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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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