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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a416d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #54038 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54038) diff --git a/old/54038-0.txt b/old/54038-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index dc985d9..0000000 --- a/old/54038-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12035 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of -Egypt, by Arthur E.P. Brome Weigall - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt - A Study in the Origin of the Roman Empire - -Author: Arthur E.P. Brome Weigall - -Release Date: January 22, 2017 [EBook #54038] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND TIMES OF CLEOPATRA *** - - - - -Produced by David Garcia, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was made using scans of public domain works from the -University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - The Life and Times of - Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt - - - - -“Histories make men wise.”--BACON. - -“I have no expectation that any man will read history aright who thinks -that what was done in a remote age ... has any deeper sense than what -he is doing to-day.”--EMERSON. - -“To philosophise on mankind exact observation is not sufficient.... -Knowledge of the present must be supplemented from the history of the -past.”--TAINE. - -“Only the dead men know the tunes the live world dances to.”--LE -GALLIENNE. - -“Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for ... the earth shall cast -out the dead.”--ISAIAH. - -[Illustration: - - _British Museum._] [_Photograph by Macbeth._ - -CLEOPATRA. -] - - - - - The Life and Times of - Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt - - A Study in the Origin - of the Roman Empire - - BY - ARTHUR E. P. BROME WEIGALL - - INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES, GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT - AUTHOR OF ‘THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AKHNATON, PHARAOH OF EGYPT,’ - ‘THE TREASURE OF ANCIENT EGYPT,’ ‘TRAVELS IN THE UPPER EGYPTIAN - DESERTS,’ ‘A GUIDE TO THE ANTIQUITIES OF UPPER EGYPT,’ ETC., ETC. - - _WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS_ - - William Blackwood and Sons - Edinburgh and London - 1914 - - _ALL RIGHTS RESERVED_ - - - - - _I DEDICATE THIS BOOK - TO MY FRIEND OF MANY YEARS, - RONALD STORRS, - ORIENTAL SECRETARY TO THE BRITISH AGENCY IN EGYPT, - SCHOLAR, POET, AND MUSICIAN._ - - - - -PREFACE. - - -I have to thank most heartily the Honourable Mrs Julian Byng, Mrs -Gerald Lascelles, Mr Ronald Storrs, and my wife, for reading the proofs -of this volume, and for giving me the benefit of their invaluable -advice. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - INTRODUCTION xiii - - - PART I.--CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR. - - CHAP. - I. AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF CLEOPATRA 3 - - II. THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA 18 - - III. THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF CLEOPATRA 41 - - IV. THE DEATH OF POMPEY AND THE ARRIVAL OF CÆSAR IN EGYPT 65 - - V. CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR 82 - - VI. CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN THE BESIEGED PALACE AT ALEXANDRIA 95 - - VII. THE BIRTH OF CÆSARION AND CÆSAR’S DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT 114 - - VIII. CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN ROME 133 - - IX. THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EGYPTO-ROMAN MONARCHY 153 - - X. THE DEATH OF CÆSAR AND THE RETURN OF CLEOPATRA TO EGYPT 178 - - - PART II.--CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY. - - XI. THE CHARACTER OF ANTONY AND HIS RISE TO POWER 203 - - XII. THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY 224 - - XIII. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY IN ALEXANDRIA 238 - - XIV. THE ALLIANCE RENEWED BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY 254 - - XV. THE PREPARATIONS OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY FOR THE - OVERTHROW OF OCTAVIAN 279 - - XVI. THE DECLINE OF ANTONY’S POWER 303 - - XVII. THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM AND THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 324 - - XVIII. CLEOPATRA’S ATTEMPT TO BEGIN AGAIN 349 - - XIX. OCTAVIAN’S INVASION OF EGYPT AND THE DEATH OF ANTONY 368 - - XX. THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA AND THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN 386 - - - GENEALOGY OF THE PTOLEMIES _At end._ - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - CLEOPATRA _Frontispiece_ - British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. - _To face p._ - PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY 32 - _The painting dates from a generation later than that of - Cleopatra, but it is an example of the work of the - Alexandrian artists._ - - Cairo Museum. Photograph by Brugsch. - - SERAPIS: THE CHIEF GOD OF ALEXANDRIA 48 - Alexandria Museum. - - POMPEY THE GREAT 66 - Rome. Photograph by Anderson. - - JULIUS CÆSAR 88 - British Museum. - - CLEOPATRA 128 - British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. - - JULIUS CÆSAR 160 - Vatican. Photograph by Anderson. - - ANTONY 208 - Vatican. Photograph by Anderson. - - OCTAVIAN 240 - Vatican. Photograph by Anderson. - - ANTONIA, THE DAUGHTER OF ANTONY 290 - British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. - - CLEOPATRA AND HER SON CÆSARION 304 - _Represented conventionally upon a wall of the Temple of - Dendera._ - - CLEOPATRA. 352 - British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. - - OCTAVIAN 376 - Glyptothek, Munich. Photograph by Bruckmann. - - THE NILE 400 - _An example of Alexandrian art._ - Vatican. Photograph by Anderson. - - -MAPS AND PLAN. - - THE KNOWN WORLD IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA xx - - APPROXIMATE PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA 24 - - ÆGYPTUS 66 - - CLEOPATRA’S POSSESSIONS IN RELATION TO THE ROMAN WORLD 268 - - A MAP ILLUSTRATING THE WAR BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND OCTAVIAN 308 - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - -In the following pages it will be observed that, in order not to -distract the reader, I have refrained from adding large numbers of -notes, references, and discussions, such as are customary in works -of this kind. I am aware that by telling a straightforward story in -this manner I lay myself open to the suspicions of my fellow-workers, -for there is always some tendency to take not absolutely seriously a -book which neither prints chapter and verse for its every statement, -nor often interrupts the text with erudite arguments. In the case -of the subject which is here treated, however, it has seemed to me -unnecessary to encumber the pages in this manner, since the sources -of my information are all so well known; and I have thus been able to -present the book to the reader in a style consonant with a principle of -archæological and historical study to which I have always endeavoured -to adhere--namely, the avoidance of as many of those attestations of -learning as may be discarded without real loss. A friend of mine, an -eminent scholar, in discussing with me the scheme of this volume, -earnestly exhorted me on the present occasion not to abide by this -principle. Remarking that the trouble with my interpretation of -history was that I attempted to make the characters live, he urged -me at least to justify the manner of their resuscitation in the eyes -of the doctors of science by cramming my pages with extracts from my -working notes, relevant or otherwise, and by smattering my text with -Latin and Greek quotations. I trust, however, that he was speaking in -behalf of a very small company, for the sooner this kind of jargon -of scholarship is swept into the world’s dust-bin, the better will -it be for public education. To my mind a knowledge of the past is so -necessary to a happy mental poise that it seems absolutely essential -for historical studies to be placed before the general reader in a -manner sympathetic to him. “History,” said Emerson, “no longer shall be -a dull book. It shall walk incarnate in every just and wise man. You -shall not tell me by languages and titles a catalogue of the volumes -you have read. You shall make me feel what periods you have lived.” - -Such has been my attempt in the following pages; and, though I am so -conscious of my literary limitations that I doubt my ability to place -the reader in touch with past events, I must confess to a sense of -gladness that I, at any rate, with almost my whole mind, have lived for -a time in the company of the men and women of long ago of whom these -pages tell. - -Any of my readers who think that my interpretation of the known -incidents here recorded is faulty may easily check my statements -by reference to the classical authors. The sources of information -are available at any big library. They consist of Plutarch, Cicero, -Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Appian, ‘De Bello Alexandrino,’ Strabo, -Diodorus Siculus, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, Seneca, Lucan, Josephus, -Pliny, Dion Chrysostom, Tacitus, Florus, Lucian, Athenæus, Porphyry, -and Orosius. Of modern writers reference should be made to Ferrero’s -‘Greatness and Decline of Rome,’ Bouché-Leclercq’s ‘Histoire des -Lagides,’ Mahaffy’s ‘Empire of the Ptolemies,’ Mommsen’s ‘History of -Rome,’ Strack’s ‘Dynastie der Ptolemäer,’ and Sergeant’s ‘Cleopatra -of Egypt.’ There are also, of course, a very large number of works on -special branches of the subject, which the reader will, without much -difficulty, discover for himself. - -I do not think that my statements of fact will be found to be in -error; but the general interpretation of the events will be seen to be -almost entirely new throughout the story, and therefore plainly open -to discussion. I would only plead for my views that a residence in -Egypt of many years, a close association with Alexandria, Cleopatra’s -capital, and a daily familiarity with Greek and Egyptian antiquities, -have caused me almost unconsciously to form opinions which may not be -at once acceptable to the scholar at home. - -To some extent it is the business of the biographer to make the best -of the characters with which he deals, but the accusation of having -made use of this prerogative in the following pages will not be able -to be substantiated. There is no high purpose served by the historian -who sets down this man or that woman as an unmitigated blackguard, -unless it be palpably impossible to discover any good motive for his -or her actions. And even then it is a pleasant thing to avert, where -possible, the indignation of posterity. An undefined sense of anger is -left upon the mind of many of those who have read pages of condemnatory -history of this kind, written by scholars who themselves are seated -comfortably in the artificial atmosphere of modern righteousness. The -story of the Plantagenet kings of England, for example, as recorded -by Charles Dickens in his ‘Child’s History of England,’ causes the -reader to direct his anger more often to Dickens than to those weary, -battle-stained, old monarchs whose blood many Englishmen are still -proud to acknowledge. An historian who deals with a black period -must not be fastidious. Nor must he detach his characters from their -natural surroundings, and judge them according to a code of morals of -which they themselves knew nothing. The modern, and not infrequently -degenerate, humanitarian may utter his indignant complaint against -the Norman barons who extracted the teeth of the Jewish financiers -to induce them to deliver up their gold; but has he set himself to -feel that pressing need of money which the barons felt, and has he -endeavoured to experience their exasperation at the obstinacy of these -foreigners? Let him do this and his attitude will be more tolerant: one -might even live to see him hastening to the City with a pair of pincers -in his pocket. Of course it is not the historian’s affair to condone, -or become a party to, a crime; but it certainly is his business to -consider carefully the meaning of the term “crime,” and to question its -significance, as Pilate did that of truth. - -In studying the characters of persons who lived in past ages, the -biographer must tell us frankly whether he considers his subjects -good or bad, liberal or mean, pious or impious; but at this late hour -he should not often be wholly condemnatory, nor, indeed, need he be -expected to have so firm a belief in man’s capacity for consistent -action as to admit that any person was so invariably villainous as he -may be said to have been. A natural and inherent love of right-doing -will sometimes lead the historian to err somewhat on the side of -magnanimity; and I dare say he will serve the purpose of history best -when he can honestly find a devil not so black as he is painted. Being -acquainted with the morals of 1509, I would almost prefer to think of -Henry the Eighth as “bluff King Hal,” than as “the most detestable -villain that ever drew breath.”[1] I believe that an historian, in -sympathy with his period, can at one and the same moment absolve Mary -Queen of Scots from the charge of treachery, and defend Elizabeth’s -actions against her on that charge. - -In the case of Cleopatra the biographer may approach his subject from -one of several directions. He may, for example, regard the Queen of -Egypt as a thoroughly bad woman, or as an irresponsible sinner, or as -a moderately good woman in a difficult situation. In this book it is -my object to point out the difficulty of the situation, and to realise -the adverse circumstances against which the Queen had to contend; and -by so doing a fairer complexion will be given to certain actions which -otherwise must inevitably be regarded as darkly sinful. The biographer -need not, for the sake of his principles, turn his back on the sinner -and refuse to consider the possibility of extenuating circumstances. -He need not, as we so often must in regard to our contemporaries, make -a clear distinction between good and bad, shunning the sinner that -our intimates may not be contaminated. The past, to some extent, is -gone beyond the eventuality of Hell; and Time, the great Redeemer, -has taken from the world the sharpness of its sin. The historian -thus may put himself in touch with distant crime, and may attempt -to apologise for it, without the charge being brought against him -that in so doing he deviates from the stern path of moral rectitude. -Intolerance is the simple expedient of contemporaneous society: the -historian must show his distaste for wrong-doing by other means. We -dare not excuse the sins of our fellows; but the wreck of times past, -the need of reconstruction and rebuilding, gives the writer of history -and biography a certain option in the selection of the materials which -he uses in the resuscitation of his characters. He holds a warrant -from the Lord of the Ages to give them the benefit of the doubt; and -if it be his whim to ignore this licence and to condemn wholesale a -character or a family, he sometimes loses, by a sort of perversion, the -prerogative of his calling. The historian must examine from all sides -the events which he is studying; and in regard to the subject with -which this volume deals he must be particularly careful not to direct -his gaze upon it only from the point of view of the Imperial Court of -Rome, which regarded Cleopatra as the ancestral enemy of the dynasty. -In dealing with history, says Emerson, “we, as we read, must become -Greeks, Romans, Turks, priest and king, martyr and executioner.” Even -so, as we study the life of Cleopatra, we must set behind us that view -of the case that was held by one section of humanity. In like manner we -must rid ourselves of the influence of the thought of any one period, -and must ignore that aspect of morality which has been developed in us -by contact with the age in which we have the fortune to live. Good and -evil are relative qualities, defined very largely by public opinion; -and it must always be remembered that certain things which are -considered to be correct to-day may have the denunciation of yesterday -and to-morrow. We, as we read of the deeds of the Queen of Egypt, -must doff our modern conception of right and wrong together with our -top-hats and frock-coats; and, as we pace the courts of the Ptolemies, -and breathe the atmosphere of the first century before Christ, we must -not commit the anachronism of criticising our surroundings from the -standard of twenty centuries after Christ. It is, of course, apparent -that to a great extent we must be influenced by the thought of to-day; -but the true student of history will make the effort to cast from him -the shackles of his contemporaneous opinions, and to parade the bygone -ages in the boundless freedom of a citizen of all time and a dweller in -every land. - -[Illustration: - - THE KNOWN WORLD - IN THE TIME OF - CLEOPATRA -] - - - - -PART I. - -CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF CLEOPATRA. - - -To those who make a close inquiry into the life of Cleopatra it will -speedily become apparent that the generally accepted estimate of her -character was placed before the public by those who sided against her -in regard to the quarrel between Antony and Octavian. During the last -years of her life the great Queen of Egypt became the mortal enemy -of the first of the Roman Emperors, and the memory of her historic -hostility was perpetuated by the supporters of every Cæsar of that -dynasty. Thus the beliefs now current as to Cleopatra’s nefarious -influence upon Julius Cæsar and Marc Antony are, in essence, the simple -abuse of her opponents; nor has History preserved to us any record of -her life set down by one who was her partisan in the great struggle in -which she so bravely engaged herself. It is a noteworthy fact, however, -that the writer who is most fair to her memory, namely, the inimitable -Plutarch, appears to have obtained much of his information from the -diary kept by Cleopatra’s doctor, Olympus. I do not presume in this -volume to offer any kind of apology for the much-maligned Queen, but it -will be my object to describe the events of her troubled life in such -a manner that her aims, as I understand them, may be fairly placed -before the reader; and there can be little doubt that, if I succeed in -giving plausibility to the speculations here advanced, the actions of -Cleopatra will, without any particular advocacy, assume a character -which, at any rate, is no uglier than that of every other actor in this -strange drama. - -The injustice, the adverse partiality, of the attitude assumed by -classical authors will speedily become apparent to all unbiassed -students; and a single instance of this obliquity of judgment is all -that need be mentioned here to illustrate my contention. I refer to -the original intimacy between Cleopatra and Julius Cæsar. According -to the accepted view of historians, both ancient and modern, the -great Dictator is supposed to have been led astray by the voluptuous -Egyptian, and to have been detained in Alexandria, against his better -judgment, by the wiles of this Siren of the East. At this time, -however, as will be seen in due course, Cleopatra, “the stranger for -whom the Roman half-brick was never wanting,”[2] was actually an -unmarried girl of some twenty-one years of age, against whose moral -character not one shred of trustworthy evidence can be advanced; -while, on the other hand, Cæsar was an elderly man who had ruined -the wives and daughters of an astounding number of his friends, and -whose reputation for such seductions was of a character almost past -belief. How anybody, therefore, who has the known facts before him, -can attribute the blame to Cleopatra in this instance, must become -altogether incomprehensible to any student of the events of that time. -I do not intend to represent the Queen of Egypt as a particularly -exalted type of her sex, but an attempt will be made to deal justly -with her, and by giving her on occasion, as in a court of law, the -benefit of the doubt, I feel assured that the reader will be able -to see in her a very good average type of womanhood. Nor need I, in -so doing, be accused of using on her behalf the privilege of the -biographer, which is to make excuses. I will not simply set forth the -case for Cleopatra as it were in her defence: I will tell the whole -story of her life as it appears to me, admitting always the possible -correctness of the estimate of her character held by other historians, -but, at the same time, offering to public consideration a view of her -deeds and devices which, if accepted, will clear her memory of much -of that unpleasant stigma so long attached to it, and will place her -reputation upon a level with those of the many famous persons of her -time, not one of whom can be called either thoroughly bad or wholly -good. - -So little is known with any certainty as to Cleopatra’s appearance, -that the biographer must feel considerable reluctance in presenting her -to his readers in definite guise; yet the duties of an historian do not -permit him to deal with ghosts and shadows, or to invoke from the past -only the misty semblance of those who once were puissant realities. -For him the dead must rise not as phantoms hovering uncertainly at the -mouth of their tombs, but as substantial entities observable in every -detail to the mental eye; and he must endeavour to convey to others the -impression, however faulty, which he himself has received. In the case -of Cleopatra the materials necessary for her resuscitation are meagre, -and one is forced to call in the partial assistance of the imagination -in the effort to rebuild once more that body which has been so long -dissolved into Egyptian dust. - -A few coins upon which the Queen’s profile is stamped, and a bust of -poor workmanship in the British Museum, are the sole[3] sources of -information as to her features. The colour of her eyes and of her -hair is not known; nor can it be said whether her skin was white as -alabaster, like that of many of her Macedonian fellow-countrywomen, or -whether it had that olive tone so often observed amongst the Greeks. -Even her beauty, or rather the degree of her beauty, is not clearly -defined. It must be remembered that, so far as we know, not one drop of -Oriental blood flowed in Cleopatra’s veins, and that therefore her type -must be considered as Macedonian Greek. The slightly brown skin of the -Egyptian, the heavy dark eyes of the East, full, as it were, of sleep, -the black hair of silken texture, are not features which are to be -assigned to her. On the contrary, many Macedonian women are fair-haired -and blue-eyed, and that colouring is frequently to be seen amongst the -various peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean. Nevertheless, it seems -most probable, all things considered, that she was a brunette; but in -describing her as such it must be borne in mind that there is nothing -more than a calculated likelihood to guide us. - -The features of her face seem to have been strongly moulded, although -the general effect given is that of smallness and delicacy. Her nose -was aquiline and prominent, the nostrils being sensitive and having an -appearance of good breeding. Her mouth was beautifully formed, the lips -appearing to be finely chiselled. Her eyes were large and well placed, -her eyebrows delicately pencilled. The contour of her cheek and chin -was charmingly rounded, softening, thus, the lines of her clear-cut -features. “Her beauty,” says Plutarch, “was not in itself altogether -incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her”; and he adds -that Octavia, afterwards Antony’s wife, was the more beautiful of the -two women. But he admits, and no other man denies, that her personal -charm and magnetism were very great. “She was splendid to hear and to -see,” says Dion Cassius, “and was capable of conquering the hearts -which had resisted most obstinately the influence of love and those -which had been frozen by age.” - -It is probable that she was very small in build. In order to obtain -admittance to her palace upon an occasion of which we shall presently -read, it is related that she was rolled up in some bedding and carried -over the shoulders of an attendant, a fact which indicates that -her weight was not considerable. The British Museum bust seems to -portray the head of a small woman; and, moreover, Plutarch refers to -her in terms which suggest that her charm lay to some extent in her -daintiness. One imagines her thus to have been in appearance a small, -graceful woman; prettily rounded rather than slight; white-skinned; -dark-haired and dark-eyed; beautiful, and yet by no means a perfect -type of beauty. - -Her voice is said to have been her most powerful weapon, for by -the perfection of its modulations it was at all times wonderfully -persuasive and seductive. - - “The Devil hath not, in all his quiver’s choice, - An arrow for the heart like a sweet voice,” - -says Byron; and in the case of Cleopatra this poignant gift of Nature -must have served her well throughout her life. “Familiarity with her,” -writes Plutarch, “had an irresistible charm; and her form, combined -with her persuasive speech, and with the peculiar character which in a -manner was diffused about her behaviour, produced a certain piquancy. -There was a sweetness in the sound of her voice when she spoke.” “Her -charm of speech,” Dion Cassius tells us, “was such that she won all who -listened.” - -Her grace of manner was as irresistible as her voice; for, as Plutarch -remarks, there seems to have been this peculiar, undefined charm in -her behaviour. It may have been largely due to a kind of elusiveness -and subtilty; but it would seem also to have been accentuated by a -somewhat naïve and childish manner, a waywardness, an audacity, a -capriciousness, which enchanted those around her. Though often wild -and inclined to romp, she possessed considerable dignity and at times -was haughty and proud. Pliny speaks of her as being disdainful and -vain, and indeed so Cicero found her when he met her in Rome; but this -was an attitude perhaps assumed by the Queen as a defence against the -light criticisms of those Roman nobles of the Pompeian faction who -may have found her position not so honourable as she herself believed -it to be. There is, indeed, little to indicate that her manner was by -nature overbearing; and one is inclined to picture her as a natural, -impulsive woman who passed readily from haughtiness to simplicity. -Her actions were spontaneous, and one may suppose her to have been in -her early years as often artless as cunning. Her character was always -youthful, her temperament vivacious, and her manner frequently what may -be called harum-scarum. She enjoyed life, and with candour took from -it whatever pleasures it held out to her. Her untutored heart leapt -from mirth to sorrow, from comedy to tragedy, with unexpected ease; and -with her small hands she tossed about her the fabric of her complex -circumstances like a mantle of light and darkness. - -She was a gifted woman, endowed by nature with ready words and a -happy wit. “She could easily turn her tongue,” says Plutarch, “like -a many-stringed instrument, to any language that she pleased. She -had very seldom need of an interpreter for her communication with -foreigners, but she answered most men by herself, namely Ethiopians, -Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, and Parthians. She is -said to have learned the language of many other peoples, though the -kings, her predecessors, had not even taken the pains to learn the -Egyptian tongue, and some of them had not so much as given up the -Macedonian dialect.” Statecraft made a strong appeal to her, and as -Queen of Egypt she served the cause of her dynasty’s independence and -aggrandisement with passionate energy. Dion Cassius tells us that she -was intensely ambitious, and most careful that due honour should be -paid to her throne. Her actions go to confirm this estimate, and one -may see her consumed at times with a legitimate desire for world-power. -Though clever and bold she was not highly skilled, so far as one can -see, in the diplomatic art; but she seems to have plotted and schemed -in the manner common to her house, not so much with great acuteness or -profound depth as with sustained intensity and a sort of conviction. -Tenacity of purpose is seen to have been her prevailing characteristic; -and her unwavering struggle for her rights and those of her son -Cæsarion will surely be followed by the interested reader through the -long story before him with real admiration. - -It is unanimously supposed that Cleopatra was, as Josephus words it, a -slave to her lusts. The vicious sensuality of the East, the voluptuous -degeneracy of an Oriental court, are thought to have found their most -apparent expression in the person of this unfortunate Queen. Yet -what was there, beyond the ignorant and prejudiced talk of her Roman -enemies, to give a foundation to such an estimate of her character? She -lived practically as Cæsar’s _wife_ for some years, it being said, I -believe with absolute truth, that he intended to make her Empress of -Rome and his legal consort. After his assassination she married Antony, -and cohabited with him until the last days of her life. At an age when -the legal rights of marriage were violated on every side, when all -Rome and all Alexandria were deeply involved in domestic intrigues, -Cleopatra, so far as I can see, confined her attentions to the two men -who in sequence each acted towards her in the manner of a legitimate -husband, each being recognised in Egypt as her divinely-sanctioned -consort. The words of Dion Cassius, which tell us that “no wealth could -satisfy her, and her passions were insatiable,” do not suggest a more -significant foundation than that her life was lived on extravagant and -prodigal lines. There is no doubt that she was open to the accusations -of her enemies, who described her habits as dissipated and intemperate; -but there seems to be little to indicate that she was in any way a -Delilah or a Jezebel. For all we know, she may have been a very -moral woman: certainly she was the fond mother of four children, a -fact which, even at that day, may be said to indicate, to a certain -extent, a voluntary assumption of the duties of motherhood. After due -consideration of all the evidence, I am of opinion that though her -nature may have been somewhat voluptuous, and though her passions were -not always under control, the best instincts of her sex were by no -means absent; and indeed, in her maternal aspect, she may be described -as a really good woman. - -The state of society at the time must be remembered. In Rome, as -well as in Alexandria, love intrigues were continuously in progress. -Mommsen, in writing of the moral corruption of the age, speaks of the -extraordinary degeneracy of the dancing girl of the period, whose -record “pollutes even the pages of history.” “But,” he adds, “their, -as it were, licensed trade was materially injured by the free act of -the ladies of aristocratic circles. Liaisons in the first houses had -become so frequent that only a scandal altogether exceptional could -make them the subject of special talk, and judicial interference seemed -now almost ridiculous.” Against such a background Cleopatra’s domestic -life with Cæsar, and afterwards with Antony, assumes, by contrast, a -fair character which is not without its refreshing aspect. We see her -intense and lifelong devotion to her eldest son Cæsarion, we picture -her busy nursery in the royal palace, which at one time resounded to -the cries of a pair of lusty twins, and the vision of the Oriental -voluptuary fades from our eyes. Can this dainty little woman, we ask, -who soothes at her breast the cries of her fat baby, while three sturdy -youngsters play around her, be the sensuous Queen of the East? Can this -tender, ingenuous, smiling mother of Cæsar’s beloved son be the Siren -of Egypt? There is not a particle of trustworthy evidence to show that -Cleopatra carried on a single love affair in her life other than the -two recorded so dramatically by history, nor is there any evidence to -show that in those two affairs she conducted herself in a licentious -manner. - -Cleopatra was in many ways a refined and cultured woman. Her linguistic -powers indicate a certain studiousness; and at the same time she seems -to have been a patron of the arts. It is recorded that she made Antony -present to the city of Alexandria the library which once belonged to -Pergamum, consisting of 200,000 volumes; and Cicero seems to record the -fact that she interested herself in obtaining certain books for him -from Alexandria. She inherited from her family a temperament naturally -artistic; and there is no reason to suppose that she failed to carry -on the high tradition of her house in this regard. She was a patron -also of the sciences, and Photinus, the mathematician, who wrote both -on arithmetic and geometry, published a book actually under her name, -called the ‘Canon of Cleopatra.’ The famous physician Dioscorides -was, it would seem, the friend and attendant of the Queen; and the -books which he wrote at her court have been read throughout the ages. -Sosigenes, the astronomer, was also, perhaps, a friend of Cleopatra, -and it may have been through her good offices that he was introduced to -Cæsar, with whom he collaborated in the reformation of the calendar. -The evidence is very inconsiderable in regard to the Queen’s personal -attitude towards the arts and sciences, but sufficient may be gleaned -to give some support to the suggestion that she did not fall below the -standard set by her forefathers. One feels that her interest in such -matters is assured by the fact that she held for so long the devotion -of such a man of letters as Julius Cæsar. There is little doubt that -she was capable of showing great seriousness of mind when occasion -demanded, and that her demeanour, so frequently tumultuous, was often -thoughtful and quiet. - -At the same time, however, one must suppose that she viewed her life -with a light heart, having, save towards the end, a greater familiarity -with laughter than with tears. She was at all times ready to make merry -or jest, and a humorous adventure seems to have made a special appeal -to her. With Antony, as we shall see, she was wont to wander around -the city at night-time, knocking at people’s doors in the darkness and -running away when they were opened. It is related how once when Antony -was fishing in the sea, she made a diver descend into the water to -attach to his line a salted fish, which he drew to the surface amidst -the greatest merriment. One gathers from the early writers that her -conversation was usually sparkling and gay; and it would seem that -there was often an infectious frivolity in her manner which made her -society most exhilarating. - -She was eminently a woman whom men might love, for she was active, -high-spirited, plucky, and dashing. To use a popular phrase, she was -always “game” for an adventure. Her courageous return to Egypt after -she had been driven into exile by her brother, is an indication of her -brave spirit; and the daring manner in which she first obtained her -introduction to Cæsar, causing herself to be carried into the palace on -a man’s back, is a convincing instance of that audacious courage which -makes so strong an appeal on her behalf to the imagination. Florus, who -was no friend of the Queen’s, speaks of her as being “free from all -womanly fear.” - -We now come to the question as to whether she was cruel by nature. -It must be admitted that she caused the assassination of her sister -Arsinoe, and ordered the execution of others who were, at that time, -plotting against her. But it must be remembered that political murders -of this kind were a custom--nay, a habit--of the period; and, moreover, -the fact that the Queen of Egypt used her rough soldiers for the -purpose does not differentiate the act from that of Good Queen Bess who -employed a Lord Chief Justice and an axe. The early demise of Ptolemy -XV., her brother, is attributable as much to Cæsar as to Cleopatra, -if, indeed, he did not die a natural death. The execution of King -Artavasdes of Armenia was a political act of no great significance. And -the single remaining charge of cruelty which may be brought against -the Queen, namely, that she tested the efficacy of various poisons on -the persons of condemned criminals, need not be regarded as indicating -callousness on her part; for it mattered little to the condemned -prisoner what manner of sudden death he should die, but, on the other -hand, the discovery of a pleasant solution to the quandary of her own -life was a point of capital importance to herself. When we recall -the painful record of callous murders which were perpetrated during -the reigns of her predecessors, we cannot attribute to Cleopatra any -extraordinary degree of heartlessness, nor can we say that she showed -herself to be as cruel as were other members of her family. She lived -in a ruthless age; and, on the whole, her behaviour was tolerant and -good-natured. - -In religious matters she was not, like so many persons of that period, -a disbeliever in the power of the gods. She had a strong pagan belief -in the close association of divinity and royalty, and she seems to have -accepted without question the hereditary assurance of her own celestial -affiliation. She was wont to dress herself on gala occasions in the -robes of Isis or Aphrodite, and to act the part of a goddess incarnate -upon earth, assuming not divine powers but divine rights. She regarded -herself as being closely in communion with the virile gods of Egypt -and Greece; and when signs and wonders were pointed out to her by her -astrologers, or when she noted good or ill omens in the occurrences -around her, she was particularly prone to giving them full recognition -as being communications from her heavenly kin. Her behaviour at the -battle of Actium is often said to have been due to her consciousness of -the warnings which she had received by means of such portents; and on -other occasions in her life her actions were ordered by these means. -It is related by Josephus that she violated the temples of Egypt in -order to obtain money to carry on the war against Rome, and that no -place was so holy or so infamous that she would not attempt to strip -it of its treasures when she was pressed for gold. If this be true, -it may be argued in the Queen’s defence that the possessions of the -gods were considered by her to be, as it were, her own property, as -the representative of heaven upon earth, and in this case they were -the more especially at her disposal since they were to be converted -into money for the glory of Egypt. As a matter of fact, it is probable -that in the last emergencies of her reign, the Queen’s agents obtained -supplies wherever they found them, and, if Cleopatra was consulted at -all, she was far too distracted to give the matter very serious thought. - -It is not necessary here to inquire further into the character of -the Queen. Her personality, as I see it, will become apparent in the -following record of her tragic life. It is essential to remember -that, though her faults were many, she was not what is usually called -_bad_. She was a brilliant, charming, and beautiful woman; perhaps -not over-scrupulous and yet not altogether unprincipled; ready, no -doubt, to make use of her charms, but not an immoral character. As -the historian pictures her figure moving lightly through the mazes of -her life, now surrounded by her armies in the thick of battle; now -sailing up the moonlit Nile in her royal barge with Cæsar beside her; -now tenderly playing in the nursery with her babies; now presiding -brilliantly at the gorgeous feasts in the Alexandrian palace; now -racing in disguise down the side-streets of her capital, choking -with suppressed laughter; now speeding across the Mediterranean to -her doom; and now, all haggard and forlorn, holding the deadly asp -to her body,--he cannot fail to fall himself under the spell of that -enchantment by which the face of the world was changed. He finds that -he is dealing not with a daughter of Satan, who, from her lair in the -East, stretches out her hand to entrap Rome’s heroes, but with mighty -Cæsar’s wife and widow, fighting for Cæsar’s child; with Antony’s -faithful consort, striving, as will be shown, to unite Egypt and Rome -in one vast empire. He sees her not as the crowned courtesan of the -Orient, but as the excellent royal lady, who by her wits and graces -held captive the two greatest men of her time in the bonds of a union -which in Egypt was equivalent to a legal marriage. He sees before him -once more the small, graceful figure, whose beauty compels, whose voice -entices, and in whose face (it may be by the kindly obliterations of -time) there is no apparent evil; and the unprejudiced historian must -find himself hard put to it to say whether his sympathies are ranged -on the side of Cleopatra or on that of her Roman rival in the great -struggle for the mastery of the whole earth which is recorded in the -following pages. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA. - - -No study of the life of Cleopatra can be of true value unless the -position of the city of Alexandria, her capital, in relationship -to Egypt on the one hand and to Greece and Rome on the other, is -fully understood and appreciated. The reader must remember, and bear -continually in mind, that Alexandria was at that time, and still is, -more closely connected in many ways with the Mediterranean kingdoms -than with Egypt proper. It bore, geographically, no closer relation to -the Nile valley than Carthage bore to the interior of North Africa. -Indeed, to some extent it is legitimate in considering Alexandria -to allow the thoughts to find a parallel in the relationship of -Philadelphia to the interior of America in the seventeenth century or -of Bombay to India in the eighteenth century, for in these cases we see -a foreign settlement, representative of a progressive civilisation, -largely dependent on transmarine shipping for its prosperity, set down -on the coast of a country whose habits are obsolete. It is almost as -incorrect to class the Alexandrian Queen Cleopatra as a native Egyptian -as it would be to imagine William Penn as a Red Indian or Warren -Hastings as a Hindoo. Cleopatra in Alexandria was cut off from Egypt. -There is no evidence that she ever even saw the Sphinx, and it would -seem that the single journey up the Nile of which the history of her -reign gives us any record was undertaken by her solely at the desire of -Cæsar. Bearing this fact in mind, I do not think it is desirable for me -to refer at any length to the affairs, or to the manners and customs, -of Egypt proper in this volume; and it will be observed that, in order -to avoid giving to events here recorded an Egyptian character which -in reality they did not possess in any very noticeable degree, I have -refrained from introducing any account of the people who lived in the -great country behind Alexandria over which Cleopatra reigned. - -The topographical position of Alexandria, selected by its illustrious -founder, seems to have been chosen on account of its detachment from -Egypt proper. The city was erected upon a strip of land having the -Mediterranean on the one side and the Mareotic lake on the other. It -was thus cut off from the hinterland far more effectively even than -was Carthage by its semicircle of hills. Alexander had intended to -make the city a purely Greek settlement, the port at which the Greeks -should land their goods for distribution throughout Egypt, and whence -the produce of the abundant Nile should be shipped to the north and -west. He selected a remote corner of the Delta for his site, with the -plain intention of holding his city at once free of, and in dominion -over, Egypt; and so precisely was the location suited to his purpose -that until this day Alexandria is in little more than name a city of -the Egyptians. Even at the present time, when an excellent system of -express railway trains connects Alexandria with Cairo and Upper Egypt, -there are many well-to-do inhabitants who have not seen more that -ten miles of Egyptian landscape; and the vast majority have never -been within sight of the Pyramids. The wealthy foreigners settled in -Alexandria often know nothing whatsoever about Egypt, and Cairo itself -is beyond their ken. The Greeks, Levantines, and Jews, who now, as in -ancient days, form a very large part of the population of Alexandria, -would shed bitter tears of gloomy foreboding were they called upon to -penetrate into the Egypt which the tourists and the officials know and -love. The middle-class Egyptians of Alexandria are rarely tempted to -enter Egypt proper, and even those who have inherited a few acres of -land in the interior are often unwilling to visit their property. - -Egypt as we know it is a _terra incognita_ to the Alexandrian. The -towering cliffs of the desert, the wide Nile, the rainless skies, -the amazing brilliance of the stars, the ruins of ancient temples, -the great pyramids, the decorated tombs, the clustered mud-huts of -the villages in the shade of the dom-palms and the sycamores, the -creaking _sakkiehs_ or water-wheels, the gracefully worked _shadufs_ or -water-hoists,--all these are unknown to the inhabitants of Alexandria. -They have never seen the hot deserts and the white camel-tracks over -the hills, they have not looked upon the Nile tumbling over the granite -rocks of the cataracts, nor have they watched the broad expanse of -the inundation. That peculiar, undefined aspect and feeling which is -associated with the thought of Egypt in the minds of visitors and -residents does not tincture the impression of the Alexandrians. They -have not felt the subtle influence of the land of the Pharaohs: they -are sons of the Mediterranean, not children of the Nile. - -The climate of Alexandria is very different from that of the interior -of the Delta, and bears no similarity to that of Upper Egypt. At -Thebes the winter days are warm and brilliantly sunny, the nights -often extremely cold. The summer climate is intensely hot, and there -are times when the resident might there believe himself an inhabitant -of the infernal regions. The temperature in and around Cairo is more -moderate, and the summer is tolerable, though by no means pleasant. In -Alexandria, however, the summer is cool and temperate. There is perhaps -no climate in the entire world so perfect as that of Alexandria in the -early summer. The days are cloudless, breezy, and brilliant; the nights -cool and even cold. In August and September it is somewhat damp, and -therefore unpleasant; but it is never very hot, and the conditions of -life are almost precisely those of southern Europe. - -The winter days on the sea-coast are often cold and rainy, the climate -being not unlike that of Italy at the same time of year. People must -needs wear thick clothing, and must study the barometer before taking -their promenades. While Thebes, and even the Pyramids, bask in more -or less continual sunshine, the city of Alexandria is lashed by -intermittent rainstorms, and the salt sea-wind buffets the pedestrians -as it screams down the paved streets. The peculiar texture of the true -Egyptian atmosphere is not felt in Alexandria: the air is that of -Marseilles, of Naples, or of the Piræus. - -In summer-time the sweating official of the south makes his way seaward -in the spirit of one who leaves the tropics for northern shores. He -enters the northbound express on some stifling evening in June, the -amazing heat still radiating from the frowning cliffs of the desert, -and striking up into his eyes from the parched earth around the -station. He lies tossing and panting in his berth while the electric -fans beat down the hot air upon him, until the more temperate midnight -permits him to fall into a restless sleep. In the morning he arrives -at Cairo, where the moisture runs more freely from his face by reason -of the greater humidity, though now the startling intensity of the -heat is not felt. Anon he travels through the Delta towards the north, -still mopping his brow as the morning sun bursts into the carriage. But -suddenly, a few miles from the coast, a change is felt. For the first -time, perhaps for many weeks, he feels cool: he wishes his clothes were -not so thin. He packs up his helmet and dons a straw hat. Arriving at -Alexandria, he is amused to find that he actually feels chilly. He no -longer dreads to move abroad in the sun at high noon, but, waving aside -the importunate carriage-drivers, he walks briskly to his hotel. He -does not sit in a darkened room with windows tightly shut against the -heat, but pulls the chair out on to the verandah to take the air; and -at night he does not lie stark naked on his bed in the garden, cursing -the imagined heat of the stars and the moon, and praying for the mercy -of sleep; but, like a white man in his own land, he tucks himself up -under a blanket in the cool bedroom, and awakes lively and refreshed. - -A European may live the year round at Alexandria, and may express a -preference for the summer. The wives and children of English officials -not infrequently remain there throughout the warmer months, not from -necessity but from choice; and there are many persons of northern -blood who are happy to call it their home. In Cairo such families -rarely remain during the summer, unless under compulsion, while in -Upper Egypt there is hardly a white woman in the land between May and -October. Egypt is considered by them to be solely a winter residence, -and the official is of opinion that he pays toll to fortune for the -pleasures of the winter season by the perils and torments of the -summer months. Even the middle and upper class Egyptians themselves, -recruited, as they generally are in official circles, from Cairo, -suffer terribly from the heat in the south--often more so, indeed, than -the English; and I myself on more than one occasion have had to abandon -a summer day’s ride owing to the prostration of one of the native staff. - -The Egyptian of Alexandria and the north looks with scorn upon the -inhabitants of the upper country. The southerner, on the other hand, -has no epithet of contempt more biting than that of “Alexandrian.” To -the hardy peasant of the Thebaid the term means all that “scalliwag” -denotes to us. The northern Egyptian, unmindful of the relationship -of a kettle to a saucepan, calls the southerner “black” in disdainful -tones. A certain Alexandrian Egyptian of undiluted native stock, who -was an official in a southern district, told me that he found life -very dull in his provincial capital, surrounded as he was by “all -these confounded niggers.” And if the _Egyptians_ of Alexandria are -thus estranged from those who constitute the backbone of the Egyptian -nation, it will be understood how great is the gulf between the Greeks -or other foreign residents in that city and the bulk of the people of -the Nile. - -I am quite sure that Cleopatra spoke of the Egyptians of the interior -as “confounded niggers.” Her interests and sympathies, like those of -her city, were directed across the Mediterranean. She held no more -intimate relationship to Egypt than does the London millionaire to -the African gold-mines which he owns. Alexandria at the present day -still preserves the European character with which it was endowed by -Alexander and the Ptolemies; or perhaps it were more correct to say -that it has once more assumed that character. There are large quarters -of the city, of course, which are native in style and appearance, -but, viewed as a whole, it suggests to the eye rather an Italian -than an Egyptian seaport. It has extremely little in common with the -Egyptian metropolis and other cities of the Nile; and we are aware that -there was no greater similarity in ancient times. The very flowers -and trees are different. In Upper Egypt the gardens have a somewhat -artificial beauty, for the grace of the land is more dependent upon the -composition of cliffs, river, and fields. There are few wild-flowers, -and little natural grass. In the gardens the flowers are evident -importations, while the lawns have to be sown every autumn, and do -not survive the summer. But in Alexandria there is always a blaze of -flowers, and one notes with surprise the English hollyhocks, foxgloves, -and stocks growing side by side with the plants of southern Europe. In -the fields of Mariout, over against Alexandria, the wild-flowers in -spring are those of the hills of Greece. Touched by the cool breeze -from the sea, one walks over ground scarlet and gold with poppies and -daisies; there bloom asphodel and iris; and the ranunculus grows to -the size of a tulip. There is a daintiness in these fields and gardens -wholly un-Egyptian, completely different from the more permanent grace -of the south. One feels that Pharaoh walked not in fields of asphodel, -that Amon had no dominion here amidst the poppies by the sea. One is -transplanted in imagination to Greece and to Italy, and the knowledge -becomes the more apparent that Cleopatra and her city were an integral -part of European life, only slightly touched by the very finger-tips of -the Orient. - -[Illustration: - - Approximate plan of - ALEXANDRIA - in the time of Cleopatra. -] - -The coast of Egypt rises so little above the level of the Mediterranean -that the land cannot be seen by those approaching it from across the -sea, until but a few miles separate them from the surf which breaks -upon the sand and rocks of that barren shore. The mountains of other -East-Mediterranean countries--Greece, Italy, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus, -and Syria--rising out of the blue waters, served as landmarks for -the mariners of ancient days, and were discernible upon the horizon -for many long hours before wind or oars carried the vessels in under -their lee. But the Egyptian coast offered no such assistance to the -captains of sea-going galleys, and they were often obliged to approach -closely to the treacherous shore before their exact whereabouts became -apparent to them. The city of Alexandria was largely hidden from -view by the long, low island of Pharos, which lay in front of it and -which was little dissimilar in appearance from the mainland.[4] Two -promontories of land projected from the coast opposite either end of -the island; and, these being lengthened by the building of breakwaters, -the straits between Pharos Island and the mainland were converted into -an excellent harbour, both it and the main part of the city being -screened from the open sea. There was one tremendous landmark, however, -which served to direct all vessels to their destination, namely, the -far-famed Pharos lighthouse, standing upon the east end of the island, -and overshadowing the main entrance to the port.[5] It had been built -during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus by Sostratus of Cnidus two -hundred years and more before the days of Cleopatra, and it ranked as -one of the wonders of the world. It was constructed of white marble, -and rose to a height of 400 ells, or 590 feet. By day it stood like -a pillar of alabaster, gleaming against the leaden haze of the sky; -and from nightfall until dawn there shone from its summit a powerful -beacon-light which could be seen, it is said[6], for 300 stadia, _i.e._ -34 miles, across the waters. - -The harbour was divided into two almost equal parts by a great -embankment, known as the Heptastadium, which joined the city to the -island. This was cut at either end by a passage or waterway leading -from one harbour to the other, but these two passages were bridged -over, and thus a clear causeway was formed, seven stadia, or 1400 -yards, in length. To the west of this embankment lay the Harbour of -Eunostos, or the Happy Return, which was entered from behind the -western extremity of Pharos Island; while to the east of the embankment -lay the Great Harbour, the entrance to which passed between the -enormous lighthouse and the Diabathra, or breakwater, built out from -the promontory known as Lochias. This entrance was dangerous, owing to -the narrowness of the fairway and to the presence of rocks, against -which the rolling waves of the Mediterranean, driven by the prevalent -winds of the north, beat with almost continuous violence. - -A vessel entering the port of Alexandria from this side was steered -towards the great lighthouse, around the foot of which the waves leapt -and broke in showers of white foam. Skirting the dark rocks at the base -of this marble wonder, the vessel slipped through the passage into -the still entrance of the harbour, leaving the breakwater on the left -hand. Here, on a windless day, one might look down to the sand and the -rocks at the bottom of the sea, so clear and transparent was the water -and so able to be penetrated by the strong light of the sun. Seaweed -of unaccustomed hues covered the sunken rocks over which the vessels -floated; and anemones, like great flowers, could be seen swaying in the -gentle motion of the undercurrents. Passing on into the deeper water of -the harbour, in which the sleek dolphins arose and dived in rhythmic -succession, the traveller saw before him such an array of palaces and -public buildings as could be found nowhere else in the world. There -stood, on his left hand, the Royal Palace, which was spread over the -Lochias Promontory and extended round towards the west. Here, beside -a little island known as Antirrhodos, itself the site of a royal -pavilion, lay the Royal Harbour, where flights of broad steps descended -into the azure water, which at this point was so deep that the largest -galleys might moor against the quays. Along the edge of the mainland, -overlooking the Great Harbour, stood a series of magnificent buildings -which must have deeply impressed all those who were approaching the -city across the water. Here stood the imposing Museum, which was -actually a part of another palace, and which formed a kind of institute -for the study of the sciences, presided over by a priest appointed by -the sovereign. The buildings seem to have consisted of a large hall -wherein the professors took their meals; a series of arcades in which -these men of learning walked and talked; a hall, or assembly rooms, -in which their lectures were held; and, at the north end, close to -the sea, the famous library, at this time containing more than half a -million scrolls. On rising ground between the Museum and the Lochias -Promontory stood the Theatre, wherein those who occupied the higher -seats might look beyond the stage to the island of Antirrhodos, behind -which the incoming galleys rode upon the blue waters in the shadow of -Pharos. At the back of the Theatre, on still higher ground, the Paneum, -or Temple of Pan, had been erected. This is described by Strabo as “an -artificial mound of the shape of a fir-cone, resembling a pile of rock, -to the top of which there is an ascent by a spiral path, from whose -summit may be seen the whole city lying all around and beneath it.” -To the west of this mound stood the Gymnasium, a superb building, the -porticos of which alone exceeded a stadium, or 200 yards, in length. -The Courts of Justice, surrounded by groves and gardens, adjoined the -Gymnasium. Close to the harbour, to the west of the Theatre, was the -Forum; and in front of it, on the quay, stood a temple of Neptune. To -the west of this, near the Museum, there was an enclosure called Sema, -in which stood the tombs of the Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, built around -the famous Mausoleum wherein the bones of Alexander the Great rested in -a sarcophagus of alabaster.[7] - -These buildings, all able to be seen from the harbour, formed the -quarter of the city known as the Regia, Brucheion, or Royal Area. Here -the white stone structures reflected in the mirror of the harbour, the -statues and monuments, the trees and brilliant flower-gardens, the -flights of marble steps passing down to the sea, the broad streets and -public places, must have formed a scene of magnificence not surpassed -at that time in the whole world. Nor would the traveller, upon stepping -ashore from his vessel, be disappointed in his expectations as he -roamed the streets of the town. Passing through the Forum he would come -out upon the great thoroughfare, more than three miles long, which -cut right through the length of the city in a straight line, from the -Gate of the Necropolis, at the western end, behind the Harbour of the -Happy Return, to the Gate of Canopus, at the eastern extremity, some -distance behind the Lochias Promontory. This magnificent boulevard, -known as the Street of Canopus, or the Meson Pedion, was flanked on -either side by colonnades, and was 100 feet in breadth.[8] On its -north side would be seen the Museum, the Sema, the palaces, and the -gardens; on the south side the Gymnasium with its long porticos, the -Paneum towering up against the sky, and numerous temples and public -places. Were the traveller to walk eastwards along this street he -would pass through the Jewish quarter, adorned by many synagogues and -national buildings, through the Gate of Canopus, built in the city -walls, and so out on to open ground, where stood the Hippodromos or -Racecourse, and several public buildings. Here the sun-baked soil was -sandy, the rocks glaring white, and but little turf was to be seen. A -few palms, bent southward by the sea wind, and here and there a cluster -of acacias, gave shade to pedestrians; while between the road and the -sea the Grove of Nemesis offered a pleasant foreground to the sandy -beach and the blue expanse of the Mediterranean beyond. Near by stood -the little settlement of Eleusis, which was given over to festivities -and merry-making. Here there were several restaurants and houses of -entertainment which are said to have commanded beautiful views; but so -noisy was the fun supplied, and so dissolute the manners of those who -frequented the place, that better-class Alexandrians were inclined to -avoid it. At a distance of some three miles from Alexandria stood the -suburb of Nicopolis, where numerous villas, themselves “not less than -a city,” says Strabo,[9] had been erected along the sea-front, and the -sands in summer-time were crowded with bathers. Farther eastwards the -continuation of the Street of Canopus passed on to the town of that -name and Egypt proper. - -Returning within the city walls and walking westwards along the Street -of Canopus, the visitor would pass once more through the Regia and -thence through the Egyptian quarter known as Rhakotis, to the western -boundary. This quarter, being immediately behind the commercial -harbour, was partly occupied by warehouses and ships’ offices, and -was always a very busy district of the town. Here there was an inner -harbour called Cibotos, or the Ark, where there were extensive docks; -and from this a canal passed, under the Street of Canopus, to the -lake at the back of the city. On a rocky hill behind the Rhakotis -quarter stood the magnificent Serapeum, or Temple of Serapis, which -was approached by a broad street running at right angles to the Street -of Canopus, which it bisected at a point not far west of the Museum, -being a continuation of the Heptastadium. The temple is said to have -been surpassed in grandeur by no other building in the world except the -Capitol at Rome; and, standing as it did at a considerable elevation, -it must have towered above the hubbub and the denser atmosphere of the -streets and houses at its foot, as though to receive the purification -of the untainted wind of the sea. Behind the temple, on the open rocky -ground outside the city walls, stood the Stadium; and away towards -the west the Necropolis was spread out, with its numerous gardens and -mausoleums. Still farther westward there were numerous villas and -gardens; and it may be that the wonderful flowers which at the present -day grow wild upon this ground are actually the descendants of those -introduced and cultivated by the Greeks of the days of Cleopatra. - -Along the entire length of the back walls of the city lay the Lake of -Mareotis, which cut off Alexandria from the Egyptian Delta, and across -this stretch of water vast numbers of vessels brought the produce of -Egypt to the capital. The lake harbour and docks were built around -an inlet which penetrated some considerable distance into the heart -of the city not far to the east of the Paneum, and from them a great -colonnaded thoroughfare, as wide as the Street of Canopus, which it -crossed at right angles, passed through the city to the Great Harbour, -being terminated at the south end by the Gate of the Sun, and at the -north end by the Gate of the Moon. These lake docks are said to have -been richer and more important even than the maritime docks on the -opposite side of the town; for over the lake the traffic of vessels -coming by river and canal from all parts of Egypt was always greater -than the shipping across the Mediterranean. The shores of this inland -sea were exuberantly fertile. A certain amount of papyrus grew at the -edges of the lake, considerable stretches of water being covered -by the densely-growing reeds. The Alexandrians were wont to use the -plantations for their picnics, penetrating in small boats into the -thickest part of the reeds, where they were overshadowed by the leaves, -which, also, they used as dishes and drinking-vessels. Extensive -vineyards and fruit gardens flourished at the edge of the water; and -there are said to have been eight islands which rose from the placid -surface of the lake and were covered by luxuriant gardens. - -[Illustration: - - _Cairo Museum._] [_Photograph by Brugsch._ - -PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY - -THE PAINTING DATES FROM A GENERATION LATER THAN THAT OF CLEOPATRA, BUT -IT IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF THE ALEXANDRIAN ARTISTS.] - -Strabo tells us that Alexandria contained extremely beautiful public -parks and grounds, and abounded with magnificent buildings of all -kinds. The whole city was intersected by roads wide enough for the -passage of chariots; and, as has been said, the three main streets, -those leading to the Gate of Canopus, to the Serapeum, and to the -Lake Harbour, were particularly noteworthy both for their breadth -and length. Indeed, in the Fifteenth Idyll of Theocritus, one of the -characters complains most bitterly of the excessive length of the -Alexandrian streets. The kings of the Ptolemaic dynasty, for nearly -three centuries, had expended vast sums in the beautification of -their capital, and at the period with which we are now dealing it had -become the rival of Rome in magnificence and luxury. The novelist, -Achilles Tatius, writing some centuries later, when many of the -Ptolemaic edifices had been replaced by Roman constructions perhaps -of less merit, cried, as he beheld the city, “We are vanquished, mine -eyes”; and there is every reason to suppose that his words were no -unlicensed exaggeration. In the brilliant sunshine of the majority -of Egyptian days, the stately palaces, temples, and public buildings -which reflected themselves in the waters of the harbour, or cast their -shadows across the magnificent Street of Canopus, must have dazzled -the eyes of the spectator and brought wonder into his heart. - -The inhabitants of the city were not altogether worthy of their -splendid home. In modern times the people of Alexandria exhibit much -the same conglomeration of nationalities as they did in ancient days; -but the distinguishing line between Egyptians and Europeans is now more -sharply defined than it was in the reign of Cleopatra, owing to the -fact that the former are mostly Mohammedans and the latter Christians, -no marriage being permitted between them. In Ptolemaic times only -the Jews of Alexandria stood outside the circle of international -marriages which was gradually forming the people of the city into a -single type; for they alone practised that conventional exclusiveness -which indicated a strong religious conviction. The Greek element, -always predominant in the city, was mainly Macedonian; but in the -period we are now studying so many intermarriages with Egyptians had -taken place that in the case of a large number of families the stock -was much mixed. There must have been, of course, a certain number -of aristocratic houses, descended from the Macedonian soldiers and -officials who had come to Egypt with Alexander the Great and the first -Ptolemy, whose blood had been kept pure; and we hear of such persons -boasting of their nationality, though the ruin of their fatherland and -its subservience to Rome had left them little of which to be proud. In -like manner there must have been many pure Egyptian families, no less -proud of their nationality than were the Macedonians. The majority of -educated people could now speak both the Greek and Egyptian tongues, -and all official decrees and proclamations were published in both -languages. Many Greeks assumed Egyptian names in addition to their own; -and it is probable that there were at this date Egyptians who, in like -manner, adopted Greek names. - -Besides Greeks and Egyptians, there were numerous Italians, Cretans, -Phœnicians, Cilicians, Cypriots, Persians, Syrians, Armenians, -Arabs, and persons of other nationalities, who had, to some extent, -intermarried with Alexandrian families, thus producing a stock which -must have been much like that to be found in the city at the present -day and now termed Levantine. Some of these had come to Alexandria -originally as respectable merchants and traders; others were sailors, -and, indeed, pirates; yet others were escaped slaves, outlaws, -criminals, and debtors who were allowed to enter Alexandria on -condition that they served in the army; while not a few were soldiers -of fortune who had been enrolled in the forces of Egypt. There was a -standing army of these mercenaries in Alexandria, and Polybius, writing -of the days of Cleopatra’s great-grandfather, Ptolemy IX., speaks of -them as being oppressive and dissolute, desiring to rule rather than to -obey. A further introduction of foreign blood was due to the presence -of the Gabinian Army of Occupation, the members of which had settled -down in Alexandria and had married Alexandrian women. These soldiers -were largely drawn from Germany and Gaul; and though there had not yet -been time for them to do more than add a horde of half-cast children -to the medley, their own presence in the city contributed strikingly -to the cosmopolitan character of the streets. This barbaric force, -with its Roman officers, must have been in constant rivalry with the -so-called Macedonian Household Troops which guarded the palace; but -when Cleopatra came to the throne the latter force had already been -freely recruited from all the riff-raff of the world, and was in no way -a match for the northerners. - -The aristocracy of Alexandria probably consisted of the cosmopolitan -officers of the mercenaries and Household Troops, the Roman officers -of the Gabinian army, the Macedonian courtiers, the Greek and Egyptian -officials, and numerous families of wealthy Europeans, Syrians, Jews, -and Egyptians. The professors and scholars of the Museum constituted -a class of their own, much patronised by the court, but probably not -often accepted by the aristocracy of the city for any other reason than -that of their learning. The mob was mainly composed of Greeks of mixed -breed, together with a large number of Egyptians of somewhat impure -stock; and a more noisy, turbulent, and excitable crowd could not be -found in all the world, not even in riotous Rome. The Greeks and Jews -were constantly annoying one another, but the Greeks and Egyptians -seem to have fraternised to a very considerable extent, for there was -not so wide a gulf between them as might be imagined. The Egyptians of -Alexandria, and, indeed, of all the Delta, were often no darker-skinned -than the Greeks. Both peoples were noisy and excitable, vain and -ostentatious, smart and clever. They did not quarrel upon religious -matters, for the Egyptian gods were easily able to be identified with -those of Greece, and the chief deity of Alexandria, Serapis, was here -worshipped by both nations in common. In the domain of art they had no -cause for dissensions, for the individual art of Egypt was practically -dead, and that of Greece had been accepted by cultivated Egyptians as -the correct expression of the refinement in which they desired to live. -Both peoples were industrious, and eager in the pursuit of wealth, and -both were able to set their labours aside with ease, and to turn their -whole attention to the amusements which the luxurious city provided. -Polybius speaks of the Egyptians as being smart and civilised; and of -the Alexandrian Greeks he writes that they were a poor lot, though he -seems to have preferred them to the Egyptians. - -The people of Alexandria were passionately fond of the theatre. In the -words of Dion Chrysostom, who, however, speaks of the citizens of a -century later than Cleopatra, “the whole town lived for excitement, -and when the manifestation of Apis (the sacred bull) took place, all -Alexandria went fairly mad with musical entertainments and horse-races. -When doing their ordinary work they were apparently sane, but the -instant they entered the theatre or the racecourse they appeared as if -possessed by some intoxicating drug, so that they no longer knew nor -cared what they said or did. And this was the case even with women and -children, so that when the show was over, and the first madness past, -all the streets and byways were seething with excitement for days, like -the swell after a storm.” The Emperor Hadrian says of them: “I have -found them wholly light, wavering, and flying after every breath of a -report.... They are seditious, vain, and spiteful, though as a body -wealthy and prosperous.” The impudent wit of the young Græco-Egyptian -dandy was proverbial, and must always have constituted a cause of -offence to those whose public positions laid them open to attack. No -sooner did a statesman assume office, or a king come to the throne, -than he was given some scurrilous nickname by the wags of the city, -which stuck to him throughout the remainder of his life. Thus, to quote -a few examples, Ptolemy IX. was called “Bloated,” Ptolemy X. “Vetch,” -Ptolemy XIII. “Piper”; Seleucus they named “Pickled-fish Pedlar,” and -in later times Vespasian was named “Scullion.” All forms of ridicule -appealed to them, and many are the tales told in this regard. Thus, -when King Agrippa passed through the city on his way to his insecure -throne, these young Alexandrians dressed up an unfortunate madman -whom they had found in the streets, put a paper crown upon his head -and a reed in his hand, and led him through the town, hailing him as -King of the Jews: and this in spite of the fact that Agrippa was the -friend of Caligula, their Emperor. Against Vespasian they told with -delight the story of how he had bothered one of his friends for the -payment of a trifling loan of six obols, and somebody made up a song -in which the fact was recorded. They ridiculed Caracalla in the same -manner, laughing at him for dressing himself like Alexander the Great, -although his stature was below the average; but in this case they had -not reckoned with their man, whose revenge upon them was an act no less -frightful than the total extermination of all the well-to-do young -men of the city, they being collected together under a false pretence -and butchered in cold blood. These Alexandrians were famous for the -witty and scathing verses which they composed upon topical subjects; -and a later historian speaks of this proficiency of theirs “in making -songs and epigrams against their rulers.” Such ditties were carried -from Egypt to Rome, and were sung in the Italian capital, just as -nowadays the latest American air is hummed and whistled in the streets -of London. Indeed, in Rome the wit of Alexandria was very generally -appreciated; and, a few years later, one hears of Alexandrian comedians -causing Roman audiences to rock with laughter. - -The Emperor Hadrian, as we have seen, speaks of the Alexandrians as -being spiteful; and, no doubt, a great deal of their vaunted wit had -that character. The young Græco-Egyptian was inordinately vain and -self-satisfied; and no critic so soon adopts a spiteful tone as he -who has thought himself above criticism. The conceit of these smart -young men was very noticeable, and is frequently referred to by -early writers. They appear to have been much devoted to the study of -their personal appearance; and if one may judge by the habits of the -upper-class Egyptians and Levantines of present-day Alexandria, many of -them must have been intolerable fops. The luxury of their houses was -probably far greater than that in Roman life at this date, and they had -studied the culinary arts in an objectionably thorough manner. Dion -Chrysostom says the Alexandrians of his day thought of little else but -food and horse-racing. Both Greeks and Egyptians in Alexandria had -the reputation of being fickle and easily influenced by the moment’s -emotion. “I should be wasting many words in vain,” says the author of -‘De Bello Alexandrino,’ “if I were to defend the Alexandrians from the -charges of deceit and levity of mind.... There can be no doubt that the -race is most prone to treachery.” They had few traditions, no feelings -of patriotism, and not much political interest. They did not make any -study of themselves, nor write histories of their city: they lived for -the moment, and if the Government of the hour were distasteful to -them they revolted against it with startling rapidity. The city was -constantly being disturbed by street rioting, and there was no great -regard for human life. - -The population of Alexandria is said to have been about 300,000 during -the later years of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was not much less -than that of Rome before the Civil War, and twice the Roman number -after that sanguinary struggle.[10] In spite of its reputation for -frivolity it was very largely a business city, and a goodly portion -of its citizens were animated by a lively commercial spirit which -quite outclassed that of the Italian capital in enterprise and bustle. -This, of course, was a Greek and not an Egyptian characteristic, for -the latter are notoriously unenterprising and conservative in their -methods, while the Greeks, to this day, are admirable merchants and -business men. Alexandria was the most important corn-market of the -world, and for this reason was always envied by Rome. Incidentally -I may remark that proportionally far more corn was consumed in -Cleopatra’s time than in our own; and Cæsar once speaks of the -_endurance_ of his soldiers in submitting to eat meat owing to the -scarcity of corn.[11] The city was also engaged in many other forms -of commerce, and in the reign of Cleopatra it was recognised as the -greatest trading centre in the world. Here East and West met in the -busy market-places; and at the time with which we are dealing the -eyes of all men were beginning to be turned to this city as being -the terminus of the new trade-route to India, along which such rich -merchandise was already being conveyed. - -It was at the same time the chief seat of Greek learning, and regarded -itself also as the leading authority on matters of art--a point which -must have been open to dispute. The great figure of Nilus, of which an -illustration is given in this volume, is generally considered to be an -example of Alexandrian art. The famous “Alexandrian School,” celebrated -for its scientific work and its poetry, had existed for more than two -hundred years, and was now in its decline, though it still attempted to -continue the old Hellenic culture.[12] The school of philosophy, which -succeeded it in celebrity, was just beginning to come into prominence. -Thus the eyes of all merchants, all scientists, all men of letters, all -scholars, and all statesmen, were turned in these days to Alexandria; -and the Ptolemaic court, in spite of the degeneracy of its sovereigns, -was held in the highest esteem. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF CLEOPATRA. - - -Cleopatra was the last of the regnant Ptolemaic sovereigns of Egypt, -and was the seventh Egyptian Queen of her name,[13] in her person all -the rights and privileges of that extraordinary line of Pharaohs being -vested. The Ptolemaic Dynasty was founded in the first years of the -third century before Christ by Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, one of the -Macedonian generals of Alexander the Great, who, on his master’s death, -seized the province of Egypt, and, a few years later, made himself King -of that country, establishing himself at the newly-founded city of -Alexandria on the sea-coast. For two and a half centuries the dynasty -presided over the destinies of Egypt, at first with solicitous care, -and later with startling nonchalance, until, with the death of the -great Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy XVI. (Cæsarion), the royal line -came to an end. - -For the right understanding of Cleopatra’s character it must be clearly -recognised that the Ptolemies were in no way Egyptians. They were -Macedonians, as I have already said, in whose veins flowed not one -drop of Egyptian blood. Their capital city of Alexandria was, in the -main, a Mediterranean colony set down upon the sea-coast of Egypt, but -having no connection with the Delta and the Nile Valley other than the -purely commercial and official relationship which of necessity existed -between the maritime seat of Government and the provinces. The city was -Greek in character; the temples and public buildings were constructed -in the Greek manner; the art of the period was Greek; the life of -the upper classes was lived according to Greek habits; the dress of -the court and of the aristocracy was Greek; the language spoken by -them was Greek, pronounced, it is said, with the broad Macedonian -accent. It is probable that no one of the Ptolemies ever wore Egyptian -costume, except possibly for ceremonial purposes; and, in passing, it -may be remarked that the modern conventional representation of the -great Cleopatra walking about her palace clothed in splendid Egyptian -robes and wearing the vulture-headdress of the ancient queens has -no justification.[14] It is true that she is said to have attired -herself on certain occasions in a dress designed to simulate that -which was supposed by the priests of the time to have been worn by -the mother-deity Isis; but contemporaneous representations of Isis -generally show her clad in the Greek and not the Egyptian manner. And -if she ever wore the ancient dress of the Egyptian queens, it must have -been only at great religious festivals or on occasions where conformity -to obsolete habits was required by the ritual. - -The relationship of the royal house to the people was very similar -to that existing at the present day between the Khedivial dynasty and -the provincial natives of Egypt. The modern Khedivial princes are -Albanians, who cannot record in their genealogy a single Egyptian -ancestor. They live in the European manner, and dress according to -the dictates of Paris and London. Similarly the Ptolemies retained -their Macedonian nationality, and Plutarch tells us that not one of -them even troubled to learn the Egyptian language. On the other hand -the Egyptians, constrained by the force of circumstances, accepted -the dynasty as the legal successor of the ancient Pharaonic line, and -assigned to the Ptolemies all the titles and dignities of their great -Pharaohs. - -These Greek sovereigns, Cleopatra no less than her predecessors, were -given the titles which had been so proudly borne by Rameses the Great -and the mighty Thutmosis the Third, a thousand years and more before -their day. They were named, “Living Image of the God Amon,” “Child -of the Sun,” and “Chosen of Ptah,” just as the great Memnon and the -conquering Sesostris had been named when Egypt was the first power -in the world. In the temples throughout the land, with the exception -of those of importance at Alexandria, these Macedonian monarchs were -pictorially represented in the guise of the ancient Pharaohs, crowned -with the tall crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, the horns and feathers -of Amon upon their heads, and the royal serpent at their foreheads. -There they were seen worshipping the old gods of Egypt, prostrating -themselves in the presence of the cow Hathor, bowing before the -crocodile Sobk, burning incense at the shrine of the cat Bast, and -performing all the magical ceremonies hallowed by the usage of four -thousand years. They were shown enthroned with the gods, embraced by -Isis, saluted by Osiris, and kissed by Mout, the Mother of Heaven. -Yet it is doubtful whether in actual fact any Ptolemy at any time -identified himself in this manner with the traditional character of a -Pharaoh. - -Very occasionally one of these Greek sovereigns left his city of -Alexandria to visit Egypt proper, and to travel up the Nile. At -certain cities he honoured the local temple with a visit and performed -in a perfunctory manner the prescribed ceremonies, just as a modern -sovereign lays a foundation-stone or launches a battleship. But there -is nothing to show that any member of the royal house regarded himself -as an Egyptian in the traditional sense of the word. They were careful -as a rule to placate the priesthood, and to allow them a free use of -their funds in the building and decoration of the temples; and Egyptian -national life was fostered to a very considerable extent. But in -Alexandria one might hardly have believed oneself to be in the land of -the Pharaohs, and the court was almost entirely European in character. - -The Ptolemies as a family were extraordinarily callous in their -estimate of the value of human life, and the history of the dynasty is -marked throughout its whole length by a series of villainous murders. -In this respect they showed their non-Egyptian blood; for the people of -the Nile were, and now are, a kindly, pleasant folk, not predisposed -to the arts of the assassin and not by any means regardless of the -rights of their fellow-men. It may be of interest to record here -some of the murders for which the Ptolemies are responsible. Ptolemy -III., according to Justin, was murdered by his son Ptolemy IV., who -also seems to have planned at one time and another the murders of -his brother Magas, his uncle Lysimachus, his mother Berenice, and his -wife Arsinoe. Ptolemy V. is described as a cruel and violent monarch, -who seems to have indulged the habit of murdering those who offended -him. Ptolemy VII. is said by Polybius to have had the Egyptian vice of -riotousness, although on the whole averse to shedding blood. Ptolemy -VIII. murdered his young nephew, the heir to the throne, and married -the dead boy’s mother, the widowed queen Cleopatra II., who shortly -afterwards presented him with a baby, Memphites, whose paternal -parentage is doubtful. Ptolemy later, according to some accounts, -murdered this child and sent his body in pieces to the mother. He then -married his niece, Cleopatra III.; and she, on being left a widow, -appears to have murdered Cleopatra II. This Cleopatra III. bore a son -who later ascended the throne as Ptolemy XI., whom she afterwards -attempted to murder, but the tables being turned she was murdered by -him. Ptolemy X. was driven from the throne by his mother, who installed -Ptolemy XI. in his place, and was promptly murdered by the new king for -her pains. Ptolemy XII., having married his stepmother, murdered her, -and himself was murdered shortly afterwards. Ptolemy XIII., the father -of the great Cleopatra, murdered his daughter Berenice and also several -other persons. - -The women of this family were even more violent than the men. Mahaffy -describes their characteristics in the following words: “Great power -and wealth, which makes an alliance with them imply the command of -large resources in men and money; mutual hatred; disregard of all ties -of family and affection; the dearest object fratricide--such pictures -of depravity as make any reasonable man pause and ask whether human -nature had deserted these women and the Hyrcanian tiger of the poet -taken its place.” In many other ways also this murderous family of -kings possessed an unenviable reputation. The first three Ptolemies -were endowed with many sterling qualities, and were conspicuous for -their talents; but the remaining monarchs of the dynasty were, for -the most part, degenerate and debauched. They were, however, patrons -of the arts and sciences, and indeed they did more for them than did -almost any other royal house in the world. Ptolemaic Alexandria was to -some extent the birthplace of the sciences of anatomy, geometry, conic -sections, hydrostatics, geography, and astronomy, while its position in -the artistic world was most important. The splendour and luxury of the -palace was far-famed, and the sovereign lived in a chronic condition -of repletion which surpassed that of any other court. When Scipio -Africanus visited Egypt he found our Cleopatra’s great-grandfather, -Ptolemy IX., who was nicknamed Physkon, “the Bloated,” fat, puffing, -and thoroughly over-fed. As Scipio walked to the palace with the -King, who, in too transparent robes, breathed heavily by his side, he -whispered to a friend that Alexandria had derived at least one benefit -from his visit--it had seen its sovereign taking a walk. Ptolemy X., -Cleopatra’s grandfather, obtained the nickname “Lathyros,” owing, -it is said, to the resemblance of his nose to a vetch or some such -flowery and leguminous plant: a fact which certainly suggests that the -King was not a man of temperate habits. Ptolemy XI. was so bloated -by gluttony and vice that he seldom walked without crutches, though, -under the influence of wine, he was able to skip about the room freely -enough with his drunken comrades. Ptolemy XIII., Cleopatra’s father, -had such an objection to temperance that once he threatened to put the -philosopher Demetrius to death for not being intoxicated at one of his -feasts; and the unfortunate man was obliged the next day publicly to -drink himself silly in order to save his life. Such glimpses as these -show us the Ptolemies at their worst, and we are constrained to ask how -it is possible that Cleopatra, who brought the line to a termination, -could have failed to be a thoroughly bad woman. Yet, as will presently -become apparent, there is no great reason to suppose that her sins were -either many or scarlet. - -Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XIII., who went by the nickname of Auletes, -“the Piper,” was a degenerate little man, who passes across Egypt’s -political stage in a condition of almost continuous inebriety. We watch -his drunken antics as he directs the Bacchic orgies in the palace; we -see him stupidly plotting and scheming to hold his tottering throne; -we hear him playing the livelong hours away upon his flute; and we -feel that his deeds would be hardly worth recording were it not for -the fact that in his reign is seen the critical development of the -political relationship between Rome and Egypt, which, towards the end -of the Ptolemaic dynasty, came to have such a complicated bearing upon -the history of both countries. After the battle of Pydna (B.C. 167) -Rome had obtained almost absolute control of the Hellenistic world, -and she soon began to lay her hands on all the commerce of the eastern -Mediterranean. Towards the close of the Ptolemaic period the great -Republic turned eager eyes towards Egypt, watching for an opportunity -to seize that wealthy land for her own enrichment. - -Reference to the genealogy at the end of this volume will show -the reader that the main line of the Lagidæ came to an end on the -assassination (after a reign of nineteen days) of Ptolemy XII. -(Alexander II.), who had been raised to the throne by Roman help. The -only legitimate child of Ptolemy X. (Soter II.) was Berenice III., -the cousin of Ptolemy XII., who had been married to him, the union, -however, producing no heir to the throne. Ptolemy X. had two sons, -the half-brothers of Berenice III., but they were both illegitimate, -the name and status of their mother being now unknown. It is possible -that they were the children of Cleopatra IV., who was divorced from -their father at his accession; or it is possible that the lady was -not of royal blood. On the death of Ptolemy XII. one of these two -young men proclaimed himself Pharaoh of Egypt, being known to us as -Ptolemy XIII., and the other announced himself as King of Cyprus, also -under the name of Ptolemy. The people of Alexandria at once accepted -Ptolemy XIII. as their king, for, whether illegitimate or not, he was -the eldest male descendant of the line, and their refusal to accept -his rule would have brought the dynasty to a close, thereby insuring -an immediate Roman occupation. Cicero speaks of the new monarch as -_nec regio genere ortus_, which implies that whoever his mother might -be, she was not a reigning queen at the time of his birth; but the -Alexandrian populace were in no mood to raise scruples in regard to his -origin, when it was apparent that he alone stood between their liberty -and the stern domination of Rome. - -[Illustration: - - _Alexandria Museum._] - -SERAPIS. - -THE CHIEF GOD OF ALEXANDRIA.] - -No sooner had he ascended the throne, however, with the title of -Ptolemy (XIII.) Neos Dionysos, than the discovery was made that Ptolemy -XII., under his name of Alexander, had in his will appointed the Roman -Republic his heir, thus voluntarily bringing his dynasty to a close. -Such a course of action was not novel. It had already been followed in -the case of Pergamum, Cyrene, and Bithynia, and it seems likely that -Ptolemy XII. had taken this step in order to obtain the financial or -moral support of the Romans in regard to his accession, or for some -equally urgent reason. The Senate acknowledged the authenticity of -the will, which, of course, the party of Ptolemy XIII. had denied. It -had been suggested that the testator was not Ptolemy XII. at all, but -another Alexander, Ptolemy XI. (Alexander I.), or an obscure person -sometimes referred to as Alexander III. There is little question, -however, that the will was genuine enough; but there is considerable -doubt as to whether it was legally valid. In the first place, it was -probably written before Ptolemy XII. succeeded to the kingdom; and, in -the second place, such a will would only be valid were there no heir to -the throne; but the people of Alexandria had accepted Ptolemy XIII. as -the rightful heir. At all events the Senate, while seizing, by virtue -of the document, as much of the private fortune of the testator as they -could lay hands on, took no steps to dethrone the two new kings, either -of Egypt or Cyprus, though, on the other hand, they did not officially -recognise them. - -In this attitude they were influenced also by the fact that a large -party in Rome did not wish to see the Republic further involved in -Oriental affairs, nor did they feel at the moment inclined to place in -the hands of any one man such power as would accrue to the official -who should be appointed as Governor of the new province. Egypt was -regarded as a very wealthy and important country, second only to Rome -in the extent of its power. It held the keys to the rich lands of -the south, and to Arabia and India it seemed to be one of the main -gateways. The revenues of the palace of Alexandria were quite equal to -the public income of Rome at this time; and, indeed, even at a later -date, after Pompey had so greatly augmented the yearly sum in the -Treasury, the wealth of the Egyptian Court was not far short of this -increased total.[15] Alexandria had succeeded Athens as the seat of -culture and learning, and it was now regarded as the second city of the -world. It was therefore felt that the armies and the generals sent over -the sea to this distant land might well run the risk of being absorbed -into the life of the country which they were holding, and might as it -were inevitably set up an Eastern Empire which would be a menace, and -even a terror, to Rome. - -The new King of Egypt, whom we may now call by his nickname Auletes, -was much disturbed by the existence of this will, and throughout -his reign he was constantly making efforts to buy off the expected -interference of Rome. He was an unhappy and unfortunate man. All he -asked was to be allowed to enjoy the royal wealth in drunken peace, -and not to be bothered by the haunting fear that he might be turned -out of his kingdom. He was a keen enjoyer of good living, and there -was nothing that pleased him so much as the participation in one of -the orgies of Dionysos. He played the pipes with some proficiency, -and, when he was sober, it would seem that he spent many a contented -hour piping pleasantly in the sun. Yet his reign was continuously -overshadowed by this knowledge that the Romans might at any moment -dethrone him; and one pictures him often giving vent to an evening -melancholy by blowing from his little flute one of those wailing dirges -of his native land, which flutter upon the ears like the notes of a -night-bird, and drift at last upon a half-tone into silence. - -In the fifth year of his reign, that is to say in B.C. 75, his -kinswoman, Selene, sent her two sons to Rome with the object of -obtaining the thrones of Egypt, Cyprus, and Syria; and Auletes must -have watched with anxiety their attempts to oust him. He knew that -they were giving bribes right and left to the Senators, in order to -effect their purpose, and he was aware that in this manner alone the -heart of the Roman Republic could be touched; yet for the time being he -avoided these methods of expending his country’s revenue, and, after -a while, he had the satisfaction of hearing that Selene had abandoned -her efforts to obtain recognition. In the thirteenth year of his reign -Pompey sent a fleet under Lentulus Marcellinus to clear the Egyptian -coast of pirates, and when Lentulus was made consul he caused the -Ptolemaic eagle and thunderbolt to be displayed upon his coins to mark -the fact that he had exercised an act of sovereignty in connection -with that country. Three years later another Roman fleet was sent -to Alexandria to impose the will of the Senate in regard to certain -disputed questions; and once more Auletes must have suffered from the -terrors of imminent dethronement. - -In B.C. 65 he was again disturbed from his bibulous ease by the news -that the Romans were thinking of sending Crassus or Julius Cæsar to -annex his kingdom; but the scheme came to naught, and for a time -Auletes was left in peace. In B.C. 63 Pompey annexed Syria to the -Roman dominions, and thereupon Auletes sent him a large present of -money and military supplies in order to purchase his friendship. At the -same time he invited him to come to Egypt upon a friendly visit, but -Pompey, while accepting the King’s money, did not think it necessary to -make use of his hospitality. - -At last, in B.C. 59, Auletes decided to go himself to Rome, in the hope -of obtaining, through the good offices of Pompey, or of Cæsar, who was -Consul in that year, the official recognition by the Senate of his -right to the Egyptian throne. Being so degenerate and so worthless a -personage, there was no likelihood that the Romans would confirm him -in his kingdom unless they were well paid to do so, and he therefore -took with him all the money he could lay his hands upon. In Rome, as -Mommsen says, “men had forgotten what honesty was. A person who refused -a bribe was regarded not as an upright man, but as a personal foe.” -Auletes, therefore, when he had arrived, gave huge bribes to various -Senators in order to obtain their support, and he appears to have been -most systematically fleeced by the acute magnates of Rome. When for -the moment his Egyptian resources were exhausted, he borrowed a large -sum from the great financier, Rabirius Postumus, who persuaded some -of his friends also to lend the King money. These men formed a kind -of syndicate to finance Auletes, on the understanding that if he were -confirmed in his heritage, they should each receive in return a sum -vastly greater than that which they had put in. - -The visit of Auletes to Rome was made in the nick of time. The Pirate -and the Third Mithridatic wars had left the Republic in pressing need -of money, and there was much talk in regard to the advantages of -an immediate annexation of Egypt. Crassus, the tribune Rullus, and -Julius Cæsar had shown themselves anxious to take the country without -delay; and the unfortunate King of Egypt thus found himself in a most -desperate position. At last, however, a bribe of 6000 talents (about a -million and a half sterling) induced the nearly bankrupt Cæsar to give -Auletes the desired recognition, and the disgraceful transaction came -to a temporary conclusion with Cæsar’s violent forcing of his “Julian -Law concerning the King of Egypt” through the Senate, whereby Ptolemy -was named the “ally and friend of the Roman people.” - -In the next year, B.C. 58, the Romans, still in need of money, -prepared to annex Cyprus, over which Ptolemy, the brother of Auletes, -was reigning. The annexation had been proposed by Publius Clodius, a -scoundrelly politician, who bore a grudge against the Cyprian Ptolemy -owing to the fact that once when Clodius was captured by pirates -Ptolemy had only offered two talents for his ransom. Ptolemy would not -now buy off the invaders as his brother had done, and in consequence -Cato landed on the island and converted it into part of the Roman -province of Cilicia. Ptolemy, with a certain royal dignity, at once -poisoned himself, preferring to die than to suffer the humiliation of -banishment from the throne which he had usurped. His treasure of 7000 -talents (some £1,700,000) fell into the hands of Cato, who having, -no doubt, helped himself to a portion of the booty,[16] handed the -remainder over to the benign Senate. - -No sooner had Auletes obtained the support of Rome, however, than -his own people of Alexandria, incensed by the increase of taxation -necessary for paying off his debts, and angry also at the King’s -refusal to seize Cyprus from the Romans, rose in rebellion and drove -him out of Egypt. While the wretched man was on his way to Rome, he -put in at Rhodes, where he had heard that Cato was staying, in order -to obtain some help from this celebrated Senator; and, having had few -personal dealings with Romans, he sent a royal invitation or command to -Cato to come to him. The Senator, however, who that day was suffering -from a bilious attack, and had just swallowed a dose of medicine, was -in no mind to wait upon drunken kings. He therefore sent a message to -Auletes stating that if he wished to see him he had better come to his -lodgings in the town; and the King of Egypt was thus obliged to humble -himself and to find his way to the Senator’s house. Cato did not even -rise from his seat when Auletes was ushered in; but straightway bidding -the King be seated, gave him a severe lecture on the folly of going to -Rome to plead his cause. All Egypt turned into silver, he declared, -would hardly satisfy the greed of the Romans whom he would have to -bribe, and he strongly urged him to return to Egypt and to make his -peace with his subjects. The Senator’s bilious attack, however, seems -to have cut short the interview, and Auletes, unconvinced, set sail for -Italy. - -Meanwhile the King’s daughter, Berenice IV., had seized the Egyptian -throne, and was reigning serenely in her father’s place. This princess -and her sister, Cleopatra VI., who died soon afterwards, were the -only two children of Auletes’ first marriage--namely, with Cleopatra -V. There were four young children in the Palace nurseries who were -born of a second marriage, but who their mother was, or whether she -was at this time alive or dead, history does not record. Of these four -children, two afterwards succeeded to the throne as Ptolemy XIV. and -Ptolemy XV., a third was the unfortunate Princess Arsinoe, and the -fourth was the great Cleopatra VII., the heroine of the present volume, -at this time about eleven years of age, having been born in the winter -of B.C. 69-68. - -Auletes having fled to Rome, approached the Senate in the manner of one -who had been unjustly evicted from an estate which he had purchased -from them. Again he bribed the leading statesmen, and again borrowed -money on all sides, though now it is probable that his Roman creditors -were less sanguine than on the previous occasion. Cæsar was absent in -Gaul at this time, and therefore was not able to be bribed. Pompey, -curiously enough, does not appear to have accepted the King’s money, -though he offered him the hospitality of his villa in the Alban -district, a fact which suggests that the idea of restoring Auletes -to his throne had made a strong appeal to the imagination of this -impressionable Roman. He had already made himself a kind of patron of -the Egyptian Court, and there can be little doubt that he hoped to -obtain from Auletes, in return for his favours, the freedom to make -use of the wealth and resources of that monarch’s enormously valuable -dominion. - -The people of Alexandria, who were eagerly desirous that Auletes should -not be reinstated, now sent an embassy of a hundred persons to Rome to -lay before the Senate their case against the King; but the banished -monarch, driven by despair to any lengths, hired assassins and caused -the embassy to be attacked near Puteoli, the modern Pozzuoli, many -of them being slain. Those who survived were heavily bribed, and thus -the crime was hushed up. The leader of the deputation, the philosopher -Dion, escaped on this occasion, but was poisoned by Auletes as soon -as he arrived in Rome; and thereupon the desperate King was able to -breathe once more in peace. All might now have gone well with his -cause, and a Roman army might have been placed at his disposal had not -some political opponent discovered in the Sibylline Books an oracle -which stated that if the King of Egypt were to come begging for help he -should be aided with friendship but not with arms. Thereat, in despair, -the unfortunate Auletes quitted Rome, and took up his residence at -Ephesus, leaving in the capital an agent named Ammonios to keep him in -touch with events. - -Three years later, in January B.C. 55, the King’s interests were -still being discussed, and Pompey was trying, in a desultory manner, -to assist him back to his throne; but so great were the fears of -the Senate at placing the task in the hands of any one man, that no -decision could be arrived at. It was suggested that Lentulus Spinther, -the Governor of Cilicia, should evade the Sibylline decree by leaving -Auletes at Ptolemais (Acre) and going himself to Egypt at the head -of an army; but the King no doubt saw in this an attempt by the wily -Romans simply to seize his country, and he appears to have opposed the -plan with understandable vehemence. It was then proposed that Lentulus -should take no army, but should trust to the might of the Roman name -for his purpose, thereby following the advice of the prophetic Books. - -At last, however, Auletes offered the huge bribe of 10,000 talents -(nearly two and a half millions sterling) for the repurchase of his -kingdom; and, as a consequence, the Governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, -himself a bankrupt in sore need of money, arranged to invade Egypt and -to place Auletes upon the throne in spite of the Sibylline warnings. -Gabinius, being so deeply in debt, and knowing that a large portion of -the promised sum would pass to him, was extremely eager to undertake -the war, though it is said that he feared the possibility of disaster. -He therefore pushed forward the arrangements for the campaign with all -despatch, and soon was prepared to set out across the desert to Egypt. - -Meanwhile the Alexandrians had married Berenice IV. to Archelaus, -the High Priest of Komana in Cappadocia, an ambitious man of great -influence and authority, a protégé of Pompey the Great, who had been -raised to the High Priesthood by him in B.C. 64, and who at once -attempted, but without success, to obtain through him the support of -Rome. Gabinius was not long in declaring war against Archelaus, under -the pretext that he was encouraging piracy along the North African -coast, and also that he was building a fleet which might be regarded -as a menace to Rome; and soon his army was marching across the desert -from Gaza to Pelusium. The cavalry, which was sent in advance of the -main army, was commanded by Marcus Antonius, at this time a smart young -soldier whose future lay all golden before him. The frontier fortress -of Pelusium fell to his brilliant generalship, and soon the Roman -legions were marching on Alexandria. The palace soldiery now joined the -invaders, Archelaus was killed, and the city fell. - -Auletes was at once restored to his throne, and Berenice IV. was put to -death. A large number of Roman infantry and Celtic and German cavalry, -of whom we shall hear again, were left in the city to preserve order, -and it would seem that for a short time Anthony remained in Alexandria. -The young Princess Cleopatra was now a girl of some fourteen years of -age, and already she is said to have attracted the Roman cavalry leader -by her youthful beauty and charm. At the east end of the Mediterranean -a girl of fourteen years is already mature, and has long arrived at -what is called a marriageable age. There is probably little importance -to be attached to this meeting, but it is not without interest as an -earnest of future events. - -The Romans now began to demand payment of the various sums promised -to them by Auletes. Rabirius Postumus appears to have been one of the -largest creditors, and the only way in which the King could pay him -back was by making him Chancellor of the Exchequer, so that all taxes -might pass through his hands. Rabirius also represented the interests -of the importunate Julius Cæsar, and probably those of Gabinius. The -situation was thus not unlike that which was found in Egypt in the -’seventies, when a European Commission was appointed to handle all -public funds in order that the ruler’s private debts might be paid -off. In the case of Auletes, however, it was the leading Romans who -were his creditors, and hence we find the shadow of the great Republic -hanging over the Alexandrian court, and Rome is seen to be inextricably -mixed up with Egyptian affairs. Roman money had been lent and had to be -regained; Roman officials handled all the taxes; a Roman army occupied -the city, and the King reigned by permission of the Roman Senate to -whom his kingdom had been bequeathed. - -In B.C. 54 the Alexandrians made an attempt to shake off the incubus, -and drove Rabirius out of Egypt. Roman attention was at once fixed upon -Alexandria, and it is probable that the country would have been annexed -at once had not the appalling Parthian catastrophe in the following -year, when Crassus was defeated and killed, diverted their minds to -other channels. Auletes, however, did not live long to enjoy his -dearly-bought immunity; for in the summer of B.C. 51 he passed away, -leaving behind him the four children born to him of his second marriage -with the unknown lady who was now probably dead. The famous Cleopatra, -the seventh of the name, was the eldest of this family, being, at her -father’s death, about eighteen years of age. Her sister Arsinoe, whom -she heartily disliked, was a few years younger. The third child was a -boy of ten or eleven years of age, afterwards known as Ptolemy XIV.; -and lastly, there was the child who later became Ptolemy XV., now a boy -of seven or eight.[17] Auletes, warned by his own bitter experiences, -had taken the precaution to write an explicit will in which he stated -clearly his wishes in regard to the succession. One copy of the will -was kept at Alexandria, and a second copy, duly attested and sealed, -was placed in the hands of Pompey at Rome, who had befriended the King -when he was in that city, with the request that it should be deposited -in the _ærarium_. In this will Auletes decreed that his eldest -surviving daughter and eldest surviving son should reign jointly; and -he called upon the Roman people in the name of all their gods and in -view of all their treaties made with him, to see that the terms of -his testament were carried out. He further asked the Roman people to -act as guardian to the new King, as though fearing that the boy might -be suppressed, or even put out of the way by his co-regnant sister. -At the same time he carefully urged them to make no change in the -succession, and his words have been thought to suggest that he feared -lest Cleopatra, in like manner, might be removed in favour of Arsinoe. -In a court such as that of the Ptolemies the fact that two sons and -two daughters were living at the palace at the King’s death boded ill -for the prospects of peace; and it would seem that Auletes’ knowledge -that Cleopatra and Arsinoe were not on the best of terms gave rise in -his mind to the greatest apprehension. Being aware of the domestic -history of his family, and knowing that his own hands were stained -with the blood of his daughter Berenice, whom he had murdered on his -return from exile, he must have been fully alive to the possibilities -of internecine warfare amongst his surviving children; and, being -in his old age sick of bloodshed and desiring only a bibulous peace -for himself and his descendants, he took every means in his power to -secure for them that pleasant inertia which had been denied so often to -himself. - -His wish that his eighteen-year-old daughter should reign with his -ten-year-old son involved, as a matter of course, the marriage of the -sister and brother, for the Ptolomies had conformed to ancient Egyptian -customs to the extent of perpetrating when necessary a royal marriage -between a brother and sister in this manner. The custom was of very -ancient establishment in Egypt, and was based originally on the law of -female succession, which made the monarch’s eldest daughter the heiress -of the kingdom. The son who had been selected by his father to succeed -to the throne, or who aspired to the sovereignty either by right or by -might, obtained his legal warrant to the kingdom by marriage with this -heiress. When such an heiress did not exist, or when the male claimant -to the throne had no serious rivals, this rule often seems to have been -set aside; but there are few instances of its disuse when circumstances -demanded a solidification of the royal claim to the throne. - -When, therefore, according to the terms of the will of Auletes, his -eldest daughter and eldest son succeeded jointly to the throne as -Cleopatra VII. and Ptolemy XIV., their formal marriage was contemplated -as a matter of course. There is no evidence of this marriage, and one -may suppose that it was postponed by Cleopatra’s desire, on the grounds -of the extreme youth of the King. Marriages at the age of eleven or -twelve years were not uncommon in ancient Egypt, but they were not -altogether acceptable to Greek minds; and the Queen could not have -found much difficulty in making this her justification for holding -the power in her own hands. The young Ptolemy XIV. was placed in the -care of the eunuch Potheinos, a man who appears to have been typical -of that class of palace intriguers with whom the historian becomes -tediously familiar. The royal tutor, Theodotos, an objectionable Greek -rhetorician, also exercised considerable influence in the court, and -a third intimate of the King was an unscrupulous soldier of Egyptian -nationality named Achillas, who commanded the troops in the palace. -These three men very soon obtained considerable power, and, acting in -the name of their young master, they managed to take a large portion of -the government into their own hands. Cleopatra, meanwhile, seems to -have suffered something of an eclipse. She was still only a young girl, -and her advisers appear to have been men of less strength of purpose -than those surrounding her brother’s person. The King being still a -minor, the bulk of the formal business of the State was performed by -the Queen; but it would seem that the real rulers of the country were -Potheinos and his friends. - -Some two or three years after the death of Auletes, Marcus Calpurnius -Bibulus,[18] the pro-consular Governor of Syria, sent his two sons to -Alexandria to order the Roman troops stationed in that city to join -his army in his contemplated campaign against the Parthians. These -Alexandrian troops constituted the Army of Occupation, which had been -left in Egypt by Gabinius in B.C. 55 as a protection to Auletes. They -were for the most part, as has been said, Gallic and German cavalry, -rough men whose rude habits and bulky forms must have caused them to -be the wonder and terror of the city. These _Gabiniani milites_ had -by this time settled down in their new home, and had taken wives to -themselves from the Greek and Egyptian families of Alexandria. In -spite of the presence amongst them of a considerable body of Roman -infantry veterans who had fought under Pompey, the discipline of the -army was already much relaxed; and when the Governor of Syria’s orders -were received there was an immediate mutiny, the two unfortunate sons -of Bibulus being promptly murdered by the angry and probably drunken -soldiers. When the affair was reported to the palace, Cleopatra issued -orders for the immediate arrest of the murderers; and the army, -realising that their position as mutinous troops was untenable, handed -over the ringleaders apparently without further trouble. The prisoners -were then sent by the Queen in chains to Bibulus; but he, being -possessed of the best spirit of the old Roman aristocracy, sent back -these murderers of his two sons to her with the message that the right -of inflicting punishment in such cases belonged only to the Senate. -History does not tell us what was the ultimate fate of these men, and -the incident is not of great importance except in so far as it shows -the first recorded act of Cleopatra’s reign as being one of tactful -deliberation and fair dealing with her Roman neighbours. - -Shortly after this, in the year B.C. 49, Pompey sent his son, Cnæus -Pompeius, to Egypt to procure ships and men in preparation for the -civil war which now seemed inevitable; and the Gabinian troops, feeling -that a war against Julius Cæsar offered more favourable possibilities -than a campaign against the ferocious Parthians, cheerfully responded -to the call. Fifty warships and a force of 500 men left Alexandria with -Cnæus, and eventually attached themselves to the command of Bibulus, -who was now Pompey’s admiral in the Adriatic. It is said that Cnæus -Pompeius was much attracted by Cleopatra’s beauty and charm, and that -he managed to place himself upon terms of intimacy with her; but there -is absolutely nothing to justify the suggestion that there was any -sort of serious intrigue. I am of opinion that the stories of this -nature which passed into circulation were due to the fact that the -possibility of a marriage between Cleopatra and the young Roman had -been contemplated by Alexandrian politicians. The great Pompey was -master of the Roman world, and a union with his son, on the analogy -of that between Berenice and the High Priest of Komana, was greatly to -be desired. The proposal, however, does not seem to have obtained much -support, and the matter was presently dropped. - -In the following year, B.C. 48, when Cleopatra was twenty-one years -of age and her co-regnant brother fourteen, important events occurred -in Alexandria of which history has left us no direct record. It would -appear that the brother and sister quarrelled, and that the palace -divided itself into two opposing parties. The young Ptolemy, backed -by the eunuch Potheinos, the rhetorician Theodotos, and the soldier -Achillas, set himself up as sole sovereign of Egypt; and Cleopatra -was obliged to fly for her life into Syria. We have no knowledge of -these momentous events: the struggle in the palace, the days in which -the young queen walked in deadly peril, the adventurous escape, and -the flight from Egypt. We know only that when the curtain is raised -once more upon the royal drama, the young Ptolemy is King of Egypt, -and, with his army, is stationed on the eastern frontier to prevent -the incursion of his exiled sister, who has raised an expeditionary -force in Syria and is marching back to her native land to seize again -the throne which she had lost. There is something which appeals very -greatly to the imagination in the thought of this spirited young -Queen’s rapid return to the perilous scenes from which she had so -recently escaped; and the historian feels at once that he is dealing -with a powerful character in this woman who could so speedily raise -an army of mercenaries, and could dare to march back in battle array -across the desert towards the land which had cast her out. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE DEATH OF POMPEY AND THE ARRIVAL OF CÆSAR IN EGYPT. - - -The fortress of Pelusium, near which the opposing armies of Ptolemy and -Cleopatra were arrayed, stood on low desert ground overlooking the sea, -not far east of the modern Port Said. It was the most easterly port -and stronghold of the Delta; and, being built upon the much-frequented -highroad which skirted the coast between Egypt and Syria, it formed -the Asiatic gateway of the Ptolemaic kingdom. The young Ptolemy XIV. -had stationed himself, with his advisers and his soldiers, in this -fortress, in order to oppose the entrance of his sister Cleopatra, -who, as we have already seen, had marched with a strong army back to -Egypt from Syria, whither she had fled. On September 28th, B.C. 48, -when Cleopatra’s forces, having arrived at Pelusium, were preparing -to attack the fortress, and were encamped upon the sea-coast a few -miles to the east of the town, an event occurred which was destined to -change the whole course of Egyptian history. Round the barren headland -to the west of the little port a Seleucian galley hove into sight, and -cast anchor a short distance from the shore. Upon the deck of this -vessel stood the defeated Pompey the Great and Cornelia his wife, who, -flying from the rout of Pharsalia, had come to claim the hospitality -of the Egyptian King. The young monarch appears to have been warned of -his approach, for Pompey had touched at Alexandria, and there hearing -that Ptolemy had gone to Pelusium, had probably sent a messenger to -him overland and himself had sailed round by sea. The greatest flurry -had been caused in the royal camp by the news, and for the moment the -invasion of Cleopatra and the impending battle with her forces were -quite forgotten in the excitement of the arrival of the man who for so -long had been the mighty patron of the Ptolemaic Court. - -[Illustration: ÆGYPTUS - - _William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_ W. & A. K. Johnston, - Limited, Edinburgh & London -] - -[Illustration: - - _Rome._] [_Photograph by Anderson_ - -POMPEY THE GREAT] - -Egypt, like all the rest of the world, had been watching with deep -interest the warfare waged between the two Roman giants, Pompey and -Cæsar, confident in the success of the former; and the messenger -of the defeated general must have brought the first authentic news -of the result of the eagerly awaited battle. The sympathies of the -Alexandrians were all on the side of the Pompeians, for the fugitive, -who now asked a return of his former favours, had always been to them -the gigantic representative of Roman patronage. They knew little, -if anything, about Cæsar, who had spent so many years in the far -north-west; but Pompey was Rome itself to them, and had always shown -himself particularly desirous of acting, when occasion arose, in their -behalf. For many years he had been, admittedly, the most powerful -personage in Rome, and the civilised world had grovelled at his feet. -Then came the inevitable quarrel with Julius Cæsar, a man who could not -tolerate the presence of a rival. Civil war broke out, and the two -armies met on the plains of Pharsalia. It is not necessary to record -here how Pompey’s patrician cavalry, in whom he confidently trusted, -was defeated by Cæsar’s hardened legions; how the foreign allies were -awed into inactivity by the spectacle of the superb contest between -Romans and Romans; how the debonnaire Pompey, realising his defeat, -passed, dazed, to his pavilion and sat there staring in front of him, -until the enemy had penetrated to his very door, when, uttering the -despairing cry, “What! even into the camp?” he galloped from the field; -and how Cæsar’s men found the enemy’s tents decked in readiness for -the celebration of their anticipated victory, the doorways hung with -garlands of myrtle, the floors spread with rich carpets, and the tables -covered with goblets of wine and dishes of food. Pompey had fled to -Larissa and thence to the sea, where he boarded a merchantman and set -sail for Mitylene. Here picking up his wife Cornelia, he made his way -to Cyprus, where he transhipped to the galley in which he crossed to -Egypt. He had expected, very naturally, to be received with courtesy -by Ptolemy, who was to be regarded as his political protégé; and he -had some undefined but cogent plans of gathering his forces together -again and giving battle a second time to his enemies. At Pharsalia he -had thought his power irrevocably destroyed, but on his way to Egypt he -learnt that Cato had rallied a considerable number of his troops, and -that his fleet, which had not come into action, was still loyal; and he -therefore hoped that with Ptolemy’s expected help he might yet regain -the mastery of the Roman world. - -As soon as his approach was reported to the Egyptian King, a council -of ministers was called, in order to decide the manner in which they -should receive the fallen general. There were present at this meeting -the three scoundrelly advisers of the youthful monarch whom we have -already met: Potheinos, the eunuch, who was a kind of prime minister; -Achillas, the Egyptian, who commanded the King’s troops; and Theodotos -of Chios, the professional master of rhetoric, and tutor to Ptolemy. -These three men appear to have organised the plot by which Cleopatra -had been driven from Egypt; and, having the boy Ptolemy well under -their thumbs, they seem to have been acting with zeal in his name for -the advancement of their own fortunes. “It was, indeed, a miserable -thing,” says Plutarch, “that the fate of the great Pompey should be -left to the determinations of these three men; and that he, riding -at anchor at a distance from the shore, should be forced to wait the -sentence of this tribunal.” - -Some of the councillors suggested that he should be politely requested -to seek refuge in some other country, for it was obvious that Cæsar -might deal harshly with them if they were to befriend him. Others -proposed that they should receive him and cast in their lot with him, -for it was to be supposed, and indeed such was the fact, that he still -had a very good chance of recovering from the fiasco of Pharsalia; and -there was the danger that, if they did not do so, he might accept the -assistance of their enemy Cleopatra. Theodotos, however, pointing out, -in a carefully reasoned speech, that both these courses were fraught -with danger to themselves, proposed that they should curry favour with -Cæsar by murdering their former patron, thus bringing the contest to -a close, and thereby avoiding any risk of backing the wrong horse; -“and,” he added with a smile, “a dead man cannot bite.” The councillors -readily approved this method of dealing with the difficult situation, -and they committed its execution to Achillas, who thereupon engaged the -services of a certain Roman officer named Septimius, who had once held -a command under Pompey, and another Roman centurion named Salvius. The -three men, with a few attendants, then boarded a small boat and set out -towards the galley. - -When they had come alongside Septimius stood up and saluted Pompey by -his military title; and Achillas thereupon invited him to come ashore -in the smaller vessel, saying that the large galley could not make the -harbour owing to the shallow water. It was now seen that a number of -Egyptian battleships were cruising at no great distance, and that the -sandy shore was alive with troops; and Pompey, whose suspicions were -aroused, realised that he could not now turn back, but must needs place -himself in the hands of the surly-looking men who had come out to meet -him. His wife Cornelia was distraught with fears for his safety, but -he, bidding her to await events without anxiety, lowered himself into -the boat, taking with him two centurions, a freedman named Philip, and -a slave called Scythes. As he bade farewell to Cornelia he quoted to -her a couple of lines from Sophocles-- - - “He that once enters at a tyrant’s door - Becomes a slave, though he were free before;” - -and so saying, he set out towards the shore. A deep silence fell upon -the little company as the boat passed over the murky water, which at -this time of year is beginning to be discoloured by the Nile mud -brought down by the first rush of the annual floods;[19] and in the -damp heat of an Egyptian summer day the dreary little town and the -barren colourless shore must have appeared peculiarly uninviting. In -order to break the oppressive silence Pompey turned to Septimius, -and, looking earnestly upon him, said: “Surely I am not mistaken in -believing you to have been formerly my fellow-soldier?” Septimius made -no reply, but silently nodded his head; whereupon Pompey, opening a -little book, began to read, and so continued until they had reached the -shore. As he was about to leave the boat he took hold of the hand of -his freedman Philip; but even as he did so Septimius drew his sword and -stabbed him in the back, whereupon both Salvius and Achillas attacked -him. Pompey spoke no word, but, groaning a little, hid his face with -his mantle, and fell into the bottom of the vessel, where he was -speedily done to death. - -Cornelia, standing upon the deck of the galley, witnessed the murder, -and uttered so great a cry that it was heard upon the shore. Then, -seeing the murderers stoop over the body and rise again with the -severed head held aloft, she called to her ship’s captain to weigh -anchor, and in a few moments the galley was making for the open sea and -was speedily out of the range of pursuit. Pompey’s decapitated body, -stripped of all clothing, was now bundled into the water, and a short -time afterwards was washed up by the breakers upon the sands of the -beach, where it was soon surrounded by a crowd of idlers. Meanwhile -Achillas and his accomplices carried the head up to the royal camp. - -The freedman Philip was not molested, and, presently making his way to -the beach, wandered to and fro along the desolate shore until all had -retired to the town. Then, going over to the body and kneeling down -beside it, he washed it with sea-water and wrapped it in his own shirt -for want of a winding-sheet. As he was searching for wood wherewith to -make some sort of funeral pyre, he met with an old Roman soldier who -had once served under the murdered general; and together these two men -carried down to the water’s edge such pieces of wreckage and fragments -of rotten wood as they could find, and placing the body upon the pile -set fire to it. - -Upon the next morning one of the Pompeian generals, Lucius Lentulus, -who was bringing up the two thousand soldiers whom Pompey had gathered -together as a bodyguard, arrived in a second galley before Pelusium; -and as he was being rowed ashore he observed the still smoking remains -of the pyre. “Who is this that has found his end here?” he said, being -still in ignorance of the tragedy, and added with a sigh, “Possibly -even thou, Pompeius Magnus!” And upon stepping ashore, he too was -promptly murdered. - -A few days later, on October 2nd, Julius Cæsar, in hot pursuit, -arrived at Alexandria, where he heard with genuine disgust of the -miserable death of his great enemy. Shortly afterwards Theodotos -presented himself to the conqueror, carrying with him Pompey’s head and -signet-ring; but Cæsar turned in distress from the gruesome head, and -taking only the ring in his hand, was for a moment moved to tears.[20] -He then appears to have dismissed the astonished Theodotos from his -presence like an offending slave: and it was not long before that -disillusioned personage fled for his life from Egypt. For some years, -it may be mentioned, he wandered as a vagabond through Syria and Asia -Minor; but at last, after the death of Cæsar, he was recognised by -Marcus Brutus, and, as a punishment for having instigated the murder -of the great Pompey, was crucified with every possible ignominy. -Cæsar seems to have arranged that the ashes of his rival should be -sent to his wife Cornelia, by whom they were ultimately deposited -at his country house near Alba; and he also gave orders that the -piteous head should be buried near the sea, in the grove of Nemesis, -outside the eastern walls of Alexandria, where, in the shade of the -trees, a monument was set up to him and the ground around it laid -out. Cæsar then offered his protection and friendship to all those -partisans of Pompey whom the Egyptians had imprisoned, and he expressed -his great satisfaction at being able thus to save the lives of his -fellow-countrymen. - -It is not difficult to appreciate the consternation caused by -Cæsar’s attitude. Potheinos and Achillas at once realised that the -disgrace of Theodotos awaited them unless they acted with the utmost -circumspection, biding their time until, as was expected, Cæsar should -take his speedy departure, or until they might deal with this new -disturber of their peace in the same manner in which they had disposed -of the old. But Cæsar had no intention of leaving Egypt in any haste, -nor did he give them the desired opportunity of anticipating the Ides -of March. With that audacious nonchalance which so often baffled his -observers, he quietly decided to take up his residence in the Palace -upon the Lochias Promontory at Alexandria, at that moment occupied -by only two members of the Royal Family, the younger Ptolemy and -his sister Arsinoe; and, as soon as sufficient troops had arrived to -support him, he left his galley and landed at the steps of the imposing -quay. Two amalgamated legions, 3200 strong, and 800 Celtic and German -cavalry, disembarked with him, this small force having been considered -by Cæsar sufficient for the rounding up of the Pompeian fugitives, and -for the secondary purposes for which he had come to Egypt.[21] - -Cæsar’s object in hastening across the Mediterranean had been, -primarily, the capture of Pompey and his colleagues, and the prevention -of a rally under the shelter of the King of Egypt’s not inconsiderable -armaments. It appears to have been his opinion that speed of pursuit -would be more effective than strength of arms, and that his undelayed -appearance at Alexandria would more simply discourage the undetermined -Egyptians from rendering assistance to their former friend than a -display of force at a later date. Fresh from the triumph of Pharsalia, -with the memory of that astounding victory to warm his spirits, he did -not anticipate any great difficulty in subjecting the Ptolemaic Court -to his will, nor in demonstrating to them that he himself, and not the -defeated Pompey, represented the authentic might of Rome. It would seem -that he expected speedily to frustrate any further resort to arms, -and to manifest his authority by acting ostentatiously in the name of -the Roman people. He himself should assume the prerogatives lately -held by Pompey, and should play the part of benevolent patron to the -court of Alexandria so admirably sustained by his fallen rival for -so many years. There were several outstanding matters in Egypt which, -on behalf of his home government, he could regulate and adjust: and -there is little doubt that he hoped by so doing to establish a despotic -reputation in that important country which would retain for him, as -apparent autocrat of Rome, a personal control of its affairs for many -years to come. In spite of all that has been said to the contrary, I am -of opinion that his return to Rome was not urgent; indeed it seems to -me that it could be postponed for a short time with advantage. Pompey -had been a great favourite with the Italians, and it was just as well -that the turmoil caused by his defeat and death should be allowed to -subside, and that the bitter memories of a sanguinary war, which had -so palpably been brought about by personal rivalry, should be somewhat -forgotten before the victor made his spectacular entry into Rome. At -this time he was not at all popular in the capital, and indeed, six -months previously he had been generally regarded as a criminal and -adventurer; while, on the other hand, Pompey had been the people’s -darling, and it would take some time for public opinion to be reversed. - -When, therefore, Cæsar heard that the treacherous deeds of the Egyptian -ministers had rendered his primary action unnecessary, he determined -to enter Alexandria with some show of state, to take up his residence -there for a few weeks, and to interfere in its internal affairs for his -own advancement and for the consolidation of his power. - -With this object in view his four thousand troops were landed, and he -set out in procession towards the Royal Palace, the lictors carrying -the _fasces_ and axes before him as in the consular promenades at -Rome.[22] No sooner, however, were these ominous symbols observed by -the mob than a rush was made towards them; and for a time the attitude -of the crowd became ugly and menacing. The young King and his Court -were still at Pelusium, where his army was defending the frontier from -the expected attack of Cleopatra’s invading forces; but there were in -Alexandria a certain number of troops which had been left there as a -garrison, and both amongst these men and amongst the heterogeneous -townspeople there must have been many who realised the significance of -the _fasces_. The city was full of Roman outlaws and renegades, to whom -this reminder of the length of her arm could but bring foreboding and -terror. To them Cæsar’s formal entry meant the establishment of that -law from which they had fled; while to many a merry member of the crowd -the stately procession appeared to bring to Egypt at last that dismal -shadow of Rome[23] by which it had so long been menaced. On all sides -it was declared that this state entry into the Egyptian capital was an -insult to the King’s majesty; and so, indeed, it was, though little did -that trouble Cæsar, who was well aware now of his unassailable position -in the councils of Rome. - -The city was in a ferment, and for some days after Cæsar had taken -up his quarters at the Palace rioting continued in the streets, a -number of his soldiers being killed in different parts of the town. He -therefore sent post-haste to Asia Minor for reinforcements, and took -such steps as were necessary for securing his position from attack. It -is probable that he did not suppose the Alexandrians would have the -audacity to make war upon him, or attempt to drive him from the city; -but at the same time he desired to take no risks, for he seems at the -moment to have been heartily sick of warfare and slaughter. The Palace -and royal barracks in which his troops were quartered, being built -mainly upon the Lochias Promontory, were easily able to be defended -from attack by land--for, no doubt, in so turbulent a city, the royal -quarter was protected by massive walls; and at the same time the -position commanded the eastern half of the Great Harbour and the one -side of its entrance over against the Pharos Lighthouse. His ships lay -moored under the walls of the Palace; and a means of escape was thus -kept open which, if the worst came to the worst, might be used with -comparative safety upon any dark night. I think the turbulence of the -mob, therefore, did not much trouble him, and he was able to set about -the task which he desired to perform with a certain degree of quietude. -The Civil War had been a very great strain upon his nerves, and he -must have looked forward to a few weeks of actual holiday here in the -luxurious royal apartments which he had so casually appropriated. -Summer at Alexandria is in many ways a delightful time of year; and one -may therefore picture Cæsar, at all times fond of luxury and opulence, -now heartily enjoying these warm breezy days upon the beautiful Lochias -Promontory. The crisis of his life had been passed; he was now absolute -master of the Roman world; and his triumphant entry into the capital, -when, in a few weeks’ time, the passions of the mob had cooled, was -an anticipation pleasant enough to set his restless heart at ease, -while he applied himself to the agreeable little task of regulating the -affairs in Egypt. He had sent a courier to Rome announcing the death of -Pompey, but it does not seem that this messenger was told to proceed -with any great rapidity, for he did not arrive in the capital until -near the middle of November.[24] - -His first action was to send messengers to Pelusium strongly urging -both Ptolemy and Cleopatra to cease their warfare, and to come to -Alexandria in order to lay their respective cases before him. He chose -to regard the settlement of the quarrel between the two sovereigns as -a particular obligation upon himself, for it was during his previous -consulship that the late monarch, Auletes, had entrusted his children -to the Roman people and had made the Republic the executors of his -will; and, moreover, that will had been confided to the care of Pompey, -whose position as patron of the Egyptian Court Cæsar was now anxious to -fill. In response to the summons Ptolemy came promptly to Alexandria, -with his minister Potheinos, arriving, I suppose, on about October 5th, -in order to ascertain what on earth Cæsar was doing in the Palace; and -meanwhile Achillas was left in command of the army at Pelusium. On -reaching Alexandria they seem to have been invited by Cæsar to take up -their residence in the Palace into which he had intruded, and which was -now patrolled by his Roman troops; and, apparently upon the advice of -the unctuous Potheinos, the two of them made themselves as pleasant as -possible to their new patron. Cæsar at once asked Ptolemy to disband -his army, but to this Potheinos would not agree, and immediately sent -word to Achillas to bring his forces to Alexandria. Cæsar, hearing of -this, obliged the young King to despatch two officers, Dioscorides and -Serapion, to order Achillas to remain at that place. These messengers, -however, were intercepted by the agents of Potheinos, one being killed -and the other wounded; and two or three days later Achillas arrived at -the capital at the head of the first batch of his army of some twenty -thousand foot and two thousand horse,[25] taking up his residence -in that part of the city unoccupied by the Romans. Cæsar thereupon -fortified his position, deciding to hold as much of the city as his -small force could defend--namely, the Palace and the Royal Area behind -it, including the Theatre, the Forum, and probably a portion of the -Street of Canopus. The Egyptian army presented a pugnacious but not -extremely formidable array,[26] consisting as it did of the Gabinian -troops, who had now become entirely expatriated, and had assumed to -some extent the habits and liberties of their adopted country; a number -of criminals and outlaws from Italy who had been enrolled as mercenary -troops; a horde of Syrian and Cilician pirates and brigands; and, -probably, a few native levies. But as Cæsar now had with him in the -Palace King Ptolemy, the little Prince Ptolemy, the Princess Arsinoe, -and the minister Potheinos, who could be regarded as hostages for his -safety, and four thousand of his war-hardened veterans, ensconced in -a fortified position and supported by a business-like little fleet -of galleys, I cannot see that he had any cause at the moment for -alarm. One serious difficulty, however, presented itself. Immediately -on arriving in Egypt he had sent orders to Cleopatra to repair to -the Palace; and his task as arbiter in the royal dispute could not -be performed until she arrived, nor could he expect to assert his -authority until her presence completed the group of interested persons -under his enforced protection. Yet she could not dare to place herself -in the hands of Achillas, nor rely upon him for a safe escort through -the lines; and thus Cæsar found himself in a dilemma. - -The situation, however, was relieved by the pluck and audacity of the -young Queen. Realising that her only hope of regaining her kingdom -lay in a personal presentation of her case to the Roman arbiter, -she determined, by hook or by crook, to make her entry into the -Palace. Taking ship from Pelusium to Alexandria, probably at the end -of the first week of October, she entered a small boat when still -some distance from the city, and thus, about nightfall, slipped into -the Great Harbour, accompanied only by one friend, Apollodorus the -Sicilian. She seems to have been aware that her brother and Potheinos -were in residence at the Palace, together with a goodly number of their -own attendants and servants; but there were no means of telling how -far Cæsar controlled the situation. Being unaccustomed to the presence -of a power more autocratic than that of her own royal house, she does -not seem to have realised that Cæsar was in absolute command of the -Lochias, and that not he but Ptolemy was the guarded guest; and she -felt that in landing at the Palace quays she was running the gravest -risk of falling into the hands of her brother’s party and of being -murdered before she could reach Cæsar’s presence. This fear indeed -may well have been justified, for there is no doubt that Ptolemy and -Potheinos had considerable liberty of action within the precincts of -the Palace; and, if the rumour had spread that Cleopatra was come, -neither of them would have hesitated to put a dagger into her ribs -in the first dark corridor through which she had to pass. Waiting, -therefore, upon the still water under the walls of the Palace until -darkness had fallen, she instructed Apollodorus to roll her up in the -blankets and bedding which he had brought for her in the boat as a -protection against the night air, and around the bundle she told him to -tie a piece of rope which, I suppose, they found in the boat. She was a -very small woman, and Apollodorus apparently experienced no difficulty -in shouldering the burden as he stepped ashore. Bundles of this kind -were then, as they are now, the usual baggage of a common man in Egypt, -and were not likely to attract notice. An Alexandrian native at the -present day thus carries his worldly goods tied up in his bedding, the -mat or piece of carpet which serves him for a bedstead being wrapped -around the bundle and fastened with a rope, and in ancient times the -custom was doubtless identical. Apollodorus, who must have been a -powerful man, thus walked through the gates of the Palace with the -Queen of Egypt upon his shoulders, bearing himself as though she were -no heavier than the pots, pans, and clothing which were usually tied up -in this manner; and when challenged by the sentries he probably replied -that he was carrying the baggage to one of the soldiers of Cæsar’s -guard, and asked to be directed to his apartments. - -Cæsar’s astonishment when the bundle was untied in his presence, -revealing the dishevelled little Queen, must have been unbounded; -and Plutarch tells us that he was at once “captivated by this proof -of Cleopatra’s bold wit.” One pictures her bursting with laughter at -her adventure, and speedily winning the admiration of the susceptible -Roman, who delighted almost as keenly in deeds of daring as he did -in feminine beauty. All night long they were closeted together, she -relating to him her adventures since she was driven from her kingdom, -and he listening with growing interest, and already perhaps with -awakening love. And here it will be as well to leave them while some -description is given of the appearance and character of the man who now -found himself looking forward to the ensuing days of his holiday in -Alexandria with an eagerness which it must have been difficult for him -to conceal. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR. - - -When Cæsar thus made the acquaintance of the adventurous young Queen of -Egypt he was a man of advanced middle age. He had already celebrated -his fifty-fourth birthday, having been born on July 12, B.C. 102, and -time was beginning to mark him down. The appalling dissipations of his -youth to some extent may have added to the burden of his years; and, -though he was still active and keen beyond the common measure, his -face was heavily lined and seamed, and his muscles, I suppose, showed -something of that tension to which the suppleness of early manhood -gives place. Yet he remained graceful and full of the quality of youth, -and he carried himself with the air of one conscious of his supremacy -in the physical activities of life. He was a lightly-built man, of an -aristocratic type which is to be found indiscriminately throughout -Europe, and which nowadays, by a convention of thought, is usually -associated in the mind with the cavalry barracks or the polo-ground. He -appeared to be, and was, a perfect horseman. It is related of him that -in Gaul he bred and rode a horse which no other man in the army dared -mount; and it was his habit to demonstrate the firmness of his seat -by clasping his hands behind his back and setting the horse at full -gallop. Though by no means a small man, he must have scaled under ten -stone, and in other days and other climes he might have been mistaken -for a gentleman jockey. He was an extremely active soldier, a clever, -graceful swordsman, a powerful swimmer, and an excellent athlete. In -battle he had proved himself brave, gallant, and cool-headed; and in -his earlier years he had been regarded as a dashing young officer who -was neither restrained in the performance of striking deeds of bravery -nor averse to receiving a gallery cheer for his pains. Already at the -age of twenty-one he had won the civic crown, the Victoria Cross of -that period, for saving a soldier’s life at the storming of Mytelene. -In action he exposed himself bare-headed amongst his men, cheering them -and encouraging them by his own fine spirits; and it is related how -once he laid hands on a distraught standard-bearer who was running to -cover, turned him round, and suggested to him that he had mistaken the -direction of the enemy. - -His thin, clean-shaven face, his keen dark eyes, his clear-cut -features, his hard, firm mouth with its whimsical expression, and his -somewhat pale and liverish complexion, gave him at first sight the -appearance of one who, being by nature a sportsman and a man of the -world, a fearless rider and a keen soldier, had enjoyed every moment of -an adventurous life. He was particularly well groomed and scrupulously -clean, and his scanty hair was carefully arranged over his fine, broad -head. His toga was ornamented with an unusually broad purple stripe, -and was edged with a long fringe. He loved jewellery, and on one -occasion bought a single pearl for £60,000, which he afterwards gave to -a lady of his acquaintance. Indeed, it is said that he only invaded -Britain because he had heard that fine pearls were to be obtained -there. There was thus a certain foppishness in his appearance, and a -slight suggestion of conceit and personal vanity marked his manner, -which gave the impression that he was not unaware of his good looks, -nor desirous of concealing the fact of his disreputable successes -with the fair sex. Yet he was at this time by no means an old _roué_. -His great head, the penetration of his dark eyes, and the occasional -sternness of his expression were a speedy indication that much lay -behind these inoffensive airs and graces; and all those who came into -his presence must have felt the power of his will and brain, even -though direct observation did not convey to them more than the pleasing -outlines of an elderly cavalier’s figure. Regarded in certain lights -and on certain occasions, the expression of his furrowed face showed -the imagination, the romantic vision, and the artistic culture of his -mind; but usually the qualities which were impressed upon a visitor -who conversed with him at close quarters were those of keenness, -determination, and, particularly, gentlemanliness, combined with the -rather charming confidence of a man of fashion. His manner at all times -was quiet and gracious; yet there was a certain fire, a controlled -vivacity in his movements, which revealed the creative soldier and -administrator behind the ideal aristocrat. His voice though high, -and sometimes shrill, was occasionally very pleasant to the ear; but -notwithstanding the fact that he was a wonderful orator, there was -a correctness in his choice of words which was occasionally almost -pedantic. His manner of speech was direct and straightforward, and his -honesty of purpose and loftiness of principle were not doubted save by -those who chanced to be aware of his little regard for moral integrity. - -Cæsar was, in fact, an extremely unscrupulous man. I do not find -it possible to accept the opinion of his character held by most -historians, or to suppose him to have been an heroic figure who lived -and died for his lofty and patriotic principles. There was immense -good in him, and he had the unquestionable merit of being a great man -with vast ambitions for the orderly governance of the nations of the -earth; but when he threw himself with such enthusiasm into the task of -winning the heart of the harum-scarum young Queen of Egypt, it seems -to me that he was very well qualified to deceive her, and to play upon -her emotions with all the known arts and wiles of a wicked world. So -notorious was his habit of leading women astray, that when he returned -to Rome from his Gallic Wars his soldiers sang a marching song in which -the citizens were warned to protect their ladies from him lest he -should treat them as he had treated all the women of Gaul. “_Urbani, -servate uxores_,” they sang; “_Calvum moechum adducimus_.” - -He had no particular religion, not much honour, and few high -principles; and in this regard all that can be said in his favour is -that he was perfectly free from cant, never pretended to be virtuous, -nor attempted to hide from his contemporaries the multitude of his -sins. As a young man he indulged in every kind of vice, and so -scandalous was his reputation for licentiousness that it was a matter -of blank astonishment to his Roman friends when, nevertheless, he -proved himself so brave and strenuous a soldier. His relationship with -the mother of Brutus, who was thought to be his own son, shows that -he prosecuted love intrigues while yet a boy. At one time he passed -through a phase of extreme effeminacy, with its attendant horrors; -and there was a period when he used to spend long hours each day in -the practice of the mysteries of the toilet, being scented and curled -and painted in the manner prescribed by the most degenerate young -men of the aristocratic classes. Indeed so effeminate was he, that -after staying with his friend Nicomedes, the King of Bithynia, he was -jestingly called Queen of Bithynia; and on another occasion in Rome a -certain wag named Octavius saluted Pompey as King and Cæsar as Queen of -Rome. His intrigues with the wives of his friends had been as frequent -as they were notorious. No good-looking woman was safe from him, least -of all those whom he had the opportunity of seeing frequently, owing -to his friendship for their husbands or other male relatives. Not -even political considerations checked his amorous inclinations, as -may be judged from the fact that he made a victim of Mucia, the wife -of Pompey, whose friendship he most eagerly desired at that time. “He -was the inevitable co-respondent in every fashionable divorce,” writes -Oman; “and when we look at the list of the ladies whose names are -linked with his, we can only wonder at the state of society in Rome -which permitted him to survive unscathed to middle age. The marvel is -that he did not end in some dark corner, with a dagger between his -ribs, long before he attained the age of thirty.” Being a brilliant -opportunist he made use of his success with women to promote his own -interests, and at one time he is said to have conducted love intrigues -with the wives of Pompey, Crassus, and Gabinius, all leaders of his -political party. Even the knowledge of the habits of the young fops of -the period, which he had acquired while emulating their mode of life, -was turned to good account by him in after years. At the battle of -Pharsalia, which had been fought but a few weeks before his arrival in -Egypt, he had told his troops who were to receive the charges of the -enemy’s patrician cavalry that they should not attempt to hamstring -the horses or strike at their legs, but should aim their blows at the -riders’ faces, “in the hopes,” as Plutarch says, “that young gentlemen -who had not known much of battles and wounds, but came, wearing their -hair long, in the flower of their age and height of their beauty, would -be more apprehensive of such blows and not care for hazarding both a -danger at present and a blemish for the future. And so it proved, for -they turned about, and covered their faces to safeguard them.” - -In regard to money matters Cæsar was entirely without principle. In his -early years he borrowed vast sums on all sides, spent them recklessly, -and seldom paid his debts save with further borrowed money. While still -a young man he owed his creditors the sum of £280,000; and though most -of this had now been paid off by means of the loot from the Gallic -Wars, there had been times in his life when ruin stared him in the -face. Most of his debts were incurred in the first place in buying for -himself a high position in Roman political life, and in the second -place in paying the electioneering expenses of candidates for office -who would be likely to advance his power. He engaged the favour of the -people by giving enormous public feasts, and on one occasion twenty-two -thousand persons were entertained at his expense at a single meal. -While he was ædile he paid for three hundred and twenty gladiatorial -combats; and innumerable fêtes and shows were given by him throughout -his life, and were paid for by the tears and anguish of his conquered -enemies. - -[Illustration: - - _British Museum._] - -JULIUS CÆSAR.] - -He was one of the most ambitious men who have ever walked the stage -of life, his devouring passion for absolute power being at all times -abnormal; and he cared not one jot in what manner he obtained or -expended money so long as his career was advanced by that means. -He could not brook the thought of playing a secondary part in the -world’s affairs, and nothing short of absolute autocracy satisfied -his aspirations. While crossing the Alps on one occasion the poverty -of a small mountain village was pointed out to him, and he was heard -to remark that he would rather be first man in that little community -than second man in Rome. On another occasion he was seen to burst into -tears while reading the life of Alexander the Great, for the thought -was intolerable to him that another man should have conquered the world -at an age when he himself had done nothing of the kind. This restless -“passion after honour,” as Plutarch terms it, was not apparent in -his manner and was not noticed save by those who knew him well. He -was too gentlemanly, too well dressed, too beautifully groomed, to -give the impression of one who was seeking indefatigably for his own -advancement, and at whose heart the demons of insatiate ambition were -so continuously gnawing. “When I see his hair so carefully arranged,” -said Cicero, “and observe him adjusting it with one finger, I cannot -imagine it should enter such a man’s thoughts to subvert the Roman -State.” Yet this elegant soldier, whose manners were so quietly -aristocratic, whose charm was so delectable, would sink to any depths -of moral depravity, whether financial or otherwise, in order to -convert the world into his footstool. When he and Catullus were rival -candidates for the office of Pontifex Maximus, the latter offered him a -huge sum of money to retire from the contest; but Cæsar, spurning the -proffered bribe with indignation, replied that he was about to _borrow_ -a larger sum than that in order to buy the votes for himself. At -another period of his amazing career he desired to effect the downfall -of Cicero, who was much in his way, and circumstances so fell out -that this could best be accomplished by the appointment of a certain -young scamp named Clodius as tribune. Now Clodius was the paramour -of Cæsar’s wife Pompeia, whom the Dictator had made co-respondent -in the action for divorce which he had brought against that lady; -yet, since it served his ambitious purpose, he did not now hesitate -to obtain the appointment of this amorous rogue and use him for his -infamous purposes. The story need not here be related of how Clodius -had disguised himself as a woman, and had thus obtained admission to -certain secret female rites at which Pompeia was officiating; how he -had been discovered; how he had only escaped the death penalty for his -sacrilege owing to the fact that the judges were afraid to condemn -him since he was a favourite with the mob, and afraid to acquit him -for fear of offending the nobility, and had therefore written their -verdicts so illegibly that nobody could read them; and how Pompeia -had been divorced by her husband, who had then made the famous remark -that “Cæsar’s wife must be above suspicion”; but it will be apparent -that Plutarch is justified in regarding the man’s appointment to the -tribuneship as one of the most disgraceful episodes in the Dictator’s -career. - -Cæsar’s first wife was named Cossutia, and was a wealthy heiress whom -he had married for her money’s sake. Having, however, fallen in love -with Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, he divorced Cossutia, and wedded -the woman of his heart, pluckily refusing to part with her when ordered -to do so for political reasons by the terrible Sulla. Cornelia died in -B.C. 68, and in the following year he married Pompeia, of whom we have -just heard, in order to strengthen his alliance with Pompey, to whom -she was related. - -Cæsar’s marriage to Calpurnia, after the dismissal of Pompeia, again -showed his indifference to the moral aspect of political life. -Calpurnia was the daughter of Calpurnius Piso, the pupil and disciple -of Philodemus the Epicurean, a man whose verses in the Greek Anthology, -and whose habits of life, were as vicious and poisonous as any in -that licentious age. Cæsar at once obtained the consulship for his -disreputable father-in-law, thereby causing Cato to protest that it -was intolerable that the government should be prostituted by such -marriages, and that persons should advance one another to the highest -offices in the land by means of women. Cæsar went so far as to propose, -shortly after this, that he should divorce Calpurnia and marry Pompey’s -daughter, who would have to be divorced from her husband, Faustus -Sulla, for the purpose; and that Pompey should marry Octavia, Cæsar’s -niece, although she was at that time married to C. Marcellus, and also -would have to be divorced. - -There was a startling nonchalance in Cæsar’s behaviour, a studied -callousness, which was not less apparent to his contemporaries than -to us. His wonderful ability to squander other people’s money, his -total disregard of principle, his undisguised satisfaction in political -and domestic intrigue, revealed an unconcern which must inspire -for all time the admiration of the criminal classes, and which, in -certain instances, must appeal very forcibly to the imagination of -all high-spirited persons. Who can resist the charm of the story of -his behaviour to the pirates of Pharmacusa? For thirty-eight days -he was held prisoner at that place by a band of most ferocious and -bloodthirsty Cilicians, and during that time he treated his captors -with a degree of reckless _insouciance_ unmatched in the history of -the world. When they asked him for a ransom of twenty talents (£5000) -he laughed in their faces, and said that he was worth at least fifty -(£12,500), which sum he ultimately paid over to them. He insisted upon -joining in their games, jeered at them for their barbarous habits, and -ordered them about as though they were his slaves. When he wished to -sleep he demanded that they should keep absolute silence as they sat -over their camp-fires; or, when the mood pleased him, he took part in -their sing-songs, read them his atrocious Latin verses (for he was -ever a poor poet), and abused them soundly if they did not applaud. A -hundred times a day he told them that he would have them all hanged -as soon as he was free, a pleasantry at which the pirates laughed -heartily, thinking it a merry jest; but no sooner was he released than -he raised a small force, attacked his former captors, and, taking most -of them prisoners, had them all crucified. Crucifixion is a form of -death by torture, the prolonged and frightful agony of which is not -fully appreciated at the present day, owing to a complacent familiarity -with the most notorious case of its application; but Cæsar being, -on occasion, with all his indifference, a kind-hearted man, decided -at the last moment mercifully to put an end to the agonies of his -disillusioned victims, and with a sort of considerate nonchalance he -therefore quietly cut their throats. - -He was not by any means consistently a cruel man, and his kindness -and magnanimity were often demonstrated. He shed tears, it will -be remembered, upon seeing the signet-ring of his murdered enemy, -Pompey; and in Rome he ordered that unfortunate soldier’s statues to -be replaced upon the pedestals from which they had been thrown. In -warfare, however, he was often ruthless, and had recourse to wholesale -massacres which could hardly be regarded as necessary measures. At -Uxellodunum and elsewhere he caused thousands of prisoners to be -maimed by the hacking off of their right hands; and his slaughter -of the members of the Senate of the Veneti seems to have been an -unnecessary piece of brutality. His behaviour in regard to the Usipetes -and Tencteri will always remain the chief stain upon his military -reputation. After concluding peace with these unfortunate peoples, he -attacked them when they were disarmed, and killed 430,000 of them--men, -women, and children. For this barbarity Cato proposed that he should -be put in chains and delivered over to the remnant of the massacred -tribes, that they might wreak their vengeance upon him. - -During his ten years’ campaigning in Gaul he took 800 towns by storm, -subdued 300 states, killed a million men, and sent another million into -slavery.[27] His cold-blooded execution of the brave Vercingetorix, -after six years of captivity, seems more cruel to us, perhaps, than it -did to his contemporaries; and it may be said in his favour that he -treated the terrified remnant of the conquered peoples with justice -and moderation. In spite of a kindly and even affable manner, his -wit was caustic and his words often terribly biting. When a certain -young man named Metellus, at that time tribune, had persistently -questioned whether Cæsar had a right to appropriate treasury funds in -the prosecution of his wars, Cæsar threatened to put him to death if -any more was heard of his dissent. “And this you know, young man,” said -he, “is more disagreeable for me to say than to do.” He associated -freely with all manner of persons, and although so obviously an -aristocrat, he was noted for his friendliness and tact in dealing with -the lower classes. During his campaigns he shared all hardships with -his men, and, consequently, was much beloved by them, in spite of their -occasional objection to the heavy work or strenuous manœuvres which he -required them to undertake. He was wont to travel in time of war at the -rate of a hundred miles a day; and when a river or stream obstructed -his progress he did not hesitate to dive straightway into the water and -swim to the opposite shore. On the march he himself usually slept in -his litter, or curled up on the floor of his chariot, and his food was -of the coarsest description. At no time, indeed, was he a gourmet; and -it is related how once he ate without a murmur some asparagus which had -been treated with something very much like an ointment in mistake for -sauce. In later life he drank no wine of any kind, an abstemiousness -which was probably forced upon him by ill-health; and he who, in his -early years, had been notorious for his dissipations and luxurious -living, was, at the time with which we are now dealing, famous for his -abstinence. - -When Cæsar arrived in Alexandria he was come direct from his great -victory over Pompey at Pharsalia, and was now absolute master of the -Roman world. His brilliant campaigns in Gaul had raised him to the -highest position in the Republic, and now that Pompey was dead he was -without any appreciable rival. He carried himself with careful dignity, -and presumed--quite correctly--that all eyes were turned upon him. -He had, as Mommsen says, “a pleasing consciousness of his own manly -beauty”; and the thought of his many brilliant victories and successful -surmounting of all obstacles gave him the liveliest satisfaction. No -longer was his elegant frame shaken with sobs at the envious thought of -the exploits of Alexander the Great; but, since his insatiable ambition -still urged him to make use of his opportunities, he was for the moment -content to indulge his passion for conquest by attempting to win the -affections of the charming, omnipotent, and fabulously wealthy Queen of -Egypt. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN THE BESIEGED PALACE AT ALEXANDRIA. - - -There can be little doubt that Cæsar’s all-night interview with -Cleopatra put an entirely new complexion upon his conception of the -situation. Until the Queen’s dramatic entry into the Palace, his -main object in remaining for a short time at Alexandria, after he -had been shown the severed head of the murdered Pompey, had been to -assert his authority in that city of unrivalled commercial opulence, -and at the same time to make full use of a favourable opportunity to -rest his weary mind and body in the luxury of its royal residence and -the perfection of its sun-bathed summer days, while Rome should be -quieted down and made ready for his coming. But now a new factor had -introduced itself. He had found that the Queen of this desirable and -important country was a young woman after his own heart: a dare-devil -girl, whose manners and beauty had fired his imagination, and whose -apparent admiration for him had set him thinking of the uses to which -he might put the devotion he confidently expected to arouse. She seems -to have laid her case before him with frankness and sincerity. She had -shown him how her brother had driven her from the throne, in direct -opposition to the will of her father, who had so earnestly desired -the two of them to reign jointly and in harmony. And while she had -talked to him through the long hours of the night he had found himself -most willingly carried away by the desire to obtain her love, both -for the pleasure which it might be expected to afford him and for the -political advantage which would accrue from such an intercourse. Here -was a simple means of bringing Egypt under his control--Egypt which was -the granary of the world, the most important commercial market of the -Mediterranean, the most powerful factor in eastern politics, and the -gateway of the unconquered kingdoms of the Orient. He had made himself -lord of the West; Greece and Asia Minor were, since the late war, at -his feet; and now Alexandria, so long the support of Pompey’s faction, -should come to him with the devotion of its Queen. I do not hold with -those who suppose him to have been led like a lamb to the slaughter -by the wiles of Cleopatra, and to have succumbed to her charms in the -manner of one whose passions have confused his brain, causing him to -forget all things save only his desire. In consideration of the fact -that the young Queen was at that time, so far as we know, a woman -of blameless character, and that he, on the contrary, was a man of -the very worst possible reputation in regard to the opposite sex, it -seems, to say the least, unfair that the burden of the blame for the -subsequent events should have been assigned for all these centuries to -Cleopatra. - -Before the end of that eventful night Cæsar seems to have determined to -excite the passionate love of that wild and irresponsible girl, whose -personality and political importance made a doubly powerful appeal -to him; and ere the light of dawn had entered the room his decision -to restore her to the throne, and to place her brother in the far -background, had been irrevocably made. As the sun rose he sent for King -Ptolemy, who, on entering Cæsar’s presence, must have been dismayed -to be confronted with his sister whom he had driven into exile and -against whom he had so recently been fighting at Pelusium. It would -appear that Cæsar treated him with sternness, asking him how he had -dared to go against the wishes of his father, who had entrusted their -fulfilment to the Roman people, and demanding that he should at once -make his peace with Cleopatra. At this the young man lost his temper, -and, rushing from the room, cried out to his friends and attendants who -were waiting outside that he had been betrayed and that his cause was -lost. Snatching the royal diadem from his head in his boyish rage and -chagrin, he dashed it upon the ground, and, no doubt, burst into tears. -Thereupon an uproar arose, and the numerous Alexandrians who still -remained within the Roman lines at once gathering round their King, -nearly succeeded in communicating their excitement to the royal troops -in the city, and arousing them to a concerted attack upon the Palace -by land and sea. Cæsar, however, hurried out and addressed the crowd, -promising to arrange matters to their satisfaction; and thereupon he -called a meeting at which Ptolemy and Cleopatra were both induced to -attend, and he read out to them their father’s will wherein it was -emphatically stated that they were to reign together. He reiterated his -right, as representative of the Roman people, to adjust the dispute; -and at last he appears to have effected a reconciliation between the -brother and sister. The unfortunate Ptolemy must have realised that -from that moment his ambitions and hopes were become dust and ashes, -for he would now always remain under the scrutiny of his elder sister; -and the liberty of action for which he and his ministers had plotted -and schemed was for ever gone. According to Dion Cassius, he could -already see plainly that there was an understanding between Cæsar -and his sister; and Cleopatra’s manner doubtless betrayed to him her -elation. She must have been intensely excited. A few hours previously -she had been an exile, creeping back to her own city in imminent danger -of her life; now, not only was she Queen of Egypt once more, but she -had won the esteem and, so it seemed, the heart also of the Autocrat -of the world, whose word was absolute law to the nations. One may -almost picture her making faces at her brother as they sat opposite one -another in Cæsar’s improvised court of justice, and the unhappy boy’s -distress must have been acute. - -Cæsar’s dominant idea now was to control the politics of Egypt by -means of a skilled play upon the heart of Cleopatra. He did not much -care what happened to King Ptolemy or to his minister Potheinos, for -they had forfeited their right to consideration by their attempt to -set aside the wishes of Auletes, and by their disgusting behaviour -to Pompey, who, though Cæsar’s enemy, had yet been his mighty -fellow-countryman; but it was his wish as soon as possible to placate -the mob, and to endear the people of Alexandria to him, so that in -three or four weeks’ time he might leave the country in undisturbed -quiet. Now the control of Cyprus was one of the most fervent -aspirations of the city, and it seems to have occurred to Cæsar that -the presentation of the island to their royal house would be keenly -appreciated by them, and would go a long way to appease their hostile -excitement. When the Romans annexed Cyprus in B.C. 58, the Alexandrians -had risen in revolt against Auletes largely because he had made no -attempt to claim the country for himself. It had been more or less -continuously an appendage of the Egyptian crown, and its possession -was still the people’s dearest wish. Now, therefore, according to -Dion, Cæsar made a present of the island to Egypt in the names of the -two younger members of the royal house, Prince Ptolemy and Princess -Arsinoe; and though we have no records definitely to show that they -ever assumed control of their new possession, or that it ceased, at any -rate for a year or two, to be regarded as a part of the Roman province -of Cilicia, it is certain that a few years later, in B.C. 42, it had -become an Egyptian dominion and was administered by a viceroy of that -country.[28] - -Having thus relieved the situation, Cæsar turned his attention to -other matters. While Auletes was in Rome, in B.C. 59, he had incurred -enormous debts in his efforts to buy the support of the Roman Senate -in re-establishing himself upon the Ptolemaic throne, and in this fact -Cæsar now saw a means both of showing his benevolence towards the -Egyptians, and of making them pay for the upkeep of his small fleet and -army at Alexandria. His claim on behalf of the creditors of Auletes -he fixed at the very moderate sum of ten million denarii (£400,000), -although it must have been realised by all that the original debts -amounted to a much higher figure than this. At the same time he made -no attempt to demand a war contribution from the Egyptians, although -their original advocacy of the cause of Pompey would have justified -him in doing so.