and their bodies stripped naked, and that the one was thrown into one place of the river, and the other into another. We have a curious picture of Roman manners in these days in the record of the various names of contempt and derision which were bestowed on Heliogabalus in his lifetime, and after his death. The most complimentary were those of "Sardanapalus" and "Assyrius," in allusion to the eastern luxury of the emperor. From the licentious amours of his mother, he derived, according to some authorities, the title of "Varius," indicative of the uncertainty of his paternity;* though another derivation has been assigned to this epithet. After his death he was called "Tractitius," from having been dragged through the streets, and “Tiberinus,” from having been cast into the Tiber. name of "Impurus" was, perhaps, conferred upon him from his body having been thrown His * Et aiunt quidem, Varii etiam nomen idcirco eidem inditum a condiscipulis, quod vario semine de meretrice utpote, conceptus videretur. Ælius Lampridius, “ Hist. August. Script.," lib. 1, 794. into the common sewer, though this title was at least as well merited by him in life as in death. Heliogabalus had lived like Vitellius, and the circumstances of their deaths were remarkably similar. ZENOBIA. THE person and habits of Zenobia, the celebrated Queen of Palmyra, have in some degree become familiar to the general reader, from the notice of them which Gibbon, transcribing from the full details furnished by the Augustan historian, Trebellius Pollio, has embodied in his fascinating work. It is rarely indeed that the character of Gibbon suffers from a comparison of his text with his authorities and references, and in matters of curious interest he is seldom chargeable with want of sufficient copiousness. He has, however, by no means exhausted the personal description of Zenobia, and to some important particulars about her habits he has made no allusion. Zenobia, says Pollio, was the most noble and the most beautiful of all the women of the East.* Her complexion, he tells us, was brown, as is noticed by the monk in Chaucer : "I say not that she had moche fairnesse, But of hire schepe she might not be amended."† Yet it should be recollected that Zenobia was descended of the Macedonian princes of Egypt, and reckoned Cleopatra amongst her ancestresses. Her eyes were black and sparkling beyond measure, says Pollio; her spirit was divine, and her beauty incredible. Her teeth * Trebellius Pollio, "Hist. August. Script." lib. 11, p 299. Ludg. Bat. 1671. + Chaucer, "Monke's Tale," b. xiv, 259. Oculis supra modum vigentibus, nigris. Salmasius tells us that the Palatine manuscript, instead of vigentibus, read ingentibus. Gibbon has, with great art, given Zenobia the full benefit of both readings, besides adding a compliment of his own. "Her large black eyes," he says, "sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered with the most attractive sweetness." were so white, that some thought she wore pearls instead of teeth. This is the most distinctly Oriental feature in the picture of Zenobia. There are teeth sufficiently white to be found in Europe, if they be diligently sought after; but the tooth which is most accurately described as "pearly," having an appearance of half transparency, is purely Asiatic. Her voice, says Pollio, was clear and, he adds, manly. She lived in royal pomp, after the manner of the Persians, and like the sovereigns of Persia, received divine honours. She feasted after the fashion of the Romans. She went to the public assemblies with a helmet on her head, and a purple-bordered robe, with jewels hanging from the fringe, her under robe bound about her waist with a clasp, and her arms often bare. On her shoulders she wore an imperial tunic, or small cloak, after the usage of Queen Dido. She was at once prudently liberal, says Pollio, and economical, beyond a woman's fashion, of her treasury. She used a chariot in driving, seldom taking a coach, and often rode |