Citation
History of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt

Material Information

Title:
History of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt
Creator:
Abbott, Jacob, 1803-1879
Sinclair, Thomas S., ca. 1805-1881 ( Printer )
Harper & Brothers ( Publisher )
Abbott, Jacob, 1803-1879
Place of Publication:
New York
Publisher:
Harper & Brothers
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
318 p., : ill., maps. ; 17 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Queens -- Biography -- Juvenile literature -- Egypt ( lcsh )
History -- Juvenile literature -- Egypt -- 332-30 B.C ( lcsh )
History -- Juvenile literature -- Rome -- Republic, 265-30 B.C ( lcsh )
Biographies -- 1851 ( rbgenr )
Embossed cloth bindings (Binding) -- 1851 ( rbbin )
Publishers' advertisements -- 1851 ( rbgenr )
Bldn -- 1851
Genre:
Biographies ( rbgenr )
Embossed cloth bindings (Binding) ( rbbin )
Publishers' advertisements ( rbgenr )
individual biography ( marcgt )
Spatial Coverage:
United States -- New York -- New York
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

General Note:
Added t. p. in colors, printed by T. Sinclair.
General Note:
Publisher's advertisements: 2 p. at end.
Funding:
Brittle Books Program
Statement of Responsibility:
By Jacob Abbott.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
026556359 ( ALEPH )
02841082 ( OCLC )
ALG1021 ( NOTIS )
05023385 ( LCCN )

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His TORE

OF

CLEOPATRA, QUEEN OF EGYPT.

BY JACOB ABBOTT.

GWith Gngravings.

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

82 CLIFF STREET.



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one, by

HarrerR & BROTHERS,

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.



PREFACE.

In selecting the subjects for the successive
volumes of this series, it has been the object of
the author to look for the names of those great
personages whose histories constitute useful, and
not merely entertaining, knowledge. ‘There are
certain names which are familiar, as names, to
all mankind; and every person who seeks for
any degree of mental cultivation, feels desir-
ous of informing himself of the leading outlines
of their history, that he may know, in brief,
what it was in their characters or their doings
which has given them so widely-extended a
fame. ‘This knowledge, which it seems incum-
bent on every one to obtain in respect to such
personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Cesar, Cle-
opatra, Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the
Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary, queen
of Scots, it is the design and object of these vol-
umes to communicate, in a faithful, and, at the
same time, if possible, in an attractive manner.
Consequently, great historical names alone are



Vili PREFACE.

selected ; and it has been the writer’s aim to
present the prominent and leading traits in their
characters, and all the important events in their
lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the
plain and simple language which is so obvious-
ly required in works which aim at permanent
and practical usefulness.



CONTENTS.



Chapter Page
3. PER VALLEY OF THE WIG. . oo ice ccc dee 13
Win SE URS obs on eens dete ss ekeus 35

II. ALEXANDRIA......... isi A 6 idk is eee 61
IV. CLEOPATRA’S FATHER. ........---ccccces i
Vv. ACCESSION TO THE THRONE........-.....-. 112
Vi. CLEOPATRA AND GCMSAR; ......-.-ccccece - 132

VII. THE ALEXANDRINE WAR.'........----e0e-- 157

VE. CRMPATEA & QUOBE ois siiwes civscdes 181
1X. THE BATTLE. OF PHILIPPI... 22.22. cece cae 200
X. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY ........--20.-0- 225
Zi.. RR BACTIA OF ACTIV... 6 is oe cei o. wee

XII. THE END OF CLEOPATRA. cccccccceccccces 200









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ENGRAVINGS.

Page
MAP, SCENE OF CLEOPATRA’S HISTORY... Frontispiece.

SAP, THE RAINEANS MHOION.... .. 6c we ide ck. 21
MAP, THE DELTA OF WRE NILE . 2... 66.66 kus 29
THR. BIRTE-DAT DRE. oi 646s dckiewo es citi
ANTONY CROSSING THE DESERT ............-... 107
CLEOPATRA ENTERING THE PALACE OF CHSAR .. 135
VOW. GP Mee z . w . Ss 6a 5. ee ee 162
CLEOPATRA’S SISTER IN THE TRIUMPHAL PROCES-
WR 6 tin kw CNRS eee 190
THE ENTERTAINMENTS AT TARSUS ....3...<-<- 242

THF RAISING OF ANTONY TO THE UPPER WINDOW
OF THE TOMB










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CLEOPATRA

_—-— - C—

CuHapTer I.
THe VALLEY oF THE NILE.

The parentage and birth of Cleopatra.

a story of Cleopatra is a story of crime.
It is a narrative of the course and the con-
sequences of unlawful love. In her strange and
romantic history we see this passion portrayed
with the most complete and aos. in
all its influences and effects; its uncontrollable
impulses, its intoxicating joys, its reckless and
mad career, and the dreadful remorse and ulti-

mate despair and ruin in which it always and
inevitably ends.

Cleopatra was by birth an Egyptian; by an-
cestry and descent she was a Greek. Thus,
while Alexandria and the delta of the Nile form-
ed the scene of the most important events and
incidents of her history, it was the blood of
Macedon which flowed in her veins. Her char-
acter and action are marked by the genius, the



14 CLEOPATRA.
Cleopatra’s residence in Egypt. Physical aspect of Egypt.
Tr i itene asi a ansillaasingneennannatiensaeieiienecoccecygeetitieeaiiadiplienmnietntanienasitciiapemesinn

courage, the originality, and the impulsiveness
pertaining to the stock from which she sprung.
The events of her history, on the other hand,
and the peculiar character of her adventures,
her sufferings, and her sins, were determined by
the circumstances with which she was sur-
rounded, and the influences which were brought
to bear upon her in the soft and voluptuous
clime where the scenes of her early life were
laid.

Egypt has always been considered as physic-
ally the most remarkable country on the globe.
It is a long and narrow valley of verdure and
fruitfulness, completely insulated from the rest
of the habitable world. It is more completely
insulated, in fact, than any literal island could
be, inasmuch as deserts are more impassable
than seas. ‘The very existence of Egypt is a
most extraordinary phenomenon. If we could
but soar with the wings of an eagle into the air,
and look down upon the scene, so as to observe
the operation of that grand and yet simple pro-
cess by which this long and wonderful valley,
teeming so profusely with animal and vegetable
life, has been formed, and is annually revivified
and renewed, in the midst of surrounding wastes
of silence, desolation, and death, we should gaze



THe VALLEY oF THE NILE. 15

The eagle's wings and science.



upon it with never-ceasing admiration and pleas-
ure. We have not the wings of the eagle, but
the generalizations of science furnish us with
a sort of substitute for them., The long series
of patient, careful, and sagacious observations,
which have been continued now for two thou-
sand years, bring us results, by means of which,
through our powers of mental conception, we
may take a comprehensive survey of the whole
scene, analogous, in some respects, to that which
direct and actual vision would afford us, if we
could look down upon it from the eagle’s point
of view. It is, however, somewhat humiliating
to our pride of intellect to reflect that long-con-
tinued philosophical investigations and learned
scientific research are, in such a case as this,
after all, in some sense, only a sort of substitute
for wings. A human mind connected with a
pair of eagle’s wings would have solved the mys-
tery of Egypt in a week ; whereas science, phi-
losophy, and research, confined to the surface of
the ground, have been occupied for twenty cen-
turies in accomplishing the undertaking.

It is found at last that both the existence of
Egypt itself, and its strange insulation in the
midst of boundless tracts of dry and barren sand,
depend upon certain remarkable results of the



16 CLEOPATRA.

Physical peculiarities of Egypt connected with the laws of rain.

ies adept cea natlldreee
general laws of rain. The water which is taken
up by the atmosphere from the surface of the
sea and of the land by evaporation, falls again,
under certain circumstances, in showers of rain,
the frequency and copiousness of which vary
very much in different portions of the earth.
As a general principle, rains are much more fre-
quent and abundant near the equator than in
temperate climes, and they grow less and less
so as we approach the poles. This might nat-
urally have been expected ; for, under the burn-
ing sun of the equator, the evaporation of water
must necessarily go on with immensely greater
rapidity than in the colder zones, and all the
water which is taken up must, of course, again
come down.

It is not, however, wholly by the latitude of
the region in which the evaporation takes place
that the quantity of rain which falls from the
atmosphere is determined ; for the condition on
which the falling back, in rain, of the water
which has been taken up by evaporation mainly
depends, is the cooling of the atmospheric stra-
tum which contains it; and this effect is pro-
duced in very various ways, and many different
causes operate to modify it. Sometimes the
stratum is cooled by being wafted over ranges



Tue VALLEY oF THE NILE. 17





General laws of rain.

Se iy mae
of mountains; sometimes by encountering and
becoming mingled with cooler currents of air ;
and sometimes, again, by being driven in winds»
toward a higher, and, consequently, cooler lati-
tude. If, on the other hand, air moves from
cold mountains toward warm and sunny plains,
or from higher latitudes to lower, or if, among
the various currents into which it falls, it be-
comes mixed with air warmer than itself, its
capacity for containing vapor in solution is in-
creased, and, consequently, instead of releasing
its hold upon the waters which it has already
in possession, it becomes thirsty for more. It
moves over a country, under these circumstan-
ces, as a warm and drying wind. Under a re-
verse of circumstances it would have formed
drifting mists, or, perhaps, even copious showers
of rain.

- Tt will be evident, from these considerations,
that the frequency of the showers, and the quan-
tity of the rain which will fall, in the various
regions respectively which the surface of the
earth presents, must depend on the combined
influence of many causes, such as the warmth
of the climate, the proximity and the direction
of mountains and of seas, the character of the
prevailing winds, and the reflecting qualities of

B



18 CLEOPATRA.

Causes which modify the quantity of rain.

the soil. ‘These and other similar causes, it is
found, do, in fact, produce a vast difference in
the quantity of rain which falls in different re-
gions. In the northern part of South America,
where the land is bordered on every hand by
vast tropical seas, which load the hot and thirsty
air with vapor, and where the mighty Cordillera
of the Andes rears its icy summits to chill and
precipitate the vapors again, a quantity of rain
amounting to more than ten feet in perpendic-
ular height falls in a-year. At St. Petersburg,
on the other hand, the quantity thus falling in
a year is but little more than one foot. The
immense deluge which pours down from the
clouds in South America would, if the water
were to remain where it fell, wholly submerge
and inundate the country. As it is, in flowing
off through the valleys to the sea, the united
torrents form the greatest river on the globe—
the Amazon; and the vegetation, stimulated by
the heat, and nourished by the abundant and
incessant supplies of moisture, becomes so rank,
and loads the earth with such an entangled and
matted mass of trunks, and stems, and twining
wreaths and vines, that man is almost excluded
from the scene. The boundless forests become
a vast and almost impenetrable jungle, aban-



THe VALLEY OF THE NILE. 19

Striking contrasts. Rainless regions,

—$———__...

doned to wild beasts, noxious reptiles, and huge
and ferocious birds of prey.

Of course, the district of St. Petersburg, with
its icy winter, its low and powerless sun, and
its twelve inches of annual rain, must necessa-
rily present, in all its phenomena of vegetable
and animal life, a striking contrast to the exu-
berant prolificness of New Grenada. It is, how-
ever, after all, not absolutely the opposite ex-
treme. ‘There are certain regions on the sur-
face of the earth that are actually rainless; and
it is these which present us with the true and
real contrast to the luxuriant ‘vegetation and
teeming life of the country of the Amazon. In
these rainless regions all is necessarily silence,
desolation, and death. No plant can grow; no
animal can live. Man, too, is forever and hope-
lessly excluded. If the exuberant abundance
of animal and vegetable life shut him out, in
some measure, from regions which an excess of
heat and moisture render too prolific, the total
absence of them still more effectually forbids him
a home in these. They become, therefore, vast
wastes of dry and barren sands in which no
root can find nourishment, and of dreary rocks
to which not even a lichen can cling.

The most extensive and remarkable rainless



—

ae Weer en eng ye

20 CLEOPATRA.

Great rainless region of Asia and Africa.

eee etre vanes mnematemmeanilicacunlcecin
“region on the earth is a vast tract extending

through the interior and northern part of Af-
rica, and the southwestern part of Asia. The
Red Sea penetrates into this tract from the
south, and thus breaks the outline and continu-
ity of its form, without, however, altering, or
essentially modifying its character. It divides
it, however, and to the different portions which
this division forms, different names have been
given. The Asiatic portion is called Arabia
Deserta; the African tract has received the
name of Sahara; while between these two, in
the neighborkgod of Egypt, the barren region is
called simply the desert. The whole tract is
marked, however, throughout, with one all-per-
vading character: the absence of vegetable, and,
consequently, of animal life, on account of the
absence of rain. ‘The rising of a range of lofty
mountains in the center of it, to produce a pre-
cipitation of moisture from the air, would prob-
ably transform the whole of the vast waste into
as verdant, and fertile, and populous a region
as any on the globe.

As it is, there are no such mountains. The
whole tract is nearly level, and so little eleva-
ted above the sea, that, at the distance of many
hundred miles in the interior, the land rises only



Tue VALLEY or THE NILE. 21



The Andes. Map of the rainless region

to the height of a few hundred feet above tell
surface of the Mediterranean; whereas in New
Grenada, at less than one hundred miles from ~~
the sea, the chain of the Andes rises to eleva- ©
tions of from ten to fifteen thousand feet. Such
an ascent as that of a few hundred feet in hund-
reds of miles would be wholly imperceptible to
any ordinary mode of observation ; and the great
rainless region, accordingly, of Africa and Asia














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-â„¢ 22 CLEOPATRA.
Valley of the Nile. The Red Sea.

_ long, with only one considerable interruption to
the dead monotony which reigns, with that ex-
ception, every where over the immense expanse
of silence and solitude. The single interval of
fruitfulness and life is the valley of the Nile.
There are, however, in fact, three interrup-
tions to the continuity of this plain, though only
one of them constitutes any considerable inter-
ruption to its barrenness. They are all of them
valleys, extending from north to south, and ly-
ing side by side. The most easterly of these
valleys is so deep that the waters of the ocean
flow into it from the south, forming a long and
narrow inlet called the Red Sea. As this inlet
communicates freely with the ocean, it is al-
ways nearly of the same level, and as the evap-
oration from it is not sufficient to produce rain,
it does not even fertilize its own shores. Its
presence varies the dreary scenery of the land-
scape, it is true, by giving us surging waters to
look upon instead of driving sands; but this is
all. With the exception of the spectacle of an
English steamer passing, at weary intervals,
over its dreary expanse, and some moldering re-
mains of ancient cities on its eastern shore, it
affords scarcely any indications of life. It does
very little, therefore, to relieve the monotonous



Tue VaLLEY oF THE NILE. 23



The oases. Siweh.



aspect of solitude and desolation which reigns
over the region into which it has intruded.
The most westerly of the three valleys to
which we have alluded is only a slight depres-
sion of the surface of the land marked by a line
of oases. The depression is not sufficient to
admit the waters of the Mediterranean, nor are
there any rains over any portion of the valley
which it forms sufficient to make it the bed of
a stream. Springs issue, however, here and
there, in several places, from the ground, and,
percolating through the sands along the valley,
give fertility to little dells, long and narrow,
which, by the contrast that they form with the
surrounding desolation, seem to the traveler to
possess the verdure and beauty of Paradise.
There is a line of these oases extending along
this westerly depression, and some of them are
of considerable extent. 'The oasis of Siweh, on
which stood the far-famed temple of Jupiter
Ammon, was many miles in extent, and was
said to have contained in ancient times a popu-
lation of eight thousand souls. ‘Thus, while the
most easterly of the three valleys which we
have named was sunk so low as to admit the
ocean to flow freely into it, the most. westerly
was so slightly depressed that it gained only a



4 CLEOPATRA.

| ®&

Mountains of the Moon. The River Nile.

circumscribed and limited fertility through the
springs, which, in the lowest portions of it, oozed
from the ground. The third valley—the cen-
tral one—-remains now to be described.

The reader will observe, by referring once
more to the map, that south of the great rain-
.ess region of which we are speaking, there lie
groups and ranges of mountains in Abyssinia,
called the Mountains of the Moon. These
mountains. are near the equator, and the rela-
tion which they sustain to the surrounding seas,
and to currents of wind which blow in that quar-
ter of the world, is such, that they bring down
from the atmosphere, especially in certain sea-
sons of the year, vast and continual torrents of
rain. The water which thus falls drenches the
mountain sides and deluges the valleys. There
is a great portion of it which can not flow to
the southward or eastward toward the sea, as
the whole country consists, in those directions,
of continuous tracts of elevated land. The rush
of water thus turns to the northward, and, press-
ing on across the desert through the great cen-
tral valley which we have referred to above, it
finds an outlet, at last, in the Mediterranean,
at a point two thousand miles distant from the
place where the immense condenser drew it



Tae VauLLey or THE NILE. 25

Incessant rains. = = =~ ~__ Inundation of the Nile.
from the skies. ‘The river thus created is the
Nile. It is formed, in a word, by the surplus
waters of a district inundated with rains, in their
progress across a rainless desert, seeking the sea.
If the surplus of water upon the Abyssinian
mountains had been constant and uniform, the
stream, in its passage across the desert, would
have communicated very little fertility to the
barren sands which it traversed. The imme-
diate banks of the river would have, perhaps,
been fringed with verdure, but the influence of
the irrigation would have extended no further
than the water itself could have reached, by per-
colation through the sand. But the flow of the
water is not thus uniform and steady. In a
certain season of the year the rains are inces-
sant, and they descend with such abundance
and profusion as almost to inundate the districts
where they fall. Immense torrents stream down
the mountain sides; the valleys are deluged ;
plains turn into morasses, and morasses into
lakes. In a word, the country becomes half
submerged, and the accumulated mass Of wa-
ters would rush with great force and violence
down. the central valley of the desert, which
forms their only outlet, if the passage were nar-
row, and if it made any considerable descent in



26 CLEOPATRA.

Course of the river. Subsidence of the waters.

its course to the sea. It is, however, not nar-
row, and the descent is very small. The de-
pression in the surface of the desert, through
which the water flows, is from five to ten miles
wide, and, though it is nearly two thousand
miles from the rainy district across the desert
to the sea, the country for the whole distance
is almost level. There is only sufficient de-
scent, especially for the last thousand miles, to
determine a very géntle current to the north-
ward in the waters of the stream.

Under these circumstances, the immense
quantity of water which falls in the rainy dis-
trict in these inundating tropical showers, ex-
pands over the whole valley, and forms for a
time an immense lake, extending in length
across the whole breadth of the desert. This
lake is, of course, from five to ten miles wide,
and a thousand miles long. The water in it is
shallow and turbid, and it has a gentle current
toward the north. The rains, at length, in a
great measure cease; but it requires some
months for the water to run off and leave the
valley dry. As soon as it is gone, there springs
up from the whole surface of the ground which
has been thus submerged a most rank and lux-
uriant vegetation.



THe VaLbLEy OF THE NILE. 27

Luxuriant vegetation. Absence of forests.

This vegetation, now wholly regulated and
controlled by the hand of man, must have been,
in its original and primeval state, of a very pe-
culiar character. It must have consisted of
such plants only as could exist under the condi-
tion of having the soil in which they grew laid,
for a quarter of the year, wholly under water.
This circumstance, probably, prevented the val-
ley of the Nile from having been, like other fer-
tile tracts of land, encumbered, in its native
state, with forests. For the same reason, wild
beasts could never have haunted it. There were
no forests to shelter them, and no refuge or re-
treat for them but the dry and barren desert,
during the period of the annual inundations.
This most extraordinary valley seems thus to
have been formed and preserved by Nature her-
self for the special possession of man. She her-
self seems to have held itin reserve for him from
the very morning of creation,.refusing admis-
sion into it to every plant and every animal that
might hinder or disturb his occupancy and con-
trol. And if he were to abandon it now for a
thousand years, and then return to it once more,
he would find it just as he left it, ready for his
immediate possession. There would be no wild
beasts that he must first expel, and no tangled



28 CLEOPATRA.





—

Great antiquity of Egypt. Her monuments.
rR

forests would have sprung up, that his ax must —
first remove. Nature is the husbandman who
keeps this garden of the world in order, and the
means and machinery by which she operates
are the grand evaporating surfaces of the seas,
the beams of the tropical sun, the lofty summits
of the Abyssinian mountains, and, as the prod-
uct and result of all this instrumentality, great
periodical inundations of summer rain.

For these or some other reasons Egypt has
been occupied by man from the most remote an-
tiquity. The oldest records of the human race,
made three thousand years ago, speak of Egypt
as ancient then, when they were written. Not
only is Tradition silent, but even Fable herself
does not attempt to tell the story of the origin
of her-population. Here stand the oldest and
most enduring monuments that human power
has ever been able to raise. It is, however,
somewhat humiliating to the pride of the race
to reflect that the loftiest and proudest, as well
as the most permanent and stable of all the
works which man has ever accomplished, are
but the incidents and adjuncts of a thin stra-
tum of alluvial fertility, left upon the sands by
the subsiding waters of summer showers.

The most important portion of the alluvion



THe VALLEY OF THE NILE. 29

tennessee iannnestensninensibenineeliles
The Delta of the Nile. : Map.



of the Nile is the northern portion, where the
valley widens and opens toward the sea, form-
ing a triangular plain of about one hundred
miles in length on each of the sides, over which
the waters of the river flow in a great number
of separate-creeks and channels. The whole
area forms a vast meadow, intersected every
where with slow-flowing streams of water, and
presenting on its surface the most enchanting
pictures of fertility, abundance, and beauty.
This region is called the Delta of the Nile.

>
4
en §
net
«ites
atta ey
A) e
.
te
“s
4a

NILE





30 CLEOPATRA.

———— a

The Delta as seen from the sea.

—

The sea upon the coast is shallow, and the fer-
tile country formed by the deposits of the river
seems to have projected somewhat beyond the
line of the.coast ; although, as the land has not
advanced perceptibly for the last eighteen hund-
red years, it may be somewhat doubtful wheth-
er the whole of the apparent protrusion is not
due to the natural conformation of the coast,
rather than to any changes made by the action
of the river.

The Delta of the Nile is so level itself, and so
little raised above the level of the Mediterra-
nean, that the land seems almost a continuation
of the same surface with the sea, only, instead
of blue waters topped with white-crested waves,
we have broad tracts of waving grain, and gen-
tle swells of land crowned with hamlets and
villages. In approaching the coast, the navi-
gator has no distant view of all this verdure and
beauty. It lies so low that it continues be-
neath the horizon until the ship is close upon
the shore. The first landmarks, in fact, which
the seaman makes, are the tops of trees grow-
ing apparently out of the water, or the sum-
mit of an obelisk, or the capital of a pillar,
marking the site of some ancient and dilapida-
ted city.

‘=



Tae VaLLEY oF THE NILE. 31
Pelusiac mouth of the Nile. The Canopic mouth.

The most easterly of the channels by which
the waters of the river find their way through
the Delta to the sea, is called, as it will be seen
marked upon the map, the Pelusiac branch. It
forms almost the boundary of the fertile region
of the Delta on the eastern side. There was an
ancient city named Pelusium near the mouth
of it. This was, of course, the first Egyptian
city reached by those who arrived by land from
the eastward, traveling along the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea. On account of its thus
marking the eastern frontier of the country, it
became a point of great importance, and is often
mentioned in the histories of ancient times.

The westernmost mouth of the Nile, on the
other hand, was called the Canopic mouth. The
distance along the coast from the Canopic mouth
to Pelusium was about a hundred miles. The
outline of the coast was formerly, as it still con-
tinues to be, very irregular, and the water shal-
low. Extended banks of sand protruded into
the sea, and the sea itself, as if in retaliation,
formed innumerable creeks, and inlets, and la-
goons in the land. Along this irregular and un-
certain boundary the waters of the Nile and the
surges of the Mediterranean kept up an eternal
war, with energies so nearly equal, that now,

~~



32 C{LEOPATRA.

“The Pyramids.



Ancient Egypt. a
after the lapse of eighteen hundred years since
the state of the contest began to be recorded,
neither side has been found to have gained any
perceptible advantage over the other. The river
brings the sands down, and the sea drives them
incessantly back, keeping the whole fine of the
shore in such a condition as to make it extreme-
ly dangerous and difficult of access to man>_
It will be obvious, from this description of the
valley of the Nile, that it formed a country which
was in ancient times isolated and secluded, in
a very striking manner, from all the rest of the
world. It was wholly shut,im by deserts, on
every side, by land; and the*sfioals, and sand-
bars, and other dangers of navigation which
marked the line of the coast, seemed to forbid
approach by sea. Here it remained for many
ages, under the rule of its own native ancient
kings. Its population was peaceful and indus-
trious. Its scholars were famed throughout the
world for their learning, their science, and their
philosophy. It was in these ages, before other
nations had intruded upon its peaceful seclu-
sion, that the Pyramids were built, and the
enormous monoliths carved, and those vast tem-
ples reared whose ruined columns are now the
wonder of mankind. During these remote ages,

ae



B.C.323.] Tue Vautuey or trHE Nive. 33

RD
Conquests of the Persians and Macedonians. The Ptolemies.
cried isatShiniastatiamenstcnatasicatisiailialasibabicinsceadiiiaeila

too, Egypt was, as now, the land of perpetual
fertility and abundance. There would always
be corn in Egypt, wherever else famine might
rage. The neighboring nations and tribes in
Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, found their way
_to it, accordingly, across the deserts on the east-
- ern.side, when driven by want, and thus opened
a way of communication. At length the Per-
sian monarchs, after extending their empire
westward to the Mediterranean, found access
by the same road to Pelusium, and thence over-
ran and conquered the country. At last, about
two hundred and fifty years before the time of
Cleopatra, Aleitanger the Great, when he sub-
verted the Persian empire, took possession of
Egypt, and annexed it, among the other Per-
sian provinees, to his own dominions. At the
division of Alexander’s empire, after his death,
Egypt fell to one of his generals, named Ptol-
emy. Ptolemy made it his kingdom, and left
it, at his death, to his heirs. A-long line of sov-
ereigns succeeded him, known in history as the
dynasty of the Ptolemies—Greek prinees, reign-
img over an Egyptian realm. Cleopatra was
the daughter of the eleventh in the line.* -
The capital of the Ptolemies was Alexandria
Until the time of Alexander’s conquest, Egypt
a “ad

¢



34 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 323.

Founding of Alexandria. The Pharos.

had no sea-port. ‘here were several landing-
places along the coast, but no proper harbor.
In fact, Egypt had then so little commercial in-
tercourse with the rest of the world, that she
scarcely needed any. Alexander’s engineers,
however, in exploring the shore, found a point
not far from the Canopic mouth of the Nile
where the water was deep, and where there was
an anchorage ground protected by an island.
Alexander founded a city there, which he called
by his own name. ~- He perfected the harbor by
artificial excavations and embankments. A
lofty light-house was reared,,avhich formed a
landmark by day, and exhibited a blazing star
by night to guide the galleys of the Mediterra-
nean in. A canal was made to connect the port
with the Nile, and warehouses were erected to
contain the stores of merchandise. In a word,
Alexandria became at once a great commercial
capital. It was the seat, for several centuries,
of the magnificent government of the Ptolemies ;
and so well was its situation chosen for the pur-
poses intended, that it still continues, after the
lapse of twenty centuries of revolution amd
change, one of the principal emporiums of the
commerce of the East.



B.C. 358.]| Ture ProLemies. 35

The dynasty of the I Ptolemies. Its founder,
arog siecle einen eigenen: tsiiltessiisiiaaan inate

CuapterR II.
Tue PTOLEMIES.

rye founder of the dynasty of the Ptole-
mies—the ruler into whose hands the king-
dom of Egypt fell, as has already been stated,
at the death of Alexander the Great—was a
Macedonian general in Alexander’s army. The
circumstances of his birth, and the events which
led to his entéring ipto the service of Alexander,
were somewhat peculiar. -His mother, whose
name was Arsinoé, was a personal favorite and
companion of Philip, king of Macedon, the fa-
ther of Alexander. Philip at length gave Arsi-
noé in marriage to a certain man of his court
named Lagus. A very short time after the
marriage, Ptolemy was born. Philip treated
the child with the same consideration and favor
that he had evinced toward the mother. ‘The
boy was called the son of Lagus, but his posi-
tion in the royal court of Macedon was as high
and honorable, and the attentions which he re-
ceived were as great, as he could have expected
to enjoy if he had been in reality a son of the



36 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 358.

Philip of Macedon. Alexander.

king. As he grew up, he attained to official sta-
tions of considerable responsibility and power.

In the course of time, a certain transaction
occurred, by means of which Ptolemy involved
himself in serious difficulty with Philip, though
by the same means he made Alexander very
strongly his friend. ‘There was a province of
the Persian empire called Caria, situated in the
southwestern part of Asia Minor. The govern-
or of this province had offered his daughter to
Philip as the wife of one of his sons named
Arideus, the half brother of Alexander. Alex-
ander’s mother, who was not the mother of Ari-
deeus, was jealous of this proposed marriage.
She thought that it was part of a scheme for
bringing Aridzus forward into public notice, and
finally making him the heir to Philip’s throne;
whereas she was very earnest that this splendid
inheritance should be reserved for her own son.
Accordingly, she préposed to Alexander that
they should send a secret embassage to the
Persian governor, and represent to him that it
would be much better, both for him and for his
daughter, that she should have Alexander in-
stead of Arideus for a husband, and induce
him, if possible, to demand of Philip that he
should make the change.



B.C. 336.) Tux Pro.emies. 37

The intrigue discovered. : Ptolemy banished.
cceinnicedeiaetiatahaeaiitansinaieninntnceetatrte



Alexander entered readily into this scheme,
and various courtiers, Ptolemy among the rest,
undertook to aid*him in the accomplishment of
it. 'The embassy was sent. ‘The governor of
Caria was very much pleased with the change
which they proposed to him. In fact, the whole
plan seemed to be going on very successfully
toward its accomplishment, when, by some
means or other, Philip discovered the intrigue.
He went immediately into Alexander’s apart-
ment, highly excited with resentment and an-
ger. He had never intended to make Arideeus,
whose birth on the mother’s side was obscure
and ignoble, the heir to his throne, and he re-
proached Alexander in the bitterest terms for
being of so debased and degenerate a spirit as
to desire to marry the daughter of a Persian
governor ; a man who was, in fact, the mere
slave, as he said, of a barbarian king.

Alexander’s scheme was thus totally defeat-
ed; and so displeased was his father with the
officers who had undertaken to aid him in the
execution of it, that he banished them all from
the kingdom. Ptolemy, in consequence of this
decree, wandered about an exile from his coun-
try for some years, until at length the death of
Philip enabled Alexander to recall him. Alex-



38 CLEOPATRA. [ B.C. 336.

Accession of Alexander. Ptolemy’s elevation.



ander succeeded his father as King of Macedon,
and immediately made Ptolemy one of his prin-
cipal generals. Ptolemy rose, in fact, to a very
high command in the Macedonian army, and
distinguished himself yery greatly in all the
celebrated conqueror’s subsequent campaigns.
In the Persian invasion, Ptolemy commanded
one of the three grand divisions of the army,
and he rendered repeatedly the most signal
services to the cause of his master. He was
employed on the most distant and dangerous
enterprises, and was often intrusted with the
management of affairs of the utmost import-
ance. He was very successful,inyll his under-
takings. He conquered armiies»#educed fort-
resses, negotiated treaties, and evinced, in a
word, the highest degree of military energy
and skill. He once saved Alexander’s life by
discovering and revealing a dangerous conspir-
acy which had been formed against the king.
Alexander had the opportunity to requite this
favor, through a divine interposition vouchsafed
to him, it was said, for the express purpose of
enabling him to evince his gratitude. Ptolemy
had been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and
when all the remedies and antidotes of the
physicians had failed, and ‘the patient was ap-



B.C.323.] Tar ProLemies. 39

smc apea acs iain name ACE AAG ES
Death of Alexander. Ptolemy becomes King of Egypt.

etc donee cere a aa cc a
parently about to die, an effectual means of
cure was revealed to Alexander in a dream, and
Ptolemy, in his turn, was saved.

At the great rejoicings at Susa, when Alex-
ander’s conquests‘were completed, Ptolemy was
honored with a golden crown, and he was mar-
ried, with great pomp and ceremony, to Arta-
cama, the daughter of one of the most distin-
guished Persian generals.

At length Alexander died suddenly, after a
night of drinking and carousal at Babylon. He
had no son old enough to succeed him, and his
immense empire was divided among his gener-
als. Ptolemy obtained Egypt for hisshare. He
repaired immediately to Alexandria, with a
great army, and a great number of Greek at-
tendants and followers, and there commenced a
reign which continued, in great prosperity and
splendor, for forty years. The native Egyp-
tians were reduced, of course, to subjection and
bondage. All the offices in the army, and all
stations of trust and responsibility in civil life,
were filled by Greeks. Alexandria was a Greek
city, and it became at once one of the most im-
portant commercial centers in all those seas.
Greek and Roman travelers found now a lan-
guage spoken in Egypt which they could un-



40 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 323,

Character of Ptolemy’s reign. . The Alexandrian library.
oles terre cserainesinniyrencineesnecbonipreneichenmpmatinasans cae

derstand, and philosophers and scholars could
gratify the curiosity which they “had so long
felt, in respect to the institutions, and monu-
ments, and wonderful physical characteristics
of the country, with safety and pleasure. Ina
word, the organization of a Greek government
over the ancient kingdom, and the establishment
of the great commercial relations of the city of
Alexandria, conspired to bring Egypt out from
its concealment and seclusion, and to open it in
some measure to the intercourse, as well as to
bring it more fully under the observation, of
the rest of mankind. ,
Ptolemy, in fact, made it a special object of
his policy to accomplish these ends.. He invit-
ed Greek scholars, philosophersgpoets, and art-
ists, in great numbers, to come to Alexandria,
and to make his capital their abode. He col-
lected an immense library, which subsequently,
under the name of the Alexandrian library, be-
came one of the most celebrated collections of
books and manuscripts that was ever made.
We shall have occasion to refer more particu-
larly to this library in the next chapter.
Besides prosecuting these splendid schemes
for the aggrandizement of Egypt, King Ptole-
my was engaged, during almost the whole pe-



B.C, 283.| Tur PTOLEMIES. 41
a a
Abdication of Ptolemy. Ptolemy Philadelphus.
SON nTITETE TT eaeesenesenadeemenemnenyienneeyeessensininionssieen aan ann

riod of his reign, in waging incessant wars with
the surrounding nations. He engaged in these
wars, in part, for the purpose of extending the
boundaries of his empire, and in part for self-
defense against the aggressions and encroach-
ments of other powers. He finally succeeded
in establishing his kingdom on the most stable
and permanent basis, and then, when he was
drawing toward the close of his life, being in
fact over eighty years of age, he abdicated his
throne in favor of his youngest son, whose name
was also Ptolemy. Ptolemy the father, the
founder of the dynasty, is known commonly in
history by the name of Ptolemy’ Soter. His
son is called Ptolemy Philadelphus. This son,
though the youngest, was preferred to his broth-
ers as heir to the throne on account of his being
the son of the most favored and beloved of the
monarch’s wives. The determination of Soter
to abdicate the throne himself arose from his
wish to put this favorite son in secure possession
of it before his death, in order to prevent the
older brothers from disputing the succession.
The coronation of Philadelphus was made one
of the most magnificent and imposing ceremo-
nies that royal pomp and parade ever arranged.
Two years afterward Ptolemy the father died,



42 Cieopatra [BC. 283.

Death of Ptolemy. Subsequent degeneracy of the Ptolemies.

and was buried by his son with a magnificence
almost equal to that of his own coronation. His
body was deposited in a splendid mausoleum,
which had been built for the remains of Alex-
ander; and so high was the veneration which
was felt by mankind for the greatness of his ex-
ploits and the splendor of his reign, that divine
honors were paid to his memory. Such was
the origin of the great dynasty of the Ptolemies.

Some of the early sovereigns of the line fol-
lowed in some degree the honorable example set
them by the distinguished founder of it; but
this example was soon lost, and was succeeded
by the most extreme degeneracy and debase-
ment. ‘The successive sovereigns began soon
to live and to reign solely for the gratification
of their own sensual propensities and passions.
Sensuality begins sometimes with kindness, but
it ends always in the most reckless and intoler-
able cruelty. The Ptolemies became, in the
end, the most abominable and terrible tyrants
that the principle of absolute and irresponsible
power ever produced. There was one vice in
particular, a vice which they seem to have
adopted from the Asiatic nations of the Persian
empire, that resulted in the most awful conse-
quences. ‘This vice was incest.



B.C.170.|) Tur ProLemieEs. 43

Incestuous marriages of the Ptolemy family.


The law of God, proclaimed not only in the
Scriptures, but in the native instincts of the hu-
man soul, forbids intermarriages among those
connected by close ties of consanguinity. ‘The
necessity for such a law rests on considerations
which can not here be fully explained. They
are considerations, however, which arise from
causes inherent.in the very nature of man as a
social being, and which are of universal, per-
petual, and insurmountable force. To guard
his creatures against the deplorable consequen-
ces, both physical and moral, which result from
the practice of such marriages, the great Au-
thor of Nature has implanted in every mind
an instinctive sense of their criminality, pow-
erful enough to give effectual warning of the
danger, and so universal as to cause a distinct
condemnation of them to be recorded in almost
every code of written law that has ever been
promulgated among mankind. ‘The Persian
sovereigns were, however, above all law, and
every species of incestuous marriage was prac-
ticed by them without shame. The Ptolemies |
followed their example.

One of the most striking exhibitions of the
nature of incestuous domestic life which is af-
forded by the whole dismal panorama of pagan



44 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 170.

