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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Cleopatra, by Georg Ebers, Volume 3.
+#37 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: Cleopatra, Volume 3.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5475]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 21, 2002]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEOPATRA, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 ***
+
+
+
+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
+
+
+
+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CLEOPATRA
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 3.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+The men sent by Archibius to obtain news had brought back no definite
+information; but a short time before, a royal runner had handed him a
+tablet from Iras, requesting him to visit her the next day.  Disquieting,
+but fortunately as yet unverified tidings had arrived.  The Regent was
+doing everything in his power to ascertain the truth; but he (Archibius)
+was aware of the distrust of the government, and everything connected
+with it, felt by the sailors and all the seafaring folk at the harbour.
+An independent person like himself could often learn more than the chief
+of the harbour police, with all his ships and men.
+
+The little tablet was accompanied by a second, which, in the Regent's
+name, authorized the bearer to have the harbour chains raised anywhere,
+to go out into the open sea and return without interference.
+
+The messenger, the overseer of Archibius's galley slaves, was an
+experienced man.  He undertook to have the "Epicurus"--a swift vessel,
+which Cleopatra had given to her friend--ready for a voyage to the open
+sea within two hours.  The carriage should be sent for his master, that
+no time might be lost.
+
+When Archibius had returned to the ladies and asked whether it would be
+an abuse of their hospitality, if--it was now nearly midnight--he should
+still delay his departure for a time, they expressed sincere pleasure,
+and begged him to continue his narrative.
+
+"I must hasten," he hurriedly began, after eating the lunch which
+Berenike had ordered while he was talking with the messenger, "but the
+events of the next few years are hardly worth mentioning.  Besides, my
+time was wholly occupied by my studies in the museum.
+
+"As for Cleopatra and Arsinoe, they stood like queens at the head of all
+the magnificence of the court.  The day on which they left our house was
+the last of their childhood.
+
+"Who would venture to determine whether her father's restoration, or the
+meeting with Antony, had wrought the great change which took place at
+that time in Cleopatra?
+
+"Just before  she  left  us, my  mother  had lamented that she must give
+her to a father like the flute-player, instead of to a worthy mother; for
+the best could not help regarding herself happy in the possession of such
+a daughter.  Afterwards her character and conduct were better suited to
+delight men than to please a mother.  The yearning for peace of mind
+seemed over.  Only the noisy festivals, the singing and music, of which
+there was never any cessation in the palace of the royal virtuoso, seemed
+to weary her and at such times she appeared at our house and spent
+several days beneath its roof.  Arsinoe never accompanied her; her heart
+was sometimes won by a golden-haired officer in the ranks of the German
+horsemen whom Gabinius had left among the garrison of Alexandria,
+sometimes by a Macedonian noble among the youths who, at that time,
+performed the service of guarding the palace.
+
+"Cleopatra lived apart from her, and Arsinoe openly showed her hostility
+from the time that she entreated her to put an end to the scandal caused
+by her love affairs.
+
+"Cleopatra held aloof from such things.
+
+"Though she had devoted much time to the magic arts of the Egyptians, her
+clear intellect had rendered her so familiar with the philosophy of the
+Hellenes that it was a pleasure to hear her converse or argue in the
+museum-as she often did-with the leaders of the various schools.  Her
+self-confidence had become very strong.  Though, while with us, she said
+that she longed to return to the days of the peaceful Garden of Epicurus,
+she devoted herself eagerly enough to the events occurring in the world
+and to statecraft.  She was familiar with everything in Rome, the desires
+and struggles of the contending parties, as well as the characters of the
+men who were directing affairs, their qualities, views, and aims.
+
+"She followed Antony's career with the interest of love, for she had
+bestowed on him the first affection of her young heart.  She had expected
+the greatest achievements, but his subsequent course seemed to belie
+these lofty hopes.  A tinge of scorn coloured her remarks concerning him
+at that time, but here also her heart had its share.
+
+"Pompey, to whom her father owed his restoration to the throne, she
+considered a lucky man, rather than a great and wise one.  Of Julius
+Caesar, on the contrary, long before she met him, she spoke with ardent
+enthusiasm, though she knew that he would gladly have made Egypt a Roman
+province.  The greatest deed which she expected from the energetic Julius
+was that he would abolish the republic, which she hated, and soar upward
+to tyrannize over the arrogant rulers of the world--only she would fain
+have seen Antony in his place.  How often in those days she used magic
+art to assure herself of his future!  Her father was interested in these
+things, especially as, through them, and the power of the mighty Isis, he
+expected to obtain relief from his many and severe sufferings.
+
+"Cleopatra's brothers were still mere boys, completely dependent upon
+their guardian, Pothinus, to whom the King left the care of the
+government, and their tutor, Theodotus, a clever but unprincipled
+rhetorician.  These two men and Achillas, the commander of the troops,
+would gladly have aided Dionysus, the King's oldest male heir, to obtain
+the control of the state, in order afterwards to rule him, but the flute-
+player baffled their plans.  You know that in his last will he made
+Cleopatra, his favourite child, his successor, but her brother Dionysus
+was to share the throne as her husband.  This caused much scandal in
+Rome, though it was an old custom of the house of Ptolemy, and suited the
+Egyptians.
+
+"The  flute-player  died.  Cleopatra  became Queen, and at the same time
+the wife of a husband ten years old, for whom she did not even possess
+the natural gift of sisterly tenderness.  But with the obstinate child
+who had been told by his counsellors that the right to rule should be his
+alone, she also married the former governors of the country.
+
+"Then began a period of sore suffering.  Her life was a perpetual battle
+against notorious intrigues, the worst of which owed their origin to her
+sister.  Arsinoe had surrounded herself with a court of her own, managed
+by the eunuch Ganymedes, an experienced commander, and at the same time a
+shrewd adviser, wholly devoted to her interest.  He understood how to
+bring her into close relations with Pothinus and other rulers of the
+state, and thus at last united all who possessed any power in the royal
+palace in an endeavour to thrust Cleopatra from the throne.  Pothinus,
+Theodotus, and Achillas hated her because she saw their failings and made
+them feel the superiority of her intellect.  Their combined efforts might
+have succeeded in overthrowing her before, had not the Alexandrians,
+headed by the Ephebi, over whom I still had some influence, stood by her
+so steadfastly.  Whoever could still be classed as a youth glowed with
+enthusiasm for her, and most of the Macedonian nobles in the body-guard
+would have gone to death for her sake, though she had forced them to gaze
+hopelessly up to her as if she were some unapproachable goddess.
+
+"When her father died she was seventeen, but she knew how to resist
+oppressors and foes as if she were a man.  My sister, Charmian, whom she
+had appointed to a place in her service, loyally aided her.  At that time
+she was a beautiful and lovable girl, but the spell exerted by the Queen
+fettered her like chains and bonds.  She voluntarily resigned the love of
+a noble man--he afterwards became your husband, Berenike--in order not to
+leave her royal friend at a time when she so urgently needed her.  Since
+then my sister has shut her heart against love.  It belonged to
+Cleopatra.  She lives, thinks, cares for her alone.  She is fond of you,
+Barine, because your father was so dear to her.  Iras, whose name is so
+often associated with hers, is the daughter of my oldest sister, who was
+already married when the King entrusted the princesses to our father's
+care.  She is thirteen years younger than Cleopatra, but her mistress
+holds the first place in her heart also.  Her father, the wealthy Krates,
+made every effort to keep her from entering the service of the Queen, but
+in vain.  A single conversation with this marvellous woman had bound her
+forever.
+
+"But I must be brief.  You have doubtless heard how completely Cleopatra
+bewitched Pompey's son during his visit to Alexandria.  She had not been
+so gracious to any man since her meeting with Antony, and it was not from
+affection, but to maintain the independence of her beloved native land.
+At that time the father of Gnejus was the man who possessed the most
+power, and statecraft commanded her to win him through his son.  The
+young Roman also took his leave 'full of her,' as the Egyptians say.
+This pleased her, but the visit greatly aided her foes.  There was no
+slander which was not disseminated against her.  The commanders of the
+body-guard, whom she had always treated as a haughty Queen, had seen her
+associate with Pompey's son in the theatre as if he were a friend of
+equal rank; and on many other occasions the Alexandrians saw her repay
+his courtesies in the same coin.  But in those days hatred of Rome surged
+high.  The regents, leagued with Arsinoe, spread the rumour that
+Cleopatra would deliver Egypt up to Pompey, if the senate would secure to
+her the sole sovereignty of the new province, and leave her free to rid
+herself of her royal brother and husband.
+
+"She was compelled to fly, and went first to the Syrian frontier, to gain
+friends for her cause among the Asiatic princes.  My brother Straton--you
+remember the noble youth who won the prize for wrestling at Olympia,
+Berenike--and I were commissioned to carry the treasure to her.  We
+doubtless exposed ourselves to great peril, but we did so gladly, and
+left Alexandria with a few camels, an ox-cart, and some trusted slaves.
+We were to go to Gaza, where Cleopatra was already beginning to collect
+an army, and had disguised ourselves as Nabataean merchants.  The
+languages which I had learned, in order not to be distanced by Cleopatra,
+were now of great service.