[29] In this manner, and by the gift of Cyprus, he made -a bid for the goodwill of the Alexandrians; but, unfortunately, his -efforts in this direction were entirely frustrated by the intrigues -of Potheinos. There probably need not have been any difficulty in the -raising of £400,000; but Potheinos chose to order the King’s golden -dishes and the rich vessels in the temples to be melted down and -converted into money. He furnished the King’s own table with wooden -or earthenware plates and bowls, and caused the fact to be made known -to the townspeople, in order that they should be shown the straits to -which Cæsar’s cupidity had reduced them. Meanwhile, he supplied the -Roman soldiers with a very poor quality of corn, and told them, in -reply to their complaints, that they ought to be grateful that they -received any at all, since they had no right to it. Nor did he hesitate -to tell Cæsar that he ought not to waste his time in Alexandria, or -concern himself with the insignificant affairs of Egypt, when urgent -business should be calling him back to Rome. His manner towards the -Dictator was consistently rude and hostile, and there seems little -doubt that he was plotting against him and was keeping in touch with -Achillas. - -Hostilities of a more or less sporadic nature soon broke out, and it -was not long before Cæsar made his first hit at the enemy. Hearing -that they were attempting to man their imprisoned ships, which lay -still in the western portion of the Great Harbour, and knowing that -he was not strong enough either to hold or to utilise more than a -few of them, he sent out a little force which succeeded in setting -fire to, and destroying, the whole fleet, consisting of the fifty -men-o’-war which, during the late hostilities, had been lent to Pompey, -twenty-two guardships, and thirty-eight other craft, thus leaving in -their possession only those vessels which lay in the Harbour of the -Happy Return, beyond the Heptastadium. In this conflagration some of -the buildings on the quay near the harbour appear to have been burnt, -and it would seem that some portion of the famous Alexandrian library -was destroyed; but the silence of contemporary writers upon this -literary catastrophe indicates that the loss was not great, and, to -my mind, puts out of account the statement of later authors that the -burning of the entire library occurred on that occasion. Cæsar’s next -move was to seize the Pharos Lighthouse and the eastern end of the -island upon which it was built, thus securing the entrance to the Great -Harbour, and making the passage of his ships to the open sea a manœuvre -which could be employed at any moment. At the same time he threw up -the strongest fortifications at all the vulnerable points in his land -defences, and thereby rendered himself absolutely secure from direct -assault. - -He was not much troubled by the situation. It is said that he was -obliged more than once to keep awake all night in order to protect -himself against assassination; but such a contingency did not interfere -to any great extent with his enjoyments of the life in the Alexandrian -Palace. From early youth he must have been accustomed to the thought of -the assassin’s knife. His many love-affairs had made imminent each day -the possibility of sudden death, and his political and administrative -career also laid him open at all times to a murderous attack. The -jealousy of the husbands whose wives he had stolen, the vengeance of -the survivors of the massacres instigated by him, the resentment of -the politicians whose ambitions he had thwarted, and the hatred of -innumerable persons whom, in one way or another, he had offended, -placed his life in continuous jeopardy. The machinations of Potheinos, -therefore, left him undismayed, and he was able to prosecute what -was, in plain language, the seduction of the Queen of Egypt with an -undistracted mind. - -Cleopatra appears to have been as strongly attracted to Cæsar -as he was to her; and although at the outset each realised the -advantage of winning the other’s heart, and regulated their actions -accordingly, there seems little doubt that, after a day or two of close -companionship, a romantic attachment of a very genuine nature had been -formed between them. In the case of Cleopatra, no doubt, her love held -all the sweetness of the first serious affair of her life, and on the -part of Cæsar there is apparent the passionate delight of a man past -his prime in the vivacity and charm of a beautiful young girl. Though -elderly, Cæsar was what a romanticist would call an ideal lover. His -keen, handsome face, his athletic and graceful figure, the fascination -of his manners, and the wonder of the deeds which he had performed, -might be calculated to win the heart of any woman; and to Cleopatra -he must have made a special appeal by reason of his reputation for -bravery and reliability on all occasions, and his present display of -_sang-froid_ and light-heartedness. - -Cæsar was, at this time, in holiday mood, and the life he led at the -Palace was of the gayest description. He had cast from him the cares -of state with an ease which came of frequent practice in the art of -throwing off responsibilities; and when about October 25th he received -news from Rome that he had been made Dictator for the whole of the -coming year, 47, he was able to feel that there was no cause for -anxiety. While the unfortunate young Ptolemy sulked in the background, -Cæsar and Cleopatra openly sought one another’s company and made merry -together, it would seem, for a large part of every day. With such a -man as Cæsar, the result of this intimacy was inevitable; nor was -it to be expected that the happy-go-lucky and impetuous girl of but -twenty years of age would act with much caution or propriety under -the peculiar and exciting circumstances. It is possible that she had -already gone through the form of marriage with her co-regnant brother, -as was the custom of the Egyptian Court; but it is highly unlikely that -this was anything more than the emptiest formality, and there is no -reason to doubt that in actual fact she was, when she met Cæsar, still -unwedded. The child which in due course she presented to the Dictator -was her first-born; but had there been a previous marriage of more than -a formal nature, it is at least probable, in view of her subsequent -productivity, that she would already have been in enjoyment of the -privileges of motherhood. - -The gaiety of the life in the besieged Palace, and the progress of -the romance which was there being enacted, were rudely disturbed by -two consecutive events which led at once to the outbreak of really -serious hostilities. The little Princess Arsinoe, who, like all the -women of this family, must have been endowed with great spirit and -pluck, suddenly made her escape from the Roman lines, accompanied by -her _nutritius_ Ganymedes,[30] and joined the Egyptian forces under -Achillas. The plot, organised no doubt by Ganymedes, had for its object -the raising of the Princess to the throne, while Cleopatra and her -two brothers were imprisoned in the Lochias, and no sooner had they -reached the Egyptian headquarters than they began freely to bribe all -officers and officials of importance in order to accomplish their -purpose. Achillas, however, who had his own game to play, thought it -wiser to remain loyal to his sovereign, and to attempt to rescue him -from Cæsar’s clutches. It was not long before a quarrel arose between -Ganymedes and Achillas, which ended in the prompt assassination of -the latter, whose functions were at once assumed by his murderer, the -war being thereupon prosecuted with renewed vigour. Previous to the -death of Achillas, Potheinos had been in secret communication with -him, apparently in regard to the possibility of murdering Cæsar and -effecting the escape of King Ptolemy and himself from the Palace ere -Arsinoe and Ganymedes obtained control of affairs. Information of the -plot was given to Cæsar by his barber, “a busy, listening fellow, whose -excessive timidity made him inquisitive into everything”;[31] and, -at a feast held to celebrate the reconciliation between Ptolemy and -Cleopatra, Potheinos was arrested and immediately beheaded, a death -which the poet Lucan considers to have been very much too good for him, -since it was that by which he had caused the great Pompey to die. So -far as one can now tell, Cæsar was entirely justified in putting this -wretched eunuch out of the way of further worldly mischief. He belonged -to that class of court functionary which is met with throughout -the history of the Orient, and which invariably calls forth the -denunciation of the more moral West; but it is to be remembered in his -favour that, so far as we know, he schemed as eagerly for the fortunes -of his young sovereign Ptolemy as he did for his own advancement, and -his treacherous manœuvres were directed against the menacing intrusion -of a power which was relentlessly crushing the life out of the royal -houses of the accessible world. His crime against fallen Pompey was no -more dastardly than were many other of the recorded acts of the Court -he served; and the fact that he, like his two fellow-conspirators, -Achillas and Theodotos, paid in blood and tears for the riches of the -moment, goes far to exonerate him, at this remote date, from further -execration. - -The first act of the war which caused Cæsar any misgivings was the -pollution of his water supply by the enemy, and the consequent -nervousness of his men. The Royal Area obtained its drinking water -through subterranean channels communicating with the lake at the back -of the city; and no sooner had Cæsar realised that these channels might -be tampered with than he attempted to cut his way southwards, probably -along the broad street[32] which led to the Gate of the Sun and to the -Lake Harbour. Here, however, he met with a stubborn resistance, and -the loss of life might have been very great had he persisted in his -endeavour. Fortunately, however, the sinking of trial shafts within -the besieged territory led to the discovery of an abundance of good -water, the existence of which had not been suspected; and thus he was -saved from the ignominy of being ousted from the city which he had -entered in such solemn pomp, and of being forced to retire across -the Mediterranean, his self-imposed task left uncompleted, and his -ambitions for the future of Cleopatra unfulfilled. - -Not long after this the welcome news was brought to him that the -Thirty-seventh Legion had crossed from Asia Minor with food supplies, -arms, and siege-instruments, and was anchored off the Egyptian coast, -being for the moment unable to reach him owing to contrary winds. Cæsar -at once sailed out to meet them, with his entire fleet, the ships being -manned only by their Rhodian crews, all the troops having been left to -hold the land defences. Effecting a junction with these reinforcements, -he returned to the harbour, easily defeated the Egyptian vessels -which had collected to the north of the Island of Pharos, and sailed -triumphantly back to his moorings below the Palace. - -So confident now was he in his strength that he next sailed round the -island, and attacked the Egyptian fleet in its own harbour beyond the -Heptastadium, inflicting heavy losses upon them. He then landed on -the western end of Pharos, which was still held by the enemy, carried -the forts by storm, and effected a junction with his own men who were -stationed around the lighthouse at the eastern end. His plan was to -advance across the Heptastadium, and thus, by holding both the island -and the mole, to obtain possession of the western Harbour of the -Happy Return and ultimately to strike a wedge into the city upon that -side. But here he suffered a dangerous reverse. While he was leading -in person the attack upon the south or city end of the Heptastadium, -and his men were crowding on to it from the island and from the vessels -in the Great Harbour, the Egyptians made a spirited attack upon its -northern end, thus hemming the Romans in upon the narrow causeway, to -the consternation of those who watched the battle from the Lochias -Promontory. Fortunately vessels were at hand to take off the survivors -of this sanguinary engagement, as the enemy drove them back from either -end of the causeway; and presently they had all scrambled aboard and -were rowing at full speed across the Great Harbour. Such numbers, -however, jumped on to the deck of the vessel into which Cæsar had -entered that it capsized, and we are then presented with the dramatic -picture of the ruler of the world swimming for his life through the -quiet waters of the harbour, holding aloft in one hand a bundle of -important papers which he happened to be carrying at the moment of the -catastrophe, dragging his scarlet military cloak along by his teeth, -and at the same time constantly ducking his rather bald head under the -water to avoid the missiles which were hurled at him by the victorious -Egyptians, who must have been capering about upon the recaptured mole, -all talking and shouting at once. He was, however, soon picked up -by one of his ships; and thus he returned to the Palace, very cold -and dripping wet, and having in the end lost the cloak which was the -cherished mark of his rank. Four hundred legionaries and a number of -seamen perished in this engagement, most of them being drowned; and -now, perhaps for the first time, it began to appear to Cæsar that the -warfare which he was waging was not the amusing game he had thought -it. For at least four months he had entertained himself in the Palace, -spending his days in pottering around his perfectly secure defences and -his nights in enjoying the company of Cleopatra. Up till now he must -have been in constant receipt of news from Rome, where his affairs were -being managed by Antony, his boisterous but fairly reliable lieutenant, -and it is evident that nothing had occurred there to necessitate his -return. Far from being hemmed in within the Palace and obliged to fight -for his life, as is generally supposed to have been the case, it seems -to me that his position at all times was as open as it was secure. -He could have travelled across the Mediterranean at any moment; and, -had he thought it desirable, he could have sailed over to Italy for -a few weeks and returned to Alexandria without any great risk. His -fleet had shown itself quite capable of defending him from danger upon -the high seas, as, for example, when he had sailed out to meet the -Thirty-seventh Legion;[33] and, as on that occasion, his troops could -have been left in security in their fortified position. Supplies from -Syria were plentiful, and the Rhodian sailors, after escorting him as -far as Cyprus, could have returned to their duties at Alexandria in -order to ensure the safe and continuous arrival of these stores and -provisions. - -It is thus very apparent that he had no wish to abandon the enjoyments -of his winter in the Egyptian capital, where he had become thoroughly -absorbed both in the little Queen of that country and in the problems -which were represented to him by her. He was an elderly man, and the -weight of his years caused him to feel a temporary distaste for the -restless anxieties which awaited him in Rome. His ambitions in the -Occident had been attained; and now, finding himself engaged in what, -I would suggest, was an easily managed and not at all dangerous war, -he was determined to carry the struggle through to its inevitable -end, and to find in this quite interesting and occasionally exciting -task an excuse for remaining by the side of the woman who, for the -time being, absorbed the attention of his wayward affections. Already -he was beginning to realise that the subjection of Egypt to his will -was a matter of very great political importance, as will be explained -hereafter; and he felt the keenest objection to abandoning the Queen to -her own devices, both on this account and by reason of the hold which -she had obtained upon his heart. In after years he did not look back -upon the fighting with an interest sufficient to induce him to record -its history, as he had done that of other campaigns, but he caused an -official account to be written by one of his comrades; and this author -has been at pains to show that the struggle was severe in character. -Such an interpretation of the war, however, though now unanimously -accepted, is to be received with caution, and need not be taken more -seriously than the statement that, in the first instance, Cæsar’s -prolonged stay at Alexandria was due to the Etesian winds which made -it difficult for his ships to leave the harbour. These annual winds -from the north might have delayed his return for a week or two; but it -is obvious that he had no desire to set sail; and the author of _De -Bello Alexandrino_ was doubtless permitted to cover Cæsar’s apparent -negligence of important Roman affairs by thus attributing his lengthy -absence to the strength of the enemy and to the inclemency of the Fates. - -Now, however, after the ignominious defeat upon the Heptastadium, Cæsar -appears to have become fully determined to punish the Alexandrians -and to prosecute the campaign with more energy. He seems soon to have -received news that a large army was marching across the desert from -Syria to his relief, under the joint leadership of Mithridates of -Pergamum, a natural son of Mithridates the Great, the Jewish Antipater, -father of Herod, and Iamblichus, son of Sampsiceramus, a famous Arab -chieftain from Hemesa. With the advent of these forces he knew that -he would be able to crush all resistance and to impose his will upon -Egypt; and he now, therefore, took a step which clearly shows his -determination to handle affairs with sternness and ruthlessness, in -such a manner that Cleopatra should speedily become sole ruler of the -country, and thus should be in a position to lay all the might of her -kingdom in his hands. - -The Princess Arsinoe had failed to make herself Queen of Egypt in spite -of the efforts of Ganymedes, and the royal army was still endeavouring -to rescue King Ptolemy and to fight under his banner. Cæsar, therefore, -determined to hand the young man over to them, knowing, as the -historian of the war admits, that there was little probability of such -an action leading to a cessation of hostilities. His avowed object -in taking this step was to give Ptolemy the opportunity of arranging -terms of peace for him; but he did not hesitate to record officially -his opinion that, in the event of a continuation of the war, it would -be far more honourable for him to be fighting against a king than -against “a crowd of sweepings of the earth and renegades.” The truth -of the matter, however, seems to me to be that Cæsar wished to rid -himself of the boy, who stood in the way of the accomplishment of his -schemes in regard to the sole sovereignty of Cleopatra; and by handing -him over to the enemy at the moment when the news of the arrival of -the army from Syria made the Egyptian downfall absolutely certain, he -insured the young man’s inevitable death or degradation. The miserable -Ptolemy must have realised this, for when Cæsar instructed him to go -over to his friends beyond the Roman lines, he burst into tears and -begged to be allowed to remain in the Palace. He knew quite well that -the Egyptians had not a chance of victory--that when once he had taken -up his residence with his own people their conqueror would treat him -as an enemy and punish him accordingly. Cæsar, however, on his part, -was aware that if in the hour of Roman victory Ptolemy was still under -his protection, it would be difficult not to carry out the terms of -the will of Auletes by making him joint-sovereign with Cleopatra. The -King’s tears and paradoxical protestations of devotion were therefore -ignored; and forthwith he was pushed out of the Palace into the -welcoming arms of the Alexandrians, the younger brother, whom Cæsar had -designed for the safely distant throne of Cyprus, being left in the -custody of the Romans alone with Cleopatra. - -The relieving army from Syria soon arrived at the eastern frontier of -Egypt, and, taking Pelusium by storm, gave battle to the King’s forces -not far from the Canopic mouth of the Nile. The Egyptians were easily -defeated, and the invaders marched along the eastern edge of the Delta -towards Memphis (near the modern Cairo), just below which they crossed -the Nile to the western bank. The young Ptolemy thereupon, expecting -no mercy at Cæsar’s hands, put himself boldly at the head of such -troops as could be spared from the siege of the Palace at Alexandria, -and marched across the Delta to measure swords with Mithridates and -his allies. No sooner was he gone from the city than Cæsar, leaving a -small garrison in the Palace, sailed out of the harbour with as many -men as he could crowd into the ships at his disposal, and moved off -eastwards as though making for Canopus or Pelusium. Under cover of -darkness, however, he turned in the opposite direction, and before -dawn disembarked upon the deserted shore some miles to the west of -Alexandria. He thus out-manœuvred the Egyptian fleet with ease, and, -incidentally, demonstrated that he had been throughout the siege -perfectly free to come and go across the water as he chose. Marching -along the western border of the desert, as his friends had marched -along the eastern, he effected a junction with them at the apex of -the Delta, not far north of Memphis, and immediately turned to attack -the approaching Egyptian army. Ptolemy, on learning of their advance, -fortified himself in a strong position at the foot of a _tell_, or -mound, the Nile being upon one flank, a marsh upon the other, and a -canal in front of him; but the allies, after a two-days’ battle, turned -the position and gained a complete victory. The turning movement had -been entrusted to a certain Carfulenus, who afterwards fell at Mutina -fighting against Antony, and this officer managed to penetrate into -the Egyptian camp. At his approach Ptolemy appears to have jumped into -one of the boats which lay moored upon the Nile; but the weight of the -numbers of fugitives who followed his example sank the vessel, and -the young king was never seen alive again. It is said that his dead -body was recognised afterwards by the golden corselet which he wore, -and which, no doubt, had caused by its weight his rapid death. His -tragic end, at the age of fifteen, relieved Cæsar of the embarrassing -necessity either of pardoning him and making him joint-sovereign with -Cleopatra, according to the terms of his father’s will, or of carrying -him captive to Rome and putting him to death in the customary manner at -the close of his triumph. The boy had foreseen the fate which would be -chosen for him, when he had begged with tears to be allowed to remain -in the Palace; and his sudden submersion in the muddy waters of the -Nile must have terminated a life which of late had been intolerably -overshadowed by the knowledge that his existence was an obstacle to -Cæsar’s relentless ambitions, and by the horror of the certainty of -speedy death. - -On March 27th, B.C. 47,[34] Cæsar, who had ridden on with his cavalry, -entered Alexandria in triumph, its gates being now thrown open to -him. The inhabitants dressed themselves in mourning garments, sending -deputations to him to beg for his mercy and forgiveness, and bringing -out to him the statues of their gods as a token of their entire -submission. Princess Arsinoe and Ganymedes were handed over to him as -prisoners: and in pomp he rode through the city to the Palace, where -as a conquering hero and saviour he was received into the arms of -Cleopatra. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE BIRTH OF CÆSARION AND CÆSAR’S DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT. - - -The death of Ptolemy and the submission of Alexandria brought the war -to a definite close; and Cæsar, once more in comfortable residence -at the Palace, was enabled at last to carry out his plans for the -regulation of Egyptian affairs, with the execution of which the -campaign had so long interfered. Cleopatra’s little brother, the -younger Ptolemy, was a boy of only eleven years of age, who does -not seem to have shown such signs of marked intelligence or strong -character as would cause him to be a nuisance either to Cæsar or to his -sister; and therefore it was arranged that he should be raised to the -throne in place of his deceased brother, as nominal King and consort of -Cleopatra. Cæsar, it will be remembered, had given Cyprus to this youth -and to his sister Arsinoe; but now, since the latter was a prisoner in -disgrace and the former was not old enough to cause trouble in Egypt, -the island kingdom was not pressed upon them. To the Alexandrians, -whose campaign against him had entertained him so admirably while he -had pursued his intrigue with Cleopatra, Cæsar showed no desire to -be other than lenient, and he preferred to regard the great havoc -wrought in certain parts of their city as sufficient punishment for -their misdeeds. He granted to the Jews, however, equal rights with -the Greeks, in consideration of their assistance in the late war, a -step which must have been somewhat irritating to the majority of the -townsfolk. He then constituted a regular Roman Army of Occupation, -for the purpose of supporting Cleopatra and her little brother upon -the throne,[35] and to keep order in Alexandria and throughout the -country. This army consisted of the two legions which had been besieged -with him in the Palace, together with a third which presently arrived -from Syria; and to the command of this force Cæsar appointed an able -officer named Rufinus, who had risen by his personal merit from the -ranks, being originally one of Cæsar’s own freedmen. It is usually -stated that in handing over the command to a man of this standing and -not to a person belonging to the Senate, Cæsar was showing his disdain -for Egypt; but I am of opinion that the step was taken deliberately to -retain the control of the country entirely in his own hands, Rufinus -being, no doubt, absolutely Cæsar’s man. We do not hear what became of -the Gabinian troops who had fought against Cæsar, but it is probable -that they were drafted to legions stationed in other parts of the world. - -It was now April,[36] and Cæsar had been in Egypt for more than six -months. He had originally intended to return to Rome, it would seem, -in the previous November; but his defiance by the Alexandrians, and -later the siege of the Palace, had given him a reasonable excuse for -remaining with Cleopatra. Being by nature an opportunist, he had come -during these months to interest himself keenly in Egyptian affairs, -and, as we have seen, both they and his passion for the Queen had fully -occupied his attention. The close of the war, however, did not mean to -him the termination of these interests, but rather the beginning of -the opportunity for putting his schemes into execution. He must have -been deeply impressed by the possibilities of expansive exploitation -which Egypt offered. Cleopatra, no doubt, had told him much concerning -the wonders of the land, wonders which she herself had never yet found -occasion to verify. He had heard from her, and had received visible -proof, of the wealth of the Nile Valley; and his march through the -Delta must have revealed to him the richness of the country. No man -could fail to be impressed by the spectacle of the miles upon miles -of grain fields which are to be seen in Lower Egypt; and reports had -doubtless reached him of the splendours of the upper reaches of the -Nile, where a peaceful and law-abiding population found time both to -reap three crops a year from the fertile earth, and to build huge -temples for their gods and palaces for their nobles. The yearly tax -upon corn alone in Egypt, which was paid in kind, must have amounted to -some twenty millions of bushels, the figure at which it stood in the -reign of Augustus; and this fact, if no other, must have given Cæsar -cause for much covetousness. - -He had probably heard, too, of the trade with India, which was already -beginning to flourish, and which, a few years later, came to be of -the utmost importance;[37] and he had doubtless been told of the -almost fabulous lands of Ethiopia, to which Egypt was the threshold, -whence came the waters of the Nile. Egypt has always been a land of -speculation, attracting alike the interest of the financier and the -enthusiasm of the conqueror; and Cæsar’s imagination must have been -stimulated by those ambitious schemes which have fired the brains of so -many of her conquerors, just as that of the great Alexander had been -inspired three centuries before. Feeling that his work in Gaul and the -north-west was more or less completed, he may, perhaps, have considered -the expediency of carrying Roman arms into the uttermost parts of -Ethiopia; of crossing the Red Sea into Arabia; or of penetrating, -like Alexander, to India and to the marvellous kingdoms of the East. -Even so, eighteen hundred years later, Napoleon Bonaparte dreamed of -marching his army through Egypt to the lands of Hindustan; and so also -England, striving to hold her beloved India (as the prophetic Kinglake -wrote in 1844), fixed her gaze upon the Nile Valley, until, as though -by the passive force of her desire, it fell into her hands. For long -the Greeks had thought that the Nile came from the east and rose in -the hills of India; and even in the days with which we are now dealing -Egypt was regarded as the gateway of those lands. The trade-route from -Alexandria to India was yearly growing in fame. The merchants journeyed -up the Nile to the city of Koptos, and thence travelled by caravan -across the desert to the seaport of Berenice, whence they sailed with -the trade wind to Muziris, on the west coast of India, near the modern -Calicut and Mysore. It is possible that Cæsar had succumbed to the -fascination of distant conquest and exploration with which Egypt, by -reason of her geographical situation, has inspired so many minds, -and that he was allowing his thoughts to travel with the merchants -along the great routes to the East. He must always have felt that the -unconquered Parthians would cause a march across Asia to India to be -a most difficult and hazardous undertaking, and there was some doubt -whether he would be able to repeat the exploits of Alexander the Great -along that route; but here through Egypt lay a road to the Orient which -might be followed without grave risk. The merchants were wont to leave -Berenice, on the Egyptian coast, about the middle of July, when the -Dog-star rose with the Sun, reaching the west coast of India about the -middle of September;[38] and it would be strange indeed if Cæsar had -not given some consideration to the possibility of carrying his army by -that route to the lands which Alexander, of whose exploits he loved to -read, had conquered. - -Abundant possibilities such as these must have filled his mind, and -may have been the partial cause of his desire to stay yet a little -while longer in this fascinating country; but there was another and a -more poignant reason which urged him to wait for a few weeks more in -Egypt. Cleopatra was about to become a mother. Seven months had passed -since those days in October when Cæsar had applied himself so eagerly -to the task of winning the love of the Queen, and of procuring her -surrender to his wishes; and now, in another few weeks, the child of -their romance would be placed in his arms. Old profligate though he -was, it seems that he saw something in the present situation different -from those in which he had found himself before. Cleopatra, by her -brilliant wit, her good spirits, her peculiar charm of manner, her -continuous courage, and her boundless optimism, had managed to retain -his love throughout these months of their close proximity; and an -appeal had been made to the more tender side of his nature which could -not be resisted. He wished to be near her in her hour of trial; and, -moreover (for in Cæsar’s actions there was always a practical as well -as a sentimental motive), it is probable that he entertained high hopes -of receiving from Cleopatra an heir to his worldly wealth and position, -who should be in due course fully legitimised. His long intercourse -with the Queen had much altered his point of view; and I think there -can be little doubt that his mind was eagerly feeling forward to new -developments and revolutionary changes in his life. - -At Cleopatra’s wish he was now allowing himself to be recognised by -the Egyptians as the divine consort of the Queen, an impersonation of -the god Jupiter-Amon upon earth. Some form of marriage had taken place -between them, or, at any rate, the Egyptian people, if not the cynical -Alexandrians, had been constrained to recognise their legal union. The -approaching birth of the child had made it necessary for Cleopatra to -disclose her relationship with Cæsar, and at the same time to prove -to her subjects that she, their Queen, was not merely the mistress of -an adventurous Roman. As soon, therefore, as her brother and formal -husband Ptolemy XIV. had died, she had begun to circulate the belief -that Julius Cæsar was the great god of Egypt himself come to earth, and -that the child which was about to make its appearance was the offspring -of a divine union. Upon the walls of the temples of Egypt, notably at -Hermonthis, near Thebes, bas-reliefs were afterwards sculptured in -which Cleopatra was represented in converse with the god Amon, who -appears in human form, and in which the gods are shown assisting at -the celestial birth of the child. A mythological fiction of a similar -nature had been employed in ancient Egypt in reference to the births of -earlier sovereigns, those of Hatshepsut (B.C. 1500) and of Amenophis -III. (B.C. 1400) being two particular instances. In the known occasions -of its use, the royal parentage of the child had been open to question, -this being the reason why the story of the divine intercourse was -introduced; and thus in the case of Cleopatra the myth had become -familiar, by frequent use, to the priest-ridden minds of the Egyptians, -and was not in any way startling or original. In the later years of the -Queen’s reign events were dated as from this supernatural occurrence, -and there is preserved to us an epitaph inscribed in the “twentieth -year of (or after) the union of Cleopatra with Amon.” - -Cæsar was quite willing thus to be reckoned in Egypt as a divinity. -His hero Alexander the Great in like manner had been regarded as a -deity, and had proclaimed himself the son of Amon, causing himself to -be portrayed with the ram’s horns of that god projecting from the sides -of his head. Though his belief in the gods was conspicuously absent, -Cæsar had always boasted of his divine descent, his family tracing -their genealogy to Iulus, the son of Æneas, the son of Anchises and the -goddess Venus; and there is every reason to suppose that Cleopatra had -attempted to encourage him to think of himself as being in very truth -a god upon earth. She herself ruled Egypt by divine right, and deemed -it no matter for doubt that she was the representative of the Sun-god -here below, the mediator between man and his creator. The Egyptians, -if not the Alexandrians, fell flat upon their faces when they saw her, -and hailed her as god, in the manner in which their fathers had hailed -the ancient Pharaohs. From earliest childhood she had been called a -divinity, and she was named an immortal in the temples of Egypt as -by undoubted right. Those who came into contact with her partook of -the divine affluence, and her companions were holy in the sight of -her Egyptian subjects. Cæsar, as her consort, thus became a god; and -as soon as her connection with him was made public, he assumed _ex -officio_ the nature of a divine being. We shall see presently how, -even in Rome, he came to regard himself as more than mortal, and how, -setting aside in his own favour his disbelief in the immortals, before -he died he had publicly called himself god upon earth. At the present -period of his life, however, these startling assumptions were not -clearly defined; and it is probable that he really did not know what to -think about himself. Cleopatra had fed his mind with strange thoughts, -and had so flattered his vanity, though probably without intention, -that if he could but acknowledge the existence of a better world, he -was quite prepared to believe himself in some sort of manner come from -it. She knew that she herself was supposed to be divine; she loved -Cæsar and had made him her equal; she was aware that he, too, was said -to be descended from the gods: and thus, by a tacit assumption, it -seems to me that she gradually forced upon him a sense of his divinity -which, in the succeeding years, developed into a fixed belief. - -This appreciation of his divine nature, which we see growing in Cæsar’s -mind, carried with it, of course, a feeling of monarchical power, a -desire to assume the prerogatives of kingship. Cleopatra seems now -to have been naming him her consort, and in Egypt, as we have said, -he must have been recognised as her legal husband. He was already, -in a manner of speaking, King of Egypt; and the fact that he was not -officially crowned as Pharaoh must have been due entirely to his own -objection to such a proceeding. The Egyptians must now have been -perfectly willing to offer to him the throne of the Ptolemies, just -as they had accepted Archelaus, the High Priest of Komana, as consort -of Berenice IV., Cleopatra’s half-sister;[39] and in these days when -their young Queen was so soon to become a mother there must have been -a genuine and eager desire to regularise the situation by such a -marriage with Cæsar and his elevation to the throne. Nothing could be -more happy politically than the Queen’s marriage to the greatest man -in Rome, and we have already seen how there was some idea of a union -with Cnæus Pompeius in the days when that man’s father was the ruler -of the Republic. To the Egyptian mind the fact that Cæsar was already -a married man, with a wife living in Rome, was no real objection. She -had borne him no son, and therefore might be divorced in favour of a -more fruitful vine. Cleopatra herself must have been keenly desirous -to share her Egyptian throne with Cæsar, for no doubt she saw clearly -enough that, since he was already autocrat and actual Dictator of -Rome, it would not be long before they became sovereigns of the whole -Roman world. If she could persuade him, like Archelaus of Komana, to -accept the crown of the Pharaohs, there was good reason to suppose that -he would try to induce Rome to offer him the sovereignty of his own -country. The tendency towards monarchical rule in the Roman capital, -thanks largely to Pompey, was already very apparent; and both Cæsar -and Cleopatra must have realised that, if they played their game with -skill, a throne awaited them in that city at no very distant date. - -Cleopatra was a keen patriot, or rather she was deeply concerned in -the advancement of her own and her dynasty’s fortunes; and it must -have been a matter of the utmost satisfaction to her to observe the -direction in which events were moving. The man whom she loved, and who -loved her, might at any moment become actual sovereign of Rome and its -dominions; and the child with which she was about to present him, if -it were a boy, would be the heir of the entire world. For years her -dynasty had feared that Rome would crush them out of existence and -absorb her kingdom into the Republic; but now there was a possibility -that Egypt, and the lands to which the Nile Valley was the gateway, -would become the equal of Rome at the head of the great amalgamation -of the nations of the earth. Egypt, it must be remembered, was still -unconquered by Rome, and was, at the time, the most wealthy and -important nation outside the Republic. All Alexandrians and Egyptians -believed themselves to be the foremost people in the world; and thus -to Cleopatra the dream that Egypt might play the leading part in an -Egypto-Roman empire was in no wise fantastic. - -Her policy, then, was obvious. She must attempt to retain Cæsar’s -affection, and at the same time must nurse with care the growing -aspirations towards monarchy which were developing in his mind. She -must bind him to her so that, when the time came, she might ascend the -throne of the world by his side; and she must make apparent to him, and -keep ever present to his imagination, the fact of her own puissance and -the splendour of her royal status, so that there should be no doubt in -Cæsar’s mind that her flesh and blood, and hers alone, were fitted to -blend with his in the foundation of that single royal line which was to -rule the whole Earth. - -Approaching motherhood, it would seem, had much sobered her wild -nature, and the glory of her ambitions had raised her thoughts to a -level from which she must have contemplated with disdain her early -struggles with the drowned Ptolemy, the decapitated Potheinos, the -murdered Achillas, and the outlawed Theodotos. She, Cleopatra, was -the daughter of the Sun, the sister of the Moon, and the kinswoman of -the heavenly beings; she was mated to the descendant of Venus and the -Olympian gods, and the unborn offspring of their union would be in very -truth King of Earth and Heaven. - -Historians both ancient and modern are agreed that Cleopatra was a -woman of exceptional mental power. Her character, so often wayward in -expression, was as dominant as her personality was strong; and she must -have found no difficulty in making her appeal to the soaring ambitions -of the great Roman. When occasion demanded she carried herself with -dignity befitting the descendant of an ancient line of kings, and even -in her escapades the royalty of her person was at all times apparent. -The impression which she has left upon the world is that of a woman who -was always significant of the splendour of monarchy; and her influence -upon Cæsar in this regard is not to be overlooked. A man such as he -could not live for six months in close contact with a queen without -feeling to some extent the glamour of royalty. She represented monarchy -in its most absolute form, and in Egypt her word was law. The very tone -of her royal mode of life must have constituted new matter for Cæsar’s -mind to ruminate upon; and that trait in his character which led him to -abhor the thought of subordination to any living man, must have caused -him to watch the actions of an autocratic queen with frank admiration -and restless envy. Tales of the Kings of Alexandria and stories of -the ancient Pharaohs without doubt were narrated, and without doubt -took some place in Cæsar’s brain. Cleopatra’s point of view, that -of the most royal of the world’s royal houses, must, by its very -unfamiliarity, have impressed itself upon his thoughts. - -Thus, little by little, under the influence of the Egyptian Queen -and in the power of his own sleepless ambitions, Cæsar began to give -serious thought to the possibilities of creating a world-empire over -which he should rule as king, founding a royal line which should sit -upon the supreme earthly throne for ages to come. Obviously it must -have occurred to him that kings must rule by right of royal blood, -and that his own blood, though noble and though said to be of divine -origin, was not such as would give his descendants unquestionable -command over the loyalty of their subjects. A man who is the descendant -of many kings has a right to royalty which the son of a conqueror, -however honourable his origin, does not possess. So thought Napoleon -when he married the Austrian princess, founding a royal house in his -country by using the royal blood of another land for the purpose. -Looking around him with this thought in view, Cæsar could not well have -chosen anybody but Cleopatra as the foundress of his line. There was -no Roman royal house extant, and therefore a Greek was the best, if not -the only, possible alternative; and the Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt were -pure Macedonians, deriving their descent, by popular belief, if not in -actual fact, from the royal house of Cæsar’s hero, Alexander the Great. -He may well, then, have contemplated with enthusiasm the thought of the -future monarchs of Rome sitting by inherited right upon the ancient -throne of Macedonian Egypt; and Cleopatra on her part was no doubt -inspired by the idea of future Pharaohs, blood of her blood and bone of -her bone, ruling Rome by hereditary authority. - -Cleopatra of necessity had to find a husband. Already she had postponed -her marriage beyond the age at which such an event should take place; -and any union with her co-regnant brother could but be of a formal -nature. Cæsar now had come into her life, capturing her youthful -affections and causing himself to be the parent of her child; and it is -but natural to suppose that she would endeavour by every means in her -power to make him her lifelong consort, thus adding to her own royal -stock the worthiest blood of Rome. There can be no doubt that whether -or not she might succeed in making Cæsar himself Pharaoh of Egypt, she -intended to hand on the Egyptian throne to her child and his, adding -to the name of Ptolemy that of the family of the Cæsars. Thus it may -be said, though my assumption at first seems startling, that the Roman -Empire to a large extent owes its existence to the Egyptian Queen, for -the monarchy was in many respects the child of the union of Cæsar and -Cleopatra. - -These as yet undefined ambitions and hopes found a very real and -material expression in Cæsar’s eagerness to know whether the expected -babe would be a girl, or a son and heir; and it seems likely that his -determination to remain in Egypt was largely due to his unwillingness -to depart before that question was answered. This, and the paternal -responsibility which perhaps for the first time in his sordid life he -had ever felt, led him to postpone his return to Rome. He seems to have -entertained feelings of the greatest tenderness towards the Queen, -whom he was beginning to regard as his wife; and he was, no doubt, -anxious to be near her during the ordeal through which the young and -delicately-built girl had, for the first time, to pass. It has been -the custom for historians to attribute Cæsar’s prolonged residence in -Egypt, after the termination of the war and the settlement of Egyptian -affairs, to the sensuous allurements of Cleopatra, who is supposed -to have held him captive by the arts of love and by the voluptuous -attractions of her person; but here a natural fact of life has been -overlooked. A woman who is about to render to mankind the great service -of her sex, has neither the ability nor the desire to arouse the -feverish emotions of her lover. Her condition calls forth from him the -more gentle aspects of his affection. His responsibility is expressed -in consideration, in interest, in sympathy, and in a kind of gratitude; -but it is palpably absurd to suppose that a mere passion, such as that -by which Cæsar is thought to have been animated, could at this time -have influenced his actions. If love of any kind held him in Egypt, -it was the love of a husband for his wife, the devotion of a man who -was about to become a parent to the woman who would presently pay toll -to Nature in response to his incitement. Actually, as we have seen, -there was something more than love to keep him in Egypt; there was -ambition, headlong aspiration, the intoxication of a conqueror turning -his mind to new conquests, and the supreme interest of a would-be king -constructing a throne which should be occupied not only by himself but -by the descendants of his own flesh and blood for all time.[40] - -[Illustration: - - _British Museum._] [_Photograph by Macbeth._ - -CLEOPATRA.] - -While waiting for the desired event Cæsar could not remain inactive -in the Palace at Alexandria. He desired to ascertain for himself the -resources of the land which was to be considered as his wife’s dowry; -and he therefore determined to conduct a peaceful expedition up the -Nile with this subject in view. The royal _dahabiyeh_ or house-boat -was therefore made ready for himself and Cleopatra, whose condition -might be expected to benefit by the idle and yet interesting life upon -the river; and orders were given both to his own legionaries and to a -considerable number of Cleopatra’s troops to prepare themselves for -embarkation upon a fleet of four hundred Nile vessels. The number of -ships suggests that there were several thousand soldiers employed in -the expedition; and it appears to have been Cæsar’s intention to -penetrate far into the Sudan.[41] The royal vessel, or _thalamegos_, -as it was called by the Greeks, was of immense size, and was propelled -by many banks of oars.[42] It contained colonnaded courts, banqueting -saloons, sitting-rooms, bedrooms, shrines dedicated to Venus and to -Dionysos, and a grotto or “winter garden.” The wood employed was cedar -and cypress, and the decorations were executed in paint and gold-leaf. -The furniture was Greek, with the exception of that in one dining-hall, -which was decorated in the Egyptian style.[43] The rest of the fleet -consisted, no doubt, of galleys and ordinary native transports and -store-ships. - -From the city of Alexandria the fleet passed into the nearest branch -of the Nile, and so travelled southwards to Memphis, where Cleopatra -perhaps obtained her first sight of the great Pyramids and the Sphinx. -Thebes, the ancient capital, at that period much fallen into decay, -was probably reached in about three weeks’ time; and Cæsar must have -been duly impressed by the splendid temples and monuments upon both -banks of the Nile. Possibly it was at his suggestion that Cleopatra -caused the great obelisk of one of her distant predecessors to be -moved from the temple of Luxor at Thebes and to be transported down -to Alexandria, where it was erected not far from the Forum,[44] an -inscription recording its re-erection being engraved at the base. The -journey was continued probably as far as Aswan and the First Cataract, -which may have been reached some four or five weeks after the departure -from Alexandria; and it would seem that Cæsar here turned his face to -the north once more. Suetonius states that he was anxious to proceed -farther up the Nile, but that his troops were restive and inclined -to be mutinous, a fact which is not surprising, since the labour of -dragging the vessels up the cataract would have been immense, and -the hot south winds which often blow in the spring would have added -considerably to the difficulties. The temperature at this time of year -may rise suddenly from the pleasant degree of an Egyptian winter to -that of the height of intolerable summer, and so remain for four or -five days. - -Be this as it may, Cæsar turned about, having satisfied himself as -to the wealth and fertility of the country, and, no doubt, having -obtained as much information as possible from the natives in regard to -the trade-routes which led from the Nile to Berenice and India, or to -Meroe, Napata, and the Kingdom of Ethiopia. The expedition arrived at -Alexandria probably some nine or ten weeks after its departure from -that city--that is to say, at the end of the month of June; and it -would seem that in the first week of July Cleopatra’s confinement took -place. - -The child proved to be a boy; and the delighted father thus found -himself the parent of a son and heir who was at once accepted by the -Egyptians as the legitimate child of the union of their Queen with the -god Amon, who had appeared in the form of Cæsar. He was named Cæsar, -or more familiarly Cæsarion, a Greek diminutive of the same word; but -officially, of course, he was known also as Ptolemy, and ultimately -was the sixteenth and last of that name. A bilingual inscription now -preserved at Turin refers to him as “Ptolemy, who is also called -Cæsar,” this being often seen in Egyptian inscriptions in the words -_Ptolemys zed nef Kysares_, “Ptolemy called Cæsar.” - -The Dictator waited no longer in Egypt. For the last few months he had -put Roman politics from his thoughts and had not even troubled to write -any despatches to the home Government.[45] But now he had to create -the world-monarchy of which his winter with Cleopatra had led him to -dream; and first there were campaigns to be fought on the borders of -the Mediterranean; there was Parthia to be subdued; and finally India -was to be invaded and conquered. Then, when all the known world had -become dependent upon him, and only Egypt and her tributaries were -still outside Roman dominion, he would, by one bold stroke, announce -his marriage to the Queen of that country, incorporate her lands and -her vast wealth with those of Rome, and declare himself sole monarch of -the earth. It was a splendid ambition, worthy of a great man; and, as -we shall presently see, there can be very little question that these -glorious dreams would have been converted into actual realities had -not his enemies murdered him on the eve of their realisation. Modern -historians are unanimous in declaring that Cæsar had wasted his time -in Egypt, and had devoted to a love intrigue the weeks and months -which ought to have been spent in regulating the affairs of the world. -Actually, however, these nine months, far from being wasted, were -spent in the very creation of the Roman Empire. True, Cæsar’s schemes -were frustrated by the knives of his assassins; but, as will be seen in -the sequel, his plans were carried on by Cleopatra with the assistance -of Antony, and finally were put into execution by Octavian. - -As Cæsar sailed out of the Great Harbour of Alexandria he must have -turned his keen grey eyes with peculiar interest upon the splendid -buildings of the Palace, which towered in front of the city, upon the -Lochias Promontory; and that quiet, whimsical expression must have -played around his close-shut lips as he thought of the change that -had been wrought in his mental attitude by the months spent amidst -its royal luxuries. Enthusiasm for the work which lay before him must -have burnt like a fire within him; but stamped upon his brain there -must have been the picture of a darkened room in which the wild, -happy-go-lucky, little Queen of Egypt, now so subdued and so gentle, -lay clasping to her breast the new-born Cæsar, the sole heir to the -kingdom of the whole world. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN ROME. - - -Cæsar’s movements during the year after his departure from Egypt do -not, for the purpose of this narrative, require to be recorded in -detail. From Alexandria, which he may have left at about the middle -of the first week in July, he sailed in a fast-going galley across -the 500 miles of open sea to Antioch, arriving at that city a few -days before the middle of that month.[46] There he spent a day or two -in regulating the affairs of the country, and presently sailed on to -Ephesus, some 600 miles from Antioch, which he probably reached at -the end of the third week of July. At Antioch he heard that one of -his generals, Domitius Calvinus, had been defeated by Pharnakes, the -son of Mithridates the Great, and had been driven out of Pontus, and -it seems that he at once sent three legions to the aid of the beaten -troops with orders to await in north-western Galatia or Cappadocia for -his coming. After a day or two at Ephesus, Cæsar travelled with extreme -rapidity to the rendezvous, taking with him only a thousand cavalry; -and arriving at Zela, 500 miles from Ephesus, on or before August -2nd, at once defeated the rebels. It had been his custom in Gaul to -travel by himself at the rate of a hundred miles a day, and even with -a heavily laden army he covered over forty miles a day, as for example -in his march from Rome to Spain, which he accomplished in twenty-seven -days, and he may thus have joined his main army and commenced his -preparations for the battle of Zela as early as the last days of July. -The crushing defeat which he inflicted on the enemy so shortly after -taking over the command was thus a feat of which he might justly be -proud, and it so tickled his vanity that in writing to a friend of his -in Rome, named Amantius, he described the campaign in the three famous -words, _Veni, vidi, vici_, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” which so -clearly indicate that he was beginning to regard himself as a sort of -swift-footed, irresistible demigod. - -Thence he sailed at last for Italy, and reached Rome at the end of -September, almost exactly a year after his arrival in Egypt. He -remained in Rome not more than two and a half months, and about the -middle of December he set out for North Africa, where Cato, Scipio, -and other fugitive friends of Pompey had established a provisional -government with the assistance of Juba, King of Numidia, and were -gathering their forces. Arriving at Hadrumetum on December 28th, he -at once began the war, which soon ended in the entire defeat and -extermination of the enemy at Thapsus on April 6th. Of the famous -Pompeian leaders, Faustus Sulla, Lucius Africanus, and Lucius Julius -Cæsar were put to death; and Lucius Manlius Torquatus, Marcus Petreius, -Scipio, and Cato committed suicide; while, according to Plutarch, some -fifty thousand men were slain in the rout. Arriving once more in Rome -on July 25th, B.C. 46, Cæsar at once began to prepare for his Triumph -which was to take place in the following month; and it would seem that -he had already sent messengers to Cleopatra, who had spent a quiet year -of maternal interests in Alexandria, to tell her to come with their -baby to Rome. - -According to Dion, the Queen arrived shortly _after_ the Triumph, -but several modern writers[47] are of opinion that she reached the -capital in time for that event. I am disposed to think that she made -the journey to Italy in company with the Egyptian prisoners who were -to be displayed in the procession, Princess Arsinoe, the eunuch -Ganymedes,[48] and others, whom Cæsar probably sent for in the late -spring of this year soon after the battle of Thapsus. Cleopatra -could not have been averse to witnessing the Triumph, for she must -have regarded the late warfare in Alexandria not so much as a Roman -campaign against the Egyptians as an Egypto-Roman suppression of an -Alexandrian insurrection. The serious part of the campaign could be -interpreted as having been waged by Cæsar on behalf of herself and -her brother, Ptolemy XIV., against the rebels Achillas and Ganymedes, -and later against this same Ptolemy who had gone over to the enemy; -and the victory might thus be celebrated both by her and by her Roman -champion. It would therefore be fitting that she should be a spectator -of the degradation of Arsinoe and Ganymedes; and her presence in Rome -at this time would obviously be desirable to her as indicating that she -and her country had suffered no defeat. Cæsar, on his part, must have -desired her presence that she might witness the dramatic demonstration -of his power and popularity. He had just been made Dictator for the -third time, and this appointment no doubt led him to feel the security -of his position and the imminence of that rise to monarchical power -in which Cleopatra and their son were to play so essential a part. -He was beginning to regard himself as above criticism; and his two -great victories, in Pontus and Numidia, following upon his nine months -of regal life in Egypt, had somewhat turned his head, so that he no -longer considered the advisability of delaying his future consort’s -introduction to the people of Rome. He had yet much to accomplish -before he could ascend with her the throne of the world, but there can -be no question whatsoever that he now desired Cleopatra to begin to -make herself known in the capital; and, this being so, it seems to me -to be highly probable that he would wish her to refute, by her presence -as a witness of his Triumph, any suggestion that she herself was to be -included in that conquered Egypt[49] about which he was so continuously -boasting. - -The Queen of Egypt’s arrival in Rome must have caused something of a -sensation. Cartloads of baggage, and numerous agitated eunuchs and -slaves doubtless heralded her approach and followed in her train. Her -little brother, Ptolemy XV., now eleven or twelve years of age, whom -she had probably feared to leave alone in Alexandria lest he should -follow the family tradition and declare himself sole monarch, had been -forced to accompany her, and now added considerably to the commotion of -her arrival. The one-year-old heir of the Cæsars and of the Ptolemies, -surrounded by guards and fussing nurses, must, however, have been the -cynosure of all eyes; for every Roman guessed its parentage, knowing -as they did the peculiarities of their Dictator. Cleopatra and her -suite were accommodated in Cæsar’s _transtiberini horti_, where a -charming house stood amidst beautiful gardens on the right bank of -the Tiber, near the site of the modern Villa Panfili; and it is to be -presumed that his legal wife Calpurnia was left as mistress of another -establishment within the city. - -Cæsar’s attitude towards Cleopatra at this time is not easily defined. -It is not to be presumed that he was still very deeply in love with -her; for natures such as his are totally incapable of continued -devotion. During his residence in North Africa in the winter or early -spring, he had been much attracted by Eunoe, the wife of Bogud, King -of Mauretania, and had consoled himself for the temporary loss of -Cleopatra by making her his mistress. Yet the Queen of Egypt still -exercised a very considerable influence over him; and when she came to -Rome it may be supposed that in his transpontine villa they resumed -with some satisfaction the intimate life which they had enjoyed in the -Alexandrian Palace. The first infatuation was over, however, and both -Cæsar and Cleopatra must have felt that the basis of their relationship -was now a business agreement designed for their mutual benefit. In all -but name they were married, and it was the fixed intention of both that -their marriage should presently be recognised in Rome as it already -had been in Egypt. Cæsar, I suppose, took keen pleasure in the company -of the witty, vivacious, and regal girl; and he was extremely happy to -see her lodged in his villa, whither he could repair at any time of -the day or night to enjoy her brilliant and refreshing society. Their -baby son, too, was a source of interest and enjoyment to him. He was -now fourteen months old, and his likeness to Cæsar, so pronounced in -after years, must already have been apparent. Suetonius states that the -boy came to resemble his father very closely, and both in looks and in -manners, notably in his walk, showed very clearly his origin. These -resemblances, already able to be observed, must have delighted Cæsar, -who took such careful pride in his own appearance and personality; -and they must have formed a bond between himself and Cleopatra as -nearly permanent as anything could be in his progressive and impatient -nature. The Queen, on her part, probably still took extreme pleasure -in the companionship of the great Dictator, who represented an ideal -both of manhood and of social charm. She must have loved the fertility -of his mind, the autocratic power of his will, and the energy of his -personality; and though premature age and ill-health were beginning -to diminish his aptitude for the _rôle_ of ardent swain, she found in -him, no doubt, a lovable friend and husband, and one with whom the -intimacies of daily comradeship were a cause of genuine happiness. They -were as well suited to one another as two ambitious characters could -be; and, moreover, they were irrevocably bound to one another by the -memory of past passion not yet altogether in abeyance, by the sympathy -of mutual understanding, by the identity of their worldly interests, -and by the responsibilities of correlative parentage. - -The arrival of Cleopatra in Rome of course caused a scandal, to which -Cæsar showed his usual nonchalant indifference. People were sorry for -the Dictator’s legal wife Calpurnia, who, since her marriage in B.C. -59, had been left so much alone by her husband; and they were shocked -by the open manner in which the members of the Cæsarian party paid -court to the Queen. I find no evidence to justify the modern belief[50] -that Roman society was at the time annoyed at the introduction of an -_eastern_ lady into its midst;[51] for everybody must have known that -Cleopatra had not one drop of Egyptian blood in her veins, and must -have realised that she was a pure Macedonian Greek, ruling over a city -which was the centre of Greek culture and civilisation. But at the same -time there is evidence to show that the Romans did not like her. Cicero -wrote that he detested her;[52] and Dion says that the people pitied -Princess Arsinoe, her sister, whose degradation was a consequence of -Cleopatra’s success with Cæsar. On the whole, however, her advent did -not cause as much stir as might have been expected, for she seems to -have acted with tactful moderation in the capital, and to have avoided -all ostentation. - -The Triumph which Cæsar celebrated in August for the amusement of -Rome and for his own enjoyment was fourfold in character, and lasted -for four days. Upon the first day Cæsar passed through the streets of -Rome in the _rôle_ of conqueror of Gaul, and when darkness had fallen -ascended the Capitol by torchlight, forty elephants carrying numerous -torch-bearers to right and left of his chariot. The unfortunate -Vercingetorix, who had been held prisoner for six miserable years, -was executed at the conclusion of this impressive parade--an act -of cold-blooded cruelty to an honourable foe (who had voluntarily -surrendered to Cæsar to save his countrymen from further punishment) -which, at the time, may have been excused on the ground that such -executions were customary at the end of a Triumph. Upon the second day -the conquest of the Dictator’s Egyptian enemies was celebrated, and -the Princess Arsinoe was led through the streets in chains, together, -it would seem, with Ganymedes, the latter perhaps being executed at -the close of the performance, and the former being spared as a sort -of compliment to Cleopatra’s royal house. In this procession images -of Achillas and Potheinos were carried along, and were greeted by the -populace with pleasant jeers; while a statue representing the famous -old Nilus, and a model of Pharos, the wonder of the world, reminded -the spectators of the importance of the country now under Roman -protection. African animals strange to Rome, such as the giraffe, -were led along in the procession, and other wonders from Egypt and -Ethiopia were displayed for the delight of the populace. On the third -day the conquest of Pontus was demonstrated, and a large tablet with -the arrogant words _Veni, Vidi, Vici_ painted upon it was carried -before the conqueror. Finally, on the fourth day the victories in North -Africa were celebrated. In this last procession Cæsar caused some -offence by exhibiting captured Roman arms; for the campaign had been -fought against Romans of the Pompeian party, a fact which at first he -had attempted to disguise by stating that the Triumph was celebrated -over King Juba of Numidia, who had sided with the enemy. Still graver -offence was caused, however, when it was seen that vulgar caricatures -of Cato and other of Cæsar’s personal enemies were exhibited in the -procession; and the populace must have questioned whether such a jest -at the expense of honourable Romans whose bodies were hardly yet cold -in their graves was in perfect taste. It would seem indeed that Cæsar’s -judgment in such matters had become somewhat warped during this last -year of military and administrative success, and that he had begun -to despise those who were opposed to him as though they could be but -misguided fools. In this attitude one sees, perhaps, something of -that same quality which led him blandly to accept in Egypt a sort of -divinity as by personal right, and which persuaded him to aim always -towards absolutism; for a man is in no wise normal who considers -himself a being meet for worship and his enemy an object fit only for -derision. - -There seems, in fact, little doubt that Cæsar was not now in a normal -condition of mind. For some years he had been subject to epileptic -seizures, and now the distressing malady was growing more pronounced -and the seizures were of more frequent occurrence. At the battle of -Thapsus he is said to have been taken ill in this manner; and on -other occasions he was attacked while in discharge of his duties. -Such a physical condition may be accountable for much of his growing -eccentricity, and, particularly, one may attribute to it his increasing -faith in his semi-divine powers. Lombroso goes so far as to say that -epilepsy is almost an essential factor in the personality of one -who believes himself to be a Son of God or Messenger of the Deity. -Akhnaton, the great religious reformer of Ancient Egypt, suffered from -epilepsy; the Prophet Mohammed, to put it bluntly, had fits; and many -other religious reformers suffered in like manner. One cannot tell -what hallucinations and strange manifestations were experienced by -Cæsar under the influence of this malady; but one may be sure that to -Cleopatra they were clear indications of his close relationship to the -gods, and that in explanation she did not fail to remind him both of -his divine descent and her own inherited divinity, in which, as her -consort, he participated. - -Towards the end of September Cæsar caused a sensation in Rome by -an act which shows clearly enough his attitude in this regard. He -consecrated a magnificent temple in honour of Venus Genetrix, his -divine ancestress; and there, in the splendour of its marble sanctuary, -he placed a statue of Cleopatra, which had been executed during -the previous weeks by the famous Roman sculptor, Archesilaus.[53] -The significance of this act has been overlooked by modern -historians. In placing in this shrine of Venus, at the time of its -inauguration, a figure of the Queen of Egypt, who in her own country -was the representative of Isis-Aphrodite upon earth,[54] Cæsar was -demonstrating the divinity of Cleopatra, and was telling the people, -as it were in everlasting phrases of stone, that the royal girl who -now honoured his villa on the banks of the Tiber was no less than a -manifestation of Venus herself. It will presently be seen how, in -after years, Cleopatra went to meet Antony decked in the character of -Venus, and how she was then and on other occasions hailed by the crowd -as the goddess come down to earth; and we shall see how her mausoleum -actually formed part of the temple of that goddess. Both at this date -and in later times she was identified indiscriminately with Isis, -with Venus-Hathor, and with Venus-Aphrodite; and even after her death -the tradition so far survived that one of her famous pearl earrings -was cut into two parts, and, in this form, ultimately ornamented the -ears of the statue of Venus in the Pantheon at Rome. Coins dating from -this period have been found upon which Cleopatra is represented as -Aphrodite, carrying in her arms the baby Cæsarion, who is supposed to -be Eros. Cæsar was always boasting about the connection of his house -with this goddess; and now the placing of this statue of Cleopatra -in his new temple is, I think, to be interpreted as signifying that -he wished the Roman people to regard the Queen as a “young goddess,” -which was the title given to her by the Greeks and Egyptians in her own -country. - -It is not altogether certain that Cæsar himself was actually beginning -to regard Cleopatra in this light, though the increasing frequency of -his epileptic attacks, and his consequent hallucinations, may have -now made such an attitude possible even in the case of so hardened a -sceptic as was the Dictator in former years. It seems more reasonable -to suppose that he was at this time attempting to appeal to the -imagination of the people in anticipation of the great _coup_ which he -was about to execute; and that, with this object in view, he allowed -himself to be carried along by a kind of enthusiastic self-deception. -He applied no serious analysis to his opinions in this regard; but, -by means of a thoughtless vanity, he seems to have given rein to an -undefined conviction, very suitable to his great purpose, that he -himself was more than human, and that Cleopatra was not altogether -a woman of mortal flesh and blood. Even so Alexander the Great had -partially deluded himself when, on the one hand, he named himself -the son of Jupiter-Ammon, and, on the other, was careful, once when -wounded, to point out that ordinary mortal blood flowed from his veins. -And so, too, Napoleon Bonaparte, during his invasion of Egypt, declared -that he was the Prophet of God, and, in after years, was willing to -describe to a friend, as it were in jest, his vision of himself as the -founder of a new Faith. - -The inauguration of Cæsar’s new temple, which was, one may say, the -shrine of Cleopatra, was accompanied by amazing festivities, and the -excitable population of this great city seemed, so to speak, to go -mad with enthusiasm. Great gladiatorial shows were organised, and a -miniature sea-fight upon an artificial lake was enacted for the public -entertainment. The majority of the mob was ready enough to accept -without comment the exalted position of the statue of Cleopatra. At -this time in Rome they were very partial to new and foreign deities, -celestial or in the flesh; and actually the worship of the Egyptian -goddess Isis, with whom Cleopatra, as Venus, was so closely connected, -had taken firm hold of their imagination. For the last few years the -religion of Isis had been extremely popular with the lower classes -in Rome; and when, in B.C. 58, a law which had been made forbidding -foreign temples to be located within a certain area of the city, -necessitated the destruction of a temple of Isis, not one man could -be found who would touch the sacred building, and at last the Consul, -Lucius Paullus, was obliged to tuck up his toga and set to work upon -the demolition of the edifice with his own hands. Thus, this inaugural -ceremony, so lavishly organised by Cæsar, was a marked success; and -in spite of the indignation of Cicero, the statue of Cleopatra took -its permanent place, with popular consent, in the sanctuary of Venus. -No expense was spared on this or on any other occasion to please the -people; and at one time twenty-two thousand persons partook of a -sumptuous meal at Cæsar’s expense. Such a courting of the people was, -indeed, necessary at this time; for although the Dictator was at the -moment practically omnipotent, and though there was talk of securing -him in his office for a term of ten years, his party had not that -solidity which was to be desired of it. Antony, the right-hand man of -the Cæsarians, was, at the time, in some disgrace owing to a quarrel -with his master; and there were rumours that he wished to revenge -himself by assassinating Cæsar. It was already becoming clear that the -Pompeian party, in spite of Pharsalia and Thapsus, was not yet dead, -and still waited to receive its death-blow. Some of the Dictator’s -actions had given considerable offence, and there were certain people -in Rome who made use of every opportunity to denounce him, and to offer -their praise to the memory of his enemy Cato, whose tragic death after -the battle of Thapsus, and the vilification of whose memory in the -recent Triumph, had caused such a painful impression. Cicero wrote an -encomium upon this unfortunate man, to which Cæsar, in self-defence, -replied by publishing his Anti-Cato, which was marked by a tone of -bitter and even venomous animosity. All manner of unpleasant remarks -were being made in better-class circles in regard to Cleopatra; and -when the Dictator publicly admitted the parentage of their child, and -authorised him to bear the name of Cæsar, it began to be whispered that -his legal marriage to the Queen was imminent. - -The mixed population of Rome delighted in political strife, and -though Cæsar’s position seemed unassailable, there were always large -numbers of persons ready to make sporadic attacks upon it. There was -at this time constant rioting in the Forum, and an almost continuous -restlessness was to be observed in the streets and public places. In -the theatres topical allusions were received with frantic applause;[55] -and even in the Senate disturbances were not infrequent. The people -had always to be humoured, and Cæsar was obliged at all times to play -to the gallery. Fortunately for him he possessed in the highest degree -the art of self-advertisement;[56] and his charm of manner, together -with his striking and handsome appearance, made the desired appeal to -the popular fancy. His relationship to Cleopatra stood, on the whole, -in his favour amongst the lower classes, who had hailed him with coarse -delight as the terror of the women of Gaul; and the fact that she was -a foreigner mattered not in the least to the heterogeneous population -of Rome. They themselves were largely a composition of the nations of -the earth; and that Cæsar’s mistress, and probable future wife, was a -Greek, was to them in no wise a matter for comment. In any theatre in -Rome at that date one might sit amidst an audience of foreigners to -hear a drama given (at Cæsar’s expense, by the way) in language such as -Greek, Phœnician, Hebrew, Syrian, or Spanish. To them Cleopatra must -have appeared as a wonderful woman, closely related to the gods, come -from a famous city across the waters to enjoy the society of their own -half-godlike Dictator; and they were quite prepared to accept her as a -pleasant and romantic adjunct to the political situation. - -Among the many reforms which Cæsar now introduced there was one which -was the direct outcome of his visit to Egypt. For some time the -irregularities of the calendar had been causing much inconvenience, -and the Dictator, very probably at the Queen of Egypt’s suggestion, -now decided to invite some of Cleopatra’s court astronomers to Rome in -order that they might establish a new system based upon the Egyptian -calendar of Eudoxus. Sosigenes was at that time the most celebrated -astronomer in Alexandria, and it was to him, perhaps at Cleopatra’s -advice, that Cæsar now turned. After very careful study it was decided -that the present year, B.C. 46, should be extended to fifteen months, -or 445 days, in order that the nominal date might be brought round to -correspond with the actual season. The so-called Julian calendar, which -was thus established, is that upon which our present system is based; -and it is not without interest to recollect that but for Cleopatra some -entirely different set of months would now be used throughout the world. - -Cæsar’s mind at this time was full of his plans for the conquest of -the East. In B.C. 65 Pompey had brought to Rome many details regarding -the overland route to the Orient. This route started from the Port -of Phasis on the Black Sea, ascended the river of that name to its -source in Iberia, passed over to the valley of the river Cyrus (Kur), -and so came to the coast of the Caspian Sea. Crossing the water the -route thence led along the river Oxus, which at that time flowed into -the Caspian, to its source, and thus through Cashmir into India. -There must then have been some talk of carrying the eagles along this -highway to the Orient; and while Cæsar was in Egypt it seems probable, -as we have seen, that he had studied the question of leading Roman -arms thither by the great Egyptian trade route. Though this latter -road to the wonderful Orient, however, must have seemed to him, after -consideration, to be very suitable as a channel for the despatch of -reinforcements, he appears to have favoured the land route across Asia -for his original invasion. This approach to the East was blocked by -the Parthians, and Cæsar now announced his intention of conducting a -campaign against these people. There is no evidence to show that he -desired to follow Alexander’s steps beyond Parthia into India, but I -am of opinion that such was his intention. In view of the facts that -the exploits of Alexander the Great had been studied by him, that he -publicly declared his wish to rival them, that he must have heard -from Pompey of the overland route to India with which the Romans had -become acquainted during the war against Mithridates, that his love -of distant conquest and exploration was inordinate, that he had spent -some months in studying conditions in Egypt--a country which was in -those days full of talk of India and of the new trade with the Orient, -that after leaving Egypt he began at once to prepare for a campaign -against the one nation which obstructed the overland route to the -East, that no other part of the known world, save poverty-stricken -Germania, remained to be brought by conquest under Roman sway, that -India offered possibilities of untold wealth, and that Cleopatra -herself ultimately made an attempt to reach those far countries,--the -inference seems to me to be clear that Cæsar’s designs upon Parthia -were only preliminary to a contemplated invasion of the East. The -riches of those distant lands were already the talk of the age, and -within the lifetime of young men of this period streams of Indian -merchandise, comprising diamonds, precious stones, silks, spices, and -scents, began to pour into Rome and were sold each year, according -to the somewhat exaggerated account of Pliny, for some forty million -pounds sterling.[57] Could Cæsar, the world’s greatest spendthrift, the -world’s most eager plunderer, have resisted the temptation of making a -bid for the loot which lay behind Parthia? Does the fact that he said -nothing of such an intention preclude the possibility that thoughts -of this kind now filled his mind, and formed a topic of conversation -between him and the adventurous Cleopatra, the Ruler of the gateway of -the Orient, who herself sent Cæsar’s son to India, as we shall see in -due course? Napoleon, when he invaded Egypt in 1798, said very little -about his contemplated attack upon India; but it was none the less -dominant in his mind for that. Egypt and Parthia in conjunction formed -the basis of any attempt to capture the Orient: Egypt with its route -across the seas, and Parthia with its highroad overland. Are we really -to suppose that Cæsar did waste his time in Egypt, or was he then -studying the same problem which now directed his attention to Parthia? -By means of his partnership with Cleopatra he had secured one of the -routes to India; and the merchants of Alexandria, if not his own great -imagination, must have made clear to him the value of his possession -in that regard; for ever since the discovery of the over-sea route to -the East that value has been recognised. The Venetian Sanuto in later -years told his compatriots of the effect on India which would follow -from the conquest of the Nile Valley; the Comte Daru said that the -possession of Egypt meant the opening up of India; Leibnitz told Louis -XIV. of France that an invasion of Egypt would result in the capture -of the Indian highroad; the Duc de Choiseul made a similar declaration -to Louis XV.; Napoleon stated in his ‘Memoirs’ that his object in -attacking Egypt was to lead an army of 60,000 men to India; and at the -present day England holds the Nile Valley as being the gateway of her -distant possessions. On the other side of the picture we see at the -present time the attempts of Russia to establish her power in Northern -Persia and Afghanistan, where once the Parthians of old held sway, -in order to be ready for that day when English power in India shall -decline. Was Cæsar, then, straining every nerve only for the possession -of the two gateways of the Orient, or did his gaze penetrate through -those gateways to the vast wealth of the kingdoms beyond? I am disposed -to see him walking with Cleopatra in the gardens of the villa by the -Tiber, just as Napoleon paced the parks of Passeriano, “frequently -betraying by his exclamations the gigantic thoughts of his unlimited -ambition,” as Lacroix tells us of the French conqueror. - -Such dreams, however, were rudely interrupted by the news that the -Pompeian party had gathered its forces in Spain; and Cæsar was obliged -to turn his attention to that part of the world. In the winter of -B.C. 46, therefore, he set out for the south-west, impatient at the -delay which the new campaign necessitated in his great schemes. He was -in no mood to brook any opposition in Rome, and before leaving the -capital he arranged that he should be made Consul without a colleague -for the ensuing year B.C. 45, as well as Dictator, thus giving himself -absolutely autocratic power. On his way to Spain he sent a despatch -to Rome, appointed eight _praefecti urbi_ with full powers to act in -his name, thus establishing a form of cabinet government which should -entirely over-ride the wishes of the Senate and of the people; and in -this manner he secured the political situation to his own advantage. -Naturally there was a very great outcry against this high-handed -action; but Cæsar was far too deeply occupied by his vast schemes, and -far too annoyed by this Spanish interruption of his course towards the -great goal of his ambitions, to pay much attention to the outraged -feelings of his political opponents. - -The enemy in Spain were led by the two sons of the great Pompey, -but at the battle of Munda, fought on March 17, B.C. 45, they were -entirely defeated with a loss of some thirty thousand men. The elder -of the two leaders, Cnæus Pompeius, who was said to have once been a -suitor for Cleopatra’s heart, was killed shortly after the battle, but -the younger, Sextus, escaped. Cæsar then returned to Rome, being met -outside the capital by Antony, with whom he was reconciled; and in the -early summer he celebrated his Triumph. In this he offended a number -of persons, owing to the fact that his victory had been won over his -fellow-countrymen, whose defeat, therefore, ought not to have been -the cause of more than a silent satisfaction. After Pharsalia Cæsar -had celebrated no triumph, since Romans had there fought Romans; and, -indeed, as Plutarch says, “he had seemed rather to be ashamed of the -action than to expect honour from it.” But now he had come to feel -that he himself was Rome, and that his enemies were not simply opposed -to his party but were in arms against the State. - -Knowing now that the Pompeians were at last crushed, Cæsar decided to -attempt to appease any ill-feeling directed against himself by the -friends of the fallen party; and for this purpose he caused the statues -of Pompey the Great, which had been removed from their pedestals, to -be replaced; and furthermore, he pardoned, and even gave office to, -several leaders of the Pompeian party, notably to Brutus and Cassius, -who afterwards were ranked amongst his murderers. He then settled -down in Rome to prepare for his campaign in the East, and, in the -meantime, to put into execution the many administrative reforms which -were maturing in his restless brain. It appears that he lived for the -most part of this time in the house of which his wife Calpurnia was -mistress; but there can be little doubt that he was a constant visitor -at his transpontine villa, and that he spent all his spare hours there -in the society of Cleopatra, who remained in Rome until his death. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EGYPTO-ROMAN MONARCHY. - - -The people of Rome now began to heap honours upon Cæsar, and the -government which he had established did not fail to justify its -existence by voting him to a position of irrevocable power. He was made -Consul for ten years, and there was talk of decreeing him Dictator -for life. The Senate became simply an instrument for the execution -of his commands; and so little did the members concern themselves -with the framing of new laws at home, or with the details of foreign -administration, that Cicero is able to complain that in his official -capacity he had received the thanks of Oriental potentates whose names -he had never seen before, for their elevation to thrones of kingdoms -of which he had never heard. Cæsar’s interests were world-wide, and -the Government in Rome carried out his wishes in the manner in which -an ignorant Board of Directors of a company with foreign interests -follows the advice of its travelling manager. He had lived for such -long periods in foreign countries, his campaigns had carried him over -so much of the known world’s surface, that Rome appeared to him to be -nothing more than the headquarters of his administration, and not a -very convenient centre at that. His intimacy with Cleopatra, moreover, -had widened his outlook, and had very materially assisted him to become -an arbiter of universal interests. Distant cities, such as Alexandria, -were no longer to him the capitals of foreign lands, but were the seats -of local governments within his own dominions; and the throne towards -which he was climbing was set at an elevation from which the nations of -the whole earth could be observed. - -In accepting as his own business the concerns of so many lands, he -was assuming responsibilities the weight of which no man could bear; -yet his dislike of receiving advice, and his uncontrolled vanity, led -him to resent all interference, nor would he admit that the strain -was too great for his weakened physique. Intimate friends of the -Dictator, such as Balbus and Oppius, observed that he was daily growing -more irritable, more self-opinionated; and the least suggestion of a -decentralisation of his powers caused him increasing annoyance. He -wished always to hold the threads of the entire world’s concerns in his -own hands. Now he was discussing the future of North African Carthage -and of Grecian Corinth, to which places he desired to send out Roman -colonists; now he was regulating the affairs of Syria and Asia Minor; -and now he was absorbed in the agrarian problems of Italy. There were -times when the weight of universal affairs pressed so heavily upon him -that he would exclaim that he had lived long enough; and in such moods, -when his friends warned him of the possibility of his assassination, he -would reply that death was not such a terrible matter, nor a disaster -which could come to him more than once. The frequency of his epileptic -seizures was a cause of constant distress to him, and his gaunt, -almost haggard, appearance must have indicated to his friends that the -strain was becoming unbearable. Yet ever his ambitions held him to his -self-imposed task; and always his piercing eyes were set upon that goal -of all his schemes, the monarchy of the earth. - -People were now beginning to discuss openly the subject of his -elevation to the throne. It was freely stated that he proposed to -make himself King and Cleopatra Queen, and, further, that he intended -to transfer the seat of his government to Alexandria, or some other -eastern city. The site of Rome was not ideal. It was too far from the -sea ever to be a first-rate centre of commerce; nor had it any natural -sources of wealth in the neighbourhood. The streets, which were narrow -and crookedly built, were liable to be flooded at certain seasons by -the swift-flowing Tiber.[58] Pestilence and sickness were rife amongst -the congested quarters of the city; and in the middle ages, as Mommsen -has pointed out, “one German army after another melted away under -its walls and left it mysteriously victorious.” After the battle of -Actium, Augustus wished to change the capital to some other quarter -of the globe, as, for example, to Byzantium; and it is very possible -that the idea originated with Cæsar. At the period with which we are -now dealing Rome was far less magnificent than it became a few years -later, and it must have compared unfavourably with Alexandria and other -cities. Its streets ascended and descended, twisted this way and that, -in an amazing manner; and so narrow were they that Cæsar was obliged -to pass a law prohibiting waggons from being driven along them in the -daytime, all porterage being performed by men or beasts of burden. -The great public buildings and palaces of the rich rose from amidst -the encroaching jumble of small houses like exotic plants hemmed in -by a mass of overgrown weeds; and Cæsar must often have given envious -thought to Alexandria with its great Street of Canopus and its Royal -Area. - -Those who study the lives of Cleopatra and Cæsar in conjunction cannot -fail to ask themselves how far the Queen influenced the Dictator’s -thoughts at this time. During these last years of his life--the -years which mark his greatness and give him his unique place in -history--Cleopatra was living in the closest intimacy with him; and, so -far as we know, there was not another man or woman in the world who had -such ample opportunities for playing an influential part in his career. -If Cleopatra was interested, as we know she was, in the welfare of her -country and her royal house, or in the career of herself and Cæsar, or -in the destiny of their son, it is palpably impossible to suppose that -she did not discuss matters of statecraft with the man who was, in all -but name, her husband. At a future date Cleopatra was strong enough to -play one of the big political _rôles_ in history, dealing with kingdoms -and armies as the ordinary woman deals with a house and servants; and -in the light of the knowledge of her character as it is unfolded to -us in the years after the Dictator’s death, it is not reasonable to -suppose that in Rome she kept aloof from all his schemes and plans, -deeming herself capable of holding the attention of the master of the -world’s activities by the entertainments of the boudoir and the arts -of the bedchamber. Her individuality does not dominate the last years -of the Roman Republic, merely because of the profligacy of her life -with Antony and the tragedy of their death, but because her personality -was so irresistible that it influenced in no small degree the affairs -of the world. I am of opinion that Cleopatra’s name would have been -stamped upon the history of this period even though the events which -culminated at Actium had never occurred. The romantic tragedy of her -connection with Antony has captured the popular taste, and has diverted -the attention of historians from the facts of her earlier years. There -is a tendency completely to overlook the influence which she exercised -in the politics of Rome during the last years of Cæsar’s life.[59] The -eyes of historians are concentrated upon the Alexandrian drama, and the -tale of Cleopatra’s life in the Dictator’s villa is overlooked. Yet who -will be so bold as to state that a Queen, whose fortunes were linked -by Cæsar with his own at the height of his power, left no mark upon -the events of that time? When Cleopatra came to Rome her outlook upon -life must have been in striking contrast to that of the Romans. The -republic was still the accepted form of government, and as yet there -was no definite movement towards monarchism. The hereditary emperors -of the future were hardly dreamed of, and the kings of the far past -were nigh forgotten. Now, although it may be supposed that Cleopatra, -by contact with the world, had adopted a moderately rational view of -her status, yet there can be no doubt that the sense of her royal -and divine personality was far from dormant in her. Her education and -upbringing, as I have already said, and now the adulation of Cæsar, -must have influenced her mind, so that the knowledge of her royalty was -at all times almost her predominant characteristic; and it would be -strange indeed if the Dictator’s thoughts had been proof against the -insinuating influence of this atmosphere in which he chose to spend a -great portion of his time. Did Rome herself supply Cæsar’s stimulus, -Rome which had not known monarchy for four hundred and fifty years? -But admitting that Rome was ripe for monarchy, and that circumstances -to some extent forced Cæsar towards that form of government, can we -declare that the Dictator would, of his own accord, have embraced -sovereignty and even divinity so rapidly had his consort not been a -Queen and a goddess? - -During the last months of his life--namely, from his return to Rome in -the early summer after the Spanish campaign to his assassination in -the following March--Cæsar vigorously pressed forward his schemes in -regard to the monarchy. Originally, it would seem, he had intended to -complete his eastern conquests before making any attempt to obtain the -throne; but now the long delay in his preparations for the Parthian -campaign had produced a feeling of impatience which could no longer be -controlled. Moreover, his attention had been called to an old prophecy -which stated that the Parthians would not be conquered until a _King_ -of Rome made war upon them; and Cæsar was sufficiently acute, if not -sufficiently superstitious, to be influenced to an appreciable extent -by such a declaration. Little by little, therefore, he assumed the -prerogatives of kingship, daily adding to the royal character of his -appearance, and daily assuming more autocratic and monarchical powers. - -It was not long before he caused himself to be given the -hereditary title of Imperator, a word which meant at that time -“Commander-in-chief,” and had no royal significance, though the fact -that it was made hereditary gave it a new significance. It is to be -observed that the persons who framed the decree must have realised -that the son to whom the title would descend would probably be that -baby Cæsar who now ruled the nurseries of the villa beside the Tiber; -for there can be little doubt that the Dictator’s legitimate marriage -to Cleopatra at the first opportune moment was confidently expected -by his supporters; and we are thus presented with the novel spectacle -of enthusiastic Roman statesmen offering the hereditary office of -Imperator to the future King of Egypt. There can surely be no clearer -indication than this that the people of Rome took no exception to -Cleopatra’s foreign blood,[60] nor thought of her in any way as an -Oriental. The attitude of the majority of modern historians suggests -that they picture the Dictator at this time as living with some sort -of African woman whom he had brought back with him from Egypt; but I -must repeat that I am convinced that in actual fact the Romans regarded -Cleopatra as a royal Greek lady whose capital city of Alexandria was -the rival of the Eternal City in wealth, magnificence, and culture, -bearing to Rome, to some extent, the relationship which New York bears -to London. It was rumoured at this time that a law was about to be -introduced by one of the tribunes of the people which would enable -Cæsar, if necessary, to have two wives--Calpurnia and Cleopatra--and -that the new wife need not be a Roman. The people could have felt no -misgivings at the thought of Cleopatra’s son being Cæsar’s heir; for -already they knew well enough that Cæsar was to be King of Rome, and by -his marriage with Cleopatra they realised that he was adding to Rome’s -dominions without force of arms the one great kingdom of the civilised -world which was still independent, and was securing for his heirs -upon the Roman throne the honourable appendage of the oldest crown in -existence, and the vast fortune which went with it. In later years, -when Cleopatra as the consort of Antony had become a public enemy, -there was much talk of an East-Mediterranean peril, and the Queen came -to represent Oriental splendour as opposed to Occidental simplicity; -but at the time with which we are now dealing this attitude was -entirely undeveloped, and Cleopatra was regarded as the most suitable -mother for that son of Cæsar who should one day inherit his honours and -his titles. - -[Illustration: - - _Vatican_] [_Photograph by Anderson._ - -JULIUS CÆSAR.] - -At about this date the baby actually became uncrowned King of Egypt, -for Cleopatra’s young brother, Ptolemy XV., mysteriously passes from -the records of history, and is heard of no more. Whether Cleopatra -and Cæsar caused him to be murdered as standing in the way of their -ambitions, or whether he died a natural death, will now never be -known. He comes into the story of these eventful days like a shadow, -and like a shadow he disappears; and all that we know concerning his -end is derived from Josephus,[61] who states that he was poisoned -by his sister. Such an accusation, however, is only to be expected, -and would certainly have been made had the boy died of a sudden -illness. It is therefore not just to Cleopatra to burden her memory -with the crime; and all that one may now say is that, while the death -of the unfortunate young King may be attributed to Cleopatra without -improbability, there is really no reason to suppose that she had -anything to do with it. - -Cæsar now caused a statue of himself to be erected in the Capitol -as the eighth royal figure there, the previous seven being those of -the old Kings of Rome. Soon he began to appear in public clad in the -embroidered dress of the ancient monarchs of Alba; and he caused -his head to appear in true monarchical manner upon the Roman coins. -A throne of gold was provided for him to sit upon in his official -capacity in the Senate and on his tribunal; and in his hand he now -carried a sceptre of ivory, while upon his head was a chaplet of gold -in the form of a laurel-wreath. A consecrated chariot, like the sacred -chariot of the Kings of Egypt, was provided for his conveyance at -public ceremonies, and a kind of royal bodyguard of senators and nobles -was offered to him. He was given the right, moreover, of being buried -inside the city walls, just as Alexander the Great had been laid to -rest within the Royal Area at Alexandria. These marks of kingship, -when observed in conjunction with the hereditary title of Imperator -which had been conferred upon him, and the lifelong Dictatorship which -was about to be offered to him, are indications that the goal was now -very near at hand; and both Cæsar and Cleopatra must have lived at the -time in a state of continuous excitement and expectation. Everybody -knew what was in the air, and Cicero went so far as to write a long -letter to Cæsar urging him not to make himself King, but he was advised -not to send it. The ex-Consul Lucius Aurelius Cotta inserted the thin -edge of the wedge by proposing that Cæsar should be made King of the -Roman dominions _outside_ Italy; but the suggestion was not taken up -with much enthusiasm. Cæsar himself seems to have been undecided as to -whether he should postpone the great event until after the Parthian war -or not, and the settlement of this question must have given rise to the -most anxious discussions. - -There was no longer need for the Dictator to hide his intentions with -any great care; and as a preliminary measure he did not hesitate to -proclaim to the public his belief in the divinity of his person. He -caused his image to be carried in the _Pompa circenis_ amongst those of -the immortal gods. A temple dedicated to Jupiter-Julius was decreed, -and a statue in his likeness was set up in the temple of Quirinus, -inscribed with the words, “To the Immortal God.” A college of priestly -_Luperci_, of whom we shall presently learn more, was established in -his honour; and _flamines_ were created as priests of his godhead, -an institution which reminds one of the manner in which the Pharaoh -of Egypt was worshipped by a body of priests. A bed of state was -provided for him within the chief temples of Rome. In the formulæ of -the political oaths in which Jupiter and the Penates of the Roman -people had been named, the _Genius_ of Cæsar was now called upon, just -as in Egypt the _Ka_, or genius, of the sovereign was invoked. “The old -national faith,” says Mommsen, “became the instrument of a Cæsarian -papacy”; and indeed it may be said that it became the instrument -actually of a supreme Cæsarian deification. - -By the end of the year B.C. 45 and the beginning of B.C. 44 there -was no longer any doubt in the minds of the Roman people that Cæsar -intended presently to ascend the throne; and the only question asked -was as to whether the event would take place before or after the -Eastern campaign. Some time before February 15th he was made Dictator -for life; and this, regarded in conjunction with the homage now paid to -his person, and the hereditary nature of his title of Imperator, made -the margin between his present status and that of kingship exceedingly -narrow. It is probable that Cæsar was not determined to introduce -the old title of “King,” although he affected the dress and insignia -of those who had been “kings” of Rome. It is more likely that he was -seeking some new monarchical title; and when, on one occasion, he -declared “I am Cæsar, and no ‘King,’” he may already have decided to -elevate his personal name to the significance of the royal title which -it ultimately became, and still in this twentieth century continues to -be.[62] - -His arrogance was daily becoming more pronounced, and his ambition -was now “swell’d so much that it did almost stretch the sides o’ the -world.”[63] He severely rebuked Pontius Aquila, one of the Tribunes, -for not rising when he passed in front of the Tribunician seats; and -for some time afterwards he used to qualify any declaration which he -made in casual conversation by the sneering words, “By Pontius Aquila’s -kind permission.” Once, when a deputation of Senators came to him to -confer new honours upon him, he, on the other hand, received them -without rising from his seat; and he was now wont to keep his closest -friends waiting in an anteroom for an audience, a fact of which Cicero -bitterly complains. When his authority was questioned he invariably -lost his temper, and would swear in the most horrible manner. “Men -ought to look upon what I say as _law_,” he is reported by Titus -Ampius to have said; and, indeed, there were very few persons who had -the hardihood not to do so. On a certain occasion it was discovered -that some enthusiast had placed a royal diadem upon the head of one -of his statues, and, very correctly, the two Tribunes caused it to be -removed. This so infuriated Cæsar, who declared the official act to -be a deliberate insult, that he determined to punish the two men at -the first convenient opportunity. On January 26th of the new year this -opportunity presented itself. As he was walking through the streets -some persons in the crowd hailed him as King, whereupon these zealous -officials ordered them to be arrested and flung into prison. Cæsar at -once raised an appalling storm, the result of which was that the two -Tribunes were expelled from the Senate. - -Cleopatra’s attitude could not well fail to be influenced by that of -the Dictator; and it is probable that she gave some offence by an -occasional haughtiness of manner. Her Egyptian chamberlains and court -officials must also have annoyed the Romans by failing to disguise -their Alexandrian vanity; and there can be little doubt that many of -Cæsar’s friends began to regard the menage at the transpontine villa -with growing dislike. A letter written by Cicero to his friend Atticus -is an interesting commentary upon the situation. It seems that the -great writer had been favoured by Cleopatra with the promise of a gift -suitable to his standing, probably in return for some service which he -had rendered her. “I detest the Queen,” he writes, “and the voucher -for her promises, Hammonios, knows that I have good cause for saying -so. What she promised, indeed, were all things of the learned sort -and suitable to my character, such as I could avow even in a public -meeting. As for Sara (pion),[64] besides finding him an unprincipled -rascal, I also found him inclined to give himself airs towards me. -I only saw him once at my house; and when I asked him politely what -I could do for him, he said that he had come in hopes of seeing -Atticus. The Queen’s insolence, too, when she was living in Cæsar’s -trans-tiberine villa,[65] I cannot recall without a pang. So I will not -have anything to do with that lot.” - -The ill-feeling towards Cæsar, which was very decidedly on the -increase, is sufficient to account for the growing unpopularity of -Cleopatra; but it is possible that it was somewhat accentuated by a -slight jealousy which must have been felt by the Romans owing to the -Dictator’s partiality for things Egyptian. Not only did it appear to -Cæsar’s friends that he was modelling his future throne upon that of -the Ptolemies and was asserting his divinity in the Ptolemaic manner; -not only had he been thought to desire Alexandria as the capital of the -Empire; but also he was employing large numbers of Egyptians in the -execution of his schemes. Egyptian astronomers had reformed the Roman -calendar; the Roman mint was being improved by Alexandrian coiners; -the whole of his financial arrangements, it would seem, were entrusted -to Alexandrians;[66] while many of his public entertainments, as, for -example, the naval displays enacted at the inauguration of the Temple -of Venus, were conducted by Egyptians. Cæsar’s object in thus using -Cleopatra’s subjects must have been due, to some extent, to his desire -to familiarise his countrymen with those industrious Alexandrians who -were to play so important a part in the construction of the new Roman -Empire. - -The great schemes and projects which were now placed before the Senate -by Cæsar must have startled that institution very considerably. Almost -every day some new proposal was formulated or some new law drafted. -At one time the diverting of the Tiber from its course occupied the -Dictator’s attention; at another time he was arranging to cut a canal -through the Isthmus of Corinth. Now he was planning the construction -of a road over the Apennines; and now he was deep in schemes for the -creation of a vast port at Ostia. Plans of great public buildings to -be erected at Alexandria or in Rome were being submitted to him; or, -again, he was arranging for the establishment of public libraries in -various parts of the capital. Meanwhile the preparations for the -Parthian war must have occupied the greater part of his time; for the -campaign was to be of a vast character. So sure was he that it would -last for three years or more that he framed a law by virtue of which -the magistrates and public officials for the next three years should -be appointed before his departure. He thereby insured the tranquillity -of Rome during his prolonged absence in the east, thus leaving himself -free to carry his arms into remote lands where communication with the -capital might be almost impossible. When we recollect that Cæsar’s -recent campaigns had all been of but a few months or weeks duration, -and that the words _veni, vidi, vici_ now represented his mature -belief in his own capabilities, these plans for a three years’ absence -from Rome seem to me to indicate clearly that he had no intention of -confining himself to the conquest of Parthia, but desired to follow in -Alexander’s footsteps to India, and thence to return to Rome laden with -the loot of that vast country. He must have pictured himself entering -the capital at the end of the war as the conqueror of the East, and -there could have been no doubt in his mind that the delighted populace -would then accept with enthusiasm his claim to the throne of the world. - -As the weeks went by Cæsar’s plans in regard to the monarchy became -more clearly defined. He does not now seem to have considered it very -wise to press forward the assumption of the sovereignty previous to -the Parthian war, since his long absence immediately following his -elevation to the throne might prove prejudicial to the new office. -Moreover, a strong feeling had developed against his contemplated -assumption of royalty, and Cæsar must have been aware that he could -not put his plans into execution without considerable opposition. -Plutarch tells us that “his desire of being King had brought upon -him the most apparent and mortal hatred,--a fact which proved the -most plausible pretence to those who had been his secret enemies all -along.” Much adverse comment had been made with reference to his not -rising to receive the Senatorial deputation; and indeed he felt it -necessary to make excuses for his action, saying that his old illness -was upon him at the time. A report was spread that he himself would -have been willing to rise, but that Balbus had said to him, “Will you -not remember you are Cæsar and claim the honour due to your merit?” -and it was further related that when the Dictator had realised the -offence he had given, he had bared his throat to his friends, and had -told them that he was ready to lay down his life if the public were -angry with him. Incidents such as this showed that the time was not yet -wholly favourable for his _coup_; and reluctantly Cæsar was obliged to -consider its postponement. On the other hand, there was something to -be said in favour of immediate action, and he must have been more or -less prepared to accept the kingship if it were urged upon him before -he set out for the East. The position of Cleopatra, however, must have -caused him some anxiety. Without her and their baby son the creation of -an hereditary monarchy would be superfluous. His own wife Calpurnia did -not seem able to furnish him with an heir, and there was certainly no -other woman in Rome who could be expected to act the part of Queen with -any degree of success, even if she were proficient in the production -of sons and heirs. Yet how, on the instant, was he to rid himself of -Calpurnia and marry Cleopatra without offending public taste? If he -were to accept the kingship at once and make Cleopatra his wife, was -she capable of sustaining with success the _rôle_ of Queen of Rome -in solitude for three years while he was away at the wars? Would it -not be much wiser to send her back to Egypt for this period, there to -await his return, and then to marry her and to ascend the throne at one -and the same instant? During his absence in the East Calpurnia might -conveniently meet with a sudden and fatal illness, and no man would -dare to attribute her death to his and the apothecary’s ingenuity. - -The will which he now made, or confirmed, in view of his departure, -shows clearly that his desire for the monarchy was incompatible with -his present marital conditions. Without a Queen and a son and heir -there could be little point in creating a throne, since already he -had been made absolute autocrat for his lifetime; for unless the -office was to be handed on without dispute to his son Cæsarion, -there was no advantage in striving for an immediate elevation to -the kingship. By his will, therefore, which was made in view of his -possible death before he had ascended his future throne, he simply -divided his property, giving part of it to the nation and part to his -relations, his favourite nephew, Octavian, receiving a considerable -share. A codicil was added, appointing a large number of guardians -for any offspring which might possibly be born to him by Calpurnia -after his departure; but so little interest did he take in this remote -contingency that he seems to have made no financial provision for such -an infant. There was no need to leave money to Cleopatra or to her -child, since she herself was fabulously wealthy. This will was, no -doubt, intended to be destroyed if he were raised to the throne before -his departure, and it was afterwards believed that he actually wrote -another testament in favour of Cæsarion, which was to be used if a -crown were offered to him; but if, as now seemed probable, that event -were postponed until his return, the dividing of his property would be -the best settlement for his affairs should he die while away in the -East. So long as he remained uncrowned there was no occasion to refer -either to Cleopatra or to Cæsarion in his testamentary wishes; for if -he died in Parthia or India, still as Dictator, his hopes of founding a -dynasty, his plans for his marriage to the Queen of Egypt, his scheme -for training up Cæsarion to follow in his footsteps, indeed all his -worldly ambitions, would have to be bundled into oblivion. Cæsar was -not a man who cared much for the interests of other people; and, in -the case of Cleopatra, he was quite prepared to leave her to fight for -herself in Egypt, were he himself to be removed to those celestial -spheres wherein he would have no further use for her. His passion for -her appears now to have cooled; and though he must still have enjoyed -her society, and, to a considerable extent, must have been open to her -influence, her chief attraction for him in these latter days lay in the -recognition of her suitability to ascend the new throne by his side. -She, on her part, no doubt retained much of her old affection for him; -and, in spite of his increasing irritability and eccentricity, she -seems to have offered him the generous devotion of a warm-hearted young -woman for a great and heroic old man. - -Cæsar, indeed, was old before his time. The famous portrait of him, -now preserved in the Louvre, shows him to have been haggard and worn. -He was still under sixty years of age, but all semblance of youth -had gone from him, and the burden of his years and of his illness -weighed heavily upon his spare frame. His indomitable spirit, and the -keen enthusiasm of his nature, held him to his appointed tasks; but -it is very doubtful whether his constitution could now have borne the -hardships of the campaign which lay before him. His ill-health must -have caused Cleopatra the gravest anxiety, for all her hopes were -centred upon him, and upon that day when he should make her Queen of -the Earth. The fact that he was now considering the postponement of the -creation of the monarchy until after the Parthian war must have been a -heavy blow to her, for there was good reason to fear lest his strength -should give out ere his task could be completed. For three years and -more she had worked with Cæsar at the laying of the foundations of -their throne; and now, partly owing to the undesirability of leaving -Rome for so long a period immediately after accepting the crown, partly -owing to the difficulty in regard to Calpurnia, and partly owing to -the hostility of a large number of prominent persons to the idea of -monarchy, Cæsar was postponing for three years that _coup_ which -seemed to her not only to mean the realisation of all her personal and -dynastic ambitions, but actually to be the only means by which she -could save Egypt from absorption into the Roman dominions or preserve -a throne of any kind for her son. In the Second Philippic Cicero says -of Cæsar that “after planning for many years his way to royal power, -with great labour and with many dangers, he had effected his design. By -public exhibitions, by monumental buildings, by bribes and by feasts, -he had conciliated the unreflecting multitude. He had bound to himself -his own friends by favours, his opponents by a show of clemency;” and -yet, when in sight of his goal, he hesitated, believing it better to -wait to be carried up to the throne by that wave of popular enthusiasm -which assuredly would burst over Rome when he should lead back from -the East his triumphant, loot-laden legionaries, and should exhibit -in golden chains in the streets of the capital the captive kings of -the fabulous Orient. The delay must have been almost intolerable to -Cleopatra; and it may have been due to some arrangement made by her -with the Dictator and Antony, who now must have been a constant visitor -at Cæsar’s villa, that an event took place which brought to a head the -question of the date of the establishment of the monarchy. - -On February 15th the annual festival of the Lupercalia was celebrated -in Rome; and upon this day all the populace, patrician and plebeian, -were _en fête_. The Romans of Cæsar’s time do not seem to have -known what was the origin of this festival, nor what was the real -significance of the rites therein performed. They understood that -upon this day they paid their respects to the god Lupercus; and, in a -vague manner, they identified this obscure deity with Faunus, or with -Pan, in his capacity as a producer of fertility and fecundity in all -nature. Two young men were selected from the honourable order known as -the College of the Luperci, and upon this day these two men opened the -proceedings by sacrificing a goat and a dog. They were then “blooded,” -and the ritual prescribed that as soon as this was done they should -both laugh. They next cut the skins of the victims into long strips or -thongs, known as _februa_; and, using these as whips, they proceeded to -run around the city, striking at every woman with whom they came into -contact. A thwack from the _februa_ was believed to produce fertility, -and any woman who desired to become a mother would expose herself to -the blows which the two men were vigorously delivering on all sides. -By reason of this strange old custom the day was known as the _Dies -februatus_;[67] and from this is derived the name of the month of -February in which the festival took place. - -It seems to me certain that this ceremony was originally related to the -Egyptian rites in connection with the god of fecundity, Min-Amon, the -Pan of the Nile Valley. This god is usually represented holding in his -hand a whip, perhaps consisting originally of jackal-skins tied to a -stick;[68] and it has lately been proved that the hieroglyph for the -Egyptian word indicating the reproduction of species[69] is composed -simply of these three jackal-skins tied together, that is to say the -_februa_. We know practically nothing of the ceremonies performed in -Egypt in regard to the _februa_, but there is no reason to doubt that -the rites were fundamentally similar to those of the Roman Lupercalia. -The dog which was sacrificed in Rome had probably taken the place of -the Egyptian jackal; and the goat is perhaps to be connected with the -Egyptian ram which was sacred to Amon or Min-Amon. - -Now it is very possible that in Alexandria Cleopatra and also Cæsar -had become well acquainted with the Egyptian equivalent of the Roman -Lupercalia, and it may be suggested, tentatively, that since Cæsar -was regarded in that country as the god Amon who had given fertility -to the Queen, he may, in Egypt, have been identified in some sort -of manner with these rites. One may certainly imagine Cleopatra -pointing out to Cæsar the similarity between the two ceremonies, -and suggesting to him that he was, or had acted in the manner of, a -kind of Lupercus. He had practically identified Cleopatra with Venus -Genetrix, the goddess of fertility; and he may well have attributed -to himself the faculties of that corresponding god who carried on in -Rome the traditions of the Egyptian Min, to whom already Cæsar had been -so closely allied by the priests of the Nile. The Dictator certainly -took great interest in the festival of the Lupercalia in Rome, for -he reorganised the proceedings, and actually founded an order known -as the _Luperci Julii_, a fact which could be regarded as indicating -a definite identification of himself with Lupercus. Indeed, if he -was identified with Min-Amon in Egypt, and if, as I have suggested, -Min-Amon is originally connected with the Lupercalia celebrations, it -may be supposed that Cæsar really assumed by right the position of -divine head of this order. Knowing the Dictator to have been so careful -an opportunist, one is almost tempted to suggest that he found in this -identification an excuse and a justification for his behaviour to the -many women to whom he had lost his heart; or perhaps it were better -to say that his unscrupulous attitude towards the opposite sex, and -the successful manner in which, as with Cleopatra, he had succeeded in -reproducing his kind, appeared to fit him constitutionally for this -particular godhead. - -Whether or no Cæsar, in the intolerable arrogance of his last years, -was now actually naming himself the fruitful Lupercus in Rome as he -was the fecund Amon in Egypt, it is a fact that upon this occurrence of -the festival in the year B.C. 44 he was presiding over the ceremonies, -while his lieutenant Antony was enacting the part of one of the two -holders of the _februa_. On this day Cæsar, pale and emaciated, was -seated in the Forum upon a golden throne, dressed in a splendid robe, -in order to witness the celebrations, when suddenly the burly Antony, -hot from his run, bounded into view, striking to right and left with -the _februa_, and indulging, no doubt, in the horse-play which he -always so much enjoyed. An excited and boisterous crowd followed him, -and it is probable that both he and his companions thereupon did homage -to the majestic figure of the Dictator, hailing him as Lupercus and -king of the festivities. Profiting by the enthusiasm of the moment, and -acting according to arrangements previously made with Cleopatra or with -Cæsar himself, Antony now stepped forward and held out to the Dictator -a royal diadem wreathed with laurels, at the same time offering him the -kingship of Rome. Cæsar, as we have seen, had already been publicly -hailed as a god upon earth, and now Antony seems to have addressed him -in his Lupercalian character, begging him to accept this terrestrial -throne as already he had received the throne of the heavens. No sooner -had he spoken than a shout of approval was raised by a number of -Cæsarians who had been posted in different parts of the Forum for this -purpose; but, to Cæsar’s dismay, the cheers were not taken up by the -crowd, who, indeed, appear to have indulged in a little quiet booing; -and the Dictator was thus obliged to refuse the proffered crown with a -somewhat half-hearted show of disdain. This action was received with -general applause, and the temper of the crowd was clearly demonstrated. -Again Antony held the diadem towards him, and again the isolated and -very artificial cheers of his supporters were heard. Thereupon Cæsar, -accepting the situation with as good a grace as possible, definitely -refused to receive it; and at this the applause once more broke forth. -He then gave orders that the diadem should be carried into the Capitol, -and that a note should be inscribed in the official calendar stating -that on this day the people had offered him the crown and that he had -refused it. It seems probable that Antony, appreciating the false step -which had been made, now rounded off the incident in as merry a manner -as possible, beginning once more to strike about him with his magical -whip, and leading the crowd out of the Forum with the same noise and -horse-play with which they had entered it. - -The chances now in regard to the immediate assumption of the kingship -became more remote. Cæsar intended to set out for Parthia in about a -month’s time; and it must have been apparent to him that his hopes -of a throne would probably have to be set aside until the coming war -was at an end. In regard to Cleopatra nothing remained for him to do, -therefore, but to bid her prepare to return to Egypt, there to await -until the Orient was conquered; and during the next few weeks it seems -that the disappointed and troubled Queen engaged herself in making -preparation for her departure. Suetonius tells us that Cæsar loaded her -with presents and honours in these last days of their companionship; -and doubtless he encouraged her as best he could with the recitation of -his great hopes and ambitions for the future. There was still a chance -that the monarchy would be created before the war, for there was -some talk that Antony and his friends would offer the crown once more -to Cæsar upon the Calends of March;[70] but Cleopatra could not have -dared to hope too eagerly for this event in view of the failure at the -Lupercalia. To the Queen, who had expected by this time to be seated -upon the Roman throne, his reassuring words can have been poor comfort; -and an atmosphere of gloomy foreboding must have settled upon her as -she directed the packing of her goods and chattels and prepared herself -and her baby for the long journey across the Mediterranean to her now -uneventful kingdom of Egypt. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE DEATH OF CÆSAR AND THE RETURN OF CLEOPATRA TO EGYPT. - - -There can be little reason for doubt that Antony, who is to play so -important a part in the subsequent pages of this history, saw Cleopatra -in Rome on several occasions. After his reconciliation to Cæsar in -the early summer of B.C. 45, he must have been a constant visitor at -the Dictator’s villa; and, as we shall presently see, his espousal of -Cleopatra’s cause in regard to Cæsar’s will suggests that her charm had -not been overlooked by him. It is said, as we have seen, that he had -met her, and had already been attracted by her, ten years previously, -when he entered Alexandria with Gabinius in order to establish her -father Auletes upon his rickety throne. He was a man of impulsive -and changeable character, and it is difficult to determine his exact -attitude towards Cæsar at this time. While the Dictator was in Egypt -Antony had been placed in charge of his affairs in Rome, but owing to -a quarrel between the two men, Cæsar, on his return from Alexandria, -had dismissed him from his service. Very naturally Antony had felt -considerable animosity to the Dictator on this account, and it was even -rumoured, as has been said, that he desired to assassinate him. After -the Spanish war, however, the quarrel was forgotten; and, as we have -just seen, it was Antony who had offered him the crown at the festival -of the Lupercalia. In spite of this, Cæsar does not seem to have -trusted him fully, although he now appears to have been recognised as -the most ardent supporter of the Cæsarian party. - -Cæsar had never excelled as a judge of men. Although unquestionably a -genius and a man of supreme mental powers, the Dictator was ever open -to flattery; and he collected around him a number of satellites who -had won their way into his favour by blandishments and by countenance -of their master’s many eccentricities. Balbus and Oppius, Cæsar’s two -most intimate attendants, were men of mediocre standing; and Publius -Cornelius Dolabella, who now comes into some prominence, was a young -adventurer, whose desire for personal gain must have been concealed -with difficulty. This personage, although only five-and-twenty years of -age, had been appointed by Cæsar to the consulship which would become -vacant upon his own departure for the East, a move that must have given -grave offence to Antony; for Dolabella, a few years previously, had -fallen in love with Antony’s wife, Antonia, who had consequently been -divorced, the outraged husband thereafter finding consolation in the -marriage to his present wife Fulvia. The various favours conferred -by Cæsar on this young scamp must therefore have caused considerable -irritation to Antony; and it is not easy to suppose that the latter’s -apparent devotion to the cause of the Dictator was altogether genuine. -Indeed, the rumour once more passed into circulation that Antony nursed -designs upon Cæsar’s life, this time, strange to say, in conjunction -with Dolabella. On hearing this report the Dictator remarked that he -“did not fear such fat, luxurious men as these two, but rather the -pale, lean fellows.” - -Of the latter type was Cassius, a sour, fanatical soldier and -politician, who had fought against Cæsar at Pharsalia, and had been -freely pardoned by him afterwards. From early youth Cassius entertained -a particular hatred of any form of autocracy; and it is related of -him that when at school the boy Faustus, the son of the famous Sulla, -had boasted of his father’s autocratic powers, Cassius had promptly -punched his head. Cæsar’s attempts to obtain the throne excited this -man’s ferocity, and he was probably the originator of the plot which -terminated the Dictator’s life. The plot was hatched in February -B.C. 44, and, when Cassius and his friends had prevailed upon the -influential and studious Marcus Brutus to join them, it rapidly -developed into a widespread conspiracy. “I don’t like Cassius,” Cæsar -was once heard to remark; “he looks so pale. What can he be aiming at?” - -For Brutus, however, the Dictator entertained the greatest affection -and esteem, and there was a time when he regarded him as his probable -successor in office. One cannot view without distress, even after -the passage of so many centuries, the devotion of the irritable -old autocrat to this scholarly and promising young man who was now -plotting against him; for, in spite of his manifold faults, Cæsar -ever remains a character which all men esteem and with which all must -largely sympathise. On one occasion somebody warned him that Brutus -was plotting against him, to which the Dictator replied, “What, do you -think Brutus will not wait out the appointed time of this little body -of mine?” It is probable that Cæsar thought it not at all unlikely -that Brutus was his own son, for his mother, Servilia, as early as -the year of his birth, and for long afterwards, had been on such -terms of intimacy with Cæsar as would justify this belief. Brutus, -on the other hand, thought himself to be the son of Servilia’s legal -husband, and through him claimed descent from the famous Junius Brutus -who had expelled the Tarquins. Servilia was the sister of Cato, whose -suicide had followed his defeat by Cæsar in North Africa, and Porcia, -the wife of Brutus, was Cato’s daughter. It might have been supposed, -therefore, that Brutus would have felt considerable antipathy towards -the Dictator, more especially after the publication of his venomous -Anti-Cato. There was, however, equally reasonable cause for Brutus -to have sympathised with Cæsar, for his supposed father had been put -to death by Pompey, an execution which Cæsar had, as it were, been -instrumental in avenging. As a matter of fact, Brutus was a young man -who lived upon high principles, as a cow does upon grass; and such -family incidents as the seduction of his mother, or the destruction of -his mother’s brother and his wife’s father, or the bloodthirsty warfare -between his father’s executioner and his father-in-law’s enemy and -calumniator, were not permitted to influence his righteous brain. In -his early years he had, very naturally, refused on principle to speak -to Pompey, but when the civil war broke out he set aside all those -petty feelings of dislike which, in memory of his legal father, he had -entertained towards the Pompeian faction, and, on principle, he ranged -himself upon that side in the conflict, believing it to be the juster -cause. Pompey is said to have been so surprised at the arrival of this -good young man in his camp, whither nobody had asked him to come, -and where nobody particularly desired his presence, that he stood up -and embraced him as though he were a lost lamb come back to the fold. -Then followed the battle of Pharsalia, and Brutus had been obliged to -fly for his life. He need not, however, have feared for his safety, -for Cæsar had given the strictest orders that nobody was to hurt him -either in the battle or in the subsequent chase of the fugitives. From -Larissa, whither he had fled, he wrote, on principle, to Cæsar, stating -that he was prepared to surrender; and the Dictator, in memory, it is -said, of many a pleasant hour with Servilia, at once pardoned him and -heaped honours upon him. Brutus, then, on principle, laid information -against Pompey, telling Cæsar whither he had fled; and thus it came -about that the Dictator arrived in Egypt on that October morning of -which we have read. - -Brutus was an intellectual young man, whose writings and orations -were filled with maxims and pithy axioms. He had, however, a certain -vivacity and fire; and once when Cæsar had listened, a trifle -bewildered, to one of his vigorous speeches, the Dictator was heard -to remark, “I don’t know what this young man means, but, whatever -he means, he means it vehemently.” He believed himself to be, and -indeed was, very firm and just, and he had schooled himself to resist -flattery, ignoring all requests made to him by such means. He was wont -to declare that a man who, in mature years, could not say “no” to -his friends, must have been very badly behaved in the flower of his -youth. Cassius, who was the brother-in-law of Brutus, deemed it very -advisable to introduce this exemplary young man into the conspiracy, -and he therefore invited him, as a preliminary measure, to be present -in the Senate on the Calends of March, when it was rumoured that Cæsar -would be made king. Brutus replied that he would most certainly absent -himself on that day. Nothing daunted, Cassius asked him what he would -do supposing Cæsar insisted on his being present. “In that case,” -said Brutus, in the most approved style, “it will be my business not -to keep silent, but to stand up boldly, and die for the liberty of my -country.” Such being his views, it was apparent that there would be no -difficulty in persuading him, on principle, to assist in the murder -of Cæsar, who had, it is true, spared his life in Pharsalia, but who -was, nevertheless, an enemy of the People. The conspirators, therefore, -dropped pieces of paper on the official chair whereon he sat, inscribed -with such words as “Wake up, Brutus,” or “You are not a true Brutus”; -and on the statue of Junius Brutus they scribbled sentences, such as -“O that we had a Brutus now!” or “O that Brutus were alive!” In this -way the young man’s feelings were played upon, and, after a few days of -solemn thought, he came to the conclusion that it was his painful duty, -on principle, to bring Cæsar’s life to a close. - -By March 1st the conspirators numbered in their ranks some sixty -or eighty senators, mostly friends of the Dictator, and had Cæsar -attempted then to proclaim himself king he would at once have been -assassinated. There were too many rumours current of plots against -him, however, to permit him to take this step, and so the days passed -in uneventfulness. He had planned to leave Rome for the East on March -17th, and it was thought possible that his last visit to the Senate on -March 15th, or his departure from the capital, would be the occasion -of a demonstration in his favour which would lead to his being offered -the crown as a parting gift. The conspirators therefore decided to make -an end of Cæsar on March 15th, the Ides of March, upon which date he -would probably come for the last time to the Senate as Dictator. - -Brutus, of course, was terribly troubled as the day drew near. He was -at heart a good and honourable man, but the weakness of his character, -combined with his intense desire to act in a high-principled manner, -led him often to appear to be a turncoat. Actually his motives were -patriotic and noble, but he must have asked himself many a time whether -what he believed to be his duty to his country was to be regarded -as entirely abrogating what he _knew_ to be his duty to his devoted -patron. The tumult in his mind caused him at night to toss and turn in -his sleep in a fever of unrest, and his wife, Porcia, observing his -distress, implored him to confide his troubles to her. Brutus thereupon -told her of the conspiracy, and thereby risked the necks of all his -comrades. - -A curious gloom seems to have fallen upon Rome at this time, and an -atmosphere of foreboding, due perhaps to rumours that a plot was afoot, -descended upon the actors in this unforgettable drama. Cæsar went about -his preparations for the Oriental campaign in his usual business-like -manner, and raised money for the war with his wonted unscrupulousness -and acuteness; but it does not require any pressure upon the historical -imagination to observe the depression which he now felt and which must -have been shared by his associates. The majority of the conspirators -were his friends and fellow-workers--men, many of them, whom he had -pardoned for past offences during the Civil War and had raised to -positions of trust in his administration. At this time he appears to -have been living with Calpurnia in his city residence, and so busy -was he with his arrangements that he could not have found time to pay -many visits to Cleopatra.[71] The Queen must therefore have remained -in a state of distressing suspense. The Calends of March, at which -date the proclamation of the monarchy had been expected, had passed; -and now the Dictator could have held out to her but one last hope of -the realisation of their joint ambition previous to his departure. -Cæsar must have told her that, as far as the three-year-old Cæsarion -was concerned, she could expect nothing until the throne had been -created; for, obviously, this was no time in which to leave a baby as -his heir. His nephew Octavian, an active and energetic young man, would -have to succeed him in office if he were to die before he had obtained -the crown, and his vast property would have to be distributed. The -Dictator must have remembered the fact of the murder of the young son -of Alexander the Great soon after his father’s death, and he could have -had no desire that his own boy should be slaughtered in like manner by -his rapacious guardians. Yet Cleopatra still delayed her departure, -in the hope that the great event would take place on March 15th, so -that at any rate she might return to Egypt in the knowledge that her -position as Cæsar’s wife was secured. - -The prevailing depression acted strangely upon people’s nerves, and -stories began to spread of ominous premonitions of trouble, and -menacing signs and wonders. There were unaccountable lights in the -heavens, and awful noises at dead of night. Somebody said that he had -seen a number of phantoms, in the guise of men, fighting with one -another, and that they were all aglow as though they were red-hot; and -upon another occasion it was noticed that numerous strange birds of -ill omen had alighted in the Forum. Once, when Cæsar was sacrificing, -the heart of the victim was found to be missing, an omen of the worst -significance; and at other times the daily auguries were observed to be -extremely inauspicious. An old soothsayer, who may have got wind of the -plot, warned the Dictator to beware of the Ides of March; but Cæsar, -whose courage was always phenomenal, did not allow the prediction to -alter his movements. - -Upon the evening of March 14th, the day before the dreaded Ides, Cæsar -supped with his friend Marcus Lepidus, and as he was signing some -letters which had been brought to him for approval the conversation -happened to turn upon the subject of death, and the question was asked -as to what kind of ending was to be preferred. The Dictator, quickly -looking up from his papers, said decisively, “A sudden one!” the -significance of which remark was to be realised by his friends a few -hours later. That night, Plutarch tells us, as Cæsar lay upon his bed, -suddenly, as though by a tremendous gust of wind, all the doors and -windows of his house flew open, letting in the brilliant light of the -moon. Calpurnia lay asleep by his side, but he noticed that she was -uttering inarticulate words and was sobbing as though in the deepest -distress; and upon being awakened she said that she had thought in her -dreams that he was murdered. Cæsar must have realised that such a -dream was probably due to her fears as to the truth of the soothsayer’s -prophecy; but, at the same time, her earnest request to him not to -leave his house on the following day made a considerable impression -upon him. - -In the morning the conspirators collected in that part of the -governmental buildings where the Senate was to meet that day. The place -chosen was a pillared portico adjoining the theatre, having at the -back a deep recess in which stood a statue of Pompey.[72] Some of the -men were public officials whose business it was to act as magistrates -and to hear cases which had been brought to them for judgment; and it -is said that not one of them betrayed by his manner any nervousness -or lack of interest in these public concerns. In the case of Brutus -this was particularly noticeable; and it is related that upon one of -the plaintiffs before him refusing to stand to his award and declaring -that he would appeal to Cæsar, Brutus calmly remarked, “Cæsar does not -hinder me, nor will he hinder me, from acting according to the laws.” - -This composure, however, began to desert them when it was found that -the Dictator was delaying his departure from his house. The report -spread that he had decided not to come to the Senate that day, and -it was soon realised that this might be interpreted as meaning that -he had discovered the plot. Their agitation was such that at length -they sent a certain Decimus Brutus Albinus, a very trusted friend of -the Dictator, to Cæsar’s house to urge him to make haste. Decimus -found him just preparing to postpone the meeting of the Senate, his -feelings having been worked upon by Calpurnia’s fears, and also by -the fact that he had received a report from the augurs stating that -the sacrifices for the day had been inauspicious. In this dilemma -Decimus made a statement to Cæsar, the truth of which is now not able -to be ascertained. He told the Dictator that the Senate had decided -unanimously to confer upon him that day the title of King of all the -Roman Dominions outside Italy, and to authorise him to wear a royal -diadem in any place on land or sea except in Italy.[73] He added that -Cæsar should not give the Senate so fair a justification for saying -that he had put a slight upon them by adjourning the meeting on so -important an occasion owing to the bad dreams of a woman. - -At this piece of news Cæsar must have been filled with triumphant -excitement. The wished-for moment had come. At last he was to be made -king, and the dominions to be delivered over to him were obviously -but the first instalment of the vaster gift which assuredly he would -receive in due course. The doubt and the gloom of the last few weeks in -a moment were banished, for this day he would be monarch of an empire -such as had never before been seen. What did it matter that in Rome -itself he would be but Dictator? He would establish his royal capital -elsewhere: in Alexandria, perhaps, or on the site of Troy. He would -be able at once to marry Cleopatra and to incorporate her dominions -with his own. Calpurnia might remain for the present the wife of the -childless Dictator in Rome, and his nephew Octavian might be his -official heir; but outside his fatherland, Queen Cleopatra should be -his consort, and his own little son should be his heir and successor. -The incongruities of the situation would so soon be felt that Rome -would speedily acknowledge him king in Italy as well as out of it. -Probably he had often discussed with Cleopatra the possibilities of -this solution of the problem, for the idea of making him king outside -Italy had been proposed some weeks previously;[74] and he must now have -thought how amused and delighted the Queen would be by this unexpected -decision of the Senate to adopt the rather absurd scheme. As soon as -he had married the Sovereign of Egypt and had made Alexandria one of -his capitals, his dominions would indeed be an Egypto-Roman Empire; and -when at length Rome should invite him to reign also within Italy, the -situation would suggest rather that Egypt had incorporated Rome than -that Rome had absorbed Egypt. How that would tickle Cleopatra, whose -dynasty had for so long feared extinction at the hands of the Romans! - -Rising to his feet, and taking Decimus by the hand, Cæsar set out at -once for the Senate, his forebodings banished and his ambitious old -brain full of confidence and hope. On his way through the street two -persons, one a servant and the other a teacher of logic, made attempts -to acquaint him with his danger; and the soothsayer who had urged him -to beware of the Ides of March once more repeated his warning. But -Cæsar was now in no mood to abandon the prospective excitements of -the day; and the risk of assassination may, indeed, have been to him -the very element which delighted him, for he was ever inspired by the -presence of danger. - -Meanwhile the conspirators paced the Portico of Pompey in painful -anxiety, fearing every moment to hear that the plot had been -discovered. It must have been apparent to them that there were persons -outside the conspiracy who knew of their designs; and when a certain -Popilius Laena, a senator, not of their number, whispered to Brutus and -Cassius that the secret was out, but that he wished them success, their -feelings must have been hard to conceal. Then came news that Porcia had -fallen into an hysterical frenzy caused by her suspense; and Brutus -must have feared that in this condition she would reveal the plot. - -At length, however, Cæsar was seen to be approaching; but their -consequent relief was at once checked when it was observed that -Popilius Laena, who had said that he knew all, entered into deep and -earnest conversation with the Dictator. The conversation, however, -proved to be of no consequence, and Cæsar presently walked on into the -Curia where the Senate was to meet. A certain Trebonius was now set -to detain Antony in conversation outside the doorway; for it had been -decided that, although the latter was Cæsar’s right-hand man, he should -not be murdered, but that, after the assassination, he should be won -over to the side of the so-called patriots by fair words. - -When Cæsar entered the building the whole Senate rose to their feet in -respectful salutation. The Dictator having taken his seat, one of the -conspirators, named Tullius Cimber, approached him ostensibly with the -purpose of petitioning him to pardon his exiled brother. The others at -once gathered round, pressing so close upon him that Cæsar was obliged -to order them to stand back. Then, perhaps suspecting their design, -he sprang suddenly to his feet, whereupon Tullius caught hold of his -toga and pulled it from him, thus leaving his spare frame covered only -by a light tunic. Instantly a senator named Casca, whom the Dictator -had just honoured with promotion, struck him in the shoulder with his -dagger, whereupon Cæsar, grappling with him, cried out in a loud voice, -“You villain, Casca! what are you doing?” A moment later, Casca’s -brother stabbed him in the side. Cassius, whose life Cæsar had spared -after Pharsalia, struck him in the face; Bucolianus drove a knife -between his shoulder-blades, and Decimus Brutus, who so recently had -encouraged him to come to the Senate, wounded him in the groin. Cæsar -fought for his life like a wild animal.[75] He struck out to right and -left with his _stilus_, and, streaming with blood, managed to break his -way through the circle of knives to the pedestal of the statue of his -old enemy Pompey. He had just grasped Casca once more by the arm, when -suddenly perceiving his beloved Marcus Brutus coming at him with dagger -drawn, he gasped out, “You, too, Brutus--_my son_!” and fell, dying, -upon the ground.[76] Instantly the pack of murderers was upon him, -slashing and stabbing at his prostrate form, wounding one another in -their excitement, and nigh tumbling over him where he lay in a pool of -blood. - -As soon as all signs of life had left the body, the conspirators turned -to face the Senate; but, to their surprise, they found the members -rushing madly from the building. Brutus had prepared a speech to make -to them as soon as the murder should be accomplished; but in a few -moments nobody was left in the Curia for him to address. He and his -companions, therefore, were at a loss to know what to do; but at length -they issued forth from the building, somewhat nervously brandishing -their daggers and shouting catch-words about Liberty and the Republic. -At their approach everybody fled to their homes; and Antony, fearing -that he, too, would be murdered, disguised himself and hurried by -side-streets to his house. They therefore took up their position in -the Capitol, and there remained until a deputation of senators induced -them to come down to the Forum. Here, standing in the rostra, Brutus -addressed the crowd, who were fairly well-disposed towards him; but -when another speaker, Cinna, made bitter accusations against the dead -man, the people chased the conspirators back once more to the Capitol, -where they spent the night. - -When darkness had fallen and the tumult had subsided, Antony made his -way to the Forum, whither, he had heard, the body of Cæsar had been -carried; and here, in the light of the moon, he looked once more upon -the face of his arrogant old master. Here, too, he met Calpurnia, and, -apparently at her request, took charge of all the Dictator’s documents -and valuables. - -Upon the next day, at Antony’s suggestion, a general amnesty was -proclaimed, and matters were amicably discussed. It was then decided -that Cæsar’s will should be opened, but the contents must have been -a surprise to both parties. The dead man bequeathed to every Roman -citizen 300 _sesterces_, giving also to the Roman people his vast -estates and gardens on the other side of the Tiber, where Cleopatra -was, at the time, residing. Three-quarters of the remainder of his -estate was bequeathed to Octavian, and the other quarter was divided -between his two nephews, Lucius Pinarius and Quintus Pedius. In a -codicil he added that Octavian should be his official heir; and he -named several guardians for his son, should one be born to him after -his death. - -The dead body lay in state in the Forum for some five days, while -the ferment in the city continued to rage unabated. The funeral was -at length fixed for March 20th,[77] and towards evening Antony went -to the Forum, where he found the crowd wailing and lamenting around -the corpse, the soldiers clashing their shields together, and the -women uttering their plaintive cries. Antony at once began to sing -a dirge-like hymn in praise of Cæsar; pausing in his song every few -moments to stretch his hands towards the corpse and to break into loud -weeping. In these intervals the crowd took up the funeral chant, and -gave vent to their emotional distress in the melancholy music customary -at the obsequies of the dead, reciting monotonously a verse of Accius -which ran, “I saved those who have given me death.” Presently Antony -held up on a spear’s point the robes pierced by so many dagger-thrusts; -and standing beside this gruesome relic of the crime, he pronounced his -famous funeral oration over the body of the murdered Dictator. When he -had told the people of Cæsar’s gifts to them, and had worked upon their -feelings by exhibiting thus the blood-stained garments, the mob broke -into a frenzy of rage against the conspirators, vowing vengeance upon -one and all. Somebody recalled the speech made by Cinna on a previous -day, and immediately howls were raised for that orator’s blood. A -minor poet, also called Cinna, happened to be standing in the crowd; -and when a friend of his had addressed him by that hated name, the -people in the immediate vicinity thought that he must be the villain -for whose life the mob was shouting. They therefore caught hold of the -unfortunate man, and, without further inquiries, tore him limb from -limb. They then seized benches, tables, and all available woodwork; and -there, in the midst of the public and sacred buildings, they erected a -huge pyre, upon the top of which they placed the Dictator’s body, laid -out upon a sheet of purple and gold. Torches were applied and speedily -the flames arose, illuminating the savage faces of the crowd around the -pyre, and casting grotesque shadows upon the gleaming walls and pillars -of the adjoining buildings, while the volume of the smoke hid from -view the moon now rising above the surrounding roofs and pediments. -Soon the mutilated body disappeared from sight into the heart of the -fire; and thereupon the spectators, plucking flaming brands from the -blaze, dashed down the streets, with the purpose of burning the houses -of the conspirators. The funeral pyre continued to smoulder all night -long, and it must have been many hours before quiet was restored in the -city. The passions of the mob were appeased next day by the general -co-operation of all those concerned in public affairs, and the Senate -passed what was known as an Act of Oblivion in regard to all that had -occurred. Brutus, Cassius, and the chief conspirators, were assigned -to positions of importance in the provinces far away from Rome; and -the affairs of the capital were left, for the most part, in the hands -of Antony. On March 18th, three days after Cæsar’s death, Antony and -Lepidus calmly invited Brutus and Cassius to a great dinner-party, and -so, for the moment, peace was restored. - -Meanwhile, Cleopatra’s state of mind must have been appalling. Not only -had she lost her dearest friend and former lover, but, with his death, -she had lost the vast kingdom which he had promised her. No longer was -she presumptive Queen of the Earth, but now, in a moment, she was once -more simply sovereign of Egypt, seated upon an unfirm throne. Moreover, -she must have fancied that her own life was in danger, as well as that -of the little Cæsar. The contents of the Dictator’s will must have been -a further shock to her, although she probably already knew their tenor; -and she must have thought with bitterness of the difference that even -one day more might have made to her in this regard. It was perhaps true -that the Senate had been about to offer him the throne of the provinces -on the fatal Ides; and in that case Cæsar would most certainly have -altered his will to meet the new situation, if indeed he had not -already done so, as some say. There was reason to suppose that such a -will, in favour of Cæsarion, had actually been made,[78] but if this -were so, it was nowhere to be found, and had perhaps been destroyed -by Calpurnia. What was she to do? When would Octavian appear to claim -such property and honours as Cæsar had bequeathed to him? Should she at -once proclaim her baby son as the rightful heir, or should she fly the -country? - -In this dilemma there seems to me to be no doubt that she must have -consulted with Antony, the one man who had firmly grasped the tangled -strings of the situation, and must have implored him to support -the claims of her son. If the public would not admit that Cæsarion -was Cæsar’s son, then the boy would, without doubt, pass into -insignificance, and ultimately be deprived, in all probability, even -of his Egyptian throne. If, on the other hand, with Antony’s support, -he were officially recognised to be the Dictator’s child, then there -was a good chance that the somewhat unprepossessing Octavian might be -pushed aside for ever. Cæsar had taken a fancy to this obscure nephew -of his during the Spanish War. The young man, although still weak after -a severe illness, had set out to join the Dictator in Spain with a -promptitude which had won his admiration. He had suffered shipwreck, -and had ultimately made his way to his uncle’s camp by roads infested -with the enemy, and thereafter had fought by his side. He was now -following his studies in Apollonia, and intended to join Cæsar on his -way to the East. If he could be prevented from coming to Rome the game -would be in the Queen’s hands; and I am of opinion that she must now -have approached Antony with some such suggestion for the solution of -the difficulty. Antony, on his part, probably realised that with the -establishment of Octavian in Cæsar’s seat his own power would vanish; -but that, were he to support the baby Cæsarion, he himself would remain -the all-powerful regent for many years to come. He might even take the -dead man’s place as Cleopatra’s husband, and climb to the throne by -means of the right of his stepson.[79] - -It would seem, therefore, that he persuaded Cleopatra to remain for the -present in Rome; and not long afterwards he declared in the Senate that -the little Cæsarion had been acknowledged by Cæsar to be his rightful -son. This was denied at once by Oppius, who favoured the claims of -Octavian, and ultimately this personage took the trouble to write a -short book to refute Antony’s statement. - -The young Dolabella now seized the consulship in Rome, and, being on -bad terms with Antony, at once showed his hostility to the friends of -the late Dictator by various acts of violence against them. Cæsar, -before his death, had assigned the province of Syria to Dolabella and -that of Macedonia to Antony; but now the Senate, in order to rid Rome -of the troublesome presence of the Dictator’s murderers, had given -Macedonia and Syria to Marcus Brutus and Cassius, and these two men -were now collecting troops with which to enter their dominions in -safety. There was thus a political reason for Antony and Dolabella to -join forces; and presently we find the two of them working together for -the overthrow of Brutus and Cassius. - -Into these troubled scenes in Rome the news presently penetrated of the -approach of the young Octavian, now nearly nineteen years of age, who -was coming to claim his rights; and thereupon the city, setting aside -the question of the conspirators, formed itself into two factions, the -one supporting the newcomer, the other upholding Antony’s attitude. -It is usually stated by historians that Antony was fighting solely in -his own interests, being desirous of ousting Octavian and assuming the -dignities of Cæsar by force of arms. If this be so, why did he make -a point of declaring in the Senate that Cæsarion was the Dictator’s -child? With what claims upon the public did he oppose those of Octavian -if not by the supporting of Cæsar’s son? We shall see that in after -years he always claimed the Roman throne _on behalf_ of the child -Cæsarion; and I find it difficult to suppose that that attitude was not -already assumed, to some extent, by him. - -There now began to be grave fears of the immediate outbreak of civil -war; and so threatening was the situation that Cleopatra was advised -to leave Rome and to return to Egypt with her son, there to await the -outcome of the struggle. It is probable, indeed, that Antony urged her -to return to her own country in order to raise troops and ships for his -cause. Be this as it may, the Queen left Rome a few days before April -15th, upon which date Cicero wrote to Atticus, from Sinuessa, not far -from Rome, commenting on the news that she had fled. - -As she sailed over the Mediterranean back to Egypt her mind must have -been besieged by a hundred schemes and plans for the future. The -despair which she had experienced, after the death of the Dictator, -at the demolition of all her vast hopes, may now have given place to -a spirited desire to begin the fight once more. Cæsar was dead, but -his great personality would live again in his little son, whom Antony, -she believed, would champion, since in doing so he would further his -own ambitions. The legions left at Alexandria by the Dictator would, -no doubt, stand by her; and she would bring all the might and all the -wealth of Egypt against the power of Octavian. The coming warfare would -be waged by her for the creation of that throne for the establishment -of which Cæsar had indeed given his life; and her arms would be -directed against that form of democratic government which the Dictator, -perhaps at her instance, had endeavoured to overthrow, but which a man -of Octavian’s character, she supposed, would be contented to support. -Her mighty Cæsar would look down from his place amidst the stars to -direct her, and to lead their son to the goal of their ambitions; -for now he was in very truth a god amongst the gods. Recently during -seven days a comet had been seen blazing in the sky, and all men had -been convinced that this was the soul of the murdered Dictator rushing -headlong to heaven. Even now a strange haze hung over the sun, as -though the light of that celestial body were dimmed by the approach of -the Divine Cæsar. Before the Queen left Rome she had heard the priests -and public officials name him God in very truth; and maybe she had -already seen his statues embellished by the star of divinity which was -set upon his brow after his death. Surely now he would not desert her, -his Queen and his fellow-divinity; nor would he suffer their royal -son to pass into obscurity. From his exalted heights he would defend -her with his thunderbolts, and come down to her aid upon the wings of -the wind. Thus there was no cause for her to despair; and with that -wonderful optimism which seems to have characterised her nature, she -now set her active brain to thoughts of the future, turning her mature -intellect to the duties which lay before her. When Cæsar had met her in -Egypt she had been an irresponsible girl. Now she was a keen-brained -woman, endowed with the fire and the pluck of her audacious dynasty, -and prepared to fight her way with all their unscrupulous energy to the -summit of her ambitions. And, moreover, now she held the trump card in -her hands in the person of her little boy, who was by all natural laws -the rightful heir to the throne of the earth. - - - - -PART II. - -CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE CHARACTER OF ANTONY AND HIS RISE TO POWER. - - -When Antony and Octavian first met after the death of Cæsar, the former -was in possession of popular confidence; and he did not hesitate to -advise Octavian to make no attempt to claim his inheritance. He snubbed -the young man, telling him that he was mad to think himself capable -of assuming the responsibilities of the Dictator’s heir at so early -an age; and as a result of this attitude dissensions speedily broke -out between them. A reconciliation, however, was arrived at in the -following August, B.C. 44; but early in October there was much talk -in regard to a supposed attempt by Octavian upon the life of Antony, -and, as a result of this, the inevitable quarrel once more broke out. -Antony now spread the story that his young rival had only been adopted -by Cæsar in consequence of their immoral relations, and he accused him -of being a low-born adventurer. Towards the end of the year Antony -left Rome, and all men believed that yet another civil war was about -to break out. He was now proclaiming himself the avenger of the late -Dictator, and I think it possible that he had decided definitely to -advance the claims of Cleopatra’s son, Cæsarion, against those of -Octavian. After many vicissitudes he was attacked and hunted as an -enemy of Rome, and the triumph of Octavian, thanks to the assistance -of Cicero, seemed to be assured; but, owing to a series of surprising -incidents, which we need not here relate, a reconciliation was at last -effected between the combatants in October, B.C. 43. The two men, who -had not met for many months, regarded one another with such extreme -suspicion that when at length they were obliged to exchange the embrace -of friendship, they are each said to have taken the opportunity of -feeling the other’s person to ascertain that no sword or dagger was -concealed under the folds of the toga. - -As soon as the reconciliation had been established, Antony, Octavian, -and a certain Lepidus formed a Triumvirate, which was to have effect -until December 31, B.C. 38, it being agreed that Rome and Italy should -be governed jointly by the three, but that the provinces should fall -under distinctive controls, Antony and Lepidus sharing the larger -portion and Octavian receiving only Africa, Numidia, and the islands. -It was then decided that they should each rid themselves of their -enemies by a general proscription and massacre. A list was drawn up of -one hundred senators and about two thousand other rich and prominent -men, and these were hunted down and murdered in the most ruthless -fashion, amidst scenes of horror which can hardly have been equalled -in the world’s history. Cicero was one of the victims who suffered -for his animosity to Antony, who was now the leading Triumvir, and -was in a position to refuse to consider Octavian’s plea for mercy for -the orator. The property of the proscribed persons was seized, and -upon these ill-gotten riches the three men thrived and conducted their -government. - -Brutus and Cassius, the two leaders of the conspiracy which had caused -Cæsar’s death, had now come to blows with Antony and Octavian, and -were collecting an army in Macedonia. Cassius, at one time, thought -of invading Egypt in order to obtain possession of Cleopatra’s money -and ships; but the Queen, who was holding herself in readiness for all -eventualities, was saved from this misfortune. She was, of course, the -bitter enemy of Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of her beloved Cæsar; -but, on the other hand, she could not well throw in her lot with the -Triumvirate, since it included Octavian, who was the rival of her son -Cæsarion in the heirship of the Dictator’s estate. She must have been -much troubled by the reconciliation between Octavian and Antony, for it -seemed to show that she could no longer rely on the latter to act as -her champion. - -Presently Dolabella, who was now friendly to Antony and opposed to -Brutus and Cassius, asked Cleopatra to send to his aid the legions -left by the Dictator in Alexandria, and at about the same time a -similar request came from Cassius. Cleopatra very naturally declined -the latter, accepting Dolabella’s request. Cassius, however, managed -to obtain from Serapion, the Queen’s viceroy in Cyprus, a number of -Egyptian ships, which were handed over without her permission.[80] -Dolabella was later defeated by Cassius, but the disaster did not -seriously affect Cleopatra, for her legions had not managed to reach -him in time to be destroyed. The Queen’s next move was naturally -hostile to her enemy Cassius. She made an attempt to join Antony. -This manœuvre, however, was undertaken half-heartedly, owing to her -uncertainty as to his relations with Octavian, her son’s rival; and -when a serious storm had arisen, wrecking many of her ships and -prostrating her with seasickness, she abandoned the attempt. - -In October of B.C. 42 Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius at the battle -of Philippi, Cassius being killed and Brutus committing suicide. -Octavian, who was ill, took little part in the battle, and all the -glory of the victory was given to Antony. The unpopularity of Octavian -was clearly demonstrated after the fight was over, for the prisoners -who were led before the two generals saluted Antony with respect, but -cursed Octavian in the foulest language. It was decided that Antony -should now travel through the East to collect money and to assert -the authority of the Triumvirate, while Octavian should attempt to -restore order in Italy, the African provinces being handed over to the -insignificant Lepidus. The fact that Antony chose for his sphere of -influence the eastern provinces, is a clear indication that Octavian -was still in the background; for these rich lands constituted the -main part of the Roman dominions. With a large army Antony passed -on his triumphal way through Greece, and thence through Asia Minor; -and at length, in the late summer of B.C. 41, he made his temporary -headquarters at Tarsus. - -From Tarsus Antony sent a certain officer named Dellius to Alexandria -to invite Cleopatra to meet him in order to discuss the situation. It -was suggested by Antony that she had given some assistance to the party -of Brutus; but she, on the other hand, must have accused Antony of -abandoning her by his league with Octavian. She could not afford to -quarrel with him, however, for he was now the most powerful man in the -world; and she therefore determined to sail across to Tarsus at once. - -She knew already the kind of man he was. She had seen him in Rome on -many occasions, though no direct record is left of any such event, and -she had probably made some sort of alliance with him; while she must -constantly have heard of his faults and his virtues both from Julius -Cæsar and from her Roman friends. The envoy Dellius, whom he had sent -to her, had told her of his pacific intentions, and had described him -as the gentlest and kindest of soldiers, while, as she well knew, a -considerable part of the world called him a good fellow. He was at -that time the most conspicuous figure on the face of the earth, and -his nature and personality must have formed a subject of interested -discussion in the palace at Alexandria as in every other court. Renan -has called Antony a “colossal child, capable of conquering a world, -incapable of resisting a pleasure”; and already this must have been -the popular estimate of his character. The weight of his stature stood -over the nations, dominating the incident of life; and, with a kind -of boisterous divinity, his hand played alike with kings and common -soldiers. To many men he was a good-natured giant, a personification of -Bacchus, the Giver of Joy; but in the ruined lands upon which he had -trampled he was named the Devourer, and the fear of him was almighty. - -He was a man of remarkable appearance. Tall, and heavily built, his -muscles developed like those of a gladiator, and his thick hair -curling about his head, he reminded those who saw him of the statues -and paintings of Hercules, from whom he claimed lineal descent. His -forehead was broad, his nose aquiline, and his mouth and chin, though -somewhat heavy, were strong and well formed. His expression was open -and frank; and there was a suggestion of good-humour about his lips -and eyes (as seen in the Vatican bust)[81] which must have been most -engaging. His physical strength and his noble appearance evoked an -unbounded admiration amongst his fellow-men, whilst to most women -his masculine attraction was irresistible: a power of which he made -ungoverned use. Cicero, who was his most bitter enemy, described him as -a sort of butcher or prize-fighter, with his heavy jaw, powerful neck, -and mighty flanks; but this, perhaps, is a natural, and certainly an -easy, misinterpretation of features that may well have inspired envy. - -[Illustration: - - _Vatican_] [_Photograph by Anderson_ - -ANTONY.] - -His nature, in spite of many gross faults, was unusually lovable. He -was adored by his soldiers, who, it is said, preferred his good opinion -of them to their very lives. This devotion, says Plutarch, was due to -many causes: to the nobility of his family, his eloquence, his frank -and open manners, his liberal and magnificent habits, his familiarity -in talking with everybody, and his kindness in visiting and pitying -the sick and joining in all their pains. After a battle he would go -from tent to tent to comfort the wounded, himself breaking into a very -passion of grief at the sufferings of his men; and they, with radiant -faces, would seize his hands and call him their emperor and their -general. The simplicity of his character commanded affection; for, -amidst the deep complexities and insincerities of human life, an open -and intelligible nature is always most eagerly appreciated. The -abysmal intellect of the genius gives delight to the highly cultured, -but to the average man the child-like frankness of an Antony makes a -greater appeal. Antony was not a genius: he was a gigantic commonplace. -One sees in him an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, -dominating success and towering above misfortune, until at the end he -gives way unmeritoriously to the pressure of events. - -The naturalness and ingenuousness of his character are surprisingly -apparent in some of the anecdotes related by Plutarch. His wife, -Fulvia, is described as a matron “not born for spinning or housewifery, -nor one who could be content with ruling a private husband, but a -woman prepared to govern a first magistrate or give orders to a -commander-in-chief.” To keep this strong-minded woman in a good-humour -the guileless Antony was wont to play upon her all manner of boyish -pranks; and it would seem that he took delight in bouncing out at her -from dark corners of the house and the like. When Cæsar was returning -from the war in Spain a rumour spread that he had been defeated and -that the enemy were marching on Rome. Antony had gone out to meet his -chief, and found in this rumour an opportunity for another practical -joke at his stern wife’s expense. He therefore disguised himself -as a camp-follower and made his way back to his house, to which he -obtained admittance by declaring that he had a terribly urgent letter -from Antony to deliver into Fulvia’s hands. He was shown into the -presence of the agitated matron, and stood there before her, a muffled, -mysterious figure, no doubt much like a Spanish brigand in a modern -comic opera. Fulvia asked dramatically if aught had befallen her -husband, but, without replying, the silent figure thrust a letter at -her; and then, as she was nervously opening it, he suddenly dashed -aside the cloak, took her about the neck, and kissed her. After which -he returned to Cæsar, and entered Rome in the utmost pomp, riding in -the Dictator’s chariot with all the solemnity befitting the occasion. - -In later years he was constantly playing such tricks at Alexandria, -and in the company of Cleopatra he was wont to wander about the city -at night, disguised as a servant, and used to disturb and worry -his friends by tapping at their doors and windows, for which, says -Plutarch, he was often scurvily treated and even beaten, though most -people guessed who he was. Antony remained a boy all his days; and -it must have been largely this boisterous inconsequence during the -most anxious periods that gave an air of Bacchic divinity to his -personality. His friends must have thought that there was surely a -touch of the divine in one who could romp through times of peril as he -did. - -He allowed little to stand in the way of his pleasures; and he played -at empire-making as it were between meals. On a certain morning in Rome -it was necessary for him to make an important public speech while he -was yet suffering from the effects of immoderate drinking all night -at the wedding of Hippias, a comedian, who was a particular friend -of his. Standing unsteadily before the eager political audience, he -was about to begin his address when he was overcome with nausea, -and outraged nature was revenged upon him in the sight of all men. -Incidents of this kind made him at times, as Cicero states, absolutely -odious to the upper classes in Rome; but it is necessary to state that -the above-mentioned accident occurred when he was still a young man, -and that his excesses were not so crude in later years. During the -greater part of his life his feasting and drinking were intemperate; -but there is no reason to suppose that he was, except perhaps towards -the end of his life, besotted to a chronic extent. One does not picture -him imbibing continuously or secretly in the manner of an habitual -drunkard; but at feasts and ceremonies he swallowed the wine with a -will and drank with any man. When food and wine were short, as often -happened during his campaigns, Antony became abstemious without effort. -Once when Cicero had caused him and his legions to be driven out of -Rome, he gave, in Plutarch’s words, “a most wonderful example to his -soldiers. He who had just quitted so much luxury and sumptuous living, -made no difficulty now of drinking foul water and feeding on wild -fruits and roots.” - -Antony was, of course, something of a barbarian, and his excesses often -put one in mind of the habits of the Goths or Vikings. He drank hard, -jested uproariously, was on occasion brutal, enjoyed the love of women, -brawled like a schoolboy, and probably swore like a trooper. But with -it all he retained until some two years before his death a very fair -capacity for hard work, as is evidenced by the fact that he was Julius -Cæsar’s right-hand man, and afterwards absolute autocrat of the East. -His nature was so forceful, and yet his character so built up of the -magnified virtues and failings of mankind, that by his very resemblance -to the ordinary soldier, his conformity to the type of the average -citizen, he won an absolute ascendancy over the minds of normal men. It -touched the vanity of every individual that a man, by the exercise of -brains and faculties no greater than his own, was become lord of half -the world. It was no prodigious intellectual genius who ruled the earth -with incomprehensible ability, but a burly, virile, simple, brave, -vulgar man. It was related with satisfaction that when Antony was shown -the little senate-house at Megara, which seems to have been an ancient -architectural gem of which the cultured inhabitants were justly proud, -he told them that it was “not very large, but extremely _ruinous_”--a -remark which recalls the comment of the American tourist in Oxford, -that the buildings were very much out of repair. A little honest -Philistinism is a very useful thing. - -A touch of purple, too, as Stevenson has reminded us, is not without -its value. Antony was always something of an actor, and enjoyed a -display in a manner as theatrical as it was unforced. When he made -his public orations, he attempted to attract the eye of his audience -at the same time that he tickled their ears. In his famous funeral -oration after the death of Cæsar, we have seen how he exhibited, at -the psychological moment, the gory clothes of the murdered Dictator, -showing to the crowd the holes made by the daggers of the assassins and -the stains of his blood. Desiring to make a profound effect upon his -harassed troops during the retreat from Media, he clothed himself in a -dismal mourning habit, and was only with difficulty persuaded by his -officers to change it for the scarlet cloak of a general. He enjoyed -dressing himself to suit the part of a Hercules, for which nature, -indeed, had already caused him to be cast; and in public assemblies -he would often appear with “his tunic girt low about his hips, a -broadsword at his side, and over all a large, coarse mantle,” cutting, -one may suppose, a very fine figure. In cultured Athens he thought it -was perhaps more fitting to present himself in a pacific guise, and -we find him at the public games clad in the gown and white shoes of a -steward, the wands of that gentle office carried before him. On this -occasion, however, he introduced the herculean _rôle_ to this extent, -that he parted the combatants by seizing the scruff of their necks and -holding them from one another at arm’s length. In later life his love -of display led him into strange habits; and, while he was often clothed -in the guise of Bacchus, his garments for daily use were of the richest -purple, and were clasped with enormous jewels. - -The glamour of the stage always appealed to his nature, and he found, -moreover, that the society of players and comedians held peculiar -attractions for him. The actor Sergius was one of his best friends -in Rome; and he was so proud of his acquaintance with an actress -named Cytheris that he often invited her to accompany him upon some -excursion, and assigned to her a litter not inferior to that of his -own mother, which might have been extremely galling to the elder -lady. On these journeys he would cause pavilions to be erected, and -sumptuous repasts prepared under the trees beside the Tiber, his guests -being served with priceless wines in golden cups. When he made his -more public progress through the land a very circus-show accompanied -him, and the populace were entertained by the spectacle of buffoons, -musicians, and chariots drawn by lions. On these journeys Cytheris -would often accompany him, as though to amuse him, and a number of -dancing-girls and singers would form part of his retinue. At the -night’s halt, the billeting of these somewhat surprising young women in -the houses of “serious fathers and mothers of families,” as Plutarch -puts it, caused much resentment, and suggested an attitude of mind in -Antony which cannot altogether be attributed to a boyish desire to -shock. There can be no doubt that he enjoyed upsetting decorum, and -took kindly to those people whom others considered to be outcasts. Like -Charles Lamb, he may have expressed a preference for “man as he ought -_not_ to be,” which, to a controlled and limited extent, may be an -admirable attitude. But it is more probable that actions such as that -just recorded were merely thoughtless, and were not tempered by much -consideration for the feelings of others until those outraged feelings -were pointed out to him, whereupon, so Plutarch tells us, he could be -frankly repentant. - -He cared little for public opinion, and had no idea of the annoyance -and distress caused by his actions. He was much in the hands of his -courtiers and friends, and so long as all about him appeared to be -happy and jolly, he found no reason for further inquiry. While in Asia -he considered it needful to the good condition of his army to levy a -tax upon the cities which had already paid their tribute to him, and -orders were given to this effect, without the matter receiving much -consideration by him. In fact, it would seem that the first tribute had -slipped his memory. A certain Hybreas, therefore, complained to him in -the name of the Asiatic cities, reminding him of the earlier tax. “If -it has not been paid to you,” he said, “ask your collectors for it; if -it has, and is all gone, we are ruined men.” Antony at once saw the -sense of this, realised the suffering he was about to cause, and being, -so it is said, touched to the quick, promptly made other arrangements. -Having a very good opinion of himself, and being in a rough sort of -manner much flattered by his friends, he was slow to see his own -faults; but when he was of opinion that he had been in the wrong, he -became profoundly repentant, and was never ashamed of asking the pardon -of those he had injured. With boyish extravagance he made reparation to -them, lavishing gifts upon them in such a manner that his generosity on -these occasions is said to have exceeded by far his severity on others. - -He was at all times generous, both to his friends and to his enemies. -He seems to have inherited this quality from his father, who, from -the brief reference to him in Plutarch, appears to have been a kindly -old man, somewhat afraid of his wife, and given to making presents to -his friends behind her back. Antony’s “generous ways,” says Plutarch, -“his open and lavish hand in gifts and favours to his friends and -fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first advance to -power; and after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes, -when a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow.” So lavish -were his presents to his friends and his hospitality that he was -always in debt, and even in his early manhood he owed his creditors -a huge fortune. He had little idea of the value of money, and his -extravagances were the talk of the world. On one occasion he ordered -his steward to pay a certain large sum of money to one of his needy -friends, and the amount so shocked that official that he counted it out -in small silver _decies_, which he caused to be piled into a heap in a -conspicuous place where it should catch the donor’s eye, and, by its -size, cause him to change his mind. In due course Antony came upon the -heap of money, and asked what was its purpose. The steward replied in -a significant tone that it was the amount which was to be given to his -friend. “Oh,” said Antony, quite unmoved, “I should have thought the -_decies_ would have been much more. It is too little: let the amount be -doubled.” - -He was as generous, moreover, in his dealings as in his gifts. After -his Alexandrian Triumph he did not put to death the conquered Armenian -King Artavasdes, who had been led in golden chains through the -streets, although such an execution was customary according to Roman -usage. Just previous to the battle of Actium, the consul Domitius -Ahenobarbus deserted and went over to Octavian, leaving behind him -all his goods and chattels and his entire retinue. With a splendid -nobility Antony sent his baggage after him, not deigning to enrich -himself at the expense of his treacherous friend, nor to revenge -himself by maltreating any of those whom the consul had left in such -jeopardy. After the battle of Philippi, Antony was eager to take his -enemy, Brutus, alive; but a certain officer named Lucilius heroically -prevented this by pretending to be the defeated general, and by giving -himself up to Antony’s soldiers. The men brought their captive in -triumph to Antony, but as soon as he was come into his presence he -explained that he was not Brutus, and that he had pretended to be so -in order to save his master, and was now prepared to pay with his life -the penalty for his deception. Thereupon Antony, addressing the angry -and excited crowd, said: “I see, comrades, that you are upset, and -take it ill that you have been thus deceived, and think yourselves -abused and insulted by it; but you must know that you have met with a -prize better than that you sought. For you were in search of an enemy, -but you have brought me here a friend. And of this I am sure, that -it is better to have such men as this Lucilius our friends than our -enemies.”