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oalx that ir was » Common-Wcalth in the Time of Veß>asian , but the Si-tuation thereof is truly Describ’d, as it were an Ifland of Fertile Laniissorrounded with a Sea of Barren Sands. Such Spots Strabo teils u-, wereftequent in Ljbia, and by the ts£gyptians were call’d Abäse s, whencepollibly the Name of the Abafjyne Nation is Deriv’d.

W ith these Advantages of Freedome, Neutrality , and Trade, for neartwo Centuries, ’tis not stränge that itacquir’d the State and Wtalth answer-able to the Magnificence of these Noble Struftures. Bitt when the Romantunder Trajan had made it appear, that there was no Comparisbn betweenthe Puiflance of the Partbians and them, (Trajan havmg taken Babylonand Ctefipkon, the then Seat of the Parihian Empire, ) the Palmyreni wereat length dettrmin d to declare for the Romans > which they did, by 8ub>mitting themselves to the Emperor Adrian , about the Year of Chri(t 130,when Ad ian made his Progress through Syria info t AEgypt. And thatMagnificent Emperor being Highly Delighted with the Native Strength andSituation of the Place, was pleascd to Adorn and Rebuild it. When, as'tis likely, he bestow’d on it the Privi leges of a Colcny Juris Italici, whichit Enjoy’d (as Vlpian asiures us) : And the Inhabitants of the City, inGratitude were willing to call themselves Hadrianopolittf , Irmint&eionsnr'oMas 's» (ftys Stephaniis. ) Nor is it unliktly that many

of thosc Marble Pillars were the Gift of that Emperor, and particularly tholeof the Leng Porticus ; for that none of the Infcnptions are before that Date ;And it was usual for the Casars to Present Cities that had oblig’d them,with Marble Pillars to Adorn their Publick Buildings. These here werenot far to fetch, the Neighbouring Mountains affording the Marble Quar-ries : But the Magnitude of the Porphyry Columns is indeed very Remarkable,conGdering how far thosc Vast Stones must have been brought by Land-Carriageto this Place; it being not known that anyother Quarrits yield it,except thosc of c Algypt, which lie about Mid-way between Cairo and Siena,between the Nile and the Red-Sta : the Stone being very Valuable for itsColcur and Hardneß , and für that it riscs in Blocks of any Magnitude re-quir’d. And it is a great Mistake of thosc who sopposc it FaUitions,

From the Time of Adrian to that of Aurelian, for about J40 Years,this City continu’d to Flourifh and Increase in Wealth and Power, to thatDegree, that when the Emperor Valerian was taken Prisoner by Sapores ,King of Perfia, Odanathus, one of the Lords of this Town (which NameOccurs in scveral of these Inscriptions') was able- (whilsf Gallienus neglectedhis Duty both to his Father and Country) to bring a Powerful Army intothe Field, and to recover Mesopotamia from the Perfians , and to PenetVateas far as their Capital City Cteßphon. Thercby rendring fb considerableService to the Roman State, that Gallienus thought himself Oblig’d to givehim a Share in the Empire: Of which Action, Trebellius Pollio (in the Lifeof Gallienus") has these Words, Laudatur ejus (Gallieni ) op ir/utmfaffnm, quiOdenatum Participato Imperio Augustum vocavit, e jusque Monetam, quaPersas Captes traheret, Cuds)ufsit: quod & Senatus & Urbs & omnis <y£tas-gratanter accepit. The fame, in many places, speaks of this Odanathus

with