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diff --git a/40205-0.txt b/40205-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80b28a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/40205-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5587 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40205 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 40205-h.htm or 40205-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40205/40205-h/40205-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40205/40205-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/historyofcleopat00abbo + + + + + +[Illustration: SCENE OF CLEOPATRA'S HISTORY] + + +HISTORY OF CLEOPATRA, QUEEN OF EGYPT. + +by + +JACOB ABBOTT. + +With Engravings. + + + + + + + +New York: +Harper & Brothers, Publishers. +1854. + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight +hundred and fifty-one, by +Harper & Brothers, +in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of +New York. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In selecting the subjects for the successive volumes of this series, it +has been the object of the author to look for the names of those great +personages whose histories constitute useful, and not merely entertaining, +knowledge. There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all +mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, +feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their +history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or +their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. This +knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtain in respect to +such personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Cæsar, Cleopatra, Darius, Xerxes, +Alfred, William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary, queen of Scots, +it is the design and object of these volumes to communicate, in a +faithful, and, at the same time, if possible, in an attractive manner. +Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been +the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their +characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and +free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so +obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical +usefulness. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Chapter Page + + I. THE VALLEY OF THE NILE 13 + + II. THE PTOLEMIES 35 + + III. ALEXANDRIA 61 + + IV. CLEOPATRA'S FATHER 87 + + V. ACCESSION TO THE THRONE 112 + + VI. CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR 132 + + VII. THE ALEXANDRINE WAR 157 + + VIII. CLEOPATRA A QUEEN 181 + + IX. THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI 200 + + X. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY 225 + + XI. THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM 256 + + XII. THE END OF CLEOPATRA 286 + + + + +ENGRAVINGS. + + + Page + + MAP, SCENE OF CLEOPATRA'S HISTORY _Frontispiece._ + + MAP, THE RAINLESS REGION 21 + + MAP, THE DELTA OF THE NILE 29 + + THE BIRTH-DAY PRESENT 50 + + ANTONY CROSSING THE DESERT 107 + + CLEOPATRA ENTERING THE PALACE OF CÆSAR 135 + + VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA 162 + + CLEOPATRA'S SISTER IN THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION 190 + + THE ENTERTAINMENTS AT TARSUS 242 + + THE RAISING OF ANTONY TO THE UPPER WINDOW OF + THE TOMB 303 + + + + +CLEOPATRA. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE VALLEY OF THE NILE. + + +The story of Cleopatra is a story of crime. It is a narrative of the +course and the consequences of unlawful love. In her strange and romantic +history we see this passion portrayed with the most complete and graphic +fidelity in all its influences and effects; its uncontrollable impulses, +its intoxicating joys, its reckless and mad career, and the dreadful +remorse and ultimate despair and ruin in which it always and inevitably +ends. + + * * * * * + +Cleopatra was by birth an Egyptian; by ancestry and descent she was a +Greek. Thus, while Alexandria and the delta of the Nile formed the scene +of the most important events and incidents of her history, it was the +blood of Macedon which flowed in her veins. Her character and action are +marked by the genius, the courage, the originality, and the impulsiveness +pertaining to the stock from which she sprung. The events of her history, +on the other hand, and the peculiar character of her adventures, her +sufferings, and her sins, were determined by the circumstances with which +she was surrounded, and the influences which were brought to bear upon her +in the soft and voluptuous clime where the scenes of her early life were +laid. + +Egypt has always been considered as physically the most remarkable country +on the globe. It is a long and narrow valley of verdure and fruitfulness, +completely insulated from the rest of the habitable world. It is more +completely insulated, in fact, than any literal island could be, inasmuch +as deserts are more impassable than seas. The very existence of Egypt is a +most extraordinary phenomenon. If we could but soar with the wings of an +eagle into the air, and look down upon the scene, so as to observe the +operation of that grand and yet simple process by which this long and +wonderful valley, teeming so profusely with animal and vegetable life, has +been formed, and is annually revivified and renewed, in the midst of +surrounding wastes of silence, desolation, and death, we should gaze upon +it with never-ceasing admiration and pleasure. We have not the wings of +the eagle, but the generalizations of science furnish us with a sort of +substitute for them. The long series of patient, careful, and sagacious +observations, which have been continued now for two thousand years, bring +us results, by means of which, through our powers of mental conception, we +may take a comprehensive survey of the whole scene, analogous, in some +respects, to that which direct and actual vision would afford us, if we +could look down upon it from the eagle's point of view. It is, however, +somewhat humiliating to our pride of intellect to reflect that +long-continued philosophical investigations and learned scientific +research are, in such a case as this, after all, in some sense, only a +sort of substitute for wings. A human mind connected with a pair of +eagle's wings would have solved the mystery of Egypt in a week; whereas +science, philosophy, and research, confined to the surface of the ground, +have been occupied for twenty centuries in accomplishing the undertaking. + +It is found at last that both the existence of Egypt itself, and its +strange insulation in the midst of boundless tracts of dry and barren +sand, depend upon certain remarkable results of the general laws of rain. +The water which is taken up by the atmosphere from the surface of the sea +and of the land by evaporation, falls again, under certain circumstances, +in showers of rain, the frequency and copiousness of which vary very much +in different portions of the earth. As a general principle, rains are much +more frequent and abundant near the equator than in temperate climes, and +they grow less and less so as we approach the poles. This might naturally +have been expected; for, under the burning sun of the equator, the +evaporation of water must necessarily go on with immensely greater +rapidity than in the colder zones, and all the water which is taken up +must, of course, again come down. + +It is not, however, wholly by the latitude of the region in which the +evaporation takes place that the quantity of rain which falls from the +atmosphere is determined; for the condition on which the falling back, in +rain, of the water which has been taken up by evaporation mainly depends, +is the cooling of the atmospheric stratum which contains it; and this +effect is produced in very various ways, and many different causes operate +to modify it. Sometimes the stratum is cooled by being wafted over ranges +of mountains; sometimes by encountering and becoming mingled with cooler +currents of air; and sometimes, again, by being driven in winds toward a +higher, and, consequently, cooler latitude. If, on the other hand, air +moves from cold mountains toward warm and sunny plains, or from higher +latitudes to lower, or if, among the various currents into which it falls, +it becomes mixed with air warmer than itself, its capacity for containing +vapor in solution is increased, and, consequently, instead of releasing +its hold upon the waters which it has already in possession, it becomes +thirsty for more. It moves over a country, under these circumstances, as a +warm and drying wind. Under a reverse of circumstances it would have +formed drifting mists, or, perhaps, even copious showers of rain. + +It will be evident, from these considerations, that the frequency of the +showers, and the quantity of the rain which will fall, in the various +regions respectively which the surface of the earth presents, must depend +on the combined influence of many causes, such as the warmth of the +climate, the proximity and the direction of mountains and of seas, the +character of the prevailing winds, and the reflecting qualities of the +soil. These and other similar causes, it is found, do, in fact, produce a +vast difference in the quantity of rain which falls in different regions. +In the northern part of South America, where the land is bordered on every +hand by vast tropical seas, which load the hot and thirsty air with vapor, +and where the mighty Cordillera of the Andes rears its icy summits to +chill and precipitate the vapors again, a quantity of rain amounting to +more than ten feet in perpendicular height falls in a year. At St. +Petersburg, on the other hand, the quantity thus falling in a year is but +little more than one foot. The immense deluge which pours down from the +clouds in South America would, if the water were to remain where it fell, +wholly submerge and inundate the country. As it is, in flowing off through +the valleys to the sea, the united torrents form the greatest river on the +globe--the Amazon; and the vegetation, stimulated by the heat, and +nourished by the abundant and incessant supplies of moisture, becomes so +rank, and loads the earth with such an entangled and matted mass of +trunks, and stems, and twining wreaths and vines, that man is almost +excluded from the scene. The boundless forests become a vast and almost +impenetrable jungle, abandoned to wild beasts, noxious reptiles, and huge +and ferocious birds of prey. + +Of course, the district of St. Petersburg, with its icy winter, its low +and powerless sun, and its twelve inches of annual rain, must necessarily +present, in all its phenomena of vegetable and animal life, a striking +contrast to the exuberant prolificness of New Grenada. It is, however, +after all, not absolutely the opposite extreme. There are certain regions +on the surface of the earth that are actually rainless; and it is these +which present us with the true and real contrast to the luxuriant +vegetation and teeming life of the country of the Amazon. In these +rainless regions all is necessarily silence, desolation, and death. No +plant can grow; no animal can live. Man, too, is forever and hopelessly +excluded. If the exuberant abundance of animal and vegetable life shut him +out, in some measure, from regions which an excess of heat and moisture +render too prolific, the total absence of them still more effectually +forbids him a home in these. They become, therefore, vast wastes of dry +and barren sands in which no root can find nourishment, and of dreary +rocks to which not even a lichen can cling. + +The most extensive and remarkable rainless region on the earth is a vast +tract extending through the interior and northern part of Africa, and the +southwestern part of Asia. The Red Sea penetrates into this tract from the +south, and thus breaks the outline and continuity of its form, without, +however, altering, or essentially modifying its character. It divides it, +however, and to the different portions which this division forms, +different names have been given. The Asiatic portion is called Arabia +Deserta; the African tract has received the name of Sahara; while between +these two, in the neighborhood of Egypt, the barren region is called +simply _the desert_. The whole tract is marked, however, throughout, with +one all-pervading character: the absence of vegetable, and, consequently, +of animal life, on account of the absence of rain. The rising of a range +of lofty mountains in the center of it, to produce a precipitation of +moisture from the air, would probably transform the whole of the vast +waste into as verdant, and fertile, and populous a region I as any on the +globe. + +[Illustration: VALLEY OF THE NILE] + +As it is, there are no such mountains. The whole tract is nearly level, +and so little elevated above the sea, that, at the distance of many +hundred miles in the interior, the land rises only to the height of a few +hundred feet above the surface of the Mediterranean; whereas in New +Grenada, at less than one hundred miles from the sea, the chain of the +Andes rises to elevations of from ten to fifteen thousand feet. Such an +ascent as that of a few hundred feet in hundreds of miles would be wholly +imperceptible to any ordinary mode of observation; and the great rainless +region, accordingly, of Africa and Asia is, as it appears to the traveler, +one vast plain, a thousand miles wide and five thousand miles long, with +only one considerable interruption to the dead monotony which reigns, with +that exception, every where over the immense expanse of silence and +solitude. The single interval of fruitfulness and life is the valley of +the Nile. + +There are, however, in fact, three interruptions to the continuity of this +plain, though only one of them constitutes any considerable interruption +to its barrenness. They are all of them valleys, extending from north to +south, and lying side by side. The most easterly of these valleys is so +deep that the waters of the ocean flow into it from the south, forming a +long and narrow inlet called the Red Sea. As this inlet communicates +freely with the ocean, it is always nearly of the same level, and as the +evaporation from it is not sufficient to produce rain, it does not even +fertilize its own shores. Its presence varies the dreary scenery of the +landscape, it is true, by giving us surging waters to look upon instead of +driving sands; but this is all. With the exception of the spectacle of an +English steamer passing, at weary intervals, over its dreary expanse, and +some moldering remains of ancient cities on its eastern shore, it affords +scarcely any indications of life. It does very little, therefore, to +relieve the monotonous aspect of solitude and desolation which reigns +over the region into which it has intruded. + +The most westerly of the three valleys to which we have alluded is only a +slight depression of the surface of the land marked by a line of _oases_. +The depression is not sufficient to admit the waters of the Mediterranean, +nor are there any rains over any portion of the valley which it forms +sufficient to make it the bed of a stream. Springs issue, however, here +and there, in several places, from the ground, and, percolating through +the sands along the valley, give fertility to little dells, long and +narrow, which, by the contrast that they form with the surrounding +desolation, seem to the traveler to possess the verdure and beauty of +Paradise. There is a line of these oases extending along this westerly +depression, and some of them are of considerable extent. The oasis of +Siweh, on which stood the far-famed temple of Jupiter Ammon, was many +miles in extent, and was said to have contained in ancient times a +population of eight thousand souls. Thus, while the most easterly of the +three valleys which we have named was sunk so low as to admit the ocean to +flow freely into it, the most westerly was so slightly depressed that it +gained only a circumscribed and limited fertility through the springs, +which, in the lowest portions of it, oozed from the ground. The third +valley--the central one--remains now to be described. + +The reader will observe, by referring once more to the map, that south of +the great rainless region of which we are speaking, there lie groups and +ranges of mountains in Abyssinia, called the Mountains of the Moon. These +mountains are near the equator, and the relation which they sustain to the +surrounding seas, and to currents of wind which blow in that quarter of +the world, is such, that they bring down from the atmosphere, especially +in certain seasons of the year, vast and continual torrents of rain. The +water which thus falls drenches the mountain sides and deluges the +valleys. There is a great portion of it which can not flow to the +southward or eastward toward the sea, as the whole country consists, in +those directions, of continuous tracts of elevated land. The rush of water +thus turns to the northward, and, pressing on across the desert through +the great central valley which we have referred to above, it finds an +outlet, at last, in the Mediterranean, at a point two thousand miles +distant from the place where the immense condenser drew it from the +skies. The river thus created is the Nile. It is formed, in a word, by the +surplus waters of a district inundated with rains, in their progress +across a rainless desert, seeking the sea. + +If the surplus of water upon the Abyssinian mountains had been constant +and uniform, the stream, in its passage across the desert, would have +communicated very little fertility to the barren sands which it traversed. +The immediate banks of the river would have, perhaps, been fringed with +verdure, but the influence of the irrigation would have extended no +further than the water itself could have reached, by percolation through +the sand. But the flow of the water is not thus uniform and steady. In a +certain season of the year the rains are incessant, and they descend with +such abundance and profusion as almost to inundate the districts where +they fall. Immense torrents stream down the mountain sides; the valleys +are deluged; plains turn into morasses, and morasses into lakes. In a +word, the country becomes half submerged, and the accumulated mass of +waters would rush with great force and violence down the central valley of +the desert, which forms their only outlet, if the passage were narrow, and +if it made any considerable descent in its course to the sea. It is, +however, not narrow, and the descent is very small. The depression in the +surface of the desert, through which the water flows, is from five to ten +miles wide, and, though it is nearly two thousand miles from the rainy +district across the desert to the sea, the country for the whole distance +is almost level. There is only sufficient descent, especially for the last +thousand miles, to determine a very gentle current to the northward in the +waters of the stream. + +Under these circumstances, the immense quantity of water which falls in +the rainy district in these inundating tropical showers, expands over the +whole valley, and forms for a time an immense lake, extending in length +across the whole breadth of the desert. This lake is, of course, from five +to ten miles wide, and a thousand miles long. The water in it is shallow +and turbid, and it has a gentle current toward the north. The rains, at +length, in a great measure cease; but it requires some months for the +water to run off and leave the valley dry. As soon as it is gone, there +springs up from the whole surface of the ground which has been thus +submerged a most rank and luxuriant vegetation. + +This vegetation, now wholly regulated and controlled by the hand of man, +must have been, in its original and primeval state, of a very peculiar +character. It must have consisted of such plants only as could exist under +the condition of having the soil in which they grew laid, for a quarter of +the year, wholly under water. This circumstance, probably, prevented the +valley of the Nile from having been, like other fertile tracts of land, +encumbered, in its native state, with forests. For the same reason, wild +beasts could never have haunted it. There were no forests to shelter them, +and no refuge or retreat for them but the dry and barren desert, during +the period of the annual inundations. This most extraordinary valley seems +thus to have been formed and preserved by Nature herself for the special +possession of man. She herself seems to have held it in reserve for him +from the very morning of creation, refusing admission into it to every +plant and every animal that might hinder or disturb his occupancy and +control. And if he were to abandon it now for a thousand years, and then +return to it once more, he would find it just as he left it, ready for his +immediate possession. There would be no wild beasts that he must first +expel, and no tangled forests would have sprung up, that his ax must +first remove. Nature is the husbandman who keeps this garden of the world +in order, and the means and machinery by which she operates are the grand +evaporating surfaces of the seas, the beams of the tropical sun, the lofty +summits of the Abyssinian mountains, and, as the product and result of all +this instrumentality, great periodical inundations of summer rain. + +For these or some other reasons Egypt has been occupied by man from the +most remote antiquity. The oldest records of the human race, made three +thousand years ago, speak of Egypt as ancient then, when they were +written. Not only is Tradition silent, but even Fable herself does not +attempt to tell the story of the origin of her population. Here stand the +oldest and most enduring monuments that human power has ever been able to +raise. It is, however, somewhat humiliating to the pride of the race to +reflect that the loftiest and proudest, as well as the most permanent and +stable of all the works which man has ever accomplished, are but the +incidents and adjuncts of a thin stratum of alluvial fertility, left upon +the sands by the subsiding waters of summer showers. + +The most important portion of the alluvion of the Nile is the northern +portion, where the valley widens and opens toward the sea, forming a +triangular plain of about one hundred miles in length on each of the +sides, over which the waters of the river flow in a great number of +separate creeks and channels. The whole area forms a vast meadow, +intersected every where with slow-flowing streams of water, and presenting +on its surface the most enchanting pictures of fertility, abundance, and +beauty. This region is called the Delta of the Nile. + +[Illustration: DELTA OF THE NILE] + +The sea upon the coast is shallow, and the fertile country formed by the +deposits of the river seems to have projected somewhat beyond the line of +the coast; although, as the land has not advanced perceptibly for the last +eighteen hundred years, it may be somewhat doubtful whether the whole of +the apparent protrusion is not due to the natural conformation of the +coast, rather than to any changes made by the action of the river. + +The Delta of the Nile is so level itself, and so little raised above the +level of the Mediterranean, that the land seems almost a continuation of +the same surface with the sea, only, instead of blue waters topped with +white-crested waves, we have broad tracts of waving grain, and gentle +swells of land crowned with hamlets and villages. In approaching the +coast, the navigator has no distant view of all this verdure and beauty. +It lies so low that it continues beneath the horizon until the ship is +close upon the shore. The first landmarks, in fact, which the seaman +makes, are the tops of trees growing apparently out of the water, or the +summit of an obelisk, or the capital of a pillar, marking the site of some +ancient and dilapidated city. + +The most easterly of the channels by which the waters of the river find +their way through the Delta to the sea, is called, as it will be seen +marked upon the map, the Pelusiac branch. It forms almost the boundary of +the fertile region of the Delta on the eastern side. There was an ancient +city named Pelusium near the mouth of it. This was, of course, the first +Egyptian city reached by those who arrived by land from the eastward, +traveling along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. On account of its +thus marking the eastern frontier of the country, it became a point of +great importance, and is often mentioned in the histories of ancient +times. + +The westernmost mouth of the Nile, on the other hand, was called the +Canopic mouth. The distance along the coast from the Canopic mouth to +Pelusium was about a hundred miles. The outline of the coast was formerly, +as it still continues to be, very irregular, and the water shallow. +Extended banks of sand protruded into the sea, and the sea itself, as if +in retaliation, formed innumerable creeks, and inlets, and lagoons in the +land. Along this irregular and uncertain boundary the waters of the Nile +and the surges of the Mediterranean kept up an eternal war, with energies +so nearly equal, that now, after the lapse of eighteen hundred years +since the state of the contest began to be recorded, neither side has been +found to have gained any perceptible advantage over the other. The river +brings the sands down, and the sea drives them incessantly back, keeping +the whole line of the shore in such a condition as to make it extremely +dangerous and difficult of access to man. + +It will be obvious, from this description of the valley of the Nile, that +it formed a country which was in ancient times isolated and secluded, in a +very striking manner, from all the rest of the world. It was wholly shut +in by deserts, on every side, by land; and the shoals, and sand-bars, and +other dangers of navigation which marked the line of the coast, seemed to +forbid approach by sea. Here it remained for many ages, under the rule of +its own native ancient kings. Its population was peaceful and industrious. +Its scholars were famed throughout the world for their learning, their +science, and their philosophy. It was in these ages, before other nations +had intruded upon its peaceful seclusion, that the Pyramids were built, +and the enormous monoliths carved, and those vast temples reared whose +ruined columns are now the wonder of mankind. During these remote ages, +too, Egypt was, as now, the land of perpetual fertility and abundance. +There would always be corn in Egypt, wherever else famine might rage. The +neighboring nations and tribes in Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, found +their way to it, accordingly, across the deserts on the eastern side, when +driven by want, and thus opened a way of communication. At length the +Persian monarchs, after extending their empire westward to the +Mediterranean, found access by the same road to Pelusium, and thence +overran and conquered the country. At last, about two hundred and fifty +years before the time of Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, when he subverted +the Persian empire, took possession of Egypt, and annexed it, among the +other Persian provinces, to his own dominions. At the division of +Alexander's empire, after his death, Egypt fell to one of his generals, +named Ptolemy. Ptolemy made it his kingdom, and left it, at his death, to +his heirs. A long line of sovereigns succeeded him, known in history as +the dynasty of the Ptolemies--Greek princes, reigning over an Egyptian +realm. Cleopatra was the daughter of the eleventh in the line. + +The capital of the Ptolemies was Alexandria. Until the time of Alexander's +conquest, Egypt had no sea-port. There were several landing-places along +the coast, but no proper harbor. In fact, Egypt had then so little +commercial intercourse with the rest of the world, that she scarcely +needed any. Alexander's engineers, however, in exploring the shore, found +a point not far from the Canopic mouth of the Nile where the water was +deep, and where there was an anchorage ground protected by an island. +Alexander founded a city there, which he called by his own name. He +perfected the harbor by artificial excavations and embankments. A lofty +light-house was reared, which formed a landmark by day, and exhibited a +blazing star by night to guide the galleys of the Mediterranean in. A +canal was made to connect the port with the Nile, and warehouses were +erected to contain the stores of merchandise. In a word, Alexandria became +at once a great commercial capital. It was the seat, for several +centuries, of the magnificent government of the Ptolemies; and so well was +its situation chosen for the purposes intended, that it still continues, +after the lapse of twenty centuries of revolution and change, one of the +principal emporiums of the commerce of the East. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE PTOLEMIES. + + +The founder of the dynasty of the Ptolemies--the ruler into whose hands +the kingdom of Egypt fell, as has already been stated, at the death of +Alexander the Great--was a Macedonian general in Alexander's army. The +circumstances of his birth, and the events which led to his entering into +the service of Alexander, were somewhat peculiar. His mother, whose name +was Arsinoë, was a personal favorite and companion of Philip, king of +Macedon, the father of Alexander. Philip at length gave Arsinoë in +marriage to a certain man of his court named Lagus. A very short time +after the marriage, Ptolemy was born. Philip treated the child with the +same consideration and favor that he had evinced toward the mother. The +boy was called the son of Lagus, but his position in the royal court of +Macedon was as high and honorable, and the attentions which he received +were as great, as he could have expected to enjoy if he had been in +reality a son of the king. As he grew up, he attained to official +stations of considerable responsibility and power. + +In the course of time, a certain transaction occurred, by means of which +Ptolemy involved himself in serious difficulty with Philip, though by the +same means he made Alexander very strongly his friend. There was a +province of the Persian empire called Caria, situated in the southwestern +part of Asia Minor. The governor of this province had offered his daughter +to Philip as the wife of one of his sons named Aridæus, the half brother +of Alexander. Alexander's mother, who was not the mother of Aridæus, was +jealous of this proposed marriage. She thought that it was part of a +scheme for bringing Aridæus forward into public notice, and finally making +him the heir to Philip's throne; whereas she was very earnest that this +splendid inheritance should be reserved for her own son. Accordingly, she +proposed to Alexander that they should send a secret embassage to the +Persian governor, and represent to him that it would be much better, both +for him and for his daughter, that she should have Alexander instead of +Aridæus for a husband, and induce him, if possible, to demand of Philip +that he should make the change. + +Alexander entered readily into this scheme, and various courtiers, Ptolemy +among the rest, undertook to aid him in the accomplishment of it. The +embassy was sent. The governor of Caria was very much pleased with the +change which they proposed to him. In fact, the whole plan seemed to be +going on very successfully toward its accomplishment, when, by some means +or other, Philip discovered the intrigue. He went immediately into +Alexander's apartment, highly excited with resentment and anger. He had +never intended to make Aridæus, whose birth on the mother's side was +obscure and ignoble, the heir to his throne, and he reproached Alexander +in the bitterest terms for being of so debased and degenerate a spirit as +to desire to marry the daughter of a Persian governor; a man who was, in +fact, the mere slave, as he said, of a barbarian king. + +Alexander's scheme was thus totally defeated; and so displeased was his +father with the officers who had undertaken to aid him in the execution of +it, that he banished them all from the kingdom. Ptolemy, in consequence of +this decree, wandered about an exile from his country for some years, +until at length the death of Philip enabled Alexander to recall him. +Alexander succeeded his father as King of Macedon, and immediately made +Ptolemy one of his principal generals. Ptolemy rose, in fact, to a very +high command in the Macedonian army, and distinguished himself very +greatly in all the celebrated conqueror's subsequent campaigns. In the +Persian invasion, Ptolemy commanded one of the three grand divisions of +the army, and he rendered repeatedly the most signal services to the cause +of his master. He was employed on the most distant and dangerous +enterprises, and was often intrusted with the management of affairs of the +utmost importance. He was very successful in all his undertakings. He +conquered armies, reduced fortresses, negotiated treaties, and evinced, in +a word, the highest degree of military energy and skill. He once saved +Alexander's life by discovering and revealing a dangerous conspiracy which +had been formed against the king. Alexander had the opportunity to requite +this favor, through a divine interposition vouchsafed to him, it was said, +for the express purpose of enabling him to evince his gratitude. Ptolemy +had been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and when all the remedies and +antidotes of the physicians had failed, and the patient was apparently +about to die, an effectual means of cure was revealed to Alexander in a +dream, and Ptolemy, in his turn, was saved. + +At the great rejoicings at Susa, when Alexander's conquests were +completed, Ptolemy was honored with a golden crown, and he was married, +with great pomp and ceremony, to Artacama, the daughter of one of the most +distinguished Persian generals. + +At length Alexander died suddenly, after a night of drinking and carousal +at Babylon. He had no son old enough to succeed him, and his immense +empire was divided among his generals. Ptolemy obtained Egypt for his +share. He repaired immediately to Alexandria, with a great army, and a +great number of Greek attendants and followers, and there commenced a +reign which continued, in great prosperity and splendor, for forty years. +The native Egyptians were reduced, of course, to subjection and bondage. +All the offices in the army, and all stations of trust and responsibility +in civil life, were filled by Greeks. Alexandria was a Greek city, and it +became at once one of the most important commercial centers in all those +seas. Greek and Roman travelers found now a language spoken in Egypt which +they could understand, and philosophers and scholars could gratify the +curiosity which they had so long felt, in respect to the institutions, and +monuments, and wonderful physical characteristics of the country, with +safety and pleasure. In a word, the organization of a Greek government +over the ancient kingdom, and the establishment of the great commercial +relations of the city of Alexandria, conspired to bring Egypt out from its +concealment and seclusion, and to open it in some measure to the +intercourse, as well as to bring it more fully under the observation, of +the rest of mankind. + +Ptolemy, in fact, made it a special object of his policy to accomplish +these ends. He invited Greek scholars, philosophers, poets, and artists, +in great numbers, to come to Alexandria, and to make his capital their +abode. He collected an immense library, which subsequently, under the name +of the Alexandrian library, became one of the most celebrated collections +of books and manuscripts that was ever made. We shall have occasion to +refer more particularly to this library in the next chapter. + +Besides prosecuting these splendid schemes for the aggrandizement of +Egypt, King Ptolemy was engaged, during almost the whole period of his +reign, in waging incessant wars with the surrounding nations. He engaged +in these wars, in part, for the purpose of extending the boundaries of his +empire, and in part for self-defense against the aggressions and +encroachments of other powers. He finally succeeded in establishing his +kingdom on the most stable and permanent basis, and then, when he was +drawing toward the close of his life, being in fact over eighty years of +age, he abdicated his throne in favor of his youngest son, whose name was +also Ptolemy. Ptolemy the father, the founder of the dynasty, is known +commonly in history by the name of Ptolemy Soter. His son is called +Ptolemy Philadelphus. This son, though the youngest, was preferred to his +brothers as heir to the throne on account of his being the son of the most +favored and beloved of the monarch's wives. The determination of Soter to +abdicate the throne himself arose from his wish to put this favorite son +in secure possession of it before his death, in order to prevent the older +brothers from disputing the succession. The coronation of Philadelphus was +made one of the most magnificent and imposing ceremonies that royal pomp +and parade ever arranged. Two years afterward Ptolemy the father died, +and was buried by his son with a magnificence almost equal to that of his +own coronation. His body was deposited in a splendid mausoleum, which had +been built for the remains of Alexander; and so high was the veneration +which was felt by mankind for the greatness of his exploits and the +splendor of his reign, that divine honors were paid to his memory. Such +was the origin of the great dynasty of the Ptolemies. + +Some of the early sovereigns of the line followed in some degree the +honorable example set them by the distinguished founder of it; but this +example was soon lost, and was succeeded by the most extreme degeneracy +and debasement. The successive sovereigns began soon to live and to reign +solely for the gratification of their own sensual propensities and +passions. Sensuality begins sometimes with kindness, but it ends always in +the most reckless and intolerable cruelty. The Ptolemies became, in the +end, the most abominable and terrible tyrants that the principle of +absolute and irresponsible power ever produced. There was one vice in +particular, a vice which they seem to have adopted from the Asiatic +nations of the Persian empire, that resulted in the most awful +consequences. This vice was incest. + +The law of God, proclaimed not only in the Scriptures, but in the native +instincts of the human soul, forbids intermarriages among those connected +by close ties of consanguinity. The necessity for such a law rests on +considerations which can not here be fully explained. They are +considerations, however, which arise from causes inherent in the very +nature of man as a social being, and which are of universal, perpetual, +and insurmountable force. To guard his creatures against the deplorable +consequences, both physical and moral, which result from the practice of +such marriages, the great Author of Nature has implanted in every mind an +instinctive sense of their criminality, powerful enough to give effectual +warning of the danger, and so universal as to cause a distinct +condemnation of them to be recorded in almost every code of written law +that has ever been promulgated among mankind. The Persian sovereigns were, +however, above all law, and every species of incestuous marriage was +practiced by them without shame. The Ptolemies followed their example. + +One of the most striking exhibitions of the nature of incestuous domestic +life which is afforded by the whole dismal panorama of pagan vice and +crime, is presented in the history of the great-grandfather of the +Cleopatra who is the principal subject of this narrative. He was +Ptolemy Physcon, the seventh in the line. It is necessary to give some +particulars of his history and that of his family, in order to explain the +circumstances under which Cleopatra herself came upon the stage. The name +Physcon, which afterward became his historical designation, was originally +given him in contempt and derision. He was very small of stature in +respect to height, but his gluttony and sensuality had made him immensely +corpulent in body, so that he looked more like a monster than a man. The +term Physcon was a Greek word, which denoted opprobriously the ridiculous +figure that he made. + +The circumstances of Ptolemy Physcon's accession to the throne afford not +only a striking illustration of his character, but a very faithful though +terrible picture of the manners and morals of the times. He had been +engaged in a long and cruel war with his brother, who was king before him, +in which war he had perpetrated all imaginable atrocities, when at length +his brother died, leaving as his survivors his wife, who was also his +sister, and a son who was yet a child. This son was properly the heir to +the crown. Physcon himself, being a brother, had no claim, as against a +son. The name of the queen was Cleopatra. This was, in fact, a very common +name among the princesses of the Ptolemaic line. Cleopatra, besides her +son, had a daughter, who was at this time a young and beautiful girl. Her +name was also Cleopatra. She was, of course, the niece, as her mother was +the sister, of Physcon. + +The plan of Cleopatra the mother, after her husband's death, was to make +her son the king of Egypt, and to govern herself, as regent, until he +should become of age. The friends and adherents of Physcon, however, +formed a strong party in _his_ favor. They sent for him to come to +Alexandria to assert his claims to the throne. He came, and a new civil +war was on the point of breaking out between the brother and sister, when +at length the dispute was settled by a treaty, in which it was stipulated +that Physcon should marry Cleopatra, and be king; but that he should make +the son of Cleopatra by her former husband his heir. This treaty was +carried into effect so far as the celebration of the marriage with the +mother was concerned, and the establishment of Physcon upon the throne. +But the perfidious monster, instead of keeping his faith in respect to the +boy, determined to murder him; and so open and brutal were his habits of +violence and cruelty, that he undertook to perpetrate the deed himself, in +open day. The boy fled shrieking to the mother's arms for protection, and +Physcon stabbed and killed him there, exhibiting the spectacle of a +newly-married husband murdering the son of his wife in her very arms! + +It is easy to conceive what sort of affection would exist between a +husband and a wife after such transactions as these. In fact, there had +been no love between them from the beginning. The marriage had been solely +a political arrangement. Physcon hated his wife, and had murdered her son, +and then, as if to complete the exhibition of the brutal lawlessness and +capriciousness of his passions, he ended with falling in love with her +daughter. The beautiful girl looked upon this heartless monster, as ugly +and deformed in body as he was in mind, with absolute horror. But she was +wholly in his power. He compelled her, by violence, to submit to his will. +He repudiated the mother, and forced the daughter to become his wife. + +Physcon displayed the same qualities of brutal tyranny and cruelty in the +treatment of his subjects that he manifested in his own domestic +relations. The particulars we can not here give, but can only say that his +atrocities became at length absolutely intolerable, and a revolt so +formidable broke out, that he fled from the country. In fact, he barely +escaped with his life, as the mob had surrounded the palace and were +setting it on fire, intending to burn the tyrant himself and all the +accomplices of his crimes together. Physcon, however, contrived to make +his escape. He fled to the island of Cyprus, taking