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Zenobia

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Thinking of these things, and full of saddest forebodings as to the fate
of this most interesting and polished people, I reached the gate of the
palace of Gracchus. The inmates, Gracchus and Fausta, I learned from Milo,
were at the palace of the Queen, whither I was instructed by them to
resort at the request of Zenobia herself. The chariot of my host soon bore
me there. It was with pleasure that I greeted this unexpected good
fortune. I had not even seen the Queen since the day passed at her villa,
and I was not a little desirous, before the ambassadors should receive
their final answer, to have one more opportunity of conversing with her.

The moment I entered the apartment where the Queen was with her guests, I
perceived that all state was laid aside, and that we were to enjoy each
other with the same social ease as when in the country, or as on that
first evening in the gardens of the palace. There was on this occasion no
prostration, and no slave crouched at her feet; and all the various
Persian ceremonial, in which this proud woman so delights, was dispensed
with. The room in which we met was large, and opening on two of its sides
upon those lofty Corinthian porticos, which add so greatly to the
magnificence of this palace. Light was so disposed as to shed a soft and
moon-like radiance, which, without dazzling, perfectly revealed every
person and object, even to the minutest beauties of the paintings upon the
walls, and of the statuary that offered to the eye the master-pieces of
ancient and modern sculpture. The company was scattered; some being seated
together in conversation, others observing the works of art, others pacing
the marble floors of the porticos, their forms crossing and recrossing the
ample arched door-ways which opened upon them.

'We feared,' said the Queen, advancing toward me as I entered, 'that we
were not to be so happy as to see you. My other friends have already
passed a precious hour with me. But every sacrifice to the affections, be
it ever so slight, is a virtue, and therefore you are still an object of
praise, rather than of censure.'

I said in reply that an affair of consequence had detained me, or I
should have been earlier at the house of Gracchus, so as to have
accompanied Fausta.

Fausta, who had been sitting with the Queen, now came forward, Julia
leaning on her arm, and said, 'And what do you imagine to be the affair of
consequence that has deprived us of Piso's company?'

'I cannot tell, indeed,' replied Zenobia.

'Julia at least,' said Fausta, 'will applaud him, when she hears that he
has just come from an assembly of Christians. May I ask, Lucius, what new
truth you have learned with which to enlighten us? But your countenance
tells me I must not jest. There--let me smooth that brow and make my
peace. But in seriousness, I hope your Mediterranean friend rewarded you
for the hour you have given him, and deprived us of?'

'I wish,' I could not but reply, 'that but one out of every thousand hours
of my life had been as well rewarded, and it would not have been so
worthless. The Princess may believe me when I say that not even the Bishop
of Antioch could have done better justice to the Christian argument. I
have heard this evening a Christian of the name of Probus, whose history I
related--and which you may remember--at the tables, within a few days
after my arrival in Palmyra. He is in opinion a follower of Paul, so I am
informed, though not--you Julia will be glad to learn it--in his manner of
life. What the differences are which separate the Christians from one
another in their belief, I know not. I only know that truth cannot take a
more winning shape than that in which it came from the lips of Probus, and
it was largely supported by the words of the founder of the religion. I
think you may justly congratulate your city and your subjects,' I
continued addressing Zenobia, 'upon the labors and teaching of a man like
Probus. The sentiments which he utters are such as must tend to the
strength of any government which relies for its support, in any sense,
upon the social and personal virtues of the people. In implanting the
virtues of justice, temperance, and piety, and in binding each heart to
every other, by the bonds of a love which this religion makes itself
almost to consist in, it does all that either philosophy or religion can
do for the harmony and order of society, the safety of governments, and
the peace of the world.'