[82] And with these words he embraced the brave officer, and -gave him a free pardon. Shortly after this, when Brutus, the murderer -both of his old friend Julius Cæsar and of his own brother Caius, had -committed suicide, he did not revenge himself upon the body by exposing -it to insult, as was so often done, but covered it decently with his -own scarlet mantle, and gave orders that it should be buried at his -private expense with the honours of war. Similarly, after the capture -of Pelusium and the defeat and death of Archelaus, Antony sought out -the body of his conquered enemy and buried it with royal honours. In -his earlier years, his treatment of Lepidus, whose army he had won over -from him, was courteous in the extreme. Although absolute master of the -situation, and Lepidus a prisoner in his hands, he insisted upon the -fallen general remaining commander of the army, and always addressed -him respectfully as Father. - -Many of his actions were due to a kind of youthful impulsiveness. He -gave his cook a fine house in Magnesia--the property, by the way, -of somebody else--in reward for a single successful supper. This -impetuosity was manifest in other ways, for, by its nature, which -allowed of no delay in putting into action the thought dominant in -his mind, it must be defined as a kind of impatience. As a young man -desiring rapid fame, he had suddenly thrown in his lot with Clodius, -“the most insolent and outrageous demagogue of the time,” leading with -him a life of violence and disorder; and as suddenly he had severed -that partnership, going to Greece to study with enthusiasm the polite -arts. In later years his sudden invasion of Media, with such haste -that he was obliged to leave behind him all his engines of war, is the -most notable example of this impatience. The battle of Actium, which -ended his career, was lost by a sudden impulse on his part; and, at -the last, the taking of his own life was to some extent the impatient -anticipation of the processes of nature. - -This trait in his character, combined with an inherent bravery, caused -him to cut a very dashing figure in warfare, and when fortune was with -him, made of him a brilliant general. He stood in fear of nothing, -and dangers seem to have presented themselves to him as pleasant -relaxations of the humdrum of life. In the battle which opened the -war against Aristobulus he was the first man to scale the enemy’s -works; and in a pitched battle he routed a force far larger than his -own, took Aristobulus and his son prisoners, and, like an avenging -deity, slaughtered almost the entire hostile army. At another time his -dash across the desert to Pelusium, and his brilliant capture of that -fortress, brought him considerable fame. Again, in the war against -Pompey, “there was not one of the many battles,” says Plutarch, “in -which he did not signalise himself: twice he stopped the army in its -full flight, led them back to a charge, and gained the victory, so that -... his reputation, next to Cæsar’s, was the greatest in the army.” In -the disastrous retreat from Media he showed the greatest bravery; and -it was no common courage that allowed him, after the horrors of the -march back to Armenia, to prepare for a second campaign. - -His generalship was not extraordinarily skilful, though it is true that -at Pharsalia Cæsar placed him in command of the left wing of the army, -himself taking the right; but his great courage, and the confidence and -devotion which he inspired in his men, served to make him a trustworthy -commander. His popularity amongst his soldiers, as has been said, was -unbounded. His magnificent, manly appearance appealed to that sense -of the dramatic in which a soldier, by military display, is very -properly trained. His familiarity with his men, moreover, introduced -a very personal note into their devotion, and each soldier felt that -his general’s eye was upon him. He would sometimes go amongst them -at the common mess, sit down with them at their tables, and eat or -drink with them. He joined with them in their exercises, and seems to -have been able to run, wrestle, or box with the best. He jested with -high and low, and liked them to answer him back. “His raillery,” says -Plutarch, “was sharp and insulting, but the edge of it was taken off -by his readiness to submit to any kind of repartee; for he was as well -contented to be rallied as he was pleased to rally others.” In a word, -he was “the delight and pleasure of the army.” - -His eloquence was very marked, a faculty which he seems to have -inherited from his grandfather, who was a famous pleader and advocate. -As a young man he studied the art at Athens, and took to a style known -as the Asiatic, which was somewhat flowery and ostentatious. When -Pompey’s power at Rome was at its height, and Cæsar was in eclipse, -Antony read his chief’s letters in the Senate with such effect that -he obtained many adherents to their cause. His public speech at the -funeral of Cæsar led to the downfall of the assassins. When he himself -was driven out of Rome he made such an impression by his words upon -the army of Lepidus, to which he had fled, that an order was given to -sound the trumpets in order to drown his appealing voice. “There was no -man of his time like him for addressing a multitude,” says Plutarch, -“or for carrying soldiers with him by the force of words.” It was in -eloquence, perhaps, that he made his nearest approach to a diversion -from the ordinary; though even in this it is possible to find no more -than an exalted mediocrity. A fine presence, a frank utterance, and -a vigorous delivery make a great impression upon a crowd; and common -sincerity is the most electrifying agent in man’s employment. - -Yet another of the causes of his popularity both amongst his troops -and with his friends was the sympathy which he always showed with the -intrigues and troubles of lovers. “In love affairs,” says Plutarch, -“he was very agreeable; he gained friends by the assistance he gave -them in theirs, and took other people’s raillery upon his own with -good-humour.” He used to lose his heart to women with the utmost -ease and the greatest frequency; and they, by reason of his splendid -physique and noble bearing, not infrequently followed suit. Amongst -serious-minded people he had an ill name for familiarity with other -men’s wives; but the domestic habits of the age were very irregular, -and his own wife Antonia had carried on an intrigue with his friend -Dolabella for which Antony had divorced her, thereafter marrying -the strong-minded Fulvia. Antony was a full-blooded, virile man, -unrestrained by any strong principles of morality and possessed of no -standard of domestic constancy either by education or by inclination. -He was not ashamed of the consequences of his promiscuous amours, but -allowed nature to have her will with him. Like his ancestor Hercules, -he was so proud of his stock that he wished it multiplied in many -lands, and he never confined his hopes of progeny to any one woman. - -There was a certain brutality in his nature, and of this the particular -instance is the murder of Cicero. The orator had incurred his bitter -hostility in the first place by putting to death, and perhaps denying -burial to Antony’s stepfather, Cornelius Lentulus. Later he was the -cause of Antony’s ejection from Rome and of his privations while -making the passage of the Alps. The traitorous Dolabella was Cicero’s -son-in-law, which must have added something to the family feud. -Moreover, Cicero’s orations and writings against Antony were continuous -and full of invective. It is perhaps not to be wondered at, therefore, -that when Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus decided to rid the State of -certain undesirable persons, as we have already seen, Cicero was -proscribed and put to death. Plutarch tells us that his head and right -hand were hung up above the speaker’s place in the Forum, and that -Antony laughed when he saw them, perhaps because, in his simple way, he -did not know what else to do to carry off a situation of which he was -somewhat ashamed. - -As a rule, however, Antony was kind-hearted and humane, and, as has -already been shown, was seldom severe or cruel to his enemies. To many -people he embodied and personified good-nature, jollity, and strength: -he seemed to them to be a blending of Bacchus with Hercules; and if his -morals were not of a lofty character, it may be said in his defence -that they were consistent with the part for which nature had cast him. - -Little is known as to his attitude towards religion, and one cannot -tell whether he entertained any of the atheistic doctrines which were -then so widely preached, nor does the fact that he allowed himself to -be worshipped as Bacchus help us to form an opinion in this regard. It -is probable, however, that his faith was of a simple kind in conformity -with his character; and it is known that he was superstitious and aware -of the presence of the supernatural. A certain Egyptian diviner made a -profound impression upon him by foreshadowing the future events of his -life and warning him against the power of Octavian. And again, when -he set out upon his Parthian campaign, he carried with him a vessel -containing the water of the Clepsydra, an oracle having urged him to -do so, while, at the same time, he took with him a wreath made of the -leaves of the sacred olive-tree. He believed implicitly in the divine -nature of dreams, and we are told of one occasion upon which he dreamed -that his right hand was thunderstruck, and thereupon discovered a plot -against his life. Such superstitions, however, were very general, even -amongst educated people; and Antony’s belief in omens has only to be -noted here because it played some part in his career. Until the last -year of his life he was attended with good luck, and a friendly fortune -helped him out of many difficult situations into which his impetuosity -had led him. It seemed to many that Bacchus had really identified -himself with Antony, bringing to his aid the powers of his godhead; and -when at the end his downfall was complete, several persons declared -that they actually heard the clatter and the processional music which -marked the departure of the deity from the destinies of the fallen -giant. The historian cannot but find extenuating circumstances in the -majority of the culpable acts of the “colossal child”; and amongst -these excuses there is none so urgent as this continuous presence of -a smiling fortune. “Antony in misfortune,” says Plutarch, “was most -nearly a virtuous man”; and if we wish to form a true estimate of his -character we must give prominence to his hardy and noble attitude in -the days of his flight from Rome or of his retreat from Media. It was -then that he had done with his boyish inconsequence and played the man. -At all other times he was the spoilt child of fortune, rollicking on -his triumphant way; jesting, drinking, loving, and fighting; careless -of public opinion; and, like a god, sporting at will with the ball of -the world. - -When Dellius came to bring Cleopatra to him he was at the height of -his power. Absolute master of the East, he was courted by kings and -princes, who saw in him the future ruler of the entire Roman Empire. -Cæsar must have often told the Queen of his faults and abilities, and -she herself must have noticed the frank simplicity of his character. -She set out, therefore, prepared to meet not with a complex genius, but -with an ordinary man, representative, in a monstrous manner, of the -victories and the blunders of common human nature, and, incidentally, a -man somewhat plagued by an emancipated wife. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY. - - -Determined to win the fickle Antony back to her cause and that of her -son, Cleopatra set sail from Alexandria, and, passing between Cyprus -and the coast of Syria, at length one morning entered the mouth of the -Cydnus in Cilicia, and made her way up to the city of Tarsus which was -situated on the banks of the river in the shadow of the wooded slopes -of the Taurus mountains. The city was famous both for its maritime -commerce and for its school of oratory. The ships of Tarshish (_i.e._, -Tarsus) had been renowned since ancient days, and upon these vessels -the rhetoricians travelled far and wide, carrying the methods of their -_alma mater_ throughout the known world. Julius Cæsar and Cato may be -named as two of the pupils of this school who have played their parts -in the foregoing pages;[83] and now Antony, the foremost Roman of this -period, was honouring Tarsus itself with his presence. The city stood -some miles back from the sea, and it was late afternoon before its -buildings and busy docks were observed by the Egyptians, sheltering -against the slopes of the mountains. As the fleet sailed up the Cydnus, -the people of the neighbourhood swarmed down to the water’s edge to -watch its stately progress; and the excitement was intense when it -was seen that the Queen’s vessel was fitted and decked out in the -most extravagant manner. Near the city the river widens into a quiet -lake, and here in the roads, where lay the world-renowned merchant -vessels, Cleopatra’s ships probably came to anchor, while the quays and -embankments were crowded with the townsfolk who had gathered to witness -the Queen’s arrival. - -On hearing of her approach Antony had seated himself upon the public -tribunal in the market-place, expecting that she would land at once and -come to pay her respects to him in official manner. But Cleopatra had -no intention of playing a part which might in any way be interpreted as -that of a vassal or suppliant; and she therefore seems to have remained -on board her ship at a distance from the shore, as though in no haste -to meet Antony. - -Meanwhile reports began to spread of the magnificence of the Queen’s -vessels, and it was said that preparations were being made on board -for the reception of the Triumvir. The crowds surrounding the tribunal -thereupon hurried from the market-place to join those upon the quays, -and soon Antony was left alone with his retinue. There he sat waiting -for some time, till, losing patience, he sent a message to the Queen -inviting her to dine with him. To this she replied by asking him to -bring the Roman and local magnates to dine with her instead; and -Antony, not wishing to stand upon ceremony with his old friend, at -once accepted the invitation. At dusk, therefore, Cleopatra appears to -have ordered her vessel to be brought across the lake to the city, and -to be moored at the crowded quay, where already Antony was waiting -to come on board; and the burly Roman, always a lover of theatrical -display, must then have been entertained by a spectacle more stirring -than any he had known before. - -Across the water, in which the last light of the sunset was reflected, -the royal galley was rowed by banks of silver-mounted oars, the great -purple sails hanging idly in the still air of evening. The vessel was -steered by two oar-like rudders, controlled by helmsmen who stood in -the stern of the ship under a shelter constructed in the form of an -enormous elephant’s head of shining gold, the trunk raised aloft.[84] -Around the helmsmen a number of beautiful slave-women were grouped -in the guise of sea-nymphs and graces; and near them a company of -musicians played a melody upon their flutes, pipes, and harps, for -which the slow-moving oars seemed to beat the time. Cleopatra herself, -decked in the loose, shimmering robes of the goddess Venus, lay under -an awning bespangled with gold, while boys dressed as Cupids stood on -either side of her couch, fanning her with the coloured ostrich plumes -of the Egyptian court. Before the royal canopy brazen censers stood -upon delicate pedestals, sending forth fragrant clouds of exquisitely -prepared Egyptian incense, the marvellous odour of which was wafted to -the shore ere yet the vessel had come to its moorings.[85] - -At last, as the light of day began to fade, the royal galley was moored -to the crowded quay, and Antony stepped on board, followed by the -chief officers of his staff and by the local celebrities of Tarsus. His -meeting with the Queen appears to have been of the most cordial nature, -for the manner of her approach must have made it impossible for him at -that moment to censure her conduct. Moreover, the splendid allurements -of the scene in which they met, the enchantment of the twilight, the -enticement of her beauty, the delicacy of the music blending with the -ripple of the water, the intoxication of the incense and the priceless -perfumes, must have stirred his imagination and driven from his mind -all thought of reproach. Nor could he have found much opportunity for -serious conversation with her, for presently the company was led down -to the banqueting-saloon where a dinner of the utmost magnificence was -served. Twelve triple couches, covered with embroideries and furnished -with cushions, were set around the room, before each of which stood a -table whereon rested golden dishes inlaid with precious stones, and -drinking goblets of exquisite workmanship. The walls of the saloon were -hung with embroideries worked in purple and gold, and the floor was -strewn with flowers. Antony could not refrain from exclaiming at the -splendour of the entertainment, whereupon Cleopatra declared that it -was not worthy of comment; and, there and then, she made him a present -of everything used at the banquet--dishes, drinking-vessels, couches, -embroideries, and all else in the saloon. Returning once more to the -deck, the elated guests, now made more impressionable by the effects -of Egyptian wine, were amazed to find themselves standing beneath a -marvellous kaleidoscope of lanterns, hung in squares and circles from -a forest of branches interlaced above their heads, and in these almost -magical surroundings they enjoyed the enlivening company of the -fascinating young Queen until the wine-jars were emptied and the lamps -had burnt low. - -From the shore the figures of the revellers, moving to and fro amidst -this galaxy of lights to the happy strains of the music, must have -appeared to be actors in some divine masque; and it was freely stated, -as though it had been fact, that Venus had come down to earth to feast -with Dionysos (Antony) for the common good of Asia. Cleopatra, as we -have already seen, had been identified with Venus during the time when -she lived in Rome; and in Egypt she was always deified. And thus the -character in which she presented herself at Tarsus was not assumed, as -is generally supposed, simply for the purpose of creating a charming -picture, but it was her wish actually to be received as a goddess, that -Antony might behold in her the divine Queen of Egypt whom the great -Cæsar himself had accepted and honoured as an incarnation of Venus. It -must be remembered that at this period men were very prone to identify -prominent persons with popular divinities. Julia, the daughter of -Octavian, was in like manner identified with Venus Genetrix by the -inhabitants of certain cities. We have seen how Cæsar seems to have -been named Lupercus, and how Antony was called Dionysos (Bacchus); -and it will be remembered how, at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas were -saluted as Hermes and Zeus. In the many known cases, such as these, -the people actually credited the identification; and though a little -thought probably checked a continuance of such a belief, at the time -there seemed to be no cause for doubt that these divinities had made -themselves manifest on earth. The crowds who stood on the banks of the -Cydnus that night must therefore have really believed themselves to be -peeping at an entertainment provided by a manifestation of a popular -goddess for the amusement of an incarnation of a favourite god. - -It would appear that Antony invited Cleopatra to sup with him on the -following evening, but the Queen seems to have urged him and his suite -again to feast with her. This second banquet was so far more splendid -than the first that, according to Plutarch, the entertainment already -described seemed by comparison to be contemptible. When the guests -departed, not only did she give to each one the couch upon which he -had lain, and the goblets which had been set before him, but she also -presented the chief guests with litters, and with slaves to carry them, -and Ethiopian boys to bear torches in front of them; while for the -lesser guests she provided horses adorned with golden trappings, which -they were bidden to keep as mementos of the banquet. - -On the next night Cleopatra at last deigned to dine with Antony, who -had exhausted the resources of Tarsus in his desire to provide a -feast which should equal in magnificence those given by the Queen; -but in this he failed, and he was the first to make a jest of his -unsuccess and of the poverty of his wits. The Queen’s entertainments -had been marked by that brilliancy of conversation and atmosphere of -refinement which in past years had so appealed to the intelligence -of the great Dictator; but Antony’s banquet, on the contrary, was -notable for the coarseness of the wit and for what Plutarch describes -as a sort of rustic awkwardness. Cleopatra, however, was equal to the -occasion, and speedily adjusted her conduct to suit that of her burly -host. “Perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross, and that it -savoured more of the soldier than of the courtier, she rejoined in the -same taste, and fell at once into that manner, without any sort of -reluctance or reserve.”[86] Thus she soon succeeded in captivating this -powerful Roman, and in making him her most devoted friend and ally. -There was something irresistible in the excitement of her presence: for -the daintiness of her person, the vivacity of her character, and the -enchantment of her voice, were, so to speak, enhanced by the audacity -of her treatment of the broad subjects introduced in conversation. -Antony had sent for her to censure her for a supposed negligence of -his interests; but speedily he was led to realise that he himself, and -not the Queen, had deviated from the course upon which they had agreed -in Rome. It was he who, by his association with Octavian, had appeared -to desert what Cleopatra believed to be the genuine Cæsarian cause; -whereas, on the other hand, the Queen was able to show that she had -refrained from sending aid to the Triumvirate simply because she could -not decide in what manner the welfare of her son, the little Cæsar, was -to be promoted by such an action. Under the spell of her attraction -Antony, who in the Dictator’s lifetime had never been permitted to -receive in his heart the full force of her charming attack, now fell an -easy victim to her strategy, and declared himself ready to carry out -her wishes in all things. - -On the fourth night of her visit to Tarsus, Cleopatra entertained the -Roman officers at another banquet; and on this occasion she caused the -floor of the saloon to be strewn with roses to the depth of nearly -two feet, the flowers being held in a solid formation by nets which -were tightly spread over them and fastened to the surrounding walls, -the guests thus walking to their couches upon a perfumed mattress of -blooms, the cost of which, for the one room, was some £250. - -In this prodigious manner the next few days were spent. The Queen -made every possible effort to display to Antony her wealth and power, -in order that she might obtain his consent to some form of alliance -between them which should be directed against Octavian. Her one desire -now was to effect a break between these two leaders, to set them at one -another’s throats, and then, by lending Antony her support, to secure -the overthrow of Octavian, Cæsar’s nephew, and the triumph of Cæsarion, -Cæsar’s son. For this purpose it was absolutely necessary to reveal -the extent of her wealth, and to exhibit the limitless stream of her -resources. She therefore seems to have shown a mild disdain for the -Roman general’s efforts to entertain her, and at his banquets she seems -to have conveyed to him the disquieting impression that she was smiling -at his attempted magnificence, and was even puzzled by his inability to -give to his feasts that fairy aspect which characterised her own. - -Her attitude caused Antony some uneasiness, and at length it seems -that he asked the Queen directly what more could be done to add to -the splendour of his table. During the course of the conversation -which ensued he appears to have told her how much an entertainment of -the kind cost him; whereupon she replied that she herself could with -ease expend the equivalent of a hundred and fifty thousand pounds -sterling upon a single meal. Antony promptly denied it, declaring that -such a thing was impossible; and the Queen thereupon offered him a -wager that she would do so on the next day. This was accepted, and a -certain Plancus was invited to decide it. Antony does not appear to -have recollected that in time past Clodius, the son of the comedian -Æsop, was wont to mingle melted pearls with his food, that the cost of -his meals might be interestingly enormous;[87] for he would then have -realised that Cleopatra intended to employ some such device to win her -wager, and he would perhaps have restrained her. - -To the next day’s banquet the Roman looked forward with some -excitement; and he must have been at once elated and disappointed when -he found the display to be not much above the ordinary. At the end of -the meal he calculated with Plancus the expenses of the various dishes, -and estimated the value of the golden plates and goblets. He then -turned to the Queen, telling her that the total amount did not nearly -reach the figure named in the wager. - -“Wait,” said Cleopatra. “This is only a beginning. I shall now try -whether I cannot spend the stipulated sum upon myself.” - -A signal was given to the attendant slaves, who brought a table to her, -upon which a single cup containing a little vinegar was set. She was -wearing in her ears at the time two enormous pearls, the value of each -of which was more than half the amount named in the wager; and one of -these she rapidly detached, throwing it into the vinegar, wherein it -soon disintegrated. The vinegar and some seventy-five thousand pounds -having then trickled down her royal throat, she prepared to destroy the -second pearl in like manner; but Plancus intervened, and declared the -wager won, while Antony, no doubt, pondered not without gloom upon the -ways of women. - -It has generally been thought that the Queen’s extravagance was to be -attributed to her vain desire to impress Antony with the fact of her -personal wealth. But, as we have seen, there was certainly a strong -political reason for her actions; and there is no need to suppose that -she was actuated by vanity. Indeed, the display of her wealth does not -appear to have been on any occasion as ostentatious as one might gather -from the Greek authors, whose writings suggest that they attributed -to her a boastful profligacy in financial matters which could only -be described as bad form. It would seem rather that the instances of -her prodigality recorded here were all characterised in appearance by -a subtle show of unaffected simplicity and ingenuousness, a sort of -breath-taking audacity, while in quality they were largely political -and speculative. - -It is very important for the reader to understand the attitude of -Cleopatra at this time, and to divest his mind of the views usually -accepted in regard to the Queen’s alliance with Antony; and therefore -I must repeat that it was Cleopatra’s desire at Tarsus to arouse the -interest of Antony in the possibilities of Egypt as the basis of an -attempt upon Rome. She wished to lead him, as I have said, to put -faith in the limitless wealth that might flow down the Nile to fill -the coffers which should be his, were he to lead an army to claim the -throne for herself as Cæsar’s wife, and for her son as Cæsar’s flesh -and blood. Here was the man who could conquer for her the empire which -she had lost by the premature death of the great Dictator. It was -necessary to make him understand the advantages of partnership with -her, and hence it became needful for her to display to him the untold -wealth that she could command. There was no particular vanity in her -actions, nor real wastefulness: she was playing a great game, and the -stakes were high. A few golden goblets, a melted pearl or two, were -not an excessive price to pay for the partisanship of Antony. Her son -Cæsarion was too young to fight his own battles, and she herself could -not lead an army. Antony’s championship therefore had to be obtained, -and there was no way of enlisting his sympathies so sure as that of -revealing to him the boundless riches which she could bring to his aid. -Let him have practical demonstration of the wealth of hidden Africa -and mysterious Asia at her command, and he would surely not shun an -enterprise which should make Cæsar’s friend, Cæsar’s wife, and Cæsar’s -son the three sovereigns of the world. She would show him the gold -of Ethiopia and of Nubia; she would turn his attention to the great -trade-routes to India; and she would remind him of the advantageous -possibilities which the great Dictator had seen in an alliance with -her. In this manner she would again win his support, as she believed -she had already done in Rome; and thus through him the ambitious -schemes of Julius Cæsar might at last be put into execution. - -There were, however, one or two outstanding matters which required -immediate attention. The Princess Arsinoe, who had walked the streets -of Rome in Cæsar’s Triumph and had been released after that event, was -now residing either at Miletus or Ephesus,[88] where she had received -sanctuary amongst the priests and priestesses attached to the temple of -Artemis. The High Priest treated her kindly, and even honoured her as -a queen, a fact which suggests that he had definitely placed himself -upon her side in her feud with Cleopatra. She seems to have been a -daring and ambitious woman, who, throughout her short life, struggled -vainly to obtain the throne of Egypt for herself; and now it would -appear that she was once more scheming to oust her sister, just as she -had schemed in the Alexandrian Palace in the days when Ganymedes was -her chamberlain. - -It will be remembered that the Dictator had given the throne of -Cyprus to Arsinoe and her brother, but it does not seem that this -gift had ever been ratified, though no doubt the Princess attempted -to style herself Queen of that island. It may be that she had come -to some terms with Cassius and Brutus by offering them aid in their -war with Antony if they would assist her in her endeavours to obtain -the Egyptian throne; and it is possible that the Egyptian Viceroy of -Cyprus, Serapion, was involved in this arrangement when he handed -over his fleet to Cassius, as has been recorded in the last chapter. -At all events, Cleopatra was now able to obtain Antony’s consent to -the execution both of Arsinoe and of Serapion. A number of men were -despatched, therefore, with orders to put her to death, and these -entering the temple while Arsinoe was serving in the sanctuary, killed -her at the steps of the altar. The High Priest was indicted apparently -on the charge of conspiracy, and it was only with great difficulty that -the priesthood managed to obtain his pardon. Serapion, however, could -not claim indulgence on account of his calling, and he was speedily -arrested and slain. - -Having thus rid herself of one serious menace to her throne, Cleopatra -persuaded Antony to assist her to remove from her mind another cause -for deep anxiety. It will be remembered that when Cæsar defeated the -Egyptian army in the south of the Delta in March B.C. 47, the young -King Ptolemy XIV. was drowned in the rout, his body being said to have -been recognised by his golden corselet. Now, however, a man who claimed -to be none other than this unfortunate monarch was trying to obtain -a following, and possibly had put himself in correspondence with his -supposed sister Arsinoe. The pretender was residing at this time in -Phœnicia, a fact which suggests that he had also been in communication -with Serapion, who at the time of his arrest was likewise travelling in -that country. Antony therefore consented to the arrest and execution of -this pseudo-monarch, and in a few weeks’ time he was quietly despatched. - -Historians are inclined to see in the deaths of these three -conspirators an instance of Cleopatra’s cruelty and vindictiveness; and -one finds them described as victims of her insatiable ambition, the -killing of Arsinoe being named as the darkest stain upon the Queen’s -black reputation. I cannot see, however, in what manner a menace to her -throne of this kind could have been removed, save by the ejection of -the makers of the trouble from the earthly sphere of their activities. -The death of Arsinoe, like that of Thomas à Beckett, is rendered ugly -by the fact that it took place at the steps of a sacred altar; but, -remembering the period in which these events occurred, the executions -are not to be censured too severely, for what goodly king or queen of -former days has not thus removed by death all pretenders to the throne? - -Cleopatra’s visit to Tarsus does not seem to have been prolonged -beyond a few weeks, but when at length she returned to Alexandria, she -must have felt that her short residence with Antony had raised her -prestige once more to the loftiest heights. Not only had she used his -dictatorial power to sweep her two rivals and their presumed accomplice -from the face of the earth, not only had she struck the terror of her -power into the heart of the powerful High Priest of Artemis who, in -the distant Ægean, had merely harboured a pretender to Egypt’s throne, -but she had actually won the full support of Antony once more, and had -extracted from him a promise to pay her a visit at Alexandria in order -that he might see with his own eyes the wealth which Egypt could offer. -For the first time, therefore, since the death of Cæsar, her prospects -seemed once more to be brilliant; and it must have been with a light -heart that she sailed across the Mediterranean once more towards her -own splendid city. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY IN ALEXANDRIA. - - -There can be little doubt that Antony was extremely anxious to form -a solid alliance with Cleopatra at this juncture, for he needed just -such an ally for the schemes which he had in view. His relations with -Octavian were strained, and the insignificant part played by the latter -in the operations which culminated at Philippi had led him to feel some -contempt for the young man’s abilities. The Triumvirate was, at best, -a compromise; and Antony had no expectation that it would for one day -outlive the acquisition either by Octavian or himself of preponderant -power. At the back of his mind he hoped for the fall of Cæsar’s nephew; -and he saw in the alliance with Cleopatra the means whereby he could -obtain a numerical advantage over his rival. - -After the battle of Philippi Octavian had returned to Rome, and -Antony now received news that the troops under their joint command -were highly dissatisfied with the rewards which they had received -for their labours. There was considerable friction between those who -were loyal to Octavian and those who thought that Antony would treat -them more generously; and the latter’s agents in Rome, notably his -wife Fulvia, were endeavouring to widen the breach, more probably -of their own accord than with their leader’s direct consent. Antony -had no wish to break with Octavian until he could feel confident of -success; and, moreover, his attention was directed at this time more -keenly to the question of the conquest of Parthia than to that of the -destruction of Octavian. The great Dictator had stirred his imagination -in regard to the Parthians, and possibly the project of the invasion -of India was already exercising his mind, as it certainly did in later -years.[89] His plans therefore, in broad outline, now seem to have been -grouped into three movements: firstly, the formation of an offensive -and defensive alliance with Cleopatra, in order that her money, men, -and ships might be placed at his disposal; secondly, the invasion -of Parthia, so that the glory of his victories and the loot of the -conquered country might raise his prestige to the highest point; and -thirdly, the picking of a quarrel with Octavian, in order that he might -sweep him from the face of the earth, thereby leaving himself ruler -of the world. Then, like Cæsar, he would probably proclaim himself -King, would marry Cleopatra, and would establish a royal dynasty, his -successor being either his stepson, the Dictator’s child, or the future -son of his marriage with the Queen of Egypt should their union be -fruitful. - -Filled with these hopes, which corresponded so closely to those of -Cleopatra, Antony prepared to go to Alexandria in the autumn of the -year B.C. 41, intent on sealing the alliance with the Queen of Egypt. -He arranged for a certain Decidius Saxa, one of the late Dictator’s -chosen generals, to be placed in command of the forces in Syria; and -it was this officer’s duty to keep him informed of the movements of -the Parthians, and to prepare for the coming campaign against them. -The King of Parthia, Orodes by name, had engaged the services of a -Roman renegade named Quintus Labienus, a former colleague of Cassius -and Brutus; and this man was now working in conjunction with Pacorus, -the King’s son, in organising the Parthian armies and preparing them -for an offensive movement against the neighbouring Roman provinces. -There seemed thus to be no doubt that war would speedily break out, and -Antony was therefore very anxious to put himself in possession of the -Egyptian military and naval resources as quickly as possible. - -[Illustration: - - _Vatican._] [_Photograph by Anderson._ - -OCTAVIAN.] - -He was about to set sail for Alexandria when news seems to have reached -him that the troubles in Rome were coming to a head, and that his -brother Lucius Antonius, and his wife Fulvia, were preparing to attack -Octavian. He must therefore have hesitated in deciding whether he -should return to Rome or not. He must have been considerably annoyed -at the turn which events had taken, for he knew well enough that he -was not then in a position to wage a successful war against Octavian; -and he was much afraid of being involved in a contest which would -probably lead to his own downfall. If he returned to Italy it was -possible that he might be able to patch up the quarrel, and to effect -a reconciliation which should keep the world at peace until the time -when he himself desired war. But if he failed in his pacific efforts, -a conflict would ensue for which he was not prepared. It seems to me, -therefore, that he thought it more desirable that he should keep clear -of the quarrel, and should show himself to be absorbed in eastern -questions. By going over to Egypt for a few weeks, not only would -he detach himself from the embarrassing tactics of his party in Rome, -but he would also raise forces and money, nominally for his Parthian -campaign, which would be of immense service to him should Octavian -press the quarrel to a conclusive issue. Moreover, there can be little -question that to Antony the thought of meeting his stern wife again -and of being obliged to live once more under her powerful scrutiny -was very distasteful; whereas, on the other hand, he looked forward -with youthful enthusiasm to a repetition of the charming entertainment -provided by Cleopatra. Antony was no great statesman or diplomatist; -and jolly overgrown boy that he was, his effective actions were at all -times largely dictated by his pleasurable desires. The Queen of Egypt -had made a most disconcerting appeal to that spontaneous nature, which, -in matters of this kind, required little encouragement from without; -and now the fact that it seemed wise at the time to keep away from Rome -served as full warrant for the manœuvre which his ambition and his -heart jointly urged upon him. - -Early in the winter of B.C. 41, therefore, he made his way to -Alexandria, and was received by Cleopatra into the beautiful Lochias -Palace as a most profoundly honoured guest. All the resources of that -sumptuous establishment were concerted for his amusement, and it was -not long before the affairs of the Roman world were relegated to the -back of his genial mind. In the case of Cleopatra, however, there was -no such laxity. The Queen’s ambitions, fired by Cæsar, had been stirred -into renewed flame by her success at Tarsus; and she was determined -to make Antony the champion of her cause. From the moment when she -had realised his pliability and his susceptibility to her overtures, -she had made up her mind to join forces with him in an attempt upon -the throne of the Roman Empire; and it was now her business both -to fascinate him by her personal charms and, by the nature of her -entertainments, to demonstrate to him her wealth and power. - -“It would be trifling without end,” says Plutarch, “to give a -particular account of Antony’s follies at Alexandria.” For several -weeks he gave himself up to amusements of the most frivolous character, -and to the enjoyment of a life more luxurious than any he had ever -known. His own family had been simple in their style of living, and -although he had taught himself much in this regard, and had expended a -great deal of money on lavish entertainments, there were no means of -obtaining in Rome a splendour which could compare with the magnificence -of these Alexandrian festivities. His friends, too, many of whom were -common actresses and comedians, had not been brilliant tutors in the -arts of entertainment; nor had they encouraged him to provide them so -much with refined luxury as with good strong drink and jovial company. -Now, however, in Cleopatra’s palace, Antony found himself surrounded on -all sides by the devices and appliances of the most advanced culture of -the age; and an appeal was made to his senses which would have put the -efforts even of the extravagant Lucullus to shame. Alexandria has been -called “the Paris of the ancient world,”[90] and it is not difficult to -understand the glamour which it cast upon the imagination of the lusty -Roman, who, for the first time in his life, found himself surrounded by -a group of cultured men and women highly practised in the art of living -sumptuously. Moreover, he was received by Cleopatra as prospective -lord of all he surveyed, for the Queen seems to have shown him quite -clearly that all these things would be his if he would but cast in his -lot with her. - -Antony quickly adapted his manners to those of the Alexandrians. -He set aside his Roman dress and clothed himself in the square-cut -Greek costume, putting upon his feet the white Attic shoes known as -_phæcasium_. He seems to have spoken the Greek language well; and he -now made himself diplomatically agreeable to the Grecian nobles who -frequented the court. He constantly visited the meeting-places of -learned men, spending much time in the temples and in the Museum; and -thereby he won for himself an assured position in the brilliant society -of the Queen’s Alexandrian court, which, in spite of its devotion to -the pleasant follies of civilisation, prided itself upon its culture -and learning. - -Meanwhile he did not hesitate to endear himself by every means in his -power to Cleopatra. He knew that she desired him, for dynastic reasons, -to become her legal husband, and that there was no other man in the -world, from her point of view, so suitable for the position of her -consort. He knew, also, that as a young “widow,” whose first union had -been so short-lived, Cleopatra was eagerly desirous of a satisfactory -marriage which should give her the comfort of a strong companion upon -whom to lean in her many hours of anxiety, and an ardent lover to whom -she could turn in her loneliness. He knew that she was attracted by -his herculean strength and brave appearance; and it must have been -apparent to him from the first that he could without much exertion win -her devotion almost as easily as the great Cæsar had done. The Queen -was young, passionate, and exceedingly lonely; and it did not require -any keen perception on his part to show him how great was her need, -both for political and for personal reasons, of a reliable marriage. -He therefore paid court to his hostess with confidence; and it was not -long before she surrendered herself to him with all the eagerness and -whole-hearted interest of her warm, impulsive nature. - -The union was at once sanctioned by the court and the priesthood, and -was converted in Egypt into as legal a marriage as that with Cæsar had -been. There can be little doubt that Cleopatra obtained from him some -sort of promise that he would not desert her; and at this time she must -have felt herself able to trust him as implicitly as she had trusted -the great Dictator. Cæsar had not played her false; he had taken her to -Rome and had made no secret of his intention to raise her to the throne -by his side. In like manner she believed that Antony, virtually Cæsar’s -successor, would create an empire over which they should jointly rule; -and she must have rejoiced in her successful capture of his heart, -whereby she had obtained both a good-natured, handsome lover and a bold -political champion. - -In the union between these two powerful personages the historian -may thus see both a diplomatic and a romantic amalgamation. Neither -Cleopatra nor Antony seem to me yet to have been very deeply in love, -but I fancy each was stirred by the attractions of the other, and -each believed for the moment that the gods had provided the mate so -long awaited. Cleopatra with her dainty beauty, and Antony with his -magnificent physique, must have appeared to be admirably matched by -Nature; while their royal and famous destinies could not, in the eyes -of the material world, have been more closely allied. - -We have seen how Antony allowed his more refined instincts full play -in Alexandria, and how, in order to win the Queen’s admiration, he -showed himself devoted to the society of learned men. In like manner -Cleopatra gave full vent to the more frivolous side of her nature, in -order to render herself attractive to her Roman comrade, whose boyish -love of tomfoolery was so pronounced. Sometimes in the darkness of -the night, as we have already seen, she would dress herself in the -clothes of a peasant woman, and disguising Antony in the garments -of a slave, she would lead him through the streets of the city in -search of adventure. They would knock ominously at the doors or -windows of unknown houses, and disappear like ghosts when they were -opened. Occasionally, of course, they were caught by the doorkeepers -or servants, and, as Plutarch says, “were very scurvily answered and -sometimes even beaten severely, though most people guessed who they -were.” - -Cleopatra provided all manner of amusements for her companion. She -would ride and hunt with him in the desert beyond the city walls, -boat and fish with him on the sea or the Mareotic Lake, romp with -him through the halls of the Palace, watch him wrestle, fence, and -exercise himself in arms, play dice with him, drink with him, and -fascinate him by the arts of love. The following story presents a -characteristic picture of the jovial life led by them in Alexandria -during this memorable winter. Antony had been fishing from one of the -vessels in the harbour; but, failing to make any catches, he employed -a diver to descend into the water and to attach newly-caught fishes -to his hook, which he then landed amidst the applause of Cleopatra -and her friends. The Queen, however, soon guessed what was happening, -and at once invited a number of persons to come on the next day to -witness Antony’s dexterity. She then procured some preserved fish -which had come from the Black Sea, and instructed a slave to dive -under the vessel and to attach one to the hook as soon as it should -strike the water. This having been done, Antony drew to the surface the -salted fish, the appearance of which was greeted with hearty laughter; -whereupon Cleopatra, turning to the discomfited angler, tactfully said, -“Leave the fishing-rod, general, to us poor sovereigns of Pharos and -Canopus: _your_ game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms.” - -During this winter Antony and the Queen together founded a kind of -society or club which they named the _Amimetobioi_, or Inimitable -Livers, the members of which entertained one another in turn each day -in the most extravagant manner. Antony, it would seem probable, was -the president of this society; and two inscriptions have been found in -which he is named “The Inimitable,” perhaps not without reference to -this office. A story told by a certain Philotas, a medical student at -that time residing in Alexandria, will best illustrate the prodigality -of the feasts provided by the members of this club. Philotas was one -day visiting the kitchens of Cleopatra’s palace, and was surprised to -see no less than eight wild boars roasting whole. “You evidently have -a great number of guests to-day,” he said to the cook; to which the -latter replied, “No, there are not above twelve to dine, but the meat -has to be served up just roasted to a turn: and maybe Antony will wish -to dine now, maybe not for an hour; yet if anything is even one minute -ill-timed it will be spoilt, so that not one but many meals must be in -readiness, as it is impossible to guess at his dining-hour.” - -As an example of the food served at these Alexandrian banquets, I -may be permitted to give a list of the dishes provided some years -previously at a dinner given in Rome by Mucius Lentulus Niger, at which -Julius Cæsar had been one of the guests; but it is to be remembered -that Cleopatra’s feasts are thought to have been far more prodigious -than any known in Rome. The _menu_ is as follows: Sea-hedgehogs; -oysters; mussels; sphondyli; fieldfares with asparagus; fattened fowls; -oyster and mussel pasties; black and white sea-acorns; sphondyli again; -glycimarides; sea-nettles; becaficoes; roe-ribs; boar’s ribs; fowls -dressed with flour; becaficoes again; purple shell-fish of two kinds; -sow’s udder; boar’s head; fish pasties; ducks; boiled teals; hares; -roasted fowls; starch-pastry; and Pontic pastry. Varro, in one of his -satires, mentions some of the most noted foreign delicacies which were -to be found upon the tables of the rich. These include peacocks from -Samos; grouse from Phrygia; cranes from Melos; kids from Ambracia; -tunny-fish from Chalcedon; murænas from the Straits of Gades; ass-fish -from Pessinus; oysters and scallops from Tarentum; sturgeons from -Rhodes; scarus-fish from Cilicia; nuts from Thasos; and acorns from -Spain. The vegetables then known included most of those now eaten, with -the notable exception, of course, of potatoes.[91] The main meal of -the day, the _cœna_, was often prolonged into a drinking party, known -as _commissatio_, at which an _Arbiter bibendi_, or Master of Revels, -was appointed by the throwing of dice, whose duty it was to mix the -wine in a large bowl. The diners lay upon couches usually arranged -round three sides of the table, and they ate their food with their -fingers. Chaplets of flowers were placed upon their heads, cinnamon -was sprinkled upon the hair, and sweet perfumes were thrown upon their -bodies, and sometimes even mixed with the wines. During the meals -the guests were entertained by the performances of dancing-girls, -musicians, actors, acrobats, clowns, dwarfs, or even gladiators; and -afterwards dice-throwing and other games of chance were indulged in. -The decoration of the rooms and the splendour of the furniture and -plate were always very carefully considered, Cleopatra’s banquets being -specially noteworthy for the magnificence of the table services. These -dishes and drinking-vessels, which the Queen was wont modestly to -describe as her _Kerama_ or “earthenware,” were usually made of gold -and silver encrusted with precious stones; and so famous were they for -their beauty of workmanship that three centuries later they formed -still a standard of perfection, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra being related -to have collected them eagerly for her own use. - -Thus, with feasting, merry-making, and amusements of all kinds, -the winter slipped by. To a large extent Plutarch is justified in -stating that in Alexandria Antony “squandered that most costly of all -valuables, time”; but the months were not altogether wasted. He and -Cleopatra had cemented their alliance by living together in the most -intimate relations; and both now thought it probable that when the time -came for the attempted overthrow of Octavian they would fight their -battle side by side. By becoming Cleopatra’s lover, and by appealing to -the purely instinctive side of her nature, Antony had obtained from her -the whole-hearted promise of Egypt’s support in all his undertakings; -and these happy winter months in Alexandria could not have seemed to -him to be wasted when each day the powerful young Queen come to be more -completely at his beck and call. The course of Cleopatra’s love for -Antony seems to have followed almost precisely the same lines as had -her love for Julius Cæsar. Inspired at first by a political motive, -she had come to feel a genuine and romantic affection for her Roman -consort; and the intimacies which ensued, though largely due to the -weaknesses of the flesh, seemed to find full justification in the fact -that her dynastic ambitions were furthered by this means. Cleopatra -thought of Antony as her husband, and she wished to be regarded as -his wife. The fact that no public marriage had taken place was of -little consequence; for she, as goddess and Queen, must have felt -herself exempt from the common law, and at perfect liberty to contract -whatever union seemed desirable to her for the good of her country and -dynasty, and for the satisfaction of her own womanly instincts. Early -in the year B.C. 40 she and Antony became aware that their union was -to be fruitful; and this fact must have made Cleopatra more than ever -anxious to keep Antony in Alexandria with her, and to bind him to her -by causing him to be recognised as her consort. He was not willing, -however, to assume the rank and status of King of Egypt; for such a -move would inevitably precipitate the quarrel with Octavian, and he -would then be obliged to stake all on an immediate war with the faction -which would assuredly come to be recognised as the legitimate Roman -party. This unwillingness on his part to bind himself to her must -have caused her some misgiving; and, as the winter drew to a close, I -think that the Queen must have felt somewhat apprehensive in regard to -Antony’s sincerity. - -Setting aside all sentimental factors in the situation, and leaving out -of consideration for the moment all physical causes of the alliance, -it will be seen that Antony’s position was now more satisfactory than -was that of the often sorely perplexed Queen. By spending the winter at -Alexandria the Roman Triumvir had kept himself aloof from the political -troubles in Italy at a time when his presence at home might have -complicated matters to his own disadvantage; he had obtained the full -support of Egyptian wealth and Egyptian arms should he require them; -and he had prepared the way for a definite marriage with Cleopatra at -the moment when he should desire her partnership in the foundation of -a great monarchy such as that for which Julius Cæsar had striven. He -had not yet irrevocably compromised himself, and he was free to return -to his Roman order of life with superficially clean hands. Nobody in -Rome would think the less of him for having combined a certain amount -of pleasure with the obvious business which had called him to Egypt; -and his friends would certainly be as easily persuaded to accept the -political excuses which he would advance for his lengthy residence in -Alexandria as the Cæsarian party had been to admit those put forward -by the great Dictator under very similar circumstances. Like Julius -Cæsar and like Pompey, Antony was certainly justified in making himself -the patron of the wealthy Egyptian court; and all Roman statesmen were -aware how desirable it was at this juncture for a party leader to -cement an alliance with the powerful Queen of that country. - -On the part of Cleopatra, however, the circumstances were far less -happy. She had staked all on the alliance with Antony--her personal -honour and prestige as well as her dynasty’s future; and in return -for her great gifts she must have been beginning to feel that -she had received nothing save vague promises and unsatisfactory -assurances. Without Antony’s help not only would she lose all hope -of an Egypto-Roman throne for herself and her son Cæsarion, but she -would inevitably fail to keep Egypt from absorption into the Roman -dominions. There were only two mighty leaders at that time in the -Roman world--Octavian and Antony; and Octavian was her relentless -enemy, for the reason that her son Cæsarion was his rival in the -claim on the Dictator’s worldly and political estate. Failing the -support of Antony there were no means of retaining her country’s -liberty, except perhaps by the desperate eventuality of some sort -of alliance with Parthia. It must have occurred to her that Egypt, -with its growing trade with southern India, might join forces with -Parthia, whose influence in northern India must have been great, and -might thus effect an amalgamation of nations hostile to Rome, which -in a vast semicircle should include Egypt, Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, -India, Scythia, Parthia, Armenia, Syria, and perhaps Asia Minor. Such -a combination might be expected to sweep Rome from the face of the -earth; but the difficulties in the way of the huge union were almost -insuperable, and the alliance with Antony was infinitely more tangible. -Yet, towards the end of the winter, she must constantly have asked -herself whether she could trust Antony, to whom she had given so much. -She loved him, she had given herself to him; but she must have known -him to be unreliable, inconsequent, and, in certain aspects, merely an -overgrown boy. The stakes for which she was fighting were so absolutely -essential to herself and to her country: the champion whose services -she had enlisted was so light-hearted, so reluctant to pledge himself. -And now that she was about to bear him a son, and thus to bring before -his wayward notice the grave responsibilities which she felt he had -so flippantly undertaken, would he stand by her as Cæsar had done, or -would he desert her? - -Her feelings may be imagined, therefore, when in February B.C. 40, -Antony told her that he had received disconcerting news from Rome and -from Syria, and that he must leave her at once. The news from Rome does -not appear to have been very definite, but it gave him to understand -that his wife and his brother had come to actual blows with Octavian, -and, being worsted, had fled from Italy. From Syria, however, came a -very urgent despatch, in regard to which there could be no doubts. -Some of the Syrian princes whom he had deposed in the previous autumn, -together with Antigonus, whose claims to the throne of Palestine he had -rejected, had made an alliance with the Parthians and were marching -down from the north-east against Decimus Saxa, the governor of Syria. -The Roman forces in that country were few in number, consisting for the -most part of the remnants of the army of Brutus and Cassius; and they -could hardly be expected to put up a good fight against the invaders. -Antony’s own trusted legions were now stationed in Italy, Gaul, and -Macedonia; and there were many grave reasons for their retention in -their present quarters. The situation, therefore, was very serious, -and Antony was obliged to bring his pleasant visit to Alexandria to an -abrupt end. Plutarch describes him as “rousing himself with difficulty -from sleep, and shaking off the fumes of wine” in preparation for his -departure; but I do not think that his winter had been so debauched -as these words suggest. He had combined business and pleasure, as -the saying is, and at times had lost sight of the one in his eager -prosecution of the other; but, looking at the matter purely from a -hygienic point of view, it seems probable that the hunting, riding, and -military exercises of which Plutarch speaks, had kept him in a fairly -healthy condition in spite of the stupendous character of the meals set -before him. - -The parting of Antony and Cleopatra early in March must have contained -in it an element of real tragedy. He could not tell what difficulties -were in store for him, and at the moment he had not asked the Queen for -any military help. He must have bade her lie low until he was able to -tell her in what manner she could best help their cause; and thereby -he consigned her to a period of deep anxiety and sustained worry. In -loneliness she would have to face her coming confinement, and, like a -deserted courtesan, would have to nurse a fatherless child. She would -have to hold her throne without the comfort of a husband’s advice; and -in all things she would once more be obliged to live the dreary life of -a solitary unmated Queen. It was a miserable prospect, but, as will be -seen in the following chapter, the actual event proved to be far more -distressing than she had expected; for, as Antony sailed out of the -harbour of Alexandria, and was shut out from sight behind the mighty -tower of Pharos, Cleopatra did not know that she would not see his face -again for four long years. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE ALLIANCE RENEWED BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY. - - -In the autumn of the year B.C. 40, some six months after the departure -of Antony, Cleopatra gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, whom -she named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, the Sun and the -Moon. With this event she passes almost entirely from the pages of -history for more than three years, and we hear hardly anything of -her doings until the beginning of B.C. 36. During this time she must -have been considerably occupied in governing her own kingdom and -in watching, with a kind of despair, the complicated events in the -Roman world. Despatches from Europe must have come to her from time -to time telling of the progress of affairs, but almost all the news -which she thus received was disappointing and disconcerting to her; -and one must suppose that she passed these years in very deep sadness -and depression. I do not think that any historian has attempted to -point out to his readers the painful condition of disillusionment in -which the little Queen now found herself. When Antony left her she -must have expected him either to return soon to her, or presently to -send his lieutenants to bring her to him; but the weeks passed and no -such event took place. While she suffered all the misery of lonely -childbirth, her consort was engaged in absorbing affairs in which she -played no immediate part; and it seems certain that in the stress of -his desperate circumstances the inconsequent Antony had put her almost -entirely from his thoughts. - -When he left her in the spring of B.C. 40 he sailed straight across the -Mediterranean to Tyre, where he learnt to his dismay that practically -all Syria and Phœnicia had fallen into the hands of the Parthians, and -that there was no chance of resisting their advance successfully with -the troops now holding the few remaining seaport towns. He therefore -hastened with 200 ships by Cyprus and Rhodes to Greece, abandoning -Syria for the time being to the enemy. Arriving at Ephesus, he heard -details of the troubles in Italy; how his supporters had been besieged -by Octavian in Perugia, which had at length been captured; and how -all his friends and relatives had fled from Italy. His wife Fulvia, -he was told, escorted by 3000 cavalry, had sailed from Brundisium for -Greece, and would soon join him there; and his mother, Julia, had fled -to the popular hero, Sextus Pompeius, the outlawed son of the great -Pompey, who had received her very kindly. Thus, not only was Italy shut -to Antony, since Octavian was now sole master of the country, but he -seemed likely also to be turned out of his eastern provinces by the -advance of the Parthians. His position was a desperate one; and he must -now have both reproached himself very deeply for his waste of time in -Alexandria and blamed his relations for their impetuosity in making war -against Octavian. - -Towards the end of June Antony arrived in Athens, and there he was -obliged to go through the ordeal of meeting the domineering Fulvia, -of whom he was not a little afraid, more especially in view of his -notorious intrigue with the Queen of Egypt. The ensuing interviews -between them must have been of a very painful character. Fulvia -probably bitterly reproved her errant husband for deserting her and -for remaining so long with Cleopatra, while Antony must have abused -her roundly for making so disastrous a mess of his affairs in Italy. -Ultimately the unfortunate woman seems to have been crushed and -dispirited by Antony’s continued anger; and having fallen ill while -staying at Sicyon, some sixty miles west of Athens, and lacking the -desire to live, she there died in the month of August. Meanwhile -Antony, having made an alliance with Sextus Pompeius, was ravaging -the coasts of Italy in a rather futile attempt to regain some of his -lost prestige; but no sooner was the death of Fulvia announced than he -shifted the entire blame for the war on to his late wife’s shoulders, -and speedily made his peace with Octavian. The two rivals met at -Brundisium in September B.C. 40, and a treaty was made between them by -which the peace of the Roman world was expected to be assured for some -years to come. It was arranged that Octavian should remain autocrat -in Italy, and should hold all the European provinces, including -Dalmatia and Illyria; and that Antony should be master of the East, -his dominions comprising Macedonia, Greece, Bithynia, Asia, Syria, -and Cyrene. The remaining provinces of North Africa, west of Cyrene, -fell to the lot of the third Triumvir, the insignificant Lepidus. This -treaty was sealed by the marriage of Antony with Octavia, the sister -of Octavian, a young woman who had been left a widow some months -previously, and the wedding was celebrated in Rome in October B.C. 40, -the populace showing peculiar pleasure at seeing the two rivals, whose -quarrels had caused such bloodshed and misery, thus fraternising in the -streets of the capital. - -The consternation of Cleopatra, when the news of Antony’s marriage -reached her, must have been sad to witness. The twins whom she had -borne to him were but a few weeks old at the time when their father’s -perfidy was thus made known to her; and bitterly must she have chided -herself for ever putting her trust in so unstable a man. It now seemed -to her that he had come to Alexandria as it were to fleece her of her -wealth, and she, falling a victim to his false protestations of love, -had given her all to him, only to be deserted when most she needed him. -With the news of his marriage, her hopes of obtaining a vast kingdom -for herself and for Cæsar’s son were driven from her mind, and her -plans for the future had to be diverted into other directions. She must -have determined at once to give no more assistance to Antony, either in -money or in materials of war; and we have no evidence of any such help -being offered to him in the military operations which ensued during the -next two years. Cleopatra had perhaps known Antony’s new wife in Rome, -and certainly she must have heard much of her charms and her goodness. -Plutarch tells us that Octavia was younger and more beautiful than the -Queen, and one may therefore understand how greatly Cleopatra must have -suffered at this time. Not only was her heart heavy with the thought -of the miscarriage of all her schemes, but her mind it would seem was -aflame with womanly jealousy. - -In the following year, B.C. 39, by the force of public opinion, -Sextus Pompeius was admitted to the general peace, the daughter of the -sea-rover marrying Marcellus, the son of Octavian. The agreement was -made at Misenum (not far from Naples), and was celebrated by a banquet -which was given by Sextus Pompeius on board his flag-ship, a galley -of six banks of oars, “the only house,” as the host declared, “that -Pompey is heir to of his father’s.” During the feast the guests drank -heavily, and presently many irresponsible jests began to be made in -regard to Antony and Cleopatra. Antony very naturally was annoyed at -the remarks which were passed, and there seems to have been some danger -of a fracas. Observing this, a pirate-chief named Menas, who was one -of the guests, whispered to Sextus: “Shall I cut the cables and make -you master of the whole Roman Empire?” “Menas,” replied he, after a -moment’s thought, “this might have been done without telling me, but -now we must rest content. I cannot break my word.” Thus Antony was -saved from assassination, and incidentally it may be remarked that had -he been done to death at this time, history would probably have had -to record an alliance between Sextus and Cleopatra directed against -Octavian, which might have been as fruitful of romantic incident as was -the story which has here to be related. We hear vaguely of some sort -of negotiations between Sextus and the Queen, and it is very probable -that with his rise to a position of importance Cleopatra would have -attempted to make an alliance with this son of Egypt’s former patron. - -In September B.C. 39, Octavia presented Antony with a daughter who was -called Antonia, and who subsequently became the grandmother of the -Emperor Nero. Shortly after this he took up his quarters at Athens, -where he threw himself as keenly into the life of the Athenians as he -had into that of the Alexandrians. He dressed himself in the Greek -manner, with certain Oriental touches, and it was noticed that he -ceased to take any interest in Roman affairs. He feasted sumptuously, -drank heavily, spent a very great deal of money, and wasted any -amount of time. The habits of the East appealed to him, and in his -administration he adopted the methods sometimes practised by Greeks -in the Orient. He abolished the Roman governorships in many of the -provinces under his control, converting them into vassal kingdoms. Thus -Herod was created King of Judea; Darius, son of Pharnaces, was made -King of Pontus; Amyntas was raised to the throne of Pisidia; Polemo -was given the crown of Lycaonia, and so on. His rule was mild and -kindly, though despotic; and on all sides he was hailed as the jolly -god Dionysos, or Bacchus, come to earth. Like Julius Cæsar, he was -quite willing to accept divinity, and he even went so far as personally -to take the place of the statue of Dionysos in the temple of that -god, and to go through the mystical ceremony of marriage to Athene at -Athens. His popularity was immense, and this assumption of a godhead -was received quite favourably by the Athenians; but when one of his -generals, Ventidius Bassus, who had been sent to check the advance of -the Parthians, returned with the news that he had completely defeated -them, public enthusiasm knew no bounds, and Antony was fêted and -entertained in the most astonishing manner. - -The contrast between Antony’s benevolent government of his eastern -provinces and Octavian’s conduct in the west was striking. Octavian was -a curious-tempered man, morose, quietly cruel, and secretly vicious. -So many persons were tortured and crucified by him that he came to be -known as the “Executioner.” His manner was imperturbable and always -controlled in public; but in private life at this time he indulged -in the wildest debauches, gambled, and surrounded himself with the -lowest companions. His rule in Italy in these days constituted a Reign -of Terror; and large numbers of the populace hated the very sight of -him. His appearance was unimposing, for he was somewhat short and was -careless in his deportment; while, although his face was handsome, it -had certain very marked defects. His complexion was very sallow and -unhealthy, his skin being covered with spots, and his teeth were much -decayed; but his eyes were large and remarkably brilliant, a fact of -which he was peculiarly proud. He did not look well groomed or clean, -and he was notably averse to taking a bath, though he did not object -to an occasional steaming, or Turkish bath, as we should now call it. -He was eccentric in his dress, though precise and correct in business -affairs. He disliked the sunshine, and always wore a broad-brimmed -hat to protect his head from its brilliancy; but at the same time he -detested cold weather, and in winter he is said to have worn a thick -toga, at least four tunics, a shirt, and a flannel stomacher, while -his legs and thighs were swathed in yards of warm cloth. In spite of -this he was constantly suffering from colds in his head, and was always -sneezing and snuffling. His liver, too, was generally out of order, a -fact to which perhaps his ill-temper may be attributed. His clothes -were all made at home by his wife and sister, and fitted him badly; -and his light-brown, curly hair always looked unbrushed. He was a poor -general, but an able statesman; and his cold nature, which was lacking -in all ardour as was his personality in all magnetism, caused him to be -better fitted for the office than for the public platform. He was not -what would now be called a gentleman: he was, indeed, very distinctly a -parvenu. His grandfather had been a wealthy money-lender of bourgeois -origin, and his father had raised himself by this ill-gotten wealth to -a position in Roman society, and had married into Cæsar’s family. - -These facts were not calculated to give him much of a position in -public esteem: and there was no question at this time that Antony -was the popular hero, while Sextus Pompeius, the former outlaw, was -fast rising in favour. In the spring of B.C. 38 Octavian decided -to make war upon this roving son of the great Pompey, and he asked -Antony to aid him in the undertaking. The latter made some attempt to -prevent the war, but his efforts were not successful. In the following -July, to the delight of a large number of Romans, Octavian was badly -defeated by Sextus; and Cæsar’s nephew thus lost a very considerable -amount of prestige. At about the same time Antony’s reputation made -an equally extensive gain, for in June Ventidius Bassus, acting under -Antony’s directions, again defeated the Parthians, Pacorus, the King’s -son, being killed in the battle. The news stirred the Romans to wild -enthusiasm. At last, after sixteen years, Crassus[92] had been avenged; -and Antony appeared to have put into execution with the utmost ease -the plans of the late Dictator in regard to the Parthians, while, on -the other hand, Octavian, the Dictator’s nephew, had failed even to -suppress the sea-roving Pompeians. A Triumph was decreed both for -Antony and for Ventidius, and before the end of the year this took -place. - -In January B.C. 37 the Triumvirate, which had then expired, was renewed -for a period of five years, in spite of a very considerable amount of -friction between the happy-go-lucky Antony and the morose Octavian. At -length these quarrels were patched up by means of an agreement whereby -Antony gave Octavian 130 ships with which to fight Sextus Pompeius, and -Octavian handed over some 21,000 legionaries to Antony for his Parthian -war. In this agreement it will be observed that Antony, in order to -obtain troops, sacrificed the man who had befriended his mother and who -had assisted his cause against Octavian at a time when his fortunes -were at a low ebb; and it must be presumed, therefore, that his desire -to conquer Parthia and to penetrate far into the Orient was now of -such absorbing importance to him that all other considerations were -abrogated by it. Antony, in fact, enthusiastically contemplating an -enlarged eastern empire, desired to have no part in the concerns of the -west; and he cared not one jot what fate awaited his late ally, Sextus, -who, he felt, was certain in any case ultimately to go down before -Octavian. He was beginning, indeed, to trouble himself very little in -regard to Octavian either; for he now seems to have thought that, when -the Orient had been conquered and consolidated, he would probably be -able to capture the Occident also from the cruel hands of his unpopular -rival with little difficulty. Two years previously he had found it -necessary to keep himself on friendly terms with Octavian at all costs, -and for this reason he had abandoned Cleopatra with brutal callousness. -Now, however, his position was such that he was able to defy Cæsar’s -nephew, and the presentation to him of the 130 ships was no more than -a shrewd business deal, whereby he had obtained a new contingent of -troops. One sees that his thoughts were turning once more towards the -Queen of Egypt; and he seems at this time to have recalled to mind both -the pleasure afforded him by her brilliant society and the importance -to himself of the position which she held in eastern affairs. The -Egyptian navy was large and well-equipped, and the deficiency in his -own fleet due to his gift to Octavian might easily be made good by the -Queen. - -In the autumn of B.C. 37 these considerations bore their inevitable -fruit. On his way to Corfu, in pursuit of his Parthian schemes, he -came to the conclusion that he would once and for all cut himself off -from Rome until that day when he should return to it as the earth’s -conqueror. He therefore sent his wife Octavia back to Italy, determined -never to see her again; and at the same time he despatched a certain -Fonteius Capito to Alexandria to invite Cleopatra to meet him in Syria. -Octavia was a woman of extreme sweetness, goodness, and domesticity. -Her gentle influence always made for peace; and her invariable good -behaviour and meekness must have almost driven Antony crazy. No doubt -she wanted to make his clothes for him, as she had made those of her -brother; and she seems always to have been anxious to bring before his -notice, in her sweet way, the charms of old-fashioned, respectable, -family life, a condition which absolutely nauseated Antony. She now -accepted her marching orders with a wifely meekness which can hardly -command one’s respect; and in pathetic obedience she returned forthwith -to Rome. I cannot help thinking that if only she had now shown some -spirit, and had been able to substitute energy for sweetness in the -movements of her mind, the history of the period would have been -entirely altered. - -It must surely be clear to the impartial reader that Antony’s change of -attitude was due more to political than to romantic considerations.[93] -We have heard so much of the arts of seduction practised by Cleopatra -that it is not easy at first to rid the mind of the traditional -interpretation of this reunion; and we are, at the outset, inclined -to accept Plutarch’s definition of the affair when he tells us that -“Antony’s passion for Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to -have lulled and charmed into oblivion, now gathered strength again, -and broke into flame; and like Plato’s restive and rebellious horse -of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome counsel, and -fairly breaking loose, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring her into -Syria.” But it is to be remembered that this “passion” for the Queen -had not been strong enough to hold him from marrying Octavia a few -months after he had left the arms of Cleopatra; and now three and a -half years had passed since he had seen the Queen,--a period which, -to a memory so short as Antony’s, constituted a very complete hiatus -in this particular love-story. So slight, indeed, was his affection -for her at this time that, in speaking of the twins with which she -had presented him, he made the famous remark already quoted, that he -had no intention of confining his hopes of progeny to any one woman, -but, like his ancestor Hercules, he hoped to let nature take her will -with him, the best way of circulating noble blood through the world -being thus personally to beget in every country a new line of kings. -Antony doubtless looked forward with youthful excitement to a renewal -of his relations with the Queen, and, to some extent, it may be true -that he now joyously broke loose from the gentle, and, for that -reason, galling, bonds of domesticity; but actually he purposed, for -political reasons, to make a definite alliance with Cleopatra, and it -is unreasonable to suppose that any flames of ungoverned passion burnt -within his jolly heart at this time. - -On Cleopatra’s side the case was somewhat different. The stress of -bitter experience had knocked out of her all that harum-scarum attitude -towards life which had been her marked characteristic in earlier years; -and she was no longer able to play with her fortune nor to romp through -her days as formerly she had done. Antony, whom in her way she had -loved, had cruelly deserted her, and now was asking for a renewal of -her favours. Could she believe (for no doubt such was his excuse) that -his long absence from her and his marriage to another woman were purely -political manœuvres which had in no way interfered with the continuity -of his love for her? Could she put her trust in him this second time? -Could she, on the other hand, manage her complicated affairs without -him? Evidently he was now omnipotent in the East; Parthia was likely -to go down before him; and Octavian’s sombre figure was already almost -entirely eclipsed by this new Dionysos, save only in little Italy -itself. Would there be any hope of enlarging her dominions, or even -of retaining those she already possessed, without his assistance? -Such questions could only have one solution. She must come to an -absolutely definite understanding with Antony, and must make a binding -agreement with him. In a word, if there was to be any renewal of their -relationship, he must marry her. There must be no more diplomatic -manœuvring, which, to her, meant desertion, misery, and painful -anxiety. He must become the open enemy of Octavian, and, with her help, -must aim at the conquest both of the limitless East and of the entire -West. He must act in all things as the successor of the divine Julius -Cæsar, and the heir to their joint power must be Cæsar’s son, the -little Cæsarion, now a growing boy of over ten years of age. - -With this determination fixed in her mind she accepted the invitation -presented to her by Fonteius Capito, and set sail for Syria. A few -weeks later, towards the end of the year B.C. 37, she met Antony in -the city of Antioch; and at once she set herself to the execution of -her decision. History does not tell us what passed between them at -their first interviews; but it may be supposed that Antony excused his -previous conduct on political grounds, and made it clear to the Queen -that he now desired a definite and lasting alliance with her; while -Cleopatra, on her part, intimated her willingness to unite herself with -him, provided that the contract was made legal and binding on both -sides. - -The fact that she obtained Antony’s consent to an agreement which was -in every way to her advantage, not only shows what a high value was -set by Antony upon Egypt’s friendship at this time, but it also proves -how great were her powers of persuasion. It must be remembered that -Cleopatra had been for over three years a wronged woman, deserted -by her lover, despairing of ever obtaining the recognition of her -son’s claims upon Rome, and almost hopeless even of retaining the -independence of Egypt. Now she had the pluck to demand from him all -manner of increased rights and privileges and the confirmation of -all her dynastic hopes; and, to her great joy, Antony was willing -to accede to her wishes. I have already shown that he did not really -love her with a passion so deep that his sober judgment was obscured -thereby, and the agreement is therefore to be attributed more to the -Queen’s shrewd bargaining, and to her very understandable anxiety -not to be duped once more by her fickle lover. She must have worked -upon Antony’s feelings by telling him of her genuine distress; and at -the same time she must warmly have confirmed his estimate of Egypt’s -importance to him at this juncture. - -The terms of the agreement appear to me to have been as follows:-- - -Firstly, it seems to have been arranged that a legal marriage should be -contracted between them according to Egyptian custom. We have already -seen how, many years previously, Julius Cæsar had countenanced a law -designed to legalise his proposed marriage with Cleopatra, by the terms -of which he would have been able to marry more than one wife;[94] and -Antony now seems to have based his attitude upon a somewhat similar -understanding. The marriage would not be announced to the Senate in -Rome, since he intended no longer to regard himself as subject to the -old Roman Law in these matters; but in Egypt it would be accepted as a -legal and terrestrial confirmation of the so-called celestial union of -B.C. 40. - -Secondly, it was agreed that Antony should not assume the title -of King of Egypt, but should call himself _Autocrator_--_i.e._, -“absolute ruler,” of the entire East. The word αὐτοκράτωρ was a fair -Greek equivalent of the Roman _Imperator_, a title which, it will be -remembered, was made hereditary in Julius Cæsar’s behalf, and which -was probably intended by him to obtain its subsequent significance -of “Emperor.” Antony would not adopt the title of βασιλεύς or _rex_, -which was always objectionable to Roman ears; nor was the word -_Imperator_ quite distinguished enough, since it was held by all -commanders-in-chief of Roman armies. But the title _Autocrator_ was -significant of omnipotence; and it is to be noted that from this time -onwards every “Pharaoh” of Egypt was called by that name, which in -hieroglyphs reads _Aut’k’r’d’r_. Antony also retained for the time -being his title of Triumvir. - -Thirdly, Antony probably promised to regard Cæsarion, the son of -Cleopatra and Julius Cæsar, as the rightful heir to the throne;[95] -and he agreed to give his own children by the Queen the minor kingdoms -within their empire. - -[Illustration: - - CLEOPATRA’S POSSESSIONS - IN RELATION TO - THE ROMAN WORLD - - _William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_ W. & A. K. Johnston, - Limited, Edinburgh & London. -] - -Fourthly, Antony appears to have promised to increase the extent of -Egyptian power to that which existed fourteen hundred years previously, -in the days of the mighty Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty. He -therefore gave to the Queen Sinai; Arabia, including probably the -rock-city of Petra; the east coast of the Dead Sea; part of the valley -of the Jordan and the City of Jericho; perhaps a portion of Samaria and -Galilee; the Phœnician coast, with the exception of the free cities of -Tyre and Sidon; the Lebanon; probably the north coast of Syria; part of -Cilicia, perhaps including Tarsus; the island of Cyprus; and a part of -Crete. The Kingdom of Judea, ruled by Herod, was thus enclosed within -Cleopatra’s dominions; but the deduction of this valuable land from the -Egyptian sphere was compensated for by the addition of the Cilician -territory, which had always lain beyond Egypt’s frontiers, even in -the days of the great Pharaohs. - -Lastly, in return for these gifts Cleopatra must have undertaken to -place all the financial and military resources of Egypt at Antony’s -disposal whenever he should need them. - -As soon as this agreement was made I think there can be little doubt -that Cleopatra and Antony were quietly married;[96] and in celebration -of the event coins were struck, showing their two heads, and inscribed -with both their names, she being called Queen and he Autocrator. In -honour of the occasion, moreover, Cleopatra began a new dating of the -years of her reign; and on a coin minted six years later, the heads -of Antony and the Queen are shown with the inscription, “In the reign -of Queen Cleopatra, in the 21st, which is also the 6th, year of the -goddess.” It will be remembered that Cleopatra came to the throne in -the summer of B.C. 51, and therefore the 21st year of her reign would -begin after the summer of B.C. 31, which period would also be the close -of the 6th year dating from this alliance at Antioch at the end of B.C. -37. Thus these coins must have been struck in the autumn of B.C. 31, -at which time the beginning of the 21st year of Cleopatra’s reign as -Queen of Egypt coincided with the end of the 6th year of her reign with -Antony. There are, of course, many arguments to be advanced against the -theory that she was now definitely married; but in view of the facts -that their two heads now appear on the coins, that Antony now settled -upon her this vast estate, that she began a new dating to her reign, -that Antony henceforth lived with her, and that, as we know from his -letter to Octavian,[97] he spoke of her afterwards as his _wife_, I -do not think that there is any good reason for postponing the wedding -until a later period. - -The winter was spent quietly at Antioch, Antony being busily engaged -in preparations for his new Parthian campaign which was to bring -him, he hoped, such enormous prestige and popularity in the Roman -world. The city was the metropolis of Syria, and at this time must -already have been recognised as the third city of the world, ranking -immediately below Rome and Alexandria. The residential quarter, called -Daphnæ, was covered with thick groves of laurels and cypresses for ten -miles around, and a thousand little streams ran down from the hills -and passed under the shade of the trees where, even in the height -of summer, it was always cool. The city was famous for its art and -learning, and was a centre eminently suited to Cleopatra’s tastes. -The months passed by without much event. The Queen is said to have -tried to persuade Antony to dethrone Herod and to add Judea to her -new dominions, but this he would not do, and he begged her not to -meddle with Herod’s affairs, a correction which she at once accepted, -thereafter acting with great cordiality to the Jewish King. - -In March B.C. 26, Antony set out for the war, Cleopatra accompanying -him as far as Zeugma, a town on the Euphrates, near the Armenian -frontier, a march of about 150 miles from Antioch. It is probable that -she wished to go through the whole campaign by his side, for, at a -later date, we find her again attempting to remain by him under similar -circumstances; but at Zeugma a discovery seems to have been made in -regard to her condition which necessitated her going back to Egypt, -there to await his triumphant return. In spite of the anxieties and -disappointments of her life the Queen had retained her energy and pluck -in a marked degree, and she was now no less hardy and daring than she -had been in the days when Julius Cæsar had found her invading Egypt at -the head of her Syrian army. She enjoyed the open life of a campaign, -and she took pleasure in the dangers which had to be faced. An ancient -writer, Florus, has described her, as we have already noticed, as -being “free from all womanly fear,” and this attempt to go to the wars -with her husband is an indication that the audacity and dash so often -noticeable in her actions had not been impaired by her misfortunes. She -does not appear to have been altogether in favour of the expedition, -for it seemed a risky undertaking, and one which would cost her a great -deal of money, but the adventure of it appealed to her, and added that -quality of excitement to her days which seems to have been so necessary -to her existence. Antony, however, fond as he was of her, could not -have appreciated the honour of her company at such a time; and he must -have been not a little relieved when he saw her retreating cavalcade -disappear along the road to Antioch. - -From Antioch Cleopatra made her way up the valley of the Orontes -to Apamea, whence she travelled past Arethusa and Emesa to the -Anti-Lebanon, and so to Damascus. From here she seems to have crossed -to the Sea of Galilee, and thence along the river Jordan to Jericho. -Hereabouts she was met by the handsome and adventurous Herod, who came -to her in order that they might arrive at some agreement in regard -to the portions of Judea which Antony had given to her; and, after -some bargaining, it was finally decided that Herod should rent these -territories from her for a certain sum of money. Jericho’s tropical -climate produced great abundance of palms, henna, sometimes known as -camphire, myrobalan or _zukkûm_, and balsam, the “balm of Gilead,” so -much prized as perfume and for medicinal purposes. Josephus speaks -of Jericho as a “divine region,” and strategically it was the key of -Palestine. It may be understood, therefore, how annoying it must have -been to Herod to be dispossessed of this jewel of his crown; and it -is said that, after he had rented it from Cleopatra, it became his -favourite place of residence. The transaction being settled, the Queen -seems to have continued her journey to Egypt, at the Jewish King’s -invitation, by way of Jerusalem and Gaza--that is to say, across -the Kingdom of Judea; but no sooner had she set her foot on Jewish -territory than Herod conceived the plan of seizing her and putting her -to death. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem ascends the steep, wild -mountain-side, and zigzags upwards through rugged and bare scenery. -It would have been a simple matter to ambush the Queen in one of the -desolate ravines through which she had to pass, and the blame might be -placed with the brigands who infested these regions. He pointed out to -his advisers, as Josephus tells us, that Cleopatra by reason of her -enormous influence upon the affairs of Rome had become a menace to all -minor sovereigns; and now that he had her in his power he could, with -the greatest ease, rid the world of a woman who had become irksome -to them all, and thereby deliver them from a very multitude of evils -and misfortunes. He told them that Cleopatra was actually turning her -beautiful eyes upon himself, and he doubted not but that she would make -an attempt upon his virtue before he had got her across his southern -frontier. He argued that Antony would in the long-run come to thank him -for her murder; for it was apparent that she would never be a faithful -friend to him, but would desert him at the moment when he should most -stand in need of her fidelity. The councillors, however, were appalled -at the King’s proposal, and implored him not to put it into execution. -“They laid hard at him,” says _naïf_ Josephus, “and begged him to -undertake nothing rashly; for that Antony would never bear it, no, not -though any one should lay evidently before his eyes that it was for his -own advantage. This woman was of the supremest dignity of any of her -sex at that time in the world; and such an undertaking would appear to -deserve condemnation on account of the insolence Herod must take upon -himself in doing it.” - -The Jewish King, therefore, giving up his treacherous scheme, politely -escorted Cleopatra to the frontier fortress of Pelusium, and thus she -came unscathed to Alexandria, where she settled down to await the birth -of her fourth child. It is perhaps worth noting that she is said to -have brought back to Egypt from Jericho many cuttings of the balsam -shrubs, and planted them at Heliopolis, near the modern Cairo.[98] The -Queen’s mind must now have been full of optimism. Antony had collected -an enormous army, and already, she supposed, he must have penetrated -far into Parthia. In spite of her previous fears, she now expected -that he would return to her covered with glory, having opened the road -through Persia to India and the fabulous East. Rome would hail him -as their hero and idol, and the unpopular Octavian would sink into -insignificance. Then he would claim for himself and for her the throne -of the West as well as that of the Orient, and at last her little son -Cæsarion, as their heir, would come into his own. - -With such hopes as these to support her, Cleopatra passed through her -time of waiting; and in the late autumn she gave birth to a boy, whom -she named Ptolemy, according to the custom of her house. But ere she -had yet fully recovered her strength she received despatches from -Antony, breaking to her the appalling news that his campaign had been -a disastrous failure, and that he had reached northern Syria with only -a remnant of his grand army, clad in rags, emaciated by hunger and -illness, and totally lacking in funds. He implored her to come to his -aid, and to bring him money wherewith to pay his disheartened soldiers, -and he told her that he would await her coming upon the Syrian coast -somewhere between Sidon and Berytus. - -Once more the unfortunate Queen’s hopes were dashed to the ground; but -pluckily rising to the occasion, she collected money, clothes, and -munitions of war, and set out with all possible speed to her husband’s -relief. - -The history of the disaster is soon told. From Zeugma Antony had -marched to the plateau of Erzeroum, where he had reviewed his enormous -army, consisting of 60,000 Roman foot (including Spaniards and Gauls), -10,000 Roman horse, and some 30,000 troops of other nationalities, -including 13,000 horse and foot supplied by Artavasdes, King of -Armenia, and a strong force provided by King Polemo of Pontus. An -immense number of heavy engines of war had been collected; and these -were despatched towards Media along the valley of the Araxes, together -with the contingents from Armenia and Pontus and two Roman legions. -Antony himself, with the main army, marched by a more direct route -across northern Assyria into Media, being impatient to attack the -enemy. The news of his approach in such force, says Plutarch, not only -alarmed the Parthians but filled North India with fear, and, indeed, -made all Asia shake. It was generally supposed that he would march in -triumph through Persia; and there must have been considerable talk as -to whether he would carry his arms, like Alexander the Great, into -India, where Cleopatra’s ships, coming across the high sea trade-route -from Egypt, would meet him with money and supplies. Towards the -end of August, Antony reached the city of Phraaspa, the capital of -Media-Atropatene, and there he awaited the arrival of his siege-train -and its accompanying contingent. He had expected that the city would -speedily surrender, but in this he was mistaken; and, ere he had -settled down to the business of a protracted siege, he received the -news that his second army had been attacked and defeated, that his -entire siege-train had been captured, that the King of Armenia had fled -with the remnant of his forces back to his own country, and that the -King of Pontus had been taken prisoner. In spite of this crushing loss, -however, Antony bravely determined to continue the siege; but soon the -arrival of the Parthian army, fresh from its victory, began to cause -him great discomfort, and his lines were constantly harassed from the -outside by bodies of the famous Parthian cavalry, though not once did -the enemy allow a general battle to take place. At last, in October, he -was obliged to open negotiations with the enemy; for, in view of the -general lack of provisions and the deep despondency of the troops, the -approach of winter could not be contemplated without the utmost dread. -He therefore sent a message to the Parthian King stating that if the -prisoners captured from Crassus were handed over, together with the -lost eagles, he would raise the siege and depart. The enemy refused -these terms, but declared that if Antony would retire, his retreat -would not be molested; and to this the Romans agreed. The Parthians, -however, did not keep their word; and as the weary legionaries crossed -the snow-covered mountains they were attacked again and again by the -fierce tribesmen, who ambushed them at every pass, and followed in -their rear to cut off stragglers. The intense cold, the lack of food, -and the extreme weariness of the troops, caused the number of these -stragglers to be very great; and besides the thousands of men who were -thus cut off or killed in the daily fighting, a great number perished -from exposure and want of food. At one period so great was the scarcity -of provisions that a loaf of bread was worth its weight in silver; -and it was at this time that large numbers of men, having devoured a -certain root which seemed to be edible, went mad and died. “He that had -eaten of this root,” says Plutarch, “remembered nothing in the world, -and employed himself only in moving great stones from one place to -another, which he did with as much earnestness and industry as if it -had been a business of the greatest consequence; and thus through all -the camp there was nothing to be seen but men grubbing upon the ground -at stones, which they carried from place to place, until in the end -they vomited and died.” This account, though of course exaggerated and -confused, gives a vivid picture of the distressed legionaries, some -dying of this poison, some going mad, some perishing from exposure and -vainly endeavouring to build themselves a shelter from the biting wind. - -All through the long and terrible march Antony behaved with consummate -bravery and endurance. He shared every hardship with his men, and when -the camp was pitched at night he went from tent to tent, talking to the -legionaries, and cheering them with encouraging words. His sympathy and -concern for the wounded was that of the tenderest woman; and he would -throw himself down beside sufferers and burst into uncontrolled tears. -The men adored him; and even those who were at the point of death, -arousing themselves in his presence, called him by every respectful and -endearing name. “They seized his hands,” says Plutarch, “with joyful -faces, bidding him go and see to himself and not be concerned about -them; calling him their Emperor and their General, and saying that -if only he were well they were safe.” Many times Antony was heard to -exclaim, “O, the ten thousand!” as though in admiration for Xenophon’s -famous retreat, which was even more arduous than his own. On one -occasion so serious was the situation that he made one of his slaves, -named Rhamnus, take an oath that in the event of a general massacre he -would run his sword through his body, and cut off his head, in order -that he might neither be captured alive nor be recognised when dead. - -At last, after twenty-seven terrible days, during which they had beaten -off the Parthians no less than eighteen times, they crossed the Araxes -and brought the eagles safely into Armenia. Here, making a review of -the army, Antony found that he had lost 20,000 foot and 4000 horse, the -majority of which had died of exposure and illness. Their troubles, -however, were by no means at an end; for although the enemy had now -been left behind, the snows of winter had still to be faced, and the -march through Armenia into Syria was fraught with difficulties. By the -time that the coast was reached eight thousand more men had perished; -and the army which finally went into winter quarters at a place known -as the White Village, between Sidon and Berytus, was but the tattered -remnant of the great host which had set out so bravely in the previous -spring. Yet it may be said that had not Antony proved himself so -dauntless a leader, not one man would have escaped from those terrible -mountains, but all would have shared the doom of Crassus and his -ill-fated expedition. - -At the White Village Antony eagerly awaited the coming of Cleopatra; -yet so ashamed was he at his failure, and so unhappy at the thought of -her reproaches for his ill-success, that he turned in despair to the -false comfort of the wine-jar, and daily drank himself into a state of -oblivious intoxication. When not in a condition of coma he was nervous -and restless. He could not endure the tediousness of a long meal, but -would start up from table and run down to the sea-shore to scan the -horizon for a sight of her sails. Both he and his officers were haggard -and unkempt, his men being clad in rags; and it was in this condition -that Cleopatra found them when at last her fleet sailed into the bay, -bringing clothing, provisions, and money. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE PREPARATIONS OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY FOR THE OVERTHROW OF OCTAVIAN. - - -When Cleopatra carried Antony back to Alexandria to recuperate after -his exertions, it seems to me that she spoke to him very directly in -regard to his future plans. She seems to have pointed out to him that -Roman attempts to conquer Parthia always ended in failure, and that -it was a sheer waste of money, men, and time to endeavour to obtain -possession of a country so vast and having such limitless resources. -Wars of this kind exhausted their funds and gave them nothing in -return. Would it not be much better, therefore, at once to concentrate -all their energies upon the overthrow of Octavian and the capture -of Rome? Antony had proved his popularity with his men and their -confidence in him and his powers as a leader, for he had performed with -ultimate success that most difficult feat of generalship--an orderly -retreat. Surely, therefore, it would be wise to expend no further -portion of their not unlimited means upon their eastern schemes, but -to concentrate their full attention first upon Italy. The Parthians, -after all, had been turned out of Armenia and Syria, and they might now -be left severely alone within their own country until that day when -Antony would march against them, in accordance with the prophecies of -the Sibylline Books, as King of Rome. Cleopatra had never favoured the -Parthian expedition, though she had helped to finance it as being part -of Julius Cæsar’s original design; and she had accepted as reasonable -the argument put forward by Antony, that if successful it would enhance -enormously his prestige and ensure his acceptance as a popular hero in -Rome. The war, however, had been disastrous, and it would be better now -to abandon the whole scheme than to risk a further catastrophe. Antony, -fagged out and suffering from the effects of his severe drinking-bout, -appears to have acquiesced in these arguments; and it seems that he -arrived in Alexandria with the intention of recuperating his resources -for a year or two in view of his coming quarrel with Octavian. In Syria -he had received news of the events which had occurred in Rome during -his absence at the wars. Octavian had at last defeated Sextus Pompeius, -who had fled to Mytilene; and Lepidus, the third Triumvir, had retired -into private life, leaving his province of Africa in Octavian’s hands. -His rival, therefore, now held the West in complete subjection, and it -was not unlikely that he himself would presently pick a quarrel with -Antony. - -The comforts of the Alexandrian Palace, and the pleasures of -Cleopatra’s brilliant society, must have come to Antony as an -entrancing change after the rigours of his campaign; and the remainder -of the winter, no doubt, slipped by in happy ease. The stern affairs of -life, however, seem to have checked any repetition of the frivolities -of his earlier stay in the Egyptian capital; and we now hear nothing -of the Inimitable Livers or of their prodigious entertainments. -Antony wrote a long letter to Rome, giving a more or less glowing -account of the war, and stating that in many respects it had been -very successful. Early in the new year, B.C. 35, Sextus Pompeius -attempted to open negotiations with the Egyptian court; but the envoys -whom he sent to Alexandria failed to secure any favourable response. -Antony, on the other hand, learnt from them that Sextus was engaged -in a secret correspondence with the Parthians, and was attempting to -corrupt Domitius Ahenobarbus, his lieutenant in Asia. Thereupon he and -Cleopatra determined to capture this buccaneering son of the great -Pompey and to put him to death. The order was carried out by a certain -Titius, who effected the arrest in Phrygia; and Sextus was executed in -Miletus shortly afterwards. This action was likely to be extremely ill -received in Rome, for the outlaw, in the manner of a Robin Hood, had -always been immensely popular; and for this reason Antony never seems -to have admitted his responsibility for it, the order being generally -said to have been signed by his lieutenant, Plancus. - -Shortly after this the whole course of events was suddenly altered -by the arrival in Alexandria of no less a personage than the King -of Pontus, who, it will be remembered, had been captured by the -Parthians[99] at the outset of Antony’s late campaign, and had been -held prisoner by the King of Media. The latter now sent him to Egypt -with the news that the lately allied kingdoms of Media and Parthia -had come to blows; and the King of Media proposed that Antony should -help him to overthrow his rival. This announcement caused the greatest -upheaval in Cleopatra’s palace. Here was an unexpected opportunity to -conquer the terrible Parthians with comparative ease; for Media had -always been their powerful ally, and the Roman arms had come to grief -on former occasions in Median territory. Cleopatra, however, fearing -the duplicity of these eastern monarchs, and having set her heart on -the immediate overthrow of Octavian, whose power was now so distinctly -on the increase, tried to dissuade her husband from this second -campaign, and begged him to take no further risks in that direction. -As a tentative measure Antony sent a despatch to Artavasdes, the King -of Armenia, who had deserted him after his defeat in Media, ordering -him to come to Alexandria without delay, presumably to discuss the -situation. Artavasdes, however, showed no desire to place himself in -the hands of his overlord whom he had thus betrayed, and preferred to -seek safety, if necessary, in his own hills or to throw in his lot with -the Parthians. - -Antony was deaf to Cleopatra’s advice; and at length accepting the -proposal conveyed by the King of Pontus, he prepared to set out at once -for the north-east. Thereupon Cleopatra made up her mind to accompany -him; and in the late spring they set out together for Syria. No sooner -had they arrived in that country, however, than Antony received the -disconcerting news that his Roman wife Octavia was on her way to join -him once more, and proposed to meet him in Greece. It appears that -her brother Octavian had chosen this means of bringing his quarrel -with Antony to an issue; for if she were not well received he would -have just cause for denouncing her errant husband as a deserter; and -in order to show how justly he himself was dealing he despatched -with Octavia two thousand legionaries and some munitions of war. As -a matter of fact the legionaries served actually as a bodyguard for -Octavia,[100] while their ultimate presentation to Antony was to be -regarded partly as a payment for the number of his ships which had -been destroyed in Octavian’s war against Sextus, and partly as a sort -of formal present from one autocrat to another. Antony at once sent a -letter to Octavia telling her to remain at Athens, as he was going to -Media; and in reply to this Octavia despatched a family friend, named -Niger, to ask Antony what she should do with the troops and supplies. -Niger had the hardihood to speak openly in regard to Octavia’s -treatment, and to praise her very highly for her noble and quiet -bearing in her great distress; but Antony was in no mood to listen to -him, and sent him about his business with no satisfactory reply. At the -same time he appears to have been very sorry for Octavia, and there can -be little doubt that, had such a thing been possible, he would have -liked to see her for a short time, if only to save her from the added -insult of his present attitude. He was an irresponsible boy in these -matters, and so long as everybody was happy he really did not care very -deeply which woman he lived with, though he was now, it would seem, -extremely devoted to Cleopatra, and very dependent upon her lively -society. - -The Queen, of course, was considerably alarmed by this new development, -for she could not be sure whether Antony would stand by the solemn -compact he had made with her at Antioch, or whether he would once -more prove a fickle friend. She realised very clearly that the insult -offered to Octavia would precipitate the war between East and West, -and she seems to have felt even more strongly than before that Antony -would be ill advised at this critical juncture to enter into any -further Parthian complication. To her mind it was absolutely essential -that she should carry him safely back to Alexandria, where he would be, -on the one hand, well out of reach of Octavia, and, on the other, far -removed from the temptation of pursuing his Oriental schemes. Antony, -however, was as eager to be at his old enemy once more as a beaten boy -might have been to revenge himself upon his rival; and the thought -of giving up this opportunity for vengeance in order to prepare for -an immediate fight with Octavian was extremely distasteful to him. -Everything now seemed to be favourable for a successful invasion of -Parthia. Not only had he the support of the King of Media, but the -fickle King of Armenia had thought it wise at the last moment to make -his peace with Antony, and the new agreement was to be sealed by the -betrothal of his daughter to Antony’s little son Alexander Helios. -Cleopatra, however, did not care so much about the conquest of Parthia -as she did for the overthrow of her son’s rival, who seemed to have -usurped the estate which ought to have passed from the great Cæsar to -Cæsarion and herself; and she endeavoured now, with every art at her -disposal, to prevent Antony taking any further risk in the East, and -to urge his return to Alexandria. “She feigned to be dying of love -for Antony,” says Plutarch, “bringing her body down by slender diet. -When he entered the room she fixed her eyes upon him in adoration, -and when he left she seemed to languish and half faint away. She took -great pains that he should see her in tears, and, as soon as he noticed -it, she hastily dried them and turned away, as if it were her wish -that he should know nothing of it. Meanwhile Cleopatra’s agents were -not slow to forward her design, upbraiding Antony with his unfeeling -hard-hearted nature for thus letting a woman perish whose soul depended -upon him and him alone. Octavia, it was true, was his wife; but -Cleopatra, the sovereign queen of many nations, had been contented with -the name of his mistress,[101] and if she were bereaved of him she -would not survive the loss.” - -In this manner she prevailed upon him at last to give up the proposed -war; nor must we censure her too severely for her piece of acting. She -was playing a desperate game at this time. She had persuaded Antony to -turn his back upon Octavia in a manner which could but be final; and -yet immediately after this, as though oblivious to the consequences of -his action, he was eager to go off to Persia at a time when Octavian -would probably attempt to declare him an enemy of the Roman people. Of -course, in reality the Queen was no more deeply in love with Antony -than he with her; but he was absolutely essential to the realisation -of her hopes, and the necessity of a speedy trial of strength with -Octavian became daily more urgent. For this he must prepare by a quiet -collecting of funds and munitions, and all other projects must be given -up. - -Very reluctantly, therefore, Antony returned to Alexandria, and -there he spent the winter of B.C. 35-34 in soberly governing his -vast possessions. In the following spring, however, he determined to -secure Armenia and Media for his own ends; and when he transferred -his headquarters to Syria for the summer season[102] he again sent -word to King Artavasdes to meet him in order to discuss the affairs -of Parthia. The Armenian king, however, seems to have been intriguing -against Antony during the winter; and now he declined to place himself -in Roman hands lest he might suffer the consequence of his duplicity. -Thereupon Antony advanced rapidly into Armenia, took the King prisoner, -seized his treasure, pillaged his lands, and declared the country to be -henceforth a Roman province. The loot obtained in this rapid campaign -was very great. The legionaries seized upon every object of value which -they observed: and they even plundered the ancient temple of Anaitis in -Acilisene, laying hands on the statue of the goddess which was made of -pure gold, and pounding it into pieces for purposes of division. - -On his return to Syria Antony entered into negotiations with the King -of Media, the result of which was that the Median Princess Iotapa -was married to the little Alexander Helios, whose betrothal to the -King of Armenia’s daughter had, of course, terminated with the late -war. As we shall presently see, it is probable that the King of Media -had consented to make the youthful couple his heirs to the throne of -Media, for it would seem that he had no son; and thus Antony is seen -to have once more put into practice his jesting scheme of founding -royal dynasties of his own flesh and blood in many lands. Antony then -returned to Alexandria, well satisfied with his summer’s work, but -“with his thoughts,” as Plutarch says, “now taken up with the coming -civil war.” Octavia had returned to Rome, and had made no secret of -her ill-treatment. Her brother, therefore, told her to leave Antony’s -house, thus to show her resentment against him; but she would not do -this, nor did she permit Octavian to make war upon her husband on -her account, for, she declared, it would be intolerable to have it -said that two women, herself and Cleopatra, had been the cause of -such a terrific contest. Nevertheless, there was little chance of the -quarrel being patched up; and Antony must have realised now the wisdom -of Cleopatra’s objection to an expensive and exhausting campaign in -Parthia. - -On his return to Alexandria in the autumn of B.C. 34, Antony set -the Roman world agog by celebrating his triumph over Armenia in the -Egyptian capital. Never before had a Roman General held a formal -Triumph outside Rome; and Antony’s action appeared to be a definite -proclamation that Alexandria had become the rival, if not the -successor, of Rome as the capital of the world. It will be remembered -that Julius Cæsar had talked of removing the seat of government from -Rome to Alexandria; and now it seemed that Antony had transferred -the capital, at any rate of the Eastern Empire, to that city, and -was regarding it as his home. Alexandria was certainly far more -conveniently situated than Rome for the government of the world. It -must be remembered that the barbaric western countries--the unexplored -Germania, the newly conquered Gallia, the insignificant Britannia, the -wild Hispania, and others--were not of nearly such value as were the -civilised eastern provinces; and thus Rome stood on the far western -outskirts of the important dominions she governed. From Alexandria a -march of 600 or 800 miles brought one to Antioch or to Tarsus; whereas -Rome was nearly three times as far from these great centres. The -southern Peloponnesus was, by way of Crete, considerably nearer to -Alexandria than it was to Rome by way of Brundisium. Ephesus and other -cities of Asia Minor could be reached more quickly by land or sea from -Egypt than they could from Rome. Rhodes, Lycia, Bithynia, Galatia, -Pamphylia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Armenia, Commagene, Crete, -Cyprus, and many other great and important lands, were all closer to -Alexandria than to Rome; while Thrace and Byzantium, by the land or -sea route, were about equidistant from either capital. As a city, too, -Alexandria was far more magnificent, more cultivated, more healthy, -more wealthy in trade, and more “go-ahead” than Rome. Thus there was -really very good ground for supposing that Antony, by holding his -Triumph here, was proclaiming a definite transference of his home and -of the seat of government; and one may imagine the anxiety which it -caused in Italy. - -The Triumph was a particularly gorgeous ceremony. At the head of the -procession there seems to have marched a body of Roman legionaries, -whose shields were inscribed with the large C which is said to have -stood for “Cleopatra,” but which, with equal probability, may have -stood for “Cæsar,” that is to say, for the legitimate Cæsarian cause. -Antony rode in the customary chariot drawn by four white horses, and -before him walked the unfortunate King Artavasdes loaded with golden -chains, together with his queen and their sons. Behind the chariot -walked a long procession of Armenian captives, and after these came the -usual cars loaded with the spoils of war. Then followed a number of -municipal deputations drawn from vassal cities, each carrying a golden -crown or chaplet which had been voted to Antony in commemoration of -his conquest. Roman legionaries, Egyptian troops, and several eastern -contingents, brought up the rear. - -The procession seems to have set out in the sunshine of the morning -from the Royal Palace on the Lochias Promontory, and to have skirted -the harbour as far as the temple of Neptune. It then travelled probably -through the Forum, past the stately buildings and luxuriant gardens of -the Regia, and so out into the Street of Canopus at about the point -where the great mound of the Paneum rose up against the blue sky, its -ascending pathway packed with spectators. Turning now to the west, the -procession moved slowly along this broad paved street, the colonnades -on either side being massed with sightseers. On the right-hand side -the walls of the Sema, or Royal Mausoleum, were passed, where lay the -bones of Alexander the Great; and on the left the long porticos of -the Gymnasium and the Law Courts formed a shaded stand for hundreds -of people of the upper classes. On the other side of the road the -colonnades and windows of the Museum were crowded, I suppose, with the -professors and students who had come with their families to witness -the spectacle. Some distance farther along, the procession turned to -the south, and proceeded along the broad Street of Serapis, at the end -of which, on high ground, stood the splendid building of the Serapeum. -Here Cleopatra and her court, together with the high functionaries of -Alexandria, were gathered, while the priests and priestesses of Serapis -were massed on either side of the street and upon the broad steps which -led up to the porticos of the temple. At this point Antony dismounted -from his chariot; and probably amidst the shouts of the spectators and -the shaking of hundreds of systra, he ascended to the temple to offer -the prescribed sacrifice to Serapis, as in Rome he would have done -to Jupiter Capitolinus. This accomplished he returned to the court -in front of the sacred building, where a platform had been erected, -the sides of which were plated with silver. On this platform, upon a -throne of gold, sat Cleopatra, clad in the robes of Isis or Venus; and -to her feet Antony now led the royal captives of Armenia, all hot and -dusty from their long walk, and dejected by the continuous booing and -jeering of the crowds through which they had passed. Artavasdes was no -barbarian: he was a refined and cultured man, to whose sensitive nature -the ordeal must have been most terrible. He was something of a poet, -and in his time had written plays and tragedies not without merit. He -was now told to abase himself before Cleopatra, and to salute her as -a goddess; but this he totally refused to do, and, in spite of some -rough handling by his guards, he persisted in standing upright before -her and in addressing her simply by her name. In Rome it was customary -at the conclusion of a Triumph to put to death the royal captives -who had been exhibited in the procession; and now that he had openly -insulted the Queen of Egypt he could not have expected to see another -sun rise. Antony and Cleopatra, however, appear to have been touched -at his dignified attitude; and neither he nor his family were -harmed. Instead, they were treated with some show of honour,[103] and -thereafter were held as state prisoners in the Egyptian capital. - -[Illustration: - - _British Museum._] [_Photograph by Macbeth._ - -ANTONIA, THE DAUGHTER OF ANTONY.] - -The Triumph ended, a vast banquet was given to all the inhabitants of -Alexandria; and late in the afternoon a second ceremony was held in the -grounds of the Gymnasium. Here again a silver-covered platform had been -erected, upon which two large and four smaller thrones of gold had been -set up; and, when the company was assembled, Antony, Cleopatra, and her -children took their seats upon them. Certain formalities having been -observed, Antony arose to address the crowd; and, after referring no -doubt to his victories, he proceeded to confer upon the Queen and her -offspring a series of startling honours. He appears to have proclaimed -Cleopatra sovereign of Egypt, and of the dominions which he had -bestowed upon her at Antioch nearly three years previously. He named -Cæsarion, the son of Julius Cæsar, co-regent with his mother, and gave -him the mighty title of King of Kings.[104] Cæsarion was now thirteen -and a half years of age; and since, as Suetonius remarks, he resembled -his father, the great Dictator, in a remarkable manner, Antony’s -feelings must have been strangely complicated as he now conferred upon -him these vast honours. To Alexander Helios, his own child, Antony next -gave the kingdom of Armenia; the kingdom of Media, presumably after the -death of the reigning monarch, whose daughter had just been married to -him; and ultimately the kingdom of Parthia, provided that it had been -conquered. This seems to have been arranged by treaty with the King of -Media in the previous summer,[105] the agreement probably being that, -on the death of that monarch, Alexander Helios and the Median heiress, -Iotapa, should ascend the amalgamated thrones of Armenia, Media, and -Parthia, Antony promising in return to assist in the conquest of -the last-named country. The boy was now six years of age, and his -chubby little figure had been dressed for the occasion in Median or -Armenian costume. Upon his head he wore the high, stiff tiara of these -countries, from the back of which depended a flap of cloth covering his -neck; his body was clothed in a sleeved tunic, over which was worn a -flowing cloak, thrown over one shoulder and hanging in graceful folds -at the back; and his legs were covered by the long, loosely-fitting -trousers worn very generally throughout Persia. To Cleopatra Selene, -Alexander’s twin-sister, Antony gave Cyrenaica, Libya, and as much of -the north-African coast as was in his gift; and finally he proclaimed -the small Ptolemy King of Phœnicia, northern Syria, and Cilicia. This -little boy, only two years of age, had been dressed up for the occasion -in Macedonian costume, and wore the national mantle, the boots, and -the cap encircled with the diadem, in the manner made customary by -the successors of Alexander. At the end of this surprising ceremony -the children, having saluted their parents, were each surrounded by a -bodyguard composed of men belonging to the nations over whom they were -to rule; and at last all returned in state to the Palace as the sun set -behind the Harbour of the Happy Return. - -In celebration of the occasion coins were struck bearing the -inscription _Cleopatræ reginæ regum filiorum regum_--“Of Cleopatra -the Queen, and of the Kings the children of Kings.” Antony perhaps -also caused a bronze statue to be made, representing his son Alexander -Helios dressed in the royal costume of his new kingdom, for a figure -has recently been discovered which appears to represent the boy in this -manner. He then wrote an account of the whole affair to the Senate in -Rome, together with a report on his Armenian war; and in a covering -letter he told his agents to obtain a formal ratification of the -changes which he had made in the distribution of the thrones in his -dominions. The news was received in Italy with astonishment, and in -official circles the greatest exasperation was felt. Antony’s agents -very wisely decided not to read the despatches to the Senate; but -Octavian insisted, and after much wrangling their contents were at last -publicly declared. Stories at once began to circulate in which Antony -figured as a kind of Oriental Sultan, living at Alexandria a life of -voluptuous degeneracy. He was declared to be constantly drunken; and, -since no such charge could be brought against Cleopatra, the Queen was -said to keep sober by means of a magical ring of amethyst, which had -the virtue of dispelling the fumes of wine from the head of the wearer. - -There can, indeed, be little doubt that Antony was very intemperate -at this period. He was worried to distraction by the approach of the -great war with Octavian; and he must have felt that his popularity in -Rome was now very much at stake. While waiting for events to shape -themselves, therefore, he attempted to free his mind from its anxieties -by heavy drinking; but in so doing, it would seem from subsequent -events, he began to lose the place in Cleopatra’s esteem which he -had formerly held. She herself did not ever drink much wine, if we -may judge from the fact, just now quoted, that she was at all times -notably sober; and she must have watched with increasing uneasiness the -dissolute habits of the man upon whom she was obliged to rely for the -fulfilment of her ambitions. - -The fact that he was ceasing to be a Roman, and was daily becoming -more like an Oriental potentate, did not trouble her so much. It -differentiated him, of course, from the great Dictator, whose memory -became more dear to her as she contrasted his activities with Antony’s -growing laziness; but all her life she had been accustomed to the -ways of Eastern monarchs, and she could not have been much shocked -at her husband’s new method of life, except in so far as it modified -his abilities as an active leader of men. Now that the quarrel with -Octavian was coming to a head, her throne and her very existence -depended on Antony’s ability to inspire and to command; and I dare say -a limited adoption of the manners of the East made him more agreeable -to the people with whom he had to deal. “Cleopatra,” says the violently -partisan Florus, “asked of the drunken general as the price of her love -the Roman Empire, and Antony promised it to her, as though Romans were -easier to conquer than Parthians.... Forgetting his country, his name, -his toga, and the insignia of his office, he had degenerated wholly, -in thought, feeling, and dress, into that monster of whom we know. In -his hand was a golden sceptre, at his side a scimitar; his purple robes -were clasped with great jewels; and he wore a diadem upon his head so -that he might be a King to match the Queen he loved.” - -The Palace at Alexandria had been much embellished and decorated -during recent years; and it was now a fitting setting for the -ponderous movements of this burly monarch of the East. Lucan tells -us how sumptuous a place the royal home had come to be. The ceilings -were fretted and inlaid, and gold-foil hid the rafters. The walls and -pillars were mainly made of fine marble, but a considerable amount -of purple porphyry[106] and agate were used in the decoration. The -flooring of some of the halls was of onyx or alabaster; ebony was -used as freely as common wood; and ivory was to be seen on all sides. -The doors were ornamented with tortoise-shells brought from India and -studded with emeralds. The couches and chairs were encrusted with gems; -much of the furniture was shining with jasper and carnelian; and there -were many priceless tables of carved ivory. The coverings were bright -with Tyrian dye, shining with spangled gold, or fiery with cochineal. -About the halls walked slaves, chosen for their good looks. Some were -dark-skinned, others were white; some had the crisp black hair of the -Ethiopians; others the golden or flaxen locks of Gaul and Germania. -Pliny tells us that Antony bought two boys for £800 each, and that they -were supposed to be twins, but that actually they came from different -countries. Of Cleopatra, Lucan writes: “She breathes heavily beneath -the weight of her ornaments; and her white breasts shine through the -Sidonian fabric which, wrought in close texture by the sley of the -Chinese, the needle of the workmen of the Nile has separated, loosening -the warp by stretching out the web.” The newly-developed trade with -India had filled the Palace with the luxurious fabrics of the Orient; -and the Greek, or even Egyptian, character of the materials and objects -in daily use was beginning to be lost in the medley of heterogenous -articles drawn from all parts of the world. - -Amidst these theatrical surroundings Antony acted, with a kind of -childish extravagance, the part of the half-divine Autocrator of the -East. When he was sober his mind must have been full of cares and -anxieties; but on the many occasions when he was somewhat intoxicated -he behaved himself in the manner of an overgrown boy. He delighted -in the general recognition of his identity with Bacchus or Dionysos; -and he loved to hear himself spoken of as the new “Liber Pater.” In -the festivals of that deity he was driven through the streets of -Alexandria in a car constructed like that traditionally used by the -bibulous god; a golden crown upon his head, often poised, it would -seem, at a peculiar angle, garlands of ivy tossed about his shoulders, -buskins on his feet, and the thyrsus in his hand. In this manner he was -trundled along the stately Street of Canopus, surrounded by leaping -women and prancing men, the crowds on either side of the road shouting -and yelling their merry salutations to him. A temple in his honour -was begun in the Regia at Alexandria, just to the west of the Forum; -but this was not completed until some years afterwards, when it was -converted into a shrine in honour of Octavian, and was known as the -Cæsareum. On one occasion he assigned the part of the sea-god Glaucus -to his friend Plancus, who forthwith danced about at a banquet, naked -and painted blue, a chaplet of sea-weed upon his head and a fish-tail -tied from his waist. - -Antony had never troubled himself much in regard to his dignity; and -now, in the character of the jolly ruler of the East, he was quite -unmindful of his appearance in the eyes of serious men. Often he was -to be seen walking on foot by the side of Cleopatra’s chariot, talking -to the eunuchs and servants who followed in her train. He caused the -Queen to give him the post of Superintendent of the Games,--a position -which was not considered to be particularly honourable. It is apparent -that her company had become very essential to him, and much notice -was taken of the fact that he now accompanied her wherever she went. -He rode through the streets at her side, conducted the official and -religious ceremonies for her, or sat by her when she was trying cases -in the public tribunal. Sometimes when he himself was alone upon -the judicial bench, looking out of the window in the midst of some -intricate judgment and by chance seeing Cleopatra’s chariot passing by -across the square, he would without explanation start up from his seat, -run over to her, and walk back to the Palace at her side, leaving the -magistrate, police, and prisoners in open-mouthed astonishment. - -We hear nothing in regard to Antony’s relations with his children, and -it is difficult to picture him as he appeared in the family circle. His -stepson Cæsarion, his two sons Alexander and Ptolemy, and his daughter -Cleopatra, were all at this time residing in the Palace; and moreover -his son by Fulvia, Antyllus, a boy somewhat younger than Cæsarion, had -now come to live with him in Alexandria. It is probable that he was an -affectionate and indulgent father; and there must have been many happy -scenes enacted in the royal nurseries, which, could they have been -recorded, would have gone far to correct the popular estimate of the -nature of Antony’s home-life with Cleopatra. The Queen was his legal -wife;[107] and in contemplating the extravagances and eccentricities -of his behaviour at Alexandria, we must not lose sight of the obvious -fact that his life at this period had also its domestic aspect. He -did not admit to himself that his union with Cleopatra was in any way -scandalous; and writing to Octavian in the following year he seems to -be quite surprised that his family life should be regarded as infamous. -“Is it because I live in intimate relations with a Queen?” he asks. -“_She is my wife._ Is this a new thing with me? Have I not acted so for -these nine years?” Indeed, as compared with Octavian’s private life, -the family circle at Alexandria, in spite of Antony’s buffoonery and -heavy drinking, was by no means wholly shameful. In Rome Octavian was -at this time employing his friends to search the town for women to -amuse him, and these agents, acting on his orders, are related to have -kidnapped respectable girls, and to have torn their clothes from them, -as did the common slave-dealers, in order to ascertain whether they -were fit presents for their vile master. We hear no such stories in -regard to the jovial Antony. - -A characteristic tale is told by Plutarch which illustrates the -open-handed opulence of the Alexandrian court at this time. A certain -Philotas, while dining with Antony’s son Antyllus, shut the mouth of a -rather noisy comrade by a very absurd syllogism, which made everybody -laugh. Antyllus was so delighted that he promptly made a present of a -sideboard covered with valuable plate to the embarrassed Philotas, who, -of course, refused it, not imagining that a youth of that age could -dispose in this light manner of such costly objects. Having returned -to his house, however, a friend presently arrived, bringing the plate -to him; and on his still objecting to receive it, “What ails the man?” -said the bearer of the gift. “Don’t you know that he who gives you this -is Antony’s son, who is free to give it even if it were all gold?” - -Thus the winter of B.C. 34-33 passed, and in the spring of 33 Antony -set out for his summer quarters in Syria. He desired to cement the -agreement with the King of Media, in order to guard himself against a -Parthian attack while engaged in the coming war with Octavian; and for -this purpose he determined to proceed at once to the borders of that -country. Cleopatra, therefore, did not accompany him; and in this fact -we may perhaps see an indication of some loss of interest on her part, -due to her growing disrespect for him. Passing through Syria he went -north-eastwards into Armenia, and there he seems to have effected a -meeting with the King of Media. To him he now gave a large portion of -Greater Armenia, and to the King of Pontus he handed over the territory -known as Lesser Armenia. The little Median princess, Iotapa, who had -been married to the young Alexander Helios, was placed in the care of -Antony with the idea that she should be educated at Alexandria. With -her the King sent Antony a present of the eagles captured from his -army at the time when the siege-train was lost in B.C. 36; and he also -presented him with a regiment of the famous mounted archers who had -wrought so much havoc on the Roman lines in the late campaign, while -in return for these men Antony sent a detachment of legionaries to the -Median capital. - -The Parthian danger being thus circumvented by this extremely -important and far-reaching compact with Media, Antony set out for -Egypt with the idea of spending the winter there once more.[108] He -took with him the little Princess Iotapa, and in the early autumn he -reached Alexandria. His news in regard to Media must have been very -satisfactory to Cleopatra, and Iotapa thenceforth became the companion -of the royal children in the Palace. But the news which he had to -relate in connection with Octavian was of the worst, and Cleopatra -must have asked him in astonishment how he could think of spending the -winter quietly in Alexandria in view of the imminence of war. In the -first place, the Triumvirate[109] came to an end at the close of the -year, and it seemed likely that Octavian would bring matters to an -issue on that date. Then Octavian had attacked him violently in the -Senate, and excited the public mind against his rival; and Antony, -hearing of this while in Armenia, wrote to him an obscene letter, much -too disgusting to quote here. To this Octavian replied in like manner. -Antony then charged him with acting unfairly, firstly, by not dividing -the spoils captured from Sextus Pompeius; secondly, by not returning -the ships which had been lent to him for the Pompeian war; thirdly, -by not sharing the province of Africa taken over after the retirement -of Lepidus; and lastly, that he had parcelled out almost all the free -land in Italy amongst his own soldiers, thus leaving none for Antony’s -legionaries. Octavian had replied that he would divide all the spoils -of war as soon as Antony gave him a share in Armenia and Egypt, while -in regard to the lands given as rewards to his legionaries, Antony’s -troops could hardly want them, since, no doubt, by now they had all -Media and Parthia to share amongst themselves. This reference to Egypt, -as though it were a province of Rome instead of an independent kingdom, -must have been deeply annoying to Cleopatra; but, on the other hand, -it was pleasant to hear that Octavian had abused Antony for living -immorally with the Queen, and that Antony had replied by stating -emphatically that she was his legal wife. - -The war, thus, was now on the eve of breaking out, and Cleopatra must -have been in a fever of excitement. Antony’s vague and casual behaviour -seems, therefore, to have annoyed her very considerably; and it was not -until he had decided to take up his winter quarters at Ephesus instead -of in Egypt that harmony was restored. Once aroused, he acted with -energy. He sent messengers in all directions to gather in his forces; -and he eagerly helped Cleopatra to make her warlike preparations in -her own country. In a few weeks the arrangements were complete, and -Antony and Cleopatra set out for Ephesus early in the winter of B.C. -33, at the head of a huge assemblage of naval and military armaments -and munitions. The people of Alexandria must have realised that their -Queen was going forth upon the most marvellous adventure. Only a few -years ago they had lain prone under the heel of Italy, expecting at -any moment to be deprived of their independent existence. Now, thanks -to the skill, the tact, and the charm of their divine Queen, their -incarnate Isis-Aphrodite, they were privileged to witness the departure -of the ships, the hosts, and the captains of Egypt for the conquest of -mighty Rome. They had heard Cleopatra swear to seat herself and her son -Cæsarion in the Capitol; and there could have been few in the cheering -crowds whose hearts did not swell with pride at the thought of the -glorious future which awaited their country and their royal house. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE DECLINE OF ANTONY’S POWER. - - -The city of Ephesus was situated near the mouth of the river Caystrus -in the shadow of the Messogis mountains, not far south of Smyrna, and -overlooking the island of Samos. Standing on the coast of Asia Minor, -near the frontier which divided Lydia from Caria, it looked directly -across the sea to Athens, and was sheltered from the menacing coasts -of Italy by the intervening Greek peninsula. Ephesus, I need hardly -remind the reader, was famous for its temple, dedicated to Diana of the -Ephesians. The building was constructed of white marble and cypress- -and cedar-wood, and was richly ornamented with gold. Many statues -adorned its colonnades, and there were many celebrated paintings upon -its walls, including a fine picture of Alexander the Great. Diana was -here worshipped under the name Artemis, and was often identified with -Venus, with whom Cleopatra claimed identity. Here Antony and Cleopatra -collected their forces, and soon the ancient city came to be the -largest military and naval centre in the world. Cleopatra had brought -with her from Egypt a powerful fleet of two hundred ships of war, -and a host of soldiers, sailors, workmen, and slaves. She had drawn -20,000 talents (_i.e._, £4,000,000) from her treasury; and, besides -this, she had brought a vast amount of corn, foodstuffs, clothing, -arms, and munitions of war. From Syria, Armenia, and Pontus, vessels -were arriving daily with further supplies; and Antony’s own fleet of -many hundred battleships and vessels of burden was rapidly mobilising -at the mouth of the river. All day and all night the roads to the -city thundered with the tread of armed men, as the kings and rulers -of the East marched their armies to the rendezvous. Bocchus, King of -Mauritania; Tarcondimotus, ruler of Upper Cilicia; Archelaus, King of -Cappadocia; Philadelphus, King of Paphlagonia; Mithridates, King of -Commagene; Sadalas and Rhœmetalces, Kings of Thrace; Amyntas, King of -Galatia, and many other great rulers, responded to the call to arms, -and hastened to place their services at the disposal of Antony and his -Queen. - -[Illustration: CLEOPATRA AND HER SON CÆSARION. - -REPRESENTED CONVENTIONALLY UPON A WALL OF THE TEMPLE OF DENDERA] - -One cannot help wondering whether these mighty men realised for what -they were about to fight. They were flocking to the standard of a man -who had held supreme power over their countries for many years, and -whose rule had been kindly and easy. They owed a great deal to him,--in -some cases their very thrones; and, were he now to be defeated by his -rival, they would probably fall with him. Success, however, seemed -certain in view of Antony’s enormous forces; and they therefore felt -that the assistance which they gave would undoubtedly bear abundant -fruit, and that their reward would be great. Antony, of course, told -them, perhaps with his tongue in his cheek, that he was fighting to -some extent on behalf of the Roman Republic, in order to free the -country from the oppression of an autocratic rule, and to restore the -old constitution. He was not such a fool as to admit that he was -aiming at a throne: Julius Cæsar had been assassinated on that very -account, and a declaration of this kind would likewise alienate a large -number of his supporters in Rome. He still had numerous friends in the -capital, men who disliked the forbidding personality of Octavian, and -who admired his own frank and open manners. Moreover, a considerable -body supported him in memory of the great Dictator, regarding Antony -as the guardian of young Cæsarion, whose rights they had at heart. A -story, of which we have already heard, had been circulated in regard -to Julius Cæsar’s will. It was said that the document which decreed -Octavian the heir was not the Dictator’s last testament, but that he -had made a later will in favour of Cleopatra’s son, Cæsarion, which -had been suppressed, probably by Calpurnia. Thus, to many of his Roman -friends, Antony was fighting to carry out the Dictator’s wishes, and to -overthrow the usurping Octavian. Was this, one asks, the justification -which he placed before the consideration of the vassal kings? At any -rate Dion Cassius states definitely that Antony’s recognition of -Cæsarion’s right to this great inheritance was the real cause of the -war. - -It does not seem to me that this point is fully recognised by -historians; but it is very apparent that Antony’s position at Ephesus -would have been almost untenable without a justification such as that -of the championing of Cæsarion. It was plain to every eastern eye that -he was acting in conjunction with Egypt and with Cleopatra; and all men -now knew that the Queen was his legal wife. It was obvious that, if -successful, he would enter Rome with the Queen of Egypt by his side. -Yet, at the same time, he was denying that he intended to establish a -monarchy in Rome on the lines proposed by the Dictator, and he was -talking a great deal of rubbish about reviving the Republic. There -is, surely, only one way in which these divergent interests could be -made to fit into a scheme capable of satisfying both his Roman and -his Oriental supporters, and would serve as a professed justification -for the war: he was going to establish the Dictator’s son, Cæsarion, -in his father’s seat, and to turn out the wrongful heir, Octavian. He -himself would be the boy’s guardian, and would act, at any rate in -Italy, on republican lines. Cleopatra, as his wife, would doff her -crown while in Italy, but would assume it once more within her own -dominions, just as Julius Cæsar had proposed to do in the last year of -his life.[110] Of course it must have been recognised that the throne -of Rome would ultimately be offered to him, and that he would hand it -on to Cæsarion in due course, thus founding a dynasty of the blood of -the divine Julius; but this fact was kept severely in the background. -If Cæsarion and his cause had not formed part of the _casus belli_, -it is unlikely that Antony would have been at all widely supported in -Rome; and what man would have tolerated the armed presence of Cleopatra -and her Egyptians, save in her capacity as mother of the claimant and -wife of the claimant’s guardian? Without Cæsarion, what was Antony’s -justification for the war? I can find very little. He would have been -fighting to turn out Octavian, who, in that case, would have been the -rightful and only heir; he would have been introducing Cleopatra into -Roman politics with the obvious intention of creating a throne for her, -the very step which had been Cæsar’s undoing; and he would have been -offering her royal view of life in exchange for Octavian’s republican -sentiments, not as something of which the best had to be made under -the circumstances, but as a habit of mind desirable in itself. His -apparent deference to Cleopatra, and the manner in which she shared -his supremacy, must have been liable to cause much offence in Rome and -in Ephesus, and would never have been tolerated had she not been put -forward as Julius Cæsar’s widow and the mother of his son. - -The armies marching into the city comprised soldiers of almost every -nation. There were nineteen Roman legions; troops of Gauls and Germans; -contingents of Moorish, Egyptian, Sudanese, Arab, and Bedouin warriors; -the wild tribesmen from Media; hardy Armenians; barbaric fighting men -from the coast of the Black Sea; Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. The streets -of the city were packed with men in every kind of costume, bearing all -manner of arms, and talking a hundred languages. Never, probably, in -the world’s history had so many nationalities been gathered together; -and Cleopatra’s heart must have been nigh bursting with feminine pride -and gratification at the knowledge that in reality she had been the -cause of the great mobilisation. They had come together at Antony’s -bidding, it is true; but they had come to fight her battles. They -were here to vindicate her honour, to place her upon the throne of -the World. With their forests of swords and spears they were about -to justify those nights, nearly sixteen years ago, when, as the wild -little queen of little Egypt, she lay in the arms of Rome’s mighty -old reprobate. In those far-off days she was fighting to retain the -independence of her small country and her dynasty: now she was Queen -of dominions more extensive than any governed by the proudest of the -Pharaohs, and she would soon see her royal house raised to a height -never before attained by man. It was her custom at this time to use as -an oath the words, “As surely as I shall one day administer justice on -the Capitol”; and, proudly acting the part of hostess in Ephesus, she -must have felt that the great day was very near. Already the Ephesians -were hailing her as their Queen, and the deference paid to her by the -vassal kings was very marked. - -In the spring of B.C. 32 some four hundred Roman senators arrived at -Antony’s headquarters. These men stated that Octavian, after denouncing -his rival in the Senate, had advised all who were on the enemy’s side -to quit the city, whereupon they had set sail for Ephesus, leaving -behind them some seven or eight hundred senators who either held with -Octavian or pursued a non-committal policy. War had not yet been -declared, but no declaration seemed now to be necessary. - -[Illustration: - - A Map - Illustrating the War between - Cleopatra and Octavian. - - _William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_ W. & A. K. Johnston, - Limited, Edinburgh & London. -] - -With the arrival of the senators trouble began to brew in the camp. -Cleopatra’s power and authority were much resented by the new-comers, -to whom the existing situation was something of a revelation. They had -not realised that the Queen of Egypt was playing an active part in -the preparations, and many of them speedily recognised the fact that -Antony, as Autocrat of the East and husband of Cleopatra, was hardly -the man to restore a republican government to Rome. It was not long -before some of them began to show their dislike of the Queen and to -hint that she ought to retire into the background, at any rate for the -time being. There was one old soldier, Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus, -the representative of an ancient republican family, who would -never acknowledge Cleopatra’s right to the supremacy which she had -attained, nor, on any occasion, would he address her by her title, -but always called her simply by her name. This man at length told -Antony in the most direct manner that he ought to send Cleopatra back -to Egypt, there to await the conclusion of the war. He seems to have -pointed out that her presence with the army gave a false impression, -and would be liable to alienate the sympathies of many of his Roman -friends. He suggested, perhaps, that the Queen should vacate her place -in favour of Cæsarion, whose rights few denied. Antony, seeing the -wisdom of this advice, told Cleopatra to return to Alexandria; but -she, in great alarm, is said to have bribed Publius Canidius, one of -Antony’s most trusted councillors, to plead with him on her behalf--the -result being that the proposal of Domitius Ahenobarbus was discarded, -and the Queen remained with the army. Publius Canidius had pointed out -to Antony that the Egyptian fleet would fight much more willingly if -their Queen were with them, and Egyptian money would be more readily -obtained if she herself were felt to be in need of it. “And, besides,” -said he, “I do not see to which of the kings who have joined this -expedition Cleopatra is inferior in wisdom; for she has for a long time -governed by herself a vast kingdom, and has learnt in your company the -handling of great affairs.”[111] - -The Queen’s continuance at Ephesus and her connection with the war was -the cause of great dissensions, and the Roman senators began to range -themselves into two distinct parties: those who fell in with Antony’s -schemes, and those who now favoured a reconciliation with Octavian as -a means of ridding Roman politics of Cleopatra’s disturbing influence. -When the efforts of the peacemakers came to her ears her annoyance -must have been intense. Were all her hopes to be dashed to the ground -just because a few stiff-backed senators disliked the idea of a foreign -sovereign concerning herself with republican politics? She no longer -trusted Antony, for it seemed apparent to her that he was, at heart, -striving only for his own aggrandisement, and was prepared to push her -into the background at the moment when her interests threatened to -injure his own. It was she who had incited him into warfare, who had -kept him up to the mark, aroused him to his duties, and financed to -a large extent his present operations; and yet he was, even at this -eleventh hour, half-minded to listen to those who urged him to make -peace. Only recently he had made some sort of offer to Octavian to lay -down his arms if the latter would do likewise. At the time Cleopatra -had probably thought this simply a diplomatic move designed to gain -popularity; but now she seems to have questioned seriously Antony’s -desire for war, and to have asked herself whether he would not much -prefer peace, quietness, and leisure wherein to drink and feast to -his jovial heart’s content. Yet war was essential to her ambitions, -and to the realisation of the rights of her son. If Octavian were not -overthrown, she would never have any sense of security; and with all -her heart she desired to come to a safe harbour after these years of -storm and stress. - -It will be seen, then, that to her the need of preventing peace was -paramount. She therefore made one last effort in this direction; -and, bringing all her arts and devices to bear upon her husband, she -began to persuade him to issue a writ casting off Octavia and thereby -insulting Octavian beyond the limits of apology. As soon as the scheme -came to the ears of the peace party pressure was brought to bear on -Antony to effect a reconciliation with Octavia; and the unfortunate -man appears to have been badgered and pestered by both factions until -he must have been heartily sick of the subject. Cleopatra’s councils, -however, at last prevailed to this extent, that Antony decided to -make a forward movement and to cross the sea to Greece, thus bringing -hostilities a step nearer. At the end of April he sailed over from -Ephesus to the island of Samos, leaving a part of the army behind him. -Here he remained for two or three weeks, during which time, in reaction -after his worries, he indulged in a round of dissipations. He had told -his various vassals to bring with them to the rendezvous their leading -actors and comedians, so that the great gathering should not lack -amusement; and now these players were shipped across to Samos, there -to perform before this audience of kings and rulers. These sovereigns -competed with one another in the giving of superb banquets, but we -do not now hear of any such extravagances on the part of Cleopatra, -who was probably far too anxious, and too sobered, to give any -extraordinary attention to her duties as hostess. Splendid sacrifices -were offered to the gods in the island temples, each city contributing -an ox for this purpose; and the sacred buildings must have resounded -with invocations to almost every popular deity of the east and west. -The contrast was striking between the brilliancy and festivity at Samos -and the anxiety and dejection of the cities of the rest of the world, -which had been bereft of their soldiers and their money, and were about -to be plunged into all the horrors of internecine warfare. “While -pretty nearly the whole world,” says Plutarch, “was filled with groans -and lamentations, this one island for some days resounded with piping -and harping, theatres filling, and choruses playing; so that men began -to ask themselves what would be done to celebrate victory when they -went to such an expense of festivity at the opening of the war.” - -Towards the end of May the great assemblage crossed over the sea to -Athens, and here Antony and Cleopatra held their court. The Queen’s -mind was now, I fancy, in a very disturbed condition, owing to the -ominous dissensions arising from her presence with the army, and to the -lack of confidence which she was feeling in her husband’s sincerity. -I think it very probable that they were not on the best of terms with -one another at this time, and, although Antony was perhaps a good deal -more devoted to the Queen than he had been before, there may have been -some bickering and actual quarrelling. Cleopatra desired the divorce -of Octavia and immediate war, but Antony on his part was seemingly -disinclined to take any decisive steps. He was, in fact, in a very -great dilemma. He had, apparently, promised the Queen that if he were -victorious he would at once aim for the monarchy proposed by Julius -Cæsar, and would arrange for Cæsarion to succeed in due course to the -throne; but now it had been pointed out to him by the majority of the -senators who were with him that he was earnestly expected to restore -the republic, and to celebrate his victory by becoming once more an -ordinary citizen. In early life he would have faced these difficulties -with a light heart, and devised some means of turning the situation -to his own advantage. Now, however, the power of his will had been -undermined by excessive drinking; and, moreover, he had come to be -extremely dependent upon Cleopatra in all things. He was very fond of -her, and was becoming daily more maudlin in his affections. He was now -nearly fifty years old; and, with the decrease of his vitality, he had -ceased to be so promiscuous in affairs of the heart, centering his -interest more wholly upon the Queen, though she herself was no longer -very youthful, being at this time some thirty-eight years of age. His -quarrels with her seemed to have distressed him very much, and in -his weakened condition, her growing disrespect for him caused him to -be more devotedly her slave. He seems to have watched with a sort of -bibulous admiration her masterly and energetic handling of affairs, and -he was anxious to do his best to retain her affection for him, which -he could see, was on the wane. To the dauntless heart of a woman like -Cleopatra, however, no appeal could be made save by manly strength and -powerful determination; and one seems to observe the growth in the -Queen’s mind of a kind of horror at the rapid degeneration of the man -whom she had loved and trusted. - -To make matters worse, there arrived at Athens Antony’s -fourteen-year-old son, Antyllus, whom we have already met at -Alexandria. He had recently been in Rome, where he had been kindly -treated by the dutiful Octavia, whose attitude to all her husband’s -children was invariably generous and noble. Antony regarded this -boy, it would seem, with great affection, and had caused him to be -proclaimed an hereditary prince. The lad became something of a rival to -Cæsarion, to whom Cleopatra was devotedly attached; and one may perhaps -see in his presence at Athens a further cause for dissension. - -At length, however, early in June the Queen persuaded Antony to take -the final step, and to divorce Octavia. Having placed the matter -before his senators, by whom the question was angrily discussed, he -sent messengers to Rome to serve Octavia with the order of ejection -from his house; and at the same time he issued a command to the troops -still at Ephesus to cross at once to Greece. This was tantamount to -a declaration of war, and Cleopatra’s mind must have been extremely -relieved thereby. No sooner, however, had this step been taken than -many of Antony’s Roman friends appear to have come to him in the -greatest alarm, pointing out that the brutal treatment of Octavia, who -had won all men’s sympathy by her quiet and dutiful behaviour, would -turn from him a great number of his supporters in Italy, and would -be received as a clear indication of his subserviency to Cleopatra. -They implored him to correct this impression; and Antony, harassed and -confused, thereupon made a speech to his Roman legions promising them -that within two months of their final victory he would re-establish the -republic. - -The announcement must have come as a shock to Cleopatra, and must have -shown her clearly that Antony was playing a double game. She realised, -no doubt, that the promise did not necessitate the abandonment of their -designs in regard to the monarchy; for, after establishing the old -constitution, Antony would have plenty of time in which to build the -foundations of a throne. Yet the declaration unnerved her, and caused -her to recognise with more clarity the great divergence between her -autocratic sentiments and the democratic principles of the country -she was attempting to bring under her sway. She saw that, little by -little, the basis upon which the project of the war was founded was -being changed. At first the great justification for hostilities had -been the ousting of Octavian from the estate belonging by right to her -son, Cæsarion. Now the talk was all of liberty, of democracy, and of -the restoration of republican institutions. - -Her overwrought feelings, however, were somewhat soothed by Antony’s -personal behaviour, which at this time was anything but democratic. -He was allowing himself to be recognised as a divine personage by -the Athenians, and he insisted on the payment of the most royal -and celestial honours to Cleopatra, of whom he was at this time -inordinately proud. The Queen was, indeed, in these days supreme, and -the early authors are all agreed that Antony was to a large extent -under her thumb. The Athenians, recognising her as their fellow-Greek, -were eager to admit her omnipotence. They caused her statue to be set -up in the Acropolis near that already erected to Antony; they hailed -her as Aphrodite; they voted her all manner of municipal honours, -and, to announce the fact, sent a deputation to her which was headed -by Antony in his _rôle_ as a freeman of the city. Octavia, it will be -remembered, had resided at Athens some years previously, and had been -much liked by the citizens; but the memory of her quiet and pathetic -figure was quickly obliterated by the presence of the splendid little -Queen of Egypt who sat by Antony’s side at the head of a gathering of -kings and princes. Already she seemed to be Queen of the Earth; for, -acting as hostess to all these monarchs, speaking to each in his own -language, and entertaining them with her brilliant wit, she appeared -to be the leading spirit both in their festivities and in their -councils. - -Antony, meanwhile, having quieted the dissensions amongst his -supporters, gave himself up to merry-making in his habitual manner; -and presently he caused the Athenians to recognise him formally as -Dionysos, or Bacchus, come down to earth. In anticipation of a certain -Bacchic day of festival he set all the carpenters in the city to make a -huge skeleton roof over the big theatre, this being then covered with -green branches and vines, as in the caves sacred to this god; and from -these branches hundreds of drums, faun-skins, and other Bacchic toys -and symbols were suspended. On the festal day Antony sat himself, with -his friends around him, in the middle of the theatre, the afternoon sun -splashing down upon them through the interlaced greenery; and thus, in -the guise of Bacchus, he presided at a wild drinking-bout, hundreds -of astonished Athenians watching him from around the theatre. When -darkness had fallen the city was illuminated, and, in the light of a -thousand torches and lanterns, Antony rollicked up to the Acropolis, -where he was proclaimed as the god himself. - -Many were the banquets given at this time both by Antony and -Cleopatra, and the behaviour of the former was often uproarious and -undignified. On one state occasion he caused much excitement by going -across to Cleopatra in the middle of the meal and rubbing her feet, a -ministration always performed by a slave, and now undertaken by him, it -is said, to fulfil a wager. He was always heedless of public opinion, -and at this period of his life the habit of indifference to comment -had grown upon him to a startling extent. Frequently he would rudely -interrupt an audience which he was giving to one of the vassal kings by -receiving and openly reading some message from Cleopatra written upon -a tablet of onyx or crystal; and once when Furnius, a famous orator, -was pleading a case before him, he brought the eloquent speech to an -abrupt end by hurrying off to join the Queen outside, having entirely -forgotten, it would seem, that the orator’s arguments were being -addressed to himself. - -An event now occurred which threw the whole of the Antonian party into -a state of the utmost anxiety. Two of the leading men at that time in -Athens deserted and went over to Octavian. One of these, Titius, has -already been noticed in connection with the arrest and execution of -Sextus Pompeius; the other, Plancus, was the man who made so great a -fool of himself at Alexandria when he painted himself blue and danced -naked about the room, as has been described already.[112] Velleius -speaks of him as “the meanest flatterer of the Queen, a man more -obsequious than any slave”; and one need not be surprised, therefore, -that Cleopatra was rude to him, which was the cause, so he said, of his -desertion. These two men had both been witnesses to Antony’s will, a -copy of which had been deposited with the Vestal Virgins; and as soon -as they were come to Rome they informed Octavian of its contents, who -promptly went to the temple of Vesta, seized the document, and, a few -days later, read it out to the Senate. Many senators were scandalised -at the proceedings; but they were, nevertheless, curious to hear what -the will set forth, and therefore did not oppose the reading. The only -clause, however, out of which Octavian was able to make much capital -was that wherein Antony stated that if he were to die in Rome he -desired his body, after being carried in state through the Forum, to be -sent to Alexandria, there to be buried beside Cleopatra. - -The two deserters now began to spread throughout Italy all manner -of stories derogatory to Antony, and to heap abuse upon the Queen, -whom they described as having complete ascendancy over her husband, -due, they were sure, to the magical love-potions which she secretly -administered to him. When we consider that the accusations made by -disreputable tattlers, such as Plancus, were all concerned with -Antony’s devotion to her, we may realise how little there really was to -be brought against her. Antony, they said, was under her magical spell; -he had allowed the Ephesians to hail her as Queen; she had forced -him to present to her the library of Pergamum (a city not far from -Ephesus), consisting of 200,000 volumes; he was wont to become drunken -while she, of course by magic, remained sober; he had become her slave -and even rubbed her feet always for her, and so on. Such rubbishy tales -as these were the basis upon which the fabulous story of Cleopatra’s -terrible wickedness was founded, and presently we hear her spoken of as -“the harlot queen of incestuous Canopus, who aspired to set up against -Jupiter the barking Anubis, and to drown the Roman trumpet with her -jangling systrum.”[113] - -The friends of Antony in Rome, alarmed by the hostile attitude of the -majority of the public, sent a certain Geminius to Athens to warn their -leader that he would soon be proclaimed an enemy of the State. On his -arrival at the headquarters, he was thought to be an agent of Octavia, -and both Cleopatra and Antony treated him with considerable coldness, -assigning to him the least important place at their banquets, and -making him a continual butt for their most biting remarks. For some -time he bore this treatment patiently; but at length one night, when -both he and Antony were somewhat intoxicated, the latter asked him -point-blank what was his business at Athens, and Geminius, springing to -his feet, replied that he would keep that until a soberer hour, but one -thing he would say here and now, drunk or sober, that if only the Queen -would go back to Egypt all would be well with their cause. At this -Antony was furious, but Cleopatra, keeping her temper, said in her most -scathing manner: “You have done well, Geminius, to tell your secret -without being put to torture.” A day or two later he slipped away from -Athens and hurried back to Rome. - -The next man to desert was Marcus Silanus, formerly an officer of -Julius Cæsar in Gaul, who also carried to Rome stories of Cleopatra’s -power and Antony’s weakness. Shortly after this Octavian issued a -formal declaration of war, not, however, against Antony but against -Cleopatra. The decree deprived Antony of his offices and his authority, -because, it declared, he had allowed a woman to exercise it in -his place. Octavian added that Antony had evidently drunk potions -which had bereft him of his senses, and that the generals against -whom the Romans would fight would be the Egyptian court-eunuchs, -Mardion and Potheinos;[114] Cleopatra’s hair-dressing girl, Iras, -and her attendant, Charmion; for these nowadays were Antony’s chief -state-councillors. The Queen was thus made to realise that her -husband’s cause in Rome was suffering very seriously from her presence -with the army; but, at the same time, were she now to return to Egypt -she knew that Antony might play her false, and the fact that war -had not been declared upon him but upon her would give him an easy -loophole for escape. To counteract the prevailing impression in Italy -Antony despatched a large number of agents who were to attempt to turn -popular opinion in his favour, and meanwhile he disposed his army for -the final struggle. He had decided to wait for Octavian to attack him, -partly because he felt confident in the ability of his great fleet to -destroy the enemy before ever it could land on the shores of Greece, -and partly because he believed that Octavian’s forces would become -disaffected long before they could be brought across the sea. The state -of war would be felt in Italy very soon, whereas in Greece and Asia -Minor it would hardly make any difference to the price of provisions. -Egypt alone would supply enough corn to feed the whole army, while -Italy would soon starve; and Egypt would provide money for the regular -payment of the troops, while Octavian did not know where to turn for -cash. Indeed, so great was the distress in Italy, and so great the -likelihood of mutinies in the enemy’s army, that Antony did not expect -to have to fight a big battle on land. For this reason he had felt -it safe to leave four of his legions at Cyrene, four in Egypt, and -three in Syria; and he linked up the whole of the sea-coast around the -eastern Mediterranean with small garrisons. The army which he kept with -him in Greece consisted of some 100,000 foot and 12,000 horse, a force -which must certainly have seemed adequate, since it was greater than -that of the enemy. Octavian had at least 250 ships of war, 80,000 foot, -and 12,000 horse. - -When winter approached Cleopatra and Antony advanced with the whole -army from Athens to Patrae, and there went into winter quarters. Patrae -stood near the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, on the Achaian side, not -much more than 200 miles from the Italian coast. The fleet, meanwhile, -was sent farther north to the Gulf of Ambracia, which formed a huge -natural harbour with a narrow entrance; and outposts were placed at -Corcyra, the modern Corfu, some 70 miles from the Italian coast. In -the period of waiting which followed, when the storms of winter made -warfare almost out of the question, Antony and Octavian exchanged -several pugnacious messages. Octavian, constrained by the restlessness -of his men and the difficulty of providing for them during the winter, -is said to have written to Antony asking him not to protract the war, -but to come over to Italy and fight him at once. He even promised not -to oppose his disembarkation, but to offer him battle only when he was -quite prepared to meet him with his full forces. Antony replied by -challenging Octavian to a single combat, although, as he stated, he -was already an elderly man. This challenge Octavian refused to accept, -and thereupon Antony invited him to bring his army over to the plains -to Pharsalia and to fight him there, where Julius Cæsar and Pompey had -fought nearly seventeen years before. This offer was likewise refused; -and thereafter the two huge armies settled down once more to glare at -one another across the Ionian Sea. - -Octavian now sent a message to Greece inviting the Roman senators -who were still with Antony to return to Rome where they would be well -received; and this offer must have found many ready ears, though none -yet dared to act upon it. Several of these senators felt disgust at -their leader’s intemperate habits, and were deeply jealous of the power -of Cleopatra, whose influence did not seem likely to serve the cause of -the Republic. The declaring of war against the Queen and not against -themselves had touched them sharply, and to add to their discomfort -in this regard news now came across the sea that Octavian, in making -his official sacrifices to the gods at the opening of hostilities, had -employed the ritual observed before a campaign against a _foreign_ -enemy. He had stood, as the ancient rites of Rome prescribed, before -the temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius, and, clad in the robes of -a Fetial priest, had thrown the javelin, as a declaration that war was -undertaken against an alien enemy. - -Now came disconcerting rumours from the Gulf of Ambracia which could -not be kept secret. During the winter the supplies had run out, and -all manner of diseases had attacked the rowing-slaves and sailors, the -result being that nearly a third of their number had perished. To fill -their places Antony had ordered his officers to press into service -every man on whom they could lay their hands. Peasants, farm hands, -harvesters, ploughboys, donkey-drivers, and even common travellers had -been seized upon and thrust into the ships, but still their complements -were incomplete, and many of them were unfit for action. The news -caused the greatest anxiety in the camp, and when, in March B.C. 31, -the cessation of the storms of winter brought the opening of actual -hostilities close at hand, there was many a man at Patrae who wished -with all his heart that he were safe in his own country. - -The first blow was struck by Octavian, who sent a flying squadron -across the open sea to the south coast of Greece, under the command of -his great friend Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. This force seized Methone, -and appeared to be seeking a landing-place for the main army; and -Antony at once prepared to march down and hold the coast against the -expected attack. But while his eyes were turned in this direction -Octavian slipped across with his army from Brindisi and Tarentum to -Corcyra, and thence to the mainland, marching down through Epirus -towards the Gulf of Ambracia, thus menacing the ill-manned fleet -lying in those waters. Antony thereupon hastened northwards with all -possible speed, and arrived at the promontory of Actium, which formed -the southern side of the mouth of the Gulf, almost at the same moment -at which Octavian reached the opposite, or northern, promontory. -Realising that an attack was about to be made upon the fleet, Antony -drew his ships up in battle array, manning them where necessary with -legionaries; and thereupon Octavian gave up the project of immediate -battle. Antony then settled himself down on his southern promontory -where he formed an enormous camp, and a few days later he was joined -there by Cleopatra. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM AND THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT. - - -The story of the battle of Actium has troubled historians of all -periods, and no one has been able to offer a satisfactory explanation -of the startling incidents which occurred in it or of the events -which led up to them. I am not able to accept the ingenious theory -set forward by Ferrero, nor is it easy to agree wholly with the -explanations given by classical authors. In the following chapter -I relate the events as I think they occurred, but of course my -interpretation is open to question. The reader, however, may refer to -the early authors to check my statements; and there he will find, as no -doubt he has already observed in other parts of this volume, that while -the incidents and facts all have the authority of these early writers, -the theories which explain them, representing my own opinion, are -frankly open to discussion. - -For the time being Octavian did not care to be at too close quarters to -Antony, and he therefore fortified himself in a position a few miles -back from the actual entrance to the Gulf of Ambracia. Antony at once -shipped a part of his army across from Actium to the north side of -the great harbour’s mouth, and thus placed himself in command of the -passage into the inland water. Octavian soon threw up impregnable -earthworks around his camp, and built a wall down to the shore of the -Ionian Sea, so that the enemy could not interfere with the landing -of his supplies, all of which had to come from across the water. He -stationed his ships in such a position that they could command the -entrance to the Gulf of Ambracia; and, these vessels proving to be -extremely well manned and handled, Antony soon found that his own fleet -was actually bottled up in the Gulf, and could not pass into the open -sea without fighting every inch of the passage out through the narrow -fairway. Octavian was thus in command of the Ionian Sea, and was free -to receive provisions or munitions of war day by day from Italy. He -could not, however, leave his fortified camp, for Antony commanded all -the country around him. Thus, while Octavian blockaded Antony’s fleet -in the Gulf, Antony besieged Octavian’s army in their camp; and while -Octavian commanded the open sea and obtained his supplies freely from -Italy, Antony commanded the land and received his provisions without -interruption from Greece. A deadlock therefore ensued, and neither side -was able to make a hostile move. It seems clear to me that a decisive -battle could only be brought on by one of two manœuvres: either Antony -must retire from Actium and induce Octavian to come after him into -Greece, or else his fleet must fight its way out of the Gulf and cut -off Octavian’s supplies, thus starving him into surrender. Many of -Antony’s generals were of opinion that the former movement should be -undertaken, and they pressed him to retire and thus draw Octavian from -his stronghold. Cleopatra, however, appears to have been in favour of -breaking the blockade and regaining possession of the sea. She may have -considered Antony’s army to be composed of too many nationalities to -make success on land absolutely assured, and any retreat at this moment -might easily be misinterpreted and might lead to desertions. On the -other hand, she had confidence in her Egyptian fleet and in Antony’s -own ships, if, by cutting down their number, their crews could be -brought up to the full complement; and she believed that with, say, -300 vessels Octavian’s blockade could be forced, and his own position -subjected to the same treatment. I gather that this plan, however, was -hotly opposed by Domitius Ahenobarbus and others; and, since a loss of -time was not likely to alter the situation to their disadvantage, no -movement was yet made. - -Some time in June Antony sent a squadron of cavalry round the shores -of the Gulf to try to cut off Octavian’s water-supply, but the move -was not attended with much success and was abandoned. Shortly after -this the deserter Titius defeated a small body of Antony’s cavalry, -and Agrippa captured a few of his ships which had been cruising from -stations outside the Gulf; whereupon Octavian sent despatches to Rome -announcing these successes as important victories, and stating that -he had trapped Antony’s fleet within the Gulf. He also sent agents -into Greece to try to shake the confidence of the inhabitants in his -enemy, and these men appear to have been partially successful in their -endeavours. - -These small victories of Octavian seem to have unnerved Antony, and -to have had a dispiriting effect upon the army. Cleopatra, too, must -have been particularly depressed by them, for they seemed to be a -confirmation of the several ominous and inauspicious occurrences -which had recently taken place. An Egyptian soothsayer had once told -Antony that his genius would go down before that of Octavian; and -Cleopatra, having watched her husband’s rapid deterioration in the -last two years, now feared that the man’s words were indeed true. News -had lately come from Athens that a violent hurricane had torn down -the statue of Bacchus, the god whom Antony impersonated, from a group -representing the Battle of the Giants; and two colossal statues of -Fumenes and Attalus, each of which was inscribed with Antony’s name, -had also been knocked over during the same cyclone. This news recalled -the fact that a few months previously at Patrae the temple of Hercules, -the ancestor of Antony, had been struck by lightning; and at about the -same time a small township founded by him at Pisaurum, on the east -coast of Italy, north of Ancona, had been destroyed by an earthquake. -These and other ill-omened accidents had a very depressing effect on -Cleopatra’s spirits, and her constant quarrels with Antony and his -generals seem to have caused her to be in a state of great nervous -tension. Towards the end of July or early in August, when the low-lying -ground on which their camp was pitched became infested with mosquitos, -and when the damp heat of summer had set the tempers of everybody on -edge, the quarrels in regard to the conduct of the campaign broke out -with renewed fury. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Dellius, Amyntas, and others, -again urged Antony to retire inland and to fight a pitched battle with -Octavian as soon as he should come after them. Cleopatra, however, -still appears to have considered that the forcing of the blockade was -the most important operation to be undertaken, and this she urged upon -her undecided husband. It was of course a risky undertaking, but by -reason of the very danger it made a strong appeal to Cleopatra’s mind. -If their fleet could destroy that of Octavian, they would have him -caught in his stronghold as in a trap. They would not even have to wait -for the surrender; but, leaving eighty or a hundred thousand men to -prevent his escape, they might sail over to Italy with twenty or thirty -thousand legionaries and take possession of empty Rome. There was not -a senator nor a military force in the capital, for Octavian had lately -made the entire senate in Rome come over to his camp, in order to give -tone to his proceedings; and, when once Octavian’s sea-power had been -destroyed, Antony and Cleopatra would be free to ride unchecked into -Rome while the enemy was starved into surrender in Greece. A single -naval battle, and Rome would be theirs! This, surely, was better than a -slow and ponderous retreat into the interior. - -Antony, however, could not persuade his generals to agree to this. -The risk was great, they seem to have argued; and even if they were -victorious, was he going to march into Rome with Cleopatra by his side? -The citizens would never stand it, after the stories they had heard in -regard to the Queen’s magical power over him. Let her go back to Egypt, -nor any longer remain to undermine Antony’s popularity. How could he -appear to the world as a good republican with royal Cleopatra’s arm -linked in his? By abandoning the idea of a naval battle the Egyptian -fleet could be dispensed with, and could be allowed to depart to Egypt -if it succeeded in running the blockade. Cleopatra had supplied ships -but hardly any soldiers, and a land battle could be fought without her -aid, and therefore without cause for criticism; nor would Octavian any -longer be able to say that he was waging war against Cleopatra and not -against Antony. The money which she had supplied for the campaign was -almost exhausted, and thus she was of no further use to the cause. Let -Antony then give up the projected naval battle, and order the Queen -to go back quickly with her ships to her own country: for thus, and -thus only, could the disaffected republican element in their army be -brought into line. Cleopatra, they said, had been the moving spirit in -the war; Cleopatra had supplied the money; it was against Cleopatra -that Octavian had declared war; it was Cleopatra’s name, and the false -stories regarding her, which had aroused Rome to Octavian’s support; it -was Cleopatra who was now said on all sides to be supreme in command -of the whole army; and it was of Cleopatra that every senator, every -vassal king, and every general, was furiously jealous. Unless she were -made to go, the whole cause was lost. - -Antony seems to have realised the justice of these arguments, and to -have promised to try to persuade his wife to retire to Egypt to await -the outcome of the war; and he was further strengthened in this resolve -when even Canidius, who had all along favoured the keeping of Cleopatra -with the army, now urged him to ask her to leave them to fight their -own battle. He therefore told the Queen, it would seem, that he desired -her to go, pointing out that in this way alone could victory be secured. - -Cleopatra, I take it, was furious. She did not trust Antony, and she -appears to have been very doubtful whether he would still champion her -cause after victory. She even doubted that he would be victorious. He -was now but the wreck of the man he had once been, for a too lifelike -impersonation of the god Bacchus had played havoc with his nerves and -with his character. He had no longer the strength and the determination -necessary for the founding of an imperial throne in Rome; and she felt -that, even if he were successful in arms against Octavian, he would -make but a poor regent for her son Cæsarion. Having used her money -and her ships for his war, he might abandon her cause; and the fact -that they were fighting for Cæsar’s son and heir, which had already -been placed in the background, might be for ever banished. It must -have seemed madness for her to leave her husband at this critical -juncture. In order to prevent further desertions he would probably -proclaim his republican principles as soon as her back was turned; -and, in his drunken weakness, he might commit himself so deeply that -he would never be able to go back upon his democratic promises. Since -she was unpopular with his generals, he would perhaps at once tell them -that she was nothing to him; and for the sake of assuring victory he -might even divorce her. Of course, it was obvious that he was devoted -to her, and relied on her in all matters, seeming to be utterly lost -without her; but, for all she knew, his ambition might be stronger than -his love. She therefore refused absolutely to go; and Antony was too -kind-hearted, and perhaps too much afraid of her anger, to press the -matter. - -His talk with her, however, seems to have decided him to break the -blockade as soon as possible, and at the same time to invest Octavian’s -lines so that he could not escape from the stronghold which would -become his death-trap. Once master of the sea, he would, at any rate, -have opened a path for Cleopatra’s departure, and she could retire -unmolested with her fleet to her own country. He therefore hurried on -the manning of his ships, and at the same time sent Dellius and Amyntas -into Thrace to recruit a force of cavalry to supplement those at his -disposal. Cleopatra pointed out to him that the ground upon which -their camp was pitched at Actium was extremely unhealthy, and if they -remained there much longer the troops would be decimated by malaria; -and she seems perhaps to have urged him to move round to the north of -the Gulf of Ambracia, in order both to obtain more healthy conditions -for the army and to invest more closely the camp of Octavian in -preparation for the naval fight. Domitius Ahenobarbus was still hotly -opposed to this fight; and now, finding that not only was Cleopatra to -be allowed to remain with the army, but also that her plan of breaking -the blockade was to be adopted, instead of that of the retreat inland, -he was deeply incensed, and could no longer bear to remain in the same -camp with the Queen. Going on board a vessel, therefore, as he said, -for the sake of his health, he slipped over to Octavian’s lines and -offered his services to the enemy. He did not live, however, to enjoy -the favourable consequences of his change, for, having contracted a -fever while at Actium, he died before the battle of that name was -fought. - -This desertion, which occurred probably early in August, came as a -terrible shock to Antony, and he seems to have accused his wife of -being the cause of it, which undoubtedly she was. This time he insisted -more vehemently on her leaving the army and retiring to Egypt; and -thereupon a violent quarrel ensued, which lasted, I think, without -cessation during the remainder of their stay in Greece. At first, -it seems to me, the Queen positively refused to leave him, and she -probably accused him of wishing to abandon her cause. With a sneer, she -may have reminded him that his compact with her, and his arrangements -for an Egypto-Roman monarchy, were made at a time when he had, to a -great extent, cut himself off from Rome and when he required financial -aid; but now he had four hundred respectable republican senators to -influence him, and, no doubt, their support at this juncture was far -more valuable to him than her own. He had deserted her once before, and -she was quite prepared for him to do so again. - -Her anger, mistrust, and unhappiness must have distressed Antony -deeply, and he would, perhaps, have given way once again had not three -more desertions from his camp taken place. The King of Paphlagonia, -jealous, apparently, of Cleopatra’s power, slipped across to Octavian’s -lines, carrying thither an account of the dissensions in Antony’s -camp. The two others, a Roman senator named Quintus Postumius, and an -Arab chieftain from Emesa, named Iamblichus, were both caught; and, to -terrify those who might intend to go over to the enemy, both were put -to death, the one being torn to pieces and the other tortured. Every -day Octavian’s cause was growing in popularity, and Antony was being -subjected to greater ridicule for his subserviency to the little Queen -of Egypt, who appeared to direct all his councils and who now seemed to -frighten him by her anger. Octavian’s men were becoming self-confident -and even audacious. On one occasion while Antony, accompanied by an -officer, was walking at night down to the harbour between the two -ramparts which he had thrown up to guard the road, some of the enemy’s -men crept over the wall and laid in wait for him. As they sprang up -from their ambush, however, they seized Antony’s attendant officer in -mistake for himself, and, by a rapid flight down the road, he was able -to escape. - -Thoroughly unnerved by the course events were taking, he again -ordered the Queen to retire to Egypt; and at last, stung by Antony’s -reproaches, Cleopatra made up her mind to go and to take her fleet with -her. Having formed this decision, she appears to have treated Antony -with the utmost hostility; and he, being in a highly nervous condition, -began to fear that she might kill him. Her great eyes seemed to blaze -with anger when she looked upon him, and the contempt which she now -felt for him was shown in the expression of her face. He appears to -have cowered before her in the manner of a naughty boy, and to have -told his friends that he believed she would murder him in her wrath. -On hearing this, Cleopatra decided to teach him a lesson which he -should not forget. One night at supper, she caused her goblet to be -filled from the same wine-jar from which all had been drinking, and -having herself drunk some of the wine, she handed the cup to Antony -as though in token of reconciliation; and he, eagerly raising it to -his mouth, was about to place his lips where those of the Queen had -rested a moment before, when, as though to add grace to her act, she -took the wreath of flowers from her hair and dipped it into the wine. -Antony again lifted the cup, but suddenly Cleopatra dashed it from his -hand, telling him that the wine was poisoned. Antony appears to have -protested that she was mistaken, since she herself had just drunk from -the same cup; but Cleopatra calmly explained that the wreath which she -had dipped into the wine as she handed it to him was poisoned, and that -she had chosen this means of showing him how baseless were his fears -for his life, for that, did she wish to rid herself of him, she could -do so at any moment by some such subtle means. “I could have killed -you at any time,” she said, “if I could have done without you.” - -The Queen, I imagine, now carried herself very proudly and -disdainfully, regarding Antony’s insistence on her departure as a -breach of faith. In her own mind she must have feared lest he would -actually abandon her, and the anxiety in regard to the future of her -country and dynasty must have gnawed at her heart all day and all -night; but to him she seems only to have shown coldness and contempt, -thus driving him to a condition of complete wretchedness. He did not -dare, however, to alter his decision in regard to her departure, for -he seems to have admitted some of his senators and generals into the -secret of this coming event, and it had much quieted the volcanic -atmosphere so long prevalent in the camp. I am of opinion that the plan -upon which he and his wife had agreed was as follows: Having invested -Octavian’s lines more closely, and having taken all steps to prevent -him issuing from his stronghold, the pick of Antony’s legionaries would -be embarked upon as many of the vessels in the Gulf of Ambracia as were -seaworthy, and these warships would force their way out and destroy -Octavian’s fleet. As soon as this was done an assault would be made on -the enemy’s position by sea and land; and Cleopatra, taking with her -the Egyptian fleet, could then sail away to Alexandria, leaving Antony -to enter Rome alone. - -This scheme, in my opinion, presented the only possible means by -which the Antonian army could rid itself of Egyptian influence. If -Cleopatra was made to retire overland by way of Asia Minor and Syria, -not only would her passage through these countries be regarded by the -inhabitants as a flight, thus causing instant panic and revolt, but -also the Egyptian fleet would still remain in the Gulf of Ambracia to -show by its presence that Cleopatra and her Kingdom of Egypt were yet -the main factors in the war. On the other hand, if the Queen retired by -sea with her ships, a naval battle designed to force the blockade would -have to be fought in order to permit her to escape by that route. Thus, -the republican demand that the Queen should go to her own country, and -Cleopatra’s own reiterated proposal that the war should be decided by -a sea-fight, here concurred in determining Antony to stake all upon a -naval engagement. - -This being settled, Antony announced to the army that the fleet should -break the blockade on August 29, but the fact that the Egyptian ships -were to depart immediately after the battle was not made known, save to -a few. A great many of the vessels were ill furnished for the fight, -and were much under-manned; and Antony now ordered these to be burnt, -for, though they were useless to him, they might be of value to the -enemy, and might be seized by them while the fleet was away scouring -the Ionian Sea. Sixty of the best Egyptian vessels, and at least -three hundred[115] other ships, were made ready for the contest; and -during these preparations it was no easy matter to keep the secret of -the Egyptian departure from leaking out. In order to cross to Egypt -Cleopatra’s sixty ships required their large sails, but these sails -would not under ordinary circumstances be taken into battle; and in -order that the Egyptian vessels should not be made conspicuous by alone -preparing for a long voyage, thereby causing suspicions to arise, all -the fleet was ordered to ship its big sails; Antony, therefore, having -to explain that they would be required in the pursuit of the enemy. -Another difficulty arose from the fact that Cleopatra had to ship her -baggage, including her plate and jewels; but this was ultimately done -under cover of darkness without arousing suspicion. - -Many of the generals, not realising that the naval battle was largely -forced upon Antony by those who desired to rid his party of the -Egyptians, were much opposed to the scheme; and one infantry officer, -pointing to the many scars and marks of wounds which his body bore, -implored Antony to fight upon land. “O General,” he said, “what have -our wounds and our swords done to displease you, that you should give -your confidence to rotten timbers? Let Egyptians and Phœnicians fight -on the sea; but give us the land, where we well know how to die where -we stand or else gain the victory.” Antony, however, gave him no reply, -but made a motion with his hand as though to bid him be of good courage. - -On August 28 twenty thousand legionaries and two thousand archers were -embarked upon the ships of war[116] in preparation for the morrow’s -battle. The vessels were much larger than those of Octavian, some of -them having as many as ten banks of oars; and it seemed likely that -victory would be on their side. On the next day, however, the sea was -extremely rough, and the battle had to be postponed. The storm proved -to be of great violence, and all question of breaking the blockade had -to be abandoned for the next four days. The delay was found to be a -very heavy strain upon the nerves of all concerned, and so great was -the anxiety of the two important generals, Dellius[117] and Amyntas, -that they both deserted to Octavian’s lines, the latter taking with him -two thousand Galatian cavalry. Dellius had probably heard rumours about -the proposed departure of Cleopatra, and he was able to tell Octavian -something of the plans for the battle. In after years he stated that -his desertion was partly due to his fear of the Queen, for he believed -her to be angry with him for having once remarked that Antony’s -friends were served with sour wine, whereas even Sarmentus, Octavian’s -_delicia_, or page, drank Falernian. One may understand Cleopatra’s -annoyance at this hint that money and supplies were running short, more -especially since this must actually have been the fact. - -On September 1st the storm abated, and in the evening Antony went from -ship to ship encouraging his men. Octavian, informed by Dellius, also -prepared for battle, embarking eight legions and five pretorian cohorts -upon his ships of war, which seem to have been more numerous, but much -smaller, than those of Antony. - -The morning of September 2nd was calm, and at an early hour Octavian’s -workmanlike ships stationed themselves about three-quarters of a mile -from the mouth of the Gulf of Ambracia, where they were watched by the -eyes of both armies. They were formed into three divisions, the left -wing being commanded by Agrippa, the centre by Lucius Arruntius, and -the right wing by Octavian. At about noon Antony’s huge men-o’-war -began to pass out from the harbour, under cover of the troops and -engines of war stationed upon the two promontories. Octavian seems to -have thought that it would be difficult to attack them in the straits, -and therefore he retired out to sea, giving his enemies the opportunity -of forming up for battle. This was speedily done, the fleet being -divided, like Octavian’s, into three squadrons, C. Sossius moving -against Octavian, Marcus Insteius opposing Arruntius, and Antony facing -Agrippa. The sixty Egyptian ships, under Cleopatra’s command, were the -last to leave the Gulf, and formed up behind the central division. - -Antony appears to have arranged with Cleopatra that her ships should -give him full assistance in the fight, and should sail for Egypt as -soon as the victory was won. He intended, no doubt, to board her -flagship at the close of the battle and to bid her farewell. They had -separated that morning, it would seem from subsequent events, with -anger and bitterness. Cleopatra, I imagine, had once more told him how -distasteful was her coming departure to her, and had shown him how -little she trusted him. She had bewailed the misery of her life and -the bitterness of her disillusionment. She had accused him of wishing -to abandon her cause, and she had, no doubt, called him coward and -traitor. Very possibly in her anger she had told him that she was -leaving him with delight, having found him wholly degenerate, and -that she hoped never to see his face again. Her accusations, I fancy, -had stung Antony to bitter retorts; and they had departed, each to -their own flagship, with cruel words upon their lips and fury in their -minds. Antony’s nature, however, always boyish, impulsive, and quickly -repentant, could not bear with equanimity so painful a scene with the -woman to whom he was really devoted, and as he passed out to battle -he must have been consumed by the desire to ask her forgiveness. The -thought, if I understand him aright, was awful to him that they should -thus separate in anger; and being probably a little intoxicated, the -contemplation of his coming loneliness reduced him almost to tears. He -was perhaps a little cheered by the thought that when next he saw her -the battle would probably be won, and he would appear to her in the -_rôle_ of conqueror--a theatrical situation which made an appeal to his -dramatic instincts; yet, in the meantime, I think he was as miserable -as any young lover who had quarrelled with his sweetheart. - -The battle was opened by the advance of Antony’s left wing, and -Agrippa’s attempt to outflank it with his right. Antony’s other -divisions then moved forward, and the fight became general. “When they -engaged,” writes Plutarch, “there was no ramming or charging of one -ship into another, because Antony’s vessels, by reason of their great -bulk, were incapable of the speed to make the stroke effectual, and, on -the other side, Octavian’s ships dared not charge, prow to prow, into -Antony’s, which were all armed with solid masses and spikes of brass, -nor did they care even to run in on their sides, which were so strongly -built with great squared pieces of timber, fastened together with iron -bolts, that their own vessels’ bows would certainly have been shattered -upon them. Thus the engagement resembled a land fight, or, to speak -more properly, the assault and defence of a fortified place; for there -were always three or four of Octavian’s vessels around each one of -Antony’s, pressing upon them with spears, javelins, poles, and several -inventions of fire which they flung into them, Antony’s men using -catapults also to hurl down missiles from their wooden towers.” - -The fight raged for three or four hours, but gradually the awful truth -was borne in upon Antony and Cleopatra, that Octavian’s little ships -were winning the day. Antony’s flagship was so closely hemmed in on -all sides that he himself was kept busily occupied, and he had no time -to think clearly. But as, one by one, his ships were fired, sunk, or -captured, his desperation seems to have become more acute. If his -fleet were defeated and destroyed, would his army stand firm? That -was the question which must have drummed in his head, as in an agony -of apprehension he watched the confused battle and listened to the -clash of arms and the cries and shouts of the combatants. Cleopatra, -meanwhile, after being subjected to much battering by the enemy, -had perhaps freed her flagship for a moment from the attentions of -Octavian’s little warships, and, in manœuvring for a better position, -she was able to obtain a full view of the situation. With growing -horror she observed the struggle around Antony’s flagship, and heard -the cheers of the enemy as some huge vessel struck or was set on -fire. Her Egyptian fleet had probably suffered heavily, though her -sailors would hardly have fought with the same audacity as had those -under Antony’s command. As she surveyed the appalling scene no doubt -remained in her mind that Octavian had beaten them, and she must even -have feared that Antony would be killed or captured. The anxieties -which had harassed her overwrought brain during the last few weeks as -to her husband’s intentions in regard to her position and that of her -son Cæsarion, were now displaced by the more frightful thought that -the opportunity would never be given to him of proving his constancy; -for, here and now, he would meet his end. Her anger against him for his -vacillation, her contempt for the increasing weakness of his character, -and her misgivings in regard to his ability to direct his forces in -view of the growing intemperance of his habits, were now combined in -the one staggering certainty that defeat and ruin awaited him. He had -told her to go back to Egypt, he had ordered her to take herself off -with her fleet at the end of the battle. That end seemed to her already -in sight. It was not from a riotous scene of victory, however, that she -was to retire, nor was she to carry over to Alexandria the tidings of -her triumph with which to cover the shame of her banishment from her -husband’s side; but now she would have to sail away from the spectacle -of the wreck of their cause, and free herself by flight from a man who, -no longer a champion of her rights, had become an encumbrance to the -movement of her ambitions. - -In the late afternoon, while yet the victory was actually undecided, -although there could have been no hope for the Antonian party left in -Cleopatra’s weary mind, a strong wind from the north sprang up, blowing -straight from unconquered Rome towards distant Egypt. The sea grew -rough, and the waves beat against the sides of the Queen’s flagship, -causing an increase of confusion in the battle. As the wind blew in -her face, suddenly, it seems to me, the thought came to her that the -moment had arrived for her departure. Antony had told her with furious -words to go: why, then, should she wait? In another hour, probably, he -would be captured or killed, and she, too, would be taken prisoner, to -be marched in degradation to the Capitol whereon she had hoped to sit -enthroned. She would pay her husband back in his own coin: she would -desert him as he had deserted her. She would not stand by him to await -an immediate downfall. Though he was sodden with wine, she herself -was still full of life. She would rise above her troubles, as she had -always risen before. She would cast him off, and begin her life once -more. Her throne should not be taken from her at one blow. She would, -at this moment, obey Antony’s command and go; and in distant Egypt she -would endeavour to start again in the pursuit of that dynastic security -which had proved so intangible a vision. - -Having arrived at this decision she ordered the signal to be given -to her scattered ships, and hoisting sail she passed right through -the combatants, and made off down the wind, followed by her damaged -fleet. At that moment, it seems, Antony had freed his flagship from -the surrounding galleys, and thus obtained an uninterrupted view of -the Queen’s departure. His feelings must have overwhelmed him,--anger, -misery, remorse, and despair flooding his confused mind. Cleopatra was -leaving him to his fate: she was obeying the order which he ought never -to have given her, and he would not see her face again. All the grace, -the charm, the beauty which had so enslaved him, was being taken from -him; and alone he would have to face the horrors of probable defeat. -He had relied of late so entirely upon her that her receding ships -struck a kind of terror into his degenerate mind. It was intolerable to -him, moreover, that she should leave him without one word of farewell, -and that the weight of his cruelty and anger should be the last -impression received by her. He could not let her depart unreconciled -and unforgiving; he must go after her, if only to see her for a moment. -Yet what did it matter if he did not return to the battle? There -was little hope of victory. His fevered and exhausted mind saw no -favourable incident in the fight which raged around him. Disgrace and -ruin stared him in the face; and the sooner he fled from the horror of -defeat the better would be his chance of retaining his reason. - -“Here it was,” says Plutarch, “that Antony showed to all the world that -he was no longer actuated by the thoughts and motives of a commander -or a man, or indeed by his own judgment at all; and what was once -said in jest, that the soul of a lover lives in the loved one’s body, -he proved to be a serious truth. For, as if he had been born part of -her, and must move with her wheresoever she went, as soon as he saw -her ships sailing away he abandoned all that were fighting and laying -down their lives for him, and followed after her.” Hailing one of his -fastest galleys, he quickly boarded her and told the captain to go -after Cleopatra’s flagship with all possible speed. He took with him -only two persons, Alexander the Syrian, and a certain Scellias. It was -not long before the galley, rowed by five banks of oars, overhauled -the retreating Egyptians, and Cleopatra then learnt that Antony had -followed her and had abandoned the fight. Her feelings may be imagined. -Her leaving the battle had, then, terminated the struggle, and her -retreat had removed the last hope of victory from the Antonians. Antony -was a ruined and defeated man, and a speedy death was the best thing -he could hope for; but not so easily was she to be rid of him. He was -going to cling to her to the end: she would never be able to shake -herself clear of him, but, drowning, he would drag her down with him. -Yet he was her husband, and she could not abandon him in defeat as in -victory he had wished to abandon her. She therefore signalled to him -to come aboard; and having done this she retired to her cabin, refusing -to see him or speak to him. Antony, having been helped on to the deck, -was too dazed to ask to be taken to her, and too miserable to wish to -be approached by her. He walked, as in a dream, to the prow of the -ship, and there seating himself, buried his face in his hands, uttering -not a word. - -Thus some hours passed, but after it had grown dark the beat of the -oars of several galleys was heard behind them, and presently the hull -of the foremost vessel loomed out of the darkness. The commotion on -board and the shouts across the water aroused Antony. For a moment he -seems to have thought that the pursuing ships were bringing him some -message from Actium--perhaps that the tide of battle had turned in -his favour. He therefore ordered the captain to turn about to meet -them, and to be ready to give battle if they belonged to the enemy; -and, standing in the prow, he called across the black waters: “Who is -this that follows Antony?” Through the darkness a voice responded: “I -am Eurycles, the son of Lachares, come to revenge my father’s death.” -Antony had caused Lachares to be beheaded for robbery, although he -came of the noblest family in the Peloponnese; and his son had fitted -out a galley at his own expense and had sworn to avenge his father. -Eurycles could now be seen standing upon his deck, and handling a lance -as though about to hurl it; but a moment later, by some mistake which -must have been due to the darkness, he had charged with terrific force -into another Egyptian vessel which was sailing close to the flagship. -The blow turned her round, and in the darkness and confusion which -followed, Cleopatra’s captain was able to get away. The other vessel, -however, was captured, together with a great quantity of gold plate and -rich furniture which she was carrying back to Egypt. - -When the danger was passed Antony sat himself down once more in the -prow, nor did he move from that part of the ship for three whole days. -Hour after hour he sat staring out to sea, his hands idly folded -before him, his mind dazed by his utter despair. By his own folly he -had lost everything, and he had carried down with him in his fall all -the hope, all the ambition, and all the fortune of Cleopatra. It is -surprising that he did not at once put an end to his life, for his -misery was pitiable; yet, when at last the port of Tænarus was reached, -at the southern end of the Greek peninsula, he was still seated at the -prow, his eyes fixed before him. At length, however, Iras, Charmion, -and other of Cleopatra’s women induced the Queen to invite him to -her cabin; and after much persuasion they consented to speak to one -another, and, later, to sup and sleep together. Cleopatra could not but -pity her wretched husband, now so sobered and terribly conscious of -the full meaning of his position; and I imagine that she gave him what -consolation she could.[118] - -As their ship lay at anchor several vessels came into the harbour, -bringing fugitives from Actium; and these reported to him that his -fleet was entirely destroyed or captured, more than five thousand -of his men having been killed, but that the army stood firm and had -not at once surrendered. At this news Cleopatra, who had not been -wholly crushed under the weight of her misfortunes, seems to have -advised Antony to try to save some remnant of his forces, and to send -messengers to Canidius to march his legions with all speed through -Macedonia into Asia Minor. This he did; and then, sending for those -of his friends who had come into the port, he begged them to leave -him and Cleopatra to their fate, and to give their whole attention to -their own safety. He and the Queen handed to the fugitives a large sum -of money and numerous dishes and cups of gold and silver wherewith to -purchase their security; and he wrote letters in their behalf to his -steward at Corinth, that he should provide for them until they had made -their peace with Octavian. In deep dejection these defeated officers -attempted to refuse the gifts, but Antony, pressing them to accept, -“cheered them,” as Plutarch says, “with all the goodness and humanity -imaginable,” so that they could not refrain from tears. At length the -fleet put out to sea once more, and set sail for the coast of Egypt, -arriving many days later at Parætonium, a desolate spot some 160 miles -west of Alexandria, where a small Roman garrison was stationed.[119] -Here Antony decided to stay for a time in hiding, while the braver -Cleopatra went on to the capital to face her people; and for the next -few weeks he remained in the great solitude of this desert station. -A few mud huts, a palm-tree or two, and a little fort constituted -the dreary settlement, which in the damp heat of September must have -presented a colourless scene of peculiarly depressing aspect. This part -of the coast is absolutely barren, and only those who have visited -these regions in the summer-time can realise the strange melancholy, -the complete loneliness, of this sun-scorched outpost. The slow, -breaking waves beat upon the beach with the steady insistence of a -tolling bell which counts out a man’s life; the desert rolls back from -the bleak sea-shore, carrying the eye to the leaden haze of the far -horizon; and overhead the sun beats down from a sky which is, as it -were, deadened by the heat. In surroundings such as these heart-broken -Antony remained for several weeks, daily wandering along the beach -accompanied only by two friends, one, a certain Aristocrates, a Greek -rhetorician, and the other the Roman soldier Lucilius, who, fighting -on the side of the enemy at Philippi, as we have read, had heroically -prevented the capture of the defeated Brutus, and had been pardoned by -Antony as a reward for his courage, remaining thereafter, and until the -last, his devoted friend. - -At length one of his ships, putting into the little port, seems to -have brought him the news of events at Actium. After his flight the -battered remnant of his fleet, having continued the fight until sunset, -sailed back into the Gulf of Ambracia; and next day Octavian invited -them and the army to surrender on easy terms. No one, however, would -believe that Antony had fled, and the offer was refused. Next day, -however, some of the vassal kings laid down their arms, and, after a -week of suspense, Canidius fled. Part of the legions scattered into -Macedonia, and on September 9th the remainder surrendered together with -the fleet. Octavian then sailed round to Athens, and there received the -submission of every city in Greece, with the exception of Corinth. He -at once began a general massacre of Antony’s adherents, and, to save -their skins, the townspeople in every district heaped honours upon the -conqueror, erecting statues to him and decreeing him all manner of -civic distinctions. Shortly after this a messenger reached Antony from -the west stating that the legions left in North Africa had also gone -over to Octavian; and thereupon he attempted to commit suicide. He was, -however, restrained by his two faithful friends; and in the deepest -dejection he was at last persuaded by them to sail for Alexandria, once -more to comfort himself with the presence of Cleopatra. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -CLEOPATRA’S ATTEMPT TO BEGIN AGAIN. - - -Crushed and broken by her misfortunes, it might have been expected that -Cleopatra would now give up the fight. She was not made, however, of -ordinary stuff; and she could not yet bring herself to believe that -her cause was hopeless. On her voyage across the Mediterranean she -seems to have pulled herself together after the first shock of defeat; -and, with that wonderful recuperative power, of which we have already -seen many instances in her life, she appears, so to speak, to have -regained her feet, standing up once more, eager and defiant, to face -the world. The defeat of Antony, though it postponed for many years all -chance of obtaining a footing in Rome, did not altogether preclude that -possibility. He would now probably kill himself, and though the thought -of his suicide must have been very distressing to her, she could but -feel that she would be well rid of him. A drunken and discredited -outlaw with a price upon his head was not a desirable consort for a -Queen; and he had long since ceased to make an appeal to any quality in -her, save to her pity. Octavian would hunt him down, and would not rest -until he had driven him to the land of the shades; but she herself -might possibly be spared and her throne be saved in recognition of the -fact that she had been the great Dictator’s “wife.” Then, some chance -occurrence, such as the death of Octavian, might give her son Cæsarion -the opportunity of putting himself forward once more as Cæsar’s heir. - -Antony was now a terrible encumbrance. His presence with her endangered -her own life, and, what was more important, imperilled the existence of -her royal dynasty. Had he not the courage, like defeated Cato at Utica, -like her uncle Ptolemy of Cyprus, like Brutus after Philippi, and -like hundreds of others, to kill himself and so end his misfortunes? -It is to be remembered that suicide after disaster was a doctrine -emphatically preached throughout the civilised world at this time, and -so frequently was it practised that it was felt to be far less terrible -than we are now accustomed to think it. The popular spectacle of -gladiatorial fights, the many wars conducted in recent years, and the -numerous political murders and massacres, had made people very familiar -with violent death. The case of Arria, the wife of Pætus, is an -illustration of the light manner in which the termination of life was -regarded. Her husband having been condemned to death, Arria determined -to anticipate the executioner; and therefore, having driven a dagger -into her breast, she coolly handed the weapon to him, with the casual -words, _Paete non dole_, “It isn’t painful.”[120] I do not think, -therefore, that Cleopatra need be blamed if she now hoped that Antony -would make his exit from the stage of life. - -Her fertile brain turned to the consideration of other means of -holding her throne should Octavian’s clemency not be extended to her. -Her dominant hope was now the keeping of Egypt independent of Rome. The -founding of an Egypto-Roman empire having been indefinitely postponed -by the defeat at Actium, her whole energies would have to be given to -the retention of some sort of crown for her son. The dominions which -Antony had given her she could hardly expect to hold: but for Egypt, -her birthright, she must fight while breath remained in her body. Under -this inspiration her thoughts turned to the Orient, to Media, Persia, -Parthia, and India. Was there not some means of forming an alliance -with one or all of these distant countries, thereby strengthening her -position? Her son Alexander Helios was prospective King of Media. Could -not she find in Persia or India an extension of the dominions which she -could hand on to Cæsarion? And could not some great amalgamation of -these nations, which had never been conquered by Rome, be effected? - -I imagine that her thoughts ran in these channels as she sailed over -the sea; but when she had dropped Antony at Parætonium and was heading -for Alexandria the more immediate question of her entry into the -capital must have filled her mind. It was essential to prevent the news -of the defeat from being spread in the capital until after she had once -more obtained control of affairs. She therefore seems to have arranged -to sail into the harbour some days before the arrival of the fleet, and -she caused her flagship to be decorated as though in celebration of -a victory. Her arrival took place at about the end of September B.C. -31; and, with music playing, sailors dancing, and pennants flying, the -ship passed under the shadow of the white Pharos and entered the Great -Harbour. Having moored the vessel at the steps of the Palace, Cleopatra -was carried ashore in royal state, and was soon safely ensconced behind -the walls of the Lochias. She brought, no doubt, written orders from -Antony to the legions stationed in Alexandria; and, relying on the -loyalty of these troops, she soon took the sternest measures to prevent -any revolt or rioting in the city as the news of the disaster began to -filter through. Several prominent citizens who attempted to stir up -trouble were promptly arrested and put to death; and by the time that -full confirmation of the news of the defeat had arrived, Cleopatra was -in absolute control of the situation. - -[Illustration: - - _British Museum._] [_Photograph by Macbeth._ - -CLEOPATRA.] - -She now began to carry out her schemes in regard to the East, in -pursuance of which her first step was, naturally, the confirmation of -her treaty with the King of Media. It will be remembered that the elder -son of Cleopatra and Antony, Alexander Helios, had been married to -the King of Media’s daughter, on the understanding, apparently, that -he should be heir to the kingdoms of Media and Armenia. The little -princess was now living at Alexandria; and it will be recalled that -Artavasdes, the dethroned King of Armenia, the greater part of whose -kingdom had been handed over to Media, remained a prisoner in the -Egyptian capital, where he had been incarcerated since the Triumph -in B.C. 34, three years previously. The defeat of Antony, however, -would probably cause the reinstatement of the rulers deposed by him; -and it seemed very probable that Octavian would restore Artavasdes to -his lost kingdom, and that Media, on the other hand, by reason of its -support of the Antonian party, would be stripped of as much territory -as the Romans dared to seize. In order to prevent this by removing -the claimant to the Armenian throne, and perhaps owing to some attempt -on the part of Artavasdes to escape or to communicate with Octavian, -Cleopatra ordered him to be put to death; and she thereupon sent an -embassy to Media bearing his head to the King as a token of her good -faith.[121] I think it is probable that at the same time she sent the -little Alexander and his child-wife Iotapa to the Median court in order -that they might there live in safety; and there can be little doubt -that she made various proposals to the King for joint action. - -She then began an undertaking which Plutarch describes as “a most bold -and wonderful enterprise.” The northernmost inlet of the Red Sea, the -modern Gulf of Suez, was separated from the waters of the Mediterranean -by a belt of low-lying desert not more than thirty-five miles in -breadth. Across the northern side of this isthmus the Pelusian branch -of the Nile passed from the Delta down to the Mediterranean. Somewhat -further south lay the Lakes of Balah and Timsah, and between these -and the Gulf of Suez lay the so-called Bitter Lakes. These pieces of -water had been linked together by a canal opened nearly five hundred -years previously by the great Persian conqueror Darius I., who had -thus sent his ships through from one sea to the other by a route -not far divergent from that of the modern Suez Canal. King Ptolemy -Philadelphus, three hundred years later, had reopened the waterway, -and had built a great system of locks at its southern end, near the -fortress of Clysma;[122] but now a large part of the canal had become -blocked up once more by the encroaching sand, and any vessel which had -to be transported from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea would have to -be dragged for several miles over the desert. In spite of the enormous -labour involved, however, Cleopatra determined to transfer immediately -all her battleships which had survived Actium to the Red Sea, where -they would be safe from the clutches of Octavian, and would be in a -position to sail to India or to Southern Persia whenever she might -require them to do so. She also began with startling energy to build -other vessels at Suez, in the hope of there fitting out an imposing -fleet. Plutarch states simply that her object was to go “with her -soldiers and her treasure to secure herself a home where she might live -in peace, far away from war and slavery”; but, viewing the enterprise -in connection with the embassy to Media, it appears to me that she -had determined to put into partial execution the schemes of which she -seems to have talked with Julius Cæsar while he was staying with her in -Alexandria,[123] in regard to the conquest of the East. - -Media, Parthia, and India were all outside the influence of Rome. Of -these countries Media was now bound to Egypt by the closest ties of -blood, while India was engaged in a thriving trade with Cleopatra’s -kingdom. Parthia, now the enemy of Media, lay somewhere between these -vast lands; and if the Egyptian fleet could sail round the coasts of -Arabia and effect a junction with the Median armies in the Persian -Gulf, some sort of support might be given to the allies by the Indian -States, and Parthia could be conquered or frightened into joining the -confederacy. Syria and Armenia could then be controlled, and once more -the fight with the West might be undertaken. In the meantime these -far countries offered a safe hiding-place for herself and her family; -and having, as I suppose, despatched her son Alexander to his future -kingdom of Media, she now began to consider the sending of her beloved -Cæsarion to India,[124] there to prepare the way for the approach of -her fleet. - -In these great schemes Antony played no part. During their undertaking -he was wandering about the desolate shores of Parætonium, engrossed -in his misfortunes and bemoaning the ingratitude of his generals and -friends whom, in forgetfulness of his own behaviour at Actium, he -accused of deserting him. Cleopatra, as she toiled at the organisation -of her new projects, and struggled by every means, fair or foul, to -raise money for the great task, must have heartily wished her husband -out of the way; and it must have been with very mixed feelings that she -presently received the news of his approach. On his arrival, perhaps -in November, he was astonished at the Queen’s activities; but, being -opposed to the idea of keeping up the struggle and of setting out for -the East, he tried to discourage her by talking hopefully about the -loyalty of the various garrisons of whose desertion he had not yet -heard. He seems also to have pointed out to her that some sort of -peace might be made with Octavian, which would secure her throne to -her family; and, in one way and another, he managed to dishearten her -and to dull her energies. He himself desired now to retire from public -life, and to take up his residence in some city, such as Athens, where -he might live in the obscurity of private citizenship. He well knew -the contempt in which Cleopatra held him, and at this time he thought -it would be best, in the long-run, if he left her to her fate. At all -events, he seems to have earnestly hoped that she would not expect him -to set out on any further adventures; and in this his views must have -met hers, for she could have had no use for him. Her son Cæsarion was -growing to manhood, and in the energy of his youth he would be worth a -hundred degenerate Antonys. - -An unexpected check, however, was put to her schemes, and once -again misfortune seemed to dog her steps. The Nabathæan Arabs from -the neighbourhood of Petra, being on bad terms with the Egyptians, -raided the new docks at Suez and, driving off the troops stationed -there, burnt the first galleys which had been dragged across from the -Mediterranean and those which were being built in the docks. Cleopatra -could not spare troops enough to protect the work, and therefore the -great enterprise had to be abandoned. - -Shortly after this Canidius himself arrived in Alexandria, apparently -bringing the news that all Antony’s troops in all parts of the -dominions had surrendered to Octavian, and that nothing now remained to -him save Egypt and its forces. Thereupon, by the code of honour then -in recognition, Antony ought most certainly to have killed himself; -but a new idea had entered his head, appealing to his sentimental and -theatrical nature. He decided that he would not die, but would live, -like Timon of Athens, the enemy of all men. He would build himself a -little house, the walls buffeted by the rolling swell of the sea; and -there in solitude he would count out the days of his life, his hand -turned against all men. There was a pier jutting out into the Great -Harbour[125] just to the west of the Island of Antirrhodos, close to -the Forum and the Temple of Neptune. Though a powerful construction, -some three hundred yards long, it does not appear to have been then in -use; and Antony hit upon the idea of repairing it and building himself -a little villa at its extreme end, wherein he might dwell in solitude. -Cleopatra was far too much occupied with the business of life to care -what her husband did; and she seems to have humoured him as she would -a child, and to have caused a nice little house to be built for him -on this site, which, in honour of the misanthrope whom Antony desired -to emulate, she named the Timonium. It appears that she was entirely -estranged from him at this time, and he was, no doubt, glad enough to -remove himself from the scorn of her eyes and tongue. From his new -dwelling he could look across the water to Cleopatra’s palace; and at -night the blaze of the Pharos beacon, and the many gleaming windows on -the Lochias Promontory and around the harbour, all reflected with the -stars in the dark water, must have formed a spectacle romantic enough -for any dreamer. In the daytime he could watch the vessels entering or -leaving the port; and behind him the noise and bustle of Cleopatra’s -busy Alexandrians was wafted to his ears to serve as a correct subject -for his Timonian curses. - -The famous Timon, I need hardly say, was a citizen of Athens, who -lived during the days of the Peloponnesian war, and figures in -the comedies of Aristophanes and Plato. He heartily detested his -fellow-men, his only two associates being Alcibiades, whom he esteemed -because he was likely to do so much mischief to Athens, and Apemantus, -who also was a confirmed misanthrope. Once when Timon and Apemantus -were celebrating a drinking festival alone together, the latter, -wishing to show how much he appreciated the fact that no other of his -hated fellow-men was present, remarked: “What a pleasant little party, -Timon!” “Well, it would be,” replied Timon, “if _you_ were not here.” -Upon another occasion, during an assembly in the public meeting-place, -Timon mounted into the speaker’s place and addressed the crowd. “Men -of Athens,” he said, “I have a little plot of ground, and in it grows -a fig-tree, from the branches of which many citizens have been pleased -to hang themselves; and now, having resolved to build on that site, I -wish to announce it publicly, that any of you who may so wish may go -and hang yourselves there before I cut it down.” Before his death he -composed two epitaphs, one of which reads-- - - “Timon, the misanthrope, am I below, - Go, and revile me, stranger--only _go_!” - -The other, which was inscribed upon his tomb, reads-- - - “Freed from a tedious life, I lie below. - Ask not my name, but take my curse and go.” - -Such was the man whom Antony now desired to imitate; and for the -present the fallen Autocrator may be left seated in glum solitude, -while Cleopatra’s eager struggle for her throne occupies our attention. -The Queen’s activities were now directed to urgent affairs of State. -She engaged herself in sending embassies to the various neighbouring -kingdoms in the attempt to confirm her earlier friendships. Alexandria -and Egypt had to be governed with extreme firmness, in order to -prevent any insurrections or riots in these critical days; and, at -the same time, her subjects had to be heavily taxed so that she might -raise money for her projects. The task of government must have been -peculiarly anxious, and the dread of the impending reckoning with -Octavian hung over her like a dark cloud. It was quite certain that -Octavian would presently invade Egypt; but for the moment he was -prevented from doing so, mainly by financial embarrassments. After his -visit to Athens he had crossed into Asia Minor, and now he was making -arrangements for an advance through Syria to Egypt, as soon as he -should have collected enough money for the expedition. - -Towards the close of the year B.C. 31, the Jewish King Herod seems -to have come to Alexandria to discuss the situation with Antony, his -former friend and patron. Herod’s dislike of Cleopatra, and his desire -to put her to death when she was passing through his country, will be -recalled;[126] and now, after paying the necessary compliments to the -Queen, he appears to have engaged himself in earnest conversation with -Antony, perhaps visiting him in his sea-girt hermitage. Josephus tells -us that he urged the fallen triumvir to arrange for the assassination -of Cleopatra, declaring that only by so doing could he hope to have -his life spared by Octavian. Antony, however, would not entertain -this proposal, for, though anxious to escape his impending doom, he -was not prepared to do so at the cost of his wife. Herod’s object, -of course, was to rid his horizon of the fascinating queen, who might -very possibly play upon Octavian’s sympathies and retain her Egyptian -and Syrian dominions, thus remaining an objectionable and exacting -neighbour to the kingdom of Judea. But failing to obtain Antony’s -co-operation in this plot, he returned to Jerusalem, and presently -sailed for Rhodes to pay his respects to Octavian. Antony, hearing of -his intention, sent after him a certain Alexis of Laodicea, to urge -him not to abandon his cause, This Alexis had been instrumental in -persuading Antony to divorce Octavia, and Cleopatra had often used -him in persuading her husband to actions in regard to which he was -undetermined; but he now showed the misapplication of the trust placed -in him both by Antony and the Queen, for he did not return to Egypt -from Herod’s court, going on instead to place himself at the disposal -of Octavian. His connection with Octavia’s divorce, however, had -not been forgotten by her revengeful brother, and his treachery was -rewarded by a summary death. Herod, meanwhile, by boldly admitting -that he had been Antony’s friend, but was now prepared to change his -allegiance, managed to win the favour of the conqueror, and his throne -was not taken from him, although practically all the other kings and -princes who had assisted Antony were dispossessed. - -About the beginning of February B.C. 30, Octavian returned to Italy -to quell certain disturbances arising from his inability to pay his -disbanded troops, and there he stayed about a month, sailing once more -for Asia Minor early in March. Dion tells us that the news of his -voyage to Rome and that of his return to Asia Minor were received -simultaneously in Alexandria, probably late in April; but I think it -very unlikely that the news of the first voyage was so long delayed, -and, at any rate, some rumours of Octavian’s retirement to Rome must -have filtered through to Cleopatra during the month of March. - -The news of this respite once more fired the Queen with hope, and -she determined to make the best possible use of this precious gift -of time. It will be remembered that her son Cæsarion, if I am not in -error, was born at the beginning of July B.C. 47;[127] but a short -time afterwards, some eighty days were added to the calendar in order -to correct the existing inexactitude,[128] the real anniversary of -the boy’s birthday thereby being made to fall at about the middle of -April.[129] The preparations for the celebration in this year B.C. -30, of his seventeenth birthday, were thus beginning to be put into -motion at the time when Octavian was still thought to be struggling in -Rome with his discontented troops. Cleopatra therefore determined to -mark the festival by very great splendour, and to celebrate it more -particularly by a public declaration of the fact that Cæsarion was now -of age. I do not think it can be determined with certainty whether or -not the seventeenth birthday was the customary age at which the state -of manhood was supposed to be reached by an Egyptian sovereign, but -it may certainly be said that the coming of age was seldom, if ever, -postponed to a later period. Cleopatra seems to have wished to make a -very particular point of this fact of her son’s majority, which would -demonstrate to the Alexandrians, as Dion says, “that they now had -a man as King.” Let the public think, if they were so minded, that -she herself was a defeated and condemned woman; but from this time -onwards they had a grown man to lead them, a son of the divine Julius -Cæsar, for whose rights she had fought while he was a boy, but who was -henceforth capable of defending himself. Whatever her own fate might -be, her son would, at any rate, have a better chance of retaining his -throne by being firmly established upon it in the capacity of a grown -man. In future she herself could work, as it were, behind the scenes, -and her son could carry on the great task which she had so long striven -to accomplish. - -When the news of the coming celebrations was conveyed to Antony in -his hermitage, he seems to have been much disturbed by it. Cæsarion -and his rights had been to a large extent the cause of his ruin, and -he must have been somewhat frightened at the audacity of the Queen in -thus giving Octavian further cause for annoyance. Here was Alexandria -preparing to celebrate in the most triumphant manner the coming of -age of Octavian’s rival, the claimant to Julius Cæsar’s powers and -estate. Was the move to be regarded as clever policy or as reckless -effrontery? Leaving the passive solitude of his little Timonium, he -seems to have entered once more into active discussions with Cleopatra; -and as a result of these conversations, he appears to have received -the impression that his wife’s desire was now to resign her power to a -large extent into her son’s hands, thus leaving to the energy of youth -the labours which middle age had failed to accomplish. This aspect -of the movement appealed to him, and he determined in like manner to -be represented in future by a younger generation. His son by Fulvia, -Antyllus, who was a year or so younger than Cæsarion, was living in -the Alexandrian Palace; and Antony therefore arranged with Cleopatra -that the two youths should together be declared of age (_ephebi_), -Antyllus thenceforth being authorised to wear the legal dress of -Roman manhood. Cleopatra then appears to have persuaded her husband -to give up his ridiculous affectation of misanthropy, and either -to make himself useful in organising her schemes of defence, or to -leave Egypt altogether. Antony was by this time heartily tired of his -solitary life, and he was glad enough to abandon his Timonian pose. -He therefore took up his residence once more in the Palace, and both -he and Cleopatra made some attempt to renew their old relationship. -Their paths had diverged, however, too far ever to resume any sort of -unity. Antony had brooded in solitude over his supposed wrongs, and he -now regarded his wife with a sort of suspicion; and she, on her part, -accepted him no longer as her equal, but as a creature deserving her -contempt, though arousing to some extent her generous pity. - -The birthday celebrations were conducted on the most magnificent lines, -and the whole city was given over to feasting and revelling for many -days. The impending storm was put away from the minds of all, and it -would have been indeed difficult for a visitor to Alexandria during -that time to believe that he had entered a city whose rulers had -recently been defeated by an enemy already preparing to invade Egypt -itself. Cleopatra, in fact, could not be brought to admit that the -game was up; and in spite of the misery and anxiety weighing upon her -mind she kept a cheerful and hopeful demeanour which ought to have -won for her the admiration of all historians. Antony, on the other -hand, was completely demoralised by the situation; and the birthday -festivities having whetted his appetite once more for the pleasures -of riotous living, he decided to bring his life to a close in a -round of mad dissipation. Calling together the members of the order -of Inimitable Livers, the banqueting club which he had founded some -years before,[130] he invited them to sign their names to the roll of -membership of a new society which he named the _Synapotha-noumenoi_ or -the “Die-togethers.” “Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow -we die,” must have been his motto; and he seems to have thrown himself -into this new phase with as much shallow profundity as he had displayed -in his adoption of the Timonian pose. Having no longer a world-wide -audience before whom he could play the jovial _rôle_ of Bacchus or -Hercules, he now acted his dramatic parts before the eyes of an inner -love of pretence; and with a kind of honest and boyish charlatanism -he paraded the halls of the Palace in the grim but not original -character of the reveller who banqueted with his good friend Death. -Antony actually had no intention of dying: he hoped to be allowed to -retire, like his late colleague, Lepidus, the third triumvir, into an -unmolested private life; but the paradoxical situation in which he now -found himself, that of a state prisoner sent back, as it were, on bail -to the luxuries of his home, could not fail to be turned to account by -this “colossal child.” - -Cleopatra, on the other hand, was prepared for all eventualities; and, -while she hoped somehow to be able to win her way out of her dilemma, -she did not fail to make ready for the death which she might have -to face. The news of Octavian’s return to Asia Minor was presently -received in Alexandria, and she must have felt that her chances of -successfully circumventing her difficulties were remote. She therefore -busied herself in making a collection of all manner of poisonous drugs, -and she often went down to the dungeons to make eager experiments -upon the persons of condemned criminals. Anxiously she watched the -death-struggles of the prisoners to whom the different poisons had -been administered, discarding those drugs which produced pain and -convulsions, and continuing her tests and trials with those which -appeared to offer an easy liberation from life. She also experimented -with venomous snakes, subjecting animals and human beings to their -poisonous bites; and Plutarch tells us that “she pretty well satisfied -herself that nothing was comparable to the bite of the asp, which, -without causing convulsion or groaning, brought on a heavy drowsiness -and coma, with a gentle perspiration on the face, the senses being -stupefied by degrees, and the victim being apparently sensible of no -pain, but only annoyed when disturbed or awakened, like one who is in -a profound natural sleep.”[131] If the worst came to the worst, she -decided that she would take her life in this manner; and this question -being settled, she turned her undivided attention once more to the -problems which beset her. - -By May Octavian had marched into Syria, where all the garrisons -surrendered to him. He sent Cornelius Gallus to take command of the -legions which had surrendered to him in North Africa, and this army had -now taken possession of Parætonium, where Antony had stayed after his -flight from Actium. The news that this frontier fortress had passed -into the hands of the enemy had not yet reached Alexandria, but that -of Octavian’s advance through Syria was already known in the city, and -must have caused the greatest anxiety. Cleopatra thereupon decided upon -a bold and dignified course of action. Towards the end of May she sent -her son Cæsarion, with his tutor Rhodon, up the Nile to Koptos,[132] -and thence across the desert to the port of Berenice, where as many -ships as she could collect were ordered to be in waiting for him. -The young Cæsar travelled, it would seem, in considerable state, and -carried with him a huge sum of money. He was expected to arrive at -Berenice by about the end of June; and when, towards the middle of -July,[133] the merchants journeying to India began to set out upon -their long voyage, it was arranged that he should also set sail for -those distant lands, there to make friends with the Kings of Hindustan, -and perhaps to organise the great amalgamation of eastern nations of -which Cleopatra had so often dreamed. She herself decided to remain at -Alexandria, first to negotiate with Octavian for the retention of her -throne, and in the event of this proving unsuccessful, to fight him to -the death. No thought of flight entered her mind;[134] and though, with -a mother’s solicitous care, she made these adventurous arrangements for -the safety of her beloved son, it does not seem to have occurred to -her to accompany him to the East, where she might have expected at any -rate to find a temporary harbour of refuge. Her parting with him must -have been one of the most unhappy events of her unfortunate life. For -his safety and for his rights she had struggled for seventeen years; -and now it was necessary to send him with the Indian merchants across -perilous seas to strange lands in order to save him from the clutches -of his successful rival Octavian, while she herself remained to face -their enemies and to fight for their joint throne. Her thoughts in -these days of distress were turning once more to the memory of the -boy’s father, the great Julius Cæsar, for often, it would seem, she -gazed at his pictures or read over again the letters which he had -written to her; and now as she despatched the young Cæsar upon his -distant voyage to those lands which had always so keenly interested -his father, she must have invoked the aid of that deified spirit which -all the Roman world worshipped as Divus Julius, and, in an agony of -supplication, must have implored him to come to the assistance of his -only earthly son and heir. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -OCTAVIAN’S INVASION OF EGYPT AND THE DEATH OF ANTONY. - - -The historian must feel some reluctance in discrediting the romantic -story of the attachment of Cleopatra and Antony at this period; but -nevertheless the fact cannot be denied that they had now decided to -live apart from one another, and there seems very little doubt that -each regarded the other with distrust and suspicion. Antony had lived -so long alone in his Timonium that he was altogether out of touch with -his wife’s projects; and she, on her part, had not, for many a month, -admitted him fully into her confidence. Their relationship was marked, -on his side, by mistrust, and on hers, by disdainful pity; and I can -find no indication of that romantic passage, hand-in-hand to their -doom, which has come to be regarded as the grand finale of their tragic -tale. In its place, however, I would offer the spectacle of the lonely -and courageous fight made by the little Queen against her fate, which -must surely command the admiration of all men. Her husband having so -signally failed her, the whole burden of the government of her country -and of the organisation of her defence seems to have fallen upon -her shoulders. Day and night she must have been harassed by fearful -anxieties, and haunted by the thought of her probable doom; yet she -conducted herself with undaunted courage, never deigning to consider -the question of flight, and never once turning from the pathway of that -personal and dynastic ambition which seems to me hardly able to be -distinguished from her real duty to her country. - -When Octavian was preparing in Syria, during the month of June B.C. -30, to invade Egypt, both Cleopatra and Antony attempted to open -negotiations with him. They sent a certain Greek named Euphronius, who -had been a tutor to one of the young princes, to the enemy bearing -messages from them both. Cleopatra asked that, in return for her -surrender, her son Cæsarion might be allowed to retain the throne of -Egypt; but Antony prayed only that he might be allowed to live the life -of a private man, either at Alexandria or else in Athens. With this -embassy Cleopatra sent her crown, her sceptre, and her state-chariot, -in the hope that Octavian would bestow them again upon her son, if not -upon herself. The mission, however, was a partial failure. Octavian -would not listen to any proposals in regard to Antony; but to Cleopatra -he sent a secret message, conveyed by one of his freedmen, named -Thyrsus, indicating that he was well-disposed towards her, and would -be inclined to leave her in possession of Egypt, if only she would -cause Antony to be put to death. Actually, Octavian had no intention -of showing any particular mercy to Cleopatra, and his suggestions were -intended to deceive her. He seems to have made up his mind how to act. -Antony would have to be murdered or made to take his own life: it would -be awkward to have to condemn him to death and formally to execute -him. Cæsarion, his rival, would also have to meet with a violent end. -Cleopatra ought to be captured alive so that he might display her -in his Triumph, after which she would be sent into exile, while her -country and its wealth would fall into his hands, the loot serving for -the payment of his troops. In all his subsequent dealings with the -Queen we shall observe his anxiety to take her alive, while towards -Antony he will be seen to show a relentless hostility. - -The freedman Thyrsus was a personage of tact and understanding, and -with Cleopatra he was able to discuss the situation in all its aspects. -The Queen was striving by every means to retain her throne, and she -was quite capable of paying Octavian back in his own coin, deceiving -him and leading him to suppose that she would trust herself to his -mercy. She showed great attention to Thyrsus, giving him lengthy -audiences, and treating him with considerable honour; and Antony, not -being admitted to their secret discussions, grew daily more angry and -suspicious. It is not likely that Cleopatra consented to the proposed -assassination of her husband, but the situation was such that she could -have had no great objection to the thought of his suicide, and I dare -say she discussed quite frankly with Thyrsus the means of reminding -him of his honourable obligations. It is said by Dion Cassius that -Octavian actually conveyed messages of an amorous nature to Cleopatra, -but this is probably incorrect, though Thyrsus may well have hinted -that his master’s heart had been touched by the brave manner in which -she had faced her misfortunes, and that he was eager to win her regard. -Possibly a rumour of the nature of their conferences reached Antony, or -maybe his jealousy was aroused by the freedman’s confidential attitude -to the Queen; for he became even more suspicious than he had been -before, and he appears to have conducted himself as though his mind -were in a condition of extreme exasperation. Suddenly he caused Thyrsus -to be seized by some of his men, and soundly thrashed, after which he -sent him back to Octavian with a letter explaining his action. “The -man’s inquisitive, impertinent ways provoked me,” he wrote, “and in my -circumstances I cannot be expected to be very patient. But if it offend -you, you have got my freedman, Hipparchus, with you: hang him up and -whip him to make us even.” Hipparchus had probably deserted from Antony -to Octavian, and the whipping of Thyrsus and the suggested retaliation -constituted a piece of grim humour which seems to have appealed at -once to Cleopatra’s instincts. The audacity of the action was of the -kind which most delighted her; and she immediately began to pay more -respect to her husband, who, she thus found, was still capable of -asserting himself in a kingly manner. Plutarch tells us that to clear -herself of his suspicions, which were quite unfounded, she now paid -him more attention and humoured him in every way; and it seems that -her change of attitude put new courage into his heart, substituting -a brave bearing for that dejection of carriage which had lately been -so noticeable. She seemed anxious to prove to him that she would not -play him false, and to make her attitude clear to Octavian. When the -anniversary of her birthday had occurred in the previous winter she had -celebrated it very quietly; but Antony’s birthday, which fell at about -this time of year, she celebrated in the most elaborate manner, giving -great presents to all those who had enjoyed her hospitality. It was as -though she desired all men to know that so long as Antony played the -man, and entered into this last fight with that spirit of adventure -which always marked her own actions, she would stand by him to the -last; but that if he lacked the spirit to make a bid for success, then -she could but wish him well out of her way. The thrashing of Thyrsus -proved to be the occasion of a temporary reconciliation between the -Queen and her husband,[135] and for a time Antony acted with something -of his old energy and courage. - -Hearing that the army under Cornelius Gallus was marching through -Cyrenaica, the modern Tripoli, towards the western frontier of Egypt, -he hastened with a few ships to Parætonium in order to secure the -defence of that place. But on landing and approaching the walls of the -fortress and calling upon the commander to come out to him, his voice -was drowned by a blare of trumpets from within. A few minutes later the -garrison made a sortie, chased him and his men back to the harbour, -set fire to some of his ships, and drove him with considerable loss -from their shores. On returning to Alexandria he heard that Octavian -was approaching Pelusium, the corresponding fortress on the eastern -frontier of Egypt, which was under the command of a certain officer -named Seleucus; and shortly after this, towards the middle of July, the -news arrived that that stronghold had surrendered. - -Thereupon Antony, whose nerves were in a very highly-strung condition, -furiously accused Cleopatra of having betrayed him by arranging -secretly with Seleucus to hand over the fortress to Octavian in -the hope of placating the approaching enemy. Cleopatra denied the -accusation, and, to prove the truth of her words, she caused the wife -and children of Seleucus to be arrested and handed over to her husband, -that he might put them to death if it were shown that she had had any -secret correspondence with the traitor,[136] a fact which seems to -prove her innocence conclusively. - -Antony’s suspicions, however, unnerved him once more, and drove the -flickering courage from his heart. Dispirited and agitated, he sent -Euphronius to Octavian a second time, accompanied on this occasion -by the young Antyllus, and provided with a large sum of money with -which he hoped to placate his enemy. Octavian took the money but would -not listen to the pleading of Antyllus on behalf of his father. The -embassy must have been most distasteful to Cleopatra, who could not -easily understand how a man could fall so low as to attempt to buy -off his enemy with gold--and gold, let it be remembered, belonging -to his wife. Her surprise and pain, however, must have been greatly -increased when she discovered that Antony had next sent in chains to -Octavian a certain ex-senator, named Turullius, who had been one of the -murderers of Julius Cæsar, and was, in fact, the last survivor of all -the assassins, each one of the others having met his death as though -by the hand of a vengeful Providence. Turullius had now come into -Antony’s power, and, since Cleopatra’s son was Julius Cæsar’s heir, -the man ought to have been handed over to the Queen for punishment. -Instead, however, Antony had sent him on to his enemy in a manner -which could only suggest that he admitted Octavian’s right to act -as the Dictator’s representative. Octavian at once put Turullius to -death, thereby performing the last necessary act of vengeance in behalf -of the murdered Cæsar; but to Antony he did not so much as send an -acknowledgment of the prisoner’s reception. Receiving no assurance of -mercy, Antony appears for a time to have thought of flying to Spain or -to some other country where he could hide, or could carry on a guerilla -warfare, until some change in the politics of Rome should enable him -to reappear. His nobler nature, however, at length asserted itself, -owing to the example set by Cleopatra, who was determined now to defend -her capital; and once more he pulled himself together, as though to -stand by the Queen’s side until the end. Their position, though bad, -was not desperate. Alexandria was a strongly fortified city. The four -Roman legions which had been left in Egypt during the war in Greece -were still in the city; the Macedonian household troops were also -stationed there; and no doubt a considerable body of Egyptian soldiers -were garrisoned within the walls; while in the harbour lay the fleet -which had retired from Actium, together with numerous other ships of -war. Thus a formidable force was in readiness to defend the metropolis, -and these men were so highly paid with the never-ending wealth of the -Egyptian treasury that they were in much happier condition than were -the legionaries of Octavian, whose wages were months overdue. - -Cleopatra, nevertheless, did not expect to come through the ordeal -alive; and although Octavian continued to send her assurances of his -goodwill, the price which he asked for her safety was invariably the -head of Antony, and this she was not prepared to pay. I do not think -that the Queen’s temptation in this regard has been properly observed. -Dion Cassius emphatically states that Octavian promised her that if she -would kill Antony he would grant her both personal safety and the full -maintenance of her undiminished authority; and Plutarch, with equal -clearness, says that Octavian told her that there was no reasonable -favour which she might not expect from him if only she would put Antony -to death, or even expel him from his safe refuge in Egypt. Antony had -proved himself a broken reed; he had acted in a most cowardly manner; -he was generally drunk and always unreliable; and he appeared to be of -no further use to her or to her cause. Yet, although his removal meant -immunity to herself, she was too loyal, too proud, to sanction his -assassination; and her action practically amounted to this, that she -defied Octavian, telling him that if he wanted her drunken husband’s -useless head he must break down the walls of her city and hunt for it. - -In accordance with the custom of the age the Queen had built herself, -during recent years, a tomb and mortuary temple wherein her body should -rest after death and her spirit should receive the usual sacrifices -and priestly ministrations. This mausoleum, according to Plutarch, -was surrounded by other buildings, apparently prepared for the royal -family and for members of the court. They were not set up within -the precincts of the Sema, or royal necropolis, which stood at the -side of the Street of Canopus, but were erected beside the temple of -Isis-Aphrodite, a building rising at the edge of the sea on the eastern -side of the Lochias Promontory. I gather from the remarks of Plutarch -that the Queen’s tomb actually formed part of the temple buildings; -and, if this be so, Cleopatra must have had it in mind to be laid to -rest within the precincts of the sanctuary of the goddess with whom -she was identified. Thus, after her death, the worshippers in the -temple of Isis would make their supplications, as it were, to her own -spirit, and her mortal remains would become holy relics of their patron -goddess.[137] The mausoleum was remarkable for its height and for the -beauty of its workmanship. It was probably constructed of valuable -marbles, and appears to have consisted of several chambers. On the -ground floor I should imagine that a pillared hall, entered through a -double door of decorated cedar-wood, led to an inner shrine wherein the -sarcophagus stood ready to receive the Queen’s body; and that from this -hall a flight of stone stairs ascended to the upper chambers, whose -flooring was formed of the great blocks of granite which constituted -the roofing of the hall below. There was, perhaps, a third storey, the -chambers of which, like those on the floor below, were intended to -be used by the mortuary priests for the preparation of the incense, -the offerings, and the vestments employed in their ceremonies. The -large open casements in the walls of these upper chambers must have -overlooked the sea on the one side and the courts of the Temple of -Isis on the other; but, as was usual in Egyptianised buildings, there -were no windows of any size in the lower hall and sanctuary, the light -being admitted through the doorway and through small apertures close -to the ceiling. The heat of these July days did not penetrate to any -uncomfortable degree into this stone-built mausoleum, and the cool -sea-wind must have blown continuously through the upper rooms, while -the brilliant sunlight outside was here subdued and softened in its -reflection upon the marble walls. The rhythmic beat of the breakers -upon the stone embankment below the eastern windows, and the shrill -cries of the gulls, echoed through the rooms; while from the western -side the chanting of the priests in the adjoining temple, and the more -distant hubbub of the town, intruded into the cool recesses of these -wind-swept chambers like the sounds of a forsaken world. - -[Illustration: - - _Glyptothek, Munich._] [_Photograph by Bruckmann._ - -OCTAVIAN] - -Here Cleopatra decided to take up her residence so soon as Octavian -should lay successful siege to the walls of the city. She had -determined that in the event of defeat she would destroy herself; and, -with this prospect in view, she now caused her treasures of gold, -silver, ebony, ivory, and cinnamon, and her jewellery of pearls, -emeralds, and precious stones, to be carried into the mausoleum, where -they were laid upon a pyre of faggots and tow erected on the stone -floor of one of the upper rooms. If it should be necessary for her to -put an end to her miseries, she had decided to set the fangs of the -deadly asp into her flesh, and, with her last efforts, to fire the -tow, thus consuming her body and her wealth in a single conflagration. -Meanwhile, however, she remained in the Palace, and busied herself in -the preparations of the defence of the city. - -In the last days of July Octavian’s forces arrived before the walls, -and took up their quarters in and around the Hippodromos, which stood -upon rocky ground to the east of the city. Faced with the crisis, -Antony once more showed the flickering remnants of his former courage. -Gathering his troops together he made a bold sortie from the city, -and attacking Octavian’s cavalry, routed them with great slaughter -and chased them back to their camp. He then returned to the Palace, -where, meeting Cleopatra while still he was clad in his dusty and -blood-stained armour, he threw his arms about her small form and kissed -her in the sight of all men. He then commended to her especial favour -one of his officers who had greatly distinguished himself in the fight; -and the Queen at once presented the man with a magnificent helmet and -breastplate of gold. That very night this officer donned his golden -armour and fled to the camp of Octavian. - -Upon the next morning Antony, with somewhat boyish effrontery, sent -a messenger to Octavian challenging him to single combat, as he had -done before the battle of Actium; but to this his enemy replied with -the scathing remark that “he might find several other ways of ending -his life.” He thereupon decided to bring matters to a conclusion by -a pitched battle on land and sea, rather than await the issue of a -protracted siege; and, Cleopatra having agreed to this plan, orders -were given for a general engagement upon August 1st. On the night -before this date Antony, whose courage did not now fail him, bade the -servants help him liberally at supper and not to be sparing with the -wine, for that on the morrow they might be serving a new master, while -he himself, the incarnation of Bacchus, the god of wine and festivity, -lay dead upon the battlefield. At this his friends who were around him -began to weep, but Antony hastily explained to them that he did not -in the least expect to die, but hoped rather to lead them to glorious -victory. - -Late that night, when complete stillness had fallen upon the star-lit -city, and the sea-wind had dropped, giving place to the hot silence of -the summer darkness, on a sudden was heard the distant sound of pipes -and cymbals, and of voices singing a rollicking tune. Nearer they -came, and presently the pattering of dancing feet could be heard, while -the shouts and cries of a multitude were blended with the wild music of -a bacchanal song. The tumultuous procession, as Plutarch described it, -seemed to take its course right through the middle of the city towards -the Gate of Canopus; and there the commotion was most loudly heard. -Then, suddenly, the sounds passed out, and were heard no more. But all -those who had listened in the darkness to the wild music were assured -that they had heard the passage of Bacchus as he and his ghostly -attendants marched away from the army of his fallen incarnation, and -joined that of the victorious Octavian.[138] - -The next morning, as soon as it was light, Antony marched his troops -out of the eastern gates of the city, and formed them up on rising -ground between the walls and the Hippodromos, a short distance back -from the sea. From this position he watched his fleet sail out from -the Great Harbour and make towards Octavian’s ships, which were -arrayed near the shore, two or three miles east of the city; but, to -his dismay, the Alexandrian vessels made no attempt to deliver an -attack upon the enemy as he had ordered them to do. Instead, they -saluted Octavian’s fleet with their oars, and, on receiving a similar -salutation in response, joined up with the enemy, all sailing thereupon -towards the Great Harbour. Meanwhile, from his elevated position Antony -saw the whole of his cavalry suddenly gallop over to Octavian’s lines, -and he thus found himself left only with his infantry, who, of course, -were no match for the enemy. It was useless to struggle further, -and, giving up all hope, he fled back into the city, crying out that -Cleopatra had betrayed him. As he rushed into the Palace, followed by -his distracted officers, smiting his brow and calling down curses on -the woman who, he declared, had delivered him into the hands of enemies -made for her sake, the Queen fled before him from her apartments, as -though she feared that in his fury and despair he might cut her down -with his sword. Alone with her two waiting-women, Iras and Charmion, -she ran as fast as she could through the empty halls and corridors -of the Palace, and at length, crossing the deserted courtyard, she -reached the mausoleum adjoining the temple of Isis. The officials, -servants, and guards, it would seem, had all fled at the moment when -the cry had arisen that the fleet and the cavalry had deserted; and -there were probably but a few scared priests in the vicinity of the -temple, who could hardly have recognised the Queen as she panted to -the open door of the tomb, deserted by the usual custodians. The three -women rushed into the dimly-lighted hall, bolting and barring the door -behind them, and no doubt barricading it with benches, offering-tables, -and other pieces of sacerdotal furniture. They then made their way to -the habitable rooms on the upper floor, where they must have flung -themselves down upon the rich couches in a sort of delirium of horror -and excitement, Cleopatra herself preparing for immediate suicide. From -the window they must have seen some of Antony’s staff hastening towards -them, for presently they were able to send a message to tell him that -the Queen was on the point of killing herself. After a short time, -however, when the tumult in her brain had somewhat subsided, Cleopatra -made up her mind to wait awhile before taking the final step, so -that she might ascertain Octavian’s attitude towards her; and, having -determined upon this course of action, she seems to have composed -herself as best she could, while through the eastern windows, her eyes -staring over the summer sea, she watched the Egyptian ships and those -of the enemy rowing side by side into the Great Harbour. - -There is no reason to suppose that Cleopatra had betrayed her husband, -or that she was in any way a party to the desertions which had just -taken place. The sudden collapse of their resistance, while yet it -was but mid-morning, must have come to her as a staggering shock; and -Antony’s accusations were doubtless felt to be only in keeping with -the erratic behaviour which had characterised his last years. On the -previous day Antony had offered a large sum of money to every one of -Octavian’s legionaries who should desert; and it is more than likely -that Octavian had made a similar offer to the Egyptian sailors and -soldiers. Only a year previously these sailors had fraternised with -the Romans of the Antonian party in the Gulf of Ambracia, and the -latter, having deserted to Octavian after the battle of Actium, were -now present in large numbers amongst the opposing fleet. The Egyptians -were thus called upon to fight with their friends whose hospitality -they had often accepted, and whose fighting qualities, now that they -were combined with Octavian’s victorious forces, they had every reason -to appreciate. Their desertion, therefore, needed no suggestion on the -part of Cleopatra: it was almost inevitable. - -Antony, however, was far too distracted and overwrought to guard his -tongue, and he seems to have paced his apartments in the Palace in a -condition bordering upon madness, cursing Cleopatra and her country, -and calling down imprecations upon all who had deserted him. Presently -those of his staff who had followed the Queen to her mausoleum brought -him the news that she had killed herself, for so they had interpreted -her message; and instantly Antony’s fury seems to have left him, the -shock having caused a collapse of his energy. At first he was probably -dazed by the tidings; but when their full significance had penetrated -to his bewildered brain there was no place left for anger or suspicion. -“Now Antony,” he cried, “why delay longer? Fate has taken away the only -thing for which you could say you still wanted to live.” And with these -words he rushed into his bedchamber, eagerly tearing off his armour, -and calling upon his slave Eros to assist him. Then, as he bared the -upper part of his body, he was heard to talk aloud to the Queen, whom -he believed to be dead. “Cleopatra,” he said, “I am not sad to be -parted from you now, for I shall soon be with you; but it troubles me -that so great a general should have been found to have slower courage -than a woman.” Not long previously he had made Eros solemnly promise -to kill him when he should order him to do so; and now, turning to -him, he gave him that order, reminding him of his oath. Eros drew his -sword, as though he intended to do as he was bid, but suddenly turning -round, he drove the blade into his own breast, and fell dying upon -the floor. Thereupon Antony bent down over him and cried to him as he -lost consciousness, “Well done, Eros! Well done!” Then, picking up the -sword, he added, “You have shown your master how to do what you had not -the heart to do yourself;” and so saying, he drove the sword upwards -into his breast from below the ribs, and fell back upon his bed. - -The wound, however, was not immediately mortal, and presently, the -flow of blood having ceased, he recovered consciousness. Some of the -Egyptian servants had gathered around him, and now he implored them to -put him out of his pain. But when they realised that he was not dead -they rushed from the room, leaving him groaning and writhing where he -lay. Some of them must have carried the news to the Queen as she sat -at the window of the mausoleum, for, a few moments later, a certain -Diomedes, one of her secretaries, came to Antony telling him that -she had not yet killed herself, and that she desired his body to be -brought to her. Thereupon Antony eagerly gave orders to the servants -to carry him to her, and they, lifting him in their arms, placed him -upon an improvised stretcher and hurried with him to the mausoleum. -A crowd seems now to have collected around the door of the building, -and when the Queen saw the group of men bringing her husband to her, -she must have feared lest some of them, seeking a reward, would seize -her as soon as they had entered her stronghold and carry her alive to -Octavian. Perhaps, also, it was a difficult matter to shoot back the -bolts of the door which in her excitement she had managed to drive -deep into their sockets. She, therefore, was unable to admit Antony -into the mausoleum; and there he lay below her window, groaning and -entreating her to let him die in her arms. In the words of Plutarch, -Cleopatra thereupon “let down ropes and cords to which Antony was -fastened; and she and her two women, the only persons she had allowed -to enter the mausoleum, drew him up. Those who were present say that -nothing was ever more sad than this spectacle, to see Antony, covered -all over with blood and just expiring, thus drawn up, still holding up -his hands to her, and raising up his body with the little force he had -left. And, indeed, it was no easy task for the women; for Cleopatra, -with all her strength clinging to the rope and straining at it with -her head bent towards the ground, with difficulty pulled him up, while -those below encouraged her with their cries and joined in all her -efforts and anxiety.” The window must have been a considerable distance -from the ground, and I do not think that the three women could ever -have succeeded in raising Antony’s great weight so far had not those -below fetched ladders, I suppose, and helped to lift him up to her, -thereafter, no doubt, watching the terrible scene from the head of -these ladders outside the window. - -Dragging him through the window the women carried him to the bed, -upon which he probably swooned away after the agonies of the ascent. -Cleopatra was distracted by the pitiful sight, and fell into -uncontrolled weeping. Beating her breast and tearing her clothes, she -made some attempts, at the same time, to stanch the scarlet stream -which flowed from his wound; and soon her face and neck were smeared -with his blood. Flinging herself down by his side she called him her -lord, her husband, and her emperor. All her pity and much of her old -love for him was aroused by his terrible sufferings, and so intent -was she upon his pain that her own desperate situation was entirely -forgotten. At last Antony came to his senses, and called for wine to -drink; after which, having revived somewhat, he attempted to soothe -the Queen’s wild lamentations, telling her to make her terms with -Octavian, so far as might honourably be done, and advising her to trust -only a certain Proculeius amongst all the friends of the conqueror. -With his last breath, he begged her, says Plutarch, “not to pity him in -this last turn of fate, but rather to rejoice for him in remembrance -of his past happiness, who had been of all men the most illustrious -and powerful, and in the end had fallen not ignobly, a Roman by a -Roman vanquished.” With these words he lay back upon the bed, and soon -had breathed his last in the arms of the woman whose interests he had -so poorly served, and whom now he left to face alone the last great -struggle for her throne and for the welfare of her son. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA AND THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN. - - -Cleopatra’s situation was at this moment terrible in the extreme. The -blood-stained body of her husband lay stretched upon the bed, covered -by her torn garments which she had thrown over it. Charmion and Iras, -her two waiting-women, were probably huddled in the corner of the -room, beating their breasts and wailing as was the Greek habit at such -a time. Below the open window a few Romans and Egyptians appear to -have gathered in the sun-baked courtyard; and, I think, the ladders -still rested against the wall where they had been placed by those who -had helped to raise Antony up to the Queen. It must now have been -early afternoon, and the sunlight of the August day, no doubt, beat -into the room, lighting the disarranged furniture and revealing the -wet blood-stains upon the tumbled carpets over which the dying man’s -heavy body had been dragged. From the one side the surge of the sea -penetrated into the chamber; from the other the shouts of Octavian’s -soldiers and the clattering of their arms came to Cleopatra’s ears, -telling her of the enemy’s arrival in the Palace. She might expect -at any moment to be asked to surrender, and more than probably an -attempt would be made to capture her by means of an entry through the -window. She had determined, however, never to be made prisoner in this -manner, and she had, no doubt, given it to be clearly understood that -any effort to seize her would be her signal for firing the funeral -pyre which had been erected in the adjoining room and destroying -herself upon it. To be made a captive probably meant her degradation -at Octavian’s Triumph and the loss of her throne; but to surrender by -mutual arrangement might assure her personal safety and the continuity -of her dynasty. With this in view, it seems likely that she now armed -her two women to resist any assault upon the windows, and told them -to warn all who attempted to climb the ladders that she, with her -priceless jewellery and treasures, would be engulfed in the flames -before ever they had reached to the level of her place of refuge. - -Antony had been dead but a few minutes when Proculeius, of whom he had -spoken to Cleopatra just before he expired, arrived upon the scene, -demanding, in the name of Octavian, an audience with the Queen. He -knocked upon the barred door of the main entrance to the mausoleum, -calling upon Cleopatra to admit him, and the sound must have echoed -through the hall below and come to her ears, where she listened at the -top of the stairs, like some ominous summons from the powers of the -Underworld; but, fearing that she might be taken prisoner, she did not -dare open to him, even if she could have shot back the heavy bolts, and -she must have paced to and fro beside her husband’s corpse in an agony -of indecision. At last, however, she ran down the marble staircase -to the dimly-lighted hall below, and, standing beside the barricade -which she had constructed against the inner side of the door, called -out to Proculeius by name. He answered her from the outside, and in -this manner they held a short parley with one another, she offering -to surrender if she could receive Octavian’s word that her Kingdom of -Egypt would be given to her son Cæsarion, and Proculeius replying only -with the assurance that Octavian was to be trusted to act with clemency -towards her. This was not satisfactory to her, and presently the Roman -officer returned to his master, leaving Cleopatra undisturbed until -late in the afternoon. He described the Queen’s situation to Octavian, -and pointed out to him that it would probably not be difficult to -effect an entrance to the mausoleum by means of the ladders, and -that, with speed and a little manœuvring, Cleopatra could be seized -before she had time to fire the pyre. Thereupon Octavian sent him with -Cornelius Gallus,[139] who had now reached Alexandria, to attempt her -capture, and the latter went straight to the door of the mausoleum, -knocking upon it to summon the Queen. Cleopatra at once went down the -stairs and entered into conversation with Cornelius Gallus through the -closed door; and it would seem that her two women, perhaps eager to -hear what was said, left their post at the window of the upper room -and stood upon the steps behind her. As soon as the Queen was heard to -be talking and reiterating her conditions of surrender, Proculeius ran -round to the other side of the building, and, adjusting the ladders, -climbed rapidly up to the window, followed by two other Roman officers. -Entering the disordered room, he ran past the dead body of Antony -and hurried down the stairs, at the bottom of which he encountered -Charmion and Iras, while beyond them in the dim light of the hall he -saw Cleopatra standing at the shut door, her back turned to him. One -of the women uttered a cry, when she saw Proculeius, and called out to -her mistress: “Unhappy Cleopatra, you are taken prisoner!” At this the -Queen sprang round, and, seeing the Roman officer, snatched a dagger -from its sheath at her waist and raised it for the stroke which should -terminate the horror of her life. Proculeius, however, was too quick -for her. He sprang at her with a force which must have hurled her back -against the door, and, seizing her wrist, shook the dagger from her -small hand. Then, holding her two arms at her side, he caused his men -to shake her dress and to search her for hidden weapons or poison. -“For shame, Cleopatra,” he said to her, scolding her for attempting to -take her life; “you wrong yourself and Octavian very much in trying -to rob him of so good an opportunity of showing his clemency, and you -would make the world believe that the most humane of generals was a -faithless and implacable enemy.” He then seems to have ordered his -officers to remove the barriers and to open the door of the mausoleum, -whereupon Cornelius Gallus and his men were able to assist him to guard -the Queen and her two women. Shortly after this, Octavian’s freedman, -Epaphroditus, arrived with orders to treat Cleopatra with all possible -gentleness and civility, but to take the strictest precautions to -prevent her injuring herself; and, acting on these instructions, the -Roman officers seem to have lodged the Queen under guard in one of the -upper rooms of the mausoleum, after having made a thorough search for -hidden weapons or poisons. - -Just before sunset Octavian made his formal entry into Alexandria. -He wished to impress the people of the city with the fact of his -benevolent and peace-loving nature, and therefore he made a certain -Alexandrian philosopher named Areius, for whom he had a liking, ride -with him in his chariot. As the triumphal procession passed along the -beautiful Street of Canopus, Octavian was seen by the agitated citizens -to be holding the philosopher’s hand and talking to him in the most -gentle manner. Stories soon went the rounds that when the conqueror had -received the news of Antony’s death he had shed tears of sorrow, and -had read over to his staff some of his enemy’s furious letters to him -and his own moderate replies, thus showing how the quarrel had been -forced upon him. Orders now seem to have been issued forbidding all -outrage or looting; and presently the frightened Alexandrians ventured -from their hiding-places, most of the local magnates being ordered to -gather themselves together in the Gymnasium. Here, in the twilight, -Octavian rose to address them; and as he did so, they all prostrated -themselves upon the ground before him in abject humiliation. Commanding -them to rise, he told them that he freely acquitted them of all blame: -firstly, in memory of the great Alexander who had founded their city; -secondly, for the sake of the city itself which was so large and -beautiful; thirdly, in honour of their god Serapis;[140] and lastly, to -gratify his dear friend Areius, at whose request he was about to spare -many lives. - -Having thus calmed the citizens, who now must have hailed him as a kind -of deliverer and saviour, he retired to his quarters, whence, in his -sardonic manner, he appears to have issued orders for the immediate -slaughter of those members of the court of Cleopatra and Antony for -whom Areius had not any particular liking. The unfortunate Antyllus, -Antony’s son, having been betrayed to Octavian by his faithless tutor -Theodorus, was at once put to death in the temple erected by Cleopatra -to Julius Cæsar, whither he had fled. As the executioner cut off the -boy’s head, Theodorus contrived to steal a valuable jewel which hung -round his neck; but the theft was discovered, and he was carried before -Octavian, who ordered him to be crucified forthwith. A strict guard -was set over the two children of Cleopatra, Ptolemy and Cleopatra -Selene,[141] who were still in Alexandria; and Octavian seems to have -given Cleopatra to understand that if she attempted to kill herself -he would put these two children to death. Thus he was able to assure -himself that she would refrain from taking her life, for, as Plutarch -says, “before such engines her purpose (to destroy herself) shook and -gave way.” - -Antony’s body was now, I suppose, prepared for burial. Though -mummification was still often practised in Alexandria by Greeks and -Egyptians, I do not think that any elaborate attempt was made to embalm -the corpse, and it was probably ready for the funeral rites within a -few days. Out of respect to the dead general a number of Roman officers -and foreign potentates who were with Octavian’s army begged to be -allowed to perform these rites at their own expense; but in deference -to Cleopatra’s wishes the body was left in the Queen’s hands, and -instructions were issued that her orders were to be obeyed in regard to -the funeral. Thus Antony was buried, with every mark of royal splendour -and pomp, in a tomb which had probably long been prepared for him, not -far from his wife’s mausoleum. Cleopatra followed him to his grave, a -tragic, piteous little figure, surrounded by a group of her lamenting -ladies; and, while the priests burnt their incense and uttered their -droning chants, the Queen’s fragile hands ruthlessly beat her breasts -as she called upon the dead man by his name. In these last terrible -hours only the happier character of her relationship with Antony was -remembered, and the recollection of her many disagreements with him -were banished from her mind by the piteous scenes of his death, and by -the thought of his last tender words to her as he lay groaning upon her -bed. In her extreme loneliness she must have now desired his buoyant -company of earlier years with an intensity which she could hardly have -felt during his lifetime; and it must have been difficult indeed for -her to refrain from putting an end to her miserable life upon the grave -of her dead lover. Yet Octavian’s threat in regard to her children held -her hand; and, moreover, even in her utter distress, she had not yet -abandoned her hope of saving Egypt from the clutch of Rome. Her own -dominion, she knew, was over, and the best fate which she herself could -hope for was that of an unmolested exile; yet Octavian’s attitude to -her indicated in every way that he would be willing to leave the throne -to her descendants. She did not know how falsely he was acting towards -her, how he was making every effort to encourage hope in her heart in -order that he might bring her alive to Rome to be exhibited in chains -to the jeering populace. She did not understand that his messages of -encouragement, and even of affection, to her were written with sardonic -cunning, that his cheerful assurances in regard to her children -were made at a time when he was probably actually sending messages -post-haste to Berenice to attempt to recall Cæsarion in order to put -him to death. She did not understand Octavian’s character: perhaps she -had never even seen him; and she hoped somehow to make a last appeal to -him. She had played her wonderful game for the amalgamation of Egypt -and Rome into one vast kingdom, ruled by her descendants and those of -the great Julius Cæsar, and she had lost. But there was yet hope that -out of the general wreck she might save the one asset with which she -had started her operations--the independent throne of Egypt; and to -accomplish this she must live on for a while longer, and must face with -bravery the nightmare of her existence. - -Coming back, after the funeral, to her rooms in the mausoleum, wherein -she had now decided to take up her residence, she fell into a high -fever; and there upon her bed she lay in delirium for several days. She -suffered, moreover, very considerable pain, due to the inflammation and -ulceration caused by the blows which she had rained upon her delicate -body in the abandonment of her despair. Over and over again she was -heard to utter in her delirium the desolate cry, “I _will not_ be -exhibited in his Triumph,” and in her distress she begged repeatedly -to be allowed to die. At one time she refused all food, and begged -her doctor, a certain Olympus, to help her to pass quietly out of the -world.[142] Octavian, however, hearing of her increasing weakness, -warned her once more that unless she made an effort to live he would -not be lenient to her children; whereupon, as though galvanised into -life by this pressure upon her maternal instincts, she made the -necessary struggle to recover, obediently swallowing the medicine and -stimulants which were given to her. - -Thus the hot August days passed by, and at length the Queen, now -fragile and haggard, was able to move about once more. Her age at this -time was thirty-eight years, and she must have lost that freshness -of youth which had been her notable quality; but her brilliant eyes -had now perhaps gained in wonder by the pallor of her face, and -the careless arrangement of her dark hair must have enhanced her -tragic beauty. The seductive tones of her voice could not have been -diminished, and that peculiar quality of elusiveness may well have been -accentuated by her illness and by the nervous strain through which -she had passed. Indeed, her personal charm was still so great that a -certain Cornelius Dolabella, one of the Roman officers whose duty it -was to keep watch over her, speedily became her devoted servant, and -was induced to promise that he would report to her any plans in regard -to her welfare which Octavian should disclose. - -On August 28th, as she lay upon a small pallet-bed in the upper room, -gazing in utter desolation, as I imagine, over the blue waters of the -Mediterranean, her women ran in to her to tell her that Octavian had -come to pay his respects to her. He had not yet visited her, for he had -very correctly avoided her previous to and during Antony’s funeral; -and since that time she had been too ill to receive him. Now, however, -she was convalescent, and the conqueror had arrived unexpectedly -to congratulate her, as etiquette demanded, upon her recovery. He -walked into the room before the Queen had time to prepare herself; -and Plutarch describes how, “on his entering, she sprang from her -bed, having nothing on but the one garment next her body, and flung -herself at his feet, her hair and face looking wild and disfigured, her -voice trembling, and her eyes sunken and dark. The marks of the blows -which she had rained upon herself were visible about her breast, and -altogether her whole person seemed to be no less afflicted than was -her spirit. But for all this, her old charm and the boldness of her -youthful beauty had not wholly left her, and, in spite of her present -condition, still shone out from within and allowed itself to appear in -all the expressions of her face.” - -The picture of the distraught little Queen, her dark hair tumbled over -her face, her loose garment slipping from her white shoulders, as she -crouches at the feet of this cold, unhealthy-looking man, who stands -somewhat awkwardly before her, is one which must distress the mind -of the historian who has watched the course of Cleopatra’s warfare -against the representative of Rome. Yet in this scene we are able to -discern her but stripped of the regal and formal accessories which -have often caused her to appear more imposing and awe-inspiring than -actually her character justified. She was essentially a woman, and -now, in her condition of physical weakness, she acted precisely as any -other overwrought member of her sex might have behaved under similar -circumstances. Her wonderful pluck had almost deserted her, and her -persistence of purpose was lost in the wreck of all her hopes. We have -often heard her described as a calculating woman, who lived her life in -studied and callous voluptuousness, and who died in unbending dignity; -but, as I have tried to indicate in this volume, the Queen’s nature was -essentially feminine--highly-strung, and liable to rapid changes from -joy to despair. Keen, independent, and fearless though she was, she -was never a completely self-reliant woman, and in circumstances such as -those which are now being recorded we obtain a view of her character, -which shows her to have been capable of needing desperately the help -and sympathy of others. - -Octavian raised her to her feet, and, assisting her once more on to -her bed, sat himself down beside her. At first she talked to him in a -rambling manner, justifying her past movements, and attributing certain -actions, such, I suppose, as her hiding in the mausoleum, to her fear -of Antony; but when Octavian pointed out to her the discrepancies in -her statements she made no longer any attempt to excuse her conduct, -begging him only not to take her throne from her son, and telling him -that she was willing enough to live if only he would insure the safety -of her country and dynasty, and would be merciful to her children. -Then, rising from the bed, she brought to Octavian a number of letters -written to her by Julius Cæsar, and also one or two portraits of him -painted for her during his lifetime. “You know,” she said,[143] “how -much I was with your father,[144] and you are aware that it was he -who placed the crown of Egypt upon my head; but, so that you may know -something of our private affairs, please read these letters. They are -all written to me with his own hand.” - -Octavian must have turned the letters over with some curiosity, but he -does not seem to have shown a desire to read them; and, seeing this, -Cleopatra cried: “Of what use are all these letters to me? Yet I seem -to see him living again in them.” The thought of her old lover and -friend, and the memories recalled by the letters and portraits before -her seem to have unnerved her; and, being in so overwrought and weak -a condition, she now broke down completely. Between her sobs she was -heard to exclaim, “Oh, I wish to God you were still alive,” as though -referring to Julius Cæsar. - -Octavian appears to have consoled her as best he could; and at length -she seems to have agreed that, in return for his clemency, she would -place herself entirely in his hands, and would hand over to him without -reserve all her property. One of her stewards, named Seleucus, happened -to be awaiting her orders in the mausoleum at the time, and, sending -for him, she told him to hand over to Octavian the list which they -together had lately made of her jewellery and valuables, and which now -lay with her other papers in the room. Seleucus seems to have read -the document to Octavian; but, wishing to ingratiate himself with his -new master, and thinking that loyalty to Cleopatra no longer paid, he -volunteered the information that various articles were omitted from -the list, and that the Queen was purposely secreting these for her own -advantage. At this Cleopatra sprang from her bed, and, dashing at the -astonished steward, seized him by the hair, shook him to and fro, and -furiously slapped his face. So outraged and overwrought was she that -she might well have done the man some serious injury had not Octavian, -who could not refrain from laughing, withheld her and led her back to -her seat. “Really it is very hard,” she exclaimed to her visitor, “when -you do me the honour to come to see me in this condition I am in, that -I should be accused by one of my own servants of setting aside some -women’s trinkets--not so as to adorn my unhappy self, you may be sure, -but so that I might have some little presents by me to give to your -sister Octavia and your wife Livia, that by their intercession I might -hope to find you to some extent disposed to mercy.” - -Cæsar was delighted to hear her talk in this manner, for it seemed to -indicate that she was desirous of continuing to live; and he was most -anxious that she should do so, partly, as I have said, that he might -have the satisfaction of parading her in chains through the streets of -Rome, and partly, perhaps, in order to show, thereafter, his clemency -and his respect to the late Dictator’s memory by refraining from -putting her to death. He therefore told her that she might dispose of -these articles of jewellery as she liked; and, promising that his usage -of her would be merciful beyond her expectation, he brought his visit -to a close, well satisfied that he had won her confidence, and that he -had entirely deceived her. In this, however, he was mistaken, and he -was himself deceived by her. - -Cleopatra had observed from his words and manner that he wished to -exhibit her in Rome, and that he had little intention of allowing -her son Cæsarion to reign in her place, but purposed to seize Egypt -on behalf of Rome. Far from reassuring her, the interview had left -her with the certainty that the doom of the dynasty was sealed; and -already she saw clearly that there was nothing left for which to live. -Presently a messenger from Cornelius Dolabella came to her, and broke -the secret news to her that Octavian, finding her now recovered from -her illness, had decided to ship her off to Rome with her two children -in three days’ time or less. It is possible, also, that Dolabella was -already able to tell her that there was no hope for her son Cæsarion, -for that Octavian had decided to kill him so soon as he could lay hands -on him, realising, at the instance of his Alexandrian friend Areius, -that it was unwise to leave at large one who claimed to be the rightful -successor of the great Dictator. - -On hearing this news the Queen determined to kill herself at once, for -her despair was such that the fact of existence had become intolerable -to her. In her mind she must have pictured Octavian’s Triumph in Rome, -in which she and her children would figure as the chief exhibits. She -would be led in chains up to the Capitol, even as she had watched her -sister Arsinoe paraded in the Triumph of Julius Cæsar; and she could -hear in imagination the jeers and groans of the townspeople, who -would not fail to remind her of her former boast that she would one -day sit in royal judgment where then she would be standing in abject -humiliation. The thought, which of itself was more than she could bear, -was coupled with the certainty that, were she to prolong her life, she -would have to suffer also the shock of her beloved son’s cruel murder, -for already his death seemed inevitable. - -Having therefore made up her mind, she sent a message to Octavian -asking his permission for her to visit Antony’s tomb, in order to -make the usual oblations to his spirit. This was granted to her, and -upon the next morning, August 29th, she was carried in her litter to -the grave, accompanied by her women. Arriving at the spot she threw -herself upon the gravestone, embracing it in a very passion of woe. -“Oh, dearest Antony,” she cried, the tears streaming down her face, “it -is not long since with these hands I buried you. Then they were free; -now I am a captive; and I pay these last duties to you with a guard -upon me, for fear that my natural griefs and sorrows should impair my -servile body and make it less fit to be exhibited in their Triumph over -you. Expect no further offerings or libations from me, Antony; these -are the last honours that Cleopatra will be able to pay to your memory, -for she is to be hurried far away from you. Nothing could part us while -we lived, but death seems to threaten to divide us. You, a Roman born, -have found a grave in Egypt. I, an Egyptian, am to seek that favour, -and none but that, in your country. But if the gods below, with whom -you now are dwelling, can or will do anything for me, since those above -have betrayed us, do not allow your living wife to be abandoned, let me -not be led in Triumph to your shame; but hide me, hide me: bury me here -with you. For amongst all my bitter misfortunes nothing has been so -terrible as this brief time that I have lived away from you.”[145] - -For some moments she lay upon the tombstone passionately kissing it, -her past quarrels with the dead man all forgotten in her desire for his -companionship now in her loneliness, and only her earlier love for him -being remembered in the tumult of her mind. Then, rising and placing -some wreaths of flowers upon the grave, she entered her litter and was -carried back to the mausoleum. - -[Illustration: - - _Vatican._] [_Photograph by Anderson._ - -THE NILE. - -AN EXAMPLE OF ALEXANDRIAN ART.] - -As soon as she had arrived she ordered her bath to be prepared, and -having been washed and scented, her hair being carefully plaited around -her head, she lay down upon a couch and partook of a sumptuous meal. -After this she wrote a short letter to Octavian, asking that she might -be buried in the same tomb with Antony; and, this being despatched, she -ordered everybody to leave the mausoleum with the exception of Charmion -and Iras, as though she did not wish to be disturbed in her afternoon’s -siesta. The doors were then closed, and the sentries mounted guard on -the outside in the usual manner. - -When Octavian read the letter which Cleopatra’s messenger had brought -him, he realised at once what had happened, and hastened to the -mausoleum. Changing his mind, however, he sent some of his officers in -his place, who, on their arrival, found the sentries apprehensive of -nothing. Bursting open the door they ran up the stairs to the upper -chamber, and immediately their worst fears were realised. Cleopatra, -already dead, lay stretched upon her bed of gold, arrayed in her -Grecian robes of state, and decked with all her regal jewels, the royal -diadem of the Ptolemies encircling her brow. Upon the floor at her feet -Iras was just breathing her last; and Charmion, scarce able to stand, -was tottering at the bedside, trying to adjust the Queen’s crown. - -One of the Roman officers exclaimed angrily: “Charmion, was this well -done of your lady?” Charmion, supporting herself beside the royal -couch, turned her ashen face towards the speaker. “Very well done,” she -gasped, “and as befitted the descendant of so many Kings”; and with -these words she fell dead beside the Queen. - -The Roman officers, having despatched messengers to inform Octavian -of the tragedy, seem to have instituted an immediate inquiry as to -the means by which the deaths had taken place.[146] At first the -sentries could offer no information, but at length the fact was -elicited that a peasant carrying a basket of figs had been allowed to -enter the mausoleum, as it was understood that the fruit was for the -Queen’s meal. The soldiers declared that they had lifted the leaves -with which the fruit was covered and had remarked on the fineness of -the figs, whereupon the peasant had laughed and had invited them to -take some, which they had refused to do. It was perhaps known that -Cleopatra had expressed a preference for death by the bite of an -asp,[147] and it was therefore thought that perhaps one of these small -snakes had been brought to her concealed under the figs. A search was -made for the snake, and one of the soldiers stated that he thought he -saw a snake-track leading from the mausoleum over the sand towards -the sea. An attendant who had admitted the peasant seems now to have -reported that when Cleopatra saw the figs she exclaimed, “So here it -is!” a piece of evidence which gave some colour to the theory. Others -suggested that the asp had been kept at hand for some days in a vase, -and that the Queen had, at the end, teased it until she had made it -strike at her. An examination of the body showed nothing except two -very slight marks upon the arm, which might possibly have been caused -by the bite of a snake. On the other hand, it was suggested that the -Queen might have carried some form of poison in a hollow hair-comb or -other similar article; and this theory must have received some support -from the fact that there were the three deaths to account for. - -Presently Octavian seems to have arrived, and he at once sent for -snake-doctors, _Psylli_, to suck the poison from the wound; but -they came too late to save her. Though Octavian expressed his great -disappointment at her death, he could not refrain from showing his -admiration for the manner in which it had occurred. Personally, he -appears to have favoured the theory that her end was caused by the -bite of the asp, and afterwards in his Triumph he caused a figure of -Cleopatra to be exhibited with a snake about her arm. Though it is -thus quite impossible to state with certainty how it occurred, there -is no reason to contradict the now generally accepted story of the -introduction of the asp in the basket of figs. I have no doubt that the -Queen had other poisons in her possession, which were perhaps used by -her two faithful women; and it is to be understood that the strategy -of the figs, if employed at all, was resorted to only in order that -she herself might die by the means which her earlier experiments had -commended to her. - -Octavian now gave orders that the Queen should be buried with full -honours beside Antony, where she had wished to lie. He had sent -messengers, it would seem, to Berenice to attempt to stop the departure -of Cæsarion for India, having heard, no doubt, that the young man had -decided to remain in that town until the last possible moment. His -tutor, Rhodon, counselled him to trust himself to Octavian; and, acting -upon this advice, they returned to Alexandria, where they seem to have -arrived very shortly after Cleopatra’s death. Octavian immediately -ordered Cæsarion to be executed, his excuse being that it was dangerous -for _two Cæsars_ to be in the world together; and thus died the last -of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs of Egypt, the son and only real heir of the -great Julius Cæsar. The two other children who remained in the Palace, -Ptolemy and Cleopatra Selene, were shipped off to Rome as soon as -possible, and messengers seem to have been despatched to Media to take -possession of Alexander Helios who had probably been sent thither, as -we have already seen. - -In my opinion, Octavian now decided to take over Egypt as a kind of -personal possession. He did not wish to cause a revolution in the -country by proclaiming it a Roman province; and he seems to have -appreciated the ceaseless efforts of Cleopatra and her subjects to -prevent the absorption of the kingdom in this manner. He therefore -decided upon a novel course of action. While not allowing himself to -be crowned as actual King of Egypt, he assumed that office by tacit -agreement with the Egyptian priesthood. He seems to have claimed, in -fact, to be heir to the throne of the Ptolemies. Julius Cæsar had been -recognised as Cleopatra’s husband in Egypt, and he, Octavian, was -Cæsar’s adopted son and heir. After the elimination of Cleopatra’s -three surviving children he was, therefore, the rightful claimant -to the Egyptian throne. The Egyptians at once accepted him as their -sovereign, and upon the walls of their temples we constantly find his -name inscribed in hieroglyphics as “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, -Son of the Sun, Cæsar, living for ever, beloved of Ptah and Isis.” -He is also called by the title Autocrator, which he took over from -Antony, and which, in the Egyptian inscriptions, was recognised as -a kind of hereditary royal name, being written within the Pharaonic -cartouche.[148] His descendants, the Emperors of Rome, were thus -successively Kings of Egypt, as though heads of the reigning dynasty; -and each Emperor as he ascended the Roman throne was hailed as Monarch -of Egypt, and was called in all Egyptian inscriptions “Pharaoh” and -“Son of the Sun.” The Egyptians, therefore, with the acquiescence of -Octavian, came to regard themselves not as vassals of Rome, but as -subjects of their own King, who happened at the same time to be Emperor -of Rome; and thus the great Egypto-Roman Empire for which Cleopatra had -struggled actually came into existence. All Emperors of Rome came to -be recognised in Egypt not as sovereigns of a foreign empire of which -Egypt was a part, but as _actual Pharaohs of Egyptian dominions of -which Rome was a part_. - -The ancient dynasties had passed away, the Amenophis and Thutmosis -family, the house of Rameses, the line of Psammetichus, and many -another had disappeared. And now, in like manner, the house of the -Ptolemies had fallen, and the throne of Egypt was occupied by the -dynasty of the Cæsars. This dynasty, as it were, supplied Rome with her -monarchs; and the fact that Octavian was hailed by Egyptians as King -of Egypt long before he was recognised by Romans as Emperor of Rome, -gave the latter throne a kind of Pharaonic origin in the eyes of the -vain Egyptians. It has usually been supposed that Egypt became a Roman -province; but it was never declared to be such. Octavian arranged that -it should be governed by a _praefectus_, who was to act in the manner -of a viceroy,[149] and he retained the greater part of the Ptolemaic -revenues as his personal property. While later in Rome he pretended -that Cleopatra’s kingdom had been annexed, in Egypt it was distinctly -understood that the country was still a monarchy. - -He treated the Queen’s memory with respect, since he was carrying on -her line; and he would not allow her statues to be overthrown.[150] -All her splendid treasures, however, and the gold and silver plate and -ornaments were melted down and converted into money with which to pay -the Roman soldiers. The royal lands were seized, the palaces largely -stripped of their wealth; and when at last Octavian returned to Rome in -the spring of B.C. 29, he had become a fabulously rich man. - -On August 13th, 14th, and 15th of the same year three great Triumphs -were celebrated, the first day being devoted to the European conquests, -the second to Actium, and the third to the Egyptian victory. A statue -of Cleopatra, the asp clinging to her arm, was dragged through the -streets of the capital, and the Queen’s twin children, Alexander Helios -and Cleopatra Selene, were made to walk in captivity in the procession. -Images representing Nilus and Egypt were carried along, and an enormous -quantity of interesting loot was heaped up on the triumphal cars. -The poet Propertius tells us how in fancy he saw “the necks of kings -bound with golden chains, and the fleet of Actium sailing up the Via -Sacra.” All men became unbalanced by enthusiasm, and stories derogatory -to Cleopatra were spread on all sides. Horace, in a wonderful ode, -expressed the public sentiments, and denounced the unfortunate Queen -as an enemy of Rome. Honours were heaped upon Octavian; and soon -afterwards he was given the title of Augustus, and was named _Divi -filius_, as being heir of _Divus Julius_. He took great delight in -lauding the memory of the great Dictator, who was now accepted as one -of the gods of the Roman world; and it is a significant fact that he -revived and reorganised the Lupercalia, as though he were in some -manner honouring Cæsar thereby.[151] - -Meanwhile the three children of Cleopatra and Antony found a generous -refuge in the house of Octavia, Antony’s discarded wife. With admirable -tact Octavian seems to have insisted upon this solution of the -difficulty as to what to do with them. Their execution would have been -deeply resented by the Egyptians, and, since Octavian was now posing -as the legal heir to the throne of Egypt, the dynastic successor of -Cleopatra, and not a foreign usurper, it was well that his own sister -should look after these members of the royal family. Octavia, always -meek and dutiful, accepted the arrangement nobly, and was probably -unvaryingly kind to these children of her faithless husband, whom -she brought up with her two daughters, Antonia Major and Minor, and -Julius Antonius, the second son of Antony and Fulvia, and brother of -the murdered Antyllus. When the little Cleopatra Selene grew up she -was married to Juba, the King of Numidia, a learned and scholarly -monarch, who was later made King of Mauretania. The son of this -marriage was named Ptolemy, and succeeded his father about A.D. 19. He -was murdered by Caligula, who, by the strange workings of Fate, was -also a descendant of Antony. We do not know what became of Alexander -Helios and his brother Ptolemy. Tacitus tells us[152] that Antonius -Felix, Procurator of Judæa under the Emperor Nero, married (as his -second wife) Drusilla, a granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony, who -was probably another of the Mauretanian family. Octavia died in B.C. -11. Antony’s son, Julius Antonius, in B.C. 2, was put to death for his -immoral relations with Octavian’s own daughter Julia, she herself being -banished to the barren island of Pandateria. Octavian himself, covered -with honours and full of years, died in A.D. 14, being succeeded upon -the thrones of Egypt and of Rome by Tiberius, his son. - -During the latter part of the reign of Octavian, or Augustus, as one -must call him, the influence of Alexandria upon the life of Rome began -to be felt in an astonishing degree; and so greatly did Egyptian -thought alter the conditions in the capital that it might well be -fancied that the spirit of the dead Cleopatra was presiding over -that throne which she had striven to ascend. Ferrero goes so far as -to suggest that the main ideas of splendid monarchic government and -sumptuous Oriental refinement which now developed in Rome were due to -the direct influence of Alexandria, and perhaps to the fact that the -new emperors were primarily Kings of Egypt. Alexandrian artists and -artisans swarmed over the sea to Italy, and the hundreds of Romans who -had snatched estates for themselves in Egypt travelled frequently to -that country on business, and unconsciously familiarised themselves -with its arts and crafts. Alexandrian sculpture and painting was seen -in every villa, and the poetry and literature of the Alexandrian school -were read by all fashionable persons. Every Roman wanted to employ -Alexandrians to decorate his house, everybody studied the manners and -refinements of the Græco-Egyptians. The old austerity went to pieces -before the buoyancy of Cleopatra’s subjects, just as the aloofness of -London has disappeared under the Continental invasion of the last few -years. - -Thus it may be said that the Egypto-Roman Empire of Cleopatra’s dreams -came to be founded in actual fact, with this difference, that its -monarchs were sprung from the line of Octavian, Cæsar’s nephew, and not -from that of Cæsarion, Cæsar’s son. But while Egypt and Alexandria thus -played such an important part in the creation of the Roman monarchy, -the memory of Cleopatra, from whose brain and whose influence the new -life had proceeded, was yearly more painfully vilified. She came to -be the enemy of this Orientalised Rome, which still thought itself -Occidental; and her struggle with Octavian was remembered as the evil -crisis through which the party of the Cæsars had passed. Abuse was -heaped upon her, and stories were invented in regard to her licentious -habits. It is upon this insecure basis that the world’s estimate of -the character of Cleopatra is founded; and it is necessary for every -student of these times at the outset of his studies to rid his mind of -the impression which he will have obtained from these polluted sources. -Having shut out from his memory the stinging words of Propertius -and the fierce lines of Horace, written in the excess of his joy at -the close of the period of warfare which had endangered his little -country estate, the reader will be in a position to judge whether the -interpretation of Cleopatra’s character and actions, which I have laid -before him, is to be considered as unduly lenient, and whether I have -made unfair use of the merciful prerogative of the historian, in -behalf of an often lonely and sorely tried woman, who fought all her -life for the fulfilment of a patriotic and splendid ambition, and who -died in a manner “befitting the descendant of so many kings.” - - -THE END. - - -PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. - - - - -GENEALOGY OF THE PTOLEMIES. - - -[Illustration: - LAGOS. - | - +--------+ - | - FIRST HUSBAND. = BERENICE I., = PTOLEMY I., - | grandniece | Soter I., - | of Antipater | a General of - | of Macedon. | Alexander the - | | Great, afterwards - | | King of Egypt. - | | - +----------------+ +-------+-----+ - | | | - MAGAS, = APAMA ARSINOE II., = PTOLEMY II., = ARSINOE I., - King | of second wife Philadelphus, | first wife, - of | Syria. and sister, King of Egypt. | daughter of - Cyrene. | first | Lysimachos, - | _married_ to | King of - | Lysimachos, | Thrace. - | King of Thrace. | - | | - +---------------+ +-------------+ - | | - BERENICE II. = PTOLEMY III., - | Euergetes I., - | King of Egypt. - | - +---------+-------+-------------------+ - | | | - ANTIOCHOS PTOLEMY IV., = ARSINOE III. MAGAS. - the Great, Philopator, | - King of King of Egypt. | - Syria. | - | | - +-----+ +-------------+ - | | - CLEOPATRA I. = PTOLEMY V., - | Epiphanes, - | King of Egypt. - | - +-----+------------------+----------------+--------+ - | | | | - PTOLEMY VI., PTOLEMY VII. = CLEOPATRA II. | - Eupator, Philometor, | | - King of Egypt. King of Egypt. | | - | | - | | - +----------------------------+--------+ | - | | | - PTOLEMY VIII., CLEOPATRA III. = PTOLEMY IX., | - Neos Philopator, | Euergetes II., | - King of Egypt. | King of Egypt. | - | | - +----------------+----------------+-----+ | - | | | | - N.N. = PTOLEMY X., = CLEOPATRA IV. SELENE. | - Soter II., | | - King of Egypt. | | - | | - +------------+-+----------------+--------+ | - | | | | | - CLEOPATRA V. = PTOLEMY XIII., = N.N. | BERENICE III. = PTOLEMY XI., - | Neos Dionysos, | | | Alexander I., - | “Auletes.” | | | King of Egypt. - | | | | - | | PTOLEMY, | - | | King of | - | | Cyprus. | - | | PTOLEMY XII., - | | Alexander II., - | | King of Egypt. - +-------+-------+ +-------+ - | | | - CLEOPATRA VI. BERENICE IV., | - _married_ Archelaus, | - High Priest of | - Komana. | - | - +-----------+-------+--------------+----------+ - | | | | - PTOLEMY XV., | ARSINOE IV. JULIUS = *CLEOPATRA VII.* = MARCUS - King of Egypt. | CÆSAR. | | ANTONIUS. - | | | - PTOLEMY XIV., | | - King of Egypt. | | - CÆSARION, | - Ptolemy XVI., | - King of Egypt. | - | - +-----------------------+----------------------+-----+ - | | | - ALEXANDER HELIOS, CLEOPATRA = JUBA, PTOLEMY. - _married_ Iotapa SELENE. | King of - of Media. | Mauretania. - | - +-----------+-------+ - | ?| - PTOLEMY, DRUSILLA. = ANTONIUS FELIX, - King of | Procurator of - Mauretania. | Judæa. - | - ^ -] - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] Dickens. - -[2] Sergeant. - -[3] The Egyptian reliefs upon the walls of Dendereh temple and -elsewhere show conventional representations of the Queen which are not -to be regarded as real portraits. The so-called head of the Queen in -the Alexandria Museum probably does not represent her at all, as most -archæologists will readily admit. - -[4] This island has now become part of the mainland. - -[5] For a restoration of the lighthouse, see the work of H. Thiersch. - -[6] Josephus. - -[7] The first Ptolemy brought the body of Alexander to Alexandria, and -deposited it, so it is said, in a golden sarcophagus; but this was -believed to have been stolen, and the alabaster one substituted. - -[8] Surely not 200 feet, as is sometimes said. - -[9] Some years later, after it had been popularised by Augustus. - -[10] Plutarch: Cæsar. - -[11] Bell. Civ. III. 47. - -[12] Susemihl. Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der -Alexandrinerzeit. - -[13] In hieroglyphs the name reads _Kleopadra_. It is a Greek name, -meaning “Glory of her Race.” - -[14] Representations of Cleopatra or other sovereigns of the dynasty -dressed in Egyptian costume are probably simply traditional. - -[15] Mommsen. - -[16] Or do I wrong the hero of Utica? - -[17] Porphyry says he died in the eighth year of Cleopatra’s reign, and -Josephus states that he was fifteen years of age at his death. This -would make him about seven years old at Cleopatra’s accession, which -seems probable enough. - -[18] He had been Consul with Julius Cæsar in 59. - -[19] The end of September, owing to irregularities in the calendar, of -which we shall presently hear more, corresponded to the middle of July. - -[20] According to Plutarch and others; but the incident is not -mentioned in Cæsar’s memoirs. - -[21] I do not know any record of what became of the 2000 men of -Pompey’s bodyguard. They probably fled back to Europe on the death of -their commanding officer. - -[22] As Consul he would have been entitled to twelve lictors, as -Dictator to twenty-four; but we are not told which number he employed -on this occasion. - -[23] I quote the telling phrase used by Warde Fowler in his ‘Social -Life at Rome.’ - -[24] In interpreting the situation thus, I am aware that I place -myself at variance with the accepted view which attributes to Cæsar an -eagerness to return quickly to Rome. - -[25] It is not certain whether the 2000 horse are to be included or not -in the total of 20,000. - -[26] In spite of the statement to the contrary in De Bello Alexandrino. - -[27] So the early writers state. - -[28] Page 235. - -[29] It is usually stated that Cæsar remained in Egypt chiefly because -he was in need of money, as is suggested by Dion, xlii. 9 and 34; Oros, -vi. 15, 29, and Plutarch, 48. But the small sum which he took from the -Egyptians is against this theory. - -[30] In ancient Egypt the princes and princesses often had male -“nurses,” the title being an exceedingly honourable one. The Egyptian -phrase sometimes reads “great nurse and nourisher,” and M. Lefebvre -tells me that in a Fayoum inscription the tutor of Ptolemy Alexander is -called τροφεὺς καὶ τιθηνὸς Ἀλεξάνδρου. - -[31] Plutarch. - -[32] See p. 31. - -[33] Note also (p. 112) Cæsar’s departure with his army from the -besieged Palace. - -[34] This was actually some time in January. - -[35] Just as the British Army of Occupation now in Egypt was originally -stationed there to support the Khedive upon his throne and to keep -order. - -[36] Corresponding to the actual season of February. - -[37] Pliny, vi. 26. - -[38] Pliny, vi. 26. - -[39] Page 57. - -[40] It has generally been stated that Cæsar left Egypt before the -birth of Cæsarion, an opinion which, in view of the fact that Appian -says he remained nine months in Egypt, has always seemed to me -improbable; for it is surely more than a coincidence that he delayed -his departure from Egypt until the very month in which Cleopatra’s -and his child was to be expected to arrive, he having met her in the -previous October. Plutarch’s statement may be interpreted as meaning -that Cæsar departed to Syria after the birth of his son. I think that -Cicero’s remark, in a letter dated in June B.C. 47, that there was -a serious hindrance to Cæsar’s departure from Alexandria, refers to -the event for which he was waiting. Those who suggest that Cæsar did -_not_ remain in Egypt so long are obliged to deny that the authors are -correct in stating that he went up the Nile; and they have to disregard -the positive statement of Appian that the Dictator’s visit lasted nine -months. Moreover, the date of the celebration of Cæsarion’s seventeenth -birthday (as recorded on p. 361) is a further indication that he was -born no later than the beginning of July. - -[41] It has generally been thought that this was simply a pleasure -cruise up the Nile; but the number of ships (given by Appian) indicates -that many troops were employed, and the troops are referred to by -Suetonius also. - -[42] The _thalamegos_ described by Athenæus was not that used on this -occasion, but the description will serve to give an idea of its luxury. - -[43] Athenæus, v. 37. The number of banks of oars and the measurements, -as given by him, are probably exaggerated. - -[44] It was presented to the British Government, and now stands on the -Thames Embankment in London. It is known as “Cleopatra’s Needle.” - -[45] Cicero, A. xi. 17. 13. - -[46] He could have performed the journey in five days or less with a -favourable wind. - -[47] Notably Dr Mahaffy. - -[48] Judging by the remark of the commentator on Lucan, ‘Pharsalia,’ x. -521. - -[49] A coin inscribed with the words _Ægypto capta_ was struck after -his return to Rome (Goltzius: de re Numm.) - -[50] Houssaye, ‘Aspasie, Cleopatre, Theodora,’ p. 91, for example, says -that society was shocked at a Roman being in love with an Egyptian; and -Sergeant, ‘Cleopatra of Egypt,’ writes: “It was as an Egyptian that -Cleopatra offended the Romans.” - -[51] Horace’s Ode was written after the engineered talk of the “eastern -peril” had done its work--_i.e._, after Actium. - -[52] Ad Atticum, xv. 15. - -[53] I think this fact may be regarded as an argument in favour of the -opinion that Cleopatra had been in Rome already several weeks. - -[54] Venus and Isis were identified in Rome also. - -[55] As, for example, when the actor Diphilus alluded to Pompey in the -words “Nostra miseria tu es--Magnus” (Cicero, Ad Att. ii. 19). - -[56] I use the words of Oman. - -[57] Pliny (vi. 26) says that some £400,000 in money was conveyed to -India each year in exchange for goods which were sold for one hundred -times that amount. - -[58] Horace, Od. 1, 2. - -[59] Ferrero writes: “The Queen of Egypt plays a strange and -significant part in the tragedy of the Roman Republic.... She desired -to become Cæsar’s wife, and she hoped to awaken in him the passion for -kingship.” But this is a passing comment. - -[60] No Englishman is troubled by the knowledge that the mother of his -king is a Dane, and no Spaniard is worried by the thought that his -sovereign has married an Englishwoman. The kinship between Roman and -Greek was as close as these. - -[61] Porphyry, writing several generations later, states that he died -by Cleopatra’s treachery; but he is evidently simply quoting Josephus. -Porphyry says that he died in the eighth year of Cleopatra’s reign and -the fourth year of his own reign. This is confirmed by an inscription -which I observed in Prof. Petrie’s collection and published in ‘Receuil -de Traveaux’. This records an event which took place “In the ninth year -of the reign of Cleopatra ... [a lacuna] ... Cæsarion.” The lacuna -probably reads, “... and in the first (or second) year of the reign of -...” This inscription shows that in the Queen’s ninth year Cæsarion was -already her consort, which confirms Porphyry’s statement. - -[62] Kaiser, Czar, &c. - -[63] Cymbeline. - -[64] Both Hammonios and Sarapion are common Egyptian names. - -[65] This may mean that Cleopatra had gone to some other part of Rome -either permanently or temporarily. - -[66] Suetonius: Cæsar, 76. - -[67] The action _februare_ means “to purify,” here used probably to -signify the magical expurgation of the person struck and the banishing -of the evil influences which prevented fertility. - -[68] Compare also the whip carried by a Sixth Dynasty noble named Ipe, -Cairo Museum, No. 61, which seems more than a simple fly-flap. - -[69] The Egyptian word is _mes_. - -[70] Plutarch: Brutus. - -[71] According to Suetonius, the Queen had now been sent back to Egypt, -but a letter from Cicero, written in the following month, shows that -she was in Rome until then. - -[72] The site is near the present Campo dei Fiori. - -[73] Plutarch: Cæsar. - -[74] Page 162. - -[75] Appian. - -[76] Some authors state that he cried “Et tu, Brute”; others that the -words “my son” were added; while yet others do not record any words at -all. - -[77] Ferrero has shown that March 19th was a day of _feriae publicae_, -when the funeral could not take place. It could not well have been -postponed later than the next day after this. - -[78] Page 170. - -[79] Which, as will be seen, he ultimately attempted to do. - -[80] See page 235, where I suggest that Serapion had possibly decided -to throw in his lot with Arsinoe, who perhaps claimed the kingdom of -Cyprus, and to assist the party of Brutus and Cassius against that of -Antony which Cleopatra would probably support. - -[81] Found at Tor Sapienza, outside the Porta Maggiore. The best gold -and silver coins of Antony, issued by Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus, -correspond with the bust in all essentials. - -[82] It is satisfactory to read that Lucilius remained his devoted -friend until the end. - -[83] St Paul was also trained in this school. - -[84] The elephant’s head I describe from that seen upon the Queen’s -vessel shown upon the coins. - -[85] The recipe for the preparation of incense of about this period is -inscribed upon a wall of the temple of Philæ, and shows a vast number -of ingredients. - -[86] Plutarch: Antony. - -[87] Hor. 1. ii. Sat. 3. - -[88] Josephus says Ephesus, Appian Miletus. - -[89] Page 275. - -[90] Ferrero. - -[91] Marquardt: Privatleben, p. 409. - -[92] Page 59. - -[93] Prof. Ferrero and others have already pointed this out. - -[94] Page 160. - -[95] See pp. 196, 197, 291, 305. - -[96] The suggestion that an actual marriage took place was first made -by Letronne, was confirmed by Kromayer, and was accepted by Ferrero. - -[97] Page 298. - -[98] Brocardus: Descriptio Terræ Sanctæ, xiii. - -[99] Page 275. - -[100] Fulvia, it will be remembered (page 255), employed 3000 cavalry -as a bodyguard under similar circumstances. - -[101] This passage is sometimes quoted to show that no definite -marriage had taken place at Antioch; but it only indicates that the -marriage to Cleopatra was not accepted as legal in Rome. - -[102] For the governing of his Eastern Empire Antony found it -convenient to make his headquarters at Alexandria during the winter and -Syria during the summer, and his movements to and fro were not due to -pressing circumstances. The whole Court moved with him, just as, for -example, at the present day the Viceregal Court of India moves from -Calcutta to Simla. Thutmosis III. and other great Pharaohs of Egypt had -gone over to Syria in the summer in this manner. - -[103] Velleius Paterculus. - -[104] I here adopt the statement of Dion, and not that of Plutarch. - -[105] Page 286. - -[106] I suppose the “purple stone” referred to by Lucan was the famous -imperial porphyry from the quarries of Gebel Dukhan, though I am not -certain that the stone was used as early as this. Cf. my expedition to -these quarries described in my ‘Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts.’ - -[107] Even Athenæus refers to Antony as being _married_ to Cleopatra; -and the reader must remember that, not the fact of the marriage, but -only the date at which it occurred, is at all open to question. I do -not think this is generally recognised. - -[108] Ferrero thinks he went direct to Ephesus, but Bouché-Leclercq and -others are of opinion that he went first to Alexandria, and with this I -agree. - -[109] Page 262. - -[110] Page 162. - -[111] Plutarch. - -[112] Page 296. - -[113] Propertius. Canopus was an Egyptian port with a reputation much -like that once held by the modern Port Said. Anubis was the Egyptian -jackal-god, connected with the ritual of the dead. - -[114] An earlier eunuch of the same name, it will be remembered, played -an important part in Cleopatra’s youth. - -[115] The numbers given by the early authors are very contradictory, -but Plutarch states that Octavian reported the capture of three hundred -ships. - -[116] Not upon the sixty Egyptian ships, as Plutarch states: that is -an evident mistake, as the proportion of numbers per ship will at once -show. - -[117] The fact that Dellius knew something of the plans for the battle -fixes the date of his desertion to this period, as Ferrero has pointed -out. - -[118] Dion Cassius states (though he afterwards contradicts himself by -speaking of the Queen’s panic) that Antony had agreed to fly to Egypt -with Cleopatra, and this view is upheld by Ferrero, Bouché-Leclercq, -and others; but I do not consider it probable. One can understand -Antony flying after the departing Queen in the agony and excitement of -the moment; but it is difficult to believe that such a movement was the -outcome of a carefully considered plan of action, for all are agreed -that previous to the battle of Actium his chances of success had been -very fair. If the two had arranged to retire to Egypt together, why was -Cleopatra’s treasure, but not his own, shipped; and why did they refuse -to speak to one another for three whole days? Ferrero thinks that he -had arranged amicably with Cleopatra to retire to Egypt with her, and -that the naval battle had not gone much against him; but surely it is -difficult to suppose that he would deliberately desert his huge army -and his undefeated navy for strategic reasons. - -[119] Scholz: Reise zwischen Alex. und Parætonium. - -[120] Pliny, Epist. iii. 16. - -[121] In a very similar manner Herod, who had taken the part of -Antony and who now feared that Octavian would dethrone him in favour -of the earlier sovereign, Hyrcanus, put that claimant to death, so -that Octavian, as Josephus indicates, should not find it easy to fill -Herod’s place. - -[122] I found the remains of this fortress on an island behind the -Governorat at Suez. - -[123] Page 116. - -[124] Plutarch definitely states this, and I here use the fact as one -of the main arguments in my suppositions in regard to Cleopatra’s plans. - -[125] I do not think it could have been begun to be built at this time, -although Plutarch says so: it would have taken many months to complete. -It was more probably already in existence. - -[126] Page 272. - -[127] Page 130. - -[128] Page 147. - -[129] I do not think that the celebrations of this anniversary which -now took place could possibly have occurred later than the middle of -April, and therefore Cæsarion could not have been born later than the -beginning of July, an argument which bears on the length of Julius -Cæsar’s stay in Egypt, discussed on page 128. It seems always to -have been thought that the holding of the anniversary this year was -anti-dated for political reasons, but it will be seen that the actual -date was adhered to. - -[130] Page 246. - -[131] I fancy that the word asp is used in error, for I should think it -much more probable that the deadly little horned viper was meant. - -[132] In view of the activities of the Arabs of Petra, it is unlikely -that she sent him by the sea route from Suez, which was little used by -the merchants. - -[133] Page 118. - -[134] When dying she is said to have regretted that she did not seek -safety in flight. - -[135] This seems clearly indicated by Plutarch. - -[136] Dion Cassius suggests that Cleopatra did attempt to play into -Octavian’s hands, but the accusation is quite unfounded, and is an -obvious one to make against the hated enemy. - -[137] This fact, the significance of which has been overlooked, is -an interesting indication of Cleopatra’s definite claim to be a -manifestation of Venus-Aphrodite-Isis. See pp. 121, 144, 228. - -[138] The sounds perhaps came from Octavian’s outposts, which were just -outside the Gate of Canopus. - -[139] Page 366. - -[140] Plutarch does not give Serapis as one of the reasons of -Octavian’s clemency, but Dion says this was so. - -[141] Page 355. - -[142] Plutarch tells us that this doctor wrote a full account of these -last scenes, from which he evidently quotes. - -[143] Dion Cassius. - -[144] Octavian now always spoke of the Dictator as his father, and he -called himself “Cæsar.” - -[145] Plutarch. It is very probable that Cleopatra’s doctor, Olympus, -was by her side, and afterwards wrote these words down in the diary -which we know Plutarch used. - -[146] The following evidence as to the manner of the Queen’s death -is given by Plutarch, and it is clear that it was the result of an -investigation such as I have described. - -[147] Page 365. - -[148] In hieroglyphs this reads _Aut’k’r’d’r K’s’r’s_. - -[149] Strabo, xvii. i. 14; Tacitus, Hist. i. 11. - -[150] This was said to have been due to a bribe received from one of -Cleopatra’s friends, but it was more probably political. - -[151] Page 174. - -[152] Tacitus, Hist., v. 9. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Text on cover added by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain. The -original cover appears at the beginning of some versions of this eBook; -in this version, it is represented by “[Illustration]”. - -Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a -predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not -changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained. - -Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. - -Page 8: The quotation beginning with “had an irrestible charm” had no -closing quotation mark. Transcriber added one after “her voice when she -spoke.” It may belong earlier, after “certain piquancy.” - -In the Genealogy Chart, “CLEOPATRA VII.” was printed in all-caps -boldface, which is represented here by asterisks. Other all-caps names -originally were printed in small-caps. - -Footnote 129, originally footnote 3 on page 361: “anti-dated” was -printed that way. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen -of Egypt, by Arthur E.P. 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- padding: .5em; - } -} - </style> - </head> - -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of -Egypt, by Arthur E.P. Brome Weigall - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt - A Study in the Origin of the Roman Empire - -Author: Arthur E.P. Brome Weigall - -Release Date: January 22, 2017 [EBook #54038] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE AND TIMES OF CLEOPATRA *** - - - - -Produced by David Garcia, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was made using scans of public domain works from the -University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="center larger">Transcriber’s Note</p> - -<p>Text on cover added by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain. -The original cover appears at the beginning of some versions of -this eBook.</p> -</div> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="max-width: 19.4375em;"> - <img src="images/i_cover.jpg" width="311" height="500" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>The Life and Times of<br /> -<span class="larger wspace">Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt</span></h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 narrow"> -<p>“Histories make men wise.”—<span class="smcap">Bacon.</span></p> - -<p>“I have no expectation that any man will read history aright -who thinks that what was done in a remote age ... has -any deeper sense than what he is doing to-day.”—<span class="smcap">Emerson.</span></p> - -<p>“To philosophise on mankind exact observation is not -sufficient.... Knowledge of the present must be supplemented -from the history of the past.”—<span class="smcap">Taine.</span></p> - -<p>“Only the dead men know the tunes the live world dances -to.”—<span class="smcap">Le Gallienne.</span></p> - -<p>“Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for ... the earth -shall cast out the dead.”—<span class="smcap">Isaiah.</span></p> -</div> -<hr /> - -<div id="i_frontis" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 30.5em;"> - <img src="images/i_000.jpg" width="488" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>British Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Macbeth.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>CLEOPATRA.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p class="newpage p4 vspace wspace large center"> -The Life and Times of<br /> -<span class="larger">Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace wspace larger">A Study in the Origin<br /> -of the Roman Empire</p> - -<p class="p2 center vspace wspace">BY<br /> -<span class="larger">ARTHUR E. P. BROME WEIGALL</span></p> - -<p class="p1 center small">INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF ANTIQUITIES, GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT</p> -<p class="center small">AUTHOR OF ‘THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AKHNATON, PHARAOH OF EGYPT,’ ‘THE TREASURE<br /> -OF ANCIENT EGYPT,’ ‘TRAVELS IN THE UPPER EGYPTIAN DESERTS,’<br /> -‘A GUIDE TO THE ANTIQUITIES OF UPPER EGYPT,’ ETC., ETC.</p> - -<p class="p2 center wspace"><i>WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS</i></p> - -<p class="p2 center large vspace wspace">William Blackwood and Sons<br /> -<span class="smaller">Edinburgh and London<br /> -1914</span></p> - -<p class="p2 in0 in4 smaller"><i>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="newpage p4 narrow"> -<p class="center vspace wspace"> -<i>I DEDICATE THIS BOOK<br /> -TO MY FRIEND OF MANY YEARS,<br /> -<span class="larger">RONALD STORRS,</span><br /> -ORIENTAL SECRETARY TO THE BRITISH AGENCY IN EGYPT,<br /> -SCHOLAR, POET, AND MUSICIAN.</i> -</p></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> -</div> - -<div class="narrow"> -<p class="vspace">I have to thank most heartily the Honourable Mrs -Julian Byng, Mrs Gerald Lascelles, Mr Ronald Storrs, -and my wife, for reading the proofs of this volume, -and for giving me the benefit of their invaluable advice.</p> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">ix</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<table id="toc" summary="Contents"> - <tr class="small"> - <td> </td> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">xiii</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Part I.</span>—CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR.</td></tr> - <tr class="small"> - <td class="tdr">CHAP.</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">I.</td> - <td class="tdl">AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF CLEOPATRA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">3</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">II.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">18</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">III.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF CLEOPATRA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">41</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IV.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE DEATH OF POMPEY AND THE ARRIVAL OF CÆSAR IN EGYPT</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">65</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">V.</td> - <td class="tdl">CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">82</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VI.</td> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN THE BESIEGED PALACE AT ALEXANDRIA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">95</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VII.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE BIRTH OF CÆSARION AND CÆSAR’S DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">114</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">VIII.</td> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN ROME</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">133</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">IX.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EGYPTO-ROMAN MONARCHY</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">153</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">X.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE DEATH OF CÆSAR AND THE RETURN OF CLEOPATRA TO EGYPT</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">178</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Part II.</span>—CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY.</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XI.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE CHARACTER OF ANTONY AND HIS RISE TO POWER</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">203</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XII.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">224</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIII.</td> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY IN ALEXANDRIA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">238</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIV.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE ALLIANCE RENEWED BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">254</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x">x</a></span></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XV.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE PREPARATIONS OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY FOR THE OVERTHROW OF OCTAVIAN</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">279</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVI.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE DECLINE OF ANTONY’S POWER</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">303</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVII.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM AND THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">324</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XVIII.</td> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA’S ATTEMPT TO BEGIN AGAIN</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">349</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XIX.</td> - <td class="tdl">OCTAVIAN’S INVASION OF EGYPT AND THE DEATH OF ANTONY</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">368</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr top">XX.</td> - <td class="tdl">THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA AND THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">386</a></td></tr> - <tr class="gap"> - <td> </td> - <td class="tdl">GENEALOGY OF THE PTOLEMIES</td> - <td class="tdr"><i><a href="#GENEALOGY">At end</a>.</i></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi">xi</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> -</div> - -<table id="loi" summary="Illustrations"> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA<br /><span class="in4">British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - <tr class="smaller"> - <td class="tdr" colspan="2"><i>To face p.</i></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl notoppad">PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY<br /><span class="in2"><i>The painting dates from a generation later than that of Cleopatra, but it is an example of the work of the Alexandrian artists.</i></span><br /><span class="in4">Cairo Museum. Photograph by Brugsch.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_32">32</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">SERAPIS: THE CHIEF GOD OF ALEXANDRIA<br /><span class="in4">Alexandria Museum.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_48">48</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">POMPEY THE GREAT<br /><span class="in4">Rome. Photograph by Anderson.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_66">66</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">JULIUS CÆSAR<br /><span class="in4">British Museum.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_88">88</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA<br /><span class="in4">British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_128">128</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">JULIUS CÆSAR<br /><span class="in4">Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_160">160</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">ANTONY<br /><span class="in4">Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_208">208</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">OCTAVIAN<br /><span class="in4">Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_240">240</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">ANTONIA, THE DAUGHTER OF ANTONY<br /><span class="in4">British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_290">290</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA AND HER SON CÆSARION<br /><span class="in2"><i>Represented conventionally upon a wall of the Temple of Dendera.</i></span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_304">304</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA.<br /><span class="in4">British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_352">352</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii">xii</a></span></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">OCTAVIAN<br /><span class="in4">Glyptothek, Munich. Photograph by Bruckmann.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_376">376</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">THE NILE<br /><span class="in2"><i>An example of Alexandrian art.</i></span><br /><span class="in4">Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_400">400</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2">MAPS AND PLAN.</td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">THE KNOWN WORLD IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_xx">xx</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">APPROXIMATE PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_24">24</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">ÆGYPTUS</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_66m">66</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">CLEOPATRA’S POSSESSIONS IN RELATION TO THE ROMAN WORLD</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_268">268</a></td></tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">A MAP ILLUSTRATING THE WAR BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND OCTAVIAN</td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_308">308</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii">xiii</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> -</div> - -<p>In the following pages it will be observed that, in order -not to distract the reader, I have refrained from adding -large numbers of notes, references, and discussions, such -as are customary in works of this kind. I am aware that -by telling a straightforward story in this manner I lay -myself open to the suspicions of my fellow-workers, for -there is always some tendency to take not absolutely -seriously a book which neither prints chapter and verse -for its every statement, nor often interrupts the text -with erudite arguments. In the case of the subject -which is here treated, however, it has seemed to me -unnecessary to encumber the pages in this manner, -since the sources of my information are all so well -known; and I have thus been able to present the book -to the reader in a style consonant with a principle of -archæological and historical study to which I have -always endeavoured to adhere—namely, the avoidance -of as many of those attestations of learning as may -be discarded without real loss. A friend of mine, an -eminent scholar, in discussing with me the scheme of -this volume, earnestly exhorted me on the present -occasion not to abide by this principle. Remarking<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span> -that the trouble with my interpretation of history was -that I attempted to make the characters live, he urged -me at least to justify the manner of their resuscitation -in the eyes of the doctors of science by cramming my -pages with extracts from my working notes, relevant or -otherwise, and by smattering my text with Latin and -Greek quotations. I trust, however, that he was speaking -in behalf of a very small company, for the sooner -this kind of jargon of scholarship is swept into the -world’s dust-bin, the better will it be for public education. -To my mind a knowledge of the past is so -necessary to a happy mental poise that it seems absolutely -essential for historical studies to be placed before -the general reader in a manner sympathetic to him. -“History,” said Emerson, “no longer shall be a dull -book. It shall walk incarnate in every just and wise -man. You shall not tell me by languages and titles a -catalogue of the volumes you have read. You shall -make me feel what periods you have lived.”</p> - -<p>Such has been my attempt in the following pages; -and, though I am so conscious of my literary limitations -that I doubt my ability to place the reader in touch with -past events, I must confess to a sense of gladness that -I, at any rate, with almost my whole mind, have lived -for a time in the company of the men and women of long -ago of whom these pages tell.</p> - -<p>Any of my readers who think that my interpretation -of the known incidents here recorded is faulty may easily -check my statements by reference to the classical authors. -The sources of information are available at any big -library. They consist of Plutarch, Cicero, Suetonius, -Dion Cassius, Appian, ‘De Bello Alexandrino,’ Strabo, -Diodorus Siculus, Livy, Velleius Paterculus, Seneca,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv">xv</a></span> -Lucan, Josephus, Pliny, Dion Chrysostom, Tacitus, -Florus, Lucian, Athenæus, Porphyry, and Orosius. Of -modern writers reference should be made to Ferrero’s -‘Greatness and Decline of Rome,’ Bouché-Leclercq’s -‘Histoire des Lagides,’ Mahaffy’s ‘Empire of the -Ptolemies,’ Mommsen’s ‘History of Rome,’ Strack’s -‘Dynastie der Ptolemäer,’ and Sergeant’s ‘Cleopatra -of Egypt.’ There are also, of course, a very large -number of works on special branches of the subject, -which the reader will, without much difficulty, discover -for himself.</p> - -<p>I do not think that my statements of fact will be -found to be in error; but the general interpretation of -the events will be seen to be almost entirely new -throughout the story, and therefore plainly open to -discussion. I would only plead for my views that a -residence in Egypt of many years, a close association -with Alexandria, Cleopatra’s capital, and a daily familiarity -with Greek and Egyptian antiquities, have caused -me almost unconsciously to form opinions which may -not be at once acceptable to the scholar at home.</p> - -<p>To some extent it is the business of the biographer -to make the best of the characters with which he deals, -but the accusation of having made use of this prerogative -in the following pages will not be able to be -substantiated. There is no high purpose served by the -historian who sets down this man or that woman as -an unmitigated blackguard, unless it be palpably impossible -to discover any good motive for his or her -actions. And even then it is a pleasant thing to avert, -where possible, the indignation of posterity. An undefined -sense of anger is left upon the mind of many -of those who have read pages of condemnatory history<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvi">xvi</a></span> -of this kind, written by scholars who themselves are -seated comfortably in the artificial atmosphere of modern -righteousness. The story of the Plantagenet kings of -England, for example, as recorded by Charles Dickens -in his ‘Child’s History of England,’ causes the reader -to direct his anger more often to Dickens than to those -weary, battle-stained, old monarchs whose blood many -Englishmen are still proud to acknowledge. An historian -who deals with a black period must not be fastidious. -Nor must he detach his characters from their natural -surroundings, and judge them according to a code of -morals of which they themselves knew nothing. The -modern, and not infrequently degenerate, humanitarian -may utter his indignant complaint against the Norman -barons who extracted the teeth of the Jewish financiers -to induce them to deliver up their gold; but has he -set himself to feel that pressing need of money which -the barons felt, and has he endeavoured to experience -their exasperation at the obstinacy of these foreigners? -Let him do this and his attitude will be more tolerant: -one might even live to see him hastening to the City -with a pair of pincers in his pocket. Of course it is -not the historian’s affair to condone, or become a party -to, a crime; but it certainly is his business to consider -carefully the meaning of the term “crime,” and to -question its significance, as Pilate did that of truth.</p> - -<p>In studying the characters of persons who lived in -past ages, the biographer must tell us frankly whether -he considers his subjects good or bad, liberal or mean, -pious or impious; but at this late hour he should not -often be wholly condemnatory, nor, indeed, need he be -expected to have so firm a belief in man’s capacity for -consistent action as to admit that any person was so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvii">xvii</a></span> -invariably villainous as he may be said to have been. -A natural and inherent love of right-doing will sometimes -lead the historian to err somewhat on the side -of magnanimity; and I dare say he will serve the purpose -of history best when he can honestly find a devil -not so black as he is painted. Being acquainted with -the morals of 1509, I would almost prefer to think of -Henry the Eighth as “bluff King Hal,” than as “the -most detestable villain that ever drew breath.”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> I -believe that an historian, in sympathy with his period, -can at one and the same moment absolve Mary Queen -of Scots from the charge of treachery, and defend -Elizabeth’s actions against her on that charge.</p> - -<p>In the case of Cleopatra the biographer may approach -his subject from one of several directions. He may, for -example, regard the Queen of Egypt as a thoroughly bad -woman, or as an irresponsible sinner, or as a moderately -good woman in a difficult situation. In this book it is -my object to point out the difficulty of the situation, and -to realise the adverse circumstances against which the -Queen had to contend; and by so doing a fairer complexion -will be given to certain actions which otherwise -must inevitably be regarded as darkly sinful. The -biographer need not, for the sake of his principles, turn -his back on the sinner and refuse to consider the possibility -of extenuating circumstances. He need not, as -we so often must in regard to our contemporaries, make -a clear distinction between good and bad, shunning the -sinner that our intimates may not be contaminated. -The past, to some extent, is gone beyond the eventuality -of Hell; and Time, the great Redeemer, has taken from -the world the sharpness of its sin. The historian thus<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xviii">xviii</a></span> -may put himself in touch with distant crime, and may -attempt to apologise for it, without the charge being -brought against him that in so doing he deviates from -the stern path of moral rectitude. Intolerance is the -simple expedient of contemporaneous society: the historian -must show his distaste for wrong-doing by other -means. We dare not excuse the sins of our fellows; -but the wreck of times past, the need of reconstruction -and rebuilding, gives the writer of history and biography -a certain option in the selection of the materials which -he uses in the resuscitation of his characters. He holds -a warrant from the Lord of the Ages to give them the -benefit of the doubt; and if it be his whim to ignore -this licence and to condemn wholesale a character or a -family, he sometimes loses, by a sort of perversion, the -prerogative of his calling. The historian must examine -from all sides the events which he is studying; and in -regard to the subject with which this volume deals he -must be particularly careful not to direct his gaze upon -it only from the point of view of the Imperial Court of -Rome, which regarded Cleopatra as the ancestral enemy -of the dynasty. In dealing with history, says Emerson, -“we, as we read, must become Greeks, Romans, Turks, -priest and king, martyr and executioner.” Even so, as -we study the life of Cleopatra, we must set behind us -that view of the case that was held by one section of -humanity. In like manner we must rid ourselves of the -influence of the thought of any one period, and must -ignore that aspect of morality which has been developed -in us by contact with the age in which we have the -fortune to live. Good and evil are relative qualities, -defined very largely by public opinion; and it must -always be remembered that certain things which are<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xix">xix</a></span> -considered to be correct to-day may have the denunciation -of yesterday and to-morrow. We, as we read -of the deeds of the Queen of Egypt, must doff our -modern conception of right and wrong together with -our top-hats and frock-coats; and, as we pace the courts -of the Ptolemies, and breathe the atmosphere of the -first century before Christ, we must not commit the -anachronism of criticising our surroundings from the -standard of twenty centuries after Christ. It is, of -course, apparent that to a great extent we must be -influenced by the thought of to-day; but the true student -of history will make the effort to cast from him the -shackles of his contemporaneous opinions, and to parade -the bygone ages in the boundless freedom of a citizen -of all time and a dweller in every land.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div id="ip_xx" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 56.25em;"> - <img src="images/i_000a.jpg" width="900" height="639" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - -THE KNOWN WORLD<br /> -<span class="small">IN THE TIME OF</span><br /> -<span class="gesperrt">CLEOPATRA</span><br /> -</div></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace wspace"><a id="PART_I"></a><span class="larger">PART I.<br /> -<span class="larger">CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY OF THE CHARACTER OF CLEOPATRA.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>To those who make a close inquiry into the life of -Cleopatra it will speedily become apparent that the -generally accepted estimate of her character was placed -before the public by those who sided against her in -regard to the quarrel between Antony and Octavian. -During the last years of her life the great Queen of Egypt -became the mortal enemy of the first of the Roman -Emperors, and the memory of her historic hostility was -perpetuated by the supporters of every Cæsar of that -dynasty. Thus the beliefs now current as to Cleopatra’s -nefarious influence upon Julius Cæsar and Marc Antony -are, in essence, the simple abuse of her opponents; nor -has History preserved to us any record of her life set -down by one who was her partisan in the great struggle -in which she so bravely engaged herself. It is a noteworthy -fact, however, that the writer who is most fair -to her memory, namely, the inimitable Plutarch, appears -to have obtained much of his information from the diary -kept by Cleopatra’s doctor, Olympus. I do not presume -in this volume to offer any kind of apology for the much-maligned -Queen, but it will be my object to describe the -events of her troubled life in such a manner that her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span> -aims, as I understand them, may be fairly placed before -the reader; and there can be little doubt that, if I succeed -in giving plausibility to the speculations here -advanced, the actions of Cleopatra will, without any -particular advocacy, assume a character which, at any -rate, is no uglier than that of every other actor in this -strange drama.</p> - -<p>The injustice, the adverse partiality, of the attitude -assumed by classical authors will speedily become apparent -to all unbiassed students; and a single instance of -this obliquity of judgment is all that need be mentioned -here to illustrate my contention. I refer to the original -intimacy between Cleopatra and Julius Cæsar. According -to the accepted view of historians, both ancient and -modern, the great Dictator is supposed to have been -led astray by the voluptuous Egyptian, and to have been -detained in Alexandria, against his better judgment, by -the wiles of this Siren of the East. At this time, however, -as will be seen in due course, Cleopatra, “the -stranger for whom the Roman half-brick was never -wanting,”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> was actually an unmarried girl of some -twenty-one years of age, against whose moral character -not one shred of trustworthy evidence can be advanced; -while, on the other hand, Cæsar was an elderly man -who had ruined the wives and daughters of an astounding -number of his friends, and whose reputation for -such seductions was of a character almost past belief. -How anybody, therefore, who has the known facts -before him, can attribute the blame to Cleopatra in -this instance, must become altogether incomprehensible -to any student of the events of that time. I do not -intend to represent the Queen of Egypt as a particularly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span> -exalted type of her sex, but an attempt will be made to -deal justly with her, and by giving her on occasion, as -in a court of law, the benefit of the doubt, I feel assured -that the reader will be able to see in her a very good -average type of womanhood. Nor need I, in so doing, -be accused of using on her behalf the privilege of the -biographer, which is to make excuses. I will not simply -set forth the case for Cleopatra as it were in her defence: -I will tell the whole story of her life as it appears to me, -admitting always the possible correctness of the estimate -of her character held by other historians, but, at the -same time, offering to public consideration a view of -her deeds and devices which, if accepted, will clear her -memory of much of that unpleasant stigma so long -attached to it, and will place her reputation upon a -level with those of the many famous persons of her time, -not one of whom can be called either thoroughly bad or -wholly good.</p> - -<p>So little is known with any certainty as to Cleopatra’s -appearance, that the biographer must feel considerable -reluctance in presenting her to his readers in definite -guise; yet the duties of an historian do not permit him -to deal with ghosts and shadows, or to invoke from the -past only the misty semblance of those who once were -puissant realities. For him the dead must rise not as -phantoms hovering uncertainly at the mouth of their -tombs, but as substantial entities observable in every -detail to the mental eye; and he must endeavour to -convey to others the impression, however faulty, which -he himself has received. In the case of Cleopatra the -materials necessary for her resuscitation are meagre, and -one is forced to call in the partial assistance of the -imagination in the effort to rebuild once more that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span> -body which has been so long dissolved into Egyptian -dust.</p> - -<p>A few coins upon which the Queen’s profile is stamped, -and a bust of poor workmanship in the British Museum, -are the sole<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> sources of information as to her features. -The colour of her eyes and of her hair is not known; -nor can it be said whether her skin was white as -alabaster, like that of many of her Macedonian fellow-countrywomen, -or whether it had that olive tone so often -observed amongst the Greeks. Even her beauty, or rather -the degree of her beauty, is not clearly defined. It must -be remembered that, so far as we know, not one drop -of Oriental blood flowed in Cleopatra’s veins, and that -therefore her type must be considered as Macedonian -Greek. The slightly brown skin of the Egyptian, the -heavy dark eyes of the East, full, as it were, of sleep, -the black hair of silken texture, are not features which -are to be assigned to her. On the contrary, many -Macedonian women are fair-haired and blue-eyed, and -that colouring is frequently to be seen amongst the -various peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean. Nevertheless, -it seems most probable, all things considered, -that she was a brunette; but in describing her as such -it must be borne in mind that there is nothing more than -a calculated likelihood to guide us.</p> - -<p>The features of her face seem to have been strongly -moulded, although the general effect given is that of -smallness and delicacy. Her nose was aquiline and -prominent, the nostrils being sensitive and having an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span> -appearance of good breeding. Her mouth was beautifully -formed, the lips appearing to be finely chiselled. -Her eyes were large and well placed, her eyebrows -delicately pencilled. The contour of her cheek and chin -was charmingly rounded, softening, thus, the lines of her -clear-cut features. “Her beauty,” says Plutarch, “was -not in itself altogether incomparable, nor such as to -strike those who saw her”; and he adds that Octavia, -afterwards Antony’s wife, was the more beautiful of the -two women. But he admits, and no other man denies, -that her personal charm and magnetism were very great. -“She was splendid to hear and to see,” says Dion -Cassius, “and was capable of conquering the hearts -which had resisted most obstinately the influence of -love and those which had been frozen by age.”</p> - -<p>It is probable that she was very small in build. In -order to obtain admittance to her palace upon an -occasion of which we shall presently read, it is related -that she was rolled up in some bedding and carried over -the shoulders of an attendant, a fact which indicates -that her weight was not considerable. The British -Museum bust seems to portray the head of a small -woman; and, moreover, Plutarch refers to her in terms -which suggest that her charm lay to some extent in her -daintiness. One imagines her thus to have been in -appearance a small, graceful woman; prettily rounded -rather than slight; white-skinned; dark-haired and dark-eyed; -beautiful, and yet by no means a perfect type of -beauty.</p> - -<p>Her voice is said to have been her most powerful -weapon, for by the perfection of its modulations -it was at all times wonderfully persuasive and seductive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="iq">“The Devil hath not, in all his quiver’s choice,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">An arrow for the heart like a sweet voice,”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">says Byron; and in the case of Cleopatra this poignant -gift of Nature must have served her well throughout her -life. “Familiarity with her,” writes Plutarch, “had an -irresistible charm; and her form, combined with her -persuasive speech, and with the peculiar character which -in a manner was diffused about her behaviour, produced a -certain piquancy. There was a sweetness in the sound -of her voice when she spoke.” “Her charm of speech,” -Dion Cassius tells us, “was such that she won all who -listened.”