with him a certain +beautiful boy, his son by the Cleopatra whom he had divorced; for they had +been married long enough, before the divorce, to have a son. The name of +this boy was Memphitis. His mother was very tenderly attached to him, and +Physcon took him away on this very account, to keep him as a hostage for +his mother's good behavior. He fancied that, when he was gone, she might +possibly attempt to resume possession of the throne. + +His expectations in this respect were realized. The people of Alexandria +rallied around Cleopatra, and called upon her to take the crown. She did +so, feeling, perhaps, some misgivings in respect to the danger which such +a step might possibly bring upon her absent boy. She quieted herself, +however, by the thought that he was in the hands of his own father, and +that he could not possibly come to harm. + +After some little time had elapsed, and Cleopatra was beginning to be well +established in her possession of the supreme power at Alexandria, her +birth-day approached, and arrangements were made for celebrating it in the +most magnificent manner. When the day arrived, the whole city was given up +to festivities and rejoicing. Grand entertainments were given in the +palace, and games, spectacles, and plays in every variety, were exhibited +and performed in all quarters of the city. Cleopatra herself was enjoying +a magnificent entertainment, given to the lords and ladies of the court +and the officers of her army, in one of the royal palaces. + +[Illustration: THE BIRTH-DAY PRESENT.] + +In the midst of this scene of festivity and pleasure, it was announced to +the queen that a large box had arrived for her. The box was brought into +the apartment. It had the appearance of containing some magnificent +present, sent in at that time by some friend in honor of the occasion. The +curiosity of the queen was excited to know what the mysterious coffer +might contain. She ordered it to be opened; and the guests gathered +around, each eager to obtain the first glimpse of the contents. The lid +was removed, and a cloth beneath it was raised, when, to the unutterable +horror of all who witnessed the spectacle, there was seen the head and +hands of Cleopatra's beautiful boy, lying among masses of human flesh, +which consisted of the rest of his body cut into pieces. The head had been +left entire, that the wretched mother might recognize in the pale and +lifeless features the countenance of her son. Physcon had sent the box to +Alexandria, with orders that it should be retained until the evening of +the birth-day, and then presented publicly to Cleopatra in the midst of +the festivities of the scene. The shrieks and cries with which she filled +the apartments of the palace at the first sight of the dreadful spectacle, +and the agony of long-continued and inconsolable grief which followed, +showed how well the cruel contrivance of the tyrant was fitted to +accomplish its end. + +It gives us no pleasure to write, and we are sure it can give our readers +no pleasure to peruse, such shocking stories of bloody cruelty as these. +It is necessary, however, to a just appreciation of the character of the +great subject of this history, that we should understand the nature of +the domestic influences that reigned in the family from which she sprung. +In fact, it is due, as a matter of simple justice to her, that we should +know what these influences were, and what were the examples set before her +in her early life; since the privileges and advantages which the young +enjoy in their early years, and, on the other hand, the evil influences +under which they suffer, are to be taken very seriously into the account +when we are passing judgment upon the follies and sins into which they +subsequently fall. + +The monster Physcon lived, it is true, two or three generations before the +great Cleopatra; but the character of the intermediate generations, until +the time of her birth, continued much the same. In fact, the cruelty, +corruption, and vice which reigned in every branch of the royal family +increased rather than diminished. The beautiful niece of Physcon, who, at +the time of her compulsory marriage with him, evinced such an aversion to +the monster, had become, at the period of her husband's death, as great a +monster of ambition, selfishness, and cruelty as he. She had two sons, +Lathyrus and Alexander. Physcon, when he died, left the kingdom of Egypt +to her by will, authorizing her to associate with her in the government +whichever of these two sons she might choose. The oldest was best entitled +to this privilege, by his priority of birth; but she preferred the +youngest, as she thought that her own power would be more absolute in +reigning in conjunction with him, since he would be more completely under +her control. The leading powers, however, in Alexandria, resisted this +plan, and insisted on Cleopatra's associating her oldest son, Lathyrus, +with her in the government of the realm. They compelled her to recall +Lathyrus from the banishment into which she had sent him, and to put him +nominally upon the throne. Cleopatra yielded to this necessity, but she +forced her son to repudiate his wife, and to take, instead, another woman, +whom she fancied she could make more subservient to her will. The mother +and the son went on together for a time, Lathyrus being nominally king, +though her determination that she would rule, and his struggles to resist +her intolerable tyranny, made their wretched household the scene of +terrible and perpetual quarrels. At last Cleopatra seized a number of +Lathyrus's servants, the eunuchs who were employed in various offices +about the palace, and after wounding and mutilating them in a horrible +manner, she exhibited them to the populace, saying that it was Lathyrus +that had inflicted the cruel injuries upon the sufferers, and calling upon +them to arise and punish him for his crimes. In this and in other similar +ways she awakened among the people of the court and of the city such an +animosity against Lathyrus, that they expelled him from the country. There +followed a long series of cruel and bloody wars between the mother and the +son, in the course of which each party perpetrated against the other +almost every imaginable deed of atrocity and crime. Alexander, the +youngest son, was so afraid of his terrible mother, that he did not dare +to remain in Alexandria with her, but went into a sort of banishment of +his own accord. He, however, finally returned to Egypt. His mother +immediately supposed that he was intending to disturb her possession of +power, and resolved to destroy him. He became acquainted with her designs, +and, grown desperate by the long-continued pressure of her intolerable +tyranny, he resolved to bring the anxiety and terror in which he lived to +an end by killing her. This he did, and then fled the country. Lathyrus, +his brother, then returned, and reigned for the rest of his days in a +tolerable degree of quietness and peace. At length Lathyrus died, and left +the kingdom to his son, Ptolemy Auletes, who was the great Cleopatra's +father. + +We can not soften the picture which is exhibited to our view in the +history of this celebrated family, by regarding the mother of Auletes, in +the masculine and merciless traits and principles which she displayed so +energetically throughout her terrible career, as an exception to the +general character of the princesses who appeared from time to time in the +line. In ambition, selfishness, unnatural and reckless cruelty, and utter +disregard of every virtuous principle and of every domestic tie, she was +but the type and representative of all the rest. + +She had two daughters, for example, who were the consistent and worthy +followers of such a mother. A passage in the lives of these sisters +illustrates very forcibly the kind of sisterly affection which prevailed +in the family of the Ptolemies. The case was this: + +There were two princes of Syria, a country lying northeast of the +Mediterranean Sea, and so not very far from Egypt, who, though they were +brothers, were in a state of most deadly hostility to each other. One had +attempted to poison the other, and afterward a war had broken out between +them, and all Syria was suffering from the ravages of their armies. One of +the sisters, of whom we have been speaking, married one of these princes. +Her name was Tryphena. After some time, but yet while the unnatural war +was still raging between the two brothers, Cleopatra, the other +sister--the same Cleopatra, in fact, that had been divorced from Lathyrus +at the instance of his mother--espoused the other brother. Tryphena was +exceedingly incensed against Cleopatra for marrying her husband's mortal +foe, and the implacable hostility and hate of the sisters was thenceforth +added to that which the brothers had before exhibited, to complete the +display of unnatural and parricidal passion which this shameful contest +presented to the world. + +In fact, Tryphena from this time seemed to feel a new and highly-excited +interest in the contest, from her eager desire to revenge herself on her +sister. She watched the progress of it, and took an active part in +pressing forward the active prosecution of the war. The party of her +husband, either from this or some other causes, seemed to be gaining the +day. The husband of Cleopatra was driven from one part of the country to +another, and at length, in order to provide for the security of his wife, +he left her in Antioch, a large and strongly-fortified city, where he +supposed that she would be safe, while he himself was engaged in +prosecuting the war in other quarters where his presence seemed to be +required. + +On learning that her sister was at Antioch, Tryphena urged her husband to +attack the place. He accordingly advanced with a strong detachment of the +army, and besieged and took the city. Cleopatra would, of course, have +fallen into his hands as a captive; but, to escape this fate, she fled to +a temple for refuge. A temple was considered, in those days, an inviolable +sanctuary. The soldiers accordingly left her there. Tryphena, however, +made a request that her husband would deliver the unhappy fugitive into +her hands. She was determined, she said, to kill her. Her husband +remonstrated with her against this atrocious proposal. "It would be a +wholly useless act of cruelty," said he, "to destroy her life. She can do +us no possible harm in the future progress of the war, while to murder her +under these circumstances will only exasperate her husband and her +friends, and nerve them with new strength for the remainder of the +contest. And then, besides, she has taken refuge in a temple; and if we +violate that sanctuary, we shall incur, by such an act of sacrilege, the +implacable displeasure of heaven. Consider, too, that she is your sister, +and for you to kill her would be to commit an unnatural and wholly +inexcusable crime." + +So saying, he commanded Tryphena to say no more upon the subject, for he +would on no account consent that Cleopatra should suffer any injury +whatever. + +This refusal on the part of her husband to comply with her request only +inflamed Tryphena's insane resentment and anger the more. In fact, the +earnestness with which he espoused her sister's cause, and the interest +which he seemed to feel in her fate, aroused Tryphena's jealousy. She +believed, or pretended to believe, that her husband was influenced by a +sentiment of love in so warmly defending her. The object of her hate, from +being simply an enemy, became now, in her view, a rival, and she resolved +that, at all hazards, she should be destroyed. She accordingly ordered a +body of desperate soldiers to break into the temple and seize her. +Cleopatra fled in terror to the altar, and clung to it with such +convulsive force that the soldiers cut her hands off before they could +tear her away, and then, maddened by her resistance and the sight of +blood, they stabbed her again and again upon the floor of the temple, +where she fell. The appalling shrieks with which the wretched victim +filled the air in the first moments of her flight and her terror, +subsided, as her life ebbed away, into the most awful imprecations of the +judgments of heaven upon the head of the unnatural sister whose implacable +hate had destroyed her. + + * * * * * + +Notwithstanding the specimens that we have thus given of the character and +action of this extraordinary family, the government of this dynasty, +extending, as it did, through the reigns of thirteen sovereigns and over a +period of nearly three hundred years, has always been considered one of +the most liberal, enlightened, and prosperous of all the governments of +ancient times. We shall have something to say in the next chapter in +respect to the internal condition of the country while these violent men +were upon the throne. In the meantime, we will here only add, that whoever +is inclined, in observing the ambition, the selfishness, the party spirit, +the unworthy intrigues, and the irregularities of moral conduct, which +modern rulers and statesmen sometimes exhibit to mankind in their personal +and political career, to believe in a retrogression and degeneracy of +national character as the world advances in age, will be very effectually +undeceived by reading attentively a full history of this celebrated +dynasty, and reflecting, as he reads, that the narrative presents, on the +whole, a fair and honest exhibition of the general character of the men by +whom, in ancient times, the world was governed. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ALEXANDRIA. + + +It must not be imagined by the reader that the scenes of vicious +indulgence, and reckless cruelty and crime, which were exhibited with such +dreadful frequency, and carried to such an enormous excess in the palaces +of the Egyptian kings, prevailed to the same extent throughout the mass of +the community during the period of their reign. The internal +administration of government, and the institutions by which the industrial +pursuits of the mass of the people were regulated, and peace and order +preserved, and justice enforced between man and man, were all this time in +the hands of men well qualified, on the whole, for the trusts committed to +their charge, and in a good degree faithful in the performance of their +duties; and thus the ordinary affairs of government, and the general +routine of domestic and social life, went on, notwithstanding the +profligacy of the kings, in a course of very tolerable peace, prosperity, +and happiness. During every one of the three hundred years over which the +history of the Ptolemies extends, the whole length and breadth of the land +of Egypt exhibited, with comparatively few interruptions, one wide-spread +scene of busy industry. The inundations came at their appointed season, +and then regularly retired. The boundless fields which the waters had +fertilized were then every where tilled. The lands were plowed; the seed +was sown; the canals and water-courses, which ramified from the river in +every direction over the ground, were opened or closed, as the case +required, to regulate the irrigation. The inhabitants were busy, and, +consequently, they were virtuous. And as the sky of Egypt is seldom or +never darkened by clouds and storms, the scene presented to the eye the +same unchanging aspect of smiling verdure and beauty, day after day, and +month after month, until the ripened grain was gathered into the +store-houses, and the land was cleared for another inundation. + +We say that the people were virtuous because they were busy; for there is +no principle of political economy more fully established than that vice in +the social state is the incident and symptom of idleness. It prevails +always in those classes of every great population who are either released +by the possession of fixed and unchangeable wealth from the necessity, or +excluded by their poverty and degradation from the advantage, of useful +employment. Wealth that is free, and subject to its possessor's control, +so that he can, if he will, occupy himself in the management of it, while +it sometimes may make individuals vicious, does not generally corrupt +classes of men, for it does not make them idle. But wherever the +institutions of a country are such as to create an aristocratic class, +whose incomes depend on entailed estates, or on fixed and permanent +annuities, so that the capital on which they live can not afford them any +mental occupation, they are doomed necessarily to inaction and idleness. +Vicious pleasures and indulgences are, with such a class as a whole, the +inevitable result; for the innocent enjoyments of man are planned and +designed by the Author of nature only for the intervals of rest and repose +in a life of activity. They are always found wholly insufficient to +satisfy one who makes pleasure the whole end and aim of his being. + +In the same manner, if, either from the influence of the social +institutions of a country, or from the operation of natural causes which +human power is unable to control, there is a class of men too low, and +degraded, and miserable to be reached by the ordinary inducements to daily +toil, so certain are they to grow corrupt and depraved, that degradation +has become in all languages a term almost synonymous with vice. There are +many exceptions, it is true, to these general laws. Many active men are +very wicked; and there have been frequent instances of the most exalted +virtue among nobles and kings. Still, as a general law, it is +unquestionably true that vice is the incident of idleness; and the sphere +of vice, therefore, is at the top and at the bottom of society--those +being the regions in which idleness reigns. The great remedy, too, for +vice is employment. To make a community virtuous, it is essential that all +ranks and gradations of it, from the highest to the lowest, should have +something to do. + +In accordance with these principles, we observe that, while the most +extreme and abominable wickedness seemed to hold continual and absolute +sway in the palaces of the Ptolemies, and among the nobles of their +courts, the working ministers of state, and the men on whom the actual +governmental functions devolved, discharged their duties with wisdom and +fidelity, and throughout all the ordinary ranks and gradations of society +there prevailed generally a very considerable degree of industry, +prosperity, and happiness. This prosperity prevailed not only in the rural +districts of the Delta and along the valley of the Nile, but also among +the merchants, and navigators, and artisans of Alexandria. + +Alexandria became, in fact, very soon after it was founded, a very great +and busy city. Many things conspired to make it at once a great commercial +emporium. In the first place, it was the depôt of export for all the +surplus grain and other agricultural produce which was raised in such +abundance along the Egyptian valley. This produce was brought down in +boats to the upper point of the Delta, where the branches of the river +divided, and thence down the Canopic branch to the city. The city was not, +in fact, situated directly upon this branch, but upon a narrow tongue of +land, at a little distance from it, near the sea. It was not easy to enter +the channel directly, on account of the bars and sand-banks at its mouth, +produced by the eternal conflict between the waters of the river and the +surges of the sea. The water was deep, however, as Alexander's engineers +had discovered, at the place where the city was built, and, by +establishing the port there, and then cutting a canal across to the Nile, +they were enabled to bring the river and the sea at once into easy +communication. + +The produce of the valley was thus brought down the river and through the +canal to the city. Here immense warehouses and granaries were erected for +its reception, that it might be safely preserved until the ships that came +into the port were ready to take it away. These ships came from Syria, +from all the coasts of Asia Minor, from Greece, and from Rome. They +brought the agricultural productions of their own countries, as well as +articles of manufacture of various kinds; these they sold to the merchants +of Alexandria, and purchased the productions of Egypt in return. + +The port of Alexandria presented thus a constant picture of life and +animation. Merchant ships were continually coming and going, or lying at +anchor in the roadstead. Seamen were hoisting sails, or raising anchors, +or rowing their capacious galleys through the water, singing, as they +pulled, to the motion of the oars. Within the city there was the same +ceaseless activity. Here groups of men were unloading the canal boats +which had arrived from the river. There porters were transporting bales of +merchandise or sacks of grain from a warehouse to a pier, or from one +landing to another. The occasional parading of the king's guards, or the +arrival and departure of ships of war to land or to take away bodies of +armed men, were occurrences that sometimes intervened to interrupt, or as +perhaps the people then would have said, to adorn this scene of useful +industry; and now and then, for a brief period, these peaceful avocations +would be wholly suspended and set aside by a revolt or by a civil war, +waged by rival brothers against each other, or instigated by the +conflicting claims of a mother and son. These interruptions, however, were +comparatively few, and, in ordinary cases, not of long continuance. It was +for the interest of all branches of the royal line to do as little injury +as possible to the commercial and agricultural operations of the realm. In +fact, it was on the prosperity of those operations that the revenues +depended. The rulers were well aware of this, and so, however implacably +two rival princes may have hated one another, and however desperately each +party may have struggled to destroy all active combatants whom they should +find in arms against them, they were both under every possible inducement +to spare the private property and the lives of the peaceful population. +This population, in fact, engaged thus in profitable industry, +constituted, with the avails of their labors, the very estate for which +the combatants were contending. + +Seeing the subject in this light, the Egyptian sovereigns, especially +Alexander and the earlier Ptolemies, made every effort in their power to +promote the commercial greatness of Alexandria. They built palaces, it is +true, but they also built warehouses. One of the most expensive and +celebrated of all the edifices that they reared was the light-house which +has been already alluded to. This light-house was a lofty tower, built of +white marble. It was situated upon the island of Pharos, opposite to the +city, and at some distance from it. There was a sort of isthmus of shoals +and sand-bars connecting the island with the shore. Over these shallows a +pier or causeway was built, which finally became a broad and inhabited +neck. The principal part of the ancient city, however, was on the main +land.[1] + +The curvature of the earth requires that a light-house on a coast should +have a considerable elevation, otherwise its summit would not appear above +the horizon, unless the mariner were very near. To attain this elevation, +the architects usually take advantage of some hill or cliff, or rocky +eminence near the shore. There was, however, no opportunity to do this at +Pharos; for the island was, like the main land, level and low. The +requisite elevation could only be attained, therefore, by the masonry of +an edifice, and the blocks of marble necessary for the work had to be +brought from a great distance. The Alexandrian light-house was reared in +the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second monarch in the line. No pains +or expense were spared in its construction. The edifice, when completed, +was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was indebted for +its fame, however, in some degree, undoubtedly to the conspicuousness of +its situation, rising, as it did, at the entrance of the greatest +commercial emporium of its time, and standing there, like a pillar of +cloud by day and of fire by night, to attract the welcome gaze of every +wandering mariner whose ship came within its horizon, and to awaken his +gratitude by tendering him its guidance and dispelling his fears. + +The light at the top of the tower was produced by a fire, made of such +combustibles as would emit the brightest flame. This fire burned slowly +through the day, and then was kindled up anew when the sun went down, and +was continually replenished through the night with fresh supplies of fuel. +In modern times, a much more convenient and economical mode is adopted to +produce the requisite illumination. A great blazing lamp burns brilliantly +in the center of the lantern of the tower, and all that part of the +radiation from the flame which would naturally have beamed upward, or +downward, or laterally, or back toward the land, is so turned by a curious +system of reflectors and polyzonal lenses, most ingeniously contrived and +very exactly adjusted, as to be thrown forward in one broad and thin, but +brilliant sheet of light, which shoots out where its radiance is needed, +over the surface of the sea. Before these inventions were perfected, far +the largest portion of the light emitted by the illumination of +light-house towers streamed away wastefully in landward directions, or was +lost among the stars. + +Of course, the glory of erecting such an edifice as the Pharos of +Alexandria, and of maintaining it in the performance of its functions, +was very great; the question might, however, very naturally arise whether +this glory was justly due to the architect through whose scientific skill +the work was actually accomplished, or to the monarch by whose power and +resources the architect was sustained. The name of the architect was +Sostratus. He was a Greek. The monarch was, as has already been stated, +the second Ptolemy, called commonly Ptolemy Philadelphus. Ptolemy ordered +that, in completing the tower, a marble tablet should be built into the +wall, at a suitable place near the summit, and that a proper inscription +should be carved upon it, with his name as the builder of the edifice +conspicuous thereon. Sostratus preferred inserting his own name. He +accordingly made the tablet and set it in its place. He cut the +inscription upon the face of it, in Greek characters, with his own name as +the author of the work. He did this secretly, and then covered the face of +the tablet with an artificial composition, made with lime, to imitate the +natural surface of the stone. On this outer surface he cut a new +inscription, in which he inserted the name of the king. In process of time +the lime moldered away, the king's inscription disappeared, and his own, +which thenceforward continued as long as the building endured, came out to +view. + +The Pharos was said to have been four hundred feet high. It was famed +throughout the world for many centuries; nothing, however, remains of it +now but a heap of useless and unmeaning ruins. + +Besides the light that beamed from the summit of this lofty tower, there +was another center of radiance and illumination in ancient Alexandria, +which was in some respects still more conspicuous and renowned, namely, an +immense library and museum established and maintained by the Ptolemies. +The Museum, which was first established, was not, as its name might now +imply, a collection of curiosities, but an institution of learning, +consisting of a body of learned men, who devoted their time to +philosophical and scientific pursuits. The institution was richly endowed, +and magnificent buildings were erected for its use. The king who +established it began immediately to make a collection of books for the use +of the members of the institution. This was attended with great expense, +as every book that was added to the collection required to be transcribed +with a pen on parchment or papyrus, with infinite labor and care. Great +numbers of scribes were constantly employed upon this work at the Museum. +The kings who were most interested in forming this library would seize the +books that were possessed by individual scholars, or that were deposited +in the various cities of their dominions, and then, causing beautiful +copies of them to be made by the scribes of the Museum, they would retain +the originals for the great Alexandrian Library, and give the copies to +the men or the cities that had been thus despoiled. In the same manner +they would borrow, as they called it, from all travelers who visited +Egypt, any valuable books which they might have in their possession, and, +retaining the originals, give them back copies instead. + +In process of time the library increased to four hundred thousand volumes. +There was then no longer any room in the buildings of the Museum for +further additions. There was, however, in another part of the city, a +great temple called the Serapion. This temple was a very magnificent +edifice, or, rather, group of edifices, dedicated to the god Serapis. The +origin and history of this temple were very remarkable. The legend was +this: + +It seems that one of the ancient and long-venerated gods of the Egyptians +was a deity named Serapis. He had been, among other divinities, the object +of Egyptian adoration ages before Alexandria was built or the Ptolemies +reigned. There was also, by a curious coincidence, a statue of the same +name at a great commercial town named Sinope, which was built upon the +extremity of a promontory which projected from Asia Minor into the Euxine +Sea.[2] Sinope was, in some sense, the Alexandria of the north, being the +center and seat of a great portion of the commerce of that quarter of the +world. + +The Serapis of Sinope was considered as the protecting deity of seamen, +and the navigators who came and went to and from the city made sacrifices +to him, and offered him oblations and prayers, believing that they were, +in a great measure, dependent upon some mysterious and inscrutable power +which he exercised for their safety in storms. They carried the knowledge +of his name, and tales of his imaginary interpositions, to all the places +that they visited; and thus the fame of the god became extended, first, to +all the coasts of the Euxine Sea, and subsequently to distant provinces +and kingdoms. The Serapis of Sinope began to be considered every where as +the tutelar god of seamen. + +Accordingly, when the first of the Ptolemies was forming his various plans +for adorning and aggrandizing Alexandria, he received, he said, one night, +a divine intimation in a dream that he was to obtain the statue of Serapis +from Sinope, and set it up in Alexandria, in a suitable temple which he +was in the mean time to erect in honor of the god. It is obvious that very +great advantages to the city would result from the accomplishment of this +design. In the first place, a temple to the god Serapis would be a new +distinction for it in the minds of the rural population, who would +undoubtedly suppose that the deity honored by it was their own ancient +god. Then the whole maritime and nautical interest of the world, which had +been accustomed to adore the god of Sinope, would turn to Alexandria as +the great center of religious attraction, if their venerated idol could be +carried and placed in a new and magnificent temple built expressly for him +there. Alexandria could never be the chief naval port and station of the +world, unless it contained the sanctuary and shrine of the god of seamen. + +Ptolemy sent accordingly to the King of Sinope and proposed to purchase +the idol. The embassage was, however, unsuccessful. The king refused to +give up the god. The negotiations were continued for two years, but all in +vain. At length, on account of some failure in the regular course of the +seasons on that coast, there was a famine there, which became finally so +severe that the people of the city were induced to consent to give up +their deity to the Egyptians in exchange for a supply of corn. Ptolemy +sent the corn and received the idol. He then built the temple, which, when +finished, surpassed in grandeur and magnificence almost every sacred +structure in the world. + +It was in this temple that the successive additions to the Alexandrian +library were deposited, when the apartments at the Museum became full. In +the end there were four hundred thousand rolls or volumes in the Museum, +and three hundred thousand in the Serapion. The former was called the +parent library, and the latter, being, as it were, the offspring of the +first, was called the daughter. + +Ptolemy Philadelphus, who interested himself very greatly in collecting +this library, wished to make it a complete collection of all the books in +the world. He employed scholars to read and study, and travelers to make +extensive tours, for the purpose of learning what books existed among all +the surrounding nations; and, when he learned of their existence, he +spared no pains or expense in attempting to procure either the originals +themselves, or the most perfect and authentic copies of them. He sent to +Athens and obtained the works of the most celebrated Greek historians, and +then causing, as in other cases, most beautiful transcripts to be made, he +sent the transcripts back to Athens, and a very large sum of money with +them as an equivalent for the difference of value between originals and +copies in such an exchange. + +In the course of the inquiries which Ptolemy made into the literature of +the surrounding nations, in his search for accessions to his library, he +heard that the Jews had certain sacred writings in their temple at +Jerusalem, comprising a minute and extremely interesting history of their +nation from the earliest periods, and also many other books of sacred +prophecy and poetry. These books, which were, in fact, the Hebrew +Scriptures of the Old Testament, were then wholly unknown to all nations +except the Jews, and among the Jews were known only to priests and +scholars. They were kept sacred at Jerusalem. The Jews would have +considered them as profaned in being exhibited to the view of pagan +nations. In fact, the learned men of other countries would not have been +able to read them; for the Jews secluded themselves so closely from the +rest of mankind, that their language was, in that age, scarcely ever heard +beyond the confines of Judea and Galilee. + +Ptolemy very naturally thought that a copy of these sacred books would be +a great acquisition to his library. They constituted, in fact, the whole +literature of a nation which was, in some respects, the most extraordinary +that ever existed on the globe. Ptolemy conceived the idea, also, of not +only adding to his library a copy of these writings in the original +Hebrew, but of causing a translation of them to be made into Greek, so +that they might easily be read by the Greek and Roman scholars who were +drawn in great numbers to his capital by the libraries and the learned +institutions which he had established there. The first thing to be +effected, however, in accomplishing either of these plans, was to obtain +the consent of the Jewish authorities. They would probably object to +giving up any copy of their sacred writings at all. + +There was one circumstance which led Ptolemy to imagine that the Jews +would, at that time particularly, be averse to granting any request of +such a nature coming from an Egyptian king, and that was, that during +certain wars which had taken place in previous reigns, a considerable +number of prisoners had been taken by the Egyptians, and had been brought +to Egypt as captives, where they had been sold to the inhabitants, and +were now scattered over the land as slaves. They were employed as servile +laborers in tilling the fields, or in turning enormous wheels to pump up +water from the Nile. The masters of these hapless bondmen conceived, like +other slave-holders, that they had a right of property in their slaves. +This was in some respects true, since they had bought them of the +government at the close of the war for a consideration; and though they +obviously derived from this circumstance no valid proprietary right or +claim as against the men personally, it certainly would seem that it gave +them a just claim against the government of whom they bought, in case of +subsequent manumission. + +Ptolemy or his minister, for it can not now be known who was the real +actor in these transactions, determined on liberating these slaves and +sending them back to their native land, as a means of propitiating the +Jews and inclining them to listen favorably to the request which he was +about to prefer for a copy of their sacred writings. He, however, paid to +those who held the captives a very liberal sum for ransom. The ancient +historians, who never allow the interest of their narratives to suffer for +want of a proper amplification on their part of the scale on which the +deeds which they record were performed, say that the number of slaves +liberated on this occasion was a hundred and twenty thousand, and the sum +paid for them, as compensation to the owners, was six hundred talents, +equal to six hundred thousand dollars.[3] And yet this was only a +preliminary expense to pave the way for the acquisition of a single series +of books, to add to the variety of the immense collection. + +After the liberation and return of the captives, Ptolemy sent a splendid +embassage to Jerusalem, with very respectful letters to the high priest, +and with very magnificent presents. The embassadors were received with the +highest honors. The request of Ptolemy that he should be allowed to take a +copy of the sacred books for his library was very readily granted. + +The priests caused copies to be made of all the sacred writings. These +copies were executed in the most magnificent style, and were splendidly +illuminated with letters of gold. The Jewish government also, at Ptolemy's +request, designated a company of Hebrew scholars, six from each tribe--men +learned in both the Greek and Hebrew languages--to proceed to Alexandria, +and there, at the Museum, to make a careful translation of the Hebrew +books into Greek. As there were twelve tribes, and six translators chosen +from each, there were seventy-two translators in all. They made their +translation, and it was called the _Septuagint_, from the Latin +_septuaginta duo_, which means seventy-two. + +Although out of Judea there was no feeling of reverence for these Hebrew +Scriptures as books of divine authority, there was still a strong interest +felt in them as very entertaining and curious works of history, by all +the Greek and Roman scholars who frequented Alexandria to study at the +Museum. Copies were accordingly made of the Septuagint translation, and +were taken to other countries; and there, in process of time, copies of +the copies were made, until, at length the work became extensively +circulated throughout the whole learned world. When, finally, Christianity +became extended over the Roman empire, the priests and monks looked with +even a stronger interest than the ancient scholars had felt upon this +early translation of so important a portion of the sacred Scriptures. They +made new copies for abbeys, monasteries, and colleges; and when, at +length, the art of printing was discovered, this work was one of the first +on which the magic power of typography was tried. The original manuscript +made by the scribes of the seventy-two, and all the early transcripts +which were made from it, have long since been lost or destroyed; but, +instead of them, we have now hundreds of thousands of copies in compact +printed volumes, scattered among the public and private libraries of +Christendom. In fact, now, after the lapse of two thousand years, a copy +of Ptolemy's Septuagint may be obtained of any considerable bookseller in +any country of the civilized world; and though it required a national +embassage, and an expenditure, if the accounts are true, of more than a +million of dollars, originally to obtain it, it may be procured without +difficulty now by two days' wages of an ordinary laborer. + +Besides the building of the Pharos, the Museum, and the Temple of Serapis, +the early Ptolemies formed and executed a great many other plans tending +to the same ends which the erection of these splendid edifices was +designed to secure, namely, to concentrate in Alexandria all possible +means of attraction, commercial, literary, and religious, so as to make +the city the great center of interest, and the common resort for all +mankind. They raised immense revenues for these and other purposes by +taxing heavily the whole agricultural produce of the valley of the Nile. +The inundations, by the boundless fertility which they annually produced, +supplied the royal treasuries. Thus the Abyssinian rains at the sources of +the Nile built the Pharos at its mouth, and endowed the Alexandrian +library. + +The taxes laid upon the people of Egypt to supply the Ptolemies with funds +were, in fact, so heavy, that only the bare means of subsistence were +left to the mass of the agricultural population. In admiring the greatness +and glory of the city, therefore, we must remember that there was a gloomy +counterpart to its splendor in the very extended destitution and poverty +to which the mass of the people were every where doomed. They lived in +hamlets of wretched huts along the banks of the river, in order that the +capital might be splendidly adorned with temples and palaces. They passed +their lives in darkness and ignorance, that seven hundred thousand volumes +of expensive manuscripts might be enrolled at the Museum for the use of +foreign philosophers and scholars. The policy of the Ptolemies was, +perhaps, on the whole, the best, for the general advancement and ultimate +welfare of mankind, which could have been pursued in the age in which they +lived and acted; but, in applauding the results which they attained, we +must not wholly forget the cost which they incurred in attaining them. At +the same cost, we could, at the present day, far surpass them. If the +people of the United States will surrender the comforts and conveniences +which they individually enjoy--if the farmers scattered in their +comfortable homes on the hill-sides and plains throughout the land will +give up their houses, their furniture, their carpets, their books, and the +privileges of their children, and then--withholding from the produce of +their annual toil only a sufficient reservation to sustain them and their +families through the year, in a life like that of a beast of burden, spent +in some miserable and naked hovel--send the rest to some hereditary +sovereign residing upon the Atlantic sea-board, that he may build with the +proceeds a splendid capital, they may have an Alexandria now that will +infinitely exceed the ancient city of the Ptolemies in splendor and +renown. The nation, too, would, in such a case, pay for its metropolis the +same price, precisely, that the ancient Egyptians paid for theirs. + +The Ptolemies expended the revenues which they raised by this taxation +mainly in a very liberal and enlightened manner, for the accomplishment of +the purposes which they had in view. The building of the Pharos, the +removal of the statue of Serapis, and the endowment of the Museum and the +library were great conceptions, and they were carried into effect in the +most complete and perfect manner. All the other operations which they +devised and executed for the extension and aggrandizement of the city +were conceived and executed in the same spirit of scientific and +enlightened liberality. Streets were opened; the most splendid palaces +were built; docks, piers, and breakwaters were constructed, and fortresses +and towers were armed and garrisoned. Then every means was employed to +attract to the