( 5*8 ;

vel more came back late to Aleppo, baving been but in the whole jult18 Days.

ibf/ m nu^uities" 4 she City of Tadmsr, whofe Remains in Ruins do with so muchh Evidence demonstrate the once Happy Gondition thereof, scems very well

p a i 7 o ° ll8 " to ^ P rov ’d to bethe fame City which Solomon the Great King ot Israelis faid to have Founded under that Name in the Desart, both in the i Kings9. 18. and 2 Chron. 8. t 5 . in the Tranfiation of which, the Vulgär La-tin Version, faid to be that of St. Jtrome has it, Condidit Palmyram in De-' jui. foto. And Jofephm teils us, That he Built a City ia the Desart, and

*' 8 ' call’d it Tbadamora ; and the Syrians at this Day (Tays he) call ic by th c

Same Name: but the Greeks namc it Palmyra. The Name is chereforeGreek, and conftquencly has norelationto the Latin Palma, and seems ra-thet Deriv’d from or which Heßcbius ^nterprets

T<tr«f : or perhaps from fwhich according to the fame Author)

was an Egyptian God. Neither is the Word "IQIH but "IDH that inHehren/ signi fies a Palm-Tret.

History is Silent as to the Fate arid Circumstances of this City, during thcgreat Revolutions in the several Empires of the East ; but it may well befüppos’d, that so Advanced a Garrison as this was, being above 300 Milesfrom Jerusalem, continu’d not long in the Pofl'estion of the Jeivs, who im-mediately alter Solomm, feil into Civil Distention, and Divided their Force :So that it is not to be doubted, but that it Submitted to the Babylonia nand Perpan Monarchies, and afterwards to the Macedonians under Alexanderand the Seleueida . But when the Romans got Footing in thesc Parts, andthe Parthians feem’d to put a stop to their färrher Conquests in the East,then was this City of Palmyra , by reason of its Situation, being a Frot-tier and in the midst of a Vast Sandy Desart, where Armies could notwell sobsist to Reduce it by Force, Courted and Careß’d by the Contend-ing Princes. and Permitted to continue a Eree State, a Man, or Staple forTrade, for the Convenience of Both Empires, as is abundanti/ made outfrom the Word« of Appian and Plinj.

Appian teils us, That M. Antonius , afeer his Victory at Philipps, about40 Ttars before Christ, sent his Horses to Plunder the City of Palmyra ,Pretending only that they were not sufficiently in the Roman Intcrest.*0 Tt I ’« [Adiw sj TliifSvsuov ovlsf \tpoyt U imPsl-iof tixpv, and that

being Merchants, they convey d the Indtan and Arabian Commodi ties bythe way of Persta into the RwwtfwTerritcrits; though the True Reasonwas their Richcs: But the Palmyrenes , being Inform’d of their Design,tookCareto Prevent them, and so efcap’d Plunder; and this Attempt ofAntons s occasion’d a Rupture between the Two Empires.

The Words of Pltnj, above an t CO Tears alter, do likewile Testify,that this City then Continu’d in thc fame Enjoyment ot their Liberties.Palmyra Urbs nobilis situ, Vsvitiis Soli, Atque Aquis Amoenis, vasto un-dique ambitu Arenis includit Agros, ac velut Terris exempta d Rerum Natu-ra, privata forte inter duo Imperia Summa Romanorum Parthorumque,& prima in Difiordid semper utrinque Cura. Whereby it appears not

only

De Bell. Ow/.hh. 5.

A Ut. Hiß . üb. 5.