoured to inspire
her with this glorious idea, and thus have led her to ruin.
The execution of Longinus is one of the cruelties which form
a stain on the purple of Aurelian; hut another and greater
stain is the destruction of Palmyra and the massacre of its
inhabitants: it is true they had revolted after his departure,
but his vengeance was monstrous.
After having thus unexpectedly recovered the East and
secured the peace with the Persians, which lasted until the
time of Carus, Aurelian returned to Europe and re-united the
West to his empire. Tetricus himself, whose life was not safe
among his mutinous soldiers, and who wished to get out of the
dangerous position which had been fatal to so many other
emperors, came to meet Aurelian. A battle was fought in
the neighbourhood of Chalons, in which the soldiers of
Tetricus fought with greater determination and exasperation
than ever. This proves how thoroughly national was the
desire to be separated from Eome. The French look upon
the ancient history of their country as if there had existed no
nationality at all in the time of the Romans ; and it is quite
surprising that no French historian has either perceived or de-
scribed that national feeling which was continually manifested
in Gaul after the time of Caesar, and which broke forth in
several insurrections.4
It was in the reign of Aurelian, though the exact time
cannot be determined, that the German tribes crossed their
boundaries. The Alemannians, Longobards (Juthungi), and
Vandals, at least the first two, crossed the river Po, and threa-
tened Rome. A decisive battle near Fanum Fortunae (Fano)
on the Metaurus—near the place where Hasdrubaljthebrother
of Hannibal, had been defeated—saved Italy, and compelled
the barbarians to return across the Alps.
Aurelian, like Napoleon, felt the natural want of bella ex
bellis serendi, and he now resolved to lead his army against the
Persians. But on his march, A.D. 275, he was murdered, it is
said, at the instigation of his private secretary, who was on the
point of being punished for some forgery he had committed.
4 In like manner the French have overlooked the marked difference which
exists between the literature of northern and of southern France.—N.