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Enthusiast FANCY, rob'd in light,
Pours on the air her many-sparkling rays,
Redeeming from OBLIVION'S deep'ning night
The deeds of ancient days.

The mighty forms of chiefs of old,

To VIRTUE dear, and PATRIOT TRUTH sublime,'
In feeble splendour I behold,

Discover'd dimly through the mists of TIME,
As through the vapours of the mountain-stream
With pale reflection glows the sun's declining beam.

IV.

Still as twilight's mantle hoary
Spreads progressive on the sky,
See, in visionary glory,

Darkly-thron'd, they sit on high.
But whose the forms, oh FAME, declare,
That crowd majestic on the air?
Bright Goddess! come, on rapid wings,
To tell the mighty deeds of kings.
Where art thou, FAME?

Each honour'd name
From thy eternal roll unfold:
Awake the lyre,

In songs of fire,

To chiefs renowned in days of old.

I call in vain!

The welcome strain

Of praise to them no more shall sound:
Their actions bright

Must sleep in night,

Till TIME shall cease his mystic round.

The dazzling glories of their day
The stream of years has swept away;

Their names that struck the foe with fear,¦
Shall ring no more on mortal ear!

V.

Yet faithful MEMORY'S raptur'd eye

Can still the godlike form descry,*

* At the time when the East trembled at the name of Sapor, he received a present not unworthy of the greatest kings; a long train

Of him, who, on EUPHRATES' shore,

From SAPOR's brow his blood-stain'd laurels tore,
And bade the ROMAN banner stream unfurl'd;
When the stern GENIUS of the startling waves
Beheld on PERSIA'S host of slaves
Tumultuous ruin hurl'd!

Meek SCIENCE too, and TASTE refin'd,
The

grave with deathless flow'rs have dress'd,
Of him whose virtue-kindling mind*

Their ev'ry charm supremely bless'd;
Who trac'd the mazy warblings of the lyre
With all a critic's art, and all a poet's fire.

VI.

Where is the bard, in these degen'rate days,
To whom the muse the blissful meed awards,
Again the dithyrambic song to raise,

And strike the golden harp's responsive chords?
Be his alone the song to swell,

The all-transcendant praise to tell

Of yon immortal form,

That bursting through the veil of years,

In changeless majesty appears,

Bright as the sunbeams thro' the scatt'ring storm!

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of camels, laden with the most rare and valuable merchandises. The rich offering was accompanied by an epistle, respectful, but not servile, from Odenathus, one of the noblest and most opulent senators of Palmyra. "Who is this Odenathus" (said the haughty victor, and he commanded that the presents should be cast into the Euphrates), "that he thus insolently presumes to write to his lord? If he entertain a hope of mitigating his punishment, let him fall prostrate before the foot of our throne, with his hands bound behind his back. Should he hesitate, swift destruction shall be poured on his head, on his whole race, and on his country.' The desperate extremity to which the Palmyrenian was now reduced, called into action all the latent powers of his soul. He met Sapor; but he met him in arms. Infusing his own spirit into a little army, collected from the villages of Syria, and the tents of the desert, he hovered round the Persian host, harassed their retreat, carried off part of the 'treasure, and, what was dearer than any treasure, several of the women of the Great King, who was at last obliged to repass the Euphrates, with some marks of haste and confusion. By this exploit, Odenathus laid the foundation of his future fame and fortunes. The majesty of Rome, oppressed by a Persian, was protected by a Syrian or Arab of Palmyra.-GIBBON.

* Longinus.

What countless charms around her rise!*
What dazzling splendour sparkles in her eyes!
On her radiant brow enshrin'd,

MINERVA'S beauty blends with JUNO's grace;
The matchless virtues of her godlike mind
Are stamp'd conspicuous on her angel-face.

VII.