Ptolemy Physcon. Origin of his name.





vice and crime, is presented in the history of
the great-grandfather of the Cleopatra who is
the principal subject of this narrative. He was
Ptolemy Physcon, the seventh in the line. It
it is necessary to give some particulars of his
history and that of his family, in order to ex-
plain the circumstances under which Cleopatra
herself came upon the stage. ‘The name Phys-
con, which afterward became his historical des-
ignation, was originally given him in contempt
and derision. He was very small of stature in
respect to height, but his gluttony and sensual-
ity had made him immensely corpulent in body,
so that he looked more like a monster than a
man. The term Physcon was a Greek word,
which denoted opprobiously the ridiculous fig-

ure that he made.» |
- The circumstances of Ptolemy cased S ac-
cession to the throne afford not only a striking
illustration of his character, but a very faithful
though terrible picture of the manners and mor-
als of the times. He had been engaged in a
long and cruel war with his brother, who was
king before him, in which war he had perpe-
trated all imaginable atrocities, when at length
his brother died, leaving as his survivors his
wife; who was also his sister, and a son who



B.C.170.] Tue ProLemies. 45

LT
Circumstances of Physcon's accession. Cleopatra.
ee enptmniiatesaceeerntnciasiaitaaiia



was yet a child. This son was properly the
heir+to the crown. Physcon himself, being a
brother, had no claim, as against a son. ‘The
name of the queen was Cleopatra. This was,
in fact, a very common name among the prin-
cesses of the Ptolemaic line. Cleopatra, be-
sides her son, had a daughter, who was at this
time a young ané beautiful girl. Her name
was also Cleopatra. She was, of course, the
niece, as her mother was the sister, of Physcon.
The plan of Cleopatra the mother, after her
husband’s death, was to make her son the king
of Egypt, and to govern herself, as regent, un-
til he shotild become of age. The friends and
adherents of Physcon, however, formed a strong
party in his favor. ‘They sent for him to come
to Alexandria to assert his claims to the throne.
He came, and a new civil war was on the point
of breaking out between the brother and sister,
when at length the dispute was settled by a
treaty, in which it was stipulated that Phys-
con should marry Cleopatra, and be king; but
that he should make the son of Cleopatra by
her former husband his heir. ‘This treaty was
carried into effect so far as the celebration of
the marriage with the mother was concerned,
and the establishment of Physcon upon’ the



46 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 170.

Physcon’s brutal perfidy. He marries his wife’s daughter.

Figpncihiingepannnieecabanenanbaseeieoa
throne. But the perfidious monster, instead of
keeping his faith in respect to the boy, determ-
ined to murder him; and so open and brutal
were his habits of violence and cruelty, that he
undertook to perpetrate the deed himself, in
open day. ‘The boy fled shrieking to the moth-
er’s arms for protection, and Physcon stabbed
and killed him there, exhibiting the spectacle
of a newly-married husband murdering the son
of his wife in her very arms!

It is easy to conceive what sort of affection
would exist between a husband and a wife after
such transactions as these. In fact, there had
been no love between them from the beginning.
The marriage had been solely a political arrange-
ment. Physcon hated his wife, and had mur-
dered her son, and then, as if to complete the
exhibition of the brutal lawlessness and capri-
ciousness of his passions, he ended with falling
in love with her daughter. The beautiful girl
looked upon this heartless monster, as ugly and
deformed in body as he was in mind, with ab-
solute horror. But she was wholly in his power.
He compelled her, by violence, to submit to his
will. He repudiated the mother, and forced
the daughter to become his wife.

Physcon displayed the same qualities of bru-



B.C. 170.| Tue Pro.emies. 47

Atrocities of Physcon. His flight.

tal tyranny and cruelty in the treatment of his
subjects that he manifested in his own domestic
relations. The particulars we can not here give,
‘but can. only say that his atrocities became at
length absolutely intolerable, and a revolt so
formidable broke out, that he fled from the
country. In fact, he barely escaped with his
life, as the mob had surrounded the palace and
were setting it on fire, intending to burn the
tyrant himself and all the accomplices of his
crimes together. Physcon, however, contrived
to make his escape. He fled to the island of
Cyprus, taking with him a certain beautiful
boy, his son by the Cleopatra whom he had di-
vorced ; for they had’ been married long enough,
before the divorce, to have a son. The name
of this boy was Memphitis. His mother was
very tenderly attached to him, and Physcon
took him away on this very account, to keep
him as a hostage for his mother’s good behav-
ior. He fancied that, when he was gone, she
might possibly attempt to resume possession of
the throne.

His expectations in this respect were realized.
The people of Alexandria rallied aygund Cleo-
patra, and called upon her to take the crown.
She did so, feeling, perhaps, some misgivings in



48 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 130.

Ne

Cleopatra assumes the government. Her birth-day.

—

respect to the danger which such a step might
possibly bring upon her absent boy. She quiet-
ed herself, however, by the thought that he was
in the hands of his own father, and that he
could not possibly come to harm.

After some little time had elapsed, and Cle-
opatra was beginning to be well established in’
her possession of the supreme power at Alex-
andria, her birth-day approached, and arrange-
ments were made for celebrating it in the most
magnificent manner. When the day arrived,
the whole city was given up to festivities and
rejoicing. Grand entertainments were given in
the palace, and games, spectacles, and plays in
every variety, were exhibited and performed in
all quarters of the city. Cleopatra herself was
enjoying a magnificent entertainment, given to
the lords and ladies of the court and the officers
of her army, in one of the royal palaces.

In the midst of this scene of festivity and
pleasure, it was announced to the queen that a
large box had arrived for her. ‘The box was
brought into the apartment. It had the appear-
ance of containing some magnificent present,
sent in atgthat time by some friend in honor of
the oecasion. ‘I'he curiosity of the queen was
excited to know what the mysterious coffer

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B.C.130.) Tue Prouemies. oi
i asians lameness

Barbarity of Physcon. | Pearse Grief of Cleopatra.
might contain. She ordered it to be opened ;
and the guests gathered around, each eager to
obtain the first glimpse of the contents. T’he
lid was removed, and a cloth beneath it was
raised, when, to the unutterable horror of all
who witnessed the spectacle, there was seen the
head and hands of Cleopatra’s beautiful boy,
lying among masses of human flesh, which con-
sisted of the rest of his body cut into pieces.
The head had been left entire, that the wretch-
ed mother might recognize in the pale and life-
less features the countenance of her son. Phys-
con had-sent the box to Alexandria, with orders
that it should be retained until the evening of
the birth-day, and then presented publicly to
Cleopatra in the midst of the festivities of the
scene. The shrieks and cries with which she
filled the apartments of the palace at the first
sight of the dreadful spectacle, and the agony
of long-continued and inconsolable grief which
followed, showed how well the cruel contrivance
of the tyrant was fitted to accomplish its end.
It gives us no pleasure to write, and we are
sure it can give our readers no pleasure fo pe-
ruse, such shocking stories of bloody cruelty as
these. It is necessary, however, to a just ap-
preciation of the character of the great subject



o2 — CLeopatra. [B.C. 117.

General character of the Ptolemy family.

of this history, that we should understand the
nature of the domestic influences that reigned
in the family from which she sprung. In fact,
it is due, as a matter of simple justice to her,
that we should know what these influences
were, and what were the examples set before
her in her early life; since the privileges and
advantages which the young enjoy in their ear-
ly years, and, on the other hand, the evil influ-
ences under which they suffer, are to be taken
very seriously into the account when we are
passing judgment upon the follies and sins into
which they subsequently fall.

The monster Physcon lived, it is true, two or
three generations before the great Cleopatra;
_ but the character of the intermediate genera-
tions, until the time of her birth, continued
much the same. In fact, the cruelty, corrup-
tion, and vice which reigned in every branch of
the royal family increased rather than dimin-
ished. The beautiful niece of Physcon, who, at
the time of her compulsory marriage with him,
evinced such an aversion to the monster, had
become, at the period of her husband’s death, as
great a monster of ambition, selfishness, and
cruelty as he. She had two sons, Lathyrus and
Alexander. Physcon, when he died, left the



B.C.117.] Tue Pro.emies. 53
a
Lathyrus. Terrible quarrels with his mother.
neat teasers cataanincmtiaaneaatanacisiaangsnaaiiinan i

kingdom of Egypt to her by will, authorizing
her to associate -with her in the government
whichever of these two sons she might choose.
The oldest was best entitled to this privilege,
by his priority of birth ; but she preferred the
youngest, as she thought that ‘her own power
would be more absolute in reigning.in conjunc-
tion with him, since he would be more com-
pletely under her control. The leading powers,
however, in Alexandria, resisted this plan, and
insisted on Cleopatra’s associating her oldest
son, Lathyrus, with her in the government of
the realm. ‘They compelled her to recall Lath-
yrus from the banishment into which she had
sent him, and to put him nominally upon the
throne. Cleopatra yielded to this necessity, but
she forced her son to repudiate his wife, and to
take, instead, another woman, whom she fancied
she could make more subservient to her will.
The mother and the son went on together for a
time, Lathyrus being nominally king, though
her determination that she would rule, and his
struggles to resist her intolerable tyranny, made
their wretched household the scene of terrible
and perpetual quarrels. At last Cleopatra selz-
ed a number of Lathyrus’s servants, the eu-
nuchs who were employed in various offices



o4 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 117.

Cruelties of Cleopatra. Alexander kills her.

about the palace, and after wounding and mu-
tilating them in a horrible manner, she exhib-
ited them to the populace, saying that it was
Lathyrus that had inflicted the cruel injuries
upon the sufferers, and calling upon them to
arise and punish him for his crimes. In this
and in other similar ways she awakened among
the people of the court and of the city such an
animosity against Lathyrus, that they expelled
him from the country. ‘There followed a long
series of cruel and bloody wars between the
mother and the son, in the course of which each
party perpetrated against the other almost ev-
ery imaginable deed of atrocity and crime. Al-
exander, the youngest son, was so afraid of his
terrible mother, that he did not dare to remain
in Alexandria with her, but went into a sort of
banishment of his own accord. He, however,
finally returned to Egypt. His mother imme-
diately supposed that he was intending to dis-
turb her possession of power, and resolved to de-
stroy him. He became acquainted with her
designs, and, grown desperate by the long-con-
tinued pressure of her intolerable tyranny, he
resolved to bring the anxiety and terror in which
he lived to an end by killing her. ‘This he did,
and then fled the country. Lathyrus, his broth-



B.C.117.) Tue PTOLEMIES. 5D

ee aN tinned
Cleopatra a type of the family. Her two daughters.

er, then returned, and reigned for the rest of
his days in a tolerable degree of quietness and
peace. At length Lathyrus died, and left the
kingdom to his son, Ptolemy Auletes, who was
the great Cleopatra’s father.

We can not soften the picture which is ex-
hibited to our view in the history of this cele-
brated family, by regarding the mother of Au-
letes, in the masculine and merciless traits and
principles which she displayed so energetically
throughout her terrible career, as an exception
to the general character of the princesses who
appeared from time to time in the line. In am-
bition, selfishness, unnatural and reckless cru-
elty, and utter disregard of every virtuous prin-
ciple and of every domestic tie, she was but the
type and representative of all the rest.

She had two daughters, for example, who were
the consistent and worthy followers of such a
mother. A passage in the lives of these sisters
illustrates very forcibly the kind of sisterly af-
fection which prevailed in the family of the
Ptolemies. The case was this:

There were two princes of Syria, a country
lying northeast of the Mediterranean Sea, and
so not very far from Egypt, who, though they
were brothers, were in a state of most deadly



56 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 101.

Unnatural war. Tryphena’s hatred of her sister.
a _sasueeseuenecetsisiinasieisemerieietnlatiattasatielianetaiatiiasnndnansiatnetianaenen

hostility to each other. One had attempted to
poison the other, and afterward a war had bro-
ken out between them, and all Syria was suf-
fering from the ravages of their armies. One
of the sisters, of whom we have been speaking,
married one of these princes. Her name was
Tryphena. After some time, but yet while the
unnatural war was still raging between the two
brothers, Cleopatra, the other sister—the same
Cleopatra, in fact, that had been divorced from
Lathyrus at the instance of his mother—es-
poused the other brother. ‘Tryphena was ex-
ceedingly incensed against Cleopatra for mar-
rying her husband’s mortal foe, and the implac-
able hostility and hate of the sisters was thence-
forth added to that which the brothers had. be-
fore exhibited, to complete the display of unnat-
ural and parricidal passion which this shameful
contest presented to the world.

In fact, Tryphena from this time seemed to
feel a new and highly-excited interest in the
contest, from her eager desire to revenge her-
self on her sister. She watched the progress
of it, and took an active part in pressing for-
ward the active prosecution of the war. The
party of her husband, either from this or some
other causes, seemed to be gaining the day.



B.C.101.]} Tue Provemies. 57

lines
Taking of Antioch. Cleopatra flees to a temple.
ta a iia lla eee ten EL

The husband of Cleopatra was driven from one
‘part of the country to another, and at length,
in order to provide for the security of his wife,
he left her in Antioch, a large and strongly-
fortified city, where he supposed that she would
be safe, while he himself was engaged in prose-
cuting the war in other quarters where his pres-
ence seemed to be required. »
On learning that her sister was at Antioch,
Tryphena urged her husband to attack the place.
He accordingly advanced with a strong detach-
ment of the army, and besieged and took the
city. Cleopatra would, of course, have fallen
into his hands as a captive; but, to escape this
fate, she fled to a temple for refuge. A temple

was considered, in those days, an inviolable sanc-

tuary. ‘The soldiers accordingly left her there.
Tryphena, however, made a request that her
husband would deliver the unhappy. fugitive
into her hands. She was determined, she said,
to kill her. Her husband remonstrated with
her against this atrocious proposal. ‘It would
be a wholly useless act of cruelty,” said he, “ to
destroy her life. She can do us no possible harm
in the future progress of the war, while to mur-
der her under these circumstances will only ex-
asperate her husband and her friends, and nerve



58 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 101.
Jealousy of Tryphena. Her resentment increases.

them with new strength for the remainder of —
the contest. And then, besides, she has taken
refuge in a temple ; and if we violate that sanc-
tuary, we shall incur, by such an act of sacri-
lege, the implacable displeasure of heaven. Con-
sider, too, that she is your sister, and for you to
kill her would be to commit an unnatural and
wholly inexcusable crime.”

So saying, he commanded Tryphena to say
no more upon the subject, for he would on no
account consent that Cleopatra should suffer
any injury whatever.

This refusal on the part of her husband to
comply with her request only inflamed Try-
phena’s insane resentment and anger the more.
In fact, the earnestness with which he espoused
her sister’s cause, and the interest which he
seemed to feel in her fate, aroused 'Tryphena’s
jealousy. She believed, or pretended to believe,
that her husband was influenced by a sentiment
of love in so warmly defending her. ‘The ob-
ject of her hate, from being simply an enemy,
became now, in her view, a rival, and she re-
solved that, at all hazards, she should be de-
stroyed. She accordingly ordered a body of des-
perate soldiers to break into the temple and
seize her. Cleopatra fled in terror to the altar,



BC.90.| Tus PTroLemMIEs. 59

Cruel and sacrilegious murder.

ARE ET reaieceeneearareiieoreneeneneaeeemeantr
and clung to it with such convulsive force that
the soldiers cut her hands off before they could
tear her away, and then, maddened by her re-
sistance and the sight of blood, they stabbed her
again and again upon the floor of the temple,
where she fell. The appalling shrieks with
which the wretched victim filled the air in the
first moments of her flight and her terror, sub-
sided, as her life ebbed away, into the most
awful imprecations of the judgments of heaven
upon the head of the unnatural sister whose
implacable hate had destroyed her.

Notwithstanding the specimens that we have
thus given of the character and action of this
extraordinary family, the government of this dy-
nasty, extending, as it did, through the reigns of
thirteen sovereigns and over a period of nearly
three hundred years, has always been considered
one of the most liberal, enlightened, and pros-
perous of all the governments of ancient times
We shall have something to say in the next
chapter in respect to the internal condition of
the country while these violent men were upon
the throne. In the mean time, we will here only
add, that whoever is inclined, in observing the
ambition, the selfishness, the party spirit, the



60 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 90.

The moral condition of mankind not degenerating.

unworthy intrigues, and the irregularities of
moral conduct, which modern rulers and states-
men sometimes exhibit to mankind in their per-
sonal and political career, to believe in a retro-
gression and degeneracy of national character
as the world advances in age, will be very ef-
fectually undeceived by reading attentively a
full history of this celebrated dynasty, and re-
flecting, as he reads, that the narrative presents,
on the whole, a fair and honest exhibition of the
general character of the men by whom, in an-
cient times, the world was governed.



ALEXANDRIA. 61

Internal administration of the Ptolemies.

CuHapTer III.

ALEXANDRIA.

T must not be imagined by the reader that
the scenes of vicious indulgence, and reck-
less cruelty and crime, which were exhibited
with such dreadful frequency, and carried to
such an enormous excess in the palaces of the
Egyptian kings, prevailed to the same extent
throughout the mass of the community during
the period of their reign. The internal admin-
istration of government, and the institutions by
which the industrial pursuits of the mass of the
people were regulated, and peace and order pre-
served, and justice enforced between man and
man, were all this time in the hands of men
well qualified, on the whole, for the trusts com-
mitted to their charge, and in’a good degree
faithful in the performance of their duties; and
thus the ordinary affairs of government, and the
general routine of domestic and social life, went
on, notwithstanding the profligacy of the kings,
in a course of very tolerable peace, prosperity,
and happiness. During every one of the three



62 CLEOPATRA.
- Industry of the people. ; . Its happy effects.

,
hundred years over which the history of the
Ptolemies extends, the whole length and breadth
of the land of Egypt exhibited, with compara-
tively few interruptions, one wide-spread scene
of busy industry. The inundations came at
their appointed season, and then regularly re-
tired. ‘The boundless fields which the waters
had fertilized were then every where tilled.
The lands were plowed; the seed was sown;
the canals and water-courses, which ramified
from the river in every direction over the
ground, were opened or closed, as the case re-
quired, to regulate the irrigation. The inhab-
itants were busy, and, consequently, they were
virtuous. And as the sky of Egypt is seldom
or never darkened by clouds and storms, the
scene presented to the eye the same unchang-
ing aspect of smiling verdure and beauty, day
after day, and month after month, until the rip-
ened grain was gathered into the store-houses,
and the land was cleared for another inundation.

We say that the people were virtuous be-
cause they were busy ; for there is no principle
of political economy more fully established than
that vice in the social state is the incident. and
symptom of idleness. It prevails always in those
classes of every great population who are either



ALEXANDRIA. 63

Idleness the parent of vice. An idle aristocracy generally vicious.
:

released by the possession of fixed and un-
changeable wealth from the necessity, or ex-
cluded by their poverty and degradation from
the advantage, of useful employment. Wealth
that is free, and subject to its possessor’s con-
trol, so that he can, if he will, occupy himself in
the management of it, while it sometimes may
make individuals vicious, does not generally
corrupt classes of men, for it does not make
them idle. But wherever the institutions of a
country are such as to: create an aristocratic
class, whose incomes depend on entailed estates,
or on fixed and permanent annuities, so that the
capital on which they live can not afford them
any mental occupation, they are doomed neces-
sarily to inaction and idleness. Vicious pleas-
ures and indulgences are, with such a class as
a whole, the inevitable result; for the innocent
enjoyments of man are planned and designed by
the Author of nature only for the intervals of
rest and repose in a life of activity. ‘They are
always found wholly insufficient to satisfy one
who makes pleasure the whole end and aim of
his being. | | .

In the same manner, if, either from the influ-
ence of the social institutions of a country, or
from the operation of natural causes which hu-



64 CLEOPATRA.

ene DL SD I:
Degradation and vice. Employment a cure for both.
rr

man power is unable to control, there is a class
of men too low, and degraded, and miserable to
be reached by the ordinary inducements to daily
toil, so certain are they to grow corrupt and de-
praved, that degradation has become in all lan-
guages a term almost synonymous with vice.
There are many exceptions, it is true, to these
general laws. Many active men are very wick-
ed; and there have been frequent instances of
the most exalted virtue among nobles and kings.
Still, as a general law, it is unquestionably true
that vice is the incident of idleness; and the
sphere of vice, therefore, is at the top and at the
bottom of society—those being the regions in
which idleness reigns. The great remedy, too,
for vice is employment. ‘To make a commu-
nity virtuous, it is essential that all ranks and
gradations of it, from the highest to the lowest,
should have something to do.

In accordance with these principles, we ob-
serve that, while the most extreme and abom-
inable wickedness seemed to hold continual and
absolute sway in the palaces of the Ptolemies,
and among the nobles of their courts, the work-
ing ministers of state, and the men on whom
the actual governmental functions devolved, dis-
charged their duties with wisdom and fidelity,



ALEXANDRIA. 65

Greatness of Alexandria. Situation of its port.

and throughout all the ordinary ranks and gra-
dations of society there prevailed generally a
very considerable degree of industry, prosperity,
and happiness. This prosperity prevailed not
only in the rural districts of the Delta and along
the valley of the Nile, but also among the mer-
chants, and navigators, and artisans of Alex-
andria. |

Alexandria became, in fact, very soon after
it was founded, a very great and busy city.
Many things conspired to make it at once a
great commercial emporium. In the first place,
it was the depdt of export for all the surplus
grain and other agricultural produce which was
raised in such abundance along the Egyptian
valley. ~I'b:s produce was brought down in
boats to the upper point of the Delta, where the
branches of the river divided, and thence down
the Canopic branch to the city.. The city was
not, in fact, situated directly upon this branch,
but upon a narrow tongue of land, at a little
tlistance from it, near the sea. It was not easy
to enter the channel directly, on account of the
bars and sand-banks at its mouth, produced by
the eternal conflict between the waters of the
river and the surges of the sea. The water
was deep, however, as Alexander’s engineers

K



66 CLEOPATRA.
Warehouses and granaries. Business of the port.
Pr ae

had discovered, at the place where the city was
built, and, by establishing the port there, and
then cutting a canal across to the Nile, they
were enabled to bring the river and the sea at
once into easy communication.

The produce of the valley was thus brought
down the river and through the canal to the
city. Here immense warehouses and granaries
were erected for its reception, that it might be
safely preserved until the ships that came into
the port were ready to take it away. ‘These
ships came from Syria, from all the coasts of
Asia Minor, from Greece, and from Rome
They brought the agricultural productions of
their own countries, as well as articles of man-
ufacture of various kinds; these they sold to
the merchants of Alexandria, and purchased
the productions of Egypt in return.

The port of Alexandria presented thus a con-
stant picture of life and animation. Merchant —
ships were continually coming and going, or
lying at anchor in the roadstead. Seamen were
hoisting sails, or raising anchors, or rowing their
capacious galleys through the water, singing, as
they pulled, to the motion of the oars. Within
the city there was the same ceaseless activity.
Here groups of men were unloading the’ canal



ALEXANDRIA, _ 67
igen ee
Scenes within the city. The natives protected in their industry.
sucbaebipactaiddinimiadbwadtiaiatammniedies ci

boats which had arrived from the river. There
porters were transporting bales of merchandise
or sacks of grain from: a warehouse to a pier,
or from one landing to another. The occasion-
al parading of the king’s guards, of the arrival
and departure of ships of war to land or to take
away bodies of armed men, were occurrences
that sometimes intervened to interrupt, or as
perhaps the people then would have said, to
adorn this scene of useful industry ; and now
and then, for a brief period, these peaceful avo-
cations would be wholly suspended and set aside
by a revolt or by a civil war, waged by rival
brothers against each other, or instigated by the
conflicting claims of a mother and son. These
interruptions, however, were comparatively few,
and, in ordinary cases, not of long continuance.
It was for the interest of all branches of the
royal line to do as little injury as possible to the
commercial and agricultural operations of the
realm. In fact, it was on the prosperity of those
operations that the revenues depended. ‘The
rulers were well aware of this, and so, however
implacably two rival princes may have hated
one another, and however desperately each party
may have struggled to destroy all active com-
batants whom they should find in arms against



68 CLEOPATRA.
teenie

Public edifices. The light-house.

Public ecmcee nn
them, they were both under every possible in-
ducement to spare the private property and the
lives of the peaceful population. This popula-
tion, in fact, engaged thus in profitable indus-
try, constituted, with the avails of their labors,
the very estate for which the combatants were
contending. |
Seeing the subject in this light, the Egyptian
sovereigns, especially Alexander and the earlier
Ptolemies, made every effort in their power to
promote the commercial greatness of Alexan-
dria. They built palaces, it is true, but they
also built warehouses. One of the most expen-
sive and celebrated of all the edifices that they
reared was the light-house which has been al-
ready alluded to. This light-house was a lofty
tower, built of white marble. It was situated
upon the island of Pharos, opposite to the city,
and at some distance from it. ‘There was a
sori of isthmus of shoals and sand-bars connect-
ing the island with the shore. Over these shal-
lows a pier or causeway was built, which final-
ly became a broad and inhabited neck. The
principal part of the ancient city, however, was
on the main land.* |

* See Map of the Delta of the Nile, page 29; also the View
of Alexandria, page 162. - |



B.C. 283.] ALEXANDRIA. 69

eta OREO aia iii a
Fame of the light-house. Its conspicuous position.
hci isi nth ia dR

The curvature of the earth requires that a
light-house on a coast should have a consider-
able elevation, otherwise its summit would not
appear above the horizon, unless the mariner
were very near. ‘To attain this elevation, the
architects usually take advantage of some hill or
cliff, or rocky eminence near the shore. There
was, however, no opportunity to do this at Pha-
ros; for the island was, like the main land, level
and low. The requisite elevation could only be
attained, therefore, by the masonry of an edi-
fice, and the blocks of marble necessary for the
work had to be brought from a great distance.
The Alexandrian light-house was reared in the
time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second mon-
arch in the line. No pains or expense were
spared in its construction. The edifice, when
completed, was considered one of the seven won-
ders of the world. It was indebted for its fame,
however, in some degree, undoubtedly to the
conspicuousness of its situation, rising, as it did,
at the entrance of the greatest. commercial em-
porium of its time, and standing there, like a
pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, to
attract the welcome gaze of every wandering
mariner whose ship came within its horizon,
and to awaken his gratitude by tendering him
its guidance and dispelling his fears.



ae CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 283.

Mode of lighting the tower. Modern method.

The light at the top of the tower was pro-
duced by a fire, made of such combustibles as
would emit the brightest flame. This fire
burned slowly through the day, and then was
kindled up anew when the sun went down, and
was continually replenished through the night
with fresh supplies of fuel. In modern times,
a much more convenient and economical mode
is adopted to produce the requisite illumina-
tion. A great: blazing lamp burns brilliantly
in the center of the lantern of the tower, and
all that part of the radiation from the flame
which would naturally have beamed upward,
or downward, or laterally, or back toward the
land, is so turned by a curious system of re-
flectors and polyzonal lenses, most ingeniously
contrived and very exactly adjusted, as to be
thrown forward in one broad and thin, but brill-
iant sheet of light, which shoots out where its
radiance is needed, over the surface of the sea.
Before these inventions were perfected, far the
largest portion of the light emitted by the illu-
mination of light-house towers streamed away

wastefully in landward directions, or was lost
~ among the stars.

Of course, the glory of erecting such an edi~
fice as the Pharos of Alexandria, and of main-



B.C. 283.] ALEXANDRIA. 71
The architect of the Pharos. His ingenious stratagem.
<
taining it in the performance of its functions,
was very great; the question might, however,
very naturally arise whether this glory was
justly due to the architect through whose scien-
tific skill the work was actually accomplished,
or to the monarch by whose power and regour-
ces the architect was sustained. The name of
the architect was Sostratus. He was a Greek.
The monarch was, as ‘has already been stated,
the second Ptolemy, called commonly Ptoleriy
Philadelphus. Ptolemy ordered that, in com-
pleting the tower, a marble tablet should be
built into the wall, at a suitable place near the
summit, and that a proper inscription should
be carved upon it, with his name as the builder
of the edifice conspicuous thereon. Sostratus
preferred inserting his own name. He accord-
ingly made the tablet and ‘set it in its place.
He cut the inscription upon the face of it, in
Greek characters, with his own name as the
author of the work. He did this secretly, and
then covered the face of the tablet with an ar-
tificial composition, made with lime, to imitate
the natural surface of the stone. On this outer
surface he cut a new inscription, in which he
inserted the name of the king. In process of
time the lime moldered away, the king’s in- ©



72 | CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 283.

lei caetanemcsicaneatnine
Ruins of the Pharos. The Alexandrian library.
a ennui meneitiaietiisiniadeninanineaisinnaaasanntsnmns

scription disappeared, and his own, which thence-
forward continued as long as the building en-
dured, came out to view.

The Pharos was said to have been four hund-
red feet high. It was famed throughout the
world for many centuries; nothing, however,
remains of it now but a = of useless and
unmeaning ruins.

Besides the light that beamed from the sum-
mit of this lofty tower, there was another cen-
ter of radiance and illumination in ancient Al-
exandria, which was in some respects still more
conspicuous and renowned, namely, an im-
mense library and museum established and
maintained by the Ptolemies. ‘The Museum,
which was first established, was not, as its name
might now imply, a collection of curiosities, but
an institution of learning, consisting of a body
of learned men, who devoted their time to phil-
osophical and scientific pursuits. ‘The institu-
tion was richly endowed, and magnificent build-
ings were erected for its use. The king who
established it began immediately to make a col-
lection of books for the use of the members of
the institution. This was attended with great
expense, as every book that was added to the
collection required to be transcribed with a pen



ALEXANDRIA. 73

Immense magnitude of the library. The Serapion.

on parchment or papyrus, with infinite labor and
care. Great numbers of scribes were constant-
ly employed upon this work at the Museum.
The kings who were most interested in forming
this library would seize the books that were pos-
sessed by individual scholars, or that were de-
posited in the various cities of their dominions,
and then, causing beautiful copies of them to be
made by the scribes of the Museum, they would
retain the originals for the great Alexandrian
Library, and give the copies to the men or the
cities that had been thus despoiled. In the
same manner they would borrow, as they called
it, from all travelers who visited. Egypt, any
valuable books which they might have in their
possession, and, retaining the originals, give
them back copies instead.

In process of time the library increased to
four hundred thousand volumes. ‘There was
then no longer any room in the buildings of the
Museum for further additions. There was,
however, in another part of the city, a great
temple called the Serapion. This temple was
a very magnificent edifice, or, rather, group of
edifices, dedicated to the god Serapis. The or-
igin and history of this temple were very re-
markable. The legend was this:



74 CLEOPATRA.

The Serapis of Egypt. The Serapis of Greece.

It seems that one of the ancient and long-
venerated gods of the Egyptians was a deity
named Serapis. He had been, among other di-
vinities, the object of Egyptian adoration ages
before Alexandria was built or the Ptolemies
reigned. ‘There was also, by a curious coinci-
dence, a statue of the same name at a great
commercial town named Sinope, which was
built upon the extremity of a promontory which
projected from Asia Minor into the Euxine
Sea.* Sinope was, in some sense, the Alexan-
dria of the north, being the center and seat of a
great portion of the commerce of that quarter
of the world.

The Serapis of Sinope was considered as the
protecting deity of seamen, and the navigators
who came and went to and from the city made
sacrifices to him, and offered him oblations and
prayers, believing that they were, in a great
measure, dependent upon some mysterious and
inscrutable power which he exercised for their
safety in storms. They carried the knowledge
of his name, and tales of his. imaginary inter-
positions, to all the places that they visited;
and thus the fame of the god became extended,
first, to all the coasts of the Euxine Sea, and

* See map; frontispiece.



ALEXANDRIA. 75

Ptolemy’s dream. Importance of the statue.

subsequently to distant provinces and kingdoms.
The Serapis of Sinope began to be considered
every where as the tutelar god of seamen.

Accordingly, when the first of the Ptolemies
was forming his various plans for adorning and
agerandizing Alexandria, he received, he said,
one night, a divine intimation in a dream that
he was to obtain the statue of Serapis from Si-
nope, and set it up in Alexandria, in a suitable
temple which he was in the mean time to erect
in honor of the god. It is obvious that very
great advantages to the city would result from
the accomplishment of this design. In the first
place, a temple to the god Serapis would be a
new distinction for it in the minds of the rural
population, who would undoubtedly suppose that
the deity honored by it was their own ancient
god. Then the whole maritime and nautical
interest of the world, which had been accustom-
ed to adore the god of Sinope, would turn to Al-
exandria as the great center of religious attrac-
tion, if their venerated idol could be carried and
placed in a new and magnificent temple built
expressly for him there. Alexandria could nev-
er be the chief naval port and station of the
world, unless it contained the sanctuary and
shrine of the god of seamen. .



76 CLEOPATRA.

ities animes initials: ataaamaiaaamatis
Ptolemy’s proposal to the King of Sinope. His ultimate success.
ete see teeererennncgeteaplseseninctiapagtinrntaneneeseinninacecgcaalbinasnest netgea

Ptolemy sent accordingly to the King of Si-
nope and proposed to purchase the idol. The
embassage was, however, unsuccessful. The
king refused to give up the god. The negotia-
tions were continued for two years, but all in
vain. At length, on account of some failure in
the regular course of the seasons on that coast,
there was a famine there, which became finally
so severe that the people of the city were induc-
ed to consent to give up their deity to the Egyp-
tians in exchange for a supply of corn. Ptole-
my sent the corn and received the idol. He
then built the temple, which, when finished,
surpassed in grandeur and magnificence almost
every sacred structure in the world.

It was in this temple that the successive ad-
ditions to the Alexandrian library were depos-
ited, when the apartments at the Museum be-
came full. In the end there were four hundred
thousand rolls or volumes in the Museum, and
three hundred thousand in the Serapion. The
former was called the parent library, and the
latter, being, as it were, the ene of the first,
was called the daughter.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, who interested him-
self very greatly in collecting this library, wished
to make it a complete collection of all the books



ALEXANDRIA. ae

MAD iieacaaaas inte
Mode of obtaining books. The Jewish Scriptures.



in the world. He employed scholars to read
and study, and travelers to make extensive
tours, for the purpose of learning what books
existed among all the surrounding nations; and,
when he learned of their existence, he spared
no pains or expense in attempting to procure
either the originals themselves, or the most per-
fect and authentic copies of them. He sent to
Athens and obtained the works of the most cel-
ebrated Greek historians, and then causing, as
in other cases, most beautiful transcripts to be
made, he sent the transcripts back to Athens,
and a very large sum of money with them as
an equivalent for the difference of value between
originals and copies in such an exchange.

In the course of the inquiries which Ptolemy
made into the literature of the surrounding na-
tions, in his search for accessions to his library,
he heard that the Jews had certain sacred writ-
ings in their temple at Jerusalem, comprising
a minute and extremely interesting history of
their nation from the earliest periods, and also
many other books of sacred prophecy and poe-
try. ‘These books, which were, in fact, the He-
brew Scriptures of the Old Testament, were
then wholly unknown to all nations except the
Jews, and among the Jews were known only



78 CLEOPATRA.

Seclusion of the Jews. Interest felt in their Scriptures.

Oe ei epee nenetitntnlapnstleneasaEa
to priests and scholars. They were kept sacred
at Jerusalem. The Jews would have consid-
ered them as profaned in being exhibited to the
view of pagan nations. In fact, the learned
men of other countries would not have been
able to read them; for the Jews secluded them-
selves so closely from the rest of mankind, that
their language was, in that age, scarcely ever
heard beyond the confines of Judea and Galilee.

Ptolemy very naturally thought that a copy
of these sacred books would be a great acquisi-
tion to his library. They constituted, in fact,
the whole literature of a nation which was, in
some respects, the most extraordinary that ever
existed on the globe. Ptolemy conceived the
idea, also, of not only adding to his library a
eopy of these writings in the original Hebrew,
but of causing a translation of them to be made
into Greek, so that they might easily be read
by the Greek and Roman scholars who were
drawn in great numbers to his capital by the
libraries and the learned institutions which he
had established there. The first thing to be ef-
fected, however, in accomplishing either of these
plans, was to obtain the consent of the Jewish
authorities. They would probably object to giv-
ing up any copy of their sacred writings at all.



ALEXANDRIA. 79
teense
Jewish slaves in Egypt. Ptolemy’s designs,

There was one circumstance which led Ptol-
emy to imagine that the Jews would, at that
time particularly, be averse to granting any re-
quest of such a nature coming from an Egyp-
tian king, and that was, that during certain
wars which had taken place in previous reigns,
a considerable number of prisoners had been ta-
ken by the Egyptians, and had been brought to
Egypt as captives, where they had been sold to
the inhabitants, and were now scattered over
the land as slaves. They were employed as
servile laborers in tilling the fields, or in turn-
ing enormous wheels to pump up water from
the Nile. ‘The masters of these hapless bond-
men conceived, like other slave-holders, that they
had a right of property in their slaves. This
was in some respects true, since they had bought
them of the government at the close of the war
for a consideration ; and though they obviously
deriyed from this circumstance no valid propri-
etary right or claim as against the men person-
ally, it certainly would seem that it gave them
a just claim against the government of whom
they bought, in case of subsequent manumis-
sion.

Ptolemy or his minister, for it can not now
be known who was the real actor in these trans-



80 CLEOPATRA.

Ptolemy liberates the slaves. Their ransom paid.

actions, determined on liberating these slaves
and sending them back to their native land, as
a means of propitiating the Jews and inclining
them to listen favorably to the request which
he was about to prefer for a copy of their sacred
writings. He, however, paid to those who held
the captives a very liberal sum for ransom. The
ancient historians, who never allow the interest
of their narratives to suffer for want of a proper
amplification on their part of the scale on which
the deeds which they record were performed,
say that the number of slaves liberated on this
occasion was a hundred and twenty thousand,
and the sum paid for them, as compensation to
the owners, was six hundred talents, equal to
six hundred thousand dollars.* And yet this
was only a preliminary expense to pave the
way for the acquisition of a single series of
books, to add to the variety of the immense
collection. |

After the liberation and return of the cap-

* It will be sufficiently accurate for the general reader of
history to consider the Greek talent, referred to in such trans-
actions as these, as equal in English money to two hundred
and fifty pounds, in American to a thousand dollars. It is
curious to observe that, large as the total was that was paid
for the liberation of these slaves, the amount paid for each in-
dividual was, after all, only a sum equal to about five dollars.