+
+"Those were stirring times.  The names of Caesar and Pompey were in every
+mouth.  After the defeat at Dyrrachium the cause of Julius seemed lost,
+but the Pharsalian battle again placed him uppermost, unless the East
+rose in behalf of Pompey.  Both seemed to be favourites of Fortune.  The
+question now was to which the goddess would prove most faithful.
+
+"My sister Charmian was with the Queen, but through one of Arsinoe's
+maids, who was devoted to her, we had learned from the palace that
+Pompey's fate was decided.  He had come a fugitive from the defeat of
+Pharsalus, and begged the King of Egypt--that is, the men who were acting
+in his name--for a hospitable reception.  Pothinus and his associates had
+rarely confronted a greater embarrassment.  The troops and ships of the
+victorious Caesar were close at hand; many of Gabinius' men were serving
+in the Egyptian army.  To receive the vanquished Pompey kindly was to
+make the victorious Caesar a foe.  I was to witness the terrible solution
+of this dilemma.  The infamous words of Theodotus, 'Dead dogs no longer
+bite,' had turned the scale.
+
+"My brother and I reached Mount Casius with our precious freight, and
+pitched our tents to await a messenger, when a large body of armed men
+approached from the city.  At first we feared that we were pursued; but a
+spy reported that the King himself was among the soldiery, and at the
+same time a large Roman galley drew near the coast.  It must be Pompey's.
+So they had changed their views, and the King was coming in person to
+receive their guest.  The troops encamped on the flat shore on which
+stood the Temple of the Casian Amon.
+
+"The September sun shone brightly, and was reflected from the weapons.
+From the high bank of the dry bed of the river, where we had pitched our
+tent, we saw something scarlet move to and fro.  It was the King's
+mantle.  The waves, stirred by the autumn breeze, rippled lightly, blue
+as cornflowers, over the yellow sand of the dunes; but the King stood
+still, shading his eyes with his hand as he gazed at the galley.
+Meanwhile, Achillas, the commander of the troops, and Septimius, the
+tribune, who belonged to the Roman garrison in Alexandria, and who, I
+knew, had served under Pompey and owed him many favours, had entered a
+boat and put off to the vessel, which could not come nearer the land on
+account of the shallow water.
+
+"The conference now began, and Achillas's offer of hospitality must have
+been very warm and well calculated to inspire confidence, for a tall
+lady--it was Cornelia, the wife of the Imperator--waved her hand to him
+in token of gratitude."
+
+Here the speaker paused, drew a long breath, and, pressing his hand to
+his brow, continued "What follows--alas, that it was my fate to witness
+the dreadful scene!  How often a garbled account has been given, and yet
+the whole was so terribly simple!
+
+"Fortune  makes  her  favourites  confiding.  Pompey was also.  Though
+more than fifty years old--he lacked two years of sixty--he sprang into
+the boat quickly enough, with merely a little assistance from a freedman.
+A sailor--he was a negro--shoved the skiff off from the side of the huge
+ship as violently as if the pole he used for the purpose was a spear, and
+the galley his foe.  The boat, urged by his companions' oars, had already
+moved forward, and he stumbled, the brown cap falling from his woolly
+head in the act.
+
+"It seems as if I could still see him.  Ere I clearly realized that this
+was an evil omen, the boat stopped.
+
+"The water was shallow.  I saw Achillas point to the shore.  It could be
+reached by a single bound.  Pompey looked towards the King.  The freedman
+put his hand under his arm to help him rise.  Septimius also stood up.  I
+thought he intended to assist him.  But no!  What did this mean?
+Something flashed  by the  Imperator's silver-grey hair as if a spark had
+fallen from the sky.  Would Pompey defend himself, or why did he raise
+his hand?  It was to draw around him the toga, with which he silently
+covered his face.  The tribune's arm was again raised high into the air,
+and then--what confusion!  Here, there, yonder, hands suddenly appeared
+aloft, bright flashes darted through the clear air.  Achillas, the
+general, dealt blows with his dagger as if he were skilled in murder.
+The Imperator's stalwart figure sank forward.  The freedman supported
+him.
+
+"Then shouts arose, here a cry of fury, yonder a wail of grief, and,
+rising above all, a woman's shriek of anguish.  It came from the lips of
+Cornelia, the murdered man's wife.  Shouts of applause from the King's
+camp followed, then the blast of a trumpet; the Egyptians drew back from
+the shore.  The scarlet cloak again appeared.  Septimius, bearing in his
+hand a bleeding head, went towards it and held the ghastly trophy aloft.
+
+"The royal boy gazed into the dull eyes of the victim, who had guided the
+destinies of many a battlefield, of Rome, of two quarters of the globe.
+The sight was probably too terrible for the child upon the throne, for he
+averted his head.  The ship moved away from the land, the Egyptians
+formed into ranks and marched off.  Achillas cleansed his blood-stained
+hands in the sea-water.  The freedman beside him washed his master's
+headless trunk.  The general shrugged his shoulders as the faithful
+fellow heaped reproaches on him."
+
+Here Archibius paused, drawing a long breath.  Then he continued more
+calmly:
+
+"Achillas did not lead the troops back to Alexandria, but eastward,
+towards Pelusium, as I learned later.
+
+"My brother and I stood on the rocky edge of the ravine.  It was long ere
+either spoke.  A cloud of dust concealed the King and his body-guard, the
+sails of the galley disappeared.  Twilight closed in, and Straton pointed
+westward towards Alexandria.  Then the sun set.  Red! red!  It seemed as
+if a torrent of blood was pouring over the city.
+
+"Night followed.  A scanty fire was glimmering on the strand.  Where had
+the wood been gathered in this desert?  How had it been kindled?  A
+wrecked, mouldering boat had lain close beside the scene of the murder.
+The freedman and his companions had broken it up and fed the flames with
+withered boughs, the torn garments of the murdered man, and dry sea-weed.
+A blaze soon rose, and a body was carefully placed upon the wretched
+funeral pyre.  It was the corpse of the great Pompey.  One of the
+Imperator's veterans aided the faithful servant."
+
+Here Archibius sank back again among the cushions, adding in explanation:
+
+"Cordus, the man's name was Servius Cordus.  He fared well later.  The
+Queen provided for him.  The others?  Fate overtook them all soon enough.
+Theodotus was condemned by Brutus to a torturing death.  Amid his loud
+shrieks of agony one of Pompey's veterans shouted, 'Dead dogs no longer
+bite, but they howl when dying!'
+
+"It was worthy of Caesar that he averted his face in horror from the head
+of his enemy, which Theodotus sent to him.  Pothinus, too, vainly awaited
+the reward of his infamous deed.
+
+"Julius Caesar had cast anchor before Alexandria shortly after the King's
+return.  Not until after his arrival in Egypt did he learn how Pompey had
+been received there.  You know that he remained nine months.  How often I
+have heard it said that Cleopatra understood how to chain him here!  This
+is both true and false.  He was obliged to stay half a year; the
+following three months he did indeed give to the woman whom he loved.
+Ay, the heart of the man of fifty-four had again opened to a great
+passion.  Like all wounds, those inflicted by the arrows of Eros heal
+more slowly when youth lies behind the stricken one.  It was not only the
+eyes and the senses which attracted a couple so widely separated by
+years, but far more the mental characteristics of both.  Two winged
+intellects had met.  The genius of one had recognized that of the other.
+The highest type of manhood had met perfect womanhood.  They could not
+fail to attract each other.  I expected it; for Cleopatra had long
+watched breathlessly the flight of this eagle who soared so far above the
+others, and she was strong enough to keep at his side.
+
+"We succeeded in joining Cleopatra, and heard that, spite of the
+hostility of our citizens, Caesar had occupied the palace of the
+Ptolemies and was engaged in restoring order.
+
+"We knew in what way Pothinus, Achillas, and Arsinoe would seek to
+influence him.  Cleopatra had good reason to fear that her foes might
+deliver Egypt unconditionally to Rome, if Caesar should leave the reins
+of government in their hands and shut her out.  She had cause to dread
+this, but she also had the courage to act in person in her own behalf.
+
+"The point now was to bring her into the city, the palace-nay, into
+direct communication with the dictator.  Children tell the tale of the
+strong man who bore Cleopatra in a sack through the palace portals.  It
+was not a sack which concealed her, but a Syrian carpet.  The strong man
+was my brother Straton.  I went first, to secure a free passage.
+
+"Julius Caesar and she saw and found each other.  Fate merely drew the
+conclusion which must result from such premises.  Never have I seen
+Cleopatra happier, more exalted in mind and heart, yet she was menaced on
+all sides by serious perils.  It required all the military genius of
+Caesar to conquer the fierce hostility which he encountered here.  It was
+this, not the thrall of Cleopatra, I repeat, which first bound him to
+Egypt.  What would have prevented him--as he did later--from taking the
+object of his love to Rome, had it been possible at that time?  But this
+was not the case.  The Alexandrians provided for that.
+
+"He had recognized the flute-player's will, nay, had granted more to the
+royal house than could have been given to the former.  Cleopatra and her
+brother-husband, Dionysus, were to share the government, and he also
+bestowed on Arsinoe and her youngest brother the island of Cyprus, which
+had been wrested from their uncle Ptolemy by the republic.  Rome was, of
+course, to remain the guardian of the brothers and sisters.