Hail, sacred shade, to NATURE dear!
Though sorrow clos'd thy bright career,
Though clouds obscur'd thy setting day,
Thy fame shall never pass away!
Long shall the mind's unfading gaze
Retrace thy pow'r's meridian blaze,
When o'er ARABIAN deserts, vast and wild,

And EGYPT's land (where REASON'S wakeful eye
First on the birth of ART and SCIENCE smil'd,

And bade the shades of mental darkness fly),

* Aurelian had no sooner secured the person and provinces of Tetricus, than he turned his arms against Zenobia, the celebrated Queen of Palmyra and the East. Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women who have sustained with glory the weight of empire, nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished characters. But Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose superior genius broke through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by the climate and manners of Asia. She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed that princess in chastity and valour. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely, as well as the most heroic of her She was of a dark complexion (for in speaking of a lady these trifles become important). Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but 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.-GIBBON.

sex.

If we add to this her uncommon strength, and consider her excessive military fatigues, for she used no carriage, generally rode, and often marched on foot three or four miles with her army; and if we at the same time suppose her haranguing her soldiers, which she used to do in a helmet, and often with her arms bare, it will give us an idea of that severe character of masculine beauty, which puts one more in mind of Minerva than Venus.-WOOD.

And o'er ASSYRIA'S many-peopled plains,

By Justice led, thy conqu'ring armies pour'd,
When humbled nations kiss'd thy silken chains,
Or fled dismay'd from ZABDAS'* victor-sword:
Yet vain the hope to share the purple robe,t
Or snatch from ROMAN arms the empire of the globe.

* Zenobia's general.

+ From the time of Adrian to that of Aurelian, for about 140 years, this city continued to flourish, and increase in wealth and power, to that degree, that when the Emperor Valerian was taken prisoner by Sapor, King of Persia, Odenathus, one of the lords of thi town, was able, whilst Gallienus neglected his duty both to his fathe and his country, to bring a powerful army into the field, and to re cover Mesopotamia from the Persians, and to penetrate as far a their capital city Ctesiphon. Thereby rendering so considerable service to the Roman state, that Gallienus thought himself obliged t give him a share in the empire: of which action Trebellius Pollio, in the Life of Gallienus, has these words: Laudatur ejus (Gallieni) optimu factum, qui Odenatum participato imperio Augustum vocavit, ejusq monetam, quæ Persas captos traheret, cudi jussit; quod et Senatus Urbs et omnis atas gratanter accepit. The same, in many place speaks of this Odenathus with great respect; and mentioning h death, he says: Iratum fuisse Deum Republica credo, qui interfer! Valeriano noluit Odenatum reservare. But by a strange reverse fortune, this honour and respect to Odenathus occasioned the su den ruin and subverison of the city. For he and his son Herode being murdered by Mæonius, their kinsman, and dying with the title of Augustus, his wife Zenobia, in right of her son Vaballa thus, then a minor, pretended to take upon her the governmen of the East, and did administer it to admiration: and when, soon after, Gallienus was murdered by his soldiers, she grasped the government of Egypt, and held it during the short reign of the Emperor Claudius Gothicus. But Aurelian coming to the imperia dignity, would not suffer the title of Augustus in this family, though he was contented that they should hold under him as vice Cæsaris, as plainly appears by the Latin coins, of Aurelian on the one side, and Vaballathus on the other, with these letters, V. C. R. IM. OR; which P. Harduin has most judiciously interpreted, VICE CÆSARI RECTOR IMPERII ORIENTIS, without the title of Cæsar or Augustus, and with a laurel instead of a diadem. But both Vaballathus and Zenobia are styled ZEBATOI in the Greek coins, made, it is probable within their own jurisdiction.

But nothing less than a participation of the empire contenting Zenobia, and Aurelian persisting not to have it dismembered, he marched against her; and having in two battles routed her forces, he shut her up and besieged her in Palmyra, and the beseiged finding that the great resistance they made availed not against that resolute emperor, they yielded the town; and Zenobia Hying with her son was pursued and taken; with which Aurelian being contented spared the city, and marched for Rome with his captive lady; but the inhabitants, believing he would not return, set up again for

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