B.C. 298-285.] ALEXANDRIA. 81
ered DI ten onensniranenenioniesntednieaniasiiaddbiibitinindaars

Ptolemy’s success. The Septuagint.

tives, Ptolemy sent a splendid embassage to
Jerusalem, with very respectful letters to the
high priest, and with very magnificent pres-
ents. The embassadors were received with the
highest honors. The request of Ptolemy that
he should be allowed to take a copy of the sa-
cred books for his library was very readily
granted. .
The priests caused copies to be made of all
the sacred writings. These copies were executed
in the most magnificent style; and were splen-
didly illuminated with letters of gold. The
Jewish government also, at Ptolemy’s request,
designated a company of Hebrew scholars, six
from each tribe—men learned in both the Greek
and Hebrew languages—to proceed to Alexan-
dria, and there, at the Museum, to make a care-
ful translation of the Hebréw. books into Greek.
As there were twelve tribes, and six translators
chosen from each, there were seventy-two trans-
lators in all.. They made their translation, and
it was called the Septuagint, from the Latin
septuaginta duo, which means seventy-two.
Although out of Judea there was no feeling of
reverence for these Hebrew Scriptures as books
of divine authority, there was still a strong in-
terest felt in them as very entertaining and cu-
F



_ Creopatra. [B.C. 298-285.

Early copies of the Septuagint.

Present copies.



rious works of history, by all the Greek and
Roman scholars who frequented Alexandria to
study at the Museum. Copies were accord-
ingly made of the Septuagint translation, and
were taken to other countries; and there, in
process of time, copies of the copies were made,
until at length the work became extensively
circulated throughout the whole learned world.
When, finally, Christianity became extended
over the Roman empire, the priests and monks
looked with even a stronger interest than the
ancient scholars had felt upon this early trans-
lation of so important a portion of the sacred
Scriptures. They made new copies for abbeys,
monasteries, and colleges ; and when, at length,
the art of printing was discovered, this work
was one of the first on which the magic power
of typography was tried. The original manu-
script made by the scribes of the seventy-two,
and all the early transcripts which were made
from it, have long since been lost or destroyed ;
but, instead of them, we have now hundreds of
thousands of copies in compact printed volumes,
scattered among the public and private libraries
of Christendom. In fact, now, after the lapse
of two thousand years, a copy of Ptolemy’s Sep-
tuagint may be obtained of any considerable



B.C. 298-285.] Anexawoprta. 83

eee aR FO Ge aan.
Various other plans of the Ptolemies. Means of raising money.

bookseller in any country of the civilized world ;
and though it required a national embassage,
and an expenditure, if the accounts are true,
of more than a million of dollars, originally to
obtain it, it may be procured without difficulty
now by two days’ wages of an ordinary laborer.

Besides the building of the Pharos, the Mu-
seum, and the Temple of Serapis, the early
Ptolemies formed and executed a great many
other plans tending to the same ends which the
erection of these splendid edifices was designed
to secure, namely, to concentrate in Alexan-
dria all possible means of attraction, commer-
cial, literary, and religious, so as to make the
city the great center of interest, and the com-
mon resort for all mankind. They raised im-
mense revenues for these and other purposes by
taxing heavily the whole agricultural produce
of the valley of the Nile. The inundations, by
the boundless fertility which they annually pro-
duced, supplied the royal treasuries. Thus the
Abyssinian rains at the sources of the Nile built
the Pharos at its mouth, and endowed the Al-
exandrian library.

The taxes laid upon the people of Egypt to
supply the Ptolemies with funds were, in fact,
so heavy, that only the bare means of subsist-



84 CLEOPATRA.
Heavy taxes. Poverty of the people.

ence were left to the mass of the agricultural
population. In admiring the greatness and glo-
ry of the city, therefore, we must remember
that there was a gloomy counterpart to its
splendor in the very extended destitution and
poverty to which the mass of the people were
every where doomed. ‘They lived in hamlets
of wretched huts along the banks of the river,
in order that the capital might be splendidly
adorned with temples and palaces. They pass-
ed their lives in darkness and ignorance, that
seven hundred thousand volumes of expensive
manuscripts might be enrolled at the Museum
for the use of foreign philosophers and scholars,
The policy of the Ptolemies was, perhaps, on
the whole, the best, for the general advance-
ment and ultimate welfare of mankind, which
could have been pursued in the age in which
they lived and acted ; but, in applauding the re-
sults which they attained, we must not wholly
forget the cost which they incurred in attaining
them. At the same cost, we could, at the pres-
ent day, far surpass them. If the people of the
United States will surrender the comforts and
conveniences which they individually enjoy—if
the farmers scattered in their comfortable homes
on the hill-sides and plains throughout the land



ALEXANDRIA. 85

Ainaheanieth cai a niacin natal lia,
Ancient/and modern capitals. Liberality of the Ptolemies,

will give up their houses, their furniture, their
carpets, their books, and the privileges of their
children, and then—withholding from the pro-
duce of their annual toil only a sufficient reser-
vation to sustain them and their families through
the year, in a life like that of a beast of burden,
spent in some miserable and naked hovel—send
the rest to some hereditary sovereign residing
upon the Atlantic sea-board, that he may build
with the proceeds a splendid capital, they may
have an Alexandria now that will infinitely ex-
ceed the ancient city of the Ptolemies in splen-
dor and renown. The nation, too, would, in
such a case, pay for its metropolis the same
price, precisely, that the ancient Egyptians paid
for theirs. |

The Ptolemies expended the revenues which
they raised by this taxation mainly in a very
liberal and enlightened manner, for the accom-
plishment of the purposes which they had in
view. The building of the Pharos, the removal
of the statue of Serapis, and the endowment of
the Museum and the library were great concep-
tions, and they were carried into effect in the
most complete and perfect manner. All the
other operations which they devised and exe-
cuted for the extension and aggrandizement of





86 CLEOPATRA.

Splendor and renown of Alexandria. Her grekt rival.

the city were conceived and executed in the
same spirit of scientific and enlightened liberal-
ity. Streets were opened; the most splendid
palaces were built ; docks, piers, and breakwa-
ters were constructed, and fortresses and towers
were armed and garrisoned. Then every means
was employed to attract to the city a great con-
course from all the most highly-civilized nations
then existing. The highest inducements were
offered to merchants, mechanics, and artisans
to make the city their abode. Poets, painters,
sculptors, and scholars of every nation and de-
gree were made welcome, and every facility
was afforded them for the prosecution of their
various pursuits. These plans were all emi-
nently successful. Alexandria rose rapidly to
the highest consideration and importance ; and,
at the time when Cleopatra—born. to preside
over this scene of magnificence and splendor—
came upon the stage, the city had but one rival
in the world. That rival was Rome.



B.C. 80.] Curopatra’s FatuHer. 87

Rome the rival of Alexandria. Extent of their rule.

CuaptTrer LV.
CLEOPATRA’S FATHER.

WV BEN the time was approaching in which

Cleopatra appeared upon the stage, Rome
was perhaps the only city that could be consid-
ered as the rival of Alexandria, in the estima-
tion of mankind, in respect to interest and at-
tractiveness as a capital. In one respect, Rome
was vastly superior to the Egyptian metropolis,
and that was in the magnitude and extent of.
the military power which it wielded among the
nations of the earth. Alexandria ruled over
Egypt, and over a few of the neighboring coasts
and islands; but in the course of the three cen-
turies during which she had been acquiring her
greatness and fame, the Roman empire had ex-
tended itself over almost the whole civilized
world. Egypt had been, thus far, too remote
to be directly reached ; but the affairs of Egypt
itself became involved at length with the opera-
tions of the Roman power, about the time of
Cleopatra’s birth, in a very striking and pecu-
liar manner; and as the consequences of the



Ss . , CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 80.

es ee a



Extension of the Roman empire. Cleopatra’s father.

transaction were the means of turning the whole
course of the queen’s subsequent history, a nar-
ration of it is necessary to a proper understand-
ing of the circumstances under which she com-
menced her career. In fact, it was the exten-
sion of the Roman empire to the limits of
Egypt, and the connections which thence arose
between the leading Roman generals and the
Egyptian sovereign, which have made the story
of this particular queen so much more conspic-
uous, as an object of interest and attention to
mankind, than that of any other one of-the ten
Cleopatras who rose successively in the same
royal line. :

Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra’s father, was per-
haps, in personal character, the most dissipated,
degraded, and corrupt of all the sovereigns in
the dynasty. He spent his whole time in vice
and debauchery. The only honest accomplish-
ment that he seemed to possess was his skill in
playing upon the flute ; of this he was very vain.
He instituted musical contests, in which the
musical performers of Alexandria played for
prizes and crowns; and he himself was accus-
tomed to enter the lists with the rest as a com-
petitor. The people of Alexandria, and the
world in general, considered such pursuits as”





B.C. 58.] Curoparra’s Faruer. 89

Ptolemy’ 8 y's ignoble bi birth. Cesar and Pompey.

these wholly unworthy the attention of the rep-
resentative of so illustrious a line of sovereigns;
and the abhorrence which they felt for the mon-
arch’s vices and crimes was mingled with a feel-
ing of contempt for the meanness of his ambi-
_ tion.

There was a doubt in renpect to bie title to
the crown, for his birth, on the mother’s side,
was irregular and ignoble. Instead, however,
of attempting to confirm and secure his posses-
sion of power by a vigorous and prosperous ad-
ministration of the government, he wholly aban-
doned all concern in respect to the course of
public affairs; and then, to guard against the
danger of being deposed, he conceived the plan
of getting himself recognized at Rome as one
of the allies of the Roman people. If this were
once done, he supposed that the Roman govern-
ment would feel under an obligation to sustain
him on his throne in the event of any threat-
ened danger.

The Roman government was a sort of repub-
lic, and the two most powerful men in the state
at this time were Pompey and Cesar. Cesar
was in the ascendency at Rome at the time
that Ptolemy made his application for an alli-
ance. Pompey was absent in Asia Minor, be-





90 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

sss i el eterna
Ptolemy purchases the alliance of Rome. Taxes to raise the money.

ing engaged in prosecuting a war with Mith-
radates, a very powerful monarch, who was at
that time resisting the Roman power. Cesar
was very deeply involved in debt, and was, more-
over, very much in need of money, not only for
relief from existing embarrassments, but as a
means of subsequent expenditure, to enable him
to accomplish certain great political schemes
which he was entertaining. After many nego-
tiations and delays, it was agreed that Cesar
would exert his influence to secure an alliance
between the Roman people and Ptolemy, on con-
dition that Ptolemy paid him the sum of six
thousand talents, equal to about six millions of
dollars. A part of the money, Cesar said, was
for Pompey.

The title of ally was conferred, and Ptolemy
undertook to raise the money which he had
promised by increasing the taxes of his kingdom.
The measures, however, which he thus adopt-
ed for the purpose of making himself the more
secure in his possession of the throne, proved
to be the means of overthrowing him. The dis-
content and disaffection of his people, which had
been strong and universal before, though sup-
pressed and concealed, broke out now into open
violence. That there should be laid upon them,



B.C. 58.| Cireopatra’s Faruer. 91
Revolt at Alexandria. Ptolemy’s flight.

in addition to all their other burdens, these new
oppressions, heavier than those which they had
endured before, and exacted for such a purpose
too, was not to be endured. ‘To be compelled
to see their country sold on any terms to the
Roman people was sufficiently hard to bear ; but
to be forced to raise, themselves, and pay the
price of the transfer, was absolutely intolerable.
Alexandria commenced a revolt. Ptolemy was
not a man to act decidedly against such a dem-
onstration, or, in facet, to evince either calmness
or courage in any emergency whatever. His
first thought was to escape from Alexandria to
save his life. His second, to make the best of
his way to Rome, to call upon the Roman peo-
ple to come to the succor of their ally!
Ptolemy left five children behind him in his
flight. 'The eldest was the Princess Berenice,
who had already reached maturity. The sec-
ond was the great Cleopatra, the subject of this
history. Cleopatra was, at this time, about
eleven years old. ‘There were also two sons;
but they were very young. One of them was
named Ptolemy. 7
The Alexandrians determined on raising Ber-
enice to the throne in her father’s place, as soon
as his flight was known. They thought that



92 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

Berenice. Her marriage with Seleucus.



the sons were too young to attempt to reign in
such an emergency, as it was very probable
that Auletes, the father, would attempt to re-
cover. his kingdom. ' Berenice very readily ac-
cepted the honor and power which were offered
to her. She established herself in her father’s
palace, and began her reign in great magnifi-
cence and splendor. In process of time she
thought that her position would be strengthened
by a marriage with a royal prince from some
neighboring realm. She first sent embassadors
to make proposals to a prince of Syria named
Antiochus. The embassadors came back, bring-
ing word that Antiochus was dead, but that he
had a brother named Seleucus, upon whom the
succession fell. Berenice then sent them back
to make the same offers to him. He accepted
the proposals, came to Egypt, and he and Ber-
enice were married. After trying him for a
while, Berenice found that, for some reason or
other, she did not like him as a husband, and,
accordingly, she caused him to be strangled.
At length, after various other intrigues and
much secret management, Berenice succeeded
in a second negotiation, and married a prince,
or a pretended prince, from some country of
Asia Minor, whose name was Archelaus. © She



B.C. 58.] Cuzoparra’s Farner. 93

wapelmerterorapetneineinsiontnennpeteareesnictesitinpnetiindantialinnsinstensienesoneinnsnsesiniappiamic ant tiaiia ta SY
Cleopatra’s early life. Ptolemy an object of contempt.

was better pleased with this second husband
than she had been with the first, and she began,
at last, to feel somewhat settled and establish-
ed on her throne, and to be prepared, as she
thought, to offer effectual resistance to her fa-
ther in case he should ever attempt to re-
turn.

‘It was in the midst of the scenes, and sur-
rounded by the influences which might be ex-
pected to prevail in the families of such a father
and such a sister, that Cleopatra spent those
years of life in which the character is formed.
During all these revolutions, and exposed to all
these exhibitions of licentious wickedness, and
of unnatural cruelty and crime, she was grow-
ing up in the royal palaces a spirited and beau-
tiful, but indulged and neglected child.

In the mean time, Auletes, the father, went
on toward Rome. So far as his character and
his story were known among the surrounding
nations, he was the object of universal obloquy,
both on account of his previous career of de-
grading vice, and now, still more, for this igno-
ble flight from the difficulties in which his vices
and crimes had involved him.

He stopped, on the way, at the island of
Rhodes. It happened that Cato, the great Ro-



94 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

ND
Ptolemy’s interview with Cato. Character of Cato.

man philosopher and general, was at Rhodes at
this time. Cato was a man of stern, unbend-
ing virtue, and of great influence at that period
in public affairs. Ptolemy sent a messenger to
inform Cato of his arrival, supposing, of course,
that the Roman general would hasten, on hear-
ing of the fact, to pay his respects to so great a
personage as he, a king of Egypt—a Ptolemy
—though suffering under a temporary reverse
of fortune. Cato directed the messenger to re-
ply that, so far as he was aware, he had no par-
ticular business with Ptolemy. ‘ Say, how-
ever, to the king,” he added, “ that, if he has
any business with me, he may call and see me,
if he pleases.” |

Ptolemy was obliged to suppress his resent-
ment and submit. He thought it very essen-
tial to the success of his plans that he should
see Cato, and secure, if possible, his interest and
co-operation ; and he consequently made prepa-
rations for paying, instead of receiving, the vis-
it, intending to go in the greatest royal state
that he could command. He accordingly ap-—
peared at Cato’s lodgings on the following day,
magnificently dressed, and accompanied by
many attendants. Cato, who was dressed in
the plainest and most simple manner, and whose



B.C.58.] Cureoparra’s Farner. 95

Ptolemy’s reception. Cato’s advice to him.



apartment was furnished in a style correspond-
ing with the severity of his character, did not -
even rise when the king entered the room. He
simply pointed with his hand, and bade the vis-
itor take a seat. |

Ptolemy began to make a statement of his
case, with a view to obtaining Cato’s influence
with the Roman people to induce them to in-
terpose in his behalf. Cato, however, far from
evincing any disposition to espouse his visitor’s
cause, censured him, in the plainest terms, for
having abandoned his proper position in his own
kingdom, to go and make himself a victim and
a prey for the insatiable avarice of the Roman
leaders. ‘You can do nothing at Rome,” he
said, ‘but by the influence of bribes ; and all
the resources of Egypt will not be enough to
satisfy the Roman greediness for money.” He
concluded by recommending him to go back to
Alexandria, and rely for his hopes of extrication
from the difficulties which surrounded him on
the exercise of his own energy and resolution
there.

Ptolemy was greatly abashed at this rebuff,
but, on consultation with his attendants and
followers, it was decided to be too late now to
return. The whole party accordingly re-em-



96 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

Ptolemy arrives at Rome. His application to Pompey.





barked on board their galleys, and pursued their
way to Rome.

Ptolemy found, on his arrival at the city, that
Ceesar was absent in Gaul, while Pompey, on
the other hand, who had returned victorious
from his campaigns against Mithradates, was
now the great leader of influence and power at
the Capitol. This change of circumstances was
not, however, particularly unfavorable ; for Ptol-
emy was on friendly terms with Pompey, as he
had been with Cesar. He had assisted him in
his wars with Mithradates by sending him a
squadron of horse, in pursuance of his policy of
cultivating friendly relations with the Roman
people by every means in his power. Besides,
Pompey had received a part of the money which
Ptolemy had paid to Cesar as the price of the
Roman alliance, and was to receive his share
of the rest in case Ptolemy should ever be re-
stored. Pompey was accordingly interested in
favoring the royal fugitive’s cause. He re-
ceived him in his palace, entertained him in
magnificent style, and took immediate meas-
ures for bringing his cause before the Roman
senate, urging upon that body the adoption of
immediate and vigorous measures for effecting
his restoration, as an ally whom they were

-



B.C.58.] Cusoparra’s Faruer. 97

Aesthnnn ol te Mace tiie
Action of the Roman senate. Plans for restoring Ptolemy.



bound to protect against his rebellious sub-
jects. |

There was at first some opposition in the
Roman senate against espousing the cause of
such a man, but it was soon put down, being
overpowered in part by Pompey’s authority,
and in part silenced by Ptolemy’s promises and
bribes. ‘The senate determined to restore the
king to his throne, and began to make arrange-
ments for carrying the measure into effect.

The Roman provinces nearest to Egypt were
Cilicia and Syria, countries situated on the east-
ern and northeastern coast of the Mediterranean
Sea, north of Judea. The forces stationed in
these provinces would be, of course, the most
convenient for furnishing the necessary troops
for the expedition. The province of Cilicia was
under the command of the consul Lentulus.
Lentulus was at this time at Rome; he had
repaired to the capital for some temporary pur-
pose, leaving his province and the troops sta-
tioned there under the command, for the time,
of a sort of lieutenant general named Gabinius.
It was concluded that this Lentulus, with his
Syrian forces, should undertake the task of re-
instating Ptolemy on his throne.

While these plans and arrangements were

G





98 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 57.

Measures of Berenice. Her embassage to Rome.

yet immature, a circumstance occurred which
threatened, for a time, wholly to defeat them.
It seems that when Cleopatra’s father first left
Egypt, he had caused a report to be circulated
there that he had been killed in the revolt.
The object of this stratagem was to cover and
conceal his flight. The government of Berenice
soon discovered the truth, and learned that the
fugitive had gone in the direction of Rome.
They immediately inferred that he was going
to appeal to the Roman people for aid, and they
determined that, if that were the case, the Ro-
man people, before deciding in his favor, should
have the opportunity to hear their side of the
story as well as his. They accordingly made
preparations at once for sending a very impos-
ing embassage to Rome. The deputation con-
sisted of more than a hundred persons. The
object of Berenice’s government in sending so
large a number was not only to evince their
respect for the Roman people, and their sense
of the magnitude of the question at issue, but
also to guard against any efforts that Ptolemy
might make to intercept the embassage on the
way, or to buy off the members of it by bribes.
The number, however, large as it was, proved
insufficient to accomplish this purpose. The



B.C. 57.| Cueoparra’s Farner. 99

Ptolemy’s treachery. Its consequences.

whole Roman world was at this time in such a
condition of disorder and violence, in the hands
of the desperate and reckless military leaders
who then bore sway, that there were every where
abundant facilities for the commission of any
conceivable crime. Ptolemy contrived, with the
assistance of the fierce partisans who had es-
poused his cause, and who were deeply interest-
ed in his success on account of the rewards
which were promised them, to waylay and de-
stroy a large proportion of this company before
they reached Rome. Some were assassinated ;
some were poisoned ; some were tampered with
and bought off by bribes. A small remnant
reached Rome; but they were so intimidated
by the dangers which surrounded them, that
they did not dare to take any public action in
respect to the business which had been com-
mitted to their charge. Ptolemy began to con-
gratulate himself on having completely circum-
vented his daughter in her efforts to protect
herself against his designs.

Instead of that, however, it soon proved that
the effect of this atrocious treachery was exact-
ly the contrary of what its perpetrators had ex-
pected. The knowledge of the facts became
gradually extended among the people of Rome,



100 CLEOPATRA. [B.C, 57.



Opposition to Ptolemy. The prophecy.

and it awakened a universal indignation. The
party who had been originally opposed to Ptol-
emy’s cause seized the opportunity to renew
their opposition; and they gained so much
strength from the general odium which Ptol-
emy’s crimes had awakened, that Pompey found
it almost impossible to sustain his cause.

At length the party opposed to Ptolemy
found, or pretended. to find, in certain sacred
books, called the Sibylline Oracles, which were
kept in the custody of the priests, and were sup-
posed to contain prophetic intimations of the
will of Heaven in respect to the conduct of pub-
lic affairs, the following passage :

“Tfa king of Egypt should apply to you
for aid, treat him in a friendly manner, but do
not furnish him with troops ; for if you do, you
will incur great danger.”

This made new difficulty for Ptolemy’s
friends. They attempted, at first, to evade this
inspired injunction by denying the reality of it.
There was no such passage to be found, they
said. It was all an invention of their enemies.
This point seems to have been overruled, and
then they attempted to give the passage some
other than the obvious interpretation. Finally,
they maintained that, although it prohibited



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12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00080.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00080.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00081.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00081.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00082.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00082.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00083.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00083.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00084.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00084.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00085.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00085.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00086.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00086.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00087.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00087.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00088.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00088.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00089.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00089.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00090.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00090.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00091.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00091.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00092.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00092.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00093.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00093.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00094.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00094.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00095.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00095.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00096.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00096.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00097.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00097.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00098.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00098.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00099.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00099.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00100.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00100.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00101.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00101.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00102.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00102.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00103.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00103.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00104.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00104.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00105.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00105.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00106.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00106.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00107.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00107.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00108.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00108.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00109.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00109.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00110.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00110.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00111.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00111.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00112.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00112.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00113.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00113.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00114.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00114.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00115.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00115.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00116.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:31 PM 00116.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00117.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00117.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00118.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00118.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00119.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00119.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00120.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00120.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00121.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00121.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00122.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00122.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00123.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00123.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00124.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00124.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00125.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00125.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00126.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00126.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00127.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00127.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00128.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00128.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00129.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00129.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00130.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00130.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00131.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00131.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00132.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00132.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00133.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00133.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00134.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00134.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00135.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00135.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00136.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00136.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00137.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00137.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00138.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00138.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00139.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00139.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00140.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00140.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00141.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00141.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00142.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00142.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00143.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00143.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00144.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00144.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00145.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00145.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00146.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00146.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00147.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00147.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00148.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00148.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00149.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00149.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00150.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00150.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00151.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00151.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00152.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00152.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00153.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00153.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00154.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00154.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00155.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00155.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00156.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00156.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00157.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00157.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00158.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00158.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00159.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00159.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00160.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00160.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:32 PM 00161.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00161.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00162.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00162.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00163.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00163.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00164.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00164.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00165.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00165.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00166.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00166.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00167.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00167.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00168.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00168.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00169.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00169.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00170.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00170.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00171.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00171.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00172.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00172.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00173.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00173.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00174.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00174.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00175.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00175.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00176.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00176.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00177.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00177.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00178.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00178.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00179.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00179.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00180.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00180.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00181.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00181.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00182.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00182.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00183.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00183.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00184.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00184.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00185.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00185.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00186.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00186.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00187.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00187.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00188.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00188.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00189.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00189.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00190.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00190.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00191.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00191.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00192.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00192.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00193.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00193.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00194.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00194.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00195.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00195.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00196.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00196.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00197.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00197.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00198.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00198.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00199.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00199.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00200.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00200.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00201.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00201.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00202.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00202.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00203.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00203.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00204.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00204.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00205.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00205.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00206.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00206.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00207.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00207.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:33 PM 00208.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00208.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00209.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00209.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00210.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00210.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00211.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00211.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00212.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00212.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00213.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00213.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00214.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00214.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00215.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00215.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00216.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00216.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00217.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00217.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00218.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00218.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00219.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00219.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00220.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00220.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00221.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00221.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00222.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00222.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00223.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00223.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00224.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00224.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00225.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00225.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00226.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00226.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00227.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00227.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00228.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00228.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00229.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00229.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00230.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00230.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00231.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00231.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00232.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00232.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00233.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00233.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00234.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00234.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00235.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00235.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00236.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00236.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00237.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00237.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00238.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00238.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00239.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00239.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00240.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00240.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00241.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00241.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00242.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00242.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00243.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00243.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00244.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00244.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00245.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00245.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00246.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00246.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00247.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00247.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00248.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00248.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00249.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00249.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00250.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00250.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00251.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00251.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00252.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00252.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00253.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00253.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00254.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:34 PM 00254.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00255.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00255.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00256.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00256.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00257.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00257.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00258.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00258.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00259.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00259.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00260.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00260.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00261.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00261.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00262.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00262.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00263.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00263.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00264.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00264.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00265.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00265.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00266.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00266.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00267.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00267.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00268.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00268.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00269.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00269.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00270.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00270.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00271.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00271.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00272.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00272.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00273.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00273.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00274.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00274.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00275.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00275.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00276.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00276.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00277.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00277.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00278.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00278.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00279.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00279.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00280.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00280.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00281.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00281.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00282.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00282.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00283.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00283.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00284.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00284.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00285.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00285.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00286.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00286.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00287.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00287.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00288.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00288.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00289.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00289.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00290.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00290.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00291.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00291.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00292.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00292.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00293.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00293.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00294.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00294.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00295.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00295.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00296.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00296.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00297.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00297.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00298.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00298.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00299.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00299.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00300.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00300.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00301.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00301.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00302.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:35 PM 00302.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00303.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00303.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00304.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00304.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00305.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00305.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00306.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00306.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00307.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00307.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00308.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00308.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00309.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00309.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00310.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00310.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00311.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00311.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00312.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00312.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00313.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00313.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00314.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00314.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00315.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00315.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00316.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00316.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00317.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00317.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00318.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00318.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00319.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00319.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00320.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00320.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00000cover1.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM 00000cover1.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM spine.jpg is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM spine.jp2 is specified in the METS file but not included in the submission package!

12/15/2014 12:42:36 PM












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His TORE

OF

CLEOPATRA, QUEEN OF EGYPT.

BY JACOB ABBOTT.

GWith Gngravings.

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,

82 CLIFF STREET.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and fifty-one, by

HarrerR & BROTHERS,

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.
PREFACE.

In selecting the subjects for the successive
volumes of this series, it has been the object of
the author to look for the names of those great
personages whose histories constitute useful, and
not merely entertaining, knowledge. ‘There are
certain names which are familiar, as names, to
all mankind; and every person who seeks for
any degree of mental cultivation, feels desir-
ous of informing himself of the leading outlines
of their history, that he may know, in brief,
what it was in their characters or their doings
which has given them so widely-extended a
fame. ‘This knowledge, which it seems incum-
bent on every one to obtain in respect to such
personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Cesar, Cle-
opatra, Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the
Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary, queen
of Scots, it is the design and object of these vol-
umes to communicate, in a faithful, and, at the
same time, if possible, in an attractive manner.
Consequently, great historical names alone are
Vili PREFACE.

selected ; and it has been the writer’s aim to
present the prominent and leading traits in their
characters, and all the important events in their
lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the
plain and simple language which is so obvious-
ly required in works which aim at permanent
and practical usefulness.
CONTENTS.



Chapter Page
3. PER VALLEY OF THE WIG. . oo ice ccc dee 13
Win SE URS obs on eens dete ss ekeus 35

II. ALEXANDRIA......... isi A 6 idk is eee 61
IV. CLEOPATRA’S FATHER. ........---ccccces i
Vv. ACCESSION TO THE THRONE........-.....-. 112
Vi. CLEOPATRA AND GCMSAR; ......-.-ccccece - 132

VII. THE ALEXANDRINE WAR.'........----e0e-- 157

VE. CRMPATEA & QUOBE ois siiwes civscdes 181
1X. THE BATTLE. OF PHILIPPI... 22.22. cece cae 200
X. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY ........--20.-0- 225
Zi.. RR BACTIA OF ACTIV... 6 is oe cei o. wee

XII. THE END OF CLEOPATRA. cccccccceccccces 200






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ENGRAVINGS.

Page
MAP, SCENE OF CLEOPATRA’S HISTORY... Frontispiece.

SAP, THE RAINEANS MHOION.... .. 6c we ide ck. 21
MAP, THE DELTA OF WRE NILE . 2... 66.66 kus 29
THR. BIRTE-DAT DRE. oi 646s dckiewo es citi
ANTONY CROSSING THE DESERT ............-... 107
CLEOPATRA ENTERING THE PALACE OF CHSAR .. 135
VOW. GP Mee z . w . Ss 6a 5. ee ee 162
CLEOPATRA’S SISTER IN THE TRIUMPHAL PROCES-
WR 6 tin kw CNRS eee 190
THE ENTERTAINMENTS AT TARSUS ....3...<-<- 242

THF RAISING OF ANTONY TO THE UPPER WINDOW
OF THE TOMB







XD eee







ise
Pane, wh

moma te. Yadurhas,
Wu SAGAS era rs
eee hare CBE" “
li ieeelees tl ie wae.
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ee ee ty
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Ae



Sat OT tRecs " or ke ¥:
se een)
.
‘ <
ea ek wee on
CLEOPATRA

_—-— - C—

CuHapTer I.
THe VALLEY oF THE NILE.

The parentage and birth of Cleopatra.

a story of Cleopatra is a story of crime.
It is a narrative of the course and the con-
sequences of unlawful love. In her strange and
romantic history we see this passion portrayed
with the most complete and aos. in
all its influences and effects; its uncontrollable
impulses, its intoxicating joys, its reckless and
mad career, and the dreadful remorse and ulti-

mate despair and ruin in which it always and
inevitably ends.

Cleopatra was by birth an Egyptian; by an-
cestry and descent she was a Greek. Thus,
while Alexandria and the delta of the Nile form-
ed the scene of the most important events and
incidents of her history, it was the blood of
Macedon which flowed in her veins. Her char-
acter and action are marked by the genius, the
14 CLEOPATRA.
Cleopatra’s residence in Egypt. Physical aspect of Egypt.
Tr i itene asi a ansillaasingneennannatiensaeieiienecoccecygeetitieeaiiadiplienmnietntanienasitciiapemesinn

courage, the originality, and the impulsiveness
pertaining to the stock from which she sprung.
The events of her history, on the other hand,
and the peculiar character of her adventures,
her sufferings, and her sins, were determined by
the circumstances with which she was sur-
rounded, and the influences which were brought
to bear upon her in the soft and voluptuous
clime where the scenes of her early life were
laid.

Egypt has always been considered as physic-
ally the most remarkable country on the globe.
It is a long and narrow valley of verdure and
fruitfulness, completely insulated from the rest
of the habitable world. It is more completely
insulated, in fact, than any literal island could
be, inasmuch as deserts are more impassable
than seas. ‘The very existence of Egypt is a
most extraordinary phenomenon. If we could
but soar with the wings of an eagle into the air,
and look down upon the scene, so as to observe
the operation of that grand and yet simple pro-
cess by which this long and wonderful valley,
teeming so profusely with animal and vegetable
life, has been formed, and is annually revivified
and renewed, in the midst of surrounding wastes
of silence, desolation, and death, we should gaze
THe VALLEY oF THE NILE. 15

The eagle's wings and science.



upon it with never-ceasing admiration and pleas-
ure. We have not the wings of the eagle, but
the generalizations of science furnish us with
a sort of substitute for them., The long series
of patient, careful, and sagacious observations,
which have been continued now for two thou-
sand years, bring us results, by means of which,
through our powers of mental conception, we
may take a comprehensive survey of the whole
scene, analogous, in some respects, to that which
direct and actual vision would afford us, if we
could look down upon it from the eagle’s point
of view. It is, however, somewhat humiliating
to our pride of intellect to reflect that long-con-
tinued philosophical investigations and learned
scientific research are, in such a case as this,
after all, in some sense, only a sort of substitute
for wings. A human mind connected with a
pair of eagle’s wings would have solved the mys-
tery of Egypt in a week ; whereas science, phi-
losophy, and research, confined to the surface of
the ground, have been occupied for twenty cen-
turies in accomplishing the undertaking.

It is found at last that both the existence of
Egypt itself, and its strange insulation in the
midst of boundless tracts of dry and barren sand,
depend upon certain remarkable results of the
16 CLEOPATRA.

Physical peculiarities of Egypt connected with the laws of rain.

ies adept cea natlldreee
general laws of rain. The water which is taken
up by the atmosphere from the surface of the
sea and of the land by evaporation, falls again,
under certain circumstances, in showers of rain,
the frequency and copiousness of which vary
very much in different portions of the earth.
As a general principle, rains are much more fre-
quent and abundant near the equator than in
temperate climes, and they grow less and less
so as we approach the poles. This might nat-
urally have been expected ; for, under the burn-
ing sun of the equator, the evaporation of water
must necessarily go on with immensely greater
rapidity than in the colder zones, and all the
water which is taken up must, of course, again
come down.

It is not, however, wholly by the latitude of
the region in which the evaporation takes place
that the quantity of rain which falls from the
atmosphere is determined ; for the condition on
which the falling back, in rain, of the water
which has been taken up by evaporation mainly
depends, is the cooling of the atmospheric stra-
tum which contains it; and this effect is pro-
duced in very various ways, and many different
causes operate to modify it. Sometimes the
stratum is cooled by being wafted over ranges
Tue VALLEY oF THE NILE. 17





General laws of rain.

Se iy mae
of mountains; sometimes by encountering and
becoming mingled with cooler currents of air ;
and sometimes, again, by being driven in winds»
toward a higher, and, consequently, cooler lati-
tude. If, on the other hand, air moves from
cold mountains toward warm and sunny plains,
or from higher latitudes to lower, or if, among
the various currents into which it falls, it be-
comes mixed with air warmer than itself, its
capacity for containing vapor in solution is in-
creased, and, consequently, instead of releasing
its hold upon the waters which it has already
in possession, it becomes thirsty for more. It
moves over a country, under these circumstan-
ces, as a warm and drying wind. Under a re-
verse of circumstances it would have formed
drifting mists, or, perhaps, even copious showers
of rain.

- Tt will be evident, from these considerations,
that the frequency of the showers, and the quan-
tity of the rain which will fall, in the various
regions respectively which the surface of the
earth presents, must depend on the combined
influence of many causes, such as the warmth
of the climate, the proximity and the direction
of mountains and of seas, the character of the
prevailing winds, and the reflecting qualities of

B
18 CLEOPATRA.

Causes which modify the quantity of rain.

the soil. ‘These and other similar causes, it is
found, do, in fact, produce a vast difference in
the quantity of rain which falls in different re-
gions. In the northern part of South America,
where the land is bordered on every hand by
vast tropical seas, which load the hot and thirsty
air with vapor, and where the mighty Cordillera
of the Andes rears its icy summits to chill and
precipitate the vapors again, a quantity of rain
amounting to more than ten feet in perpendic-
ular height falls in a-year. At St. Petersburg,
on the other hand, the quantity thus falling in
a year is but little more than one foot. The
immense deluge which pours down from the
clouds in South America would, if the water
were to remain where it fell, wholly submerge
and inundate the country. As it is, in flowing
off through the valleys to the sea, the united
torrents form the greatest river on the globe—
the Amazon; and the vegetation, stimulated by
the heat, and nourished by the abundant and
incessant supplies of moisture, becomes so rank,
and loads the earth with such an entangled and
matted mass of trunks, and stems, and twining
wreaths and vines, that man is almost excluded
from the scene. The boundless forests become
a vast and almost impenetrable jungle, aban-
THe VALLEY OF THE NILE. 19

Striking contrasts. Rainless regions,

—$———__...

doned to wild beasts, noxious reptiles, and huge
and ferocious birds of prey.

Of course, the district of St. Petersburg, with
its icy winter, its low and powerless sun, and
its twelve inches of annual rain, must necessa-
rily present, in all its phenomena of vegetable
and animal life, a striking contrast to the exu-
berant prolificness of New Grenada. It is, how-
ever, after all, not absolutely the opposite ex-
treme. ‘There are certain regions on the sur-
face of the earth that are actually rainless; and
it is these which present us with the true and
real contrast to the luxuriant ‘vegetation and
teeming life of the country of the Amazon. In
these rainless regions all is necessarily silence,
desolation, and death. No plant can grow; no
animal can live. Man, too, is forever and hope-
lessly excluded. If the exuberant abundance
of animal and vegetable life shut him out, in
some measure, from regions which an excess of
heat and moisture render too prolific, the total
absence of them still more effectually forbids him
a home in these. They become, therefore, vast
wastes of dry and barren sands in which no
root can find nourishment, and of dreary rocks
to which not even a lichen can cling.

The most extensive and remarkable rainless
—

ae Weer en eng ye

20 CLEOPATRA.

Great rainless region of Asia and Africa.

eee etre vanes mnematemmeanilicacunlcecin
“region on the earth is a vast tract extending

through the interior and northern part of Af-
rica, and the southwestern part of Asia. The
Red Sea penetrates into this tract from the
south, and thus breaks the outline and continu-
ity of its form, without, however, altering, or
essentially modifying its character. It divides
it, however, and to the different portions which
this division forms, different names have been
given. The Asiatic portion is called Arabia
Deserta; the African tract has received the
name of Sahara; while between these two, in
the neighborkgod of Egypt, the barren region is
called simply the desert. The whole tract is
marked, however, throughout, with one all-per-
vading character: the absence of vegetable, and,
consequently, of animal life, on account of the
absence of rain. ‘The rising of a range of lofty
mountains in the center of it, to produce a pre-
cipitation of moisture from the air, would prob-
ably transform the whole of the vast waste into
as verdant, and fertile, and populous a region
as any on the globe.