</p> - -<p>Her grace of manner was as irresistible as her voice; -for, as Plutarch remarks, there seems to have been this -peculiar, undefined charm in her behaviour. It may -have been largely due to a kind of elusiveness and -subtilty; but it would seem also to have been accentuated -by a somewhat naïve and childish manner, a waywardness, -an audacity, a capriciousness, which enchanted -those around her. Though often wild and inclined to -romp, she possessed considerable dignity and at times -was haughty and proud. Pliny speaks of her as being -disdainful and vain, and indeed so Cicero found her -when he met her in Rome; but this was an attitude -perhaps assumed by the Queen as a defence against -the light criticisms of those Roman nobles of the -Pompeian faction who may have found her position -not so honourable as she herself believed it to be. -There is, indeed, little to indicate that her manner was -by nature overbearing; and one is inclined to picture -her as a natural, impulsive woman who passed readily -from haughtiness to simplicity. Her actions were spontaneous, -and one may suppose her to have been in her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span> -early years as often artless as cunning. Her character -was always youthful, her temperament vivacious, and -her manner frequently what may be called harum-scarum. -She enjoyed life, and with candour took from it whatever -pleasures it held out to her. Her untutored heart leapt -from mirth to sorrow, from comedy to tragedy, with -unexpected ease; and with her small hands she tossed -about her the fabric of her complex circumstances like a -mantle of light and darkness.</p> - -<p>She was a gifted woman, endowed by nature with ready -words and a happy wit. “She could easily turn her -tongue,” says Plutarch, “like a many-stringed instrument, -to any language that she pleased. She had very -seldom need of an interpreter for her communication -with foreigners, but she answered most men by herself, -namely Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, -Medes, and Parthians. She is said to have learned the -language of many other peoples, though the kings, her -predecessors, had not even taken the pains to learn the -Egyptian tongue, and some of them had not so much as -given up the Macedonian dialect.” Statecraft made a -strong appeal to her, and as Queen of Egypt she served -the cause of her dynasty’s independence and aggrandisement -with passionate energy. Dion Cassius tells us that -she was intensely ambitious, and most careful that due -honour should be paid to her throne. Her actions go to -confirm this estimate, and one may see her consumed at -times with a legitimate desire for world-power. Though -clever and bold she was not highly skilled, so far as one -can see, in the diplomatic art; but she seems to have -plotted and schemed in the manner common to her -house, not so much with great acuteness or profound -depth as with sustained intensity and a sort of conviction.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span> -Tenacity of purpose is seen to have been her prevailing -characteristic; and her unwavering struggle for her -rights and those of her son Cæsarion will surely be -followed by the interested reader through the long story -before him with real admiration.</p> - -<p>It is unanimously supposed that Cleopatra was, as -Josephus words it, a slave to her lusts. The vicious -sensuality of the East, the voluptuous degeneracy of an -Oriental court, are thought to have found their most -apparent expression in the person of this unfortunate -Queen. Yet what was there, beyond the ignorant and -prejudiced talk of her Roman enemies, to give a foundation -to such an estimate of her character? She lived -practically as Cæsar’s <em>wife</em> for some years, it being said, -I believe with absolute truth, that he intended to make -her Empress of Rome and his legal consort. After his -assassination she married Antony, and cohabited with -him until the last days of her life. At an age when the -legal rights of marriage were violated on every side, when -all Rome and all Alexandria were deeply involved in -domestic intrigues, Cleopatra, so far as I can see, confined -her attentions to the two men who in sequence -each acted towards her in the manner of a legitimate -husband, each being recognised in Egypt as her divinely-sanctioned -consort. The words of Dion Cassius, which -tell us that “no wealth could satisfy her, and her -passions were insatiable,” do not suggest a more significant -foundation than that her life was lived on extravagant -and prodigal lines. There is no doubt that she -was open to the accusations of her enemies, who described -her habits as dissipated and intemperate; but -there seems to be little to indicate that she was in any -way a Delilah or a Jezebel. For all we know, she may<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span> -have been a very moral woman: certainly she was the -fond mother of four children, a fact which, even at that -day, may be said to indicate, to a certain extent, a -voluntary assumption of the duties of motherhood. After -due consideration of all the evidence, I am of opinion -that though her nature may have been somewhat voluptuous, -and though her passions were not always under -control, the best instincts of her sex were by no means -absent; and indeed, in her maternal aspect, she may be -described as a really good woman.</p> - -<p>The state of society at the time must be remembered. -In Rome, as well as in Alexandria, love intrigues were -continuously in progress. Mommsen, in writing of the -moral corruption of the age, speaks of the extraordinary -degeneracy of the dancing girl of the period, whose -record “pollutes even the pages of history.” “But,” he -adds, “their, as it were, licensed trade was materially -injured by the free act of the ladies of aristocratic -circles. Liaisons in the first houses had become so frequent -that only a scandal altogether exceptional could -make them the subject of special talk, and judicial interference -seemed now almost ridiculous.” Against such a background -Cleopatra’s domestic life with Cæsar, and afterwards -with Antony, assumes, by contrast, a fair character -which is not without its refreshing aspect. We see her -intense and lifelong devotion to her eldest son Cæsarion, -we picture her busy nursery in the royal palace, which at -one time resounded to the cries of a pair of lusty twins, and -the vision of the Oriental voluptuary fades from our eyes. -Can this dainty little woman, we ask, who soothes at -her breast the cries of her fat baby, while three sturdy -youngsters play around her, be the sensuous Queen of -the East? Can this tender, ingenuous, smiling mother<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span> -of Cæsar’s beloved son be the Siren of Egypt? There is -not a particle of trustworthy evidence to show that -Cleopatra carried on a single love affair in her life other -than the two recorded so dramatically by history, nor is -there any evidence to show that in those two affairs she -conducted herself in a licentious manner.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra was in many ways a refined and cultured -woman. Her linguistic powers indicate a certain studiousness; -and at the same time she seems to have been -a patron of the arts. It is recorded that she made -Antony present to the city of Alexandria the library -which once belonged to Pergamum, consisting of 200,000 -volumes; and Cicero seems to record the fact that she -interested herself in obtaining certain books for him from -Alexandria. She inherited from her family a temperament -naturally artistic; and there is no reason to -suppose that she failed to carry on the high tradition -of her house in this regard. She was a patron also of -the sciences, and Photinus, the mathematician, who -wrote both on arithmetic and geometry, published a -book actually under her name, called the ‘Canon of -Cleopatra.’ The famous physician Dioscorides was, it -would seem, the friend and attendant of the Queen; and -the books which he wrote at her court have been read -throughout the ages. Sosigenes, the astronomer, was -also, perhaps, a friend of Cleopatra, and it may have -been through her good offices that he was introduced to -Cæsar, with whom he collaborated in the reformation -of the calendar. The evidence is very inconsiderable in -regard to the Queen’s personal attitude towards the arts -and sciences, but sufficient may be gleaned to give some -support to the suggestion that she did not fall below the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span> -standard set by her forefathers. One feels that her -interest in such matters is assured by the fact that she -held for so long the devotion of such a man of letters as -Julius Cæsar. There is little doubt that she was capable -of showing great seriousness of mind when occasion -demanded, and that her demeanour, so frequently tumultuous, -was often thoughtful and quiet.</p> - -<p>At the same time, however, one must suppose that she -viewed her life with a light heart, having, save towards -the end, a greater familiarity with laughter than with -tears. She was at all times ready to make merry or jest, -and a humorous adventure seems to have made a special -appeal to her. With Antony, as we shall see, she was -wont to wander around the city at night-time, knocking -at people’s doors in the darkness and running away -when they were opened. It is related how once when -Antony was fishing in the sea, she made a diver descend -into the water to attach to his line a salted fish, which -he drew to the surface amidst the greatest merriment. -One gathers from the early writers that her conversation -was usually sparkling and gay; and it would seem that -there was often an infectious frivolity in her manner -which made her society most exhilarating.</p> - -<p>She was eminently a woman whom men might love, -for she was active, high-spirited, plucky, and dashing. -To use a popular phrase, she was always “game” for an -adventure. Her courageous return to Egypt after she -had been driven into exile by her brother, is an indication -of her brave spirit; and the daring manner in which -she first obtained her introduction to Cæsar, causing -herself to be carried into the palace on a man’s back, is -a convincing instance of that audacious courage which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span> -makes so strong an appeal on her behalf to the imagination. -Florus, who was no friend of the Queen’s, speaks -of her as being “free from all womanly fear.”</p> - -<p>We now come to the question as to whether she was -cruel by nature. It must be admitted that she caused -the assassination of her sister Arsinoe, and ordered the -execution of others who were, at that time, plotting -against her. But it must be remembered that political -murders of this kind were a custom—nay, a habit—of -the period; and, moreover, the fact that the Queen of -Egypt used her rough soldiers for the purpose does not -differentiate the act from that of Good Queen Bess who -employed a Lord Chief Justice and an axe. The early -demise of Ptolemy XV., her brother, is attributable as -much to Cæsar as to Cleopatra, if, indeed, he did not -die a natural death. The execution of King Artavasdes -of Armenia was a political act of no great significance. -And the single remaining charge of cruelty which may -be brought against the Queen, namely, that she tested -the efficacy of various poisons on the persons of condemned -criminals, need not be regarded as indicating -callousness on her part; for it mattered little to the -condemned prisoner what manner of sudden death he -should die, but, on the other hand, the discovery of a -pleasant solution to the quandary of her own life was a -point of capital importance to herself. When we recall -the painful record of callous murders which were perpetrated -during the reigns of her predecessors, we cannot -attribute to Cleopatra any extraordinary degree of heartlessness, -nor can we say that she showed herself to be -as cruel as were other members of her family. She -lived in a ruthless age; and, on the whole, her behaviour -was tolerant and good-natured.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span> -In religious matters she was not, like so many persons -of that period, a disbeliever in the power of the gods. -She had a strong pagan belief in the close association -of divinity and royalty, and she seems to have accepted -without question the hereditary assurance of her own -celestial affiliation. She was wont to dress herself on -gala occasions in the robes of Isis or Aphrodite, and to -act the part of a goddess incarnate upon earth, assuming -not divine powers but divine rights. She regarded herself -as being closely in communion with the virile gods -of Egypt and Greece; and when signs and wonders were -pointed out to her by her astrologers, or when she noted -good or ill omens in the occurrences around her, she -was particularly prone to giving them full recognition -as being communications from her heavenly kin. Her -behaviour at the battle of Actium is often said to have -been due to her consciousness of the warnings which -she had received by means of such portents; and on -other occasions in her life her actions were ordered by -these means. It is related by Josephus that she violated -the temples of Egypt in order to obtain money to carry -on the war against Rome, and that no place was so holy -or so infamous that she would not attempt to strip it -of its treasures when she was pressed for gold. If this -be true, it may be argued in the Queen’s defence that -the possessions of the gods were considered by her to -be, as it were, her own property, as the representative -of heaven upon earth, and in this case they were the -more especially at her disposal since they were to be -converted into money for the glory of Egypt. As a -matter of fact, it is probable that in the last emergencies -of her reign, the Queen’s agents obtained supplies wherever -they found them, and, if Cleopatra was consulted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span> -at all, she was far too distracted to give the matter very -serious thought.</p> - -<p>It is not necessary here to inquire further into the -character of the Queen. Her personality, as I see it, -will become apparent in the following record of her -tragic life. It is essential to remember that, though -her faults were many, she was not what is usually -called <em>bad</em>. She was a brilliant, charming, and beautiful -woman; perhaps not over-scrupulous and yet not altogether -unprincipled; ready, no doubt, to make use of -her charms, but not an immoral character. As the -historian pictures her figure moving lightly through the -mazes of her life, now surrounded by her armies in the -thick of battle; now sailing up the moonlit Nile in her -royal barge with Cæsar beside her; now tenderly playing -in the nursery with her babies; now presiding brilliantly -at the gorgeous feasts in the Alexandrian palace; now -racing in disguise down the side-streets of her capital, -choking with suppressed laughter; now speeding across -the Mediterranean to her doom; and now, all haggard -and forlorn, holding the deadly asp to her body,—he -cannot fail to fall himself under the spell of that enchantment -by which the face of the world was changed. -He finds that he is dealing not with a daughter of -Satan, who, from her lair in the East, stretches out her -hand to entrap Rome’s heroes, but with mighty Cæsar’s -wife and widow, fighting for Cæsar’s child; with Antony’s -faithful consort, striving, as will be shown, to unite -Egypt and Rome in one vast empire. He sees her not -as the crowned courtesan of the Orient, but as the excellent -royal lady, who by her wits and graces held -captive the two greatest men of her time in the bonds -of a union which in Egypt was equivalent to a legal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span> -marriage. He sees before him once more the small, -graceful figure, whose beauty compels, whose voice entices, -and in whose face (it may be by the kindly -obliterations of time) there is no apparent evil; and the -unprejudiced historian must find himself hard put to it -to say whether his sympathies are ranged on the side -of Cleopatra or on that of her Roman rival in the great -struggle for the mastery of the whole earth which is -recorded in the following pages.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>No study of the life of Cleopatra can be of true value -unless the position of the city of Alexandria, her capital, -in relationship to Egypt on the one hand and to Greece -and Rome on the other, is fully understood and appreciated. -The reader must remember, and bear continually -in mind, that Alexandria was at that time, and still is, -more closely connected in many ways with the Mediterranean -kingdoms than with Egypt proper. It bore, -geographically, no closer relation to the Nile valley than -Carthage bore to the interior of North Africa. Indeed, -to some extent it is legitimate in considering Alexandria -to allow the thoughts to find a parallel in the relationship -of Philadelphia to the interior of America in the -seventeenth century or of Bombay to India in the eighteenth -century, for in these cases we see a foreign settlement, -representative of a progressive civilisation, largely -dependent on transmarine shipping for its prosperity, -set down on the coast of a country whose habits are -obsolete. It is almost as incorrect to class the Alexandrian -Queen Cleopatra as a native Egyptian as it would -be to imagine William Penn as a Red Indian or Warren -Hastings as a Hindoo. Cleopatra in Alexandria was cut<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span> -off from Egypt. There is no evidence that she ever even -saw the Sphinx, and it would seem that the single journey -up the Nile of which the history of her reign gives us -any record was undertaken by her solely at the desire -of Cæsar. Bearing this fact in mind, I do not think -it is desirable for me to refer at any length to the -affairs, or to the manners and customs, of Egypt proper -in this volume; and it will be observed that, in order -to avoid giving to events here recorded an Egyptian -character which in reality they did not possess in any -very noticeable degree, I have refrained from introducing -any account of the people who lived in the great country -behind Alexandria over which Cleopatra reigned.</p> - -<p>The topographical position of Alexandria, selected by -its illustrious founder, seems to have been chosen on -account of its detachment from Egypt proper. The -city was erected upon a strip of land having the Mediterranean -on the one side and the Mareotic lake on the -other. It was thus cut off from the hinterland far more -effectively even than was Carthage by its semicircle of -hills. Alexander had intended to make the city a purely -Greek settlement, the port at which the Greeks should -land their goods for distribution throughout Egypt, and -whence the produce of the abundant Nile should be -shipped to the north and west. He selected a remote -corner of the Delta for his site, with the plain intention -of holding his city at once free of, and in dominion over, -Egypt; and so precisely was the location suited to his -purpose that until this day Alexandria is in little more -than name a city of the Egyptians. Even at the present -time, when an excellent system of express railway trains -connects Alexandria with Cairo and Upper Egypt, there -are many well-to-do inhabitants who have not seen more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span> -that ten miles of Egyptian landscape; and the vast -majority have never been within sight of the Pyramids. -The wealthy foreigners settled in Alexandria often know -nothing whatsoever about Egypt, and Cairo itself is -beyond their ken. The Greeks, Levantines, and Jews, -who now, as in ancient days, form a very large part of -the population of Alexandria, would shed bitter tears of -gloomy foreboding were they called upon to penetrate -into the Egypt which the tourists and the officials know -and love. The middle-class Egyptians of Alexandria are -rarely tempted to enter Egypt proper, and even those -who have inherited a few acres of land in the interior -are often unwilling to visit their property.</p> - -<p>Egypt as we know it is a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">terra incognita</i> to the -Alexandrian. The towering cliffs of the desert, the -wide Nile, the rainless skies, the amazing brilliance -of the stars, the ruins of ancient temples, the great -pyramids, the decorated tombs, the clustered mud-huts -of the villages in the shade of the dom-palms and the -sycamores, the creaking <em>sakkiehs</em> or water-wheels, the -gracefully worked <em>shadufs</em> or water-hoists,—all these are -unknown to the inhabitants of Alexandria. They have -never seen the hot deserts and the white camel-tracks -over the hills, they have not looked upon the Nile -tumbling over the granite rocks of the cataracts, nor -have they watched the broad expanse of the inundation. -That peculiar, undefined aspect and feeling which -is associated with the thought of Egypt in the minds -of visitors and residents does not tincture the impression -of the Alexandrians. They have not felt the -subtle influence of the land of the Pharaohs: they are -sons of the Mediterranean, not children of the Nile.</p> - -<p>The climate of Alexandria is very different from that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span> -of the interior of the Delta, and bears no similarity to -that of Upper Egypt. At Thebes the winter days are -warm and brilliantly sunny, the nights often extremely -cold. The summer climate is intensely hot, and there -are times when the resident might there believe himself -an inhabitant of the infernal regions. The temperature -in and around Cairo is more moderate, and the summer -is tolerable, though by no means pleasant. In Alexandria, -however, the summer is cool and temperate. -There is perhaps no climate in the entire world so -perfect as that of Alexandria in the early summer. The -days are cloudless, breezy, and brilliant; the nights cool -and even cold. In August and September it is somewhat -damp, and therefore unpleasant; but it is never -very hot, and the conditions of life are almost precisely -those of southern Europe.</p> - -<p>The winter days on the sea-coast are often cold and -rainy, the climate being not unlike that of Italy at the -same time of year. People must needs wear thick -clothing, and must study the barometer before taking -their promenades. While Thebes, and even the Pyramids, -bask in more or less continual sunshine, the city -of Alexandria is lashed by intermittent rainstorms, and -the salt sea-wind buffets the pedestrians as it screams -down the paved streets. The peculiar texture of the true -Egyptian atmosphere is not felt in Alexandria: the air is -that of Marseilles, of Naples, or of the Piræus.</p> - -<p>In summer-time the sweating official of the south -makes his way seaward in the spirit of one who leaves -the tropics for northern shores. He enters the northbound -express on some stifling evening in June, the -amazing heat still radiating from the frowning cliffs of -the desert, and striking up into his eyes from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span> -parched earth around the station. He lies tossing and -panting in his berth while the electric fans beat down -the hot air upon him, until the more temperate midnight -permits him to fall into a restless sleep. In the morning -he arrives at Cairo, where the moisture runs more freely -from his face by reason of the greater humidity, though -now the startling intensity of the heat is not felt. Anon -he travels through the Delta towards the north, still -mopping his brow as the morning sun bursts into the -carriage. But suddenly, a few miles from the coast, a -change is felt. For the first time, perhaps for many -weeks, he feels cool: he wishes his clothes were not -so thin. He packs up his helmet and dons a straw -hat. Arriving at Alexandria, he is amused to find that -he actually feels chilly. He no longer dreads to move -abroad in the sun at high noon, but, waving aside the -importunate carriage-drivers, he walks briskly to his -hotel. He does not sit in a darkened room with -windows tightly shut against the heat, but pulls the -chair out on to the verandah to take the air; and at -night he does not lie stark naked on his bed in the -garden, cursing the imagined heat of the stars and the -moon, and praying for the mercy of sleep; but, like a -white man in his own land, he tucks himself up under -a blanket in the cool bedroom, and awakes lively and -refreshed.</p> - -<p>A European may live the year round at Alexandria, -and may express a preference for the summer. The -wives and children of English officials not infrequently -remain there throughout the warmer months, not from -necessity but from choice; and there are many persons -of northern blood who are happy to call it their home. -In Cairo such families rarely remain during the summer,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span> -unless under compulsion, while in Upper Egypt there is -hardly a white woman in the land between May and -October. Egypt is considered by them to be solely a -winter residence, and the official is of opinion that he -pays toll to fortune for the pleasures of the winter -season by the perils and torments of the summer -months. Even the middle and upper class Egyptians -themselves, recruited, as they generally are in official -circles, from Cairo, suffer terribly from the heat in the -south—often more so, indeed, than the English; and I -myself on more than one occasion have had to abandon -a summer day’s ride owing to the prostration of one -of the native staff.</p> - -<p>The Egyptian of Alexandria and the north looks with -scorn upon the inhabitants of the upper country. The -southerner, on the other hand, has no epithet of contempt -more biting than that of “Alexandrian.” To -the hardy peasant of the Thebaid the term means all -that “scalliwag” denotes to us. The northern Egyptian, -unmindful of the relationship of a kettle to a -saucepan, calls the southerner “black” in disdainful -tones. A certain Alexandrian Egyptian of undiluted -native stock, who was an official in a southern district, -told me that he found life very dull in his provincial -capital, surrounded as he was by “all these confounded -niggers.” And if the <em>Egyptians</em> of Alexandria are thus -estranged from those who constitute the backbone of -the Egyptian nation, it will be understood how great -is the gulf between the Greeks or other foreign residents -in that city and the bulk of the people of the Nile.</p> - -<p>I am quite sure that Cleopatra spoke of the Egyptians -of the interior as “confounded niggers.” Her interests -and sympathies, like those of her city, were directed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span> -across the Mediterranean. She held no more intimate -relationship to Egypt than does the London millionaire -to the African gold-mines which he owns. Alexandria -at the present day still preserves the European character -with which it was endowed by Alexander and the -Ptolemies; or perhaps it were more correct to say that -it has once more assumed that character. There are -large quarters of the city, of course, which are native -in style and appearance, but, viewed as a whole, it -suggests to the eye rather an Italian than an Egyptian -seaport. It has extremely little in common with the -Egyptian metropolis and other cities of the Nile; and -we are aware that there was no greater similarity in -ancient times. The very flowers and trees are different. -In Upper Egypt the gardens have a somewhat artificial -beauty, for the grace of the land is more dependent -upon the composition of cliffs, river, and fields. There -are few wild-flowers, and little natural grass. In the -gardens the flowers are evident importations, while the -lawns have to be sown every autumn, and do not survive -the summer. But in Alexandria there is always a blaze -of flowers, and one notes with surprise the English -hollyhocks, foxgloves, and stocks growing side by side -with the plants of southern Europe. In the fields of -Mariout, over against Alexandria, the wild-flowers in -spring are those of the hills of Greece. Touched by -the cool breeze from the sea, one walks over ground -scarlet and gold with poppies and daisies; there bloom -asphodel and iris; and the ranunculus grows to the size -of a tulip. There is a daintiness in these fields and -gardens wholly un-Egyptian, completely different from -the more permanent grace of the south. One feels -that Pharaoh walked not in fields of asphodel, that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span> -Amon had no dominion here amidst the poppies by -the sea. One is transplanted in imagination to Greece -and to Italy, and the knowledge becomes the more -apparent that Cleopatra and her city were an integral -part of European life, only slightly touched by the very -finger-tips of the Orient.</p> - -<div id="ip_24" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 46.875em;"> - <img src="images/i_024.jpg" width="750" height="485" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"> - -Approximate plan of<br /> -<span class="larger">ALEXANDRIA</span><br /> -in the time of Cleopatra.<br /> -</div></div> - -<p>The coast of Egypt rises so little above the level of the -Mediterranean that the land cannot be seen by those -approaching it from across the sea, until but a few miles -separate them from the surf which breaks upon the sand -and rocks of that barren shore. The mountains of other -East-Mediterranean countries—Greece, Italy, Sicily, -Crete, Cyprus, and Syria—rising out of the blue waters, -served as landmarks for the mariners of ancient days, and -were discernible upon the horizon for many long hours -before wind or oars carried the vessels in under their lee. -But the Egyptian coast offered no such assistance to the -captains of sea-going galleys, and they were often obliged -to approach closely to the treacherous shore before their -exact whereabouts became apparent to them. The city -of Alexandria was largely hidden from view by the long, -low island of Pharos, which lay in front of it and which -was little dissimilar in appearance from the mainland.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> -Two promontories of land projected from the coast -opposite either end of the island; and, these being -lengthened by the building of breakwaters, the straits -between Pharos Island and the mainland were converted -into an excellent harbour, both it and the main part of -the city being screened from the open sea. There was -one tremendous landmark, however, which served to -direct all vessels to their destination, namely, the far-famed -Pharos lighthouse, standing upon the east end of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span> -the island, and overshadowing the main entrance to the -port.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> It had been built during the reign of Ptolemy -Philadelphus by Sostratus of Cnidus two hundred years -and more before the days of Cleopatra, and it ranked as -one of the wonders of the world. It was constructed of -white marble, and rose to a height of 400 ells, or 590 feet. -By day it stood like a pillar of alabaster, gleaming against -the leaden haze of the sky; and from nightfall until dawn -there shone from its summit a powerful beacon-light -which could be seen, it is said<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a>, for 300 stadia, <i>i.e.</i> 34 -miles, across the waters.</p> - -<p>The harbour was divided into two almost equal parts -by a great embankment, known as the Heptastadium, -which joined the city to the island. This was cut at -either end by a passage or waterway leading from one -harbour to the other, but these two passages were -bridged over, and thus a clear causeway was formed, -seven stadia, or 1400 yards, in length. To the west of -this embankment lay the Harbour of Eunostos, or the -Happy Return, which was entered from behind the -western extremity of Pharos Island; while to the east -of the embankment lay the Great Harbour, the entrance -to which passed between the enormous lighthouse and -the Diabathra, or breakwater, built out from the promontory -known as Lochias. This entrance was -dangerous, owing to the narrowness of the fairway and -to the presence of rocks, against which the rolling waves -of the Mediterranean, driven by the prevalent winds of -the north, beat with almost continuous violence.</p> - -<p>A vessel entering the port of Alexandria from this side -was steered towards the great lighthouse, around the foot<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span> -of which the waves leapt and broke in showers of white -foam. Skirting the dark rocks at the base of this marble -wonder, the vessel slipped through the passage into the -still entrance of the harbour, leaving the breakwater on -the left hand. Here, on a windless day, one might look -down to the sand and the rocks at the bottom of the sea, -so clear and transparent was the water and so able to be -penetrated by the strong light of the sun. Seaweed of -unaccustomed hues covered the sunken rocks over which -the vessels floated; and anemones, like great flowers, -could be seen swaying in the gentle motion of the undercurrents. -Passing on into the deeper water of the harbour, -in which the sleek dolphins arose and dived in rhythmic -succession, the traveller saw before him such an array of -palaces and public buildings as could be found nowhere -else in the world. There stood, on his left hand, the -Royal Palace, which was spread over the Lochias Promontory -and extended round towards the west. Here, -beside a little island known as Antirrhodos, itself the site -of a royal pavilion, lay the Royal Harbour, where flights -of broad steps descended into the azure water, which at -this point was so deep that the largest galleys might -moor against the quays. Along the edge of the mainland, -overlooking the Great Harbour, stood a series of -magnificent buildings which must have deeply impressed -all those who were approaching the city across the water. -Here stood the imposing Museum, which was actually a -part of another palace, and which formed a kind of -institute for the study of the sciences, presided over by a -priest appointed by the sovereign. The buildings seem -to have consisted of a large hall wherein the professors -took their meals; a series of arcades in which these men -of learning walked and talked; a hall, or assembly rooms,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span> -in which their lectures were held; and, at the north end, -close to the sea, the famous library, at this time containing -more than half a million scrolls. On rising ground -between the Museum and the Lochias Promontory stood -the Theatre, wherein those who occupied the higher -seats might look beyond the stage to the island of -Antirrhodos, behind which the incoming galleys rode -upon the blue waters in the shadow of Pharos. At the -back of the Theatre, on still higher ground, the Paneum, -or Temple of Pan, had been erected. This is described -by Strabo as “an artificial mound of the shape of a fir-cone, -resembling a pile of rock, to the top of which there -is an ascent by a spiral path, from whose summit may be -seen the whole city lying all around and beneath it.” To -the west of this mound stood the Gymnasium, a superb -building, the porticos of which alone exceeded a stadium, -or 200 yards, in length. The Courts of Justice, surrounded -by groves and gardens, adjoined the Gymnasium. -Close to the harbour, to the west of the Theatre, was the -Forum; and in front of it, on the quay, stood a temple of -Neptune. To the west of this, near the Museum, there -was an enclosure called Sema, in which stood the tombs -of the Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, built around the famous -Mausoleum wherein the bones of Alexander the Great -rested in a sarcophagus of alabaster.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p> - -<p>These buildings, all able to be seen from the harbour, -formed the quarter of the city known as the Regia, -Brucheion, or Royal Area. Here the white stone -structures reflected in the mirror of the harbour, the -statues and monuments, the trees and brilliant flower-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span>gardens, -the flights of marble steps passing down to the -sea, the broad streets and public places, must have -formed a scene of magnificence not surpassed at that -time in the whole world. Nor would the traveller, upon -stepping ashore from his vessel, be disappointed in his -expectations as he roamed the streets of the town. -Passing through the Forum he would come out upon -the great thoroughfare, more than three miles long, -which cut right through the length of the city in a -straight line, from the Gate of the Necropolis, at the -western end, behind the Harbour of the Happy Return, -to the Gate of Canopus, at the eastern extremity, some -distance behind the Lochias Promontory. This magnificent -boulevard, known as the Street of Canopus, or -the Meson Pedion, was flanked on either side by colonnades, -and was 100 feet in breadth.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> On its north side -would be seen the Museum, the Sema, the palaces, and -the gardens; on the south side the Gymnasium with its -long porticos, the Paneum towering up against the sky, -and numerous temples and public places. Were the -traveller to walk eastwards along this street he would -pass through the Jewish quarter, adorned by many -synagogues and national buildings, through the Gate -of Canopus, built in the city walls, and so out on to open -ground, where stood the Hippodromos or Racecourse, -and several public buildings. Here the sun-baked soil -was sandy, the rocks glaring white, and but little turf was -to be seen. A few palms, bent southward by the sea -wind, and here and there a cluster of acacias, gave shade -to pedestrians; while between the road and the sea the -Grove of Nemesis offered a pleasant foreground to the -sandy beach and the blue expanse of the Mediterranean<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span> -beyond. Near by stood the little settlement of Eleusis, -which was given over to festivities and merry-making. -Here there were several restaurants and houses of entertainment -which are said to have commanded beautiful -views; but so noisy was the fun supplied, and so dissolute -the manners of those who frequented the place, -that better-class Alexandrians were inclined to avoid it. -At a distance of some three miles from Alexandria stood -the suburb of Nicopolis, where numerous villas, themselves -“not less than a city,” says Strabo,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> had been -erected along the sea-front, and the sands in summer-time -were crowded with bathers. Farther eastwards the -continuation of the Street of Canopus passed on to the -town of that name and Egypt proper.</p> - -<p>Returning within the city walls and walking westwards -along the Street of Canopus, the visitor would pass -once more through the Regia and thence through the -Egyptian quarter known as Rhakotis, to the western -boundary. This quarter, being immediately behind the -commercial harbour, was partly occupied by warehouses -and ships’ offices, and was always a very busy district -of the town. Here there was an inner harbour called -Cibotos, or the Ark, where there were extensive docks; -and from this a canal passed, under the Street of Canopus, -to the lake at the back of the city. On a rocky hill -behind the Rhakotis quarter stood the magnificent -Serapeum, or Temple of Serapis, which was approached -by a broad street running at right angles to the Street -of Canopus, which it bisected at a point not far west of -the Museum, being a continuation of the Heptastadium. -The temple is said to have been surpassed in grandeur -by no other building in the world except the Capitol<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span> -at Rome; and, standing as it did at a considerable -elevation, it must have towered above the hubbub and -the denser atmosphere of the streets and houses at its -foot, as though to receive the purification of the untainted -wind of the sea. Behind the temple, on the open rocky -ground outside the city walls, stood the Stadium; and -away towards the west the Necropolis was spread out, -with its numerous gardens and mausoleums. Still farther -westward there were numerous villas and gardens; and -it may be that the wonderful flowers which at the present -day grow wild upon this ground are actually the descendants -of those introduced and cultivated by the Greeks of -the days of Cleopatra.</p> - -<p>Along the entire length of the back walls of the city -lay the Lake of Mareotis, which cut off Alexandria from -the Egyptian Delta, and across this stretch of water -vast numbers of vessels brought the produce of Egypt -to the capital. The lake harbour and docks were built -around an inlet which penetrated some considerable -distance into the heart of the city not far to the east -of the Paneum, and from them a great colonnaded -thoroughfare, as wide as the Street of Canopus, which -it crossed at right angles, passed through the city to -the Great Harbour, being terminated at the south end -by the Gate of the Sun, and at the north end by the -Gate of the Moon. These lake docks are said to have -been richer and more important even than the maritime -docks on the opposite side of the town; for over the -lake the traffic of vessels coming by river and canal -from all parts of Egypt was always greater than the -shipping across the Mediterranean. The shores of this -inland sea were exuberantly fertile. A certain amount of -papyrus grew at the edges of the lake, considerable stretches<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span> -of water being covered by the densely-growing reeds. -The Alexandrians were wont to use the plantations for -their picnics, penetrating in small boats into the thickest -part of the reeds, where they were overshadowed by the -leaves, which, also, they used as dishes and drinking-vessels. -Extensive vineyards and fruit gardens flourished -at the edge of the water; and there are said to have been -eight islands which rose from the placid surface of the -lake and were covered by luxuriant gardens.</p> - -<div id="ip_32" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 25em;"> - <img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Cairo Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Brugsch.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY</p> - <p class="small">THE PAINTING DATES FROM A GENERATION LATER THAN THAT OF CLEOPATRA, BUT - IT IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF THE ALEXANDRIAN ARTISTS.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Strabo tells us that Alexandria contained extremely -beautiful public parks and grounds, and abounded -with magnificent buildings of all kinds. The whole -city was intersected by roads wide enough for the -passage of chariots; and, as has been said, the three -main streets, those leading to the Gate of Canopus, -to the Serapeum, and to the Lake Harbour, were particularly -noteworthy both for their breadth and length. -Indeed, in the Fifteenth Idyll of Theocritus, one of the -characters complains most bitterly of the excessive length -of the Alexandrian streets. The kings of the Ptolemaic -dynasty, for nearly three centuries, had expended vast -sums in the beautification of their capital, and at the -period with which we are now dealing it had become the -rival of Rome in magnificence and luxury. The novelist, -Achilles Tatius, writing some centuries later, when many -of the Ptolemaic edifices had been replaced by Roman -constructions perhaps of less merit, cried, as he beheld -the city, “We are vanquished, mine eyes”; and there -is every reason to suppose that his words were no -unlicensed exaggeration. In the brilliant sunshine of -the majority of Egyptian days, the stately palaces, -temples, and public buildings which reflected themselves -in the waters of the harbour, or cast their shadows across<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span> -the magnificent Street of Canopus, must have dazzled -the eyes of the spectator and brought wonder into his -heart.</p> - -<p>The inhabitants of the city were not altogether worthy -of their splendid home. In modern times the people -of Alexandria exhibit much the same conglomeration of -nationalities as they did in ancient days; but the distinguishing -line between Egyptians and Europeans is -now more sharply defined than it was in the reign of -Cleopatra, owing to the fact that the former are mostly -Mohammedans and the latter Christians, no marriage -being permitted between them. In Ptolemaic times -only the Jews of Alexandria stood outside the circle of -international marriages which was gradually forming the -people of the city into a single type; for they alone -practised that conventional exclusiveness which indicated -a strong religious conviction. The Greek element, always -predominant in the city, was mainly Macedonian; -but in the period we are now studying so many intermarriages -with Egyptians had taken place that in the -case of a large number of families the stock was much -mixed. There must have been, of course, a certain -number of aristocratic houses, descended from the -Macedonian soldiers and officials who had come to -Egypt with Alexander the Great and the first Ptolemy, -whose blood had been kept pure; and we hear of such -persons boasting of their nationality, though the ruin -of their fatherland and its subservience to Rome had -left them little of which to be proud. In like manner -there must have been many pure Egyptian families, no -less proud of their nationality than were the Macedonians. -The majority of educated people could now speak both -the Greek and Egyptian tongues, and all official<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span> -decrees and proclamations were published in both languages. -Many Greeks assumed Egyptian names in -addition to their own; and it is probable that there -were at this date Egyptians who, in like manner, adopted -Greek names.</p> - -<p>Besides Greeks and Egyptians, there were numerous -Italians, Cretans, Phœnicians, Cilicians, Cypriots, -Persians, Syrians, Armenians, Arabs, and persons of -other nationalities, who had, to some extent, intermarried -with Alexandrian families, thus producing a -stock which must have been much like that to be found -in the city at the present day and now termed Levantine. -Some of these had come to Alexandria originally as -respectable merchants and traders; others were sailors, -and, indeed, pirates; yet others were escaped slaves, -outlaws, criminals, and debtors who were allowed to enter -Alexandria on condition that they served in the army; -while not a few were soldiers of fortune who had been -enrolled in the forces of Egypt. There was a standing -army of these mercenaries in Alexandria, and Polybius, -writing of the days of Cleopatra’s great-grandfather, -Ptolemy IX., speaks of them as being oppressive and -dissolute, desiring to rule rather than to obey. A further -introduction of foreign blood was due to the presence -of the Gabinian Army of Occupation, the members of -which had settled down in Alexandria and had married -Alexandrian women. These soldiers were largely drawn -from Germany and Gaul; and though there had not yet -been time for them to do more than add a horde of half-cast -children to the medley, their own presence in the -city contributed strikingly to the cosmopolitan character -of the streets. This barbaric force, with its Roman -officers, must have been in constant rivalry with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span> -so-called Macedonian Household Troops which guarded -the palace; but when Cleopatra came to the throne the -latter force had already been freely recruited from all -the riff-raff of the world, and was in no way a match -for the northerners.</p> - -<p>The aristocracy of Alexandria probably consisted of -the cosmopolitan officers of the mercenaries and Household -Troops, the Roman officers of the Gabinian army, the -Macedonian courtiers, the Greek and Egyptian officials, -and numerous families of wealthy Europeans, Syrians, -Jews, and Egyptians. The professors and scholars of -the Museum constituted a class of their own, much -patronised by the court, but probably not often accepted -by the aristocracy of the city for any other reason than -that of their learning. The mob was mainly composed -of Greeks of mixed breed, together with a large number -of Egyptians of somewhat impure stock; and a more -noisy, turbulent, and excitable crowd could not be found -in all the world, not even in riotous Rome. The Greeks -and Jews were constantly annoying one another, but -the Greeks and Egyptians seem to have fraternised -to a very considerable extent, for there was not so wide -a gulf between them as might be imagined. The -Egyptians of Alexandria, and, indeed, of all the Delta, -were often no darker-skinned than the Greeks. Both -peoples were noisy and excitable, vain and ostentatious, -smart and clever. They did not quarrel upon religious -matters, for the Egyptian gods were easily able to be -identified with those of Greece, and the chief deity -of Alexandria, Serapis, was here worshipped by both -nations in common. In the domain of art they had -no cause for dissensions, for the individual art of Egypt -was practically dead, and that of Greece had been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span> -accepted by cultivated Egyptians as the correct expression -of the refinement in which they desired to live. -Both peoples were industrious, and eager in the pursuit -of wealth, and both were able to set their labours aside -with ease, and to turn their whole attention to the -amusements which the luxurious city provided. Polybius -speaks of the Egyptians as being smart and civilised; -and of the Alexandrian Greeks he writes that they were -a poor lot, though he seems to have preferred them to -the Egyptians.</p> - -<p>The people of Alexandria were passionately fond of -the theatre. In the words of Dion Chrysostom, who, -however, speaks of the citizens of a century later than -Cleopatra, “the whole town lived for excitement, and -when the manifestation of Apis (the sacred bull) took -place, all Alexandria went fairly mad with musical entertainments -and horse-races. When doing their ordinary -work they were apparently sane, but the instant they -entered the theatre or the racecourse they appeared as -if possessed by some intoxicating drug, so that they no -longer knew nor cared what they said or did. And this -was the case even with women and children, so that -when the show was over, and the first madness past, -all the streets and byways were seething with excitement -for days, like the swell after a storm.” The -Emperor Hadrian says of them: “I have found them -wholly light, wavering, and flying after every breath -of a report.... They are seditious, vain, and spiteful, -though as a body wealthy and prosperous.” The -impudent wit of the young Græco-Egyptian dandy was -proverbial, and must always have constituted a cause -of offence to those whose public positions laid them open -to attack. No sooner did a statesman assume office, or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span> -a king come to the throne, than he was given some scurrilous -nickname by the wags of the city, which stuck -to him throughout the remainder of his life. Thus, -to quote a few examples, Ptolemy IX. was called -“Bloated,” Ptolemy X. “Vetch,” Ptolemy XIII. -“Piper”; Seleucus they named “Pickled-fish Pedlar,” -and in later times Vespasian was named “Scullion.” -All forms of ridicule appealed to them, and many are -the tales told in this regard. Thus, when King Agrippa -passed through the city on his way to his insecure throne, -these young Alexandrians dressed up an unfortunate -madman whom they had found in the streets, put a -paper crown upon his head and a reed in his hand, -and led him through the town, hailing him as King of -the Jews: and this in spite of the fact that Agrippa -was the friend of Caligula, their Emperor. Against -Vespasian they told with delight the story of how he -had bothered one of his friends for the payment of a -trifling loan of six obols, and somebody made up a song -in which the fact was recorded. They ridiculed Caracalla -in the same manner, laughing at him for dressing -himself like Alexander the Great, although his stature -was below the average; but in this case they had not -reckoned with their man, whose revenge upon them was -an act no less frightful than the total extermination of -all the well-to-do young men of the city, they being collected -together under a false pretence and butchered in -cold blood. These Alexandrians were famous for the -witty and scathing verses which they composed upon -topical subjects; and a later historian speaks of this -proficiency of theirs “in making songs and epigrams -against their rulers.” Such ditties were carried from -Egypt to Rome, and were sung in the Italian capital,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span> -just as nowadays the latest American air is hummed and -whistled in the streets of London. Indeed, in Rome the -wit of Alexandria was very generally appreciated; and, -a few years later, one hears of Alexandrian comedians -causing Roman audiences to rock with laughter.</p> - -<p>The Emperor Hadrian, as we have seen, speaks of -the Alexandrians as being spiteful; and, no doubt, a -great deal of their vaunted wit had that character. The -young Græco-Egyptian was inordinately vain and self-satisfied; -and no critic so soon adopts a spiteful tone -as he who has thought himself above criticism. The -conceit of these smart young men was very noticeable, -and is frequently referred to by early writers. They -appear to have been much devoted to the study of their -personal appearance; and if one may judge by the habits -of the upper-class Egyptians and Levantines of present-day -Alexandria, many of them must have been intolerable -fops. The luxury of their houses was probably far greater -than that in Roman life at this date, and they had studied -the culinary arts in an objectionably thorough manner. -Dion Chrysostom says the Alexandrians of his day -thought of little else but food and horse-racing. Both -Greeks and Egyptians in Alexandria had the reputation -of being fickle and easily influenced by the moment’s -emotion. “I should be wasting many words in vain,” -says the author of ‘De Bello Alexandrino,’ “if I were -to defend the Alexandrians from the charges of deceit -and levity of mind.... There can be no doubt that -the race is most prone to treachery.” They had few -traditions, no feelings of patriotism, and not much political -interest. They did not make any study of themselves, -nor write histories of their city: they lived for -the moment, and if the Government of the hour were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span> -distasteful to them they revolted against it with startling -rapidity. The city was constantly being disturbed by -street rioting, and there was no great regard for human -life.</p> - -<p>The population of Alexandria is said to have been -about 300,000 during the later years of the Ptolemaic -dynasty, which was not much less than that of Rome -before the Civil War, and twice the Roman number -after that sanguinary struggle.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> In spite of its reputation -for frivolity it was very largely a business city, -and a goodly portion of its citizens were animated by -a lively commercial spirit which quite outclassed that -of the Italian capital in enterprise and bustle. This, -of course, was a Greek and not an Egyptian characteristic, -for the latter are notoriously unenterprising and -conservative in their methods, while the Greeks, to this -day, are admirable merchants and business men. Alexandria -was the most important corn-market of the world, -and for this reason was always envied by Rome. Incidentally -I may remark that proportionally far more -corn was consumed in Cleopatra’s time than in our -own; and Cæsar once speaks of the <em>endurance</em> of his -soldiers in submitting to eat meat owing to the scarcity -of corn.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> The city was also engaged in many other -forms of commerce, and in the reign of Cleopatra it -was recognised as the greatest trading centre in the -world. Here East and West met in the busy market-places; -and at the time with which we are dealing the -eyes of all men were beginning to be turned to this city -as being the terminus of the new trade-route to India, -along which such rich merchandise was already being -conveyed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span> -It was at the same time the chief seat of Greek learning, -and regarded itself also as the leading authority on -matters of art—a point which must have been open -to dispute. The great figure of Nilus, of which an -illustration is given in this volume, is generally considered -to be an example of Alexandrian art. The -famous “Alexandrian School,” celebrated for its scientific -work and its poetry, had existed for more than two -hundred years, and was now in its decline, though it -still attempted to continue the old Hellenic culture.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> -The school of philosophy, which succeeded it in celebrity, -was just beginning to come into prominence. -Thus the eyes of all merchants, all scientists, all men -of letters, all scholars, and all statesmen, were turned -in these days to Alexandria; and the Ptolemaic court, -in spite of the degeneracy of its sovereigns, was held -in the highest esteem.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF CLEOPATRA.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Cleopatra was the last of the regnant Ptolemaic sovereigns -of Egypt, and was the seventh Egyptian Queen -of her name,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> in her person all the rights and privileges -of that extraordinary line of Pharaohs being vested. -The Ptolemaic Dynasty was founded in the first years -of the third century before Christ by Ptolemy, the son -of Lagus, one of the Macedonian generals of Alexander -the Great, who, on his master’s death, seized the province -of Egypt, and, a few years later, made himself King -of that country, establishing himself at the newly-founded -city of Alexandria on the sea-coast. For two and a half -centuries the dynasty presided over the destinies of -Egypt, at first with solicitous care, and later with startling -nonchalance, until, with the death of the great -Cleopatra and her son Ptolemy XVI. (Cæsarion), the -royal line came to an end.</p> - -<p>For the right understanding of Cleopatra’s character -it must be clearly recognised that the Ptolemies were -in no way Egyptians. They were Macedonians, as I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span> -have already said, in whose veins flowed not one drop -of Egyptian blood. Their capital city of Alexandria was, -in the main, a Mediterranean colony set down upon -the sea-coast of Egypt, but having no connection with -the Delta and the Nile Valley other than the purely commercial -and official relationship which of necessity existed -between the maritime seat of Government and the -provinces. The city was Greek in character; the temples -and public buildings were constructed in the Greek -manner; the art of the period was Greek; the life of -the upper classes was lived according to Greek habits; -the dress of the court and of the aristocracy was Greek; -the language spoken by them was Greek, pronounced, it -is said, with the broad Macedonian accent. It is probable -that no one of the Ptolemies ever wore Egyptian -costume, except possibly for ceremonial purposes; and, -in passing, it may be remarked that the modern conventional -representation of the great Cleopatra walking -about her palace clothed in splendid Egyptian robes -and wearing the vulture-headdress of the ancient queens -has no justification.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> It is true that she is said to have -attired herself on certain occasions in a dress designed -to simulate that which was supposed by the priests of -the time to have been worn by the mother-deity Isis; -but contemporaneous representations of Isis generally -show her clad in the Greek and not the Egyptian -manner. And if she ever wore the ancient dress of -the Egyptian queens, it must have been only at great -religious festivals or on occasions where conformity to -obsolete habits was required by the ritual.</p> - -<p>The relationship of the royal house to the people was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span> -very similar to that existing at the present day between -the Khedivial dynasty and the provincial natives of -Egypt. The modern Khedivial princes are Albanians, -who cannot record in their genealogy a single Egyptian -ancestor. They live in the European manner, and dress -according to the dictates of Paris and London. Similarly -the Ptolemies retained their Macedonian nationality, -and Plutarch tells us that not one of them even troubled -to learn the Egyptian language. On the other hand -the Egyptians, constrained by the force of circumstances, -accepted the dynasty as the legal successor of the ancient -Pharaonic line, and assigned to the Ptolemies all the -titles and dignities of their great Pharaohs.</p> - -<p>These Greek sovereigns, Cleopatra no less than her -predecessors, were given the titles which had been so -proudly borne by Rameses the Great and the mighty -Thutmosis the Third, a thousand years and more before -their day. They were named, “Living Image of the -God Amon,” “Child of the Sun,” and “Chosen of Ptah,” -just as the great Memnon and the conquering Sesostris -had been named when Egypt was the first power in the -world. In the temples throughout the land, with the -exception of those of importance at Alexandria, these -Macedonian monarchs were pictorially represented in the -guise of the ancient Pharaohs, crowned with the tall -crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, the horns and -feathers of Amon upon their heads, and the royal serpent -at their foreheads. There they were seen worshipping -the old gods of Egypt, prostrating themselves in -the presence of the cow Hathor, bowing before the crocodile -Sobk, burning incense at the shrine of the cat Bast, -and performing all the magical ceremonies hallowed by -the usage of four thousand years. They were shown<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span> -enthroned with the gods, embraced by Isis, saluted by -Osiris, and kissed by Mout, the Mother of Heaven. -Yet it is doubtful whether in actual fact any Ptolemy -at any time identified himself in this manner with the -traditional character of a Pharaoh.</p> - -<p>Very occasionally one of these Greek sovereigns left -his city of Alexandria to visit Egypt proper, and to -travel up the Nile. At certain cities he honoured the -local temple with a visit and performed in a perfunctory -manner the prescribed ceremonies, just as a modern -sovereign lays a foundation-stone or launches a battleship. -But there is nothing to show that any member -of the royal house regarded himself as an Egyptian in -the traditional sense of the word. They were careful -as a rule to placate the priesthood, and to allow them -a free use of their funds in the building and decoration -of the temples; and Egyptian national life was fostered -to a very considerable extent. But in Alexandria one -might hardly have believed oneself to be in the land of -the Pharaohs, and the court was almost entirely European -in character.</p> - -<p>The Ptolemies as a family were extraordinarily callous -in their estimate of the value of human life, and the -history of the dynasty is marked throughout its whole -length by a series of villainous murders. In this respect -they showed their non-Egyptian blood; for the people -of the Nile were, and now are, a kindly, pleasant folk, -not predisposed to the arts of the assassin and not by -any means regardless of the rights of their fellow-men. -It may be of interest to record here some of the murders -for which the Ptolemies are responsible. Ptolemy III., -according to Justin, was murdered by his son Ptolemy -IV., who also seems to have planned at one time and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span> -another the murders of his brother Magas, his uncle -Lysimachus, his mother Berenice, and his wife Arsinoe. -Ptolemy V. is described as a cruel and violent monarch, -who seems to have indulged the habit of murdering those -who offended him. Ptolemy VII. is said by Polybius -to have had the Egyptian vice of riotousness, although -on the whole averse to shedding blood. Ptolemy VIII. -murdered his young nephew, the heir to the throne, -and married the dead boy’s mother, the widowed queen -Cleopatra II., who shortly afterwards presented him with -a baby, Memphites, whose paternal parentage is doubtful. -Ptolemy later, according to some accounts, murdered -this child and sent his body in pieces to the mother. He -then married his niece, Cleopatra III.; and she, on being -left a widow, appears to have murdered Cleopatra II. -This Cleopatra III. bore a son who later ascended the -throne as Ptolemy XI., whom she afterwards attempted -to murder, but the tables being turned she was murdered -by him. Ptolemy X. was driven from the throne by his -mother, who installed Ptolemy XI. in his place, and -was promptly murdered by the new king for her pains. -Ptolemy XII., having married his stepmother, murdered -her, and himself was murdered shortly afterwards. -Ptolemy XIII., the father of the great Cleopatra, -murdered his daughter Berenice and also several other -persons.</p> - -<p>The women of this family were even more violent than -the men. Mahaffy describes their characteristics in the -following words: “Great power and wealth, which -makes an alliance with them imply the command of -large resources in men and money; mutual hatred; disregard -of all ties of family and affection; the dearest -object fratricide—such pictures of depravity as make<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span> -any reasonable man pause and ask whether human -nature had deserted these women and the Hyrcanian -tiger of the poet taken its place.” In many other -ways also this murderous family of kings possessed an -unenviable reputation. The first three Ptolemies were -endowed with many sterling qualities, and were conspicuous -for their talents; but the remaining monarchs -of the dynasty were, for the most part, degenerate and -debauched. They were, however, patrons of the arts -and sciences, and indeed they did more for them than -did almost any other royal house in the world. Ptolemaic -Alexandria was to some extent the birthplace of -the sciences of anatomy, geometry, conic sections, -hydrostatics, geography, and astronomy, while its -position in the artistic world was most important. -The splendour and luxury of the palace was far-famed, -and the sovereign lived in a chronic condition of -repletion which surpassed that of any other court. -When Scipio Africanus visited Egypt he found our -Cleopatra’s great-grandfather, Ptolemy IX., who was -nicknamed Physkon, “the Bloated,” fat, puffing, and -thoroughly over-fed. As Scipio walked to the palace -with the King, who, in too transparent robes, breathed -heavily by his side, he whispered to a friend that -Alexandria had derived at least one benefit from his -visit—it had seen its sovereign taking a walk. Ptolemy -X., Cleopatra’s grandfather, obtained the nickname -“Lathyros,” owing, it is said, to the resemblance of -his nose to a vetch or some such flowery and leguminous -plant: a fact which certainly suggests that the -King was not a man of temperate habits. Ptolemy -XI. was so bloated by gluttony and vice that he seldom -walked without crutches, though, under the influence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span> -of wine, he was able to skip about the room freely -enough with his drunken comrades. Ptolemy XIII., -Cleopatra’s father, had such an objection to temperance -that once he threatened to put the philosopher -Demetrius to death for not being intoxicated at one -of his feasts; and the unfortunate man was obliged -the next day publicly to drink himself silly in order -to save his life. Such glimpses as these show us the -Ptolemies at their worst, and we are constrained to ask -how it is possible that Cleopatra, who brought the line -to a termination, could have failed to be a thoroughly -bad woman. Yet, as will presently become apparent, -there is no great reason to suppose that her sins were -either many or scarlet.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XIII., who went by the -nickname of Auletes, “the Piper,” was a degenerate -little man, who passes across Egypt’s political stage -in a condition of almost continuous inebriety. We -watch his drunken antics as he directs the Bacchic -orgies in the palace; we see him stupidly plotting and -scheming to hold his tottering throne; we hear him -playing the livelong hours away upon his flute; and -we feel that his deeds would be hardly worth recording -were it not for the fact that in his reign is seen -the critical development of the political relationship -between Rome and Egypt, which, towards the end of -the Ptolemaic dynasty, came to have such a complicated -bearing upon the history of both countries. After -the battle of Pydna (<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 167) Rome had obtained almost -absolute control of the Hellenistic world, and she soon -began to lay her hands on all the commerce of the -eastern Mediterranean. Towards the close of the -Ptolemaic period the great Republic turned eager eyes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span> -towards Egypt, watching for an opportunity to seize -that wealthy land for her own enrichment.</p> - -<p>Reference to the genealogy at the end of this volume -will show the reader that the main line of the Lagidæ -came to an end on the assassination (after a reign of -nineteen days) of Ptolemy XII. (Alexander II.), who had -been raised to the throne by Roman help. The only -legitimate child of Ptolemy X. (Soter II.) was Berenice -III., the cousin of Ptolemy XII., who had been married -to him, the union, however, producing no heir to the -throne. Ptolemy X. had two sons, the half-brothers -of Berenice III., but they were both illegitimate, the -name and status of their mother being now unknown. -It is possible that they were the children of Cleopatra -IV., who was divorced from their father at his accession; -or it is possible that the lady was not of royal blood. -On the death of Ptolemy XII. one of these two young -men proclaimed himself Pharaoh of Egypt, being known -to us as Ptolemy XIII., and the other announced himself -as King of Cyprus, also under the name of Ptolemy. -The people of Alexandria at once accepted Ptolemy XIII. -as their king, for, whether illegitimate or not, he was the -eldest male descendant of the line, and their refusal to -accept his rule would have brought the dynasty to a -close, thereby insuring an immediate Roman occupation. -Cicero speaks of the new monarch as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nec regio genere ortus</i>, -which implies that whoever his mother might be, she was -not a reigning queen at the time of his birth; but the -Alexandrian populace were in no mood to raise scruples -in regard to his origin, when it was apparent that he -alone stood between their liberty and the stern domination -of Rome.</p> - -<div id="ip_48" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 26.25em;"> - <img src="images/i_048.jpg" width="420" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Alexandria Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>SERAPIS.</p> - <p class="small">THE CHIEF GOD OF ALEXANDRIA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>No sooner had he ascended the throne, however, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span> -the title of Ptolemy (XIII.) Neos Dionysos, than the -discovery was made that Ptolemy XII., under his name -of Alexander, had in his will appointed the Roman -Republic his heir, thus voluntarily bringing his dynasty -to a close. Such a course of action was not novel. It -had already been followed in the case of Pergamum, -Cyrene, and Bithynia, and it seems likely that Ptolemy -XII. had taken this step in order to obtain the financial -or moral support of the Romans in regard to his accession, -or for some equally urgent reason. The Senate -acknowledged the authenticity of the will, which, of -course, the party of Ptolemy XIII. had denied. It had -been suggested that the testator was not Ptolemy XII. -at all, but another Alexander, Ptolemy XI. (Alexander -I.), or an obscure person sometimes referred to as -Alexander III. There is little question, however, that -the will was genuine enough; but there is considerable -doubt as to whether it was legally valid. In the first -place, it was probably written before Ptolemy XII. succeeded -to the kingdom; and, in the second place, such -a will would only be valid were there no heir to the -throne; but the people of Alexandria had accepted -Ptolemy XIII. as the rightful heir. At all events the -Senate, while seizing, by virtue of the document, as -much of the private fortune of the testator as they could -lay hands on, took no steps to dethrone the two new -kings, either of Egypt or Cyprus, though, on the other -hand, they did not officially recognise them.</p> - -<p>In this attitude they were influenced also by the fact -that a large party in Rome did not wish to see the -Republic further involved in Oriental affairs, nor did -they feel at the moment inclined to place in the hands -of any one man such power as would accrue to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span> -official who should be appointed as Governor of the new -province. Egypt was regarded as a very wealthy and -important country, second only to Rome in the extent of -its power. It held the keys to the rich lands of the -south, and to Arabia and India it seemed to be one of -the main gateways. The revenues of the palace of -Alexandria were quite equal to the public income of -Rome at this time; and, indeed, even at a later date, -after Pompey had so greatly augmented the yearly sum -in the Treasury, the wealth of the Egyptian Court was -not far short of this increased total.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> Alexandria had -succeeded Athens as the seat of culture and learning, -and it was now regarded as the second city of the world. -It was therefore felt that the armies and the generals -sent over the sea to this distant land might well run the -risk of being absorbed into the life of the country which -they were holding, and might as it were inevitably set -up an Eastern Empire which would be a menace, and -even a terror, to Rome.</p> - -<p>The new King of Egypt, whom we may now call by -his nickname Auletes, was much disturbed by the existence -of this will, and throughout his reign he was constantly -making efforts to buy off the expected interference -of Rome. He was an unhappy and unfortunate man. -All he asked was to be allowed to enjoy the royal wealth -in drunken peace, and not to be bothered by the haunting -fear that he might be turned out of his kingdom. He -was a keen enjoyer of good living, and there was nothing -that pleased him so much as the participation in one of -the orgies of Dionysos. He played the pipes with some -proficiency, and, when he was sober, it would seem that -he spent many a contented hour piping pleasantly in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span> -sun. Yet his reign was continuously overshadowed by -this knowledge that the Romans might at any moment -dethrone him; and one pictures him often giving vent to -an evening melancholy by blowing from his little flute -one of those wailing dirges of his native land, which -flutter upon the ears like the notes of a night-bird, -and drift at last upon a half-tone into silence.</p> - -<p>In the fifth year of his reign, that is to say in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 75, -his kinswoman, Selene, sent her two sons to Rome with -the object of obtaining the thrones of Egypt, Cyprus, and -Syria; and Auletes must have watched with anxiety -their attempts to oust him. He knew that they were -giving bribes right and left to the Senators, in order to -effect their purpose, and he was aware that in this manner -alone the heart of the Roman Republic could be touched; -yet for the time being he avoided these methods of expending -his country’s revenue, and, after a while, he had -the satisfaction of hearing that Selene had abandoned -her efforts to obtain recognition. In the thirteenth year -of his reign Pompey sent a fleet under Lentulus Marcellinus -to clear the Egyptian coast of pirates, and when -Lentulus was made consul he caused the Ptolemaic eagle -and thunderbolt to be displayed upon his coins to mark -the fact that he had exercised an act of sovereignty in -connection with that country. Three years later another -Roman fleet was sent to Alexandria to impose the will of -the Senate in regard to certain disputed questions; and -once more Auletes must have suffered from the terrors of -imminent dethronement.</p> - -<p>In <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 65 he was again disturbed from his bibulous -ease by the news that the Romans were thinking of -sending Crassus or Julius Cæsar to annex his kingdom; -but the scheme came to naught, and for a time Auletes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span> -was left in peace. In <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 63 Pompey annexed Syria -to the Roman dominions, and thereupon Auletes sent -him a large present of money and military supplies in -order to purchase his friendship. At the same time he -invited him to come to Egypt upon a friendly visit, but -Pompey, while accepting the King’s money, did not think -it necessary to make use of his hospitality.</p> - -<p>At last, in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 59, Auletes decided to go himself to -Rome, in the hope of obtaining, through the good offices -of Pompey, or of Cæsar, who was Consul in that year, -the official recognition by the Senate of his right to the -Egyptian throne. Being so degenerate and so worthless -a personage, there was no likelihood that the Romans -would confirm him in his kingdom unless they were well -paid to do so, and he therefore took with him all the -money he could lay his hands upon. In Rome, as -Mommsen says, “men had forgotten what honesty was. -A person who refused a bribe was regarded not as an -upright man, but as a personal foe.” Auletes, therefore, -when he had arrived, gave huge bribes to various -Senators in order to obtain their support, and he -appears to have been most systematically fleeced by -the acute magnates of Rome. When for the moment -his Egyptian resources were exhausted, he borrowed a -large sum from the great financier, Rabirius Postumus, -who persuaded some of his friends also to lend the King -money. These men formed a kind of syndicate to finance -Auletes, on the understanding that if he were confirmed -in his heritage, they should each receive in return a sum -vastly greater than that which they had put in.</p> - -<p>The visit of Auletes to Rome was made in the nick -of time. The Pirate and the Third Mithridatic wars -had left the Republic in pressing need of money, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span> -there was much talk in regard to the advantages of an -immediate annexation of Egypt. Crassus, the tribune -Rullus, and Julius Cæsar had shown themselves anxious -to take the country without delay; and the unfortunate -King of Egypt thus found himself in a most desperate -position. At last, however, a bribe of 6000 talents (about -a million and a half sterling) induced the nearly bankrupt -Cæsar to give Auletes the desired recognition, and the -disgraceful transaction came to a temporary conclusion -with Cæsar’s violent forcing of his “Julian Law concerning -the King of Egypt” through the Senate, -whereby Ptolemy was named the “ally and friend of -the Roman people.”</p> - -<p>In the next year, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 58, the Romans, still in need -of money, prepared to annex Cyprus, over which Ptolemy, -the brother of Auletes, was reigning. The annexation -had been proposed by Publius Clodius, a scoundrelly -politician, who bore a grudge against the Cyprian -Ptolemy owing to the fact that once when Clodius -was captured by pirates Ptolemy had only offered two -talents for his ransom. Ptolemy would not now buy off -the invaders as his brother had done, and in consequence -Cato landed on the island and converted it into part of -the Roman province of Cilicia. Ptolemy, with a certain -royal dignity, at once poisoned himself, preferring to die -than to suffer the humiliation of banishment from the -throne which he had usurped. His treasure of 7000 -talents (some £1,700,000) fell into the hands of Cato, -who having, no doubt, helped himself to a portion of -the booty,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> handed the remainder over to the benign -Senate.</p> - -<p>No sooner had Auletes obtained the support of Rome,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span> -however, than his own people of Alexandria, incensed by -the increase of taxation necessary for paying off his debts, -and angry also at the King’s refusal to seize Cyprus from -the Romans, rose in rebellion and drove him out of -Egypt. While the wretched man was on his way to -Rome, he put in at Rhodes, where he had heard that -Cato was staying, in order to obtain some help from this -celebrated Senator; and, having had few personal dealings -with Romans, he sent a royal invitation or command -to Cato to come to him. The Senator, however, who -that day was suffering from a bilious attack, and had just -swallowed a dose of medicine, was in no mind to wait -upon drunken kings. He therefore sent a message to -Auletes stating that if he wished to see him he had better -come to his lodgings in the town; and the King of Egypt -was thus obliged to humble himself and to find his way -to the Senator’s house. Cato did not even rise from his -seat when Auletes was ushered in; but straightway -bidding the King be seated, gave him a severe lecture -on the folly of going to Rome to plead his cause. All -Egypt turned into silver, he declared, would hardly -satisfy the greed of the Romans whom he would -have to bribe, and he strongly urged him to return to -Egypt and to make his peace with his subjects. The -Senator’s bilious attack, however, seems to have cut -short the interview, and Auletes, unconvinced, set sail -for Italy.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the King’s daughter, Berenice IV., had -seized the Egyptian throne, and was reigning serenely in -her father’s place. This princess and her sister, Cleopatra -VI., who died soon afterwards, were the only two -children of Auletes’ first marriage—namely, with Cleopatra -V. There were four young children in the Palace<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span> -nurseries who were born of a second marriage, but who -their mother was, or whether she was at this time alive or -dead, history does not record. Of these four children, -two afterwards succeeded to the throne as Ptolemy XIV. -and Ptolemy XV., a third was the unfortunate Princess -Arsinoe, and the fourth was the great Cleopatra VII., the -heroine of the present volume, at this time about eleven -years of age, having been born in the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> -69–68.</p> - -<p>Auletes having fled to Rome, approached the Senate -in the manner of one who had been unjustly evicted from -an estate which he had purchased from them. Again he -bribed the leading statesmen, and again borrowed money -on all sides, though now it is probable that his Roman -creditors were less sanguine than on the previous occasion. -Cæsar was absent in Gaul at this time, and therefore -was not able to be bribed. Pompey, curiously -enough, does not appear to have accepted the King’s -money, though he offered him the hospitality of his villa -in the Alban district, a fact which suggests that the idea -of restoring Auletes to his throne had made a strong -appeal to the imagination of this impressionable Roman. -He had already made himself a kind of patron of the -Egyptian Court, and there can be little doubt that he -hoped to obtain from Auletes, in return for his favours, -the freedom to make use of the wealth and resources of -that monarch’s enormously valuable dominion.</p> - -<p>The people of Alexandria, who were eagerly desirous -that Auletes should not be reinstated, now sent an -embassy of a hundred persons to Rome to lay before -the Senate their case against the King; but the banished -monarch, driven by despair to any lengths, hired assassins -and caused the embassy to be attacked near Puteoli,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span> -the modern Pozzuoli, many of them being slain. Those -who survived were heavily bribed, and thus the crime -was hushed up. The leader of the deputation, the -philosopher Dion, escaped on this occasion, but was -poisoned by Auletes as soon as he arrived in Rome; and -thereupon the desperate King was able to breathe once -more in peace. All might now have gone well with his -cause, and a Roman army might have been placed at his -disposal had not some political opponent discovered in -the Sibylline Books an oracle which stated that if the -King of Egypt were to come begging for help he should -be aided with friendship but not with arms. Thereat, in -despair, the unfortunate Auletes quitted Rome, and took -up his residence at Ephesus, leaving in the capital an -agent named Ammonios to keep him in touch with -events.</p> - -<p>Three years later, in January <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 55, the King’s -interests were still being discussed, and Pompey was -trying, in a desultory manner, to assist him back to his -throne; but so great were the fears of the Senate at -placing the task in the hands of any one man, that no -decision could be arrived at. It was suggested that -Lentulus Spinther, the Governor of Cilicia, should evade -the Sibylline decree by leaving Auletes at Ptolemais -(Acre) and going himself to Egypt at the head of an -army; but the King no doubt saw in this an attempt -by the wily Romans simply to seize his country, and he -appears to have opposed the plan with understandable -vehemence. It was then proposed that Lentulus should -take no army, but should trust to the might of the Roman -name for his purpose, thereby following the advice of the -prophetic Books.</p> - -<p>At last, however, Auletes offered the huge bribe of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span> -10,000 talents (nearly two and a half millions sterling) -for the repurchase of his kingdom; and, as a consequence, -the Governor of Syria, Aulus Gabinius, himself a bankrupt -in sore need of money, arranged to invade Egypt -and to place Auletes upon the throne in spite of the -Sibylline warnings. Gabinius, being so deeply in debt, -and knowing that a large portion of the promised sum -would pass to him, was extremely eager to undertake the -war, though it is said that he feared the possibility of -disaster. He therefore pushed forward the arrangements -for the campaign with all despatch, and soon -was prepared to set out across the desert to Egypt.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the Alexandrians had married Berenice IV. -to Archelaus, the High Priest of Komana in Cappadocia, -an ambitious man of great influence and authority, a -protégé of Pompey the Great, who had been raised to the -High Priesthood by him in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 64, and who at once -attempted, but without success, to obtain through him -the support of Rome. Gabinius was not long in declaring -war against Archelaus, under the pretext that -he was encouraging piracy along the North African -coast, and also that he was building a fleet which might -be regarded as a menace to Rome; and soon his army -was marching across the desert from Gaza to Pelusium. -The cavalry, which was sent in advance of the main -army, was commanded by Marcus Antonius, at this time -a smart young soldier whose future lay all golden before -him. The frontier fortress of Pelusium fell to his brilliant -generalship, and soon the Roman legions were marching -on Alexandria. The palace soldiery now joined the -invaders, Archelaus was killed, and the city fell.</p> - -<p>Auletes was at once restored to his throne, and -Berenice IV. was put to death. A large number of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span> -Roman infantry and Celtic and German cavalry, of whom -we shall hear again, were left in the city to preserve -order, and it would seem that for a short time Anthony -remained in Alexandria. The young Princess Cleopatra -was now a girl of some fourteen years of age, and already -she is said to have attracted the Roman cavalry leader -by her youthful beauty and charm. At the east end of -the Mediterranean a girl of fourteen years is already -mature, and has long arrived at what is called a marriageable -age. There is probably little importance to be -attached to this meeting, but it is not without interest -as an earnest of future events.</p> - -<p>The Romans now began to demand payment of the -various sums promised to them by Auletes. Rabirius -Postumus appears to have been one of the largest -creditors, and the only way in which the King could pay -him back was by making him Chancellor of the Exchequer, -so that all taxes might pass through his hands. -Rabirius also represented the interests of the importunate -Julius Cæsar, and probably those of Gabinius. The situation -was thus not unlike that which was found in Egypt -in the ’seventies, when a European Commission was -appointed to handle all public funds in order that the -ruler’s private debts might be paid off. In the case of -Auletes, however, it was the leading Romans who were -his creditors, and hence we find the shadow of the great -Republic hanging over the Alexandrian court, and Rome -is seen to be inextricably mixed up with Egyptian affairs. -Roman money had been lent and had to be regained; -Roman officials handled all the taxes; a Roman army -occupied the city, and the King reigned by permission -of the Roman Senate to whom his kingdom had been -bequeathed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span> -In <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 54 the Alexandrians made an attempt to shake -off the incubus, and drove Rabirius out of Egypt. Roman -attention was at once fixed upon Alexandria, and it is -probable that the country would have been annexed at -once had not the appalling Parthian catastrophe in the -following year, when Crassus was defeated and killed, -diverted their minds to other channels. Auletes, however, -did not live long to enjoy his dearly-bought -immunity; for in the summer of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 51 he passed away, -leaving behind him the four children born to him of his -second marriage with the unknown lady who was now -probably dead. The famous Cleopatra, the seventh of the -name, was the eldest of this family, being, at her father’s -death, about eighteen years of age. Her sister Arsinoe, -whom she heartily disliked, was a few years younger. -The third child was a boy of ten or eleven years of age, -afterwards known as Ptolemy XIV.; and lastly, there was -the child who later became Ptolemy XV., now a boy -of seven or eight.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Auletes, warned by his own bitter -experiences, had taken the precaution to write an explicit -will in which he stated clearly his wishes in regard to -the succession. One copy of the will was kept at -Alexandria, and a second copy, duly attested and sealed, -was placed in the hands of Pompey at Rome, who had -befriended the King when he was in that city, with the -request that it should be deposited in the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ærarium</i>. In -this will Auletes decreed that his eldest surviving daughter -and eldest surviving son should reign jointly; and he -called upon the Roman people in the name of all their -gods and in view of all their treaties made with him, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span> -see that the terms of his testament were carried out. -He further asked the Roman people to act as guardian to -the new King, as though fearing that the boy might be -suppressed, or even put out of the way by his co-regnant -sister. At the same time he carefully urged them to -make no change in the succession, and his words have -been thought to suggest that he feared lest Cleopatra, in -like manner, might be removed in favour of Arsinoe. In -a court such as that of the Ptolemies the fact that two -sons and two daughters were living at the palace at the -King’s death boded ill for the prospects of peace; and it -would seem that Auletes’ knowledge that Cleopatra and -Arsinoe were not on the best of terms gave rise in his -mind to the greatest apprehension. Being aware of the -domestic history of his family, and knowing that his own -hands were stained with the blood of his daughter Berenice, -whom he had murdered on his return from exile, -he must have been fully alive to the possibilities of internecine -warfare amongst his surviving children; and, being -in his old age sick of bloodshed and desiring only a bibulous -peace for himself and his descendants, he took every -means in his power to secure for them that pleasant -inertia which had been denied so often to himself.</p> - -<p>His wish that his eighteen-year-old daughter should -reign with his ten-year-old son involved, as a matter of -course, the marriage of the sister and brother, for the -Ptolomies had conformed to ancient Egyptian customs to -the extent of perpetrating when necessary a royal marriage -between a brother and sister in this manner. The -custom was of very ancient establishment in Egypt, and -was based originally on the law of female succession, -which made the monarch’s eldest daughter the heiress -of the kingdom. The son who had been selected by his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span> -father to succeed to the throne, or who aspired to the -sovereignty either by right or by might, obtained his -legal warrant to the kingdom by marriage with this -heiress. When such an heiress did not exist, or when -the male claimant to the throne had no serious rivals, -this rule often seems to have been set aside; but there -are few instances of its disuse when circumstances -demanded a solidification of the royal claim to the -throne.</p> - -<p>When, therefore, according to the terms of the will of -Auletes, his eldest daughter and eldest son succeeded -jointly to the throne as Cleopatra VII. and Ptolemy -XIV., their formal marriage was contemplated as a -matter of course. There is no evidence of this marriage, -and one may suppose that it was postponed by -Cleopatra’s desire, on the grounds of the extreme youth -of the King. Marriages at the age of eleven or twelve -years were not uncommon in ancient Egypt, but they -were not altogether acceptable to Greek minds; and -the Queen could not have found much difficulty in -making this her justification for holding the power in -her own hands. The young Ptolemy XIV. was placed -in the care of the eunuch Potheinos, a man who appears -to have been typical of that class of palace intriguers -with whom the historian becomes tediously familiar. -The royal tutor, Theodotos, an objectionable Greek -rhetorician, also exercised considerable influence in the -court, and a third intimate of the King was an unscrupulous -soldier of Egyptian nationality named -Achillas, who commanded the troops in the palace. -These three men very soon obtained considerable -power, and, acting in the name of their young master, -they managed to take a large portion of the government<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span> -into their own hands. Cleopatra, meanwhile, -seems to have suffered something of an eclipse. She -was still only a young girl, and her advisers appear -to have been men of less strength of purpose than -those surrounding her brother’s person. The King -being still a minor, the bulk of the formal business -of the State was performed by the Queen; but it -would seem that the real rulers of the country were -Potheinos and his friends.</p> - -<p>Some two or three years after the death of Auletes, -Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus,<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> the pro-consular Governor -of Syria, sent his two sons to Alexandria to order the -Roman troops stationed in that city to join his army -in his contemplated campaign against the Parthians. -These Alexandrian troops constituted the Army of Occupation, -which had been left in Egypt by Gabinius -in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 55 as a protection to Auletes. They were for -the most part, as has been said, Gallic and German -cavalry, rough men whose rude habits and bulky forms -must have caused them to be the wonder and terror of -the city. These <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Gabiniani milites</i> had by this time -settled down in their new home, and had taken wives -to themselves from the Greek and Egyptian families of -Alexandria. In spite of the presence amongst them of -a considerable body of Roman infantry veterans who -had fought under Pompey, the discipline of the army -was already much relaxed; and when the Governor of -Syria’s orders were received there was an immediate -mutiny, the two unfortunate sons of Bibulus being -promptly murdered by the angry and probably drunken -soldiers. When the affair was reported to the palace, -Cleopatra issued orders for the immediate arrest of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span> -murderers; and the army, realising that their position -as mutinous troops was untenable, handed over the -ringleaders apparently without further trouble. The -prisoners were then sent by the Queen in chains to -Bibulus; but he, being possessed of the best spirit of -the old Roman aristocracy, sent back these murderers -of his two sons to her with the message that the right -of inflicting punishment in such cases belonged only to -the Senate. History does not tell us what was the -ultimate fate of these men, and the incident is not of -great importance except in so far as it shows the first -recorded act of Cleopatra’s reign as being one of tactful -deliberation and fair dealing with her Roman neighbours.</p> - -<p>Shortly after this, in the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 49, Pompey sent -his son, Cnæus Pompeius, to Egypt to procure ships -and men in preparation for the civil war which now -seemed inevitable; and the Gabinian troops, feeling -that a war against Julius Cæsar offered more favourable -possibilities than a campaign against the ferocious -Parthians, cheerfully responded to the call. Fifty warships -and a force of 500 men left Alexandria with Cnæus, -and eventually attached themselves to the command of -Bibulus, who was now Pompey’s admiral in the Adriatic. -It is said that Cnæus Pompeius was much attracted by -Cleopatra’s beauty and charm, and that he managed -to place himself upon terms of intimacy with her; but -there is absolutely nothing to justify the suggestion that -there was any sort of serious intrigue. I am of opinion -that the stories of this nature which passed into circulation -were due to the fact that the possibility of a marriage -between Cleopatra and the young Roman had been -contemplated by Alexandrian politicians. The great -Pompey was master of the Roman world, and a union<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span> -with his son, on the analogy of that between Berenice -and the High Priest of Komana, was greatly to be desired. -The proposal, however, does not seem to have obtained -much support, and the matter was presently dropped.</p> - -<p>In the following year, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 48, when Cleopatra was -twenty-one years of age and her co-regnant brother -fourteen, important events occurred in Alexandria of -which history has left us no direct record. It would -appear that the brother and sister quarrelled, and that -the palace divided itself into two opposing parties. The -young Ptolemy, backed by the eunuch Potheinos, the -rhetorician Theodotos, and the soldier Achillas, set -himself up as sole sovereign of Egypt; and Cleopatra -was obliged to fly for her life into Syria. We have -no knowledge of these momentous events: the struggle -in the palace, the days in which the young queen -walked in deadly peril, the adventurous escape, and -the flight from Egypt. We know only that when the -curtain is raised once more upon the royal drama, the -young Ptolemy is King of Egypt, and, with his army, -is stationed on the eastern frontier to prevent the -incursion of his exiled sister, who has raised an expeditionary -force in Syria and is marching back to -her native land to seize again the throne which she -had lost. There is something which appeals very -greatly to the imagination in the thought of this -spirited young Queen’s rapid return to the perilous -scenes from which she had so recently escaped; and -the historian feels at once that he is dealing with a -powerful character in this woman who could so speedily -raise an army of mercenaries, and could dare to march -back in battle array across the desert towards the land -which had cast her out.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE DEATH OF POMPEY AND THE ARRIVAL OF CÆSAR IN EGYPT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The fortress of Pelusium, near which the opposing -armies of Ptolemy and Cleopatra were arrayed, stood -on low desert ground overlooking the sea, not far east -of the modern Port Said. It was the most easterly -port and stronghold of the Delta; and, being built -upon the much-frequented highroad which skirted the -coast between Egypt and Syria, it formed the Asiatic -gateway of the Ptolemaic kingdom. The young -Ptolemy XIV. had stationed himself, with his advisers -and his soldiers, in this fortress, in order to oppose -the entrance of his sister Cleopatra, who, as we have -already seen, had marched with a strong army back -to Egypt from Syria, whither she had fled. On September -28th, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 48, when Cleopatra’s forces, having -arrived at Pelusium, were preparing to attack the -fortress, and were encamped upon the sea-coast a few -miles to the east of the town, an event occurred which -was destined to change the whole course of Egyptian -history. Round the barren headland to the west of the -little port a Seleucian galley hove into sight, and cast -anchor a short distance from the shore. Upon the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span> -deck of this vessel stood the defeated Pompey the -Great and Cornelia his wife, who, flying from the rout -of Pharsalia, had come to claim the hospitality of the -Egyptian King. The young monarch appears to have -been warned of his approach, for Pompey had touched -at Alexandria, and there hearing that Ptolemy had gone -to Pelusium, had probably sent a messenger to him -overland and himself had sailed round by sea. The -greatest flurry had been caused in the royal camp by -the news, and for the moment the invasion of Cleopatra -and the impending battle with her forces were quite -forgotten in the excitement of the arrival of the man -who for so long had been the mighty patron of the -Ptolemaic Court.</p> - -<div id="ip_66m" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.9375em;"> - <img src="images/i_066.jpg" width="607" height="800" alt="" /> - <div class="caption">ÆGYPTUS</div> - <div class="caption floatl"><p><cite>William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh</cite></p></div> - <div class="caption floatr"><p>W. & A. K. Johnston, Limited, Edinburgh & London</p></div> -</div> - -<div id="ip_66" class="figcenter p2" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> - <img src="images/i_066a.jpg" width="405" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Rome.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Anderson</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>POMPEY THE GREAT</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Egypt, like all the rest of the world, had been watching -with deep interest the warfare waged between the two -Roman giants, Pompey and Cæsar, confident in the success -of the former; and the messenger of the defeated -general must have brought the first authentic news of the -result of the eagerly awaited battle. The sympathies of -the Alexandrians were all on the side of the Pompeians, -for the fugitive, who now asked a return of his former -favours, had always been to them the gigantic representative -of Roman patronage. They knew little, if -anything, about Cæsar, who had spent so many years -in the far north-west; but Pompey was Rome itself to -them, and had always shown himself particularly desirous -of acting, when occasion arose, in their behalf. -For many years he had been, admittedly, the most -powerful personage in Rome, and the civilised world -had grovelled at his feet. Then came the inevitable -quarrel with Julius Cæsar, a man who could not tolerate -the presence of a rival. Civil war broke out, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span> -two armies met on the plains of Pharsalia. It is not -necessary to record here how Pompey’s patrician cavalry, -in whom he confidently trusted, was defeated by -Cæsar’s hardened legions; how the foreign allies were -awed into inactivity by the spectacle of the superb contest -between Romans and Romans; how the debonnaire -Pompey, realising his defeat, passed, dazed, to his -pavilion and sat there staring in front of him, until -the enemy had penetrated to his very door, when, uttering -the despairing cry, “What! even into the camp?” -he galloped from the field; and how Cæsar’s men found -the enemy’s tents decked in readiness for the celebration -of their anticipated victory, the doorways hung with -garlands of myrtle, the floors spread with rich carpets, -and the tables covered with goblets of wine and dishes of -food. Pompey had fled to Larissa and thence to the -sea, where he boarded a merchantman and set sail for -Mitylene. Here picking up his wife Cornelia, he made -his way to Cyprus, where he transhipped to the galley in -which he crossed to Egypt. He had expected, very -naturally, to be received with courtesy by Ptolemy, who -was to be regarded as his political protégé; and he had -some undefined but cogent plans of gathering his forces -together again and giving battle a second time to his -enemies. At Pharsalia he had thought his power irrevocably -destroyed, but on his way to Egypt he learnt -that Cato had rallied a considerable number of his -troops, and that his fleet, which had not come into -action, was still loyal; and he therefore hoped that with -Ptolemy’s expected help he might yet regain the mastery -of the Roman world.</p> - -<p>As soon as his approach was reported to the Egyptian -King, a council of ministers was called, in order to decide<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span> -the manner in which they should receive the fallen -general. There were present at this meeting the three -scoundrelly advisers of the youthful monarch whom we -have already met: Potheinos, the eunuch, who was a -kind of prime minister; Achillas, the Egyptian, who -commanded the King’s troops; and Theodotos of Chios, -the professional master of rhetoric, and tutor to Ptolemy. -These three men appear to have organised the plot by -which Cleopatra had been driven from Egypt; and, -having the boy Ptolemy well under their thumbs, they -seem to have been acting with zeal in his name for the -advancement of their own fortunes. “It was, indeed, a -miserable thing,” says Plutarch, “that the fate of the -great Pompey should be left to the determinations of -these three men; and that he, riding at anchor at a distance -from the shore, should be forced to wait the sentence -of this tribunal.”</p> - -<p>Some of the councillors suggested that he should be -politely requested to seek refuge in some other country, -for it was obvious that Cæsar might deal harshly with -them if they were to befriend him. Others proposed that -they should receive him and cast in their lot with him, -for it was to be supposed, and indeed such was the fact, -that he still had a very good chance of recovering from -the fiasco of Pharsalia; and there was the danger that, -if they did not do so, he might accept the assistance of -their enemy Cleopatra. Theodotos, however, pointing -out, in a carefully reasoned speech, that both these -courses were fraught with danger to themselves, proposed -that they should curry favour with Cæsar by -murdering their former patron, thus bringing the contest -to a close, and thereby avoiding any risk of backing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span> -the wrong horse; “and,” he added with a smile, “a -dead man cannot bite.” The councillors readily approved -this method of dealing with the difficult situation, -and they committed its execution to Achillas, who thereupon -engaged the services of a certain Roman officer -named Septimius, who had once held a command under -Pompey, and another Roman centurion named Salvius. -The three men, with a few attendants, then boarded a -small boat and set out towards the galley.</p> - -<p>When they had come alongside Septimius stood up and -saluted Pompey by his military title; and Achillas thereupon -invited him to come ashore in the smaller vessel, -saying that the large galley could not make the harbour -owing to the shallow water. It was now seen that a -number of Egyptian battleships were cruising at no -great distance, and that the sandy shore was alive with -troops; and Pompey, whose suspicions were aroused, -realised that he could not now turn back, but must needs -place himself in the hands of the surly-looking men who -had come out to meet him. His wife Cornelia was distraught -with fears for his safety, but he, bidding her to -await events without anxiety, lowered himself into the -boat, taking with him two centurions, a freedman named -Philip, and a slave called Scythes. As he bade farewell -to Cornelia he quoted to her a couple of lines from -<span class="locked">Sophocles—</span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="iq">“He that once enters at a tyrant’s door<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Becomes a slave, though he were free before;”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">and so saying, he set out towards the shore. A deep -silence fell upon the little company as the boat passed -over the murky water, which at this time of year is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span> -beginning to be discoloured by the Nile mud brought -down by the first rush of the annual floods;<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> and in the -damp heat of an Egyptian summer day the dreary little -town and the barren colourless shore must have appeared -peculiarly uninviting. In order to break the oppressive -silence Pompey turned to Septimius, and, looking -earnestly upon him, said: “Surely I am not mistaken -in believing you to have been formerly my fellow-soldier?” -Septimius made no reply, but silently nodded -his head; whereupon Pompey, opening a little book, -began to read, and so continued until they had reached -the shore. As he was about to leave the boat he took -hold of the hand of his freedman Philip; but even as he -did so Septimius drew his sword and stabbed him in the -back, whereupon both Salvius and Achillas attacked him. -Pompey spoke no word, but, groaning a little, hid his -face with his mantle, and fell into the bottom of the -vessel, where he was speedily done to death.</p> - -<p>Cornelia, standing upon the deck of the galley, witnessed -the murder, and uttered so great a cry that it -was heard upon the shore. Then, seeing the murderers -stoop over the body and rise again with the severed head -held aloft, she called to her ship’s captain to weigh -anchor, and in a few moments the galley was making for -the open sea and was speedily out of the range of pursuit. -Pompey’s decapitated body, stripped of all clothing, was -now bundled into the water, and a short time afterwards -was washed up by the breakers upon the sands of the -beach, where it was soon surrounded by a crowd of idlers. -Meanwhile Achillas and his accomplices carried the head -up to the royal camp.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span> -The freedman Philip was not molested, and, presently -making his way to the beach, wandered to and fro along -the desolate shore until all had retired to the town. -Then, going over to the body and kneeling down beside -it, he washed it with sea-water and wrapped it in his own -shirt for want of a winding-sheet. As he was searching -for wood wherewith to make some sort of funeral pyre, he -met with an old Roman soldier who had once served -under the murdered general; and together these two men -carried down to the water’s edge such pieces of wreckage -and fragments of rotten wood as they could find, and -placing the body upon the pile set fire to it.</p> - -<p>Upon the next morning one of the Pompeian generals, -Lucius Lentulus, who was bringing up the two thousand -soldiers whom Pompey had gathered together as a bodyguard, -arrived in a second galley before Pelusium; and as -he was being rowed ashore he observed the still smoking -remains of the pyre. “Who is this that has found his -end here?” he said, being still in ignorance of the -tragedy, and added with a sigh, “Possibly even thou, -Pompeius Magnus!” And upon stepping ashore, he -too was promptly murdered.</p> - -<p>A few days later, on October 2nd, Julius Cæsar, in hot -pursuit, arrived at Alexandria, where he heard with -genuine disgust of the miserable death of his great -enemy. Shortly afterwards Theodotos presented himself -to the conqueror, carrying with him Pompey’s head -and signet-ring; but Cæsar turned in distress from the -gruesome head, and taking only the ring in his hand, was -for a moment moved to tears.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> He then appears to have -dismissed the astonished Theodotos from his presence like<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span> -an offending slave: and it was not long before that disillusioned -personage fled for his life from Egypt. For -some years, it may be mentioned, he wandered as a -vagabond through Syria and Asia Minor; but at last, -after the death of Cæsar, he was recognised by Marcus -Brutus, and, as a punishment for having instigated the -murder of the great Pompey, was crucified with every -possible ignominy. Cæsar seems to have arranged that -the ashes of his rival should be sent to his wife Cornelia, -by whom they were ultimately deposited at his country -house near Alba; and he also gave orders that the -piteous head should be buried near the sea, in the grove -of Nemesis, outside the eastern walls of Alexandria, -where, in the shade of the trees, a monument was set -up to him and the ground around it laid out. Cæsar -then offered his protection and friendship to all those -partisans of Pompey whom the Egyptians had imprisoned, -and he expressed his great satisfaction at being -able thus to save the lives of his fellow-countrymen.</p> - -<p>It is not difficult to appreciate the consternation -caused by Cæsar’s attitude. Potheinos and Achillas -at once realised that the disgrace of Theodotos awaited -them unless they acted with the utmost circumspection, -biding their time until, as was expected, Cæsar should -take his speedy departure, or until they might deal with -this new disturber of their peace in the same manner in -which they had disposed of the old. But Cæsar had no -intention of leaving Egypt in any haste, nor did he -give them the desired opportunity of anticipating the -Ides of March. With that audacious nonchalance which -so often baffled his observers, he quietly decided to take -up his residence in the Palace upon the Lochias Promontory -at Alexandria, at that moment occupied by only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span> -two members of the Royal Family, the younger Ptolemy -and his sister Arsinoe; and, as soon as sufficient troops -had arrived to support him, he left his galley and landed -at the steps of the imposing quay. Two amalgamated -legions, 3200 strong, and 800 Celtic and German cavalry, -disembarked with him, this small force having been -considered by Cæsar sufficient for the rounding up of -the Pompeian fugitives, and for the secondary purposes -for which he had come to Egypt.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a></p> - -<p>Cæsar’s object in hastening across the Mediterranean -had been, primarily, the capture of Pompey and his -colleagues, and the prevention of a rally under the -shelter of the King of Egypt’s not inconsiderable -armaments. It appears to have been his opinion that -speed of pursuit would be more effective than strength -of arms, and that his undelayed appearance at Alexandria -would more simply discourage the undetermined Egyptians -from rendering assistance to their former friend than a -display of force at a later date. Fresh from the triumph -of Pharsalia, with the memory of that astounding victory -to warm his spirits, he did not anticipate any great -difficulty in subjecting the Ptolemaic Court to his will, -nor in demonstrating to them that he himself, and not -the defeated Pompey, represented the authentic might -of Rome. It would seem that he expected speedily to -frustrate any further resort to arms, and to manifest his -authority by acting ostentatiously in the name of the -Roman people. He himself should assume the prerogatives -lately held by Pompey, and should play the part -of benevolent patron to the court of Alexandria so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span> -admirably sustained by his fallen rival for so many -years. There were several outstanding matters in -Egypt which, on behalf of his home government, he -could regulate and adjust: and there is little doubt that -he hoped by so doing to establish a despotic reputation -in that important country which would retain for him, -as apparent autocrat of Rome, a personal control of its -affairs for many years to come. In spite of all that has -been said to the contrary, I am of opinion that his -return to Rome was not urgent; indeed it seems to me -that it could be postponed for a short time with advantage. -Pompey had been a great favourite with the -Italians, and it was just as well that the turmoil caused -by his defeat and death should be allowed to subside, -and that the bitter memories of a sanguinary war, which -had so palpably been brought about by personal rivalry, -should be somewhat forgotten before the victor made -his spectacular entry into Rome. At this time he was -not at all popular in the capital, and indeed, six months -previously he had been generally regarded as a criminal -and adventurer; while, on the other hand, Pompey had -been the people’s darling, and it would take some time -for public opinion to be reversed.</p> - -<p>When, therefore, Cæsar heard that the treacherous -deeds of the Egyptian ministers had rendered his primary -action unnecessary, he determined to enter Alexandria -with some show of state, to take up his residence there -for a few weeks, and to interfere in its internal affairs -for his own advancement and for the consolidation of -his power.</p> - -<p>With this object in view his four thousand troops were -landed, and he set out in procession towards the Royal -Palace, the lictors carrying the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">fasces</i> and axes before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span> -him as in the consular promenades at Rome.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> No -sooner, however, were these ominous symbols observed -by the mob than a rush was made towards them; and -for a time the attitude of the crowd became ugly and -menacing. The young King and his Court were still at -Pelusium, where his army was defending the frontier -from the expected attack of Cleopatra’s invading forces; -but there were in Alexandria a certain number of troops -which had been left there as a garrison, and both -amongst these men and amongst the heterogeneous -townspeople there must have been many who realised -the significance of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">fasces</i>. The city was full of -Roman outlaws and renegades, to whom this reminder -of the length of her arm could but bring foreboding -and terror. To them Cæsar’s formal entry meant the -establishment of that law from which they had fled; -while to many a merry member of the crowd the stately -procession appeared to bring to Egypt at last that -dismal shadow of Rome<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> by which it had so long -been menaced. On all sides it was declared that -this state entry into the Egyptian capital was an insult -to the King’s majesty; and so, indeed, it was, though -little did that trouble Cæsar, who was well aware now -of his unassailable position in the councils of Rome.</p> - -<p>The city was in a ferment, and for some days after -Cæsar had taken up his quarters at the Palace rioting -continued in the streets, a number of his soldiers being -killed in different parts of the town. He therefore sent -post-haste to Asia Minor for reinforcements, and took<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span> -such steps as were necessary for securing his position -from attack. It is probable that he did not suppose the -Alexandrians would have the audacity to make war upon -him, or attempt to drive him from the city; but at the -same time he desired to take no risks, for he seems at -the moment to have been heartily sick of warfare and -slaughter. The Palace and royal barracks in which his -troops were quartered, being built mainly upon the -Lochias Promontory, were easily able to be defended -from attack by land—for, no doubt, in so turbulent a -city, the royal quarter was protected by massive walls; -and at the same time the position commanded the -eastern half of the Great Harbour and the one side of -its entrance over against the Pharos Lighthouse. His -ships lay moored under the walls of the Palace; and a -means of escape was thus kept open which, if the worst -came to the worst, might be used with comparative -safety upon any dark night. I think the turbulence -of the mob, therefore, did not much trouble him, and -he was able to set about the task which he desired to -perform with a certain degree of quietude. The Civil -War had been a very great strain upon his nerves, and -he must have looked forward to a few weeks of actual -holiday here in the luxurious royal apartments which -he had so casually appropriated. Summer at Alexandria -is in many ways a delightful time of year; and one may -therefore picture Cæsar, at all times fond of luxury and -opulence, now heartily enjoying these warm breezy days -upon the beautiful Lochias Promontory. The crisis -of his life had been passed; he was now absolute master -of the Roman world; and his triumphant entry into -the capital, when, in a few weeks’ time, the passions -of the mob had cooled, was an anticipation pleasant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span> -enough to set his restless heart at ease, while he applied -himself to the agreeable little task of regulating the -affairs in Egypt. He had sent a courier to Rome -announcing the death of Pompey, but it does not seem -that this messenger was told to proceed with any great -rapidity, for he did not arrive in the capital until near -the middle of November.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a></p> - -<p>His first action was to send messengers to Pelusium -strongly urging both Ptolemy and Cleopatra to cease -their warfare, and to come to Alexandria in order to -lay their respective cases before him. He chose to -regard the settlement of the quarrel between the two -sovereigns as a particular obligation upon himself, for -it was during his previous consulship that the late -monarch, Auletes, had entrusted his children to the -Roman people and had made the Republic the executors -of his will; and, moreover, that will had been confided -to the care of Pompey, whose position as patron of the -Egyptian Court Cæsar was now anxious to fill. In -response to the summons Ptolemy came promptly to -Alexandria, with his minister Potheinos, arriving, I -suppose, on about October 5th, in order to ascertain -what on earth Cæsar was doing in the Palace; and -meanwhile Achillas was left in command of the army -at Pelusium. On reaching Alexandria they seem to -have been invited by Cæsar to take up their residence -in the Palace into which he had intruded, and which -was now patrolled by his Roman troops; and, apparently -upon the advice of the unctuous Potheinos, the two -of them made themselves as pleasant as possible to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span> -their new patron. Cæsar at once asked Ptolemy to -disband his army, but to this Potheinos would not -agree, and immediately sent word to Achillas to bring -his forces to Alexandria. Cæsar, hearing of this, obliged -the young King to despatch two officers, Dioscorides and -Serapion, to order Achillas to remain at that place. -These messengers, however, were intercepted by the -agents of Potheinos, one being killed and the other -wounded; and two or three days later Achillas arrived -at the capital at the head of the first batch of his army -of some twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> -taking up his residence in that part of the city unoccupied -by the Romans. Cæsar thereupon fortified his position, -deciding to hold as much of the city as his small force -could defend—namely, the Palace and the Royal Area -behind it, including the Theatre, the Forum, and -probably a portion of the Street of Canopus. The -Egyptian army presented a pugnacious but not extremely -formidable array,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> consisting as it did of the Gabinian -troops, who had now become entirely expatriated, -and had assumed to some extent the habits and liberties -of their adopted country; a number of criminals and -outlaws from Italy who had been enrolled as mercenary -troops; a horde of Syrian and Cilician pirates and -brigands; and, probably, a few native levies. But as -Cæsar now had with him in the Palace King Ptolemy, -the little Prince Ptolemy, the Princess Arsinoe, and the -minister Potheinos, who could be regarded as hostages -for his safety, and four thousand of his war-hardened -veterans, ensconced in a fortified position and supported<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span> -by a business-like little fleet of galleys, I cannot see that -he had any cause at the moment for alarm. One serious -difficulty, however, presented itself. Immediately on -arriving in Egypt he had sent orders to Cleopatra to -repair to the Palace; and his task as arbiter in the royal -dispute could not be performed until she arrived, nor -could he expect to assert his authority until her presence -completed the group of interested persons under his -enforced protection. Yet she could not dare to place -herself in the hands of Achillas, nor rely upon him for a -safe escort through the lines; and thus Cæsar found -himself in a dilemma.</p> - -<p>The situation, however, was relieved by the pluck and -audacity of the young Queen. Realising that her only -hope of regaining her kingdom lay in a personal presentation -of her case to the Roman arbiter, she determined, -by hook or by crook, to make her entry into the -Palace. Taking ship from Pelusium to Alexandria, probably -at the end of the first week of October, she entered -a small boat when still some distance from the city, and -thus, about nightfall, slipped into the Great Harbour, -accompanied only by one friend, Apollodorus the Sicilian. -She seems to have been aware that her brother and Potheinos -were in residence at the Palace, together with a -goodly number of their own attendants and servants; -but there were no means of telling how far Cæsar controlled -the situation. Being unaccustomed to the -presence of a power more autocratic than that of her -own royal house, she does not seem to have realised that -Cæsar was in absolute command of the Lochias, and that -not he but Ptolemy was the guarded guest; and she felt -that in landing at the Palace quays she was running the -gravest risk of falling into the hands of her brother’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span> -party and of being murdered before she could reach -Cæsar’s presence. This fear indeed may well have been -justified, for there is no doubt that Ptolemy and Potheinos -had considerable liberty of action within the precincts of -the Palace; and, if the rumour had spread that Cleopatra -was come, neither of them would have hesitated to put a -dagger into her ribs in the first dark corridor through -which she had to pass. Waiting, therefore, upon the -still water under the walls of the Palace until darkness -had fallen, she instructed Apollodorus to roll her up in -the blankets and bedding which he had brought for her in -the boat as a protection against the night air, and around -the bundle she told him to tie a piece of rope which, I -suppose, they found in the boat. She was a very small -woman, and Apollodorus apparently experienced no -difficulty in shouldering the burden as he stepped ashore. -Bundles of this kind were then, as they are now, the -usual baggage of a common man in Egypt, and were not -likely to attract notice. An Alexandrian native at the -present day thus carries his worldly goods tied up in his -bedding, the mat or piece of carpet which serves him for -a bedstead being wrapped around the bundle and fastened -with a rope, and in ancient times the custom was doubtless -identical. Apollodorus, who must have been a powerful -man, thus walked through the gates of the Palace -with the Queen of Egypt upon his shoulders, bearing -himself as though she were no heavier than the pots, -pans, and clothing which were usually tied up in this -manner; and when challenged by the sentries he probably -replied that he was carrying the baggage to one of the -soldiers of Cæsar’s guard, and asked to be directed to his -apartments.</p> - -<p>Cæsar’s astonishment when the bundle was untied in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span> -his presence, revealing the dishevelled little Queen, must -have been unbounded; and Plutarch tells us that he was -at once “captivated by this proof of Cleopatra’s bold wit.” -One pictures her bursting with laughter at her adventure, -and speedily winning the admiration of the susceptible -Roman, who delighted almost as keenly in deeds of daring -as he did in feminine beauty. All night long they were -closeted together, she relating to him her adventures -since she was driven from her kingdom, and he listening -with growing interest, and already perhaps with awakening -love. And here it will be as well to leave them while -some description is given of the appearance and character -of the man who now found himself looking forward to -the ensuing days of his holiday in Alexandria with an -eagerness which it must have been difficult for him to -conceal.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CAIUS JULIUS CÆSAR.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>When Cæsar thus made the acquaintance of the adventurous -young Queen of Egypt he was a man of advanced -middle age. He had already celebrated his fifty-fourth -birthday, having been born on July 12, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 102, and time -was beginning to mark him down. The appalling dissipations -of his youth to some extent may have added to -the burden of his years; and, though he was still active -and keen beyond the common measure, his face was -heavily lined and seamed, and his muscles, I suppose, -showed something of that tension to which the suppleness -of early manhood gives place. Yet he remained graceful -and full of the quality of youth, and he carried himself -with the air of one conscious of his supremacy in the -physical activities of life. He was a lightly-built man, -of an aristocratic type which is to be found indiscriminately -throughout Europe, and which nowadays, by a -convention of thought, is usually associated in the mind -with the cavalry barracks or the polo-ground. He -appeared to be, and was, a perfect horseman. It is -related of him that in Gaul he bred and rode a horse -which no other man in the army dared mount; and it -was his habit to demonstrate the firmness of his seat by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span> -clasping his hands behind his back and setting the horse -at full gallop. Though by no means a small man, he -must have scaled under ten stone, and in other days and -other climes he might have been mistaken for a gentleman -jockey. He was an extremely active soldier, a -clever, graceful swordsman, a powerful swimmer, and an -excellent athlete. In battle he had proved himself brave, -gallant, and cool-headed; and in his earlier years he had -been regarded as a dashing young officer who was neither -restrained in the performance of striking deeds of bravery -nor averse to receiving a gallery cheer for his pains. -Already at the age of twenty-one he had won the civic -crown, the Victoria Cross of that period, for saving a -soldier’s life at the storming of Mytelene. In action he -exposed himself bare-headed amongst his men, cheering -them and encouraging them by his own fine spirits; and -it is related how once he laid hands on a distraught -standard-bearer who was running to cover, turned him -round, and suggested to him that he had mistaken the -direction of the enemy.</p> - -<p>His thin, clean-shaven face, his keen dark eyes, his -clear-cut features, his hard, firm mouth with its whimsical -expression, and his somewhat pale and liverish complexion, -gave him at first sight the appearance of one who, -being by nature a sportsman and a man of the world, a -fearless rider and a keen soldier, had enjoyed every -moment of an adventurous life. He was particularly well -groomed and scrupulously clean, and his scanty hair was -carefully arranged over his fine, broad head. His toga -was ornamented with an unusually broad purple stripe, -and was edged with a long fringe. He loved jewellery, -and on one occasion bought a single pearl for £60,000, -which he afterwards gave to a lady of his acquaintance.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span> -Indeed, it is said that he only invaded Britain because he -had heard that fine pearls were to be obtained there. -There was thus a certain foppishness in his appearance, -and a slight suggestion of conceit and personal vanity -marked his manner, which gave the impression that he -was not unaware of his good looks, nor desirous of concealing -the fact of his disreputable successes with the fair -sex. Yet he was at this time by no means an old <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">roué</i>. -His great head, the penetration of his dark eyes, and the -occasional sternness of his expression were a speedy indication -that much lay behind these inoffensive airs and -graces; and all those who came into his presence must -have felt the power of his will and brain, even though -direct observation did not convey to them more than the -pleasing outlines of an elderly cavalier’s figure. Regarded -in certain lights and on certain occasions, the expression -of his furrowed face showed the imagination, the romantic -vision, and the artistic culture of his mind; but usually -the qualities which were impressed upon a visitor who -conversed with him at close quarters were those of keenness, -determination, and, particularly, gentlemanliness, -combined with the rather charming confidence of a -man of fashion. His manner at all times was quiet and -gracious; yet there was a certain fire, a controlled -vivacity in his movements, which revealed the creative -soldier and administrator behind the ideal aristocrat. -His voice though high, and sometimes shrill, was occasionally -very pleasant to the ear; but notwithstanding -the fact that he was a wonderful orator, there was a -correctness in his choice of words which was occasionally -almost pedantic. His manner of speech was direct and -straightforward, and his honesty of purpose and loftiness -of principle were not doubted save by those who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span> -chanced to be aware of his little regard for moral -integrity.</p> - -<p>Cæsar was, in fact, an extremely unscrupulous man. -I do not find it possible to accept the opinion of his -character held by most historians, or to suppose him -to have been an heroic figure who lived and died for -his lofty and patriotic principles. There was immense -good in him, and he had the unquestionable merit of -being a great man with vast ambitions for the orderly -governance of the nations of the earth; but when he -threw himself with such enthusiasm into the task of -winning the heart of the harum-scarum young Queen -of Egypt, it seems to me that he was very well qualified -to deceive her, and to play upon her emotions with all -the known arts and wiles of a wicked world. So -notorious was his habit of leading women astray, that -when he returned to Rome from his Gallic Wars his -soldiers sang a marching song in which the citizens -were warned to protect their ladies from him lest he -should treat them as he had treated all the women of -Gaul. “<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Urbani, servate uxores</i>,” they sang; “<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Calvum -moechum adducimus</i>.”</p> - -<p>He had no particular religion, not much honour, and -few high principles; and in this regard all that can be -said in his favour is that he was perfectly free from cant, -never pretended to be virtuous, nor attempted to hide -from his contemporaries the multitude of his sins. As -a young man he indulged in every kind of vice, and -so scandalous was his reputation for licentiousness that -it was a matter of blank astonishment to his Roman -friends when, nevertheless, he proved himself so brave -and strenuous a soldier. His relationship with the -mother of Brutus, who was thought to be his own son,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span> -shows that he prosecuted love intrigues while yet a boy. -At one time he passed through a phase of extreme -effeminacy, with its attendant horrors; and there was -a period when he used to spend long hours each day -in the practice of the mysteries of the toilet, being -scented and curled and painted in the manner prescribed -by the most degenerate young men of the -aristocratic classes. Indeed so effeminate was he, that -after staying with his friend Nicomedes, the King of -Bithynia, he was jestingly called Queen of Bithynia; -and on another occasion in Rome a certain wag named -Octavius saluted Pompey as King and Cæsar as Queen -of Rome. His intrigues with the wives of his friends -had been as frequent as they were notorious. No good-looking -woman was safe from him, least of all those -whom he had the opportunity of seeing frequently, -owing to his friendship for their husbands or other -male relatives. Not even political considerations checked -his amorous inclinations, as may be judged from the fact -that he made a victim of Mucia, the wife of Pompey, -whose friendship he most eagerly desired at that time. -“He was the inevitable co-respondent in every fashionable -divorce,” writes Oman; “and when we look at -the list of the ladies whose names are linked with his, -we can only wonder at the state of society in Rome -which permitted him to survive unscathed to middle -age. The marvel is that he did not end in some dark -corner, with a dagger between his ribs, long before he -attained the age of thirty.” Being a brilliant opportunist -he made use of his success with women to -promote his own interests, and at one time he is said -to have conducted love intrigues with the wives of -Pompey, Crassus, and Gabinius, all leaders of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span> -political party. Even the knowledge of the habits of -the young fops of the period, which he had acquired -while emulating their mode of life, was turned to good -account by him in after years. At the battle of Pharsalia, -which had been fought but a few weeks before -his arrival in Egypt, he had told his troops who were -to receive the charges of the enemy’s patrician cavalry -that they should not attempt to hamstring the horses -or strike at their legs, but should aim their blows at -the riders’ faces, “in the hopes,” as Plutarch says, -“that young gentlemen who had not known much of -battles and wounds, but came, wearing their hair long, -in the flower of their age and height of their beauty, -would be more apprehensive of such blows and not -care for hazarding both a danger at present and a -blemish for the future. And so it proved, for they -turned about, and covered their faces to safeguard them.”</p> - -<p>In regard to money matters Cæsar was entirely without -principle. In his early years he borrowed vast sums on -all sides, spent them recklessly, and seldom paid his -debts save with further borrowed money. While still -a young man he owed his creditors the sum of £280,000; -and though most of this had now been paid off by means -of the loot from the Gallic Wars, there had been times -in his life when ruin stared him in the face. Most of -his debts were incurred in the first place in buying for -himself a high position in Roman political life, and in -the second place in paying the electioneering expenses -of candidates for office who would be likely to advance -his power. He engaged the favour of the people by -giving enormous public feasts, and on one occasion -twenty-two thousand persons were entertained at his -expense at a single meal. While he was ædile he paid<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span> -for three hundred and twenty gladiatorial combats; and -innumerable fêtes and shows were given by him throughout -his life, and were paid for by the tears and anguish -of his conquered enemies.</p> - -<div id="ip_88" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 27.6875em;"> - <img src="images/i_088.jpg" width="443" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>British Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>JULIUS CÆSAR.</p> -</div></div> - -<p>He was one of the most ambitious men who have ever -walked the stage of life, his devouring passion for absolute -power being at all times abnormal; and he cared not one -jot in what manner he obtained or expended money so -long as his career was advanced by that means. He -could not brook the thought of playing a secondary part -in the world’s affairs, and nothing short of absolute autocracy -satisfied his aspirations. While crossing the Alps -on one occasion the poverty of a small mountain village -was pointed out to him, and he was heard to remark -that he would rather be first man in that little community -than second man in Rome. On another occasion -he was seen to burst into tears while reading the life of -Alexander the Great, for the thought was intolerable to -him that another man should have conquered the world -at an age when he himself had done nothing of the kind. -This restless “passion after honour,” as Plutarch terms -it, was not apparent in his manner and was not noticed -save by those who knew him well. He was too gentlemanly, -too well dressed, too beautifully groomed, to give -the impression of one who was seeking indefatigably for -his own advancement, and at whose heart the demons -of insatiate ambition were so continuously gnawing. -“When I see his hair so carefully arranged,” said Cicero, -“and observe him adjusting it with one finger, I cannot -imagine it should enter such a man’s thoughts to subvert -the Roman State.” Yet this elegant soldier, whose -manners were so quietly aristocratic, whose charm was -so delectable, would sink to any depths of moral depravity,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span> -whether financial or otherwise, in order to -convert the world into his footstool. When he and -Catullus were rival candidates for the office of Pontifex -Maximus, the latter offered him a huge sum of money -to retire from the contest; but Cæsar, spurning the -proffered bribe with indignation, replied that he was -about to <em>borrow</em> a larger sum than that in order to buy -the votes for himself. At another period of his amazing -career he desired to effect the downfall of Cicero, who -was much in his way, and circumstances so fell out that -this could best be accomplished by the appointment of -a certain young scamp named Clodius as tribune. Now -Clodius was the paramour of Cæsar’s wife Pompeia, -whom the Dictator had made co-respondent in the action -for divorce which he had brought against that lady; yet, -since it served his ambitious purpose, he did not now -hesitate to obtain the appointment of this amorous rogue -and use him for his infamous purposes. The story need -not here be related of how Clodius had disguised himself -as a woman, and had thus obtained admission to certain -secret female rites at which Pompeia was officiating; -how he had been discovered; how he had only escaped -the death penalty for his sacrilege owing to the fact -that the judges were afraid to condemn him since he -was a favourite with the mob, and afraid to acquit him -for fear of offending the nobility, and had therefore -written their verdicts so illegibly that nobody could -read them; and how Pompeia had been divorced by -her husband, who had then made the famous remark -that “Cæsar’s wife must be above suspicion”; but it -will be apparent that Plutarch is justified in regarding -the man’s appointment to the tribuneship as one of the -most disgraceful episodes in the Dictator’s career.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span> -Cæsar’s first wife was named Cossutia, and was a -wealthy heiress whom he had married for her money’s -sake. Having, however, fallen in love with Cornelia, -the daughter of Cinna, he divorced Cossutia, and wedded -the woman of his heart, pluckily refusing to part with -her when ordered to do so for political reasons by the -terrible Sulla. Cornelia died in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 68, and in the -following year he married Pompeia, of whom we have -just heard, in order to strengthen his alliance with -Pompey, to whom she was related.</p> - -<p>Cæsar’s marriage to Calpurnia, after the dismissal of -Pompeia, again showed his indifference to the moral -aspect of political life. Calpurnia was the daughter of -Calpurnius Piso, the pupil and disciple of Philodemus -the Epicurean, a man whose verses in the Greek -Anthology, and whose habits of life, were as vicious -and poisonous as any in that licentious age. Cæsar at -once obtained the consulship for his disreputable father-in-law, -thereby causing Cato to protest that it was -intolerable that the government should be prostituted -by such marriages, and that persons should advance -one another to the highest offices in the land by means -of women. Cæsar went so far as to propose, shortly -after this, that he should divorce Calpurnia and marry -Pompey’s daughter, who would have to be divorced from -her husband, Faustus Sulla, for the purpose; and that -Pompey should marry Octavia, Cæsar’s niece, although -she was at that time married to C. Marcellus, and also -would have to be divorced.</p> - -<p>There was a startling nonchalance in Cæsar’s behaviour, -a studied callousness, which was not less -apparent to his contemporaries than to us. His wonderful -ability to squander other people’s money, his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span> -total disregard of principle, his undisguised satisfaction -in political and domestic intrigue, revealed an unconcern -which must inspire for all time the admiration -of the criminal classes, and which, in certain instances, -must appeal very forcibly to the imagination of all -high-spirited persons. Who can resist the charm of -the story of his behaviour to the pirates of Pharmacusa? -For thirty-eight days he was held prisoner -at that place by a band of most ferocious and bloodthirsty -Cilicians, and during that time he treated his -captors with a degree of reckless <em>insouciance</em> unmatched -in the history of the world. When they asked him -for a ransom of twenty talents (£5000) he laughed -in their faces, and said that he was worth at least -fifty (£12,500), which sum he ultimately paid over to -them. He insisted upon joining in their games, jeered -at them for their barbarous habits, and ordered them -about as though they were his slaves. When he wished -to sleep he demanded that they should keep absolute -silence as they sat over their camp-fires; or, when the -mood pleased him, he took part in their sing-songs, -read them his atrocious Latin verses (for he was ever -a poor poet), and abused them soundly if they did not -applaud. A hundred times a day he told them that -he would have them all hanged as soon as he was free, -a pleasantry at which the pirates laughed heartily, -thinking it a merry jest; but no sooner was he released -than he raised a small force, attacked his former captors, -and, taking most of them prisoners, had them all crucified. -Crucifixion is a form of death by torture, the prolonged -and frightful agony of which is not fully appreciated at -the present day, owing to a complacent familiarity with -the most notorious case of its application; but Cæsar<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span> -being, on occasion, with all his indifference, a kind-hearted -man, decided at the last moment mercifully to -put an end to the agonies of his disillusioned victims, -and with a sort of considerate nonchalance he therefore -quietly cut their throats.</p> - -<p>He was not by any means consistently a cruel man, -and his kindness and magnanimity were often demonstrated. -He shed tears, it will be remembered, upon -seeing the signet-ring of his murdered enemy, Pompey; -and in Rome he ordered that unfortunate soldier’s -statues to be replaced upon the pedestals from which -they had been thrown. In warfare, however, he was -often ruthless, and had recourse to wholesale massacres -which could hardly be regarded as necessary measures. -At Uxellodunum and elsewhere he caused thousands of -prisoners to be maimed by the hacking off of their right -hands; and his slaughter of the members of the Senate -of the Veneti seems to have been an unnecessary piece -of brutality. His behaviour in regard to the Usipetes -and Tencteri will always remain the chief stain upon -his military reputation. After concluding peace with -these unfortunate peoples, he attacked them when they -were disarmed, and killed 430,000 of them—men, women, -and children. For this barbarity Cato proposed that he -should be put in chains and delivered over to the remnant -of the massacred tribes, that they might wreak their -vengeance upon him.</p> - -<p>During his ten years’ campaigning in Gaul he took 800 -towns by storm, subdued 300 states, killed a million men, -and sent another million into slavery.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> His cold-blooded -execution of the brave Vercingetorix, after six years of -captivity, seems more cruel to us, perhaps, than it did to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span> -his contemporaries; and it may be said in his favour that -he treated the terrified remnant of the conquered peoples -with justice and moderation. In spite of a kindly and -even affable manner, his wit was caustic and his words -often terribly biting. When a certain young man named -Metellus, at that time tribune, had persistently questioned -whether Cæsar had a right to appropriate treasury -funds in the prosecution of his wars, Cæsar threatened to -put him to death if any more was heard of his dissent. -“And this you know, young man,” said he, “is more -disagreeable for me to say than to do.” He associated -freely with all manner of persons, and although so -obviously an aristocrat, he was noted for his friendliness -and tact in dealing with the lower classes. During his -campaigns he shared all hardships with his men, and, -consequently, was much beloved by them, in spite of -their occasional objection to the heavy work or strenuous -manœuvres which he required them to undertake. He -was wont to travel in time of war at the rate of a hundred -miles a day; and when a river or stream obstructed his -progress he did not hesitate to dive straightway into the -water and swim to the opposite shore. On the march he -himself usually slept in his litter, or curled up on the -floor of his chariot, and his food was of the coarsest -description. At no time, indeed, was he a gourmet; and -it is related how once he ate without a murmur some -asparagus which had been treated with something very -much like an ointment in mistake for sauce. In later -life he drank no wine of any kind, an abstemiousness -which was probably forced upon him by ill-health; and -he who, in his early years, had been notorious for his -dissipations and luxurious living, was, at the time with -which we are now dealing, famous for his abstinence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span> -When Cæsar arrived in Alexandria he was come direct -from his great victory over Pompey at Pharsalia, and was -now absolute master of the Roman world. His brilliant -campaigns in Gaul had raised him to the highest position -in the Republic, and now that Pompey was dead he was -without any appreciable rival. He carried himself with -careful dignity, and presumed—quite correctly—that all -eyes were turned upon him. He had, as Mommsen says, -“a pleasing consciousness of his own manly beauty”; -and the thought of his many brilliant victories and -successful surmounting of all obstacles gave him -the liveliest satisfaction. No longer was his elegant -frame shaken with sobs at the envious thought of the -exploits of Alexander the Great; but, since his insatiable -ambition still urged him to make use of his opportunities, -he was for the moment content to indulge his passion -for conquest by attempting to win the affections of the -charming, omnipotent, and fabulously wealthy Queen -of Egypt.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN THE BESIEGED PALACE AT ALEXANDRIA.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>There can be little doubt that Cæsar’s all-night interview -with Cleopatra put an entirely new complexion -upon his conception of the situation. Until the Queen’s -dramatic entry into the Palace, his main object in remaining -for a short time at Alexandria, after he had been -shown the severed head of the murdered Pompey, had -been to assert his authority in that city of unrivalled -commercial opulence, and at the same time to make full -use of a favourable opportunity to rest his weary mind -and body in the luxury of its royal residence and the -perfection of its sun-bathed summer days, while Rome -should be quieted down and made ready for his coming. -But now a new factor had introduced itself. He had -found that the Queen of this desirable and important -country was a young woman after his own heart: a dare-devil -girl, whose manners and beauty had fired his imagination, -and whose apparent admiration for him had set -him thinking of the uses to which he might put the -devotion he confidently expected to arouse. She seems -to have laid her case before him with frankness and -sincerity. She had shown him how her brother had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span> -driven her from the throne, in direct opposition to the -will of her father, who had so earnestly desired the two -of them to reign jointly and in harmony. And while she -had talked to him through the long hours of the night he -had found himself most willingly carried away by the -desire to obtain her love, both for the pleasure which it -might be expected to afford him and for the political -advantage which would accrue from such an intercourse. -Here was a simple means of bringing Egypt -under his control—Egypt which was the granary of -the world, the most important commercial market of -the Mediterranean, the most powerful factor in eastern -politics, and the gateway of the unconquered kingdoms -of the Orient. He had made himself lord of the West; -Greece and Asia Minor were, since the late war, at his -feet; and now Alexandria, so long the support of -Pompey’s faction, should come to him with the devotion -of its Queen. I do not hold with those who -suppose him to have been led like a lamb to the slaughter -by the wiles of Cleopatra, and to have succumbed to her -charms in the manner of one whose passions have confused -his brain, causing him to forget all things save -only his desire. In consideration of the fact that the -young Queen was at that time, so far as we know, a -woman of blameless character, and that he, on the contrary, -was a man of the very worst possible reputation in -regard to the opposite sex, it seems, to say the least, -unfair that the burden of the blame for the subsequent -events should have been assigned for all these centuries -to Cleopatra.</p> - -<p>Before the end of that eventful night Cæsar seems to -have determined to excite the passionate love of that wild -and irresponsible girl, whose personality and political importance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span> -made a doubly powerful appeal to him; and ere -the light of dawn had entered the room his decision to -restore her to the throne, and to place her brother in the -far background, had been irrevocably made. As the sun -rose he sent for King Ptolemy, who, on entering Cæsar’s -presence, must have been dismayed to be confronted with -his sister whom he had driven into exile and against -whom he had so recently been fighting at Pelusium. It -would appear that Cæsar treated him with sternness, -asking him how he had dared to go against the wishes -of his father, who had entrusted their fulfilment to the -Roman people, and demanding that he should at once -make his peace with Cleopatra. At this the young man -lost his temper, and, rushing from the room, cried out to -his friends and attendants who were waiting outside that -he had been betrayed and that his cause was lost. -Snatching the royal diadem from his head in his boyish -rage and chagrin, he dashed it upon the ground, and, no -doubt, burst into tears. Thereupon an uproar arose, -and the numerous Alexandrians who still remained within -the Roman lines at once gathering round their King, -nearly succeeded in communicating their excitement to -the royal troops in the city, and arousing them to a -concerted attack upon the Palace by land and sea. -Cæsar, however, hurried out and addressed the crowd, -promising to arrange matters to their satisfaction; and -thereupon he called a meeting at which Ptolemy and -Cleopatra were both induced to attend, and he read out -to them their father’s will wherein it was emphatically -stated that they were to reign together. He reiterated -his right, as representative of the Roman people, to -adjust the dispute; and at last he appears to have -effected a reconciliation between the brother and sister.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span> -The unfortunate Ptolemy must have realised that from -that moment his ambitions and hopes were become dust -and ashes, for he would now always remain under the -scrutiny of his elder sister; and the liberty of action for -which he and his ministers had plotted and schemed was -for ever gone. According to Dion Cassius, he could -already see plainly that there was an understanding -between Cæsar and his sister; and Cleopatra’s manner -doubtless betrayed to him her elation. She must have -been intensely excited. A few hours previously she had -been an exile, creeping back to her own city in imminent -danger of her life; now, not only was she Queen of Egypt -once more, but she had won the esteem and, so it -seemed, the heart also of the Autocrat of the world, -whose word was absolute law to the nations. One may -almost picture her making faces at her brother as they -sat opposite one another in Cæsar’s improvised court of -justice, and the unhappy boy’s distress must have been -acute.</p> - -<p>Cæsar’s dominant idea now was to control the politics -of Egypt by means of a skilled play upon the heart of -Cleopatra. He did not much care what happened to -King Ptolemy or to his minister Potheinos, for they -had forfeited their right to consideration by their attempt -to set aside the wishes of Auletes, and by their disgusting -behaviour to Pompey, who, though Cæsar’s enemy, had -yet been his mighty fellow-countryman; but it was his -wish as soon as possible to placate the mob, and to -endear the people of Alexandria to him, so that in -three or four weeks’ time he might leave the country -in undisturbed quiet. Now the control of Cyprus was -one of the most fervent aspirations of the city, and it -seems to have occurred to Cæsar that the presentation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span> -of the island to their royal house would be keenly appreciated -by them, and would go a long way to appease -their hostile excitement. When the Romans annexed -Cyprus in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 58, the Alexandrians had risen in revolt -against Auletes largely because he had made no attempt -to claim the country for himself. It had been more or -less continuously an appendage of the Egyptian crown, -and its possession was still the people’s dearest wish. -Now, therefore, according to Dion, Cæsar made a present -of the island to Egypt in the names of the two younger -members of the royal house, Prince Ptolemy and Princess -Arsinoe; and though we have no records definitely to -show that they ever assumed control of their new possession, -or that it ceased, at any rate for a year or two, -to be regarded as a part of the Roman province of -Cilicia, it is certain that a few years later, in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 42, it -had become an Egyptian dominion and was administered -by a viceroy of that country.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a></p> - -<p>Having thus relieved the situation, Cæsar turned his -attention to other matters. While Auletes was in Rome, -in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 59, he had incurred enormous debts in his efforts -to buy the support of the Roman Senate in re-establishing -himself upon the Ptolemaic throne, and in this fact -Cæsar now saw a means both of showing his benevolence -towards the Egyptians, and of making them pay for the -upkeep of his small fleet and army at Alexandria. His -claim on behalf of the creditors of Auletes he fixed at -the very moderate sum of ten million denarii (£400,000), -although it must have been realised by all that the -original debts amounted to a much higher figure than -this. At the same time he made no attempt to demand -a war contribution from the Egyptians, although their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span> -original advocacy of the cause of Pompey would have -justified him in doing so.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> In this manner, and by the -gift of Cyprus, he made a bid for the goodwill of the -Alexandrians; but, unfortunately, his efforts in this -direction were entirely frustrated by the intrigues of -Potheinos. There probably need not have been any -difficulty in the raising of £400,000; but Potheinos -chose to order the King’s golden dishes and the rich -vessels in the temples to be melted down and converted -into money. He furnished the King’s own table with -wooden or earthenware plates and bowls, and caused the -fact to be made known to the townspeople, in order -that they should be shown the straits to which Cæsar’s -cupidity had reduced them. Meanwhile, he supplied -the Roman soldiers with a very poor quality of corn, -and told them, in reply to their complaints, that they -ought to be grateful that they received any at all, since -they had no right to it. Nor did he hesitate to tell -Cæsar that he ought not to waste his time in Alexandria, -or concern himself with the insignificant affairs of Egypt, -when urgent business should be calling him back to -Rome. His manner towards the Dictator was consistently -rude and hostile, and there seems little doubt -that he was plotting against him and was keeping in -touch with Achillas.</p> - -<p>Hostilities of a more or less sporadic nature soon -broke out, and it was not long before Cæsar made his -first hit at the enemy. Hearing that they were attempting -to man their imprisoned ships, which lay still in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span> -western portion of the Great Harbour, and knowing -that he was not strong enough either to hold or to -utilise more than a few of them, he sent out a little -force which succeeded in setting fire to, and destroying, -the whole fleet, consisting of the fifty men-o’-war which, -during the late hostilities, had been lent to Pompey, -twenty-two guardships, and thirty-eight other craft, thus -leaving in their possession only those vessels which lay -in the Harbour of the Happy Return, beyond the -Heptastadium. In this conflagration some of the -buildings on the quay near the harbour appear to have -been burnt, and it would seem that some portion of -the famous Alexandrian library was destroyed; but -the silence of contemporary writers upon this literary -catastrophe indicates that the loss was not great, and, to -my mind, puts out of account the statement of later -authors that the burning of the entire library occurred -on that occasion. Cæsar’s next move was to seize the -Pharos Lighthouse and the eastern end of the island -upon which it was built, thus securing the entrance to -the Great Harbour, and making the passage of his ships -to the open sea a manœuvre which could be employed -at any moment. At the same time he threw up the -strongest fortifications at all the vulnerable points in his -land defences, and thereby rendered himself absolutely -secure from direct assault.</p> - -<p>He was not much troubled by the situation. It is -said that he was obliged more than once to keep awake -all night in order to protect himself against assassination; -but such a contingency did not interfere to any -great extent with his enjoyments of the life in the -Alexandrian Palace. From early youth he must have -been accustomed to the thought of the assassin’s knife.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span> -His many love-affairs had made imminent each day -the possibility of sudden death, and his political and -administrative career also laid him open at all times to -a murderous attack. The jealousy of the husbands -whose wives he had stolen, the vengeance of the survivors -of the massacres instigated by him, the resentment of -the politicians whose ambitions he had thwarted, and -the hatred of innumerable persons whom, in one way or -another, he had offended, placed his life in continuous -jeopardy. The machinations of Potheinos, therefore, -left him undismayed, and he was able to prosecute what -was, in plain language, the seduction of the Queen of -Egypt with an undistracted mind.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra appears to have been as strongly attracted -to Cæsar as he was to her; and although at the outset -each realised the advantage of winning the other’s heart, -and regulated their actions accordingly, there seems little -doubt that, after a day or two of close companionship, -a romantic attachment of a very genuine nature had -been formed between them. In the case of Cleopatra, -no doubt, her love held all the sweetness of the first -serious affair of her life, and on the part of Cæsar there -is apparent the passionate delight of a man past his -prime in the vivacity and charm of a beautiful young -girl. Though elderly, Cæsar was what a romanticist -would call an ideal lover. His keen, handsome face, -his athletic and graceful figure, the fascination of his -manners, and the wonder of the deeds which he had -performed, might be calculated to win the heart of any -woman; and to Cleopatra he must have made a special -appeal by reason of his reputation for bravery and -reliability on all occasions, and his present display of -<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">sang-froid</i> and light-heartedness.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span> -Cæsar was, at this time, in holiday mood, and the -life he led at the Palace was of the gayest description. -He had cast from him the cares of state with an -ease which came of frequent practice in the art of -throwing off responsibilities; and when about October -25th he received news from Rome that he had been -made Dictator for the whole of the coming year, 47, -he was able to feel that there was no cause for anxiety. -While the unfortunate young Ptolemy sulked in the -background, Cæsar and Cleopatra openly sought one -another’s company and made merry together, it would -seem, for a large part of every day. With such a man -as Cæsar, the result of this intimacy was inevitable; -nor was it to be expected that the happy-go-lucky and -impetuous girl of but twenty years of age would act -with much caution or propriety under the peculiar -and exciting circumstances. It is possible that she -had already gone through the form of marriage -with her co-regnant brother, as was the custom of -the Egyptian Court; but it is highly unlikely that this -was anything more than the emptiest formality, and -there is no reason to doubt that in actual fact she -was, when she met Cæsar, still unwedded. The child -which in due course she presented to the Dictator was -her first-born; but had there been a previous marriage -of more than a formal nature, it is at least probable, in -view of her subsequent productivity, that she would -already have been in enjoyment of the privileges of -motherhood.</p> - -<p>The gaiety of the life in the besieged Palace, and the -progress of the romance which was there being enacted, -were rudely disturbed by two consecutive events which -led at once to the outbreak of really serious hostilities.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span> -The little Princess Arsinoe, who, like all the women of -this family, must have been endowed with great spirit -and pluck, suddenly made her escape from the Roman -lines, accompanied by her <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nutritius</i> Ganymedes,<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> and -joined the Egyptian forces under Achillas. The plot, -organised no doubt by Ganymedes, had for its object -the raising of the Princess to the throne, while Cleopatra -and her two brothers were imprisoned in the Lochias, -and no sooner had they reached the Egyptian headquarters -than they began freely to bribe all officers and -officials of importance in order to accomplish their -purpose. Achillas, however, who had his own game -to play, thought it wiser to remain loyal to his sovereign, -and to attempt to rescue him from Cæsar’s clutches. It -was not long before a quarrel arose between Ganymedes -and Achillas, which ended in the prompt assassination -of the latter, whose functions were at once assumed by -his murderer, the war being thereupon prosecuted with -renewed vigour. Previous to the death of Achillas, -Potheinos had been in secret communication with him, -apparently in regard to the possibility of murdering -Cæsar and effecting the escape of King Ptolemy and -himself from the Palace ere Arsinoe and Ganymedes -obtained control of affairs. Information of the plot -was given to Cæsar by his barber, “a busy, listening -fellow, whose excessive timidity made him inquisitive -into everything”;<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> and, at a feast held to celebrate the -reconciliation between Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Potheinos<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span> -was arrested and immediately beheaded, a death which -the poet Lucan considers to have been very much too -good for him, since it was that by which he had caused -the great Pompey to die. So far as one can now tell, -Cæsar was entirely justified in putting this wretched -eunuch out of the way of further worldly mischief. He -belonged to that class of court functionary which is met -with throughout the history of the Orient, and which -invariably calls forth the denunciation of the more moral -West; but it is to be remembered in his favour that, so -far as we know, he schemed as eagerly for the fortunes -of his young sovereign Ptolemy as he did for his -own advancement, and his treacherous manœuvres were -directed against the menacing intrusion of a power which -was relentlessly crushing the life out of the royal houses -of the accessible world. His crime against fallen Pompey -was no more dastardly than were many other of the -recorded acts of the Court he served; and the fact -that he, like his two fellow-conspirators, Achillas and -Theodotos, paid in blood and tears for the riches of the -moment, goes far to exonerate him, at this remote date, -from further execration.</p> - -<p>The first act of the war which caused Cæsar any -misgivings was the pollution of his water supply by the -enemy, and the consequent nervousness of his men. -The Royal Area obtained its drinking water through -subterranean channels communicating with the lake at -the back of the city; and no sooner had Cæsar realised -that these channels might be tampered with than he -attempted to cut his way southwards, probably along the -broad street<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> which led to the Gate of the Sun and to -the Lake Harbour. Here, however, he met with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span> -stubborn resistance, and the loss of life might have been -very great had he persisted in his endeavour. Fortunately, -however, the sinking of trial shafts within the -besieged territory led to the discovery of an abundance -of good water, the existence of which had not been -suspected; and thus he was saved from the ignominy -of being ousted from the city which he had entered in -such solemn pomp, and of being forced to retire across -the Mediterranean, his self-imposed task left uncompleted, -and his ambitions for the future of Cleopatra -unfulfilled.</p> - -<p>Not long after this the welcome news was brought to -him that the Thirty-seventh Legion had crossed from Asia -Minor with food supplies, arms, and siege-instruments, -and was anchored off the Egyptian coast, being for the -moment unable to reach him owing to contrary winds. -Cæsar at once sailed out to meet them, with his entire -fleet, the ships being manned only by their Rhodian -crews, all the troops having been left to hold the land -defences. Effecting a junction with these reinforcements, -he returned to the harbour, easily defeated the Egyptian -vessels which had collected to the north of the Island of -Pharos, and sailed triumphantly back to his moorings -below the Palace.</p> - -<p>So confident now was he in his strength that he next -sailed round the island, and attacked the Egyptian fleet -in its own harbour beyond the Heptastadium, inflicting -heavy losses upon them. He then landed on the western -end of Pharos, which was still held by the enemy, carried -the forts by storm, and effected a junction with his own -men who were stationed around the lighthouse at the -eastern end. His plan was to advance across the Heptastadium, -and thus, by holding both the island and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span> -mole, to obtain possession of the western Harbour of the -Happy Return and ultimately to strike a wedge into the -city upon that side. But here he suffered a dangerous -reverse. While he was leading in person the attack upon -the south or city end of the Heptastadium, and his men -were crowding on to it from the island and from the -vessels in the Great Harbour, the Egyptians made a -spirited attack upon its northern end, thus hemming the -Romans in upon the narrow causeway, to the consternation -of those who watched the battle from the Lochias -Promontory. Fortunately vessels were at hand to take -off the survivors of this sanguinary engagement, as the -enemy drove them back from either end of the causeway; -and presently they had all scrambled aboard and were -rowing at full speed across the Great Harbour. Such -numbers, however, jumped on to the deck of the vessel -into which Cæsar had entered that it capsized, and we -are then presented with the dramatic picture of the ruler -of the world swimming for his life through the quiet -waters of the harbour, holding aloft in one hand a bundle -of important papers which he happened to be carrying -at the moment of the catastrophe, dragging his scarlet -military cloak along by his teeth, and at the same time -constantly ducking his rather bald head under the water -to avoid the missiles which were hurled at him by the -victorious Egyptians, who must have been capering about -upon the recaptured mole, all talking and shouting at -once. He was, however, soon picked up by one of his -ships; and thus he returned to the Palace, very cold and -dripping wet, and having in the end lost the cloak which -was the cherished mark of his rank. Four hundred -legionaries and a number of seamen perished in this -engagement, most of them being drowned; and now,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span> -perhaps for the first time, it began to appear to Cæsar -that the warfare which he was waging was not the -amusing game he had thought it. For at least four -months he had entertained himself in the Palace, spending -his days in pottering around his perfectly secure -defences and his nights in enjoying the company of -Cleopatra. Up till now he must have been in constant -receipt of news from Rome, where his affairs were being -managed by Antony, his boisterous but fairly reliable -lieutenant, and it is evident that nothing had occurred -there to necessitate his return. Far from being hemmed -in within the Palace and obliged to fight for his life, as is -generally supposed to have been the case, it seems to me -that his position at all times was as open as it was secure. -He could have travelled across the Mediterranean at any -moment; and, had he thought it desirable, he could have -sailed over to Italy for a few weeks and returned to -Alexandria without any great risk. His fleet had shown -itself quite capable of defending him from danger upon -the high seas, as, for example, when he had sailed out -to meet the Thirty-seventh Legion;<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> and, as on that -occasion, his troops could have been left in security in -their fortified position. Supplies from Syria were plentiful, -and the Rhodian sailors, after escorting him as far as -Cyprus, could have returned to their duties at Alexandria -in order to ensure the safe and continuous arrival of these -stores and provisions.</p> - -<p>It is thus very apparent that he had no wish to -abandon the enjoyments of his winter in the Egyptian -capital, where he had become thoroughly absorbed both -in the little Queen of that country and in the problems<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span> -which were represented to him by her. He was an -elderly man, and the weight of his years caused him to -feel a temporary distaste for the restless anxieties which -awaited him in Rome. His ambitions in the Occident -had been attained; and now, finding himself engaged in -what, I would suggest, was an easily managed and not -at all dangerous war, he was determined to carry the -struggle through to its inevitable end, and to find in this -quite interesting and occasionally exciting task an excuse -for remaining by the side of the woman who, for the time -being, absorbed the attention of his wayward affections. -Already he was beginning to realise that the subjection -of Egypt to his will was a matter of very great political -importance, as will be explained hereafter; and he felt -the keenest objection to abandoning the Queen to her -own devices, both on this account and by reason of the -hold which she had obtained upon his heart. In after -years he did not look back upon the fighting with an -interest sufficient to induce him to record its history, as -he had done that of other campaigns, but he caused an -official account to be written by one of his comrades; -and this author has been at pains to show that the -struggle was severe in character. Such an interpretation -of the war, however, though now unanimously accepted, -is to be received with caution, and need not be taken -more seriously than the statement that, in the first instance, -Cæsar’s prolonged stay at Alexandria was due to -the Etesian winds which made it difficult for his ships to -leave the harbour. These annual winds from the north -might have delayed his return for a week or two; but it -is obvious that he had no desire to set sail; and the -author of <cite>De Bello Alexandrino</cite> was doubtless permitted -to cover Cæsar’s apparent negligence of important<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span> -Roman affairs by thus attributing his lengthy absence to -the strength of the enemy and to the inclemency of the -Fates.</p> - -<p>Now, however, after the ignominious defeat upon the -Heptastadium, Cæsar appears to have become fully -determined to punish the Alexandrians and to prosecute -the campaign with more energy. He seems soon to -have received news that a large army was marching -across the desert from Syria to his relief, under the joint -leadership of Mithridates of Pergamum, a natural son of -Mithridates the Great, the Jewish Antipater, father of -Herod, and Iamblichus, son of Sampsiceramus, a famous -Arab chieftain from Hemesa. With the advent of these -forces he knew that he would be able to crush all -resistance and to impose his will upon Egypt; and he -now, therefore, took a step which clearly shows his -determination to handle affairs with sternness and ruthlessness, -in such a manner that Cleopatra should speedily -become sole ruler of the country, and thus should be in -a position to lay all the might of her kingdom in his -hands.</p> - -<p>The Princess Arsinoe had failed to make herself Queen -of Egypt in spite of the efforts of Ganymedes, and the -royal army was still endeavouring to rescue King Ptolemy -and to fight under his banner. Cæsar, therefore, determined -to hand the young man over to them, knowing, as -the historian of the war admits, that there was little -probability of such an action leading to a cessation of -hostilities. His avowed object in taking this step was to -give Ptolemy the opportunity of arranging terms of peace -for him; but he did not hesitate to record officially his -opinion that, in the event of a continuation of the war, it -would be far more honourable for him to be fighting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span> -against a king than against “a crowd of sweepings of the -earth and renegades.” The truth of the matter, however, -seems to me to be that Cæsar wished to rid himself -of the boy, who stood in the way of the accomplishment -of his schemes in regard to the sole sovereignty of Cleopatra; -and by handing him over to the enemy at the -moment when the news of the arrival of the army from -Syria made the Egyptian downfall absolutely certain, he -insured the young man’s inevitable death or degradation. -The miserable Ptolemy must have realised this, for when -Cæsar instructed him to go over to his friends beyond -the Roman lines, he burst into tears and begged to be -allowed to remain in the Palace. He knew quite well -that the Egyptians had not a chance of victory—that -when once he had taken up his residence with his own -people their conqueror would treat him as an enemy -and punish him accordingly. Cæsar, however, on his -part, was aware that if in the hour of Roman victory -Ptolemy was still under his protection, it would be -difficult not to carry out the terms of the will of Auletes -by making him joint-sovereign with Cleopatra. The -King’s tears and paradoxical protestations of devotion -were therefore ignored; and forthwith he was pushed -out of the Palace into the welcoming arms of the Alexandrians, -the younger brother, whom Cæsar had designed -for the safely distant throne of Cyprus, being left in the -custody of the Romans alone with Cleopatra.