Royal Society. i6i 
j^pplande ^ell. Civil. /.V.. tells us, that M.Antony, after 
his vidory at 'Philippic about 4.0 years before Chrifl, fent his 
horfe to plunder the city o{ Palmyra, pretending only that they 
were not fufficicntly in the Roman intereft j or/ ^'^coi^aiuv it) lict^- 
Bvaue-jy oV7i<; l(pofot U iKoLiz^a^ iTTtS'i^ieo^ '^'X^v, and that being mer- 
chants, they conveyed the Indian and Arabian commodities 
by the way oi Perfia into the Roman territories, tho' the true 
realon was their riches j but the '■Palmyreneiy being informed 
of their defign, took care to prevent them, and fo efcaped 
plunder 5 and this attempt of Antonfs occafioned a rupture 
between the two empires. The words of Pliny y above ico 
years after, do likewife teftify that this city then continued in 
the fame enjoyment of its liberties. Palmyra Urbs nobilis 
fitUy divitiis foli^ atque aquis am<enis^ vaflo undiqne amhitu 
arenis includit agroSy ac velut terris e^cmpta a rerum natura^ 
privata forte inter duo imperia fumma Romanorum Parthorum- 
que, ^ prima in difcordia femper iitrinque cura-j whereby it 
appears, that it was a common wealth in the time oiVefpafiaUy 
and its iituation is truly defcribed, as it were an ifland of fer- 
tile land, furrounded with a fea of barren fands^ fuch fpcts, 
according to Straboy were frequent in Libya^ and by the Egyp- 
tians called Abafes, whence poffibly the name of the Abajjlne 
nation is derived. 
With thefe advantages of freedom, neutrality, and trade, 
for near two centuries, it is not to be wondered at that it ac- 
quired that ftate and wealth anfwerable to the magnificence 
of thefe noble ftru(5tures; but when the Romam under Trajan 
had taken Sabylon and Ctefipkion, the then feat of the Parthian 
empire, thcPalmyrenes were at length determined to declare 
for them 5 which they did by fubmitting themfelves to the 
emperor Adrian^ about the year of Chrifl 190, when he made 
his progrefs thro' Syria into Egypt 5 and that magnificent em- 
peror, being highly delighted with the nature, ffrength, andfitu- 
ation of the place, was pleated to adorn and build it- when 
probably he bcftowed on it the privileges of a colony Juris 
Italicij which it enjoyed, as Ulpian affures us, and the inhabi- 
tants, in gratitude to the emperor, would have themfelves 
called HirdrianopolitO', iTriKTia^ia^i th? 'jokiu^ Ctto n^ Avtok^.- 
Tof®^, fays S.epbanuSj nor is it unlikely, that many of thole 
marble pilkrs were the gift of that emperor, and particularly 
ihofe of the long PortiruSj becaufe none of the infcriptions ar^ 
prior to that dare, and that it was ufual with the Ctefars to 
prefcnt cities, that had obliged them, with marble pillars to 
Vol. III. " X adcr.i 