As it is, there are no such mountains. The
whole tract is nearly level, and so little eleva-
ted above the sea, that, at the distance of many
hundred miles in the interior, the land rises only
Tue VALLEY or THE NILE. 21



The Andes. Map of the rainless region

to the height of a few hundred feet above tell
surface of the Mediterranean; whereas in New
Grenada, at less than one hundred miles from ~~
the sea, the chain of the Andes rises to eleva- ©
tions of from ten to fifteen thousand feet. Such
an ascent as that of a few hundred feet in hund-
reds of miles would be wholly imperceptible to
any ordinary mode of observation ; and the great
rainless region, accordingly, of Africa and Asia














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a Se We
wwe =”
WY WS"

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ae

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( “7% 2" THe yooN ~=CVALLEY OF THE
( NILE

is, as it appears to the traveler, one vast plain,

a thousand miles wide and five thousand miles
:


-â„¢ 22 CLEOPATRA.
Valley of the Nile. The Red Sea.

_ long, with only one considerable interruption to
the dead monotony which reigns, with that ex-
ception, every where over the immense expanse
of silence and solitude. The single interval of
fruitfulness and life is the valley of the Nile.
There are, however, in fact, three interrup-
tions to the continuity of this plain, though only
one of them constitutes any considerable inter-
ruption to its barrenness. They are all of them
valleys, extending from north to south, and ly-
ing side by side. The most easterly of these
valleys is so deep that the waters of the ocean
flow into it from the south, forming a long and
narrow inlet called the Red Sea. As this inlet
communicates freely with the ocean, it is al-
ways nearly of the same level, and as the evap-
oration from it is not sufficient to produce rain,
it does not even fertilize its own shores. Its
presence varies the dreary scenery of the land-
scape, it is true, by giving us surging waters to
look upon instead of driving sands; but this is
all. With the exception of the spectacle of an
English steamer passing, at weary intervals,
over its dreary expanse, and some moldering re-
mains of ancient cities on its eastern shore, it
affords scarcely any indications of life. It does
very little, therefore, to relieve the monotonous
Tue VaLLEY oF THE NILE. 23



The oases. Siweh.



aspect of solitude and desolation which reigns
over the region into which it has intruded.
The most westerly of the three valleys to
which we have alluded is only a slight depres-
sion of the surface of the land marked by a line
of oases. The depression is not sufficient to
admit the waters of the Mediterranean, nor are
there any rains over any portion of the valley
which it forms sufficient to make it the bed of
a stream. Springs issue, however, here and
there, in several places, from the ground, and,
percolating through the sands along the valley,
give fertility to little dells, long and narrow,
which, by the contrast that they form with the
surrounding desolation, seem to the traveler to
possess the verdure and beauty of Paradise.
There is a line of these oases extending along
this westerly depression, and some of them are
of considerable extent. 'The oasis of Siweh, on
which stood the far-famed temple of Jupiter
Ammon, was many miles in extent, and was
said to have contained in ancient times a popu-
lation of eight thousand souls. ‘Thus, while the
most easterly of the three valleys which we
have named was sunk so low as to admit the
ocean to flow freely into it, the most. westerly
was so slightly depressed that it gained only a
4 CLEOPATRA.

| ®&

Mountains of the Moon. The River Nile.

circumscribed and limited fertility through the
springs, which, in the lowest portions of it, oozed
from the ground. The third valley—the cen-
tral one—-remains now to be described.

The reader will observe, by referring once
more to the map, that south of the great rain-
.ess region of which we are speaking, there lie
groups and ranges of mountains in Abyssinia,
called the Mountains of the Moon. These
mountains. are near the equator, and the rela-
tion which they sustain to the surrounding seas,
and to currents of wind which blow in that quar-
ter of the world, is such, that they bring down
from the atmosphere, especially in certain sea-
sons of the year, vast and continual torrents of
rain. The water which thus falls drenches the
mountain sides and deluges the valleys. There
is a great portion of it which can not flow to
the southward or eastward toward the sea, as
the whole country consists, in those directions,
of continuous tracts of elevated land. The rush
of water thus turns to the northward, and, press-
ing on across the desert through the great cen-
tral valley which we have referred to above, it
finds an outlet, at last, in the Mediterranean,
at a point two thousand miles distant from the
place where the immense condenser drew it
Tae VauLLey or THE NILE. 25

Incessant rains. = = =~ ~__ Inundation of the Nile.
from the skies. ‘The river thus created is the
Nile. It is formed, in a word, by the surplus
waters of a district inundated with rains, in their
progress across a rainless desert, seeking the sea.
If the surplus of water upon the Abyssinian
mountains had been constant and uniform, the
stream, in its passage across the desert, would
have communicated very little fertility to the
barren sands which it traversed. The imme-
diate banks of the river would have, perhaps,
been fringed with verdure, but the influence of
the irrigation would have extended no further
than the water itself could have reached, by per-
colation through the sand. But the flow of the
water is not thus uniform and steady. In a
certain season of the year the rains are inces-
sant, and they descend with such abundance
and profusion as almost to inundate the districts
where they fall. Immense torrents stream down
the mountain sides; the valleys are deluged ;
plains turn into morasses, and morasses into
lakes. In a word, the country becomes half
submerged, and the accumulated mass Of wa-
ters would rush with great force and violence
down. the central valley of the desert, which
forms their only outlet, if the passage were nar-
row, and if it made any considerable descent in
26 CLEOPATRA.

Course of the river. Subsidence of the waters.

its course to the sea. It is, however, not nar-
row, and the descent is very small. The de-
pression in the surface of the desert, through
which the water flows, is from five to ten miles
wide, and, though it is nearly two thousand
miles from the rainy district across the desert
to the sea, the country for the whole distance
is almost level. There is only sufficient de-
scent, especially for the last thousand miles, to
determine a very géntle current to the north-
ward in the waters of the stream.

Under these circumstances, the immense
quantity of water which falls in the rainy dis-
trict in these inundating tropical showers, ex-
pands over the whole valley, and forms for a
time an immense lake, extending in length
across the whole breadth of the desert. This
lake is, of course, from five to ten miles wide,
and a thousand miles long. The water in it is
shallow and turbid, and it has a gentle current
toward the north. The rains, at length, in a
great measure cease; but it requires some
months for the water to run off and leave the
valley dry. As soon as it is gone, there springs
up from the whole surface of the ground which
has been thus submerged a most rank and lux-
uriant vegetation.
THe VaLbLEy OF THE NILE. 27

Luxuriant vegetation. Absence of forests.

This vegetation, now wholly regulated and
controlled by the hand of man, must have been,
in its original and primeval state, of a very pe-
culiar character. It must have consisted of
such plants only as could exist under the condi-
tion of having the soil in which they grew laid,
for a quarter of the year, wholly under water.
This circumstance, probably, prevented the val-
ley of the Nile from having been, like other fer-
tile tracts of land, encumbered, in its native
state, with forests. For the same reason, wild
beasts could never have haunted it. There were
no forests to shelter them, and no refuge or re-
treat for them but the dry and barren desert,
during the period of the annual inundations.
This most extraordinary valley seems thus to
have been formed and preserved by Nature her-
self for the special possession of man. She her-
self seems to have held itin reserve for him from
the very morning of creation,.refusing admis-
sion into it to every plant and every animal that
might hinder or disturb his occupancy and con-
trol. And if he were to abandon it now for a
thousand years, and then return to it once more,
he would find it just as he left it, ready for his
immediate possession. There would be no wild
beasts that he must first expel, and no tangled
28 CLEOPATRA.





—

Great antiquity of Egypt. Her monuments.
rR

forests would have sprung up, that his ax must —
first remove. Nature is the husbandman who
keeps this garden of the world in order, and the
means and machinery by which she operates
are the grand evaporating surfaces of the seas,
the beams of the tropical sun, the lofty summits
of the Abyssinian mountains, and, as the prod-
uct and result of all this instrumentality, great
periodical inundations of summer rain.

For these or some other reasons Egypt has
been occupied by man from the most remote an-
tiquity. The oldest records of the human race,
made three thousand years ago, speak of Egypt
as ancient then, when they were written. Not
only is Tradition silent, but even Fable herself
does not attempt to tell the story of the origin
of her-population. Here stand the oldest and
most enduring monuments that human power
has ever been able to raise. It is, however,
somewhat humiliating to the pride of the race
to reflect that the loftiest and proudest, as well
as the most permanent and stable of all the
works which man has ever accomplished, are
but the incidents and adjuncts of a thin stra-
tum of alluvial fertility, left upon the sands by
the subsiding waters of summer showers.

The most important portion of the alluvion
THe VALLEY OF THE NILE. 29

tennessee iannnestensninensibenineeliles
The Delta of the Nile. : Map.



of the Nile is the northern portion, where the
valley widens and opens toward the sea, form-
ing a triangular plain of about one hundred
miles in length on each of the sides, over which
the waters of the river flow in a great number
of separate-creeks and channels. The whole
area forms a vast meadow, intersected every
where with slow-flowing streams of water, and
presenting on its surface the most enchanting
pictures of fertility, abundance, and beauty.
This region is called the Delta of the Nile.

>
4
en §
net
«ites
atta ey
A) e
.
te
“s
4a

NILE


30 CLEOPATRA.

———— a

The Delta as seen from the sea.

—

The sea upon the coast is shallow, and the fer-
tile country formed by the deposits of the river
seems to have projected somewhat beyond the
line of the.coast ; although, as the land has not
advanced perceptibly for the last eighteen hund-
red years, it may be somewhat doubtful wheth-
er the whole of the apparent protrusion is not
due to the natural conformation of the coast,
rather than to any changes made by the action
of the river.

The Delta of the Nile is so level itself, and so
little raised above the level of the Mediterra-
nean, that the land seems almost a continuation
of the same surface with the sea, only, instead
of blue waters topped with white-crested waves,
we have broad tracts of waving grain, and gen-
tle swells of land crowned with hamlets and
villages. In approaching the coast, the navi-
gator has no distant view of all this verdure and
beauty. It lies so low that it continues be-
neath the horizon until the ship is close upon
the shore. The first landmarks, in fact, which
the seaman makes, are the tops of trees grow-
ing apparently out of the water, or the sum-
mit of an obelisk, or the capital of a pillar,
marking the site of some ancient and dilapida-
ted city.

‘=
Tae VaLLEY oF THE NILE. 31
Pelusiac mouth of the Nile. The Canopic mouth.

The most easterly of the channels by which
the waters of the river find their way through
the Delta to the sea, is called, as it will be seen
marked upon the map, the Pelusiac branch. It
forms almost the boundary of the fertile region
of the Delta on the eastern side. There was an
ancient city named Pelusium near the mouth
of it. This was, of course, the first Egyptian
city reached by those who arrived by land from
the eastward, traveling along the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea. On account of its thus
marking the eastern frontier of the country, it
became a point of great importance, and is often
mentioned in the histories of ancient times.

The westernmost mouth of the Nile, on the
other hand, was called the Canopic mouth. The
distance along the coast from the Canopic mouth
to Pelusium was about a hundred miles. The
outline of the coast was formerly, as it still con-
tinues to be, very irregular, and the water shal-
low. Extended banks of sand protruded into
the sea, and the sea itself, as if in retaliation,
formed innumerable creeks, and inlets, and la-
goons in the land. Along this irregular and un-
certain boundary the waters of the Nile and the
surges of the Mediterranean kept up an eternal
war, with energies so nearly equal, that now,

~~
32 C{LEOPATRA.

“The Pyramids.



Ancient Egypt. a
after the lapse of eighteen hundred years since
the state of the contest began to be recorded,
neither side has been found to have gained any
perceptible advantage over the other. The river
brings the sands down, and the sea drives them
incessantly back, keeping the whole fine of the
shore in such a condition as to make it extreme-
ly dangerous and difficult of access to man>_
It will be obvious, from this description of the
valley of the Nile, that it formed a country which
was in ancient times isolated and secluded, in
a very striking manner, from all the rest of the
world. It was wholly shut,im by deserts, on
every side, by land; and the*sfioals, and sand-
bars, and other dangers of navigation which
marked the line of the coast, seemed to forbid
approach by sea. Here it remained for many
ages, under the rule of its own native ancient
kings. Its population was peaceful and indus-
trious. Its scholars were famed throughout the
world for their learning, their science, and their
philosophy. It was in these ages, before other
nations had intruded upon its peaceful seclu-
sion, that the Pyramids were built, and the
enormous monoliths carved, and those vast tem-
ples reared whose ruined columns are now the
wonder of mankind. During these remote ages,

ae
B.C.323.] Tue Vautuey or trHE Nive. 33

RD
Conquests of the Persians and Macedonians. The Ptolemies.
cried isatShiniastatiamenstcnatasicatisiailialasibabicinsceadiiiaeila

too, Egypt was, as now, the land of perpetual
fertility and abundance. There would always
be corn in Egypt, wherever else famine might
rage. The neighboring nations and tribes in
Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, found their way
_to it, accordingly, across the deserts on the east-
- ern.side, when driven by want, and thus opened
a way of communication. At length the Per-
sian monarchs, after extending their empire
westward to the Mediterranean, found access
by the same road to Pelusium, and thence over-
ran and conquered the country. At last, about
two hundred and fifty years before the time of
Cleopatra, Aleitanger the Great, when he sub-
verted the Persian empire, took possession of
Egypt, and annexed it, among the other Per-
sian provinees, to his own dominions. At the
division of Alexander’s empire, after his death,
Egypt fell to one of his generals, named Ptol-
emy. Ptolemy made it his kingdom, and left
it, at his death, to his heirs. A-long line of sov-
ereigns succeeded him, known in history as the
dynasty of the Ptolemies—Greek prinees, reign-
img over an Egyptian realm. Cleopatra was
the daughter of the eleventh in the line.* -
The capital of the Ptolemies was Alexandria
Until the time of Alexander’s conquest, Egypt
a “ad

¢
34 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 323.

Founding of Alexandria. The Pharos.

had no sea-port. ‘here were several landing-
places along the coast, but no proper harbor.
In fact, Egypt had then so little commercial in-
tercourse with the rest of the world, that she
scarcely needed any. Alexander’s engineers,
however, in exploring the shore, found a point
not far from the Canopic mouth of the Nile
where the water was deep, and where there was
an anchorage ground protected by an island.
Alexander founded a city there, which he called
by his own name. ~- He perfected the harbor by
artificial excavations and embankments. A
lofty light-house was reared,,avhich formed a
landmark by day, and exhibited a blazing star
by night to guide the galleys of the Mediterra-
nean in. A canal was made to connect the port
with the Nile, and warehouses were erected to
contain the stores of merchandise. In a word,
Alexandria became at once a great commercial
capital. It was the seat, for several centuries,
of the magnificent government of the Ptolemies ;
and so well was its situation chosen for the pur-
poses intended, that it still continues, after the
lapse of twenty centuries of revolution amd
change, one of the principal emporiums of the
commerce of the East.
B.C. 358.]| Ture ProLemies. 35

The dynasty of the I Ptolemies. Its founder,
arog siecle einen eigenen: tsiiltessiisiiaaan inate

CuapterR II.
Tue PTOLEMIES.

rye founder of the dynasty of the Ptole-
mies—the ruler into whose hands the king-
dom of Egypt fell, as has already been stated,
at the death of Alexander the Great—was a
Macedonian general in Alexander’s army. The
circumstances of his birth, and the events which
led to his entéring ipto the service of Alexander,
were somewhat peculiar. -His mother, whose
name was Arsinoé, was a personal favorite and
companion of Philip, king of Macedon, the fa-
ther of Alexander. Philip at length gave Arsi-
noé in marriage to a certain man of his court
named Lagus. A very short time after the
marriage, Ptolemy was born. Philip treated
the child with the same consideration and favor
that he had evinced toward the mother. ‘The
boy was called the son of Lagus, but his posi-
tion in the royal court of Macedon was as high
and honorable, and the attentions which he re-
ceived were as great, as he could have expected
to enjoy if he had been in reality a son of the
36 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 358.

Philip of Macedon. Alexander.

king. As he grew up, he attained to official sta-
tions of considerable responsibility and power.

In the course of time, a certain transaction
occurred, by means of which Ptolemy involved
himself in serious difficulty with Philip, though
by the same means he made Alexander very
strongly his friend. ‘There was a province of
the Persian empire called Caria, situated in the
southwestern part of Asia Minor. The govern-
or of this province had offered his daughter to
Philip as the wife of one of his sons named
Arideus, the half brother of Alexander. Alex-
ander’s mother, who was not the mother of Ari-
deeus, was jealous of this proposed marriage.
She thought that it was part of a scheme for
bringing Aridzus forward into public notice, and
finally making him the heir to Philip’s throne;
whereas she was very earnest that this splendid
inheritance should be reserved for her own son.
Accordingly, she préposed to Alexander that
they should send a secret embassage to the
Persian governor, and represent to him that it
would be much better, both for him and for his
daughter, that she should have Alexander in-
stead of Arideus for a husband, and induce
him, if possible, to demand of Philip that he
should make the change.
B.C. 336.) Tux Pro.emies. 37

The intrigue discovered. : Ptolemy banished.
cceinnicedeiaetiatahaeaiitansinaieninntnceetatrte



Alexander entered readily into this scheme,
and various courtiers, Ptolemy among the rest,
undertook to aid*him in the accomplishment of
it. 'The embassy was sent. ‘The governor of
Caria was very much pleased with the change
which they proposed to him. In fact, the whole
plan seemed to be going on very successfully
toward its accomplishment, when, by some
means or other, Philip discovered the intrigue.
He went immediately into Alexander’s apart-
ment, highly excited with resentment and an-
ger. He had never intended to make Arideeus,
whose birth on the mother’s side was obscure
and ignoble, the heir to his throne, and he re-
proached Alexander in the bitterest terms for
being of so debased and degenerate a spirit as
to desire to marry the daughter of a Persian
governor ; a man who was, in fact, the mere
slave, as he said, of a barbarian king.

Alexander’s scheme was thus totally defeat-
ed; and so displeased was his father with the
officers who had undertaken to aid him in the
execution of it, that he banished them all from
the kingdom. Ptolemy, in consequence of this
decree, wandered about an exile from his coun-
try for some years, until at length the death of
Philip enabled Alexander to recall him. Alex-
38 CLEOPATRA. [ B.C. 336.

Accession of Alexander. Ptolemy’s elevation.



ander succeeded his father as King of Macedon,
and immediately made Ptolemy one of his prin-
cipal generals. Ptolemy rose, in fact, to a very
high command in the Macedonian army, and
distinguished himself yery greatly in all the
celebrated conqueror’s subsequent campaigns.
In the Persian invasion, Ptolemy commanded
one of the three grand divisions of the army,
and he rendered repeatedly the most signal
services to the cause of his master. He was
employed on the most distant and dangerous
enterprises, and was often intrusted with the
management of affairs of the utmost import-
ance. He was very successful,inyll his under-
takings. He conquered armiies»#educed fort-
resses, negotiated treaties, and evinced, in a
word, the highest degree of military energy
and skill. He once saved Alexander’s life by
discovering and revealing a dangerous conspir-
acy which had been formed against the king.
Alexander had the opportunity to requite this
favor, through a divine interposition vouchsafed
to him, it was said, for the express purpose of
enabling him to evince his gratitude. Ptolemy
had been wounded by a poisoned arrow, and
when all the remedies and antidotes of the
physicians had failed, and ‘the patient was ap-
B.C.323.] Tar ProLemies. 39

smc apea acs iain name ACE AAG ES
Death of Alexander. Ptolemy becomes King of Egypt.

etc donee cere a aa cc a
parently about to die, an effectual means of
cure was revealed to Alexander in a dream, and
Ptolemy, in his turn, was saved.

At the great rejoicings at Susa, when Alex-
ander’s conquests‘were completed, Ptolemy was
honored with a golden crown, and he was mar-
ried, with great pomp and ceremony, to Arta-
cama, the daughter of one of the most distin-
guished Persian generals.

At length Alexander died suddenly, after a
night of drinking and carousal at Babylon. He
had no son old enough to succeed him, and his
immense empire was divided among his gener-
als. Ptolemy obtained Egypt for hisshare. He
repaired immediately to Alexandria, with a
great army, and a great number of Greek at-
tendants and followers, and there commenced a
reign which continued, in great prosperity and
splendor, for forty years. The native Egyp-
tians were reduced, of course, to subjection and
bondage. All the offices in the army, and all
stations of trust and responsibility in civil life,
were filled by Greeks. Alexandria was a Greek
city, and it became at once one of the most im-
portant commercial centers in all those seas.
Greek and Roman travelers found now a lan-
guage spoken in Egypt which they could un-
40 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 323,

Character of Ptolemy’s reign. . The Alexandrian library.
oles terre cserainesinniyrencineesnecbonipreneichenmpmatinasans cae

derstand, and philosophers and scholars could
gratify the curiosity which they “had so long
felt, in respect to the institutions, and monu-
ments, and wonderful physical characteristics
of the country, with safety and pleasure. Ina
word, the organization of a Greek government
over the ancient kingdom, and the establishment
of the great commercial relations of the city of
Alexandria, conspired to bring Egypt out from
its concealment and seclusion, and to open it in
some measure to the intercourse, as well as to
bring it more fully under the observation, of
the rest of mankind. ,
Ptolemy, in fact, made it a special object of
his policy to accomplish these ends.. He invit-
ed Greek scholars, philosophersgpoets, and art-
ists, in great numbers, to come to Alexandria,
and to make his capital their abode. He col-
lected an immense library, which subsequently,
under the name of the Alexandrian library, be-
came one of the most celebrated collections of
books and manuscripts that was ever made.
We shall have occasion to refer more particu-
larly to this library in the next chapter.
Besides prosecuting these splendid schemes
for the aggrandizement of Egypt, King Ptole-
my was engaged, during almost the whole pe-
B.C, 283.| Tur PTOLEMIES. 41
a a
Abdication of Ptolemy. Ptolemy Philadelphus.
SON nTITETE TT eaeesenesenadeemenemnenyienneeyeessensininionssieen aan ann

riod of his reign, in waging incessant wars with
the surrounding nations. He engaged in these
wars, in part, for the purpose of extending the
boundaries of his empire, and in part for self-
defense against the aggressions and encroach-
ments of other powers. He finally succeeded
in establishing his kingdom on the most stable
and permanent basis, and then, when he was
drawing toward the close of his life, being in
fact over eighty years of age, he abdicated his
throne in favor of his youngest son, whose name
was also Ptolemy. Ptolemy the father, the
founder of the dynasty, is known commonly in
history by the name of Ptolemy’ Soter. His
son is called Ptolemy Philadelphus. This son,
though the youngest, was preferred to his broth-
ers as heir to the throne on account of his being
the son of the most favored and beloved of the
monarch’s wives. The determination of Soter
to abdicate the throne himself arose from his
wish to put this favorite son in secure possession
of it before his death, in order to prevent the
older brothers from disputing the succession.
The coronation of Philadelphus was made one
of the most magnificent and imposing ceremo-
nies that royal pomp and parade ever arranged.
Two years afterward Ptolemy the father died,
42 Cieopatra [BC. 283.

Death of Ptolemy. Subsequent degeneracy of the Ptolemies.

and was buried by his son with a magnificence
almost equal to that of his own coronation. His
body was deposited in a splendid mausoleum,
which had been built for the remains of Alex-
ander; and so high was the veneration which
was felt by mankind for the greatness of his ex-
ploits and the splendor of his reign, that divine
honors were paid to his memory. Such was
the origin of the great dynasty of the Ptolemies.

Some of the early sovereigns of the line fol-
lowed in some degree the honorable example set
them by the distinguished founder of it; but
this example was soon lost, and was succeeded
by the most extreme degeneracy and debase-
ment. ‘The successive sovereigns began soon
to live and to reign solely for the gratification
of their own sensual propensities and passions.
Sensuality begins sometimes with kindness, but
it ends always in the most reckless and intoler-
able cruelty. The Ptolemies became, in the
end, the most abominable and terrible tyrants
that the principle of absolute and irresponsible
power ever produced. There was one vice in
particular, a vice which they seem to have
adopted from the Asiatic nations of the Persian
empire, that resulted in the most awful conse-
quences. ‘This vice was incest.
B.C.170.|) Tur ProLemieEs. 43

Incestuous marriages of the Ptolemy family.


The law of God, proclaimed not only in the
Scriptures, but in the native instincts of the hu-
man soul, forbids intermarriages among those
connected by close ties of consanguinity. ‘The
necessity for such a law rests on considerations
which can not here be fully explained. They
are considerations, however, which arise from
causes inherent.in the very nature of man as a
social being, and which are of universal, per-
petual, and insurmountable force. To guard
his creatures against the deplorable consequen-
ces, both physical and moral, which result from
the practice of such marriages, the great Au-
thor of Nature has implanted in every mind
an instinctive sense of their criminality, pow-
erful enough to give effectual warning of the
danger, and so universal as to cause a distinct
condemnation of them to be recorded in almost
every code of written law that has ever been
promulgated among mankind. ‘The Persian
sovereigns were, however, above all law, and
every species of incestuous marriage was prac-
ticed by them without shame. The Ptolemies |
followed their example.

One of the most striking exhibitions of the
nature of incestuous domestic life which is af-
forded by the whole dismal panorama of pagan
44 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 170.

Ptolemy Physcon. Origin of his name.





vice and crime, is presented in the history of
the great-grandfather of the Cleopatra who is
the principal subject of this narrative. He was
Ptolemy Physcon, the seventh in the line. It
it is necessary to give some particulars of his
history and that of his family, in order to ex-
plain the circumstances under which Cleopatra
herself came upon the stage. ‘The name Phys-
con, which afterward became his historical des-
ignation, was originally given him in contempt
and derision. He was very small of stature in
respect to height, but his gluttony and sensual-
ity had made him immensely corpulent in body,
so that he looked more like a monster than a
man. The term Physcon was a Greek word,
which denoted opprobiously the ridiculous fig-

ure that he made.» |
- The circumstances of Ptolemy cased S ac-
cession to the throne afford not only a striking
illustration of his character, but a very faithful
though terrible picture of the manners and mor-
als of the times. He had been engaged in a
long and cruel war with his brother, who was
king before him, in which war he had perpe-
trated all imaginable atrocities, when at length
his brother died, leaving as his survivors his
wife; who was also his sister, and a son who
B.C.170.] Tue ProLemies. 45

LT
Circumstances of Physcon's accession. Cleopatra.
ee enptmniiatesaceeerntnciasiaitaaiia



was yet a child. This son was properly the
heir+to the crown. Physcon himself, being a
brother, had no claim, as against a son. ‘The
name of the queen was Cleopatra. This was,
in fact, a very common name among the prin-
cesses of the Ptolemaic line. Cleopatra, be-
sides her son, had a daughter, who was at this
time a young ané beautiful girl. Her name
was also Cleopatra. She was, of course, the
niece, as her mother was the sister, of Physcon.
The plan of Cleopatra the mother, after her
husband’s death, was to make her son the king
of Egypt, and to govern herself, as regent, un-
til he shotild become of age. The friends and
adherents of Physcon, however, formed a strong
party in his favor. ‘They sent for him to come
to Alexandria to assert his claims to the throne.
He came, and a new civil war was on the point
of breaking out between the brother and sister,
when at length the dispute was settled by a
treaty, in which it was stipulated that Phys-
con should marry Cleopatra, and be king; but
that he should make the son of Cleopatra by
her former husband his heir. ‘This treaty was
carried into effect so far as the celebration of
the marriage with the mother was concerned,
and the establishment of Physcon upon’ the
46 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 170.

Physcon’s brutal perfidy. He marries his wife’s daughter.

Figpncihiingepannnieecabanenanbaseeieoa
throne. But the perfidious monster, instead of
keeping his faith in respect to the boy, determ-
ined to murder him; and so open and brutal
were his habits of violence and cruelty, that he
undertook to perpetrate the deed himself, in
open day. ‘The boy fled shrieking to the moth-
er’s arms for protection, and Physcon stabbed
and killed him there, exhibiting the spectacle
of a newly-married husband murdering the son
of his wife in her very arms!

It is easy to conceive what sort of affection
would exist between a husband and a wife after
such transactions as these. In fact, there had
been no love between them from the beginning.
The marriage had been solely a political arrange-
ment. Physcon hated his wife, and had mur-
dered her son, and then, as if to complete the
exhibition of the brutal lawlessness and capri-
ciousness of his passions, he ended with falling
in love with her daughter. The beautiful girl
looked upon this heartless monster, as ugly and
deformed in body as he was in mind, with ab-
solute horror. But she was wholly in his power.
He compelled her, by violence, to submit to his
will. He repudiated the mother, and forced
the daughter to become his wife.

Physcon displayed the same qualities of bru-
B.C. 170.| Tue Pro.emies. 47

Atrocities of Physcon. His flight.

tal tyranny and cruelty in the treatment of his
subjects that he manifested in his own domestic
relations. The particulars we can not here give,
‘but can. only say that his atrocities became at
length absolutely intolerable, and a revolt so
formidable broke out, that he fled from the
country. In fact, he barely escaped with his
life, as the mob had surrounded the palace and
were setting it on fire, intending to burn the
tyrant himself and all the accomplices of his
crimes together. Physcon, however, contrived
to make his escape. He fled to the island of
Cyprus, taking with him a certain beautiful
boy, his son by the Cleopatra whom he had di-
vorced ; for they had’ been married long enough,
before the divorce, to have a son. The name
of this boy was Memphitis. His mother was
very tenderly attached to him, and Physcon
took him away on this very account, to keep
him as a hostage for his mother’s good behav-
ior. He fancied that, when he was gone, she
might possibly attempt to resume possession of
the throne.

His expectations in this respect were realized.
The people of Alexandria rallied aygund Cleo-
patra, and called upon her to take the crown.
She did so, feeling, perhaps, some misgivings in
48 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 130.

Ne

Cleopatra assumes the government. Her birth-day.

—

respect to the danger which such a step might
possibly bring upon her absent boy. She quiet-
ed herself, however, by the thought that he was
in the hands of his own father, and that he
could not possibly come to harm.

After some little time had elapsed, and Cle-
opatra was beginning to be well established in’
her possession of the supreme power at Alex-
andria, her birth-day approached, and arrange-
ments were made for celebrating it in the most
magnificent manner. When the day arrived,
the whole city was given up to festivities and
rejoicing. Grand entertainments were given in
the palace, and games, spectacles, and plays in
every variety, were exhibited and performed in
all quarters of the city. Cleopatra herself was
enjoying a magnificent entertainment, given to
the lords and ladies of the court and the officers
of her army, in one of the royal palaces.

In the midst of this scene of festivity and
pleasure, it was announced to the queen that a
large box had arrived for her. ‘The box was
brought into the apartment. It had the appear-
ance of containing some magnificent present,
sent in atgthat time by some friend in honor of
the oecasion. ‘I'he curiosity of the queen was
excited to know what the mysterious coffer

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B.C.130.) Tue Prouemies. oi
i asians lameness

Barbarity of Physcon. | Pearse Grief of Cleopatra.
might contain. She ordered it to be opened ;
and the guests gathered around, each eager to
obtain the first glimpse of the contents. T’he
lid was removed, and a cloth beneath it was
raised, when, to the unutterable horror of all
who witnessed the spectacle, there was seen the
head and hands of Cleopatra’s beautiful boy,
lying among masses of human flesh, which con-
sisted of the rest of his body cut into pieces.
The head had been left entire, that the wretch-
ed mother might recognize in the pale and life-
less features the countenance of her son. Phys-
con had-sent the box to Alexandria, with orders
that it should be retained until the evening of
the birth-day, and then presented publicly to
Cleopatra in the midst of the festivities of the
scene. The shrieks and cries with which she
filled the apartments of the palace at the first
sight of the dreadful spectacle, and the agony
of long-continued and inconsolable grief which
followed, showed how well the cruel contrivance
of the tyrant was fitted to accomplish its end.
It gives us no pleasure to write, and we are
sure it can give our readers no pleasure fo pe-
ruse, such shocking stories of bloody cruelty as
these. It is necessary, however, to a just ap-
preciation of the character of the great subject
o2 — CLeopatra. [B.C. 117.

General character of the Ptolemy family.

of this history, that we should understand the
nature of the domestic influences that reigned
in the family from which she sprung. In fact,
it is due, as a matter of simple justice to her,
that we should know what these influences
were, and what were the examples set before
her in her early life; since the privileges and
advantages which the young enjoy in their ear-
ly years, and, on the other hand, the evil influ-
ences under which they suffer, are to be taken
very seriously into the account when we are
passing judgment upon the follies and sins into
which they subsequently fall.

The monster Physcon lived, it is true, two or
three generations before the great Cleopatra;
_ but the character of the intermediate genera-
tions, until the time of her birth, continued
much the same. In fact, the cruelty, corrup-
tion, and vice which reigned in every branch of
the royal family increased rather than dimin-
ished. The beautiful niece of Physcon, who, at
the time of her compulsory marriage with him,
evinced such an aversion to the monster, had
become, at the period of her husband’s death, as
great a monster of ambition, selfishness, and
cruelty as he. She had two sons, Lathyrus and
Alexander. Physcon, when he died, left the
B.C.117.] Tue Pro.emies. 53
a
Lathyrus. Terrible quarrels with his mother.
neat teasers cataanincmtiaaneaatanacisiaangsnaaiiinan i

kingdom of Egypt to her by will, authorizing
her to associate -with her in the government
whichever of these two sons she might choose.
The oldest was best entitled to this privilege,
by his priority of birth ; but she preferred the
youngest, as she thought that ‘her own power
would be more absolute in reigning.in conjunc-
tion with him, since he would be more com-
pletely under her control. The leading powers,
however, in Alexandria, resisted this plan, and
insisted on Cleopatra’s associating her oldest
son, Lathyrus, with her in the government of
the realm. ‘They compelled her to recall Lath-
yrus from the banishment into which she had
sent him, and to put him nominally upon the
throne. Cleopatra yielded to this necessity, but
she forced her son to repudiate his wife, and to
take, instead, another woman, whom she fancied
she could make more subservient to her will.
The mother and the son went on together for a
time, Lathyrus being nominally king, though
her determination that she would rule, and his
struggles to resist her intolerable tyranny, made
their wretched household the scene of terrible
and perpetual quarrels. At last Cleopatra selz-
ed a number of Lathyrus’s servants, the eu-
nuchs who were employed in various offices
o4 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 117.

Cruelties of Cleopatra. Alexander kills her.

about the palace, and after wounding and mu-
tilating them in a horrible manner, she exhib-
ited them to the populace, saying that it was
Lathyrus that had inflicted the cruel injuries
upon the sufferers, and calling upon them to
arise and punish him for his crimes. In this
and in other similar ways she awakened among
the people of the court and of the city such an
animosity against Lathyrus, that they expelled
him from the country. ‘There followed a long
series of cruel and bloody wars between the
mother and the son, in the course of which each
party perpetrated against the other almost ev-
ery imaginable deed of atrocity and crime. Al-
exander, the youngest son, was so afraid of his
terrible mother, that he did not dare to remain
in Alexandria with her, but went into a sort of
banishment of his own accord. He, however,
finally returned to Egypt. His mother imme-
diately supposed that he was intending to dis-
turb her possession of power, and resolved to de-
stroy him. He became acquainted with her
designs, and, grown desperate by the long-con-
tinued pressure of her intolerable tyranny, he
resolved to bring the anxiety and terror in which
he lived to an end by killing her. ‘This he did,
and then fled the country. Lathyrus, his broth-
B.C.117.) Tue PTOLEMIES. 5D

ee aN tinned
Cleopatra a type of the family. Her two daughters.

er, then returned, and reigned for the rest of
his days in a tolerable degree of quietness and
peace. At length Lathyrus died, and left the
kingdom to his son, Ptolemy Auletes, who was
the great Cleopatra’s father.

We can not soften the picture which is ex-
hibited to our view in the history of this cele-
brated family, by regarding the mother of Au-
letes, in the masculine and merciless traits and
principles which she displayed so energetically
throughout her terrible career, as an exception
to the general character of the princesses who
appeared from time to time in the line. In am-
bition, selfishness, unnatural and reckless cru-
elty, and utter disregard of every virtuous prin-
ciple and of every domestic tie, she was but the
type and representative of all the rest.

She had two daughters, for example, who were
the consistent and worthy followers of such a
mother. A passage in the lives of these sisters
illustrates very forcibly the kind of sisterly af-
fection which prevailed in the family of the
Ptolemies. The case was this:

There were two princes of Syria, a country
lying northeast of the Mediterranean Sea, and
so not very far from Egypt, who, though they
were brothers, were in a state of most deadly
56 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 101.

Unnatural war. Tryphena’s hatred of her sister.
a _sasueeseuenecetsisiinasieisemerieietnlatiattasatielianetaiatiiasnndnansiatnetianaenen

hostility to each other. One had attempted to
poison the other, and afterward a war had bro-
ken out between them, and all Syria was suf-
fering from the ravages of their armies. One
of the sisters, of whom we have been speaking,
married one of these princes. Her name was
Tryphena. After some time, but yet while the
unnatural war was still raging between the two
brothers, Cleopatra, the other sister—the same
Cleopatra, in fact, that had been divorced from
Lathyrus at the instance of his mother—es-
poused the other brother. ‘Tryphena was ex-
ceedingly incensed against Cleopatra for mar-
rying her husband’s mortal foe, and the implac-
able hostility and hate of the sisters was thence-
forth added to that which the brothers had. be-
fore exhibited, to complete the display of unnat-
ural and parricidal passion which this shameful
contest presented to the world.