+
+"This arrangement was unendurable to Pothinus and the former rulers of
+the state.  Cleopatra as Queen, and Rome--that is Caesar, the dictator,
+her friend, as guardian--meant their removal from power, their
+destruction, and they resisted violently.
+
+"The Egyptians and even the Alexandrians supported them.  The young King
+hated nothing more than the yoke of the unloved sister, who was so
+greatly his superior.  Caesar had come with a force by no means equal to
+theirs, and it might be possible to draw the mighty general into a snare.
+They fought with all the power at their command, with such passionate
+eagerness, that the dictator had never been nearer succumbing to peril.
+But Cleopatra certainly did not paralyze his strength and cautious
+deliberation.  No!  He had never been greater; never proved the power of
+his genius so magnificently.  And against what superior power, what
+hatred he contended!  I myself saw the young King, when he heard that
+Cleopatra had succeeded in entering the palace and meeting Caesar, rush
+into the street, fairly crazed by rage, tear the diadem from his head,
+hurl it on the pavement, and shriek to the passers-by that he was
+betrayed, until Caesar's soldiers forced him back into the palace, and
+dispersed the mob.
+
+"Arsinoe had received more than she could venture to expect; but she was
+again most deeply angered.  After Caesar's entry into the palace, she had
+received him as Queen, and hoped everything from his favour.  Then her
+hated sister had come and, as so often happened, she was forgotten for
+Cleopatra's sake.
+
+"This  was  too much,  and with  the  eunuch Ganymedes, her confidant,
+and--as I have already said--an able warrior, she left the palace and
+joined the dictator's foes.
+
+"There were severe battles on land and sea; in the streets of the city,
+for the drinkable water excavated by the foe; and against the
+conflagration which destroyed part of the Bruchium and the library of the
+museum.  Yet, half dead with thirst, barely escaped from drowning,
+threatened on all sides by fierce hatred, he stood firm, and remained
+victor also in the open field, after the young King had placed himself at
+the head of the Egyptians and collected an army.
+
+"You know that the boy was drowned in the flight.
+
+"In battle and mortal peril, amid blood and the clank of arms, Caesar and
+Cleopatra spent half a year ere they were permitted to pluck the fruit of
+their common labour.  The dictator now made her Queen of Egypt, and gave
+her, as co-regent, her youngest brother, a boy not half her own age.  To
+Arsinoe he granted the life she had forfeited, but sent her to Italy.
+
+"Peace followed the victory.  Now, it is true, grave duties must have
+summoned the statesman back to Rome, but he tarried three full months
+longer.
+
+"Whoever knows the life of the ambitious Julius, and is aware what this
+delay might have cost him, may well strike his brow with his hand, and
+ask, 'Is it true and possible that he used this precious time to take a
+trip with the woman he loved up the Nile, to the island of Isis, which is
+so dear to the Queen, to the extreme southern frontier of the country?'
+Yet it was so, and I myself went in the second ship, and not only saw
+them together, but more than once shared their banquets and their
+conversation.  It was giving and taking, forcing down and elevating, a
+succession of discords, not unpleasant to hear, because experience taught
+that they would finally terminate in the most beautiful harmony.  It was
+a festal day for all the senses."
+
+"I imagine the whole Nile journey," interrupted Barine, "to be like the
+fairy voyage, when the purple silk sails of Cleopatra's galley bore
+Antony along the Cydnus."
+
+"No, no," replied Archibius, "she first learned from Antony the art of
+filling this earthly existence with fleeting pleasures.  Caesar demanded
+more.  Her intellect offered him the highest enjoyment."
+
+Here he hesitated.
+
+"True, the skill with which, to please Antony, she daily offered him for
+years fresh charms for every sense, was not a matter of accident."
+
+"And this," cried Barine, "this was undertaken by the woman who had
+recognized the chief good in peace of mind!"
+
+"Ay," replied Archibius thoughtfully, "yet this was the inevitable
+result.  Pleasure had been the young girl's object in life.  Ere passion
+awoke in her soul, peace of mind was the chief good she knew.  When the
+hour arrived that this proved unattainable, the firmly rooted yearning
+for happiness still remained the purpose of her existence.  My father
+would have been wiser to take her to the Stoa and impress it upon her
+that, if life must have a goal, it should be only to live in accordance
+with the sensibly arranged course of the world, and in harmony with one's
+own nature.  He should have taught her to derive happiness from virtue.
+He should have stamped goodness upon the soul of the future Queen as the
+fundamental law of her being.  He omitted to do this, because in his
+secluded life he had succeeded in finding the happiness which the master
+promises to his disciples.  From Athens to Cyrene, from Epicurus to
+Aristippus, is but a short step, and Cleopatra took it when she forgot
+that the master was far from recognizing the chief good in the enjoyment
+of individual pleasure.  The happiness of Epicurus was not inferior to
+that of Zeus, if he had only barley bread and water to appease his hunger
+and thirst.
+
+"Yet she still considered herself a follower of Epicurus, and later, when
+Antony had gone to the Parthian war, and she was a long time alone, she
+once more began to strive for freedom from pain and peace of mind, but
+the state, her children, the marriage of Antony--who had long been her
+lover--to Octavia, the yearning of her own heart, Anubis, magic, and the
+Egyptian teachings of the life after death, above all, the burning
+ambition, the unresting desire to be loved, where she herself loved, to
+be first among the foremost--"
+
+Here he was interrupted by the messenger, who informed him that the ship
+was ready.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Archibius had buried himself so deeply in the past that it was several
+minutes ere he could bring himself back to the present.  When he did so,
+he hastily discussed with the two ladies the date of their departure.
+
+It was hard for Berenike to leave her injured brother, and Barine longed
+to see Dion once more before the journey.  Both were reluctant to quit
+Alexandria ere decisive news had arrived from the army and the fleet.  So
+they requested a few days' delay; but Archibius cut them short, requiring
+them, with a resolution which transformed the amiable friend into a stern
+master, to be ready for the journey the next day at sunset.  His Nile
+boat would await them at the Agathodaemon harbour on Lake Mareotis, and
+his travelling chariot would convey them thither, with as much luggage
+and as many female slaves as they desired to take with them.  Then
+softening his tone, he briefly reminded the ladies of the great
+annoyances to which a longer stay would expose them, excused his rigour
+on the plea of haste, pressed the hands of the mother and daughter, and
+retired without heeding Barine, who called after him, yet could desire
+nothing save to plead for a longer delay.  The carriage bore him swiftly
+to the great harbour.
+
+The waxing moon was mirrored like a silver column, now wavering and
+tremulous, now rent by the waves tossing under a strong southeast wind,
+and illumined the warm autumn night.  The sea outside was evidently
+running high.  This was apparent by the motion of the vessels lying at
+anchor in the angle which the shore in front of the superb Temple of
+Poseidon formed with the Choma.  This was a tongue of land stretched like
+a finger into the sea, on whose point stood a little palace which
+Cleopatra, incited by a chance remark of Antony, had had built there to
+surprise him.
+
+Another, of white marble, glimmered in the moonlight from the island of
+Antirrhodus; and farther still a blazing fire illumined the darkness.
+Its flames flared from the top of the famous lighthouse on the island of
+Pharos at the entrance of the harbour, and, swayed to and fro by the
+wind, steeped the horizon and the outer edge of the dark water in the
+harbour with moving masses of light which irradiated the gloomy distance,
+sometimes faintly, anon more brilliantly.
+
+Spite of the late hour, the harbour was full of bustle, though the wind
+often blew the men's cloaks over their heads, and the women were obliged
+to gather their garments closely around them.  True, at this hour
+commerce had ceased; but many had gone to the port in search of news, or
+even to greet before others the first ship returning from the victorious
+fleet; for that Antony had defeated Octavianus in a great battle was
+deemed certain.
+
+Guards were watching the harbour, and a band of Syrian horsemen had just
+passed from the barracks in the southern part of the Lochias to the
+Temple of Poseidon.
+
+Here the galleys lay at anchor, not in the harbour of Eunostus, which was
+separated from the other by the broad, bridge-like dam of the
+Heptastadium, that united the city and the island of Pharos.  Near it
+were the royal palaces and the arsenal, and any tidings must first reach
+this spot.  The other harbour was devoted to commerce, but, in order to
+prevent the spread of false reports, newly arrived ships were forbidden
+to enter.
+
+True, even at the great harbour, news could scarcely be expected, for a
+chain stretching from the end of the Pharos to a cliff directly opposite
+in the Alveus Steganus, closed the narrow opening.  But it could be
+raised if a state galley arrived with an important message, and this was
+expected by the throng on the shore.
+
+Doubtless many came from banquets, cookshops, taverns, or the nocturnal
+meeting-places of the sects that practised the magic arts, yet the weight
+of anxious expectation seemed to check the joyous activity, and wherever
+Archibius glanced he beheld eager, troubled faces.  The wind forced many
+to bow their heads, and, wherever they turned their eyes, flags and
+clouds of dust were fluttering in the air, increasing the confusion.
+
+As the galley put off from the shore, and the flutes summoned the oarsmen
+to their toil, its owner felt so disheartened that he did not even
+venture to hope that he was going in quest of good tidings.