'You speak with the earnestness of a deep persuasion, Roman,' replied the
Queen, 'and I shall not forget the name and office of the person whom you
have now named to me. I hear with pleasure of the arrival of any teacher
of truth in my kingdom. I have derived so much myself from the influences
of letters and philosophy, that it is no far-off conclusion for me to
arrive at, that my people must be proportionally benefited by an easy
access to the same life-giving fountains. Whatever helps to quicken
thought, and create or confirm habits of reflection, is so much direct
service to the cause of humanity. I truly believe that there is no
obstacle but ignorance, to prevent the world from attaining a felicity and
a virtue, such as we now hardly dream of--ignorance respecting the first
principles of philosophy and religion. Knowledge is not less essential to
the increase and elevation of virtue, than it is to the further advances
of truth, and the detection of error. Prove the truth, and mankind will
always prefer it to falsehood. So too, demonstrate wherein goodness
consists, and the road that leads to it, and mankind will prefer it to
vice. Vice is a mistake, as well as a fault; I do not say as often. I
fear that the Christian teachers are occupying themselves and their
disciples too much about mere speculative and fanciful distinctions, while
they give too little heed to that which alone is of any consequence,
virtue. In this, Longinus,' turning towards the philosopher, who had now
joined us, 'I think they affect to imitate the commentators and living
expositors of the great Plato. I have heard from Paul of Samosata accounts
of differences among Christians, where the points were quite too subtle
for my understanding to appreciate. They reminded me of the refinements of
some of the young adventurers from Athens, who occasionally have resorted
here for the purpose of elucidating the doctrines of your great
master--pseudo-philosophers and tyros, I perceive you are waiting to term
them. Is it so that you denominate Polemo the Athenian, who as I learn is
now here with the benevolent design of enlightening my people?'

'He is a man,' replied Longinus, 'hardly worthy to be named in this
connection and this presence at all. I have neither met him nor heard him,
nor do I desire to do so. It is through the mischievous intermeddling of
such as he that the honorable name and office of philosopher are brought
into contempt. It requires more intellect than ever enlightens the soul of
Polemo, to comprehend the lofty truth of Plato. I trust that when it has
been my pleasure to unfold the sense of that great teacher, it has not
been found to be either unprofitable, or unintelligible?'

Zenobia smiled and said, 'I must confess that at times, as I have ever
frankly stated, my mind has been a little tasked. There has been but an
approach to a perfect idea. But I do not say that a perfect conception has
not been presented. So that when this has happened, Longinus being the
teacher, and Zenobia and Julia the pupils, I cannot doubt that when the
task is entrusted to less cultivated minds--the task both of teaching and
learning--it must frequently end in what it might be rash to term light or
knowledge.'

'I grieve, O Queen,' replied Longinus, smiling in his turn, 'that both you
and the Princess should have possessed so little affinity for the
soul-purifying and elevating doctrines of the immortal Plato--that you,
Queen, should have even preferred the dark annals of Egyptian and Assyrian
history and politics, and the Greek learning; and you, Princess, should
have fixed your affections upon this, not new-found philosophy, but
new-invented religion, of the Christians. I still anticipate the happiness
to lead you both into the groves of the academy, and detain you there,
where and where only are seats that well become you.'

'But is it not,' I ventured here to suggest, 'some objection to the
philosophy of Plato as the guide of life, that it requires minds of the
very highest order to receive it? Philosophy, methinks, should be
something of such potency, yet at the same time of such simplicity, that
it should not so much require a lofty and elevated intellect to admit it,
as tend, being received readily and easily by minds of a humbler order, to
raise them up to itself. Now this, so far as I understand it, is the
character of the Christian philosophy--for philosophy I must think it
deservedly called. It is admitted into the mind with ease. But once being
there, its operation is continually to exalt and refine it--leading it
upwards forever to some higher point than it has hitherto arrived at. I do
not deny an elevating power to your philosophy when once an inmate of the
soul--I only assert the difficulty of receiving it on the part of the
common mind.'

'And the common mind has nothing to do,' replied the Greek, 'with Plato or
his wisdom. They are for minds of a higher order. Why should the man who
makes my sandals and my cloak be at the same time a philosopher? Would he
be the happier? In my opinion, it would but increase his discontent. Every
stitch that he set would be accompanied by the reflection, "What a poor
employment is this for a soul like mine, imbued with the best wisdom of
Greece," and if this did not make him miserable at his task, it would make
him contemptible when he should forsake it to do the work of some
Polemo--who, it may safely be presumed, has made some such exchange of
occupation. No. Philosophy is not for the many, but the few. Parts there
are of it which may descend and become a common inheritance. Other parts
there are, and it is of these I speak, which may not.'

'Therein,' I rejoined, 'I discern its inferiority to Christianity, which
appeals to all and is suited to all, to lowest as well as highest, to
highest as well as lowest.'