city a great concourse from all the most highly-civilized +nations then existing. The highest inducements were offered to merchants, +mechanics, and artisans to make the city their abode. Poets, painters, +sculptors, and scholars of every nation and degree were made welcome, and +every facility was afforded them for the prosecution of their various +pursuits. These plans were all eminently successful. Alexandria rose +rapidly to the highest consideration and importance; and, at the time when +Cleopatra--born to preside over this scene of magnificence and +splendor--came upon the stage, the city had but one rival in the world. +That rival was Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CLEOPATRA'S FATHER. + + +When the time was approaching in which Cleopatra appeared upon the stage, +Rome was perhaps the only city that could be considered as the rival of +Alexandria, in the estimation of mankind, in respect to interest and +attractiveness as a capital. In one respect, Rome was vastly superior to +the Egyptian metropolis, and that was in the magnitude and extent of the +military power which it wielded among the nations of the earth. Alexandria +ruled over Egypt, and over a few of the neighboring coasts and islands; +but in the course of the three centuries during which she had been +acquiring her greatness and fame, the Roman empire had extended itself +over almost the whole civilized world. Egypt had been, thus far, too +remote to be directly reached; but the affairs of Egypt itself became +involved at length with the operations of the Roman power, about the time +of Cleopatra's birth, in a very striking and peculiar manner; and as the +consequences of the transaction were the means of turning the whole +course of the queen's subsequent history, a narration of it is necessary +to a proper understanding of the circumstances under which she commenced +her career. In fact, it was the extension of the Roman empire to the +limits of Egypt, and the connections which thence arose between the +leading Roman generals and the Egyptian sovereign, which have made the +story of this particular queen so much more conspicuous, as an object of +interest and attention to mankind, than that of any other one of the ten +Cleopatras who rose successively in the same royal line. + +Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra's father, was perhaps, in personal character, +the most dissipated, degraded, and corrupt of all the sovereigns in the +dynasty. He spent his whole time in vice and debauchery. The only honest +accomplishment that he seemed to possess was his skill in playing upon the +flute; of this he was very vain. He instituted musical contests, in which +the musical performers of Alexandria played for prizes and crowns; and he +himself was accustomed to enter the lists with the rest as a competitor. +The people of Alexandria, and the world in general, considered such +pursuits as these wholly unworthy the attention of the representative of +so illustrious a line of sovereigns; and the abhorrence which they felt +for the monarch's vices and crimes was mingled with a feeling of contempt +for the meanness of his ambition. + +There was a doubt in respect to his title to the crown, for his birth, on +the mother's side, was irregular and ignoble. Instead, however, of +attempting to confirm and secure his possession of power by a vigorous and +prosperous administration of the government, he wholly abandoned all +concern in respect to the course of public affairs; and then, to guard +against the danger of being deposed, he conceived the plan of getting +himself recognized at Rome as one of the allies of the Roman people. If +this were once done, he supposed that the Roman government would feel +under an obligation to sustain him on his throne in the event of any +threatened danger. + +The Roman government was a sort of republic, and the two most powerful men +in the state at this time were Pompey and Cæsar. Cæsar was in the +ascendency at Rome at the time that Ptolemy made his application for an +alliance. Pompey was absent in Asia Minor, being engaged in prosecuting a +war with Mithradates, a very powerful monarch, who was at that time +resisting the Roman power. Cæsar was very deeply involved in debt, and +was, moreover, very much in need of money, not only for relief from +existing embarrassments, but as a means of subsequent expenditure, to +enable him to accomplish certain great political schemes which he was +entertaining. After many negotiations and delays, it was agreed that Cæsar +would exert his influence to secure an alliance between the Roman people +and Ptolemy, on condition that Ptolemy paid him the sum of six thousand +talents, equal to about six millions of dollars. A part of the money, +Cæsar said, was for Pompey. + +The title of ally was conferred, and Ptolemy undertook to raise the money +which he had promised by increasing the taxes of his kingdom. The +measures, however, which he thus adopted for the purpose of making himself +the more secure in his possession of the throne, proved to be the means of +overthrowing him. The discontent and disaffection of his people, which had +been strong and universal before, though suppressed and concealed, broke +out now into open violence. That there should be laid upon them, in +addition to all their other burdens, these new oppressions, heavier than +those which they had endured before, and exacted for such a purpose too, +was not to be endured. To be compelled to see their country sold on any +terms to the Roman people was sufficiently hard to bear; but to be forced +to raise, themselves, and pay the price of the transfer, was absolutely +intolerable. Alexandria commenced a revolt. Ptolemy was not a man to act +decidedly against such a demonstration, or, in fact, to evince either +calmness or courage in any emergency whatever. His first thought was to +escape from Alexandria to save his life. His second, to make the best of +his way to Rome, to call upon the Roman people to come to the succor of +their ally! + +Ptolemy left five children behind him in his flight. The eldest was the +Princess Berenice, who had already reached maturity. The second was the +great Cleopatra, the subject of this history. Cleopatra was, at this time, +about eleven years old. There were also two sons, but they were very +young. One of them was named Ptolemy. + +The Alexandrians determined on raising Berenice to the throne in her +father's place, as soon as his flight was known. They thought that the +sons were too young to attempt to reign in such an emergency, as it was +very probable that Auletes, the father, would attempt to recover his +kingdom. Berenice very readily accepted the honor and power which were +offered to her. She established herself in her father's palace, and began +her reign in great magnificence and splendor. In process of time she +thought that her position would be strengthened by a marriage with a royal +prince from some neighboring realm. She first sent embassadors to make +proposals to a prince of Syria named Antiochus. The embassadors came back, +bringing word that Antiochus was dead, but that he had a brother named +Seleucus, upon whom the succession fell. Berenice then sent them back to +make the same offers to him. He accepted the proposals, came to Egypt, and +he and Berenice were married. After trying him for a while, Berenice found +that, for some reason or other, she did not like him as a husband, and, +accordingly, she caused him to be strangled. + +At length, after various other intrigues and much secret management, +Berenice succeeded in a second negotiation, and married a prince, or a +pretended prince, from some country of Asia Minor, whose name was +Archelaus. She was better pleased with this second husband than she had +been with the first, and she began, at last, to feel somewhat settled and +established on her throne, and to be prepared, as she thought, to offer +effectual resistance to her father in case he should ever attempt to +return. + +It was in the midst of the scenes, and surrounded by the influences which +might be expected to prevail in the families of such a father and such a +sister, that Cleopatra spent those years of life in which the character is +formed. During all these revolutions, and exposed to all these exhibitions +of licentious wickedness, and of unnatural cruelty and crime, she was +growing up in the royal palaces a spirited and beautiful, but indulged and +neglected child. + +In the mean time, Auletes, the father, went on toward Rome. So far as his +character and his story were known among the surrounding nations, he was +the object of universal obloquy, both on account of his previous career of +degrading vice, and now, still more, for this ignoble flight from the +difficulties in which his vices and crimes had involved him. + +He stopped, on the way, at the island of Rhodes. It happened that Cato, +the great Roman philosopher and general, was at Rhodes at this time. Cato +was a man of stern, unbending virtue, and of great influence at that +period in public affairs. Ptolemy sent a messenger to inform Cato of his +arrival, supposing, of course, that the Roman general would hasten, on +hearing of the fact, to pay his respects to so great a personage as he, a +king of Egypt--a Ptolemy--though suffering under a temporary reverse of +fortune. Cato directed the messenger to reply that, so far as he was +aware, he had no particular business with Ptolemy. "Say, however, to the +king," he added, "that, if he has any business with me, he may call and +see me, if he pleases." + +Ptolemy was obliged to suppress his resentment and submit. He thought it +very essential to the success of his plans that he should see Cato, and +secure, if possible, his interest and co-operation; and he consequently +made preparations for paying, instead of receiving, the visit, intending +to go in the greatest royal state that he could command. He accordingly +appeared at Cato's lodgings on the following day, magnificently dressed, +and accompanied by many attendants. Cato, who was dressed in the plainest +and most simple manner, and whose apartment was furnished in a style +corresponding with the severity of his character, did not even rise when +the king entered the room. He simply pointed with his hand, and bade the +visitor take a seat. + +Ptolemy began to make a statement of his case, with a view to obtaining +Cato's influence with the Roman people to induce them to interpose in his +behalf. Cato, however, far from evincing any disposition to espouse his +visitor's cause, censured him, in the plainest terms, for having abandoned +his proper position in his own kingdom, to go and make himself a victim +and a prey for the insatiable avarice of the Roman leaders. "You can do +nothing at Rome," he said, "but by the influence of bribes; and all the +resources of Egypt will not be enough to satisfy the Roman greediness for +money." He concluded by recommending him to go back to Alexandria, and +rely for his hopes of extrication from the difficulties which surrounded +him on the exercise of his own energy and resolution there. + +Ptolemy was greatly abashed at this rebuff, but, on consultation with his +attendants and followers, it was decided to be too late now to return. The +whole party accordingly re-embarked on board their galleys, and pursued +their way to Rome. + +Ptolemy found, on his arrival at the city, that Cæsar was absent in Gaul, +while Pompey, on the other hand, who had returned victorious from his +campaigns against Mithradates, was now the great leader of influence and +power at the Capitol. This change of circumstances was not, however, +particularly unfavorable; for Ptolemy was on friendly terms with Pompey, +as he had been with Cæsar. He had assisted him in his wars with +Mithradates by sending him a squadron of horse, in pursuance of his policy +of cultivating friendly relations with the Roman people by every means in +his power. Besides, Pompey had received a part of the money which Ptolemy +had paid to Cæsar as the price of the Roman alliance, and was to receive +his share of the rest in case Ptolemy should ever be restored. Pompey was +accordingly interested in favoring the royal fugitive's cause. He received +him in his palace, entertained him in magnificent style, and took +immediate measures for bringing his cause before the Roman senate, urging +upon that body the adoption of immediate and vigorous measures for +effecting his restoration, as an ally whom they were bound to protect +against his rebellious subjects. + +There was at first some opposition in the Roman senate against espousing +the cause of such a man, but it was soon put down, being overpowered in +part by Pompey's authority, and in part silenced by Ptolemy's promises and +bribes. The senate determined to restore the king to his throne, and began +to make arrangements for carrying the measure into effect. + +The Roman provinces nearest to Egypt were Cilicia and Syria, countries +situated on the eastern and northeastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, +north of Judea. The forces stationed in these provinces would be, of +course, the most convenient for furnishing the necessary troops for the +expedition. The province of Cilicia was under the command of the consul +Lentulus. Lentulus was at this time at Rome; he had repaired to the +capital for some temporary purpose, leaving his province and the troops +stationed there under the command, for the time, of a sort of lieutenant +general named Gabinius. It was concluded that this Lentulus, with his +Syrian forces, should undertake the task of reinstating Ptolemy on his +throne. + +While these plans and arrangements were yet immature, a circumstance +occurred which threatened, for a time, wholly to defeat them. It seems +that when Cleopatra's father first left Egypt, he had caused a report to +be circulated there that he had been killed in the revolt. The object of +this stratagem was to cover and conceal his flight. The government of +Berenice soon discovered the truth, and learned that the fugitive had gone +in the direction of Rome. They immediately inferred that he was going to +appeal to the Roman people for aid, and they determined that, if that were +the case, the Roman people, before deciding in his favor, should have the +opportunity to hear their side of the story as well as his. They +accordingly made preparations at once for sending a very imposing +embassage to Rome. The deputation consisted of more than a hundred +persons. The object of Berenice's government in sending so large a number +was not only to evince their respect for the Roman people, and their sense +of the magnitude of the question at issue, but also to guard against any +efforts that Ptolemy might make to intercept the embassage on the way, or +to buy off the members of it by bribes. The number, however, large as it +was, proved insufficient to accomplish this purpose. The whole Roman +world was at this time in such a condition of disorder and violence, in +the hands of the desperate and reckless military leaders who then bore +sway, that there were every where abundant facilities for the commission +of any conceivable crime. Ptolemy contrived, with the assistance of the +fierce partisans who had espoused his cause, and who were deeply +interested in his success on account of the rewards which were promised +them, to waylay and destroy a large proportion of this company before they +reached Rome. Some were assassinated; some were poisoned; some were +tampered with and bought off by bribes. A small remnant reached Rome; but +they were so intimidated by the dangers which surrounded them, that they +did not dare to take any public action in respect to the business which +had been committed to their charge. Ptolemy began to congratulate himself +on having completely circumvented his daughter in her efforts to protect +herself against his designs. + +Instead of that, however, it soon proved that the effect of this atrocious +treachery was exactly the contrary of what its perpetrators had expected. +The knowledge of the facts became gradually extended among the people of +Rome, and it awakened a universal indignation. The party who had been +originally opposed to Ptolemy's cause seized the opportunity to renew +their opposition; and they gained so much strength from the general odium +which Ptolemy's crimes had awakened, that Pompey found it almost +impossible to sustain his cause. + +At length the party opposed to Ptolemy found, or pretended to find, in +certain sacred books, called the Sibylline Oracles, which were kept in the +custody of the priests, and were supposed to contain prophetic intimations +of the will of Heaven in respect to the conduct of public affairs, the +following passage: + +"_If a king of Egypt should apply to you for aid, treat him in a friendly +manner, but do not furnish him with troops; for if you do, you will incur +great danger._" + +This made new difficulty for Ptolemy's friends. They attempted, at first, +to evade this inspired injunction by denying the reality of it. There was +no such passage to be found, they said. It was all an invention of their +enemies. This point seems to have been overruled, and then they attempted +to give the passage some other than the obvious interpretation. Finally, +they maintained that, although it prohibited their furnishing Ptolemy +himself with troops, it did not forbid their sending an armed force into +Egypt under leaders of their own. _That_ they could certainly do; and +then, when the rebellion was suppressed, and Berenice's government +overthrown, they could invite Ptolemy to return to his kingdom and resume +his crown in a peaceful manner. This, they alleged, would not be +"furnishing him with troops," and, of course, would not be disobeying the +oracle. + +These attempts to evade the direction of the oracle on the part of +Ptolemy's friends, only made the debates and dissensions between them and +his enemies more violent than ever. Pompey made every effort in his power +to aid Ptolemy's cause; but Lentulus, after long hesitation and delay, +decided that it would not be safe for him to embark in it. At length, +however, Gabinius, the lieutenant who commanded in Syria, was induced to +undertake the enterprise. On certain promises which he received from +Ptolemy, to be performed in case he succeeded, and with a certain +encouragement, not very legal or regular, which Pompey gave him, in +respect to the employment of the Roman troops under his command, he +resolved to march to Egypt. His route, of course, would lay along the +shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and through the desert, to Pelusium, +which has already been mentioned as the frontier town on this side of +Egypt. From Pelusium he was to march through the heart of the Delta to +Alexandria, and, if successful in his invasion, overthrow the government +of Berenice and Archelaus, and then, inviting Ptolemy to return, reinstate +him on the throne. + +In the prosecution of this dangerous enterprise, Gabinius relied strongly +on the assistance of a very remarkable man, then his second in command, +who afterward acted a very important part in the subsequent history of +Cleopatra. His name was Mark Antony. Antony was born in Rome, of a very +distinguished family, but his father died when he was very young, and +being left subsequently much to himself, he became a very wild and +dissolute young man. He wasted the property which his father had left him +in folly and vice; and then going on desperately in the same career, he +soon incurred enormous debts, and involved himself, in consequence, in +inextricable difficulties. His creditors continually harassed him with +importunities for money, and with suits at law to compel payments which he +had no means of making. He was likewise incessantly pursued by the +hostility of the many enemies that he had made in the city by his violence +and his crimes. At length he absconded, and went to Greece. + +Here Gabinius, when on his way to Syria, met him, and invited him to join +his army rather than to remain where he was in idleness and destitution. +Antony, who was as proud and lofty in spirit as he was degraded in morals +and condition, refused to do this unless Gabinius would give him a +command. Gabinius saw in the daring and reckless energy which Antony +manifested the indications of the class of qualities which in those days +made a successful soldier, and acceded to his terms. He gave him the +command of his cavalry. Antony distinguished himself in the Syrian +campaigns that followed, and was now full of eagerness to engage in this +Egyptian enterprise. In fact, it was mainly his zeal and enthusiasm to +embark in the undertaking which was the means of deciding Gabinius to +consent to Ptolemy's proposals. + +The danger and difficulty which they considered as most to be apprehended +in the whole expedition was the getting across the desert to Pelusium. In +fact, the great protection of Egypt had always been her isolation. The +trackless and desolate sands, being wholly destitute of water, and utterly +void, could be traversed, even by a caravan of peaceful travelers, only +with great difficulty and danger. For an army to attempt to cross them, +exposed, as the troops would necessarily be, to the assaults of enemies +who might advance to meet them on the way, and sure of encountering a +terrible opposition from fresh and vigorous bands when they should +arrive--wayworn and exhausted by the physical hardships of the way--at the +borders of the inhabited country, was a desperate undertaking. Many +instances occurred in ancient times in which vast bodies of troops, in +attempting marches over the deserts by which Egypt was surrounded, were +wholly destroyed by famine or thirst, or overwhelmed by storms of sand.[4] + +These difficulties and dangers, however, did not at all intimidate Mark +Antony. The anticipation, in fact, of the glory of surmounting them was +one of the main inducements which led him to embark in the enterprise. The +perils of the desert constituted one of the charms which made the +expedition so attractive. He placed himself, therefore, at the head of his +troop of cavalry, and set off across the sands in advance of Gabinius, to +take Pelusium, in order thus to open a way for the main body of the army +into Egypt. Ptolemy accompanied Antony. Gabinius was to follow. + +With all his faults, to call them by no severer name, Mark Antony +possessed certain great excellences of character. He was ardent, but then +he was cool, collected, and sagacious; and there was a certain frank and +manly generosity continually evincing itself in his conduct and character +which made him a great favorite among his men. He was at this time about +twenty-eight years old, of a tall and manly form, and of an expressive and +intellectual cast of countenance. His forehead was high, his nose +aquiline, and his eyes full of vivacity and life. He was accustomed to +dress in a very plain and careless manner, and he assumed an air of the +utmost familiarity and freedom in his intercourse with his soldiers. He +would join them in their sports, joke with them, and good-naturedly +receive their jokes in return; and take his meals, standing with them +around their rude tables, in the open field. Such habits of intercourse +with his men in a commander of ordinary character would have been fatal to +his ascendency over them; but in Mark Antony's case, these frank and +familiar manners seemed only to make the military genius and the +intellectual power which he possessed the more conspicuous and the more +universally admired. + +Antony conducted his troop of horsemen across the desert in a very safe +and speedy manner, and arrived before Pelusium. The city was not prepared +to resist him. It surrendered at once, and the whole garrison fell into +his hands as prisoners of war. Ptolemy demanded that they should all be +immediately killed. They were rebels, he said, and, as such, ought to be +put to death. Antony, however, as might have been expected from his +character, absolutely refused to allow of any such barbarity. Ptolemy, +since the power was not yet in his hands, was compelled to submit, and to +postpone gratifying the spirit of vengeance which had so long been +slumbering in his breast to a future day. He could the more patiently +submit to this necessity, since it appeared that the day of his complete +and final triumph over his daughter and all her adherents was now very +nigh at hand. + +[Illustration: ANTONY CROSSING THE DESERT.] + +In fact, Berenice and her government, when they heard of the arrival of +Antony and Ptolemy at Pelusium, of the fall of that city, and of the +approach of Gabinius with an overwhelming force of Roman soldiers, were +struck with dismay. Archelaus, the husband of Berenice, had been, in +former years, a personal friend of Antony's. Antony considered, in fact, +that they were friends still, though required by what the historian calls +their duty to fight each other for the possession of the kingdom. The +government of Berenice raised an army. Archelaus took command of it, and +advanced to meet the enemy. In the mean time, Gabinius arrived with the +main body of the Roman troops, and commenced his march, in conjunction +with Antony, toward the capital. As they were obliged to make a circuit to +the southward, in order to avoid the inlets and lagoons which, on the +northern coast of Egypt, penetrate for some distance into the land, their +course led them through the heart of the Delta. Many battles were fought, +the Romans every where gaining the victory. The Egyptian soldiers were, in +fact, discontented and mutinous, perhaps, in part, because they considered +the government on the side of which they were compelled to engage as, +after all, a usurpation. At length a great final battle was fought, which +settled the controversy. Archelaus was slain upon the field, and Berenice +was taken prisoner; their government was wholly overthrown, and the way +was opened for the march of the Roman armies to Alexandria. + +Mark Antony, when judged by our standards, was certainly, as well as +Ptolemy, a depraved and vicious man; but his depravity was of a very +different type from that of Cleopatra's father. The difference in the men, +in one respect, was very clearly evinced by the objects toward which their +interest and attention were respectively turned after this great battle. +While the contest had been going on, the king and queen of Egypt, +Archelaus and Berenice, were, of course, in the view both of Antony and +Ptolemy, the two most conspicuous personages in the army of their enemies; +and while Antony would naturally watch with the greatest interest the fate +of his friend, the king, Ptolemy, would as naturally follow with the +highest concern the destiny of his daughter. Accordingly, when the battle +was over, while the mind of Ptolemy might, as we should naturally expect, +be chiefly occupied by the fact that his _daughter_ was made a captive, +Antony's, we might suppose, would be engrossed by the tidings that his +_friend_ had been slain. + +The one rejoiced and the other mourned. Antony sought for the body of his +friend on the field of battle, and when it was found, he gave himself +wholly to the work of providing for it a most magnificent burial. He +seemed, at the funeral, to lament the death of his ancient comrade with +real and unaffected grief. Ptolemy, on the other hand, was overwhelmed +with joy at finding his daughter his captive. The long-wished-for hour for +the gratification of his revenge had come at last, and the first use which +he made of his power when he was put in possession of it at Alexandria was +to order his daughter to be beheaded. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. + + +At the time when the unnatural quarrel between Cleopatra's father and her +sister was working its way toward its dreadful termination, as related in +the last chapter, she herself was residing at the royal palace in +Alexandria, a blooming and beautiful girl of about fifteen. Fortunately +for her, she was too young to take any active part personally in the +contention. Her two brothers were still younger than herself. They all +three remained, therefore, in the royal palaces, quiet spectators of the +revolution, without being either benefited or injured by it. It is +singular that the name of both the boys was Ptolemy. + +The excitement in the city of Alexandria was intense and universal when +the Roman army entered it to reinstate Cleopatra's father upon his throne. +A very large portion of the inhabitants were pleased with having the +former king restored. In fact, it appears, by a retrospect of the history +of kings, that when a legitimate hereditary sovereign or dynasty is +deposed and expelled by a rebellious population, no matter how intolerable +may have been the tyranny, or how atrocious the crimes by which the +patience of the subject was exhausted, the lapse of a very few years is +ordinarily sufficient to produce a very general readiness to acquiesce in +a restoration; and in this particular instance there had been no such +superiority in the government of Berenice, during the period while her +power continued, over that of her father, which she had displaced, as to +make this case an exception to the general rule. The mass of the people, +therefore--all those, especially, who had taken no active part in +Berenice's government--were ready to welcome Ptolemy back to his capital. +Those who had taken such a part were all summarily executed by Ptolemy's +orders. + +There was, of course, a great excitement throughout the city on the +arrival of the Roman army. All the foreign influence and power which had +been exercised in Egypt thus far, and almost all the officers, whether +civil or military, had been Greek. The coming of the Romans was the +introduction of a new element of interest to add to the endless variety of +excitements which animated the capital. + +The restoration of Ptolemy was celebrated with games, spectacles, and +festivities of every kind, and, of course, next to the king himself, the +chief center of interest and attraction in all these public rejoicings +would be the distinguished foreign generals by whose instrumentality the +end had been gained. + +Mark Antony was a special object of public regard and admiration at the +time. His eccentric manners, his frank and honest air, his Roman +simplicity of dress and demeanor, made him conspicuous; and his +interposition to save the lives of the captured garrison of Pelusium, and +the interest which he took in rendering such distinguished funeral honors +to the enemy whom his army had slain in battle, impressed the people with +the idea of a certain nobleness and magnanimity in his character, which, +in spite of his faults, made him an object of general admiration and +applause. The very faults of such a man assume often, in the eyes of the +world, the guise and semblance of virtues. For example, it is related of +Antony that, at one time in the course of his life, having a desire to +make a present of some kind to a certain person, in requital for a favor +which he had received from him, he ordered his treasurer to send a sum of +money to his friend--and named for the sum to be sent an amount +considerably greater than was really required under the circumstances of +the case--acting thus, as he often did, under the influence of a blind and +uncalculating generosity. The treasurer, more prudent than his master, +wished to reduce the amount, but he did not dare directly to propose a +reduction; so he counted out the money, and laid it in a pile in a place +where Antony was to pass, thinking that when Antony saw the amount, he +would perceive that it was too great. Antony, in passing by, asked what +money that was. The treasurer said that it was the sum that he had ordered +to be sent as a present to such a person, naming the individual intended. +Antony was quick to perceive the object of the treasurer's maneuver. He +immediately replied, "Ah! is that all? I thought the sum I named would +make a better appearance than that; send him double the amount." + +To determine, under such circumstances as these, to double an extravagance +merely for the purpose of thwarting the honest attempt of a faithful +servant to diminish it, made, too, in so cautious and delicate a way, is +most certainly a fault. But it is one of those faults for which the +world, in all ages, will persist in admiring and praising the perpetrator. + +In a word, Antony became the object of general attention and favor during +his continuance at Alexandria. Whether he particularly attracted +Cleopatra's attention at this time or not does not appear. She, however, +strongly attracted _his_. He admired her blooming beauty, her +sprightliness and wit, and her various accomplishments. She was still, +however, so young--being but fifteen years of age, while Antony was nearly +thirty--that she probably made no very serious impression upon him. A +short time after this, Antony went back to Rome, and did not see Cleopatra +again for many years. + +When the two Roman generals went away from Alexandria, they left a +considerable portion of the army behind them, under Ptolemy's command, to +aid him in keeping possession of his throne. Antony returned to Rome. He +had acquired great renown by his march across the desert, and by the +successful accomplishment of the invasion of Egypt and the restoration of +Ptolemy. His funds, too, were replenished by the vast sums paid to him and +to Gabinius by Ptolemy. The amount which Ptolemy is said to have agreed +to pay as the price of his restoration was two thousand talents--equal to +ten millions of dollars--a sum which shows on how great a scale the +operations of this celebrated campaign were conducted. Ptolemy raised a +large portion of the money required for his payments by confiscating the +estates belonging to those friends of Berenice's government whom he +ordered to be slain. It was said, in fact, that the numbers were very much +increased of those that were condemned to die, by Ptolemy's standing in +such urgent need of their property to meet his obligations. + +Antony, through the results of this campaign, found himself suddenly +raised from the position of a disgraced and homeless fugitive to that of +one of the most wealthy and renowned, and, consequently, one of the most +powerful personages in Rome. The great civil war broke out about this time +between Cæsar and Pompey. Antony espoused the cause of Cæsar. + +In the mean time, while the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey was raging, +Ptolemy succeeded in maintaining his seat on the throne, by the aid of the +Roman soldiers whom Antony and Gabinius had left him, for about three +years. When he found himself drawing toward the close of life, the +question arose to his mind to whom he should leave his kingdom. Cleopatra +was the oldest child, and she was a princess of great promise, both in +respect to mental endowments and personal charms. Her brothers were +considerably younger than she. The claim of a son, though younger, seemed +to be naturally stronger than that of a daughter; but the commanding +talents and rising influence of Cleopatra appeared to make it doubtful +whether it would be safe to pass her by. The father settled the question +in the way in which such difficulties were usually surmounted in the +Ptolemy family. He ordained that Cleopatra should marry the oldest of her +brothers, and that they two should jointly occupy the throne. Adhering +also, still, to the idea of the alliance of Egypt with Rome, which had +been the leading principle of the whole policy of his reign, he solemnly +committed the execution of his will and the guardianship of his children, +by a provision of the instrument itself, to the Roman senate. The senate +accepted the appointment, and appointed Pompey as the agent, on their +part, to perform the duties of the trust. The attention of Pompey was, +immediately after that time, too much engrossed by the civil war waged +between himself and Cæsar, to take any active steps in respect to the +duties of his appointment. It seemed, however, that none were necessary, +for all parties in Alexandria appeared disposed, after the death of the +king, to acquiesce in the arrangements which he had made, and to join in +carrying them into effect. Cleopatra was married to her brother--yet, it +is true, only a boy. He was about ten years old. She was herself about +eighteen. They were both too young to govern; they could only reign. The +affairs of the kingdom were, accordingly, conducted by two ministers whom +their father had designated. These ministers were Pothinus, a eunuch, who +was a sort of secretary of state, and Achillas, the commander-in-chief of +the armies. + +Thus, though Cleopatra, by these events, became nominally a queen, her +real accession to the throne was not yet accomplished. There were still +many difficulties and dangers to be passed through, before the period +arrived when she became really a sovereign. She did not, herself, make any +immediate attempt to hasten this period, but seems to have acquiesced, on +the other hand, very quietly, for a time, in the arrangements which her +father had made. + +Pothinus was a eunuch. He had been, for a long time, an officer of +government under Ptolemy, the father. He was a proud, ambitious, and +domineering man, determined to rule, and very unscrupulous in respect to +the means which he adopted to accomplish his ends. He had been accustomed +to regard Cleopatra as a mere child. Now that she was queen, he was very +unwilling that the real power should pass into her hands. The jealousy and +ill will which he felt toward her increased rapidly as he found, in the +course of the first two or three years after her father's death, that she +was advancing rapidly in strength of character, and in the influence and +ascendency which she was acquiring over all around her. Her beauty, her +accomplishments, and a certain indescribable charm which pervaded all her +demeanor, combined to give her great personal power. But, while these +things awakened in other minds feelings of interest in Cleopatra and +attachment to her, they only increased the jealousy and envy of Pothinus. +Cleopatra was becoming his rival. He endeavored to thwart and circumvent +her. He acted toward her in a haughty and overbearing manner, in order to +keep her down to what he considered her proper place as his ward; for he +was yet the guardian both of Cleopatra and her husband, and the regent of +the realm. + +Cleopatra had a great deal of what is sometimes called spirit, and her +resentment was aroused by this treatment. Pothinus took pains to enlist +her young husband, Ptolemy, on his side, as the quarrel advanced. Ptolemy +was younger, and of a character much less marked and decided than +Cleopatra. Pothinus saw that he could maintain control over him much more +easily and for a much longer time than over Cleopatra. He contrived to +awaken the young Ptolemy's jealousy of his wife's rising influence, and to +induce him to join in efforts to thwart and counteract it. These attempts +to turn her husband against her only aroused Cleopatra's resentment the +more. Hers was not a spirit to be coerced. The palace was filled with the +dissensions of the rivals. Pothinus and Ptolemy began to take measures for +securing the army on their side. An open rupture finally ensued, and +Cleopatra was expelled from the kingdom. + +She went to Syria. Syria was the nearest place of refuge, and then, +besides, it was the country from which the aid had been furnished by which +her father had been restored to the throne when he had been expelled, in +a similar manner, many years before. Her father, it is true, had gone +first to Rome; but the succors which he had negotiated for had been sent +from Syria. Cleopatra hoped to obtain the same assistance by going +directly there. + +Nor was she disappointed. She obtained an army, and commenced her march +toward Egypt, following the same track which Antony and Gabinius had +pursued in coming to reinstate her father. Pothinus raised an army and +went forth to meet her. He took Achillas as the commander of the troops, +and the young Ptolemy as the nominal sovereign; while he, as the young +king's guardian and prime minister, exercised the real power. The troops +of Pothinus advanced to Pelusium. Here they met the forces of Cleopatra +coming from the east. The armies encamped not very far from each other, +and both sides began to prepare for battle. + +The battle, however, was not fought. It was prevented by the occurrence of +certain great and unforeseen events which at this crisis suddenly burst +upon the scene of Egyptian history, and turned the whole current of +affairs into new and unexpected channels. The breaking out of the civil +war between the great Roman generals Cæsar and Pompey, and their +respective partisans, has already been mentioned as having occurred soon +after the death of Cleopatra's father, and as having prevented Pompey from +undertaking the office of executor of the will. This war had been raging +ever since that time with terrible fury. Its distant thundering had been +heard even in Egypt, but it was too remote to awaken there any special +alarm. The immense armies of these two mighty conquerors had moved +slowly--like two ferocious birds of prey, flying through the air, and +fighting as they fly--across Italy into Greece, and from Greece, through +Macedon, into Thessaly, contending in dreadful struggles with each other +as they advanced, and trampling down and destroying every thing in their +way. At length a great final battle had been fought at Pharsalia. Pompey +had been totally defeated. He had fled to the sea-shore, and there, with a +few ships and a small number of followers, he had pushed out upon the +Mediterranean, not knowing whither to fly, and overwhelmed with +wretchedness and despair. Cæsar followed him in eager pursuit. He had a +small fleet of galleys with him, on board of which he had embarked two or +three thousand men. This was a force suitable, perhaps, for the pursuit +of a fugitive, but wholly insufficient for any other design. + +Pompey thought of Ptolemy. He remembered the efforts which he himself had +made for the cause of Ptolemy Auletes, at Rome, and the success of those +efforts in securing that monarch's restoration--an event through which +alone the young Ptolemy had been enabled to attain the crown. He came, +therefore, to Pelusium, and, anchoring his little fleet off the shore, +sent to the land to ask Ptolemy to receive and protect him. Pothinus, who +was really the commander in Ptolemy's army, made answer to this +application that Pompey should be received and protected, and that he +would send out a boat to bring him to the shore. Pompey felt some +misgivings in respect to this proffered hospitality, but he finally +concluded to go to the shore in the boat which Pothinus sent for him. As +soon as he landed, the Egyptians, by Pothinus's orders, stabbed and +beheaded him on the sand. Pothinus and his council had decided that this +would be the safest course. If they were to receive Pompey, they reasoned, +Cæsar would be made their enemy; if they refused to receive him, Pompey +himself would be offended, and they did not know which of the two it +would be safe to displease; for they did not know in what way, if both the +generals were to be allowed to live, the war would ultimately end. "But by +killing Pompey," they said, "we shall be sure to please Cæsar, and Pompey +himself will _lie still_." + +In the mean time, Cæsar, not knowing to what part of Egypt Pompey had +fled, pressed on directly to Alexandria. He exposed himself to great +danger in so doing, for the forces under his command were not sufficient +to protect him in case of his becoming involved in difficulties with the +authorities there. Nor could he, when once arrived on the Egyptian coast, +easily go away