+
+Long-vanished days had, as it were, been called from the grave, and many
+a scene from the past rose before him as he lay among the cushions on the
+poop, gazing at the sky, across which dark, swiftly sailing clouds
+sometimes veiled the stars and again revealed them.
+
+"How much we can conceal by words without being guilty of falsehood!"
+he murmured, while recalling what he had told the women.
+
+Ay, he had been Cleopatra's confidant in his early youth, but how he had
+loved her, how, even as a boy, he had been subject to her, body and soul!
+He had allowed her to see it, displayed, confessed it; and she had
+accepted it as her rightful due.  She had repelled with angry pride his
+only attempt to clasp her, in his overflowing affection, in his arms; but
+to show his love for her is a crime for which the loftiest woman pardons
+the humblest suitor, and a few hours later Cleopatra had met him with the
+old affectionate familiarity.
+
+Again he recalled the torments which he had endured when compelled to
+witness how completely she yielded to the passion which drew her to
+Antony.  At that time the Roman had merely swept through her life like a
+swiftly passing meteor, but many things betrayed that she did not forget
+him; and while Archibius had seen without pain her love for the great
+Caesar bud and grow, the torturing feeling of jealousy again stirred in
+his heart, though youth was past, when at Tarsus, on the river Cydnus,
+she renewed the bond which still united her to Antony.
+
+Now his hair had grown grey, and though nothing had clouded his
+friendship for the Queen, though he had always been ready to serve her,
+this foolish feeling had not been banished, and again and again mastered
+his whole being.  He by no means undervalued Antony's attractions; but he
+saw his foibles no less clearly.  All in all, whenever he thought of this
+pair, he felt like the lover of art who entrusts the finest gem in his
+collection to a rich man who knows not how to prize its real value, and
+puts it in the wrong place.
+
+Yet he wished the Roman the most brilliant victory; for his defeat would
+have been Cleopatra's also, and would she endure the consequences of such
+a disaster?
+
+The galley was approaching the flickering circle of light at the foot of
+the Pharos, and Archibius was just producing the token which was to
+secure the lifting of the chain, when his name echoed through the
+stillness of the night.
+
+It was Dion hailing him from a boat tossing near the mouth of the harbour
+on the waves surging in from the turbulent sea.  He had recognized
+Archibius's swift galley from the bust of Epicurus which was illumined by
+the light of the lantern in the prow.  Cleopatra had had it placed upon
+the ship which, by her orders, had been built for her friend.
+
+Dion now desired to join him, and was soon standing on the deck at his
+side.  He had landed on the island of Pharos, and entered a sailors'
+tavern to learn what was passing.  But no one could give him any definite
+information, for the wind was blowing from the land and allowed large
+vessels to approach the Egyptian coast only by the aid of oars.  Shortly
+before the breeze had veered from south to southeast, and an experienced
+Rhodian would "never again lift cup of wine to his lips" if it did not
+blow from the north to-morrow or the day after.  Then ships bearing news
+might reach Alexandria by the dozen--that is, the greybeard added with a
+defiant glance at the daintily clad city gentleman--if they were allowed
+to pass the Pharos or go through the Poseidon basin into the Eunostus.
+He had fancied that he saw sails on the horizon at sunset, but the
+swiftest galley became a hedgehog when the wind blew against its prow,
+and even checked the oars.
+
+Others, too, had fancied that they had seen sails, and Dion would gladly
+have gone out to sea to investigate, but he was entirely alone in a frail
+hired boat, and this would not have been permitted to pass beyond the
+harbour.  The expectation that every road would be open to Archibius had
+not deceived him, and the harbour chain was drawn aside for the Epicurus.
+With swelling sails, urged by the strong wind blowing from the southeast,
+its keel cut the rolling waves.
+
+Soon a faint, tremulous light appeared in the north.  It must be a ship;
+and though the helmsman in the tavern at Pharos, who looked as though he
+had not always steered peaceful trading-vessels, had spoken of some which
+did not let the ships they caught pass unscathed, the men on the well-
+equipped, stately Epicurus did not fear pirates, especially as morning
+was close at hand, and it had just shot by two clumsy men-of-war which
+had been sent out by the Regent.
+
+The strong wind filled every sail, rowing would have been useless labour,
+and the light in front seemed to be coming nearer.
+
+A wan glimmer was already beginning to brighten the distant east when the
+Epicurus approached the vessel with the light, but it seemed to wish to
+avoid the Alexandrian, and turned suddenly towards the northeast.
+
+Archibius and Dion now discussed whether it would be worth while to
+pursue the fugitive.  It was a small ship, which, as the dark masses of
+clouds became bordered with golden edges, grew more distinct and appeared
+to be a Cilician pirate of the smallest size.
+
+As to its crew, the tried sailors on the Epicurus, a much larger vessel,
+which lacked no means of defence, showed no signs of alarm, the helmsman
+especially, who had served in the fleet of Sextus Pompey, and had sprung
+upon the deck of many a pirate ship.
+
+Archibius deemed it foolish to commence a conflict unnecessarily.  But
+Dion was in the mood to brave every peril.
+
+If life and death were at stake, so much the better!
+
+He had informed his friend of Iras's fears.
+
+The fleet must be in a critical situation, and if the little Cilician had
+had nothing to conceal she would not have shunned the Epicurus.
+
+It was worth while to learn what had induced her to turn back just before
+reaching the harbour.  The warlike helmsman also desired to give chase,
+and Archibius yielded, for the uncertainty was becoming more and more
+unbearable.  Dion's soul was deeply burdened too.  He could not banish
+Barine's image; and since Archibius had told him that he had found her
+resolved to shut her house against guests, and how willingly she had
+accepted his invitation to the country, again and again he pondered over
+the question what should prevent his marrying the quiet daughter of a
+distinguished artist, whom he loved?
+
+Archibius had remarked that Barine would be glad to greet her most
+intimate friends--among whom he was included--in her quiet country.
+
+Dion did not doubt this, but he was equally sure that the greeting would
+bind him to her and rub him of his liberty, perhaps forever.  But would
+the Alexandrian possess the lofty gift of freedom, if the Romans ruled
+his city as they governed Carthage or Corinth?  If Cleopatra were
+defeated, and Egypt became a Roman province, a share in the business of
+the council, which was still addressed as "Macedonian men," and which was
+dear to Dion, could offer nothing but humiliation, and no longer afford
+satisfaction.
+
+If a pirate's spear put an end to bondage under the Roman yoke and to
+this unworthy yearning and wavering, so much the better!
+
+On this autumn morning, under this grey sky, from which sank a damp,
+light fog, with these hopes and fears in his heart, he beheld in both the
+present and future naught save shadows.
+
+The Epicurus overtook and captured the fugitive.  The slight resistance
+the vessel might have offered was relinquished when Archibius's helmsman
+shouted that the Epicurus did not belong to the royal navy, and had come
+in search of news.
+
+The Cilician took in his oars; Archibius and Dion entered the vessel and
+questioned the commander.
+
+He was an old, weather-beaten seaman, who would give no information until
+after he had learned what his pursuers really desired.
+
+At first he protested that he had witnessed on the Peloponnesian coast
+a great victory gained by the Egyptian galleys over those commanded
+by Octavianus; but the queries of the two friends involved him in
+contradictions, and he then pretended to know nothing, and to have
+spoken of a victory merely to please the Alexandrian gentlemen.
+
+Dion, accompanied by a few men from the crew of the Epicurus, searched
+the ship, and found in the little cabin a man bound and gagged, guarded
+by one of the pirates.
+
+It was a sailor from the Pontus, who spoke only his native language.
+Nothing intelligible could be obtained from him; but there were important
+suggestions in a letter, found in a chest in the cabin, among clothing,
+jewels, and other stolen articles.
+
+The letter-Dion could scarcely believe his own eyes-was addressed to his
+friend, the architect Gorgias.  The pirate, being ignorant of writing,
+had not opened it, but Dion tore the wax from the cord without delay.
+Aristocrates, the Greek rhetorician, who had accompanied Antony to the
+war, had written from Taenarum, in the south of the Peloponnesus,
+requesting the architect, in the general's name, to set the little palace
+at the end of the Choma in order, and surround it on the land side with a
+high wall.
+
+No door would be necessary.  Communication with the dwelling could be had
+by water.  He must do his utmost to complete the work speedily.
+
+The friends gazed at each other in astonishment, as they read this
+commission.
+
+What could induce Antony to give so strange an order?  How did it fall
+into the hands of the pirates?
+
+This must be understood.
+
+When Archibius, whose gentle nature, so well adapted to inspire
+confidence, quickly won friends, burst into passionate excitement, the
+unexpected transition rarely failed to produce its effect, especially as
+his tall, strong figure and marked features made a still more threatening
+impression.
+
+Even the captain gazed at him with fear, when the Alexandrian threatened
+to recall all his promises of consideration and mercy if the pirate
+withheld even the smallest trifle connected with this letter.  The man
+speedily perceived that it would be useless to make false statements;
+for the captive from Pontus, though unable to speak Greek, understood the
+language, and either confirmed every remark of the other with vehement
+gestures, or branded it in the same manner as false.