'But I remember to have been told,' said the Greek in reply, 'that
Christian teachers too have their mysteries--their doctrines for the
common people, and their refinements for the initiated.'

'I have heard not of it,' I answered; 'if it be so I should lament it. It
would detract from its value greatly in my judgment.'

'Where your information fails, Piso, mine perhaps may serve,' said Julia,
as I paused at fault. 'It is indeed true, as has been hinted by Longinus,
that some of the Christian doctors, through their weak and mistaken
ambition to assimilate their faith the nearest possible to the Greek
philosophy, have magnified the points in which the least resemblance could
be traced between them; and through the force of a lively imagination have
discovered resemblances which exist only in their fancies. These they make
their boast of, as showing that if Platonism be to be esteemed for its
most striking peculiarities, the very same, or ones nearly corresponding,
exist also in Christianity. Thus they hope to recommend their faith to the
lovers of philosophy. Many have by these means been drawn over to it, and
have not afterward altered any of their modes of life, and scarce any of
their opinions; still wearing the philosopher's robe and teaching their
former doctrines, slightly modified by a tincture of Christianity. However
the motive for such accommodation may be justified, it has already
resulted and must do so more and more to the corruption and injury of
Christianity. This religion, or philosophy, whichever it should be called,
ought however,' continued the Princess, addressing particularly the Greek,
'certainly to be judged on its own merits, and not by the conduct or
opinions of injudicious, weak, or dishonest advocates. You are not willing
that Plato should be judged by the criticisms of a Polemo, but insist that
the student should go to the pages of the philosopher himself, or else to
some living expositor worthy of him. So the Christian may say of
christianity. I have been a reader of the Christian records, and I can
say, that such secret and mysterious doctrines as you allude to, are not
to be found there. Moreover, I can refer you, for the same opinion, to
Paul of Antioch--I wish he were here--who, however he may depart from the
simplicity of the Christian life, maintains the simplicity of its
doctrine.'

'You have well shown, my fair pupil,' replied the philosopher, 'that the
imputation upon Christianity, of a secret and interior doctrine for the
initiated alone, is unjust, but therein have you deprived it of the very
feature that would commend it to the studious and inquisitive. It may
present itself as a useful moral guide to the common mind, but scarcely
can it hope to obtain that enthusiastic homage of souls imbued with the
love of letters, and of a refined speculation, which binds in such
true-hearted devotion every follower of Plato to the doctrine of his
divine master.'

At this moment Zabdas and Otho entered the apartment, and drawing near
to our group to salute the Queen, our conversation was broken off. I
took occasion, while this ceremony was going through, to turn aside and
survey the various beauty and magnificence of the room, with its rare
works of art. In this I was joined by Longinus, who, with a taste and a
power which I have seen in no other, descanted upon the more remarkable
of the pictures and statues, not in the manner of a lecturer, but with a
fine perception and observance of that nice line which separates the
learned philosopher from the polite man of the world. He was both at
once. He never veiled his learning or his genius, and yet never, by the
display of either, jarred the sensibilities of the most refined and
cultivated taste.

When we had in this way passed through the apartment, and were standing
looking toward where Zenobia sat engaged in earnest conversation with
Gracchus and Zabdas, Longinus said,

'Do you observe the restlessness of the Queen, and that flush upon her
cheek? She is thinking of to-morrow and of the departure of the
ambassadors. And so too is it with every other here. We speak of other
things, but the mind dwells but upon one. I trust the Queen will not lose
this fair occasion to gather once more the opinions of those who most love
and honor her. Piso, you have seen something of the attachment of this
people to their Queen. But you know not the one half of the truth. There
is not a living man in Palmyra, save only Antiochus, who would not lay
down his life for Zenobia. I except not myself. This attachment is founded
in part upon great and admirable qualities. But it is to be fully
explained only when I name the fascinations of a manner and a beauty such
as poets have feigned in former ages, but which never have been realized
till now. I acknowledge it,--we are slaves yoked to her car, and ask no
higher felicity or glory.'

'I wonder not,' said I; 'though a Roman, I have hardly myself escaped the
common fate; you need not be surprised to see me drawn, by-and-by, within
the charmed circle, and binding upon my own neck the silken chains and the
golden yoke. But see, the Queen asks our audience.'