In fact, Tryphena from this time seemed to
feel a new and highly-excited interest in the
contest, from her eager desire to revenge her-
self on her sister. She watched the progress
of it, and took an active part in pressing for-
ward the active prosecution of the war. The
party of her husband, either from this or some
other causes, seemed to be gaining the day.
B.C.101.]} Tue Provemies. 57

lines
Taking of Antioch. Cleopatra flees to a temple.
ta a iia lla eee ten EL

The husband of Cleopatra was driven from one
‘part of the country to another, and at length,
in order to provide for the security of his wife,
he left her in Antioch, a large and strongly-
fortified city, where he supposed that she would
be safe, while he himself was engaged in prose-
cuting the war in other quarters where his pres-
ence seemed to be required. »
On learning that her sister was at Antioch,
Tryphena urged her husband to attack the place.
He accordingly advanced with a strong detach-
ment of the army, and besieged and took the
city. Cleopatra would, of course, have fallen
into his hands as a captive; but, to escape this
fate, she fled to a temple for refuge. A temple

was considered, in those days, an inviolable sanc-

tuary. ‘The soldiers accordingly left her there.
Tryphena, however, made a request that her
husband would deliver the unhappy. fugitive
into her hands. She was determined, she said,
to kill her. Her husband remonstrated with
her against this atrocious proposal. ‘It would
be a wholly useless act of cruelty,” said he, “ to
destroy her life. She can do us no possible harm
in the future progress of the war, while to mur-
der her under these circumstances will only ex-
asperate her husband and her friends, and nerve
58 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 101.
Jealousy of Tryphena. Her resentment increases.

them with new strength for the remainder of —
the contest. And then, besides, she has taken
refuge in a temple ; and if we violate that sanc-
tuary, we shall incur, by such an act of sacri-
lege, the implacable displeasure of heaven. Con-
sider, too, that she is your sister, and for you to
kill her would be to commit an unnatural and
wholly inexcusable crime.”

So saying, he commanded Tryphena to say
no more upon the subject, for he would on no
account consent that Cleopatra should suffer
any injury whatever.

This refusal on the part of her husband to
comply with her request only inflamed Try-
phena’s insane resentment and anger the more.
In fact, the earnestness with which he espoused
her sister’s cause, and the interest which he
seemed to feel in her fate, aroused 'Tryphena’s
jealousy. She believed, or pretended to believe,
that her husband was influenced by a sentiment
of love in so warmly defending her. ‘The ob-
ject of her hate, from being simply an enemy,
became now, in her view, a rival, and she re-
solved that, at all hazards, she should be de-
stroyed. She accordingly ordered a body of des-
perate soldiers to break into the temple and
seize her. Cleopatra fled in terror to the altar,
BC.90.| Tus PTroLemMIEs. 59

Cruel and sacrilegious murder.

ARE ET reaieceeneearareiieoreneeneneaeeemeantr
and clung to it with such convulsive force that
the soldiers cut her hands off before they could
tear her away, and then, maddened by her re-
sistance and the sight of blood, they stabbed her
again and again upon the floor of the temple,
where she fell. The appalling shrieks with
which the wretched victim filled the air in the
first moments of her flight and her terror, sub-
sided, as her life ebbed away, into the most
awful imprecations of the judgments of heaven
upon the head of the unnatural sister whose
implacable hate had destroyed her.

Notwithstanding the specimens that we have
thus given of the character and action of this
extraordinary family, the government of this dy-
nasty, extending, as it did, through the reigns of
thirteen sovereigns and over a period of nearly
three hundred years, has always been considered
one of the most liberal, enlightened, and pros-
perous of all the governments of ancient times
We shall have something to say in the next
chapter in respect to the internal condition of
the country while these violent men were upon
the throne. In the mean time, we will here only
add, that whoever is inclined, in observing the
ambition, the selfishness, the party spirit, the
60 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 90.

The moral condition of mankind not degenerating.

unworthy intrigues, and the irregularities of
moral conduct, which modern rulers and states-
men sometimes exhibit to mankind in their per-
sonal and political career, to believe in a retro-
gression and degeneracy of national character
as the world advances in age, will be very ef-
fectually undeceived by reading attentively a
full history of this celebrated dynasty, and re-
flecting, as he reads, that the narrative presents,
on the whole, a fair and honest exhibition of the
general character of the men by whom, in an-
cient times, the world was governed.
ALEXANDRIA. 61

Internal administration of the Ptolemies.

CuHapTer III.

ALEXANDRIA.

T must not be imagined by the reader that
the scenes of vicious indulgence, and reck-
less cruelty and crime, which were exhibited
with such dreadful frequency, and carried to
such an enormous excess in the palaces of the
Egyptian kings, prevailed to the same extent
throughout the mass of the community during
the period of their reign. The internal admin-
istration of government, and the institutions by
which the industrial pursuits of the mass of the
people were regulated, and peace and order pre-
served, and justice enforced between man and
man, were all this time in the hands of men
well qualified, on the whole, for the trusts com-
mitted to their charge, and in’a good degree
faithful in the performance of their duties; and
thus the ordinary affairs of government, and the
general routine of domestic and social life, went
on, notwithstanding the profligacy of the kings,
in a course of very tolerable peace, prosperity,
and happiness. During every one of the three
62 CLEOPATRA.
- Industry of the people. ; . Its happy effects.

,
hundred years over which the history of the
Ptolemies extends, the whole length and breadth
of the land of Egypt exhibited, with compara-
tively few interruptions, one wide-spread scene
of busy industry. The inundations came at
their appointed season, and then regularly re-
tired. ‘The boundless fields which the waters
had fertilized were then every where tilled.
The lands were plowed; the seed was sown;
the canals and water-courses, which ramified
from the river in every direction over the
ground, were opened or closed, as the case re-
quired, to regulate the irrigation. The inhab-
itants were busy, and, consequently, they were
virtuous. And as the sky of Egypt is seldom
or never darkened by clouds and storms, the
scene presented to the eye the same unchang-
ing aspect of smiling verdure and beauty, day
after day, and month after month, until the rip-
ened grain was gathered into the store-houses,
and the land was cleared for another inundation.

We say that the people were virtuous be-
cause they were busy ; for there is no principle
of political economy more fully established than
that vice in the social state is the incident. and
symptom of idleness. It prevails always in those
classes of every great population who are either
ALEXANDRIA. 63

Idleness the parent of vice. An idle aristocracy generally vicious.
:

released by the possession of fixed and un-
changeable wealth from the necessity, or ex-
cluded by their poverty and degradation from
the advantage, of useful employment. Wealth
that is free, and subject to its possessor’s con-
trol, so that he can, if he will, occupy himself in
the management of it, while it sometimes may
make individuals vicious, does not generally
corrupt classes of men, for it does not make
them idle. But wherever the institutions of a
country are such as to: create an aristocratic
class, whose incomes depend on entailed estates,
or on fixed and permanent annuities, so that the
capital on which they live can not afford them
any mental occupation, they are doomed neces-
sarily to inaction and idleness. Vicious pleas-
ures and indulgences are, with such a class as
a whole, the inevitable result; for the innocent
enjoyments of man are planned and designed by
the Author of nature only for the intervals of
rest and repose in a life of activity. ‘They are
always found wholly insufficient to satisfy one
who makes pleasure the whole end and aim of
his being. | | .

In the same manner, if, either from the influ-
ence of the social institutions of a country, or
from the operation of natural causes which hu-
64 CLEOPATRA.

ene DL SD I:
Degradation and vice. Employment a cure for both.
rr

man power is unable to control, there is a class
of men too low, and degraded, and miserable to
be reached by the ordinary inducements to daily
toil, so certain are they to grow corrupt and de-
praved, that degradation has become in all lan-
guages a term almost synonymous with vice.
There are many exceptions, it is true, to these
general laws. Many active men are very wick-
ed; and there have been frequent instances of
the most exalted virtue among nobles and kings.
Still, as a general law, it is unquestionably true
that vice is the incident of idleness; and the
sphere of vice, therefore, is at the top and at the
bottom of society—those being the regions in
which idleness reigns. The great remedy, too,
for vice is employment. ‘To make a commu-
nity virtuous, it is essential that all ranks and
gradations of it, from the highest to the lowest,
should have something to do.

In accordance with these principles, we ob-
serve that, while the most extreme and abom-
inable wickedness seemed to hold continual and
absolute sway in the palaces of the Ptolemies,
and among the nobles of their courts, the work-
ing ministers of state, and the men on whom
the actual governmental functions devolved, dis-
charged their duties with wisdom and fidelity,
ALEXANDRIA. 65

Greatness of Alexandria. Situation of its port.

and throughout all the ordinary ranks and gra-
dations of society there prevailed generally a
very considerable degree of industry, prosperity,
and happiness. This prosperity prevailed not
only in the rural districts of the Delta and along
the valley of the Nile, but also among the mer-
chants, and navigators, and artisans of Alex-
andria. |

Alexandria became, in fact, very soon after
it was founded, a very great and busy city.
Many things conspired to make it at once a
great commercial emporium. In the first place,
it was the depdt of export for all the surplus
grain and other agricultural produce which was
raised in such abundance along the Egyptian
valley. ~I'b:s produce was brought down in
boats to the upper point of the Delta, where the
branches of the river divided, and thence down
the Canopic branch to the city.. The city was
not, in fact, situated directly upon this branch,
but upon a narrow tongue of land, at a little
tlistance from it, near the sea. It was not easy
to enter the channel directly, on account of the
bars and sand-banks at its mouth, produced by
the eternal conflict between the waters of the
river and the surges of the sea. The water
was deep, however, as Alexander’s engineers

K
66 CLEOPATRA.
Warehouses and granaries. Business of the port.
Pr ae

had discovered, at the place where the city was
built, and, by establishing the port there, and
then cutting a canal across to the Nile, they
were enabled to bring the river and the sea at
once into easy communication.

The produce of the valley was thus brought
down the river and through the canal to the
city. Here immense warehouses and granaries
were erected for its reception, that it might be
safely preserved until the ships that came into
the port were ready to take it away. ‘These
ships came from Syria, from all the coasts of
Asia Minor, from Greece, and from Rome
They brought the agricultural productions of
their own countries, as well as articles of man-
ufacture of various kinds; these they sold to
the merchants of Alexandria, and purchased
the productions of Egypt in return.

The port of Alexandria presented thus a con-
stant picture of life and animation. Merchant —
ships were continually coming and going, or
lying at anchor in the roadstead. Seamen were
hoisting sails, or raising anchors, or rowing their
capacious galleys through the water, singing, as
they pulled, to the motion of the oars. Within
the city there was the same ceaseless activity.
Here groups of men were unloading the’ canal
ALEXANDRIA, _ 67
igen ee
Scenes within the city. The natives protected in their industry.
sucbaebipactaiddinimiadbwadtiaiatammniedies ci

boats which had arrived from the river. There
porters were transporting bales of merchandise
or sacks of grain from: a warehouse to a pier,
or from one landing to another. The occasion-
al parading of the king’s guards, of the arrival
and departure of ships of war to land or to take
away bodies of armed men, were occurrences
that sometimes intervened to interrupt, or as
perhaps the people then would have said, to
adorn this scene of useful industry ; and now
and then, for a brief period, these peaceful avo-
cations would be wholly suspended and set aside
by a revolt or by a civil war, waged by rival
brothers against each other, or instigated by the
conflicting claims of a mother and son. These
interruptions, however, were comparatively few,
and, in ordinary cases, not of long continuance.
It was for the interest of all branches of the
royal line to do as little injury as possible to the
commercial and agricultural operations of the
realm. In fact, it was on the prosperity of those
operations that the revenues depended. ‘The
rulers were well aware of this, and so, however
implacably two rival princes may have hated
one another, and however desperately each party
may have struggled to destroy all active com-
batants whom they should find in arms against
68 CLEOPATRA.
teenie

Public edifices. The light-house.

Public ecmcee nn
them, they were both under every possible in-
ducement to spare the private property and the
lives of the peaceful population. This popula-
tion, in fact, engaged thus in profitable indus-
try, constituted, with the avails of their labors,
the very estate for which the combatants were
contending. |
Seeing the subject in this light, the Egyptian
sovereigns, especially Alexander and the earlier
Ptolemies, made every effort in their power to
promote the commercial greatness of Alexan-
dria. They built palaces, it is true, but they
also built warehouses. One of the most expen-
sive and celebrated of all the edifices that they
reared was the light-house which has been al-
ready alluded to. This light-house was a lofty
tower, built of white marble. It was situated
upon the island of Pharos, opposite to the city,
and at some distance from it. ‘There was a
sori of isthmus of shoals and sand-bars connect-
ing the island with the shore. Over these shal-
lows a pier or causeway was built, which final-
ly became a broad and inhabited neck. The
principal part of the ancient city, however, was
on the main land.* |

* See Map of the Delta of the Nile, page 29; also the View
of Alexandria, page 162. - |
B.C. 283.] ALEXANDRIA. 69

eta OREO aia iii a
Fame of the light-house. Its conspicuous position.
hci isi nth ia dR

The curvature of the earth requires that a
light-house on a coast should have a consider-
able elevation, otherwise its summit would not
appear above the horizon, unless the mariner
were very near. ‘To attain this elevation, the
architects usually take advantage of some hill or
cliff, or rocky eminence near the shore. There
was, however, no opportunity to do this at Pha-
ros; for the island was, like the main land, level
and low. The requisite elevation could only be
attained, therefore, by the masonry of an edi-
fice, and the blocks of marble necessary for the
work had to be brought from a great distance.
The Alexandrian light-house was reared in the
time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the second mon-
arch in the line. No pains or expense were
spared in its construction. The edifice, when
completed, was considered one of the seven won-
ders of the world. It was indebted for its fame,
however, in some degree, undoubtedly to the
conspicuousness of its situation, rising, as it did,
at the entrance of the greatest. commercial em-
porium of its time, and standing there, like a
pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, to
attract the welcome gaze of every wandering
mariner whose ship came within its horizon,
and to awaken his gratitude by tendering him
its guidance and dispelling his fears.
ae CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 283.

Mode of lighting the tower. Modern method.

The light at the top of the tower was pro-
duced by a fire, made of such combustibles as
would emit the brightest flame. This fire
burned slowly through the day, and then was
kindled up anew when the sun went down, and
was continually replenished through the night
with fresh supplies of fuel. In modern times,
a much more convenient and economical mode
is adopted to produce the requisite illumina-
tion. A great: blazing lamp burns brilliantly
in the center of the lantern of the tower, and
all that part of the radiation from the flame
which would naturally have beamed upward,
or downward, or laterally, or back toward the
land, is so turned by a curious system of re-
flectors and polyzonal lenses, most ingeniously
contrived and very exactly adjusted, as to be
thrown forward in one broad and thin, but brill-
iant sheet of light, which shoots out where its
radiance is needed, over the surface of the sea.
Before these inventions were perfected, far the
largest portion of the light emitted by the illu-
mination of light-house towers streamed away

wastefully in landward directions, or was lost
~ among the stars.

Of course, the glory of erecting such an edi~
fice as the Pharos of Alexandria, and of main-
B.C. 283.] ALEXANDRIA. 71
The architect of the Pharos. His ingenious stratagem.
<
taining it in the performance of its functions,
was very great; the question might, however,
very naturally arise whether this glory was
justly due to the architect through whose scien-
tific skill the work was actually accomplished,
or to the monarch by whose power and regour-
ces the architect was sustained. The name of
the architect was Sostratus. He was a Greek.
The monarch was, as ‘has already been stated,
the second Ptolemy, called commonly Ptoleriy
Philadelphus. Ptolemy ordered that, in com-
pleting the tower, a marble tablet should be
built into the wall, at a suitable place near the
summit, and that a proper inscription should
be carved upon it, with his name as the builder
of the edifice conspicuous thereon. Sostratus
preferred inserting his own name. He accord-
ingly made the tablet and ‘set it in its place.
He cut the inscription upon the face of it, in
Greek characters, with his own name as the
author of the work. He did this secretly, and
then covered the face of the tablet with an ar-
tificial composition, made with lime, to imitate
the natural surface of the stone. On this outer
surface he cut a new inscription, in which he
inserted the name of the king. In process of
time the lime moldered away, the king’s in- ©
72 | CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 283.

lei caetanemcsicaneatnine
Ruins of the Pharos. The Alexandrian library.
a ennui meneitiaietiisiniadeninanineaisinnaaasanntsnmns

scription disappeared, and his own, which thence-
forward continued as long as the building en-
dured, came out to view.

The Pharos was said to have been four hund-
red feet high. It was famed throughout the
world for many centuries; nothing, however,
remains of it now but a = of useless and
unmeaning ruins.

Besides the light that beamed from the sum-
mit of this lofty tower, there was another cen-
ter of radiance and illumination in ancient Al-
exandria, which was in some respects still more
conspicuous and renowned, namely, an im-
mense library and museum established and
maintained by the Ptolemies. ‘The Museum,
which was first established, was not, as its name
might now imply, a collection of curiosities, but
an institution of learning, consisting of a body
of learned men, who devoted their time to phil-
osophical and scientific pursuits. ‘The institu-
tion was richly endowed, and magnificent build-
ings were erected for its use. The king who
established it began immediately to make a col-
lection of books for the use of the members of
the institution. This was attended with great
expense, as every book that was added to the
collection required to be transcribed with a pen
ALEXANDRIA. 73

Immense magnitude of the library. The Serapion.

on parchment or papyrus, with infinite labor and
care. Great numbers of scribes were constant-
ly employed upon this work at the Museum.
The kings who were most interested in forming
this library would seize the books that were pos-
sessed by individual scholars, or that were de-
posited in the various cities of their dominions,
and then, causing beautiful copies of them to be
made by the scribes of the Museum, they would
retain the originals for the great Alexandrian
Library, and give the copies to the men or the
cities that had been thus despoiled. In the
same manner they would borrow, as they called
it, from all travelers who visited. Egypt, any
valuable books which they might have in their
possession, and, retaining the originals, give
them back copies instead.

In process of time the library increased to
four hundred thousand volumes. ‘There was
then no longer any room in the buildings of the
Museum for further additions. There was,
however, in another part of the city, a great
temple called the Serapion. This temple was
a very magnificent edifice, or, rather, group of
edifices, dedicated to the god Serapis. The or-
igin and history of this temple were very re-
markable. The legend was this:
74 CLEOPATRA.

The Serapis of Egypt. The Serapis of Greece.

It seems that one of the ancient and long-
venerated gods of the Egyptians was a deity
named Serapis. He had been, among other di-
vinities, the object of Egyptian adoration ages
before Alexandria was built or the Ptolemies
reigned. ‘There was also, by a curious coinci-
dence, a statue of the same name at a great
commercial town named Sinope, which was
built upon the extremity of a promontory which
projected from Asia Minor into the Euxine
Sea.* Sinope was, in some sense, the Alexan-
dria of the north, being the center and seat of a
great portion of the commerce of that quarter
of the world.

The Serapis of Sinope was considered as the
protecting deity of seamen, and the navigators
who came and went to and from the city made
sacrifices to him, and offered him oblations and
prayers, believing that they were, in a great
measure, dependent upon some mysterious and
inscrutable power which he exercised for their
safety in storms. They carried the knowledge
of his name, and tales of his. imaginary inter-
positions, to all the places that they visited;
and thus the fame of the god became extended,
first, to all the coasts of the Euxine Sea, and

* See map; frontispiece.
ALEXANDRIA. 75

Ptolemy’s dream. Importance of the statue.

subsequently to distant provinces and kingdoms.
The Serapis of Sinope began to be considered
every where as the tutelar god of seamen.

Accordingly, when the first of the Ptolemies
was forming his various plans for adorning and
agerandizing Alexandria, he received, he said,
one night, a divine intimation in a dream that
he was to obtain the statue of Serapis from Si-
nope, and set it up in Alexandria, in a suitable
temple which he was in the mean time to erect
in honor of the god. It is obvious that very
great advantages to the city would result from
the accomplishment of this design. In the first
place, a temple to the god Serapis would be a
new distinction for it in the minds of the rural
population, who would undoubtedly suppose that
the deity honored by it was their own ancient
god. Then the whole maritime and nautical
interest of the world, which had been accustom-
ed to adore the god of Sinope, would turn to Al-
exandria as the great center of religious attrac-
tion, if their venerated idol could be carried and
placed in a new and magnificent temple built
expressly for him there. Alexandria could nev-
er be the chief naval port and station of the
world, unless it contained the sanctuary and
shrine of the god of seamen. .
76 CLEOPATRA.

ities animes initials: ataaamaiaaamatis
Ptolemy’s proposal to the King of Sinope. His ultimate success.
ete see teeererennncgeteaplseseninctiapagtinrntaneneeseinninacecgcaalbinasnest netgea

Ptolemy sent accordingly to the King of Si-
nope and proposed to purchase the idol. The
embassage was, however, unsuccessful. The
king refused to give up the god. The negotia-
tions were continued for two years, but all in
vain. At length, on account of some failure in
the regular course of the seasons on that coast,
there was a famine there, which became finally
so severe that the people of the city were induc-
ed to consent to give up their deity to the Egyp-
tians in exchange for a supply of corn. Ptole-
my sent the corn and received the idol. He
then built the temple, which, when finished,
surpassed in grandeur and magnificence almost
every sacred structure in the world.

It was in this temple that the successive ad-
ditions to the Alexandrian library were depos-
ited, when the apartments at the Museum be-
came full. In the end there were four hundred
thousand rolls or volumes in the Museum, and
three hundred thousand in the Serapion. The
former was called the parent library, and the
latter, being, as it were, the ene of the first,
was called the daughter.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, who interested him-
self very greatly in collecting this library, wished
to make it a complete collection of all the books
ALEXANDRIA. ae

MAD iieacaaaas inte
Mode of obtaining books. The Jewish Scriptures.



in the world. He employed scholars to read
and study, and travelers to make extensive
tours, for the purpose of learning what books
existed among all the surrounding nations; and,
when he learned of their existence, he spared
no pains or expense in attempting to procure
either the originals themselves, or the most per-
fect and authentic copies of them. He sent to
Athens and obtained the works of the most cel-
ebrated Greek historians, and then causing, as
in other cases, most beautiful transcripts to be
made, he sent the transcripts back to Athens,
and a very large sum of money with them as
an equivalent for the difference of value between
originals and copies in such an exchange.

In the course of the inquiries which Ptolemy
made into the literature of the surrounding na-
tions, in his search for accessions to his library,
he heard that the Jews had certain sacred writ-
ings in their temple at Jerusalem, comprising
a minute and extremely interesting history of
their nation from the earliest periods, and also
many other books of sacred prophecy and poe-
try. ‘These books, which were, in fact, the He-
brew Scriptures of the Old Testament, were
then wholly unknown to all nations except the
Jews, and among the Jews were known only
78 CLEOPATRA.

Seclusion of the Jews. Interest felt in their Scriptures.

Oe ei epee nenetitntnlapnstleneasaEa
to priests and scholars. They were kept sacred
at Jerusalem. The Jews would have consid-
ered them as profaned in being exhibited to the
view of pagan nations. In fact, the learned
men of other countries would not have been
able to read them; for the Jews secluded them-
selves so closely from the rest of mankind, that
their language was, in that age, scarcely ever
heard beyond the confines of Judea and Galilee.

Ptolemy very naturally thought that a copy
of these sacred books would be a great acquisi-
tion to his library. They constituted, in fact,
the whole literature of a nation which was, in
some respects, the most extraordinary that ever
existed on the globe. Ptolemy conceived the
idea, also, of not only adding to his library a
eopy of these writings in the original Hebrew,
but of causing a translation of them to be made
into Greek, so that they might easily be read
by the Greek and Roman scholars who were
drawn in great numbers to his capital by the
libraries and the learned institutions which he
had established there. The first thing to be ef-
fected, however, in accomplishing either of these
plans, was to obtain the consent of the Jewish
authorities. They would probably object to giv-
ing up any copy of their sacred writings at all.
ALEXANDRIA. 79
teense
Jewish slaves in Egypt. Ptolemy’s designs,

There was one circumstance which led Ptol-
emy to imagine that the Jews would, at that
time particularly, be averse to granting any re-
quest of such a nature coming from an Egyp-
tian king, and that was, that during certain
wars which had taken place in previous reigns,
a considerable number of prisoners had been ta-
ken by the Egyptians, and had been brought to
Egypt as captives, where they had been sold to
the inhabitants, and were now scattered over
the land as slaves. They were employed as
servile laborers in tilling the fields, or in turn-
ing enormous wheels to pump up water from
the Nile. ‘The masters of these hapless bond-
men conceived, like other slave-holders, that they
had a right of property in their slaves. This
was in some respects true, since they had bought
them of the government at the close of the war
for a consideration ; and though they obviously
deriyed from this circumstance no valid propri-
etary right or claim as against the men person-
ally, it certainly would seem that it gave them
a just claim against the government of whom
they bought, in case of subsequent manumis-
sion.

Ptolemy or his minister, for it can not now
be known who was the real actor in these trans-
80 CLEOPATRA.

Ptolemy liberates the slaves. Their ransom paid.

actions, determined on liberating these slaves
and sending them back to their native land, as
a means of propitiating the Jews and inclining
them to listen favorably to the request which
he was about to prefer for a copy of their sacred
writings. He, however, paid to those who held
the captives a very liberal sum for ransom. The
ancient historians, who never allow the interest
of their narratives to suffer for want of a proper
amplification on their part of the scale on which
the deeds which they record were performed,
say that the number of slaves liberated on this
occasion was a hundred and twenty thousand,
and the sum paid for them, as compensation to
the owners, was six hundred talents, equal to
six hundred thousand dollars.* And yet this
was only a preliminary expense to pave the
way for the acquisition of a single series of
books, to add to the variety of the immense
collection. |

After the liberation and return of the cap-

* It will be sufficiently accurate for the general reader of
history to consider the Greek talent, referred to in such trans-
actions as these, as equal in English money to two hundred
and fifty pounds, in American to a thousand dollars. It is
curious to observe that, large as the total was that was paid
for the liberation of these slaves, the amount paid for each in-
dividual was, after all, only a sum equal to about five dollars.
B.C. 298-285.] ALEXANDRIA. 81
ered DI ten onensniranenenioniesntednieaniasiiaddbiibitinindaars

Ptolemy’s success. The Septuagint.

tives, Ptolemy sent a splendid embassage to
Jerusalem, with very respectful letters to the
high priest, and with very magnificent pres-
ents. The embassadors were received with the
highest honors. The request of Ptolemy that
he should be allowed to take a copy of the sa-
cred books for his library was very readily
granted. .
The priests caused copies to be made of all
the sacred writings. These copies were executed
in the most magnificent style; and were splen-
didly illuminated with letters of gold. The
Jewish government also, at Ptolemy’s request,
designated a company of Hebrew scholars, six
from each tribe—men learned in both the Greek
and Hebrew languages—to proceed to Alexan-
dria, and there, at the Museum, to make a care-
ful translation of the Hebréw. books into Greek.
As there were twelve tribes, and six translators
chosen from each, there were seventy-two trans-
lators in all.. They made their translation, and
it was called the Septuagint, from the Latin
septuaginta duo, which means seventy-two.
Although out of Judea there was no feeling of
reverence for these Hebrew Scriptures as books
of divine authority, there was still a strong in-
terest felt in them as very entertaining and cu-
F
_ Creopatra. [B.C. 298-285.

Early copies of the Septuagint.

Present copies.



rious works of history, by all the Greek and
Roman scholars who frequented Alexandria to
study at the Museum. Copies were accord-
ingly made of the Septuagint translation, and
were taken to other countries; and there, in
process of time, copies of the copies were made,
until at length the work became extensively
circulated throughout the whole learned world.
When, finally, Christianity became extended
over the Roman empire, the priests and monks
looked with even a stronger interest than the
ancient scholars had felt upon this early trans-
lation of so important a portion of the sacred
Scriptures. They made new copies for abbeys,
monasteries, and colleges ; and when, at length,
the art of printing was discovered, this work
was one of the first on which the magic power
of typography was tried. The original manu-
script made by the scribes of the seventy-two,
and all the early transcripts which were made
from it, have long since been lost or destroyed ;
but, instead of them, we have now hundreds of
thousands of copies in compact printed volumes,
scattered among the public and private libraries
of Christendom. In fact, now, after the lapse
of two thousand years, a copy of Ptolemy’s Sep-
tuagint may be obtained of any considerable
B.C. 298-285.] Anexawoprta. 83

eee aR FO Ge aan.
Various other plans of the Ptolemies. Means of raising money.

bookseller in any country of the civilized world ;
and though it required a national embassage,
and an expenditure, if the accounts are true,
of more than a million of dollars, originally to
obtain it, it may be procured without difficulty
now by two days’ wages of an ordinary laborer.

Besides the building of the Pharos, the Mu-
seum, and the Temple of Serapis, the early
Ptolemies formed and executed a great many
other plans tending to the same ends which the
erection of these splendid edifices was designed
to secure, namely, to concentrate in Alexan-
dria all possible means of attraction, commer-
cial, literary, and religious, so as to make the
city the great center of interest, and the com-
mon resort for all mankind. They raised im-
mense revenues for these and other purposes by
taxing heavily the whole agricultural produce
of the valley of the Nile. The inundations, by
the boundless fertility which they annually pro-
duced, supplied the royal treasuries. Thus the
Abyssinian rains at the sources of the Nile built
the Pharos at its mouth, and endowed the Al-
exandrian library.

The taxes laid upon the people of Egypt to
supply the Ptolemies with funds were, in fact,
so heavy, that only the bare means of subsist-
84 CLEOPATRA.
Heavy taxes. Poverty of the people.

ence were left to the mass of the agricultural
population. In admiring the greatness and glo-
ry of the city, therefore, we must remember
that there was a gloomy counterpart to its
splendor in the very extended destitution and
poverty to which the mass of the people were
every where doomed. ‘They lived in hamlets
of wretched huts along the banks of the river,
in order that the capital might be splendidly
adorned with temples and palaces. They pass-
ed their lives in darkness and ignorance, that
seven hundred thousand volumes of expensive
manuscripts might be enrolled at the Museum
for the use of foreign philosophers and scholars,
The policy of the Ptolemies was, perhaps, on
the whole, the best, for the general advance-
ment and ultimate welfare of mankind, which
could have been pursued in the age in which
they lived and acted ; but, in applauding the re-
sults which they attained, we must not wholly
forget the cost which they incurred in attaining
them. At the same cost, we could, at the pres-
ent day, far surpass them. If the people of the
United States will surrender the comforts and
conveniences which they individually enjoy—if
the farmers scattered in their comfortable homes
on the hill-sides and plains throughout the land
ALEXANDRIA. 85

Ainaheanieth cai a niacin natal lia,
Ancient/and modern capitals. Liberality of the Ptolemies,

will give up their houses, their furniture, their
carpets, their books, and the privileges of their
children, and then—withholding from the pro-
duce of their annual toil only a sufficient reser-
vation to sustain them and their families through
the year, in a life like that of a beast of burden,
spent in some miserable and naked hovel—send
the rest to some hereditary sovereign residing
upon the Atlantic sea-board, that he may build
with the proceeds a splendid capital, they may
have an Alexandria now that will infinitely ex-
ceed the ancient city of the Ptolemies in splen-
dor and renown. The nation, too, would, in
such a case, pay for its metropolis the same
price, precisely, that the ancient Egyptians paid
for theirs. |

The Ptolemies expended the revenues which
they raised by this taxation mainly in a very
liberal and enlightened manner, for the accom-
plishment of the purposes which they had in
view. The building of the Pharos, the removal
of the statue of Serapis, and the endowment of
the Museum and the library were great concep-
tions, and they were carried into effect in the
most complete and perfect manner. All the
other operations which they devised and exe-
cuted for the extension and aggrandizement of


86 CLEOPATRA.

Splendor and renown of Alexandria. Her grekt rival.

the city were conceived and executed in the
same spirit of scientific and enlightened liberal-
ity. Streets were opened; the most splendid
palaces were built ; docks, piers, and breakwa-
ters were constructed, and fortresses and towers
were armed and garrisoned. Then every means
was employed to attract to the city a great con-
course from all the most highly-civilized nations
then existing. The highest inducements were
offered to merchants, mechanics, and artisans
to make the city their abode. Poets, painters,
sculptors, and scholars of every nation and de-
gree were made welcome, and every facility
was afforded them for the prosecution of their
various pursuits. These plans were all emi-
nently successful. Alexandria rose rapidly to
the highest consideration and importance ; and,
at the time when Cleopatra—born. to preside
over this scene of magnificence and splendor—
came upon the stage, the city had but one rival
in the world. That rival was Rome.
B.C. 80.] Curopatra’s FatuHer. 87

Rome the rival of Alexandria. Extent of their rule.

CuaptTrer LV.
CLEOPATRA’S FATHER.

WV BEN the time was approaching in which

Cleopatra appeared upon the stage, Rome
was perhaps the only city that could be consid-
ered as the rival of Alexandria, in the estima-
tion of mankind, in respect to interest and at-
tractiveness as a capital. In one respect, Rome
was vastly superior to the Egyptian metropolis,
and that was in the magnitude and extent of.
the military power which it wielded among the
nations of the earth. Alexandria ruled over
Egypt, and over a few of the neighboring coasts
and islands; but in the course of the three cen-
turies during which she had been acquiring her
greatness and fame, the Roman empire had ex-
tended itself over almost the whole civilized
world. Egypt had been, thus far, too remote
to be directly reached ; but the affairs of Egypt
itself became involved at length with the opera-
tions of the Roman power, about the time of
Cleopatra’s birth, in a very striking and pecu-
liar manner; and as the consequences of the
Ss . , CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 80.

es ee a



Extension of the Roman empire. Cleopatra’s father.

transaction were the means of turning the whole
course of the queen’s subsequent history, a nar-
ration of it is necessary to a proper understand-
ing of the circumstances under which she com-
menced her career. In fact, it was the exten-
sion of the Roman empire to the limits of
Egypt, and the connections which thence arose
between the leading Roman generals and the
Egyptian sovereign, which have made the story
of this particular queen so much more conspic-
uous, as an object of interest and attention to
mankind, than that of any other one of-the ten
Cleopatras who rose successively in the same
royal line. :

Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra’s father, was per-
haps, in personal character, the most dissipated,
degraded, and corrupt of all the sovereigns in
the dynasty. He spent his whole time in vice
and debauchery. The only honest accomplish-
ment that he seemed to possess was his skill in
playing upon the flute ; of this he was very vain.
He instituted musical contests, in which the
musical performers of Alexandria played for
prizes and crowns; and he himself was accus-
tomed to enter the lists with the rest as a com-
petitor. The people of Alexandria, and the
world in general, considered such pursuits as”


B.C. 58.] Curoparra’s Faruer. 89

Ptolemy’ 8 y's ignoble bi birth. Cesar and Pompey.

these wholly unworthy the attention of the rep-
resentative of so illustrious a line of sovereigns;
and the abhorrence which they felt for the mon-
arch’s vices and crimes was mingled with a feel-
ing of contempt for the meanness of his ambi-
_ tion.

There was a doubt in renpect to bie title to
the crown, for his birth, on the mother’s side,
was irregular and ignoble. Instead, however,
of attempting to confirm and secure his posses-
sion of power by a vigorous and prosperous ad-
ministration of the government, he wholly aban-
doned all concern in respect to the course of
public affairs; and then, to guard against the
danger of being deposed, he conceived the plan
of getting himself recognized at Rome as one
of the allies of the Roman people. If this were
once done, he supposed that the Roman govern-
ment would feel under an obligation to sustain
him on his throne in the event of any threat-
ened danger.

The Roman government was a sort of repub-
lic, and the two most powerful men in the state
at this time were Pompey and Cesar. Cesar
was in the ascendency at Rome at the time
that Ptolemy made his application for an alli-
ance. Pompey was absent in Asia Minor, be-


90 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

sss i el eterna
Ptolemy purchases the alliance of Rome. Taxes to raise the money.

ing engaged in prosecuting a war with Mith-
radates, a very powerful monarch, who was at
that time resisting the Roman power. Cesar
was very deeply involved in debt, and was, more-
over, very much in need of money, not only for
relief from existing embarrassments, but as a
means of subsequent expenditure, to enable him
to accomplish certain great political schemes
which he was entertaining. After many nego-
tiations and delays, it was agreed that Cesar
would exert his influence to secure an alliance
between the Roman people and Ptolemy, on con-
dition that Ptolemy paid him the sum of six
thousand talents, equal to about six millions of
dollars. A part of the money, Cesar said, was
for Pompey.

The title of ally was conferred, and Ptolemy
undertook to raise the money which he had
promised by increasing the taxes of his kingdom.
The measures, however, which he thus adopt-
ed for the purpose of making himself the more
secure in his possession of the throne, proved
to be the means of overthrowing him. The dis-
content and disaffection of his people, which had
been strong and universal before, though sup-
pressed and concealed, broke out now into open
violence. That there should be laid upon them,
B.C. 58.| Cireopatra’s Faruer. 91
Revolt at Alexandria. Ptolemy’s flight.

in addition to all their other burdens, these new
oppressions, heavier than those which they had
endured before, and exacted for such a purpose
too, was not to be endured. ‘To be compelled
to see their country sold on any terms to the
Roman people was sufficiently hard to bear ; but
to be forced to raise, themselves, and pay the
price of the transfer, was absolutely intolerable.
Alexandria commenced a revolt. Ptolemy was
not a man to act decidedly against such a dem-
onstration, or, in facet, to evince either calmness
or courage in any emergency whatever. His
first thought was to escape from Alexandria to
save his life. His second, to make the best of
his way to Rome, to call upon the Roman peo-
ple to come to the succor of their ally!
Ptolemy left five children behind him in his
flight. 'The eldest was the Princess Berenice,
who had already reached maturity. The sec-
ond was the great Cleopatra, the subject of this
history. Cleopatra was, at this time, about
eleven years old. ‘There were also two sons;
but they were very young. One of them was
named Ptolemy. 7
The Alexandrians determined on raising Ber-
enice to the throne in her father’s place, as soon
as his flight was known. They thought that
92 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

Berenice. Her marriage with Seleucus.



the sons were too young to attempt to reign in
such an emergency, as it was very probable
that Auletes, the father, would attempt to re-
cover. his kingdom. ' Berenice very readily ac-
cepted the honor and power which were offered
to her. She established herself in her father’s
palace, and began her reign in great magnifi-
cence and splendor. In process of time she
thought that her position would be strengthened
by a marriage with a royal prince from some
neighboring realm. She first sent embassadors
to make proposals to a prince of Syria named
Antiochus. The embassadors came back, bring-
ing word that Antiochus was dead, but that he
had a brother named Seleucus, upon whom the
succession fell. Berenice then sent them back
to make the same offers to him. He accepted
the proposals, came to Egypt, and he and Ber-
enice were married. After trying him for a
while, Berenice found that, for some reason or
other, she did not like him as a husband, and,
accordingly, she caused him to be strangled.
At length, after various other intrigues and
much secret management, Berenice succeeded
in a second negotiation, and married a prince,
or a pretended prince, from some country of
Asia Minor, whose name was Archelaus. © She
B.C. 58.] Cuzoparra’s Farner. 93

wapelmerterorapetneineinsiontnennpeteareesnictesitinpnetiindantialinnsinstensienesoneinnsnsesiniappiamic ant tiaiia ta SY
Cleopatra’s early life. Ptolemy an object of contempt.

was better pleased with this second husband
than she had been with the first, and she began,
at last, to feel somewhat settled and establish-
ed on her throne, and to be prepared, as she
thought, to offer effectual resistance to her fa-
ther in case he should ever attempt to re-
turn.