</p> - -<p>The relieving army from Syria soon arrived at the -eastern frontier of Egypt, and, taking Pelusium by storm, -gave battle to the King’s forces not far from the Canopic -mouth of the Nile. The Egyptians were easily defeated, -and the invaders marched along the eastern edge of the -Delta towards Memphis (near the modern Cairo), just<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span> -below which they crossed the Nile to the western bank. -The young Ptolemy thereupon, expecting no mercy at -Cæsar’s hands, put himself boldly at the head of such -troops as could be spared from the siege of the Palace -at Alexandria, and marched across the Delta to measure -swords with Mithridates and his allies. No sooner was -he gone from the city than Cæsar, leaving a small -garrison in the Palace, sailed out of the harbour with -as many men as he could crowd into the ships at his -disposal, and moved off eastwards as though making for -Canopus or Pelusium. Under cover of darkness, however, -he turned in the opposite direction, and before -dawn disembarked upon the deserted shore some miles -to the west of Alexandria. He thus out-manœuvred the -Egyptian fleet with ease, and, incidentally, demonstrated -that he had been throughout the siege perfectly free to -come and go across the water as he chose. Marching -along the western border of the desert, as his friends had -marched along the eastern, he effected a junction with -them at the apex of the Delta, not far north of -Memphis, and immediately turned to attack the approaching -Egyptian army. Ptolemy, on learning of -their advance, fortified himself in a strong position at -the foot of a <i>tell</i>, or mound, the Nile being upon one -flank, a marsh upon the other, and a canal in front -of him; but the allies, after a two-days’ battle, turned -the position and gained a complete victory. The turning -movement had been entrusted to a certain Carfulenus, -who afterwards fell at Mutina fighting against Antony, -and this officer managed to penetrate into the Egyptian -camp. At his approach Ptolemy appears to have jumped -into one of the boats which lay moored upon the Nile; -but the weight of the numbers of fugitives who followed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span> -his example sank the vessel, and the young king was -never seen alive again. It is said that his dead body -was recognised afterwards by the golden corselet which -he wore, and which, no doubt, had caused by its weight -his rapid death. His tragic end, at the age of fifteen, -relieved Cæsar of the embarrassing necessity either of -pardoning him and making him joint-sovereign with -Cleopatra, according to the terms of his father’s will, or -of carrying him captive to Rome and putting him to -death in the customary manner at the close of his -triumph. The boy had foreseen the fate which would -be chosen for him, when he had begged with tears to -be allowed to remain in the Palace; and his sudden submersion -in the muddy waters of the Nile must have -terminated a life which of late had been intolerably -overshadowed by the knowledge that his existence was -an obstacle to Cæsar’s relentless ambitions, and by the -horror of the certainty of speedy death.</p> - -<p>On March 27th, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 47,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> Cæsar, who had ridden on -with his cavalry, entered Alexandria in triumph, its gates -being now thrown open to him. The inhabitants dressed -themselves in mourning garments, sending deputations to -him to beg for his mercy and forgiveness, and bringing -out to him the statues of their gods as a token of their -entire submission. Princess Arsinoe and Ganymedes -were handed over to him as prisoners: and in pomp he -rode through the city to the Palace, where as a conquering -hero and saviour he was received into the arms of -Cleopatra.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE BIRTH OF CÆSARION AND CÆSAR’S DEPARTURE FROM EGYPT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The death of Ptolemy and the submission of Alexandria -brought the war to a definite close; and Cæsar, once -more in comfortable residence at the Palace, was enabled -at last to carry out his plans for the regulation of Egyptian -affairs, with the execution of which the campaign had -so long interfered. Cleopatra’s little brother, the younger -Ptolemy, was a boy of only eleven years of age, who does -not seem to have shown such signs of marked intelligence -or strong character as would cause him to be -a nuisance either to Cæsar or to his sister; and therefore -it was arranged that he should be raised to the throne -in place of his deceased brother, as nominal King and -consort of Cleopatra. Cæsar, it will be remembered, had -given Cyprus to this youth and to his sister Arsinoe; but -now, since the latter was a prisoner in disgrace and the -former was not old enough to cause trouble in Egypt, -the island kingdom was not pressed upon them. To the -Alexandrians, whose campaign against him had entertained -him so admirably while he had pursued his intrigue -with Cleopatra, Cæsar showed no desire to be other than -lenient, and he preferred to regard the great havoc<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span> -wrought in certain parts of their city as sufficient punishment -for their misdeeds. He granted to the Jews, however, -equal rights with the Greeks, in consideration of -their assistance in the late war, a step which must have -been somewhat irritating to the majority of the townsfolk. -He then constituted a regular Roman Army of -Occupation, for the purpose of supporting Cleopatra and -her little brother upon the throne,<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> and to keep order in -Alexandria and throughout the country. This army -consisted of the two legions which had been besieged -with him in the Palace, together with a third which -presently arrived from Syria; and to the command of -this force Cæsar appointed an able officer named Rufinus, -who had risen by his personal merit from the ranks, -being originally one of Cæsar’s own freedmen. It is -usually stated that in handing over the command to a -man of this standing and not to a person belonging to -the Senate, Cæsar was showing his disdain for Egypt; -but I am of opinion that the step was taken deliberately -to retain the control of the country entirely in his own -hands, Rufinus being, no doubt, absolutely Cæsar’s man. -We do not hear what became of the Gabinian troops -who had fought against Cæsar, but it is probable that -they were drafted to legions stationed in other parts of -the world.</p> - -<p>It was now April,<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> and Cæsar had been in Egypt for -more than six months. He had originally intended to -return to Rome, it would seem, in the previous November; -but his defiance by the Alexandrians, and later the siege -of the Palace, had given him a reasonable excuse for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span> -remaining with Cleopatra. Being by nature an opportunist, -he had come during these months to interest -himself keenly in Egyptian affairs, and, as we have seen, -both they and his passion for the Queen had fully occupied -his attention. The close of the war, however, did -not mean to him the termination of these interests, but -rather the beginning of the opportunity for putting his -schemes into execution. He must have been deeply impressed -by the possibilities of expansive exploitation -which Egypt offered. Cleopatra, no doubt, had told -him much concerning the wonders of the land, wonders -which she herself had never yet found occasion to verify. -He had heard from her, and had received visible proof, -of the wealth of the Nile Valley; and his march through -the Delta must have revealed to him the richness of the -country. No man could fail to be impressed by the -spectacle of the miles upon miles of grain fields which -are to be seen in Lower Egypt; and reports had doubtless -reached him of the splendours of the upper reaches -of the Nile, where a peaceful and law-abiding population -found time both to reap three crops a year from the -fertile earth, and to build huge temples for their gods and -palaces for their nobles. The yearly tax upon corn alone -in Egypt, which was paid in kind, must have amounted -to some twenty millions of bushels, the figure at which -it stood in the reign of Augustus; and this fact, if -no other, must have given Cæsar cause for much -covetousness.</p> - -<p>He had probably heard, too, of the trade with India, -which was already beginning to flourish, and which, a -few years later, came to be of the utmost importance;<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> -and he had doubtless been told of the almost fabulous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span> -lands of Ethiopia, to which Egypt was the threshold, -whence came the waters of the Nile. Egypt has always -been a land of speculation, attracting alike the interest of -the financier and the enthusiasm of the conqueror; and -Cæsar’s imagination must have been stimulated by those -ambitious schemes which have fired the brains of so -many of her conquerors, just as that of the great -Alexander had been inspired three centuries before. -Feeling that his work in Gaul and the north-west was -more or less completed, he may, perhaps, have considered -the expediency of carrying Roman arms into the -uttermost parts of Ethiopia; of crossing the Red Sea -into Arabia; or of penetrating, like Alexander, to India -and to the marvellous kingdoms of the East. Even so, -eighteen hundred years later, Napoleon Bonaparte -dreamed of marching his army through Egypt to the -lands of Hindustan; and so also England, striving to -hold her beloved India (as the prophetic Kinglake wrote -in 1844), fixed her gaze upon the Nile Valley, until, as -though by the passive force of her desire, it fell into her -hands. For long the Greeks had thought that the Nile -came from the east and rose in the hills of India; and -even in the days with which we are now dealing Egypt -was regarded as the gateway of those lands. The trade-route -from Alexandria to India was yearly growing in -fame. The merchants journeyed up the Nile to the city -of Koptos, and thence travelled by caravan across the -desert to the seaport of Berenice, whence they sailed -with the trade wind to Muziris, on the west coast of -India, near the modern Calicut and Mysore. It is -possible that Cæsar had succumbed to the fascination -of distant conquest and exploration with which Egypt, -by reason of her geographical situation, has inspired so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span> -many minds, and that he was allowing his thoughts to -travel with the merchants along the great routes to the -East. He must always have felt that the unconquered -Parthians would cause a march across Asia to India to -be a most difficult and hazardous undertaking, and there -was some doubt whether he would be able to repeat the -exploits of Alexander the Great along that route; but -here through Egypt lay a road to the Orient which -might be followed without grave risk. The merchants -were wont to leave Berenice, on the Egyptian coast, -about the middle of July, when the Dog-star rose with -the Sun, reaching the west coast of India about the -middle of September;<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> and it would be strange indeed -if Cæsar had not given some consideration to the -possibility of carrying his army by that route to the -lands which Alexander, of whose exploits he loved to -read, had conquered.</p> - -<p>Abundant possibilities such as these must have filled -his mind, and may have been the partial cause of his -desire to stay yet a little while longer in this fascinating -country; but there was another and a more poignant -reason which urged him to wait for a few weeks more -in Egypt. Cleopatra was about to become a mother. -Seven months had passed since those days in October -when Cæsar had applied himself so eagerly to the task of -winning the love of the Queen, and of procuring her surrender -to his wishes; and now, in another few weeks, -the child of their romance would be placed in his arms. -Old profligate though he was, it seems that he saw something -in the present situation different from those in -which he had found himself before. Cleopatra, by her -brilliant wit, her good spirits, her peculiar charm of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span> -manner, her continuous courage, and her boundless -optimism, had managed to retain his love throughout -these months of their close proximity; and an appeal -had been made to the more tender side of his nature -which could not be resisted. He wished to be near her -in her hour of trial; and, moreover (for in Cæsar’s actions -there was always a practical as well as a sentimental -motive), it is probable that he entertained high hopes of -receiving from Cleopatra an heir to his worldly wealth -and position, who should be in due course fully legitimised. -His long intercourse with the Queen had much -altered his point of view; and I think there can be little -doubt that his mind was eagerly feeling forward to new -developments and revolutionary changes in his life.</p> - -<p>At Cleopatra’s wish he was now allowing himself to be -recognised by the Egyptians as the divine consort of the -Queen, an impersonation of the god Jupiter-Amon upon -earth. Some form of marriage had taken place between -them, or, at any rate, the Egyptian people, if not the -cynical Alexandrians, had been constrained to recognise -their legal union. The approaching birth of the child -had made it necessary for Cleopatra to disclose her relationship -with Cæsar, and at the same time to prove to -her subjects that she, their Queen, was not merely the -mistress of an adventurous Roman. As soon, therefore, -as her brother and formal husband Ptolemy XIV. had -died, she had begun to circulate the belief that Julius -Cæsar was the great god of Egypt himself come to -earth, and that the child which was about to make its -appearance was the offspring of a divine union. Upon -the walls of the temples of Egypt, notably at Hermonthis, -near Thebes, bas-reliefs were afterwards sculptured in -which Cleopatra was represented in converse with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span> -god Amon, who appears in human form, and in which -the gods are shown assisting at the celestial birth of the -child. A mythological fiction of a similar nature had -been employed in ancient Egypt in reference to the -births of earlier sovereigns, those of Hatshepsut (<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> -1500) and of Amenophis III. (<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 1400) being two particular -instances. In the known occasions of its use, the -royal parentage of the child had been open to question, -this being the reason why the story of the divine intercourse -was introduced; and thus in the case of Cleopatra -the myth had become familiar, by frequent use, to the -priest-ridden minds of the Egyptians, and was not in any -way startling or original. In the later years of the -Queen’s reign events were dated as from this supernatural -occurrence, and there is preserved to us an -epitaph inscribed in the “twentieth year of (or after) -the union of Cleopatra with Amon.”</p> - -<p>Cæsar was quite willing thus to be reckoned in Egypt -as a divinity. His hero Alexander the Great in like -manner had been regarded as a deity, and had proclaimed -himself the son of Amon, causing himself to be -portrayed with the ram’s horns of that god projecting -from the sides of his head. Though his belief in the -gods was conspicuously absent, Cæsar had always -boasted of his divine descent, his family tracing their -genealogy to Iulus, the son of Æneas, the son of -Anchises and the goddess Venus; and there is every -reason to suppose that Cleopatra had attempted to -encourage him to think of himself as being in very -truth a god upon earth. She herself ruled Egypt by -divine right, and deemed it no matter for doubt that -she was the representative of the Sun-god here below, -the mediator between man and his creator. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span> -Egyptians, if not the Alexandrians, fell flat upon their -faces when they saw her, and hailed her as god, in the -manner in which their fathers had hailed the ancient -Pharaohs. From earliest childhood she had been called -a divinity, and she was named an immortal in the temples -of Egypt as by undoubted right. Those who came into -contact with her partook of the divine affluence, and her -companions were holy in the sight of her Egyptian subjects. -Cæsar, as her consort, thus became a god; and as -soon as her connection with him was made public, he -assumed <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ex officio</i> the nature of a divine being. We shall -see presently how, even in Rome, he came to regard himself -as more than mortal, and how, setting aside in his -own favour his disbelief in the immortals, before he died -he had publicly called himself god upon earth. At the -present period of his life, however, these startling -assumptions were not clearly defined; and it is probable -that he really did not know what to think about -himself. Cleopatra had fed his mind with strange -thoughts, and had so flattered his vanity, though probably -without intention, that if he could but acknowledge -the existence of a better world, he was quite prepared to -believe himself in some sort of manner come from it. -She knew that she herself was supposed to be divine; -she loved Cæsar and had made him her equal; she was -aware that he, too, was said to be descended from the -gods: and thus, by a tacit assumption, it seems to me -that she gradually forced upon him a sense of his divinity -which, in the succeeding years, developed into a fixed -belief.</p> - -<p>This appreciation of his divine nature, which we see -growing in Cæsar’s mind, carried with it, of course, a -feeling of monarchical power, a desire to assume the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span> -prerogatives of kingship. Cleopatra seems now to have -been naming him her consort, and in Egypt, as we have -said, he must have been recognised as her legal husband. -He was already, in a manner of speaking, King of Egypt; -and the fact that he was not officially crowned as Pharaoh -must have been due entirely to his own objection to such -a proceeding. The Egyptians must now have been perfectly -willing to offer to him the throne of the Ptolemies, -just as they had accepted Archelaus, the High Priest of -Komana, as consort of Berenice IV., Cleopatra’s half-sister;<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> -and in these days when their young Queen was -so soon to become a mother there must have been a -genuine and eager desire to regularise the situation by -such a marriage with Cæsar and his elevation to the -throne. Nothing could be more happy politically than -the Queen’s marriage to the greatest man in Rome, and -we have already seen how there was some idea of a union -with Cnæus Pompeius in the days when that man’s -father was the ruler of the Republic. To the Egyptian -mind the fact that Cæsar was already a married man, -with a wife living in Rome, was no real objection. She -had borne him no son, and therefore might be divorced -in favour of a more fruitful vine. Cleopatra herself must -have been keenly desirous to share her Egyptian throne -with Cæsar, for no doubt she saw clearly enough that, -since he was already autocrat and actual Dictator of -Rome, it would not be long before they became -sovereigns of the whole Roman world. If she could -persuade him, like Archelaus of Komana, to accept the -crown of the Pharaohs, there was good reason to suppose -that he would try to induce Rome to offer him the -sovereignty of his own country. The tendency towards<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span> -monarchical rule in the Roman capital, thanks largely to -Pompey, was already very apparent; and both Cæsar -and Cleopatra must have realised that, if they played -their game with skill, a throne awaited them in that city -at no very distant date.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra was a keen patriot, or rather she was deeply -concerned in the advancement of her own and her -dynasty’s fortunes; and it must have been a matter -of the utmost satisfaction to her to observe the direction -in which events were moving. The man whom -she loved, and who loved her, might at any moment -become actual sovereign of Rome and its dominions; -and the child with which she was about to present -him, if it were a boy, would be the heir of the entire -world. For years her dynasty had feared that Rome -would crush them out of existence and absorb her -kingdom into the Republic; but now there was a -possibility that Egypt, and the lands to which the -Nile Valley was the gateway, would become the equal -of Rome at the head of the great amalgamation of the -nations of the earth. Egypt, it must be remembered, -was still unconquered by Rome, and was, at the time, -the most wealthy and important nation outside the -Republic. All Alexandrians and Egyptians believed -themselves to be the foremost people in the world; -and thus to Cleopatra the dream that Egypt might -play the leading part in an Egypto-Roman empire -was in no wise fantastic.</p> - -<p>Her policy, then, was obvious. She must attempt -to retain Cæsar’s affection, and at the same time must -nurse with care the growing aspirations towards -monarchy which were developing in his mind. She -must bind him to her so that, when the time came,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span> -she might ascend the throne of the world by his side; -and she must make apparent to him, and keep ever -present to his imagination, the fact of her own puissance -and the splendour of her royal status, so that there -should be no doubt in Cæsar’s mind that her flesh and -blood, and hers alone, were fitted to blend with his in -the foundation of that single royal line which was to -rule the whole Earth.</p> - -<p>Approaching motherhood, it would seem, had much -sobered her wild nature, and the glory of her ambitions -had raised her thoughts to a level from which she must -have contemplated with disdain her early struggles with -the drowned Ptolemy, the decapitated Potheinos, the -murdered Achillas, and the outlawed Theodotos. She, -Cleopatra, was the daughter of the Sun, the sister of the -Moon, and the kinswoman of the heavenly beings; she -was mated to the descendant of Venus and the Olympian -gods, and the unborn offspring of their union would be -in very truth King of Earth and Heaven.</p> - -<p>Historians both ancient and modern are agreed that -Cleopatra was a woman of exceptional mental power. -Her character, so often wayward in expression, was as -dominant as her personality was strong; and she must -have found no difficulty in making her appeal to the -soaring ambitions of the great Roman. When occasion -demanded she carried herself with dignity befitting the -descendant of an ancient line of kings, and even in her -escapades the royalty of her person was at all times -apparent. The impression which she has left upon the -world is that of a woman who was always significant -of the splendour of monarchy; and her influence upon -Cæsar in this regard is not to be overlooked. A man -such as he could not live for six months in close contact<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span> -with a queen without feeling to some extent the glamour -of royalty. She represented monarchy in its most absolute -form, and in Egypt her word was law. The very -tone of her royal mode of life must have constituted new -matter for Cæsar’s mind to ruminate upon; and that -trait in his character which led him to abhor the thought -of subordination to any living man, must have caused -him to watch the actions of an autocratic queen with -frank admiration and restless envy. Tales of the Kings -of Alexandria and stories of the ancient Pharaohs without -doubt were narrated, and without doubt took some -place in Cæsar’s brain. Cleopatra’s point of view, that -of the most royal of the world’s royal houses, must, by -its very unfamiliarity, have impressed itself upon his -thoughts.</p> - -<p>Thus, little by little, under the influence of the -Egyptian Queen and in the power of his own sleepless -ambitions, Cæsar began to give serious thought to the -possibilities of creating a world-empire over which he -should rule as king, founding a royal line which should -sit upon the supreme earthly throne for ages to come. -Obviously it must have occurred to him that kings must -rule by right of royal blood, and that his own blood, -though noble and though said to be of divine origin, was -not such as would give his descendants unquestionable -command over the loyalty of their subjects. A man who -is the descendant of many kings has a right to royalty -which the son of a conqueror, however honourable his -origin, does not possess. So thought Napoleon when he -married the Austrian princess, founding a royal house in -his country by using the royal blood of another land for -the purpose. Looking around him with this thought in -view, Cæsar could not well have chosen anybody but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span> -Cleopatra as the foundress of his line. There was no -Roman royal house extant, and therefore a Greek was -the best, if not the only, possible alternative; and the -Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt were pure Macedonians, deriving -their descent, by popular belief, if not in actual -fact, from the royal house of Cæsar’s hero, Alexander -the Great. He may well, then, have contemplated with -enthusiasm the thought of the future monarchs of Rome -sitting by inherited right upon the ancient throne of -Macedonian Egypt; and Cleopatra on her part was no -doubt inspired by the idea of future Pharaohs, blood of -her blood and bone of her bone, ruling Rome by -hereditary authority.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra of necessity had to find a husband. Already -she had postponed her marriage beyond the age at which -such an event should take place; and any union with her -co-regnant brother could but be of a formal nature. -Cæsar now had come into her life, capturing her youthful -affections and causing himself to be the parent of her -child; and it is but natural to suppose that she would -endeavour by every means in her power to make him her -lifelong consort, thus adding to her own royal stock the -worthiest blood of Rome. There can be no doubt that -whether or not she might succeed in making Cæsar himself -Pharaoh of Egypt, she intended to hand on the -Egyptian throne to her child and his, adding to the -name of Ptolemy that of the family of the Cæsars. -Thus it may be said, though my assumption at first seems -startling, that the Roman Empire to a large extent owes -its existence to the Egyptian Queen, for the monarchy -was in many respects the child of the union of Cæsar -and Cleopatra.</p> - -<p>These as yet undefined ambitions and hopes found<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span> -a very real and material expression in Cæsar’s eagerness -to know whether the expected babe would be a girl, or a -son and heir; and it seems likely that his determination -to remain in Egypt was largely due to his unwillingness -to depart before that question was answered. This, and -the paternal responsibility which perhaps for the first -time in his sordid life he had ever felt, led him to postpone -his return to Rome. He seems to have entertained -feelings of the greatest tenderness towards the Queen, -whom he was beginning to regard as his wife; and he -was, no doubt, anxious to be near her during the ordeal -through which the young and delicately-built girl had, -for the first time, to pass. It has been the custom for -historians to attribute Cæsar’s prolonged residence in -Egypt, after the termination of the war and the settlement -of Egyptian affairs, to the sensuous allurements of -Cleopatra, who is supposed to have held him captive by -the arts of love and by the voluptuous attractions of her -person; but here a natural fact of life has been overlooked. -A woman who is about to render to mankind -the great service of her sex, has neither the ability nor -the desire to arouse the feverish emotions of her lover. -Her condition calls forth from him the more gentle -aspects of his affection. His responsibility is expressed -in consideration, in interest, in sympathy, and in a kind -of gratitude; but it is palpably absurd to suppose that a -mere passion, such as that by which Cæsar is thought to -have been animated, could at this time have influenced -his actions. If love of any kind held him in Egypt, it -was the love of a husband for his wife, the devotion of -a man who was about to become a parent to the woman -who would presently pay toll to Nature in response to -his incitement. Actually, as we have seen, there was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span> -something more than love to keep him in Egypt; there -was ambition, headlong aspiration, the intoxication of a -conqueror turning his mind to new conquests, and the -supreme interest of a would-be king constructing a -throne which should be occupied not only by himself -but by the descendants of his own flesh and blood for -all time.<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a></p> - -<div id="ip_128" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 34.375em;"> - <img src="images/i_128.jpg" width="550" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>British Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Macbeth.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>CLEOPATRA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>While waiting for the desired event Cæsar could not -remain inactive in the Palace at Alexandria. He desired -to ascertain for himself the resources of the land which -was to be considered as his wife’s dowry; and he therefore -determined to conduct a peaceful expedition up the -Nile with this subject in view. The royal <em>dahabiyeh</em> or -house-boat was therefore made ready for himself and -Cleopatra, whose condition might be expected to benefit -by the idle and yet interesting life upon the river; and -orders were given both to his own legionaries and to a -considerable number of Cleopatra’s troops to prepare -themselves for embarkation upon a fleet of four hundred -Nile vessels. The number of ships suggests that there -were several thousand soldiers employed in the expedition;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span> -and it appears to have been Cæsar’s intention to -penetrate far into the Sudan.<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> The royal vessel, or -<em>thalamegos</em>, as it was called by the Greeks, was of -immense size, and was propelled by many banks of oars.<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> -It contained colonnaded courts, banqueting saloons, -sitting-rooms, bedrooms, shrines dedicated to Venus -and to Dionysos, and a grotto or “winter garden.” -The wood employed was cedar and cypress, and the -decorations were executed in paint and gold-leaf. The -furniture was Greek, with the exception of that in one -dining-hall, which was decorated in the Egyptian style.<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> -The rest of the fleet consisted, no doubt, of galleys and -ordinary native transports and store-ships.</p> - -<p>From the city of Alexandria the fleet passed into the -nearest branch of the Nile, and so travelled southwards -to Memphis, where Cleopatra perhaps obtained her first -sight of the great Pyramids and the Sphinx. Thebes, -the ancient capital, at that period much fallen into decay, -was probably reached in about three weeks’ time; and -Cæsar must have been duly impressed by the splendid -temples and monuments upon both banks of the Nile. -Possibly it was at his suggestion that Cleopatra caused -the great obelisk of one of her distant predecessors to -be moved from the temple of Luxor at Thebes and to -be transported down to Alexandria, where it was erected -not far from the Forum,<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a> an inscription recording its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span> -re-erection being engraved at the base. The journey -was continued probably as far as Aswan and the First -Cataract, which may have been reached some four or -five weeks after the departure from Alexandria; and it -would seem that Cæsar here turned his face to the -north once more. Suetonius states that he was anxious -to proceed farther up the Nile, but that his troops were -restive and inclined to be mutinous, a fact which is not -surprising, since the labour of dragging the vessels up -the cataract would have been immense, and the hot -south winds which often blow in the spring would have -added considerably to the difficulties. The temperature -at this time of year may rise suddenly from the -pleasant degree of an Egyptian winter to that of the -height of intolerable summer, and so remain for four or -five days.</p> - -<p>Be this as it may, Cæsar turned about, having satisfied -himself as to the wealth and fertility of the country, -and, no doubt, having obtained as much information as -possible from the natives in regard to the trade-routes -which led from the Nile to Berenice and India, or to -Meroe, Napata, and the Kingdom of Ethiopia. The -expedition arrived at Alexandria probably some nine or -ten weeks after its departure from that city—that is to -say, at the end of the month of June; and it would seem -that in the first week of July Cleopatra’s confinement -took place.</p> - -<p>The child proved to be a boy; and the delighted -father thus found himself the parent of a son and heir -who was at once accepted by the Egyptians as the -legitimate child of the union of their Queen with the -god Amon, who had appeared in the form of Cæsar. -He was named Cæsar, or more familiarly Cæsarion, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span> -Greek diminutive of the same word; but officially, of -course, he was known also as Ptolemy, and ultimately -was the sixteenth and last of that name. A bilingual -inscription now preserved at Turin refers to him as -“Ptolemy, who is also called Cæsar,” this being often -seen in Egyptian inscriptions in the words <i>Ptolemys zed -nef Kysares</i>, “Ptolemy called Cæsar.”</p> - -<p>The Dictator waited no longer in Egypt. For the -last few months he had put Roman politics from his -thoughts and had not even troubled to write any despatches -to the home Government.<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> But now he had -to create the world-monarchy of which his winter with -Cleopatra had led him to dream; and first there were -campaigns to be fought on the borders of the Mediterranean; -there was Parthia to be subdued; and finally -India was to be invaded and conquered. Then, when -all the known world had become dependent upon him, -and only Egypt and her tributaries were still outside -Roman dominion, he would, by one bold stroke, announce -his marriage to the Queen of that country, -incorporate her lands and her vast wealth with those -of Rome, and declare himself sole monarch of the earth. -It was a splendid ambition, worthy of a great man; and, -as we shall presently see, there can be very little question -that these glorious dreams would have been converted -into actual realities had not his enemies murdered -him on the eve of their realisation. Modern historians -are unanimous in declaring that Cæsar had wasted his -time in Egypt, and had devoted to a love intrigue the -weeks and months which ought to have been spent in -regulating the affairs of the world. Actually, however, -these nine months, far from being wasted, were spent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span> -in the very creation of the Roman Empire. True, -Cæsar’s schemes were frustrated by the knives of his -assassins; but, as will be seen in the sequel, his plans -were carried on by Cleopatra with the assistance of -Antony, and finally were put into execution by -Octavian.</p> - -<p>As Cæsar sailed out of the Great Harbour of Alexandria -he must have turned his keen grey eyes with -peculiar interest upon the splendid buildings of the -Palace, which towered in front of the city, upon the -Lochias Promontory; and that quiet, whimsical expression -must have played around his close-shut lips as he -thought of the change that had been wrought in his -mental attitude by the months spent amidst its royal -luxuries. Enthusiasm for the work which lay before him -must have burnt like a fire within him; but stamped -upon his brain there must have been the picture of a -darkened room in which the wild, happy-go-lucky, little -Queen of Egypt, now so subdued and so gentle, lay -clasping to her breast the new-born Cæsar, the sole -heir to the kingdom of the whole world.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CLEOPATRA AND CÆSAR IN ROME.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Cæsar’s movements during the year after his departure -from Egypt do not, for the purpose of this narrative, -require to be recorded in detail. From Alexandria, -which he may have left at about the middle of the -first week in July, he sailed in a fast-going galley across -the 500 miles of open sea to Antioch, arriving at that -city a few days before the middle of that month.<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> There -he spent a day or two in regulating the affairs of the -country, and presently sailed on to Ephesus, some 600 -miles from Antioch, which he probably reached at the -end of the third week of July. At Antioch he heard -that one of his generals, Domitius Calvinus, had been -defeated by Pharnakes, the son of Mithridates the Great, -and had been driven out of Pontus, and it seems that -he at once sent three legions to the aid of the beaten -troops with orders to await in north-western Galatia -or Cappadocia for his coming. After a day or two at -Ephesus, Cæsar travelled with extreme rapidity to the -rendezvous, taking with him only a thousand cavalry; -and arriving at Zela, 500 miles from Ephesus, on or -before August 2nd, at once defeated the rebels. It had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span> -been his custom in Gaul to travel by himself at the rate -of a hundred miles a day, and even with a heavily laden -army he covered over forty miles a day, as for example in -his march from Rome to Spain, which he accomplished in -twenty-seven days, and he may thus have joined his main -army and commenced his preparations for the battle of -Zela as early as the last days of July. The crushing defeat -which he inflicted on the enemy so shortly after taking -over the command was thus a feat of which he might -justly be proud, and it so tickled his vanity that in -writing to a friend of his in Rome, named Amantius, -he described the campaign in the three famous words, -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Veni, vidi, vici</i>, “I came, I saw, I conquered,” which so -clearly indicate that he was beginning to regard himself -as a sort of swift-footed, irresistible demigod.</p> - -<p>Thence he sailed at last for Italy, and reached Rome -at the end of September, almost exactly a year after his -arrival in Egypt. He remained in Rome not more than -two and a half months, and about the middle of December -he set out for North Africa, where Cato, Scipio, and -other fugitive friends of Pompey had established a provisional -government with the assistance of Juba, King -of Numidia, and were gathering their forces. Arriving -at Hadrumetum on December 28th, he at once began -the war, which soon ended in the entire defeat and -extermination of the enemy at Thapsus on April 6th. -Of the famous Pompeian leaders, Faustus Sulla, Lucius -Africanus, and Lucius Julius Cæsar were put to death; -and Lucius Manlius Torquatus, Marcus Petreius, Scipio, -and Cato committed suicide; while, according to Plutarch, -some fifty thousand men were slain in the rout. -Arriving once more in Rome on July 25th, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 46, Cæsar -at once began to prepare for his Triumph which was to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span> -take place in the following month; and it would seem -that he had already sent messengers to Cleopatra, who -had spent a quiet year of maternal interests in Alexandria, -to tell her to come with their baby to Rome.</p> - -<p>According to Dion, the Queen arrived shortly <em>after</em> -the Triumph, but several modern writers<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> are of opinion -that she reached the capital in time for that event. I -am disposed to think that she made the journey to Italy -in company with the Egyptian prisoners who were to -be displayed in the procession, Princess Arsinoe, the -eunuch Ganymedes,<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> and others, whom Cæsar probably -sent for in the late spring of this year soon after the -battle of Thapsus. Cleopatra could not have been -averse to witnessing the Triumph, for she must have -regarded the late warfare in Alexandria not so much as -a Roman campaign against the Egyptians as an Egypto-Roman -suppression of an Alexandrian insurrection. The -serious part of the campaign could be interpreted as -having been waged by Cæsar on behalf of herself and -her brother, Ptolemy XIV., against the rebels Achillas -and Ganymedes, and later against this same Ptolemy who -had gone over to the enemy; and the victory might thus -be celebrated both by her and by her Roman champion. -It would therefore be fitting that she should be a spectator -of the degradation of Arsinoe and Ganymedes; and -her presence in Rome at this time would obviously be -desirable to her as indicating that she and her country -had suffered no defeat. Cæsar, on his part, must have -desired her presence that she might witness the dramatic -demonstration of his power and popularity. He had just -been made Dictator for the third time, and this appointment<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span> -no doubt led him to feel the security of his position -and the imminence of that rise to monarchical power in -which Cleopatra and their son were to play so essential -a part. He was beginning to regard himself as above -criticism; and his two great victories, in Pontus and -Numidia, following upon his nine months of regal life -in Egypt, had somewhat turned his head, so that he no -longer considered the advisability of delaying his future -consort’s introduction to the people of Rome. He had -yet much to accomplish before he could ascend with her -the throne of the world, but there can be no question -whatsoever that he now desired Cleopatra to begin to -make herself known in the capital; and, this being so, -it seems to me to be highly probable that he would -wish her to refute, by her presence as a witness of his -Triumph, any suggestion that she herself was to be included -in that conquered Egypt<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> about which he was -so continuously boasting.</p> - -<p>The Queen of Egypt’s arrival in Rome must have -caused something of a sensation. Cartloads of baggage, -and numerous agitated eunuchs and slaves doubtless -heralded her approach and followed in her train. Her -little brother, Ptolemy XV., now eleven or twelve years -of age, whom she had probably feared to leave alone -in Alexandria lest he should follow the family tradition -and declare himself sole monarch, had been forced to -accompany her, and now added considerably to the -commotion of her arrival. The one-year-old heir of -the Cæsars and of the Ptolemies, surrounded by guards -and fussing nurses, must, however, have been the cynosure -of all eyes; for every Roman guessed its parentage,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span> -knowing as they did the peculiarities of their Dictator. -Cleopatra and her suite were accommodated in Cæsar’s -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">transtiberini horti</i>, where a charming house stood amidst -beautiful gardens on the right bank of the Tiber, near -the site of the modern Villa Panfili; and it is to be -presumed that his legal wife Calpurnia was left as -mistress of another establishment within the city.</p> - -<p>Cæsar’s attitude towards Cleopatra at this time is not -easily defined. It is not to be presumed that he was -still very deeply in love with her; for natures such as -his are totally incapable of continued devotion. During -his residence in North Africa in the winter or early -spring, he had been much attracted by Eunoe, the wife -of Bogud, King of Mauretania, and had consoled himself -for the temporary loss of Cleopatra by making her -his mistress. Yet the Queen of Egypt still exercised a -very considerable influence over him; and when she -came to Rome it may be supposed that in his transpontine -villa they resumed with some satisfaction the -intimate life which they had enjoyed in the Alexandrian -Palace. The first infatuation was over, however, and -both Cæsar and Cleopatra must have felt that the basis -of their relationship was now a business agreement designed -for their mutual benefit. In all but name they -were married, and it was the fixed intention of both -that their marriage should presently be recognised in -Rome as it already had been in Egypt. Cæsar, I suppose, -took keen pleasure in the company of the witty, -vivacious, and regal girl; and he was extremely happy -to see her lodged in his villa, whither he could repair -at any time of the day or night to enjoy her brilliant -and refreshing society. Their baby son, too, was a -source of interest and enjoyment to him. He was now<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span> -fourteen months old, and his likeness to Cæsar, so pronounced -in after years, must already have been apparent. -Suetonius states that the boy came to resemble his father -very closely, and both in looks and in manners, notably -in his walk, showed very clearly his origin. These -resemblances, already able to be observed, must have -delighted Cæsar, who took such careful pride in his -own appearance and personality; and they must have -formed a bond between himself and Cleopatra as nearly -permanent as anything could be in his progressive and -impatient nature. The Queen, on her part, probably -still took extreme pleasure in the companionship of the -great Dictator, who represented an ideal both of manhood -and of social charm. She must have loved the -fertility of his mind, the autocratic power of his will, -and the energy of his personality; and though premature -age and ill-health were beginning to diminish his aptitude -for the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> of ardent swain, she found in him, no doubt, -a lovable friend and husband, and one with whom the -intimacies of daily comradeship were a cause of genuine -happiness. They were as well suited to one another as -two ambitious characters could be; and, moreover, they -were irrevocably bound to one another by the memory -of past passion not yet altogether in abeyance, by the -sympathy of mutual understanding, by the identity of -their worldly interests, and by the responsibilities of -correlative parentage.</p> - -<p>The arrival of Cleopatra in Rome of course caused a -scandal, to which Cæsar showed his usual nonchalant -indifference. People were sorry for the Dictator’s legal -wife Calpurnia, who, since her marriage in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 59, had -been left so much alone by her husband; and they were -shocked by the open manner in which the members of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span> -the Cæsarian party paid court to the Queen. I find -no evidence to justify the modern belief<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> that Roman -society was at the time annoyed at the introduction of -an <em>eastern</em> lady into its midst;<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a> for everybody must have -known that Cleopatra had not one drop of Egyptian -blood in her veins, and must have realised that she was -a pure Macedonian Greek, ruling over a city which -was the centre of Greek culture and civilisation. But -at the same time there is evidence to show that the -Romans did not like her. Cicero wrote that he detested -her;<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> and Dion says that the people pitied Princess -Arsinoe, her sister, whose degradation was a consequence -of Cleopatra’s success with Cæsar. On the whole, however, -her advent did not cause as much stir as might -have been expected, for she seems to have acted with -tactful moderation in the capital, and to have avoided -all ostentation.</p> - -<p>The Triumph which Cæsar celebrated in August for -the amusement of Rome and for his own enjoyment -was fourfold in character, and lasted for four days. -Upon the first day Cæsar passed through the streets -of Rome in the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> of conqueror of Gaul, and when -darkness had fallen ascended the Capitol by torchlight, -forty elephants carrying numerous torch-bearers to right -and left of his chariot. The unfortunate Vercingetorix, -who had been held prisoner for six miserable years, was -executed at the conclusion of this impressive parade—<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span>an -act of cold-blooded cruelty to an honourable foe -(who had voluntarily surrendered to Cæsar to save his -countrymen from further punishment) which, at the time, -may have been excused on the ground that such executions -were customary at the end of a Triumph. Upon -the second day the conquest of the Dictator’s Egyptian -enemies was celebrated, and the Princess Arsinoe was -led through the streets in chains, together, it would seem, -with Ganymedes, the latter perhaps being executed at -the close of the performance, and the former being spared -as a sort of compliment to Cleopatra’s royal house. In -this procession images of Achillas and Potheinos were -carried along, and were greeted by the populace with -pleasant jeers; while a statue representing the famous -old Nilus, and a model of Pharos, the wonder of the -world, reminded the spectators of the importance of -the country now under Roman protection. African -animals strange to Rome, such as the giraffe, were led -along in the procession, and other wonders from Egypt -and Ethiopia were displayed for the delight of the -populace. On the third day the conquest of Pontus -was demonstrated, and a large tablet with the arrogant -words <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Veni, Vidi, Vici</i> painted upon it was carried -before the conqueror. Finally, on the fourth day the -victories in North Africa were celebrated. In this last -procession Cæsar caused some offence by exhibiting -captured Roman arms; for the campaign had been -fought against Romans of the Pompeian party, a fact -which at first he had attempted to disguise by stating -that the Triumph was celebrated over King Juba of -Numidia, who had sided with the enemy. Still graver -offence was caused, however, when it was seen that -vulgar caricatures of Cato and other of Cæsar’s personal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span> -enemies were exhibited in the procession; and the populace -must have questioned whether such a jest at the -expense of honourable Romans whose bodies were hardly -yet cold in their graves was in perfect taste. It would -seem indeed that Cæsar’s judgment in such matters had -become somewhat warped during this last year of military -and administrative success, and that he had begun -to despise those who were opposed to him as though -they could be but misguided fools. In this attitude -one sees, perhaps, something of that same quality which -led him blandly to accept in Egypt a sort of divinity -as by personal right, and which persuaded him to aim -always towards absolutism; for a man is in no wise -normal who considers himself a being meet for worship -and his enemy an object fit only for derision.</p> - -<p>There seems, in fact, little doubt that Cæsar was not -now in a normal condition of mind. For some years -he had been subject to epileptic seizures, and now the -distressing malady was growing more pronounced and -the seizures were of more frequent occurrence. At the -battle of Thapsus he is said to have been taken ill in -this manner; and on other occasions he was attacked -while in discharge of his duties. Such a physical condition -may be accountable for much of his growing -eccentricity, and, particularly, one may attribute to it -his increasing faith in his semi-divine powers. Lombroso -goes so far as to say that epilepsy is almost an essential -factor in the personality of one who believes himself to -be a Son of God or Messenger of the Deity. Akhnaton, -the great religious reformer of Ancient Egypt, suffered -from epilepsy; the Prophet Mohammed, to put it bluntly, -had fits; and many other religious reformers suffered in -like manner. One cannot tell what hallucinations and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span> -strange manifestations were experienced by Cæsar under -the influence of this malady; but one may be sure that -to Cleopatra they were clear indications of his close -relationship to the gods, and that in explanation she -did not fail to remind him both of his divine descent -and her own inherited divinity, in which, as her consort, -he participated.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of September Cæsar caused a sensation -in Rome by an act which shows clearly enough his -attitude in this regard. He consecrated a magnificent -temple in honour of Venus Genetrix, his divine ancestress; -and there, in the splendour of its marble sanctuary, -he placed a statue of Cleopatra, which had been executed -during the previous weeks by the famous Roman sculptor, -Archesilaus.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> The significance of this act has been overlooked -by modern historians. In placing in this shrine -of Venus, at the time of its inauguration, a figure of the -Queen of Egypt, who in her own country was the representative -of Isis-Aphrodite upon earth,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> Cæsar was demonstrating -the divinity of Cleopatra, and was telling the -people, as it were in everlasting phrases of stone, that the -royal girl who now honoured his villa on the banks of the -Tiber was no less than a manifestation of Venus herself. -It will presently be seen how, in after years, Cleopatra -went to meet Antony decked in the character of Venus, -and how she was then and on other occasions hailed by -the crowd as the goddess come down to earth; and we -shall see how her mausoleum actually formed part of the -temple of that goddess. Both at this date and in later -times she was identified indiscriminately with Isis, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span> -Venus-Hathor, and with Venus-Aphrodite; and even -after her death the tradition so far survived that one of -her famous pearl earrings was cut into two parts, and, in -this form, ultimately ornamented the ears of the statue of -Venus in the Pantheon at Rome. Coins dating from this -period have been found upon which Cleopatra is represented -as Aphrodite, carrying in her arms the baby -Cæsarion, who is supposed to be Eros. Cæsar was -always boasting about the connection of his house with -this goddess; and now the placing of this statue of -Cleopatra in his new temple is, I think, to be interpreted -as signifying that he wished the Roman people to regard -the Queen as a “young goddess,” which was the title -given to her by the Greeks and Egyptians in her own -country.</p> - -<p>It is not altogether certain that Cæsar himself was -actually beginning to regard Cleopatra in this light, -though the increasing frequency of his epileptic attacks, -and his consequent hallucinations, may have now made -such an attitude possible even in the case of so hardened -a sceptic as was the Dictator in former years. It seems -more reasonable to suppose that he was at this time -attempting to appeal to the imagination of the people in -anticipation of the great <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coup</i> which he was about to -execute; and that, with this object in view, he allowed -himself to be carried along by a kind of enthusiastic self-deception. -He applied no serious analysis to his opinions -in this regard; but, by means of a thoughtless vanity, he -seems to have given rein to an undefined conviction, very -suitable to his great purpose, that he himself was more -than human, and that Cleopatra was not altogether a -woman of mortal flesh and blood. Even so Alexander -the Great had partially deluded himself when, on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span> -one hand, he named himself the son of Jupiter-Ammon, -and, on the other, was careful, once when wounded, to -point out that ordinary mortal blood flowed from his -veins. And so, too, Napoleon Bonaparte, during his -invasion of Egypt, declared that he was the Prophet of -God, and, in after years, was willing to describe to a -friend, as it were in jest, his vision of himself as the -founder of a new Faith.</p> - -<p>The inauguration of Cæsar’s new temple, which was, -one may say, the shrine of Cleopatra, was accompanied -by amazing festivities, and the excitable population of -this great city seemed, so to speak, to go mad with -enthusiasm. Great gladiatorial shows were organised, -and a miniature sea-fight upon an artificial lake was -enacted for the public entertainment. The majority of -the mob was ready enough to accept without comment -the exalted position of the statue of Cleopatra. At this -time in Rome they were very partial to new and foreign -deities, celestial or in the flesh; and actually the worship -of the Egyptian goddess Isis, with whom Cleopatra, as -Venus, was so closely connected, had taken firm hold of -their imagination. For the last few years the religion -of Isis had been extremely popular with the lower classes -in Rome; and when, in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 58, a law which had been -made forbidding foreign temples to be located within a -certain area of the city, necessitated the destruction of -a temple of Isis, not one man could be found who would -touch the sacred building, and at last the Consul, Lucius -Paullus, was obliged to tuck up his toga and set to work -upon the demolition of the edifice with his own hands. -Thus, this inaugural ceremony, so lavishly organised by -Cæsar, was a marked success; and in spite of the -indignation of Cicero, the statue of Cleopatra took its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span> -permanent place, with popular consent, in the sanctuary -of Venus. No expense was spared on this or on any -other occasion to please the people; and at one time -twenty-two thousand persons partook of a sumptuous -meal at Cæsar’s expense. Such a courting of the people -was, indeed, necessary at this time; for although the -Dictator was at the moment practically omnipotent, and -though there was talk of securing him in his office for a -term of ten years, his party had not that solidity which -was to be desired of it. Antony, the right-hand man of -the Cæsarians, was, at the time, in some disgrace owing -to a quarrel with his master; and there were rumours that -he wished to revenge himself by assassinating Cæsar. It -was already becoming clear that the Pompeian party, in -spite of Pharsalia and Thapsus, was not yet dead, and -still waited to receive its death-blow. Some of the -Dictator’s actions had given considerable offence, and -there were certain people in Rome who made use of -every opportunity to denounce him, and to offer their -praise to the memory of his enemy Cato, whose tragic -death after the battle of Thapsus, and the vilification of -whose memory in the recent Triumph, had caused such -a painful impression. Cicero wrote an encomium upon -this unfortunate man, to which Cæsar, in self-defence, -replied by publishing his Anti-Cato, which was marked -by a tone of bitter and even venomous animosity. All -manner of unpleasant remarks were being made in better-class -circles in regard to Cleopatra; and when the -Dictator publicly admitted the parentage of their child, -and authorised him to bear the name of Cæsar, it began -to be whispered that his legal marriage to the Queen was -imminent.</p> - -<p>The mixed population of Rome delighted in political<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span> -strife, and though Cæsar’s position seemed unassailable, -there were always large numbers of persons ready to -make sporadic attacks upon it. There was at this time -constant rioting in the Forum, and an almost continuous -restlessness was to be observed in the streets and public -places. In the theatres topical allusions were received -with frantic applause;<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> and even in the Senate disturbances -were not infrequent. The people had always to be -humoured, and Cæsar was obliged at all times to play to -the gallery. Fortunately for him he possessed in the -highest degree the art of self-advertisement;<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> and his -charm of manner, together with his striking and handsome -appearance, made the desired appeal to the popular -fancy. His relationship to Cleopatra stood, on the -whole, in his favour amongst the lower classes, who had -hailed him with coarse delight as the terror of the women -of Gaul; and the fact that she was a foreigner mattered -not in the least to the heterogeneous population of -Rome. They themselves were largely a composition of -the nations of the earth; and that Cæsar’s mistress, and -probable future wife, was a Greek, was to them in no wise -a matter for comment. In any theatre in Rome at that -date one might sit amidst an audience of foreigners to -hear a drama given (at Cæsar’s expense, by the way) in -language such as Greek, Phœnician, Hebrew, Syrian, or -Spanish. To them Cleopatra must have appeared as a -wonderful woman, closely related to the gods, come from -a famous city across the waters to enjoy the society of -their own half-godlike Dictator; and they were quite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span> -prepared to accept her as a pleasant and romantic adjunct -to the political situation.</p> - -<p>Among the many reforms which Cæsar now introduced -there was one which was the direct outcome of -his visit to Egypt. For some time the irregularities -of the calendar had been causing much inconvenience, -and the Dictator, very probably at the Queen of Egypt’s -suggestion, now decided to invite some of Cleopatra’s -court astronomers to Rome in order that they might -establish a new system based upon the Egyptian calendar -of Eudoxus. Sosigenes was at that time the most celebrated -astronomer in Alexandria, and it was to him, -perhaps at Cleopatra’s advice, that Cæsar now turned. -After very careful study it was decided that the present -year, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 46, should be extended to fifteen months, or -445 days, in order that the nominal date might be -brought round to correspond with the actual season. -The so-called Julian calendar, which was thus established, -is that upon which our present system is based; and -it is not without interest to recollect that but for -Cleopatra some entirely different set of months would -now be used throughout the world.</p> - -<p>Cæsar’s mind at this time was full of his plans for the -conquest of the East. In <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 65 Pompey had brought -to Rome many details regarding the overland route to -the Orient. This route started from the Port of Phasis -on the Black Sea, ascended the river of that name to its -source in Iberia, passed over to the valley of the river -Cyrus (Kur), and so came to the coast of the Caspian -Sea. Crossing the water the route thence led along the -river Oxus, which at that time flowed into the Caspian, -to its source, and thus through Cashmir into India.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span> -There must then have been some talk of carrying the -eagles along this highway to the Orient; and while -Cæsar was in Egypt it seems probable, as we have seen, -that he had studied the question of leading Roman arms -thither by the great Egyptian trade route. Though this -latter road to the wonderful Orient, however, must have -seemed to him, after consideration, to be very suitable as -a channel for the despatch of reinforcements, he appears -to have favoured the land route across Asia for his -original invasion. This approach to the East was -blocked by the Parthians, and Cæsar now announced -his intention of conducting a campaign against these -people. There is no evidence to show that he desired -to follow Alexander’s steps beyond Parthia into India, -but I am of opinion that such was his intention. In -view of the facts that the exploits of Alexander the Great -had been studied by him, that he publicly declared his -wish to rival them, that he must have heard from Pompey -of the overland route to India with which the Romans -had become acquainted during the war against Mithridates, -that his love of distant conquest and exploration -was inordinate, that he had spent some months in -studying conditions in Egypt—a country which was in -those days full of talk of India and of the new trade with -the Orient, that after leaving Egypt he began at once to -prepare for a campaign against the one nation which -obstructed the overland route to the East, that no other -part of the known world, save poverty-stricken Germania, -remained to be brought by conquest under Roman sway, -that India offered possibilities of untold wealth, and that -Cleopatra herself ultimately made an attempt to reach -those far countries,—the inference seems to me to be -clear that Cæsar’s designs upon Parthia were only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span> -preliminary to a contemplated invasion of the East. -The riches of those distant lands were already the talk -of the age, and within the lifetime of young men of -this period streams of Indian merchandise, comprising -diamonds, precious stones, silks, spices, and scents, -began to pour into Rome and were sold each year, -according to the somewhat exaggerated account of Pliny, -for some forty million pounds sterling.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> Could Cæsar, -the world’s greatest spendthrift, the world’s most eager -plunderer, have resisted the temptation of making a bid -for the loot which lay behind Parthia? Does the fact -that he said nothing of such an intention preclude the -possibility that thoughts of this kind now filled his mind, -and formed a topic of conversation between him and the -adventurous Cleopatra, the Ruler of the gateway of the -Orient, who herself sent Cæsar’s son to India, as we -shall see in due course? Napoleon, when he invaded -Egypt in 1798, said very little about his contemplated -attack upon India; but it was none the less dominant -in his mind for that. Egypt and Parthia in conjunction -formed the basis of any attempt to capture the Orient: -Egypt with its route across the seas, and Parthia with its -highroad overland. Are we really to suppose that Cæsar -did waste his time in Egypt, or was he then studying the -same problem which now directed his attention to -Parthia? By means of his partnership with Cleopatra -he had secured one of the routes to India; and the -merchants of Alexandria, if not his own great imagination, -must have made clear to him the value of his -possession in that regard; for ever since the discovery<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span> -of the over-sea route to the East that value has been -recognised. The Venetian Sanuto in later years told his -compatriots of the effect on India which would follow -from the conquest of the Nile Valley; the Comte Daru -said that the possession of Egypt meant the opening up -of India; Leibnitz told Louis XIV. of France that an -invasion of Egypt would result in the capture of the -Indian highroad; the Duc de Choiseul made a similar -declaration to Louis XV.; Napoleon stated in his -‘Memoirs’ that his object in attacking Egypt was to -lead an army of 60,000 men to India; and at the present -day England holds the Nile Valley as being the gateway -of her distant possessions. On the other side of the -picture we see at the present time the attempts of -Russia to establish her power in Northern Persia and -Afghanistan, where once the Parthians of old held sway, -in order to be ready for that day when English power -in India shall decline. Was Cæsar, then, straining every -nerve only for the possession of the two gateways of the -Orient, or did his gaze penetrate through those gateways -to the vast wealth of the kingdoms beyond? I am -disposed to see him walking with Cleopatra in the gardens -of the villa by the Tiber, just as Napoleon paced -the parks of Passeriano, “frequently betraying by his -exclamations the gigantic thoughts of his unlimited -ambition,” as Lacroix tells us of the French conqueror.</p> - -<p>Such dreams, however, were rudely interrupted by the -news that the Pompeian party had gathered its forces in -Spain; and Cæsar was obliged to turn his attention to -that part of the world. In the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 46, therefore, -he set out for the south-west, impatient at the delay -which the new campaign necessitated in his great -schemes. He was in no mood to brook any opposition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span> -in Rome, and before leaving the capital he arranged that -he should be made Consul without a colleague for the -ensuing year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 45, as well as Dictator, thus giving -himself absolutely autocratic power. On his way to -Spain he sent a despatch to Rome, appointed eight -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">praefecti urbi</i> with full powers to act in his name, thus -establishing a form of cabinet government which should -entirely over-ride the wishes of the Senate and of the -people; and in this manner he secured the political -situation to his own advantage. Naturally there was a -very great outcry against this high-handed action; but -Cæsar was far too deeply occupied by his vast schemes, -and far too annoyed by this Spanish interruption of his -course towards the great goal of his ambitions, to pay -much attention to the outraged feelings of his political -opponents.</p> - -<p>The enemy in Spain were led by the two sons of the -great Pompey, but at the battle of Munda, fought on -March 17, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 45, they were entirely defeated with a loss -of some thirty thousand men. The elder of the two -leaders, Cnæus Pompeius, who was said to have once -been a suitor for Cleopatra’s heart, was killed shortly -after the battle, but the younger, Sextus, escaped. Cæsar -then returned to Rome, being met outside the capital by -Antony, with whom he was reconciled; and in the early -summer he celebrated his Triumph. In this he offended -a number of persons, owing to the fact that his victory -had been won over his fellow-countrymen, whose defeat, -therefore, ought not to have been the cause of more than -a silent satisfaction. After Pharsalia Cæsar had celebrated -no triumph, since Romans had there fought -Romans; and, indeed, as Plutarch says, “he had seemed -rather to be ashamed of the action than to expect honour<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span> -from it.” But now he had come to feel that he himself -was Rome, and that his enemies were not simply opposed -to his party but were in arms against the State.</p> - -<p>Knowing now that the Pompeians were at last crushed, -Cæsar decided to attempt to appease any ill-feeling -directed against himself by the friends of the fallen -party; and for this purpose he caused the statues of -Pompey the Great, which had been removed from their -pedestals, to be replaced; and furthermore, he pardoned, -and even gave office to, several leaders of the Pompeian -party, notably to Brutus and Cassius, who afterwards -were ranked amongst his murderers. He then settled -down in Rome to prepare for his campaign in the East, -and, in the meantime, to put into execution the many -administrative reforms which were maturing in his restless -brain. It appears that he lived for the most part of -this time in the house of which his wife Calpurnia was -mistress; but there can be little doubt that he was a -constant visitor at his transpontine villa, and that he -spent all his spare hours there in the society of Cleopatra, -who remained in Rome until his death.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EGYPTO-ROMAN MONARCHY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The people of Rome now began to heap honours upon -Cæsar, and the government which he had established did -not fail to justify its existence by voting him to a position -of irrevocable power. He was made Consul for ten years, -and there was talk of decreeing him Dictator for life. -The Senate became simply an instrument for the execution -of his commands; and so little did the members -concern themselves with the framing of new laws at -home, or with the details of foreign administration, that -Cicero is able to complain that in his official capacity he -had received the thanks of Oriental potentates whose -names he had never seen before, for their elevation to -thrones of kingdoms of which he had never heard. -Cæsar’s interests were world-wide, and the Government -in Rome carried out his wishes in the manner in which -an ignorant Board of Directors of a company with foreign -interests follows the advice of its travelling manager. -He had lived for such long periods in foreign countries, -his campaigns had carried him over so much of the -known world’s surface, that Rome appeared to him to be -nothing more than the headquarters of his administration, -and not a very convenient centre at that. His intimacy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span> -with Cleopatra, moreover, had widened his outlook, and -had very materially assisted him to become an arbiter of -universal interests. Distant cities, such as Alexandria, -were no longer to him the capitals of foreign lands, but -were the seats of local governments within his own -dominions; and the throne towards which he was climbing -was set at an elevation from which the nations of -the whole earth could be observed.</p> - -<p>In accepting as his own business the concerns of so -many lands, he was assuming responsibilities the weight -of which no man could bear; yet his dislike of receiving -advice, and his uncontrolled vanity, led him to -resent all interference, nor would he admit that the -strain was too great for his weakened physique. Intimate -friends of the Dictator, such as Balbus and -Oppius, observed that he was daily growing more irritable, -more self-opinionated; and the least suggestion of -a decentralisation of his powers caused him increasing -annoyance. He wished always to hold the threads of -the entire world’s concerns in his own hands. Now he -was discussing the future of North African Carthage -and of Grecian Corinth, to which places he desired to -send out Roman colonists; now he was regulating the -affairs of Syria and Asia Minor; and now he was -absorbed in the agrarian problems of Italy. There were -times when the weight of universal affairs pressed so -heavily upon him that he would exclaim that he had -lived long enough; and in such moods, when his friends -warned him of the possibility of his assassination, he -would reply that death was not such a terrible matter, -nor a disaster which could come to him more than -once. The frequency of his epileptic seizures was a -cause of constant distress to him, and his gaunt, almost<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span> -haggard, appearance must have indicated to his friends -that the strain was becoming unbearable. Yet ever his -ambitions held him to his self-imposed task; and always -his piercing eyes were set upon that goal of all his -schemes, the monarchy of the earth.</p> - -<p>People were now beginning to discuss openly the -subject of his elevation to the throne. It was freely -stated that he proposed to make himself King and -Cleopatra Queen, and, further, that he intended to -transfer the seat of his government to Alexandria, or -some other eastern city. The site of Rome was not -ideal. It was too far from the sea ever to be a first-rate -centre of commerce; nor had it any natural -sources of wealth in the neighbourhood. The streets, -which were narrow and crookedly built, were liable to -be flooded at certain seasons by the swift-flowing Tiber.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> -Pestilence and sickness were rife amongst the congested -quarters of the city; and in the middle ages, as Mommsen -has pointed out, “one German army after another melted -away under its walls and left it mysteriously victorious.” -After the battle of Actium, Augustus wished to change -the capital to some other quarter of the globe, as, for -example, to Byzantium; and it is very possible that -the idea originated with Cæsar. At the period -with which we are now dealing Rome was far less -magnificent than it became a few years later, and it -must have compared unfavourably with Alexandria and -other cities. Its streets ascended and descended, -twisted this way and that, in an amazing manner; and -so narrow were they that Cæsar was obliged to pass a -law prohibiting waggons from being driven along them -in the daytime, all porterage being performed by men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span> -or beasts of burden. The great public buildings -and palaces of the rich rose from amidst the encroaching -jumble of small houses like exotic plants -hemmed in by a mass of overgrown weeds; and Cæsar -must often have given envious thought to Alexandria -with its great Street of Canopus and its Royal -Area.</p> - -<p>Those who study the lives of Cleopatra and Cæsar -in conjunction cannot fail to ask themselves how far -the Queen influenced the Dictator’s thoughts at this -time. During these last years of his life—the years -which mark his greatness and give him his unique -place in history—Cleopatra was living in the closest -intimacy with him; and, so far as we know, there was -not another man or woman in the world who had such -ample opportunities for playing an influential part in -his career. If Cleopatra was interested, as we know -she was, in the welfare of her country and her royal -house, or in the career of herself and Cæsar, or in the -destiny of their son, it is palpably impossible to suppose -that she did not discuss matters of statecraft with -the man who was, in all but name, her husband. At -a future date Cleopatra was strong enough to play one -of the big political <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôles</i> in history, dealing with kingdoms -and armies as the ordinary woman deals with -a house and servants; and in the light of the knowledge -of her character as it is unfolded to us in the -years after the Dictator’s death, it is not reasonable -to suppose that in Rome she kept aloof from all his -schemes and plans, deeming herself capable of holding -the attention of the master of the world’s activities by -the entertainments of the boudoir and the arts of the -bedchamber. Her individuality does not dominate the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span> -last years of the Roman Republic, merely because of -the profligacy of her life with Antony and the tragedy -of their death, but because her personality was so irresistible -that it influenced in no small degree the affairs -of the world. I am of opinion that Cleopatra’s name -would have been stamped upon the history of this -period even though the events which culminated at -Actium had never occurred. The romantic tragedy of -her connection with Antony has captured the popular -taste, and has diverted the attention of historians from -the facts of her earlier years. There is a tendency -completely to overlook the influence which she exercised -in the politics of Rome during the last years of -Cæsar’s life.<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> The eyes of historians are concentrated -upon the Alexandrian drama, and the tale of Cleopatra’s -life in the Dictator’s villa is overlooked. Yet who will -be so bold as to state that a Queen, whose fortunes were -linked by Cæsar with his own at the height of his -power, left no mark upon the events of that time? -When Cleopatra came to Rome her outlook upon life -must have been in striking contrast to that of the -Romans. The republic was still the accepted form of -government, and as yet there was no definite movement -towards monarchism. The hereditary emperors of the -future were hardly dreamed of, and the kings of the -far past were nigh forgotten. Now, although it may -be supposed that Cleopatra, by contact with the world, -had adopted a moderately rational view of her status, -yet there can be no doubt that the sense of her royal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">158</a></span> -and divine personality was far from dormant in her. -Her education and upbringing, as I have already said, -and now the adulation of Cæsar, must have influenced -her mind, so that the knowledge of her royalty was at -all times almost her predominant characteristic; and it -would be strange indeed if the Dictator’s thoughts had -been proof against the insinuating influence of this -atmosphere in which he chose to spend a great portion -of his time. Did Rome herself supply Cæsar’s stimulus, -Rome which had not known monarchy for four hundred -and fifty years? But admitting that Rome was ripe for -monarchy, and that circumstances to some extent forced -Cæsar towards that form of government, can we declare -that the Dictator would, of his own accord, have embraced -sovereignty and even divinity so rapidly had his -consort not been a Queen and a goddess?</p> - -<p>During the last months of his life—namely, from his -return to Rome in the early summer after the Spanish -campaign to his assassination in the following March—Cæsar -vigorously pressed forward his schemes in regard -to the monarchy. Originally, it would seem, he had -intended to complete his eastern conquests before making -any attempt to obtain the throne; but now the -long delay in his preparations for the Parthian campaign -had produced a feeling of impatience which -could no longer be controlled. Moreover, his attention -had been called to an old prophecy which stated that -the Parthians would not be conquered until a <em>King</em> of -Rome made war upon them; and Cæsar was sufficiently -acute, if not sufficiently superstitious, to be influenced -to an appreciable extent by such a declaration. Little -by little, therefore, he assumed the prerogatives of kingship, -daily adding to the royal character of his appearance,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span> -and daily assuming more autocratic and monarchical -powers.</p> - -<p>It was not long before he caused himself to be given -the hereditary title of Imperator, a word which meant -at that time “Commander-in-chief,” and had no royal -significance, though the fact that it was made hereditary -gave it a new significance. It is to be observed that -the persons who framed the decree must have realised -that the son to whom the title would descend would -probably be that baby Cæsar who now ruled the -nurseries of the villa beside the Tiber; for there can -be little doubt that the Dictator’s legitimate marriage -to Cleopatra at the first opportune moment was confidently -expected by his supporters; and we are thus -presented with the novel spectacle of enthusiastic Roman -statesmen offering the hereditary office of Imperator to -the future King of Egypt. There can surely be no -clearer indication than this that the people of Rome -took no exception to Cleopatra’s foreign blood,<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> nor -thought of her in any way as an Oriental. The attitude -of the majority of modern historians suggests that -they picture the Dictator at this time as living with -some sort of African woman whom he had brought back -with him from Egypt; but I must repeat that I am -convinced that in actual fact the Romans regarded -Cleopatra as a royal Greek lady whose capital city of -Alexandria was the rival of the Eternal City in wealth, -magnificence, and culture, bearing to Rome, to some -extent, the relationship which New York bears to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span> -London. It was rumoured at this time that a law -was about to be introduced by one of the tribunes of -the people which would enable Cæsar, if necessary, to -have two wives—Calpurnia and Cleopatra—and that -the new wife need not be a Roman. The people could -have felt no misgivings at the thought of Cleopatra’s -son being Cæsar’s heir; for already they knew well -enough that Cæsar was to be King of Rome, and by -his marriage with Cleopatra they realised that he was -adding to Rome’s dominions without force of arms the -one great kingdom of the civilised world which was still -independent, and was securing for his heirs upon the -Roman throne the honourable appendage of the oldest -crown in existence, and the vast fortune which went -with it. In later years, when Cleopatra as the consort -of Antony had become a public enemy, there was much -talk of an East-Mediterranean peril, and the Queen came -to represent Oriental splendour as opposed to Occidental -simplicity; but at the time with which we are now dealing -this attitude was entirely undeveloped, and Cleopatra -was regarded as the most suitable mother for that son -of Cæsar who should one day inherit his honours and -his titles.</p> - -<div id="ip_160" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 25.5625em;"> - <img src="images/i_160.jpg" width="409" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Vatican</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Anderson.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>JULIUS CÆSAR.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>At about this date the baby actually became uncrowned -King of Egypt, for Cleopatra’s young brother, Ptolemy -XV., mysteriously passes from the records of history, and -is heard of no more. Whether Cleopatra and Cæsar -caused him to be murdered as standing in the way of -their ambitions, or whether he died a natural death, will -now never be known. He comes into the story of these -eventful days like a shadow, and like a shadow he disappears; -and all that we know concerning his end is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span> -derived from Josephus,<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> who states that he was poisoned -by his sister. Such an accusation, however, is only to be -expected, and would certainly have been made had the -boy died of a sudden illness. It is therefore not just to -Cleopatra to burden her memory with the crime; and all -that one may now say is that, while the death of the -unfortunate young King may be attributed to Cleopatra -without improbability, there is really no reason to suppose -that she had anything to do with it.</p> - -<p>Cæsar now caused a statue of himself to be erected in -the Capitol as the eighth royal figure there, the previous -seven being those of the old Kings of Rome. Soon he -began to appear in public clad in the embroidered dress -of the ancient monarchs of Alba; and he caused his head -to appear in true monarchical manner upon the Roman -coins. A throne of gold was provided for him to sit -upon in his official capacity in the Senate and on his -tribunal; and in his hand he now carried a sceptre of -ivory, while upon his head was a chaplet of gold in the -form of a laurel-wreath. A consecrated chariot, like the -sacred chariot of the Kings of Egypt, was provided for -his conveyance at public ceremonies, and a kind of royal -bodyguard of senators and nobles was offered to him. -He was given the right, moreover, of being buried inside<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span> -the city walls, just as Alexander the Great had been -laid to rest within the Royal Area at Alexandria. These -marks of kingship, when observed in conjunction with -the hereditary title of Imperator which had been conferred -upon him, and the lifelong Dictatorship which was about -to be offered to him, are indications that the goal was -now very near at hand; and both Cæsar and Cleopatra -must have lived at the time in a state of continuous -excitement and expectation. Everybody knew what was -in the air, and Cicero went so far as to write a long letter -to Cæsar urging him not to make himself King, but he -was advised not to send it. The ex-Consul Lucius -Aurelius Cotta inserted the thin edge of the wedge by -proposing that Cæsar should be made King of the Roman -dominions <em>outside</em> Italy; but the suggestion was not -taken up with much enthusiasm. Cæsar himself seems -to have been undecided as to whether he should postpone -the great event until after the Parthian war or not, and -the settlement of this question must have given rise to -the most anxious discussions.</p> - -<p>There was no longer need for the Dictator to hide -his intentions with any great care; and as a preliminary -measure he did not hesitate to proclaim to the public -his belief in the divinity of his person. He caused his -image to be carried in the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Pompa circenis</i> amongst those -of the immortal gods. A temple dedicated to Jupiter-Julius -was decreed, and a statue in his likeness was set -up in the temple of Quirinus, inscribed with the words, -“To the Immortal God.” A college of priestly <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Luperci</i>, -of whom we shall presently learn more, was established -in his honour; and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">flamines</i> were created as priests of his -godhead, an institution which reminds one of the manner -in which the Pharaoh of Egypt was worshipped by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span> -body of priests. A bed of state was provided for him -within the chief temples of Rome. In the formulæ -of the political oaths in which Jupiter and the Penates -of the Roman people had been named, the <em>Genius</em> of -Cæsar was now called upon, just as in Egypt the <em>Ka</em>, or -genius, of the sovereign was invoked. “The old national -faith,” says Mommsen, “became the instrument of a -Cæsarian papacy”; and indeed it may be said that it -became the instrument actually of a supreme Cæsarian -deification.</p> - -<p>By the end of the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 45 and the beginning of -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 44 there was no longer any doubt in the minds -of the Roman people that Cæsar intended presently to -ascend the throne; and the only question asked was as -to whether the event would take place before or after -the Eastern campaign. Some time before February 15th -he was made Dictator for life; and this, regarded in -conjunction with the homage now paid to his person, -and the hereditary nature of his title of Imperator, made -the margin between his present status and that of kingship -exceedingly narrow. It is probable that Cæsar -was not determined to introduce the old title of “King,” -although he affected the dress and insignia of those who -had been “kings” of Rome. It is more likely that he -was seeking some new monarchical title; and when, on -one occasion, he declared “I am Cæsar, and no ‘King,’” -he may already have decided to elevate his personal -name to the significance of the royal title which it -ultimately became, and still in this twentieth century -continues to be.<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a></p> - -<p>His arrogance was daily becoming more pronounced, -and his ambition was now “swell’d so much that it did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span> -almost stretch the sides o’ the world.”<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> He severely -rebuked Pontius Aquila, one of the Tribunes, for not -rising when he passed in front of the Tribunician seats; -and for some time afterwards he used to qualify any -declaration which he made in casual conversation by -the sneering words, “By Pontius Aquila’s kind permission.” -Once, when a deputation of Senators came -to him to confer new honours upon him, he, on the -other hand, received them without rising from his seat; -and he was now wont to keep his closest friends waiting -in an anteroom for an audience, a fact of which Cicero -bitterly complains. When his authority was questioned -he invariably lost his temper, and would swear in the -most horrible manner. “Men ought to look upon what -I say as <em>law</em>,” he is reported by Titus Ampius to have -said; and, indeed, there were very few persons who had -the hardihood not to do so. On a certain occasion it -was discovered that some enthusiast had placed a royal -diadem upon the head of one of his statues, and, very -correctly, the two Tribunes caused it to be removed. -This so infuriated Cæsar, who declared the official act -to be a deliberate insult, that he determined to punish -the two men at the first convenient opportunity. On -January 26th of the new year this opportunity presented -itself. As he was walking through the streets some -persons in the crowd hailed him as King, whereupon -these zealous officials ordered them to be arrested and -flung into prison. Cæsar at once raised an appalling -storm, the result of which was that the two Tribunes -were expelled from the Senate.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra’s attitude could not well fail to be influenced -by that of the Dictator; and it is probable that she gave<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span> -some offence by an occasional haughtiness of manner. -Her Egyptian chamberlains and court officials must -also have annoyed the Romans by failing to disguise -their Alexandrian vanity; and there can be little doubt -that many of Cæsar’s friends began to regard the menage -at the transpontine villa with growing dislike. A letter -written by Cicero to his friend Atticus is an interesting -commentary upon the situation. It seems that the -great writer had been favoured by Cleopatra with the -promise of a gift suitable to his standing, probably in -return for some service which he had rendered her. “I -detest the Queen,” he writes, “and the voucher for her -promises, Hammonios, knows that I have good cause -for saying so. What she promised, indeed, were all -things of the learned sort and suitable to my character, -such as I could avow even in a public meeting. As for -Sara (pion),<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> besides finding him an unprincipled rascal, -I also found him inclined to give himself airs towards -me. I only saw him once at my house; and when I -asked him politely what I could do for him, he said that -he had come in hopes of seeing Atticus. The Queen’s -insolence, too, when she was living in Cæsar’s trans-tiberine -villa,<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> I cannot recall without a pang. So I will -not have anything to do with that lot.”</p> - -<p>The ill-feeling towards Cæsar, which was very decidedly -on the increase, is sufficient to account for the growing -unpopularity of Cleopatra; but it is possible that it was -somewhat accentuated by a slight jealousy which must -have been felt by the Romans owing to the Dictator’s -partiality for things Egyptian. Not only did it appear<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span> -to Cæsar’s friends that he was modelling his future -throne upon that of the Ptolemies and was asserting his -divinity in the Ptolemaic manner; not only had he -been thought to desire Alexandria as the capital of the -Empire; but also he was employing large numbers of -Egyptians in the execution of his schemes. Egyptian -astronomers had reformed the Roman calendar; the -Roman mint was being improved by Alexandrian -coiners; the whole of his financial arrangements, it -would seem, were entrusted to Alexandrians;<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> while -many of his public entertainments, as, for example, the -naval displays enacted at the inauguration of the Temple -of Venus, were conducted by Egyptians. Cæsar’s object -in thus using Cleopatra’s subjects must have been due, -to some extent, to his desire to familiarise his countrymen -with those industrious Alexandrians who were to play -so important a part in the construction of the new -Roman Empire.</p> - -<p>The great schemes and projects which were now -placed before the Senate by Cæsar must have startled -that institution very considerably. Almost every day -some new proposal was formulated or some new law -drafted. At one time the diverting of the Tiber from -its course occupied the Dictator’s attention; at another -time he was arranging to cut a canal through the -Isthmus of Corinth. Now he was planning the construction -of a road over the Apennines; and now he -was deep in schemes for the creation of a vast port at -Ostia. Plans of great public buildings to be erected -at Alexandria or in Rome were being submitted to him; -or, again, he was arranging for the establishment of -public libraries in various parts of the capital. Meanwhile<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span> -the preparations for the Parthian war must have -occupied the greater part of his time; for the campaign -was to be of a vast character. So sure was he that it -would last for three years or more that he framed a -law by virtue of which the magistrates and public -officials for the next three years should be appointed -before his departure. He thereby insured the tranquillity -of Rome during his prolonged absence in the east, thus -leaving himself free to carry his arms into remote lands -where communication with the capital might be almost -impossible. When we recollect that Cæsar’s recent campaigns -had all been of but a few months or weeks duration, -and that the words <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">veni, vidi, vici</i> now represented -his mature belief in his own capabilities, these plans for -a three years’ absence from Rome seem to me to indicate -clearly that he had no intention of confining himself -to the conquest of Parthia, but desired to follow in -Alexander’s footsteps to India, and thence to return to -Rome laden with the loot of that vast country. He -must have pictured himself entering the capital at the -end of the war as the conqueror of the East, and there -could have been no doubt in his mind that the delighted -populace would then accept with enthusiasm his claim to -the throne of the world.</p> - -<p>As the weeks went by Cæsar’s plans in regard to the -monarchy became more clearly defined. He does not -now seem to have considered it very wise to press forward -the assumption of the sovereignty previous to the -Parthian war, since his long absence immediately following -his elevation to the throne might prove prejudicial to -the new office. Moreover, a strong feeling had developed -against his contemplated assumption of royalty, and -Cæsar must have been aware that he could not put<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span> -his plans into execution without considerable opposition. -Plutarch tells us that “his desire of being King had -brought upon him the most apparent and mortal hatred,—a -fact which proved the most plausible pretence to -those who had been his secret enemies all along.” Much -adverse comment had been made with reference to his -not rising to receive the Senatorial deputation; and indeed -he felt it necessary to make excuses for his action, -saying that his old illness was upon him at the time. -A report was spread that he himself would have been -willing to rise, but that Balbus had said to him, “Will -you not remember you are Cæsar and claim the honour -due to your merit?” and it was further related that -when the Dictator had realised the offence he had given, -he had bared his throat to his friends, and had told -them that he was ready to lay down his life if the public -were angry with him. Incidents such as this showed -that the time was not yet wholly favourable for his <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coup</i>; -and reluctantly Cæsar was obliged to consider its postponement. -On the other hand, there was something to -be said in favour of immediate action, and he must have -been more or less prepared to accept the kingship if -it were urged upon him before he set out for the East. -The position of Cleopatra, however, must have caused -him some anxiety. Without her and their baby son the -creation of an hereditary monarchy would be superfluous. -His own wife Calpurnia did not seem able to furnish -him with an heir, and there was certainly no other woman -in Rome who could be expected to act the part of Queen -with any degree of success, even if she were proficient -in the production of sons and heirs. Yet how, on the -instant, was he to rid himself of Calpurnia and marry -Cleopatra without offending public taste? If he were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span> -to accept the kingship at once and make Cleopatra his -wife, was she capable of sustaining with success the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> -of Queen of Rome in solitude for three years while he -was away at the wars? Would it not be much wiser -to send her back to Egypt for this period, there to await -his return, and then to marry her and to ascend the -throne at one and the same instant? During his absence -in the East Calpurnia might conveniently meet -with a sudden and fatal illness, and no man would dare -to attribute her death to his and the apothecary’s -ingenuity.</p> - -<p>The will which he now made, or confirmed, in view of -his departure, shows clearly that his desire for the monarchy -was incompatible with his present marital conditions. -Without a Queen and a son and heir there -could be little point in creating a throne, since already -he had been made absolute autocrat for his lifetime; -for unless the office was to be handed on without dispute -to his son Cæsarion, there was no advantage in -striving for an immediate elevation to the kingship. By -his will, therefore, which was made in view of his possible -death before he had ascended his future throne, he -simply divided his property, giving part of it to the -nation and part to his relations, his favourite nephew, -Octavian, receiving a considerable share. A codicil was -added, appointing a large number of guardians for any -offspring which might possibly be born to him by Calpurnia -after his departure; but so little interest did he -take in this remote contingency that he seems to have -made no financial provision for such an infant. There -was no need to leave money to Cleopatra or to her -child, since she herself was fabulously wealthy. This -will was, no doubt, intended to be destroyed if he were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span> -raised to the throne before his departure, and it was -afterwards believed that he actually wrote another testament -in favour of Cæsarion, which was to be used if a -crown were offered to him; but if, as now seemed probable, -that event were postponed until his return, the -dividing of his property would be the best settlement -for his affairs should he die while away in the East. -So long as he remained uncrowned there was no occasion -to refer either to Cleopatra or to Cæsarion in his -testamentary wishes; for if he died in Parthia or India, -still as Dictator, his hopes of founding a dynasty, his -plans for his marriage to the Queen of Egypt, his scheme -for training up Cæsarion to follow in his footsteps, indeed -all his worldly ambitions, would have to be bundled -into oblivion. Cæsar was not a man who cared much -for the interests of other people; and, in the case of -Cleopatra, he was quite prepared to leave her to fight -for herself in Egypt, were he himself to be removed to -those celestial spheres wherein he would have no further -use for her. His passion for her appears now to have -cooled; and though he must still have enjoyed her -society, and, to a considerable extent, must have been -open to her influence, her chief attraction for him in -these latter days lay in the recognition of her suitability -to ascend the new throne by his side. She, on her part, -no doubt retained much of her old affection for him; -and, in spite of his increasing irritability and eccentricity, -she seems to have offered him the generous devotion -of a warm-hearted young woman for a great and -heroic old man.</p> - -<p>Cæsar, indeed, was old before his time. The famous -portrait of him, now preserved in the Louvre, shows -him to have been haggard and worn. He was still<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span> -under sixty years of age, but all semblance of youth -had gone from him, and the burden of his years and of -his illness weighed heavily upon his spare frame. His -indomitable spirit, and the keen enthusiasm of his nature, -held him to his appointed tasks; but it is very doubtful -whether his constitution could now have borne the -hardships of the campaign which lay before him. His -ill-health must have caused Cleopatra the gravest -anxiety, for all her hopes were centred upon him, and -upon that day when he should make her Queen of the -Earth. The fact that he was now considering the postponement -of the creation of the monarchy until after -the Parthian war must have been a heavy blow to her, -for there was good reason to fear lest his strength -should give out ere his task could be completed. For -three years and more she had worked with Cæsar at -the laying of the foundations of their throne; and now, -partly owing to the undesirability of leaving Rome for -so long a period immediately after accepting the crown, -partly owing to the difficulty in regard to Calpurnia, and -partly owing to the hostility of a large number of prominent -persons to the idea of monarchy, Cæsar was postponing -for three years that <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">coup</i> which seemed to her -not only to mean the realisation of all her personal and -dynastic ambitions, but actually to be the only means -by which she could save Egypt from absorption into the -Roman dominions or preserve a throne of any kind for -her son. In the Second Philippic Cicero says of Cæsar -that “after planning for many years his way to royal -power, with great labour and with many dangers, he -had effected his design. By public exhibitions, by monumental -buildings, by bribes and by feasts, he had conciliated -the unreflecting multitude. He had bound to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span> -himself his own friends by favours, his opponents by a -show of clemency;” and yet, when in sight of his goal, -he hesitated, believing it better to wait to be carried -up to the throne by that wave of popular enthusiasm -which assuredly would burst over Rome when he should -lead back from the East his triumphant, loot-laden -legionaries, and should exhibit in golden chains in the -streets of the capital the captive kings of the fabulous -Orient. The delay must have been almost intolerable -to Cleopatra; and it may have been due to some arrangement -made by her with the Dictator and Antony, -who now must have been a constant visitor at Cæsar’s -villa, that an event took place which brought to a -head the question of the date of the establishment of -the monarchy.</p> - -<p>On February 15th the annual festival of the Lupercalia -was celebrated in Rome; and upon this day all the populace, -patrician and plebeian, were <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">en fête</i>. The Romans of -Cæsar’s time do not seem to have known what was the -origin of this festival, nor what was the real significance -of the rites therein performed. They understood that -upon this day they paid their respects to the god -Lupercus; and, in a vague manner, they identified this -obscure deity with Faunus, or with Pan, in his capacity -as a producer of fertility and fecundity in all nature. -Two young men were selected from the honourable order -known as the College of the Luperci, and upon this day -these two men opened the proceedings by sacrificing a -goat and a dog. They were then “blooded,” and the -ritual prescribed that as soon as this was done they -should both laugh. They next cut the skins of the -victims into long strips or thongs, known as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i>; -and, using these as whips, they proceeded to run around<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span> -the city, striking at every woman with whom they came -into contact. A thwack from the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i> was believed to -produce fertility, and any woman who desired to become -a mother would expose herself to the blows which the -two men were vigorously delivering on all sides. By -reason of this strange old custom the day was known as -the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Dies februatus</i>;<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> and from this is derived the name of -the month of February in which the festival took place.</p> - -<p>It seems to me certain that this ceremony was -originally related to the Egyptian rites in connection -with the god of fecundity, Min-Amon, the Pan of the -Nile Valley. This god is usually represented holding in -his hand a whip, perhaps consisting originally of jackal-skins -tied to a stick;<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> and it has lately been proved that -the hieroglyph for the Egyptian word indicating the reproduction -of species<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> is composed simply of these three -jackal-skins tied together, that is to say the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i>. We -know practically nothing of the ceremonies performed in -Egypt in regard to the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i>, but there is no reason to -doubt that the rites were fundamentally similar to those -of the Roman Lupercalia. The dog which was sacrificed -in Rome had probably taken the place of the Egyptian -jackal; and the goat is perhaps to be connected with the -Egyptian ram which was sacred to Amon or Min-Amon.</p> - -<p>Now it is very possible that in Alexandria Cleopatra -and also Cæsar had become well acquainted with the -Egyptian equivalent of the Roman Lupercalia, and it may -be suggested, tentatively, that since Cæsar was regarded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span> -in that country as the god Amon who had given fertility -to the Queen, he may, in Egypt, have been identified in -some sort of manner with these rites. One may certainly -imagine Cleopatra pointing out to Cæsar the similarity -between the two ceremonies, and suggesting to him that -he was, or had acted in the manner of, a kind of -Lupercus. He had practically identified Cleopatra with -Venus Genetrix, the goddess of fertility; and he may -well have attributed to himself the faculties of that -corresponding god who carried on in Rome the traditions -of the Egyptian Min, to whom already Cæsar had -been so closely allied by the priests of the Nile. The -Dictator certainly took great interest in the festival of -the Lupercalia in Rome, for he reorganised the proceedings, -and actually founded an order known as the -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Luperci Julii</i>, a fact which could be regarded as indicating -a definite identification of himself with Lupercus. Indeed, -if he was identified with Min-Amon in Egypt, and -if, as I have suggested, Min-Amon is originally connected -with the Lupercalia celebrations, it may be supposed that -Cæsar really assumed by right the position of divine head -of this order. Knowing the Dictator to have been so -careful an opportunist, one is almost tempted to suggest -that he found in this identification an excuse and a -justification for his behaviour to the many women to -whom he had lost his heart; or perhaps it were better to -say that his unscrupulous attitude towards the opposite -sex, and the successful manner in which, as with -Cleopatra, he had succeeded in reproducing his kind, -appeared to fit him constitutionally for this particular -godhead.</p> - -<p>Whether or no Cæsar, in the intolerable arrogance of -his last years, was now actually naming himself the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span> -fruitful Lupercus in Rome as he was the fecund Amon -in Egypt, it is a fact that upon this occurrence of the -festival in the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 44 he was presiding over the -ceremonies, while his lieutenant Antony was enacting -the part of one of the two holders of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i>. On -this day Cæsar, pale and emaciated, was seated in the -Forum upon a golden throne, dressed in a splendid -robe, in order to witness the celebrations, when suddenly -the burly Antony, hot from his run, bounded -into view, striking to right and left with the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februa</i>, -and indulging, no doubt, in the horse-play which he -always so much enjoyed. An excited and boisterous -crowd followed him, and it is probable that both he -and his companions thereupon did homage to the -majestic figure of the Dictator, hailing him as Lupercus -and king of the festivities. Profiting by the enthusiasm -of the moment, and acting according to arrangements -previously made with Cleopatra or with Cæsar himself, -Antony now stepped forward and held out to the -Dictator a royal diadem wreathed with laurels, at the -same time offering him the kingship of Rome. Cæsar, -as we have seen, had already been publicly hailed as a -god upon earth, and now Antony seems to have addressed -him in his Lupercalian character, begging him to -accept this terrestrial throne as already he had received -the throne of the heavens. No sooner had he spoken -than a shout of approval was raised by a number of -Cæsarians who had been posted in different parts of -the Forum for this purpose; but, to Cæsar’s dismay, -the cheers were not taken up by the crowd, who, indeed, -appear to have indulged in a little quiet booing; and -the Dictator was thus obliged to refuse the proffered -crown with a somewhat half-hearted show of disdain.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span> -This action was received with general applause, and -the temper of the crowd was clearly demonstrated. -Again Antony held the diadem towards him, and again -the isolated and very artificial cheers of his supporters -were heard. Thereupon Cæsar, accepting the situation -with as good a grace as possible, definitely refused to receive -it; and at this the applause once more broke forth. -He then gave orders that the diadem should be carried -into the Capitol, and that a note should be inscribed in -the official calendar stating that on this day the people -had offered him the crown and that he had refused it. -It seems probable that Antony, appreciating the false -step which had been made, now rounded off the incident -in as merry a manner as possible, beginning once more to -strike about him with his magical whip, and leading the -crowd out of the Forum with the same noise and horse-play -with which they had entered it.</p> - -<p>The chances now in regard to the immediate assumption -of the kingship became more remote. Cæsar intended -to set out for Parthia in about a month’s time; -and it must have been apparent to him that his hopes of -a throne would probably have to be set aside until the -coming war was at an end. In regard to Cleopatra -nothing remained for him to do, therefore, but to bid -her prepare to return to Egypt, there to await until the -Orient was conquered; and during the next few weeks it -seems that the disappointed and troubled Queen engaged -herself in making preparation for her departure. -Suetonius tells us that Cæsar loaded her with presents -and honours in these last days of their companionship; -and doubtless he encouraged her as best he could with -the recitation of his great hopes and ambitions for the -future. There was still a chance that the monarchy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span> -would be created before the war, for there was some -talk that Antony and his friends would offer the crown -once more to Cæsar upon the Calends of March;<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> but -Cleopatra could not have dared to hope too eagerly for -this event in view of the failure at the Lupercalia. To -the Queen, who had expected by this time to be seated -upon the Roman throne, his reassuring words can have -been poor comfort; and an atmosphere of gloomy foreboding -must have settled upon her as she directed the -packing of her goods and chattels and prepared herself -and her baby for the long journey across the Mediterranean -to her now uneventful kingdom of Egypt.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE DEATH OF CÆSAR AND THE RETURN OF CLEOPATRA TO EGYPT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>There can be little reason for doubt that Antony, who -is to play so important a part in the subsequent pages of -this history, saw Cleopatra in Rome on several occasions. -After his reconciliation to Cæsar in the early summer of -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 45, he must have been a constant visitor at the -Dictator’s villa; and, as we shall presently see, his -espousal of Cleopatra’s cause in regard to Cæsar’s will -suggests that her charm had not been overlooked by him. -It is said, as we have seen, that he had met her, and had -already been attracted by her, ten years previously, when -he entered Alexandria with Gabinius in order to establish -her father Auletes upon his rickety throne. He was a -man of impulsive and changeable character, and it is -difficult to determine his exact attitude towards Cæsar -at this time. While the Dictator was in Egypt Antony -had been placed in charge of his affairs in Rome, but -owing to a quarrel between the two men, Cæsar, on his -return from Alexandria, had dismissed him from his -service. Very naturally Antony had felt considerable -animosity to the Dictator on this account, and it was -even rumoured, as has been said, that he desired to -assassinate him. After the Spanish war, however, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span> -quarrel was forgotten; and, as we have just seen, it was -Antony who had offered him the crown at the festival of -the Lupercalia. In spite of this, Cæsar does not seem to -have trusted him fully, although he now appears to have -been recognised as the most ardent supporter of the -Cæsarian party.</p> - -<p>Cæsar had never excelled as a judge of men. Although -unquestionably a genius and a man of supreme mental -powers, the Dictator was ever open to flattery; and he -collected around him a number of satellites who had -won their way into his favour by blandishments and -by countenance of their master’s many eccentricities. -Balbus and Oppius, Cæsar’s two most intimate attendants, -were men of mediocre standing; and Publius -Cornelius Dolabella, who now comes into some prominence, -was a young adventurer, whose desire for personal -gain must have been concealed with difficulty. This -personage, although only five-and-twenty years of age, -had been appointed by Cæsar to the consulship which -would become vacant upon his own departure for the -East, a move that must have given grave offence to -Antony; for Dolabella, a few years previously, had fallen -in love with Antony’s wife, Antonia, who had consequently -been divorced, the outraged husband thereafter -finding consolation in the marriage to his present wife -Fulvia. The various favours conferred by Cæsar on this -young scamp must therefore have caused considerable -irritation to Antony; and it is not easy to suppose that -the latter’s apparent devotion to the cause of the -Dictator was altogether genuine. Indeed, the rumour -once more passed into circulation that Antony nursed -designs upon Cæsar’s life, this time, strange to say, in -conjunction with Dolabella. On hearing this report the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span> -Dictator remarked that he “did not fear such fat, -luxurious men as these two, but rather the pale, lean -fellows.”</p> - -<p>Of the latter type was Cassius, a sour, fanatical soldier -and politician, who had fought against Cæsar at Pharsalia, -and had been freely pardoned by him afterwards. -From early youth Cassius entertained a particular hatred -of any form of autocracy; and it is related of him that -when at school the boy Faustus, the son of the famous -Sulla, had boasted of his father’s autocratic powers, -Cassius had promptly punched his head. Cæsar’s -attempts to obtain the throne excited this man’s ferocity, -and he was probably the originator of the plot which -terminated the Dictator’s life. The plot was hatched -in February <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 44, and, when Cassius and his friends -had prevailed upon the influential and studious Marcus -Brutus to join them, it rapidly developed into a widespread -conspiracy. “I don’t like Cassius,” Cæsar was -once heard to remark; “he looks so pale. What can he -be aiming at?”</p> - -<p>For Brutus, however, the Dictator entertained the -greatest affection and esteem, and there was a time -when he regarded him as his probable successor in office. -One cannot view without distress, even after the passage -of so many centuries, the devotion of the irritable old -autocrat to this scholarly and promising young man who -was now plotting against him; for, in spite of his manifold -faults, Cæsar ever remains a character which all -men esteem and with which all must largely sympathise. -On one occasion somebody warned him that Brutus -was plotting against him, to which the Dictator replied, -“What, do you think Brutus will not wait out the -appointed time of this little body of mine?” It is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span> -probable that Cæsar thought it not at all unlikely that -Brutus was his own son, for his mother, Servilia, as -early as the year of his birth, and for long afterwards, -had been on such terms of intimacy with Cæsar as -would justify this belief. Brutus, on the other hand, -thought himself to be the son of Servilia’s legal husband, -and through him claimed descent from the famous Junius -Brutus who had expelled the Tarquins. Servilia was the -sister of Cato, whose suicide had followed his defeat by -Cæsar in North Africa, and Porcia, the wife of Brutus, -was Cato’s daughter. It might have been supposed, -therefore, that Brutus would have felt considerable -antipathy towards the Dictator, more especially after -the publication of his venomous Anti-Cato. There -was, however, equally reasonable cause for Brutus to -have sympathised with Cæsar, for his supposed father -had been put to death by Pompey, an execution which -Cæsar had, as it were, been instrumental in avenging. -As a matter of fact, Brutus was a young man who lived -upon high principles, as a cow does upon grass; and -such family incidents as the seduction of his mother, or -the destruction of his mother’s brother and his wife’s -father, or the bloodthirsty warfare between his father’s -executioner and his father-in-law’s enemy and calumniator, -were not permitted to influence his righteous brain. In -his early years he had, very naturally, refused on principle -to speak to Pompey, but when the civil war broke out -he set aside all those petty feelings of dislike which, in -memory of his legal father, he had entertained towards -the Pompeian faction, and, on principle, he ranged -himself upon that side in the conflict, believing it to -be the juster cause. Pompey is said to have been so -surprised at the arrival of this good young man in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span> -camp, whither nobody had asked him to come, and -where nobody particularly desired his presence, that he -stood up and embraced him as though he were a lost -lamb come back to the fold. Then followed the battle -of Pharsalia, and Brutus had been obliged to fly for his -life. He need not, however, have feared for his safety, -for Cæsar had given the strictest orders that nobody was -to hurt him either in the battle or in the subsequent -chase of the fugitives. From Larissa, whither he had -fled, he wrote, on principle, to Cæsar, stating that he -was prepared to surrender; and the Dictator, in memory, -it is said, of many a pleasant hour with Servilia, at once -pardoned him and heaped honours upon him. Brutus, -then, on principle, laid information against Pompey, -telling Cæsar whither he had fled; and thus it came -about that the Dictator arrived in Egypt on that October -morning of which we have read.</p> - -<p>Brutus was an intellectual young man, whose writings -and orations were filled with maxims and pithy axioms. -He had, however, a certain vivacity and fire; and once -when Cæsar had listened, a trifle bewildered, to one of -his vigorous speeches, the Dictator was heard to remark, -“I don’t know what this young man means, but, whatever -he means, he means it vehemently.” He believed -himself to be, and indeed was, very firm and just, and -he had schooled himself to resist flattery, ignoring all -requests made to him by such means. He was wont -to declare that a man who, in mature years, could not -say “no” to his friends, must have been very badly -behaved in the flower of his youth. Cassius, who was -the brother-in-law of Brutus, deemed it very advisable -to introduce this exemplary young man into the conspiracy, -and he therefore invited him, as a preliminary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span> -measure, to be present in the Senate on the Calends of -March, when it was rumoured that Cæsar would be -made king. Brutus replied that he would most certainly -absent himself on that day. Nothing daunted, Cassius -asked him what he would do supposing Cæsar insisted -on his being present. “In that case,” said Brutus, in -the most approved style, “it will be my business not to -keep silent, but to stand up boldly, and die for the liberty -of my country.” Such being his views, it was apparent -that there would be no difficulty in persuading him, on -principle, to assist in the murder of Cæsar, who had, it -is true, spared his life in Pharsalia, but who was, nevertheless, -an enemy of the People. The conspirators, -therefore, dropped pieces of paper on the official chair -whereon he sat, inscribed with such words as “Wake -up, Brutus,” or “You are not a true Brutus”; and on -the statue of Junius Brutus they scribbled sentences, -such as “O that we had a Brutus now!” or “O that -Brutus were alive!” In this way the young man’s feelings -were played upon, and, after a few days of solemn -thought, he came to the conclusion that it was his -painful duty, on principle, to bring Cæsar’s life to a -close.</p> - -<p>By March 1st the conspirators numbered in their -ranks some sixty or eighty senators, mostly friends of -the Dictator, and had Cæsar attempted then to proclaim -himself king he would at once have been assassinated. -There were too many rumours current of plots against -him, however, to permit him to take this step, and so -the days passed in uneventfulness. He had planned to -leave Rome for the East on March 17th, and it was -thought possible that his last visit to the Senate on -March 15th, or his departure from the capital, would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span> -be the occasion of a demonstration in his favour which -would lead to his being offered the crown as a parting -gift. The conspirators therefore decided to make an -end of Cæsar on March 15th, the Ides of March, upon -which date he would probably come for the last time to -the Senate as Dictator.</p> - -<p>Brutus, of course, was terribly troubled as the day -drew near. He was at heart a good and honourable man, -but the weakness of his character, combined with his -intense desire to act in a high-principled manner, led him -often to appear to be a turncoat. Actually his motives -were patriotic and noble, but he must have asked himself -many a time whether what he believed to be his duty to -his country was to be regarded as entirely abrogating -what he <em>knew</em> to be his duty to his devoted patron. -The tumult in his mind caused him at night to toss -and turn in his sleep in a fever of unrest, and his wife, -Porcia, observing his distress, implored him to confide -his troubles to her. Brutus thereupon told her of the -conspiracy, and thereby risked the necks of all his -comrades.</p> - -<p>A curious gloom seems to have fallen upon Rome at -this time, and an atmosphere of foreboding, due perhaps -to rumours that a plot was afoot, descended upon the -actors in this unforgettable drama. Cæsar went about -his preparations for the Oriental campaign in his usual -business-like manner, and raised money for the war with -his wonted unscrupulousness and acuteness; but it does -not require any pressure upon the historical imagination -to observe the depression which he now felt and which -must have been shared by his associates. The majority -of the conspirators were his friends and fellow-workers—men, -many of them, whom he had pardoned for past<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span> -offences during the Civil War and had raised to positions -of trust in his administration. At this time he appears -to have been living with Calpurnia in his city residence, -and so busy was he with his arrangements that he could -not have found time to pay many visits to Cleopatra.<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> -The Queen must therefore have remained in a state of -distressing suspense. The Calends of March, at which -date the proclamation of the monarchy had been expected, -had passed; and now the Dictator could have held out -to her but one last hope of the realisation of their joint -ambition previous to his departure. Cæsar must have -told her that, as far as the three-year-old Cæsarion was -concerned, she could expect nothing until the throne had -been created; for, obviously, this was no time in which -to leave a baby as his heir. His nephew Octavian, an -active and energetic young man, would have to succeed -him in office if he were to die before he had obtained -the crown, and his vast property would have to be -distributed. The Dictator must have remembered the -fact of the murder of the young son of Alexander the -Great soon after his father’s death, and he could have -had no desire that his own boy should be slaughtered -in like manner by his rapacious guardians. Yet Cleopatra -still delayed her departure, in the hope that the great -event would take place on March 15th, so that at any -rate she might return to Egypt in the knowledge that -her position as Cæsar’s wife was secured.</p> - -<p>The prevailing depression acted strangely upon people’s -nerves, and stories began to spread of ominous premonitions -of trouble, and menacing signs and wonders. There<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span> -were unaccountable lights in the heavens, and awful -noises at dead of night. Somebody said that he had -seen a number of phantoms, in the guise of men, fighting -with one another, and that they were all aglow as -though they were red-hot; and upon another occasion -it was noticed that numerous strange birds of ill omen -had alighted in the Forum. Once, when Cæsar was -sacrificing, the heart of the victim was found to be -missing, an omen of the worst significance; and at -other times the daily auguries were observed to be -extremely inauspicious. An old soothsayer, who may -have got wind of the plot, warned the Dictator to -beware of the Ides of March; but Cæsar, whose -courage was always phenomenal, did not allow the -prediction to alter his movements.</p> - -<p>Upon the evening of March 14th, the day before the -dreaded Ides, Cæsar supped with his friend Marcus -Lepidus, and as he was signing some letters which had -been brought to him for approval the conversation happened -to turn upon the subject of death, and the -question was asked as to what kind of ending was to -be preferred. The Dictator, quickly looking up from -his papers, said decisively, “A sudden one!” the significance -of which remark was to be realised by his -friends a few hours later. That night, Plutarch tells -us, as Cæsar lay upon his bed, suddenly, as though -by a tremendous gust of wind, all the doors and -windows of his house flew open, letting in the brilliant -light of the moon. Calpurnia lay asleep by his side, -but he noticed that she was uttering inarticulate words -and was sobbing as though in the deepest distress; -and upon being awakened she said that she had thought -in her dreams that he was murdered. Cæsar must have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span> -realised that such a dream was probably due to her fears -as to the truth of the soothsayer’s prophecy; but, at -the same time, her earnest request to him not to leave -his house on the following day made a considerable -impression upon him.</p> - -<p>In the morning the conspirators collected in that part -of the governmental buildings where the Senate was to -meet that day. The place chosen was a pillared portico -adjoining the theatre, having at the back a deep recess -in which stood a statue of Pompey.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> Some of the men -were public officials whose business it was to act as -magistrates and to hear cases which had been brought -to them for judgment; and it is said that not one of -them betrayed by his manner any nervousness or lack -of interest in these public concerns. In the case of -Brutus this was particularly noticeable; and it is related -that upon one of the plaintiffs before him refusing to -stand to his award and declaring that he would appeal -to Cæsar, Brutus calmly remarked, “Cæsar does not -hinder me, nor will he hinder me, from acting according -to the laws.”</p> - -<p>This composure, however, began to desert them when -it was found that the Dictator was delaying his departure -from his house. The report spread that he had decided -not to come to the Senate that day, and it was soon -realised that this might be interpreted as meaning that -he had discovered the plot. Their agitation was such -that at length they sent a certain Decimus Brutus -Albinus, a very trusted friend of the Dictator, to -Cæsar’s house to urge him to make haste. Decimus -found him just preparing to postpone the meeting of -the Senate, his feelings having been worked upon by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span> -Calpurnia’s fears, and also by the fact that he had -received a report from the augurs stating that the -sacrifices for the day had been inauspicious. In this -dilemma Decimus made a statement to Cæsar, the truth -of which is now not able to be ascertained. He told -the Dictator that the Senate had decided unanimously -to confer upon him that day the title of King of all -the Roman Dominions outside Italy, and to authorise -him to wear a royal diadem in any place on land or -sea except in Italy.<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> He added that Cæsar should not -give the Senate so fair a justification for saying that -he had put a slight upon them by adjourning the -meeting on so important an occasion owing to the bad -dreams of a woman.</p> - -<p>At this piece of news Cæsar must have been filled -with triumphant excitement. The wished-for moment -had come. At last he was to be made king, and the -dominions to be delivered over to him were obviously -but the first instalment of the vaster gift which assuredly -he would receive in due course. The doubt and the -gloom of the last few weeks in a moment were banished, -for this day he would be monarch of an empire such as -had never before been seen. What did it matter that -in Rome itself he would be but Dictator? He would -establish his royal capital elsewhere: in Alexandria, -perhaps, or on the site of Troy. He would be able -at once to marry Cleopatra and to incorporate her -dominions with his own. Calpurnia might remain for -the present the wife of the childless Dictator in Rome, -and his nephew Octavian might be his official heir; but -outside his fatherland, Queen Cleopatra should be his -consort, and his own little son should be his heir and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span> -successor. The incongruities of the situation would so -soon be felt that Rome would speedily acknowledge him -king in Italy as well as out of it. Probably he had -often discussed with Cleopatra the possibilities of this -solution of the problem, for the idea of making him -king outside Italy had been proposed some weeks previously;<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> -and he must now have thought how amused -and delighted the Queen would be by this unexpected -decision of the Senate to adopt the rather absurd scheme. -As soon as he had married the Sovereign of Egypt and -had made Alexandria one of his capitals, his dominions -would indeed be an Egypto-Roman Empire; and when -at length Rome should invite him to reign also within -Italy, the situation would suggest rather that Egypt -had incorporated Rome than that Rome had absorbed -Egypt. How that would tickle Cleopatra, whose dynasty -had for so long feared extinction at the hands of the -Romans!</p> - -<p>Rising to his feet, and taking Decimus by the hand, -Cæsar set out at once for the Senate, his forebodings -banished and his ambitious old brain full of confidence -and hope. On his way through the street two persons, -one a servant and the other a teacher of logic, made -attempts to acquaint him with his danger; and the -soothsayer who had urged him to beware of the Ides -of March once more repeated his warning. But Cæsar -was now in no mood to abandon the prospective excitements -of the day; and the risk of assassination may, -indeed, have been to him the very element which delighted -him, for he was ever inspired by the presence -of danger.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the conspirators paced the Portico of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span> -Pompey in painful anxiety, fearing every moment to -hear that the plot had been discovered. It must have -been apparent to them that there were persons outside -the conspiracy who knew of their designs; and when a -certain Popilius Laena, a senator, not of their number, -whispered to Brutus and Cassius that the secret was -out, but that he wished them success, their feelings -must have been hard to conceal. Then came news -that Porcia had fallen into an hysterical frenzy caused -by her suspense; and Brutus must have feared that in -this condition she would reveal the plot.</p> - -<p>At length, however, Cæsar was seen to be approaching; -but their consequent relief was at once checked when it -was observed that Popilius Laena, who had said that he -knew all, entered into deep and earnest conversation with -the Dictator. The conversation, however, proved to be -of no consequence, and Cæsar presently walked on into -the Curia where the Senate was to meet. A certain -Trebonius was now set to detain Antony in conversation -outside the doorway; for it had been decided that, -although the latter was Cæsar’s right-hand man, he -should not be murdered, but that, after the assassination, -he should be won over to the side of the so-called -patriots by fair words.</p> - -<p>When Cæsar entered the building the whole Senate -rose to their feet in respectful salutation. The Dictator -having taken his seat, one of the conspirators, named -Tullius Cimber, approached him ostensibly with the -purpose of petitioning him to pardon his exiled brother. -The others at once gathered round, pressing so close -upon him that Cæsar was obliged to order them to stand -back. Then, perhaps suspecting their design, he sprang -suddenly to his feet, whereupon Tullius caught hold of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span> -his toga and pulled it from him, thus leaving his spare -frame covered only by a light tunic. Instantly a senator -named Casca, whom the Dictator had just honoured -with promotion, struck him in the shoulder with his -dagger, whereupon Cæsar, grappling with him, cried out -in a loud voice, “You villain, Casca! what are you -doing?” A moment later, Casca’s brother stabbed him -in the side. Cassius, whose life Cæsar had spared after -Pharsalia, struck him in the face; Bucolianus drove a -knife between his shoulder-blades, and Decimus Brutus, -who so recently had encouraged him to come to the -Senate, wounded him in the groin. Cæsar fought for -his life like a wild animal.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> He struck out to right and -left with his <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">stilus</i>, and, streaming with blood, managed -to break his way through the circle of knives to the -pedestal of the statue of his old enemy Pompey. He -had just grasped Casca once more by the arm, when -suddenly perceiving his beloved Marcus Brutus coming -at him with dagger drawn, he gasped out, “You, too, -Brutus—<em>my son</em>!” and fell, dying, upon the ground.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a> -Instantly the pack of murderers was upon him, slashing -and stabbing at his prostrate form, wounding one another -in their excitement, and nigh tumbling over him where -he lay in a pool of blood.</p> - -<p>As soon as all signs of life had left the body, the conspirators -turned to face the Senate; but, to their surprise, -they found the members rushing madly from the building. -Brutus had prepared a speech to make to them as soon -as the murder should be accomplished; but in a few -moments nobody was left in the Curia for him to address.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span> -He and his companions, therefore, were at a loss to know -what to do; but at length they issued forth from the -building, somewhat nervously brandishing their daggers -and shouting catch-words about Liberty and the Republic. -At their approach everybody fled to their homes; and -Antony, fearing that he, too, would be murdered, disguised -himself and hurried by side-streets to his house. -They therefore took up their position in the Capitol, -and there remained until a deputation of senators induced -them to come down to the Forum. Here, standing -in the rostra, Brutus addressed the crowd, who were -fairly well-disposed towards him; but when another -speaker, Cinna, made bitter accusations against the dead -man, the people chased the conspirators back once more -to the Capitol, where they spent the night.</p> - -<p>When darkness had fallen and the tumult had subsided, -Antony made his way to the Forum, whither, he -had heard, the body of Cæsar had been carried; and -here, in the light of the moon, he looked once more upon -the face of his arrogant old master. Here, too, he met -Calpurnia, and, apparently at her request, took charge of -all the Dictator’s documents and valuables.</p> - -<p>Upon the next day, at Antony’s suggestion, a general -amnesty was proclaimed, and matters were amicably -discussed. It was then decided that Cæsar’s will -should be opened, but the contents must have been -a surprise to both parties. The dead man bequeathed -to every Roman citizen 300 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sesterces</i>, giving also to the -Roman people his vast estates and gardens on the other -side of the Tiber, where Cleopatra was, at the time, -residing. Three-quarters of the remainder of his estate -was bequeathed to Octavian, and the other quarter was -divided between his two nephews, Lucius Pinarius and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span> -Quintus Pedius. In a codicil he added that Octavian -should be his official heir; and he named several guardians -for his son, should one be born to him after his death.</p> - -<p>The dead body lay in state in the Forum for some -five days, while the ferment in the city continued to rage -unabated. The funeral was at length fixed for March -20th,<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> and towards evening Antony went to the Forum, -where he found the crowd wailing and lamenting around -the corpse, the soldiers clashing their shields together, -and the women uttering their plaintive cries. Antony at -once began to sing a dirge-like hymn in praise of Cæsar; -pausing in his song every few moments to stretch his -hands towards the corpse and to break into loud weeping. -In these intervals the crowd took up the funeral chant, -and gave vent to their emotional distress in the melancholy -music customary at the obsequies of the dead, -reciting monotonously a verse of Accius which ran, “I -saved those who have given me death.” Presently -Antony held up on a spear’s point the robes pierced -by so many dagger-thrusts; and standing beside this -gruesome relic of the crime, he pronounced his famous -funeral oration over the body of the murdered Dictator. -When he had told the people of Cæsar’s gifts to them, -and had worked upon their feelings by exhibiting thus -the blood-stained garments, the mob broke into a frenzy -of rage against the conspirators, vowing vengeance upon -one and all. Somebody recalled the speech made by -Cinna on a previous day, and immediately howls were -raised for that orator’s blood. A minor poet, also called -Cinna, happened to be standing in the crowd; and when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span> -a friend of his had addressed him by that hated name, -the people in the immediate vicinity thought that he -must be the villain for whose life the mob was shouting. -They therefore caught hold of the unfortunate man, and, -without further inquiries, tore him limb from limb. -They then seized benches, tables, and all available woodwork; -and there, in the midst of the public and sacred -buildings, they erected a huge pyre, upon the top of -which they placed the Dictator’s body, laid out upon -a sheet of purple and gold. Torches were applied and -speedily the flames arose, illuminating the savage faces -of the crowd around the pyre, and casting grotesque -shadows upon the gleaming walls and pillars of the -adjoining buildings, while the volume of the smoke hid -from view the moon now rising above the surrounding -roofs and pediments. Soon the mutilated body disappeared -from sight into the heart of the fire; and -thereupon the spectators, plucking flaming brands from -the blaze, dashed down the streets, with the purpose -of burning the houses of the conspirators. The funeral -pyre continued to smoulder all night long, and it must -have been many hours before quiet was restored in the -city. The passions of the mob were appeased next day -by the general co-operation of all those concerned in -public affairs, and the Senate passed what was known as -an Act of Oblivion in regard to all that had occurred. -Brutus, Cassius, and the chief conspirators, were assigned -to positions of importance in the provinces far away from -Rome; and the affairs of the capital were left, for the -most part, in the hands of Antony. On March 18th, three -days after Cæsar’s death, Antony and Lepidus calmly -invited Brutus and Cassius to a great dinner-party, and -so, for the moment, peace was restored.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span> -Meanwhile, Cleopatra’s state of mind must have been -appalling. Not only had she lost her dearest friend and -former lover, but, with his death, she had lost the vast -kingdom which he had promised her. No longer was -she presumptive Queen of the Earth, but now, in a -moment, she was once more simply sovereign of Egypt, -seated upon an unfirm throne. Moreover, she must have -fancied that her own life was in danger, as well as that -of the little Cæsar. The contents of the Dictator’s will -must have been a further shock to her, although she -probably already knew their tenor; and she must have -thought with bitterness of the difference that even one -day more might have made to her in this regard. It -was perhaps true that the Senate had been about to -offer him the throne of the provinces on the fatal Ides; -and in that case Cæsar would most certainly have altered -his will to meet the new situation, if indeed he had not -already done so, as some say. There was reason to -suppose that such a will, in favour of Cæsarion, had -actually been made,<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> but if this were so, it was nowhere -to be found, and had perhaps been destroyed by Calpurnia. -What was she to do? When would Octavian -appear to claim such property and honours as Cæsar -had bequeathed to him? Should she at once proclaim -her baby son as the rightful heir, or should she fly the -country?</p> - -<p>In this dilemma there seems to me to be no doubt -that she must have consulted with Antony, the one -man who had firmly grasped the tangled strings of the -situation, and must have implored him to support the -claims of her son. If the public would not admit that -Cæsarion was Cæsar’s son, then the boy would, without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span> -doubt, pass into insignificance, and ultimately be -deprived, in all probability, even of his Egyptian throne. -If, on the other hand, with Antony’s support, he were -officially recognised to be the Dictator’s child, then there -was a good chance that the somewhat unprepossessing -Octavian might be pushed aside for ever. Cæsar had -taken a fancy to this obscure nephew of his during the -Spanish War. The young man, although still weak after -a severe illness, had set out to join the Dictator in Spain -with a promptitude which had won his admiration. He -had suffered shipwreck, and had ultimately made his way -to his uncle’s camp by roads infested with the enemy, -and thereafter had fought by his side. He was now -following his studies in Apollonia, and intended to join -Cæsar on his way to the East. If he could be prevented -from coming to Rome the game would be in the Queen’s -hands; and I am of opinion that she must now have -approached Antony with some such suggestion for the -solution of the difficulty. Antony, on his part, probably -realised that with the establishment of Octavian in -Cæsar’s seat his own power would vanish; but that, -were he to support the baby Cæsarion, he himself would -remain the all-powerful regent for many years to come. -He might even take the dead man’s place as Cleopatra’s -husband, and climb to the throne by means of the right -of his stepson.<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a></p> - -<p>It would seem, therefore, that he persuaded Cleopatra -to remain for the present in Rome; and not long afterwards -he declared in the Senate that the little Cæsarion -had been acknowledged by Cæsar to be his rightful son. -This was denied at once by Oppius, who favoured the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span> -claims of Octavian, and ultimately this personage took -the trouble to write a short book to refute Antony’s -statement.</p> - -<p>The young Dolabella now seized the consulship in -Rome, and, being on bad terms with Antony, at once -showed his hostility to the friends of the late Dictator -by various acts of violence against them. Cæsar, before -his death, had assigned the province of Syria to Dolabella -and that of Macedonia to Antony; but now the -Senate, in order to rid Rome of the troublesome presence -of the Dictator’s murderers, had given Macedonia -and Syria to Marcus Brutus and Cassius, and these two -men were now collecting troops with which to enter -their dominions in safety. There was thus a political -reason for Antony and Dolabella to join forces; and -presently we find the two of them working together for -the overthrow of Brutus and Cassius.</p> - -<p>Into these troubled scenes in Rome the news presently -penetrated of the approach of the young Octavian, now -nearly nineteen years of age, who was coming to claim -his rights; and thereupon the city, setting aside the -question of the conspirators, formed itself into two -factions, the one supporting the newcomer, the other -upholding Antony’s attitude. It is usually stated by -historians that Antony was fighting solely in his own -interests, being desirous of ousting Octavian and assuming -the dignities of Cæsar by force of arms. If this be -so, why did he make a point of declaring in the Senate -that Cæsarion was the Dictator’s child? With what -claims upon the public did he oppose those of Octavian -if not by the supporting of Cæsar’s son? We shall see -that in after years he always claimed the Roman throne<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span> -<em>on behalf</em> of the child Cæsarion; and I find it difficult -to suppose that that attitude was not already assumed, -to some extent, by him.</p> - -<p>There now began to be grave fears of the immediate -outbreak of civil war; and so threatening was the situation -that Cleopatra was advised to leave Rome and to -return to Egypt with her son, there to await the outcome -of the struggle. It is probable, indeed, that Antony -urged her to return to her own country in order to raise -troops and ships for his cause. Be this as it may, the -Queen left Rome a few days before April 15th, upon -which date Cicero wrote to Atticus, from Sinuessa, not -far from Rome, commenting on the news that she had -fled.</p> - -<p>As she sailed over the Mediterranean back to Egypt -her mind must have been besieged by a hundred schemes -and plans for the future. The despair which she had -experienced, after the death of the Dictator, at the -demolition of all her vast hopes, may now have given -place to a spirited desire to begin the fight once more. -Cæsar was dead, but his great personality would live -again in his little son, whom Antony, she believed, would -champion, since in doing so he would further his own -ambitions. The legions left at Alexandria by the Dictator -would, no doubt, stand by her; and she would -bring all the might and all the wealth of Egypt against -the power of Octavian. The coming warfare would be -waged by her for the creation of that throne for the -establishment of which Cæsar had indeed given his life; -and her arms would be directed against that form of -democratic government which the Dictator, perhaps at -her instance, had endeavoured to overthrow, but which -a man of Octavian’s character, she supposed, would be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span> -contented to support. Her mighty Cæsar would look -down from his place amidst the stars to direct her, and -to lead their son to the goal of their ambitions; for -now he was in very truth a god amongst the gods. -Recently during seven days a comet had been seen -blazing in the sky, and all men had been convinced -that this was the soul of the murdered Dictator rushing -headlong to heaven. Even now a strange haze hung -over the sun, as though the light of that celestial body -were dimmed by the approach of the Divine Cæsar. -Before the Queen left Rome she had heard the priests -and public officials name him God in very truth; -and maybe she had already seen his statues embellished -by the star of divinity which was set upon his -brow after his death. Surely now he would not desert -her, his Queen and his fellow-divinity; nor would he -suffer their royal son to pass into obscurity. From his -exalted heights he would defend her with his thunderbolts, -and come down to her aid upon the wings of the -wind. Thus there was no cause for her to despair; -and with that wonderful optimism which seems to have -characterised her nature, she now set her active brain -to thoughts of the future, turning her mature intellect -to the duties which lay before her. When Cæsar had -met her in Egypt she had been an irresponsible girl. -Now she was a keen-brained woman, endowed with the -fire and the pluck of her audacious dynasty, and prepared -to fight her way with all their unscrupulous energy -to the summit of her ambitions. And, moreover, now -she held the trump card in her hands in the person of -her little boy, who was by all natural laws the rightful -heir to the throne of the earth.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace wspace"><a id="PART_II"></a><span class="larger">PART II.<br /> - -<span class="larger">CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY</span></span></h2> -</div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a class="hidev" id="Page_202">202</a><a id="Page_203">203</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE CHARACTER OF ANTONY AND HIS RISE TO POWER.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>When Antony and Octavian first met after the death -of Cæsar, the former was in possession of popular confidence; -and he did not hesitate to advise Octavian to -make no attempt to claim his inheritance. He snubbed -the young man, telling him that he was mad to think -himself capable of assuming the responsibilities of the -Dictator’s heir at so early an age; and as a result of -this attitude dissensions speedily broke out between -them. A reconciliation, however, was arrived at in the -following August, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 44; but early in October there -was much talk in regard to a supposed attempt by -Octavian upon the life of Antony, and, as a result of -this, the inevitable quarrel once more broke out. Antony -now spread the story that his young rival had only been -adopted by Cæsar in consequence of their immoral relations, -and he accused him of being a low-born adventurer. -Towards the end of the year Antony left Rome, and all -men believed that yet another civil war was about to -break out. He was now proclaiming himself the avenger -of the late Dictator, and I think it possible that he had -decided definitely to advance the claims of Cleopatra’s -son, Cæsarion, against those of Octavian. After many<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span> -vicissitudes he was attacked and hunted as an enemy -of Rome, and the triumph of Octavian, thanks to the -assistance of Cicero, seemed to be assured; but, owing -to a series of surprising incidents, which we need not -here relate, a reconciliation was at last effected between -the combatants in October, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 43. The two men, who -had not met for many months, regarded one another -with such extreme suspicion that when at length they -were obliged to exchange the embrace of friendship, -they are each said to have taken the opportunity of -feeling the other’s person to ascertain that no sword -or dagger was concealed under the folds of the toga.</p> - -<p>As soon as the reconciliation had been established, -Antony, Octavian, and a certain Lepidus formed a -Triumvirate, which was to have effect until December 31, -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 38, it being agreed that Rome and Italy should be -governed jointly by the three, but that the provinces -should fall under distinctive controls, Antony and Lepidus -sharing the larger portion and Octavian receiving only -Africa, Numidia, and the islands. It was then decided -that they should each rid themselves of their enemies -by a general proscription and massacre. A list was -drawn up of one hundred senators and about two -thousand other rich and prominent men, and these were -hunted down and murdered in the most ruthless fashion, -amidst scenes of horror which can hardly have been -equalled in the world’s history. Cicero was one of the -victims who suffered for his animosity to Antony, who -was now the leading Triumvir, and was in a position -to refuse to consider Octavian’s plea for mercy for the -orator. The property of the proscribed persons was -seized, and upon these ill-gotten riches the three men -thrived and conducted their government.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span> -Brutus and Cassius, the two leaders of the conspiracy -which had caused Cæsar’s death, had now come to blows -with Antony and Octavian, and were collecting an army -in Macedonia. Cassius, at one time, thought of invading -Egypt in order to obtain possession of Cleopatra’s money -and ships; but the Queen, who was holding herself in -readiness for all eventualities, was saved from this misfortune. -She was, of course, the bitter enemy of Brutus -and Cassius, the murderers of her beloved Cæsar; but, -on the other hand, she could not well throw in her lot -with the Triumvirate, since it included Octavian, who -was the rival of her son Cæsarion in the heirship of the -Dictator’s estate. She must have been much troubled -by the reconciliation between Octavian and Antony, for -it seemed to show that she could no longer rely on the -latter to act as her champion.</p> - -<p>Presently Dolabella, who was now friendly to Antony -and opposed to Brutus and Cassius, asked Cleopatra to -send to his aid the legions left by the Dictator in -Alexandria, and at about the same time a similar request -came from Cassius. Cleopatra very naturally declined -the latter, accepting Dolabella’s request. Cassius, however, -managed to obtain from Serapion, the Queen’s -viceroy in Cyprus, a number of Egyptian ships, which -were handed over without her permission.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> Dolabella -was later defeated by Cassius, but the disaster did not -seriously affect Cleopatra, for her legions had not -managed to reach him in time to be destroyed. The -Queen’s next move was naturally hostile to her enemy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span> -Cassius. She made an attempt to join Antony. This -manœuvre, however, was undertaken half-heartedly, owing -to her uncertainty as to his relations with Octavian, her -son’s rival; and when a serious storm had arisen, wrecking -many of her ships and prostrating her with seasickness, -she abandoned the attempt.</p> - -<p>In October of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 42 Antony defeated Brutus and -Cassius at the battle of Philippi, Cassius being killed -and Brutus committing suicide. Octavian, who was ill, -took little part in the battle, and all the glory of the -victory was given to Antony. The unpopularity of -Octavian was clearly demonstrated after the fight was -over, for the prisoners who were led before the two -generals saluted Antony with respect, but cursed Octavian -in the foulest language. It was decided that Antony -should now travel through the East to collect money and -to assert the authority of the Triumvirate, while Octavian -should attempt to restore order in Italy, the African -provinces being handed over to the insignificant Lepidus. -The fact that Antony chose for his sphere of influence the -eastern provinces, is a clear indication that Octavian was -still in the background; for these rich lands constituted -the main part of the Roman dominions. With a large -army Antony passed on his triumphal way through -Greece, and thence through Asia Minor; and at length, -in the late summer of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 41, he made his temporary -headquarters at Tarsus.</p> - -<p>From Tarsus Antony sent a certain officer named -Dellius to Alexandria to invite Cleopatra to meet him in -order to discuss the situation. It was suggested by -Antony that she had given some assistance to the party -of Brutus; but she, on the other hand, must have accused -Antony of abandoning her by his league with Octavian.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span> -She could not afford to quarrel with him, however, for he -was now the most powerful man in the world; and she -therefore determined to sail across to Tarsus at once.</p> - -<p>She knew already the kind of man he was. She had -seen him in Rome on many occasions, though no direct -record is left of any such event, and she had probably -made some sort of alliance with him; while she must -constantly have heard of his faults and his virtues both -from Julius Cæsar and from her Roman friends. The -envoy Dellius, whom he had sent to her, had told her of -his pacific intentions, and had described him as the -gentlest and kindest of soldiers, while, as she well knew, -a considerable part of the world called him a good fellow. -He was at that time the most conspicuous figure on the -face of the earth, and his nature and personality must -have formed a subject of interested discussion in the -palace at Alexandria as in every other court. Renan has -called Antony a “colossal child, capable of conquering a -world, incapable of resisting a pleasure”; and already -this must have been the popular estimate of his character. -The weight of his stature stood over the nations, dominating -the incident of life; and, with a kind of boisterous -divinity, his hand played alike with kings and common -soldiers. To many men he was a good-natured giant, a -personification of Bacchus, the Giver of Joy; but in the -ruined lands upon which he had trampled he was named -the Devourer, and the fear of him was almighty.</p> - -<p>He was a man of remarkable appearance. Tall, and -heavily built, his muscles developed like those of a -gladiator, and his thick hair curling about his head, -he reminded those who saw him of the statues and -paintings of Hercules, from whom he claimed lineal -descent. His forehead was broad, his nose aquiline, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span> -his mouth and chin, though somewhat heavy, were strong -and well formed. His expression was open and frank; -and there was a suggestion of good-humour about his lips -and eyes (as seen in the Vatican bust)<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> which must have -been most engaging. His physical strength and his -noble appearance evoked an unbounded admiration -amongst his fellow-men, whilst to most women his -masculine attraction was irresistible: a power of which -he made ungoverned use. Cicero, who was his most -bitter enemy, described him as a sort of butcher or prize-fighter, -with his heavy jaw, powerful neck, and mighty -flanks; but this, perhaps, is a natural, and certainly an -easy, misinterpretation of features that may well have -inspired envy.</p> - -<div id="ip_208" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 25.25em;"> - <img src="images/i_208.jpg" width="404" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Vatican</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Anderson</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>ANTONY.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>His nature, in spite of many gross faults, was unusually -lovable. He was adored by his soldiers, who, it is said, -preferred his good opinion of them to their very lives. -This devotion, says Plutarch, was due to many causes: -to the nobility of his family, his eloquence, his frank and -open manners, his liberal and magnificent habits, his -familiarity in talking with everybody, and his kindness in -visiting and pitying the sick and joining in all their -pains. After a battle he would go from tent to tent to -comfort the wounded, himself breaking into a very passion -of grief at the sufferings of his men; and they, with -radiant faces, would seize his hands and call him their -emperor and their general. The simplicity of his -character commanded affection; for, amidst the deep -complexities and insincerities of human life, an open and -intelligible nature is always most eagerly appreciated.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span> -The abysmal intellect of the genius gives delight to the -highly cultured, but to the average man the child-like -frankness of an Antony makes a greater appeal. Antony -was not a genius: he was a gigantic commonplace. -One sees in him an ordinary man in extraordinary -circumstances, dominating success and towering above -misfortune, until at the end he gives way unmeritoriously -to the pressure of events.</p> - -<p>The naturalness and ingenuousness of his character are -surprisingly apparent in some of the anecdotes related by -Plutarch. His wife, Fulvia, is described as a matron “not -born for spinning or housewifery, nor one who could be -content with ruling a private husband, but a woman -prepared to govern a first magistrate or give orders to -a commander-in-chief.” To keep this strong-minded -woman in a good-humour the guileless Antony was wont -to play upon her all manner of boyish pranks; and it -would seem that he took delight in bouncing out at her -from dark corners of the house and the like. When -Cæsar was returning from the war in Spain a rumour -spread that he had been defeated and that the enemy -were marching on Rome. Antony had gone out to meet -his chief, and found in this rumour an opportunity for -another practical joke at his stern wife’s expense. He -therefore disguised himself as a camp-follower and made -his way back to his house, to which he obtained admittance -by declaring that he had a terribly urgent letter -from Antony to deliver into Fulvia’s hands. He was -shown into the presence of the agitated matron, and -stood there before her, a muffled, mysterious figure, no -doubt much like a Spanish brigand in a modern comic -opera. Fulvia asked dramatically if aught had befallen -her husband, but, without replying, the silent figure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span> -thrust a letter at her; and then, as she was nervously -opening it, he suddenly dashed aside the cloak, took her -about the neck, and kissed her. After which he returned -to Cæsar, and entered Rome in the utmost pomp, riding -in the Dictator’s chariot with all the solemnity befitting -the occasion.</p> - -<p>In later years he was constantly playing such tricks at -Alexandria, and in the company of Cleopatra he was -wont to wander about the city at night, disguised as a -servant, and used to disturb and worry his friends by -tapping at their doors and windows, for which, says -Plutarch, he was often scurvily treated and even beaten, -though most people guessed who he was. Antony -remained a boy all his days; and it must have been -largely this boisterous inconsequence during the most -anxious periods that gave an air of Bacchic divinity to -his personality. His friends must have thought that -there was surely a touch of the divine in one who could -romp through times of peril as he did.</p> - -<p>He allowed little to stand in the way of his pleasures; -and he played at empire-making as it were between -meals. On a certain morning in Rome it was necessary -for him to make an important public speech while he was -yet suffering from the effects of immoderate drinking all -night at the wedding of Hippias, a comedian, who was a -particular friend of his. Standing unsteadily before the -eager political audience, he was about to begin his -address when he was overcome with nausea, and outraged -nature was revenged upon him in the sight of all -men. Incidents of this kind made him at times, as -Cicero states, absolutely odious to the upper classes in -Rome; but it is necessary to state that the above-mentioned -accident occurred when he was still a young<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span> -man, and that his excesses were not so crude in later -years. During the greater part of his life his feasting -and drinking were intemperate; but there is no reason to -suppose that he was, except perhaps towards the end of -his life, besotted to a chronic extent. One does not -picture him imbibing continuously or secretly in the -manner of an habitual drunkard; but at feasts and -ceremonies he swallowed the wine with a will and drank -with any man. When food and wine were short, as -often happened during his campaigns, Antony became -abstemious without effort. Once when Cicero had caused -him and his legions to be driven out of Rome, he gave, in -Plutarch’s words, “a most wonderful example to his -soldiers. He who had just quitted so much luxury and -sumptuous living, made no difficulty now of drinking foul -water and feeding on wild fruits and roots.”</p> - -<p>Antony was, of course, something of a barbarian, and -his excesses often put one in mind of the habits of the -Goths or Vikings. He drank hard, jested uproariously, -was on occasion brutal, enjoyed the love of women, -brawled like a schoolboy, and probably swore like a -trooper. But with it all he retained until some two -years before his death a very fair capacity for hard -work, as is evidenced by the fact that he was Julius -Cæsar’s right-hand man, and afterwards absolute autocrat -of the East. His nature was so forceful, and yet -his character so built up of the magnified virtues and -failings of mankind, that by his very resemblance to -the ordinary soldier, his conformity to the type of the -average citizen, he won an absolute ascendancy over -the minds of normal men. It touched the vanity of -every individual that a man, by the exercise of brains -and faculties no greater than his own, was become lord<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span> -of half the world. It was no prodigious intellectual -genius who ruled the earth with incomprehensible -ability, but a burly, virile, simple, brave, vulgar man. -It was related with satisfaction that when Antony was -shown the little senate-house at Megara, which seems -to have been an ancient architectural gem of which the -cultured inhabitants were justly proud, he told them -that it was “not very large, but extremely <em>ruinous</em>”—a -remark which recalls the comment of the American -tourist in Oxford, that the buildings were very much -out of repair. A little honest Philistinism is a very -useful thing.</p> - -<p>A touch of purple, too, as Stevenson has reminded -us, is not without its value. Antony was always something -of an actor, and enjoyed a display in a manner -as theatrical as it was unforced. When he made his -public orations, he attempted to attract the eye of his -audience at the same time that he tickled their ears. -In his famous funeral oration after the death of Cæsar, -we have seen how he exhibited, at the psychological -moment, the gory clothes of the murdered Dictator, -showing to the crowd the holes made by the daggers -of the assassins and the stains of his blood. Desiring -to make a profound effect upon his harassed troops -during the retreat from Media, he clothed himself in a -dismal mourning habit, and was only with difficulty -persuaded by his officers to change it for the scarlet -cloak of a general. He enjoyed dressing himself to -suit the part of a Hercules, for which nature, indeed, -had already caused him to be cast; and in public assemblies -he would often appear with “his tunic girt -low about his hips, a broadsword at his side, and over -all a large, coarse mantle,” cutting, one may suppose,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span> -a very fine figure. In cultured Athens he thought it -was perhaps more fitting to present himself in a pacific -guise, and we find him at the public games clad in -the gown and white shoes of a steward, the wands of -that gentle office carried before him. On this occasion, -however, he introduced the herculean <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> to this extent, -that he parted the combatants by seizing the -scruff of their necks and holding them from one -another at arm’s length. In later life his love of -display led him into strange habits; and, while he -was often clothed in the guise of Bacchus, his garments -for daily use were of the richest purple, and were -clasped with enormous jewels.</p> - -<p>The glamour of the stage always appealed to his -nature, and he found, moreover, that the society of -players and comedians held peculiar attractions for -him. The actor Sergius was one of his best friends -in Rome; and he was so proud of his acquaintance -with an actress named Cytheris that he often invited -her to accompany him upon some excursion, and -assigned to her a litter not inferior to that of his own -mother, which might have been extremely galling to -the elder lady. On these journeys he would cause -pavilions to be erected, and sumptuous repasts prepared -under the trees beside the Tiber, his guests -being served with priceless wines in golden cups. -When he made his more public progress through the -land a very circus-show accompanied him, and the -populace were entertained by the spectacle of buffoons, -musicians, and chariots drawn by lions. On these -journeys Cytheris would often accompany him, as -though to amuse him, and a number of dancing-girls -and singers would form part of his retinue. At the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span> -night’s halt, the billeting of these somewhat surprising -young women in the houses of “serious fathers and -mothers of families,” as Plutarch puts it, caused much -resentment, and suggested an attitude of mind in -Antony which cannot altogether be attributed to a -boyish desire to shock. There can be no doubt that -he enjoyed upsetting decorum, and took kindly to those -people whom others considered to be outcasts. Like -Charles Lamb, he may have expressed a preference for -“man as he ought <em>not</em> to be,” which, to a controlled -and limited extent, may be an admirable attitude. But -it is more probable that actions such as that just recorded -were merely thoughtless, and were not tempered -by much consideration for the feelings of others until -those outraged feelings were pointed out to him, whereupon, -so Plutarch tells us, he could be frankly repentant.</p> - -<p>He cared little for public opinion, and had no idea -of the annoyance and distress caused by his actions. -He was much in the hands of his courtiers and friends, -and so long as all about him appeared to be happy and -jolly, he found no reason for further inquiry. While in -Asia he considered it needful to the good condition of -his army to levy a tax upon the cities which had already -paid their tribute to him, and orders were given to this -effect, without the matter receiving much consideration -by him. In fact, it would seem that the first tribute -had slipped his memory. A certain Hybreas, therefore, -complained to him in the name of the Asiatic cities, -reminding him of the earlier tax. “If it has not been -paid to you,” he said, “ask your collectors for it; if it -has, and is all gone, we are ruined men.” Antony at -once saw the sense of this, realised the suffering he was -about to cause, and being, so it is said, touched to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span> -quick, promptly made other arrangements. Having a -very good opinion of himself, and being in a rough -sort of manner much flattered by his friends, he was -slow to see his own faults; but when he was of -opinion that he had been in the wrong, he became -profoundly repentant, and was never ashamed of asking -the pardon of those he had injured. With boyish -extravagance he made reparation to them, lavishing -gifts upon them in such a manner that his generosity -on these occasions is said to have exceeded by far his -severity on others.</p> - -<p>He was at all times generous, both to his friends and -to his enemies. He seems to have inherited this quality -from his father, who, from the brief reference to him in -Plutarch, appears to have been a kindly old man, somewhat -afraid of his wife, and given to making presents to -his friends behind her back. Antony’s “generous ways,” -says Plutarch, “his open and lavish hand in gifts and -favours to his friends and fellow-soldiers, did a great -deal for him in his first advance to power; and after -he had become great, long maintained his fortunes, -when a thousand follies were hastening their overthrow.” -So lavish were his presents to his friends and -his hospitality that he was always in debt, and even in -his early manhood he owed his creditors a huge fortune. -He had little idea of the value of money, and his extravagances -were the talk of the world. On one occasion -he ordered his steward to pay a certain large sum -of money to one of his needy friends, and the amount -so shocked that official that he counted it out in small -silver <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">decies</i>, which he caused to be piled into a heap -in a conspicuous place where it should catch the donor’s -eye, and, by its size, cause him to change his mind. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span> -due course Antony came upon the heap of money, and -asked what was its purpose. The steward replied in a -significant tone that it was the amount which was to be -given to his friend. “Oh,” said Antony, quite unmoved, -“I should have thought the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">decies</i> would have been much -more. It is too little: let the amount be doubled.”</p> - -<p>He was as generous, moreover, in his dealings as in -his gifts. After his Alexandrian Triumph he did not put -to death the conquered Armenian King Artavasdes, who -had been led in golden chains through the streets, although -such an execution was customary according to -Roman usage. Just previous to the battle of Actium, -the consul Domitius Ahenobarbus deserted and went -over to Octavian, leaving behind him all his goods and -chattels and his entire retinue. With a splendid nobility -Antony sent his baggage after him, not deigning to -enrich himself at the expense of his treacherous friend, -nor to revenge himself by maltreating any of those -whom the consul had left in such jeopardy. After the -battle of Philippi, Antony was eager to take his enemy, -Brutus, alive; but a certain officer named Lucilius heroically -prevented this by pretending to be the defeated -general, and by giving himself up to Antony’s soldiers. -The men brought their captive in triumph to Antony, -but as soon as he was come into his presence he explained -that he was not Brutus, and that he had pretended -to be so in order to save his master, and was -now prepared to pay with his life the penalty for his -deception. Thereupon Antony, addressing the angry -and excited crowd, said: “I see, comrades, that you -are upset, and take it ill that you have been thus -deceived, and think yourselves abused and insulted by -it; but you must know that you have met with a prize<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span> -better than that you sought. For you were in search -of an enemy, but you have brought me here a friend. -And of this I am sure, that it is better to have such -men as this Lucilius our friends than our enemies.”<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> -And with these words he embraced the brave officer, -and gave him a free pardon. Shortly after this, when -Brutus, the murderer both of his old friend Julius Cæsar -and of his own brother Caius, had committed suicide, -he did not revenge himself upon the body by exposing -it to insult, as was so often done, but covered it decently -with his own scarlet mantle, and gave orders that it -should be buried at his private expense with the -honours of war. Similarly, after the capture of Pelusium -and the defeat and death of Archelaus, Antony sought -out the body of his conquered enemy and buried it with -royal honours. In his earlier years, his treatment of -Lepidus, whose army he had won over from him, was -courteous in the extreme. Although absolute master of -the situation, and Lepidus a prisoner in his hands, he -insisted upon the fallen general remaining commander -of the army, and always addressed him respectfully -as Father.</p> - -<p>Many of his actions were due to a kind of youthful -impulsiveness. He gave his cook a fine house in Magnesia—the -property, by the way, of somebody else—in -reward for a single successful supper. This impetuosity -was manifest in other ways, for, by its nature, which -allowed of no delay in putting into action the thought -dominant in his mind, it must be defined as a kind of -impatience. As a young man desiring rapid fame, he -had suddenly thrown in his lot with Clodius, “the most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span> -insolent and outrageous demagogue of the time,” leading -with him a life of violence and disorder; and as suddenly -he had severed that partnership, going to Greece to study -with enthusiasm the polite arts. In later years his sudden -invasion of Media, with such haste that he was obliged -to leave behind him all his engines of war, is the most -notable example of this impatience. The battle of -Actium, which ended his career, was lost by a sudden -impulse on his part; and, at the last, the taking of his -own life was to some extent the impatient anticipation -of the processes of nature.</p> - -<p>This trait in his character, combined with an inherent -bravery, caused him to cut a very dashing figure in warfare, -and when fortune was with him, made of him a -brilliant general. He stood in fear of nothing, and -dangers seem to have presented themselves to him as -pleasant relaxations of the humdrum of life. In the -battle which opened the war against Aristobulus he -was the first man to scale the enemy’s works; and in -a pitched battle he routed a force far larger than his -own, took Aristobulus and his son prisoners, and, like -an avenging deity, slaughtered almost the entire hostile -army. At another time his dash across the desert to -Pelusium, and his brilliant capture of that fortress, -brought him considerable fame. Again, in the war -against Pompey, “there was not one of the many -battles,” says Plutarch, “in which he did not signalise -himself: twice he stopped the army in its full flight, -led them back to a charge, and gained the victory, so -that ... his reputation, next to Cæsar’s, was the greatest -in the army.” In the disastrous retreat from Media he -showed the greatest bravery; and it was no common -courage that allowed him, after the horrors of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span> -march back to Armenia, to prepare for a second campaign.</p> - -<p>His generalship was not extraordinarily skilful, though -it is true that at Pharsalia Cæsar placed him in command -of the left wing of the army, himself taking the -right; but his great courage, and the confidence and -devotion which he inspired in his men, served to make -him a trustworthy commander. His popularity amongst -his soldiers, as has been said, was unbounded. His -magnificent, manly appearance appealed to that sense -of the dramatic in which a soldier, by military display, -is very properly trained. His familiarity with his men, -moreover, introduced a very personal note into their -devotion, and each soldier felt that his general’s eye -was upon him. He would sometimes go amongst them -at the common mess, sit down with them at their tables, -and eat or drink with them. He joined with them in -their exercises, and seems to have been able to run, -wrestle, or box with the best. He jested with high -and low, and liked them to answer him back. “His -raillery,” says Plutarch, “was sharp and insulting, but -the edge of it was taken off by his readiness to submit -to any kind of repartee; for he was as well contented -to be rallied as he was pleased to rally others.” In a -word, he was “the delight and pleasure of the army.”