We accordingly moved toward the seat which Zenobia now occupied,
surrounded by her friends, some being seated and others standing without
order around her.

'Good friends,' she said, 'I believe one thought fills every mind present
here. Is it not better that we give it utterance? I need the sympathy and
the counsel of those who love me. But I ask not only for the opinions of
those who agree with me, but as sincerely for those of such as may differ
from me. You know me well in this, that I refuse not to hearken to
reasons, the strongest that can be devised, although they oppose my own
settled judgment. Upon an occasion like this it would ill become the head
of a great empire to shut out the slenderest ray of light that from any
quarter might be directed upon the questions which so deeply interest and
agitate us. I believe that the great heart of my people goes with me in
the resolution I have taken, and am supported in by my council; but I am
well aware, that minds not inferior to any in strength, and hearts that
beat not less warmly toward their country and toward me than any others,
are opposed to that resolution, and anticipate nought but disaster and
ruin from a conflict with the masters of the world. Let us freely open our
minds each to other, and let no one fear to offend me, but by withholding
his full and free opinion.'

'We who know our Queen so well,' said Gracchus, 'hardly need these
assurances. Were I as bitterly opposed to the measures proposed as I am
decidedly in favor of them, I should none the less fearlessly and frankly
declare the reasons of my dissent. I am sure that every one here
experiences the freedom you enjoin. But who will need to use it? For are
we not of one mind? I see indeed one or two who oppose the general
sentiment. But for the rest, one spirit animates all, and what is more, to
the farthest limits of the kingdom am I persuaded the same spirit spreads,
and possesses and fills every soul. The attempt of Aurelian to control us
in our affairs, to dictate to us concerning the limits of our empire so
far removed, is felt to be a wanton freak of despotic power, which, if it
be not withstood in its first encroachment, may proceed to other acts less
tolerable still, and which may leave us scarcely our name as a distinct
people--and that covered with shame. Although a Roman by descent, I
advocate not Roman intolerance. I can see and denounce injustice in
Aurelian as well as in another. Palmyra is my country and Zenobia my
Queen, and when I seek not their honor, may my own fall blasted and
ruined. I stand ready to pledge for them in this emergency, what every
other man of Palmyra holds it his privilege to offer, my property and my
life, and if I have any possession dearer than these, I am ready to bring
and lay it upon the same altar.'

The eyes of Zenobia filled at the generous enthusiasm of her faithful
counsellor--and, for Fausta, it was only a look and sign of the Queen that
held her to her seat.

Longinus then, as seemed to be his place, entered at length into the
merits of the question. He did not hesitate to say that at the first
outbreak of these difficulties he had been in favor of such concessions to
the pride of Rome as would perhaps have appeased her and cast no
indignity upon Palmyra. He did not scruple to add that he had deeply
disapproved and honestly censured that rash act of the young princes in
assuming the garb and state of Cæsars. He would rather leave to Rome her
own titles and empire, and stand here upon a new and independent footing.
It was a mad and useless affront, deeply wounding to the pride of
Aurelian, and the more rankling as it was of the nature of a personal as
well as national affront. He withheld not blame too from that towering
ambition which, as he said, coveted the world because the gods had indeed
imparted a genius capable to rule the world. He had exerted all his powers
to moderate and restrain it, by infusing a love of other than warlike
pursuits. 'But,' said he, 'the gods weave the texture of our souls, not
ourselves; and the web is too intensely wove and drenched in too deep a
dye for us to undo or greatly change. The eagle cannot be tamed down to
the softness of a dove, and no art of the husbandman can send into the
gnarled and knotted oak the juices that shall smooth and melt its
stiffness into the yielding pliancy of the willow. I wage no war with the
work of the gods. Besides, the demands of Rome have now grown to such a
size that they swallow up our very existence as a free and sovereign
state. They leave us but this single city and province out of an empire
that now stretches from the Nile to the Bosphorus--an empire obtained by
what cost of blood and treasure I need not say, any more than by what
consummate skill in that art which boasts the loftiest minds of all ages.'
He went on to say, that Palmyra owed a duty not only to herself in this
matter, but to the whole East, and even to the world. For what part of the
civilized world had not been trampled into dust by the despotism of
almighty Rome? It was needful to the well-being of nations that some power
should boldly stand forth and check an insolence that suffered no city nor
kingdom to rest in peace. No single people ought to obtain universal
empire. A powerful nation was the more observant of the eternal principles
of honor and justice for being watched by another, its equal. Individual
character needs such supervision, and national as much. Palmyra was now an
imposing object in the eye of the whole world. It was the second power.
All he wished was, that for the sake of the world's peace, it should
retain this position. He deprecated conquest. However another might aspire
to victory over Aurelian, to new additions from the Roman territory, he
had no such aspirations. On the other hand, he should deplore any success
beyond the maintenance of a just and honorable independence. This was our
right, he said, by inheritance, and as much also by conquest, and for
this he was ready, with the noble Gracchus, to offer to his sovereign his
properties, his powers, and his life. 'If my poor life,' he closed with
saying, 'could prolong by a single year the reign of one who, with virtues
so eminent and a genius so vast, fills the throne of this fair kingdom, I
would lay it at her feet with joy, and think it a service well done for
our own and the world's happiness.'