‘It was in the midst of the scenes, and sur-
rounded by the influences which might be ex-
pected to prevail in the families of such a father
and such a sister, that Cleopatra spent those
years of life in which the character is formed.
During all these revolutions, and exposed to all
these exhibitions of licentious wickedness, and
of unnatural cruelty and crime, she was grow-
ing up in the royal palaces a spirited and beau-
tiful, but indulged and neglected child.

In the mean time, Auletes, the father, went
on toward Rome. So far as his character and
his story were known among the surrounding
nations, he was the object of universal obloquy,
both on account of his previous career of de-
grading vice, and now, still more, for this igno-
ble flight from the difficulties in which his vices
and crimes had involved him.

He stopped, on the way, at the island of
Rhodes. It happened that Cato, the great Ro-
94 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

ND
Ptolemy’s interview with Cato. Character of Cato.

man philosopher and general, was at Rhodes at
this time. Cato was a man of stern, unbend-
ing virtue, and of great influence at that period
in public affairs. Ptolemy sent a messenger to
inform Cato of his arrival, supposing, of course,
that the Roman general would hasten, on hear-
ing of the fact, to pay his respects to so great a
personage as he, a king of Egypt—a Ptolemy
—though suffering under a temporary reverse
of fortune. Cato directed the messenger to re-
ply that, so far as he was aware, he had no par-
ticular business with Ptolemy. ‘ Say, how-
ever, to the king,” he added, “ that, if he has
any business with me, he may call and see me,
if he pleases.” |

Ptolemy was obliged to suppress his resent-
ment and submit. He thought it very essen-
tial to the success of his plans that he should
see Cato, and secure, if possible, his interest and
co-operation ; and he consequently made prepa-
rations for paying, instead of receiving, the vis-
it, intending to go in the greatest royal state
that he could command. He accordingly ap-—
peared at Cato’s lodgings on the following day,
magnificently dressed, and accompanied by
many attendants. Cato, who was dressed in
the plainest and most simple manner, and whose
B.C.58.] Cureoparra’s Farner. 95

Ptolemy’s reception. Cato’s advice to him.



apartment was furnished in a style correspond-
ing with the severity of his character, did not -
even rise when the king entered the room. He
simply pointed with his hand, and bade the vis-
itor take a seat. |

Ptolemy began to make a statement of his
case, with a view to obtaining Cato’s influence
with the Roman people to induce them to in-
terpose in his behalf. Cato, however, far from
evincing any disposition to espouse his visitor’s
cause, censured him, in the plainest terms, for
having abandoned his proper position in his own
kingdom, to go and make himself a victim and
a prey for the insatiable avarice of the Roman
leaders. ‘You can do nothing at Rome,” he
said, ‘but by the influence of bribes ; and all
the resources of Egypt will not be enough to
satisfy the Roman greediness for money.” He
concluded by recommending him to go back to
Alexandria, and rely for his hopes of extrication
from the difficulties which surrounded him on
the exercise of his own energy and resolution
there.

Ptolemy was greatly abashed at this rebuff,
but, on consultation with his attendants and
followers, it was decided to be too late now to
return. The whole party accordingly re-em-
96 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 58.

Ptolemy arrives at Rome. His application to Pompey.





barked on board their galleys, and pursued their
way to Rome.

Ptolemy found, on his arrival at the city, that
Ceesar was absent in Gaul, while Pompey, on
the other hand, who had returned victorious
from his campaigns against Mithradates, was
now the great leader of influence and power at
the Capitol. This change of circumstances was
not, however, particularly unfavorable ; for Ptol-
emy was on friendly terms with Pompey, as he
had been with Cesar. He had assisted him in
his wars with Mithradates by sending him a
squadron of horse, in pursuance of his policy of
cultivating friendly relations with the Roman
people by every means in his power. Besides,
Pompey had received a part of the money which
Ptolemy had paid to Cesar as the price of the
Roman alliance, and was to receive his share
of the rest in case Ptolemy should ever be re-
stored. Pompey was accordingly interested in
favoring the royal fugitive’s cause. He re-
ceived him in his palace, entertained him in
magnificent style, and took immediate meas-
ures for bringing his cause before the Roman
senate, urging upon that body the adoption of
immediate and vigorous measures for effecting
his restoration, as an ally whom they were

-
B.C.58.] Cusoparra’s Faruer. 97

Aesthnnn ol te Mace tiie
Action of the Roman senate. Plans for restoring Ptolemy.



bound to protect against his rebellious sub-
jects. |

There was at first some opposition in the
Roman senate against espousing the cause of
such a man, but it was soon put down, being
overpowered in part by Pompey’s authority,
and in part silenced by Ptolemy’s promises and
bribes. ‘The senate determined to restore the
king to his throne, and began to make arrange-
ments for carrying the measure into effect.

The Roman provinces nearest to Egypt were
Cilicia and Syria, countries situated on the east-
ern and northeastern coast of the Mediterranean
Sea, north of Judea. The forces stationed in
these provinces would be, of course, the most
convenient for furnishing the necessary troops
for the expedition. The province of Cilicia was
under the command of the consul Lentulus.
Lentulus was at this time at Rome; he had
repaired to the capital for some temporary pur-
pose, leaving his province and the troops sta-
tioned there under the command, for the time,
of a sort of lieutenant general named Gabinius.
It was concluded that this Lentulus, with his
Syrian forces, should undertake the task of re-
instating Ptolemy on his throne.

While these plans and arrangements were

G


98 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 57.

Measures of Berenice. Her embassage to Rome.

yet immature, a circumstance occurred which
threatened, for a time, wholly to defeat them.
It seems that when Cleopatra’s father first left
Egypt, he had caused a report to be circulated
there that he had been killed in the revolt.
The object of this stratagem was to cover and
conceal his flight. The government of Berenice
soon discovered the truth, and learned that the
fugitive had gone in the direction of Rome.
They immediately inferred that he was going
to appeal to the Roman people for aid, and they
determined that, if that were the case, the Ro-
man people, before deciding in his favor, should
have the opportunity to hear their side of the
story as well as his. They accordingly made
preparations at once for sending a very impos-
ing embassage to Rome. The deputation con-
sisted of more than a hundred persons. The
object of Berenice’s government in sending so
large a number was not only to evince their
respect for the Roman people, and their sense
of the magnitude of the question at issue, but
also to guard against any efforts that Ptolemy
might make to intercept the embassage on the
way, or to buy off the members of it by bribes.
The number, however, large as it was, proved
insufficient to accomplish this purpose. The
B.C. 57.| Cueoparra’s Farner. 99

Ptolemy’s treachery. Its consequences.

whole Roman world was at this time in such a
condition of disorder and violence, in the hands
of the desperate and reckless military leaders
who then bore sway, that there were every where
abundant facilities for the commission of any
conceivable crime. Ptolemy contrived, with the
assistance of the fierce partisans who had es-
poused his cause, and who were deeply interest-
ed in his success on account of the rewards
which were promised them, to waylay and de-
stroy a large proportion of this company before
they reached Rome. Some were assassinated ;
some were poisoned ; some were tampered with
and bought off by bribes. A small remnant
reached Rome; but they were so intimidated
by the dangers which surrounded them, that
they did not dare to take any public action in
respect to the business which had been com-
mitted to their charge. Ptolemy began to con-
gratulate himself on having completely circum-
vented his daughter in her efforts to protect
herself against his designs.

Instead of that, however, it soon proved that
the effect of this atrocious treachery was exact-
ly the contrary of what its perpetrators had ex-
pected. The knowledge of the facts became
gradually extended among the people of Rome,
100 CLEOPATRA. [B.C, 57.



Opposition to Ptolemy. The prophecy.

and it awakened a universal indignation. The
party who had been originally opposed to Ptol-
emy’s cause seized the opportunity to renew
their opposition; and they gained so much
strength from the general odium which Ptol-
emy’s crimes had awakened, that Pompey found
it almost impossible to sustain his cause.

At length the party opposed to Ptolemy
found, or pretended. to find, in certain sacred
books, called the Sibylline Oracles, which were
kept in the custody of the priests, and were sup-
posed to contain prophetic intimations of the
will of Heaven in respect to the conduct of pub-
lic affairs, the following passage :

“Tfa king of Egypt should apply to you
for aid, treat him in a friendly manner, but do
not furnish him with troops ; for if you do, you
will incur great danger.”

This made new difficulty for Ptolemy’s
friends. They attempted, at first, to evade this
inspired injunction by denying the reality of it.
There was no such passage to be found, they
said. It was all an invention of their enemies.
This point seems to have been overruled, and
then they attempted to give the passage some
other than the obvious interpretation. Finally,
they maintained that, although it prohibited
B.C.55.] Cueopatra’s Faruer. 101

csifiineiniatbiiiisi tc stali
Attempts to evade the oracle. Gabinius undertakes the cause.

their furnishing Ptolemy himself with troops, it

did not forbid their sending an armed force, into
Egypt under leaders of their own. That they
could certainly do; and then, when the rebell-
ion was suppressed, and Berenice’s government
overthrown, they could invite Ptolemy to return
to his kingdom and resume his crown in a
peaceful manner. This, they alleged, would not
be “furnishing him with troops,” and, of course,
would not be disobeying the oracle.

These attempts to evade the direction of the
oracle on the part of Ptolemy’s friends, only
made the debates and dissensions between them
and his enemies more violent than ever. Pom-
pey made every effort in his power to aid Ptol-
emy’s cause; but Lentulus, after long hesita-
tion and delay, decided that it would not be safe
for him to embark in it. At length, however,
Gabinius, the lieutenant who commanded in
Syria, was induced to undertake the enterprise.
On certain promises which he received from
Ptolemy, to be performed in case he succeeded,
and with a certain encouragement, not very le-
gal or regular, which Pompey gave him, in re-
spect to the employment of the Roman troops
under his command, he resolved to march to
Egypt. His route, of course, would lay along


102 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 55.

Mark Antony. His history and character

the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and
through the desert, to Pelusium, which has al-
ready been mentioned as the frontier town on
this side of Egypt. From Pelusium he was to
march through the heart of the Delta to Alex-
andria, and, if successful in his invasion, over-
throw the government of Berenice and Arche-
laus, and then, inviting Ptolemy to return, re-
instate him on the throne.

In the prosecution of this dangerous enter-
prise, Gabinius relied strongly on the assist-
ance of a very remarkable man, then his second
in command, who afterward acted a very im-
portant part in the subsequent history of Cleo-
patra. His name was Mark Antony. Antony
was born in Rome, of a very distinguished fam-
ily, but his father died when he was very young,
and being left subsequently much to himself, he
became a very wild and dissolute young man.
He wasted the property which his father had
left him in folly and vice; and then going on
desperately in the same career, he soon incurred
enormous debts, and involved himself, in conse-
quence, in inextricable difficulties. His cred-
itors continually harassed him with importuni-
ties for money, and with suits at law to compel
payments which he had no means of making.
B.C. 55.] Cueopatra’s Farner. 103

Antony in Greece. He joins Gabinius.

He was likewise incessantly pursued by the
hostility of the many enemies that he had made
in the city by his violence and his crimes. At
length he absconded, and went to Greece.

Here Gabinius, when on his way to Syria,
met him, and invited him to join his army
rather than to remain where he was in idleness
and destitution. Antony, who was as proud
and lofty in spirit as he was degraded in mor-
als and condition, refused to do this unless Ga-
binius would give him a command. Gabinius
saw in the daring and reckless energy which
Antony manifested the indications of the class
of qualities which in those days made a suc-
cessful soldier, and acceded to his terms. He
gave him the command of his cavalry. Antony
distinguished himself in the Syrian campaigns
that followed, and was now full of eagerness to
engage in this Egyptian enterprise. In fact, it
was mainly his zeal and enthusiasm to embark
in the undertaking which was the means of de-
ciding Gabinius to consent to Ptolemy’s pro-
posals.

The danger and difficulty which they con-
sidered as most to be apprehended in the whole
expedition was the getting across the desert to
Pelusium.. In fact, the great protection of


104 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 55.

RAR OTN calito
Danger of crossing the deserts. Armies destroyed.

Egypt had always been her isolation. The
trackless and desolate sands, being wholly des-
titute of water, and utterly void, could be trav-
ersed, even by a caravan of peaceful travelers,
only with great difficulty and danger. For an
army to attempt to cross them, exposed, as the
troops would necessarily be, to the assaults of
enemies who might advance to meet them on
the way, and sure of encountering a terrible
opposition from fresh and vigorous bands when
they should arrive—wayworn and exhausted by
the physical hardships of the way—at the bor-
ders of the inhabited country, was a desperate
undertaking.» Many instances occurred in an-
cient times in which vast bodies of troops, in
attempting marches over the deserts by which
Egypt was surrounded, were wholly destroyed
by famine or thirst, or overwhelmed by storms
of sand.*

These difficulties and dangers, however, did
not at all intimidate Mark Antony. The an-
ticipation, in fact, of the glory of surmounting
them was one of the main inducements which
led him to embark in the enterprise. The per-
ils of the desert constituted one of the charms

* For an account of one of these disasters, with an engrav-
ing illustrative of the scene, see the History or Cyrus.
B.C. 58.] Curopatra’s Farner. 105
Mark Antony’s character. His personal appearance.

which made the expedition so attractive. He
placed himself, therefore, at the head of his
troop of cavalry, and set off across the sands in
advance of Gabinius, to take Pelusium, in or-
der thus to open a way for the main body of the
army into Egypt. Ptolemy accompanied An-
tony. Gabinius was to follow.

With all his faults, to call them by no se-
verer name, Mark Antony possessed certain
great excellences of character. He was ardent,
but then he was cool, collected, and sagacious ;
and there was a certain frank and manly gener-
osity continually evincing itself in his conduct
and character which made him a great favorite
among his men. He was at this time about
twenty-eight years old, of a tall and manly
form, and of an expressive and intellectual cast
of countenance. His forehead was high, his
nose aquiline, and his eyes full of vivacity and
life. He was accustomed to dress in a very
plain and careless manner, and. he assumed an
air of the utmost familiarity and freedom in his
intercourse with his soldiers. He would join
them in their sports, joke with them, and good-
naturedly receive their jokes in return; and
take his meals, standing with them around
their rude tables, in the open field. Such hab-
106 CLEOPATRA. | B.C. 55.

March across the desert. : Pelusium taken.



its of intercourse with his men in a commander
of ordinary character would have been fatal to
his ascendency over them; but in Mark An-
tony’s case, these frank and familiar manners
seemed only to make the military genius and the
intellectual power which he possessed the more
conspicuous and the more universally admired.

Antony conducted his troop of horsemen
across the desert in a very safe and speedy
manner, and arrived before Pelusium. The
city was not prepared to resist him. It surren-:
dered at once, and the whole garrison fell into
his hands as prisoners of war. Ptolemy de-
manded that they should all be immediately
killed. They were rebels, he said, and, as such,
ought to be put to death. Antony, homeutinn
as might have been expected from his charac-
ter, absolutely refused to allow of any such bar-
barity. Ptolemy, since the-power was not yet
in his hands, was compelled to submit, and to
postpone gratifying the spirit. of vengeance which
had so long been slumbering in his breast to a
future day. He could the more patiently sub-
mit to this necessity, since it appeared that the
day of his complete and final triumph over his
daughter and all her adherents was now very
nigh at hand.
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B.C.55.] Curoparra’s Farner. 109

March acruss the Delta. Success of the Romans,







In fact, Berenice and her government, when
they heard of the arrival of Antony and Ptol-
emy at Pelusium, of the fall of that city, and
of the approach of Gabinius with an over-
whelming force of Roman soldiers, were struck
with dismay. Archelaus, the husband of Bere-
nice, had been, in former years, a personal friend
of Antony’s. Antony considered, in fact, that
they were friends still, though required by what
the historian calls their duty to fight each other
for the possession of the kingdom. The govern-
ment of Berenice raised an army. Archelaus
took command of it, and advanced to meet the
enemy. In the mean time, Gabinius arrived
with the main body of the Roman troops, and
commenced his march, in conjunction with An-
tony, toward the capital. As they were obliged
to make a circuit to the southward, in order to
avoid the inlets and lagoons which, on the north-
ern coast of Egypt, penetrate for some distance
into the land, their course led them through the
heart of the Delta. Many battles were fought,
the Romans every. where gaining the victory.
The Egyptian soldiers were, in fact, discon-
tented and mutinous, perhaps, in part, because
they considered the government on the side of
which they were compelled to engage as, after
110 CLEOPATRA... [B.C. 55.

Berenice a prisoner. Fate of Archelaus.

all, a usurpation. At length a great final bat-
tle was fought, which settled the controversy.
Archelaus was slain upon the field, and Bere-
nice was taken prisoner; their government was
wholly overthrown, and the way was opened
for the march of the Roman armies to Alexan-
dria.

Mark Antony, when judged by our standards,
was certainly, as well as Ptolemy, a depraved
and vicious man; but his depravity was of a
very different type from that of Cleopatra’s fa-
ther. The difference in the men, in one re-
spect, was very clearly evinced by the objects
toward which their interest and attention were
respectively turned after this great battle.
While the contest had been going on, the king
and queen of Egypt, Archelaus and Berenice,
were, of course, in the view both of Antony and
Ptolemy, the two most conspicuous personages
in the army of their enemies; and while An-
tony would naturally watch with the greatest
interest the fate of his friend, the king, Ptole-
my, would as naturally follow with the highest
concern the destiny of his daughter. Accord-
ingly, when the battle was over, while the mind
of Ptolemy might, as we should naturally ex-
pect, be chiefly occupied by the fact that his
B.C.55.] Cireoparra’s Faruer. 111

Grief of Antony. Unnatural joy of Ptolemy.
——

daughter was made a captive, Antony’s, we
might suppose, would be engrossed by the tid-
ings that his friend had been slain.

The one rejoiced and the other mourned.
Antony sought for the body of his friend on the
field of battle, and when it was found, he gave
himself wholly to the work of providing for it a
most magnificent burial. He seemed, at the fu-
neral, to lament the death of his ancient com-
rade with real and unaffected grief. Ptolemy,
on the other hand, was overwhelmed with joy
at finding his daughter his captive. The long-
wished-for hour for the gratification of his re-
venge had come at last, and the first use which
he made of his power when he was put in pos-
session of it at Alexandria was to order his
daughter to be beheaded.
112 CLEOPATRA. -[B.C. 55.

_ Cleopatra. Excitement in Alexandria.

CHAPTER V.
ACCESSION TO THE 'T'HRONE.

T' the time when the unnatural quarrel be-
tween Cleopatra’s father and her sister
was working its way toward.its dreadful term-
ination, as related in the last chapter, she her-
self was residing at the royal palace in Alexan-
dria, a blooming and beautiful girl of about fif-
teen. Fortunately for her, she was too young
to take any active part personally in the con-
tention. Her two brothers were still younger
than herself. They all three remained, there-
fore, in the royal palaces, quiet spectators of the
revolution, without being either benefited or in-
jured by it. It is singular that the name of
both the boys was Ptolemy.
_ ‘The excitement in the city of Alexandria was
intense and universal when the Roman army
entered it to reinstate Cleopatra’s father upon
his throne. . A very large portion of the inhabit-
ants were pleased with having the former king
restored. In fact, it appears, by a retrospect of
the history of kings, that when a legitimate he-
B.C. 55.} Tur Accession. 113
Ptolemy restored. Acquiescence of the people. .

reditary sovereign or dynasty is deposed and ex-
pelled by a rebellious population, no matter how
intolerable may have been the tyranny, or how
atrocious the crimes by which the patience of
the subject was exhausted, the lapse of a very
few years is ordinarily sufficient to produce a
very general readiness to acquiesce in a restora-
tion ; and in this particular instance there had
been no such superiority in the government of
Berenice, during the period while her power
continued, over that of her father, which she
had displaced, as to make this case an excep-
tion to the general rule. The mass of the peo-
ple, therefore—all those, especially, who had tak-
en no active part in Berenice’s government—
were ready to welcome Ptolemy back to his cap-
ital. Those who had taken such a part were
all summarily executed by Ptolemy’s orders.

There was, of course, a great excitement
throughout the city on the arrival of the Roman
army. All the foreign influence and power
which had been exercised in Egypt thus far,
and almost all the officers, whether civil or mil-
itary, had been Greek. ~The coming of the Ro-
mans was the introduction of a new element of
interest to add to the endless variety of excite-
ments which animated the capital.

H
114 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 55.
Festivities. Popularity of Antony.

The restoration of Ptolemy was celebrated
with games, spectacles, and festivities of every
kind, and, of course, next to the king himself,
the chief center of interest and attraction in all
these public rejoicings would be the distin-
guished foreign generals by whose instrument-
ality the end had been gained.

Mark Antony was a special object of public
regard and admiration at the time. His eccen-
tric manners, his frank and honest air, his Ro-
man simplicity of dress and demeanor, made
him conspicuous ; and his interposition to save
the lives of the captured garrison of Pelusium,
and the interest which he took in rendering
such distinguished funeral honors to the enemy
whom his army had slain in battle, impressed
the people with the idea of a certain nobleness
and magnanimity in his character, which, in
spite of his faults, made him an object of gen-
eral admiration and applause. The very faults
of such a man assume often, in the eyes of the
world, the guise and semblance of virtues. For
example, it is related of Antony that, at one
time in the course of his life, having a desire to
make a present of some kind to a certain per-
son, in requital for a favor which he had re-
ceived from him, he ordered his treasurer to send

es


B.C. 55.] Tue Accession. 115
Antony’s generosity. ~~ Anecdote.
a sum of money to his friend—and named for the
sum to be sent an amount considerably greater
than was really required under the circum-
stances of the case—acting thus, as he often
did, under the influence of a blind and uncal-
culating generosity. The treasurer, more pru-
dent than his master, wished to reduce the
amount, but he did not dare directly to propose
a reduction ; so he counted out the money, and
laid it in a pile in a place where Antony was
to pass, thinking that when Antony saw the
amount, he would perceive that it was too great.
Antony, in passing by, asked what money that
was. The treasurer said that it was the sum
that he had ordered to be sent as a present to
such a person, naming the individual] intended.
Antony was quick to perceive the object of the
treasurer’s maneuver. He immediately replied,
“Ah! is that all? I thought the sum I named
would make a better appearance than that;
send him double the amount.”

To determine, under such circumstances as
these, to double an extravagance merely for the
purpose of thwarting the honest attempt of a
faithful servant to diminish it, made, too, in so
cautious and delicate a way, 1s most certainly
a fault. But it is one of those faults for which
116 Curoparra. _—[B.C..55.

sees inate cael tli eal ctiliataicnee
Antony and Cleopatra. Antony returns to Rome.



the world, in all ages, will persist in admiring
and praising the perpetrator.

In a word, Antony became the object of gen-
eral attention and favor during his continuance
at Alexandria. Whether he particularly at-
tracted Cleopatra’s attention at this time or not
does -not appear. She, however, strongly at-
tracted his. He admired her blooming beauty,
her sprightliness and wit, and her various ac-
complishments. She was still, however, so
young—being but fifteen years of age, while
Antony was nearly thirty—that she probably
made no very serious impression upon him. A
short time after this, Antony went back to
Rome, and did not see Cleopatra again for
many years.

When the two Roman generals went away
from Alexandria, they left a considerable por-
tion of the army behind them, under Ptolemy’s
command, to aid him in keeping possession of
his throne. Antony returned to Rome. He
had acquired great renown by his march across
the desert, and by the successful accomplish-
ment of the invasion of Egypt and the restora-
tion of Ptolemy. His funds, too, were replen-
ished by the vast sums paid to him and to Ga-
binius by Ptolemy. 'The amount which Ptol-
B.C. 55.] THe Accession. 117

Ptolemy’s murders. Pompey and Cwear.

emy is said to have agreed to pay as the price
of his restoration was two thousand talents—
equal to ten millions of dollars—a sum which
shows on how great a scale the operations of
this celebrated campaign were conducted. Ptol-
emy raised a large portion of the money re-
quired for his payments by confiscating the es-
tates belonging to those friends of Berenice’s
government whom he ordered to be slain. It
was said, in fact, that the numbers were very
much increased of those that were condemned
to die, by Ptolemy’s standing in such urgent
need of their property to meet his obligations.

Antony, through the results of this campaign,
found himself suddenly raised from the position
of a disgraced and homeless fugitive to that of
one of the most wealthy and renowned, and,
consequently, one of the most powerful person-
ages in Rome. The great civil war broke out
about this time between Cesar and Pompey.
Antony espoused the cause of Cesar.

In the mean time, while the civil war be-
tween Ceesar and Pompey was raging, Ptolemy
succeeded in maintaining his seat on the throne,
by the aid of the Roman soldiers whom Antony
and Gabinius had left him, for about three
years. When he found himself drawing toward
118 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 51.

ieereenerparaii teinienctininnicnictintaniiiitasitttinsstsameistinsncinladiaitesliieta tte EEO Se
Close of Ptolemy’s reign. Settlement of the succession.

the close of life, the question arose to his mind
to whom he should leave his kingdom. Cleo-
patra was the oldest child, and she was a prin-
cess of great promise, both in respect to mental
endowments and personal charms. Her broth-
ers were considerably younger than she. ‘The
claim of a son, though younger, seemed to be
naturally stronger than that of a daughter ; but
the commanding talents and rising influence of
Cleopatra appeared to make it doubtful whether
it would be safe to pass her by. The father
settled the question in the way in which such
difficulties were usually surmounted in the Ptol-
emy family. He ordained that Cleopatra should
marry the oldest of her brothers, and that they
two should jointly occupy the throne. Adher-
ing also, still, to the idea of the alliance of
Egypt with Rome, which had been the leading
principle of the whole policy of his reign, he sol-
emnly committed the execution of his will and
the guardianship of his children, by a provision
of the instrument itself, to the Roman senate.
The senate accepted the appointment, and ap-
pointed Pompey as the agent, on their part, to
perform the duties of the trust. The attention
of Pompey was, immediately after that time,
too much engrossed by the civil war waged be-


B.C. 51+48.] Tur Accession. 119

ere eens eee A
Accession of Cleopatra. She is married to her brother.



tween himself and Cesar, to take any active
steps in respect to the duties of his appointment.
It seemed, however, that none were necessary,
for all parties in Alexandria appeared disposed,
after the death of the king, to acquiesce in the
arrangements which he had made, and to join
in carrying them into effect. Cleopatra was
married to her brother—yet, it is true, only a
boy. He was about ten years old. She was
herself about eighteen. ‘They were both too
young to govern; they could only reign. ‘The
affairs of the kingdom were, accordingly, con-
ducted by two ministers whom their father had
designated. ‘These ministers were Pothinus, a
eunuch, who was a. sort of secretary of state,
and Achillas, the commander-in-chief of the ar-
mies. rl

Thus, though Cleopatra, by these events, be-
came nominally a queen, her real accession to
the throne was not yet accomplished. ‘There
were still many difficulties and dangers to be
passed through, before the period arrived when
she became really a sovereign. She did not,
herself, make any immediate attempt to hasten
this period, but seems to have acquiesced, on
the other hand, very quietly, for a time, in the
atrangements which her father had made.
120 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 43.

Pothinus the eunuch. His character and government.

Pothinus was a eunuch. He had been, for a
long time, an officer of government under Ptol-
emy, the father. He was a proud, ambitious,
and domineering man, determined to rule, and
very unscrupulous in respect to the means
which he adopted to accomplish his ends. He
had been accustomed to regard Cleopatra as a
mere child. Now that she was queen, he was
very unwilling that the real power should pass
into her hands. The jealousy and ill will which
he felt toward her increased rapidly as he found,
in the course of the first two or three years aft-
er her father’s death, that she was advancing
rapidly in strength of character, and in the in-
fluence and ascendency which she was acquir-
ing over all around her. Her beauty, her ac-
complishments, and a certain indescribable
charm which pervaded all her demeanor, com-
bined to give her great personal power. But,
while these things awakened in other minds
feelings of interest in Cleopatra and attachment
to her, they only increased the jealousy and envy
of Pothinus. Cleopatra was becoming his ri-
val. He endeavored to thwart and circumvent
her. He acted toward her in a haughty and
overbearing manner, in order to keep her down
to what he considered her proper place as his
B.C. 48.] Tue Accession. . US

Machinations of Pothinus. Cleopatra is expelled,

ward; for he was yet the guardian both of Cle-
opatra and her husband, and the regent of the
realm.

Cleopatra had a great deal of what is some-
times called spirit, and her resentment was
aroused by this treatment. Pothinus took pains
to enlist her young husband, Ptolemy, on his
side, as the quarrel advanced. Ptolemy was
younger, and of a character much less marked
and decided than Cleopatra. Pothinus saw that
he could maintain control over him much more
easily and for a much longer time than over
Cleopatra. He contrived to awaken the young
Ptolemy’s jealousy of his wife’s rising influence,
and to induce him to join in efforts to thwart
and counteract it. These attempts to turn her
husband against her only aroused Cleopatra’s
resentment the more. Hers was not a spirit to
be coerced. The palace was filled with the dis-
sensions of the rivals. Pothinus and Ptolemy
began to take measures for securing the army
on their side. An open rupture finally ensued,
and Cleopatra was expelled from the kingdom.

She went to Syria. Syria was the nearest
place of refuge, and then, besides, it was the
country from which the aid had been furnished
by which her father had been restored to the


122 CLEOPATRA. | B.C. 43.
Cleopatra’s army. Approaching contest.

throne when he had been expelled, in a similar
manner, many years before. Her father, it is
true, had gone first to Rome; but the succors
which he had negotiated for had been sent from
Syria. Cleopatra hoped to obtain the same as-
sistance by going directly there.

Nor was she disappointed. She obtained an
army, and commenced her march toward Egypt,
following the same track which Antony and
Gabinius had pursued in coming to reinstate
her father. Pothinus raised an army and went
forth to meet her. He took Achillas as the
commander of the troops, and the young Ptole-
my as the nominal sovereign ; while he, as the
young king’s guardian and prime minister, ex-
ercised the real power. The troops of Pothinus
advanced to Pelusium. Here they met the
forces of Cleopatra coming from the east. The
armies encamped not very far from each other,
and both sides began to prepare for battle.

The battle, however, was not fought. It was
prevented by the occurrence of certain great
and unforeseen events which at this crisis sud-
denly burst upon the scene of Egyptian history,
and turned the whole current of affairs into new
and unexpected channels. The breaking out of
the civil war between the great Roman gener-
B.C. 43.] Toe AcceESsIon. 123

Cesar and Pompey. Battle of Pharsalia.

als Caesar and Pompey, and their respective par-
tisans, has already been mentioned as having
occurred soon after the death of Cleopatra’s fa-
ther, and as having prevented Pompey from
undertaking the office of executor of the will.
This war had been raging ever since that time
with terrible fury. Its distant thundering had
been heard even in Egypt, but it was too re-
mote to awaken there any special alarm. The
immense armies of these two mighty conquer-
ors had moved slowly—like two ferocious birds
of prey, flying through the air, and fighting as
they fly—across Italy into Greece, and from
Greece, through Macedon, into Thessaly, con-
tending in dreadful struggles with each other as
they advanced, and trampling down and de-
stroying every thing in their way. At length
a great final battle had been fought at Pharsa-
lia. Pompey had been totally defeated. He
had fled to the sea-shore, and there, with a few
ships and a small number of followers, he had
pushed out upon the Mediterranean, not know-
ing whither to fly, and overwhelmed with
wretchedness and despair. Czesar followed him
in eager pursuit. He had a small fleet of gal-
leys with him, on board of which he had em-
barked two or three thousand men. This was


124 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 43.
Pompey at Pelusium. Treachery of Pothinus.

a force suitable, perhaps, for the pursuit of a
fugitive, but wholly insufficient for any other
design.

Pompey thought of Ptolemy. He remember-
ed the efforts which he himself had made for the
cause of Ptolemy Auletes, at Rome, and the
success of those efforts in securing that mon-
arch’s restoration——an event through which
alone the young Ptolemy had been enabled to
attain the crown. He came, therefore, to Pe-
lusium, and, anchoring his little fleet off. the
shore, sent to the land to ask Ptolemy to receive
and protect him. Pothinus, who was really the
commander in Ptolemy’s army, made answer
to this application that Pompey should be re-
ceived and protected, and that he would send
out a boat to bring him to the shore. Pompey
felt some misgivings in respect to this proffered
hospitality, but he finally concluded to go to the
shore in the boat which Pothinus sent for him.
As soon as he landed, the Egyptians, by Pothi-
nus’s orders, stabbed and beheaded him on the
sand. Pothinus and his council had decided
that this would be the safest course. If they
were to receive Pompey, they reasoned, Ceesar
would be made their enemy ; if they refused to
receive him, Pompey himself would be offend-
B.C. 43.] Tue Accession. 125

Cesar’s pursuit of Pompey. His danger.

ed, and they did not know which of the two it
would be safe to displease; for they did not
know in what way, if both the generals were
to be allowed to live, the war would ultimately
end. ‘ But by killing Pompey,” they said, “we
shall be sure to please Cesar, and Pompey him-
self will lie still.”

In the mean time, Cesar, not knowing to
what part of Egypt Pompey had fled, pressed
on directly to Alexandria. He exposed himself
to great danger in so doing, for the forces under
his command were not sufficient to protect him
in case of his becoming involved in difficulties
with the authorities there. Nor could he, when
once arrived on the Egyptian coast, easily go
away again; for, at the season of the year in
which these events occurred, there was a peri-
odical wind which blew steadily toward that.
part of the coast, and, while it made it very easy
for a fleet of ships to go to Alexandria, rendered
it almost impossible for them to return.

Cesar was very little accustomed to shrink
from danger in any of his enterprises and plans,
though still he was usually prudent and cir-
cumspect. In this instance, however, his ar-
dent interest in the pursuit of Pompey over-
ruled all considerations of personal safety. He


126 CLEOPATRA. {B.C. 43.

a cei i ih a
Cesar at Alexandria. Astonishment of the Egyptians.
deta raneeeiieripeeeeneretenniainranacSnanstineninsnaiomisisanitisaicatiaa



arrived at Alexandria, but he found that Pom-
pey was not there. He anchored his vessels in
the port, landed his troops, and established him-
self in the city. These two events, the assas-
sination of one of the great Roman generals on
the eastern extremity of the coast, and the ar-
rival of the other, at the same moment, at Al-
exandria, on the western, burst suddenly upon
Egypt together, like simultaneous claps of
thunder. The tidings struck the whole coun-
try with astonishment, and immediately en-
grossed universal attention. At the camps both
of Cleopatra and Ptolemy, at Pelusium, all was
excitement and wonder. Instead of thinking of
a battle, both parties were wholly occupied in
speculating on the results which were likely to
accrue, to one side or to the other, under the
totally new and unexpected aspect which pub-
lic affairs had assumed.
Of course the thoughts of all were turned to-
ward Alexandria. Pothinus immediately pro-
ceeded to the city, taking with him the young
king. Achillas, too, either accompanied them,
or followed soon afterward. They carried with
them the head of Pompey, which they had cut
off on the shore where they had killed him, and
also a seal which they took from his finger.


B.C. 48.| Tue Accession. 127

a sess fineness
Cesar presented with Pompey’s head. Pompey’s seal
ln geennenenensenasnsnnselpssspsnsssnssnsansteseseetintipsudhisbiaieiaesioninnie coud

When they arrived at Alexandria, they sent the
head, wrapped up in a cloth, and also the seal,
as presents to Cesar. Accustomed as they
were to the brutal deeds and heartless cruelties
of the Ptolemies, they supposed that Cesar
would exult at the spectacle of the dissevered
and ghastly head of his great rival and enemy.
Instead of this, he was shocked and displeased,
and ordered the head to be buried with the most
solemn and imposing funeral ceremonies. He,
however, accepted and kept the seal. The de-
vice engraved upon it was a lion holding a
sword in his paw—a fit emblem of the charac-
ters of the men, who, though in many respects
magnanimous and just, had filled the whole
world with the terror of their quarrels.

The army of Ptolemy, while he himself and
his immediate counselors went to Alexandria,
was left at Pelusium, under the command of
other officers, to watch Cleopatra. Cleopatra:
herself would have been pleased, also, to repair
to Alexandria and appeal to Cesar, if it had
been in her power to do so; but she was be-
yond the confines of the country, with a power-
ful army of her enemies ready to intercept her
on any attempt to enter or pass through it.
She remained, therefore, at Pelusium, uncer-
tain what to do.
128 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Situation of Cesar. His demands.

In the mean time, Ceesar soon found himself
in a somewhat embarrassing situation at Alex-
andria. He had been accustomed, for many
years, to the possession and the exercise of the
most absolute and despotic power, wherever he
might be; and now that Pompey, his great ri-
val, was dead, he considered himself the mon-
arch and master of the world. He had not,
however, at Alexandria, any means sufficient
to maintain and enforce such pretensions, and
yet he was not of a spirit to abate, on that ac-
count, in the slightest degree, the advancing of
them. He established himself in the palaces of
Alexandria as if he were himself the king. He
moved, in state, through the streets of the city,
at the head of his guards, and displaying the
customary emblems of supreme authority used
at Rome. He claimed the six thousand talents
which Ptolemy Auletes had formerly promised
him for procuring a treaty of alliance with
Rome, and he called upon Pothinus to pay the
balance due. He said, moreover, that by the
will of Auletes the Roman people had been
made the executor; and that it devolved upon
him as the Roman consul, and, consequently,
the representative of the Roman people, to as-
sume that trust, and in the discharge of it to


*

B.C. 43. ] Tue Accessron. 129
Conduct of Pothinus.