+
+Thus it was discovered that the pirate craft, in company with a much
+larger vessel, owned by a companion, had lurked behind the promontory of
+Crete for a prize.  They had neither seen nor heard aught concerning the
+two fleets, when a dainty galley, "the finest and fleetest that ever
+sailed in the sea"--it was  probably the "Swallow," Antony's despatch-
+boat-had run into the snare.  To capture her was an easy task.  The
+pirates had divided their booty, but the lion's share of goods and men
+had fallen to the larger ship.
+
+A pouch containing letters and money had been taken from a gentleman of
+aristocratic appearance--probably Antony's messenger--who had received a
+severe wound, died, and had been flung into the sea.  The former had been
+used to light the fire, and only the one addressed to the architect
+remained.
+
+The captured sailors had said that the fleet of Octavianus had defeated
+Cleopatra's, and the Queen had fled, but that the land forces were still
+untouched, and might yet decide the conflict in Antony's favour.  The
+pirate protested that he did not know the position of the army--it might
+be at Taenarum, whence the captured ship came.  It was a sin and a shame,
+but his own crew had set it on fire, and it sank before his eyes.
+
+This report seemed to be true, yet the Acharnanian coast, where the
+battle was said to have been fought, was so far from the southern point
+of the Peloponnesus, whence Antony's letter came, that it must have been
+written during the flight.  One thing appeared to be certain--the fleet
+had been vanquished and dispersed on the 2d or 3d of September.
+
+Where would the Queen go now?  What had become of the magnificent galleys
+which had accompanied her to the battle?
+
+Even the contrary winds would not have detained them so long, for they
+were abundantly supplied with rowers.
+
+Had Octavianus taken possession of them?  Were they burned or sunk?
+
+But in that case how had Antony reached Taenarum?
+
+The pirate could give no answer to these questions, which stirred both
+heart and brain.  Why should he conceal what had reached his ears?
+
+At last Archibius ordered the property stolen from Antony's ship, and the
+liberated sailor to be brought on board the Epicurus, but the pirate was
+obliged to swear not to remain in the waters between Crete and
+Alexandria.  Then he was suffered to pursue his way unmolested.
+
+This adventure had occupied many hours, and the return against the wind
+was slow; for, during the chase the Epicurus had been carried by the
+strong breeze far out to sea.  Yet, when still several miles from the
+mouth of the harbour at the Pharos, it was evident that the Rhodian
+helmsman in the island tavern had predicted truly; for the weather
+changed with unusual speed, and the wind now blew from the north.  The
+sea fairly swarmed with ships, some belonging to the royal fleet, some to
+curious Alexandrians, who had sailed out to take a survey.  Archibius and
+Dion had spent a sleepless night and day.  The heavy air, pervaded by a
+fine mist, had grown cool.  After refreshing themselves by a repast, they
+paced up and down the deck of the Epicurus.
+
+Few words were exchanged, and they wrapped their cloaks closer around
+them.  Both had quaffed large draughts of the fiery wine with which the
+Epicurus was well supplied, but it would not warm them.  Even the fire,
+blazing brightly in the richly furnished cabin, could scarcely do so.
+
+Archibius's thoughts lingered with his beloved Queen, and his vivid power
+of imagination conjured before his mind everything which could distress
+her.  No possible chance, not even the most terrible, was forgotten, and
+when he saw her sinking in the ship, stretching her beautiful arms
+imploringly towards him, to whom she had so long turned in every perilous
+position, when he beheld her a captive in the presence of the hostile,
+cold-hearted Octavianus, the blood seemed to freeze in his veins.  At
+last he dropped his felt mantle and, groaning aloud, struck his brow with
+his clenched hand.  He had fancied her walking with gold chains on her
+slender wrists before the victor's four-horse chariot, and heard the
+exulting shouts of the Roman populace.
+
+That would have been the most terrible of all.  To pursue this train of
+thought was beyond the endurance of the faithful friend, and Dion turned
+in surprise as he heard him sob and saw the tears which bedewed his face.
+
+His own heart was heavy enough, but he knew his companion's warm devotion
+to the Queen; so, passing his arm around his shoulder, he entreated him
+to maintain that peace of soul and mind which he had so often admired.
+In the most critical situations he had seen him stand high above them, as
+yonder man who fed the flames on the summit of the Pharos stood above the
+wild surges of the sea.  If he would reflect over what had happened as
+dispassionately as usual, he could not fail to see that Antony must be
+free and in a position to guide his own future, since he directed the
+palace in the Choma to be put in order.  He did not understand about the
+wall, but perhaps he was bringing home some distinguished captive whom he
+wished to debar from all communication with the city.  It might prove
+that everything was far better than they feared, and they would yet smile
+at these grievous anxieties.  His heart, too, was heavy, for he wished
+the Queen the best fortune, not only for her own sake, but because with
+her and her successful resistance to the greed of Rome was connected the
+liberty of Alexandria.
+
+"My love and anxiety, like yours," he concluded, "have ever been given
+to her, the sovereign of this country.  The world will be desolate, life
+will no longer be worth living, if the iron foot of Rome crushes our
+independence and freedom."  The words had sounded cordial and sincere,
+and Archibius followed Dion's counsel.  Calm thought convinced him that
+nothing had yet happened which compelled belief in the worst result; and,
+as one who needs consolation often finds relief in comforting another,
+Archibius cheered his own heart by representing to his younger friend
+that, even if Octavianus were the victor and should deprive Egypt of her
+independence, he would scarcely venture to take from the citizens of
+Alexandria the free control of their own affairs.  Then he explained to
+Dion that, as a young, resolute, independent man, he might render himself
+doubly useful if it were necessary to guard the endangered liberty of the
+city, and told him how many beautiful things life still held in store.
+
+His voice expressed anxious tenderness for his young friend.  No one had
+spoken thus to Dion since his father's death.
+
+The Epicurus would soon reach the mouth of the harbour, and after landing
+he must again leave Archibius.
+
+The decisive hour which often unites earnest men more firmly than many
+previous years had come to both.  They had opened their hearts to each
+other.  Dion had withheld only the one thing which, at the first sight of
+the houses in the city, filled his soul with fresh uneasiness.
+
+It was long since he had sought counsel from others.  Many who had asked
+his, had left him with thanks, to do exactly the opposite of what he had
+advised, though it would have been to their advantage.  More than once
+he, too, had done the same, but now a powerful impulse urged him to
+confide in Archibius.  He knew Barine, and wished her the greatest
+happiness.  Perhaps it would be wise to let another person, who was
+kindly disposed, consider what his own heart so eagerly demanded and
+prudence forbade.
+
+Hastily forming his resolution, he again turned to his friend, saying:
+
+"You have shown yourself a father to me.  Imagine that I am indeed your
+son, and, as such wished to confess that a woman had become dear to my
+heart, and to ask whether you would be glad to greet her as a daughter."
+
+Here Archibius interrupted him with the exclamation: "A ray of light
+amid all this gloom?  Grasp what you have too long neglected as soon as
+possible!  It befits a good citizen to marry.  The Greek does not attain
+full manhood till he becomes husband and father.  If I have remained
+unwedded, there was a special reason for it, and how often I have envied
+the cobbler whom I saw standing before his shop in the evening, holding
+his child in his arms, or the pilot, to whom large and small hands were
+stretched in greeting when he returned home!  When I enter my dwelling
+only my dogs rejoice.  But you, whose beautiful palace stands empty,
+to whose proud family it is due that you should provide for its
+continuance--"
+
+"That is just what brings me into a state of indecision, which is usually
+foreign to my nature," interrupted Dion.  "You know me and my position in
+the world, and you have also known from her earliest childhood the woman
+to whom I allude."
+
+"Iras?"  asked  his  companion, hesitatingly.  His sister, Charmian, had
+told him of the love felt by the Queen's younger waiting-woman.
+
+But Dion eagerly denied this, adding  I am speaking of Barine, the
+daughter of your dead friend Leonax.  I love her, yet my pride is
+sensitive, and I know that it will extend to my future wife.  The
+contemptuous glances which others might cast at her I should scorn,
+for I know her worth.  Surely you remember my mother: she was a very
+different woman.  Her house, her child, the slaves, her loom, were
+everything to her.  She rigidly exacted from other women the chaste
+reserve which was a marked trait in her own character.  Yet she was
+gentle, and loved me, her only son, beyond aught else.  I think she would
+have opened her arms to Barine, had she believed that she was necessary
+to my happiness.  But would the young beauty, accustomed to gay
+intercourse with distinguished men, have been able to submit to her
+demands?  When I consider that she cannot help taking into her married
+life the habit of being surrounded and courted; when I think that the
+imprudence of a woman accustomed to perfect freedom might set idle
+tongues in motion, and cast a shadow upon the radiant purity of my name;
+when I even--" and he raised his clenched right hand.  But Archibius
+answered soothingly:
+
+"That anxiety is groundless if Barine warmly and joyfully gives you her
+whole heart.  It is a sunny, lovable, true woman's heart, and therefore
+capable of a great love.  If she bestows it on you--and I believe she
+will--go and offer sacrifices in your gratitude; for the immortals
+desired your happiness when they guided your choice to her and not to
+Iras, my own sister's child.  If you were really my son, I would now
+exclaim, 'You could not bring me a dearer daughter, if--I repeat it--
+if you are sure of her love.'"
