ANCIENT KINGS OF ARABIA 137 



but unsuccessful army against certain tribes (A. D, 

 194), to chastise them for assisting his rival Piscen- 

 nius Niger, none of the emperors appear to have dis- 

 turbed the repose of their desert, till Aurelian.who, 

 in A. D. 273, vanquished the celebrated Queen Zeno- 

 bia, and made himself master of her capital, Pal- 

 myra. A number of Arabs v>-ere among the captives 

 of various nations who gi-aced the splendid triumph 

 of that warlike prince on his final return to Rome.* 

 The apostate Julian paid that people a yearly 

 sum. to maintain a body of troops in readiness for 

 his service ; and when their deputies complained that 

 this stipend had been discontinued, he imprudently 

 remarked that a miUtary chief should pay with 

 steel, and not Avith gold. This haughty neglect they 

 immediately resented by joining his enemies, the 

 Persians. The love of jjlunder, however, attracted 

 several tribes to the imperial standard, when the 

 same emperor conducted his expedition (A. D. 362) 

 against the warlike Shapoor, who had insulted the 

 majesty of the Cesars by threatening to exterminate 

 with his fiery scimitar the name of Romans from the 

 earth. It was in this memorable campaign that the 

 soldiers of Julian besieged and destroyed Anbar, the 

 residence of the kings of Hira, v/hich Ammianus 

 describes as a city, large, populous, and well fortified 

 with a double wall ; almost encompassed by a branch 

 of the Euphrates, and defended by the valour of a 

 numerous garrison. After being battered for two 

 days, by two prodigious engines resembling moving 

 turrets,' the place was reduced to ashes. Two 

 thousand five hundred persons, the feeble remnant 

 of a flourishing people, were permitted to retire. 

 The magazines of corn, arms, and ammunition were 

 partly distributed among the troops, and partly re- 

 served for the public service. The rich furniture 

 and superfluous stores were destroyed by fire, or 



♦ Dion Cass, ut sup. p. 777. Lucian, Philopatris, Eutrop. in 

 Trai et Sever. Gibb. Rom. Erap. chap. xi. 



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