Quarrels,

settle thé dispute between Ptolemy and Cleo-
patra; and he called upon Ptolemy to prepare
and lay before him a statement of his claims,
and the grounds on which he maintained his
right to the throne to the exclusion of Cleopatra.

On the other hand, Pothinus, who had been
as little accustomed to acknowledge a superior
as Cesar, though his supremacy and domina-
tion had been exercised on a somewhat hum-
bler scale, was obstinate and pertinacious in re-
sisting all these demands, though the means
and methods which he resorted to were of a-
character corresponding to his weak and igno-
ble mind. He fomented quarrels in the streets
between the Alexandrian populace and Ceesar’s
soldiers. He thought that, as the number of
troops under Ceesar’s command in the city, and
of vessels in the port, was small, he could tease
and worry the Romans with impunity, though
he had not the courage openly to attack them.
He pretended to be a friend, or, at least, not an
enemy, and yet he conducted toward them in
an overbearing and insolent manner. He had
agreed to make arrangements for supplying
them with food, and he did this by procuring
damaged provisions of a most wretched quality ;
and when the soldiers remonstrated, he said to
130 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 43.
Policy of Pothinus. Contentions.

Te nan a nrtbeahsacacentnencasatnitecniatiiaatalta
them, that they who lived at other people’s cost
had no right to complain of their fare. He
caused wooden and earthen vessels to be used
in the palace, and said, in explanation, that he
had been compelled to sell all the gold and silver
plate of the royal household to meet the exac-
tions of Cesar. He busied himself, too, about
the city, in endeavoring to excite odium against
Ceesar’s proposal to hear and decide the ques-
tion at issue between Cleopatra and Ptolemy.
Ptolemy was a sovereign, he said, and was not
‘amenable to any foreign power whatever. ‘Thus,
without the courage or the energy to attempt
any open, manly, and effectual system of hos-
tility, he contented himself with making all the
difficulty in his power, by urging an incessant
pressure of petty, vexatious, and provoking, but
useless annoyances. Czeesar’s demands may
have been unjust, but they were bold, manly,
and undisguised. The eunuch may have been
right in resisting them; but the mode was so
mean and contemptible, that mankind have al-
ways taken part with Cesar in the sentiments
which they have formed as spectators of the
contest.

With the very small force which Cesar had
at his command, and shut up as he was in the
>

B.C. 43.] Tue ACcESsION. 131

Cesar sends to Syria for additional troops.

midst of a very great and powerful city, in
which both the garrison and the population were
growing more and more hostile to him every
day, he soon. found his situation was beginning
to be attended with very serious‘danger. He
could not retire from the scene. He probably
would not have retired if he could have done so.
He remained, therefore, in the city, conducting
all the time with prudence and circumspection,
but yet maintaining, as at first, the same air of
confident self-possession and superiority which
always characterized his demeanor. He, how:
ever, dispatched a messenger forthwith into
Syria, the nearest country under the Roman
sway, with orders that several legions which
were posted there should be embarked and for-
warded to Alexandria with the utmost possible
celerity.
152 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Cleopatra’s perplexity. She resolves to go to Alexandria.



CuoaptTer VI.
CLEOPATRA AND C@SAR.

N the mean time, while the events related in
the last chapter were taking place at Alex-
andria, Cleopatra remained anxious and uneasy
in her camp, quite uncertain, for a time, what
it was best for her to do. ‘She wished to be at
Alexandria. She knew very well that Cesar’s
power in controlling the course of affairs in
Egypt would necessarily be supreme. She was,
of course, very earnest in her desire to be able
to present her cause before him. As it was,
Ptolemy and Pothinus were in communication
with the arbiter, and, for aught she knew, as-
siduously cultivating his favor, while she was
far away, her cause unheard, her wrongs un-
known, and perhaps even her existence forgot-
ten. Of course, under such circumstances, she
was very earnest to get to APxcandrie
But how to accomplish this purpose was a
source of great perplexity. She could not march
thither at the head of an army, for the army of
the king was strongly intrenched at Pelusium,
B.C.48.] Cuzoparra anp Causan. 133

Cleopatra’s message to Cesar. Céesar’s reply,

and effectually barred the way. She could not
attempt to pass alone, or with few attendants,
through the country, for every town and village
Was occupied with garrisons and officers under
the orders of Pothinus, and she would be cer-
tainly intercepted. She had no fleet, and could
not, therefore, make the passage by sea. Be-
sides, even if she could by any means reach the
gates of Alexandria, how was.she to pass safely
through the streets of the city to the palace -
where Ceesar resided, since the city, except in
Cesar’s quarters, was wholly in the hands of
Pothinus’s government? The difficulties in the
way of accomplishing her object seemed thus
almost insurmountable,

She was, however, resolved to make the at-
tempt. She sent a message to Ceesar, asking
permission to appear before him and plead her
own cause. . Cesar replied, urging her by all
means to come. She took a single boat, and
with the smallest number ‘of attendants possi-
ble, made her way along the coast to Alexan-
dria. The man og whom she principally relied
in this hazardous expedition was a domestic
named Apollodorus. She had, however, some
other attendants besides. When the party reach-
ed Alexandria, they waited until night, and then
134 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 38.

oe cima inate ne AEDT TL ICT TI IT Ie
Apollodorus’s stratagem. Cleopatra and Cesar.

Te nis laoartuenieannetaneanne tana
advanced to the foot of the walls of the citadel.
Here Apollodorus rolled the queen up in a piece
of carpeting, and, covering the whole package
with a cloth, he tied it with a thong, so as to
give it the appearance of a bale of ordinary mer-
chandise, and then throwing the load across his
shoulder, he advanced into the city. Cleopatra
was at this time about twenty-one years of age,
but she was of a slender and graceful form, and
the burden was, consequently, not very heavy.
Apollodorus came to the gates of the palace
where Ceesar was residing. ‘The guards at the
gates asked him what it was that he was car-
rying. He said that it was a present for Cee-
sar. So they allowed him to pass, and the pre-
tended porter carried his package safely in.
When it was unrolled, and Cleopatra came
out to view, Cesar was perfectly charmed with
the spectacle. In fact, the various conflicting
emotions which she could not but feel under
such circumstances as these, imparted a double
interest to her beautiful and expressive face,
and to her naturally bewitching manners. She
was excited by the adventure through which
she had passed, and yet pleased with her nar-
row escape from its dangers. The curiosity
and interest which she felt on the one hand, in


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B.C.48.] Cueoparra anv Casar. 137

First impressions. Ceesar’s attachment.

respect to the great personage into whose pres-
ence she had been thus strangely ushered, was
very strong; but then, on the other, it was
chastened and subdued by that feeling of timid-
ity which, in new and unexpected situations
like these, and under a consciousness of being
the object of eager observation to the other sex,
is inseparable from the nature of woman.

The conversation which Cesar held with Cle-
opatra deepened the impression which her first
appearance had made upon him. Her intelli-
gence and animation, the originality of her ideas,
and the point and pertinency of her mode of ex-
pressing them, made her, independently of her
personal charms, an exceedingly entertaining
and agreeable companion. She, in fact, com-
pletely won the great conqueror’s. heart; and,
through the strong attachment fo her which he
immediately formed, he became wholly disqual-
ified to act impartially between her and her
brother in regard to their respective rights to
the crown. We call Ptolemy Cleopatra’s broth-
er; for, though he was also, in fact, her husband,
still, as he was only ten or twelve years of age
at the time of Cleopatra’s expulsion from Alex-
andria, the martiage had been probably regard-
ed, thus far, only as a mere matter of form.
138 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 48.

Cesar’s wife. ne His fondness for Cleopatra.



Ceesar was now about fifty-two. He had a
wife, named Calpurnia, to whom he had been
married about ten years. She was living, at
this time, in an unostentatious and quiet man-
ner at Rome. She was a lady of an amiable
and gentle character, devotedly attached to her
husband, patient and forbearing in respect to
his faults, and often anxious and unhappy at
the thought of the difhculties and dangers in
which his ardent and unbounded ambition so
often involved him.

Cesar immediately began to take a very
strong interest in Cleopatra’s cause. He treat-
ed her personally with the fondest attention,
and it was impossible for her not to reciprocate
in some degree the kind feeling with which he
regarded her. It was, in fact, something alto-
gether new to her to have a warm and devoted
friend, espousing her cause, tendering her pro-
tection, and seeking in every way to promote
her happiness. Her father had all his life neg-
lected her. Her brother, of years and under-
standing totally inferior to hers, whom she had
been compelled to make her husband, had be-
come her mortal enemy. It is true that, in de-
priving her of her inheritance and expelling her
from her native land, he had been only the tool
B.C.48.] Cuzoparra anp Casar. 139

Se eee a ae nai gnrinaamenneipneatatD
Cleopatra’s foes. She commits her cause to Cesar.

and instrument of more designing men. This,
however, far from improving the point of view |
from which she regarded him, made him appear
not only hateful, but contemptible too. All the
officers of government, also, in the Alexandrian
court had turned against her, because they had
supposed that they could control her brother
more easily if she were away. Thus she had
always been surrounded by selfish, mercenary,
and implacable foes. Now, for the first time,
she seemed to have a friend. A protector had
suddenly arisen to support and defend her—a
man of very alluring person and manners, of a
very noble and generous spirit, and of the very
highest station. He loved her, and she could
not refrain from loving him in return. She
committed her cause entirely into his hands,
confided to him all her interests, and gave her-
self up wholly into his power.

Nor was the unbounded confidence which she
reposed in him undeserved, so far as related to
his efforts to restore her to her throne. The le-
gions which Cesar had sent for into Syria had
not yet arrived, and his situation in Alexandria
was still very defenseless and very precarious.
He did not, however, on this account, abate in
the least degree the loftiness and self-confidence
140 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Ceesar’s pretensions. He sends for Ptolemy.



of the position which he had assumed, but he
commenced immediately the work of securing
Cleopatra’s restoration. ‘This quiet assumption
of the right and power to arbitrate and decide
such a question as that of the claim to the
throne, in a country where he had accidentally
landed and found rival claimants disputing for
the succession, while he was still wholly desti-
tute of the means of enforcing the superiority
which he so coolly assumed, marks the im-
mense ascendency which the Roman power had
attained at this time in the estimation of man-
kind, and is, besides, specially characteristic of
the genius and disposition of Ceesar.

Very soon after Cleopatra had come to him,
Ceesar sent for the young Ptolemy, and urged
upon him the duty and expediency of restoring
Cleopatra. Ptolemy was beginning now to at-
tain an age at which he.might be supposed to
have some opinion of his own on such a ques-
tion. He declared himself utterly opposed to
any such design. In the course of the conver-
sation he learned that Cleopatra had arrived at
Alexandria, and that she was then concealed in
Ceesar’s palace. This intelligence awakened in
his mind the greatest excitemént and indigna-
tion. He went away from Cesar’s presence in
B.C. 48.] Croparra anp Casar. .«

Ptolemy’s indignation. His complaints against Cesar.





arage. He tore the diadem which he was ac-
customed to wear from his head in the streets,
threw it down, and trampled it under his feet.
He declared to the people that he was betrayed,
and displayed the most violent indications of
vexation and chagrin. The chief subject of his
complaint, in the attempts which he made to
awaken the popular indignation against Ceesar
and the Romans, was the disgraceful impropri-
ety of the position which his sister had assumed
in surrendering herself as she had done to Ce-
sar. It is most probable, however, unless his
character was very different from that of every
other Ptolemy in the line, that what really awak-
ened his jealousy and anger was fear of the
commanding influence and power to which Cle-
opatra was likely to attain through the agency
of so distinguished a protector, rather than any
other consequences of his friendship, or any real
considerations of delicacy in respect to his sis-
ter’s good name or his own marital honor.
However this may be, Ptolemy, together
with Pothinus and Achillas, and all his other
friends and adherents, who joined him in the ter-
rible outery that he made against the coalition
which he had discovered between Cleopatra and
Cesar, succeeded in producing a very general
142 . CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

i
Great tumult in the city. Excitement of the populace.
OS

and violent tumult throughout the city. The
populace were aroused, and began to assemble
in great crowds, and full of indignation and an-
ger. Some knew the facts, and acted under
something like an understanding of the cause
of their anger. Others only knew that the aim
of this sudden outbreak was to assault the Ro-
mans, and were ready, on any pretext, known
or unknown, to join in any deeds of violence
directed against these foreign intruders. ‘T’here
were others still, and these, probably, far the
larger portion, who knew nothing and under-
stood nothing but that there was to be tumult
and a riot in and around the palaces, and were,
accordingly, eager to be there.

Ptolemy and his officers had no large body of
troops in Alexandria ; for the events which had
thus far occurred since Cesar’s arrival had suc-
ceeded each other so rapidly, that a very short
time had yet elapsed, and the main army re-
mained still at Pelusium. The main force,
therefore, by which Ceesar was now attacked,
consisted of the population of the city, headed,
perhaps, by the few guards which the young
king had at his command.

Ceesar, on his part, had but a small portion
of his forces at the palace where he was attack-
B.C. 48.] CutopaTra anp Cmsar. _ 148

Cessar’s forces. Ptolemy made prisoner.

ed. The rest were scattered about the city.
He, however, seems to have felt no alarm. He
did not even confine himself to acting on the de-
fensive. He sent out a detachment of his sol-
diers with orders to seize Ptolemy and bring
him in a prisoner. Soldiers trained, disciplined,
and armed as the Roman veterans were, and
nerved by the ardor and enthusiasm which
seemed always to animate troops which were
under Ceesar’s personal command, could accom-
plish almost any undertaking against a mere
populace, however numerous or however furi-
ously excited they might be. ‘The soldiers sal-
lied out, seized Ptolemy, and brought him in.

The populace were at first astounded at the
daring presumption of this deed, and then ex-
asperated at the indignity of it, considered as a
violation of the person of. their sovereign. The
tumult would have greatly increased, had it not
been that Ceesar—who had now attained all
his ends in thus having brought Cleopatra and
Ptolemy both within his power — thought it
most expedient to allay it. He accordingly as-
cended to the window of a tower, or of some
other elevated portion of his palace, so high that
missiles from the mob below could not reach
him, and began to make signals expressive of
his wish to address them.
144 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

ice einen alt cence
Ceesar’s address to the people. Its effects.
NE eee eerste

When silence was obtained, he made them a
speech well calculated to quiet the excitement.
He told them that he did not pretend to any
right to judge between Cleopatra and Ptolemy
as their superior, but only in the performance
of the duty solemnly assigned by Ptolemy Au-
letes, the father, to the Roman people, whose
representative he was. - Other than this he
claimed no jurisdiction in the case; and his
only wish, in the discharge of the duty which
devolved upon him to consider the cause, was to
settle the question in a manner just and equi-
table to all the parties concerned, and thus ar-
rest the progress of the civil war, which, if not
arrested, threatened to involve the country in
the most terrible calamities. He counseled
them, therefore, to disperse, and no longer dis-
turb the peace of the city. He would imme-
diately take measures for trying the question
between Cleopatra and Ptolemy, and he did not
doubt but that they would all be satisfied with
his decision.

This speech, made, as it was, in the eloquent
and persuasive, and yet dignified and imposing
manner for which Cesar’s harangues to turbu-
lent assemblies like these were so famed, pro-
duced a great effect. ‘Some were convinced,
B.C.48.] Creoparra anp Camsar. 145

The mob dispersed. Cesar convenes an assembly.

others were silenced; and those whose resent-
ment and anger were not appeased, found them-
selves deprived of their power by the pacifica-
tion of the rest. The mob was dispersed, and
Ptolemy remained with Cleopatra in Ceesar’s
custody.

The next day, Cesar, according to his prom-
ise, convened an assembly of the principal peo-
ple of Alexandria and officers of state, and then
brought out Ptolemy and Cleopatra, that he
might decide their cause. The original will
which Ptolemy Auletes had executed had been
deposited in the public archives of Alexandria,
and carefully preserved there. An authentic
copy of it had been sent to Rome. Geesar caus-
ed the original will to be brought out and read
to the assembly. The provisions of it were per-
fectly explicit and clear. It required that Cle-
opatra and Ptolemy should be married, and then
settled the sovereign power upon them jointly,
as king and queen. It recognized the Roman
commonwealth as the ally of Egypt, and con-
stituted the Roman government the executor
of the will, and the guardian of the king and
queen. In fact, so clear and explicit ~was this
document, that the simple reading of it seemed
to bg of itself a decision of the question, When,
146 CLEOPATRA. {B.C. 48.

ey thet rangement ce ELE ANT
Cwesar’s decision. Satisfaction of the assembly.



therefore, Caesar announced that, in his judg-
ment, Cleopatra was entitled to share the su-
preme power with Ptolemy, and that it was his
duty, as the representative of the Roman power
and the executor of the will, to protect both the
king and the queen in their respective rights,
there seemed to be nothing that could be said
against his decision.

Besides Cleopatra and Ptolemy, there were
two other children of Ptolemy Auletes in the
royal family at this time. One was a girl,
named Arsinoé. ‘The other, a boy, was, singu-
larly enough, named, like his brother, Ptolemy.
These children were quite young, but Cesar
thought that it would perhaps gratify the Alex-
andrians, and lead them to acquiesce more read-
ily in his decision, if he were to make some
royal provision for them. He accordingly pro-
posed to assign the island of Cyprus as a realm
for them. ‘This was literally a gift, for Cyprus
was at this time a Roman possession.*

The whole assembly seemed satisfied with
this decision except Pothinus. He had been so
determined and inveterate an enemy to Cleopa-
tra, that, as he was well aware, her restoration

* For the position of this island in respect to Egypt and
the neighboring couttries, see map, frontisviece.
B.C. 48.] Cueoparra anv C.xsar. 147

aa terrence
Festivals and rejoicings. Pothinus and Achillas,

must end in his downfall and ruin. He went
away from the assembly moodily determining
that he would not submit to the decision, but
would immediately adopt efficient measures to
prevent its being carried into effect.

Ceesar made arrangements for a series of fes-
tivals and celebrations, to commemorate and
confirm the re-establishment of a good under-
standing between the king and the queen, and
the consequent termination of the war. Such
celebrations, he judged, would have great influ-
ence in removing any remaining animosities
from the minds of the people, and restore the
dominion of a kind and friendly feeling through-
out the city. The people fell in with these
measures, and cordially co-operated to give
them effect ; but Pothinus and Achillas, though
they suppressed all outward expressions of dis-
content, made incessant efforts in secret to or-
ganize a party, and to form plans for overthrow-
ing the influence of Cesar, and making Ptole-
my again the sole and exclusive sovereign.

Pothinus represented to all whom he could
induce to listen to him that Cesar’s real design
was to make Cleopatra queen alone, and to de-
pose Ptolemy, and urged them to combine with
him to resist a policy which would end in bring-
148 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

ee
Plot of Pothinus and Achillas. Escape of Achillas.

—_—

NS
ing Egypt under the dominion of a woman.
He also formed a plan, in connection with Achil-
las, for ordering the army back from Pelusium.
The army consisted of thirty thousand men.
If that army could be brought to Alexandria
and kept under Pothinus’s orders, Caesar and his
three thousand Roman soldiers would be, they
thought, wholly at their mercy.

There was, however, one danger to be ouard-
ed against in ordering the army to march to-
ward the capital, and that was, that Ptolemy,
while under Ceesar’s influence, might open com-
munications with the officers, and so obtain
command of its movements, and thwart all the
conspirators’ designs. ‘I’o prevent this, it was
arranged between Pothinus and Achillas that
the latter should make his escape from Alexan-
dria, proceed immediately to the camp at Pelu-
sium, resume the command of the troops there,
and conduct them himself to the capital; and
that in all these operations, and also subse-
quently on his arrival, he should obey no or-
ders unless they came to him through Pothinus
himself. |

Although sentinels and guards were probably
stationed at the gates and avenues leading from
the city, Achillas contrived to effect his escape
B.C. 48,] CLEOPATRA AND Cxsar. 149

March of the Egyptian army. ‘ Measures of Cesar,

and to join the army. He placed himself at the
head of the forces, and commenced his march
toward the capital. Pothinus remained all the
time within the city as a spy, pretending to
acquiesce in Ceesar’s decision, and to be on
friendly terms with him, but really plotting for
his overthrow, and obtaining all the information
_ which his position enabled him to command, in
order that he might co-operate with the army
and Achillas when they should arrive.

All these things were done with the utmost
secrecy, and so cunning and adroit were the
conspirators in forming and executing their
plots, that Caesar seems to have had no knowl.
edge of the measures which his enemies were
taking, until he suddenly heard that the main
body of Ptolemy’s army was approaching the
city, at least twenty thousand strong. In the
mean time, however, the forces which he had
sent for from Syria had not arrived, and no al-
ternative was left but to defend the capital and
himself as well as he could with the very small
force which he had at his disposal.

He determined, however, first, to try the ef-
fect of orders sent out in Ptolemy’s name to for-
bid the approach of the army to the city. Two
officers were accordingly intrusted with these
150 Cureopatra ~ [BC.48.
Murder of the messengers. Intentions of Achillas.
OR

orders, and sent out to communicate them to
Achillas. The names of these officers were Di-
oscorides and Serapion.

It shows in a very striking point of view to
what an incredible exaltation the authority and
consequence of a sovereign king rose in those
ancient days, in the minds of men, that Achil-
las, at the moment when these men made their
appearance in the camp, bearing evidently some
command from Ptolemy in the city, considered
it more prudent to kill them at once, without
hearing their message, rather than to allow the
orders to be delivered and then take the respon-
sibility of disobeying them. If he could suc-
ceed in marching to Alexandria and in taking
possession of the city, and then in expelling
Cesar and Cleopatra and restoring Ptolemy to
the exclusive possession of the throne, he knew
very well that the king would rejoice in the re-
sult, and would overlook all irregularities on his
part in the means by which he had accomplish-
ed it, short of absolute disobedience of a known
command. Whatever might be the commands
that these messengers were bringing him, he
supposed that they doubtless originated, not in
Ptolemy’s own free will, but that they were dic-
tated by the authority of Cesar. Still, they
B.C. 48.] CueopaTra anp Czsar. 151

c=nsinesustesiscessteepeststonnistenspeepanseesiessensenaiassstonsentsipnennteiameienmmenonnnsil
Cold-blooded assassination. Advance of Achiilas.



would be commands coming in Ptolemy’s name;
and the universal experience of officers serving
under the military despots of those ancient days
showed that, rather than to take the responsi-
bility of directly disobeying a royal order once
received, it was safer to avoid receiving it by
murdering the messengers.

Achillas therefore directed the officers to be
seized and slain, They were accordingly tak-
en off and speared by the soldiers, and then the
bodies were borne away. The soldiers, how-
ever, it was found, had not done their work ef-
fectually. ‘There was no interest for them in
such a cold-blooded assassination, and perhaps
something like a sentiment of compassion re-
strained their hands. At any rate, though both
the men were desperately wounded, one only
died. The other lived and recovered. |

Achillas continued to advance toward the
city. Czesar, finding that the crisis which was
approaching was becoming very serious in its
character, took, himself, the whole command
within the capital, and began to make the best
arrangements possible under the circumstances
of the case to defend himself there. His num-
bers were altogether too small to defend the
whole city against the overwhelming force which
152 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Te
Cesar’s arrangements for defense. Cleopatra and Ptolemy.
srauissiahacuneencapen nuonesimanensemamennanentiegneteiieececet satan cneaccaaasesaeiscslncnienaTtantite,

was advancing to assail it. He accordingly in-
trenched his troops in the palaces and in the
citadel, and in such other parts of the city as it
seemed practicable to defend. He barricaded
all the streets and avenues leading to these
points, and fortified the gates. Nor did he,
while thus doing all in his power to employ the
insufficient means of defense already in his
hands to the best advantage, neglect the proper
exertions for obtaining succor from abroad. He
sent off galleys to Syria, to Cyprus, to Rhodes,
and to every other point accessible from Alex-
andria where Roman troops might be expected
to be found, urging the authorities there to for-
ward re-enforcements to him with the utmost
possible dispatch.

During all this time Cleopatra and Ptolemy
remained in the palace with Cesar, both osten-
sibly co-operating with him in his councils and
measures for defending the city from Achillas.
Cleopatra, of course, was sincere and in earnest
in this co-operation ; but Ptolemy’s adhesion to
the common cause was very little to be relied
upon. Although, situated as he was, he was
compelled to seem to be on Cesar’s side, he
must have secretly desired that Achillas should
succeed and Cesar’s plans be overthrown. Po-
B.C. 48.] Cueoparra anp Casar. 153

eee
Double dealing of Pothinus. He is detected.
—eeeeetinenseennenseiniseienunndesoenessnesitesonsnanenmnsinsnsnnaitissasioaiitsenniinsac.,



thinus was more active, though not less cau-
tious in his hostility to them. He opened a se-
cret communication with Achillas, sending him
information, from time to time, of what took
place within the walls, and of the arrangements
made there for the defense of the city against
him, and gave him also directions how to pro-
ceed. He was very wary and sagacious in all
these movements, feigning all the time to be on
Ceesar’s side. He pretended to be very zealous-
ly employed in aiding Cesar to secure more ef-
fectually the various points where attacks were
to be expected, and in maturing and completing
the arrangements for defense.

But, notwithstanding all his cunning, he was
detected in his double dealing, and his career
was suddenly brought to a close, before the great
final conflict came on. There was a barber in
Ceesar’s household, who, for some cause or oth-
er, began to suspect Pothinus; and, having lit-
tle else to do, he employed himself in watching
the eunuch’s movements and reporting them to
Cesar. Czesar directed the barber to continue
his observations. He did so; his suspicions
were soon confirmed, and at length a letter,
which Pothinus had written to Achillas, was
intercepted and brought to Cesar. This fur-
154 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Pothinus beheaded. Arsinoé and Ganymede.



nished the necessary proof of what they called
his guilt, and Caesar ordered him to be be-
headed.

This circumstance produced, of course, a
great excitement within the palace, for Pothi-
nus had been for many years the great ruling
minister of state—the king, in fact, in all but
in name. His execution alarmed a great many
others, who, though in Ceesar’s power, were se-
-eretly wishing that Achillas might prevail.
Among those most disturbed by these fears was
a man named Ganymede, He was the officer
who had charge of Arsinoé, Cleopatra’s sister.
The arrangement which Ceesar had proposed for
establishing her in conjunction with her brother
Ptolemy over the island of Cyprus had not gone
into effect; for, immediately after the decision
of Cesar, the attention of all concerned had
been wholly engrossed by the tidings of the ad-
vance of the army, and by the busy prepara-
tions which were required on all hands for the
impending contest. Arsinoé, therefore, with her
governor Ganymede, remained in the palace,
Ganymede had joined Pothinus in his plots;
~ and when Pothinus was beheaded, he concluded
that it would be safest for him to fly. _

He accordingly resolved to make his escape
B.C.48.] Cleopatra anp Cassar. 155

penne geese eed itiiainesinssacaiinnananeuamaitieatis
Flight of Arsinoé. She is proclaimed queen by the army.



from the city, taking Arsinoé with him. It was
a very hazardous attempt, but he succeeded in
accomplishing it. Arsinoé was very willing to
go, for she was now beginning to be old enough
to feel the impulse of that insatiable and reck-
less ambition which seemed to form such an es-
sential element in the character of every son
and daughter in the whole Ptolemaic line. She
was insignificant and powerless where she was,
but at the head of the army she might become
immediately a queen. |

It resulted, in the first instance, as she had
anticipated. Achillas and his army received
her with acclamations. Under Ganymede’s in-
fluence they decided that, as all the other mem-
bers of the royal family were in durance, being
held captive by a foreign general, who had by
chance obtained possession of the capital, and
were thus incapacitated for exercising the royal
power, the crown devolved upon Arsinoé; and
they accordingly proclaimed her queen.

Every thing was now prepared for a despe-
rate and determined contest for the crown be-
tween Cleopatra, with Cesar for her minister
and general, on the one side, and Arsinoé, with
Ganymede and Achillas for her chief officers,
on the other. The young Ptolemy, in the mean
156 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 48.

Perplexity of the young Ptolemy.



time, remained Ceesar’s prisoner, confused with
the intricacies in which the quarrel had become
involved, and scarcely knowing now what to
wish in respect to the issue of the contest. It
was very difficult to foresee whether it would
be best for him that Cleopatra or that Arsinoé
should succeed. |
B.C. 47.| Tue ALEXANDRINE War. 157

The Alexandrine war. Forces of Cassar.

Re ee >

Cuaptrer VII.
THe ALEXANDRINE War.

HE war which ensued as the result of the
intrigues and maneuvers described in the
last chapter is known in the history of Rome
and Julius Ceesar as the Alexandrine war. The
events which occurred during the progress of it,
and its termination at last in the triumph of
Ceesar and Cleopatra, will form the wae of
this chapter.

Achillas had greatly the advantage over Ca-
sar at the outset of the contest, in respect to
the strength of the forces under his command.
Ceesar, in fact, had with him only a detachment
of three or four thousand men, a small body of
troops which he had hastily put on board a little
squadron of Rhodian galleys for pursuing Pom-
pey across the Mediterranean. When he set
sail from the European shores with this incon-
siderable fleet, it is probable that he had no ex-
_ pectation even of landing in Egypt at all, and
much less of being involved in great military
undertakings there. Achillas, on the other
158 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 47.

a angel aueumm a
The Egyptian army. Fugitive slaves.

hand, was at the head of a force of twenty thou-
sand effective men. His troops were, it is true,
of a somewhat miscellaneous character, but
they were all veteran soldiers, inured to the cli-
mate of Egypt, and skilled in all the modes of
warfare which were suited to the character of
the country. Some of them were Roman sol-
diers, men who had come with the army of
Mark Antony from Syria when Ptolemy Au-
letes, Cleopatra’s father, was reinstated on the
throne, and had been left in Egypt, in Ptole-
my’s service, when Antony returned to Rome.
Some were native Egyptians. ‘There was also
in the army of Achillas a large number of fu-
gitive slaves—refugees who had made their es-
cape from various points along the shores of the
Mediterranean, at different periods, and had
been from time to time incorporated into the
Egyptian army. These fugitives were all men
of the most determined and desperate character.
Achillas had also in his command a force of
two thousand horse. Such a body of cavalry
made him, of course, perfect master of all the
open country outside the city walls. At the
head of these troops Achillas gradually advanced
to the very gates of Alexandria, invested the
city on every side, and shut Cesar closely in.
B.C.47.| Tue ALEXANDRINE War. 159

a iia tintaile capricorn iterate
Dangerous situation of Cesar. Presence of Cesar.

The danger of the situation in which Cesar
was placed was extreme; but he had been so
_ accustomed to succeed in extricating himself
from the most imminent perils, that neither he
himself nor his army seem to have experienced
any concern in respect to the result. Ceesar
personally felt a special pride and pleasure in
encountering the difficulties and dangers which
now beset him, because Cleopatra was with him
to witness his demeanor, to admire his energy
and courage, and to reward by her love the ef:-
forts and sacrifices which he was making in es-
pousing her cause. She confided every thing
to him, but she watched all the proceedings
with the most eager interest, elated with hope
in respect to the result, and proud of the cham-
pion who had thus volunteered to defend her.
In a word, her heart was full of gratitude, ad-
miration, and love.

The immediate effect, too, of the emotions
which she felt so. strongly was greatly to height-
en her natural charms. The native force and
energy of her character were softened and sub-
dued. - Her voice, which always possessed a cer-
tain inexpressible charm, was endued with new
sweetness through the influence of affection.
Her countenance beamed with fresh animation
160 CLEOPATRA. | [B.C. 47.

<== seseetetsasieetnnnininatte ta a
Influence of Cleopatra. First measures of Cesar.

and beauty, and the sprightliness and vivacity
of her character, which became at later periods
of her life boldness and eccentricity, now being
softened and restrained within proper limits by
the respectful regard with which she looked
upon Cesar, made her an enchanting compan-
ion. Ceesar was, in fact, entirely intoxicated
with the fascinations which she unconsciously
displayed.

Under other circumstances than these, a per-
sonal attachment so strong, formed by a mili-
tary commander while engaged in active serv-
ice, might have been expected to interfere in
some degree with the discharge of his duties;
but in this case, since it was for Cleopatra’s
sake and in her behalf that the operations which
Cesar had undertaken were to be prosecuted,
his love for her only stimulated the spirit and
energy with which he engaged in them.

The first measure to be adopted was, as
Cesar plainly perceived, to concentrate and
strengthen his position in the city, so that he
might be able to defend himself there against
Achillas until he should receive re-enforcements
from abroad. For this purpose he selected a
certain group of palaces and citadels which lay
together near the head of the long pier or cause-
B.C. 47.) Tur ALexanprine War. 16]
Ceesar’s stores. Military engines.

way which led to the Pharos, and, withdrawing
his troops from all other parts of the city, estab-
lished them there. The quarter which he thus
occupied contained the great city arsenals and
public granaries. Czsar brought together all
the arms and munitions of war which he could
find in other parts of the city, and also all the
corn and other provisions which were contained
either in the public depdts or in private ware-
houses, and stored the whole within his lines.
He then inclosed the whole quarter with strong
defenses. The avenues leading to it were bar-
ricaded with walls of stone. Houses in the vi-
cinity which might have afforded shelter to an
enemy were demolished, and the materials used
in constructing walls wherever they were need-
ed, or in strengthening the barricades. Prodi-
gious military engines, made to throw heavy
stones, and beams of wood, and other ponderous
missiles, were set up within his lines, and open-
ings were made in the walls and other defenses
of the citadel, wherever necessary, to facilitate
the action of these machines.

There was a strong fortress situated at the
head of the pier or mole leading to the island of
Pharos, which was without Ceesar’s lines, and
still in the hands of the Egyptian authorities,

L
162 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

The mole. View of Alexandria.





The Egyptians thus commanded the entrance
to the mole. The island itself, also, with the
fortress at the other end of the pier, was still in
the possession of the Egyptian authorities, who
seemed disposed to hold it for Achillas. ‘The
mole was very long, as the island was nearly a
mile from the shore. There was quite a little
town upon the island itself, besides the fortress













Vrew oF ALEXANDRIA.

or castle built there to defend the place. ‘The
garrison of this castle was strong, and the in-
habitants of the town, too, constituted a some-
B.C. 47.] Tue ALEXANDRINE War. 163

: a
Necessity of taking possession of the mole. Egyptian fleet,

what formidable population, as they consisted
of fishermen, sailors, wreckers, and such other
desperate characters as usually congregate about
‘such a spot. -Cleopatra and Cesar, from the
windows of their palace within the city, looked
out upon this island, with the tall light-house
rising in the center of it and the castle at its
base, and upon the long and narrow isthmus
connecting it with the main land, and conclud-
ed that it was very essential that they should
get possession of the post, commanding, as it
did, the entrance to the harbor. |

In the harbor, too, which, as will be seen from
the engraving, was on the south side of the
mole, and, consequently, on the side opposite to
that from which Achillas was advancing toward
the city, there were lying a large number of
Egyptian vessels, some dismantled, and others
manned and armed more or less effectively.
These vessels had not yet come into Achillas’s
hands, but it would be certain that he would
take possession of them as soon as he should
gain admittance to those parts of the city which
Ceesar had abandoned. This it was extremely
important to prevent; for, if Achillas held this
fleet, especially if he continued to command the
island of Pharos, he would be perfect master of
164 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

Cesar burns the © shipping. The fort taken.

all the approaches to the city on the side of the
sea. He could then not only receive re-enforce-
ments and supplies himself from that quarter,
but he could also effectually cut off the Roman
army from all possibility of receiving any. It
became, therefore, as Caesar thought, imperi-
ously necessary that he should protect himself
from this danger. ‘This he did by sending out
an expedition to burn all the shipping in the
harbor, and, at the same time, to take possession
of a certain fort upon the island of Pharos which
commanded the entrance to the port. This
undertaking was abundantly successful. The
troops burned the shipping, took the fort, ex-
pelled the Egyptian soldiers from it, and put a
Roman garrison into it instead, and then re-
turned in safety within Ceesar’s lines. Cleopa-
tra witnessed these exploits from her palace
windows with feelings of the highest admira-
tion for the energy and valor which her mre
protectors displayed.

The burning of the Egyptian ships in this ac-
tion, however fortunate for Cleopatra and Ce-
sar, was attended with a catastrophe which has
ever since been lamented by the whole civilized
world. Some of the burning ships were driven
by the wind to the shore, where they set fire to
B.C.47.] Tue Avexanprine War. 165

Burning of Alexandria. Achillas beheaded.





the buildings which were contiguous to the
water. ‘I'he flames spread and produced an
extensive conflagration, in the course of which
the largest part of the great library was de-
stroyed. ‘This library was the only general col-
lection of the ancient writings that ever had
been made, and the loss of it was never repaired.

The destruction of the Egyptian fleet result-
ed also in the downfall and ruin of Achillas.
From the time of Arsinoé’s arrival in the camp
there had been a constant rivalry and jealousy
between himself and Ganymede, the eunuch
who had accompanied Arsinoé in her flight.
‘T'wo parties had been formed in the army, some
declaring for Achillas and some for Ganymede.
Arsinoé advocated Ganymede’s interests, and
when, at length, the fleet was burned, she
charged Achillas with having been, by his neg-
lect or incapacity, the cause of the loss. Achil-
las was tried, condemned, and beheaded. From
that tinte Ganymede assumed the administra-
tion of Arsinoé’s government as her minister of
state and the commander-in-chief of her armies.

