- ( t6l ) 
pires. The words of Pli^jy {lih, l^at, tlifi?) above 
an hundred years after, dolikewife teftifie that this City 
then continued in the fame enjoyment of their Liberties. 
They being very much to the purpofe, 1 thought fit to 
Copy them : Taimyr a Vrls mlilis fitUy divitiisfoli atque 
aquis am(tnUi vajio undique amhitu arenis includit agros, 
ac velut terris exempt a a return Natura ; privata forte 
inter duo imperia fumma Romanorum Parthorumque^ & 
prima in difcordta femper utrinque cura. Whereby it 
appears not only that it was a Commonwealth in the 
time of Vefpafian ; but the Situation thereof is truly de- 
ftribed, as it were an IJland of fertile Land, furrounded 
with a Sea of barren Sands. Such Spots Stralo tells us 
were frequent in Lylia^ and by the Egyptians were 
called Alafes ; whence poffibly the Name ot the Ahajfyne 
Nation is derived. 
With theft Advantages of Freedom, Neutrality and 
Trade, for near two Centuries, 'tis not ftrange that it ac- 
quired the State and Wealth anfwerable to the Magnifi- 
cence of thefe noble Structures. But when the Romans 
under Trajan had made it appear, that there was no 
comparifon between the PuiflTance of the Parthians and 
thtm^QTrajan having ukmBaiylon and Ctefiphon the then 
Seat of the Parthian Empire,) the Palmyreni were at 
length determined to Declare for the Romans ; which 
they did, by fubmitting themfelves to the Emperor 
Adrian^ about the Year of Chrift 130, when Adrian 
made his Progrefs through Syria into Egypt, And that 
Magnificent Emperor being highly delighted with the 
native Strength and Situation of the Place, was pleafed 
to adorn and rebuild it : When, as 'tis likely, hebeftowed 
on it the Privileges of a Colony Juris Italici, which it 
enjoyed (as Vlpian afibres us.) And the Inhabitants of 
the City, in Gratitude, were willing to call themfelves 
HadrianopolitcB^ ^^^kvm^^mc^ 4 mMoeg ^Jsro tS Au7> 
?te^7Dp@o ( fays St^phanus. ) Nor is it unlikely that 
many 