</p> - -<p>His eloquence was very marked, a faculty which he -seems to have inherited from his grandfather, who was -a famous pleader and advocate. As a young man he -studied the art at Athens, and took to a style known -as the Asiatic, which was somewhat flowery and ostentatious. -When Pompey’s power at Rome was at its -height, and Cæsar was in eclipse, Antony read his chief’s -letters in the Senate with such effect that he obtained<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span> -many adherents to their cause. His public speech at -the funeral of Cæsar led to the downfall of the assassins. -When he himself was driven out of Rome he made such -an impression by his words upon the army of Lepidus, -to which he had fled, that an order was given to sound -the trumpets in order to drown his appealing voice. -“There was no man of his time like him for addressing -a multitude,” says Plutarch, “or for carrying soldiers -with him by the force of words.” It was in eloquence, -perhaps, that he made his nearest approach to a diversion -from the ordinary; though even in this it is possible -to find no more than an exalted mediocrity. A fine -presence, a frank utterance, and a vigorous delivery make -a great impression upon a crowd; and common sincerity -is the most electrifying agent in man’s employment.</p> - -<p>Yet another of the causes of his popularity both -amongst his troops and with his friends was the sympathy -which he always showed with the intrigues and -troubles of lovers. “In love affairs,” says Plutarch, -“he was very agreeable; he gained friends by the assistance -he gave them in theirs, and took other people’s -raillery upon his own with good-humour.” He used to -lose his heart to women with the utmost ease and the -greatest frequency; and they, by reason of his splendid -physique and noble bearing, not infrequently followed -suit. Amongst serious-minded people he had an ill -name for familiarity with other men’s wives; but the -domestic habits of the age were very irregular, and his -own wife Antonia had carried on an intrigue with his -friend Dolabella for which Antony had divorced her, -thereafter marrying the strong-minded Fulvia. Antony -was a full-blooded, virile man, unrestrained by any strong -principles of morality and possessed of no standard of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span> -domestic constancy either by education or by inclination. -He was not ashamed of the consequences of his promiscuous -amours, but allowed nature to have her will -with him. Like his ancestor Hercules, he was so proud -of his stock that he wished it multiplied in many lands, -and he never confined his hopes of progeny to any one -woman.</p> - -<p>There was a certain brutality in his nature, and of -this the particular instance is the murder of Cicero. -The orator had incurred his bitter hostility in the first -place by putting to death, and perhaps denying burial -to Antony’s stepfather, Cornelius Lentulus. Later he -was the cause of Antony’s ejection from Rome and of -his privations while making the passage of the Alps. -The traitorous Dolabella was Cicero’s son-in-law, which -must have added something to the family feud. Moreover, -Cicero’s orations and writings against Antony were -continuous and full of invective. It is perhaps not to be -wondered at, therefore, that when Octavian, Antony, -and Lepidus decided to rid the State of certain undesirable -persons, as we have already seen, Cicero was -proscribed and put to death. Plutarch tells us that -his head and right hand were hung up above the -speaker’s place in the Forum, and that Antony laughed -when he saw them, perhaps because, in his simple way, -he did not know what else to do to carry off a situation -of which he was somewhat ashamed.</p> - -<p>As a rule, however, Antony was kind-hearted and -humane, and, as has already been shown, was seldom -severe or cruel to his enemies. To many people he -embodied and personified good-nature, jollity, and -strength: he seemed to them to be a blending of -Bacchus with Hercules; and if his morals were not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">222</a></span> -of a lofty character, it may be said in his defence that -they were consistent with the part for which nature -had cast him.</p> - -<p>Little is known as to his attitude towards religion, -and one cannot tell whether he entertained any of the -atheistic doctrines which were then so widely preached, -nor does the fact that he allowed himself to be worshipped -as Bacchus help us to form an opinion in this -regard. It is probable, however, that his faith was of -a simple kind in conformity with his character; and it -is known that he was superstitious and aware of the -presence of the supernatural. A certain Egyptian -diviner made a profound impression upon him by foreshadowing -the future events of his life and warning him -against the power of Octavian. And again, when he -set out upon his Parthian campaign, he carried with -him a vessel containing the water of the Clepsydra, -an oracle having urged him to do so, while, at the -same time, he took with him a wreath made of the -leaves of the sacred olive-tree. He believed implicitly -in the divine nature of dreams, and we are told of one -occasion upon which he dreamed that his right hand -was thunderstruck, and thereupon discovered a plot -against his life. Such superstitions, however, were very -general, even amongst educated people; and Antony’s -belief in omens has only to be noted here because it -played some part in his career. Until the last year of -his life he was attended with good luck, and a friendly -fortune helped him out of many difficult situations into -which his impetuosity had led him. It seemed to many -that Bacchus had really identified himself with Antony, -bringing to his aid the powers of his godhead; and -when at the end his downfall was complete, several<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span> -persons declared that they actually heard the clatter -and the processional music which marked the departure -of the deity from the destinies of the fallen giant. The -historian cannot but find extenuating circumstances in -the majority of the culpable acts of the “colossal child”; -and amongst these excuses there is none so urgent as -this continuous presence of a smiling fortune. “Antony -in misfortune,” says Plutarch, “was most nearly a virtuous -man”; and if we wish to form a true estimate -of his character we must give prominence to his hardy -and noble attitude in the days of his flight from Rome -or of his retreat from Media. It was then that he had -done with his boyish inconsequence and played the man. -At all other times he was the spoilt child of fortune, -rollicking on his triumphant way; jesting, drinking, -loving, and fighting; careless of public opinion; and, -like a god, sporting at will with the ball of the world.</p> - -<p>When Dellius came to bring Cleopatra to him he was -at the height of his power. Absolute master of the East, -he was courted by kings and princes, who saw in him -the future ruler of the entire Roman Empire. Cæsar -must have often told the Queen of his faults and abilities, -and she herself must have noticed the frank simplicity -of his character. She set out, therefore, prepared to meet -not with a complex genius, but with an ordinary man, -representative, in a monstrous manner, of the victories -and the blunders of common human nature, and, incidentally, -a man somewhat plagued by an emancipated -wife.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Determined to win the fickle Antony back to her cause -and that of her son, Cleopatra set sail from Alexandria, -and, passing between Cyprus and the coast of Syria, -at length one morning entered the mouth of the Cydnus -in Cilicia, and made her way up to the city of Tarsus -which was situated on the banks of the river in the -shadow of the wooded slopes of the Taurus mountains. -The city was famous both for its maritime commerce and -for its school of oratory. The ships of Tarshish (<i>i.e.</i>, -Tarsus) had been renowned since ancient days, and -upon these vessels the rhetoricians travelled far and -wide, carrying the methods of their <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">alma mater</i> throughout -the known world. Julius Cæsar and Cato may be -named as two of the pupils of this school who have -played their parts in the foregoing pages;<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> and now -Antony, the foremost Roman of this period, was honouring -Tarsus itself with his presence. The city stood some -miles back from the sea, and it was late afternoon before -its buildings and busy docks were observed by the -Egyptians, sheltering against the slopes of the mountains. -As the fleet sailed up the Cydnus, the people of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span> -the neighbourhood swarmed down to the water’s edge -to watch its stately progress; and the excitement was -intense when it was seen that the Queen’s vessel was -fitted and decked out in the most extravagant manner. -Near the city the river widens into a quiet lake, and -here in the roads, where lay the world-renowned merchant -vessels, Cleopatra’s ships probably came to anchor, -while the quays and embankments were crowded with -the townsfolk who had gathered to witness the Queen’s -arrival.</p> - -<p>On hearing of her approach Antony had seated himself -upon the public tribunal in the market-place, expecting -that she would land at once and come to pay her -respects to him in official manner. But Cleopatra had -no intention of playing a part which might in any way be -interpreted as that of a vassal or suppliant; and she -therefore seems to have remained on board her ship at -a distance from the shore, as though in no haste to meet -Antony.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile reports began to spread of the magnificence -of the Queen’s vessels, and it was said that preparations -were being made on board for the reception of the Triumvir. -The crowds surrounding the tribunal thereupon -hurried from the market-place to join those upon the -quays, and soon Antony was left alone with his retinue. -There he sat waiting for some time, till, losing patience, -he sent a message to the Queen inviting her to dine with -him. To this she replied by asking him to bring the -Roman and local magnates to dine with her instead; -and Antony, not wishing to stand upon ceremony with -his old friend, at once accepted the invitation. At dusk, -therefore, Cleopatra appears to have ordered her vessel -to be brought across the lake to the city, and to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span> -moored at the crowded quay, where already Antony was -waiting to come on board; and the burly Roman, always -a lover of theatrical display, must then have been entertained -by a spectacle more stirring than any he had -known before.</p> - -<p>Across the water, in which the last light of the sunset -was reflected, the royal galley was rowed by banks of -silver-mounted oars, the great purple sails hanging idly -in the still air of evening. The vessel was steered by -two oar-like rudders, controlled by helmsmen who stood -in the stern of the ship under a shelter constructed in the -form of an enormous elephant’s head of shining gold, the -trunk raised aloft.<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> Around the helmsmen a number of -beautiful slave-women were grouped in the guise of sea-nymphs -and graces; and near them a company of -musicians played a melody upon their flutes, pipes, and -harps, for which the slow-moving oars seemed to beat -the time. Cleopatra herself, decked in the loose, shimmering -robes of the goddess Venus, lay under an awning -bespangled with gold, while boys dressed as Cupids stood -on either side of her couch, fanning her with the coloured -ostrich plumes of the Egyptian court. Before the royal -canopy brazen censers stood upon delicate pedestals, -sending forth fragrant clouds of exquisitely prepared -Egyptian incense, the marvellous odour of which was -wafted to the shore ere yet the vessel had come to its -moorings.<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a></p> - -<p>At last, as the light of day began to fade, the royal -galley was moored to the crowded quay, and Antony<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span> -stepped on board, followed by the chief officers of his -staff and by the local celebrities of Tarsus. His meeting -with the Queen appears to have been of the most cordial -nature, for the manner of her approach must have made -it impossible for him at that moment to censure her conduct. -Moreover, the splendid allurements of the scene -in which they met, the enchantment of the twilight, the -enticement of her beauty, the delicacy of the music -blending with the ripple of the water, the intoxication -of the incense and the priceless perfumes, must have -stirred his imagination and driven from his mind all -thought of reproach. Nor could he have found much -opportunity for serious conversation with her, for presently -the company was led down to the banqueting-saloon -where a dinner of the utmost magnificence was -served. Twelve triple couches, covered with embroideries -and furnished with cushions, were set around the room, -before each of which stood a table whereon rested golden -dishes inlaid with precious stones, and drinking goblets -of exquisite workmanship. The walls of the saloon were -hung with embroideries worked in purple and gold, and -the floor was strewn with flowers. Antony could not -refrain from exclaiming at the splendour of the entertainment, -whereupon Cleopatra declared that it was not -worthy of comment; and, there and then, she made him -a present of everything used at the banquet—dishes, -drinking-vessels, couches, embroideries, and all else in -the saloon. Returning once more to the deck, the elated -guests, now made more impressionable by the effects of -Egyptian wine, were amazed to find themselves standing -beneath a marvellous kaleidoscope of lanterns, hung in -squares and circles from a forest of branches interlaced -above their heads, and in these almost magical surroundings<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">228</a></span> -they enjoyed the enlivening company of the fascinating -young Queen until the wine-jars were emptied and -the lamps had burnt low.</p> - -<p>From the shore the figures of the revellers, moving -to and fro amidst this galaxy of lights to the happy -strains of the music, must have appeared to be actors -in some divine masque; and it was freely stated, as -though it had been fact, that Venus had come down to -earth to feast with Dionysos (Antony) for the common -good of Asia. Cleopatra, as we have already seen, had -been identified with Venus during the time when she -lived in Rome; and in Egypt she was always deified. -And thus the character in which she presented herself -at Tarsus was not assumed, as is generally supposed, -simply for the purpose of creating a charming picture, -but it was her wish actually to be received as a goddess, -that Antony might behold in her the divine Queen of -Egypt whom the great Cæsar himself had accepted and -honoured as an incarnation of Venus. It must be remembered -that at this period men were very prone to -identify prominent persons with popular divinities. Julia, -the daughter of Octavian, was in like manner identified -with Venus Genetrix by the inhabitants of certain cities. -We have seen how Cæsar seems to have been named -Lupercus, and how Antony was called Dionysos -(Bacchus); and it will be remembered how, at Lystra, -Paul and Barnabas were saluted as Hermes and Zeus. -In the many known cases, such as these, the people -actually credited the identification; and though a little -thought probably checked a continuance of such a belief, -at the time there seemed to be no cause for doubt that -these divinities had made themselves manifest on earth. -The crowds who stood on the banks of the Cydnus that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">229</a></span> -night must therefore have really believed themselves to -be peeping at an entertainment provided by a manifestation -of a popular goddess for the amusement of an -incarnation of a favourite god.</p> - -<p>It would appear that Antony invited Cleopatra to sup -with him on the following evening, but the Queen seems -to have urged him and his suite again to feast with her. -This second banquet was so far more splendid than the -first that, according to Plutarch, the entertainment already -described seemed by comparison to be contemptible. -When the guests departed, not only did she give -to each one the couch upon which he had lain, and the -goblets which had been set before him, but she also -presented the chief guests with litters, and with slaves -to carry them, and Ethiopian boys to bear torches in -front of them; while for the lesser guests she provided -horses adorned with golden trappings, which they were -bidden to keep as mementos of the banquet.</p> - -<p>On the next night Cleopatra at last deigned to dine -with Antony, who had exhausted the resources of Tarsus -in his desire to provide a feast which should equal in -magnificence those given by the Queen; but in this he -failed, and he was the first to make a jest of his unsuccess -and of the poverty of his wits. The Queen’s entertainments -had been marked by that brilliancy of conversation -and atmosphere of refinement which in past -years had so appealed to the intelligence of the great -Dictator; but Antony’s banquet, on the contrary, was -notable for the coarseness of the wit and for what -Plutarch describes as a sort of rustic awkwardness. -Cleopatra, however, was equal to the occasion, and -speedily adjusted her conduct to suit that of her burly -host. “Perceiving that his raillery was broad and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">230</a></span> -gross, and that it savoured more of the soldier than of -the courtier, she rejoined in the same taste, and fell at -once into that manner, without any sort of reluctance -or reserve.”<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> Thus she soon succeeded in captivating -this powerful Roman, and in making him her most devoted -friend and ally. There was something irresistible -in the excitement of her presence: for the daintiness of -her person, the vivacity of her character, and the enchantment -of her voice, were, so to speak, enhanced -by the audacity of her treatment of the broad subjects -introduced in conversation. Antony had sent for her -to censure her for a supposed negligence of his interests; -but speedily he was led to realise that he himself, -and not the Queen, had deviated from the course upon -which they had agreed in Rome. It was he who, by -his association with Octavian, had appeared to desert -what Cleopatra believed to be the genuine Cæsarian -cause; whereas, on the other hand, the Queen was -able to show that she had refrained from sending aid -to the Triumvirate simply because she could not decide -in what manner the welfare of her son, the little Cæsar, -was to be promoted by such an action. Under the spell -of her attraction Antony, who in the Dictator’s lifetime -had never been permitted to receive in his heart the -full force of her charming attack, now fell an easy -victim to her strategy, and declared himself ready to -carry out her wishes in all things.</p> - -<p>On the fourth night of her visit to Tarsus, Cleopatra -entertained the Roman officers at another banquet; and -on this occasion she caused the floor of the saloon to -be strewn with roses to the depth of nearly two feet, -the flowers being held in a solid formation by nets which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">231</a></span> -were tightly spread over them and fastened to the surrounding -walls, the guests thus walking to their couches -upon a perfumed mattress of blooms, the cost of which, -for the one room, was some £250.</p> - -<p>In this prodigious manner the next few days were -spent. The Queen made every possible effort to display -to Antony her wealth and power, in order that -she might obtain his consent to some form of alliance -between them which should be directed against Octavian. -Her one desire now was to effect a break between these -two leaders, to set them at one another’s throats, and -then, by lending Antony her support, to secure the -overthrow of Octavian, Cæsar’s nephew, and the -triumph of Cæsarion, Cæsar’s son. For this purpose -it was absolutely necessary to reveal the extent of her -wealth, and to exhibit the limitless stream of her resources. -She therefore seems to have shown a mild -disdain for the Roman general’s efforts to entertain -her, and at his banquets she seems to have conveyed -to him the disquieting impression that she was smiling -at his attempted magnificence, and was even puzzled by -his inability to give to his feasts that fairy aspect which -characterised her own.</p> - -<p>Her attitude caused Antony some uneasiness, and at -length it seems that he asked the Queen directly what -more could be done to add to the splendour of his table. -During the course of the conversation which ensued he -appears to have told her how much an entertainment -of the kind cost him; whereupon she replied that she -herself could with ease expend the equivalent of a hundred -and fifty thousand pounds sterling upon a single -meal. Antony promptly denied it, declaring that such -a thing was impossible; and the Queen thereupon offered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">232</a></span> -him a wager that she would do so on the next day. This -was accepted, and a certain Plancus was invited to decide -it. Antony does not appear to have recollected that in -time past Clodius, the son of the comedian Æsop, was -wont to mingle melted pearls with his food, that the -cost of his meals might be interestingly enormous;<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> for -he would then have realised that Cleopatra intended to -employ some such device to win her wager, and he -would perhaps have restrained her.</p> - -<p>To the next day’s banquet the Roman looked forward -with some excitement; and he must have been at once -elated and disappointed when he found the display to -be not much above the ordinary. At the end of the -meal he calculated with Plancus the expenses of the -various dishes, and estimated the value of the golden -plates and goblets. He then turned to the Queen, -telling her that the total amount did not nearly reach -the figure named in the wager.</p> - -<p>“Wait,” said Cleopatra. “This is only a beginning. -I shall now try whether I cannot spend the stipulated -sum upon myself.”</p> - -<p>A signal was given to the attendant slaves, who -brought a table to her, upon which a single cup containing -a little vinegar was set. She was wearing in -her ears at the time two enormous pearls, the value of -each of which was more than half the amount named -in the wager; and one of these she rapidly detached, -throwing it into the vinegar, wherein it soon disintegrated. -The vinegar and some seventy-five thousand -pounds having then trickled down her royal throat, she -prepared to destroy the second pearl in like manner; -but Plancus intervened, and declared the wager won,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">233</a></span> -while Antony, no doubt, pondered not without gloom -upon the ways of women.</p> - -<p>It has generally been thought that the Queen’s extravagance -was to be attributed to her vain desire to -impress Antony with the fact of her personal wealth. -But, as we have seen, there was certainly a strong -political reason for her actions; and there is no need -to suppose that she was actuated by vanity. Indeed, -the display of her wealth does not appear to have been -on any occasion as ostentatious as one might gather -from the Greek authors, whose writings suggest that -they attributed to her a boastful profligacy in financial -matters which could only be described as bad form. It -would seem rather that the instances of her prodigality -recorded here were all characterised in appearance by -a subtle show of unaffected simplicity and ingenuousness, -a sort of breath-taking audacity, while in quality -they were largely political and speculative.</p> - -<p>It is very important for the reader to understand the -attitude of Cleopatra at this time, and to divest his mind -of the views usually accepted in regard to the Queen’s -alliance with Antony; and therefore I must repeat that -it was Cleopatra’s desire at Tarsus to arouse the interest -of Antony in the possibilities of Egypt as the basis of -an attempt upon Rome. She wished to lead him, as -I have said, to put faith in the limitless wealth that -might flow down the Nile to fill the coffers which -should be his, were he to lead an army to claim the -throne for herself as Cæsar’s wife, and for her son -as Cæsar’s flesh and blood. Here was the man who -could conquer for her the empire which she had lost -by the premature death of the great Dictator. It was -necessary to make him understand the advantages of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">234</a></span> -partnership with her, and hence it became needful for -her to display to him the untold wealth that she could -command. There was no particular vanity in her -actions, nor real wastefulness: she was playing a great -game, and the stakes were high. A few golden goblets, -a melted pearl or two, were not an excessive price to -pay for the partisanship of Antony. Her son Cæsarion -was too young to fight his own battles, and she herself -could not lead an army. Antony’s championship therefore -had to be obtained, and there was no way of enlisting -his sympathies so sure as that of revealing to him -the boundless riches which she could bring to his aid. -Let him have practical demonstration of the wealth of -hidden Africa and mysterious Asia at her command, and -he would surely not shun an enterprise which should make -Cæsar’s friend, Cæsar’s wife, and Cæsar’s son the three -sovereigns of the world. She would show him the gold -of Ethiopia and of Nubia; she would turn his attention -to the great trade-routes to India; and she would remind -him of the advantageous possibilities which the great -Dictator had seen in an alliance with her. In this -manner she would again win his support, as she believed -she had already done in Rome; and thus through him -the ambitious schemes of Julius Cæsar might at last -be put into execution.</p> - -<p>There were, however, one or two outstanding matters -which required immediate attention. The Princess -Arsinoe, who had walked the streets of Rome in Cæsar’s -Triumph and had been released after that event, was -now residing either at Miletus or Ephesus,<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> where she -had received sanctuary amongst the priests and priestesses -attached to the temple of Artemis. The High Priest<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">235</a></span> -treated her kindly, and even honoured her as a queen, -a fact which suggests that he had definitely placed -himself upon her side in her feud with Cleopatra. She -seems to have been a daring and ambitious woman, who, -throughout her short life, struggled vainly to obtain the -throne of Egypt for herself; and now it would appear -that she was once more scheming to oust her sister, -just as she had schemed in the Alexandrian Palace in -the days when Ganymedes was her chamberlain.</p> - -<p>It will be remembered that the Dictator had given -the throne of Cyprus to Arsinoe and her brother, but it -does not seem that this gift had ever been ratified, -though no doubt the Princess attempted to style herself -Queen of that island. It may be that she had come to -some terms with Cassius and Brutus by offering them -aid in their war with Antony if they would assist her -in her endeavours to obtain the Egyptian throne; and -it is possible that the Egyptian Viceroy of Cyprus, -Serapion, was involved in this arrangement when he -handed over his fleet to Cassius, as has been recorded -in the last chapter. At all events, Cleopatra was now -able to obtain Antony’s consent to the execution both -of Arsinoe and of Serapion. A number of men were -despatched, therefore, with orders to put her to death, -and these entering the temple while Arsinoe was serving -in the sanctuary, killed her at the steps of the altar. -The High Priest was indicted apparently on the charge -of conspiracy, and it was only with great difficulty -that the priesthood managed to obtain his pardon. -Serapion, however, could not claim indulgence on -account of his calling, and he was speedily arrested -and slain.</p> - -<p>Having thus rid herself of one serious menace to her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">236</a></span> -throne, Cleopatra persuaded Antony to assist her to -remove from her mind another cause for deep anxiety. -It will be remembered that when Cæsar defeated the -Egyptian army in the south of the Delta in March -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 47, the young King Ptolemy XIV. was drowned -in the rout, his body being said to have been recognised -by his golden corselet. Now, however, a man who -claimed to be none other than this unfortunate monarch -was trying to obtain a following, and possibly had put -himself in correspondence with his supposed sister -Arsinoe. The pretender was residing at this time in -Phœnicia, a fact which suggests that he had also been -in communication with Serapion, who at the time of his -arrest was likewise travelling in that country. Antony -therefore consented to the arrest and execution of this -pseudo-monarch, and in a few weeks’ time he was quietly -despatched.</p> - -<p>Historians are inclined to see in the deaths of these -three conspirators an instance of Cleopatra’s cruelty and -vindictiveness; and one finds them described as victims of -her insatiable ambition, the killing of Arsinoe being named -as the darkest stain upon the Queen’s black reputation. -I cannot see, however, in what manner a menace to her -throne of this kind could have been removed, save by -the ejection of the makers of the trouble from the earthly -sphere of their activities. The death of Arsinoe, like -that of Thomas à Beckett, is rendered ugly by the fact -that it took place at the steps of a sacred altar; but, -remembering the period in which these events occurred, -the executions are not to be censured too severely, for -what goodly king or queen of former days has not thus -removed by death all pretenders to the throne?</p> - -<p>Cleopatra’s visit to Tarsus does not seem to have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">237</a></span> -prolonged beyond a few weeks, but when at length she -returned to Alexandria, she must have felt that her short -residence with Antony had raised her prestige once more -to the loftiest heights. Not only had she used his dictatorial -power to sweep her two rivals and their presumed -accomplice from the face of the earth, not only had she -struck the terror of her power into the heart of the -powerful High Priest of Artemis who, in the distant -Ægean, had merely harboured a pretender to Egypt’s -throne, but she had actually won the full support of -Antony once more, and had extracted from him a -promise to pay her a visit at Alexandria in order that -he might see with his own eyes the wealth which Egypt -could offer. For the first time, therefore, since the -death of Cæsar, her prospects seemed once more to be -brilliant; and it must have been with a light heart that -she sailed across the Mediterranean once more towards -her own splendid city.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">238</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY IN ALEXANDRIA.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>There can be little doubt that Antony was extremely -anxious to form a solid alliance with Cleopatra at this -juncture, for he needed just such an ally for the schemes -which he had in view. His relations with Octavian -were strained, and the insignificant part played by the -latter in the operations which culminated at Philippi -had led him to feel some contempt for the young man’s -abilities. The Triumvirate was, at best, a compromise; -and Antony had no expectation that it would for one -day outlive the acquisition either by Octavian or himself -of preponderant power. At the back of his mind he -hoped for the fall of Cæsar’s nephew; and he saw in the -alliance with Cleopatra the means whereby he could -obtain a numerical advantage over his rival.</p> - -<p>After the battle of Philippi Octavian had returned to -Rome, and Antony now received news that the troops -under their joint command were highly dissatisfied with -the rewards which they had received for their labours. -There was considerable friction between those who were -loyal to Octavian and those who thought that Antony -would treat them more generously; and the latter’s -agents in Rome, notably his wife Fulvia, were endeavouring<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">239</a></span> -to widen the breach, more probably of their own -accord than with their leader’s direct consent. Antony -had no wish to break with Octavian until he could feel -confident of success; and, moreover, his attention was -directed at this time more keenly to the question of the -conquest of Parthia than to that of the destruction of -Octavian. The great Dictator had stirred his imagination -in regard to the Parthians, and possibly the project -of the invasion of India was already exercising his mind, -as it certainly did in later years.<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> His plans therefore, -in broad outline, now seem to have been grouped into -three movements: firstly, the formation of an offensive -and defensive alliance with Cleopatra, in order that her -money, men, and ships might be placed at his disposal; -secondly, the invasion of Parthia, so that the glory of -his victories and the loot of the conquered country might -raise his prestige to the highest point; and thirdly, the -picking of a quarrel with Octavian, in order that he -might sweep him from the face of the earth, thereby -leaving himself ruler of the world. Then, like Cæsar, -he would probably proclaim himself King, would marry -Cleopatra, and would establish a royal dynasty, his -successor being either his stepson, the Dictator’s child, -or the future son of his marriage with the Queen of -Egypt should their union be fruitful.</p> - -<p>Filled with these hopes, which corresponded so closely -to those of Cleopatra, Antony prepared to go to -Alexandria in the autumn of the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 41, intent on -sealing the alliance with the Queen of Egypt. He -arranged for a certain Decidius Saxa, one of the late -Dictator’s chosen generals, to be placed in command of -the forces in Syria; and it was this officer’s duty to keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">240</a></span> -him informed of the movements of the Parthians, and to -prepare for the coming campaign against them. The -King of Parthia, Orodes by name, had engaged the -services of a Roman renegade named Quintus Labienus, -a former colleague of Cassius and Brutus; and this man -was now working in conjunction with Pacorus, the King’s -son, in organising the Parthian armies and preparing -them for an offensive movement against the neighbouring -Roman provinces. There seemed thus to be no doubt -that war would speedily break out, and Antony was -therefore very anxious to put himself in possession of the -Egyptian military and naval resources as quickly as -possible.</p> - -<div id="ip_240" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 21.4375em;"> - <img src="images/i_240.jpg" width="343" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Vatican.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Anderson.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>OCTAVIAN.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>He was about to set sail for Alexandria when news -seems to have reached him that the troubles in Rome -were coming to a head, and that his brother Lucius -Antonius, and his wife Fulvia, were preparing to attack -Octavian. He must therefore have hesitated in deciding -whether he should return to Rome or not. He must -have been considerably annoyed at the turn which events -had taken, for he knew well enough that he was not then -in a position to wage a successful war against Octavian; -and he was much afraid of being involved in a contest -which would probably lead to his own downfall. If he -returned to Italy it was possible that he might be able to -patch up the quarrel, and to effect a reconciliation which -should keep the world at peace until the time when he -himself desired war. But if he failed in his pacific -efforts, a conflict would ensue for which he was not -prepared. It seems to me, therefore, that he thought it -more desirable that he should keep clear of the quarrel, -and should show himself to be absorbed in eastern -questions. By going over to Egypt for a few weeks, not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">241</a></span> -only would he detach himself from the embarrassing -tactics of his party in Rome, but he would also raise -forces and money, nominally for his Parthian campaign, -which would be of immense service to him should -Octavian press the quarrel to a conclusive issue. Moreover, -there can be little question that to Antony the -thought of meeting his stern wife again and of being -obliged to live once more under her powerful scrutiny -was very distasteful; whereas, on the other hand, he -looked forward with youthful enthusiasm to a repetition -of the charming entertainment provided by Cleopatra. -Antony was no great statesman or diplomatist; and jolly -overgrown boy that he was, his effective actions were at -all times largely dictated by his pleasurable desires. The -Queen of Egypt had made a most disconcerting appeal -to that spontaneous nature, which, in matters of this -kind, required little encouragement from without; and -now the fact that it seemed wise at the time to keep -away from Rome served as full warrant for the manœuvre -which his ambition and his heart jointly urged upon him.</p> - -<p>Early in the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 41, therefore, he made his -way to Alexandria, and was received by Cleopatra into the -beautiful Lochias Palace as a most profoundly honoured -guest. All the resources of that sumptuous establishment -were concerted for his amusement, and it was not -long before the affairs of the Roman world were relegated -to the back of his genial mind. In the case of Cleopatra, -however, there was no such laxity. The Queen’s -ambitions, fired by Cæsar, had been stirred into renewed -flame by her success at Tarsus; and she was determined -to make Antony the champion of her cause. From the -moment when she had realised his pliability and his -susceptibility to her overtures, she had made up her mind<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">242</a></span> -to join forces with him in an attempt upon the throne of -the Roman Empire; and it was now her business both to -fascinate him by her personal charms and, by the nature -of her entertainments, to demonstrate to him her wealth -and power.</p> - -<p>“It would be trifling without end,” says Plutarch, “to -give a particular account of Antony’s follies at Alexandria.” -For several weeks he gave himself up to amusements of -the most frivolous character, and to the enjoyment of a -life more luxurious than any he had ever known. His -own family had been simple in their style of living, and -although he had taught himself much in this regard, and -had expended a great deal of money on lavish entertainments, -there were no means of obtaining in Rome a -splendour which could compare with the magnificence of -these Alexandrian festivities. His friends, too, many of -whom were common actresses and comedians, had not -been brilliant tutors in the arts of entertainment; nor -had they encouraged him to provide them so much with -refined luxury as with good strong drink and jovial -company. Now, however, in Cleopatra’s palace, Antony -found himself surrounded on all sides by the devices and -appliances of the most advanced culture of the age; and -an appeal was made to his senses which would have put -the efforts even of the extravagant Lucullus to shame. -Alexandria has been called “the Paris of the ancient -world,”<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> and it is not difficult to understand the glamour -which it cast upon the imagination of the lusty Roman, -who, for the first time in his life, found himself surrounded -by a group of cultured men and women highly practised -in the art of living sumptuously. Moreover, he was -received by Cleopatra as prospective lord of all he surveyed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">243</a></span> -for the Queen seems to have shown him quite -clearly that all these things would be his if he would but -cast in his lot with her.</p> - -<p>Antony quickly adapted his manners to those of the -Alexandrians. He set aside his Roman dress and clothed -himself in the square-cut Greek costume, putting upon -his feet the white Attic shoes known as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">phæcasium</i>. He -seems to have spoken the Greek language well; and he -now made himself diplomatically agreeable to the Grecian -nobles who frequented the court. He constantly visited -the meeting-places of learned men, spending much time -in the temples and in the Museum; and thereby he won -for himself an assured position in the brilliant society -of the Queen’s Alexandrian court, which, in spite of its -devotion to the pleasant follies of civilisation, prided itself -upon its culture and learning.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile he did not hesitate to endear himself by -every means in his power to Cleopatra. He knew that -she desired him, for dynastic reasons, to become her legal -husband, and that there was no other man in the world, -from her point of view, so suitable for the position of her -consort. He knew, also, that as a young “widow,” -whose first union had been so short-lived, Cleopatra was -eagerly desirous of a satisfactory marriage which should -give her the comfort of a strong companion upon whom -to lean in her many hours of anxiety, and an ardent lover -to whom she could turn in her loneliness. He knew that -she was attracted by his herculean strength and brave -appearance; and it must have been apparent to him from -the first that he could without much exertion win her -devotion almost as easily as the great Cæsar had done. -The Queen was young, passionate, and exceedingly -lonely; and it did not require any keen perception on his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">244</a></span> -part to show him how great was her need, both for -political and for personal reasons, of a reliable marriage. -He therefore paid court to his hostess with confidence; -and it was not long before she surrendered herself to him -with all the eagerness and whole-hearted interest of her -warm, impulsive nature.</p> - -<p>The union was at once sanctioned by the court and the -priesthood, and was converted in Egypt into as legal a -marriage as that with Cæsar had been. There can be -little doubt that Cleopatra obtained from him some sort -of promise that he would not desert her; and at this time -she must have felt herself able to trust him as implicitly -as she had trusted the great Dictator. Cæsar had not -played her false; he had taken her to Rome and had -made no secret of his intention to raise her to the throne -by his side. In like manner she believed that Antony, -virtually Cæsar’s successor, would create an empire over -which they should jointly rule; and she must have -rejoiced in her successful capture of his heart, whereby -she had obtained both a good-natured, handsome lover -and a bold political champion.</p> - -<p>In the union between these two powerful personages -the historian may thus see both a diplomatic and a -romantic amalgamation. Neither Cleopatra nor Antony -seem to me yet to have been very deeply in love, but I -fancy each was stirred by the attractions of the other, -and each believed for the moment that the gods had -provided the mate so long awaited. Cleopatra with her -dainty beauty, and Antony with his magnificent physique, -must have appeared to be admirably matched by Nature; -while their royal and famous destinies could not, in the -eyes of the material world, have been more closely allied.</p> - -<p>We have seen how Antony allowed his more refined<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">245</a></span> -instincts full play in Alexandria, and how, in order to win -the Queen’s admiration, he showed himself devoted to -the society of learned men. In like manner Cleopatra -gave full vent to the more frivolous side of her nature, in -order to render herself attractive to her Roman comrade, -whose boyish love of tomfoolery was so pronounced. -Sometimes in the darkness of the night, as we have -already seen, she would dress herself in the clothes of a -peasant woman, and disguising Antony in the garments -of a slave, she would lead him through the streets of the -city in search of adventure. They would knock ominously -at the doors or windows of unknown houses, and disappear -like ghosts when they were opened. Occasionally, -of course, they were caught by the doorkeepers or servants, -and, as Plutarch says, “were very scurvily answered and -sometimes even beaten severely, though most people -guessed who they were.”</p> - -<p>Cleopatra provided all manner of amusements for her -companion. She would ride and hunt with him in the -desert beyond the city walls, boat and fish with him on -the sea or the Mareotic Lake, romp with him through -the halls of the Palace, watch him wrestle, fence, and -exercise himself in arms, play dice with him, drink with -him, and fascinate him by the arts of love. The following -story presents a characteristic picture of the -jovial life led by them in Alexandria during this memorable -winter. Antony had been fishing from one of the -vessels in the harbour; but, failing to make any catches, -he employed a diver to descend into the water and to -attach newly-caught fishes to his hook, which he then -landed amidst the applause of Cleopatra and her friends. -The Queen, however, soon guessed what was happening, -and at once invited a number of persons to come on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">246</a></span> -the next day to witness Antony’s dexterity. She then -procured some preserved fish which had come from the -Black Sea, and instructed a slave to dive under the -vessel and to attach one to the hook as soon as it -should strike the water. This having been done, Antony -drew to the surface the salted fish, the appearance of -which was greeted with hearty laughter; whereupon -Cleopatra, turning to the discomfited angler, tactfully -said, “Leave the fishing-rod, general, to us poor sovereigns -of Pharos and Canopus: <em>your</em> game is cities, -provinces, and kingdoms.”</p> - -<p>During this winter Antony and the Queen together -founded a kind of society or club which they named -the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Amimetobioi</i>, or Inimitable Livers, the members of -which entertained one another in turn each day in the -most extravagant manner. Antony, it would seem probable, -was the president of this society; and two inscriptions -have been found in which he is named “The -Inimitable,” perhaps not without reference to this office. -A story told by a certain Philotas, a medical student -at that time residing in Alexandria, will best illustrate -the prodigality of the feasts provided by the members -of this club. Philotas was one day visiting the kitchens -of Cleopatra’s palace, and was surprised to see no less -than eight wild boars roasting whole. “You evidently -have a great number of guests to-day,” he said to the -cook; to which the latter replied, “No, there are not -above twelve to dine, but the meat has to be served -up just roasted to a turn: and maybe Antony will -wish to dine now, maybe not for an hour; yet if anything -is even one minute ill-timed it will be spoilt, so -that not one but many meals must be in readiness, as -it is impossible to guess at his dining-hour.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">247</a></span> -As an example of the food served at these Alexandrian -banquets, I may be permitted to give a list of the dishes -provided some years previously at a dinner given in -Rome by Mucius Lentulus Niger, at which Julius Cæsar -had been one of the guests; but it is to be remembered -that Cleopatra’s feasts are thought to have been -far more prodigious than any known in Rome. The -<em>menu</em> is as follows: Sea-hedgehogs; oysters; mussels; -sphondyli; fieldfares with asparagus; fattened fowls; -oyster and mussel pasties; black and white sea-acorns; -sphondyli again; glycimarides; sea-nettles; becaficoes; -roe-ribs; boar’s ribs; fowls dressed with flour; becaficoes -again; purple shell-fish of two kinds; sow’s udder; -boar’s head; fish pasties; ducks; boiled teals; hares; -roasted fowls; starch-pastry; and Pontic pastry. Varro, -in one of his satires, mentions some of the most noted -foreign delicacies which were to be found upon the -tables of the rich. These include peacocks from Samos; -grouse from Phrygia; cranes from Melos; kids from -Ambracia; tunny-fish from Chalcedon; murænas from -the Straits of Gades; ass-fish from Pessinus; oysters -and scallops from Tarentum; sturgeons from Rhodes; -scarus-fish from Cilicia; nuts from Thasos; and acorns -from Spain. The vegetables then known included most -of those now eaten, with the notable exception, of course, -of potatoes.<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> The main meal of the day, the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">cœna</i>, was -often prolonged into a drinking party, known as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">commissatio</i>, -at which an <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Arbiter bibendi</i>, or Master of Revels, -was appointed by the throwing of dice, whose duty it -was to mix the wine in a large bowl. The diners lay -upon couches usually arranged round three sides of the -table, and they ate their food with their fingers. Chaplets<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248">248</a></span> -of flowers were placed upon their heads, cinnamon -was sprinkled upon the hair, and sweet perfumes were -thrown upon their bodies, and sometimes even mixed -with the wines. During the meals the guests were entertained -by the performances of dancing-girls, musicians, -actors, acrobats, clowns, dwarfs, or even gladiators; and -afterwards dice-throwing and other games of chance -were indulged in. The decoration of the rooms and the -splendour of the furniture and plate were always very -carefully considered, Cleopatra’s banquets being specially -noteworthy for the magnificence of the table services. -These dishes and drinking-vessels, which the Queen was -wont modestly to describe as her <em>Kerama</em> or “earthenware,” -were usually made of gold and silver encrusted -with precious stones; and so famous were they for their -beauty of workmanship that three centuries later they -formed still a standard of perfection, Queen Zenobia of -Palmyra being related to have collected them eagerly -for her own use.</p> - -<p>Thus, with feasting, merry-making, and amusements -of all kinds, the winter slipped by. To a large extent -Plutarch is justified in stating that in Alexandria Antony -“squandered that most costly of all valuables, time”; -but the months were not altogether wasted. He and -Cleopatra had cemented their alliance by living together -in the most intimate relations; and both now thought -it probable that when the time came for the attempted -overthrow of Octavian they would fight their battle side -by side. By becoming Cleopatra’s lover, and by appealing -to the purely instinctive side of her nature, Antony -had obtained from her the whole-hearted promise of -Egypt’s support in all his undertakings; and these happy -winter months in Alexandria could not have seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">249</a></span> -him to be wasted when each day the powerful young -Queen come to be more completely at his beck and -call. The course of Cleopatra’s love for Antony seems -to have followed almost precisely the same lines as had -her love for Julius Cæsar. Inspired at first by a political -motive, she had come to feel a genuine and romantic -affection for her Roman consort; and the intimacies -which ensued, though largely due to the weaknesses of -the flesh, seemed to find full justification in the fact -that her dynastic ambitions were furthered by this means. -Cleopatra thought of Antony as her husband, and she -wished to be regarded as his wife. The fact that no -public marriage had taken place was of little consequence; -for she, as goddess and Queen, must have felt -herself exempt from the common law, and at perfect -liberty to contract whatever union seemed desirable to -her for the good of her country and dynasty, and for -the satisfaction of her own womanly instincts. Early -in the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40 she and Antony became aware that -their union was to be fruitful; and this fact must have -made Cleopatra more than ever anxious to keep Antony -in Alexandria with her, and to bind him to her by -causing him to be recognised as her consort. He was -not willing, however, to assume the rank and status of -King of Egypt; for such a move would inevitably precipitate -the quarrel with Octavian, and he would then -be obliged to stake all on an immediate war with the -faction which would assuredly come to be recognised -as the legitimate Roman party. This unwillingness on -his part to bind himself to her must have caused her -some misgiving; and, as the winter drew to a close, I -think that the Queen must have felt somewhat apprehensive -in regard to Antony’s sincerity.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">250</a></span> -Setting aside all sentimental factors in the situation, -and leaving out of consideration for the moment all -physical causes of the alliance, it will be seen that -Antony’s position was now more satisfactory than was -that of the often sorely perplexed Queen. By spending -the winter at Alexandria the Roman Triumvir had kept -himself aloof from the political troubles in Italy at a -time when his presence at home might have complicated -matters to his own disadvantage; he had obtained the -full support of Egyptian wealth and Egyptian arms -should he require them; and he had prepared the way -for a definite marriage with Cleopatra at the moment -when he should desire her partnership in the foundation -of a great monarchy such as that for which Julius -Cæsar had striven. He had not yet irrevocably compromised -himself, and he was free to return to his -Roman order of life with superficially clean hands. -Nobody in Rome would think the less of him for having -combined a certain amount of pleasure with the obvious -business which had called him to Egypt; and his friends -would certainly be as easily persuaded to accept the -political excuses which he would advance for his lengthy -residence in Alexandria as the Cæsarian party had been -to admit those put forward by the great Dictator under -very similar circumstances. Like Julius Cæsar and like -Pompey, Antony was certainly justified in making himself -the patron of the wealthy Egyptian court; and all -Roman statesmen were aware how desirable it was at -this juncture for a party leader to cement an alliance -with the powerful Queen of that country.</p> - -<p>On the part of Cleopatra, however, the circumstances -were far less happy. She had staked all on the alliance -with Antony—her personal honour and prestige as well<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">251</a></span> -as her dynasty’s future; and in return for her great gifts -she must have been beginning to feel that she had received -nothing save vague promises and unsatisfactory -assurances. Without Antony’s help not only would she -lose all hope of an Egypto-Roman throne for herself -and her son Cæsarion, but she would inevitably fail to -keep Egypt from absorption into the Roman dominions. -There were only two mighty leaders at that time in the -Roman world—Octavian and Antony; and Octavian was -her relentless enemy, for the reason that her son Cæsarion -was his rival in the claim on the Dictator’s worldly and -political estate. Failing the support of Antony there -were no means of retaining her country’s liberty, except -perhaps by the desperate eventuality of some sort of -alliance with Parthia. It must have occurred to her -that Egypt, with its growing trade with southern India, -might join forces with Parthia, whose influence in -northern India must have been great, and might thus -effect an amalgamation of nations hostile to Rome, which -in a vast semicircle should include Egypt, Ethiopia, -Arabia, Persia, India, Scythia, Parthia, Armenia, Syria, -and perhaps Asia Minor. Such a combination might -be expected to sweep Rome from the face of the earth; -but the difficulties in the way of the huge union were -almost insuperable, and the alliance with Antony was -infinitely more tangible. Yet, towards the end of the -winter, she must constantly have asked herself whether -she could trust Antony, to whom she had given so much. -She loved him, she had given herself to him; but she -must have known him to be unreliable, inconsequent, -and, in certain aspects, merely an overgrown boy. The -stakes for which she was fighting were so absolutely -essential to herself and to her country: the champion<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">252</a></span> -whose services she had enlisted was so light-hearted, -so reluctant to pledge himself. And now that she was -about to bear him a son, and thus to bring before his -wayward notice the grave responsibilities which she felt -he had so flippantly undertaken, would he stand by her -as Cæsar had done, or would he desert her?</p> - -<p>Her feelings may be imagined, therefore, when in -February <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40, Antony told her that he had received -disconcerting news from Rome and from Syria, and that -he must leave her at once. The news from Rome does -not appear to have been very definite, but it gave him -to understand that his wife and his brother had come -to actual blows with Octavian, and, being worsted, had -fled from Italy. From Syria, however, came a very -urgent despatch, in regard to which there could be no -doubts. Some of the Syrian princes whom he had -deposed in the previous autumn, together with Antigonus, -whose claims to the throne of Palestine he had -rejected, had made an alliance with the Parthians and -were marching down from the north-east against -Decimus Saxa, the governor of Syria. The Roman -forces in that country were few in number, consisting -for the most part of the remnants of the army of Brutus -and Cassius; and they could hardly be expected to put -up a good fight against the invaders. Antony’s own -trusted legions were now stationed in Italy, Gaul, and -Macedonia; and there were many grave reasons for their -retention in their present quarters. The situation, therefore, -was very serious, and Antony was obliged to bring -his pleasant visit to Alexandria to an abrupt end. -Plutarch describes him as “rousing himself with difficulty -from sleep, and shaking off the fumes of wine” -in preparation for his departure; but I do not think<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">253</a></span> -that his winter had been so debauched as these words -suggest. He had combined business and pleasure, as -the saying is, and at times had lost sight of the one -in his eager prosecution of the other; but, looking at -the matter purely from a hygienic point of view, it seems -probable that the hunting, riding, and military exercises -of which Plutarch speaks, had kept him in a fairly healthy -condition in spite of the stupendous character of the -meals set before him.</p> - -<p>The parting of Antony and Cleopatra early in March -must have contained in it an element of real tragedy. -He could not tell what difficulties were in store for him, -and at the moment he had not asked the Queen for any -military help. He must have bade her lie low until he -was able to tell her in what manner she could best help -their cause; and thereby he consigned her to a period -of deep anxiety and sustained worry. In loneliness she -would have to face her coming confinement, and, like -a deserted courtesan, would have to nurse a fatherless -child. She would have to hold her throne without the -comfort of a husband’s advice; and in all things she -would once more be obliged to live the dreary life of -a solitary unmated Queen. It was a miserable prospect, -but, as will be seen in the following chapter, the actual -event proved to be far more distressing than she had -expected; for, as Antony sailed out of the harbour of -Alexandria, and was shut out from sight behind the -mighty tower of Pharos, Cleopatra did not know that -she would not see his face again for four long years.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">254</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE ALLIANCE RENEWED BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>In the autumn of the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40, some six months -after the departure of Antony, Cleopatra gave birth to -twins, a boy and a girl, whom she named Alexander -Helios and Cleopatra Selene, the Sun and the Moon. -With this event she passes almost entirely from the -pages of history for more than three years, and we -hear hardly anything of her doings until the beginning -of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 36. During this time she must have been considerably -occupied in governing her own kingdom and -in watching, with a kind of despair, the complicated -events in the Roman world. Despatches from Europe -must have come to her from time to time telling of the -progress of affairs, but almost all the news which she -thus received was disappointing and disconcerting to -her; and one must suppose that she passed these years -in very deep sadness and depression. I do not think -that any historian has attempted to point out to his -readers the painful condition of disillusionment in which -the little Queen now found herself. When Antony left -her she must have expected him either to return soon -to her, or presently to send his lieutenants to bring her -to him; but the weeks passed and no such event took<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">255</a></span> -place. While she suffered all the misery of lonely childbirth, -her consort was engaged in absorbing affairs in -which she played no immediate part; and it seems -certain that in the stress of his desperate circumstances -the inconsequent Antony had put her almost entirely -from his thoughts.</p> - -<p>When he left her in the spring of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40 he sailed -straight across the Mediterranean to Tyre, where he -learnt to his dismay that practically all Syria and -Phœnicia had fallen into the hands of the Parthians, -and that there was no chance of resisting their advance -successfully with the troops now holding the few remaining -seaport towns. He therefore hastened with 200 -ships by Cyprus and Rhodes to Greece, abandoning -Syria for the time being to the enemy. Arriving at -Ephesus, he heard details of the troubles in Italy; how -his supporters had been besieged by Octavian in Perugia, -which had at length been captured; and how all his -friends and relatives had fled from Italy. His wife -Fulvia, he was told, escorted by 3000 cavalry, had sailed -from Brundisium for Greece, and would soon join him -there; and his mother, Julia, had fled to the popular -hero, Sextus Pompeius, the outlawed son of the great -Pompey, who had received her very kindly. Thus, not -only was Italy shut to Antony, since Octavian was now -sole master of the country, but he seemed likely also -to be turned out of his eastern provinces by the advance -of the Parthians. His position was a desperate one; -and he must now have both reproached himself very -deeply for his waste of time in Alexandria and blamed -his relations for their impetuosity in making war against -Octavian.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of June Antony arrived in Athens,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">256</a></span> -and there he was obliged to go through the ordeal of -meeting the domineering Fulvia, of whom he was not -a little afraid, more especially in view of his notorious -intrigue with the Queen of Egypt. The ensuing interviews -between them must have been of a very painful -character. Fulvia probably bitterly reproved her errant -husband for deserting her and for remaining so long with -Cleopatra, while Antony must have abused her roundly -for making so disastrous a mess of his affairs in Italy. -Ultimately the unfortunate woman seems to have been -crushed and dispirited by Antony’s continued anger; and -having fallen ill while staying at Sicyon, some sixty miles -west of Athens, and lacking the desire to live, she there -died in the month of August. Meanwhile Antony, having -made an alliance with Sextus Pompeius, was ravaging -the coasts of Italy in a rather futile attempt to regain -some of his lost prestige; but no sooner was the death -of Fulvia announced than he shifted the entire blame for -the war on to his late wife’s shoulders, and speedily made -his peace with Octavian. The two rivals met at Brundisium -in September <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40, and a treaty was made -between them by which the peace of the Roman world -was expected to be assured for some years to come. It -was arranged that Octavian should remain autocrat in -Italy, and should hold all the European provinces, including -Dalmatia and Illyria; and that Antony should -be master of the East, his dominions comprising Macedonia, -Greece, Bithynia, Asia, Syria, and Cyrene. The -remaining provinces of North Africa, west of Cyrene, -fell to the lot of the third Triumvir, the insignificant -Lepidus. This treaty was sealed by the marriage of -Antony with Octavia, the sister of Octavian, a young -woman who had been left a widow some months previously,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">257</a></span> -and the wedding was celebrated in Rome in -October <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40, the populace showing peculiar pleasure -at seeing the two rivals, whose quarrels had caused such -bloodshed and misery, thus fraternising in the streets of -the capital.</p> - -<p>The consternation of Cleopatra, when the news of -Antony’s marriage reached her, must have been sad to -witness. The twins whom she had borne to him were -but a few weeks old at the time when their father’s -perfidy was thus made known to her; and bitterly must -she have chided herself for ever putting her trust in so -unstable a man. It now seemed to her that he had -come to Alexandria as it were to fleece her of her wealth, -and she, falling a victim to his false protestations of love, -had given her all to him, only to be deserted when most -she needed him. With the news of his marriage, her -hopes of obtaining a vast kingdom for herself and for -Cæsar’s son were driven from her mind, and her plans -for the future had to be diverted into other directions. -She must have determined at once to give no more -assistance to Antony, either in money or in materials -of war; and we have no evidence of any such help -being offered to him in the military operations which -ensued during the next two years. Cleopatra had perhaps -known Antony’s new wife in Rome, and certainly -she must have heard much of her charms and her goodness. -Plutarch tells us that Octavia was younger and -more beautiful than the Queen, and one may therefore -understand how greatly Cleopatra must have suffered -at this time. Not only was her heart heavy with the -thought of the miscarriage of all her schemes, but her -mind it would seem was aflame with womanly jealousy.</p> - -<p>In the following year, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 39, by the force of public<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">258</a></span> -opinion, Sextus Pompeius was admitted to the general -peace, the daughter of the sea-rover marrying Marcellus, -the son of Octavian. The agreement was made at -Misenum (not far from Naples), and was celebrated by -a banquet which was given by Sextus Pompeius on -board his flag-ship, a galley of six banks of oars, “the -only house,” as the host declared, “that Pompey is heir -to of his father’s.” During the feast the guests drank -heavily, and presently many irresponsible jests began -to be made in regard to Antony and Cleopatra. Antony -very naturally was annoyed at the remarks which were -passed, and there seems to have been some danger of -a fracas. Observing this, a pirate-chief named Menas, -who was one of the guests, whispered to Sextus: “Shall -I cut the cables and make you master of the whole -Roman Empire?” “Menas,” replied he, after a moment’s -thought, “this might have been done without telling me, -but now we must rest content. I cannot break my -word.” Thus Antony was saved from assassination, and -incidentally it may be remarked that had he been done -to death at this time, history would probably have had -to record an alliance between Sextus and Cleopatra -directed against Octavian, which might have been as -fruitful of romantic incident as was the story which has -here to be related. We hear vaguely of some sort of -negotiations between Sextus and the Queen, and it is -very probable that with his rise to a position of importance -Cleopatra would have attempted to make an alliance -with this son of Egypt’s former patron.</p> - -<p>In September <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 39, Octavia presented Antony with -a daughter who was called Antonia, and who subsequently -became the grandmother of the Emperor Nero. -Shortly after this he took up his quarters at Athens,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">259</a></span> -where he threw himself as keenly into the life of the -Athenians as he had into that of the Alexandrians. He -dressed himself in the Greek manner, with certain Oriental -touches, and it was noticed that he ceased to take any -interest in Roman affairs. He feasted sumptuously, -drank heavily, spent a very great deal of money, and -wasted any amount of time. The habits of the East -appealed to him, and in his administration he adopted -the methods sometimes practised by Greeks in the Orient. -He abolished the Roman governorships in many of the -provinces under his control, converting them into vassal -kingdoms. Thus Herod was created King of Judea; -Darius, son of Pharnaces, was made King of Pontus; -Amyntas was raised to the throne of Pisidia; Polemo -was given the crown of Lycaonia, and so on. His rule -was mild and kindly, though despotic; and on all sides -he was hailed as the jolly god Dionysos, or Bacchus, -come to earth. Like Julius Cæsar, he was quite willing -to accept divinity, and he even went so far as personally -to take the place of the statue of Dionysos in the temple -of that god, and to go through the mystical ceremony of -marriage to Athene at Athens. His popularity was immense, -and this assumption of a godhead was received -quite favourably by the Athenians; but when one of his -generals, Ventidius Bassus, who had been sent to check -the advance of the Parthians, returned with the news -that he had completely defeated them, public enthusiasm -knew no bounds, and Antony was fêted and entertained -in the most astonishing manner.</p> - -<p>The contrast between Antony’s benevolent government -of his eastern provinces and Octavian’s conduct in the -west was striking. Octavian was a curious-tempered -man, morose, quietly cruel, and secretly vicious. So<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">260</a></span> -many persons were tortured and crucified by him that -he came to be known as the “Executioner.” His manner -was imperturbable and always controlled in public; but -in private life at this time he indulged in the wildest -debauches, gambled, and surrounded himself with the -lowest companions. His rule in Italy in these days -constituted a Reign of Terror; and large numbers of -the populace hated the very sight of him. His appearance -was unimposing, for he was somewhat short and was -careless in his deportment; while, although his face was -handsome, it had certain very marked defects. His complexion -was very sallow and unhealthy, his skin being -covered with spots, and his teeth were much decayed; -but his eyes were large and remarkably brilliant, a fact -of which he was peculiarly proud. He did not look -well groomed or clean, and he was notably averse to -taking a bath, though he did not object to an occasional -steaming, or Turkish bath, as we should now call it. -He was eccentric in his dress, though precise and -correct in business affairs. He disliked the sunshine, -and always wore a broad-brimmed hat to protect his -head from its brilliancy; but at the same time he detested -cold weather, and in winter he is said to have -worn a thick toga, at least four tunics, a shirt, and a -flannel stomacher, while his legs and thighs were swathed -in yards of warm cloth. In spite of this he was constantly -suffering from colds in his head, and was always -sneezing and snuffling. His liver, too, was generally out -of order, a fact to which perhaps his ill-temper may be -attributed. His clothes were all made at home by his -wife and sister, and fitted him badly; and his light-brown, -curly hair always looked unbrushed. He was -a poor general, but an able statesman; and his cold<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">261</a></span> -nature, which was lacking in all ardour as was his personality -in all magnetism, caused him to be better fitted -for the office than for the public platform. He was not -what would now be called a gentleman: he was, indeed, -very distinctly a parvenu. His grandfather had been a -wealthy money-lender of bourgeois origin, and his father -had raised himself by this ill-gotten wealth to a position -in Roman society, and had married into Cæsar’s -family.</p> - -<p>These facts were not calculated to give him much -of a position in public esteem: and there was no question -at this time that Antony was the popular hero, -while Sextus Pompeius, the former outlaw, was fast -rising in favour. In the spring of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 38 Octavian -decided to make war upon this roving son of the great -Pompey, and he asked Antony to aid him in the -undertaking. The latter made some attempt to prevent -the war, but his efforts were not successful. In the -following July, to the delight of a large number of -Romans, Octavian was badly defeated by Sextus; and -Cæsar’s nephew thus lost a very considerable amount -of prestige. At about the same time Antony’s reputation -made an equally extensive gain, for in June -Ventidius Bassus, acting under Antony’s directions, -again defeated the Parthians, Pacorus, the King’s son, -being killed in the battle. The news stirred the Romans -to wild enthusiasm. At last, after sixteen years, Crassus<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> -had been avenged; and Antony appeared to have put -into execution with the utmost ease the plans of the late -Dictator in regard to the Parthians, while, on the other -hand, Octavian, the Dictator’s nephew, had failed even -to suppress the sea-roving Pompeians. A Triumph was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">262</a></span> -decreed both for Antony and for Ventidius, and before -the end of the year this took place.</p> - -<p>In January <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 37 the Triumvirate, which had then -expired, was renewed for a period of five years, in spite -of a very considerable amount of friction between the -happy-go-lucky Antony and the morose Octavian. At -length these quarrels were patched up by means of an -agreement whereby Antony gave Octavian 130 ships with -which to fight Sextus Pompeius, and Octavian handed -over some 21,000 legionaries to Antony for his Parthian -war. In this agreement it will be observed that Antony, -in order to obtain troops, sacrificed the man who had -befriended his mother and who had assisted his cause -against Octavian at a time when his fortunes were at a -low ebb; and it must be presumed, therefore, that his -desire to conquer Parthia and to penetrate far into the -Orient was now of such absorbing importance to him -that all other considerations were abrogated by it. -Antony, in fact, enthusiastically contemplating an enlarged -eastern empire, desired to have no part in the -concerns of the west; and he cared not one jot what fate -awaited his late ally, Sextus, who, he felt, was certain in -any case ultimately to go down before Octavian. He -was beginning, indeed, to trouble himself very little in -regard to Octavian either; for he now seems to have -thought that, when the Orient had been conquered and -consolidated, he would probably be able to capture the -Occident also from the cruel hands of his unpopular rival -with little difficulty. Two years previously he had found -it necessary to keep himself on friendly terms with -Octavian at all costs, and for this reason he had abandoned -Cleopatra with brutal callousness. Now, however, -his position was such that he was able to defy Cæsar’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">263</a></span> -nephew, and the presentation to him of the 130 ships -was no more than a shrewd business deal, whereby he -had obtained a new contingent of troops. One sees that -his thoughts were turning once more towards the Queen -of Egypt; and he seems at this time to have recalled to -mind both the pleasure afforded him by her brilliant -society and the importance to himself of the position -which she held in eastern affairs. The Egyptian navy -was large and well-equipped, and the deficiency in his -own fleet due to his gift to Octavian might easily be -made good by the Queen.</p> - -<p>In the autumn of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 37 these considerations bore -their inevitable fruit. On his way to Corfu, in pursuit -of his Parthian schemes, he came to the conclusion that -he would once and for all cut himself off from Rome -until that day when he should return to it as the earth’s -conqueror. He therefore sent his wife Octavia back to -Italy, determined never to see her again; and at the -same time he despatched a certain Fonteius Capito to -Alexandria to invite Cleopatra to meet him in Syria. -Octavia was a woman of extreme sweetness, goodness, -and domesticity. Her gentle influence always made for -peace; and her invariable good behaviour and meekness -must have almost driven Antony crazy. No doubt she -wanted to make his clothes for him, as she had made -those of her brother; and she seems always to have been -anxious to bring before his notice, in her sweet way, the -charms of old-fashioned, respectable, family life, a condition -which absolutely nauseated Antony. She now -accepted her marching orders with a wifely meekness -which can hardly command one’s respect; and in -pathetic obedience she returned forthwith to Rome. -I cannot help thinking that if only she had now shown<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">264</a></span> -some spirit, and had been able to substitute energy for -sweetness in the movements of her mind, the history of -the period would have been entirely altered.</p> - -<p>It must surely be clear to the impartial reader that -Antony’s change of attitude was due more to political -than to romantic considerations.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> We have heard so -much of the arts of seduction practised by Cleopatra that -it is not easy at first to rid the mind of the traditional -interpretation of this reunion; and we are, at the outset, -inclined to accept Plutarch’s definition of the affair when -he tells us that “Antony’s passion for Cleopatra, which -better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed -into oblivion, now gathered strength again, and broke -into flame; and like Plato’s restive and rebellious horse -of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome -counsel, and fairly breaking loose, he sent Fonteius -Capito to bring her into Syria.” But it is to be remembered -that this “passion” for the Queen had not -been strong enough to hold him from marrying Octavia -a few months after he had left the arms of Cleopatra; -and now three and a half years had passed since he -had seen the Queen,—a period which, to a memory so -short as Antony’s, constituted a very complete hiatus -in this particular love-story. So slight, indeed, was his -affection for her at this time that, in speaking of the -twins with which she had presented him, he made the -famous remark already quoted, that he had no intention -of confining his hopes of progeny to any one woman, -but, like his ancestor Hercules, he hoped to let nature -take her will with him, the best way of circulating noble -blood through the world being thus personally to beget -in every country a new line of kings. Antony doubtless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">265</a></span> -looked forward with youthful excitement to a renewal of -his relations with the Queen, and, to some extent, it may -be true that he now joyously broke loose from the gentle, -and, for that reason, galling, bonds of domesticity; but -actually he purposed, for political reasons, to make a -definite alliance with Cleopatra, and it is unreasonable -to suppose that any flames of ungoverned passion burnt -within his jolly heart at this time.</p> - -<p>On Cleopatra’s side the case was somewhat different. -The stress of bitter experience had knocked out of her -all that harum-scarum attitude towards life which had -been her marked characteristic in earlier years; and she -was no longer able to play with her fortune nor to romp -through her days as formerly she had done. Antony, -whom in her way she had loved, had cruelly deserted her, -and now was asking for a renewal of her favours. Could -she believe (for no doubt such was his excuse) that his -long absence from her and his marriage to another -woman were purely political manœuvres which had in no -way interfered with the continuity of his love for her? -Could she put her trust in him this second time? Could -she, on the other hand, manage her complicated affairs without -him? Evidently he was now omnipotent in the East; -Parthia was likely to go down before him; and Octavian’s -sombre figure was already almost entirely eclipsed by -this new Dionysos, save only in little Italy itself. Would -there be any hope of enlarging her dominions, or even of -retaining those she already possessed, without his assistance? -Such questions could only have one solution. -She must come to an absolutely definite understanding -with Antony, and must make a binding agreement with -him. In a word, if there was to be any renewal of their -relationship, he must marry her. There must be no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">266</a></span> -more diplomatic manœuvring, which, to her, meant -desertion, misery, and painful anxiety. He must become -the open enemy of Octavian, and, with her help, must aim -at the conquest both of the limitless East and of the -entire West. He must act in all things as the successor -of the divine Julius Cæsar, and the heir to their joint -power must be Cæsar’s son, the little Cæsarion, now a -growing boy of over ten years of age.</p> - -<p>With this determination fixed in her mind she accepted -the invitation presented to her by Fonteius Capito, -and set sail for Syria. A few weeks later, towards the -end of the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 37, she met Antony in the city of -Antioch; and at once she set herself to the execution -of her decision. History does not tell us what passed -between them at their first interviews; but it may be -supposed that Antony excused his previous conduct on -political grounds, and made it clear to the Queen that -he now desired a definite and lasting alliance with her; -while Cleopatra, on her part, intimated her willingness -to unite herself with him, provided that the contract was -made legal and binding on both sides.</p> - -<p>The fact that she obtained Antony’s consent to an -agreement which was in every way to her advantage, not -only shows what a high value was set by Antony upon -Egypt’s friendship at this time, but it also proves how -great were her powers of persuasion. It must be remembered -that Cleopatra had been for over three years -a wronged woman, deserted by her lover, despairing of -ever obtaining the recognition of her son’s claims upon -Rome, and almost hopeless even of retaining the independence -of Egypt. Now she had the pluck to demand -from him all manner of increased rights and privileges -and the confirmation of all her dynastic hopes; and, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">267</a></span> -her great joy, Antony was willing to accede to her wishes. -I have already shown that he did not really love her with -a passion so deep that his sober judgment was obscured -thereby, and the agreement is therefore to be attributed -more to the Queen’s shrewd bargaining, and to her very -understandable anxiety not to be duped once more by her -fickle lover. She must have worked upon Antony’s feelings -by telling him of her genuine distress; and at the -same time she must warmly have confirmed his estimate -of Egypt’s importance to him at this juncture.</p> - -<p>The terms of the agreement appear to me to have -been as <span class="locked">follows:—</span></p> - -<p>Firstly, it seems to have been arranged that a legal -marriage should be contracted between them according -to Egyptian custom. We have already seen how, many -years previously, Julius Cæsar had countenanced a law -designed to legalise his proposed marriage with Cleopatra, -by the terms of which he would have been able to marry -more than one wife;<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> and Antony now seems to have -based his attitude upon a somewhat similar understanding. -The marriage would not be announced to the -Senate in Rome, since he intended no longer to regard -himself as subject to the old Roman Law in these -matters; but in Egypt it would be accepted as a legal -and terrestrial confirmation of the so-called celestial -union of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 40.</p> - -<p>Secondly, it was agreed that Antony should not assume -the title of King of Egypt, but should call himself -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Autocrator</i>—<i>i.e.</i>, “absolute ruler,” of the entire East. -The word <span xml:lang="grc" lang="grc">αὐτοκράτωρ</span> was a fair Greek equivalent of the -Roman <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Imperator</i>, a title which, it will be remembered, -was made hereditary in Julius Cæsar’s behalf, and which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">268</a></span> -was probably intended by him to obtain its subsequent -significance of “Emperor.” Antony would not adopt -the title of <span xml:lang="grc" lang="grc">βασιλεύς</span> or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">rex</i>, which was always objectionable -to Roman ears; nor was the word <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Imperator</i> quite -distinguished enough, since it was held by all commanders-in-chief -of Roman armies. But the title -<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Autocrator</i> was significant of omnipotence; and it is to -be noted that from this time onwards every “Pharaoh” -of Egypt was called by that name, which in hieroglyphs -reads <em>Aut’k’r’d’r</em>. Antony also retained for the time -being his title of Triumvir.</p> - -<p>Thirdly, Antony probably promised to regard Cæsarion, -the son of Cleopatra and Julius Cæsar, as the rightful -heir to the throne;<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> and he agreed to give his own -children by the Queen the minor kingdoms within their -empire.</p> - -<div id="ip_268" class="figcenter b2" style="max-width: 68.75em;"> - <img src="images/i_268.jpg" width="1100" height="799" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatc"> - - CLEOPATRA’S POSSESSIONS<br /> - <span class="small">IN RELATION TO</span><br /> - THE ROMAN WORLD - </div> - - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatr">W. & A. K. Johnston, Limited, Edinburgh & London.<br /></div> -</div> - -<p>Fourthly, Antony appears to have promised to increase -the extent of Egyptian power to that which existed -fourteen hundred years previously, in the days of the -mighty Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty. He therefore -gave to the Queen Sinai; Arabia, including probably -the rock-city of Petra; the east coast of the Dead Sea; -part of the valley of the Jordan and the City of Jericho; -perhaps a portion of Samaria and Galilee; the Phœnician -coast, with the exception of the free cities of Tyre and -Sidon; the Lebanon; probably the north coast of Syria; -part of Cilicia, perhaps including Tarsus; the island of -Cyprus; and a part of Crete. The Kingdom of Judea, -ruled by Herod, was thus enclosed within Cleopatra’s -dominions; but the deduction of this valuable land -from the Egyptian sphere was compensated for by the -addition of the Cilician territory, which had always lain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">269</a></span> -beyond Egypt’s frontiers, even in the days of the great -Pharaohs.</p> - -<p>Lastly, in return for these gifts Cleopatra must have -undertaken to place all the financial and military -resources of Egypt at Antony’s disposal whenever he -should need them.</p> - -<p>As soon as this agreement was made I think there -can be little doubt that Cleopatra and Antony were -quietly married;<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> and in celebration of the event coins -were struck, showing their two heads, and inscribed -with both their names, she being called Queen and he -Autocrator. In honour of the occasion, moreover, -Cleopatra began a new dating of the years of her reign; -and on a coin minted six years later, the heads of -Antony and the Queen are shown with the inscription, -“In the reign of Queen Cleopatra, in the 21st, which -is also the 6th, year of the goddess.” It will be remembered -that Cleopatra came to the throne in the -summer of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 51, and therefore the 21st year of her -reign would begin after the summer of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 31, which -period would also be the close of the 6th year dating -from this alliance at Antioch at the end of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 37. Thus -these coins must have been struck in the autumn of -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 31, at which time the beginning of the 21st year -of Cleopatra’s reign as Queen of Egypt coincided with -the end of the 6th year of her reign with Antony. There -are, of course, many arguments to be advanced against -the theory that she was now definitely married; but in -view of the facts that their two heads now appear on -the coins, that Antony now settled upon her this vast -estate, that she began a new dating to her reign, that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">270</a></span> -Antony henceforth lived with her, and that, as we know -from his letter to Octavian,<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> he spoke of her afterwards -as his <em>wife</em>, I do not think that there is any good reason -for postponing the wedding until a later period.</p> - -<p>The winter was spent quietly at Antioch, Antony being -busily engaged in preparations for his new Parthian -campaign which was to bring him, he hoped, such -enormous prestige and popularity in the Roman world. -The city was the metropolis of Syria, and at this time -must already have been recognised as the third city -of the world, ranking immediately below Rome and -Alexandria. The residential quarter, called Daphnæ, -was covered with thick groves of laurels and cypresses -for ten miles around, and a thousand little streams ran -down from the hills and passed under the shade of the -trees where, even in the height of summer, it was always -cool. The city was famous for its art and learning, and -was a centre eminently suited to Cleopatra’s tastes. -The months passed by without much event. The Queen -is said to have tried to persuade Antony to dethrone -Herod and to add Judea to her new dominions, but this -he would not do, and he begged her not to meddle with -Herod’s affairs, a correction which she at once accepted, -thereafter acting with great cordiality to the Jewish -King.</p> - -<p>In March <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 26, Antony set out for the war, Cleopatra -accompanying him as far as Zeugma, a town on the -Euphrates, near the Armenian frontier, a march of about -150 miles from Antioch. It is probable that she wished -to go through the whole campaign by his side, for, at a -later date, we find her again attempting to remain by -him under similar circumstances; but at Zeugma a discovery<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">271</a></span> -seems to have been made in regard to her -condition which necessitated her going back to Egypt, -there to await his triumphant return. In spite of the -anxieties and disappointments of her life the Queen -had retained her energy and pluck in a marked degree, -and she was now no less hardy and daring than she had -been in the days when Julius Cæsar had found her -invading Egypt at the head of her Syrian army. She -enjoyed the open life of a campaign, and she took -pleasure in the dangers which had to be faced. An -ancient writer, Florus, has described her, as we have -already noticed, as being “free from all womanly fear,” -and this attempt to go to the wars with her husband is -an indication that the audacity and dash so often noticeable -in her actions had not been impaired by her -misfortunes. She does not appear to have been -altogether in favour of the expedition, for it seemed a -risky undertaking, and one which would cost her a -great deal of money, but the adventure of it appealed -to her, and added that quality of excitement to her days -which seems to have been so necessary to her existence. -Antony, however, fond as he was of her, could not have -appreciated the honour of her company at such a time; -and he must have been not a little relieved when he -saw her retreating cavalcade disappear along the road -to Antioch.</p> - -<p>From Antioch Cleopatra made her way up the valley -of the Orontes to Apamea, whence she travelled past -Arethusa and Emesa to the Anti-Lebanon, and so to -Damascus. From here she seems to have crossed to -the Sea of Galilee, and thence along the river Jordan -to Jericho. Hereabouts she was met by the handsome -and adventurous Herod, who came to her in order that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">272</a></span> -they might arrive at some agreement in regard to the -portions of Judea which Antony had given to her; -and, after some bargaining, it was finally decided that -Herod should rent these territories from her for a certain -sum of money. Jericho’s tropical climate produced -great abundance of palms, henna, sometimes known as -camphire, myrobalan or <em>zukkûm</em>, and balsam, the “balm -of Gilead,” so much prized as perfume and for medicinal -purposes. Josephus speaks of Jericho as a “divine -region,” and strategically it was the key of Palestine. -It may be understood, therefore, how annoying it must -have been to Herod to be dispossessed of this jewel of -his crown; and it is said that, after he had rented it -from Cleopatra, it became his favourite place of residence. -The transaction being settled, the Queen seems -to have continued her journey to Egypt, at the Jewish -King’s invitation, by way of Jerusalem and Gaza—that -is to say, across the Kingdom of Judea; but no sooner -had she set her foot on Jewish territory than Herod -conceived the plan of seizing her and putting her to -death. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem ascends -the steep, wild mountain-side, and zigzags upwards -through rugged and bare scenery. It would have been -a simple matter to ambush the Queen in one of the -desolate ravines through which she had to pass, and -the blame might be placed with the brigands who infested -these regions. He pointed out to his advisers, as Josephus -tells us, that Cleopatra by reason of her enormous influence -upon the affairs of Rome had become a menace to -all minor sovereigns; and now that he had her in his -power he could, with the greatest ease, rid the world -of a woman who had become irksome to them all, and -thereby deliver them from a very multitude of evils and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">273</a></span> -misfortunes. He told them that Cleopatra was actually -turning her beautiful eyes upon himself, and he doubted -not but that she would make an attempt upon his virtue -before he had got her across his southern frontier. He -argued that Antony would in the long-run come to -thank him for her murder; for it was apparent that she -would never be a faithful friend to him, but would -desert him at the moment when he should most stand -in need of her fidelity. The councillors, however, were -appalled at the King’s proposal, and implored him not -to put it into execution. “They laid hard at him,” -says <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">naïf</i> Josephus, “and begged him to undertake -nothing rashly; for that Antony would never bear it, -no, not though any one should lay evidently before his -eyes that it was for his own advantage. This woman -was of the supremest dignity of any of her sex at that -time in the world; and such an undertaking would -appear to deserve condemnation on account of the insolence -Herod must take upon himself in doing it.”</p> - -<p>The Jewish King, therefore, giving up his treacherous -scheme, politely escorted Cleopatra to the frontier fortress -of Pelusium, and thus she came unscathed to -Alexandria, where she settled down to await the birth of -her fourth child. It is perhaps worth noting that she is -said to have brought back to Egypt from Jericho many -cuttings of the balsam shrubs, and planted them at -Heliopolis, near the modern Cairo.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> The Queen’s mind -must now have been full of optimism. Antony had -collected an enormous army, and already, she supposed, -he must have penetrated far into Parthia. In spite of her -previous fears, she now expected that he would return to -her covered with glory, having opened the road through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">274</a></span> -Persia to India and the fabulous East. Rome would hail -him as their hero and idol, and the unpopular Octavian -would sink into insignificance. Then he would claim for -himself and for her the throne of the West as well as that -of the Orient, and at last her little son Cæsarion, as their -heir, would come into his own.</p> - -<p>With such hopes as these to support her, Cleopatra -passed through her time of waiting; and in the late -autumn she gave birth to a boy, whom she named -Ptolemy, according to the custom of her house. But ere -she had yet fully recovered her strength she received -despatches from Antony, breaking to her the appalling -news that his campaign had been a disastrous failure, -and that he had reached northern Syria with only a -remnant of his grand army, clad in rags, emaciated by -hunger and illness, and totally lacking in funds. He -implored her to come to his aid, and to bring him money -wherewith to pay his disheartened soldiers, and he told -her that he would await her coming upon the Syrian -coast somewhere between Sidon and Berytus.</p> - -<p>Once more the unfortunate Queen’s hopes were dashed -to the ground; but pluckily rising to the occasion, she -collected money, clothes, and munitions of war, and set -out with all possible speed to her husband’s relief.</p> - -<p>The history of the disaster is soon told. From Zeugma -Antony had marched to the plateau of Erzeroum, where -he had reviewed his enormous army, consisting of 60,000 -Roman foot (including Spaniards and Gauls), 10,000 -Roman horse, and some 30,000 troops of other nationalities, -including 13,000 horse and foot supplied by -Artavasdes, King of Armenia, and a strong force provided -by King Polemo of Pontus. An immense number of -heavy engines of war had been collected; and these were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">275</a></span> -despatched towards Media along the valley of the Araxes, -together with the contingents from Armenia and Pontus -and two Roman legions. Antony himself, with the main -army, marched by a more direct route across northern -Assyria into Media, being impatient to attack the enemy. -The news of his approach in such force, says Plutarch, -not only alarmed the Parthians but filled North India -with fear, and, indeed, made all Asia shake. It was -generally supposed that he would march in triumph -through Persia; and there must have been considerable -talk as to whether he would carry his arms, like Alexander -the Great, into India, where Cleopatra’s ships, coming -across the high sea trade-route from Egypt, would meet -him with money and supplies. Towards the end of -August, Antony reached the city of Phraaspa, the capital -of Media-Atropatene, and there he awaited the arrival of -his siege-train and its accompanying contingent. He -had expected that the city would speedily surrender, but -in this he was mistaken; and, ere he had settled down to -the business of a protracted siege, he received the news -that his second army had been attacked and defeated, -that his entire siege-train had been captured, that the -King of Armenia had fled with the remnant of his forces -back to his own country, and that the King of Pontus -had been taken prisoner. In spite of this crushing loss, -however, Antony bravely determined to continue the -siege; but soon the arrival of the Parthian army, fresh -from its victory, began to cause him great discomfort, -and his lines were constantly harassed from the outside -by bodies of the famous Parthian cavalry, though not -once did the enemy allow a general battle to take place. -At last, in October, he was obliged to open negotiations -with the enemy; for, in view of the general lack of provisions<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">276</a></span> -and the deep despondency of the troops, the -approach of winter could not be contemplated without -the utmost dread. He therefore sent a message to the -Parthian King stating that if the prisoners captured from -Crassus were handed over, together with the lost eagles, -he would raise the siege and depart. The enemy refused -these terms, but declared that if Antony would retire, his -retreat would not be molested; and to this the Romans -agreed. The Parthians, however, did not keep their -word; and as the weary legionaries crossed the snow-covered -mountains they were attacked again and again -by the fierce tribesmen, who ambushed them at every pass, -and followed in their rear to cut off stragglers. The -intense cold, the lack of food, and the extreme weariness -of the troops, caused the number of these stragglers to be -very great; and besides the thousands of men who were -thus cut off or killed in the daily fighting, a great number -perished from exposure and want of food. At one period -so great was the scarcity of provisions that a loaf of bread -was worth its weight in silver; and it was at this time -that large numbers of men, having devoured a certain -root which seemed to be edible, went mad and died. -“He that had eaten of this root,” says Plutarch, “remembered -nothing in the world, and employed himself only in -moving great stones from one place to another, which he -did with as much earnestness and industry as if it had -been a business of the greatest consequence; and thus -through all the camp there was nothing to be seen but -men grubbing upon the ground at stones, which they -carried from place to place, until in the end they vomited -and died.” This account, though of course exaggerated -and confused, gives a vivid picture of the distressed -legionaries, some dying of this poison, some going mad,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">277</a></span> -some perishing from exposure and vainly endeavouring to -build themselves a shelter from the biting wind.</p> - -<p>All through the long and terrible march Antony behaved -with consummate bravery and endurance. He shared -every hardship with his men, and when the camp was -pitched at night he went from tent to tent, talking to the -legionaries, and cheering them with encouraging words. -His sympathy and concern for the wounded was that of -the tenderest woman; and he would throw himself down -beside sufferers and burst into uncontrolled tears. The -men adored him; and even those who were at the point -of death, arousing themselves in his presence, called him -by every respectful and endearing name. “They seized -his hands,” says Plutarch, “with joyful faces, bidding -him go and see to himself and not be concerned about -them; calling him their Emperor and their General, and -saying that if only he were well they were safe.” Many -times Antony was heard to exclaim, “O, the ten thousand!” -as though in admiration for Xenophon’s famous -retreat, which was even more arduous than his own. On -one occasion so serious was the situation that he made -one of his slaves, named Rhamnus, take an oath that in -the event of a general massacre he would run his sword -through his body, and cut off his head, in order that he -might neither be captured alive nor be recognised when -dead.</p> - -<p>At last, after twenty-seven terrible days, during which -they had beaten off the Parthians no less than eighteen -times, they crossed the Araxes and brought the eagles -safely into Armenia. Here, making a review of the army, -Antony found that he had lost 20,000 foot and 4000 horse, -the majority of which had died of exposure and illness. -Their troubles, however, were by no means at an end;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">278</a></span> -for although the enemy had now been left behind, the -snows of winter had still to be faced, and the march -through Armenia into Syria was fraught with difficulties. -By the time that the coast was reached eight thousand -more men had perished; and the army which finally -went into winter quarters at a place known as the White -Village, between Sidon and Berytus, was but the tattered -remnant of the great host which had set out so bravely in -the previous spring. Yet it may be said that had not -Antony proved himself so dauntless a leader, not one -man would have escaped from those terrible mountains, -but all would have shared the doom of Crassus and his -ill-fated expedition.</p> - -<p>At the White Village Antony eagerly awaited the -coming of Cleopatra; yet so ashamed was he at his -failure, and so unhappy at the thought of her reproaches -for his ill-success, that he turned in despair to the false -comfort of the wine-jar, and daily drank himself into a -state of oblivious intoxication. When not in a condition -of coma he was nervous and restless. He could not -endure the tediousness of a long meal, but would start up -from table and run down to the sea-shore to scan the -horizon for a sight of her sails. Both he and his officers -were haggard and unkempt, his men being clad in rags; -and it was in this condition that Cleopatra found them -when at last her fleet sailed into the bay, bringing clothing, -provisions, and money.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">279</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE PREPARATIONS OF CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY FOR THE OVERTHROW OF OCTAVIAN.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>When Cleopatra carried Antony back to Alexandria to -recuperate after his exertions, it seems to me that she -spoke to him very directly in regard to his future plans. -She seems to have pointed out to him that Roman attempts -to conquer Parthia always ended in failure, and -that it was a sheer waste of money, men, and time to -endeavour to obtain possession of a country so vast and -having such limitless resources. Wars of this kind exhausted -their funds and gave them nothing in return. -Would it not be much better, therefore, at once to concentrate -all their energies upon the overthrow of Octavian -and the capture of Rome? Antony had proved his popularity -with his men and their confidence in him and his -powers as a leader, for he had performed with ultimate -success that most difficult feat of generalship—an orderly -retreat. Surely, therefore, it would be wise to expend -no further portion of their not unlimited means upon -their eastern schemes, but to concentrate their full -attention first upon Italy. The Parthians, after all, had -been turned out of Armenia and Syria, and they might -now be left severely alone within their own country until<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280">280</a></span> -that day when Antony would march against them, in -accordance with the prophecies of the Sibylline Books, -as King of Rome. Cleopatra had never favoured the -Parthian expedition, though she had helped to finance -it as being part of Julius Cæsar’s original design; and -she had accepted as reasonable the argument put forward -by Antony, that if successful it would enhance enormously -his prestige and ensure his acceptance as a popular hero -in Rome. The war, however, had been disastrous, and -it would be better now to abandon the whole scheme than -to risk a further catastrophe. Antony, fagged out and -suffering from the effects of his severe drinking-bout, -appears to have acquiesced in these arguments; and it -seems that he arrived in Alexandria with the intention -of recuperating his resources for a year or two in view of -his coming quarrel with Octavian. In Syria he had -received news of the events which had occurred in Rome -during his absence at the wars. Octavian had at last -defeated Sextus Pompeius, who had fled to Mytilene; -and Lepidus, the third Triumvir, had retired into private -life, leaving his province of Africa in Octavian’s hands. -His rival, therefore, now held the West in complete -subjection, and it was not unlikely that he himself would -presently pick a quarrel with Antony.</p> - -<p>The comforts of the Alexandrian Palace, and the -pleasures of Cleopatra’s brilliant society, must have -come to Antony as an entrancing change after the rigours -of his campaign; and the remainder of the winter, no -doubt, slipped by in happy ease. The stern affairs of -life, however, seem to have checked any repetition of the -frivolities of his earlier stay in the Egyptian capital; and -we now hear nothing of the Inimitable Livers or of their -prodigious entertainments. Antony wrote a long letter<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">281</a></span> -to Rome, giving a more or less glowing account of the -war, and stating that in many respects it had been very -successful. Early in the new year, <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 35, Sextus -Pompeius attempted to open negotiations with the -Egyptian court; but the envoys whom he sent to -Alexandria failed to secure any favourable response. -Antony, on the other hand, learnt from them that -Sextus was engaged in a secret correspondence with -the Parthians, and was attempting to corrupt Domitius -Ahenobarbus, his lieutenant in Asia. Thereupon he and -Cleopatra determined to capture this buccaneering son -of the great Pompey and to put him to death. The order -was carried out by a certain Titius, who effected the -arrest in Phrygia; and Sextus was executed in Miletus -shortly afterwards. This action was likely to be extremely -ill received in Rome, for the outlaw, in the -manner of a Robin Hood, had always been immensely -popular; and for this reason Antony never seems to -have admitted his responsibility for it, the order being -generally said to have been signed by his lieutenant, -Plancus.</p> - -<p>Shortly after this the whole course of events was suddenly -altered by the arrival in Alexandria of no less -a personage than the King of Pontus, who, it will be -remembered, had been captured by the Parthians<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> at -the outset of Antony’s late campaign, and had been held -prisoner by the King of Media. The latter now sent him -to Egypt with the news that the lately allied kingdoms -of Media and Parthia had come to blows; and the King -of Media proposed that Antony should help him to overthrow -his rival. This announcement caused the greatest -upheaval in Cleopatra’s palace. Here was an unexpected<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">282</a></span> -opportunity to conquer the terrible Parthians with comparative -ease; for Media had always been their powerful -ally, and the Roman arms had come to grief on former -occasions in Median territory. Cleopatra, however, fearing -the duplicity of these eastern monarchs, and having -set her heart on the immediate overthrow of Octavian, -whose power was now so distinctly on the increase, tried -to dissuade her husband from this second campaign, and -begged him to take no further risks in that direction. -As a tentative measure Antony sent a despatch to -Artavasdes, the King of Armenia, who had deserted him -after his defeat in Media, ordering him to come to -Alexandria without delay, presumably to discuss the -situation. Artavasdes, however, showed no desire to -place himself in the hands of his overlord whom he had -thus betrayed, and preferred to seek safety, if necessary, -in his own hills or to throw in his lot with the Parthians.</p> - -<p>Antony was deaf to Cleopatra’s advice; and at length -accepting the proposal conveyed by the King of Pontus, -he prepared to set out at once for the north-east. Thereupon -Cleopatra made up her mind to accompany him; -and in the late spring they set out together for Syria. No -sooner had they arrived in that country, however, than -Antony received the disconcerting news that his Roman -wife Octavia was on her way to join him once more, and -proposed to meet him in Greece. It appears that her -brother Octavian had chosen this means of bringing his -quarrel with Antony to an issue; for if she were not well -received he would have just cause for denouncing her -errant husband as a deserter; and in order to show how -justly he himself was dealing he despatched with Octavia -two thousand legionaries and some munitions of war. -As a matter of fact the legionaries served actually as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283">283</a></span> -a bodyguard for Octavia,<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> while their ultimate presentation -to Antony was to be regarded partly as a payment -for the number of his ships which had been destroyed in -Octavian’s war against Sextus, and partly as a sort of -formal present from one autocrat to another. Antony -at once sent a letter to Octavia telling her to remain at -Athens, as he was going to Media; and in reply to this -Octavia despatched a family friend, named Niger, to ask -Antony what she should do with the troops and supplies. -Niger had the hardihood to speak openly in regard to -Octavia’s treatment, and to praise her very highly for -her noble and quiet bearing in her great distress; but -Antony was in no mood to listen to him, and sent him -about his business with no satisfactory reply. At the -same time he appears to have been very sorry for -Octavia, and there can be little doubt that, had such a -thing been possible, he would have liked to see her for -a short time, if only to save her from the added insult of -his present attitude. He was an irresponsible boy in -these matters, and so long as everybody was happy he -really did not care very deeply which woman he lived -with, though he was now, it would seem, extremely -devoted to Cleopatra, and very dependent upon her lively -society.</p> - -<p>The Queen, of course, was considerably alarmed by -this new development, for she could not be sure whether -Antony would stand by the solemn compact he had made -with her at Antioch, or whether he would once more -prove a fickle friend. She realised very clearly that the -insult offered to Octavia would precipitate the war between -East and West, and she seems to have felt even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284">284</a></span> -more strongly than before that Antony would be ill -advised at this critical juncture to enter into any further -Parthian complication. To her mind it was absolutely -essential that she should carry him safely back to Alexandria, -where he would be, on the one hand, well out of -reach of Octavia, and, on the other, far removed from the -temptation of pursuing his Oriental schemes. Antony, -however, was as eager to be at his old enemy once more -as a beaten boy might have been to revenge himself upon -his rival; and the thought of giving up this opportunity -for vengeance in order to prepare for an immediate -fight with Octavian was extremely distasteful to him. -Everything now seemed to be favourable for a successful -invasion of Parthia. Not only had he the support of the -King of Media, but the fickle King of Armenia had -thought it wise at the last moment to make his peace -with Antony, and the new agreement was to be sealed -by the betrothal of his daughter to Antony’s little son -Alexander Helios. Cleopatra, however, did not care so -much about the conquest of Parthia as she did for the -overthrow of her son’s rival, who seemed to have usurped -the estate which ought to have passed from the great -Cæsar to Cæsarion and herself; and she endeavoured -now, with every art at her disposal, to prevent Antony -taking any further risk in the East, and to urge his return -to Alexandria. “She feigned to be dying of love for -Antony,” says Plutarch, “bringing her body down by -slender diet. When he entered the room she fixed her -eyes upon him in adoration, and when he left she seemed -to languish and half faint away. She took great pains -that he should see her in tears, and, as soon as he -noticed it, she hastily dried them and turned away, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285">285</a></span> -if it were her wish that he should know nothing of it. -Meanwhile Cleopatra’s agents were not slow to forward -her design, upbraiding Antony with his unfeeling hard-hearted -nature for thus letting a woman perish whose -soul depended upon him and him alone. Octavia, it was -true, was his wife; but Cleopatra, the sovereign queen -of many nations, had been contented with the name of -his mistress,<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> and if she were bereaved of him she would -not survive the loss.”</p> - -<p>In this manner she prevailed upon him at last to give -up the proposed war; nor must we censure her too -severely for her piece of acting. She was playing a -desperate game at this time. She had persuaded Antony -to turn his back upon Octavia in a manner which could -but be final; and yet immediately after this, as though -oblivious to the consequences of his action, he was eager -to go off to Persia at a time when Octavian would probably -attempt to declare him an enemy of the Roman -people. Of course, in reality the Queen was no more -deeply in love with Antony than he with her; but he -was absolutely essential to the realisation of her hopes, -and the necessity of a speedy trial of strength with -Octavian became daily more urgent. For this he must -prepare by a quiet collecting of funds and munitions, and -all other projects must be given up.</p> - -<p>Very reluctantly, therefore, Antony returned to Alexandria, -and there he spent the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 35–34 in -soberly governing his vast possessions. In the following -spring, however, he determined to secure Armenia and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286">286</a></span> -Media for his own ends; and when he transferred his -headquarters to Syria for the summer season<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> he again -sent word to King Artavasdes to meet him in order to -discuss the affairs of Parthia. The Armenian king, however, -seems to have been intriguing against Antony -during the winter; and now he declined to place himself -in Roman hands lest he might suffer the consequence of -his duplicity. Thereupon Antony advanced rapidly into -Armenia, took the King prisoner, seized his treasure, -pillaged his lands, and declared the country to be henceforth -a Roman province. The loot obtained in this rapid -campaign was very great. The legionaries seized upon -every object of value which they observed: and they even -plundered the ancient temple of Anaitis in Acilisene, laying -hands on the statue of the goddess which was made -of pure gold, and pounding it into pieces for purposes of -division.</p> - -<p>On his return to Syria Antony entered into negotiations -with the King of Media, the result of which was that the -Median Princess Iotapa was married to the little Alexander -Helios, whose betrothal to the King of Armenia’s daughter -had, of course, terminated with the late war. As we shall -presently see, it is probable that the King of Media had -consented to make the youthful couple his heirs to the -throne of Media, for it would seem that he had no son; -and thus Antony is seen to have once more put into -practice his jesting scheme of founding royal dynasties of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287">287</a></span> -his own flesh and blood in many lands. Antony then -returned to Alexandria, well satisfied with his summer’s -work, but “with his thoughts,” as Plutarch says, “now -taken up with the coming civil war.” Octavia had returned -to Rome, and had made no secret of her ill-treatment. -Her brother, therefore, told her to leave -Antony’s house, thus to show her resentment against -him; but she would not do this, nor did she permit -Octavian to make war upon her husband on her account, -for, she declared, it would be intolerable to have it said -that two women, herself and Cleopatra, had been the -cause of such a terrific contest. Nevertheless, there was -little chance of the quarrel being patched up; and -Antony must have realised now the wisdom of Cleopatra’s -objection to an expensive and exhausting campaign -in Parthia.</p> - -<p>On his return to Alexandria in the autumn of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 34, -Antony set the Roman world agog by celebrating his -triumph over Armenia in the Egyptian capital. Never -before had a Roman General held a formal Triumph outside -Rome; and Antony’s action appeared to be a definite -proclamation that Alexandria had become the rival, if not -the successor, of Rome as the capital of the world. It -will be remembered that Julius Cæsar had talked of -removing the seat of government from Rome to Alexandria; -and now it seemed that Antony had transferred -the capital, at any rate of the Eastern Empire, -to that city, and was regarding it as his home. Alexandria -was certainly far more conveniently situated than -Rome for the government of the world. It must be remembered -that the barbaric western countries—the -unexplored Germania, the newly conquered Gallia, the -insignificant Britannia, the wild Hispania, and others—<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288">288</a></span>were -not of nearly such value as were the civilised -eastern provinces; and thus Rome stood on the far -western outskirts of the important dominions she -governed. From Alexandria a march of 600 or 800 -miles brought one to Antioch or to Tarsus; whereas -Rome was nearly three times as far from these great -centres. The southern Peloponnesus was, by way of -Crete, considerably nearer to Alexandria than it was to -Rome by way of Brundisium. Ephesus and other cities -of Asia Minor could be reached more quickly by land or -sea from Egypt than they could from Rome. Rhodes, -Lycia, Bithynia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, -Pontus, Armenia, Commagene, Crete, Cyprus, and many -other great and important lands, were all closer to Alexandria -than to Rome; while Thrace and Byzantium, by -the land or sea route, were about equidistant from either -capital. As a city, too, Alexandria was far more magnificent, -more cultivated, more healthy, more wealthy in -trade, and more “go-ahead” than Rome. Thus there -was really very good ground for supposing that Antony, -by holding his Triumph here, was proclaiming a definite -transference of his home and of the seat of government; -and one may imagine the anxiety which it caused in -Italy.</p> - -<p>The Triumph was a particularly gorgeous ceremony. -At the head of the procession there seems to have -marched a body of Roman legionaries, whose shields -were inscribed with the large C which is said to have -stood for “Cleopatra,” but which, with equal probability, -may have stood for “Cæsar,” that is to say, for -the legitimate Cæsarian cause. Antony rode in the -customary chariot drawn by four white horses, and -before him walked the unfortunate King Artavasdes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289">289</a></span> -loaded with golden chains, together with his queen and -their sons. Behind the chariot walked a long procession -of Armenian captives, and after these came the usual cars -loaded with the spoils of war. Then followed a number -of municipal deputations drawn from vassal cities, each -carrying a golden crown or chaplet which had been voted -to Antony in commemoration of his conquest. Roman -legionaries, Egyptian troops, and several eastern contingents, -brought up the rear.</p> - -<p>The procession seems to have set out in the sunshine -of the morning from the Royal Palace on the Lochias -Promontory, and to have skirted the harbour as far as -the temple of Neptune. It then travelled probably -through the Forum, past the stately buildings and -luxuriant gardens of the Regia, and so out into the -Street of Canopus at about the point where the great -mound of the Paneum rose up against the blue sky, its -ascending pathway packed with spectators. Turning -now to the west, the procession moved slowly along this -broad paved street, the colonnades on either side being -massed with sightseers. On the right-hand side the walls -of the Sema, or Royal Mausoleum, were passed, where -lay the bones of Alexander the Great; and on the left -the long porticos of the Gymnasium and the Law Courts -formed a shaded stand for hundreds of people of the -upper classes. On the other side of the road the colonnades -and windows of the Museum were crowded, I suppose, -with the professors and students who had come -with their families to witness the spectacle. Some distance -farther along, the procession turned to the south, -and proceeded along the broad Street of Serapis, at the -end of which, on high ground, stood the splendid building -of the Serapeum. Here Cleopatra and her court,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290">290</a></span> -together with the high functionaries of Alexandria, were -gathered, while the priests and priestesses of Serapis -were massed on either side of the street and upon the -broad steps which led up to the porticos of the temple. -At this point Antony dismounted from his chariot; and -probably amidst the shouts of the spectators and the -shaking of hundreds of systra, he ascended to the temple -to offer the prescribed sacrifice to Serapis, as in Rome he -would have done to Jupiter Capitolinus. This accomplished -he returned to the court in front of the sacred -building, where a platform had been erected, the sides of -which were plated with silver. On this platform, upon a -throne of gold, sat Cleopatra, clad in the robes of Isis or -Venus; and to her feet Antony now led the royal captives -of Armenia, all hot and dusty from their long walk, -and dejected by the continuous booing and jeering of -the crowds through which they had passed. Artavasdes -was no barbarian: he was a refined and cultured man, to -whose sensitive nature the ordeal must have been most -terrible. He was something of a poet, and in his time -had written plays and tragedies not without merit. He -was now told to abase himself before Cleopatra, and to -salute her as a goddess; but this he totally refused to do, -and, in spite of some rough handling by his guards, he -persisted in standing upright before her and in addressing -her simply by her name. In Rome it was customary at -the conclusion of a Triumph to put to death the royal -captives who had been exhibited in the procession; and -now that he had openly insulted the Queen of Egypt he -could not have expected to see another sun rise. Antony -and Cleopatra, however, appear to have been touched at -his dignified attitude; and neither he nor his family were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291">291</a></span> -harmed. Instead, they were treated with some show of -honour,<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a> and thereafter were held as state prisoners in the -Egyptian capital.</p> - -<div id="ip_290" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 28.625em;"> - <img src="images/i_290.jpg" width="458" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>British Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Macbeth.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p><span class="smcap">ANTONIA, the Daughter of Antony.</span></p></div> -</div> - -<p>The Triumph ended, a vast banquet was given to all -the inhabitants of Alexandria; and late in the afternoon -a second ceremony was held in the grounds of the Gymnasium. -Here again a silver-covered platform had been -erected, upon which two large and four smaller thrones -of gold had been set up; and, when the company was -assembled, Antony, Cleopatra, and her children took -their seats upon them. Certain formalities having been -observed, Antony arose to address the crowd; and, after -referring no doubt to his victories, he proceeded to confer -upon the Queen and her offspring a series of startling -honours. He appears to have proclaimed Cleopatra -sovereign of Egypt, and of the dominions which he -had bestowed upon her at Antioch nearly three years -previously. He named Cæsarion, the son of Julius -Cæsar, co-regent with his mother, and gave him the -mighty title of King of Kings.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> Cæsarion was now -thirteen and a half years of age; and since, as Suetonius -remarks, he resembled his father, the great Dictator, in -a remarkable manner, Antony’s feelings must have been -strangely complicated as he now conferred upon him -these vast honours. To Alexander Helios, his own child, -Antony next gave the kingdom of Armenia; the kingdom -of Media, presumably after the death of the reigning -monarch, whose daughter had just been married to -him; and ultimately the kingdom of Parthia, provided -that it had been conquered. This seems to have been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292">292</a></span> -arranged by treaty with the King of Media in the previous -summer,<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> the agreement probably being that, on the death -of that monarch, Alexander Helios and the Median heiress, -Iotapa, should ascend the amalgamated thrones of -Armenia, Media, and Parthia, Antony promising in return -to assist in the conquest of the last-named country. The -boy was now six years of age, and his chubby little figure -had been dressed for the occasion in Median or Armenian -costume. Upon his head he wore the high, stiff tiara -of these countries, from the back of which depended a -flap of cloth covering his neck; his body was clothed -in a sleeved tunic, over which was worn a flowing cloak, -thrown over one shoulder and hanging in graceful folds -at the back; and his legs were covered by the long, -loosely-fitting trousers worn very generally throughout -Persia. To Cleopatra Selene, Alexander’s twin-sister, -Antony gave Cyrenaica, Libya, and as much of the north-African -coast as was in his gift; and finally he proclaimed -the small Ptolemy King of Phœnicia, northern Syria, and -Cilicia. This little boy, only two years of age, had been -dressed up for the occasion in Macedonian costume, and -wore the national mantle, the boots, and the cap encircled -with the diadem, in the manner made customary by the -successors of Alexander. At the end of this surprising -ceremony the children, having saluted their parents, were -each surrounded by a bodyguard composed of men belonging -to the nations over whom they were to rule; -and at last all returned in state to the Palace as the -sun set behind the Harbour of the Happy Return.</p> - -<p>In celebration of the occasion coins were struck bearing -the inscription <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cleopatræ reginæ regum filiorum regum</i>—“Of -Cleopatra the Queen, and of the Kings the children<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293">293</a></span> -of Kings.” Antony perhaps also caused a bronze -statue to be made, representing his son Alexander Helios -dressed in the royal costume of his new kingdom, for -a figure has recently been discovered which appears to -represent the boy in this manner. He then wrote an -account of the whole affair to the Senate in Rome, together -with a report on his Armenian war; and in a -covering letter he told his agents to obtain a formal ratification -of the changes which he had made in the distribution -of the thrones in his dominions. The news was -received in Italy with astonishment, and in official circles -the greatest exasperation was felt. Antony’s agents very -wisely decided not to read the despatches to the Senate; -but Octavian insisted, and after much wrangling their -contents were at last publicly declared. Stories at once -began to circulate in which Antony figured as a kind -of Oriental Sultan, living at Alexandria a life of voluptuous -degeneracy. He was declared to be constantly -drunken; and, since no such charge could be brought -against Cleopatra, the Queen was said to keep sober -by means of a magical ring of amethyst, which had -the virtue of dispelling the fumes of wine from the -head of the wearer.</p> - -<p>There can, indeed, be little doubt that Antony was -very intemperate at this period. He was worried to -distraction by the approach of the great war with -Octavian; and he must have felt that his popularity in -Rome was now very much at stake. While waiting for -events to shape themselves, therefore, he attempted to -free his mind from its anxieties by heavy drinking; but -in so doing, it would seem from subsequent events, he -began to lose the place in Cleopatra’s esteem which he -had formerly held. She herself did not ever drink much<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294">294</a></span> -wine, if we may judge from the fact, just now quoted, that -she was at all times notably sober; and she must have -watched with increasing uneasiness the dissolute habits -of the man upon whom she was obliged to rely for the -fulfilment of her ambitions.</p> - -<p>The fact that he was ceasing to be a Roman, and was -daily becoming more like an Oriental potentate, did not -trouble her so much. It differentiated him, of course, -from the great Dictator, whose memory became more -dear to her as she contrasted his activities with Antony’s -growing laziness; but all her life she had been accustomed -to the ways of Eastern monarchs, and she could -not have been much shocked at her husband’s new -method of life, except in so far as it modified his abilities -as an active leader of men. Now that the quarrel -with Octavian was coming to a head, her throne and -her very existence depended on Antony’s ability to inspire -and to command; and I dare say a limited adoption -of the manners of the East made him more agreeable to -the people with whom he had to deal. “Cleopatra,” -says the violently partisan Florus, “asked of the drunken -general as the price of her love the Roman Empire, and -Antony promised it to her, as though Romans were easier -to conquer than Parthians.... Forgetting his country, -his name, his toga, and the insignia of his office, he had -degenerated wholly, in thought, feeling, and dress, into -that monster of whom we know. In his hand was a -golden sceptre, at his side a scimitar; his purple robes -were clasped with great jewels; and he wore a diadem -upon his head so that he might be a King to match -the Queen he loved.”</p> - -<p>The Palace at Alexandria had been much embellished -and decorated during recent years; and it was now a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295">295</a></span> -fitting setting for the ponderous movements of this burly -monarch of the East. Lucan tells us how sumptuous -a place the royal home had come to be. The ceilings -were fretted and inlaid, and gold-foil hid the rafters. -The walls and pillars were mainly made of fine marble, -but a considerable amount of purple porphyry<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> and -agate were used in the decoration. The flooring of some -of the halls was of onyx or alabaster; ebony was used -as freely as common wood; and ivory was to be seen -on all sides. The doors were ornamented with tortoise-shells -brought from India and studded with emeralds. -The couches and chairs were encrusted with gems; much -of the furniture was shining with jasper and carnelian; -and there were many priceless tables of carved ivory. -The coverings were bright with Tyrian dye, shining with -spangled gold, or fiery with cochineal. About the halls -walked slaves, chosen for their good looks. Some were -dark-skinned, others were white; some had the crisp -black hair of the Ethiopians; others the golden or flaxen -locks of Gaul and Germania. Pliny tells us that Antony -bought two boys for £800 each, and that they were supposed -to be twins, but that actually they came from -different countries. Of Cleopatra, Lucan writes: “She -breathes heavily beneath the weight of her ornaments; -and her white breasts shine through the Sidonian fabric -which, wrought in close texture by the sley of the -Chinese, the needle of the workmen of the Nile has -separated, loosening the warp by stretching out the -web.” The newly-developed trade with India had filled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296">296</a></span> -the Palace with the luxurious fabrics of the Orient; and -the Greek, or even Egyptian, character of the materials -and objects in daily use was beginning to be lost in -the medley of heterogenous articles drawn from all -parts of the world.</p> - -<p>Amidst these theatrical surroundings Antony acted, -with a kind of childish extravagance, the part of the half-divine -Autocrator of the East. When he was sober -his mind must have been full of cares and anxieties; -but on the many occasions when he was somewhat intoxicated -he behaved himself in the manner of an overgrown -boy. He delighted in the general recognition of -his identity with Bacchus or Dionysos; and he loved to -hear himself spoken of as the new “Liber Pater.” In -the festivals of that deity he was driven through the -streets of Alexandria in a car constructed like that traditionally -used by the bibulous god; a golden crown upon -his head, often poised, it would seem, at a peculiar angle, -garlands of ivy tossed about his shoulders, buskins on -his feet, and the thyrsus in his hand. In this manner -he was trundled along the stately Street of Canopus, -surrounded by leaping women and prancing men, the -crowds on either side of the road shouting and yelling -their merry salutations to him. A temple in his honour -was begun in the Regia at Alexandria, just to the west -of the Forum; but this was not completed until some -years afterwards, when it was converted into a shrine -in honour of Octavian, and was known as the Cæsareum. -On one occasion he assigned the part of the sea-god -Glaucus to his friend Plancus, who forthwith danced -about at a banquet, naked and painted blue, a chaplet -of sea-weed upon his head and a fish-tail tied from his -waist.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297">297</a></span> -Antony had never troubled himself much in regard -to his dignity; and now, in the character of the jolly -ruler of the East, he was quite unmindful of his appearance -in the eyes of serious men. Often he was to be -seen walking on foot by the side of Cleopatra’s chariot, -talking to the eunuchs and servants who followed in her -train. He caused the Queen to give him the post of -Superintendent of the Games,—a position which was -not considered to be particularly honourable. It is apparent -that her company had become very essential to -him, and much notice was taken of the fact that he -now accompanied her wherever she went. He rode -through the streets at her side, conducted the official -and religious ceremonies for her, or sat by her when -she was trying cases in the public tribunal. Sometimes -when he himself was alone upon the judicial bench, looking -out of the window in the midst of some intricate -judgment and by chance seeing Cleopatra’s chariot passing -by across the square, he would without explanation -start up from his seat, run over to her, and walk back -to the Palace at her side, leaving the magistrate, police, -and prisoners in open-mouthed astonishment.</p> - -<p>We hear nothing in regard to Antony’s relations with -his children, and it is difficult to picture him as he -appeared in the family circle. His stepson Cæsarion, -his two sons Alexander and Ptolemy, and his daughter -Cleopatra, were all at this time residing in the Palace; -and moreover his son by Fulvia, Antyllus, a boy somewhat -younger than Cæsarion, had now come to live -with him in Alexandria. It is probable that he was -an affectionate and indulgent father; and there must -have been many happy scenes enacted in the royal -nurseries, which, could they have been recorded, would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298">298</a></span> -have gone far to correct the popular estimate of the -nature of Antony’s home-life with Cleopatra. The -Queen was his legal wife;<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> and in contemplating the -extravagances and eccentricities of his behaviour at -Alexandria, we must not lose sight of the obvious fact -that his life at this period had also its domestic aspect. -He did not admit to himself that his union with -Cleopatra was in any way scandalous; and writing to -Octavian in the following year he seems to be quite -surprised that his family life should be regarded as -infamous. “Is it because I live in intimate relations -with a Queen?” he asks. “<em>She is my wife.</em> Is this a -new thing with me? Have I not acted so for these nine -years?” Indeed, as compared with Octavian’s private -life, the family circle at Alexandria, in spite of Antony’s -buffoonery and heavy drinking, was by no means wholly -shameful. In Rome Octavian was at this time employing -his friends to search the town for women to amuse -him, and these agents, acting on his orders, are related -to have kidnapped respectable girls, and to have torn -their clothes from them, as did the common slave-dealers, -in order to ascertain whether they were fit -presents for their vile master. We hear no such stories -in regard to the jovial Antony.</p> - -<p>A characteristic tale is told by Plutarch which illustrates -the open-handed opulence of the Alexandrian -court at this time. A certain Philotas, while dining -with Antony’s son Antyllus, shut the mouth of a rather -noisy comrade by a very absurd syllogism, which made<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299">299</a></span> -everybody laugh. Antyllus was so delighted that he -promptly made a present of a sideboard covered with -valuable plate to the embarrassed Philotas, who, of -course, refused it, not imagining that a youth of that -age could dispose in this light manner of such costly -objects. Having returned to his house, however, a -friend presently arrived, bringing the plate to him; -and on his still objecting to receive it, “What ails the -man?” said the bearer of the gift. “Don’t you know -that he who gives you this is Antony’s son, who is free -to give it even if it were all gold?”</p> - -<p>Thus the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 34–33 passed, and in the spring -of 33 Antony set out for his summer quarters in Syria. -He desired to cement the agreement with the King of -Media, in order to guard himself against a Parthian -attack while engaged in the coming war with Octavian; -and for this purpose he determined to proceed at once -to the borders of that country. Cleopatra, therefore, -did not accompany him; and in this fact we may perhaps -see an indication of some loss of interest on her part, due -to her growing disrespect for him. Passing through -Syria he went north-eastwards into Armenia, and there -he seems to have effected a meeting with the King of -Media. To him he now gave a large portion of Greater -Armenia, and to the King of Pontus he handed over the -territory known as Lesser Armenia. The little Median -princess, Iotapa, who had been married to the young -Alexander Helios, was placed in the care of Antony with -the idea that she should be educated at Alexandria. -With her the King sent Antony a present of the eagles -captured from his army at the time when the siege-train -was lost in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 36; and he also presented him with a -regiment of the famous mounted archers who had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300">300</a></span> -wrought so much havoc on the Roman lines in the -late campaign, while in return for these men Antony -sent a detachment of legionaries to the Median capital.</p> - -<p>The Parthian danger being thus circumvented by this -extremely important and far-reaching compact with -Media, Antony set out for Egypt with the idea of -spending the winter there once more.<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> He took with -him the little Princess Iotapa, and in the early autumn -he reached Alexandria. His news in regard to Media -must have been very satisfactory to Cleopatra, and -Iotapa thenceforth became the companion of the royal -children in the Palace. But the news which he had to -relate in connection with Octavian was of the worst, and -Cleopatra must have asked him in astonishment how he -could think of spending the winter quietly in Alexandria -in view of the imminence of war. In the first place, the -Triumvirate<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> came to an end at the close of the year, -and it seemed likely that Octavian would bring matters -to an issue on that date. Then Octavian had attacked -him violently in the Senate, and excited the public mind -against his rival; and Antony, hearing of this while in -Armenia, wrote to him an obscene letter, much too -disgusting to quote here. To this Octavian replied in -like manner. Antony then charged him with acting -unfairly, firstly, by not dividing the spoils captured from -Sextus Pompeius; secondly, by not returning the ships -which had been lent to him for the Pompeian war; -thirdly, by not sharing the province of Africa taken over -after the retirement of Lepidus; and lastly, that he had -parcelled out almost all the free land in Italy amongst<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301">301</a></span> -his own soldiers, thus leaving none for Antony’s legionaries. -Octavian had replied that he would divide all the -spoils of war as soon as Antony gave him a share in -Armenia and Egypt, while in regard to the lands given -as rewards to his legionaries, Antony’s troops could -hardly want them, since, no doubt, by now they had -all Media and Parthia to share amongst themselves. -This reference to Egypt, as though it were a province -of Rome instead of an independent kingdom, must have -been deeply annoying to Cleopatra; but, on the other -hand, it was pleasant to hear that Octavian had abused -Antony for living immorally with the Queen, and that -Antony had replied by stating emphatically that she -was his legal wife.</p> - -<p>The war, thus, was now on the eve of breaking out, -and Cleopatra must have been in a fever of excitement. -Antony’s vague and casual behaviour seems, therefore, -to have annoyed her very considerably; and it was not -until he had decided to take up his winter quarters at -Ephesus instead of in Egypt that harmony was restored. -Once aroused, he acted with energy. He sent messengers -in all directions to gather in his forces; and he eagerly -helped Cleopatra to make her warlike preparations in -her own country. In a few weeks the arrangements -were complete, and Antony and Cleopatra set out for -Ephesus early in the winter of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 33, at the head of a -huge assemblage of naval and military armaments and -munitions. The people of Alexandria must have realised -that their Queen was going forth upon the most marvellous -adventure. Only a few years ago they had lain -prone under the heel of Italy, expecting at any moment -to be deprived of their independent existence. Now, -thanks to the skill, the tact, and the charm of their divine<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302">302</a></span> -Queen, their incarnate Isis-Aphrodite, they were privileged -to witness the departure of the ships, the hosts, and the -captains of Egypt for the conquest of mighty Rome. -They had heard Cleopatra swear to seat herself and her -son Cæsarion in the Capitol; and there could have -been few in the cheering crowds whose hearts did not -swell with pride at the thought of the glorious future -which awaited their country and their royal house.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303">303</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE DECLINE OF ANTONY’S POWER.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The city of Ephesus was situated near the mouth of -the river Caystrus in the shadow of the Messogis -mountains, not far south of Smyrna, and overlooking -the island of Samos. Standing on the coast of Asia -Minor, near the frontier which divided Lydia from -Caria, it looked directly across the sea to Athens, and -was sheltered from the menacing coasts of Italy by the -intervening Greek peninsula. Ephesus, I need hardly -remind the reader, was famous for its temple, dedicated -to Diana of the Ephesians. The building was constructed -of white marble and cypress- and cedar-wood, -and was richly ornamented with gold. Many statues -adorned its colonnades, and there were many celebrated -paintings upon its walls, including a fine picture of -Alexander the Great. Diana was here worshipped under -the name Artemis, and was often identified with Venus, -with whom Cleopatra claimed identity. Here Antony -and Cleopatra collected their forces, and soon the -ancient city came to be the largest military and naval -centre in the world. Cleopatra had brought with her -from Egypt a powerful fleet of two hundred ships of -war, and a host of soldiers, sailors, workmen, and slaves.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304">304</a></span> -She had drawn 20,000 talents (<i>i.e.</i>, £4,000,000) from her -treasury; and, besides this, she had brought a vast -amount of corn, foodstuffs, clothing, arms, and munitions -of war. From Syria, Armenia, and Pontus, vessels were -arriving daily with further supplies; and Antony’s own -fleet of many hundred battleships and vessels of burden -was rapidly mobilising at the mouth of the river. All -day and all night the roads to the city thundered with the -tread of armed men, as the kings and rulers of the East -marched their armies to the rendezvous. Bocchus, King -of Mauritania; Tarcondimotus, ruler of Upper Cilicia; -Archelaus, King of Cappadocia; Philadelphus, King of -Paphlagonia; Mithridates, King of Commagene; Sadalas -and Rhœmetalces, Kings of Thrace; Amyntas, King of -Galatia, and many other great rulers, responded to the -call to arms, and hastened to place their services at the -disposal of Antony and his Queen.</p> - -<div id="ip_304" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.5em;"> - <img src="images/i_304.jpg" width="600" height="502" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>CLEOPATRA AND HER SON CÆSARION.</p> - -<p class="small">REPRESENTED CONVENTIONALLY UPON A WALL OF THE TEMPLE OF DENDERA</p></div></div> - -<p>One cannot help wondering whether these mighty men -realised for what they were about to fight. They were -flocking to the standard of a man who had held supreme -power over their countries for many years, and whose -rule had been kindly and easy. They owed a great deal -to him,—in some cases their very thrones; and, were he -now to be defeated by his rival, they would probably fall -with him. Success, however, seemed certain in view of -Antony’s enormous forces; and they therefore felt that -the assistance which they gave would undoubtedly bear -abundant fruit, and that their reward would be great. -Antony, of course, told them, perhaps with his tongue -in his cheek, that he was fighting to some extent on -behalf of the Roman Republic, in order to free the -country from the oppression of an autocratic rule, and -to restore the old constitution. He was not such a fool<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305">305</a></span> -as to admit that he was aiming at a throne: Julius Cæsar -had been assassinated on that very account, and a declaration -of this kind would likewise alienate a large number -of his supporters in Rome. He still had numerous friends -in the capital, men who disliked the forbidding personality -of Octavian, and who admired his own frank and -open manners. Moreover, a considerable body supported -him in memory of the great Dictator, regarding Antony -as the guardian of young Cæsarion, whose rights they -had at heart. A story, of which we have already heard, -had been circulated in regard to Julius Cæsar’s will. It -was said that the document which decreed Octavian the -heir was not the Dictator’s last testament, but that he -had made a later will in favour of Cleopatra’s son, -Cæsarion, which had been suppressed, probably by Calpurnia. -Thus, to many of his Roman friends, Antony -was fighting to carry out the Dictator’s wishes, and to -overthrow the usurping Octavian. Was this, one asks, -the justification which he placed before the consideration -of the vassal kings? At any rate Dion Cassius states -definitely that Antony’s recognition of Cæsarion’s right -to this great inheritance was the real cause of the war.</p> - -<p>It does not seem to me that this point is fully recognised -by historians; but it is very apparent that Antony’s -position at Ephesus would have been almost untenable -without a justification such as that of the championing -of Cæsarion. It was plain to every eastern eye that -he was acting in conjunction with Egypt and with -Cleopatra; and all men now knew that the Queen was -his legal wife. It was obvious that, if successful, he -would enter Rome with the Queen of Egypt by his side. -Yet, at the same time, he was denying that he intended -to establish a monarchy in Rome on the lines proposed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306">306</a></span> -by the Dictator, and he was talking a great deal of -rubbish about reviving the Republic. There is, surely, -only one way in which these divergent interests could -be made to fit into a scheme capable of satisfying both -his Roman and his Oriental supporters, and would serve -as a professed justification for the war: he was going to -establish the Dictator’s son, Cæsarion, in his father’s -seat, and to turn out the wrongful heir, Octavian. He -himself would be the boy’s guardian, and would act, -at any rate in Italy, on republican lines. Cleopatra, as -his wife, would doff her crown while in Italy, but would -assume it once more within her own dominions, just as -Julius Cæsar had proposed to do in the last year of his -life.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> Of course it must have been recognised that the -throne of Rome would ultimately be offered to him, and -that he would hand it on to Cæsarion in due course, -thus founding a dynasty of the blood of the divine Julius; -but this fact was kept severely in the background. If -Cæsarion and his cause had not formed part of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">casus -belli</i>, it is unlikely that Antony would have been at all -widely supported in Rome; and what man would have -tolerated the armed presence of Cleopatra and her -Egyptians, save in her capacity as mother of the -claimant and wife of the claimant’s guardian? Without -Cæsarion, what was Antony’s justification for the -war? I can find very little. He would have been -fighting to turn out Octavian, who, in that case, would -have been the rightful and only heir; he would have -been introducing Cleopatra into Roman politics with -the obvious intention of creating a throne for her, the -very step which had been Cæsar’s undoing; and he -would have been offering her royal view of life in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307">307</a></span> -exchange for Octavian’s republican sentiments, not as -something of which the best had to be made under the -circumstances, but as a habit of mind desirable in itself. -His apparent deference to Cleopatra, and the manner -in which she shared his supremacy, must have been -liable to cause much offence in Rome and in Ephesus, -and would never have been tolerated had she not been -put forward as Julius Cæsar’s widow and the mother -of his son.</p> - -<p>The armies marching into the city comprised soldiers -of almost every nation. There were nineteen Roman -legions; troops of Gauls and Germans; contingents -of Moorish, Egyptian, Sudanese, Arab, and Bedouin -warriors; the wild tribesmen from Media; hardy Armenians; -barbaric fighting men from the coast of the -Black Sea; Greeks, Jews, and Syrians. The streets of -the city were packed with men in every kind of costume, -bearing all manner of arms, and talking a hundred languages. -Never, probably, in the world’s history had so -many nationalities been gathered together; and Cleopatra’s -heart must have been nigh bursting with feminine -pride and gratification at the knowledge that in reality -she had been the cause of the great mobilisation. They -had come together at Antony’s bidding, it is true; but -they had come to fight her battles. They were here -to vindicate her honour, to place her upon the throne -of the World. With their forests of swords and spears -they were about to justify those nights, nearly sixteen -years ago, when, as the wild little queen of little Egypt, -she lay in the arms of Rome’s mighty old reprobate. -In those far-off days she was fighting to retain the independence -of her small country and her dynasty: now -she was Queen of dominions more extensive than any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308">308</a></span> -governed by the proudest of the Pharaohs, and she would -soon see her royal house raised to a height never before -attained by man. It was her custom at this time to use -as an oath the words, “As surely as I shall one day -administer justice on the Capitol”; and, proudly acting -the part of hostess in Ephesus, she must have felt that -the great day was very near. Already the Ephesians -were hailing her as their Queen, and the deference paid -to her by the vassal kings was very marked.</p> - -<p>In the spring of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 32 some four hundred Roman -senators arrived at Antony’s headquarters. These men -stated that Octavian, after denouncing his rival in the -Senate, had advised all who were on the enemy’s side -to quit the city, whereupon they had set sail for Ephesus, -leaving behind them some seven or eight hundred senators -who either held with Octavian or pursued a non-committal -policy. War had not yet been declared, but no declaration -seemed now to be necessary.</p> - -<div id="ip_308" class="figcenter b2" style="max-width: 56.25em;"> - <img src="images/i_308.jpg" width="900" height="640" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatc"> - A Map<br /> - Illustrating the War between<br /> - Cleopatra and Octavian. - </div> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatr">W. & A. K. Johnston, Limited, Edinburgh & London.<br /></div> -</div> - -<p>With the arrival of the senators trouble began to brew -in the camp. Cleopatra’s power and authority were much -resented by the new-comers, to whom the existing situation -was something of a revelation. They had not realised -that the Queen of Egypt was playing an active part in -the preparations, and many of them speedily recognised -the fact that Antony, as Autocrat of the East and husband -of Cleopatra, was hardly the man to restore a -republican government to Rome. It was not long before -some of them began to show their dislike of the Queen -and to hint that she ought to retire into the background, -at any rate for the time being. There was one old soldier, -Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus, the representative of an -ancient republican family, who would never acknowledge -Cleopatra’s right to the supremacy which she had attained,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309">309</a></span> -nor, on any occasion, would he address her by -her title, but always called her simply by her name. -This man at length told Antony in the most direct -manner that he ought to send Cleopatra back to Egypt, -there to await the conclusion of the war. He seems -to have pointed out that her presence with the army -gave a false impression, and would be liable to alienate -the sympathies of many of his Roman friends. He suggested, -perhaps, that the Queen should vacate her place -in favour of Cæsarion, whose rights few denied. Antony, -seeing the wisdom of this advice, told Cleopatra to return -to Alexandria; but she, in great alarm, is said to have -bribed Publius Canidius, one of Antony’s most trusted -councillors, to plead with him on her behalf—the result -being that the proposal of Domitius Ahenobarbus was -discarded, and the Queen remained with the army. -Publius Canidius had pointed out to Antony that the -Egyptian fleet would fight much more willingly if their -Queen were with them, and Egyptian money would be -more readily obtained if she herself were felt to be in -need of it. “And, besides,” said he, “I do not see to -which of the kings who have joined this expedition -Cleopatra is inferior in wisdom; for she has for a long -time governed by herself a vast kingdom, and has learnt -in your company the handling of great affairs.”<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a></p> - -<p>The Queen’s continuance at Ephesus and her connection -with the war was the cause of great dissensions, -and the Roman senators began to range themselves into -two distinct parties: those who fell in with Antony’s -schemes, and those who now favoured a reconciliation -with Octavian as a means of ridding Roman politics of -Cleopatra’s disturbing influence. When the efforts of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310">310</a></span> -peacemakers came to her ears her annoyance must have -been intense. Were all her hopes to be dashed to the -ground just because a few stiff-backed senators disliked -the idea of a foreign sovereign concerning herself with -republican politics? She no longer trusted Antony, for -it seemed apparent to her that he was, at heart, striving -only for his own aggrandisement, and was prepared to -push her into the background at the moment when her -interests threatened to injure his own. It was she who -had incited him into warfare, who had kept him up to -the mark, aroused him to his duties, and financed to a -large extent his present operations; and yet he was, -even at this eleventh hour, half-minded to listen to those -who urged him to make peace. Only recently he had -made some sort of offer to Octavian to lay down his -arms if the latter would do likewise. At the time -Cleopatra had probably thought this simply a diplomatic -move designed to gain popularity; but now she seems -to have questioned seriously Antony’s desire for war, -and to have asked herself whether he would not much -prefer peace, quietness, and leisure wherein to drink -and feast to his jovial heart’s content. Yet war was -essential to her ambitions, and to the realisation of the -rights of her son. If Octavian were not overthrown, -she would never have any sense of security; and with -all her heart she desired to come to a safe harbour after -these years of storm and stress.</p> - -<p>It will be seen, then, that to her the need of preventing -peace was paramount. She therefore made one last -effort in this direction; and, bringing all her arts and -devices to bear upon her husband, she began to persuade -him to issue a writ casting off Octavia and -thereby insulting Octavian beyond the limits of apology.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311">311</a></span> -As soon as the scheme came to the ears of the peace -party pressure was brought to bear on Antony to effect -a reconciliation with Octavia; and the unfortunate man -appears to have been badgered and pestered by both -factions until he must have been heartily sick of the -subject. Cleopatra’s councils, however, at last prevailed -to this extent, that Antony decided to make a forward -movement and to cross the sea to Greece, thus bringing -hostilities a step nearer. At the end of April he sailed -over from Ephesus to the island of Samos, leaving a -part of the army behind him. Here he remained for -two or three weeks, during which time, in reaction after -his worries, he indulged in a round of dissipations. He -had told his various vassals to bring with them to the -rendezvous their leading actors and comedians, so that -the great gathering should not lack amusement; and -now these players were shipped across to Samos, there -to perform before this audience of kings and rulers. -These sovereigns competed with one another in the -giving of superb banquets, but we do not now hear of -any such extravagances on the part of Cleopatra, who -was probably far too anxious, and too sobered, to give -any extraordinary attention to her duties as hostess. -Splendid sacrifices were offered to the gods in the island -temples, each city contributing an ox for this purpose; -and the sacred buildings must have resounded with -invocations to almost every popular deity of the east and -west. The contrast was striking between the brilliancy -and festivity at Samos and the anxiety and dejection of -the cities of the rest of the world, which had been bereft -of their soldiers and their money, and were about to -be plunged into all the horrors of internecine warfare. -“While pretty nearly the whole world,” says Plutarch,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312">312</a></span> -“was filled with groans and lamentations, this one -island for some days resounded with piping and harping, -theatres filling, and choruses playing; so that men began -to ask themselves what would be done to celebrate victory -when they went to such an expense of festivity at the -opening of the war.”</p> - -<p>Towards the end of May the great assemblage crossed -over the sea to Athens, and here Antony and Cleopatra -held their court. The Queen’s mind was now, I fancy, -in a very disturbed condition, owing to the ominous -dissensions arising from her presence with the army, -and to the lack of confidence which she was feeling in -her husband’s sincerity. I think it very probable that -they were not on the best of terms with one another -at this time, and, although Antony was perhaps a good -deal more devoted to the Queen than he had been -before, there may have been some bickering and actual -quarrelling. Cleopatra desired the divorce of Octavia -and immediate war, but Antony on his part was seemingly -disinclined to take any decisive steps. He was, -in fact, in a very great dilemma. He had, apparently, -promised the Queen that if he were victorious he would -at once aim for the monarchy proposed by Julius Cæsar, -and would arrange for Cæsarion to succeed in due course -to the throne; but now it had been pointed out to him -by the majority of the senators who were with him that -he was earnestly expected to restore the republic, and to -celebrate his victory by becoming once more an ordinary -citizen. In early life he would have faced these difficulties -with a light heart, and devised some means of -turning the situation to his own advantage. Now, however, -the power of his will had been undermined by -excessive drinking; and, moreover, he had come to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313">313</a></span> -extremely dependent upon Cleopatra in all things. He -was very fond of her, and was becoming daily more -maudlin in his affections. He was now nearly fifty -years old; and, with the decrease of his vitality, he had -ceased to be so promiscuous in affairs of the heart, -centering his interest more wholly upon the Queen, -though she herself was no longer very youthful, being -at this time some thirty-eight years of age. His quarrels -with her seemed to have distressed him very much, and -in his weakened condition, her growing disrespect for -him caused him to be more devotedly her slave. He -seems to have watched with a sort of bibulous admiration -her masterly and energetic handling of affairs, and -he was anxious to do his best to retain her affection -for him, which he could see, was on the wane. To the -dauntless heart of a woman like Cleopatra, however, no -appeal could be made save by manly strength and -powerful determination; and one seems to observe the -growth in the Queen’s mind of a kind of horror at the -rapid degeneration of the man whom she had loved and -trusted.</p> - -<p>To make matters worse, there arrived at Athens -Antony’s fourteen-year-old son, Antyllus, whom we have -already met at Alexandria. He had recently been in -Rome, where he had been kindly treated by the dutiful -Octavia, whose attitude to all her husband’s children -was invariably generous and noble. Antony regarded -this boy, it would seem, with great affection, and had -caused him to be proclaimed an hereditary prince. The -lad became something of a rival to Cæsarion, to whom -Cleopatra was devotedly attached; and one may perhaps -see in his presence at Athens a further cause for -dissension.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314">314</a></span> -At length, however, early in June the Queen persuaded -Antony to take the final step, and to divorce Octavia. -Having placed the matter before his senators, by whom -the question was angrily discussed, he sent messengers -to Rome to serve Octavia with the order of ejection -from his house; and at the same time he issued a -command to the troops still at Ephesus to cross at -once to Greece. This was tantamount to a declaration -of war, and Cleopatra’s mind must have been extremely -relieved thereby. No sooner, however, had this step -been taken than many of Antony’s Roman friends -appear to have come to him in the greatest alarm, -pointing out that the brutal treatment of Octavia, who -had won all men’s sympathy by her quiet and dutiful -behaviour, would turn from him a great number of his -supporters in Italy, and would be received as a clear -indication of his subserviency to Cleopatra. They implored -him to correct this impression; and Antony, -harassed and confused, thereupon made a speech to -his Roman legions promising them that within two -months of their final victory he would re-establish the -republic.</p> - -<p>The announcement must have come as a shock to -Cleopatra, and must have shown her clearly that Antony -was playing a double game. She realised, no doubt, that -the promise did not necessitate the abandonment of their -designs in regard to the monarchy; for, after establishing -the old constitution, Antony would have plenty of -time in which to build the foundations of a throne. -Yet the declaration unnerved her, and caused her to -recognise with more clarity the great divergence between -her autocratic sentiments and the democratic principles -of the country she was attempting to bring under her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315">315</a></span> -sway. She saw that, little by little, the basis upon which -the project of the war was founded was being changed. -At first the great justification for hostilities had been the -ousting of Octavian from the estate belonging by right -to her son, Cæsarion. Now the talk was all of liberty, -of democracy, and of the restoration of republican institutions.</p> - -<p>Her overwrought feelings, however, were somewhat -soothed by Antony’s personal behaviour, which at this -time was anything but democratic. He was allowing -himself to be recognised as a divine personage by the -Athenians, and he insisted on the payment of the most -royal and celestial honours to Cleopatra, of whom he -was at this time inordinately proud. The Queen was, -indeed, in these days supreme, and the early authors -are all agreed that Antony was to a large extent under -her thumb. The Athenians, recognising her as their -fellow-Greek, were eager to admit her omnipotence. -They caused her statue to be set up in the Acropolis -near that already erected to Antony; they hailed her -as Aphrodite; they voted her all manner of municipal -honours, and, to announce the fact, sent a deputation -to her which was headed by Antony in his <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> as a -freeman of the city. Octavia, it will be remembered, -had resided at Athens some years previously, and had -been much liked by the citizens; but the memory of -her quiet and pathetic figure was quickly obliterated -by the presence of the splendid little Queen of Egypt -who sat by Antony’s side at the head of a gathering -of kings and princes. Already she seemed to be Queen -of the Earth; for, acting as hostess to all these -monarchs, speaking to each in his own language, and -entertaining them with her brilliant wit, she appeared<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316">316</a></span> -to be the leading spirit both in their festivities and in -their councils.</p> - -<p>Antony, meanwhile, having quieted the dissensions -amongst his supporters, gave himself up to merry-making -in his habitual manner; and presently he caused the -Athenians to recognise him formally as Dionysos, or -Bacchus, come down to earth. In anticipation of a -certain Bacchic day of festival he set all the carpenters -in the city to make a huge skeleton roof over the big -theatre, this being then covered with green branches -and vines, as in the caves sacred to this god; and from -these branches hundreds of drums, faun-skins, and other -Bacchic toys and symbols were suspended. On the -festal day Antony sat himself, with his friends around -him, in the middle of the theatre, the afternoon sun -splashing down upon them through the interlaced greenery; -and thus, in the guise of Bacchus, he presided at -a wild drinking-bout, hundreds of astonished Athenians -watching him from around the theatre. When darkness -had fallen the city was illuminated, and, in the -light of a thousand torches and lanterns, Antony rollicked -up to the Acropolis, where he was proclaimed as the god -himself.</p> - -<p>Many were the banquets given at this time both by -Antony and Cleopatra, and the behaviour of the former -was often uproarious and undignified. On one state -occasion he caused much excitement by going across to -Cleopatra in the middle of the meal and rubbing her -feet, a ministration always performed by a slave, and -now undertaken by him, it is said, to fulfil a wager. -He was always heedless of public opinion, and at this -period of his life the habit of indifference to comment -had grown upon him to a startling extent. Frequently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317">317</a></span> -he would rudely interrupt an audience which he was -giving to one of the vassal kings by receiving and openly -reading some message from Cleopatra written upon a -tablet of onyx or crystal; and once when Furnius, a -famous orator, was pleading a case before him, he brought -the eloquent speech to an abrupt end by hurrying off -to join the Queen outside, having entirely forgotten, it -would seem, that the orator’s arguments were being -addressed to himself.</p> - -<p>An event now occurred which threw the whole of the -Antonian party into a state of the utmost anxiety. Two -of the leading men at that time in Athens deserted and -went over to Octavian. One of these, Titius, has already -been noticed in connection with the arrest and execution -of Sextus Pompeius; the other, Plancus, was the man -who made so great a fool of himself at Alexandria when -he painted himself blue and danced naked about the -room, as has been described already.<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> Velleius speaks -of him as “the meanest flatterer of the Queen, a man -more obsequious than any slave”; and one need not be -surprised, therefore, that Cleopatra was rude to him, -which was the cause, so he said, of his desertion. These -two men had both been witnesses to Antony’s will, a -copy of which had been deposited with the Vestal -Virgins; and as soon as they were come to Rome they -informed Octavian of its contents, who promptly went -to the temple of Vesta, seized the document, and, a few -days later, read it out to the Senate. Many senators -were scandalised at the proceedings; but they were, -nevertheless, curious to hear what the will set forth, and -therefore did not oppose the reading. The only clause, -however, out of which Octavian was able to make much<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318">318</a></span> -capital was that wherein Antony stated that if he were to -die in Rome he desired his body, after being carried in -state through the Forum, to be sent to Alexandria, there -to be buried beside Cleopatra.</p> - -<p>The two deserters now began to spread throughout -Italy all manner of stories derogatory to Antony, and -to heap abuse upon the Queen, whom they described -as having complete ascendancy over her husband, due, -they were sure, to the magical love-potions which she -secretly administered to him. When we consider that -the accusations made by disreputable tattlers, such as -Plancus, were all concerned with Antony’s devotion to -her, we may realise how little there really was to be -brought against her. Antony, they said, was under her -magical spell; he had allowed the Ephesians to hail -her as Queen; she had forced him to present to her -the library of Pergamum (a city not far from Ephesus), -consisting of 200,000 volumes; he was wont to become -drunken while she, of course by magic, remained sober; -he had become her slave and even rubbed her feet always -for her, and so on. Such rubbishy tales as these were -the basis upon which the fabulous story of Cleopatra’s -terrible wickedness was founded, and presently we hear -her spoken of as “the harlot queen of incestuous -Canopus, who aspired to set up against Jupiter the -barking Anubis, and to drown the Roman trumpet with -her jangling systrum.”<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a></p> - -<p>The friends of Antony in Rome, alarmed by the -hostile attitude of the majority of the public, sent a -certain Geminius to Athens to warn their leader that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319">319</a></span> -he would soon be proclaimed an enemy of the State. -On his arrival at the headquarters, he was thought to -be an agent of Octavia, and both Cleopatra and Antony -treated him with considerable coldness, assigning to -him the least important place at their banquets, and -making him a continual butt for their most biting remarks. -For some time he bore this treatment patiently; -but at length one night, when both he and Antony were -somewhat intoxicated, the latter asked him point-blank -what was his business at Athens, and Geminius, springing -to his feet, replied that he would keep that until a -soberer hour, but one thing he would say here and now, -drunk or sober, that if only the Queen would go back to -Egypt all would be well with their cause. At this -Antony was furious, but Cleopatra, keeping her temper, -said in her most scathing manner: “You have done -well, Geminius, to tell your secret without being put to -torture.” A day or two later he slipped away from -Athens and hurried back to Rome.</p> - -<p>The next man to desert was Marcus Silanus, formerly -an officer of Julius Cæsar in Gaul, who also carried to -Rome stories of Cleopatra’s power and Antony’s weakness. -Shortly after this Octavian issued a formal declaration -of war, not, however, against Antony but -against Cleopatra. The decree deprived Antony of his -offices and his authority, because, it declared, he had -allowed a woman to exercise it in his place. Octavian -added that Antony had evidently drunk potions which -had bereft him of his senses, and that the generals -against whom the Romans would fight would be the -Egyptian court-eunuchs, Mardion and Potheinos;<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320">320</a></span> -Cleopatra’s hair-dressing girl, Iras, and her attendant, -Charmion; for these nowadays were Antony’s chief -state-councillors. The Queen was thus made to realise -that her husband’s cause in Rome was suffering very -seriously from her presence with the army; but, at the -same time, were she now to return to Egypt she knew -that Antony might play her false, and the fact that war -had not been declared upon him but upon her would -give him an easy loophole for escape. To counteract -the prevailing impression in Italy Antony despatched a -large number of agents who were to attempt to turn -popular opinion in his favour, and meanwhile he disposed -his army for the final struggle. He had decided -to wait for Octavian to attack him, partly because he -felt confident in the ability of his great fleet to destroy -the enemy before ever it could land on the shores of -Greece, and partly because he believed that Octavian’s -forces would become disaffected long before they could -be brought across the sea. The state of war would be -felt in Italy very soon, whereas in Greece and Asia -Minor it would hardly make any difference to the price -of provisions. Egypt alone would supply enough corn -to feed the whole army, while Italy would soon starve; -and Egypt would provide money for the regular payment -of the troops, while Octavian did not know where to turn -for cash. Indeed, so great was the distress in Italy, and -so great the likelihood of mutinies in the enemy’s army, -that Antony did not expect to have to fight a big battle -on land. For this reason he had felt it safe to leave four -of his legions at Cyrene, four in Egypt, and three in -Syria; and he linked up the whole of the sea-coast -around the eastern Mediterranean with small garrisons. -The army which he kept with him in Greece consisted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321">321</a></span> -of some 100,000 foot and 12,000 horse, a force which -must certainly have seemed adequate, since it was -greater than that of the enemy. Octavian had at least -250 ships of war, 80,000 foot, and 12,000 horse.</p> - -<p>When winter approached Cleopatra and Antony advanced -with the whole army from Athens to Patrae, and -there went into winter quarters. Patrae stood near the -mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, on the Achaian side, not -much more than 200 miles from the Italian coast. The -fleet, meanwhile, was sent farther north to the Gulf of -Ambracia, which formed a huge natural harbour with a -narrow entrance; and outposts were placed at Corcyra, -the modern Corfu, some 70 miles from the Italian coast. -In the period of waiting which followed, when the storms -of winter made warfare almost out of the question, -Antony and Octavian exchanged several pugnacious -messages. Octavian, constrained by the restlessness -of his men and the difficulty of providing for them -during the winter, is said to have written to Antony -asking him not to protract the war, but to come over -to Italy and fight him at once. He even promised not -to oppose his disembarkation, but to offer him battle only -when he was quite prepared to meet him with his full -forces. Antony replied by challenging Octavian to a -single combat, although, as he stated, he was already -an elderly man. This challenge Octavian refused to -accept, and thereupon Antony invited him to bring his -army over to the plains to Pharsalia and to fight him -there, where Julius Cæsar and Pompey had fought nearly -seventeen years before. This offer was likewise refused; -and thereafter the two huge armies settled down once -more to glare at one another across the Ionian Sea.</p> - -<p>Octavian now sent a message to Greece inviting the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322">322</a></span> -Roman senators who were still with Antony to return -to Rome where they would be well received; and this -offer must have found many ready ears, though none -yet dared to act upon it. Several of these senators felt -disgust at their leader’s intemperate habits, and were -deeply jealous of the power of Cleopatra, whose influence -did not seem likely to serve the cause of the Republic. -The declaring of war against the Queen and not against -themselves had touched them sharply, and to add to -their discomfort in this regard news now came across -the sea that Octavian, in making his official sacrifices -to the gods at the opening of hostilities, had employed -the ritual observed before a campaign against a <em>foreign</em> -enemy. He had stood, as the ancient rites of Rome -prescribed, before the temple of Bellona in the Campus -Martius, and, clad in the robes of a Fetial priest, had -thrown the javelin, as a declaration that war was undertaken -against an alien enemy.