again; for, at the season of the year in which these events +occurred, there was a periodical wind which blew steadily toward that part +of the coast, and, while it made it very easy for a fleet of ships to go +to Alexandria, rendered it almost impossible for them to return. + +Cæsar was very little accustomed to shrink from danger in any of his +enterprises and plans, though still he was usually prudent and +circumspect. In this instance, however, his ardent interest in the pursuit +of Pompey overruled all considerations of personal safety. He arrived at +Alexandria, but he found that Pompey was not there. He anchored his +vessels in the port, landed his troops, and established himself in the +city. These two events, the assassination of one of the great Roman +generals on the eastern extremity of the coast, and the arrival of the +other, at the same moment, at Alexandria, on the western, burst suddenly +upon Egypt together, like simultaneous claps of thunder. The tidings +struck the whole country with astonishment, and immediately engrossed +universal attention. At the camps both of Cleopatra and Ptolemy, at +Pelusium, all was excitement and wonder. Instead of thinking of a battle, +both parties were wholly occupied in speculating on the results which were +likely to accrue, to one side or to the other, under the totally new and +unexpected aspect which public affairs had assumed. + +Of course the thoughts of all were turned toward Alexandria. Pothinus +immediately proceeded to the city, taking with him the young king. +Achillas, too, either accompanied them, or followed soon afterward. They +carried with them the head of Pompey, which they had cut off on the shore +where they had killed him, and also a seal which they took from his +finger. When they arrived at Alexandria, they sent the head, wrapped up +in a cloth, and also the seal, as presents to Cæsar. Accustomed as they +were to the brutal deeds and heartless cruelties of the Ptolemies, they +supposed that Cæsar would exult at the spectacle of the dissevered and +ghastly head of his great rival and enemy. Instead of this, he was shocked +and displeased, and ordered the head to be buried with the most solemn and +imposing funeral ceremonies. He, however, accepted and kept the seal. The +device engraved upon it was a lion holding a sword in his paw--a fit +emblem of the characters of the men, who, though in many respects +magnanimous and just, had filled the whole world with the terror of their +quarrels. + +The army of Ptolemy, while he himself and his immediate counselors went to +Alexandria, was left at Pelusium, under the command of other officers, to +watch Cleopatra. Cleopatra herself would have been pleased, also, to +repair to Alexandria and appeal to Cæsar, if it had been in her power to +do so; but she was beyond the confines of the country, with a powerful +army of her enemies ready to intercept her on any attempt to enter or pass +through it. She remained, therefore, at Pelusium, uncertain what to do. + +In the mean time, Cæsar soon found himself in a somewhat embarrassing +situation at Alexandria. He had been accustomed, for many years, to the +possession and the exercise of the most absolute and despotic power, +wherever he might be; and now that Pompey, his great rival, was dead, he +considered himself the monarch and master of the world. He had not, +however, at Alexandria, any means sufficient to maintain and enforce such +pretensions, and yet he was not of a spirit to abate, on that account, in +the slightest degree, the advancing of them. He established himself in the +palaces of Alexandria as if he were himself the king. He moved, in state, +through the streets of the city, at the head of his guards, and displaying +the customary emblems of supreme authority used at Rome. He claimed the +six thousand talents which Ptolemy Auletes had formerly promised him for +procuring a treaty of alliance with Rome, and he called upon Pothinus to +pay the balance due. He said, moreover, that by the will of Auletes the +Roman people had been made the executor; and that it devolved upon him as +the Roman consul, and, consequently, the representative of the Roman +people, to assume that trust, and in the discharge of it to settle the +dispute between Ptolemy and Cleopatra; and he called upon Ptolemy to +prepare and lay before him a statement of his claims, and the grounds on +which he maintained his right to the throne to the exclusion of Cleopatra. + +On the other hand, Pothinus, who had been as little accustomed to +acknowledge a superior as Cæsar, though his supremacy and domination had +been exercised on a somewhat humbler scale, was obstinate and pertinacious +in resisting all these demands, though the means and methods which he +resorted to were of a character corresponding to his weak and ignoble +mind. He fomented quarrels in the streets between the Alexandrian populace +and Cæsar's soldiers. He thought that, as the number of troops under +Cæsar's command in the city, and of vessels in the port, was small, he +could tease and worry the Romans with impunity, though he had not the +courage openly to attack them. He pretended to be a friend, or, at +least, not an enemy, and yet he conducted toward them in an overbearing +and insolent manner. He had agreed to make arrangements for supplying +them with food, and he did this by procuring damaged provisions of a most +wretched quality; and when the soldiers remonstrated, he said to them, +that they who lived at other people's cost had no right to complain of +their fare. He caused wooden and earthen vessels to be used in the palace, +and said, in explanation, that he had been compelled to sell all the gold +and silver plate of the royal household to meet the exactions of Cæsar. He +busied himself, too, about the city, in endeavoring to excite odium +against Cæsar's proposal to hear and decide the question at issue between +Cleopatra and Ptolemy. Ptolemy was a sovereign, he said, and was not +amenable to any foreign power whatever. Thus, without the courage or the +energy to attempt any open, manly, and effectual system of hostility, he +contented himself with making all the difficulty in his power, by urging +an incessant pressure of petty, vexatious, and provoking, but useless +annoyances. Cæsar's demands may have been unjust, but they were bold, +manly, and undisguised. The eunuch may have been right in resisting them; +but the mode was so mean and contemptible, that mankind have always taken +part with Cæsar in the sentiments which they have formed as spectators of +the contest. + +With the very small force which Cæsar had at his command, and shut up as +he was in the midst of a very great and powerful city, in which both the +garrison and the population were growing more and more hostile to him +every day, he soon found his situation was beginning to be attended with +very serious danger. He could not retire from the scene. He probably would +not have retired if he could have done so. He remained, therefore, in the +city, conducting all the time with prudence and circumspection, but yet +maintaining, as at first, the same air of confident self-possession and +superiority which always characterized his demeanor. He, however, +dispatched a messenger forthwith into Syria, the nearest country under the +Roman sway, with orders that several legions which were posted there +should be embarked and forwarded to Alexandria with the utmost possible +celerity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR. + + +In the mean time, while the events related in the last chapter were taking +place at Alexandria, Cleopatra remained anxious and uneasy in her camp, +quite uncertain, for a time, what it was best for her to do. She wished to +be at Alexandria. She knew very well that Cæsar's power in controlling the +course of affairs in Egypt would necessarily be supreme. She was, of +course, very earnest in her desire to be able to present her cause before +him. As it was, Ptolemy and Pothinus were in communication with the +arbiter, and, for aught she knew, assiduously cultivating his favor, while +she was far away, her cause unheard, her wrongs unknown, and perhaps even +her existence forgotten. Of course, under such circumstances, she was very +earnest to get to Alexandria. + +But how to accomplish this purpose was a source of great perplexity. She +could not march thither at the head of an army, for the army of the king +was strongly intrenched at Pelusium, and effectually barred the way. She +could not attempt to pass alone, or with few attendants, through the +country, for every town and village was occupied with garrisons and +officers under the orders of Pothinus, and she would be certainly +intercepted. She had no fleet, and could not, therefore, make the passage +by sea. Besides, even if she could by any means reach the gates of +Alexandria, how was she to pass safely through the streets of the city to +the palace where Cæsar resided, since the city, except in Cæsar's +quarters, was wholly in the hands of Pothinus's government? The +difficulties in the way of accomplishing her object seemed thus almost +insurmountable. + +She was, however, resolved to make the attempt. She sent a message to +Cæsar, asking permission to appear before him and plead her own cause. +Cæsar replied, urging her by all means to come. She took a single boat, +and with the smallest number of attendants possible, made her way along +the coast to Alexandria. The man on whom she principally relied in this +hazardous expedition was a domestic named Apollodorus. She had, however, +some other attendants besides. When the party reached Alexandria, they +waited until night, and then advanced to the foot of the walls of the +citadel. Here Apollodorus rolled the queen up in a piece of carpeting, +and, covering the whole package with a cloth, he tied it with a thong, so +as to give it the appearance of a bale of ordinary merchandise, and then +throwing the load across his shoulder, he advanced into the city. +Cleopatra was at this time about twenty-one years of age, but she was of a +slender and graceful form, and the burden was, consequently, not very +heavy. Apollodorus came to the gates of the palace where Cæsar was +residing. The guards at the gates asked him what it was that he was +carrying. He said that it was a present for Cæsar. So they allowed him to +pass, and the pretended porter carried his package safely in. + +When it was unrolled, and Cleopatra came out to view, Cæsar was perfectly +charmed with the spectacle. In fact, the various conflicting emotions +which she could not but feel under such circumstances as these, imparted a +double interest to her beautiful and expressive face, and to her naturally +bewitching manners. She was excited by the adventure through which she had +passed, and yet pleased with her narrow escape from its dangers. The +curiosity and interest which she felt on the one hand, in respect to +the great personage into whose presence she had been thus strangely +ushered, was very strong; but then, on the other, it was chastened and +subdued by that feeling of timidity which, in new and unexpected +situations like these, and under a consciousness of being the object of +eager observation to the other sex, is inseparable from the nature of +woman. + +[Illustration: CLEOPATRA ENTERING THE PALACE OF CÆSAR.] + +The conversation which Cæsar held with Cleopatra deepened the impression +which her first appearance had made upon him. Her intelligence and +animation, the originality of her ideas, and the point and pertinency of +her mode of expressing them, made her, independently of her personal +charms, an exceedingly entertaining and agreeable companion. She, in fact, +completely won the great conqueror's heart; and, through the strong +attachment to her which he immediately formed, he became wholly +disqualified to act impartially between her and her brother in regard to +their respective rights to the crown. We call Ptolemy Cleopatra's brother; +for, though he was also, in fact, her husband, still, as he was only ten +or twelve years of age at the time of Cleopatra's expulsion from +Alexandria, the marriage had been probably regarded, thus far, only as a +mere matter of form. Cæsar was now about fifty-two. He had a wife, named +Calpurnia, to whom he had been married about ten years. She was living, at +this time, in an unostentatious and quiet manner at Rome. She was a lady +of an amiable and gentle character, devotedly attached to her husband, +patient and forbearing in respect to his faults, and often anxious and +unhappy at the thought of the difficulties and dangers in which his ardent +and unbounded ambition so often involved him. + +Cæsar immediately began to take a very strong interest in Cleopatra's +cause. He treated her personally with the fondest attention, and it was +impossible for her not to reciprocate in some degree the kind feeling with +which he regarded her. It was, in fact, something altogether new to her to +have a warm and devoted friend, espousing her cause, tendering her +protection, and seeking in every way to promote her happiness. Her father +had all his life neglected her. Her brother, of years and understanding +totally inferior to hers, whom she had been compelled to make her husband, +had become her mortal enemy. It is true that, in depriving her of her +inheritance and expelling her from her native land, he had been only the +tool and instrument of more designing men. This, however, far from +improving the point of view from which she regarded him, made him appear +not only hateful, but contemptible too. All the officers of government, +also, in the Alexandrian court had turned against her, because they had +supposed that they could control her brother more easily if she were away. +Thus she had always been surrounded by selfish, mercenary, and implacable +foes. Now, for the first time, she seemed to have a friend. A protector +had suddenly arisen to support and defend her--a man of very alluring +person and manners, of a very noble and generous spirit, and of the very +highest station. He loved her, and she could not refrain from loving him +in return. She committed her cause entirely into his hands, confided to +him all her interests, and gave herself up wholly into his power. + +Nor was the unbounded confidence which she reposed in him undeserved, so +far as related to his efforts to restore her to her throne. The legions +which Cæsar had sent for into Syria had not yet arrived, and his situation +in Alexandria was still very defenseless and very precarious. He did not, +however, on this account, abate in the least degree the loftiness and +self-confidence of the position which he had assumed, but he commenced +immediately the work of securing Cleopatra's restoration. This quiet +assumption of the right and power to arbitrate and decide such a question +as that of the claim to the throne, in a country where he had accidentally +landed and found rival claimants disputing for the succession, while he +was still wholly destitute of the means of enforcing the superiority which +he so coolly assumed, marks the immense ascendency which the Roman power +had attained at this time in the estimation of mankind, and is, besides, +specially characteristic of the genius and disposition of Cæsar. + +Very soon after Cleopatra had come to him, Cæsar sent for the young +Ptolemy, and urged upon him the duty and expediency of restoring +Cleopatra. Ptolemy was beginning now to attain an age at which he might be +supposed to have some opinion of his own on such a question. He declared +himself utterly opposed to any such design. In the course of the +conversation he learned that Cleopatra had arrived at Alexandria, and that +she was then concealed in Cæsar's palace. This intelligence awakened in +his mind the greatest excitement and indignation. He went away from +Cæsar's presence in a rage. He tore the diadem which he was accustomed to +wear from his head in the streets, threw it down, and trampled it under +his feet. He declared to the people that he was betrayed, and displayed +the most violent indications of vexation and chagrin. The chief subject of +his complaint, in the attempts which he made to awaken the popular +indignation against Cæsar and the Romans, was the disgraceful impropriety +of the position which his sister had assumed in surrendering herself as +she had done to Cæsar. It is most probable, however, unless his character +was very different from that of every other Ptolemy in the line, that what +really awakened his jealousy and anger was fear of the commanding +influence and power to which Cleopatra was likely to attain through the +agency of so distinguished a protector, rather than any other consequences +of his friendship, or any real considerations of delicacy in respect to +his sister's good name or his own marital honor. + +However this may be, Ptolemy, together with Pothinus and Achillas, and all +his other friends and adherents, who joined him in the terrible outcry +that he made against the coalition which he had discovered between +Cleopatra and Cæsar, succeeded in producing a very general and violent +tumult throughout the city. The populace were aroused, and began to +assemble in great crowds, and full of indignation and anger. Some knew the +facts, and acted under something like an understanding of the cause of +their anger. Others only knew that the aim of this sudden outbreak was to +assault the Romans, and were ready, on any pretext, known or unknown, to +join in any deeds of violence directed against these foreign intruders. +There were others still, and these, probably, far the larger portion, who +knew nothing and understood nothing but that there was to be tumult and a +riot in and around the palaces, and were, accordingly, eager to be there. + +Ptolemy and his officers had no large body of troops in Alexandria; for +the events which had thus far occurred since Cæsar's arrival had succeeded +each other so rapidly, that a very short time had yet elapsed, and the +main army remained still at Pelusium. The main force, therefore, by which +Cæsar was now attacked, consisted of the population of the city, headed, +perhaps, by the few guards which the young king had at his command. + +Cæsar, on his part, had but a small portion of his forces at the palace +where he was attacked. The rest were scattered about the city. He, +however, seems to have felt no alarm. He did not even confine himself to +acting on the defensive. He sent out a detachment of his soldiers with +orders to seize Ptolemy and bring him in a prisoner. Soldiers trained, +disciplined, and armed as the Roman veterans were, and nerved by the ardor +and enthusiasm which seemed always to animate troops which were under +Cæsar's personal command, could accomplish almost any undertaking against +a mere populace, however numerous or however furiously excited they might +be. The soldiers sallied out, seized Ptolemy, and brought him in. + +The populace were at first astounded at the daring presumption of this +deed, and then exasperated at the indignity of it, considered as a +violation of the person of their sovereign. The tumult would have greatly +increased, had it not been that Cæsar--who had now attained all his ends +in thus having brought Cleopatra and Ptolemy both within his +power--thought it most expedient to allay it. He accordingly ascended to +the window of a tower, or of some other elevated portion of his palace, so +high that missiles from the mob below could not reach him, and began to +make signals expressive of his wish to address them. + +When silence was obtained, he made them a speech well calculated to quiet +the excitement. He told them that he did not pretend to any right to judge +between Cleopatra and Ptolemy as their superior, but only in the +performance of the duty solemnly assigned by Ptolemy Auletes, the father, +to the Roman people, whose representative he was. Other than this he +claimed no jurisdiction in the case; and his only wish, in the discharge +of the duty which devolved upon him to consider the cause, was to settle +the question in a manner just and equitable to all the parties concerned, +and thus arrest the progress of the civil war, which, if not arrested, +threatened to involve the country in the most terrible calamities. He +counseled them, therefore, to disperse, and no longer disturb the peace of +the city. He would immediately take measures for trying the question +between Cleopatra and Ptolemy, and he did not doubt but that they would +all be satisfied with his decision. + +This speech, made, as it was, in the eloquent and persuasive, and yet +dignified and imposing manner for which Cæsar's harangues to turbulent +assemblies like these were so famed, produced a great effect. Some were +convinced, others were silenced; and those whose resentment and anger +were not appeased, found themselves deprived of their power by the +pacification of the rest. The mob was dispersed, and Ptolemy remained with +Cleopatra in Cæsar's custody. + +The next day, Cæsar, according to his promise, convened an assembly of the +principal people of Alexandria and officers of state, and then brought out +Ptolemy and Cleopatra, that he might decide their cause. The original will +which Ptolemy Auletes had executed had been deposited in the public +archives of Alexandria, and carefully preserved there. An authentic copy +of it had been sent to Rome. Cæsar caused the original will to be brought +out and read to the assembly. The provisions of it were perfectly explicit +and clear. It required that Cleopatra and Ptolemy should be married, and +then settled the sovereign power upon them jointly, as king and queen. It +recognized the Roman commonwealth as the ally of Egypt, and constituted +the Roman government the executor of the will, and the guardian of the +king and queen. In fact, so clear and explicit was this document, that the +simple reading of it seemed to be of itself a decision of the question. +When, therefore, Cæsar announced that, in his judgment, Cleopatra was +entitled to share the supreme power with Ptolemy, and that it was his +duty, as the representative of the Roman power and the executor of the +will, to protect both the king and the queen in their respective rights, +there seemed to be nothing that could be said against his decision. + +Besides Cleopatra and Ptolemy, there were two other children of Ptolemy +Auletes in the royal family at this time. One was a girl, named Arsinoë. +The other, a boy, was, singularly enough, named, like his brother, +Ptolemy. These children were quite young, but Cæsar thought that it would +perhaps gratify the Alexandrians, and lead them to acquiesce more readily +in his decision, if he were to make some royal provision for them. He +accordingly proposed to assign the island of Cyprus as a realm for them. +This was literally a gift, for Cyprus was at this time a Roman +possession.[5] + +The whole assembly seemed satisfied with this decision except Pothinus. He +had been so determined and inveterate an enemy to Cleopatra, that, as he +was well aware, her restoration must end in his downfall and ruin. He +went away from the assembly moodily determining that he would not submit +to the decision, but would immediately adopt efficient measures to prevent +its being carried into effect. + +Cæsar made arrangements for a series of festivals and celebrations, to +commemorate and confirm the re-establishment of a good understanding +between the king and the queen, and the consequent termination of the war. +Such celebrations, he judged, would have great influence in removing any +remaining animosities from the minds of the people, and restore the +dominion of a kind and friendly feeling throughout the city. The people +fell in with these measures, and cordially co-operated to give them +effect; but Pothinus and Achillas, though they suppressed all outward +expressions of discontent, made incessant efforts in secret to organize a +party, and to form plans for overthrowing the influence of Cæsar, and +making Ptolemy again the sole and exclusive sovereign. + +Pothinus represented to all whom he could induce to listen to him that +Cæsar's real design was to make Cleopatra queen alone, and to depose +Ptolemy, and urged them to combine with him to resist a policy which would +end in bringing Egypt under the dominion of a woman. He also formed a +plan, in connection with Achillas, for ordering the army back from +Pelusium. The army consisted of thirty thousand men. If that army could be +brought to Alexandria and kept under Pothinus's orders, Cæsar and his +three thousand Roman soldiers would be, they thought, wholly at their +mercy. + +There was, however, one danger to be guarded against in ordering the army +to march toward the capital, and that was, that Ptolemy, while under +Cæsar's influence, might open communications with the officers, and so +obtain command of its movements, and thwart all the conspirators' designs. +To prevent this, it was arranged between Pothinus and Achillas that the +latter should make his escape from Alexandria, proceed immediately to the +camp at Pelusium, resume the command of the troops there, and conduct them +himself to the capital; and that in all these operations, and also +subsequently on his arrival, he should obey no orders unless they came to +him through Pothinus himself. + +Although sentinels and guards were probably stationed at the gates and +avenues leading from the city, Achillas contrived to effect his escape +and to join the army. He placed himself at the head of the forces, and +commenced his march toward the capital. Pothinus remained all the time +within the city as a spy, pretending to acquiesce in Cæsar's decision, and +to be on friendly terms with him, but really plotting for his overthrow, +and obtaining all the information which his position enabled him to +command, in order that he might co-operate with the army and Achillas when +they should arrive. + +All these things were done with the utmost secrecy, and so cunning and +adroit were the conspirators in forming and executing their plots, that +Cæsar seems to have had no knowledge of the measures which his enemies +were taking, until he suddenly heard that the main body of Ptolemy's army +was approaching the city, at least twenty thousand strong. In the mean +time, however, the forces which he had sent for from Syria had not +arrived, and no alternative was left but to defend the capital and himself +as well as he could with the very small force which he had at his +disposal. + +He determined, however, first, to try the effect of orders sent out in +Ptolemy's name to forbid the approach of the army to the city. Two +officers were accordingly intrusted with these orders, and sent out to +communicate them to Achillas. The names of these officers were Dioscorides +and Serapion. + +It shows in a very striking point of view to what an incredible exaltation +the authority and consequence of a sovereign king rose in those ancient +days, in the minds of men, that Achillas, at the moment when these men +made their appearance in the camp, bearing evidently some command from +Ptolemy in the city, considered it more prudent to kill them at once, +without hearing their message, rather than to allow the orders to be +delivered and then take the responsibility of disobeying them. If he could +succeed in marching to Alexandria and in taking possession of the city, +and then in expelling Cæsar and Cleopatra and restoring Ptolemy to the +exclusive possession of the throne, he knew very well that the king would +rejoice in the result, and would overlook all irregularities on his part +in the means by which he had accomplished it, short of absolute +disobedience of a known command. Whatever might be the commands that these +messengers were bringing him, he supposed that they doubtless originated, +not in Ptolemy's own free will, but that they were dictated by the +authority of Cæsar. Still, they would be commands coming in Ptolemy's +name; and the universal experience of officers serving under the military +despots of those ancient days showed that, rather than to take the +responsibility of directly disobeying a royal order once received, it was +safer to avoid receiving it by murdering the messengers. + +Achillas therefore directed the officers to be seized and slain. They were +accordingly taken off and speared by the soldiers, and then the bodies +were borne away. The soldiers, however, it was found, had not done their +work effectually. There was no interest for them in such a cold-blooded +assassination, and perhaps something like a sentiment of compassion +restrained their hands. At any rate, though both the men were desperately +wounded, one only died. The other lived and recovered. + +Achillas continued to advance toward the city. Cæsar, finding that the +crisis which was approaching was becoming very serious in its character, +took, himself, the whole command within the capital, and began to make the +best arrangements possible under the circumstances of the case to defend +himself there. His numbers were altogether too small to defend the whole +city against the overwhelming force which was advancing to assail it. He +accordingly intrenched his troops in the palaces and in the citadel, and +in such other parts of the city as it seemed practicable to defend. He +barricaded all the streets and avenues leading to these points, and +fortified the gates. Nor did he, while thus doing all in his power to +employ the insufficient means of defense already in his hands to the best +advantage, neglect the proper exertions for obtaining succor from abroad. +He sent off galleys to Syria, to Cyprus, to Rhodes, and to every other +point accessible from Alexandria where Roman troops might be expected to +be found, urging the authorities there to forward re-enforcements to him +with the utmost possible dispatch. + +During all this time Cleopatra and Ptolemy remained in the palace with +Cæsar, both ostensibly co-operating with him in his councils and measures +for defending the city from Achillas. Cleopatra, of course, was sincere +and in earnest in this co-operation; but Ptolemy's adhesion to the common +cause was very little to be relied upon. Although, situated as he was, he +was compelled to seem to be on Cæsar's side, he must have secretly desired +that Achillas should succeed and Cæsar's plans be overthrown. Pothinus +was more active, though not less cautious in his hostility to them. He +opened a secret communication with Achillas, sending him information, from +time to time, of what took place within the walls, and of the arrangements +made there for the defense of the city against him, and gave him also +directions how to proceed. He was very wary and sagacious in all these +movements, feigning all the time to be on Cæsar's side. He pretended to be +very zealously employed in aiding Cæsar to secure more effectually the +various points where attacks were to be expected, and in maturing and +completing the arrangements for defense. + +But, notwithstanding all his cunning, he was detected in his double +dealing, and his career was suddenly brought to a close, before the great +final conflict came on. There was a barber in Cæsar's household, who, for +some cause or other, began to suspect Pothinus; and, having little else to +do, he employed himself in watching the eunuch's movements and reporting +them to Cæsar. Cæsar directed the barber to continue his observations. He +did so; his suspicions were soon confirmed, and at length a letter, which +Pothinus had written to Achillas, was intercepted and brought to Cæsar. +This furnished the necessary proof of what they called his guilt, and +Cæsar ordered him to be beheaded. + +This circumstance produced, of course, a great excitement within the +palace, for Pothinus had been for many years the great ruling minister of +state--the king, in fact, in all but in name. His execution alarmed a +great many others, who, though in Cæsar's power, were secretly wishing +that Achillas might prevail. Among those most disturbed by these fears was +a man named Ganymede. He was the officer who had charge of Arsinoë, +Cleopatra's sister. The arrangement which Cæsar had proposed for +establishing her in conjunction with her brother Ptolemy over the island +of Cyprus had not gone into effect; for, immediately after the decision of +Cæsar, the attention of all concerned had been wholly engrossed by the +tidings of the advance of the army, and by the busy preparations which +were required on all hands for the impending contest. Arsinoë, therefore, +with her governor Ganymede, remained in the palace. Ganymede had joined +Pothinus in his plots; and when Pothinus was beheaded, he concluded that +it would be safest for him to fly. + +He accordingly resolved to make his escape from the city, taking Arsinoë +with him. It was a very hazardous attempt, but he succeeded in +accomplishing it. Arsinoë was very willing to go, for she was now +beginning to be old enough to feel the impulse of that insatiable and +reckless ambition which seemed to form such an essential element in the +character of every son and daughter in the whole Ptolemaic line. She was +insignificant and powerless where she was, but at the head of the army she +might become immediately a queen. + +It resulted, in the first instance, as she had anticipated. Achillas and +his army received her with acclamations. Under Ganymede's influence they +decided that, as all the other members of the royal family were in +durance, being held captive by a foreign general, who had by chance +obtained possession of the capital, and were thus incapacitated for +exercising the royal power, the crown devolved upon Arsinoë; and they +accordingly proclaimed her queen. + +Every thing was now prepared for a desperate and determined contest for +the crown between Cleopatra, with Cæsar for her minister and general, on +the one side, and Arsinoë, with Ganymede and Achillas for her chief +officers, on the other. The young Ptolemy, in the mean time, remained +Cæsar's prisoner, confused with the intricacies in which the quarrel had +become involved, and scarcely knowing now what to wish in respect to the +issue of the contest. It was very difficult to foresee whether it would be +best for him that Cleopatra or that Arsinoë should succeed. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE ALEXANDRINE WAR. + + +The war which ensued as the result of the intrigues and maneuvers +described in the last chapter is known in the history of Rome and Julius +Cæsar as the Alexandrine war. The events which occurred during the +progress of it, and its termination at last in the triumph of Cæsar and +Cleopatra, will form the subject of this chapter. + +Achillas had greatly the advantage over Cæsar at the outset of the +contest, in respect to the strength of the forces under his command. +Cæsar, in fact, had with him only a detachment of three or four thousand +men, a small body of troops which he had hastily put on board a little +squadron of Rhodian galleys for pursuing Pompey across the Mediterranean. +When he set sail from the European shores with this inconsiderable fleet, +it is probable that he had no expectation even of landing in Egypt at all, +and much less of being involved in great military undertakings there. +Achillas, on the other hand, was at the head of a force of twenty +thousand effective men. His troops were, it is true, of a somewhat +miscellaneous character, but they were all veteran soldiers, inured to the +climate of Egypt, and skilled in all the modes of warfare which were +suited to the character of the country. Some of them were Roman soldiers, +men who had come with the army of Mark Antony from Syria when Ptolemy +Auletes, Cleopatra's father, was reinstated on the throne, and had been +left in Egypt, in Ptolemy's service, when Antony returned to Rome. Some +were native Egyptians. There was also in the army of Achillas a large +number of fugitive slaves--refugees who had made their escape from various +points along the shores of the Mediterranean, at different periods, and +had been from time to time incorporated into the Egyptian army. These +fugitives were all men of the most determined and desperate character. + +Achillas had also in his command a force of two thousand horse. Such a +body of cavalry made him, of course, perfect master of all the open +country outside the city walls. At the head of these troops Achillas +gradually advanced to the very gates of Alexandria, invested the city on +every side, and shut Cæsar closely in. + +The danger of the situation in which Cæsar was placed was extreme; but he +had been so accustomed to succeed in extricating himself from the most +imminent perils, that neither he himself nor his army seem to have +experienced any concern in respect to the result. Cæsar personally felt a +special pride and pleasure in encountering the difficulties and dangers +which now beset him, because Cleopatra was with him to witness his +demeanor, to admire his energy and courage, and to reward by her love the +efforts and sacrifices which he was making in espousing her cause. She +confided every thing to him, but she watched all the proceedings with the +most eager interest, elated with hope in respect to the result, and proud +of the champion who had thus volunteered to defend her. In a word, her +heart was full of gratitude, admiration, and love. + +The immediate effect, too, of the emotions which she felt so strongly was +greatly to heighten her natural charms. The native force and energy of her +character were softened and subdued. Her voice, which always possessed a +certain inexpressible charm, was endued with new sweetness through the +influence of affection. Her countenance beamed with fresh animation and +beauty, and the sprightliness and vivacity of her character, which became +at later periods of her life boldness and eccentricity, now being softened +and restrained within proper limits by the respectful regard with which +she looked upon Cæsar, made her an enchanting companion. Cæsar was, in +fact, entirely intoxicated with the fascinations which she unconsciously +displayed. + +Under other circumstances than these, a personal attachment so strong, +formed by a military commander while engaged in active service, might have +been expected to interfere in some degree with the discharge of his +duties; but in this case, since it was for Cleopatra's sake and in her +behalf that the operations which Cæsar had undertaken were to be +prosecuted, his love for her only stimulated the spirit and energy with +which he engaged in them. + +The first measure to be adopted was, as Cæsar plainly perceived, to +concentrate and strengthen his position in the city, so that he might be +able to defend himself there against Achillas until he should receive +re-enforcements from abroad. For this purpose he selected a certain group +of palaces and citadels which lay together near the head of the long pier +or causeway which led to the Pharos, and, withdrawing his troops from all +other parts of the city, established them there. The quarter which he thus +occupied contained the great city arsenals and public granaries. Cæsar +brought together all the arms and munitions of war which he could find in +other parts of the city, and also all the corn and other provisions which +were contained either in the public depôts or in private warehouses, and +stored the whole within his lines. He then inclosed the whole quarter with +strong defenses. The avenues leading to it were barricaded with walls of +stone. Houses in the vicinity which might have afforded shelter to an +enemy were demolished, and the materials used in constructing walls +wherever they were needed, or in strengthening the barricades. Prodigious +military engines, made to throw heavy stones, and beams of wood, and other +ponderous missiles, were set up within his lines, and openings were made +in the walls and other defenses of the citadel, wherever necessary, to +facilitate the action of these machines. