gorgeousness altogether beyond any thing I ever saw before, and agreeing
well with all my impressions of oriental magnificence. It was soon under
the right aspect. Not one expectation was disappointed but rather exceeded
as we came in sight of the vast walls of the city, and of the 'Roman
Gate'--so it is called--through which we were to make our entrance. It was
all upon the grandest scale. The walls were higher, and more frequently
defended by square massy towers springing out of them, than those of
Rome. The towers, which on either side flanked the gateway, and which were
connected by an immense arch flung from one to the other, were
particularly magnificent. No sooner had we passed through, than we found
ourselves in a street lined as it were with palaces. It was of great
width---we have no street like it in this respect--of an exact level, and
stretched onward farther than the eye could distinctly reach, being
terminated by another gate similar to that by which we had entered. The
buildings on either side were altogether of marble, of Grecian design--the
city is filled with Greek artists of every description--frequently adorned
with porticos of the most rich and costly construction and by long ranges
of private dwellings, interrupted here and there by temples of religion,
edifices of vast extent belonging to the state, or by gardens attached to
the residences of the luxurious Palmyrene nobility.

'It is well for Palmyra,' here muttered my slave Milo, 'that the Emperor
has never, like us, travelled this way.'

'Why so, Milo?' said I.

'I simply think,' rejoined he, 'that he would burn it down; and it were a
pity so many fine buildings should be destroyed. Was there not once a
place called Carthage? I have heard it said that it was as large as Rome,
and as well garnished with temples, and that for that reason the Romans