</p> - -<p>Now came disconcerting rumours from the Gulf of -Ambracia which could not be kept secret. During -the winter the supplies had run out, and all manner -of diseases had attacked the rowing-slaves and sailors, -the result being that nearly a third of their number had -perished. To fill their places Antony had ordered his -officers to press into service every man on whom they -could lay their hands. Peasants, farm hands, harvesters, -ploughboys, donkey-drivers, and even common travellers -had been seized upon and thrust into the ships, but still -their complements were incomplete, and many of them -were unfit for action. The news caused the greatest -anxiety in the camp, and when, in March <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 31, the -cessation of the storms of winter brought the opening of -actual hostilities close at hand, there was many a man<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323">323</a></span> -at Patrae who wished with all his heart that he were safe -in his own country.</p> - -<p>The first blow was struck by Octavian, who sent a -flying squadron across the open sea to the south coast -of Greece, under the command of his great friend Marcus -Vipsanius Agrippa. This force seized Methone, and appeared -to be seeking a landing-place for the main army; -and Antony at once prepared to march down and hold the -coast against the expected attack. But while his eyes -were turned in this direction Octavian slipped across -with his army from Brindisi and Tarentum to Corcyra, -and thence to the mainland, marching down through -Epirus towards the Gulf of Ambracia, thus menacing -the ill-manned fleet lying in those waters. Antony thereupon -hastened northwards with all possible speed, and -arrived at the promontory of Actium, which formed the -southern side of the mouth of the Gulf, almost at the -same moment at which Octavian reached the opposite, -or northern, promontory. Realising that an attack was -about to be made upon the fleet, Antony drew his ships -up in battle array, manning them where necessary with -legionaries; and thereupon Octavian gave up the project -of immediate battle. Antony then settled himself down -on his southern promontory where he formed an enormous -camp, and a few days later he was joined there -by Cleopatra.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324">324</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM AND THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The story of the battle of Actium has troubled historians -of all periods, and no one has been able to offer a satisfactory -explanation of the startling incidents which -occurred in it or of the events which led up to them. I -am not able to accept the ingenious theory set forward by -Ferrero, nor is it easy to agree wholly with the explanations -given by classical authors. In the following chapter -I relate the events as I think they occurred, but of course -my interpretation is open to question. The reader, -however, may refer to the early authors to check my -statements; and there he will find, as no doubt he has -already observed in other parts of this volume, that while -the incidents and facts all have the authority of these -early writers, the theories which explain them, representing -my own opinion, are frankly open to discussion.</p> - -<p>For the time being Octavian did not care to be at too -close quarters to Antony, and he therefore fortified himself -in a position a few miles back from the actual -entrance to the Gulf of Ambracia. Antony at once -shipped a part of his army across from Actium to the -north side of the great harbour’s mouth, and thus placed -himself in command of the passage into the inland water.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325">325</a></span> -Octavian soon threw up impregnable earthworks around -his camp, and built a wall down to the shore of the -Ionian Sea, so that the enemy could not interfere with -the landing of his supplies, all of which had to come from -across the water. He stationed his ships in such a position -that they could command the entrance to the Gulf -of Ambracia; and, these vessels proving to be extremely -well manned and handled, Antony soon found that his -own fleet was actually bottled up in the Gulf, and could -not pass into the open sea without fighting every inch of -the passage out through the narrow fairway. Octavian -was thus in command of the Ionian Sea, and was free to -receive provisions or munitions of war day by day from -Italy. He could not, however, leave his fortified camp, -for Antony commanded all the country around him. -Thus, while Octavian blockaded Antony’s fleet in the -Gulf, Antony besieged Octavian’s army in their camp; -and while Octavian commanded the open sea and obtained -his supplies freely from Italy, Antony commanded the -land and received his provisions without interruption -from Greece. A deadlock therefore ensued, and neither -side was able to make a hostile move. It seems clear to -me that a decisive battle could only be brought on by -one of two manœuvres: either Antony must retire from -Actium and induce Octavian to come after him into -Greece, or else his fleet must fight its way out of the -Gulf and cut off Octavian’s supplies, thus starving him into -surrender. Many of Antony’s generals were of opinion -that the former movement should be undertaken, and -they pressed him to retire and thus draw Octavian from -his stronghold. Cleopatra, however, appears to have -been in favour of breaking the blockade and regaining -possession of the sea. She may have considered Antony’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326">326</a></span> -army to be composed of too many nationalities to make -success on land absolutely assured, and any retreat at -this moment might easily be misinterpreted and might -lead to desertions. On the other hand, she had confidence -in her Egyptian fleet and in Antony’s own ships, if, by -cutting down their number, their crews could be brought -up to the full complement; and she believed that with, -say, 300 vessels Octavian’s blockade could be forced, and -his own position subjected to the same treatment. I -gather that this plan, however, was hotly opposed by -Domitius Ahenobarbus and others; and, since a loss of -time was not likely to alter the situation to their disadvantage, -no movement was yet made.</p> - -<p>Some time in June Antony sent a squadron of cavalry -round the shores of the Gulf to try to cut off Octavian’s -water-supply, but the move was not attended with much -success and was abandoned. Shortly after this the -deserter Titius defeated a small body of Antony’s cavalry, -and Agrippa captured a few of his ships which had been -cruising from stations outside the Gulf; whereupon -Octavian sent despatches to Rome announcing these -successes as important victories, and stating that he had -trapped Antony’s fleet within the Gulf. He also sent -agents into Greece to try to shake the confidence of the -inhabitants in his enemy, and these men appear to have -been partially successful in their endeavours.</p> - -<p>These small victories of Octavian seem to have -unnerved Antony, and to have had a dispiriting effect -upon the army. Cleopatra, too, must have been particularly -depressed by them, for they seemed to be a -confirmation of the several ominous and inauspicious -occurrences which had recently taken place. An Egyptian -soothsayer had once told Antony that his genius would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_327">327</a></span> -go down before that of Octavian; and Cleopatra, having -watched her husband’s rapid deterioration in the last two -years, now feared that the man’s words were indeed -true. News had lately come from Athens that a violent -hurricane had torn down the statue of Bacchus, the god -whom Antony impersonated, from a group representing -the Battle of the Giants; and two colossal statues of -Fumenes and Attalus, each of which was inscribed with -Antony’s name, had also been knocked over during the -same cyclone. This news recalled the fact that a few -months previously at Patrae the temple of Hercules, the -ancestor of Antony, had been struck by lightning; and at -about the same time a small township founded by him -at Pisaurum, on the east coast of Italy, north of Ancona, -had been destroyed by an earthquake. These and other -ill-omened accidents had a very depressing effect on -Cleopatra’s spirits, and her constant quarrels with Antony -and his generals seem to have caused her to be in a state -of great nervous tension. Towards the end of July or -early in August, when the low-lying ground on which -their camp was pitched became infested with mosquitos, -and when the damp heat of summer had set the tempers -of everybody on edge, the quarrels in regard to the -conduct of the campaign broke out with renewed fury. -Domitius Ahenobarbus, Dellius, Amyntas, and others, -again urged Antony to retire inland and to fight a pitched -battle with Octavian as soon as he should come after -them. Cleopatra, however, still appears to have considered -that the forcing of the blockade was the most -important operation to be undertaken, and this she urged -upon her undecided husband. It was of course a risky -undertaking, but by reason of the very danger it made a -strong appeal to Cleopatra’s mind. If their fleet could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328">328</a></span> -destroy that of Octavian, they would have him caught in -his stronghold as in a trap. They would not even have -to wait for the surrender; but, leaving eighty or a hundred -thousand men to prevent his escape, they might sail over -to Italy with twenty or thirty thousand legionaries and -take possession of empty Rome. There was not a senator -nor a military force in the capital, for Octavian had lately -made the entire senate in Rome come over to his camp, in -order to give tone to his proceedings; and, when once -Octavian’s sea-power had been destroyed, Antony and -Cleopatra would be free to ride unchecked into Rome -while the enemy was starved into surrender in Greece. -A single naval battle, and Rome would be theirs! This, -surely, was better than a slow and ponderous retreat into -the interior.</p> - -<p>Antony, however, could not persuade his generals to -agree to this. The risk was great, they seem to have -argued; and even if they were victorious, was he going -to march into Rome with Cleopatra by his side? The -citizens would never stand it, after the stories they had -heard in regard to the Queen’s magical power over him. -Let her go back to Egypt, nor any longer remain to -undermine Antony’s popularity. How could he appear -to the world as a good republican with royal Cleopatra’s -arm linked in his? By abandoning the idea of a naval -battle the Egyptian fleet could be dispensed with, and -could be allowed to depart to Egypt if it succeeded in -running the blockade. Cleopatra had supplied ships but -hardly any soldiers, and a land battle could be fought -without her aid, and therefore without cause for criticism; -nor would Octavian any longer be able to say that he was -waging war against Cleopatra and not against Antony. -The money which she had supplied for the campaign was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329">329</a></span> -almost exhausted, and thus she was of no further use to -the cause. Let Antony then give up the projected naval -battle, and order the Queen to go back quickly with her -ships to her own country: for thus, and thus only, could -the disaffected republican element in their army be brought -into line. Cleopatra, they said, had been the moving -spirit in the war; Cleopatra had supplied the money; -it was against Cleopatra that Octavian had declared -war; it was Cleopatra’s name, and the false stories -regarding her, which had aroused Rome to Octavian’s -support; it was Cleopatra who was now said on all -sides to be supreme in command of the whole army; -and it was of Cleopatra that every senator, every vassal -king, and every general, was furiously jealous. Unless -she were made to go, the whole cause was lost.</p> - -<p>Antony seems to have realised the justice of these -arguments, and to have promised to try to persuade his -wife to retire to Egypt to await the outcome of the -war; and he was further strengthened in this resolve -when even Canidius, who had all along favoured the -keeping of Cleopatra with the army, now urged him -to ask her to leave them to fight their own battle. He -therefore told the Queen, it would seem, that he desired -her to go, pointing out that in this way alone could -victory be secured.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra, I take it, was furious. She did not trust -Antony, and she appears to have been very doubtful -whether he would still champion her cause after victory. -She even doubted that he would be victorious. He was -now but the wreck of the man he had once been, for a -too lifelike impersonation of the god Bacchus had played -havoc with his nerves and with his character. He had -no longer the strength and the determination necessary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330">330</a></span> -for the founding of an imperial throne in Rome; and -she felt that, even if he were successful in arms against -Octavian, he would make but a poor regent for her son -Cæsarion. Having used her money and her ships for -his war, he might abandon her cause; and the fact that -they were fighting for Cæsar’s son and heir, which had -already been placed in the background, might be for -ever banished. It must have seemed madness for her -to leave her husband at this critical juncture. In order -to prevent further desertions he would probably proclaim -his republican principles as soon as her back was turned; -and, in his drunken weakness, he might commit himself -so deeply that he would never be able to go back upon -his democratic promises. Since she was unpopular with -his generals, he would perhaps at once tell them that -she was nothing to him; and for the sake of assuring -victory he might even divorce her. Of course, it was -obvious that he was devoted to her, and relied on her -in all matters, seeming to be utterly lost without her; -but, for all she knew, his ambition might be stronger -than his love. She therefore refused absolutely to go; -and Antony was too kind-hearted, and perhaps too much -afraid of her anger, to press the matter.</p> - -<p>His talk with her, however, seems to have decided him -to break the blockade as soon as possible, and at the -same time to invest Octavian’s lines so that he could -not escape from the stronghold which would become his -death-trap. Once master of the sea, he would, at any -rate, have opened a path for Cleopatra’s departure, and -she could retire unmolested with her fleet to her own -country. He therefore hurried on the manning of his -ships, and at the same time sent Dellius and Amyntas -into Thrace to recruit a force of cavalry to supplement<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331">331</a></span> -those at his disposal. Cleopatra pointed out to him that -the ground upon which their camp was pitched at Actium -was extremely unhealthy, and if they remained there -much longer the troops would be decimated by malaria; -and she seems perhaps to have urged him to move round -to the north of the Gulf of Ambracia, in order both to -obtain more healthy conditions for the army and to -invest more closely the camp of Octavian in preparation -for the naval fight. Domitius Ahenobarbus was still -hotly opposed to this fight; and now, finding that not -only was Cleopatra to be allowed to remain with the -army, but also that her plan of breaking the blockade -was to be adopted, instead of that of the retreat inland, -he was deeply incensed, and could no longer bear to -remain in the same camp with the Queen. Going on -board a vessel, therefore, as he said, for the sake of his -health, he slipped over to Octavian’s lines and offered -his services to the enemy. He did not live, however, -to enjoy the favourable consequences of his change, for, -having contracted a fever while at Actium, he died -before the battle of that name was fought.</p> - -<p>This desertion, which occurred probably early in -August, came as a terrible shock to Antony, and he -seems to have accused his wife of being the cause of -it, which undoubtedly she was. This time he insisted -more vehemently on her leaving the army and retiring -to Egypt; and thereupon a violent quarrel ensued, which -lasted, I think, without cessation during the remainder -of their stay in Greece. At first, it seems to me, the -Queen positively refused to leave him, and she probably -accused him of wishing to abandon her cause. With -a sneer, she may have reminded him that his compact -with her, and his arrangements for an Egypto-Roman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332">332</a></span> -monarchy, were made at a time when he had, to a great -extent, cut himself off from Rome and when he required -financial aid; but now he had four hundred respectable -republican senators to influence him, and, no doubt, -their support at this juncture was far more valuable to -him than her own. He had deserted her once -before, and she was quite prepared for him to do -so again.</p> - -<p>Her anger, mistrust, and unhappiness must have -distressed Antony deeply, and he would, perhaps, have -given way once again had not three more desertions -from his camp taken place. The King of Paphlagonia, -jealous, apparently, of Cleopatra’s power, slipped across -to Octavian’s lines, carrying thither an account of the -dissensions in Antony’s camp. The two others, a Roman -senator named Quintus Postumius, and an Arab chieftain -from Emesa, named Iamblichus, were both caught; and, -to terrify those who might intend to go over to the -enemy, both were put to death, the one being torn to -pieces and the other tortured. Every day Octavian’s -cause was growing in popularity, and Antony was being -subjected to greater ridicule for his subserviency to the -little Queen of Egypt, who appeared to direct all his -councils and who now seemed to frighten him by her -anger. Octavian’s men were becoming self-confident and -even audacious. On one occasion while Antony, accompanied -by an officer, was walking at night down to the -harbour between the two ramparts which he had thrown -up to guard the road, some of the enemy’s men crept -over the wall and laid in wait for him. As they sprang -up from their ambush, however, they seized Antony’s -attendant officer in mistake for himself, and, by a rapid -flight down the road, he was able to escape.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_333">333</a></span> -Thoroughly unnerved by the course events were taking, -he again ordered the Queen to retire to Egypt; and at -last, stung by Antony’s reproaches, Cleopatra made up -her mind to go and to take her fleet with her. Having -formed this decision, she appears to have treated Antony -with the utmost hostility; and he, being in a highly -nervous condition, began to fear that she might kill -him. Her great eyes seemed to blaze with anger when -she looked upon him, and the contempt which she now -felt for him was shown in the expression of her face. -He appears to have cowered before her in the manner -of a naughty boy, and to have told his friends that he -believed she would murder him in her wrath. On hearing -this, Cleopatra decided to teach him a lesson which -he should not forget. One night at supper, she caused -her goblet to be filled from the same wine-jar from -which all had been drinking, and having herself drunk -some of the wine, she handed the cup to Antony as -though in token of reconciliation; and he, eagerly raising -it to his mouth, was about to place his lips where those -of the Queen had rested a moment before, when, as -though to add grace to her act, she took the wreath -of flowers from her hair and dipped it into the wine. -Antony again lifted the cup, but suddenly Cleopatra -dashed it from his hand, telling him that the wine was -poisoned. Antony appears to have protested that she -was mistaken, since she herself had just drunk from the -same cup; but Cleopatra calmly explained that the -wreath which she had dipped into the wine as she -handed it to him was poisoned, and that she had chosen -this means of showing him how baseless were his fears -for his life, for that, did she wish to rid herself of him, -she could do so at any moment by some such subtle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_334">334</a></span> -means. “I could have killed you at any time,” she -said, “if I could have done without you.”</p> - -<p>The Queen, I imagine, now carried herself very proudly -and disdainfully, regarding Antony’s insistence on her -departure as a breach of faith. In her own mind she -must have feared lest he would actually abandon her, -and the anxiety in regard to the future of her country -and dynasty must have gnawed at her heart all day -and all night; but to him she seems only to have shown -coldness and contempt, thus driving him to a condition -of complete wretchedness. He did not dare, however, -to alter his decision in regard to her departure, for he -seems to have admitted some of his senators and generals -into the secret of this coming event, and it had much -quieted the volcanic atmosphere so long prevalent in the -camp. I am of opinion that the plan upon which he and -his wife had agreed was as follows: Having invested -Octavian’s lines more closely, and having taken all steps -to prevent him issuing from his stronghold, the pick of -Antony’s legionaries would be embarked upon as many of -the vessels in the Gulf of Ambracia as were seaworthy, -and these warships would force their way out and destroy -Octavian’s fleet. As soon as this was done an assault -would be made on the enemy’s position by sea and land; -and Cleopatra, taking with her the Egyptian fleet, could -then sail away to Alexandria, leaving Antony to enter -Rome alone.</p> - -<p>This scheme, in my opinion, presented the only possible -means by which the Antonian army could rid itself -of Egyptian influence. If Cleopatra was made to retire -overland by way of Asia Minor and Syria, not only would -her passage through these countries be regarded by the -inhabitants as a flight, thus causing instant panic and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_335">335</a></span> -revolt, but also the Egyptian fleet would still remain -in the Gulf of Ambracia to show by its presence that -Cleopatra and her Kingdom of Egypt were yet the main -factors in the war. On the other hand, if the Queen -retired by sea with her ships, a naval battle designed to -force the blockade would have to be fought in order -to permit her to escape by that route. Thus, the republican -demand that the Queen should go to her own -country, and Cleopatra’s own reiterated proposal that -the war should be decided by a sea-fight, here concurred -in determining Antony to stake all upon a naval engagement.</p> - -<p>This being settled, Antony announced to the army -that the fleet should break the blockade on August 29, -but the fact that the Egyptian ships were to depart immediately -after the battle was not made known, save to a -few. A great many of the vessels were ill furnished for -the fight, and were much under-manned; and Antony -now ordered these to be burnt, for, though they were -useless to him, they might be of value to the enemy, -and might be seized by them while the fleet was away -scouring the Ionian Sea. Sixty of the best Egyptian -vessels, and at least three hundred<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> other ships, were -made ready for the contest; and during these preparations -it was no easy matter to keep the secret of the -Egyptian departure from leaking out. In order to cross -to Egypt Cleopatra’s sixty ships required their large sails, -but these sails would not under ordinary circumstances -be taken into battle; and in order that the Egyptian -vessels should not be made conspicuous by alone preparing -for a long voyage, thereby causing suspicions to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_336">336</a></span> -arise, all the fleet was ordered to ship its big sails; -Antony, therefore, having to explain that they would -be required in the pursuit of the enemy. Another difficulty -arose from the fact that Cleopatra had to ship -her baggage, including her plate and jewels; but this -was ultimately done under cover of darkness without -arousing suspicion.</p> - -<p>Many of the generals, not realising that the naval -battle was largely forced upon Antony by those who -desired to rid his party of the Egyptians, were much -opposed to the scheme; and one infantry officer, pointing -to the many scars and marks of wounds which his body -bore, implored Antony to fight upon land. “O General,” -he said, “what have our wounds and our swords -done to displease you, that you should give your confidence -to rotten timbers? Let Egyptians and Phœnicians -fight on the sea; but give us the land, where we -well know how to die where we stand or else gain the -victory.” Antony, however, gave him no reply, but -made a motion with his hand as though to bid him -be of good courage.</p> - -<p>On August 28 twenty thousand legionaries and two -thousand archers were embarked upon the ships of -war<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> in preparation for the morrow’s battle. The vessels -were much larger than those of Octavian, some of them -having as many as ten banks of oars; and it seemed -likely that victory would be on their side. On the next -day, however, the sea was extremely rough, and the -battle had to be postponed. The storm proved to be -of great violence, and all question of breaking the blockade -had to be abandoned for the next four days. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_337">337</a></span> -delay was found to be a very heavy strain upon the nerves -of all concerned, and so great was the anxiety of the two -important generals, Dellius<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> and Amyntas, that they both -deserted to Octavian’s lines, the latter taking with him -two thousand Galatian cavalry. Dellius had probably -heard rumours about the proposed departure of Cleopatra, -and he was able to tell Octavian something of the -plans for the battle. In after years he stated that his -desertion was partly due to his fear of the Queen, for -he believed her to be angry with him for having once -remarked that Antony’s friends were served with sour -wine, whereas even Sarmentus, Octavian’s <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">delicia</i>, or -page, drank Falernian. One may understand Cleopatra’s -annoyance at this hint that money and supplies -were running short, more especially since this must -actually have been the fact.</p> - -<p>On September 1st the storm abated, and in the -evening Antony went from ship to ship encouraging his -men. Octavian, informed by Dellius, also prepared -for battle, embarking eight legions and five pretorian -cohorts upon his ships of war, which seem to have been -more numerous, but much smaller, than those of Antony.</p> - -<p>The morning of September 2nd was calm, and at an -early hour Octavian’s workmanlike ships stationed themselves -about three-quarters of a mile from the mouth -of the Gulf of Ambracia, where they were watched by -the eyes of both armies. They were formed into three -divisions, the left wing being commanded by Agrippa, -the centre by Lucius Arruntius, and the right wing by -Octavian. At about noon Antony’s huge men-o’-war -began to pass out from the harbour, under cover of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_338">338</a></span> -troops and engines of war stationed upon the two promontories. -Octavian seems to have thought that it -would be difficult to attack them in the straits, and -therefore he retired out to sea, giving his enemies the -opportunity of forming up for battle. This was speedily -done, the fleet being divided, like Octavian’s, into three -squadrons, C. Sossius moving against Octavian, Marcus -Insteius opposing Arruntius, and Antony facing Agrippa. -The sixty Egyptian ships, under Cleopatra’s command, -were the last to leave the Gulf, and formed up behind -the central division.</p> - -<p>Antony appears to have arranged with Cleopatra that -her ships should give him full assistance in the fight, and -should sail for Egypt as soon as the victory was won. -He intended, no doubt, to board her flagship at the -close of the battle and to bid her farewell. They had -separated that morning, it would seem from subsequent -events, with anger and bitterness. Cleopatra, I imagine, -had once more told him how distasteful was her coming -departure to her, and had shown him how little she -trusted him. She had bewailed the misery of her life -and the bitterness of her disillusionment. She had -accused him of wishing to abandon her cause, and she -had, no doubt, called him coward and traitor. Very -possibly in her anger she had told him that she was -leaving him with delight, having found him wholly -degenerate, and that she hoped never to see his face -again. Her accusations, I fancy, had stung Antony to -bitter retorts; and they had departed, each to their own -flagship, with cruel words upon their lips and fury in -their minds. Antony’s nature, however, always boyish, -impulsive, and quickly repentant, could not bear with -equanimity so painful a scene with the woman to whom<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_339">339</a></span> -he was really devoted, and as he passed out to battle -he must have been consumed by the desire to ask her -forgiveness. The thought, if I understand him aright, -was awful to him that they should thus separate in -anger; and being probably a little intoxicated, the contemplation -of his coming loneliness reduced him almost -to tears. He was perhaps a little cheered by the thought -that when next he saw her the battle would probably -be won, and he would appear to her in the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> of conqueror—a -theatrical situation which made an appeal -to his dramatic instincts; yet, in the meantime, I think -he was as miserable as any young lover who had -quarrelled with his sweetheart.</p> - -<p>The battle was opened by the advance of Antony’s -left wing, and Agrippa’s attempt to outflank it with his -right. Antony’s other divisions then moved forward, -and the fight became general. “When they engaged,” -writes Plutarch, “there was no ramming or charging -of one ship into another, because Antony’s vessels, by -reason of their great bulk, were incapable of the speed -to make the stroke effectual, and, on the other side, -Octavian’s ships dared not charge, prow to prow, into -Antony’s, which were all armed with solid masses and -spikes of brass, nor did they care even to run in on their -sides, which were so strongly built with great squared -pieces of timber, fastened together with iron bolts, that -their own vessels’ bows would certainly have been -shattered upon them. Thus the engagement resembled -a land fight, or, to speak more properly, the assault and -defence of a fortified place; for there were always three -or four of Octavian’s vessels around each one of Antony’s, -pressing upon them with spears, javelins, poles, and -several inventions of fire which they flung into them,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_340">340</a></span> -Antony’s men using catapults also to hurl down missiles -from their wooden towers.”</p> - -<p>The fight raged for three or four hours, but gradually -the awful truth was borne in upon Antony and Cleopatra, -that Octavian’s little ships were winning the day. -Antony’s flagship was so closely hemmed in on all sides -that he himself was kept busily occupied, and he had no -time to think clearly. But as, one by one, his ships -were fired, sunk, or captured, his desperation seems to -have become more acute. If his fleet were defeated and -destroyed, would his army stand firm? That was the -question which must have drummed in his head, as in -an agony of apprehension he watched the confused -battle and listened to the clash of arms and the cries -and shouts of the combatants. Cleopatra, meanwhile, -after being subjected to much battering by the enemy, -had perhaps freed her flagship for a moment from the -attentions of Octavian’s little warships, and, in manœuvring -for a better position, she was able to obtain a full -view of the situation. With growing horror she observed -the struggle around Antony’s flagship, and heard the -cheers of the enemy as some huge vessel struck or was -set on fire. Her Egyptian fleet had probably suffered -heavily, though her sailors would hardly have fought -with the same audacity as had those under Antony’s -command. As she surveyed the appalling scene no doubt -remained in her mind that Octavian had beaten them, -and she must even have feared that Antony would be -killed or captured. The anxieties which had harassed -her overwrought brain during the last few weeks as to -her husband’s intentions in regard to her position and -that of her son Cæsarion, were now displaced by the -more frightful thought that the opportunity would never<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_341">341</a></span> -be given to him of proving his constancy; for, here and -now, he would meet his end. Her anger against him -for his vacillation, her contempt for the increasing -weakness of his character, and her misgivings in regard -to his ability to direct his forces in view of the growing -intemperance of his habits, were now combined in the -one staggering certainty that defeat and ruin awaited -him. He had told her to go back to Egypt, he had -ordered her to take herself off with her fleet at the end -of the battle. That end seemed to her already in sight. -It was not from a riotous scene of victory, however, that -she was to retire, nor was she to carry over to Alexandria -the tidings of her triumph with which to cover the shame -of her banishment from her husband’s side; but now she -would have to sail away from the spectacle of the wreck -of their cause, and free herself by flight from a man who, -no longer a champion of her rights, had become an -encumbrance to the movement of her ambitions.</p> - -<p>In the late afternoon, while yet the victory was -actually undecided, although there could have been no -hope for the Antonian party left in Cleopatra’s weary -mind, a strong wind from the north sprang up, blowing -straight from unconquered Rome towards distant Egypt. -The sea grew rough, and the waves beat against the -sides of the Queen’s flagship, causing an increase of -confusion in the battle. As the wind blew in her face, -suddenly, it seems to me, the thought came to her that -the moment had arrived for her departure. Antony had -told her with furious words to go: why, then, should she -wait? In another hour, probably, he would be captured -or killed, and she, too, would be taken prisoner, to be -marched in degradation to the Capitol whereon she had -hoped to sit enthroned. She would pay her husband<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_342">342</a></span> -back in his own coin: she would desert him as he had -deserted her. She would not stand by him to await an -immediate downfall. Though he was sodden with wine, -she herself was still full of life. She would rise above -her troubles, as she had always risen before. She would -cast him off, and begin her life once more. Her throne -should not be taken from her at one blow. She would, at -this moment, obey Antony’s command and go; and in -distant Egypt she would endeavour to start again in the -pursuit of that dynastic security which had proved so -intangible a vision.</p> - -<p>Having arrived at this decision she ordered the signal -to be given to her scattered ships, and hoisting sail she -passed right through the combatants, and made off down -the wind, followed by her damaged fleet. At that -moment, it seems, Antony had freed his flagship from -the surrounding galleys, and thus obtained an uninterrupted -view of the Queen’s departure. His feelings -must have overwhelmed him,—anger, misery, remorse, -and despair flooding his confused mind. Cleopatra was -leaving him to his fate: she was obeying the order which -he ought never to have given her, and he would not see -her face again. All the grace, the charm, the beauty -which had so enslaved him, was being taken from him; -and alone he would have to face the horrors of probable -defeat. He had relied of late so entirely upon her that -her receding ships struck a kind of terror into his degenerate -mind. It was intolerable to him, moreover, -that she should leave him without one word of farewell, -and that the weight of his cruelty and anger should be -the last impression received by her. He could not let -her depart unreconciled and unforgiving; he must go -after her, if only to see her for a moment. Yet what did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_343">343</a></span> -it matter if he did not return to the battle? There was -little hope of victory. His fevered and exhausted mind -saw no favourable incident in the fight which raged -around him. Disgrace and ruin stared him in the face; -and the sooner he fled from the horror of defeat the -better would be his chance of retaining his reason.</p> - -<p>“Here it was,” says Plutarch, “that Antony showed -to all the world that he was no longer actuated by the -thoughts and motives of a commander or a man, or -indeed by his own judgment at all; and what was once -said in jest, that the soul of a lover lives in the loved -one’s body, he proved to be a serious truth. For, as if -he had been born part of her, and must move with her -wheresoever she went, as soon as he saw her ships sailing -away he abandoned all that were fighting and laying -down their lives for him, and followed after her.” Hailing -one of his fastest galleys, he quickly boarded her and -told the captain to go after Cleopatra’s flagship with all -possible speed. He took with him only two persons, -Alexander the Syrian, and a certain Scellias. It was -not long before the galley, rowed by five banks of oars, -overhauled the retreating Egyptians, and Cleopatra then -learnt that Antony had followed her and had abandoned -the fight. Her feelings may be imagined. Her leaving -the battle had, then, terminated the struggle, and her -retreat had removed the last hope of victory from the -Antonians. Antony was a ruined and defeated man, -and a speedy death was the best thing he could hope -for; but not so easily was she to be rid of him. He -was going to cling to her to the end: she would never -be able to shake herself clear of him, but, drowning, he -would drag her down with him. Yet he was her husband, -and she could not abandon him in defeat as in victory he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_344">344</a></span> -had wished to abandon her. She therefore signalled to -him to come aboard; and having done this she retired -to her cabin, refusing to see him or speak to him. -Antony, having been helped on to the deck, was too -dazed to ask to be taken to her, and too miserable to -wish to be approached by her. He walked, as in a -dream, to the prow of the ship, and there seating himself, -buried his face in his hands, uttering not a word.</p> - -<p>Thus some hours passed, but after it had grown dark -the beat of the oars of several galleys was heard behind -them, and presently the hull of the foremost vessel -loomed out of the darkness. The commotion on board -and the shouts across the water aroused Antony. For a -moment he seems to have thought that the pursuing -ships were bringing him some message from Actium—perhaps -that the tide of battle had turned in his favour. -He therefore ordered the captain to turn about to meet -them, and to be ready to give battle if they belonged to -the enemy; and, standing in the prow, he called across -the black waters: “Who is this that follows Antony?” -Through the darkness a voice responded: “I am -Eurycles, the son of Lachares, come to revenge my -father’s death.” Antony had caused Lachares to be -beheaded for robbery, although he came of the noblest -family in the Peloponnese; and his son had fitted out a -galley at his own expense and had sworn to avenge his -father. Eurycles could now be seen standing upon his -deck, and handling a lance as though about to hurl it; -but a moment later, by some mistake which must have -been due to the darkness, he had charged with terrific -force into another Egyptian vessel which was sailing -close to the flagship. The blow turned her round, and -in the darkness and confusion which followed, Cleopatra’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_345">345</a></span> -captain was able to get away. The other vessel, however, -was captured, together with a great quantity of -gold plate and rich furniture which she was carrying -back to Egypt.</p> - -<p>When the danger was passed Antony sat himself down -once more in the prow, nor did he move from that part -of the ship for three whole days. Hour after hour he sat -staring out to sea, his hands idly folded before him, his -mind dazed by his utter despair. By his own folly he -had lost everything, and he had carried down with him -in his fall all the hope, all the ambition, and all the -fortune of Cleopatra. It is surprising that he did not -at once put an end to his life, for his misery was pitiable; -yet, when at last the port of Tænarus was reached, at the -southern end of the Greek peninsula, he was still seated -at the prow, his eyes fixed before him. At length, however, -Iras, Charmion, and other of Cleopatra’s women -induced the Queen to invite him to her cabin; and after -much persuasion they consented to speak to one another, -and, later, to sup and sleep together. Cleopatra could -not but pity her wretched husband, now so sobered and -terribly conscious of the full meaning of his position; -and I imagine that she gave him what consolation she -could.<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_346">346</a></span> -As their ship lay at anchor several vessels came into -the harbour, bringing fugitives from Actium; and these -reported to him that his fleet was entirely destroyed or -captured, more than five thousand of his men having -been killed, but that the army stood firm and had not at -once surrendered. At this news Cleopatra, who had not -been wholly crushed under the weight of her misfortunes, -seems to have advised Antony to try to save some remnant -of his forces, and to send messengers to Canidius -to march his legions with all speed through Macedonia -into Asia Minor. This he did; and then, sending for -those of his friends who had come into the port, he -begged them to leave him and Cleopatra to their fate, -and to give their whole attention to their own safety. -He and the Queen handed to the fugitives a large sum -of money and numerous dishes and cups of gold and -silver wherewith to purchase their security; and he -wrote letters in their behalf to his steward at Corinth, -that he should provide for them until they had made -their peace with Octavian. In deep dejection these defeated -officers attempted to refuse the gifts, but Antony, -pressing them to accept, “cheered them,” as Plutarch -says, “with all the goodness and humanity imaginable,” -so that they could not refrain from tears. At length the -fleet put out to sea once more, and set sail for the coast -of Egypt, arriving many days later at Parætonium, a -desolate spot some 160 miles west of Alexandria, where -a small Roman garrison was stationed.<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> Here Antony -decided to stay for a time in hiding, while the braver<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_347">347</a></span> -Cleopatra went on to the capital to face her people; -and for the next few weeks he remained in the great -solitude of this desert station. A few mud huts, a palm-tree -or two, and a little fort constituted the dreary settlement, -which in the damp heat of September must have -presented a colourless scene of peculiarly depressing -aspect. This part of the coast is absolutely barren, and -only those who have visited these regions in the summer-time -can realise the strange melancholy, the complete -loneliness, of this sun-scorched outpost. The slow, -breaking waves beat upon the beach with the steady -insistence of a tolling bell which counts out a man’s -life; the desert rolls back from the bleak sea-shore, carrying -the eye to the leaden haze of the far horizon; and -overhead the sun beats down from a sky which is, as it -were, deadened by the heat. In surroundings such as -these heart-broken Antony remained for several weeks, -daily wandering along the beach accompanied only by -two friends, one, a certain Aristocrates, a Greek rhetorician, -and the other the Roman soldier Lucilius, who, -fighting on the side of the enemy at Philippi, as we have -read, had heroically prevented the capture of the defeated -Brutus, and had been pardoned by Antony as a reward -for his courage, remaining thereafter, and until the last, -his devoted friend.</p> - -<p>At length one of his ships, putting into the little port, -seems to have brought him the news of events at Actium. -After his flight the battered remnant of his fleet, having -continued the fight until sunset, sailed back into the Gulf -of Ambracia; and next day Octavian invited them and -the army to surrender on easy terms. No one, however, -would believe that Antony had fled, and the offer was -refused. Next day, however, some of the vassal kings<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_348">348</a></span> -laid down their arms, and, after a week of suspense, -Canidius fled. Part of the legions scattered into -Macedonia, and on September 9th the remainder surrendered -together with the fleet. Octavian then sailed -round to Athens, and there received the submission of -every city in Greece, with the exception of Corinth. He -at once began a general massacre of Antony’s adherents, -and, to save their skins, the townspeople in every district -heaped honours upon the conqueror, erecting statues to -him and decreeing him all manner of civic distinctions. -Shortly after this a messenger reached Antony from the -west stating that the legions left in North Africa had also -gone over to Octavian; and thereupon he attempted to -commit suicide. He was, however, restrained by his two -faithful friends; and in the deepest dejection he was at -last persuaded by them to sail for Alexandria, once more -to comfort himself with the presence of Cleopatra.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_349">349</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">CLEOPATRA’S ATTEMPT TO BEGIN AGAIN.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Crushed and broken by her misfortunes, it might have -been expected that Cleopatra would now give up the -fight. She was not made, however, of ordinary stuff; -and she could not yet bring herself to believe that her -cause was hopeless. On her voyage across the Mediterranean -she seems to have pulled herself together after -the first shock of defeat; and, with that wonderful recuperative -power, of which we have already seen many -instances in her life, she appears, so to speak, to have -regained her feet, standing up once more, eager and -defiant, to face the world. The defeat of Antony, though -it postponed for many years all chance of obtaining a -footing in Rome, did not altogether preclude that possibility. -He would now probably kill himself, and though -the thought of his suicide must have been very distressing -to her, she could but feel that she would -be well rid of him. A drunken and discredited outlaw -with a price upon his head was not a desirable consort -for a Queen; and he had long since ceased to make an -appeal to any quality in her, save to her pity. Octavian -would hunt him down, and would not rest until he had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_350">350</a></span> -driven him to the land of the shades; but she herself -might possibly be spared and her throne be saved in -recognition of the fact that she had been the great -Dictator’s “wife.” Then, some chance occurrence, such -as the death of Octavian, might give her son Cæsarion -the opportunity of putting himself forward once more as -Cæsar’s heir.</p> - -<p>Antony was now a terrible encumbrance. His presence -with her endangered her own life, and, what was more -important, imperilled the existence of her royal dynasty. -Had he not the courage, like defeated Cato at Utica, like -her uncle Ptolemy of Cyprus, like Brutus after Philippi, -and like hundreds of others, to kill himself and so end his -misfortunes? It is to be remembered that suicide after -disaster was a doctrine emphatically preached throughout -the civilised world at this time, and so frequently was it -practised that it was felt to be far less terrible than we -are now accustomed to think it. The popular spectacle -of gladiatorial fights, the many wars conducted in recent -years, and the numerous political murders and massacres, -had made people very familiar with violent death. The -case of Arria, the wife of Pætus, is an illustration of -the light manner in which the termination of life was -regarded. Her husband having been condemned to -death, Arria determined to anticipate the executioner; -and therefore, having driven a dagger into her breast, -she coolly handed the weapon to him, with the casual -words, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Paete non dole</i>, “It isn’t painful.”<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> I do not -think, therefore, that Cleopatra need be blamed if she -now hoped that Antony would make his exit from the -stage of life.</p> - -<p>Her fertile brain turned to the consideration of other<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_351">351</a></span> -means of holding her throne should Octavian’s clemency -not be extended to her. Her dominant hope was now -the keeping of Egypt independent of Rome. The founding -of an Egypto-Roman empire having been indefinitely -postponed by the defeat at Actium, her whole energies -would have to be given to the retention of some sort of -crown for her son. The dominions which Antony had -given her she could hardly expect to hold: but for Egypt, -her birthright, she must fight while breath remained in -her body. Under this inspiration her thoughts turned to -the Orient, to Media, Persia, Parthia, and India. Was -there not some means of forming an alliance with one or -all of these distant countries, thereby strengthening her -position? Her son Alexander Helios was prospective -King of Media. Could not she find in Persia or India an -extension of the dominions which she could hand on to -Cæsarion? And could not some great amalgamation of -these nations, which had never been conquered by Rome, -be effected?</p> - -<p>I imagine that her thoughts ran in these channels as -she sailed over the sea; but when she had dropped -Antony at Parætonium and was heading for Alexandria -the more immediate question of her entry into the capital -must have filled her mind. It was essential to prevent -the news of the defeat from being spread in the capital -until after she had once more obtained control of affairs. -She therefore seems to have arranged to sail into the -harbour some days before the arrival of the fleet, and -she caused her flagship to be decorated as though in -celebration of a victory. Her arrival took place at about -the end of September <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 31; and, with music playing, -sailors dancing, and pennants flying, the ship passed -under the shadow of the white Pharos and entered the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_352">352</a></span> -Great Harbour. Having moored the vessel at the steps -of the Palace, Cleopatra was carried ashore in royal state, -and was soon safely ensconced behind the walls of the -Lochias. She brought, no doubt, written orders from -Antony to the legions stationed in Alexandria; and, -relying on the loyalty of these troops, she soon took -the sternest measures to prevent any revolt or rioting -in the city as the news of the disaster began to filter -through. Several prominent citizens who attempted to -stir up trouble were promptly arrested and put to death; -and by the time that full confirmation of the news of -the defeat had arrived, Cleopatra was in absolute control -of the situation.</p> - -<div id="ip_352" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 34.375em;"> - <img src="images/i_352.jpg" width="550" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>British Museum.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Macbeth.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>CLEOPATRA.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>She now began to carry out her schemes in regard to -the East, in pursuance of which her first step was, naturally, -the confirmation of her treaty with the King of -Media. It will be remembered that the elder son of -Cleopatra and Antony, Alexander Helios, had been -married to the King of Media’s daughter, on the understanding, -apparently, that he should be heir to the -kingdoms of Media and Armenia. The little princess -was now living at Alexandria; and it will be recalled -that Artavasdes, the dethroned King of Armenia, the -greater part of whose kingdom had been handed over -to Media, remained a prisoner in the Egyptian capital, -where he had been incarcerated since the Triumph in -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 34, three years previously. The defeat of Antony, -however, would probably cause the reinstatement of the -rulers deposed by him; and it seemed very probable that -Octavian would restore Artavasdes to his lost kingdom, -and that Media, on the other hand, by reason of its -support of the Antonian party, would be stripped of as -much territory as the Romans dared to seize. In order<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_353">353</a></span> -to prevent this by removing the claimant to the Armenian -throne, and perhaps owing to some attempt on the part -of Artavasdes to escape or to communicate with Octavian, -Cleopatra ordered him to be put to death; and she thereupon -sent an embassy to Media bearing his head to the -King as a token of her good faith.<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> I think it is probable -that at the same time she sent the little Alexander and -his child-wife Iotapa to the Median court in order that -they might there live in safety; and there can be little -doubt that she made various proposals to the King for -joint action.</p> - -<p>She then began an undertaking which Plutarch describes -as “a most bold and wonderful enterprise.” The -northernmost inlet of the Red Sea, the modern Gulf of -Suez, was separated from the waters of the Mediterranean -by a belt of low-lying desert not more than thirty-five -miles in breadth. Across the northern side of this isthmus -the Pelusian branch of the Nile passed from the Delta -down to the Mediterranean. Somewhat further south -lay the Lakes of Balah and Timsah, and between these -and the Gulf of Suez lay the so-called Bitter Lakes. -These pieces of water had been linked together by a -canal opened nearly five hundred years previously by -the great Persian conqueror Darius I., who had thus -sent his ships through from one sea to the other by a -route not far divergent from that of the modern Suez -Canal. King Ptolemy Philadelphus, three hundred years -later, had reopened the waterway, and had built a great -system of locks at its southern end, near the fortress<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_354">354</a></span> -of Clysma;<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> but now a large part of the canal had -become blocked up once more by the encroaching sand, -and any vessel which had to be transported from the -Mediterranean to the Red Sea would have to be dragged -for several miles over the desert. In spite of the enormous -labour involved, however, Cleopatra determined to -transfer immediately all her battleships which had survived -Actium to the Red Sea, where they would be safe -from the clutches of Octavian, and would be in a position -to sail to India or to Southern Persia whenever she might -require them to do so. She also began with startling -energy to build other vessels at Suez, in the hope of -there fitting out an imposing fleet. Plutarch states -simply that her object was to go “with her soldiers and -her treasure to secure herself a home where she might -live in peace, far away from war and slavery”; but, -viewing the enterprise in connection with the embassy -to Media, it appears to me that she had determined to -put into partial execution the schemes of which she seems -to have talked with Julius Cæsar while he was staying -with her in Alexandria,<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> in regard to the conquest of the -East.</p> - -<p>Media, Parthia, and India were all outside the influence -of Rome. Of these countries Media was now bound to -Egypt by the closest ties of blood, while India was -engaged in a thriving trade with Cleopatra’s kingdom. -Parthia, now the enemy of Media, lay somewhere between -these vast lands; and if the Egyptian fleet could sail -round the coasts of Arabia and effect a junction with -the Median armies in the Persian Gulf, some sort of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_355">355</a></span> -support might be given to the allies by the Indian -States, and Parthia could be conquered or frightened -into joining the confederacy. Syria and Armenia could -then be controlled, and once more the fight with the -West might be undertaken. In the meantime these far -countries offered a safe hiding-place for herself and her -family; and having, as I suppose, despatched her son -Alexander to his future kingdom of Media, she now -began to consider the sending of her beloved Cæsarion -to India,<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> there to prepare the way for the approach of -her fleet.</p> - -<p>In these great schemes Antony played no part. During -their undertaking he was wandering about the desolate -shores of Parætonium, engrossed in his misfortunes and -bemoaning the ingratitude of his generals and friends -whom, in forgetfulness of his own behaviour at Actium, -he accused of deserting him. Cleopatra, as she toiled -at the organisation of her new projects, and struggled -by every means, fair or foul, to raise money for the -great task, must have heartily wished her husband out -of the way; and it must have been with very mixed -feelings that she presently received the news of his -approach. On his arrival, perhaps in November, he -was astonished at the Queen’s activities; but, being -opposed to the idea of keeping up the struggle and of -setting out for the East, he tried to discourage her by -talking hopefully about the loyalty of the various garrisons -of whose desertion he had not yet heard. He -seems also to have pointed out to her that some sort -of peace might be made with Octavian, which would -secure her throne to her family; and, in one way and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_356">356</a></span> -another, he managed to dishearten her and to dull her -energies. He himself desired now to retire from public -life, and to take up his residence in some city, such as -Athens, where he might live in the obscurity of private -citizenship. He well knew the contempt in which Cleopatra -held him, and at this time he thought it would be -best, in the long-run, if he left her to her fate. At all -events, he seems to have earnestly hoped that she would -not expect him to set out on any further adventures; -and in this his views must have met hers, for she could -have had no use for him. Her son Cæsarion was growing -to manhood, and in the energy of his youth he would -be worth a hundred degenerate Antonys.</p> - -<p>An unexpected check, however, was put to her schemes, -and once again misfortune seemed to dog her steps. The -Nabathæan Arabs from the neighbourhood of Petra, being -on bad terms with the Egyptians, raided the new docks -at Suez and, driving off the troops stationed there, burnt -the first galleys which had been dragged across from the -Mediterranean and those which were being built in the -docks. Cleopatra could not spare troops enough to -protect the work, and therefore the great enterprise had -to be abandoned.</p> - -<p>Shortly after this Canidius himself arrived in Alexandria, -apparently bringing the news that all Antony’s -troops in all parts of the dominions had surrendered to -Octavian, and that nothing now remained to him save -Egypt and its forces. Thereupon, by the code of honour -then in recognition, Antony ought most certainly to have -killed himself; but a new idea had entered his head, -appealing to his sentimental and theatrical nature. He -decided that he would not die, but would live, like Timon -of Athens, the enemy of all men. He would build himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_357">357</a></span> -a little house, the walls buffeted by the rolling swell -of the sea; and there in solitude he would count out the -days of his life, his hand turned against all men. There -was a pier jutting out into the Great Harbour<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> just to -the west of the Island of Antirrhodos, close to the Forum -and the Temple of Neptune. Though a powerful construction, -some three hundred yards long, it does not -appear to have been then in use; and Antony hit upon -the idea of repairing it and building himself a little villa -at its extreme end, wherein he might dwell in solitude. -Cleopatra was far too much occupied with the business -of life to care what her husband did; and she seems to -have humoured him as she would a child, and to have -caused a nice little house to be built for him on this -site, which, in honour of the misanthrope whom Antony -desired to emulate, she named the Timonium. It appears -that she was entirely estranged from him at this time, -and he was, no doubt, glad enough to remove himself -from the scorn of her eyes and tongue. From his new -dwelling he could look across the water to Cleopatra’s -palace; and at night the blaze of the Pharos beacon, -and the many gleaming windows on the Lochias Promontory -and around the harbour, all reflected with the -stars in the dark water, must have formed a spectacle -romantic enough for any dreamer. In the daytime he -could watch the vessels entering or leaving the port; -and behind him the noise and bustle of Cleopatra’s busy -Alexandrians was wafted to his ears to serve as a correct -subject for his Timonian curses.</p> - -<p>The famous Timon, I need hardly say, was a citizen of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_358">358</a></span> -Athens, who lived during the days of the Peloponnesian -war, and figures in the comedies of Aristophanes and -Plato. He heartily detested his fellow-men, his only -two associates being Alcibiades, whom he esteemed -because he was likely to do so much mischief to Athens, -and Apemantus, who also was a confirmed misanthrope. -Once when Timon and Apemantus were celebrating a -drinking festival alone together, the latter, wishing to -show how much he appreciated the fact that no other -of his hated fellow-men was present, remarked: “What -a pleasant little party, Timon!” “Well, it would be,” -replied Timon, “if <em>you</em> were not here.” Upon another -occasion, during an assembly in the public meeting-place, -Timon mounted into the speaker’s place and -addressed the crowd. “Men of Athens,” he said, “I -have a little plot of ground, and in it grows a fig-tree, -from the branches of which many citizens have been -pleased to hang themselves; and now, having resolved -to build on that site, I wish to announce it publicly, -that any of you who may so wish may go and hang -yourselves there before I cut it down.” Before his -death he composed two epitaphs, one of which <span class="locked">reads—</span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="iq">“Timon, the misanthrope, am I below,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Go, and revile me, stranger—only <em>go</em>!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">The other, which was inscribed upon his tomb, <span class="locked">reads—</span></p> - -<div class="poem-container"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="iq">“Freed from a tedious life, I lie below.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ask not my name, but take my curse and go.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="in0">Such was the man whom Antony now desired to imitate; -and for the present the fallen Autocrator may be -left seated in glum solitude, while Cleopatra’s eager -struggle for her throne occupies our attention. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_359">359</a></span> -Queen’s activities were now directed to urgent affairs -of State. She engaged herself in sending embassies to -the various neighbouring kingdoms in the attempt to -confirm her earlier friendships. Alexandria and Egypt -had to be governed with extreme firmness, in order to -prevent any insurrections or riots in these critical days; -and, at the same time, her subjects had to be heavily -taxed so that she might raise money for her projects. -The task of government must have been peculiarly -anxious, and the dread of the impending reckoning -with Octavian hung over her like a dark cloud. It -was quite certain that Octavian would presently invade -Egypt; but for the moment he was prevented from -doing so, mainly by financial embarrassments. After -his visit to Athens he had crossed into Asia Minor, -and now he was making arrangements for an advance -through Syria to Egypt, as soon as he should have -collected enough money for the expedition.</p> - -<p>Towards the close of the year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 31, the Jewish -King Herod seems to have come to Alexandria to discuss -the situation with Antony, his former friend and patron. -Herod’s dislike of Cleopatra, and his desire to put her -to death when she was passing through his country, -will be recalled;<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> and now, after paying the necessary -compliments to the Queen, he appears to have engaged -himself in earnest conversation with Antony, perhaps -visiting him in his sea-girt hermitage. Josephus tells -us that he urged the fallen triumvir to arrange for the -assassination of Cleopatra, declaring that only by so -doing could he hope to have his life spared by Octavian. -Antony, however, would not entertain this proposal, for, -though anxious to escape his impending doom, he was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_360">360</a></span> -not prepared to do so at the cost of his wife. Herod’s -object, of course, was to rid his horizon of the fascinating -queen, who might very possibly play upon Octavian’s -sympathies and retain her Egyptian and Syrian dominions, -thus remaining an objectionable and exacting -neighbour to the kingdom of Judea. But failing to -obtain Antony’s co-operation in this plot, he returned -to Jerusalem, and presently sailed for Rhodes to pay -his respects to Octavian. Antony, hearing of his intention, -sent after him a certain Alexis of Laodicea, to -urge him not to abandon his cause, This Alexis had -been instrumental in persuading Antony to divorce -Octavia, and Cleopatra had often used him in persuading -her husband to actions in regard to which he was -undetermined; but he now showed the misapplication of -the trust placed in him both by Antony and the Queen, -for he did not return to Egypt from Herod’s court, -going on instead to place himself at the disposal of -Octavian. His connection with Octavia’s divorce, however, -had not been forgotten by her revengeful brother, -and his treachery was rewarded by a summary death. -Herod, meanwhile, by boldly admitting that he had -been Antony’s friend, but was now prepared to change -his allegiance, managed to win the favour of the conqueror, -and his throne was not taken from him, although -practically all the other kings and princes who -had assisted Antony were dispossessed.</p> - -<p>About the beginning of February <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 30, Octavian -returned to Italy to quell certain disturbances arising -from his inability to pay his disbanded troops, and -there he stayed about a month, sailing once more for -Asia Minor early in March. Dion tells us that the -news of his voyage to Rome and that of his return to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_361">361</a></span> -Asia Minor were received simultaneously in Alexandria, -probably late in April; but I think it very unlikely that -the news of the first voyage was so long delayed, and, -at any rate, some rumours of Octavian’s retirement to -Rome must have filtered through to Cleopatra during -the month of March.</p> - -<p>The news of this respite once more fired the Queen -with hope, and she determined to make the best possible -use of this precious gift of time. It will be -remembered that her son Cæsarion, if I am not in -error, was born at the beginning of July <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 47;<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> but -a short time afterwards, some eighty days were added -to the calendar in order to correct the existing inexactitude,<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> -the real anniversary of the boy’s birthday -thereby being made to fall at about the middle of -April.<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> The preparations for the celebration in this -year <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 30, of his seventeenth birthday, were thus -beginning to be put into motion at the time when -Octavian was still thought to be struggling in Rome -with his discontented troops. Cleopatra therefore determined -to mark the festival by very great splendour, -and to celebrate it more particularly by a public declaration -of the fact that Cæsarion was now of age. I -do not think it can be determined with certainty -whether or not the seventeenth birthday was the customary -age at which the state of manhood was supposed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_362">362</a></span> -to be reached by an Egyptian sovereign, but it -may certainly be said that the coming of age was -seldom, if ever, postponed to a later period. Cleopatra -seems to have wished to make a very particular point -of this fact of her son’s majority, which would demonstrate -to the Alexandrians, as Dion says, “that they -now had a man as King.” Let the public think, if -they were so minded, that she herself was a defeated -and condemned woman; but from this time onwards -they had a grown man to lead them, a son of the -divine Julius Cæsar, for whose rights she had fought -while he was a boy, but who was henceforth capable -of defending himself. Whatever her own fate might -be, her son would, at any rate, have a better chance -of retaining his throne by being firmly established upon -it in the capacity of a grown man. In future she -herself could work, as it were, behind the scenes, and -her son could carry on the great task which she had -so long striven to accomplish.</p> - -<p>When the news of the coming celebrations was conveyed -to Antony in his hermitage, he seems to have -been much disturbed by it. Cæsarion and his rights -had been to a large extent the cause of his ruin, and -he must have been somewhat frightened at the audacity -of the Queen in thus giving Octavian further cause for -annoyance. Here was Alexandria preparing to celebrate -in the most triumphant manner the coming of -age of Octavian’s rival, the claimant to Julius Cæsar’s -powers and estate. Was the move to be regarded as -clever policy or as reckless effrontery? Leaving the -passive solitude of his little Timonium, he seems to have -entered once more into active discussions with Cleopatra; -and as a result of these conversations, he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_363">363</a></span> -appears to have received the impression that his wife’s -desire was now to resign her power to a large extent -into her son’s hands, thus leaving to the energy of youth -the labours which middle age had failed to accomplish. -This aspect of the movement appealed to him, and he -determined in like manner to be represented in future -by a younger generation. His son by Fulvia, Antyllus, -who was a year or so younger than Cæsarion, was -living in the Alexandrian Palace; and Antony therefore -arranged with Cleopatra that the two youths should -together be declared of age (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ephebi</i>), Antyllus thenceforth -being authorised to wear the legal dress of Roman -manhood. Cleopatra then appears to have persuaded -her husband to give up his ridiculous affectation of -misanthropy, and either to make himself useful in -organising her schemes of defence, or to leave Egypt -altogether. Antony was by this time heartily tired -of his solitary life, and he was glad enough to abandon -his Timonian pose. He therefore took up his residence -once more in the Palace, and both he and Cleopatra -made some attempt to renew their old relationship. -Their paths had diverged, however, too far ever to -resume any sort of unity. Antony had brooded in -solitude over his supposed wrongs, and he now regarded -his wife with a sort of suspicion; and she, on her part, -accepted him no longer as her equal, but as a creature -deserving her contempt, though arousing to some extent -her generous pity.</p> - -<p>The birthday celebrations were conducted on the most -magnificent lines, and the whole city was given over to -feasting and revelling for many days. The impending -storm was put away from the minds of all, and it would -have been indeed difficult for a visitor to Alexandria<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_364">364</a></span> -during that time to believe that he had entered a city -whose rulers had recently been defeated by an enemy -already preparing to invade Egypt itself. Cleopatra, in -fact, could not be brought to admit that the game was -up; and in spite of the misery and anxiety weighing -upon her mind she kept a cheerful and hopeful demeanour -which ought to have won for her the admiration of all -historians. Antony, on the other hand, was completely -demoralised by the situation; and the birthday festivities -having whetted his appetite once more for the pleasures -of riotous living, he decided to bring his life to a close -in a round of mad dissipation. Calling together the -members of the order of Inimitable Livers, the banqueting -club which he had founded some years before,<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> he -invited them to sign their names to the roll of membership -of a new society which he named the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Synapotha-noumenoi</i> -or the “Die-togethers.” “Let us eat, drink, -and be merry, for to-morrow we die,” must have been -his motto; and he seems to have thrown himself into -this new phase with as much shallow profundity as he -had displayed in his adoption of the Timonian pose. -Having no longer a world-wide audience before whom he -could play the jovial <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">rôle</i> of Bacchus or Hercules, he now -acted his dramatic parts before the eyes of an inner -love of pretence; and with a kind of honest and boyish -charlatanism he paraded the halls of the Palace in the -grim but not original character of the reveller who -banqueted with his good friend Death. Antony actually -had no intention of dying: he hoped to be allowed to retire, -like his late colleague, Lepidus, the third triumvir, into -an unmolested private life; but the paradoxical situation -in which he now found himself, that of a state prisoner<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_365">365</a></span> -sent back, as it were, on bail to the luxuries of his home, -could not fail to be turned to account by this “colossal -child.”</p> - -<p>Cleopatra, on the other hand, was prepared for all -eventualities; and, while she hoped somehow to be able -to win her way out of her dilemma, she did not fail to -make ready for the death which she might have to face. -The news of Octavian’s return to Asia Minor was presently -received in Alexandria, and she must have felt that her -chances of successfully circumventing her difficulties -were remote. She therefore busied herself in making -a collection of all manner of poisonous drugs, and she -often went down to the dungeons to make eager -experiments upon the persons of condemned criminals. -Anxiously she watched the death-struggles of the -prisoners to whom the different poisons had been -administered, discarding those drugs which produced -pain and convulsions, and continuing her tests and trials -with those which appeared to offer an easy liberation -from life. She also experimented with venomous snakes, -subjecting animals and human beings to their poisonous -bites; and Plutarch tells us that “she pretty well satisfied -herself that nothing was comparable to the bite of -the asp, which, without causing convulsion or groaning, -brought on a heavy drowsiness and coma, with a gentle -perspiration on the face, the senses being stupefied by -degrees, and the victim being apparently sensible of no -pain, but only annoyed when disturbed or awakened, -like one who is in a profound natural sleep.”<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> If the -worst came to the worst, she decided that she would -take her life in this manner; and this question being<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_366">366</a></span> -settled, she turned her undivided attention once more to -the problems which beset her.</p> - -<p>By May Octavian had marched into Syria, where all -the garrisons surrendered to him. He sent Cornelius -Gallus to take command of the legions which had -surrendered to him in North Africa, and this army had -now taken possession of Parætonium, where Antony -had stayed after his flight from Actium. The news -that this frontier fortress had passed into the hands of -the enemy had not yet reached Alexandria, but that of -Octavian’s advance through Syria was already known -in the city, and must have caused the greatest anxiety. -Cleopatra thereupon decided upon a bold and dignified -course of action. Towards the end of May she sent -her son Cæsarion, with his tutor Rhodon, up the Nile -to Koptos,<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> and thence across the desert to the port of -Berenice, where as many ships as she could collect were -ordered to be in waiting for him. The young Cæsar -travelled, it would seem, in considerable state, and -carried with him a huge sum of money. He was -expected to arrive at Berenice by about the end of -June; and when, towards the middle of July,<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> the merchants -journeying to India began to set out upon their -long voyage, it was arranged that he should also set sail -for those distant lands, there to make friends with the -Kings of Hindustan, and perhaps to organise the great -amalgamation of eastern nations of which Cleopatra -had so often dreamed. She herself decided to remain -at Alexandria, first to negotiate with Octavian for the -retention of her throne, and in the event of this proving<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_367">367</a></span> -unsuccessful, to fight him to the death. No thought of -flight entered her mind;<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> and though, with a mother’s -solicitous care, she made these adventurous arrangements -for the safety of her beloved son, it does not -seem to have occurred to her to accompany him to the -East, where she might have expected at any rate to find -a temporary harbour of refuge. Her parting with him -must have been one of the most unhappy events of her -unfortunate life. For his safety and for his rights she -had struggled for seventeen years; and now it was -necessary to send him with the Indian merchants across -perilous seas to strange lands in order to save him from -the clutches of his successful rival Octavian, while she -herself remained to face their enemies and to fight for -their joint throne. Her thoughts in these days of distress -were turning once more to the memory of the boy’s -father, the great Julius Cæsar, for often, it would seem, -she gazed at his pictures or read over again the letters -which he had written to her; and now as she despatched -the young Cæsar upon his distant voyage to those lands -which had always so keenly interested his father, she -must have invoked the aid of that deified spirit which -all the Roman world worshipped as Divus Julius, and, -in an agony of supplication, must have implored him to -come to the assistance of his only earthly son and heir.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_368">368</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">OCTAVIAN’S INVASION OF EGYPT AND THE DEATH OF ANTONY.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>The historian must feel some reluctance in discrediting -the romantic story of the attachment of Cleopatra and -Antony at this period; but nevertheless the fact cannot -be denied that they had now decided to live apart from -one another, and there seems very little doubt that each -regarded the other with distrust and suspicion. Antony -had lived so long alone in his Timonium that he was -altogether out of touch with his wife’s projects; and -she, on her part, had not, for many a month, admitted -him fully into her confidence. Their relationship was -marked, on his side, by mistrust, and on hers, by disdainful -pity; and I can find no indication of that romantic -passage, hand-in-hand to their doom, which has -come to be regarded as the grand finale of their tragic -tale. In its place, however, I would offer the spectacle -of the lonely and courageous fight made by the little -Queen against her fate, which must surely command -the admiration of all men. Her husband having so -signally failed her, the whole burden of the government -of her country and of the organisation of her defence -seems to have fallen upon her shoulders. Day and -night she must have been harassed by fearful anxieties,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_369">369</a></span> -and haunted by the thought of her probable doom; yet -she conducted herself with undaunted courage, never -deigning to consider the question of flight, and never -once turning from the pathway of that personal and -dynastic ambition which seems to me hardly able to be -distinguished from her real duty to her country.</p> - -<p>When Octavian was preparing in Syria, during the -month of June <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 30, to invade Egypt, both Cleopatra -and Antony attempted to open negotiations with him. -They sent a certain Greek named Euphronius, who -had been a tutor to one of the young princes, to the -enemy bearing messages from them both. Cleopatra -asked that, in return for her surrender, her son Cæsarion -might be allowed to retain the throne of Egypt; but -Antony prayed only that he might be allowed to live -the life of a private man, either at Alexandria or else -in Athens. With this embassy Cleopatra sent her crown, -her sceptre, and her state-chariot, in the hope that -Octavian would bestow them again upon her son, if -not upon herself. The mission, however, was a partial -failure. Octavian would not listen to any proposals in -regard to Antony; but to Cleopatra he sent a secret -message, conveyed by one of his freedmen, named -Thyrsus, indicating that he was well-disposed towards -her, and would be inclined to leave her in possession -of Egypt, if only she would cause Antony to be put to -death. Actually, Octavian had no intention of showing -any particular mercy to Cleopatra, and his suggestions -were intended to deceive her. He seems to have made -up his mind how to act. Antony would have to be -murdered or made to take his own life: it would be -awkward to have to condemn him to death and formally -to execute him. Cæsarion, his rival, would also have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_370">370</a></span> -to meet with a violent end. Cleopatra ought to be -captured alive so that he might display her in his -Triumph, after which she would be sent into exile, while -her country and its wealth would fall into his hands, -the loot serving for the payment of his troops. In all -his subsequent dealings with the Queen we shall observe -his anxiety to take her alive, while towards Antony he -will be seen to show a relentless hostility.</p> - -<p>The freedman Thyrsus was a personage of tact and -understanding, and with Cleopatra he was able to discuss -the situation in all its aspects. The Queen was -striving by every means to retain her throne, and she -was quite capable of paying Octavian back in his own -coin, deceiving him and leading him to suppose that -she would trust herself to his mercy. She showed great -attention to Thyrsus, giving him lengthy audiences, and -treating him with considerable honour; and Antony, not -being admitted to their secret discussions, grew daily -more angry and suspicious. It is not likely that Cleopatra -consented to the proposed assassination of her -husband, but the situation was such that she could -have had no great objection to the thought of his suicide, -and I dare say she discussed quite frankly with Thyrsus -the means of reminding him of his honourable obligations. -It is said by Dion Cassius that Octavian actually -conveyed messages of an amorous nature to Cleopatra, -but this is probably incorrect, though Thyrsus may well -have hinted that his master’s heart had been touched -by the brave manner in which she had faced her misfortunes, -and that he was eager to win her regard. -Possibly a rumour of the nature of their conferences -reached Antony, or maybe his jealousy was aroused by -the freedman’s confidential attitude to the Queen; for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_371">371</a></span> -he became even more suspicious than he had been -before, and he appears to have conducted himself as -though his mind were in a condition of extreme exasperation. -Suddenly he caused Thyrsus to be seized -by some of his men, and soundly thrashed, after which -he sent him back to Octavian with a letter explaining -his action. “The man’s inquisitive, impertinent ways -provoked me,” he wrote, “and in my circumstances I -cannot be expected to be very patient. But if it offend -you, you have got my freedman, Hipparchus, with you: -hang him up and whip him to make us even.” Hipparchus -had probably deserted from Antony to Octavian, -and the whipping of Thyrsus and the suggested retaliation -constituted a piece of grim humour which seems -to have appealed at once to Cleopatra’s instincts. The -audacity of the action was of the kind which most -delighted her; and she immediately began to pay more -respect to her husband, who, she thus found, was still -capable of asserting himself in a kingly manner. Plutarch -tells us that to clear herself of his suspicions, which -were quite unfounded, she now paid him more attention -and humoured him in every way; and it seems -that her change of attitude put new courage into his -heart, substituting a brave bearing for that dejection -of carriage which had lately been so noticeable. She -seemed anxious to prove to him that she would not -play him false, and to make her attitude clear to -Octavian. When the anniversary of her birthday had -occurred in the previous winter she had celebrated it -very quietly; but Antony’s birthday, which fell at about -this time of year, she celebrated in the most elaborate -manner, giving great presents to all those who -had enjoyed her hospitality. It was as though she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_372">372</a></span> -desired all men to know that so long as Antony played -the man, and entered into this last fight with that spirit -of adventure which always marked her own actions, she -would stand by him to the last; but that if he lacked -the spirit to make a bid for success, then she could but -wish him well out of her way. The thrashing of Thyrsus -proved to be the occasion of a temporary reconciliation -between the Queen and her husband,<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> and for a time -Antony acted with something of his old energy and -courage.</p> - -<p>Hearing that the army under Cornelius Gallus was -marching through Cyrenaica, the modern Tripoli, towards -the western frontier of Egypt, he hastened with a few -ships to Parætonium in order to secure the defence of -that place. But on landing and approaching the walls -of the fortress and calling upon the commander to come -out to him, his voice was drowned by a blare of trumpets -from within. A few minutes later the garrison made a -sortie, chased him and his men back to the harbour, set -fire to some of his ships, and drove him with considerable -loss from their shores. On returning to Alexandria -he heard that Octavian was approaching Pelusium, the -corresponding fortress on the eastern frontier of Egypt, -which was under the command of a certain officer named -Seleucus; and shortly after this, towards the middle of -July, the news arrived that that stronghold had surrendered.</p> - -<p>Thereupon Antony, whose nerves were in a very highly-strung -condition, furiously accused Cleopatra of having -betrayed him by arranging secretly with Seleucus to -hand over the fortress to Octavian in the hope of -placating the approaching enemy. Cleopatra denied<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_373">373</a></span> -the accusation, and, to prove the truth of her words, -she caused the wife and children of Seleucus to be -arrested and handed over to her husband, that he might -put them to death if it were shown that she had had -any secret correspondence with the traitor,<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> a fact which -seems to prove her innocence conclusively.</p> - -<p>Antony’s suspicions, however, unnerved him once more, -and drove the flickering courage from his heart. Dispirited -and agitated, he sent Euphronius to Octavian -a second time, accompanied on this occasion by the -young Antyllus, and provided with a large sum of money -with which he hoped to placate his enemy. Octavian -took the money but would not listen to the pleading -of Antyllus on behalf of his father. The embassy must -have been most distasteful to Cleopatra, who could not -easily understand how a man could fall so low as to -attempt to buy off his enemy with gold—and gold, let it -be remembered, belonging to his wife. Her surprise -and pain, however, must have been greatly increased -when she discovered that Antony had next sent in chains -to Octavian a certain ex-senator, named Turullius, who -had been one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar, and was, -in fact, the last survivor of all the assassins, each one of -the others having met his death as though by the hand -of a vengeful Providence. Turullius had now come into -Antony’s power, and, since Cleopatra’s son was Julius -Cæsar’s heir, the man ought to have been handed over -to the Queen for punishment. Instead, however, Antony -had sent him on to his enemy in a manner which could -only suggest that he admitted Octavian’s right to act<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_374">374</a></span> -as the Dictator’s representative. Octavian at once put -Turullius to death, thereby performing the last necessary -act of vengeance in behalf of the murdered Cæsar; but -to Antony he did not so much as send an acknowledgment -of the prisoner’s reception. Receiving no assurance -of mercy, Antony appears for a time to have thought of -flying to Spain or to some other country where he could -hide, or could carry on a guerilla warfare, until some -change in the politics of Rome should enable him to -reappear. His nobler nature, however, at length asserted -itself, owing to the example set by Cleopatra, who was -determined now to defend her capital; and once more -he pulled himself together, as though to stand by the -Queen’s side until the end. Their position, though bad, -was not desperate. Alexandria was a strongly fortified -city. The four Roman legions which had been left in -Egypt during the war in Greece were still in the city; -the Macedonian household troops were also stationed -there; and no doubt a considerable body of Egyptian -soldiers were garrisoned within the walls; while in the -harbour lay the fleet which had retired from Actium, -together with numerous other ships of war. Thus a -formidable force was in readiness to defend the metropolis, -and these men were so highly paid with the never-ending -wealth of the Egyptian treasury that they were -in much happier condition than were the legionaries of -Octavian, whose wages were months overdue.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra, nevertheless, did not expect to come through -the ordeal alive; and although Octavian continued to -send her assurances of his goodwill, the price which he -asked for her safety was invariably the head of Antony, -and this she was not prepared to pay. I do not think that -the Queen’s temptation in this regard has been properly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_375">375</a></span> -observed. Dion Cassius emphatically states that Octavian -promised her that if she would kill Antony he would -grant her both personal safety and the full maintenance -of her undiminished authority; and Plutarch, with equal -clearness, says that Octavian told her that there was -no reasonable favour which she might not expect from -him if only she would put Antony to death, or even -expel him from his safe refuge in Egypt. Antony had -proved himself a broken reed; he had acted in a most -cowardly manner; he was generally drunk and always -unreliable; and he appeared to be of no further use to -her or to her cause. Yet, although his removal meant -immunity to herself, she was too loyal, too proud, to -sanction his assassination; and her action practically -amounted to this, that she defied Octavian, telling him -that if he wanted her drunken husband’s useless head -he must break down the walls of her city and hunt -for it.</p> - -<p>In accordance with the custom of the age the Queen -had built herself, during recent years, a tomb and mortuary -temple wherein her body should rest after death -and her spirit should receive the usual sacrifices and -priestly ministrations. This mausoleum, according to -Plutarch, was surrounded by other buildings, apparently -prepared for the royal family and for members of the -court. They were not set up within the precincts of -the Sema, or royal necropolis, which stood at the side -of the Street of Canopus, but were erected beside the -temple of Isis-Aphrodite, a building rising at the edge -of the sea on the eastern side of the Lochias Promontory. -I gather from the remarks of Plutarch that the -Queen’s tomb actually formed part of the temple buildings; -and, if this be so, Cleopatra must have had it in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_376">376</a></span> -mind to be laid to rest within the precincts of the sanctuary -of the goddess with whom she was identified. -Thus, after her death, the worshippers in the temple of -Isis would make their supplications, as it were, to her own -spirit, and her mortal remains would become holy relics -of their patron goddess.<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> The mausoleum was remarkable -for its height and for the beauty of its workmanship. -It was probably constructed of valuable marbles, and -appears to have consisted of several chambers. On the -ground floor I should imagine that a pillared hall, entered -through a double door of decorated cedar-wood, led to -an inner shrine wherein the sarcophagus stood ready -to receive the Queen’s body; and that from this hall a -flight of stone stairs ascended to the upper chambers, -whose flooring was formed of the great blocks of granite -which constituted the roofing of the hall below. There -was, perhaps, a third storey, the chambers of which, -like those on the floor below, were intended to be used -by the mortuary priests for the preparation of the incense, -the offerings, and the vestments employed in their -ceremonies. The large open casements in the walls of -these upper chambers must have overlooked the sea on -the one side and the courts of the Temple of Isis on -the other; but, as was usual in Egyptianised buildings, -there were no windows of any size in the lower hall -and sanctuary, the light being admitted through the -doorway and through small apertures close to the ceiling. -The heat of these July days did not penetrate to -any uncomfortable degree into this stone-built mausoleum, -and the cool sea-wind must have blown continuously<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_377">377</a></span> -through the upper rooms, while the brilliant -sunlight outside was here subdued and softened in its -reflection upon the marble walls. The rhythmic beat -of the breakers upon the stone embankment below the -eastern windows, and the shrill cries of the gulls, echoed -through the rooms; while from the western side the -chanting of the priests in the adjoining temple, and the -more distant hubbub of the town, intruded into the cool -recesses of these wind-swept chambers like the sounds -of a forsaken world.</p> - -<div id="ip_376" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 20.625em;"> - <img src="images/i_376.jpg" width="330" height="600" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Glyptothek, Munich.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Bruckmann.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>OCTAVIAN</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Here Cleopatra decided to take up her residence so -soon as Octavian should lay successful siege to the walls -of the city. She had determined that in the event of -defeat she would destroy herself; and, with this prospect -in view, she now caused her treasures of gold, silver, -ebony, ivory, and cinnamon, and her jewellery of pearls, -emeralds, and precious stones, to be carried into the -mausoleum, where they were laid upon a pyre of faggots -and tow erected on the stone floor of one of the upper -rooms. If it should be necessary for her to put an end -to her miseries, she had decided to set the fangs of the -deadly asp into her flesh, and, with her last efforts, to fire -the tow, thus consuming her body and her wealth in a -single conflagration. Meanwhile, however, she remained -in the Palace, and busied herself in the preparations of -the defence of the city.</p> - -<p>In the last days of July Octavian’s forces arrived before -the walls, and took up their quarters in and around the -Hippodromos, which stood upon rocky ground to the east -of the city. Faced with the crisis, Antony once more -showed the flickering remnants of his former courage. -Gathering his troops together he made a bold sortie from -the city, and attacking Octavian’s cavalry, routed them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_378">378</a></span> -with great slaughter and chased them back to their -camp. He then returned to the Palace, where, meeting -Cleopatra while still he was clad in his dusty and blood-stained -armour, he threw his arms about her small form -and kissed her in the sight of all men. He then commended -to her especial favour one of his officers who had -greatly distinguished himself in the fight; and the Queen -at once presented the man with a magnificent helmet and -breastplate of gold. That very night this officer donned -his golden armour and fled to the camp of Octavian.</p> - -<p>Upon the next morning Antony, with somewhat boyish -effrontery, sent a messenger to Octavian challenging him -to single combat, as he had done before the battle of -Actium; but to this his enemy replied with the scathing -remark that “he might find several other ways of ending -his life.” He thereupon decided to bring matters to a -conclusion by a pitched battle on land and sea, rather -than await the issue of a protracted siege; and, Cleopatra -having agreed to this plan, orders were given for a general -engagement upon August 1st. On the night before this -date Antony, whose courage did not now fail him, bade -the servants help him liberally at supper and not to be -sparing with the wine, for that on the morrow they might -be serving a new master, while he himself, the incarnation -of Bacchus, the god of wine and festivity, lay dead upon -the battlefield. At this his friends who were around him -began to weep, but Antony hastily explained to them that -he did not in the least expect to die, but hoped rather to -lead them to glorious victory.</p> - -<p>Late that night, when complete stillness had fallen -upon the star-lit city, and the sea-wind had dropped, -giving place to the hot silence of the summer darkness, -on a sudden was heard the distant sound of pipes and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_379">379</a></span> -cymbals, and of voices singing a rollicking tune. Nearer -they came, and presently the pattering of dancing feet -could be heard, while the shouts and cries of a multitude -were blended with the wild music of a bacchanal song. -The tumultuous procession, as Plutarch described it, -seemed to take its course right through the middle of -the city towards the Gate of Canopus; and there the -commotion was most loudly heard. Then, suddenly, -the sounds passed out, and were heard no more. But -all those who had listened in the darkness to the wild -music were assured that they had heard the passage -of Bacchus as he and his ghostly attendants marched -away from the army of his fallen incarnation, and joined -that of the victorious Octavian.<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a></p> - -<p>The next morning, as soon as it was light, Antony -marched his troops out of the eastern gates of the city, -and formed them up on rising ground between the walls -and the Hippodromos, a short distance back from the -sea. From this position he watched his fleet sail out -from the Great Harbour and make towards Octavian’s -ships, which were arrayed near the shore, two or three -miles east of the city; but, to his dismay, the Alexandrian -vessels made no attempt to deliver an attack upon the -enemy as he had ordered them to do. Instead, they -saluted Octavian’s fleet with their oars, and, on receiving -a similar salutation in response, joined up with the enemy, -all sailing thereupon towards the Great Harbour. Meanwhile, -from his elevated position Antony saw the whole -of his cavalry suddenly gallop over to Octavian’s lines, -and he thus found himself left only with his infantry, -who, of course, were no match for the enemy. It was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_380">380</a></span> -useless to struggle further, and, giving up all hope, he -fled back into the city, crying out that Cleopatra had -betrayed him. As he rushed into the Palace, followed -by his distracted officers, smiting his brow and calling -down curses on the woman who, he declared, had delivered -him into the hands of enemies made for her sake, the -Queen fled before him from her apartments, as though -she feared that in his fury and despair he might cut her -down with his sword. Alone with her two waiting-women, -Iras and Charmion, she ran as fast as she could -through the empty halls and corridors of the Palace, -and at length, crossing the deserted courtyard, she -reached the mausoleum adjoining the temple of Isis. -The officials, servants, and guards, it would seem, had -all fled at the moment when the cry had arisen that -the fleet and the cavalry had deserted; and there were -probably but a few scared priests in the vicinity of the -temple, who could hardly have recognised the Queen -as she panted to the open door of the tomb, deserted -by the usual custodians. The three women rushed into -the dimly-lighted hall, bolting and barring the door -behind them, and no doubt barricading it with benches, -offering-tables, and other pieces of sacerdotal furniture. -They then made their way to the habitable rooms on -the upper floor, where they must have flung themselves -down upon the rich couches in a sort of delirium of -horror and excitement, Cleopatra herself preparing for -immediate suicide. From the window they must have -seen some of Antony’s staff hastening towards them, -for presently they were able to send a message to tell -him that the Queen was on the point of killing herself. -After a short time, however, when the tumult in her -brain had somewhat subsided, Cleopatra made up her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_381">381</a></span> -mind to wait awhile before taking the final step, so that -she might ascertain Octavian’s attitude towards her; and, -having determined upon this course of action, she seems -to have composed herself as best she could, while through -the eastern windows, her eyes staring over the summer -sea, she watched the Egyptian ships and those of the -enemy rowing side by side into the Great Harbour.</p> - -<p>There is no reason to suppose that Cleopatra had betrayed -her husband, or that she was in any way a party -to the desertions which had just taken place. The sudden -collapse of their resistance, while yet it was but mid-morning, -must have come to her as a staggering shock; -and Antony’s accusations were doubtless felt to be only -in keeping with the erratic behaviour which had characterised -his last years. On the previous day Antony -had offered a large sum of money to every one of -Octavian’s legionaries who should desert; and it is -more than likely that Octavian had made a similar -offer to the Egyptian sailors and soldiers. Only a year -previously these sailors had fraternised with the Romans -of the Antonian party in the Gulf of Ambracia, and the -latter, having deserted to Octavian after the battle of -Actium, were now present in large numbers amongst -the opposing fleet. The Egyptians were thus called -upon to fight with their friends whose hospitality they -had often accepted, and whose fighting qualities, now -that they were combined with Octavian’s victorious -forces, they had every reason to appreciate. Their -desertion, therefore, needed no suggestion on the part -of Cleopatra: it was almost inevitable.</p> - -<p>Antony, however, was far too distracted and overwrought -to guard his tongue, and he seems to have -paced his apartments in the Palace in a condition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_382">382</a></span> -bordering upon madness, cursing Cleopatra and her -country, and calling down imprecations upon all who -had deserted him. Presently those of his staff who had -followed the Queen to her mausoleum brought him the -news that she had killed herself, for so they had interpreted -her message; and instantly Antony’s fury seems -to have left him, the shock having caused a collapse of -his energy. At first he was probably dazed by the -tidings; but when their full significance had penetrated -to his bewildered brain there was no place left for anger -or suspicion. “Now Antony,” he cried, “why delay -longer? Fate has taken away the only thing for which -you could say you still wanted to live.” And with these -words he rushed into his bedchamber, eagerly tearing off -his armour, and calling upon his slave Eros to assist -him. Then, as he bared the upper part of his body, -he was heard to talk aloud to the Queen, whom he -believed to be dead. “Cleopatra,” he said, “I am not -sad to be parted from you now, for I shall soon be -with you; but it troubles me that so great a general -should have been found to have slower courage than a -woman.” Not long previously he had made Eros solemnly -promise to kill him when he should order him to do so; -and now, turning to him, he gave him that order, reminding -him of his oath. Eros drew his sword, as though he -intended to do as he was bid, but suddenly turning round, -he drove the blade into his own breast, and fell dying -upon the floor. Thereupon Antony bent down over him -and cried to him as he lost consciousness, “Well done, -Eros! Well done!” Then, picking up the sword, he -added, “You have shown your master how to do what -you had not the heart to do yourself;” and so saying,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_383">383</a></span> -he drove the sword upwards into his breast from below -the ribs, and fell back upon his bed.</p> - -<p>The wound, however, was not immediately mortal, -and presently, the flow of blood having ceased, he recovered -consciousness. Some of the Egyptian servants -had gathered around him, and now he implored them -to put him out of his pain. But when they realised that -he was not dead they rushed from the room, leaving him -groaning and writhing where he lay. Some of them -must have carried the news to the Queen as she sat at -the window of the mausoleum, for, a few moments later, -a certain Diomedes, one of her secretaries, came to -Antony telling him that she had not yet killed herself, -and that she desired his body to be brought to her. -Thereupon Antony eagerly gave orders to the servants -to carry him to her, and they, lifting him in their arms, -placed him upon an improvised stretcher and hurried -with him to the mausoleum. A crowd seems now to have -collected around the door of the building, and when -the Queen saw the group of men bringing her husband -to her, she must have feared lest some of them, seeking -a reward, would seize her as soon as they had entered -her stronghold and carry her alive to Octavian. Perhaps, -also, it was a difficult matter to shoot back the bolts of -the door which in her excitement she had managed to -drive deep into their sockets. She, therefore, was unable -to admit Antony into the mausoleum; and there he lay -below her window, groaning and entreating her to let -him die in her arms. In the words of Plutarch, Cleopatra -thereupon “let down ropes and cords to which Antony -was fastened; and she and her two women, the only -persons she had allowed to enter the mausoleum, drew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_384">384</a></span> -him up. Those who were present say that nothing was -ever more sad than this spectacle, to see Antony, covered -all over with blood and just expiring, thus drawn up, -still holding up his hands to her, and raising up his body -with the little force he had left. And, indeed, it was no -easy task for the women; for Cleopatra, with all her -strength clinging to the rope and straining at it with her -head bent towards the ground, with difficulty pulled him -up, while those below encouraged her with their cries and -joined in all her efforts and anxiety.” The window must -have been a considerable distance from the ground, and I -do not think that the three women could ever have succeeded -in raising Antony’s great weight so far had not -those below fetched ladders, I suppose, and helped to -lift him up to her, thereafter, no doubt, watching the -terrible scene from the head of these ladders outside the -window.</p> - -<p>Dragging him through the window the women carried -him to the bed, upon which he probably swooned away -after the agonies of the ascent. Cleopatra was distracted -by the pitiful sight, and fell into uncontrolled weeping. -Beating her breast and tearing her clothes, she made -some attempts, at the same time, to stanch the scarlet -stream which flowed from his wound; and soon her face -and neck were smeared with his blood. Flinging herself -down by his side she called him her lord, her husband, -and her emperor. All her pity and much of her old love -for him was aroused by his terrible sufferings, and so -intent was she upon his pain that her own desperate -situation was entirely forgotten. At last Antony came -to his senses, and called for wine to drink; after which, -having revived somewhat, he attempted to soothe the -Queen’s wild lamentations, telling her to make her terms<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_385">385</a></span> -with Octavian, so far as might honourably be done, and -advising her to trust only a certain Proculeius amongst -all the friends of the conqueror. With his last breath, -he begged her, says Plutarch, “not to pity him in this -last turn of fate, but rather to rejoice for him in remembrance -of his past happiness, who had been of all men -the most illustrious and powerful, and in the end had -fallen not ignobly, a Roman by a Roman vanquished.” -With these words he lay back upon the bed, and soon -had breathed his last in the arms of the woman whose -interests he had so poorly served, and whom now he left -to face alone the last great struggle for her throne and -for the welfare of her son.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_386">386</a></span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="vspace"><a id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> - -<span class="subhead">THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA AND THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Cleopatra’s situation was at this moment terrible in -the extreme. The blood-stained body of her husband lay -stretched upon the bed, covered by her torn garments -which she had thrown over it. Charmion and Iras, her -two waiting-women, were probably huddled in the corner -of the room, beating their breasts and wailing as was the -Greek habit at such a time. Below the open window a -few Romans and Egyptians appear to have gathered in -the sun-baked courtyard; and, I think, the ladders still -rested against the wall where they had been placed by -those who had helped to raise Antony up to the Queen. -It must now have been early afternoon, and the sunlight -of the August day, no doubt, beat into the room, lighting -the disarranged furniture and revealing the wet -blood-stains upon the tumbled carpets over which the -dying man’s heavy body had been dragged. From the -one side the surge of the sea penetrated into the -chamber; from the other the shouts of Octavian’s -soldiers and the clattering of their arms came to -Cleopatra’s ears, telling her of the enemy’s arrival in -the Palace. She might expect at any moment to be -asked to surrender, and more than probably an attempt -would be made to capture her by means of an entry<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_387">387</a></span> -through the window. She had determined, however, -never to be made prisoner in this manner, and she had, -no doubt, given it to be clearly understood that any -effort to seize her would be her signal for firing the -funeral pyre which had been erected in the adjoining -room and destroying herself upon it. To be made a -captive probably meant her degradation at Octavian’s -Triumph and the loss of her throne; but to surrender -by mutual arrangement might assure her personal safety -and the continuity of her dynasty. With this in view, it -seems likely that she now armed her two women to resist -any assault upon the windows, and told them to warn -all who attempted to climb the ladders that she, with -her priceless jewellery and treasures, would be engulfed -in the flames before ever they had reached to the level -of her place of refuge.</p> - -<p>Antony had been dead but a few minutes when -Proculeius, of whom he had spoken to Cleopatra just -before he expired, arrived upon the scene, demanding, -in the name of Octavian, an audience with the Queen. -He knocked upon the barred door of the main entrance -to the mausoleum, calling upon Cleopatra to admit him, -and the sound must have echoed through the hall below -and come to her ears, where she listened at the top of -the stairs, like some ominous summons from the powers -of the Underworld; but, fearing that she might be taken -prisoner, she did not dare open to him, even if she could -have shot back the heavy bolts, and she must have paced -to and fro beside her husband’s corpse in an agony of -indecision. At last, however, she ran down the marble -staircase to the dimly-lighted hall below, and, standing -beside the barricade which she had constructed against -the inner side of the door, called out to Proculeius by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_388">388</a></span> -name. He answered her from the outside, and in this -manner they held a short parley with one another, she -offering to surrender if she could receive Octavian’s -word that her Kingdom of Egypt would be given to her -son Cæsarion, and Proculeius replying only with the -assurance that Octavian was to be trusted to act with -clemency towards her. This was not satisfactory to her, -and presently the Roman officer returned to his master, -leaving Cleopatra undisturbed until late in the afternoon. -He described the Queen’s situation to Octavian, and -pointed out to him that it would probably not be difficult -to effect an entrance to the mausoleum by means of the -ladders, and that, with speed and a little manœuvring, -Cleopatra could be seized before she had time to fire -the pyre. Thereupon Octavian sent him with Cornelius -Gallus,<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> who had now reached Alexandria, to attempt -her capture, and the latter went straight to the door -of the mausoleum, knocking upon it to summon the -Queen. Cleopatra at once went down the stairs and -entered into conversation with Cornelius Gallus through -the closed door; and it would seem that her two women, -perhaps eager to hear what was said, left their post at -the window of the upper room and stood upon the steps -behind her. As soon as the Queen was heard to be -talking and reiterating her conditions of surrender, -Proculeius ran round to the other side of the building, -and, adjusting the ladders, climbed rapidly up to the -window, followed by two other Roman officers. Entering -the disordered room, he ran past the dead body of -Antony and hurried down the stairs, at the bottom of -which he encountered Charmion and Iras, while beyond -them in the dim light of the hall he saw Cleopatra<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_389">389</a></span> -standing at the shut door, her back turned to him. One -of the women uttered a cry, when she saw Proculeius, -and called out to her mistress: “Unhappy Cleopatra, -you are taken prisoner!” At this the Queen sprang -round, and, seeing the Roman officer, snatched a dagger -from its sheath at her waist and raised it for the stroke -which should terminate the horror of her life. Proculeius, -however, was too quick for her. He sprang at -her with a force which must have hurled her back against -the door, and, seizing her wrist, shook the dagger from -her small hand. Then, holding her two arms at her -side, he caused his men to shake her dress and to -search her for hidden weapons or poison. “For shame, -Cleopatra,” he said to her, scolding her for attempting -to take her life; “you wrong yourself and Octavian -very much in trying to rob him of so good an opportunity -of showing his clemency, and you would make -the world believe that the most humane of generals was -a faithless and implacable enemy.” He then seems to -have ordered his officers to remove the barriers and to -open the door of the mausoleum, whereupon Cornelius -Gallus and his men were able to assist him to guard -the Queen and her two women. Shortly after this, -Octavian’s freedman, Epaphroditus, arrived with orders -to treat Cleopatra with all possible gentleness and -civility, but to take the strictest precautions to prevent -her injuring herself; and, acting on these instructions, -the Roman officers seem to have lodged the Queen under -guard in one of the upper rooms of the mausoleum, after -having made a thorough search for hidden weapons or -poisons.</p> - -<p>Just before sunset Octavian made his formal entry into -Alexandria. He wished to impress the people of the city<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_390">390</a></span> -with the fact of his benevolent and peace-loving nature, -and therefore he made a certain Alexandrian philosopher -named Areius, for whom he had a liking, ride with him -in his chariot. As the triumphal procession passed along -the beautiful Street of Canopus, Octavian was seen by the -agitated citizens to be holding the philosopher’s hand -and talking to him in the most gentle manner. Stories -soon went the rounds that when the conqueror had -received the news of Antony’s death he had shed tears -of sorrow, and had read over to his staff some of his -enemy’s furious letters to him and his own moderate -replies, thus showing how the quarrel had been forced -upon him. Orders now seem to have been issued -forbidding all outrage or looting; and presently the -frightened Alexandrians ventured from their hiding-places, -most of the local magnates being ordered to -gather themselves together in the Gymnasium. Here, -in the twilight, Octavian rose to address them; and -as he did so, they all prostrated themselves upon the -ground before him in abject humiliation. Commanding -them to rise, he told them that he freely acquitted them -of all blame: firstly, in memory of the great Alexander -who had founded their city; secondly, for the sake of the -city itself which was so large and beautiful; thirdly, in -honour of their god Serapis;<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a> and lastly, to gratify his -dear friend Areius, at whose request he was about to -spare many lives.</p> - -<p>Having thus calmed the citizens, who now must have -hailed him as a kind of deliverer and saviour, he retired -to his quarters, whence, in his sardonic manner, he -appears to have issued orders for the immediate slaughter<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_391">391</a></span> -of those members of the court of Cleopatra and Antony -for whom Areius had not any particular liking. The -unfortunate Antyllus, Antony’s son, having been betrayed -to Octavian by his faithless tutor Theodorus, -was at once put to death in the temple erected by -Cleopatra to Julius Cæsar, whither he had fled. As -the executioner cut off the boy’s head, Theodorus contrived -to steal a valuable jewel which hung round his -neck; but the theft was discovered, and he was carried -before Octavian, who ordered him to be crucified forthwith. -A strict guard was set over the two children of -Cleopatra, Ptolemy and Cleopatra Selene,<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> who were -still in Alexandria; and Octavian seems to have given -Cleopatra to understand that if she attempted to kill -herself he would put these two children to death. Thus -he was able to assure himself that she would refrain -from taking her life, for, as Plutarch says, “before such -engines her purpose (to destroy herself) shook and gave -way.”</p> - -<p>Antony’s body was now, I suppose, prepared for burial. -Though mummification was still often practised in Alexandria -by Greeks and Egyptians, I do not think that -any elaborate attempt was made to embalm the corpse, -and it was probably ready for the funeral rites within -a few days. Out of respect to the dead general a number -of Roman officers and foreign potentates who were with -Octavian’s army begged to be allowed to perform these -rites at their own expense; but in deference to Cleopatra’s -wishes the body was left in the Queen’s hands, -and instructions were issued that her orders were to be -obeyed in regard to the funeral. Thus Antony was -buried, with every mark of royal splendour and pomp,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_392">392</a></span> -in a tomb which had probably long been prepared for -him, not far from his wife’s mausoleum. Cleopatra -followed him to his grave, a tragic, piteous little figure, -surrounded by a group of her lamenting ladies; and, -while the priests burnt their incense and uttered their -droning chants, the Queen’s fragile hands ruthlessly beat -her breasts as she called upon the dead man by his name. -In these last terrible hours only the happier character of -her relationship with Antony was remembered, and the -recollection of her many disagreements with him were -banished from her mind by the piteous scenes of his -death, and by the thought of his last tender words to her -as he lay groaning upon her bed. In her extreme loneliness -she must have now desired his buoyant company of -earlier years with an intensity which she could hardly -have felt during his lifetime; and it must have been -difficult indeed for her to refrain from putting an end to -her miserable life upon the grave of her dead lover. Yet -Octavian’s threat in regard to her children held her hand; -and, moreover, even in her utter distress, she had not yet -abandoned her hope of saving Egypt from the clutch of -Rome. Her own dominion, she knew, was over, and -the best fate which she herself could hope for was that -of an unmolested exile; yet Octavian’s attitude to her -indicated in every way that he would be willing to leave -the throne to her descendants. She did not know how -falsely he was acting towards her, how he was making -every effort to encourage hope in her heart in order that -he might bring her alive to Rome to be exhibited in -chains to the jeering populace. She did not understand -that his messages of encouragement, and even of affection, -to her were written with sardonic cunning, that his -cheerful assurances in regard to her children were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_393">393</a></span> -made at a time when he was probably actually sending -messages post-haste to Berenice to attempt to recall -Cæsarion in order to put him to death. She did not -understand Octavian’s character: perhaps she had never -even seen him; and she hoped somehow to make a last -appeal to him. She had played her wonderful game for -the amalgamation of Egypt and Rome into one vast -kingdom, ruled by her descendants and those of the -great Julius Cæsar, and she had lost. But there was -yet hope that out of the general wreck she might save -the one asset with which she had started her operations—the -independent throne of Egypt; and to accomplish -this she must live on for a while longer, and must face -with bravery the nightmare of her existence.</p> - -<p>Coming back, after the funeral, to her rooms in the -mausoleum, wherein she had now decided to take up -her residence, she fell into a high fever; and there upon -her bed she lay in delirium for several days. She -suffered, moreover, very considerable pain, due to the -inflammation and ulceration caused by the blows which -she had rained upon her delicate body in the abandonment -of her despair. Over and over again she was heard -to utter in her delirium the desolate cry, “I <em>will not</em> -be exhibited in his Triumph,” and in her distress she -begged repeatedly to be allowed to die. At one time -she refused all food, and begged her doctor, a certain -Olympus, to help her to pass quietly out of the world.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> -Octavian, however, hearing of her increasing weakness, -warned her once more that unless she made an effort -to live he would not be lenient to her children; whereupon, -as though galvanised into life by this pressure upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_394">394</a></span> -her maternal instincts, she made the necessary struggle -to recover, obediently swallowing the medicine and -stimulants which were given to her.</p> - -<p>Thus the hot August days passed by, and at length the -Queen, now fragile and haggard, was able to move about -once more. Her age at this time was thirty-eight years, -and she must have lost that freshness of youth which had -been her notable quality; but her brilliant eyes had now -perhaps gained in wonder by the pallor of her face, and -the careless arrangement of her dark hair must have -enhanced her tragic beauty. The seductive tones of her -voice could not have been diminished, and that peculiar -quality of elusiveness may well have been accentuated by -her illness and by the nervous strain through which she -had passed. Indeed, her personal charm was still so -great that a certain Cornelius Dolabella, one of the -Roman officers whose duty it was to keep watch over -her, speedily became her devoted servant, and was induced -to promise that he would report to her any plans -in regard to her welfare which Octavian should disclose.</p> - -<p>On August 28th, as she lay upon a small pallet-bed in -the upper room, gazing in utter desolation, as I imagine, -over the blue waters of the Mediterranean, her women -ran in to her to tell her that Octavian had come to pay -his respects to her. He had not yet visited her, for he -had very correctly avoided her previous to and during -Antony’s funeral; and since that time she had been too -ill to receive him. Now, however, she was convalescent, -and the conqueror had arrived unexpectedly to congratulate -her, as etiquette demanded, upon her recovery. -He walked into the room before the Queen had time to -prepare herself; and Plutarch describes how, “on his -entering, she sprang from her bed, having nothing on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_395">395</a></span> -but the one garment next her body, and flung herself -at his feet, her hair and face looking wild and disfigured, -her voice trembling, and her eyes sunken and dark. The -marks of the blows which she had rained upon herself -were visible about her breast, and altogether her whole -person seemed to be no less afflicted than was her spirit. -But for all this, her old charm and the boldness of her -youthful beauty had not wholly left her, and, in spite -of her present condition, still shone out from within and -allowed itself to appear in all the expressions of her -face.”</p> - -<p>The picture of the distraught little Queen, her dark -hair tumbled over her face, her loose garment slipping -from her white shoulders, as she crouches at the feet of -this cold, unhealthy-looking man, who stands somewhat -awkwardly before her, is one which must distress the -mind of the historian who has watched the course of -Cleopatra’s warfare against the representative of Rome. -Yet in this scene we are able to discern her but stripped -of the regal and formal accessories which have often -caused her to appear more imposing and awe-inspiring -than actually her character justified. She was essentially -a woman, and now, in her condition of physical weakness, -she acted precisely as any other overwrought -member of her sex might have behaved under similar -circumstances. Her wonderful pluck had almost deserted -her, and her persistence of purpose was lost in the wreck -of all her hopes. We have often heard her described as -a calculating woman, who lived her life in studied and -callous voluptuousness, and who died in unbending dignity; -but, as I have tried to indicate in this volume, the -Queen’s nature was essentially feminine—highly-strung, -and liable to rapid changes from joy to despair. Keen,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_396">396</a></span> -independent, and fearless though she was, she was never -a completely self-reliant woman, and in circumstances -such as those which are now being recorded we obtain -a view of her character, which shows her to have been -capable of needing desperately the help and sympathy -of others.</p> - -<p>Octavian raised her to her feet, and, assisting her once -more on to her bed, sat himself down beside her. At -first she talked to him in a rambling manner, justifying -her past movements, and attributing certain actions, -such, I suppose, as her hiding in the mausoleum, to her -fear of Antony; but when Octavian pointed out to her -the discrepancies in her statements she made no longer -any attempt to excuse her conduct, begging him only -not to take her throne from her son, and telling him that -she was willing enough to live if only he would insure the -safety of her country and dynasty, and would be merciful -to her children. Then, rising from the bed, she brought -to Octavian a number of letters written to her by Julius -Cæsar, and also one or two portraits of him painted for -her during his lifetime. “You know,” she said,<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> “how -much I was with your father,<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> and you are aware that it -was he who placed the crown of Egypt upon my head; -but, so that you may know something of our private -affairs, please read these letters. They are all written -to me with his own hand.”</p> - -<p>Octavian must have turned the letters over with some -curiosity, but he does not seem to have shown a desire -to read them; and, seeing this, Cleopatra cried: “Of -what use are all these letters to me? Yet I seem to see<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_397">397</a></span> -him living again in them.” The thought of her old lover -and friend, and the memories recalled by the letters and -portraits before her seem to have unnerved her; and, -being in so overwrought and weak a condition, she now -broke down completely. Between her sobs she was -heard to exclaim, “Oh, I wish to God you were still -alive,” as though referring to Julius Cæsar.</p> - -<p>Octavian appears to have consoled her as best he -could; and at length she seems to have agreed that, in -return for his clemency, she would place herself entirely -in his hands, and would hand over to him without reserve -all her property. One of her stewards, named Seleucus, -happened to be awaiting her orders in the mausoleum at -the time, and, sending for him, she told him to hand over -to Octavian the list which they together had lately made -of her jewellery and valuables, and which now lay with -her other papers in the room. Seleucus seems to have -read the document to Octavian; but, wishing to ingratiate -himself with his new master, and thinking that -loyalty to Cleopatra no longer paid, he volunteered the -information that various articles were omitted from the -list, and that the Queen was purposely secreting these -for her own advantage. At this Cleopatra sprang from -her bed, and, dashing at the astonished steward, seized -him by the hair, shook him to and fro, and furiously -slapped his face. So outraged and overwrought was -she that she might well have done the man some serious -injury had not Octavian, who could not refrain from -laughing, withheld her and led her back to her seat. -“Really it is very hard,” she exclaimed to her visitor, -“when you do me the honour to come to see me in this -condition I am in, that I should be accused by one of my -own servants of setting aside some women’s trinkets—<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_398">398</a></span>not -so as to adorn my unhappy self, you may be sure, -but so that I might have some little presents by me to -give to your sister Octavia and your wife Livia, that by -their intercession I might hope to find you to some extent -disposed to mercy.”</p> - -<p>Cæsar was delighted to hear her talk in this manner, -for it seemed to indicate that she was desirous of continuing -to live; and he was most anxious that she should -do so, partly, as I have said, that he might have the satisfaction -of parading her in chains through the streets of -Rome, and partly, perhaps, in order to show, thereafter, -his clemency and his respect to the late Dictator’s -memory by refraining from putting her to death. He -therefore told her that she might dispose of these articles -of jewellery as she liked; and, promising that his usage -of her would be merciful beyond her expectation, he -brought his visit to a close, well satisfied that he had -won her confidence, and that he had entirely deceived -her. In this, however, he was mistaken, and he was -himself deceived by her.</p> - -<p>Cleopatra had observed from his words and manner -that he wished to exhibit her in Rome, and that he had -little intention of allowing her son Cæsarion to reign in -her place, but purposed to seize Egypt on behalf of -Rome. Far from reassuring her, the interview had left -her with the certainty that the doom of the dynasty was -sealed; and already she saw clearly that there was -nothing left for which to live. Presently a messenger -from Cornelius Dolabella came to her, and broke the -secret news to her that Octavian, finding her now recovered -from her illness, had decided to ship her off to -Rome with her two children in three days’ time or less. -It is possible, also, that Dolabella was already able to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_399">399</a></span> -tell her that there was no hope for her son Cæsarion, for -that Octavian had decided to kill him so soon as he -could lay hands on him, realising, at the instance of his -Alexandrian friend Areius, that it was unwise to leave at -large one who claimed to be the rightful successor of the -great Dictator.</p> - -<p>On hearing this news the Queen determined to kill -herself at once, for her despair was such that the fact -of existence had become intolerable to her. In her mind -she must have pictured Octavian’s Triumph in Rome, in -which she and her children would figure as the chief -exhibits. She would be led in chains up to the Capitol, -even as she had watched her sister Arsinoe paraded in -the Triumph of Julius Cæsar; and she could hear in -imagination the jeers and groans of the townspeople, who -would not fail to remind her of her former boast that she -would one day sit in royal judgment where then she -would be standing in abject humiliation. The thought, -which of itself was more than she could bear, was coupled -with the certainty that, were she to prolong her life, she -would have to suffer also the shock of her beloved -son’s cruel murder, for already his death seemed inevitable.</p> - -<p>Having therefore made up her mind, she sent a message -to Octavian asking his permission for her to visit Antony’s -tomb, in order to make the usual oblations to his spirit. -This was granted to her, and upon the next morning, -August 29th, she was carried in her litter to the grave, -accompanied by her women. Arriving at the spot she -threw herself upon the gravestone, embracing it in a -very passion of woe. “Oh, dearest Antony,” she cried, -the tears streaming down her face, “it is not long since -with these hands I buried you. Then they were free;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_400">400</a></span> -now I am a captive; and I pay these last duties to you -with a guard upon me, for fear that my natural griefs and -sorrows should impair my servile body and make it less -fit to be exhibited in their Triumph over you. Expect no -further offerings or libations from me, Antony; these are -the last honours that Cleopatra will be able to pay to -your memory, for she is to be hurried far away from you. -Nothing could part us while we lived, but death seems to -threaten to divide us. You, a Roman born, have found a -grave in Egypt. I, an Egyptian, am to seek that favour, -and none but that, in your country. But if the gods -below, with whom you now are dwelling, can or will do -anything for me, since those above have betrayed us, do -not allow your living wife to be abandoned, let me not be -led in Triumph to your shame; but hide me, hide me: -bury me here with you. For amongst all my bitter misfortunes -nothing has been so terrible as this brief time -that I have lived away from you.”<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a></p> - -<p>For some moments she lay upon the tombstone passionately -kissing it, her past quarrels with the dead man -all forgotten in her desire for his companionship now in -her loneliness, and only her earlier love for him being -remembered in the tumult of her mind. Then, rising -and placing some wreaths of flowers upon the grave, -she entered her litter and was carried back to the -mausoleum.</p> - -<div id="ip_400" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 37.5em;"> - <img src="images/i_400.jpg" width="600" height="391" alt="" /> - <div class="caption floatl"><cite>Vatican.</cite>]</div> - <div class="caption floatr">[<cite>Photograph by Anderson.</cite></div> - <div class="caption floatc"><p>THE NILE.</p> - <p class="small">AN EXAMPLE OF ALEXANDRIAN ART.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>As soon as she had arrived she ordered her bath to -be prepared, and having been washed and scented, her -hair being carefully plaited around her head, she lay -down upon a couch and partook of a sumptuous meal.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_401">401</a></span> -After this she wrote a short letter to Octavian, asking -that she might be buried in the same tomb with Antony; -and, this being despatched, she ordered everybody to -leave the mausoleum with the exception of Charmion -and Iras, as though she did not wish to be disturbed in -her afternoon’s siesta. The doors were then closed, and -the sentries mounted guard on the outside in the usual -manner.</p> - -<p>When Octavian read the letter which Cleopatra’s -messenger had brought him, he realised at once what -had happened, and hastened to the mausoleum. Changing -his mind, however, he sent some of his officers in his -place, who, on their arrival, found the sentries apprehensive -of nothing. Bursting open the door they ran -up the stairs to the upper chamber, and immediately -their worst fears were realised. Cleopatra, already dead, -lay stretched upon her bed of gold, arrayed in her -Grecian robes of state, and decked with all her regal -jewels, the royal diadem of the Ptolemies encircling her -brow. Upon the floor at her feet Iras was just breathing -her last; and Charmion, scarce able to stand, was -tottering at the bedside, trying to adjust the Queen’s -crown.</p> - -<p>One of the Roman officers exclaimed angrily: -“Charmion, was this well done of your lady?” -Charmion, supporting herself beside the royal couch, -turned her ashen face towards the speaker. “Very well -done,” she gasped, “and as befitted the descendant of so -many Kings”; and with these words she fell dead -beside the Queen.</p> - -<p>The Roman officers, having despatched messengers to -inform Octavian of the tragedy, seem to have instituted -an immediate inquiry as to the means by which the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_402">402</a></span> -deaths had taken place.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> At first the sentries could -offer no information, but at length the fact was elicited -that a peasant carrying a basket of figs had been allowed -to enter the mausoleum, as it was understood that the -fruit was for the Queen’s meal. The soldiers declared -that they had lifted the leaves with which the fruit was -covered and had remarked on the fineness of the figs, -whereupon the peasant had laughed and had invited -them to take some, which they had refused to do. It -was perhaps known that Cleopatra had expressed a -preference for death by the bite of an asp,<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> and it was -therefore thought that perhaps one of these small snakes -had been brought to her concealed under the figs. -A search was made for the snake, and one of the -soldiers stated that he thought he saw a snake-track -leading from the mausoleum over the sand towards the -sea. An attendant who had admitted the peasant seems -now to have reported that when Cleopatra saw the figs -she exclaimed, “So here it is!” a piece of evidence which -gave some colour to the theory. Others suggested that -the asp had been kept at hand for some days in a vase, -and that the Queen had, at the end, teased it until she -had made it strike at her. An examination of the body -showed nothing except two very slight marks upon the -arm, which might possibly have been caused by the bite -of a snake. On the other hand, it was suggested that -the Queen might have carried some form of poison in -a hollow hair-comb or other similar article; and this -theory must have received some support from the fact -that there were the three deaths to account for.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_403">403</a></span> -Presently Octavian seems to have arrived, and he at -once sent for snake-doctors, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Psylli</i>, to suck the poison -from the wound; but they came too late to save her. -Though Octavian expressed his great disappointment -at her death, he could not refrain from showing his -admiration for the manner in which it had occurred. -Personally, he appears to have favoured the theory that -her end was caused by the bite of the asp, and afterwards -in his Triumph he caused a figure of Cleopatra to be -exhibited with a snake about her arm. Though it is -thus quite impossible to state with certainty how it -occurred, there is no reason to contradict the now -generally accepted story of the introduction of the asp -in the basket of figs. I have no doubt that the Queen -had other poisons in her possession, which were perhaps -used by her two faithful women; and it is to be understood -that the strategy of the figs, if employed at all, was -resorted to only in order that she herself might die by -the means which her earlier experiments had commended -to her.</p> - -<p>Octavian now gave orders that the Queen should be -buried with full honours beside Antony, where she had -wished to lie. He had sent messengers, it would seem, -to Berenice to attempt to stop the departure of Cæsarion -for India, having heard, no doubt, that the young man -had decided to remain in that town until the last possible -moment. His tutor, Rhodon, counselled him to trust -himself to Octavian; and, acting upon this advice, they -returned to Alexandria, where they seem to have arrived -very shortly after Cleopatra’s death. Octavian immediately -ordered Cæsarion to be executed, his excuse being that -it was dangerous for <em>two Cæsars</em> to be in the world -together; and thus died the last of the Ptolemaic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_404">404</a></span> -Pharaohs of Egypt, the son and only real heir of the -great Julius Cæsar. The two other children who remained -in the Palace, Ptolemy and Cleopatra Selene, -were shipped off to Rome as soon as possible, and -messengers seem to have been despatched to Media to -take possession of Alexander Helios who had probably -been sent thither, as we have already seen.</p> - -<p>In my opinion, Octavian now decided to take over -Egypt as a kind of personal possession. He did not -wish to cause a revolution in the country by proclaiming -it a Roman province; and he seems to have appreciated -the ceaseless efforts of Cleopatra and her subjects to -prevent the absorption of the kingdom in this manner. -He therefore decided upon a novel course of action. -While not allowing himself to be crowned as actual -King of Egypt, he assumed that office by tacit agreement -with the Egyptian priesthood. He seems to have claimed, -in fact, to be heir to the throne of the Ptolemies. Julius -Cæsar had been recognised as Cleopatra’s husband in -Egypt, and he, Octavian, was Cæsar’s adopted son and -heir. After the elimination of Cleopatra’s three surviving -children he was, therefore, the rightful claimant to the -Egyptian throne. The Egyptians at once accepted him -as their sovereign, and upon the walls of their temples -we constantly find his name inscribed in hieroglyphics -as “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Son of the Sun, -Cæsar, living for ever, beloved of Ptah and Isis.” He is -also called by the title Autocrator, which he took over -from Antony, and which, in the Egyptian inscriptions, -was recognised as a kind of hereditary royal name, being -written within the Pharaonic cartouche.<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> His descendants,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_405">405</a></span> -the Emperors of Rome, were thus successively Kings of -Egypt, as though heads of the reigning dynasty; and -each Emperor as he ascended the Roman throne was -hailed as Monarch of Egypt, and was called in all -Egyptian inscriptions “Pharaoh” and “Son of the Sun.” -The Egyptians, therefore, with the acquiescence of -Octavian, came to regard themselves not as vassals of -Rome, but as subjects of their own King, who happened -at the same time to be Emperor of Rome; and thus the -great Egypto-Roman Empire for which Cleopatra had -struggled actually came into existence. All Emperors -of Rome came to be recognised in Egypt not as sovereigns -of a foreign empire of which Egypt was a part, -but as <em>actual Pharaohs of Egyptian dominions of which -Rome was a part</em>.</p> - -<p>The ancient dynasties had passed away, the Amenophis -and Thutmosis family, the house of Rameses, the line -of Psammetichus, and many another had disappeared. -And now, in like manner, the house of the Ptolemies had -fallen, and the throne of Egypt was occupied by the -dynasty of the Cæsars. This dynasty, as it were, supplied -Rome with her monarchs; and the fact that -Octavian was hailed by Egyptians as King of Egypt -long before he was recognised by Romans as Emperor -of Rome, gave the latter throne a kind of Pharaonic -origin in the eyes of the vain Egyptians. It has usually -been supposed that Egypt became a Roman province; -but it was never declared to be such. Octavian arranged -that it should be governed by a <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">praefectus</i>, who was to act -in the manner of a viceroy,<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a> and he retained the greater -part of the Ptolemaic revenues as his personal property.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_406">406</a></span> -While later in Rome he pretended that Cleopatra’s -kingdom had been annexed, in Egypt it was distinctly -understood that the country was still a monarchy.</p> - -<p>He treated the Queen’s memory with respect, since he -was carrying on her line; and he would not allow her -statues to be overthrown.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> All her splendid treasures, -however, and the gold and silver plate and ornaments -were melted down and converted into money with which -to pay the Roman soldiers. The royal lands were seized, -the palaces largely stripped of their wealth; and when at -last Octavian returned to Rome in the spring of <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 29, -he had become a fabulously rich man.</p> - -<p>On August 13th, 14th, and 15th of the same year three -great Triumphs were celebrated, the first day being devoted -to the European conquests, the second to Actium, -and the third to the Egyptian victory. A statue of -Cleopatra, the asp clinging to her arm, was dragged -through the streets of the capital, and the Queen’s twin -children, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, were -made to walk in captivity in the procession. Images -representing Nilus and Egypt were carried along, and an -enormous quantity of interesting loot was heaped up on -the triumphal cars. The poet Propertius tells us how in -fancy he saw “the necks of kings bound with golden -chains, and the fleet of Actium sailing up the Via Sacra.” -All men became unbalanced by enthusiasm, and stories -derogatory to Cleopatra were spread on all sides. -Horace, in a wonderful ode, expressed the public sentiments, -and denounced the unfortunate Queen as an -enemy of Rome. Honours were heaped upon Octavian;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_407">407</a></span> -and soon afterwards he was given the title of Augustus, -and was named <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Divi filius</i>, as being heir of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Divus Julius</i>. -He took great delight in lauding the memory of the great -Dictator, who was now accepted as one of the gods of -the Roman world; and it is a significant fact that he -revived and reorganised the Lupercalia, as though he -were in some manner honouring Cæsar thereby.<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a></p> - -<p>Meanwhile the three children of Cleopatra and Antony -found a generous refuge in the house of Octavia, Antony’s -discarded wife. With admirable tact Octavian seems to -have insisted upon this solution of the difficulty as to -what to do with them. Their execution would have been -deeply resented by the Egyptians, and, since Octavian -was now posing as the legal heir to the throne of Egypt, -the dynastic successor of Cleopatra, and not a foreign -usurper, it was well that his own sister should look after -these members of the royal family. Octavia, always -meek and dutiful, accepted the arrangement nobly, and -was probably unvaryingly kind to these children of her -faithless husband, whom she brought up with her -two daughters, Antonia Major and Minor, and Julius -Antonius, the second son of Antony and Fulvia, and -brother of the murdered Antyllus. When the little -Cleopatra Selene grew up she was married to Juba, the -King of Numidia, a learned and scholarly monarch, who -was later made King of Mauretania. The son of this -marriage was named Ptolemy, and succeeded his father -about <span class="smcap smaller">A.D.</span> 19. He was murdered by Caligula, who, by -the strange workings of Fate, was also a descendant of -Antony. We do not know what became of Alexander -Helios and his brother Ptolemy. Tacitus tells us<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_408">408</a></span> -Antonius Felix, Procurator of Judæa under the Emperor -Nero, married (as his second wife) Drusilla, a granddaughter -of Cleopatra and Antony, who was probably -another of the Mauretanian family. Octavia died in -<span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 11. Antony’s son, Julius Antonius, in <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 2, was put -to death for his immoral relations with Octavian’s own -daughter Julia, she herself being banished to the barren -island of Pandateria. Octavian himself, covered with -honours and full of years, died in <span class="smcap smaller">A.D.</span> 14, being succeeded -upon the thrones of Egypt and of Rome by Tiberius, his -son.</p> - -<p>During the latter part of the reign of Octavian, or -Augustus, as one must call him, the influence of -Alexandria upon the life of Rome began to be felt in an -astonishing degree; and so greatly did Egyptian thought -alter the conditions in the capital that it might well be -fancied that the spirit of the dead Cleopatra was presiding -over that throne which she had striven to ascend. -Ferrero goes so far as to suggest that the main ideas of -splendid monarchic government and sumptuous Oriental -refinement which now developed in Rome were due to -the direct influence of Alexandria, and perhaps to the -fact that the new emperors were primarily Kings of -Egypt. Alexandrian artists and artisans swarmed over -the sea to Italy, and the hundreds of Romans who had -snatched estates for themselves in Egypt travelled frequently -to that country on business, and unconsciously -familiarised themselves with its arts and crafts. Alexandrian -sculpture and painting was seen in every villa, -and the poetry and literature of the Alexandrian school -were read by all fashionable persons. Every Roman -wanted to employ Alexandrians to decorate his house,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_409">409</a></span> -everybody studied the manners and refinements of the -Græco-Egyptians. The old austerity went to pieces -before the buoyancy of Cleopatra’s subjects, just as the -aloofness of London has disappeared under the Continental -invasion of the last few years.</p> - -<p>Thus it may be said that the Egypto-Roman Empire -of Cleopatra’s dreams came to be founded in actual -fact, with this difference, that its monarchs were sprung -from the line of Octavian, Cæsar’s nephew, and not from -that of Cæsarion, Cæsar’s son. But while Egypt and -Alexandria thus played such an important part in the -creation of the Roman monarchy, the memory of -Cleopatra, from whose brain and whose influence the -new life had proceeded, was yearly more painfully vilified. -She came to be the enemy of this Orientalised Rome, -which still thought itself Occidental; and her struggle -with Octavian was remembered as the evil crisis through -which the party of the Cæsars had passed. Abuse was -heaped upon her, and stories were invented in regard to -her licentious habits. It is upon this insecure basis that -the world’s estimate of the character of Cleopatra is -founded; and it is necessary for every student of these -times at the outset of his studies to rid his mind of -the impression which he will have obtained from these -polluted sources. Having shut out from his memory -the stinging words of Propertius and the fierce lines of -Horace, written in the excess of his joy at the close of -the period of warfare which had endangered his little -country estate, the reader will be in a position to judge -whether the interpretation of Cleopatra’s character and -actions, which I have laid before him, is to be considered -as unduly lenient, and whether I have made unfair use of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_410">410</a></span> -the merciful prerogative of the historian, in behalf of an -often lonely and sorely tried woman, who fought all her -life for the fulfilment of a patriotic and splendid ambition, -and who died in a manner “befitting the descendant -of so many kings.”</p> - -<p class="p2 center">THE END.</p> - -<p class="p2 center small">PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.</p> - -<hr /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2><a id="GENEALOGY"></a>GENEALOGY OF THE PTOLEMIES.</h2> -</div> - -<div id="ip_410" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 38.875em;"> - <img src="images/i_chart.jpg" width="622" height="800" alt="" /></div> - -<div class="newpage gen-container"><div class="gen"> -<pre> - LAGOS. - | - +--------+ - | - FIRST HUSBAND. = BERENICE I., = PTOLEMY I., - | grandniece | Soter I., - | of Antipater | a General of - | of Macedon. | Alexander the - | | Great, afterwards - | | King of Egypt. - | | - +----------------+ +-------+-----+ - | | | - MAGAS, = APAMA ARSINOE II., = PTOLEMY II., = ARSINOE I., - King | of second wife Philadelphus, | first wife, - of | Syria. and sister, King of Egypt. | daughter of - Cyrene. | first | Lysimachos, - | <i>married</i> to | King of - | Lysimachos, | Thrace. - | King of Thrace. | - | | - +---------------+ +-------------+ - | | - BERENICE II. = PTOLEMY III., - | Euergetes I., - | King of Egypt. - | - +---------+-------+-------------------+ - | | | -ANTIOCHOS PTOLEMY IV., = ARSINOE III. MAGAS. -the Great, Philopator, | - King of King of Egypt. | - Syria. | - | | - +-----+ +-------------+ - | | - CLEOPATRA I. = PTOLEMY V., - | Epiphanes, - | King of Egypt. - | - +-----+------------------+----------------+--------+ - | | | | - PTOLEMY VI., PTOLEMY VII. = CLEOPATRA II. | - Eupator, Philometor, | | - King of Egypt. King of Egypt. | | - | | - | | - +----------------------------+--------+ | - | | | - PTOLEMY VIII., CLEOPATRA III. = PTOLEMY IX., | - Neos Philopator, | Euergetes II., | - King of Egypt. | King of Egypt. | - | | - +----------------+----------------+-----+ | - | | | | -N.N. = PTOLEMY X., = CLEOPATRA IV. SELENE. | - Soter II., | | - King of Egypt. | | - | | - +------------+-+----------------+--------+ | - | | | | | -CLEOPATRA V. = PTOLEMY XIII., = N.N. | BERENICE III. = PTOLEMY XI., - | Neos Dionysos, | | | Alexander I., - | “Auletes.” | | | King of Egypt. - | | | | - | | PTOLEMY, | - | | King of | - | | Cyprus. | - | | PTOLEMY XII., - | | Alexander II., - | | King of Egypt. - +-------+-------+ +-------+ - | | | -CLEOPATRA VI. BERENICE IV., | - <i>married</i> Archelaus, | - High Priest of | - Komana. | - | - +-----------+-------+--------------+----------+ - | | | | -PTOLEMY XV., | ARSINOE IV. JULIUS = <b>CLEOPATRA VII.</b> = MARCUS -King of Egypt. | CÆSAR. | | ANTONIUS. - | | | - PTOLEMY XIV., | | - King of Egypt. | | - CÆSARION, | - Ptolemy XVI., | - King of Egypt. | - | - +-----------------------+--------------------+-----+ - | | | -ALEXANDER HELIOS, CLEOPATRA = JUBA, PTOLEMY. -<i>married</i> Iotapa SELENE. | King of - of Media. | Mauretania. - | - +-----------+-------+ - | ?| - PTOLEMY, DRUSILLA. = ANTONIUS FELIX, - King of | Procurator of - Mauretania. | Judæa. - | - ^ -</pre> -</div></div> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="footnotes"> -<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Dickens.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Sergeant.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> The Egyptian reliefs upon the walls of Dendereh temple and elsewhere -show conventional representations of the Queen which are not to be regarded -as real portraits. The so-called head of the Queen in the Alexandria Museum -probably does not represent her at all, as most archæologists will readily -admit.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> This island has now become part of the mainland.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> For a restoration of the lighthouse, see the work of H. Thiersch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Josephus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> The first Ptolemy brought the body of Alexander to Alexandria, and deposited -it, so it is said, in a golden sarcophagus; but this was believed to have -been stolen, and the alabaster one substituted.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Surely not 200 feet, as is sometimes said.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Some years later, after it had been popularised by Augustus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Plutarch: Cæsar.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Bell. Civ. III. 47.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> Susemihl. Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> In hieroglyphs the name reads <em>Kleopadra</em>. It is a Greek name, meaning -“Glory of her Race.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> Representations of Cleopatra or other sovereigns of the dynasty dressed in -Egyptian costume are probably simply traditional.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> Mommsen.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> Or do I wrong the hero of Utica?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Porphyry says he died in the eighth year of Cleopatra’s reign, and Josephus -states that he was fifteen years of age at his death. This would make him -about seven years old at Cleopatra’s accession, which seems probable enough.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> He had been Consul with Julius Cæsar in 59.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> The end of September, owing to irregularities in the calendar, of which we -shall presently hear more, corresponded to the middle of July.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> According to Plutarch and others; but the incident is not mentioned in -Cæsar’s memoirs.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> I do not know any record of what became of the 2000 men of Pompey’s -bodyguard. They probably fled back to Europe on the death of their -commanding officer.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> As Consul he would have been entitled to twelve lictors, as Dictator to -twenty-four; but we are not told which number he employed on this occasion.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> I quote the telling phrase used by Warde Fowler in his ‘Social Life at -Rome.’</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> In interpreting the situation thus, I am aware that I place myself at -variance with the accepted view which attributes to Cæsar an eagerness to -return quickly to Rome.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> It is not certain whether the 2000 horse are to be included or not in the -total of 20,000.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> In spite of the statement to the contrary in De Bello Alexandrino.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> So the early writers state.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> Page <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> It is usually stated that Cæsar remained in Egypt chiefly because he was -in need of money, as is suggested by Dion, xlii. 9 and 34; Oros, vi. 15, -29, and Plutarch, 48. But the small sum which he took from the Egyptians -is against this theory.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> In ancient Egypt the princes and princesses often had male “nurses,” the -title being an exceedingly honourable one. The Egyptian phrase sometimes -reads “great nurse and nourisher,” and M. Lefebvre tells me that in a -Fayoum inscription the tutor of Ptolemy Alexander is called -<span xml:lang="grc" lang="grc">τροφεὺς καὶ τιθηνὸς Ἀλεξάνδρου</span>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> Plutarch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> See p. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> Note also (p. <a href="#Page_112">112</a>) Cæsar’s departure with his army from the besieged -Palace.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> This was actually some time in January.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> Just as the British Army of Occupation now in Egypt was originally -stationed there to support the Khedive upon his throne and to keep order.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> Corresponding to the actual season of February.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> Pliny, vi. 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> Pliny, vi. 26.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> Page <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> It has generally been stated that Cæsar left Egypt before the birth of -Cæsarion, an opinion which, in view of the fact that Appian says he remained -nine months in Egypt, has always seemed to me improbable; for it is surely -more than a coincidence that he delayed his departure from Egypt until the -very month in which Cleopatra’s and his child was to be expected to arrive, he -having met her in the previous October. Plutarch’s statement may be interpreted -as meaning that Cæsar departed to Syria after the birth of his son. I -think that Cicero’s remark, in a letter dated in June <span class="smcap smaller">B.C.</span> 47, that there was a -serious hindrance to Cæsar’s departure from Alexandria, refers to the event -for which he was waiting. Those who suggest that Cæsar did <em>not</em> remain in -Egypt so long are obliged to deny that the authors are correct in stating that -he went up the Nile; and they have to disregard the positive statement of -Appian that the Dictator’s visit lasted nine months. Moreover, the date of -the celebration of Cæsarion’s seventeenth birthday (as recorded on p. <a href="#Page_361">361</a>) is -a further indication that he was born no later than the beginning of July.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> It has generally been thought that this was simply a pleasure cruise up the -Nile; but the number of ships (given by Appian) indicates that many troops -were employed, and the troops are referred to by Suetonius also.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> The <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">thalamegos</i> described by Athenæus was not that used on this occasion, -but the description will serve to give an idea of its luxury.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> Athenæus, v. 37. The number of banks of oars and the measurements, -as given by him, are probably exaggerated.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="fnanchor">44</a> It was presented to the British Government, and now stands on the -Thames Embankment in London. It is known as “Cleopatra’s Needle.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> Cicero, A. xi. 17. 13.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> He could have performed the journey in five days or less with a favourable -wind.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> Notably Dr Mahaffy.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> Judging by the remark of the commentator on Lucan, ‘Pharsalia,’ x. 521.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> A coin inscribed with the words <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ægypto capta</i> was struck after his return -to Rome (Goltzius: de re Numm.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> Houssaye, ‘Aspasie, Cleopatre, Theodora,’ p. 91, for example, says that -society was shocked at a Roman being in love with an Egyptian; and Sergeant, -‘Cleopatra of Egypt,’ writes: “It was as an Egyptian that Cleopatra offended -the Romans.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="fnanchor">51</a> Horace’s Ode was written after the engineered talk of the “eastern peril” -had done its work—<i>i.e.</i>, after Actium.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> Ad Atticum, xv. 15.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> I think this fact may be regarded as an argument in favour of the opinion -that Cleopatra had been in Rome already several weeks.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> Venus and Isis were identified in Rome also.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> As, for example, when the actor Diphilus alluded to Pompey in the words -“Nostra miseria tu es—Magnus” (Cicero, Ad Att. ii. 19).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> I use the words of Oman.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> Pliny (vi. 26) says that some £400,000 in money was conveyed to India -each year in exchange for goods which were sold for one hundred times that -amount.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> Horace, Od. 1, 2.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> Ferrero writes: “The Queen of Egypt plays a strange and significant -part in the tragedy of the Roman Republic.... She desired to become -Cæsar’s wife, and she hoped to awaken in him the passion for kingship.” -But this is a passing comment.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> No Englishman is troubled by the knowledge that the mother of his king -is a Dane, and no Spaniard is worried by the thought that his sovereign has -married an Englishwoman. The kinship between Roman and Greek was as -close as these.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> Porphyry, writing several generations later, states that he died by -Cleopatra’s treachery; but he is evidently simply quoting Josephus. Porphyry -says that he died in the eighth year of Cleopatra’s reign and the fourth year -of his own reign. This is confirmed by an inscription which I observed in -Prof. Petrie’s collection and published in ‘Receuil de Traveaux’. This records -an event which took place “In the ninth year of the reign of Cleopatra -... [a lacuna] ... Cæsarion.” The lacuna probably reads, “... and in -the first (or second) year of the reign of ...” This inscription shows that -in the Queen’s ninth year Cæsarion was already her consort, which confirms -Porphyry’s statement.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> Kaiser, Czar, &c.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> Cymbeline.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> Both Hammonios and Sarapion are common Egyptian names.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> This may mean that Cleopatra had gone to some other part of Rome either -permanently or temporarily.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> Suetonius: Cæsar, 76.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> The action <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">februare</i> means “to purify,” here used probably to signify the -magical expurgation of the person struck and the banishing of the evil influences -which prevented fertility.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> Compare also the whip carried by a Sixth Dynasty noble named Ipe, Cairo -Museum, No. 61, which seems more than a simple fly-flap.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> The Egyptian word is <em>mes</em>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> Plutarch: Brutus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> According to Suetonius, the Queen had now been sent back to Egypt, but -a letter from Cicero, written in the following month, shows that she was in -Rome until then.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> The site is near the present Campo dei Fiori.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> Plutarch: Cæsar.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> Page <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> Appian.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="fnanchor">76</a> Some authors state that he cried “Et tu, Brute”; others that the words -“my son” were added; while yet others do not record any words at all.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> Ferrero has shown that March 19th was a day of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">feriae publicae</i>, when the -funeral could not take place. It could not well have been postponed later than -the next day after this.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> Page <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="fnanchor">79</a> Which, as will be seen, he ultimately attempted to do.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> See page <a href="#Page_325">235</a>, where I suggest that Serapion had possibly decided to -throw in his lot with Arsinoe, who perhaps claimed the kingdom of Cyprus, -and to assist the party of Brutus and Cassius against that of Antony which -Cleopatra would probably support.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> Found at Tor Sapienza, outside the Porta Maggiore. The best gold and -silver coins of Antony, issued by Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus, correspond -with the bust in all essentials.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> It is satisfactory to read that Lucilius remained his devoted friend until -the end.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> St Paul was also trained in this school.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> The elephant’s head I describe from that seen upon the Queen’s vessel -shown upon the coins.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> The recipe for the preparation of incense of about this period is inscribed -upon a wall of the temple of Philæ, and shows a vast number of ingredients.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> Plutarch: Antony.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> Hor. 1. ii. Sat. 3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> Josephus says Ephesus, Appian Miletus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> Page <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> Ferrero.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> Marquardt: Privatleben, p. 409.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> Page <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> Prof. Ferrero and others have already pointed this out.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> Page <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> See pp. <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> The suggestion that an actual marriage took place was first made by -Letronne, was confirmed by Kromayer, and was accepted by Ferrero.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> Page <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> Brocardus: Descriptio Terræ Sanctæ, xiii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> Page <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> Fulvia, it will be remembered (page <a href="#Page_255">255</a>), employed 3000 cavalry as a -bodyguard under similar circumstances.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> This passage is sometimes quoted to show that no definite marriage had -taken place at Antioch; but it only indicates that the marriage to Cleopatra -was not accepted as legal in Rome.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> For the governing of his Eastern Empire Antony found it convenient to -make his headquarters at Alexandria during the winter and Syria during the -summer, and his movements to and fro were not due to pressing circumstances. -The whole Court moved with him, just as, for example, at the present day the -Viceregal Court of India moves from Calcutta to Simla. Thutmosis III. and -other great Pharaohs of Egypt had gone over to Syria in the summer in this -manner.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="fnanchor">103</a> Velleius Paterculus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> I here adopt the statement of Dion, and not that of Plutarch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> Page <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> I suppose the “purple stone” referred to by Lucan was the famous -imperial porphyry from the quarries of Gebel Dukhan, though I am not -certain that the stone was used as early as this. Cf. my expedition to these -quarries described in my ‘Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts.’</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Even Athenæus refers to Antony as being <em>married</em> to Cleopatra; and -the reader must remember that, not the fact of the marriage, but only the -date at which it occurred, is at all open to question. I do not think this is -generally recognised.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> Ferrero thinks he went direct to Ephesus, but Bouché-Leclercq and others -are of opinion that he went first to Alexandria, and with this I agree.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> Page <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> Page <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> Plutarch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> Page <a href="#Page_296">296</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> Propertius. Canopus was an Egyptian port with a reputation much like -that once held by the modern Port Said. Anubis was the Egyptian jackal-god, -connected with the ritual of the dead.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> An earlier eunuch of the same name, it will be remembered, played an -important part in Cleopatra’s youth.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> The numbers given by the early authors are very contradictory, but -Plutarch states that Octavian reported the capture of three hundred ships.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> Not upon the sixty Egyptian ships, as Plutarch states: that is an evident -mistake, as the proportion of numbers per ship will at once show.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> The fact that Dellius knew something of the plans for the battle fixes the -date of his desertion to this period, as Ferrero has pointed out.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> Dion Cassius states (though he afterwards contradicts himself by speaking -of the Queen’s panic) that Antony had agreed to fly to Egypt with Cleopatra, -and this view is upheld by Ferrero, Bouché-Leclercq, and others; but I do -not consider it probable. One can understand Antony flying after the departing -Queen in the agony and excitement of the moment; but it is difficult to -believe that such a movement was the outcome of a carefully considered plan -of action, for all are agreed that previous to the battle of Actium his chances -of success had been very fair. If the two had arranged to retire to Egypt -together, why was Cleopatra’s treasure, but not his own, shipped; and why -did they refuse to speak to one another for three whole days? Ferrero thinks -that he had arranged amicably with Cleopatra to retire to Egypt with her, and -that the naval battle had not gone much against him; but surely it is difficult -to suppose that he would deliberately desert his huge army and his undefeated -navy for strategic reasons.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> Scholz: Reise zwischen Alex. und Parætonium.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> Pliny, Epist. iii. 16.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> In a very similar manner Herod, who had taken the part of Antony and -who now feared that Octavian would dethrone him in favour of the earlier -sovereign, Hyrcanus, put that claimant to death, so that Octavian, as Josephus -indicates, should not find it easy to fill Herod’s place.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> I found the remains of this fortress on an island behind the Governorat -at Suez.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> Page <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> Plutarch definitely states this, and I here use the fact as one of the main -arguments in my suppositions in regard to Cleopatra’s plans.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> I do not think it could have been begun to be built at this time, although -Plutarch says so: it would have taken many months to complete. It was more -probably already in existence.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> Page <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> Page <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> Page <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> I do not think that the celebrations of this anniversary which now took -place could possibly have occurred later than the middle of April, and therefore -Cæsarion could not have been born later than the beginning of July, an -argument which bears on the length of Julius Cæsar’s stay in Egypt, discussed -on page <a href="#Page_128">128</a>. It seems always to have been thought that the holding of the -anniversary this year was anti-dated for political reasons, but it will be seen -that the actual date was adhered to.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> Page <a href="#Page_246">246</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> I fancy that the word asp is used in error, for I should think it much -more probable that the deadly little horned viper was meant.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> In view of the activities of the Arabs of Petra, it is unlikely that she sent -him by the sea route from Suez, which was little used by the merchants.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> Page <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> When dying she is said to have regretted that she did not seek safety in -flight.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> This seems clearly indicated by Plutarch.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> Dion Cassius suggests that Cleopatra did attempt to play into Octavian’s -hands, but the accusation is quite unfounded, and is an obvious one to make -against the hated enemy.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> This fact, the significance of which has been overlooked, is an interesting -indication of Cleopatra’s definite claim to be a manifestation of Venus-Aphrodite-Isis. -See pp. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> The sounds perhaps came from Octavian’s outposts, which were just outside -the Gate of Canopus.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> Page <a href="#Page_366">366</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="fnanchor">140</a> Plutarch does not give Serapis as one of the reasons of Octavian’s -clemency, but Dion says this was so.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> Page <a href="#Page_355">355</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> Plutarch tells us that this doctor wrote a full account of these last scenes, -from which he evidently quotes.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> Dion Cassius.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> Octavian now always spoke of the Dictator as his father, and he called -himself “Cæsar.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> Plutarch. It is very probable that Cleopatra’s doctor, Olympus, was by -her side, and afterwards wrote these words down in the diary which we know -Plutarch used.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> The following evidence as to the manner of the Queen’s death is given by -Plutarch, and it is clear that it was the result of an investigation such as I have -described.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> Page <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> In hieroglyphs this reads <em>Aut’k’r’d’r K’s’r’s</em>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="fnanchor">149</a> Strabo, xvii. i. 14; Tacitus, Hist. i. 11.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> This was said to have been due to a bribe received from one of Cleopatra’s -friends, but it was more probably political.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="fnanchor">151</a> Page <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> Tacitus, Hist., v. 9.</p></div> -</div></div> - -<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - -<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p> - -<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced -quotation marks retained.</p> - -<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_8">8</a>: The quotation beginning with “had an irrestible -charm” had no closing quotation mark. Transcriber added -one after “her voice when she spoke.” It may belong -earlier, after “certain piquancy.”</p> - -<p>In the <a href="#GENEALOGY">Genealogy Chart</a>, “CLEOPATRA VII.” was printed in all-caps -boldface. Other all-caps names originally were printed in small-caps.</p> - -<p><a href="#Footnote_129">Footnote 129</a>, originally footnote 3 on page <a href="#Page_361">361</a>: “anti-dated” was -printed that way.</p> -</div></div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen -of Egypt, by Arthur E.P. 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