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA.] + +There was a strong fortress situated at the head of the pier or mole +leading to the island of Pharos, which was without Cæsar's lines, and +still in the hands of the Egyptian authorities. The Egyptians thus +commanded the entrance to the mole. The island itself, also, with the +fortress at the other end of the pier, was still in the possession of the +Egyptian authorities, who seemed disposed to hold it for Achillas. The +mole was very long, as the island was nearly a mile from the shore. There +was quite a little town upon the island itself, besides the fortress or +castle built there to defend the place. The garrison of this castle was +strong, and the inhabitants of the town, too, constituted a somewhat +formidable population, as they consisted of fishermen, sailors, wreckers, +and such other desperate characters as usually congregate about such a +spot. Cleopatra and Cæsar, from the windows of their palace within the +city, looked out upon this island, with the tall light-house rising in the +center of it and the castle at its base, and upon the long and narrow +isthmus connecting it with the main land, and concluded that it was very +essential that they should get possession of the post, commanding, as it +did, the entrance to the harbor. + +In the harbor, too, which, as will be seen from the engraving, was on the +south side of the mole, and, consequently, on the side opposite to that +from which Achillas was advancing toward the city, there were lying a +large number of Egyptian vessels, some dismantled, and others manned and +armed more or less effectively. These vessels had not yet come into +Achillas's hands, but it would be certain that he would take possession of +them as soon as he should gain admittance to those parts of the city which +Cæsar had abandoned. This it was extremely important to prevent; for, if +Achillas held this fleet, especially if he continued to command the island +of Pharos, he would be perfect master of all the approaches to the city +on the side of the sea. He could then not only receive re-enforcements and +supplies himself from that quarter, but he could also effectually cut off +the Roman army from all possibility of receiving any. It became, +therefore, as Cæsar thought, imperiously necessary that he should protect +himself from this danger. This he did by sending out an expedition to burn +all the shipping in the harbor, and, at the same time, to take possession +of a certain fort upon the island of Pharos which commanded the entrance +to the port. This undertaking was abundantly successful. The troops burned +the shipping, took the fort, expelled the Egyptian soldiers from it, and +put a Roman garrison into it instead, and then returned in safety within +Cæsar's lines. Cleopatra witnessed these exploits from her palace windows +with feelings of the highest admiration for the energy and valor which her +Roman protectors displayed. + +The burning of the Egyptian ships in this action, however fortunate for +Cleopatra and Cæsar, was attended with a catastrophe which has ever since +been lamented by the whole civilized world. Some of the burning ships were +driven by the wind to the shore, where they set fire to the buildings +which were contiguous to the water. The flames spread and produced an +extensive conflagration, in the course of which the largest part of the +great library was destroyed. This library was the only general collection +of the ancient writings that ever had been made, and the loss of it was +never repaired. + +The destruction of the Egyptian fleet resulted also in the downfall and +ruin of Achillas. From the time of Arsinoë's arrival in the camp there had +been a constant rivalry and jealousy between himself and Ganymede, the +eunuch who had accompanied Arsinoë in her flight. Two parties had been +formed in the army, some declaring for Achillas and some for Ganymede. +Arsinoë advocated Ganymede's interests, and when, at length, the fleet was +burned, she charged Achillas with having been, by his neglect or +incapacity, the cause of the loss. Achillas was tried, condemned, and +beheaded. From that time Ganymede assumed the administration of Arsinoë's +government as her minister of state and the commander-in-chief of her +armies. + +About the time that these occurrences took place, the Egyptian army +advanced into those parts of the city from which Cæsar had withdrawn, +producing those terrible scenes of panic and confusion which always +attend a sudden and violent change of military possession within the +precincts of a city. Ganymede brought up his troops on every side to the +walls of Cæsar's citadels and intrenchments, and hemmed him closely in. He +cut off all avenues of approach to Cæsar's lines by land, and commenced +vigorous preparations for an assault. He constructed engines for battering +down the walls. He opened shops and established forges in every part of +the city for the manufacture of darts, spears, pikes, and all kinds of +military machinery. He built towers supported upon huge wheels, with the +design of filling them with armed men when finally ready to make his +assault upon Cæsar's lines, and moving them up to the walls of the +citadels and palaces, so as to give to his soldiers the advantage of a +lofty elevation in making their attacks. He levied contributions on the +rich citizens for the necessary funds, and provided himself with men by +pressing all the artisans, laborers, and men capable of bearing arms into +his service. He sent messengers back into the interior of the country, in +every direction, summoning the people to arms, and calling for +contributions of money and military stores. + +These messengers were instructed to urge upon the people that, unless +Cæsar and his army were at once expelled from Alexandria, there was +imminent danger that the national independence of Egypt would be forever +destroyed. The Romans, they were to say, had extended their conquests over +almost all the rest of the world. They had sent one army into Egypt +before, under the command of Mark Antony, under the pretense of restoring +Ptolemy Auletes to the throne. Now another commander, with another force, +had come, offering some other pretexts for interfering in their affairs. +These Roman encroachments, the messengers were to say, would end in the +complete subjugation of Egypt to a foreign power, unless the people of the +country aroused themselves to meet the danger manfully, and to expel the +intruders. + +As Cæsar had possession of the island of Pharos and of the harbor, +Ganymede could not cut him off from receiving such re-enforcements of men +and arms as he might make arrangements for obtaining beyond the sea; nor +could he curtail his supply of food, as the granaries and magazines within +Cæsar's quarter of the city contained almost inexhaustible stores of corn. +There was one remaining point essential to the subsistence of an army +besieged, and that was an abundant supply of water. The palaces and +citadels which Cæsar occupied were supplied with water by means of +numerous subterranean aqueducts, which conveyed the water from the Nile to +vast cisterns built under ground, whence it was raised by buckets and +hydraulic engines for use. In reflecting upon this circumstance, Ganymede +conceived the design of secretly digging a canal, so as to turn the waters +of the sea by means of it into these aqueducts. This plan he carried into +effect. The consequence was, that the water in the cisterns was gradually +changed. It became first brackish, then more and more salt and bitter, +until, at length, it was wholly impossible to use it. For some time the +army within could not understand these changes; and when, at length, they +discovered the cause, the soldiers were panic-stricken at the thought that +they were now apparently wholly at the mercy of their enemies, since, +without supplies of water, they must all immediately perish. They +considered it hopeless to attempt any longer to hold out, and urged Cæsar +to evacuate the city, embark on board his galleys, and proceed to sea. + +Instead of doing this, however, Cæsar, ordering all other operations to +be suspended, employed the whole laboring force of his command, under the +direction of the captains of the several companies, in digging wells in +every part of his quarter of the city. Fresh water, he said, was almost +invariably found, at a moderate depth, upon sea-coasts, even upon ground +lying in very close proximity with the sea. The diggings were successful. +Fresh water, in great abundance, was found. Thus this danger was passed, +and the men's fears effectually relieved. + +A short time after these transactions occurred, there came into the harbor +one day, from along the shore west of the city, a small sloop, bringing +the intelligence that a squadron of transports had arrived upon the coast +to the westward of Alexandria, and had anchored there, being unable to +come up to the city on account of an easterly wind which prevailed at that +season of the year. This squadron was one which had been sent across the +Mediterranean with arms, ammunition, and military stores for Cæsar, in +answer to requisitions which he had made immediately after he had landed. +The transports being thus wind-bound on the coast, and having nearly +exhausted their supplies of water, were in distress; and they accordingly +sent forward the sloop, which was probably propelled by oars, to make +known their situation to Cæsar, and to ask for succor. Cæsar immediately +went, himself, on board of one of his galleys, and ordering the remainder +of his little fleet to follow him, he set sail out of the harbor, and then +turned to the westward, with a view of proceeding along the coast to the +place where the transports were lying. + +All this was done secretly. The land is so low in the vicinity of +Alexandria that boats or galleys are out of sight from it at a very short +distance from the shore. In fact, travelers say that, in coming upon the +coast, the illusion produced by the spherical form of the surface of the +water and the low and level character of the coast is such that one seems +actually to descend from the sea to the land. Cæsar might therefore have +easily kept his expedition a secret, had it not been that, in order to be +provided with a supply of water for the transports immediately on reaching +them, he stopped at a solitary part of the coast, at some distance from +Alexandria, and sent a party a little way into the interior in search for +water. This party were discovered by the country people, and were +intercepted by a troop of horse and made prisoners. From these prisoners +the Egyptians learned that Cæsar himself was on the coast with a small +squadron of galleys. The tidings spread in all directions. The people +flocked together from every quarter. They hastily collected all the boats +and vessels which could be obtained at the villages in that region and +from the various branches of the Nile. In the mean time, Cæsar had gone on +to the anchorage ground of the squadron, and had taken the transports in +tow to bring them to the city; for the galleys, being propelled by oars, +were in a measure independent of the wind. On his return, he found quite a +formidable naval armament assembled to dispute the passage. + +A severe conflict ensued, but Cæsar was victorious. The navy which the +Egyptians had so suddenly got together was as suddenly destroyed. Some of +the vessels were burned, others sunk, and others captured; and Cæsar +returned in triumph to the port with his transports and stores. He was +welcomed with the acclamations of his soldiers, and, still more warmly, by +the joy and gratitude of Cleopatra, who had been waiting during his +absence in great anxiety and suspense to know the result of the +expedition, aware as she was that her hero was exposing himself in it to +the most imminent personal danger. + +The arrival of these re-enforcements greatly improved Cæsar's condition, +and the circumstance of their coming forced upon the mind of Ganymede a +sense of the absolute necessity that he should gain possession of the +harbor if he intended to keep Cæsar in check. He accordingly determined to +take immediate measures for forming a naval force. He sent along the +coast, and ordered every ship and galley that could be found in all the +ports to be sent immediately to Alexandria. He employed as many men as +possible in and around the city in building more. He unroofed some of the +most magnificent edifices to procure timber as a material for making +benches and oars. When all was ready, he made a grand attack upon Cæsar in +the port, and a terrible contest ensued for the possession of the harbor, +the mole, the island, and the citadels and fortresses commanding the +entrances from the sea. Cæsar well knew that this contest would be a +decisive one in respect to the final result of the war, and he accordingly +went forth himself to take an active and personal part in the conflict. He +felt doubtless, too, a strong emotion of pride and pleasure in exhibiting +his prowess in the sight of Cleopatra, who could watch the progress of +the battle from the palace windows, full of excitement at the dangers +which he incurred, and of admiration at the feats of strength and valor +which he performed. During this battle the life of the great conqueror was +several times in the most imminent danger. He wore a habit or mantle of +the imperial purple, which made him a conspicuous mark for his enemies; +and, of course, wherever he went, in that place was the hottest of the +fight. Once, in the midst of a scene of most dreadful confusion and din, +he leaped from an overloaded boat into the water and swam for his life, +holding his cloak between his teeth and drawing it through the water after +him, that it might not fall into the hands of his enemies. He carried, at +the same time, as he swam, certain valuable papers which he wished to +save, holding them above his head with one hand, while he propelled +himself through the water with the other. + +The result of this contest was another decisive victory for Cæsar. Not +only were the ships which the Egyptians had collected defeated and +destroyed, but the mole, with the fortresses at each extremity of it, and +the island, with the light-house and the town of Pharos, all fell into +Cæsar's hands. + +The Egyptians now began to be discouraged. The army and the people, +judging, as mankind always do, of the virtue of their military commanders +solely by the criterion of success, began to be tired of the rule of +Ganymede and Arsinoë. They sent secret messengers to Cæsar avowing their +discontent, and saying that, if he would liberate Ptolemy--who, it will be +recollected, had been all this time held as a sort of prisoner of state in +Cæsar's palaces--they thought that the people generally would receive him +as their sovereign, and that then an arrangement might easily be made for +an amicable adjustment of the whole controversy. Cæsar was strongly +inclined to accede to this proposal. + +He accordingly called Ptolemy into his presence, and, taking him kindly by +the hand, informed him of the wishes of the people of Egypt, and gave him +permission to go. Ptolemy, however, begged not to be sent away. He +professed the strongest attachment to Cæsar, and the utmost confidence in +him, and he very much preferred, he said, to remain under his protection. +Cæsar replied that, if those were his sentiments, the separation would +not be a lasting one. "If we part as friends," he said, "we shall soon +meet again." By these and similar assurances he endeavored to encourage +the young prince, and then sent him away. Ptolemy was received by the +Egyptians with great joy, and was immediately placed at the head of the +government. Instead, however, of endeavoring to promote a settlement of +the quarrel with Cæsar, he seemed to enter into it now himself, +personally, with the utmost ardor, and began at once to make the most +extensive preparations both by sea and land for a vigorous prosecution of +the war. What the result of these operations would have been can now not +be known, for the general aspect of affairs was, soon after these +transactions, totally changed by the occurrence of a new and very +important event which suddenly intervened, and which turned the attention +of all parties, both Egyptians and Romans, to the eastern quarter of the +kingdom. The tidings arrived that a large army, under the command of a +general named Mithradates, whom Cæsar had dispatched into Asia for this +purpose, had suddenly appeared at Pelusium, had captured that city, and +were now ready to march to Alexandria. + +The Egyptian army immediately broke up its encampments in the neighborhood +of Alexandria, and marched to the eastward to meet these new invaders. +Cæsar followed them with all the forces that he could safely take away +from the city. He left the city in the night and unobserved, and moved +across the country with such celerity that he joined Mithradates before +the forces of Ptolemy had arrived. After various marches and maneuvers, +the armies met, and a great battle was fought. The Egyptians were +defeated. Ptolemy's camp was taken. As the Roman army burst in upon one +side of it, the guards and attendants of Ptolemy fled upon the other, +clambering over the ramparts in the utmost terror and confusion. The +foremost fell headlong into the ditch below, which was thus soon filled to +the brim with the dead and the dying; while those who came behind pressed +on over the bridge thus formed, trampling remorselessly, as they fled, on +the bodies of their comrades, who lay writhing, struggling, and shrieking +beneath their feet. Those who escaped reached the river. They crowded +together into a boat which lay at the bank and pushed off from the shore. +The boat was overloaded, and it sank as soon as it left the land. The +Romans drew the bodies which floated to the shore up upon the bank again, +and they found among them one, which, by the royal cuirass which was upon +it, the customary badge and armor of the Egyptian kings, they knew to be +the body of Ptolemy. + +The victory which Cæsar obtained in this battle and the death of Ptolemy +ended the war. Nothing now remained but for him to place himself at the +head of the combined forces and march back to Alexandria. The Egyptian +forces which had been left there made no resistance, and he entered the +city in triumph. He took Arsinoë prisoner. He decreed that Cleopatra +should reign as queen, and that she should marry her youngest brother, the +other Ptolemy--a boy at this time about eleven years of age. A marriage +with one so young was, of course, a mere form. Cleopatra remained, as +before, the companion of Cæsar. + +Cæsar had, in the mean time, incurred great censure at Rome, and +throughout the whole Roman world, for having thus turned aside from his +own proper duties as the Roman consul, and the commander-in-chief of the +armies of the empire, to embroil himself in the quarrels of a remote and +secluded kingdom, with which the interests of the Roman commonwealth were +so little connected. His friends and the authorities at Rome were +continually urging him to return. They were especially indignant at his +protracted neglect of his own proper duties, from knowing that he was held +in Egypt by a guilty attachment to the queen--thus not only violating his +obligations to the state, but likewise inflicting upon his wife Calpurnia, +and his family at Rome, an intolerable wrong. But Cæsar was so fascinated +by Cleopatra's charms, and by the mysterious and unaccountable influence +which she exercised over him, that he paid no heed to any of these +remonstrances. Even after the war was ended he remained some months in +Egypt to enjoy his favorite's society. He would spend whole nights in her +company, in feasting and revelry. He made a splendid royal progress with +her through Egypt after the war was over, attended by a numerous train of +Roman guards. He formed a plan for taking her to Rome, and marrying her +there; and he took measures for having the laws of the city altered so as +to enable him to do so, though he was already married. + +All these things produced great discontent and disaffection among Cæsar's +friends and throughout the Roman army. The Egyptians, too, strongly +censured the conduct of Cleopatra. A son was born to her about this time, +whom the Alexandrians named, from his father, Cæsarion. Cleopatra was +regarded in the new relation of mother, which she now sustained, not with +interest and sympathy, but with feelings of reproach and condemnation. + +Cleopatra was all this time growing more and more accomplished and more +and more beautiful; but her vivacity and spirit, which had been so +charming while it was simple and childlike, now began to appear more +forward and bold. It is the characteristic of pure and lawful love to +soften and subdue the heart, and infuse a gentle and quiet spirit into all +its action; while that which breaks over the barriers that God and nature +have marked out for it, tends to make woman masculine and bold, to +indurate all her sensibilities, and to destroy that gentleness and +timidity of demeanor which have so great an influence in heightening her +charms. Cleopatra was beginning to experience these effects. She was +indifferent to the opinions of her subjects, and was only anxious to +maintain as long as possible her guilty ascendency over Cæsar. + +Cæsar, however, finally determined to set out on his return to the +capital. Leaving Cleopatra, accordingly, a sufficient force to secure the +continuance of her power, he embarked the remainder of his forces in his +transports and galleys, and sailed away. He took the unhappy Arsinoë with +him, intending to exhibit her as a trophy of his Egyptian victories on his +arrival at Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CLEOPATRA A QUEEN. + + +The war by which Cæsar reinstated Cleopatra upon the throne was not one of +very long duration. Cæsar arrived in Egypt in pursuit of Pompey about the +1st of August; the war was ended and Cleopatra established in secure +possession by the end of January; so that the conflict, violent as it was +while it continued, was very brief, the peaceful and commercial pursuits +of the Alexandrians having been interrupted by it only for a few months. + +Nor did either the war itself, or the derangements consequent upon it, +extend very far into the interior of the country. The city of Alexandria +itself and the neighboring coasts were the chief scenes of the contest +until Mithradates arrived at Pelusium. He, it is true, marched across the +Delta, and the final battle was fought in the interior of the country. It +was, however, after all, but a very small portion of the Egyptian +territory that was directly affected by the war. The great mass of the +people, occupying the rich and fertile tracts which bordered the various +branches of the Nile, and the long and verdant valley which extended so +far into the heart of the continent, knew nothing of the conflict but by +vague and distant rumors. The pursuits of the agricultural population went +on, all the time, as steadily and prosperously as ever; so that when the +conflict was ended, and Cleopatra entered upon the quiet and peaceful +possession of her power, she found that the resources of her empire were +very little impaired. + +She availed herself, accordingly, of the revenues which poured in very +abundantly upon her, to enter upon a career of the greatest luxury, +magnificence, and splendor. The injuries which had been done to the +palaces and other public edifices of Alexandria by the fire, and by the +military operations of the siege, were repaired. The bridges which had +been broken down were rebuilt. The canals which had been obstructed were +opened again. The sea-water was shut off from the palace cisterns; the +rubbish of demolished houses was removed; the barricades were cleared from +the streets; and the injuries which the palaces had suffered, either from +the violence of military engines or the rough occupation of the Roman +soldiery, were repaired. In a word, the city was speedily restored once +more, so far as was possible, to its former order and beauty. The five +hundred thousand manuscripts of the Alexandrian library, which had been +burned, could not, indeed, be restored; but, in all other respects, the +city soon resumed in appearance all its former splendor. Even in respect +to the library, Cleopatra made an effort to retrieve the loss. She +repaired the ruined buildings, and afterward, in the course of her life, +she brought together, it was said, in a manner hereafter to be described, +one or two hundred thousand rolls of manuscripts, as the commencement of a +new collection. The new library, however, never acquired the fame and +distinction that had pertained to the old. + +The former sovereigns of Egypt, Cleopatra's ancestors, had generally, as +has already been shown, devoted the immense revenues which they extorted +from the agriculturalists of the valley of the Nile to purposes of +ambition. Cleopatra seemed now disposed to expend them in luxury and +pleasure. They, the Ptolemies, had employed their resources in erecting +vast structures, or founding magnificent institutions at Alexandria, to +add to the glory of the city, and to widen and extend their own fame. +Cleopatra, on the other hand, as was, perhaps, naturally to be expected of +a young, beautiful, and impulsive woman, suddenly raised to so conspicuous +a position, and to the possession of such unbounded wealth and power, +expended her royal revenues in plans of personal display, and in scenes of +festivity, gayety, and enjoyment. She adorned her palaces, built +magnificent barges for pleasure excursions on the Nile, and expended +enormous sums for dress, for equipages, and for sumptuous entertainments. +In fact, so lavish were her expenditures for these and similar purposes +during the early years of her reign, that she is considered as having +carried the extravagance of sensual luxury and personal display and +splendor beyond the limits that had ever before or have ever since been +attained. + +Whatever of simplicity of character, and of gentleness and kindness of +spirit she might have possessed in her earlier years, of course gradually +disappeared under the influences of such a course of life as she now was +leading. She was beautiful and fascinating still, but she began to grow +selfish, heartless, and designing. Her little brother--he was but eleven +years of age, it will be recollected, when Cæsar arranged the marriage +between them--was an object of jealousy to her. He was now, of course, too +young to take any actual share in the exercise of the royal power, or to +interfere at all in his sister's plans or pleasures. But then he was +growing older. In a few years he would be fifteen--which was the period of +life fixed upon by Cæsar's arrangements, and, in fact, by the laws and +usages of the Egyptian kingdom--when he was to come into possession of +power as king, and as the husband of Cleopatra. Cleopatra was extremely +unwilling that the change in her relations to him and to the government, +which this period was to bring, should take place. Accordingly, just +before the time arrived, she caused him to be poisoned. His death released +her, as she had intended, from all restraints, and thereafter she +continued to reign alone. During the remainder of her life, so far as the +enjoyment of wealth and power, and of all other elements of external +prosperity could go, Cleopatra's career was one of uninterrupted success. +She had no conscientious scruples to interfere with the most full and +unrestrained indulgence of every propensity of her heart, and the means of +indulgence were before her in the most unlimited profusion. The only bar +to her happiness was the impossibility of satisfying the impulses and +passions of the human soul, when they once break over the bounds which the +laws both of God and of nature ordain for restraining them. + +In the mean time, while Cleopatra was spending the early years of her +reign in all this luxury and splendor, Cæsar was pursuing his career, as +the conqueror of the world, in the most successful manner. On the death of +Pompey, he would naturally have succeeded at once to the enjoyment of the +supreme power; but his delay in Egypt, and the extent to which it was +known that he was entangled with Cleopatra, encouraged and strengthened +his enemies in various parts of the world. In fact, a revolt which broke +out in Asia Minor, and which it was absolutely necessary that he should +proceed at once to quell, was the immediate cause of his leaving Egypt at +last. Other plans for making head against Cæsar's power were formed in +Spain, in Africa, and in Italy. His military skill and energy, however, +were so great, and the ascendency which he exercised over the minds of men +by his personal presence was so unbounded, and so astonishing, moreover, +was the celerity with which he moved from continent to continent, and +from kingdom to kingdom, that in a very short period from the time of his +leaving Egypt, he had conducted most brilliant and successful campaigns in +all the three quarters of the world then known, had put down effectually +all opposition to his power, and then had returned to Rome the +acknowledged master of the world. Cleopatra, who had, of course, watched +his career during all this time with great pride and pleasure, concluded, +at last, to go to Rome and make a visit to him there. + +The people of Rome were, however, not prepared to receive her very +cordially. It was an age in which vice of every kind was regarded with +great indulgence, but the moral instincts of mankind were too strong to be +wholly blinded to the true character of so conspicuous an example of +wickedness as this. Arsinoë was at Rome, too, during this period of +Cæsar's life. He had brought her there, it will be recollected, on his +return from Egypt, as a prisoner, and as a trophy of his victory. His +design was, in fact, to reserve her as a captive to grace his _triumph_. + +A triumph, according to the usages of the ancient Romans, was a grand +celebration decreed by the senate to great military commanders of the +highest rank, when they returned from distant campaigns in which they had +made great conquests or gained extraordinary victories. Cæsar concentrated +all his triumphs into one. They were celebrated on his return to Rome for +the last time, after having completed the conquest of the world. The +processions of this triumph occupied four days. In fact, there were four +triumphs, one on each day for the four days. The wars and conquests which +these ovations were intended to celebrate were those of Gaul, of Egypt, of +Asia, and of Africa; and the processions on the several days consisted of +endless trains of prisoners, trophies, arms, banners, pictures, images, +convoys of wagons loaded with plunder, captive princes and princesses, +animals, wild and tame, and every thing else which the conqueror had been +able to bring home with him from his campaigns, to excite the curiosity or +the admiration of the people of the city, and illustrate the magnitude of +his exploits. Of course, the Roman generals, when engaged in distant +foreign wars, were ambitious of bringing back as many distinguished +captives and as much public plunder as they were able to obtain, in order +to add to the variety and splendor of the triumphal procession by which +their victories were to be honored on their return. It was with this view +that Cæsar brought Arsinoë from Egypt; and he had retained her as his +captive at Rome until his conquests were completed and the time for his +triumph arrived. She, of course, formed a part of the triumphal train on +the _Egyptian_ day. She walked immediately before the chariot in which +Cæsar rode. She was in chains, like any other captive, though her chains, +in honor of her lofty rank, were made of gold. + +[Illustration: CLEOPATRA'S SISTER IN THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION.] + +The effect, however, upon the Roman population of seeing the unhappy +princess, overwhelmed as she was with sorrow and chagrin, as she moved +slowly along in the train, among the other emblems and trophies of +violence and plunder, proved to be by no means favorable to Cæsar. The +populace were inclined to pity her, and to sympathize with her in her +sufferings. The sight of her distress recalled, too, to their minds the +dereliction from duty of which Cæsar had been guilty of in his yielding to +the enticements of Cleopatra, and remaining so long in Egypt to the +neglect of his proper duties as a Roman minister of state. In a word, the +tide of admiration for Cæsar's military exploits which had been setting +so strongly in his favor, seemed inclined to turn, and the city was filled +with murmurs against him even in the midst of his triumphs. + +In fact, the pride and vainglory which led Cæsar to make his triumphs more +splendid and imposing than any former conqueror had ever enjoyed, caused +him to overact his part so as to produce effects the reverse of his +intentions. The case of Arsinoë was one example of this. Instead of +impressing the people with a sense of the greatness of his exploits in +Egypt, in deposing one queen and bringing her captive to Rome, in order +that he might place another upon the throne in her stead, it only +reproduced anew the censures and criminations which he had deserved by his +actions there, but which, had it not been for the pitiable spectacle of +Arsinoë in the train, might have been forgotten. + +There were other examples of a similar character. There were the feasts, +for instance. From the plunder which Cæsar had obtained in his various +campaigns, he expended the most enormous sums in making feasts and +spectacles for the populace at the time of his triumph. A large portion of +the populace was pleased, it is true, with the boundless indulgences thus +offered to them; but the better part of the Roman people were indignant +at the waste and extravagance which were every where displayed. For many +days the whole city of Rome presented to the view nothing but one +wide-spread scene of riot and debauchery. The people, instead of being +pleased with this abundance, said that Cæsar must have practiced the most +extreme and lawless extortion to have obtained the vast amount of money +necessary to enable him to supply such unbounded and reckless waste. + +There was another way, too, by which Cæsar turned public opinion strongly +against himself, by the very means which he adopted for creating a +sentiment in his favor. The Romans, among the other barbarous amusements +which were practiced in the city, were specially fond of combats. These +combats were of various kinds. They were fought sometimes between +ferocious beasts of the same or of different species, as dogs against each +other, or against bulls, lions, or tigers. Any animals, in fact, were +employed for this purpose, that could be teased or goaded into anger and +ferocity in a fight. Sometimes men were employed in these combats--captive +soldiers, that had been taken in war, and brought to Rome to fight in the +amphitheaters there as gladiators. These men were compelled to contend +sometimes with wild beasts, and sometimes with one another. Cæsar, knowing +how highly the Roman assemblies enjoyed such scenes, determined to afford +them the indulgence on a most magnificent scale, supposing, of course, +that the greater and the more dreadful the fight, the higher would be the +pleasure which the spectators would enjoy in witnessing it. Accordingly, +in making preparations for the festivities attending his triumph, he +caused a large artificial lake to be formed at a convenient place in the +vicinity of Rome, where it could be surrounded by the populace of the +city, and there he made arrangements for a naval battle. A great number of +galleys were introduced into the lake. They were of the usual size +employed in war. These galleys were manned with numerous soldiers. Tyrian +captives were put upon one side, and Egyptian upon the other; and when all +was ready, the two squadrons were ordered to approach and fight a real +naval battle for the amusement of the enormous throngs of spectators that +were assembled around. As the nations from which the combatants in this +conflict were respectively taken were hostile to each other, and as the +men fought, of course, for their lives, the engagement was attended with +the usual horrors of a desperate naval encounter. Hundreds were slain. The +dead bodies of the combatants fell from the galleys into the lake, and the +waters of it were dyed with their blood. + +There were land combats, too, on the same grand scale. In one of them five +hundred foot soldiers, twenty elephants, and a troop of thirty horse were +engaged on each side. This combat, therefore, was an action greater, in +respect to the number of the combatants, than the famous battle of +Lexington, which marked the commencement of the American war; and in +respect to the slaughter which took place, it was very probably ten times +greater. The horror of these scenes proved to be too much even for the +populace, fierce and merciless as it was, which they were intended to +amuse. Cæsar, in his eagerness to outdo all former exhibitions and shows, +went beyond the limits within which the seeing of men butchered in bloody +combats and dying in agony and despair would serve for a pleasure and a +pastime. The people were shocked; and condemnations of Cæsar's cruelty +were added to the other suppressed reproaches and criminations which every +where arose. + +Cleopatra, during her visit to Rome, lived openly with Cæsar at his +residence, and this excited very general displeasure. In fact, while the +people pitied Arsinoë, Cleopatra, notwithstanding her beauty and her +thousand personal accomplishments and charms, was an object of general +displeasure, so far as public attention was turned toward her at all. The +public mind was, however, much engrossed by the great political movements +made by Cæsar and the ends toward which he seemed to be aiming. Men +accused him of designing to be made a king. Parties were formed for and +against him; and though men did not dare openly to utter their sentiments, +their passions became the more violent in proportion to the external force +by which they were suppressed. Mark Antony was at Rome at this time. He +warmly espoused Cæsar's cause, and encouraged his design of making himself +king. He once, in fact, offered to place a royal diadem upon Cæsar's head +at some public celebration; but the marks of public disapprobation which +the act elicited caused him to desist. + +At length, however, the time arrived when Cæsar determined to cause +himself to be proclaimed king. He took advantage of a certain remarkable +conjuncture of public affairs, which can not here be particularly +described, but which seemed to him specially to favor his designs, and +arrangements were made for having him invested with the regal power by the +senate. The murmurs and the discontent of the people at the indications +that the time for the realization of their fears was drawing nigh, became +more and more audible, and at length a conspiracy was formed to put an end +to the danger by destroying the ambitious aspirant's life. Two stern and +determined men, Brutus and Cassius, were the leaders of this conspiracy. +They matured their plans, organized their band of associates, provided +themselves secretly with arms, and when the senate convened, on the day in +which the decisive vote was to have been passed, Cæsar himself presiding, +they came up boldly around him in his presidential chair, and murdered him +with their daggers. + +Antony, from whom the plans of the conspirators had been kept profoundly +secret, stood by, looking on stupefied and confounded while the deed was +done, but utterly unable to render his friend any protection. + +Cleopatra immediately fled from the city and returned to Egypt. + +Arsinoë had gone away before. Cæsar, either taking pity on her +misfortunes, or impelled, perhaps, by the force of public sentiment, which +seemed inclined to take part with her against him, set her at liberty +immediately after the ceremonies of his triumph were over. He would not, +however, allow her to return into Egypt, for fear, probably, that she +might in some way or other be the means of disturbing the government of +Cleopatra. She proceeded, accordingly, into Syria, no longer as a captive, +but still as an exile from her native land. We shall hereafter learn what +became of her there. + +Calpurnia mourned the death of her husband with sincere and unaffected +grief. She bore the wrongs which she suffered as a wife with a very +patient and unrepining spirit, and loved her husband with the most devoted +attachment to the end. Nothing can be more affecting than the proofs of +her tender and anxious regard on the night immediately preceding the +assassination. There were certain slight and obscure indications of danger +which her watchful devotion to her husband led her to observe, though they +eluded the notice of all Cæsar's other friends, and they filled her with +apprehension and anxiety; and when at length the bloody body was brought +home to her from the senate-house, she was overwhelmed with grief and +despair. + +She had no children. She accordingly looked upon Mark Antony as her +nearest friend and protector, and in the confusion and terror which +prevailed the next day in the city, she hastily packed together the money +and other valuables contained in the house, and all her husband's books +and papers, and sent them to Antony for safe keeping. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI. + + +When the tidings of the assassination of Cæsar were first announced to the +people of Rome, all ranks and classes of men were struck with amazement +and consternation. No one knew what to say or do. A very large and +influential portion of the community had been Cæsar's friends. It was +equally certain that there was a very powerful interest opposed to him. No +one could foresee which of these two parties would now carry the day, and, +of course, for a time, all was uncertainty and indecision. + +Mark Antony came forward at once, and assumed the position of Cæsar's +representative and the leader of the party on that side. A will was found +among Cæsar's effects, and when the will was opened it appeared that large +sums of money were left to the Roman people, and other large amounts to a +nephew of the deceased, named Octavius, who will be more particularly +spoken of hereafter. Antony was named in the will as the executor of it. +This and other circumstances seemed to authorize him to come forward as +the head and the leader of the Cæsar party. Brutus and Cassius, who +remained openly in the city after their desperate deed had been performed, +were the acknowledged leaders of the other party; while the mass of the +people were at first so astounded at the magnitude and suddenness of the +revolution which the open and public assassination of a Roman emperor by a +Roman senate denoted, that they knew not what to say or do. In fact, the +killing of Julius Cæsar, considering the exalted position which he +occupied, the rank and station of the men who perpetrated the deed, and +the very extraordinary publicity of the scene in which the act was +performed, was, doubtless, the most conspicuous and most appalling case of +assassination that has ever occurred. The whole population of Rome seemed +for some days to be amazed and stupefied by the tidings. At length, +however, parties began to be more distinctly formed. The lines of +demarkation between them were gradually drawn, and men began to arrange +themselves more and more unequivocally on the opposite sides. + +For a short time the supremacy of Antony over the Cæsar party was readily +acquiesced in and allowed. At length, however, and before his +arrangements were finally matured, he found that he had two formidable +competitors upon his own side. These were Octavius and Lepidus. + +Octavius, who was the nephew of Cæsar, already alluded to, was a very +accomplished and elegant young man, now about nineteen years of age. He +was the son of Julius Cæsar's niece.[6] He had always been a great +favorite with his uncle. Every possible attention had been paid to his +education, and he had been advanced by Cæsar, already, to positions of +high importance in public life. Cæsar, in fact, adopted him as his son, +and made him his heir. At the time of Cæsar's death he was at Apollonia, a +city of Illyricum, north of Greece. The troops under his command there +offered to march at once with him, if he wished it, to Rome, and avenge +his uncle's death. Octavius, after some hesitation, concluded that it +would be most prudent for him to proceed thither first himself, alone, as +a private person, and demand his rights as his uncle's heir, according to +the provisions of the will. He accordingly did so. He found, on his +arrival, that the will, the property, the books and parchments, and the +substantial power of the government, were all in Antony's hands. Antony, +instead of putting Octavius into possession of his property and rights, +found various pretexts for evasion and delay. Octavius was too young yet, +he said, to assume such weighty responsibilities. He was himself also too +much pressed with the urgency of public affairs to attend to the business +of the will. With these and similar excuses as his justification, Antony +seemed inclined to pay no regard whatever to Octavius's claims. + +Octavius, young as he was, possessed a character that was marked with +great intelligence, spirit, and resolution. He soon made many powerful +friends in the city of Rome and among the Roman senate. It became a +serious question whether he or Antony would gain the greatest ascendency +in the party of Cæsar's friends. The contest for this ascendency was, in +fact, protracted for two or three years, and led to a vast complication of +intrigues, and maneuvers, and civil wars, which can not, however, be here +particularly detailed. + +The other competitor which Antony had to contend with was a distinguished +Roman general named Lepidus. Lepidus was an officer of the army, in very +high command at the time of Cæsar's death. He was present in the senate +chamber on the day of the assassination. He stole secretly away when he +saw that the deed was done, and repaired to the camp of the army without +the city and immediately assumed the command of the forces. This gave him +great power, and in the course of the contests which subsequently ensued +between Antony and Octavius, he took an active part, and held in some +measure the balance between them. At length the contest was finally closed +by a coalition of the three rivals. Finding that they could not either of +them gain a decided victory over the others, they combined together, and +formed the celebrated _triumvirate_, which continued afterward for some +time to wield the supreme command in the Roman world. In forming this +league of reconciliation, the three rivals held their conference on an +island situated in one of the branches of the Po, in the north of Italy. +They manifested extreme jealousy and suspicion of each other in coming to +this interview. Two bridges were built leading to the island, one from +each bank of the stream. The army of Antony was drawn up upon one side of +the river, and that of Octavius upon the other. Lepidus went first to the +island by one of the bridges. After examining the ground carefully, to +make himself sure that it contained no ambuscade, he made a signal to the +other generals, who then came over, each advancing by his own bridge, and +accompanied by three hundred guards, who remained upon the bridge to +secure a retreat for their master in case of treachery. The conference +lasted three days, at the expiration of which time the articles were all +agreed upon and signed. + +This league being formed, the three confederates turned their united force +against the party of the conspirators. Of this party Brutus and Cassius +were still at the head. + +The scene of the contests between Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus had been +chiefly Italy and the other central countries of Europe. Brutus and +Cassius, on the other hand, had gone across the Adriatic Sea into the East +immediately after Cæsar's assassination. They were now in Asia Minor, and +were employed in concentrating their forces, forming alliances with the +various Eastern powers, raising troops, bringing over to their side the +Roman legions which were stationed in that quarter of the world, seizing +magazines, and exacting contributions from all who could be induced to +favor their cause. Among other embassages which they sent, one went to +Egypt to demand aid from Cleopatra. Cleopatra, however, was resolved to +join the other side in the contest. It was natural that she should feel +grateful to Cæsar for his efforts and sacrifices in her behalf, and that +she should be inclined to favor the cause of his friends. Accordingly, +instead of sending troops to aid Brutus and Cassius, as they had desired +her to do, she immediately fitted out an expedition to proceed to the +coast of Asia, with a view of rendering all the aid in her power to +Antony's cause. + +Cassius, on his part, finding that Cleopatra was determined on joining his +enemies, immediately resolved on proceeding at once to Egypt and taking +possession of the country. He also stationed a military force at Tænarus, +the southern promontory of Greece, to watch for and intercept the fleet of +Cleopatra as soon as it should appear on the European shores. All these +plans, however--both those which Cleopatra formed against Cassius, and +those which Cassius formed against her--failed of accomplishment. +Cleopatra's fleet encountered a terrible storm, which dispersed and +destroyed it. A small remnant was driven upon the coast of Africa, but +nothing could be saved which could be made available for the purpose +intended. As for Cassius's intended expedition to Egypt, it was not +carried into effect. The dangers which began now to threaten him from the +direction of Italy and Rome were so imminent, that, at Brutus's urgent +request, he gave up the Egyptian plan, and the two generals concentrated +their forces to meet the armies of the triumvirate which were now rapidly +advancing to attack them. They passed for this purpose across the +Hellespont from Sestos to Abydos, and entered Thrace.