No sooner had Longinus ended, than Otho, a man of whom I have more than
once spoken to you, begged to say a few words.

'My opinions are well known,' he began with saying, 'and it may be
needless that I should again, and especially here, declare them, seeing
that they will jar so rudely with those entertained by you, my friends
around me. But sure I am, that no one has advocated the cause and the
sentiments which Zenobia cherishes so fondly, with a truer, deeper
affection for her, with a sincerer love of her glory, than I rise to
oppose them with--' 'We know it, we know it, Otho,' interrupted the Queen.
'Thanks, noble Queen, for the fresh assurance of it. It is because I love,
that I resist you. It is because I glory in your reign, in your renown, in
your virtues, that I oppose an enterprise that I see with a prophet's
vision will tarnish them all. Were I your enemy, I could not do better
than to repeat the arguments that have just fallen from the lips of the
head of our councils, set off with every trick of eloquence that would
send them with a yet more resistless power into the minds not only of
those who are assembled here, but of those, your subjects, wherever over
these large dominions they are scattered. To press this war is to
undermine the foundations of the fairest kingdom the sun shines upon, and
unseat the most beloved ruler that ever swayed a sceptre over the hearts
of a devoted people. It can have no other issue. And this is not, O noble
Queen, to throw discredit upon former achievements, or to express a doubt
of powers which have received the homage of the world. It is only with
open eyes to acknowledge what all but the blind must see and confess, the
overwhelming superiority in power of every kind of the other party. With a
feeble man upon the Roman throne, and I grant that upon the outskirts of
her empire a brave and determined opposition might obtain great
advantages, and conquer or re-conquer provinces and cities, and bring
disgrace upon Roman generals. But this must be a transitory glory--the
mere shooting of an evening star--ending in deeper gloom. For what is
Rome? Is it the commander of a legion, or the resident governor of a
dependent kingdom, or even Cæsar himself? And have you dealt with Rome
when you have dealt with Balista, or Heraclianus, or Probus? Alas! no.
Rome still stands omnipotent and secure. The lion has been but chafed, and
is still a lion, with more than his former fury; one hair has been drawn;
his teeth, his limbs, his massy weight, his untouched energies, remain.
Rome has been asleep for thirteen long years. Any empire but Rome--which
is immortal--would have slept the sleep of death under the dastardly,
besotted Gallienus. But Rome has but slumbered, and has now awaked with
renovated powers, under the auspices of a man whose name alone has carried
terror and dismay to the farthest tribes of the German forests. Against
Aurelian, with all the world at his back! and what can any resistance of
ours avail? We may gain a single victory--to that, genius and courage are
equal, and we possess them in more than even Roman measure--but that very
victory may be our undoing, or it will but embitter the temper of the
enemy, call forth a new display of unexhausted and inexhaustible
resources, while our very good success itself will have nearly annihilated
our armies; and what can happen then but ruin, absolute and complete?
Roman magnanimity may spare our city and our name. But it is more likely
that Roman vengeance may blot them both out from the map of the world, and
leave us nought but the fame of our Queen, and the crumbling ruins of this
once flourishing city, by which to be remembered by posterity.

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