Worse  still,  the  troops  in  the  provinces  threw  off
their  allegiance.  Three  commanders — Septiminus,
Urbanus,  and  Domitianus  ^ — were  set  up  as  rival
Emperors.  The  Goths,  under  their  chief  Canna-
baudes,  burst  into  the  Balkan  provinces,  so  lately
delivered  from  their  raids.  Above  all,  Zenobia  felt
that  the  hour  had  come  for  the  realisation  of  her
dreams   of  sovereignty.     In  the  spring  of  A.D.    271,

'  A  coin  struck  by  the  last  named  has  been  found  in  South-western
France.
324         THE   RESTORATION   OF  IMPERIAL    UNITY

when  the  news  of  Aurelian's  defeat  reached  Palmyra,
the  mints  of  Alexandria  and  Antioch  issued  coins
with  the  legend  Iinperator  Ccesar  Vaballathus
Augustus  (or  its  Greek  equivalent)  encircling  the
^^%y  of  the  boy-king,  who  wore  the  radiate  crown
reserved  for  an  Emperor's  brow,  as  well  as  others
upon  which  the  portrait  of  '*  Zenobia  Augusta "
appeared  for  the  first  time.  This  was  an  act  of  flat
rebellion.