[7] + +After various marches and countermarches, and a long succession of those +maneuvers by which two powerful armies, approaching a contest, endeavor +each to gain some position of advantage against the other, the various +bodies of troops belonging, respectively, to the two powers, came into the +vicinity of each other near Philippi. Brutus and Cassius arrived here +first. There was a plain in the neighborhood of the city, with a rising +ground in a certain portion of it. Brutus took possession of this +elevation, and intrenched himself there. Cassius posted his forces about +three miles distant, near the sea. There was a line of intrenchments +between the two camps, which formed a chain of communication by which the +positions of the two commanders were connected. The armies were thus very +advantageously posted. They had the River Strymon and a marsh on the left +of the ground that they occupied, while the plain was before them, and the +sea behind. Here they awaited the arrival of their foes. + +Antony, who was at this time at Amphipolis, a city not far distant from +Philippi, learning that Brutus and Cassius had taken their positions in +anticipation of an attack, advanced immediately and encamped upon the +plain. Octavius was detained by sickness at the city of Dyrrachium, not +very far distant. Antony waited for him. It was ten days before he came. +At length he arrived, though in coming he had to be borne upon a litter, +being still too sick to travel in any other way. Antony approached, and +established his camp opposite to that of Cassius, near the sea, while +Octavius took post opposite to Brutus. The four armies then paused, +contemplating the probable results of the engagement that was about to +ensue. + +The forces on the two sides were nearly equal; but on the Republican side, +that is, on the part of Brutus and Cassius, there was great inconvenience +and suffering for want of a sufficient supply of provisions and stores. +There was some difference of opinion between Brutus and Cassius in respect +to what it was best for them to do. Brutus was inclined to give the enemy +battle. Cassius was reluctant to do so, since, under the circumstances in +which they were placed, he considered it unwise to hazard, as they +necessarily must do, the whole success of their cause to the chances of a +single battle. A council of war was convened, and the various officers +were asked to give their opinions. In this conference, one of the officers +having recommended to postpone the conflict to the next winter, Brutus +asked him what advantage he hoped to attain by such delay. "If I gain +nothing else," replied the officer, "I shall live so much the longer." +This answer touched Cassius's pride and military sense of honor. Rather +than concur in a counsel which was thus, on the part of one of its +advocates at least, dictated by what he considered an inglorious love of +life, he preferred to retract his opinion. It was agreed by the council +that the army should maintain its ground and give the enemy battle. The +officers then repaired to their respective camps. + +Brutus was greatly pleased at this decision. To fight the battle had been +his original desire, and as his counsels had prevailed, he was, of course, +gratified with the prospect for the morrow. He arranged a sumptuous +entertainment in his tent, and invited all the officers of his division of +the army to sup with him. The party spent the night in convivial +pleasures, and in mutual congratulations at the prospect of the victory +which, as they believed, awaited them on the morrow. Brutus entertained +his guests with brilliant conversation all the evening, and inspired them +with his own confident anticipations of success in the conflict which was +to ensue. + +Cassius, on the other hand, in his camp by the sea, was silent and +desponding. He supped privately with a few intimate friends. On rising +from the table, he took one of his officers aside, and, pressing his hand, +said to him that he felt great misgivings in respect to the result of the +contest. "It is against my judgment," said he, "that we thus hazard the +liberty of Rome on the event of one battle, fought under such +circumstances as these. Whatever is the result, I wish you to bear me +witness hereafter that I was forced into this measure by circumstances +that I could not control. I suppose, however, that I ought to take +courage, notwithstanding the reasons that I have for these gloomy +forebodings. Let us, therefore, hope for the best; and come and sup with +me again to-morrow night. To-morrow is my birth-day." + +The next morning, the scarlet mantle--the customary signal displayed in +Roman camps on the morning of a day of battle--was seen at the tops of the +tents of the two commanding generals, waving there in the air like a +banner. While the troops, in obedience to this signal, were preparing +themselves for the conflict, the two generals went to meet each other at a +point midway between their two encampments, for a final consultation and +agreement in respect to the arrangements of the day. When this business +was concluded, and they were about to separate, in order to proceed each +to his own sphere of duty, Cassius asked Brutus what he intended to do in +case the day should go against them. "We hope for the best," said he, +"and pray that the gods may grant us the victory in this most momentous +crisis. But we must remember that it is the greatest and the most +momentous of human affairs that are always the most uncertain, and we can +not foresee what is to-day to be the result of the battle. If it goes +against us, what do you intend to do? Do you intend to escape, or to die?" + +"When I was a young man," said Brutus, in reply, "and looked at this +subject only as a question of theory, I thought it wrong for a man ever to +take his own life. However great the evils that threatened him, and +however desperate his condition, I considered it his duty to live, and to +wait patiently for better times. But now, placed in the position in which +I am, I see the subject in a different light. If we do not gain the battle +this day, I shall consider all hope and possibility of saving our country +forever gone, and I shall not leave the field of battle alive." + +Cassius, in his despondency, had made the same resolution for himself +before, and he was rejoiced to hear Brutus utter these sentiments. He +grasped his colleague's hand with a countenance expressive of the greatest +animation and pleasure, and bade him farewell, saying, "We will go out +boldly to face the enemy. For we are certain either that we shall conquer +them, or that we shall have nothing to fear from their victory over us." + +Cassius's dejection, and the tendency of his mind to take a despairing +view of the prospects of the cause in which he was engaged, were owing, in +some measure, to certain unfavorable omens which he had observed. These +omens, though really frivolous and wholly unworthy of attention, seem to +have had great influence upon him, notwithstanding his general +intelligence, and the remarkable strength and energy of his character. +They were as follows: + +In offering certain sacrifices, he was to wear, according to the usage +prescribed on such occasions, a garland of flowers, and it happened that +the officer who brought the garland, by mistake or accident, presented it +wrong side before. Again, in some procession which was formed, and in +which a certain image of gold, made in honor of him, was borne, the bearer +of it stumbled and fell, and the image was thrown upon the ground. This +was a very dark presage of impending calamity. Then a great number of +vultures and other birds of prey were seen, for a number of days before +the battle, hovering over the Roman army; and several swarms of bees were +found within the precincts of the camp. So alarming was this last +indication, that the officers altered the line of the intrenchments so as +to shut out the ill-omened spot from the camp. These and other such things +had great influence upon the mind of Cassius, in convincing him that some +great disaster was impending over him. + +Nor was Brutus himself without warnings of this character, though they +seem to have had less power to produce any serious impression upon his +mind than in the case of Cassius. The most extraordinary warning which +Brutus received, according to the story of his ancient historians, was by +a supernatural apparition which he saw, some time before, while he was in +Asia Minor. He was encamped near the city of Sardis at that time. He was +always accustomed to sleep very little, and would often, it was said, when +all his officers had retired, and the camp was still, sit alone in his +tent, sometimes reading, and sometimes revolving the anxious cares which +were always pressing upon his mind. One night he was thus alone in his +tent, with a small lamp burning before him, sitting lost in thought, when +he suddenly heard a movement as of some one entering the tent. He looked +up, and saw a strange, unearthly, and monstrous shape, which appeared to +have just entered the door and was coming toward him. The spirit gazed +upon him as it advanced, but it did not speak. + +Brutus, who was not much accustomed to fear, boldly demanded of the +apparition who and what it was, and what had brought it there. "I am your +evil spirit," said the apparition. "I shall meet you at Philippi." "Then, +it seems," said Brutus, "that, at any rate, I shall see you again." The +spirit made no reply to this, but immediately vanished. + +Brutus arose, went to the door of his tent, summoned the sentinels, and +awakened the soldiers that were sleeping near. The sentinels had seen +nothing; and, after the most diligent search, no trace of the mysterious +visitor could be found. + +The next morning Brutus related to Cassius the occurrence which he had +witnessed. Cassius, though very sensitive, it seems, to the influence of +omens affecting himself, was quite philosophical in his views in respect +to those of other men. He argued very rationally with Brutus to convince +him that the vision which he had seen was only a phantom of sleep, taking +its form and character from the ideas and images which the situation in +which Brutus was then placed, and the fatigue and anxiety which he had +endured, would naturally impress upon his mind. + +But to return to the battle. Brutus fought against Octavius; while +Cassius, two or three miles distant, encountered Antony, that having been, +as will be recollected, the disposition of the respective armies and their +encampments upon the plain. Brutus was triumphantly successful in his part +of the field. His troops defeated the army of Octavius, and got possession +of his camp. The men forced their way into Octavius's tent, and pierced +the litter in which they supposed that the sick general was lying through +and through with their spears. But the object of their desperate hostility +was not there. He had been borne away by his guards a few minutes before, +and no one knew what had become of him. + +The result of the battle was, however, unfortunately for those whose +adventures we are now more particularly following, very different in +Cassius's part of the field. When Brutus, after completing the conquest of +his own immediate foes, returned to his elevated camp, he looked toward +the camp of Cassius, and was surprised to find that the tents had +disappeared. Some of the officers around perceived weapons glancing and +glittering in the sun in the place where Cassius's tents ought to appear. +Brutus now suspected the truth, which was, that Cassius had been defeated, +and his camp had fallen into the hands of the enemy. He immediately +collected together as large a force as he could command, and marched to +the relief of his colleague. He found him, at last, posted with a small +body of guards and attendants upon the top of a small elevation to which +he had fled for safety. Cassius saw the troop of horsemen which Brutus +sent forward coming toward him, and supposed that it was a detachment from +Antony's army advancing to capture him. He, however, sent a messenger +forward to meet them, and ascertain whether they were friends or foes. The +messenger, whose name was Titinius, rode down. The horsemen recognized +Titinius, and, riding up eagerly around him, they dismounted from their +horses to congratulate him on his safety, and to press him with inquiries +in respect to the result of the battle and the fate of his master. + +Cassius, seeing all this, but not seeing it very distinctly, supposed that +the troop of horsemen were enemies, and that they had surrounded Titinius, +and had cut him down or made him prisoner. He considered it certain, +therefore, that all was now finally lost. Accordingly, in execution of a +plan which he had previously formed, he called a servant, named Pindarus, +whom he directed to follow him, and went into a tent which was near. When +Brutus and his horsemen came up, they entered the tent. They found no +living person within; but the dead body of Cassius was there, the head +being totally dissevered from it. Pindarus was never afterward to be +found. + +Brutus was overwhelmed with grief at the death of his colleague; he was +also oppressed by it with a double burden of responsibility and care, +since now the whole conduct of affairs devolved upon him alone. He found +himself surrounded with difficulties which became more and more +embarrassing every day. At length he was compelled to fight a second +battle. The details of the contest itself we can not give, but the result +of it was, that, notwithstanding the most unparalleled and desperate +exertions made by Brutus to keep his men to the work, and to maintain his +ground, his troops were borne down and overwhelmed by the irresistible +onsets of his enemies, and his cause was irretrievably and hopelessly +ruined. + +When Brutus found that all was lost, he allowed himself to be conducted +off the field by a small body of guards, who, in their retreat, broke +through the ranks of the enemy on a side where they saw that they should +meet with the least resistance. They were, however, pursued by a squadron +of horse, the horsemen being eager to make Brutus a prisoner. In this +emergency, one of Brutus's friends, named Lucilius, conceived the design +of pretending to be Brutus, and, as such, surrendering himself a prisoner. +This plan he carried into effect. When the troop came up, he called out +for quarter, said that he was Brutus, and begged them to spare his life, +and to take him to Antony. The men did so, rejoiced at having, as they +imagined, secured so invaluable a prize. + +In the mean time, the real Brutus pressed on to make his escape. He +crossed a brook which came in his way, and entered into a little dell, +which promised to afford a hiding-place, since it was encumbered with +precipitous rocks and shaded with trees. A few friends and officers +accompanied Brutus in his flight. Night soon came on, and he lay down in a +little recess under a shelving rock, exhausted with fatigue and suffering. +Then, raising his eyes to heaven, he imprecated, in lines quoted from a +Greek poet, the just judgment of God upon the foes who were at that hour +triumphing in what he considered the ruin of his country. + +He then, in his anguish and despair, enumerated by name the several +friends and companions whom he had seen fall that day in battle, mourning +the loss of each with bitter grief. In the mean time, night was coming on, +and the party, concealed thus in the wild dell, were destitute and +unsheltered. Hungry and thirsty, and spent with fatigue as they were, +there seemed to be no prospect for them of either rest or refreshment. +Finally they sent one of their number to steal softly back to the rivulet +which they had crossed in their retreat, to bring them some water. The +soldier took his helmet to bring the water in, for want of any other +vessel. While Brutus was drinking the water which they brought, a noise +was heard in the opposite direction. Two of the officers were sent to +ascertain the cause. They came back soon, reporting that there was a party +of the enemy in that quarter. They asked where the water was which had +been brought. Brutus told them that it had all been drank, but that he +would send immediately for more. The messenger went accordingly to the +brook again, but he came back very soon, wounded and bleeding, and +reported that the enemy was close upon them on that side too, and that he +had narrowly escaped with his life. The apprehensions of Brutus's party +were greatly increased by these tidings: it was evident that all hope of +being able to remain long concealed where they were must fast disappear. + +One of the officers, named Statilius, then proposed to make the attempt to +find his way out of the snare in which they had become involved. He would +go, he said, as cautiously as possible, avoiding all parties of the enemy, +and being favored by the darkness of the night, he hoped to find some way +of retreat. If he succeeded, he would display a torch on a distant +elevation which he designated, so that the party in the glen, on seeing +the light, might be assured of his safety. He would then return and guide +them all through the danger, by the way which he should have discovered. + +This plan was approved, and Statilius accordingly departed. In due time +the light was seen burning at the place which had been pointed out, and +indicating that Statilius had accomplished his undertaking. Brutus and his +party were greatly cheered by the new hope which this result awakened. +They began to watch and listen for their messenger's return. They watched +and waited long, but he did not come. On the way back he was intercepted +and slain. + +When at length all hope that he would return was finally abandoned, some +of the party, in the course of the despairing consultations which the +unhappy fugitives held with one another, said that they _must not_ remain +any longer where they were, but must make their escape from that spot at +all hazards. "Yes," said Brutus, "we must indeed make our escape from our +present situation, but we must do it with our hands, and not with our +feet." He meant by this that the only means now left to them to evade +their enemies was self-destruction. When his friends understood that this +was his meaning, and that he was resolved to put this design into +execution in his own case, they were overwhelmed with sorrow. Brutus took +them, one by one, by the hand and bade them farewell. He thanked them for +their fidelity in adhering to his cause to the last, and said that it was +a source of great comfort and satisfaction to him that all his friends had +proved so faithful and true. "I do not complain of my hard fate," he +added, "so far as I myself am concerned. I mourn only for my unhappy +country. As to myself, I think that my condition even now is better than +that of my enemies; for, though I die, posterity will do me justice, and I +shall enjoy forever the honor which virtue and integrity deserve; while +they, though they live, live only to reap the bitter fruits of injustice +and of tyranny. + +"After I am gone," he continued, addressing his friends, as before, "think +no longer of me, but take care of yourselves. Antony, I am sure, will be +satisfied with Cassius's death and mine. He will not be disposed to pursue +you vindictively any longer. Make peace with him on the best terms that +you can." + +Brutus then asked first one and then another of his friends to aid him in +the last duty, as he seems to have considered it, of destroying his life; +but one after another declared that they could not do any thing to assist +him in carrying into effect so dreadful a determination. Finally, he took +with him an old and long-tried friend named Strato, and went away a +little, apart from the rest. Here he solicited once more the favor which +had been refused him before--begging that Strato would hold out his sword. +Strato still refused. Brutus then called one of his slaves. Upon this +Strato declared that he would do any thing rather than that Brutus should +die by the hand of a slave. He took the sword, and with his right hand +held it extended in the air. With the left hand he covered his eyes, that +he might not witness the horrible spectacle. Brutus rushed upon the point +of the weapon with such fatal force that he fell and immediately expired. + +Thus ended the great and famous battle of Philippi, celebrated in history +as marking the termination of the great conflict between the friends and +the enemies of Cæsar, which agitated the world so deeply after the +conqueror's death. This battle established the ascendency of Antony, and +made him for a time the most conspicuous man, as Cleopatra was the most +conspicuous woman, in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY. + + +How far Cleopatra was influenced, in her determination to espouse the +cause of Antony rather than that of Brutus and Cassius, in the civil war +described in the last chapter, by gratitude to Cæsar, and how far, on the +other hand, by personal interest in Antony, the reader must judge. +Cleopatra had seen Antony, it will be recollected, some years before, +during his visit to Egypt, when she was a young girl. She was doubtless +well acquainted with his character. It was a character peculiarly fitted, +in some respects, to captivate the imagination of a woman so ardent, and +impulsive, and bold as Cleopatra was fast becoming. + +Antony had, in fact, made himself an object of universal interest +throughout the world, by his wild and eccentric manners and reckless +conduct, and by the very extraordinary vicissitudes which had marked his +career. In moral character he was as utterly abandoned and depraved as it +was possible to be. In early life, as has already been stated, he plunged +into such a course of dissipation and extravagance that he became utterly +and hopelessly ruined; or, rather, he would have been so, had he not, by +the influence of that magic power of fascination which such characters +often possess, succeeded in gaining a great ascendency over a young man of +immense fortune, named Curio, who for a time upheld him by becoming surety +for his debts. This resource, however, soon failed, and Antony was +compelled to abandon Rome, and to live for some years as a fugitive and +exile, in dissolute wretchedness and want. During all the subsequent +vicissitudes through which he passed in the course of his career, the same +habits of lavish expenditure continued, whenever he had funds at his +command. This trait in his character took the form sometimes of a noble +generosity. In his campaigns, the plunder which he acquired he usually +divided among his soldiers, reserving nothing for himself. This made his +men enthusiastically devoted to him, and led them to consider his +prodigality as a virtue, even when they did not themselves derive any +direct advantage from it. A thousand stories were always in circulation in +camp of acts on his part illustrating his reckless disregard of the value +of money, some ludicrous, and all eccentric and strange. + +In his personal habits, too, he was as different as possible from other +men. He prided himself on being descended from Hercules, and he affected a +style of dress and a general air and manner in accordance with the savage +character of this his pretended ancestor. His features were sharp, his +nose was arched and prominent, and he wore his hair and beard very +long--as long, in fact, as he could make them grow. These peculiarities +imparted to his countenance a very wild and ferocious expression. He +adopted a style of dress, too, which, judged of with reference to the +prevailing fashions of the time, gave to his whole appearance a rough, +savage, and reckless air. His manner and demeanor corresponded with his +dress and appearance. He lived in habits of the most unreserved +familiarity with his soldiers. He associated freely with them, ate and +drank with them in the open air, and joined in their noisy mirth and rude +and boisterous hilarity. His commanding powers of mind, and the desperate +recklessness of his courage, enabled him to do all this without danger. +These qualities inspired in the minds of the soldiers a feeling of +profound respect for their commander; and this good opinion he was +enabled to retain, notwithstanding such habits of familiarity with his +inferiors as would have been fatal to the influence of an ordinary man. + +In the most prosperous portion of Antony's career--for example, during the +period immediately preceding the death of Cæsar--he addicted himself to +vicious indulgences of the most open, public, and shameless character. He +had around him a sort of court, formed of jesters, tumblers, mountebanks, +play-actors, and other similar characters of the lowest and most +disreputable class. Many of these companions were singing and dancing +girls, very beautiful, and very highly accomplished in the arts of their +respective professions, but all totally corrupt and depraved. Public +sentiment, even in that age and nation, strongly condemned this conduct. +The people were pagans, it is true, but it is a mistake to suppose that +the formation of a moral sentiment in the community against such vices as +these is a work which Christianity alone can perform. There is a law of +nature, in the form of an instinct universal in the race, imperiously +enjoining that the connection of the sexes shall consist of the union of +one man with one woman, and that woman his wife, and very sternly +prohibiting every other. So that there has probably never been a community +in the world so corrupt, that a man could practice in it such vices as +those of Antony, without not only violating his own sense of right and +wrong, but also bringing upon himself the general condemnation of those +around him. + +Still, the world are prone to be very tolerant in respect to the vices of +the great. Such exalted personages as Antony seem to be judged by a +different standard from common men. Even in the countries where those who +occupy high stations of trust or of power are actually selected, for the +purpose of being placed there, by the voices of their fellow-men, all +inquiry into the personal character of a candidate is often suppressed, +such inquiry being condemned as wholly irrelevant and improper, and they +who succeed in attaining to power enjoy immunities in their elevation +which are denied to common men. + +But, notwithstanding the influence of Antony's rank and power in shielding +him from public censure, he carried his excesses to such an extreme that +his conduct was very loudly and very generally condemned. He would spend +all the night in carousals, and then, the next day, would appear in +public, staggering in the streets. Sometimes he would enter the tribunals +for the transaction of business when he was so intoxicated that it would +be necessary for friends to come to his assistance to conduct him away. In +some of his journeys in the neighborhood of Rome, he would take a troop of +companions with him of the worst possible character, and travel with them +openly and without shame. There was a certain actress, named Cytheride, +whom he made his companion on one such occasion. She was borne upon a +litter in his train, and he carried about with him a vast collection of +gold and silver plate, and of splendid table furniture, together with an +endless supply of luxurious articles of food and of wine, to provide for +the entertainments and banquets which he was to celebrate with her on the +journey. He would sometimes stop by the road side, pitch his tents, +establish his kitchens, set his cooks at work to prepare a feast, spread +his tables, and make a sumptuous banquet of the most costly, complete, and +ceremonious character--all to make men wonder at the abundance and +perfection of the means of luxury which he could carry with him wherever +he might go. In fact, he always seemed to feel a special pleasure in doing +strange and extraordinary things in order to excite surprise. Once on a +journey he had lions harnessed to his carts to draw his baggage, in order +to create a sensation. + +Notwithstanding the heedlessness with which Antony abandoned himself to +these luxurious pleasures when at Rome, no man could endure exposure and +hardship better when in camp or on the field. In fact, he rushed with as +much headlong precipitation into difficulty and danger when abroad, as +into expense and dissipation when at home. During his contests with +Octavius and Lepidus, after Cæsar's death, he once had occasion to pass +the Alps, which, with his customary recklessness, he attempted to traverse +without any proper supplies of stores or means of transportation. He was +reduced, on the passage, together with the troops under his command, to +the most extreme destitution and distress. They had to feed on roots and +herbs, and finally on the bark of trees; and they barely preserved +themselves, by these means, from actual starvation. Antony seemed, +however, to care nothing for all this, but pressed on through the +difficulty and danger, manifesting the same daring and determined +unconcern to the end. In the same campaign he found himself at one time +reduced to extreme destitution in respect to men. His troops had been +gradually wasted away until his situation had become very desperate. He +conceived, under these circumstances, the most extraordinary idea of going +over alone to the camp of Lepidus and enticing away his rival's troops +from under the very eyes of their commander. This bold design was +successfully executed. Antony advanced alone, clothed in wretched +garments, and with his matted hair and beard hanging about his breast and +shoulders, up to Lepidus's lines. The men, who knew him well, received him +with acclamations; and pitying the sad condition to which they saw that he +was reduced, began to listen to what he had to say. Lepidus, who could not +attack him, since he and Antony were not at that time in open hostility to +each other, but were only rival commanders in the same army, ordered the +trumpeters to sound, in order to make a noise which should prevent the +words of Antony from being heard. This interrupted the negotiation; but +the men immediately disguised two of their number in female apparel, and +sent them to Antony to make arrangements with him for putting themselves +under his command, and offering, at the same time, to murder Lepidus, if +he would but speak the word. Antony charged them to do Lepidus no injury. +He, however, went over and took possession of the camp, and assumed the +command of the army. He treated Lepidus himself, personally, with extreme +politeness, and retained him as a subordinate under his command. + +Not far from the time of Cæsar's death, Antony was married. The name of +the lady was Fulvia. She was a widow at the time of her marriage with +Antony, and was a woman of very marked and decided character. She had led +a wild and irregular life previous to this time, but she conceived a very +strong attachment to her new husband, and devoted herself to him from the +time of her marriage with the most constant fidelity. She soon acquired a +very great ascendency over him, and was the means of effecting a very +considerable reform in his conduct and character. She was an ambitious and +aspiring woman, and made many very efficient and successful efforts to +promote the elevation and aggrandizement of her husband. She appeared, +also, to take a great pride and pleasure in exercising over him, herself, +a great personal control. She succeeded in these attempts in a manner that +surprised every body. It seemed astonishing to all mankind that such a +tiger as he had been could be subdued by any human power. Nor was it by +gentleness and mildness that Fulvia gained such power over her husband. +She was of a very stern and masculine character, and she seems to have +mastered Antony by surpassing him in the use of his own weapons. In fact, +instead of attempting to soothe and mollify him, she reduced him, it +seems, to the necessity of resorting to various contrivances to soften and +propitiate her. Once, for example, on his return from a campaign in which +he had been exposed to great dangers, he disguised himself and came home +at night in the garb of a courier bearing dispatches. He caused himself to +be ushered, muffled and disguised as he was, into Fulvia's apartments, +where he handed her some pretended letters, which, he said, were from her +husband; and while Fulvia was opening them in great excitement and +trepidation, he threw off his disguise, and revealed himself to her by +clasping her in his arms and kissing her in the midst of her amazement. + +Antony's marriage with Fulvia, besides being the means of reforming his +morals in some degree, softened and civilized him in respect to his +manners. His dress and appearance now assumed a different character. In +fact, his political elevation after Cæsar's death soon became very +exalted, and the various democratic arts by which he had sought to raise +himself to it, being now no longer necessary, were, as usual in such +cases, gradually discarded. He lived in great style and splendor when at +Rome, and when absent from home, on his military campaigns, he began to +exhibit the same pomp and parade in his equipage and in his arrangements +as were usual in the camps of other Roman generals. + +After the battle of Philippi, described in the last chapter, Antony--who, +with all his faults, was sometimes a very generous foe--as soon as the +tidings of Brutus's death were brought to him, repaired immediately to the +spot, and appeared to be quite shocked and concerned at the sight of the +body. He took off his own military cloak or mantle--which was a very +magnificent and costly garment, being enriched with many expensive +ornaments--and spread it over the corpse. He then gave directions to one +of the officers of his household to make arrangements for funeral +ceremonies of a very imposing character, as a testimony of his respect for +the memory of the deceased. In these ceremonies it was the duty of the +officer to have burned the military cloak which Antony had appropriated to +the purpose of a pall, with the body. He did not, however, do so. The +cloak being very valuable, he reserved it; and he withheld, also, a +considerable part of the money which had been given him for the expenses +of the funeral. He supposed that Antony would probably not inquire very +closely into the details of the arrangements made for the funeral of his +most inveterate enemy. Antony, however, did inquire into them, and when he +learned what the officer had done, he ordered him to be killed. + +The various political changes which occurred, and the movements which took +place among the several armies after the battle of Philippi, can not be +here detailed. It is sufficient to say that Antony proceeded to the +eastward through Asia Minor, and in the course of the following year came +into Cilicia. From this place he sent a messenger to Egypt to Cleopatra, +summoning her to appear before him. There were charges, he said, against +her, of having aided Cassius and Brutus in the late war instead of +rendering assistance to him. Whether there really were any such charges, +or whether they were only fabricated by Antony as pretexts for seeing +Cleopatra, the fame of whose beauty was very widely extended, does not +certainly appear. However this may be, he sent to summon the queen to come +to him. The name of the messenger whom Antony dispatched on this errand +was Dellius. Fulvia, Antony's wife, was not with him at this time. She had +been left behind at Rome. + +Dellius proceeded to Egypt and appeared at Cleopatra's court. The queen +was at this time about twenty-eight years old, but more beautiful, as was +said, than ever before. Dellius was very much struck with her beauty, and +with a certain fascination in her voice and conversation, of which her +ancient biographers often speak as one of the most irresistible of her +charms. He told her that she need have no fear of Antony. It was of no +consequence, he said, what charges there might be against her. She would +find that, in a very few days after she had entered into Antony's +presence, she would be in great favor. She might rely, in fact, he said, +on gaining, very speedily, an unbounded ascendency over the general. He +advised her, therefore, to proceed to Cilicia without fear, and to present +herself before Antony in as much pomp and magnificence as she could +command. He would answer, he said, for the result. + +Cleopatra determined to follow this advice. In fact, her ardent and +impulsive imagination was fired with the idea of making, a second time, +the conquest of the greatest general and highest potentate in the world. +She began immediately to make provision for the voyage. She employed all +the resources of her kingdom in procuring for herself the most magnificent +means of display, such as expensive and splendid dresses, rich services of +plate, ornaments of precious stones and of gold, and presents in great +variety and of the most costly description for Antony. She appointed, +also, a numerous retinue of attendants to accompany her, and, in a word, +made all the arrangements complete for an expedition of the most imposing +and magnificent character. While these preparations were going forward, +she received new and frequent communications from Antony, urging her to +hasten her departure; but she paid very little attention to them. It was +evident that she felt quite independent, and was intending to take her own +time. + +At length, however, all was ready, and Cleopatra set sail. She crossed the +Mediterranean Sea, and entered the mouth of the River Cydnus. Antony was +at Tarsus, a city upon the Cydnus, a small distance above its mouth. When +Cleopatra's fleet had entered the river, she embarked on board a most +magnificent barge which she had constructed for the occasion, and had +brought with her across the sea. This barge was the most magnificent and +highly-ornamented vessel that had ever been built. It was adorned with +carvings and decorations of the finest workmanship, and elaborately +gilded. The sails were of purple, and the oars were inlaid and tipped with +silver. Upon the deck of this barge Queen Cleopatra appeared, under a +canopy of cloth of gold. She was dressed very magnificently in the costume +in which Venus, the goddess of Beauty, was then generally represented. She +was surrounded by a company of beautiful boys, who attended upon her in +the form of Cupids, and fanned her with their wings, and by a group of +young girls representing the Nymphs and the Graces. There was a band of +musicians stationed upon the deck. This music guided the oarsmen, as they +kept time to it in their rowing; and, soft as the melody was, the strains +were heard far and wide over the water and along the shores, as the +beautiful vessel advanced on its way. The performers were provided with +flutes, lyres, viols, and all the other instruments customarily used in +those times to produce music of a gentle and voluptuous kind. + +In fact, the whole spectacle seemed like a vision of enchantment. Tidings +of the approach of the barge spread rapidly around, and the people of the +country came down in crowds to the shores of the river to gaze upon it in +admiration as it glided slowly along. At the time of its arrival at +Tarsus, Antony was engaged in giving a public audience at some tribunal in +his palace, but every body ran to see Cleopatra and the barge, and the +great triumvir was left consequently alone, or, at least, with only a few +official attendants near him. Cleopatra, on arriving at the city, landed, +and began to pitch her tents on the shores. Antony sent a messenger to bid +her welcome, and to invite her to come and sup with him. She declined the +invitation, saying that it was more proper that he should come and sup +with her. She would accordingly expect him to come, she said, and her +tents would be ready at the proper hour. Antony complied with her +proposal, and came to her entertainment. He was received with a +magnificence and splendor which amazed him. The tents and pavilions where +the entertainment was made were illuminated with an immense number of +lamps. These lamps were arranged in a very ingenious and beautiful manner, +so as to produce an illumination of the most surprising brilliancy and +beauty. The immense number and variety, too, of the meats and wines, and +of the vessels of gold and silver, with which the tables were loaded, and +the magnificence and splendor of the dresses worn by Cleopatra and her +attendants, combined to render the whole scene one of bewildering +enchantment. + +[Illustration: THE ENTERTAINMENTS AT TARSUS.] + +The next day, Antony invited Cleopatra to come and return his visit; but, +though he made every possible effort to provide a banquet as sumptuous and +as sumptuously served as hers, he failed entirely in this attempt, and +acknowledged himself completely outdone. Antony was, moreover, at these +interviews, perfectly fascinated with Cleopatra's charms. Her beauty, her +wit, her thousand accomplishments, and, above all, the tact, and +adroitness, and self-possession which she displayed in assuming at once +so boldly, and carrying out so adroitly, the idea of her social +superiority