+
+Dion gazed into vacancy a short time, and then cried firmly: "I am!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+The Epicurus anchored before the Temple of Poseidon.  The crew had been
+ordered to keep silence, though they knew nothing, except that a letter
+from Antony, commanding the erection of a wall, had been found on board
+the pirate.  This might be regarded as a good omen, for people do not
+think of building unless they anticipate a time of peace.
+
+The light rain had ceased, but the wind blew more strongly from the
+north, and the air had grown cool.  A dense throng still covered the quay
+from the southern end of the Heptastadium to the promontory of Lochias.
+The strongest pressure was between the peninsula of the Choma and the
+Sebasteum; for this afforded a view of the sea, and the first tidings
+must reach the residence of the Regent, which was connected with the
+palace.
+
+A hundred contradictory rumours had been in circulation that morning; and
+when, at the third hour in the afternoon, the Epicurus arrived, it was
+surrounded by a dense multitude eager to hear what news the ship had
+brought from without.
+
+Other vessels shared the same fate, but none could give reliable tidings.
+
+Two swift galleys from the royal fleet reported meeting a Samian trireme,
+which had given news of a great victory gained by Antony on the land and
+Cleopatra on the sea, and, as men are most ready to believe what they
+desire, throngs of exulting men and women moved to and fro along the
+shore, strengthening by their confidence many a timorous spirit.  Prudent
+people, who had regarded the long delay of the first ships of the fleet
+with anxiety, had opened their ears to the tales of evil, and looked
+forward to the future with uneasiness.  But they avoided giving
+expression to their fears, for the overseer of an establishment for
+gold embroidery, who had ventured to warn the people against premature
+rejoicing, had limped home badly beaten, and two other pessimists who had
+been flung in the sea had just been dragged out dripping wet.
+
+Nor could the multitude be blamed for this confidence; for at the
+Serapeum, the theatre of Dionysus, the lofty pylons of the Sebasteum, the
+main door of the museum, in front of the entrance of the palace in the
+Bruchium, and before the fortress-like palaces in the Lochias, triumphal
+arches had been erected, adorned with gods of victory and trophies
+hastily constructed of plaster, inscriptions of congratulations and
+thanks to the deities, garlands of foliage and flowers.  The wreathing of
+the Egyptian pylons and obelisks, the principal temple, and the favourite
+statues in the city had been commenced during the night.  The last
+touches were now being given to the work.
+
+Gorgias, like his friend Dion, had not closed his eyes since the night
+before; for he had had charge of all the decorations of the Bruchium,
+where one superb building adjoined another.
+
+Sleep had also fled from the couches of the occupants of the Sebasteum,
+the royal palace where Iras lived during the absence of the Queen, and
+the practorium, facing its southern front, which contained the official
+residence of the Regent.
+
+When Archibius was conducted to the Queen's waiting-woman, her appearance
+fairly startled him.  She had been his guest in Kanopus only the day
+before yesterday, and how great was the alteration within this brief
+time!  Her oval face seemed to have lengthened, the features to have
+grown sharper; and this woman of seven-and-twenty years, who had hitherto
+retained all the charms of youth, appeared suddenly to have aged a
+decade.  There was a feverish excitement in her manner, as, holding out
+her hand to her uncle, in greeting, she exclaimed hastily, "You, too,
+bring no good tidings?"
+
+"Nor any evil ones," he answered quietly.  "But, child, I do not like
+your appearance--the dark circles under your keen eyes.  You have had
+news which rouses your anxiety?"
+
+"Worse than that," she answered in a low tone.
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Read!" gasped  Iras, her lips and nostrils quivering as she handed
+Archibius a small tablet.  With a gesture of haste very unusual in him,
+he snatched it from her hand and, as his eyes ran over the words traced
+upon it, every vestige of colour vanished from his cheeks and lips.
+
+They were written by Cleopatra's own hand, and contained the following
+lines:
+
+"The naval battle was lost--and by my fault.  The land forces might
+still save us, but not under his command.  He is with me, uninjured, but
+apparently exhausted; like a different being, bereft of courage, listless
+as if utterly crushed.  I foresee the beginning of the end.  As soon as
+this reaches you, arrange to have some unpretending litters ready for us
+every evening at sunset.  Make the people believe that we have conquered
+until trustworthy intelligence arrives concerning the fate of Canidius
+and the army.  When you kiss the children in my name, be very tender with
+them.  Who knows how soon they may be orphaned?  They already have an
+unhappy mother; may they be spared the memory of a cowardly one!  Trust
+no one except those whom I left in authority, and Archibius, not even
+Caesarion or Antyllus.  Provide for having every one whose aid may be
+valuable to me within reach when I come.  I cannot close with the
+familiar 'Rejoice'--the 'Fresh Courage' placed on many a tombstone seems
+more appropriate.  You who did not envy me in my happiness will help me
+to bear misfortune.  Epicurus, who believes that the gods merely watch
+the destiny of men inactively from their blissful heights, is right.
+Were it otherwise, how could the love and loyalty which cleave to the
+hapless, defeated woman, be repaid with anguish of heart and tears?  Yet
+continue to love her."
+
+Archibius, pale and silent, let the tablet fall.  It was long ere he
+gasped hoarsely: "I foresaw it; yet now that it is here--" His voice
+failed, and violent, tearless sobs shook his powerful frame.
+
+Sinking on a couch he buried his face amid the cushions.
+
+Iras gazed at the strong man and shook her head.  She, too, loved the
+Queen; the news had brought tears to her eyes also; but even while she
+wept, a host of plans coping with this disaster had darted through her
+restless brain.  A few minutes after the arrival of the message of
+misfortune she had consulted with the members of Cleopatra's council, and
+adopted measures for sustaining the people's belief in the naval victory.
+
+What was she, the delicate, by no means courageous girl, compared to this
+man of iron strength who, she was well aware, had braved the greatest
+perils in the service of the Queen?  Yet there he lay with his face
+hidden in the pillows as if utterly overwhelmed.
+
+Did a woman's soul rebound more quickly after being crushed beneath the
+burdens of the heaviest suffering, or was hers of a special character,
+and her slender body the casket of a hero's nature?
+
+She had reason to believe so when she recalled how the Regent and the
+Keeper of the Seal had received the terrible news.  They had rushed
+frantically up and down the vast hall as if desperate; but Mardion the
+eunuch had little manhood, and Zeno was a characterless old author who
+had won the Queen's esteem, and the high office which he occupied solely
+by the vivid power of imagination, that enabled him constantly to devise
+new exhibitions, amusements, and entertainments, and present them with
+magical splendour.
+
+But Archibius, the brave, circumspect counsellor and helper?
+
+His shoulders again quivered as if they had received a blow, and Iras
+suddenly remembered what she had long known, but never fully realized--
+that yonder grey-haired man loved Cleopatra, loved her as she herself
+loved Dion; and she wondered whether she would have been strong enough to
+maintain her composure if she had learned that a cruel fate threatened to
+rob him of life, liberty, and honour.
+
+Hour after hour she had vainly awaited the young Alexandrian, yet he had
+witnessed her anxiety the day before.  Had she offended him?  Was he
+detained by the spell of Didymus's granddaughter?
+
+It seemed a great wrong that, amid the unspeakably terrible misfortune
+which had overtaken her mistress, she could not refrain from thinking
+continually of Dion.  Even as his image filled her heart, Cleopatra's
+ruled her uncle's mind and soul, and she said to herself that it was not
+alone among women that love paid no heed to years, or whether the locks
+were brown or tinged with grey.
+
+But Archibius now raised himself, left the couch, passed his hand across
+his brow, and in the deep, calm tones natural to his voice, began with a
+sorrowful smile: "A man stricken by an arrow leaves the fray to have his
+wound bandaged.  The surgeon has now finished his task.  I ought to have
+spared you this pitiable spectacle, child.  But I am again ready for the
+battle.  Cleopatra's account of Antony's condition renders a piece of
+news which we have just received somewhat more intelligible."
+
+"We?"  replied Iras.  "Who was your companion?"
+
+"Dion," answered Archibius; but when he was about to describe the
+incidents of the preceding night, she interrupted him with the question
+whether Barine had consented to leave the city.  He assented with a curt
+"Yes," but Iras assumed the manner of having expected nothing different,
+and requested him to continue his story.
+
+Archibius now related everything which they had experienced, and their
+discovery in the pirate ship.  Dion was even now on the way to carry
+Antony's order to his friend Gorgias.
+
+"Any slave might have attended to that matter equally well," Iras
+remarked in an irritated tone.  "I should think he would have more reason
+to expect trustworthy tidings here.  But that's the way with men!"
+
+Here she hesitated but, meeting an inquiring glance from her uncle, she
+went on eagerly; "Nothing, I believe, binds them more firmly to one
+another than mutual pleasure.  But that must now be over.  They will seek
+other amusements, whether with Heliodora or Thais I care not.  If the
+woman had only gone before!  When she caught young Caesarion--"
+
+"Stay, child," her uncle interrupted reprovingly.  "I know how much she
+would rejoice if Antyllus had never brought the boy to her house."
