Aurelian

Aurelian, by William Ware

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Title: Aurelian or, Rome in the Third Century
Author: William Ware
Release Date: June 28, 2007 [EBook #21953]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AURELIAN;
OR,

ROME IN THE THIRD CENTURY
IN LETTERS OF LUCIUS M. PISO, FROM ROME, TO FAUSTA,
THE DAUGHTER OF GRACCHUS, AT PALMYRA.
BY
WILLIAM WARE,
AUTHOR OF "ZENOBIA," "JULIAN," ETC.
FIFTH EDITION.
TWO VOLUMES COMPLETE IN ONE.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, (SUCCESSOR TO
C. S. FRANCIS & CO.) 647 BROADWAY. 1874.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1838, By
CHARLES S. FRANCIS, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District
of New York.
* * * * *
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1866, By MARY
WARE, in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of New York.

NOTICE.
This book--a sequel to Zenobia--published nearly ten years ago under
the name of 'Probus,' was soon republished, in several places abroad,
under that of 'Aurelian.' So far from complaining of the innovation, I
could not but regard it as a piece of good fortune, as I had myself long
thought the present a more appropriate title than the one originally

chosen. Add to this, that the publisher of the work, on lately proposing
a new edition, urgently advised the adoption of the foreign name, and I
have thought myself sufficiently warranted in an alteration which
circumstances seemed almost to require, or, at least, to excuse.
W. W.
* * * * *
AURELIAN.
The record which follows, is by the hand of me, NICOMACHUS, once
the happy servant of the great Queen of Palmyra, than whom the world
never saw a queen more illustrious, or a woman adorned with brighter
virtues. But my design is not to write her eulogy, or to recite the
wonderful story of her life. That task requires a stronger and a more
impartial hand than mine. The life of Zenobia by Nicomachus, would
be the portrait of a mother and a divinity, drawn by the pen of a child
and a worshipper.
My object is a humbler, but perhaps also a more useful one. It is to
collect and arrange, in their proper order, such of the letters of the most
noble LUCIUS MANLIUS PISO, as shall throw most light upon his
character and times, supplying all defects of incident, and filling up all
chasms that may occur, out of the knowledge which more exactly than
any one else, I have been able to gather concerning all that relates to the
distinguished family of the Pisos, after its connection with the more
distinguished one still, of the Queen of Palmyra.
It is in this manner that I propose to amuse the few remaining days of a
green old age, not without hope both to amuse and benefit others also.
This is a labor, as those will discover who read, not unsuitable to one
who stands trembling on the verge of life, and whom a single rude blast
may in a moment consign to the embraces of the universal mother. I
will not deny that my chief satisfaction springs from the fact, that in
collecting these letters, and binding them together by a connecting
narrative, I am engaged in the honorable task of tracing out some of the
steps by which the new religion has risen to its present height of power.

For whether true or false, neither friend nor foe, neither philosopher nor
fool, can refuse to admit the regenerating and genial influences of its so
wide reception upon the Roman character and manners. If not the gift
of the gods, it is every way worthy a divine origin; and I cannot but feel
myself to be worthily occupied in recording the deeds, the virtues, and
the sufferings, of those who put their faith in it, and, in times of danger
and oppression, stood forth to defend it. Age is slow of belief. The
thoughts then cling with a violent pertinacity to the fictions of its youth,
once held to be the most sacred realities. But for this I should, I believe,
myself long ago have been a Christian. I daily pray to the Supreme
Power that my stubborn nature may yet