over him, that he yielded his heart almost immediately to her +undisputed sway. + +The first use which Cleopatra made of her power was to ask Antony, for her +sake, to order her sister Arsinoë to be slain. Arsinoë had gone, it will +be recollected, to Rome, to grace Cæsar's triumph there, and had afterward +retired to Asia, where she was now living an exile. Cleopatra, either from +a sentiment of past revenge, or else from some apprehensions of future +danger, now desired that her sister should die. Antony readily acceded to +her request. He sent an officer in search of the unhappy princess. The +officer slew her where he found her, within the precincts of a temple to +which she had fled, supposing it a sanctuary which no degree of hostility, +however extreme, would have dared to violate. + +Cleopatra remained at Tarsus for some time, revolving in an incessant +round of gayety and pleasure, and living in habits of unrestrained +intimacy with Antony. She was accustomed to spend whole days and nights +with him in feasting and revelry. The immense magnificence of these +entertainments, especially on Cleopatra's part, were the wonder of the +world. She seems to have taken special pleasure in exciting Antony's +surprise by the display of her wealth and the boundless extravagance in +which she indulged. At one of her banquets, Antony was expressing his +astonishment at the vast number of gold cups, enriched with jewels, that +were displayed on all sides. "Oh," said she, "they are nothing; if you +like them, you shall have them all." So saying, she ordered her servants +to carry them to Antony's house. The next day she invited Antony again, +with a large number of the chief officers of his army and court. The table +was spread with a new service of gold and silver vessels, more extensive +and splendid than that of the preceding day; and at the close of the +supper, when the company was about to depart, Cleopatra distributed all +these treasures among the guests that had been present at the +entertainment. At another of these feasts, she carried her ostentation and +display to the astonishing extreme of taking off from one of her ear-rings +a pearl of immense value and dissolving it in a cup of vinegar,[8] which +she afterward made into a drink, such as was customarily used in those +days, and then drank it. She was proceeding to do the same with the other +pearl, when some of the company arrested the proceeding, and took the +remaining pearl away. + +In the mean time, while Antony was thus wasting his time in luxury and +pleasure with Cleopatra, his public duties were neglected, and every thing +was getting into confusion. Fulvia remained in Italy. Her position and her +character gave her a commanding political influence, and she exerted +herself in a very energetic manner to sustain, in that quarter of the +world, the interests of her husband's cause. She was surrounded with +difficulties and dangers, the details of which can not, however, be here +particularly described. She wrote continually to Antony, urgently +entreating him to come to Rome, and displaying in her letters all those +marks of agitation and distress which a wife would naturally feel under +the circumstances in which she was placed. The thought that her husband +had been so completely drawn away from her by the guilty arts of such a +woman, and led by her to abandon his wife and his family, and leave in +neglect and confusion concerns of such momentous magnitude as those which +demanded his attention at home, produced an excitement in her mind +bordering upon phrensy. Antony was at length so far influenced by the +urgency of the case that he determined to return. He broke up his quarters +at Tarsus and moved south toward Tyre, which was a great naval port and +station in those days. Cleopatra went with him. They were to separate at +Tyre. She was to embark there for Egypt, and he for Rome. + +At least that was Antony's plan, but it was not Cleopatra's. She had +determined that Antony should go with her to Alexandria. As might have +been expected, when the time came for the decision, the woman gained the +day. Her flatteries, her arts, her caresses, her tears, prevailed. After a +brief struggle between the sentiment of love on the one hand and those of +ambition and of duty combined on the other, Antony gave up the contest. +Abandoning every thing else, he surrendered himself wholly to Cleopatra's +control, and went with her to Alexandria. He spent the winter there, +giving himself up with her to every species of sensual indulgence that the +most remorseless license could tolerate, and the most unbounded wealth +procure. + +There seemed, in fact, to be no bounds to the extravagance and infatuation +which Antony displayed during the winter in Alexandria. Cleopatra devoted +herself to him incessantly, day and night, filling up every moment of time +with some new form of pleasure, in order that he might have no time to +think of his absent wife, or to listen to the reproaches of his +conscience. Antony, on his part, surrendered himself a willing victim to +these wiles, and entered with all his heart into the thousand plans of +gayety and merry-making which Cleopatra devised. They had each a separate +establishment in the city, which was maintained at an enormous cost, and +they made a regular arrangement by which each was the guest of the other +on alternate days. These visits were spent in games, sports, spectacles, +feasting, drinking, and in every species of riot, irregularity, and +excess. + +A curious instance is afforded of the accidental manner in which +intelligence in respect to the scenes and incidents of private life in +those ancient days is sometimes obtained, in a circumstance which occurred +at this time at Antony's court. It seems that there was a young medical +student at Alexandria that winter, named Philotas, who happened, in some +way or other, to have formed an acquaintance with one of Antony's +domestics, a cook. Under the guidance of this cook, Philotas went one day +into the palace to see what was to be seen. The cook took his friend into +the kitchens, where, to Philotas's great surprise, he saw, among an +infinite number and variety of other preparations, eight wild boars +roasting before the fires, some being more and some less advanced in the +process. Philotas asked what great company was to dine there that day. The +cook smiled at this question, and replied that there was to be no company +at all, other than Antony's ordinary party. "But," said the cook, in +explanation, "we are obliged always to prepare several suppers, and to +have them ready in succession at different hours, for no one can tell at +what time they will order the entertainment to be served. Sometimes, when +the supper has been actually carried in, Antony and Cleopatra will get +engaged in some new turn of their diversions, and conclude not to sit down +just then to the table, and so we have to take the supper away, and +presently bring in another." + +Antony had a son with him at Alexandria at this time, the child of his +wife Fulvia. The name of the son, as well as that of the father, was +Antony. He was old enough to feel some sense of shame at his father's +dereliction from duty, and to manifest some respectful regard for the +rights and the honor of his mother. Instead of this, however, he imitated +his father's example, and, in his own way, was as reckless and as +extravagant as he. The same Philotas who is above referred to was, after a +time, appointed to some office or other in the young Antony's household, +so that he was accustomed to sit at his table and share in his convivial +enjoyments. He relates that once, while they were feasting together, there +was a guest present, a physician, who was a very vain and conceited man, +and so talkative that no one else had any opportunity to speak. All the +pleasure of conversation was spoiled by his excessive garrulity. Philotas, +however, at length puzzled him so completely with a question of logic--of +a kind similar to those often discussed with great interest in ancient +days--as to silence him for a time; and young Antony was so much delighted +with this feat, that he gave Philotas all the gold and silver plate that +there was upon the table, and sent all the articles home to him, after the +entertainment was over, telling him to put his mark and stamp upon them, +and lock them up. + +The question with which Philotas puzzled the self-conceited physician was +this. It must be premised, however, that in those days it was considered +that cold water in an intermittent fever was extremely dangerous, except +in some peculiar cases, and in those the effect was good. Philotas then +argued as follows: "In cases of a certain kind it is best to give water to +a patient in an ague. All cases of ague are cases of a certain kind. +Therefore it is best in all cases to give the patient water." Philotas +having propounded his argument in this way, challenged the physician to +point out the fallacy of it; and while the physician sat perplexed and +puzzled in his attempts to unravel the intricacy of it, the company +enjoyed a temporary respite from his excessive loquacity. + +Philotas adds, in his account of this affair, that he sent the gold and +silver plate back to young Antony again, being afraid to keep them. Antony +said that perhaps it was as well that this should be done, since many of +the vessels were of great value on account of their rare and antique +workmanship, and his father might possibly miss them and wish to know what +had become of them. + +As there were no limits, on the one hand, to the loftiness and grandeur +of the pleasures to which Antony and Cleopatra addicted themselves, so +there were none to the low and debasing tendencies which characterized +them on the other. Sometimes, at midnight, after having been spending many +hours in mirth and revelry in the palace, Antony would disguise himself in +the dress of a slave, and sally forth into the streets, excited with wine, +in search of adventures. In many cases, Cleopatra herself, similarly +disguised, would go out with him. On these excursions Antony would take +pleasure in involving himself in all sorts of difficulties and dangers--in +street riots, drunken brawls, and desperate quarrels with the +populace--all for Cleopatra's amusement and his own. Stories of these +adventures would circulate afterward among the people, some of whom would +admire the free and jovial character of their eccentric visitor, and +others would despise him as a prince degrading himself to the level of a +brute. + +Some of the amusements and pleasures which Antony and Cleopatra pursued +were innocent in themselves, though wholly unworthy to be made the serious +business of life by personages on whom such exalted duties rightfully +devolved. They made various excursions upon the Nile, and arranged +parties of pleasure to go out on the water in the harbor, and to various +rural retreats in the environs of the city. Once they went out on a +fishing-party, in boats, in the port. Antony was unsuccessful; and feeling +chagrined that Cleopatra should witness his ill luck, he made a secret +arrangement with some of the fishermen to dive down, where they could do +so unobserved, and fasten fishes to his hook under the water. By this plan +he caught very large and fine fish very fast. Cleopatra, however, was too +wary to be easily deceived by such a stratagem as this. She observed the +maneuver, but pretended not to observe it; she expressed, on the other +hand, the greatest surprise and delight at Antony's good luck, and the +extraordinary skill which it indicated. + +The next day she wished to go a fishing again, and a party was accordingly +made as on the day before. She had, however, secretly instructed another +fisherman to procure a dried and salted fish from the market, and, +watching his opportunity, to get down into the water under the boats and +attach it to the hook, before Antony's divers could get there. This plan +succeeded, and Antony, in the midst of a large and gay party that were +looking on, pulled out an excellent fish, cured and dried, such as was +known to every one as an imported article, bought in the market. It was a +fish of a kind that was brought originally from Asia Minor. The boats, and +the water all around them, resounded with the shouts of merriment and +laughter which this incident occasioned. + + * * * * * + +In the mean time, while Antony was thus spending his time in low and +ignoble pursuits and in guilty pleasures at Alexandria, his wife Fulvia, +after exhausting all other means of inducing her husband to return to her, +became desperate, and took measures for fomenting an open war, which she +thought would compel him to return. The extraordinary energy, influence, +and talent which Fulvia possessed, enabled her to do this in an effectual +manner. She organized an army, formed a camp, placed herself at the head +of the troops, and sent such tidings to Antony of the dangers which +threatened his cause as greatly alarmed him. At the same time news came of +great disasters in Asia Minor, and of alarming insurrections among the +provinces which had been committed to his charge there. Antony saw that he +must arouse himself from the spell which had enchanted him and break away +from Cleopatra, or that he would be wholly and irretrievably ruined. He +made, accordingly, a desperate effort to get free. He bade the queen +farewell, embarked hastily in a fleet of galleys, and sailed away to Tyre, +leaving Cleopatra in her palace, vexed, disappointed, and chagrined. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM. + + +Cleopatra, in parting with Antony as described in the last chapter, lost +him for two or three years. During this time Antony himself was involved +in a great variety of difficulties and dangers, and passed through many +eventful scenes, which, however, can not here be described in detail. His +life, during this period, was full of vicissitude and excitement, and was +spent probably in alternations of remorse for the past and anxiety for the +future. On landing at Tyre, he was at first extremely perplexed whether to +go to Asia Minor or to Rome. His presence was imperiously demanded in both +places. The war which Fulvia had fomented was caused, in part, by the +rivalry of Octavius, and the collision of his interests with those of her +husband. Antony was very angry with her for having managed his affairs in +such a way as to bring about a war. After a time Antony and Fulvia met at +Athens. Fulvia had retreated to that city, and was very seriously sick +there, either from bodily disease, or from the influence of long-continued +anxiety, vexation, and distress. They had a stormy meeting. Neither party +was disposed to exercise any mercy toward the other. Antony left his wife +rudely and roughly, after loading her with reproaches. A short time +afterward, she sank down in sorrow to the grave. + +The death of Fulvia was an event which proved to be of advantage to +Antony. It opened the way to a reconciliation between him and Octavius. +Fulvia had been extremely active in opposing Octavius's designs, and in +organizing plans for resisting him. He felt, therefore, a special +hostility against her, and, through her, against Antony. Now, however, +that she was dead, the way seemed to be in some sense opened for a +reconciliation. + +Octavius had a sister, Octavia, who had been the wife of a Roman general +named Marcellus. She was a very beautiful and a very accomplished woman, +and of a spirit very different from that of Fulvia. She was gentle, +affectionate, and kind, a lover of peace and harmony, and not at all +disposed, like Fulvia, to assert and maintain her influence over others by +an overbearing and violent demeanor. Octavia's husband died about this +time, and, in the course of the movements and negotiations between Antony +and Octavius, the plan was proposed of a marriage between Antony and +Octavia, which, it was thought, would ratify and confirm the +reconciliation. This proposal was finally agreed upon. Antony was glad to +find so easy a mode of settling his difficulties. The people of Rome, too, +and the authorities there, knowing that the peace of the world depended +upon the terms on which these two men stood with regard to each other, +were extremely desirous that this arrangement should be carried into +effect. There was a law of the commonwealth forbidding the marriage of a +widow within a specified period after the death of her husband. That +period had not, in Octavia's case, yet expired. There was, however, so +strong a desire that no obstacle should be allowed to prevent this +proposed union, or even to occasion delay, that the law was altered +expressly for this case, and Antony and Octavia were married. The empire +was divided between Octavius and Antony, Octavius receiving the western +portion as his share, while the eastern was assigned to Antony. + +It is not probable that Antony felt any very strong affection for his new +wife, beautiful and gentle as she was. A man, in fact, who had led such a +life as his had been, must have become by this time incapable of any +strong and pure attachment. He, however, was pleased with the novelty of +his acquisition, and seemed to forget for a time the loss of Cleopatra. He +remained with Octavia a year. After that he went away on certain military +enterprises which kept him some time from her. He returned again, and +again he went away. All this time Octavia's influence over him and over +her brother was of the most salutary and excellent character. She soothed +their animosities, quieted their suspicions and jealousies, and at one +time, when they were on the brink of open war, she effected a +reconciliation between them by the most courageous and energetic, and at +the same time, gentle and unassuming efforts. At the time of this danger +she was with her husband in Greece; but she persuaded him to send her to +her brother at Rome, saying that she was confident that she could arrange +a settlement of the difficulties impending. Antony allowed her to go. She +proceeded to Rome, and procured an interview with her brother in the +presence of his two principal officers of state. Here she pleaded her +husband's cause with tears in her eyes; she defended his conduct, +explained what seemed to be against him, and entreated her brother not to +take such a course as should cast her down from being the happiest of +women to being the most miserable. "Consider the circumstances of my +case," said she. "The eyes of the world are upon me. Of the two most +powerful men in the world, I am the wife of one and the sister of another. +If you allow rash counsels to go on and war to ensue, I am hopelessly +ruined; for, whichever is conquered, my husband or my brother, my own +happiness will be for ever gone." + +Octavius sincerely loved his sister, and he was so far softened by her +entreaties that he consented to appoint an interview with Antony in order +to see if their difficulties could be settled. This interview was +accordingly held. The two generals came to a river, where, at the opposite +banks, each embarked in a boat, and, being rowed out toward each other, +they met in the middle of the stream. A conference ensued, at which all +the questions at issue were, for a time at least, very happily arranged. + +Antony, however, after a time, began to become tired of his wife, and to +sigh for Cleopatra once more. He left Octavia at Rome and proceeded to +the eastward, under pretense of attending to the affairs of that portion +of the empire; but, instead of doing this, he went to Alexandria, and +there renewed again his former intimacy with the Egyptian queen. + +Octavius was very indignant at this. His former hostility to Antony, which +had been in a measure appeased by the kind influence of Octavia, now broke +forth anew, and was heightened by the feeling of resentment naturally +awakened by his sister's wrongs. Public sentiment in Rome, too, was +setting very strongly against Antony. Lampoons were written against him to +ridicule him and Cleopatra, and the most decided censures were passed upon +his conduct. Octavia was universally beloved, and the sympathy which was +every where felt for her increased and heightened very much the popular +indignation which was felt against the man who could wrong so deeply such +sweetness, and gentleness, and affectionate fidelity as hers. + +After remaining for some time in Alexandria, and renewing his connection +and intimacy with Cleopatra, Antony went away again, crossing the sea into +Asia, with the intention of prosecuting certain military undertakings +there which imperiously demanded his attention. His plan was to return as +soon as possible to Egypt after the object of his expedition should be +accomplished. He found, however, that he could not bear even a temporary +absence from Cleopatra. His mind dwelled so much upon her, and upon the +pleasures which he had enjoyed with her in Egypt, and he longed so much to +see her again, that he was wholly unfit for the discharge of his duties in +the camp. He became timid, inefficient, and remiss, and almost every thing +that he undertook ended disastrously. The army, who understood perfectly +well the reason of their commander's remissness and consequent ill +fortune, were extremely indignant at his conduct, and the camp was filled +with suppressed murmurs and complaints. Antony, however, like other +persons in his situation, was blind to all these indications of +dissatisfaction; probably he would have disregarded them if he had +observed them. At length, finding that he could bear his absence from his +mistress no longer, he set out to march across the country, in the depth +of the winter, to the sea-shore, to a point where he had sent for +Cleopatra to come to join him. The army endured incredible hardships and +exposures in this march. When Antony had once commenced the journey, he +was so impatient to get forward that he compelled his troops to advance +with a rapidity greater than their strength would bear. They were, +besides, not provided with proper tents or with proper supplies of +provision. They were often obliged, therefore, after a long and fatiguing +march during the day, to bivouac at night in the open air among the +mountains, with scanty means of appeasing their hunger, and very little +shelter from the cold rain, or from the storms of driving snow. Eight +thousand men died on this march, from cold, fatigue, and exposure; a +greater sacrifice, perhaps, than had ever been made before to the mere +ardor and impatience of a lover. + +When Antony reached the shore, he advanced to a certain sea-port, near +Sidon, where Cleopatra was to land. At the time of his arrival but a small +part of his army was left, and the few men that survived were in a +miserably destitute condition. Antony's eagerness to see Cleopatra became +more and more excited as the time drew nigh. She did not come so soon as +he had expected, and during the delay he seemed to pine away under the +influence of love and sorrow. He was silent, absent-minded, and sad. He +had no thoughts for any thing but the coming of Cleopatra, and felt no +interest in any other plans. He watched for her incessantly, and would +sometimes leave his place at the table, in the midst of the supper, and go +down alone to the shore, where he would stand gazing out upon the sea, and +saying mournfully to himself, "Why does not she come?" The animosity and +the ridicule which these things awakened against him, on the part of the +army, were extreme; but he was so utterly infatuated that he disregarded +all the manifestations of public sentiment around him, and continued to +allow his mind to be wholly engrossed with the single idea of Cleopatra's +coming. + +She arrived at last. She brought a great supply of clothes and other +necessaries for the use of Antony's army, so that her coming not only +gratified his love, but afforded him, also, a very essential relief, in +respect to the military difficulties in which he was involved. + +After some time spent in the enjoyment of the pleasure which being thus +reunited to Cleopatra afforded him, Antony began again to think of the +affairs of his government, which every month more and more imperiously +demanded his attention. He began to receive urgent calls from various +quarters, urging him to action. In the mean time, Octavia--who had been +all this while waiting in distress and anxiety at Rome, hearing +continually the most gloomy accounts of her husband's affairs, and the +most humiliating tidings in respect to his infatuated devotion to +Cleopatra--resolved to make one more effort to save him. She interceded +with her brother to allow her to raise troops and to collect supplies, and +then proceed to the eastward to re-enforce him. Octavius consented to +this. He, in fact, assisted Octavia in making her preparations. It is +said, however, that he was influenced in this plan by his confident belief +that this noble attempt of his sister to reclaim her husband would fail, +and that, by the failure of it, Antony would be put in the wrong, in the +estimation of the Roman people, more absolutely and hopelessly than ever, +and that the way would thus be prepared for his complete and final +destruction. + +Octavia was rejoiced to obtain her brother's aid to her undertaking, +whatever the motive might be which induced him to afford it. She +accordingly levied a considerable body of troops, raised a large sum of +money, provided clothes, and tents, and military stores for the army; and +when all was ready, she left Italy and put to sea, having previously +dispatched a messenger to her husband to inform him that she was coming. + +Cleopatra began now to be afraid that she was to lose Antony again, and +she at once began to resort to the usual artifices employed in such cases, +in order to retain her power over him. She said nothing, but assumed the +appearance of one pining under the influence of some secret suffering or +sorrow. She contrived to be often surprised in tears. In such cases she +would hastily brush her tears away, and assume a countenance of smiles and +good humor, as if making every effort to be happy, though really oppressed +with a heavy burden of anxiety and grief. When Antony was near her she +would seem overjoyed at his presence, and gaze upon him with an expression +of the most devoted fondness. When absent from him, she spent her time +alone, always silent and dejected, and often in tears; and she took care +that the secret sorrows and sufferings that she endured should be duly +made known to Antony, and that he should understand that they were all +occasioned by her love for him, and by the danger which she apprehended +that he was about to leave her. + +The friends and secret agents of Cleopatra, who reported these things to +Antony, made, moreover, direct representations to him, for the purpose of +inclining his mind in her favor. They had, in fact, the astonishing +audacity to argue that Cleopatra's claims upon Antony for a continuance of +his love were paramount to those of Octavia. She, that is, Octavia, had +been his wife, they said, only for a very short time. Cleopatra had been +most devotedly attached to him for many years. Octavia was married to him, +they alleged, not under the impulse of love, but from political +considerations alone, to please her brother, and to ratify and confirm a +political league made with him. Cleopatra, on the other hand, had given +herself up to him in the most absolute and unconditional manner, under the +influence solely of a personal affection which she could not control. She +had surrendered and sacrificed every thing to him. For him she had lost +her good name, alienated the affections of her subjects, made herself the +object of reproach and censure to all mankind, and now she had left her +native land to come and join him in his adverse fortunes. Considering how +much she had done, and suffered, and sacrificed for his sake, it would be +extreme and unjustifiable cruelty in him to forsake her now. She never +would survive such an abandonment. Her whole soul was so wrapped up in +him, that she would pine away and die if he were now to forsake her. + +Antony was distressed and agitated beyond measure by the entanglements in +which he found that he was involved. His duty, his inclination perhaps, +certainly his ambition, and every dictate of prudence and policy, required +that he should break away from these snares at once and go to meet +Octavia. But the spell that bound him was too mighty to be dissolved. He +yielded to Cleopatra's sorrows and tears. He dispatched a messenger to +Octavia, who had by this time reached Athens, in Greece, directing her not +to come any farther. Octavia, who seemed incapable of resentment or anger +against her husband, sent back to ask what she should do with the troops, +and money, and the military stores which she was bringing. Antony directed +her to leave them in Greece. Octavia did so, and mournfully returned to +her home. + +As soon as she arrived at Rome, Octavius, her brother, whose indignation +was now thoroughly aroused at the baseness of Antony, sent to his sister +to say that she must leave Antony's house and come to him. A proper +self-respect, he said, forbade her remaining any longer under the roof of +such a man. Octavia replied that she would not leave her husband's house. +That house was her post of duty, whatever her husband might do, and there +she would remain. She accordingly retired within the precincts of her old +home, and devoted herself in patient and uncomplaining sorrow to the care +of the family and the children. Among these children was one young son of +Antony's, born during his marriage with her predecessor Fulvia. In the +mean time, while Octavia was thus faithfully though mournfully fulfilling +her duties as wife and mother, in her husband's house at Rome, Antony +himself had gone with Cleopatra to Alexandria, and was abandoning himself +once more to a life of guilty pleasure there. The greatness of mind which +this beautiful and devoted wife thus displayed, attracted the admiration +of all mankind. It produced, however, one other effect, which Octavia must +have greatly deprecated. It aroused a strong and universal feeling of +indignation against the unworthy object toward whom this extraordinary +magnanimity was displayed. + +In the mean time, Antony gave himself up wholly to Cleopatra's influence +and control, and managed all the affairs of the Roman empire in the East +in the way best fitted to promote her aggrandizement and honor. He made +Alexandria his capital, celebrated triumphs there, arranged ostentatious +expeditions into Asia and Syria with Cleopatra and her train, gave her +whole provinces as presents, and exalted her two sons, Alexander and +Ptolemy, children born during the period of his first acquaintance with +her, to positions of the highest rank and station, as his own acknowledged +sons. The consequences of these and similar measures at Rome were fatal to +Antony's character and standing. Octavius reported every thing to the +Roman senate and people, and made Antony's misgovernment and his various +misdemeanors the ground of the heaviest accusations against him. Antony, +hearing of these things, sent his agents to Rome and made accusations +against Octavius; but these counter accusations were of no avail. Public +sentiment was very strong and decided against him at the capital, and +Octavius began to prepare for war. + +Antony perceived that he must prepare to defend himself. Cleopatra entered +into the plans which he formed for this purpose with great ardor. Antony +began to levy troops, and collect and equip galleys and ships of war, and +to make requisitions of money and military stores from all the eastern +provinces and kingdoms. Cleopatra put all the resources of Egypt at his +disposal. She furnished him with immense sums of money, and with an +inexhaustible supply of corn, which she procured for this purpose from her +dominions in the valley of the Nile. The various divisions of the immense +armament which was thus provided for were ordered to rendezvous at +Ephesus, where Antony and Cleopatra were awaiting to receive them, having +proceeded there when their arrangements in Egypt were completed, and they +were ready to commence the campaign. + +When all was ready for the expedition to set sail from Ephesus, it was +Antony's judgment that it would be best for Cleopatra to return to Egypt, +and leave him to go forth with the fleet to meet Octavius alone. Cleopatra +was, however, determined not to go away. She did not dare to leave Antony +at all to himself, for fear that in some way or other a peace would be +effected between himself and Octavius, which would result in his returning +to Octavia and abandoning _her_. She accordingly contrived to persuade +Antony to retain her with him, by bribing his chief counselor to advise +him to do so. His counselor's name was Canidius. Canidius, having received +Cleopatra's money, while yet he pretended to be wholly disinterested in +his advice, represented to Antony that it would not be reasonable to send +Cleopatra away, and deprive her of all participation in the glory of the +war, when she was defraying so large a part of the expense of it. Besides, +a large portion of the army consisted of Egyptian troops, who would feel +discouraged and disheartened if Cleopatra were to leave them, and would +probably act far less efficiently in the conflict than they would do if +animated by the presence of their queen. Then, moreover, such a woman as +Cleopatra was not to be considered, as many women would be, an +embarrassment and a source of care to a military expedition which she +might join, but a very efficient counselor and aid to it. She was, he +said, a very sagacious, energetic, and powerful queen, accustomed to the +command of armies and to the management of affairs of state, and her aid +in the conduct of the expedition might be expected to conduce very +materially to its success. + +Antony was easily won by such persuasions as these, and it was at length +decided that Cleopatra should accompany him. + +Antony then ordered the fleet to move forward to the island of Samos.[9] +Here it was brought to anchor and remained for some time, waiting for the +coming in of new re-enforcements, and for the completion of the other +arrangements. Antony, as if becoming more and more infatuated as he +approached the brink of his ruin, spent his time while the expedition +remained at Samos, not in maturing his plans and perfecting his +arrangements for the tremendous conflict which was approaching, but in +festivities, games, revelings, and every species of riot and dissolute +excess. This, however, is not surprising. Men almost always, when in a +situation analogous to his, fly to similar means of protecting themselves, +in some small degree, from the pangs of remorse, and from the forebodings +which stand ready to terrify and torment them at every instant in which +these gloomy specters are not driven away by intoxication and revelry. At +least Antony found it so. Accordingly, an immense company of players, +tumblers, fools, jesters, and mountebanks were ordered to assemble at +Samos, and to devote themselves with all zeal to the amusement of +Antony's court. The island was one universal scene of riot and revelry. +People were astonished at such celebrations and displays, wholly +unsuitable, as they considered them, to the occasion. If such are the +rejoicings, said they, which Antony celebrates before going into the +battle, what festivities will he contrive on his return, joyous enough to +express his pleasure if he shall gain the victory? + +After a time, Antony and Cleopatra, with a magnificent train of +attendants, left Samos, and, passing across the Ægean Sea, landed in +Greece, and advanced to Athens; while the fleet, proceeding westward from +Samos, passed around Tænarus, the southern promontory of Greece, and then +moved northward along the western coast of the peninsula. Cleopatra wished +to go to Athens for a special reason. It was there that Octavia had +stopped on her journey toward her husband with re-enforcements and aid; +and while she was there, the people of Athens, pitying her sad condition, +and admiring the noble spirit of mind which she displayed in her +misfortunes, had paid her great attention, and during her stay among them +had bestowed upon her many honors. Cleopatra now wished to go to the same +place, and to triumph over her rival there, by making so great a display +of her wealth and magnificence, and of her ascendency over the mind of +Antony, as should entirely transcend and outshine the more unassuming +pretensions of Octavia. She was not willing, it seems, to leave to the +unhappy wife whom she had so cruelly wronged even the possession of a +place in the hearts of the people of this foreign city, but must go and +enviously strive to efface the impression which injured innocence had +made, by an ostentatious exhibition of the triumphant prosperity of her +own shameless wickedness. She succeeded well in her plans. The people of +Athens were amazed and bewildered at the immense magnificence that +Cleopatra exhibited before them. She distributed vast sums of money among +the people. The city, in return, decreed to her the most exalted honors. +They sent a solemn embassy to her to present her with these decrees. +Antony himself, in the character of a citizen of Athens, was one of the +embassadors. Cleopatra received the deputation at her palace. The +reception was attended with the most splendid and imposing ceremonies. + +One would have supposed that Cleopatra's cruel and unnatural hostility to +Octavia might now have been satisfied; but it was not. Antony, while he +was at Athens, and doubtless at Cleopatra's instigation, sent a messenger +to Rome with a notice of divorcement to Octavia, and with an order that +she should leave his house. Octavia obeyed. She went forth from her home, +taking the children with her, and bitterly lamenting her cruel destiny. + +In the mean time, while all these events had been transpiring in the East, +Octavius had been making his preparations for the coming crisis, and was +now advancing with a powerful fleet across the sea. He was armed with +authority from the Roman senate and people, for he had obtained from them +a decree deposing Antony from his power. The charges made against him all +related to misdemeanors and offenses arising out of his connection with +Cleopatra. Octavius contrived to get possession of a will which Antony had +written before leaving Rome, and which he had placed there in what he +supposed a very sacred place of deposit. The custodians who had it in +charge replied to Octavius, when he demanded it, that they would not give +it to him, but if he wished to take it they would not hinder him. Octavius +then took the will, and read it to the Roman senate. It provided, among +other things, that at his death, if his death should happen at Rome, his +body should be sent to Alexandria to be given to Cleopatra; and it evinced +in other ways a degree of subserviency and devotedness to the Egyptian +queen which was considered wholly unworthy of a Roman chief magistrate. +Antony was accused, too, of having plundered cities and provinces to make +presents to Cleopatra; of having sent a library of two hundred thousand +volumes to her from Pergamus, to replace the one which Julius Cæsar had +accidentally burned; of having raised her sons, ignoble as their birth +was, to high places of trust and power in the Roman government, and of +having in many ways compromised the dignity of a Roman officer by his +unworthy conduct in reference to her. He used, for example, when presiding +at a judicial tribunal, to receive love-letters sent him from Cleopatra, +and then at once turn off his attention from the proceedings going forward +before him to read the letters.