+
+"Now--because the poor deluded lad's infatuation alarms her."
+
+"No, from his first visit.  Immature boys do not suit the distinguished
+men whom she receives."
+
+"If the door is always kept open, thieves will enter the house."
+
+"She received only old acquaintances, and the friends whom they
+presented.  Her house was closed to all others.  So there was no trouble
+with thieves.  But who in Alexandria could venture to refuse admittance
+to a son of the Queen?"
+
+"There is a wide difference between quiet admittance and fanning a
+passion to madness.  Wherever a fire is burning, there has certainly been
+a spark to kindle it.  You men do not detect such women's work.  A
+glance, a pressure of the hand, even the light touch of a garment, and
+the flame blazes, where such inflammable material lies ready."
+
+"We lament the violence of the conflagration.  You are not well disposed
+towards Barine."
+
+"I care no more for her than this couch here cares for the statue of
+Mercury in the street!" exclaimed Iras, with repellent arrogance.  "There
+could be no two things in the world more utterly alien than we.  Between
+the woman whose door stands open, and me, there is nothing in common save
+our sex."
+
+"And," replied Archibius reprovingly, "many a beautiful gift which the
+gods bestowed upon her as well as upon you.  As for the open door, it was
+closed yesterday.  The thieves of whom you spoke spoiled her pleasure in
+granting hospitality.  Antyllus forced himself with noisy impetuosity
+into her house.  This made her dread still more unprecedented conduct in
+the future.  In a few hours she will be on the way to Irenia.  I am glad
+for Caesarion's sake, and still more for his mother's, whom we have
+wronged by forgetting so long for another."
+
+"To think that we should be forced to do so!" cried Iras excitedly--"
+now, at this hour, when every drop of blood, every thought of this poor
+brain should belong to the Queen!  Yet it could not be avoided.
+Cleopatra is returning to us with a heart bleeding from a hundred wounds,
+and it is terrible to think that a new arrow must strike her as soon as
+she steps upon her native soil.  You know how she loves the boy, who is
+the living image of the great man with whom she shared the highest joys
+of love.  When she learns that he, the son of Caesar, has given his young
+heart to the cast-off wife of a street orator, a woman whose home
+attracted men as ripe dates lure birds, it will be--I know--like rubbing
+salt into her fresh wounds.  Alas!  and the one sorrow will not be all.
+Antony, her husband, also found the way to Barine.  He sought her more
+than once.  You cannot know it as I do; but Charmian will tell you how
+sensitive she has become since the flower of her youthful charms--you
+don't perceive it--is losing one leaf after another.  Jealousy will
+torture her, and--I know her well--perhaps no one will ever render the
+siren a greater service than I did when I compelled her to leave the
+city."
+
+The eyes of Archibius's clever niece had glittered with such hostile
+feeling as she spoke that he thought with just anxiety of his dead
+friend's daughter.  What did not yet threaten Barine as serious danger
+Iras had the power to transform into grave peril.
+
+Dion had begged him to maintain strict secrecy; but even had he been
+permitted to speak, he would not have done so now.  From his knowledge of
+Iras's character she might be expected, if she learned that some one had
+come between her and the friend of her youth, to shrink from no means of
+spoiling her game.  He remembered the noble Macedonian maiden whom the
+Queen had begun to favour, and who was hunted to death by Iras's hostile
+intrigues.  Few were more clever, and--if she once loved--more loyal and
+devoted, more yielding, pliant, and in happy hours more bewitching, yet
+even in childhood she had preferred a winding path to a straight one.
+It seemed as if her shrewdness scorned to attain the end desired by the
+simple method lying close at hand.  How willingly his mother and his
+younger sister Charmian had cared for the slaves and nursed them when
+they were ill; nay, Charmian had gained in her Nubian maid Aniukis a
+friend who would have gone to death for her sake!  Cleopatra, too, when a
+child, had found sincere delight in taking a bouquet to his parents' sick
+old housekeeper and sitting by her bedside to shorten the time for her
+with merry talk.  She had gone to her unasked, while Iras had often been
+punished because she had made the lives of numerous slaves in her
+parents' household still harder by unreasonable harshness.  This trait
+in her character had roused her uncle's anxiety and, in after-years, her
+treatment of her inferiors had been such that he could not number her
+among the excellent of her sex.  Therefore he was the more joyfully
+surprised by the loyal, unselfish love with which she devoted herself to
+the service of the Queen.  Cleopatra had gratified Charmian's wish to
+have her niece for an assistant; and Iras, who had never been a loving
+daughter to her own faithful mother, had served her royal mistress with
+the utmost tenderness.
+
+Archibius valued this loyalty highly, but he knew what awaited any one
+who became the object of her hatred, and the fear that it would involve
+Barine in urgent peril was added to his still greater anxiety for
+Cleopatra.
+
+When about to depart, burdened by the sorrowful conviction that he was
+powerless against his niece's malevolent purpose, he was detained by the
+representation that every fresh piece of intelligence would first reach
+the Sebasteum and her.  Some question might easily arise which his calm,
+prudent mind could decide far better than hers, whose troubled condition
+resembled a shallow pool disturbed by stones flung into the waves.
+
+The apartments of his sister Charmian, which were connected with his by a
+corridor, were empty, and Iras begged him to remain there a short time.
+The anxiety and dread that oppressed her heart would kill her.  To know
+that he was near would be the greatest comfort.
+
+When Archibius hesitated because he deemed it his duty to urge Caesarion,
+over whom he possessed some influence, to give up his foolish wishes for
+his mother's sake, Iras assured him that he would not find the youth.  He
+had gone hunting with Antyllus and some other friends.  She had approved
+the plan, because it removed him from the city and Barine's dangerous
+house.
+
+"As the Queen does not wish him to know the terrible news yet," she
+concluded, "his presence would only have caused us embarrassment.  So
+stay, and when it grows dark go with us to the Lochias.  I think it will
+please the sorrowing woman, when she lands, to see your familiar face,
+which will remind her of happier days.  Do me the favour to stay."  She
+held out both hands beseechingly as she spoke, and Archibius consented.
+
+A repast was served, and he shared it with his niece; but Iras did not
+touch the carefully chosen viands, and Archibius barely tasted them.
+Then, without waiting for dessert, he rose to go to his sister's
+apartments.  But Iras urged him to rest on the divan in the adjoining
+room, and he yielded.  Yet, spite of the softness of the pillows and his
+great need of sleep, he could not find it; anxiety kept him awake, and
+through the curtain which divided the room in which Iras remained from
+the one he occupied he sometimes heard her light footsteps pacing
+restlessly to and fro, sometimes the coming and going of messengers in
+quest of news.
+
+All his former life passed before his mind.  Cleopatra had been his sun,
+and now black clouds were rising which would dim its light, perchance
+forever.  He, the disciple of Epicurus, who had not followed the
+doctrines of other masters until later in life, held the same view of the
+gods as his first master.  To him also they had seemed immortal beings
+sufficient unto themselves, dwelling free from anxiety in blissful peace,
+to whom mortals must look upward on account of their supreme grandeur,
+but who neither troubled themselves about the guidance of the world,
+which was fixed by eternal laws, nor the fate of individuals.  Had he
+been convinced of the contrary, he would have sacrificed everything he
+possessed in order, by lavish offerings, to propitiate the immortals in
+behalf of her to whom he had devoted his life and every faculty of his
+being.
+
+Like Iras, he, too, could find no rest upon his couch, and when she heard
+his step she called to him and asked why he did not recover the sleep
+which he had lost.  No one knew the demands the next night might make
+upon him.
+
+"You will find me awake," he answered quietly.
+
+Then he went to the window which, above the pylons that rose before the
+main front of the Sebasteum, afforded a view of the Bruchium and the sea.
+The harbour was now swarming with vessels of every size, garlanded with
+flowers and adorned with gay flags and streamers.  The report of the
+successful issue of the first naval battle was believed, and many desired
+to greet the victorious fleet and hail their sovereign as she entered the
+harbour.
+
+Many people, equipages, and litters had also gathered on the shore,
+between the lofty pylons and the huge door of the Sebasteum.  They were
+representatives of the aristocracy of the city; for the majority were
+attended by richly attired slaves.  Many wore costly garlands, and
+numerous chariots and litters were adorned with gold or silver ornaments,
+gems, and glittering paste.  The stir and movement in front of the palace
+were ceaseless, and Iras, who was now standing beside her uncle, waved
+her hand towards it, saying: "The wind of rumour!  Yesterday only one or
+two came; to-day every one who belongs to the 'Inimitable Livers' flocks
+hither in person to get news.  The victory was proclaimed in the market-
+place, at the theatre, the gymnasium, and the camp.  Every one who wears
+garlands or weapons heard of a battle won.  Yesterday, among all the
+thousands, there was scarcely a single doubter; but to-day-how does it
+happen?  Even among those who as 'Inimitables' have shared all the
+pleasures, entertainments, and festivities of our noble pair, faith
+wavers; for if they were firmly convinced of the brilliant victory which
+was announced loudly enough, they would not come themselves to watch,
+to spy, to listen.  Just look down!  There is the litter of Diogenes--
+yonder that of Ammonius.  The chariot beyond belongs to Melampous.  The
+slaves in the red bombyx garments serve Hermias.  They all belong to the
+society of--'Inimitables,' and shared our banquets.  That very Apollonius
+who, for the last half hour, has been trying to question the palace
+servants, day before yesterday ordered fifty oxen to be slaughtered to
+Ares, Nike, and the great Isis, as the Queen's goddess, and when I met
+him in the temple he exclaimed that this was the greatest piece of
+extravagance he had ever committed; for even without the cattle Cleopatra
+and Antony would be sure of victory.  But now the wind of rumour has
+swept away his beautiful confidence also.  They are not permitted to see
+me.  The doorkeepers say that I am in the country.  The necessity of
+showing every one a face radiant with the joy of victory would kill me.
