Domestic treason, with insidious stab, Snatched from Zenobia's side her gallant lord, And threw into her hand the exigencies Of an unstable and capricious throne. Yet was her genius not inadequate. The precepts of experience, intertwined With intellectual power of lofty grade, Combined to raise Palmyra's beauteous queen High in the golden scale of moral greatness. Under the teachings of the good Longinus The streams of science flowed into her mind; And, like the fountain-fostered mountain lake, Her soul was pure as its ethereal food. The patronage bestowed on learned men Declared her love for letters. The rewards, Rich and unnumbered, she conferred on merit Her own refined, exalted taste betrayed. Her graceful and majestic figure, crowned With beauty such as few but angels wear, Like the rich casing that surrounds the gem, Heightened the splendor of her brilliant genius. Equally daring on the battle-field And in the chase, her prudence and her courage, Displayed in many a hot emergency, Had twined victorious laurel round her brow. Under her rule Palmyra's fortunes rose To an unequalled altitude, and wealth Flowed in upon her like a golden sea, Her wide dominion, stretching from the Nile To the far Euxine and Euphrates' flood-- Her active commerce, whose expanded range Monopolized the trade of all the East-- Her stately capital, whose towers and domes Vied with proud Rome in architectural grace-- Her own aspiring aims and high renown-- All breathed around the Asiatic queen An atmosphere of greatness, and betrayed Her bold ambition, and her rivalry With the imperial mistress of the world.