In
Zenobia he found a true helpmeet. She inured herself to hardships in
order that she might accompany her husband in his hazardous
undertakings, and assist him by her counsels or cheer him by her
presence. To her prudence and fortitude Odenathus owed much of his
success, both as a general and a monarch; so that in a few years, from
the small possessions adjoining Palmyra, he had extended his territory
from the Euphrates to the frontiers of Bithynia. During the intervals
between the wars in which he engaged from time to time, he spent much of
his leisure in hunting or other wild sports; and in these active
amusements his wife also accompanied him. She even marched, when the
occasion required it, at the head of their troops. For years every thing
went prosperously; then Odenathus was snatched away by death, and the
entire responsibility of the Government devolved upon Zenobia alone. The
Romans, now grown stronger than they had been for some time after the
defeat of Valerian, disputed the right of the widow of Odenathus to
assume the reins of government, and sent out generals to compel her to
submit to the dictum of the Senate. One of these she met, and obliged to
retreat with the loss of his army, his mortification at defeat being
increased by the fact that he had been beaten by a woman.
By judicious tact, she attached both her subjects and her soldiers to
her cause, and enlarged the borders of her dominion very considerably.
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