+There comes Apollonius.  How his fat face beams!  He believes in the
+victory, and after sunset none of yonder throng will appear here; he is
+already giving orders to his slaves.  He will invite all his friends to a
+banquet, and won't spare his costly wines.  Capital!  At least no one
+from that company can disturb us.  Dion is his cousin, and will be
+present also.  We shall see what these pleasure-lovers will do when they
+are forced to confront, the terrible reality."
+
+"I think," replied Archibius, "they will afford the world a remarkable
+spectacle; friends won in prosperity who remain constant in adversity."
+
+"Do you?"  asked Iras, with sparkling eyes.  "If that proves true, how I
+would praise and value men--the majority of whom without their wealth
+would be poorer than beggars.  But look at yonder figure in the white
+robe beside the left obelisk--is it not Dion?  The crowd is bearing him
+away--I think it was he."
+
+But she had been deceived; the man whom she fancied she had seen, because
+her heart so ardently yearned for him, was not near the Sebasteum, and
+his thoughts were still farther away.
+
+At first he had intended to give the architect the letter which was
+addressed to him.  He would be sure to find him at the triumphal arch
+which was being erected on the shore of the Bruchium.  But on reaching
+the former place he learned that Gorgias had gone to remove the statues
+of Cleopatra and Antony from the house of Didymus, and erect them in
+front of the Theatre of Dionysus.  The Regent, Mardion, had ordered it.
+Gorgias was already superintending the erection of the foundation.
+
+The huge hewn stones which he required for this purpose had been taken
+from the Temple of Nemesis, which he was supervising.  Whatever number of
+government slaves he needed were at his disposal, so Gorgias's foreman
+reported, proudly adding that before the sun went down, the architect
+would have shown the Alexandrians the marvel of removing the twin statues
+from one place to another in a single day, and yet establishing them as
+firmly as the Colossus which had been in Thebes a thousand years.
+
+Dion found the piece of sculpture in front of Didymus's garden, ready for
+removal, but the slaves who had placed before the platform the rollers on
+which it was to be moved had already been kept waiting a long time by the
+architect.
+
+This was his third visit to the old philosopher's house.  First, he had
+been obliged to inform him and his family that their property was no
+longer in danger; then he had come to tell them at what hour he would
+remove the statues, which still attracted many curious spectators; and,
+finally, he had again appeared, to announce that they were to be taken
+away at once.  His foreman or a slave could probably have done this, but
+Helena--Didymus's granddaughter, Barine's sister--drew him again and
+again to the old man's home.  He would gladly have come still more
+frequently, for at every meeting he had discovered fresh charms in the
+beautiful, quiet, thoughtful maiden, who cared so tenderly for her aged
+grandparents.  He believed that he loved her, and she seemed glad to
+welcome him.  But this did not entitle him to seek her hand, though his
+large, empty house so greatly needed a mistress.  His heart had glowed
+with love for too many.  He wished first to test whether this new fancy
+would prove more lasting.  If he succeeded in remaining faithful even a
+few days, he would, as it were, reward himself for it, and appear before
+Didymus as a suitor.
+
+He excused his frequent visits to himself on the pretext of the necessity
+of becoming acquainted with his future wife, and Helena made the task
+easier for him.  The usual reserve of her manner lessened more and more;
+nay, the great confidence with which he at first inspired her was
+increased by his active assistance.  When he entered just now, she had
+even held out her hand to him, and inquired about the progress of his
+work.
+
+He was overwhelmed with business, but so great was his pleasure in
+talking with her that he lingered longer than he would have deemed right
+under any other circumstances, and regarded it as an unpleasant
+interruption when Barine--for whom his heart had throbbed so warmly only
+yesterday--entered the tablinum.
+
+The young beauty was by no means content with a brief greeting; but drew
+Helena entirely away from him.  Never had he seen her embrace and kiss
+her sister so passionately as while hurriedly telling her that she had
+come to bid farewell to the loved ones in her grandparents' house.
+
+Berenike had arrived with her, but went first to the old couple.
+
+While Barine was telling Helena and Gorgias, also, why all this plan had
+been formed so hastily, Gorgias was silently comparing the two sisters.
+He found it natural that he had once believed that he loved Barine; but
+she would not have been a fitting mistress of his house.  Life at her
+side would have been a chain of jealous emotions and anxieties, and her
+stimulating remarks and searching questions, which demanded absolute
+attention, would not have permitted him, after his return home, wearied
+by arduous toil, to find the rest for which he longed.  His eye wandered
+from her to her sister, as if testing the space between two newly erected
+pillars; and Barine, who had noticed his strange manner, suddenly laughed
+merrily, and asked whether they might know what building was occupying
+his thoughts, while a good friend was telling him that the pleasant hours
+in her house were over.
+
+Gorgias started, and the apology he stammered showed so plainly how
+inattentively he had listened, that Barine would have had good reason to
+feel offended.  But one glance at her sister and another at him enabled
+her speedily to guess the truth.  She was pleased; for she esteemed
+Gorgias, and had secretly feared that she might be forced to grieve him
+by a refusal, but he seemed as if created for her sister.  Her arrival
+had probably interrupted them so, turning to Helena, she exclaimed:
+"I must see my mother and our grandparents.  Meanwhile entertain our
+friend here.  We know each other well.  He is one of the few men who can
+be trusted.  That is my honest opinion, Gorgias, and I say it to you
+also, Helena."
+
+With these words she nodded to both, and Gorgias was again alone with the
+maiden whom he loved.
+
+It was difficult to begin the conversation anew, and when, spite of many
+efforts, it would not flow freely, the shout of the overseer, which
+reached his ear through the opening of the roof, urging the men to work,
+was like a deliverance.  Promising to return again soon, as eagerly as if
+he had been requested to do so, he took his leave and opened the door
+leading into the adjoining room.  But on the threshold he started back,
+and Helena, who had followed him, did the same, for there stood his
+friend Dion, and Barine's beautiful head lay on his breast, while his
+hand rested as if in benediction on her fair hair.  And--no, Gorgias was
+not mistaken-the slender frame of the lovely woman, whose exuberant
+vivacity had so often borne him and others away with it, trembled as if
+shaken by deep and painful emotion.
+
+When Dion perceived his friend, and Barine raised her head, turning her
+face towards him, it was indeed wet with tears, but their source could
+not be sorrow; for her blue eyes were sparkling with a happy light.
+
+Yet Gorgias found something in her features which he was unable to
+express in words--the reflection of the ardent gratitude that had taken
+possession of her soul and filled it absolutely.  While seeking the
+architect, Dion had met Barine, who was on her way to her grandparents,
+and what he had dreaded the day before happened.  The first glance from
+her eyes which met his forced the decisive question from his lips.
+
+In brief, earnest words he confessed his love for her, and his desire to
+make her his own, as the pride and ornament of his house.
+
+Then, in the intensity of her bliss, her eyes overflowed and, under the
+spell of a great miracle wrought in her behalf, she found no words to
+answer; but Dion had approached, clasped her right hand in both of his,
+and frankly acknowledged how, with the image of his strict mother before
+his eyes, he had wavered and hesitated until love had overmastered him.
+Now, full of the warmest confidence, he asked whether she would consent
+to rule as mistress of his home, the honour and ornament of his ancient
+name?  He knew that her heart was his, but he must hear one thing more
+from her lips--
+
+Here she had interrupted him with the cry, "This one thing--that your
+wife, in joy and in sorrow, will live for you and you alone?  The whole
+world can vanish for her, now that you have raised her to your side and
+she is yours."
+
+After this assurance, which sounded like an oath, Dion felt as if a heavy
+burden had fallen from his heart, and clasping her in his arms with
+passionate tenderness, he repeated, "In joy and in sorrow!"
+
+Thus Gorgias and Helena had surprised them, and the architect felt for
+the first time that there is no distinction between our own happiness and
+that of those whom we love.
+
+His friend Helena seemed to have the same feeling, when she saw what this
+day had given her sister; and the philosopher's house, so lately shadowed
+by anxiety, and many a fear, would soon ring with voices uttering joyous
+congratulations.  The architect no longer felt that he had a place in
+this circle, which was now pervaded by a great common joy, and after Dion
+made a brief explanation, Gorgias's voice was soon heard outside loudly
+issuing orders to the workmen.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+From Epicurus to Aristippus, is but a short step
+Preferred a winding path to a straight one
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEOPATRA, BY GEORG EBERS, V3 ***
+
+*********This file should be named 5475.txt or 5475.zip **********
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