[10] Sometimes he did this when sitting in +the chair of state, giving audience to embassadors and princes. Cleopatra +probably sent these letters in at such times under the influence of a +wanton disposition to show her power. At one time, as Octavius said in his +arguments before the Roman senate, Antony was hearing a cause of the +greatest importance, and during a time in the progress of the cause when +one of the principal orators of the city was addressing him, Cleopatra +came passing by, when Antony suddenly arose, and, leaving the court +without any ceremony, ran out to follow her. These and a thousand similar +tales exhibited Antony in so odious a light, that his friends forsook his +cause, and his enemies gained a complete triumph. The decree was passed +against him, and Octavius was authorized to carry it into effect; and +accordingly, while Antony, with his fleet and army, was moving westward +from Samos and the Ægean Sea, Octavius was coming eastward and southward +down the Adriatic to meet him. + +In process of time, after various maneuvers and delays, the two armaments +came into the vicinity of each other at a place called Actium, which will +be found upon the map on the western coast of Epirus, north of Greece. +Both of the commanders had powerful fleets at sea, and both had great +armies upon the land. Antony was strongest in land troops, but his fleet +was inferior to that of Octavius, and he was himself inclined to remain on +the land and fight the principal battle there. But Cleopatra would not +consent to this. She urged him to give Octavius battle at sea. The motive +which induced her to do this has been supposed to be her wish to provide a +more sure way of escape in case of an unfavorable issue to the conflict. +She thought that in her galleys she could make sail at once across the sea +to Alexandria in case of defeat, whereas she knew not what would become of +her if beaten at the head of an army on the land. The ablest counselors +and chief officers in the army urged Antony very strongly not to trust +himself to the sea. To all their arguments and remonstrances, however, +Antony turned a deaf ear. Cleopatra must be allowed to have her way. + +On the morning of the battle, when the ships were drawn up in array, +Cleopatra held the command of a division of fifty or sixty Egyptian +vessels, which were all completely manned, and well equipped with masts +and sails. She took good care to have every thing in perfect order for +flight, in case flight should prove to be necessary. With these ships she +took a station in reserve, and for a time remained there a quiet witness +of the battle. The ships of Octavius advanced to the attack of those of +Antony, and the men fought from deck to deck with spears, boarding-pikes, +flaming darts, and every other destructive missile which the military art +had then devised. Antony's ships had to contend against great +disadvantages. They were not only outnumbered by those of Octavius, but +were far surpassed by them in the efficiency with which they were manned +and armed. Still, it was a very obstinate conflict. Cleopatra, however, +did not wait to see how it was to be finally decided. As Antony's forces +did not immediately gain the victory, she soon began to yield to her fears +in respect to the result, and, finally, fell into a panic and resolved to +fly. She ordered the oars to be manned and the sails to be hoisted, and +then forcing her way through a portion of the fleet that was engaged in +the contest, and throwing the vessels into confusion as she passed, she +succeeded in getting to sea, and then pressed on, under full sail, down +the coast to the southward. Antony, as soon as he perceived that she was +going, abandoning every other thought, and impelled by his insane +devotedness to her, hastily called up a galley of five banks of oars, and, +leaping on board of it, ordered the oarsmen to pull with all their force +after Cleopatra's flying squadron. + +Cleopatra, looking back from the deck of her vessel, saw this swift galley +pressing on toward her. She raised a signal at the stern of the vessel +which she was in, that Antony might know for which of the fifty flying +ships he was to steer. Guided by the signal, Antony came up to the vessel, +and the sailors hoisted him up the side and helped him in. Cleopatra had, +however, disappeared. Overcome with shame and confusion, she did not dare, +it seems, to meet the look of the wretched victim of her arts whom she had +now irretrievably ruined. Antony did not seek her. He did not speak a +word. He went forward to the prow of the ship, and, throwing himself down +there alone, pressed his head between his hands, and seemed stunned and +stupefied, and utterly overwhelmed with horror and despair. + +He was, however, soon aroused from his stupor by an alarm raised on board +his galley that they were pursued. He rose from his seat, seized a spear, +and, on ascending to the quarter-deck, saw that there were a number of +small light boats, full of men and of arms, coming up behind them, and +gaining rapidly upon his galley. Antony, now free for a moment from his +enchantress's sway, and acting under the impulse of his own indomitable +boldness and decision, instead of urging the oarsmen to press forward more +rapidly in order to make good their escape, ordered the helm to be put +about, and thus, turning the galley around, he faced his pursuers, and +drove his ship into the midst of them. A violent conflict ensued, the din +and confusion of which was increased by the shocks and collisions between +the boats and the galley. In the end, the boats were beaten off, all +excepting one: that one kept still hovering near, and the commander of it, +who stood upon the deck, poising his spear with an aim at Antony, and +seeking eagerly an opportunity to throw it, seemed by his attitude and the +expression of his countenance to be animated by some peculiarly bitter +feeling of hostility and hate. Antony asked him who he was, that dared so +fiercely to threaten _him_. The man replied by giving his name, and saying +that he came to avenge the death of his father. It proved that he was the +son of a man whom Antony had at a previous time, on some account or +other, caused to be beheaded. + +There followed an obstinate contest between Antony and this fierce +assailant, in the end of which the latter was beaten off. The boats then, +having succeeded in making some prizes from Antony's fleet, though they +had failed in capturing Antony himself, gave up the pursuit and returned. +Antony then went back to his place, sat down in the prow, buried his face +in his hands, and sank into the same condition of hopeless distress and +anguish as before. + +When husband and wife are overwhelmed with misfortune and suffering, each +instinctively seeks a refuge in the sympathy and support of the other. It +is, however, far otherwise with such connections as that of Antony and +Cleopatra. Conscience, which remains calm and quiet in prosperity and +sunshine, rises up with sudden and unexpected violence as soon as the hour +of calamity comes; and thus, instead of mutual comfort and help, each +finds in the thoughts of the other only the means of adding the horrors of +remorse to the anguish of disappointment and despair. So extreme was +Antony's distress, that for three days he and Cleopatra neither saw nor +spoke to each other. She was overwhelmed with confusion and chagrin, and +he was in such a condition of mental excitement that she did not dare to +approach him. In a word, reason seemed to have wholly lost its sway--his +mind, in the alternations of his insanity, rising sometimes to fearful +excitement, in paroxysms of uncontrollable rage, and then sinking again +for a time into the stupor of despair. + +In the mean time, the ships were passing down as rapidly as possible on +the western coast of Greece. When they reached Tænarus, the southern +promontory of the peninsula, it was necessary to pause and consider what +was to be done. Cleopatra's women went to Antony and attempted to quiet +and calm him. They brought him food. They persuaded him to see Cleopatra. +A great number of merchant ships from the ports along the coast gathered +around Antony's little fleet and offered their services. His cause, they +said, was by no means desperate. The army on the land had not been beaten. +It was not even certain that his fleet had been conquered. They endeavored +thus to revive the ruined commander's sinking courage, and to urge him to +make a new effort to retrieve his fortunes. But all was in vain. Antony +was sunk in a hopeless despondency. Cleopatra was determined on going to +Egypt, and he must go too. He distributed what treasure remained at his +disposal among his immediate followers and friends, and gave them advice +about the means of concealing themselves until they could make peace with +Octavius. Then, giving up all as lost, he followed Cleopatra across the +sea to Alexandria. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE END OF CLEOPATRA. + + +The case of Mark Antony affords one of the most extraordinary examples of +the power of unlawful love to lead its deluded and infatuated victim into +the very jaws of open and recognized destruction that history records. +Cases similar in character occur by thousands in common life; but +Antony's, though perhaps not more striking in itself than a great +multitude of others have been, is the most conspicuous instance that has +ever been held up to the observation of mankind. + +In early life, Antony was remarkable, as we have already seen, for a +certain savage ruggedness of character, and for a stern and indomitable +recklessness of will, so great that it seemed impossible that any thing +human should be able to tame him. He was under the control, too, of an +ambition so lofty and aspiring that it appeared to know no bounds; and yet +we find him taken possession of, in the very midst of his career, and in +the height of his prosperity and success, by a woman, and so subdued by +her arts and fascinations as to yield himself wholly to her guidance, and +allow himself to be led about by her entirely at her will. She displaces +whatever there might have been that was noble and generous in his heart, +and substitutes therefor her own principles of malice and cruelty. She +extinguishes all the fires of his ambition, originally so magnificent in +its aims that the world seemed hardly large enough to afford it scope, and +instead of this lofty passion, fills his soul with a love of the lowest, +vilest, and most ignoble pleasures. She leads him to betray every public +trust, to alienate from himself all the affections of his countrymen, to +repel most cruelly the kindness and devotedness of a beautiful and +faithful wife, and, finally, to expel this wife and all of his own +legitimate family from his house; and now, at last, she conducts him away +in a most cowardly and ignoble flight from the field of his duty as a +soldier--he knowing, all the time, that she is hurrying him to disgrace +and destruction, and yet utterly without power to break from the control +of his invisible chains. + + * * * * * + +The indignation which Antony's base abandonment of his fleet and army at +the battle of Actium excited, over all that part of the empire which had +been under his command, was extreme. There was not the slightest possible +excuse for such a flight. His army, in which his greatest strength lay, +remained unharmed, and even his fleet was not defeated. The ships +continued the combat until night, notwithstanding the betrayal of their +cause by their commander. They were at length, however, subdued. The army, +also, being discouraged, and losing all motive for resistance, yielded +too. In a very short time the whole country went over to Octavius's side. + +In the mean time, Cleopatra and Antony, on their first return to Egypt, +were completely beside themselves with terror. Cleopatra formed a plan for +having all the treasures that she could save, and a certain number of +galleys sufficient for the transportation of these treasures and a small +company of friends, carried across the isthmus of Suez and launched upon +the Red Sea, in order that she might escape in that direction, and find +some remote hiding-place and safe retreat on the shores of Arabia or +India, beyond the reach of Octavius's dreaded power. She actually +commenced this undertaking, and sent one or two of her galleys across the +isthmus; but the Arabs seized them as soon as they reached their place of +destination, and killed or captured the men that had them in charge, so +that this desperate scheme was soon abandoned. She and Antony then finally +concluded to establish themselves at Alexandria, and made preparation, as +well as they could, for defending themselves against Octavius there. + +Antony, when the first effects of his panic subsided, began to grow mad +with vexation and resentment against all mankind. He determined that he +would have nothing to do with Cleopatra or with any of her friends, but +went off in a fit of sullen rage, and built a hermitage in a lonely place +on the island of Pharos, where he lived for a time, cursing his folly and +his wretched fate, and uttering the bitterest invectives against all who +had been concerned in it. Here tidings came continually in, informing him +of the defection of one after another of his armies, of the fall of his +provinces in Greece and Asia Minor, and of the irresistible progress which +Octavius was now making toward universal dominion. The tidings of these +disasters coming incessantly upon him kept him in a continual fever of +resentment and rage. + +At last he became tired of his misanthropic solitude, a sort of +reconciliation ensued between himself and Cleopatra, and he went back +again to the city. Here he joined himself once more to Cleopatra, and, +collecting together what remained of their joint resources, they plunged +again into a life of dissipation and vice, with the vain attempt to drown +in mirth and wine the bitter regrets and the anxious forebodings which +filled their souls. They joined with them a company of revelers as +abandoned as themselves, and strove very hard to disguise and conceal +their cares in their forced and unnatural gayety. They could not, however, +accomplish this purpose. Octavius was gradually advancing in his progress, +and they knew very well that the time of his dreadful reckoning with them +must soon come; nor was there any place on earth in which they could look +with any hope of finding a refuge in it from his vindictive hostility. + +Cleopatra, warned by dreadful presentiments of what would probably at last +be her fate, amused herself in studying the nature of poisons--not +theoretically, but practically--making experiments with them on wretched +prisoners and captives whom she compelled to take them, in order that she +and Antony might see the effects which they produced. She made a +collection of all the poisons which she could procure, and administered +portions of them all, that she might see which were sudden and which were +slow in their effects, and also learn which produced the greatest distress +and suffering, and which, on the other hand, only benumbed and stupefied +the faculties, and thus extinguished life with the least infliction of +pain. These experiments were not confined to such vegetable and mineral +poisons as could be mingled with the food or administered in a potion. +Cleopatra took an equal interest in the effects of the bite of venomous +serpents and reptiles. She procured specimens of all these animals, and +tried them upon her prisoners, causing the men to be stung and bitten by +them, and then watching the effects. These investigations were made, not +directly with a view to any practical use which she was to make of the +knowledge thus acquired, but rather as an agreeable occupation, to divert +her mind, and to amuse Antony and her guests. The variety in the forms and +expressions which the agony of her poisoned victims assumed--their +writhings, their cries, their convulsions, and the distortions of their +features when struggling with death, furnished exactly the kind and +degree of excitement which she needed to occupy and amuse her mind. + +Antony was not entirely at ease, however, during the progress of these +terrible experiments. His foolish and childish fondness for Cleopatra was +mingled with jealousy, suspicion, and distrust; and he was so afraid that +Cleopatra might secretly poison him, that he would never take any food or +wine without requiring that she should taste it before him. At length, one +day, Cleopatra caused the petals of some flowers to be poisoned, and then +had the flowers woven into the chaplet which Antony was to wear at supper. +In the midst of the feast, she pulled off the leaves of the flowers from +her own chaplet and put them playfully into her wine, and then proposed +that Antony should do the same with his chaplet, and that they should then +drink the wine, tinctured, as it would be, with the color and the perfume +of the flowers. Antony entered very readily into this proposal, and when +he was about to drink the wine, she arrested his hand, and told him that +it was poisoned. "You see now," said she, "how vain it is for you to watch +against me. If it were possible for me to live without you, how easy it +would be for me to devise ways and means to kill you." Then, to prove that +her words were true, she ordered one of the servants to drink Antony's +wine. He did so, and died before their sight in dreadful agony. + +The experiments which Cleopatra thus made on the nature and effects of +poison were not, however, wholly without practical result. Cleopatra +learned from them, it is said, that the bite of the asp was the easiest +and least painful mode of death. The effect of the venom of that animal +appeared to her to be the lulling of the sensorium into a lethargy or +stupor, which soon ended in death, without the intervention of pain. This +knowledge she seems to have laid up in her mind for future use. + +The thoughts of Cleopatra appear, in fact, to have been much disposed, at +this time, to flow in gloomy channels, for she occupied herself a great +deal in building for herself a sepulchral monument in a certain sacred +portion of the city. This monument had, in fact, been commenced many years +ago, in accordance with a custom prevailing among Egyptian sovereigns, of +expending a portion of their revenues during their life-time in building +and decorating their own tombs. Cleopatra now turned her mind with new +interest to her own mausoleum. She finished it, provided it with the +strongest possible bolts and bars, and, in a word, seemed to be preparing +it in all respects for occupation. + +In the mean time, Octavius, having made himself master of all the +countries which had formerly been under Antony's sway, now advanced, +meeting none to oppose him, from Asia Minor into Syria, and from Syria +toward Egypt. Antony and Cleopatra made one attempt, while he was thus +advancing toward Alexandria, to avert the storm which was impending over +them, by sending an embassage to ask for some terms of peace. Antony +proposed, in this embassage, to give up every thing to his conqueror on +condition that he might be permitted to retire unmolested with Cleopatra +to Athens, and allowed to spend the remainder of their days there in +peace; and that the kingdom of Egypt might descend to their children. +Octavius replied that he could not make any terms with Antony, though he +was willing to consent to any thing that was reasonable in behalf of +Cleopatra. The messenger who came back from Octavius with this reply spent +some time in private interviews with Cleopatra. This aroused Antony's +jealousy and anger. He accordingly ordered the unfortunate messenger to +be scourged and then sent back to Octavius, all lacerated with wounds, +with orders to say to Octavius that if it displeased him to have one of +his servants thus punished, he might revenge himself by scourging a +servant of Antony's, who was then, as it happened, in Octavius's power. + +The news at length suddenly arrived at Alexandria that Octavius had +appeared before Pelusium, and that the city had fallen into his hands. The +next thing Antony and Cleopatra well knew would be, that they should see +him at the gates of Alexandria. Neither Antony nor Cleopatra had any means +of resisting his progress, and there was no place to which they could fly. +Nothing was to be done but to await, in consternation and terror, the sure +and inevitable doom which was now so near. + +Cleopatra gathered together all her treasures and sent them to her tomb. +These treasures consisted of great and valuable stores of gold, silver, +precious stones, garments of the highest cost, and weapons, and vessels of +exquisite workmanship and great value, the hereditary possessions of the +Egyptian kings. She also sent to the mausoleum an immense quantity of +flax, tow, torches, and other combustibles. These she stored in the lower +apartments of the monument, with the desperate determination of burning +herself and her treasures together rather than to fall into the hands of +the Romans. + +In the mean time, the army of Octavius steadily continued its march across +the desert from Pelusium to Alexandria. On the way, Octavius learned, +through the agents in communication with him from within the city, what +were the arrangements which Cleopatra had made for the destruction of her +treasure whenever the danger should become imminent of its falling into +his hands. He was extremely unwilling that this treasure should be lost. +Besides its intrinsic value, it was an object of immense importance to him +to get possession of it for the purpose of carrying it to Rome as a trophy +of his triumph. He accordingly sent secret messengers to Cleopatra, +endeavoring to separate her from Antony, and to amuse her mind with the +profession that he felt only friendship for her, and did not mean to do +her any injury, being in pursuit of Antony only. These negotiations were +continued from day to day while Octavius was advancing. At last the Roman +army reached Alexandria, and invested it on every side. + +As soon as Octavius was established in his camp under the walls of the +city, Antony planned a sally, and he executed it, in fact, with +considerable energy and success. He issued suddenly from the gates, at the +head of as strong a force as he could command, and attacked a body of +Octavius's horsemen. He succeeded in driving these horsemen away from +their position, but he was soon driven back in his turn, and compelled to +retreat to the city, fighting as he fled, to beat back his pursuers. He +was extremely elated at the success of this skirmish. He came to Cleopatra +with a countenance full of animation and pleasure, took her in his arms +and kissed her, all accoutered for battle as he was, and boasted greatly +of the exploit which he had performed. He praised, too, in the highest +terms, the valor of one of the officers who had gone out with him to the +fight, and whom he had now brought to the palace to present to Cleopatra. +Cleopatra rewarded the faithful captain's prowess with a magnificent suit +of armor made of gold. Notwithstanding this reward, however, the man +deserted Antony that very night, and went over to the enemy. Almost all of +Antony's adherents were in the same state of mind. They would have gladly +gone over to the camp of Octavius, if they could have found an opportunity +to do so. + +In fact, when the final battle was fought, the fate of it was decided by a +grand defection in the fleet, which went over in a body to the side of +Octavius. Antony was planning the operations of the day, and +reconnoitering the movements of the enemy from an eminence which he +occupied at the head of a body of foot soldiers--all the land forces that +now remained to him--and looking off from the eminence on which he stood +toward the harbor, he observed a movement among the galleys. They were +going out to meet the ships of Octavius, which were lying at anchor not +very far from them. Antony supposed that his vessels were going to attack +those of the enemy, and he looked to see what exploits they would perform. +They advanced toward Octavius's ships, and when they met them, Antony +observed, to his utter amazement, that, instead of the furious combat that +he had expected to see, the ships only exchanged friendly salutations, by +the use of the customary naval signals; and then his ships, passing +quietly round, took their positions in the lines of the other fleet. The +two fleets had thus become merged and mingled into one. + +Antony immediately decided that this was Cleopatra's treason. She had made +peace with Octavius, he thought, and surrendered the fleet to him as one +of the conditions of it. Antony ran through the city, crying out that he +was betrayed, and in a phrensy of rage sought the palace. Cleopatra fled +to her tomb. She took in with her one or two attendants, and bolted and +barred the doors, securing the fastenings with the heavy catches and +springs that she had previously made ready. She then directed her women to +call out through the door that she had killed herself within the tomb. + +The tidings of her death were borne to Antony. It changed his anger to +grief and despair. His mind, in fact, was now wholly lost to all balance +and control, and it passed from the dominion of one stormy passion to +another with the most capricious facility. He cried out with the most +bitter expressions of sorrow, mourning, he said, not so much Cleopatra's +death, for he should soon follow and join her, as the fact that she had +proved herself so superior to him in courage at last, in having thus +anticipated him in the work of self-destruction. + +He was at this time in one of the chambers of the palace, whither he had +fled in his despair, and was standing by a fire, for the morning was +cold. He had a favorite servant named Eros, whom he greatly trusted, and +whom he had made to take an oath long before, that whenever it should +become necessary for him to die, Eros should kill him. This Eros he now +called to him, and telling him that the time was come, ordered him to take +the sword and strike the blow. + +Eros took the sword while Antony stood up before him. Eros turned his head +aside as if wishing that his eyes should not see the deed which his hands +were about to perform. Instead, however, of piercing his master with it, +he plunged it into his own breast, fell down at Antony's feet, and died. + +Antony gazed a moment at the shocking spectacle, and then said, "I thank +thee for this, noble Eros. Thou hast set me an example. I must do for +myself what thou couldst not do for me." So saying, he took the sword from +his servant's hands, plunged it into his body, and staggering to a little +bed that was near, fell over upon it in a swoon. He had received a mortal +wound. + +The pressure, however, which was produced by the position in which he lay +upon the bed, stanched the wound a little and stopped the flow of blood. +Antony came presently to himself again, and then began to beg and implore +those around him to take the sword and put him out of his misery. But no +one would do it. He lay for a time suffering great pain, and moaning +incessantly, until, at length, an officer came into the apartment and told +him that the story which he had heard of Cleopatra's death was not true; +that she was still alive, shut up in her monument, and that she desired to +see him there. This intelligence was the source of new excitement and +agitation. Antony implored the by-standers to carry him to Cleopatra, that +he might see her once more before he died. They shrank from the attempt; +but, after some hesitation and delay, they concluded to undertake to +remove him. So, taking him in their arms, they bore him along, faint and +dying, and marking their track with his blood, toward the tomb. + +Cleopatra would not open the gates to let the party in. The city was all +in uproar and confusion through the terror of the assault which Octavius +was making upon it, and she did not know what treachery might be intended. +She therefore went up to a window above, and letting down ropes and +chains, she directed those below to fasten the dying body to them, that +she and the two women with her might draw it up. This was done. Those who +witnessed it said that it was a most piteous sight to behold--Cleopatra +and her women above exhausting their strength in drawing the wounded and +bleeding sufferer up the wall, while he, when he approached the window, +feebly raised his arms to them, that they might lift him in. The women had +hardly strength sufficient to draw the body up. At one time it seemed that +the attempt would have to be abandoned; but Cleopatra reached down from +the window as far as she could to get hold of Antony's arms, and thus, by +dint of great effort, they succeeded at last in taking him in. They bore +him to a couch which was in the upper room from which the window opened, +and laid him down, while Cleopatra wrung her hands, and tore her hair, and +uttered the most piercing lamentations and cries. She leaned over the +dying Antony, crying out incessantly with the most piteous exclamations of +grief. She bathed his face, which was covered with blood, and vainly +endeavored to stanch his wound. + +Antony urged her to be calm, and not to mourn his fate. He asked for some +wine. They brought it to him, and he drank it. He then entreated +Cleopatra to save her life, if she possibly could do so, and to make some +terms or other with Octavius, so as to continue to live. Very soon after +this he expired. + +[Illustration: THE RAISING OF ANTONY TO THE UPPER WINDOW OF THE TOMB] + +In the mean time, Octavius had heard of the mortal wound which Antony had +given himself; for one of the by-standers had seized the sword the moment +that the deed was done, and had hastened to carry it to Octavius, and to +announce to him the death of his enemy. Octavius immediately desired to +get Cleopatra into his power. He sent a messenger, therefore, to the tomb, +who attempted to open a parley there with her. Cleopatra talked with the +messenger through the keyholes or crevices, but could not be induced to +open the door. The messenger reported these facts to Octavius. Octavius +then sent another man with the messenger, and while one was engaging the +attention of Cleopatra and her women at the door below, the other obtained +ladders, and succeeded in gaining admission into the window above. +Cleopatra was warned of the success of this stratagem by the shriek of her +woman, who saw the officer coming down the stairs. She looked around, and +observing at a glance that she was betrayed, and that the officer was +coming to seize her, she drew a little dagger from her robe, and was +about to plunge it into her breast, when the officer grasped her arm just +in time to prevent the blow. He took the dagger from her, and then +examined her clothes to see that there were no other secret weapons +concealed there. + +The capture of the queen being reported to Octavius, he appointed an +officer to take her into close custody. This officer was charged to treat +her with all possible courtesy, but to keep a close and constant watch +over her, and particularly to guard against allowing her any possible +means or opportunity for self-destruction. + +In the mean time, Octavius took formal possession of the city, marching in +at the head of his troops with the most imposing pomp and parade. A chair +of state, magnificently decorated, was set up for him on a high elevation +in a public square; and here he sat, with circles of guards around him, +while the people of the city, assembled before him in the dress of +suppliants, and kneeling upon the pavement, begged his forgiveness, and +implored him to spare the city. These petitions the great conqueror +graciously condescended to grant. + +Many of the princes and generals who had served under Antony came next to +beg the body of their commander, that they might give it an honorable +burial. These requests, however, Octavius would not accede to, saying that +he could not take the body away from Cleopatra. He, however, gave +Cleopatra leave to make such arrangements for the obsequies as she thought +fit, and allowed her to appropriate such sums of money from her treasures +for this purpose as she desired. Cleopatra accordingly made the necessary +arrangements, and superintended the execution of them; not, however, with +any degree of calmness and composure, but in a state, on the contrary, of +extreme agitation and distress. In fact, she had been living now so long +under the unlimited and unrestrained dominion of caprice and passion, that +reason was pretty effectually dethroned, and all self-control was gone. +She was now nearly forty years of age, and, though traces of her +inexpressible beauty remained, her bloom was faded, and her countenance +was wan with the effects of weeping, anxiety, and despair. She was, in a +word, both in body and mind, only the wreck and ruin of what she once had +been. + +When the burial ceremonies were performed, and she found that all was +over--that Antony was forever gone, and she herself hopelessly and +irremediably ruined--she gave herself up to a perfect phrensy of grief. +She beat her breast, and scratched and tore her flesh so dreadfully, in +the vain efforts which she made to kill herself, in the paroxysms of her +despair, that she was soon covered with contusions and wounds, which, +becoming inflamed and swelled, made her a shocking spectacle to see, and +threw her into a fever. She then conceived the idea of pretending to be +more sick than she was, and so refusing food and starving herself to +death. She attempted to execute this design. She rejected every medical +remedy that was offered her, and would not eat, and lived thus some days +without food. Octavius, to whom every thing relating to his captive was +minutely reported by her attendants, suspected her design. He was very +unwilling that she should die, having set his heart on exhibiting her to +the Roman people, on his return to the capital, in his triumphal +procession. He accordingly sent her orders, requiring that she should +submit to the treatment prescribed by the physician, and take her food, +enforcing these his commands with a certain threat which he imagined might +have some influence over her. And what threat does the reader imagine +could possibly be devised to reach a mind so sunk, so desperate, so +wretched as hers? Every thing seemed already lost but life, and life was +only an insupportable burden. What interests, then, had she still +remaining upon which a threat could take hold? + +Octavius, in looking for some avenue by which he could reach her, +reflected that she was a mother. Cæsarion, the son of Julius Cæsar, and +Alexander, Cleopatra, and Ptolemy, Antony's children, were still alive. +Octavius imagined that in the secret recesses of her wrecked and ruined +soul there might be some lingering principle of maternal affection +remaining which he could goad into life and action. He accordingly sent +word to her that, if she did not yield to the physician and take her food, +he would kill every one of her children. + +The threat produced its effect. The crazed and frantic patient became +calm. She received her food. She submitted to the physician. Under his +treatment her wounds began to heal, the fever was allayed, and at length +she appeared to be gradually recovering. + +When Octavius learned that Cleopatra had become composed, and seemed to be +in some sense convalescent, he resolved to pay her a visit. As he entered +the room where she was confined, which seems to have been still the upper +chamber of her tomb, he found her lying on a low and miserable bed, in a +most wretched condition, and exhibiting such a spectacle of disease and +wretchedness that he was shocked at beholding her. She appeared, in fact, +almost wholly bereft of reason. When Octavius came in, she suddenly leaped +out of the bed, half naked as she was, and covered with bruises and +wounds, and crawled miserably along to her conqueror's feet in the +attitude of a suppliant. Her hair was torn from her head, her limbs were +swollen and disfigured, and great bandages appeared here and there, +indicating that there were still worse injuries than these concealed. From +the midst of all this squalidness and misery there still beamed from her +sunken eyes a great portion of their former beauty, and her voice still +possessed the same inexpressible charm that had characterized it so +strongly in the days of her prime. Octavius made her go back to her bed +again and lie down. + +Cleopatra then began to talk and excuse herself for what she had done, +attributing all the blame of her conduct to Antony. Octavius, however, +interrupted her, and defended Antony from her criminations, saying to her +that it was not his fault so much as hers. She then suddenly changed her +tone, and acknowledging her sins, piteously implored mercy. She begged +Octavius to pardon and spare her, as if now she were afraid of death and +dreaded it, instead of desiring it as a boon. In a word, her mind, the +victim and the prey alternately of the most dissimilar and inconsistent +passions, was now overcome by fear. To propitiate Octavius, she brought +out a list of all her private treasures, and delivered it to him as a +complete inventory of all that she had. One of her treasurers, however, +named Zeleucus, who was standing by, said to Octavius that that list was +not complete. Cleopatra had, he alleged, reserved several things of great +value, which she had not put down upon it. + +This assertion, thus suddenly exposing her duplicity, threw Cleopatra into +a violent rage. She sprang from her bed and assaulted her secretary in a +most furious manner. Octavius and the others who were there interposed, +and compelled Cleopatra to lie down again, which she did, uttering all the +time the most grievous complaints at the wretched degradation to which she +was reduced, to be insulted thus by her own servants at such a time. If +she had reserved any thing, she said, of her private treasures, it was +only for presents to some of her faithful friends, to induce them the more +zealously to intercede with Octavius in her behalf. Octavius replied by +urging her to feel no concern on the subject whatever. He freely gave her, +he said, all that she had reserved, and he promised in other respects to +treat her in the most honorable and courteous manner. + +Octavius was much pleased at the result of this interview. It was obvious, +as it appeared to him, that Cleopatra had ceased to desire to die; that +she now, on the contrary, wished to live, and that he should accordingly +succeed in his desire of taking her with him to grace his triumph at Rome. +He accordingly made his arrangements for departure, and Cleopatra was +notified that in three days she was to set out, together with her +children, to go into Syria. Octavius said Syria, as he did not wish to +alarm Cleopatra by speaking of Rome. She, however, understood well where +the journey, if once commenced, would necessarily end, and she was fully +determined in her own mind that she would never go there. + +She asked to be allowed to pay one parting visit to Antony's tomb. This +request was granted; and she went to the tomb with a few attendants, +carrying with her chaplets and garlands of flowers. At the tomb her grief +broke forth anew, and was as violent as ever. She bewailed her lover's +death with loud cries and lamentations, uttered while she was placing the +garlands upon the tomb, and offering the oblations and incense, which were +customary in those days, as expressions of grief. "These," said she, as +she made the offerings, "are the last tributes of affection that I can +ever pay thee, my dearest, dearest lord. I can not join thee, for I am a +captive and a prisoner, and they will not let me die. They watch me every +hour, and are going to bear me far away, to exhibit me to thine enemies, +as a badge and trophy of their triumph over thee. Oh intercede, dearest +Antony, with the gods where thou art now, since those that reign here on +earth have utterly forsaken me; implore them to save me from this fate, +and let me die here in my native land, and be buried by thy side in this +tomb." + +When Cleopatra returned to her apartment again after this melancholy +ceremony, she seemed to be more composed than she had been before. She +went to the bath, and then she attired herself handsomely for supper. She +had ordered supper that night to be very sumptuously served. She was at +liberty to make these arrangements, for the restrictions upon her +movements, which had been imposed at first, were now removed, her +appearance and demeanor having been for some time such as to lead Octavius +to suppose that there was no longer any danger that she would attempt +self-destruction. Her entertainment was arranged, therefore, according to +her directions, in a manner corresponding with the customs of her court +when she had been a queen. She had many attendants, and among them were +two of her own women. These women were long-tried and faithful servants +and friends. + +While she was at supper, a man came to the door with a basket, and wished +to enter. The guards asked him what he had in his basket. He opened it to +let them see; and, lifting up some green leaves which were laid over the +top, he showed the soldiers that the basket was filled with figs. He said +that they were for Cleopatra's supper. The soldiers admired the appearance +of the figs, saying that they were very fine and beautiful. The man asked +the soldiers to take some of them. This they declined, but allowed the man +to pass in. When the supper was ended, Cleopatra sent all of her +attendants away except the two women. They remained. After a little time, +one of these women came out with a letter for Octavius, which Cleopatra +had written, and which she wished to have immediately delivered. One of +the soldiers from the guard stationed at the gates was accordingly +dispatched to carry the letter. Octavius, when it was given to him, opened +the envelope at once and read the letter, which was written, as was +customary in those days, on a small tablet of metal. He found that it was +a brief but urgent petition from Cleopatra, written evidently in agitation +and excitement, praying that he would overlook her offense, and allow her +to be buried with Antony. Octavius immediately inferred that she had +destroyed herself. He sent off some messengers at once, with orders to go +directly to her place of confinement and ascertain the truth, intending to +follow them himself immediately. + +The messengers, on their arrival at the gates, found the sentinels and +soldiers quietly on guard before the door, as if all were well. On +entering Cleopatra's room, however, they beheld a shocking spectacle. +Cleopatra was lying dead upon a couch. One of her women was upon the +floor, dead too. The other, whose name was Charmion, was sitting over the +body of her mistress, fondly caressing her, arranging flowers in her hair, +and adorning her diadem. The messengers of Octavius, on witnessing this +spectacle, were overcome with amazement, and demanded of Charmion what it +could mean. "It is all right," said Charmion. "Cleopatra has acted in a +manner worthy of a princess descended from so noble a line of kings." As +Charmion said this, she began to sink herself, fainting, upon the bed, and +almost immediately expired. + +The by-standers were not only shocked at the spectacle which was thus +presented before them, but they were perplexed and confounded in their +attempts to discover by what means Cleopatra and her women had succeeded +in effecting their design. They examined the bodies, but no marks of +violence were to be discovered. They looked all around the room, but no +weapons, and no indication of any means of poison, were to be found. They +discovered something that appeared like the slimy track of an animal on +the wall, toward a window, which they thought might have been produced by +an _asp_; but the animal itself was nowhere to be seen. They examined the +body with great care, but no marks of any bite or sting were to be found, +except that there were two very slight and scarcely-discernible punctures +on the arm, which some persons fancied might have been so caused. The +means and manner of her death seemed to be involved in impenetrable +mystery. + +There were various rumors on the subject subsequently in circulation both +at Alexandria and at Rome, though the mystery was never fully solved. Some +said that there was an asp concealed among the figs which the servant man +brought in in the basket; that he brought it in that manner, by a +preconcerted arrangement between him and Cleopatra, and that, when she +received it, she placed the animal on her arm. Others say that she had a +small steel instrument like a needle, with a poisoned point, which she had +kept concealed in her hair, and that she killed herself with that, without +producing any visible wound. Another story was, that she had an asp in a +box somewhere in her apartment, which she had reserved for this occasion, +and when the time finally came, that she pricked and teased it with a +golden bodkin to make it angry, and then placed it upon her flesh and +received its sting. Which of these stories, if either of them, were true, +could never be known. It has, however, been generally believed among +mankind that Cleopatra died in some way or other by the self-inflicted +sting of the asp, and paintings and sculptures without number have been +made to illustrate and commemorate the scene. + +This supposition in respect to the mode of her death is, in fact, +confirmed by the action of Octavius himself on his return to Rome, which +furnishes a strong indication of his opinion of the manner in which his +captive at last eluded him. Disappointed in not being able to exhibit the +queen herself in his triumphal train, he caused a golden statue +representing her to be made, with an image of an asp upon the arm of it, +and this sculpture he caused to be borne conspicuously before him in his +grand triumphal entry into the capital, as the token and trophy of the +final downfall of the unhappy Egyptian queen. + + +THE END. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See Map of the Delta of the Nile, page 29; also the View of +Alexandria, page 162. + +[2] See map; frontispiece. + +[3] It will be sufficiently accurate for the general reader of history to +consider the Greek talent, referred to in such transactions as these, as +equal in English money to two hundred and fifty pounds, in American to a +thousand dollars. It is curious to observe that, large as the total was +that was paid for the liberation of these slaves, the amount paid for each +individual was, after all, only a sum equal to about five dollars. + +[4] For an account of one of these disasters, with an engraving +illustrative of the scene, see the HISTORY OF CYRUS. + +[5] For the position of this island in respect to Egypt and the +neighboring countries, see map, frontispiece. + +[6] This Octavius, on his subsequent elevation to imperial power, received +the name of Augustus Cæsar, and it is by this name that he is generally +known in history. He was, however, called Octavius at the commencement of +his career, and, to avoid confusion, we shall continue to designate him by +this name to the end of our narrative. + +[7] See map, at the frontispiece. + +[8] Pearls, being of the nature of _shell_ in their composition and +structure, are soluble in certain acids. + +[9] See map for the situation of Ephesus and of Samos. + +[10] These letters, in accordance with the scale of expense and +extravagance on which Cleopatra determined that every thing relating to +herself and Antony should be done, were engraved on tablets made of onyx, +or crystal, or other hard and precious stones. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40205 *** |