About the time that these occurrences took
place, the Egyptian ‘army advanced into those —
parts of the city from which Cesar had with-
drawn, producing those terrible scenes of panic
166 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

Plans of a His vigorous measures.

and confusion Wititch anniv attend a sudden
and violent change of military possession within
the precincts of a city. Ganymede brought up
his troops on every side to the walls of Ceesar’s
citadels and intrenchments, and hemmed him
closely in. He cut off all avenues of approach
to Cesar’s lines by land, and commenced vigor-
ous preparations for an assault. He construct-
ed engines for battering down the walls. He
opened shops and established forges in every
part of the city for the manufacture of darts,
spears, pikes, and all kinds of military machin-
ery. He built towers supported upon huge
wheels, with the design of filling them with
armed men when finally ready to make his as-
sault upon Ceesar’s lines, and moving them up
to the walls of the citadels and palaces, so as
to give to his soldiers the advantage of a lofty
elevation in making their attacks. He levied
contributions on the rich citizens for the neces-
sary funds, and provided himself with men by
pressing all the artisans, laborers, and men ca-
pable of bearing arms into his service. He sent
messengers back into the interior of the coun-
try, in every direction, summoning the people
to arms, and calling for contributions of money
and military stores.
B.C.47.] Tote ALEXANDRINE War. 167

gy entertaining
Messengers of Ganymede. Their instructions.





These messengers were instructed to urge
upon the people that, unless Ceesar and his army
were at once expelled. from Alexandria, there
was imminent danger that the national inde-
pendence of Egypt would be forever destroyed.
The Romans, they were to say, had extended
their conquests over almost all the rest of the
world. ‘They had sent one army into Egypt
before, under the command of Mark Antony;
under the pretense of restoring Ptolemy Auletes
to the throne. Now another commander, witk
another force, had come, offering some other
pretexts for interfering in their affairs. These
Roman encroachments, the messengers were to
say, would end in the complete subjugation of
Egypt to a foreign power, unless the people of
the country aroused themselves to meet the
danger manfully, and to expel the intruders.

As Cesar had possession of the island of
Pharos and of the harbor, Ganymede could not
cut him off from receiving such re-enforcements
of men and arms as he might make arrange-
ments for obtaining beyond the sea; nor could
he curtail his supply of food, as the granaries
and magazines within Cesar’s quarter of the
city contained almost inexhaustible stores of
corn, ‘There was one remaining point essential
168 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

ett dtintsanemeranantettncminsnenmasipaniteneeenitieipiatnananatitencecaiienttaatiilininiaiaiiiii Sethian
Ganymede cuts off Cesar’s supply of water. Panic of the soldiers.

———_

to the subsistence of an army besieged, and that
was an abundant supply of water. The palaces
and citadels which Cesar occupied were sup-
plied with water by means of numerous sub-
terranean aqueducts, which conveyed the wa-
‘ter from the Nile to vast cisterns built under
ground, whence it was raised by buckets and
hydraulic engines for use. In reflecting upon
this circumstance, Ganymede conceived the de-
sign of secretly digging a canal, so as to turn
the waters of the sea by means of it into these _
aqueducts. This plan he carried into effect.
The consequence was, that the water in the
cisterns was gradually changed. It became
first brackish, then more and more salt and bit-
ter, until, at length, it was wholly impossible
to use it. For some time the army within
could not understand these changes ; and when,
at length, they discovered the cause, the soldiers
were panic-stricken at the thought that they
were now apparently wholly at the mercy of
their enemies, since, without supplies of water,
they must all immediately perish. They con-
sidered it hopeless to attempt any longer to hold
out, and urged Cesar to evacuate the city,
embark on board his galleys, and proceed to sea,

Instead of doing this, however, Ceesar, order-
B.C.47.] Tue ALEXxaNDRINE War. 169

a tarasae,
Cesar’s wells. Arrival of the transports,
LLL LLL LL CC tte

ing all other operations to be suspended, em-
ployed the whole laboring force of his command, -
under the direction of the captains of the sev-
eral companies, in digging wells in every part
of his quarter of the city.. Fresh water, he said,
was almost invariably found, at a moderate
depth, upon sea-coasts, even upon ground lying
in very close proximity with the sea. The dig-
gings were successful. Fresh water, in great
abundance, was found. Thus this danger was
passed, and the men’s fears effectually relieved.

A. short time after these transactions occur-
red, there came into the harbor one day, from
along the shore west of the city, a small sloop,
bringing the intelligence that a squadron of
transports had arrived upon the coast to the
westward of Alexandria, and had anchored
there, being unable to come up to the city on
account of an easterly wind which prevailed at
that season of the year. This squadron was
one which had been sent across the Mediter-
ranean with arms, ammunition, and military
stores for Ceesar; in answer to requisitions which
he had made immediately after he had landed.
The transports being thus wind-bound on the
coast, and having nearly exhausted their. sup-
plies of water, were in distress; and they ac-
170 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

simi cette aasapaepaaideapinaaitanamnesincnaedmisnetitia
The transports in distress. Lowness of the coast.



cordingly sent forward the sloop, which was
probably propelled by oars, to make known their
situation to Ceesar, and to ask for succor. Ca-
sar immediately went, himself, on board of one
of his galleys, and ordering the remainder of his
little fleet to follow him, he set sail out of the
harbor, and then turned to the westward, with
a view of proceeding along the coast to the place
where the transports were lying. |

All this was done secretly. The land is so
low in the vicinity of Alexandria that boats or
galleys are out of sight from it at a very short
distance from the shore. In fact, travelers say
that, in coming upon the coast, the illusion pro-
duced by the spherical form of the surface of
the water and the low and level character of the
coast is such that one seems actually to descend
from the sea to the land. Cesar might there-
fore have easily kept his expedition a secret,
had it not been that, in order to be provided
with a supply of water for the transports imme.
diately on reaching them, he stopped at a soli-
tary part of the coast, at some distance from
Alexandria, and sent a party a little way into
the interior in search for water. This party
were discovered by the country people, and were
intercepted by a troop of horse and made pris-
B.C. 47.] Tue ALEXANDRINE War. 171

A combat. Cesar successful.



oners. From these prisoners the Egyptians
learned that Ceesar himself was on the coast
with a small squadron of galleys. The tidings
spread in all directions. The people flocked to-
gether from every quarter. They hastily col-
lected all the boats and vessels which could be
obtained at the villages in that region and from
the various branches of the Nile. In the mean
time, Cesar had gone on to the anchorage
ground of the squadron, and had taken the tran-
sports in tow to bring them to the city; for the
galleys, being propelled by oars, were in a meas-
ure independent of the wind. On his return,
he found quite a formidable naval armament
assembled to dispute the passage.

A severe conflict ensued, but Ceesar was vic-
torious. ‘The navy which the Egyptians had
so suddenly got together was as suddenly de-
stroyed. Some of the vessels were burned, oth-
ers sunk, and others captured ; and Cesar re-
turned in triumph to the port with his trans-
ports and stores. He was welcomed with the
acclamations of his soldiers, and, still more
warmly, by the joy and gratitude of Cleopatra,
who had been waiting during his absence in
great anxiety and suspense to know the result
of the expedition, aware as she was that her
172 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

Ganymede equips a fleet. A naval conflict.

hero was exposing himself in it to the most im-
minent personal danger.

The arrival of these re-enforcements greatly
improved Ceesar’s condition, and the circum-
stance of their coming forced upon the mind of
Ganymede a sense of the absolute necessity that
he should gain possession of the harbor if he in-
tended to keep Ceesar in check. He according-
ly determined to take immediate measures for
forming a naval force. He sent along the coast, |
and ordered every ship and galley that could be
found in all the ports to be sent immediately to
Alexandria. He employed as many men as
possible in and around the city in building more.
He unroofed some of the most magnificent edi-
fices to procure timber as a material for making
benches and oars. When all was ready, he
made a grand attack upon Cesar in the port,
and a terrible contest ensued for the possession
of the harbor, the mole, the island, and the cit-
adels and fortresses commanding the entrances
from the sea. Cesar well knew that this con-
test would be a decisive one in respect to the
final result of the war, and he accordingly went
forth himself to take an active and personal part
in the conflict. He felt doubtless, too, a strong
emotion of pride and pleasure in exhibiting his
,

B.C. 47.] Tae ALexanpRine War. 173

Cesar in danger. Another victory.

prowess in the sight of Cleopatra, who could
watch the progress of the battle from the palace
windows, full of excitement at the dangers
which he incurred, and of admiration at the
feats of strength and valor which he performed.
During this battle the life of the great conquer-
or was several times in the most imminent dan-
ger. He wore a habit or mantle of the impe-
rial purple, which made him a conspicuous mark
for his enemies; and, of course, wherever he
went, in that place was the hottest of the fight.
Once, in the midst of a scene of most dreadful
confusion and din, he leaped from an overloaded
boat into the water and swam for his life, hold-
ing his cloak between his teeth and drawing it
through the water after him, that it might not
fall into the hands of his enemies. He carried,
at the same time, as he swam, certain valuable
papers which he wished to save, holding them
above his head with one hand, while he pro-
pelled himself through the water with the
other.

The result of this contest was another deci-
sive victory for Cesar. Not only were the ships
which the Egyptians had collected defeated and
destroyed, but the mole, with the fortresses at
each extremity of it, and the island, with the
174 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

The Egyptians discouraged. Secret messengers.

light-house and the town of Pharos, all fell into
Cesar’s hands.

The Egyptians now began to be discouraged.
The army and the people, judging, as mankind
always do, of the virtue of their military com-
manders solely by the criterion of success, be-
gan to be tired of the rule of Ganymede and
Arsinoé. ‘They sent secret messengers to Cee-
sar avowing their discontent, and saying that,
if he would liberate Ptolemy—who, it will be
recollected, had been all this time held as a sort
of prisoner of state in Cesar’s palaces—they
thought that the people generally would receive
him as their sovereign, and that then an ar-
rangement might easily be made for an amica-
ble adjustment of the whole controversy. Ce-
sar was strongly inclined to accede to this pro-
posal. _

. He accordingly called Ptolemy into his pres-
ence, and, taking him kindly by the hand, in-
formed him of the wishes of the people of Egypt,
and gave him permission to go. Ptolemy, how-
ever, begged not to be sent away. He profess-
ed the strongest attachment to Cesar, and the
utmost confidence in him, and he very much
preferred, he said, to remain under his protec-
tion. Ceesar replied that, if those were his sen-
B.C.47.] Tue ALEXANDRINE War. 175

c
Dissimulation of Ptolemy. Arrival of Mithradates,
nn nnn crn eens

timents, the separation would not be a lasting
one. ‘If we part as friends,”.he said, “we
shall soon meet again.” By these and similar
assurances he endeavored to encourage the
young prince, and then sent him away. Ptol--
emy was received by the Egyptians with great
joy, and was immediately placed at the head of
the government. Instead, however, of endeav-
ering to promote a settlement of the quarrel
with Cesar, he seemed to enter into it now him-
self, personally, with the utmost ardor, and be-
gan at once to make the most extensive prepa-
rations both by sea and land for a vigorous pros-
ecution of the war. What the result of these
operations would have been can now not be
known, for the general aspect of affairs was,
soon after these transactions, totally changed
by the occurrence of a new and very important
event which suddenly intervened, and which
turned the attention of all parties, both Egyp-
tians and Romans, to the eastern quarter of
the kingdom. ‘The tidings arrived that a large
army, under the command of a general named
Mithradates, whom Cesar had dispatched into
Asia for this purpose, had suddenly appeared at
Pelusium. had captured that city, and were
now ready to march to Alexandria.
176 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.

Defeat of Ptolemy. Terror and confusion.

The Egyptian army immediately broke up
its encampments in the neighborhood of Alex-
andria, and marched to the eastward to meet
these new invaders. Cesar followed them with
all the forces that he could safely take away
from the city. He left the city in the night
and unobserved, and moved across the country
with such celerity that he joined Mithradates
before the forces of Ptolemy had arrived. After
various marches and maneuvers, the armies met,
and a great battle was fought. The Egyptians
were defeated. Ptolemy’s camp was taken.
As the Roman army burst in upon one side of
it, the guards and attendants of Ptolemy fled
upon the other, clambering over the ramparts
in the utmost terror and confusion. The fore-
most fell headlong into the ditch below, which
was thus soon filled to the brim with the dead
and the dying; while those who came behind
pressed on over the bridge thus formed, tramp-
ling remorselessly, as they fled, on the bodies of
their comrades, who lay writhing, struggling,
and shrieking beneath their feet. ‘Those who
escaped reached the river. They crowded. to-
gether into a boat which lay at the bank and
pushed off from the shore. 'The boat was over-
loaded, and it sank as soon as it left the land.
B.C.47.] Tut ALExanpRINE War. 177



Death of Ptolemy. Cleopatra queen,
The Romans drew the bodies which floated to
the shore up upon the bank again, and they
found among them one, which, by the royal
cuirass which was upon it, the customary badge
and armor of the Egyptian kings, they knew to
be the body of Ptolemy.

The victory which Ceesary obtained in this
battle and the death of Ptolemy ended the war.
Nothing now remained but for him to place
himself at the head of the combined forces and
march back to Alexandria. ‘The Egyptian
forces which had been left there made no resist-
ance, and he entered the city in triumph. He
took Arsinoé prisoner. He decreed that Cleo-
patra should reign as queen, and that she should
marry her youngest brother, the other Ptolemy
—a boy at this time about eleven years of age.
A marriage with one so young was, of course,
a mere form. Cleopatra remained, as before,
the companion of Ceesar.

Ceesar had, in the mean time, incurred great
censure at Rome, and throughout the whole
Roman world, for having thus turned aside from
his own proper duties as the Roman consul, and
the commander-in-chief of the armies of the
empire, to embroil himself in the quarrels of a
remote and secluded kingdom, with which the

M


178 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.





General disapprobation of Cwsar’s course.

interests of the Roman commonwealth were
so little connected. His friends and the au-
thorities at Rome were continually urging him
to return. ‘They were especially indignant at
his protracted neglect of his own proper duties,
from knowing that he was held in Egypt by a
guilty attachment, to the queen—thus not only
violating his obligations to the state, but like-
wise inflicting upon his wife Calpurnia, and his
family at Rome, an intolerable wrong. But
Ceesar was so fascinated by Cleopatra’s charms,
and by the mysterious and unaccountable in-
fluence which she exercised over him, that he
paid no heed to any of these remonstrances.
Even after the war was ended he remained
some months in Egypt to enjoy his favorite’s
society. He would spend whole nights in her
company, in feasting and revelry. He madea
splendid royal progress with her through Egypt
after the war was over, attended by a numer-
ous train of Roman guards. He formed a plan
for taking her to Rome, and marrying her there ;
’ and he took measures for having the laws of the
city altered so as to enable him to do so, though
he was already married.

All these things produced great discontent
and disaffection among Cesar’s friends and
B.C. 47.) Tue ALeExanprine War. 179
SASS Warpenneer-ermene ee
Cleopatra’s son Cawsarion. Public opinion of her conduct.
Sennen nineteen pendent,

throughout the Roman army. The Egyptians,
too, strongly censured the conduct of Cleopatra.
A son was born to her about this time, whom
the Alexandrians named, from his father, Czesa-
rion. Cleopatra was regarded in the new re-
lation of mother, which she now sustained, not
with interest and sympathy, but with feelings
of reproach and condemnation.

Cleopatra was all this time growing more and
more accomplished and more and more beauti-
ful; but her vivacity and spirit, which had been
so charming while it was simple and childlike,
now began to appear more forward and bold.
It is the characteristic of pure and lawful love
to soften and subdue the heart, and infuse a
gentle and quiet spirit into all its action; while
that which breaks over the barriers that God
and nature have marked out for it, tends to
make woman masculine and bold, to indurate
all her sensibilities, and to destroy that gentle-
ness and timidity of demeanor which have so
great an influence in heightening her charms.
Cleopatra was beginning to experience these ef-
fects. She was indifferent to the:opinions of her
subjects, and was only anxious to maintain as
long as possible her guilty ascendency over
Ceesar.
180 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47.
Cesar departs forRome. | —~—~—«He takes Arsino& with him.

Ceesar, however, finally determined to set out
on his return to the capital. Leaving Cleopa-
tra, accordingly, a sufficient force to secure the
continuance of her power, he embarked the re-
mainder of his forces in his transports and gal-
leys, and sailed away. He took the unhappy
Arsinoé with him, intending to exhibit her as a
trophy of his Egyptian victories on his arrival
at Rome.
B.C. 47.] Curoparra a QUEEN. 181

The Alexandrine war very short. Its extent.

Cuapter VIII.
CLEOPATRA A QUEEN.

on war by which Cesar reinstated Cleo-

patra upon the throne was not one of very
long duration. Ceesar arrived in Egypt in pur-
suit of Pompey about the Ist of August; the
war was ended and Cleopatra established in se-
cure possession by the end of January; so that
the conflict, violent as it was while it continued,
was very brief, the peaceful and commercial
pursuits of the Alexandrians having been inter-
rupted by it only for a few months.

Nor did either the war itself, or the derange-
nents consequent upon it, extend very far into
the interior of the country. The city of Alex-
andria itself and the neighboring coasts were
the chief scenes of the contest until Mithrada-
tes arrived at Pelusium. He, it is true, march-
ed across the Delta, and the final battle was
fought in the interior of the country. It was,
however, after all, but a very small portion of
the Egyptian territory that was directly affect-
ed by the war. The great mass of the people,
182 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 47,
sori eipinsiiieninenncensevanivatsiinninpeidigs tat

Revenues of Egypt. The city repaired.
se tin oeeneneetennenlecipeptnninsnasyesintanertslsenietninaisinnitiiashnthinditacmescs

occupying the rich and fertile tracts which bor-
dered the various branches of the Nile, and the
long and verdant valley which extended so far
into the heart of the continent, knew nothing
of the conflict but by vague and distant rumors.
The pursuits of the agricultural population
went on, all the time, as steadily and prosper-
ously as ever; so that when the conflict was
ended, and Cleopatra entered upon the quiet
and peaceful possession of her power, she found
that the resources of her empire were very little
impaired. '

She availed herself, accordingly, of the reve-
nues which poured in very abundantly upon
her, to enter upon a career of the greatest lux-
ury, magnificence, and splendor. The injuries
which had been done to the palaces and other
public edifices of Alexandria by the fire, and by
the military operations of the siege, were re-
paired. he bridges which had been broken
down were rebuilt. The canals which had been
obstructed were opened again. The sea-water
was shut off from the palace cisterns; the rub-
bish of demolished houses was removed ; the
barricades were cleared from the streets; and
the injuries which the palaces had suffered, ei-
ther from the violence of military engines or the
B.C. 47.] Curopatrra a QUEEN. 183

The library rebuilt, A new collection of manuscripts.

rough occupation of the Roman soldiery, were
repaired. In a word, the city was speedily re-
stored once more, so far as was possible, to its
former order and beauty. The five hundred
thousand manuscripts of the Alexandrian libra-
ry, which had been burned, could not, indeed,
be restored ; but, in all other respects, the city
soon resumed in appearance all its former splen-
dor. Even in respect to the library, Cleopatra
made an effort to retrieve the loss. She repair-
ed the ruined buildings, and afterward, in the
course of her life, she brought together, it was
said, in a manner hereafter to be described, one
or two hundred thousand rolls of manuscripts,
as the commencement of a new collection. The
new library, however, never acquired the fame
and distinction that had pertained to the old.
The former sovereigns of Egypt, Cleopatra’s
ancestors, had generally, as has already been
shown, devoted the immense revenues which
they extorted from the agriculturalists of the
valley of the Nile to purposes of ambition.
Cleopatra seemed now disposed to expend them
in luxury and pleasure. They, the Ptolemies,
had employed their resources in erecting vast
structures, or founding magnificent institutions
at Alexandria, to add to the glory of the city,
184 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 45.

Luxury and splendor. Deterioration of Cleopatra’s character.

and to widen and extend their own fame. Cle-
opatra, on the other hand, as was, perhaps, nat-
urally to be expected of a young, beautiful, and
impulsive woman, suddenly raised to so conspic-
uous a position, and to the possession of such
unbounded wealth and power, expended her
royal revenues in plans of personal display, and
in scenes of festivity, gayety, and enjoyment.
She adorned her palaces, built magnificent
barges for pleasure excursions on the Nile, and
expended enormous sums for dress, for equipa-
ges, and for sumptuous entertainments. In
fact, so lavish were her expenditures for these
and similar purposes during the early years of
her reign, that she is considered as having car-
ried the extravagance of sensual luxury and
personal display and splendor beyond the limits
that had ever before or have ever since been
attained. |
Whatever of simplicity of character, and of
gentleness and kindness of spirit she might
have possessed in her earlier years, of course
gradually disappeared under the influences of
such a course of life as she now was leading.
She was beautiful and fascinating still, but she
began to grow selfish, heartless, and designing.
Her little brother—he was but eleven years of
B.C. 45.] Cueoparra a QUEEN. 185

The young Ptolemy. Cleopatra assassinates him.



age, it will be recollected, when Cesar arranged
the marriage between them—was an object of
jealousy to her. He was now, of course, too
young to take any actual share in the exercise
of the royal power, or to interfere at all in his
sister’s plans or pleasures. But then he was
growing older. In a few years he would be
fifteen—which was the period of life fixed upon
by Ceesar’s arrangements, and, in fact, by the
laws and usages of the Egyptian kingdom—
when he was to come into possession of power
as king, and as the husband of Cleopatra. Cle-
opatra was extremely unwilling that the change
in her relations to him and to the government,
which this period was to bring, should take
place. Accordingly, just before the time ar-
rived, she caused him to be poisoned: His
death released her, as she had intended, from
all restraints, and thereafter she continued
to reign alone. During the remainder of her
life, so far as the enjoyment of wealth and
power, and of all other elements of external
prosperity could go, Cleopatra’s career was one
of uninterrupted success. She had no consci-
entious scruples to interfere with the most full
and unrestrained indulgence of every propensity
of her heart, and the means of indulgence were
186 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 45.



Career of Ceesar. His rapid course of conquest.



before her in the most unlimited profusion. The
only bar to her happiness was the impossibility
of satisfying the impulses and passions of the
human soul, when they once break over the
bounds which the laws both of God and of na-
ture ordain for restraining them.

In the mean time, while Cleopatra was spend-
ing the early years of her reign in all this lux-
ury and splendor, Cesar was pursuing his ca-
reer, as the conqueror of the world, in the most
successful manner. On the death of Pompey,
he would naturally have succeeded at once to
the enjoyment of the supreme power; but his
delay in Egypt, and the extent to which it was
known that he was entangled with Cleopatra,
encouraged and strengthened his enemies in
various parts of the world. In fact, a revolt
which broke out in Asia Minor, and which it
was absolutely necessary that he should proceed
at once to quell, was the immediate cause of
his leaving Egypt at last. Other plans for
making head against Ceesar’s power were formed
in Spain, in Africa, and in Italy. His military
skill and energy, however, were so great, and
the ascendency which he exercised over the
minds of men by his personal presence was so
unbounded, and so astonishing, moreover, was
B.C.45.] Curopatra a QUEEN. 187

Cleopatra determines to go to Rome. Feelings of the Romans.







the celerity with which he moved from conti-
nent to continent, and from kingdom to king-
dom, that in a very short period from the time
of his leaving Egypt, he had conducted most
brilliant and successful campaigns in all the
three quarters of the world then known, had put
down effectually all opposition to his power, and
then had returned to Rome the acknowledged
master of the world. Cleopatra, who had, of
course, watched his career during all this time
with great pride and pleasure, concluded, at
last, to go to Rome and make a visit to him
there.

The people of Rome were, however, not pre-
pared to receive her very cordially. It was an
age in which vice of every kind was regarded
with great indulgence, but the moral instincts
of mankind were too strong to be wholly blind-
ed to the true character of so conspicuous an
example of wickedness as this. Arsinoé was
at Rome, too, during this period of Ceesar’s life.
He had brought her there, it will be recollected,
on his return from Egypt, as a prisoner, and as
a trophy of his victory. His design was, in fact,
to reserve her as a captive to grace his tréumph.

A triumph, according to the usages of the an-
cient Romans, was a grand celebration decreed
188 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 45.
Ceesar’s four triumphs. : Nature of triumphal processions.

by the senate to great military commanders
of the highest rank, when they returned from
distant campaigns in which they had made
great conquests or gained extraordinary victo-
ries. Ceesar concentrated all his triumphs into
one. They were celebrated on his return to
Rome for the last time, after having completed
the conquest of the world. The processions of
this triumph occupied four days. In fact, there
were four triumphs, one on each day for the four
days. ‘The wars and conquests which these
ovations were intended to celebrate were those
of Gaul, of Egypt, of Asia, and of Africa; and
the processions on the several days consisted of
endless trains of prisoners, trophies, arms, ban-
ners, pictures, images, convoys of wagons load-
ed with plunder, captive princes and princesses,
animals, wild and tame, and every thing else
which the conqueror had been able to bring
home with him from his campaigns, to excite
the curiosity or the admiration of the people of
the city, and illustrate the magnitude of his ex-
ploits. Of course, the Roman generals, when
engaged in distant foreign wars, were ambitious
of bringing back as many distinguished captives
and as much public plunder as they were able
to obtain, in order to add to the variety and

MOM


B.C. 45.] Crropatra a QuEEN, 191
Arsinoé. Sympathy of the Roman people,

splendor of the triumphal procession by which
their victories were to be honored on their re-
turn. It was with this view that Cesar brought
Arsinoé from Egypt; and he had retained her
as his captive at Rome until his conquests were
completed and the time for his triumph ar-
rived. She, of course, formed a part of the
triumphal train on the Egyptian day. She
walked immediately before the chariot in which
Ceesar rode. She was in chains, like any other
captive, though her chains, in honor of her lofty
rank, were made of gold.

The effect, however, upon the Roman popu-
lation of seeing the unhappy princess, over-
whelmed as she was with sorrow and chagrin,
as she moved slowly along in the train, among
the other emblems and trophies of violence and
plunder, proved to be by no means favorable to
Cesar. The populace were inclined to pity her,
and to sympathize with her in her sufferings.
The sight of her distress recalled, too, to their
minds the dereliction from duty of which Cesar
had been guilty of in his yielding to the entice-
ments of Cleopatra, and remaining so long in
Egypt to the neglect of his proper duties as a
Roman minister of state. In a word, the tide
of admiration for Czesar’s military exploits which
192 CLEOPATRA. /[B.C. 45.

ee a io sihcscammnahleeistiepeladimeaeiniiiianiindiaes
Cesar overacts his part. Feasts and festivals.



had been setting so strongly in his favor, seem-
ed inclined to turn, and the city was filled with
murmurs against him even in the midst of his
triumphs.

In fact, the pride and vainglory which led
Ceesar to make his triumphs more splendid and
imposing than any former conqueror had ever
enjoyed, caused him to overact his part so as to
produce effects the reverse of his intentions
The case of Arsinoé was one example of this
Instead of impressing the people with a sense of
the greatness of his exploits in Egypt, in depos-
ing one queen and bringing her captive to Rome,
in order that he might place another upon the
throne in her stead, it only reproduced anew the
censures and criminations which he had deserv-
ed by his actions there, but which, had it not
been for the pitiable spectacle of Arsinoé in the
train, might have been forgotten.

There were other examples of a similar char-
acter. There were the feasts, for instance.
From the plunder which Cesar had obtained
in his various campaigns, he expended the most
enormous sums in making feasts and spectacles
for the populace at the time of his triumph. A
large portion of the populace was pleased, it is
true, with the boundless indulgences thus offer-

’
B.C.45.] Cureopatra a QUEEN. 193

Riot and debauchery. Public combats.

ed to them; but the better part of the Roman
people were indignant at the waste and extrav-.
agance which were every where displayed. For
many days the whole city of Rome presented to
the view nothing but one wide-spread scene of
riot and debauchery. The people, instead of
being pleased with this abundance, said that
Cesar must have practiced the most extreme
~ and lawless extortion to have obtained the vast
amount of money necessary to enable him to
supply such unbounded and reckless waste.
There was another way, too, by which Cesar
turned public opinion strongly against himself,
by the very means which he adopted for creat-
ing a sentiment in his favor. The Romans,
among the other barbarous amusements which
were practiced in the city, were specially fond
of combats. These combats were of various
kinds. ‘They were fought sometimes between
ferocious beasts of the same or of different. spe-
cies, as dogs against each other, or against bulls,
lions, or tigers. Any animals, in fact, were em-
ployed for this purpose, that could be teased or
goaded into anger and ferocity in a fight.
Sometimes men were employed in these com-
bats—captive soldiers, that had been taken in
war, and brought to Rome to fight in the am-
N
194 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 45.

The artificial lake. Combat upon it.

phitheaters there as gladiators. ‘These men
were compelled to contend sometimes with wild
beasts, and sometimes with one another. Ce-
sar, knowing how highly the Roman assemblies
enjoyed such scenes, determined to afford them
the indulgence on a most magnificent scale,
supposing, of course, that the greater and the
more dreadful the fight, the higher would be the
pleasure which the spectators would enjoy in
witnessing it. Accordingly, in making prepa-
rations for the festivities attending his triumph,
he caused a large artificial lake to be formed
at. a convenient place in the vicinity of Rome,
where it could be surrounded by the populace
of the city, and there he made arrangements
for a naval battle. A great number of galleys
were introduced into the lake. They were of
the usual size employed in war. These galleys
were manned with numerous soldiers. Tyrian
captives were put upon one side, and Egyptian
upon the other; and when all was ready, the
two squadrons were ordered to approach and
fight a real naval battle for the amusement of
the enormous throngs of spectators that were
assembled around. As the nations from which
the combatants in this conflict were respective-
ly taken were hostile to each other, and as the
B.C.45.] Curoparra a QUEEN. 195

Land combats. The people shocked:



men fought, of course, for their lives, the en-
gagement was attended with the usual horrors
of a desperate naval encounter. Hundreds were
slain. ‘The dead bodies of the combatants fell
from the galleys into the lake, and the waters
of it were dyed with their blood.

There were land combats, too, on the same
grand scale. In one of them five hundred foot
soldiers, twenty elephants, and a troop of thirty
horse were engaged on each side. This com-
bat, therefore, was an action greater, in respect
to the number of the combatants, than the fa-
mous battle of Lexington, which marked the
commencement of the American war; and in
respect to the slaughter which took place, it was
very probably ten times greater. The horror:
of these scenes proved to be too much even. for
the populace, fierce and merciless as it was,
which they were intended to amuse. Cesar,
in his eagerness to outdo all former exhibitions
and shows, went beyond the limits within which
the seeing of men butchered in bloody combats
and dying in agony and despair would serve for
a pleasure and a pastime. The people were
shocked ; and condemnations of Cesar’s cruelty
were added to the other suppressed reproaches
and criminations which every where arose.
196 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 45.

Cleopatra’s visit. Ceesar’s plans for making himeclf king.

Cleopatra, during her visit to Rome, lived
openly with Cesar at his residence, and this
excited very general displeasure. In fact, while
the people pitied Arsinoé, Cleopatra, notwith-
standing her beauty and her thousand personal
accomplishments and charms, was an object of
general displeasure, so far as public attention
was turned toward her at all. The public mind
was, however, much engrossed by the great po-
litical movements made by Ceesar and the ends
toward which he seemed to be aiming. Men
accused him of designing to be made a king.
Parties were formed for and against him; and
though men did not dare openly to utter their
sentiments, their passions became the more vio-
lent in proportion to the external force by which
they were suppressed. Mark Antony was at
Rome at this time. He warmly espoused Ce-
sar’s cause, and encouraged his design of mak-
ing himself king. . He once, in fact, offered to
place a royal diadem upon Cesar’s head at
some public celebration ; but the marks of pub-
lic disapprobation which the act elicited caused
him to desist.

At length, however, the time arrived when
Cesar determined tu cause himself to be pro-
claimed king. He took advantage of a certain
B.C. 44.] Cueoparra a QuEEN. 197
Conspiracy against Cesar. ) He is assassinated.

remarkable conjuncture of public affairs, which
can not here be particularly described, but which
seemed to him specially to favor his designs,
and arrangements were made for having him
invested with the regal power by the ‘senate.
The murmurs and the discontent of the people
at the indications that the time for the realiza-
tion of their fears was drawing nigh, became
more and more audible, and at length a con-
spiracy was formed to put an end to the danger
by destroying the ambitious aspirants life.
Two stern and determined men, Brutus and
Cassius, were the leaders of this conspiracy.
They matured their plans, organized their band
of associates, provided themselves secretly with
arms, and when the senate convened, on the
day in which the decisive vote was to have been
passed, Cesar himself presiding, they came up
boldly around him in his presidential chair, and
murdered him with their daggers.

Antony, from whom the plans of the conspir-
ators had been kept profoundly secret, stood by,
looking on stupefied and confounded while the
deed was done, but utterly unable to render his
friend any protection.

Cleopatra immediately fled from the oaty and
returned to Egypt.
198 CLEOPATRA. [B.c. 44.

Arsinoé released. Calpurnia mourns her husband’s death.

Arsinoé had gone away before. Cesar, ei-
ther taking pity on her misfortunes, or impel-
led, perhaps, by the force of public sentiment,
which seemed inclined to take part with her
against him, set her at liberty immediately after
the ceremonies of his triumph were over. He
would not, however, allow her to return into
Egypt, for fear, probably, that she might in
some way or other be the means of disturbing
the government of Cleopatra. She proceeded,
accordingly, into Syria, no longer as a captive,
but still as an exile from her native land. We
shall hereafter learn what became of her there.

Calpurnia mourned the death of her husband
with sincere and unaflected grief. She bore the
‘wrongs which she suffered as a wife with a very
patient and unrepining spirit, and loved her hus-
band with the most devoted attachment to the
end. Nothing can be more affecting than the
proofs of her tender and anxious regard on the
night immediately preceding the assassination.
There were certain slight and obscure. indica-
tions of danger which her watchful devotion to
her husband led her to observe, though they
eluded the notice of all Ceesar’s other friends,
and they filled her with apprehension and anx-
iety ; and when at length the bloody body was
B.C. 44.] Creopatra a QUEEN. 199

Calpurnia looks to Mark Antony as her protector.

brought home to her from the senate-house, she
was overwhelmed with grief and despair.

She had no children. She accordingly look-
ed upon Mark Antony as her nearest friend and
protector, and in the confusion and terror which
prevailed the next day in the city, she hastily
packed together the money and other valuables
contained in the house, and all her husband’s
books and papers, and sent them to Antony for
safe keeping.
200 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 44.
elie itideh evnisstmiinlagaalin cinched ee te

Consternation at Rome. Cesar’s will.

CuarpTerR IX.

Tue BattTue or PuHitipprl.

a the tidings of the assassination of
Ceesar were first announced to the people
of Rome, all ranks and classes of men were
struck with amazement and consternation. No
one knew what to say or do. A very large and
influential portion of the community had been
Ceesar’s friends. It was equally certain that
there was a very powerful interest opposed to
him. No one could foresee which of these two
parties would now carry the day, and, of course,
for a time, all was uncertainty and indecision.
Mark Antony came forward at once, and as-
sumed the position of Cesar’s representative
and the leader of the party on that side. A
will was found among Cesar’s effects, and when
the will was opened it appeared that large sums
of money were left to the Roman people, and
other large amounts to a néphew of the deceased,
named Octavius, who will be more particularly
spoken of hereafter. Antony was named in the
will as the executor of it. This and other cir-
B.C. 44.) Tue Barrie or Puixiprps. 20h
Brutus and Cassius. . Parties formed.

cumstances seemed to authorize him to come
forward as the head and the leader of the Ce-
sar party. Brutus and Cassius, who remained
openly in the city after their desperate deed had
been performed, were the acknowledged leaders
of the other party ; while the mass of the people
were at first so astounded at the magnitude
and suddenness of the revolution which the open
and public assassination of a Roman emperor
by a Roman senate denoted, that they knew not
_what'to say ordo. In fact, the killing of Julius
Ceesar, considering the exalted position which
he occupied, the rank and station of the men
who perpetrated the deed, and the very extra-
ordinary publicity of the scene in which the act
was performed, was, doubtless, the most con-
spicuous and most appalling case of. assassina-
tion that has ever occurred. The whole popu-
lation of Rome seemed for some days to be
amazed and stupefied by the tidings. At length,
however, parties began to be more distinctly
formed. . The lines of demarkation between
them were gradually drawn, and men began to
arrange themselves more and more unequivo-
cally on the opposite sides.

For a short time the supremacy of Antony
over the Cesar party was readily acquiesced in
202 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 44.

Octavius and Lepidus. Character of Octavius.
hecciititininiaenisneieasiaiatiini LLL TN



and allowed. At length, however, and before
his arrangements were finally matured, he found
that he had two formidable competitors upon his
own side. These were Octavius and Lepidus.
Octavius, who was the nephew of Cesar, al-
ready alluded to, was a very accomplished and
elegant young man, now about nineteen years
ofage. He was the son of Julius Cesar’s niece.*
He had always been a great favorite with his
uncle. Every possible attention had been paid
to his education, and he had been advanced by
Cesar, already, to positions of high importance
in public life. Czesar, in fact, adopted him as
his son, and made him his heir. At the time
of Ceesar’s death he was at Apollonia, a city of
Illyricum, north of Greece. The troops under
his command there offered to march at once
with him, if he wished it, to Rome, and avenge
his uncle’s death. Octavius, after some hesita-
tion, concluded that it would be most prudent
for him to proceed thither first himself, alone,
as a private person, and demand his ‘rights as
* This Octavius, on his subsequent elevation to imperial
power, received the name of Augustus Cesar, and it is by
this name that he is generally known in history. He was,
however, called Octavius at the commencement of his career,

and, to avoid confusion, we shall continue to designate him by
this name to the end of our narrative.
B.C.44.] Tue Battie or Puixiprr. 203

Octavius proceeds to Rome. He claims his rights as heir.



his uncle’s heir, according to the provisions of
the will. He accordingly did so. He found,
on his arrival, that the will, the property, the
books and parchments, and the substantial
power of the government, were all in Antony’s
hands. Antony, instead of putting Octavius
into possession of his property and rights, found
various pretexts for evasion and delay. Octa-
vius was too young yet, he said, to assume such
weighty responsibilities. He was himself also
too much pressed with the urgency of public af-
fairs to attend to the business of the will. - With
these and similar excuses as his justification,
Antony seemed inclined to pay no regard what-
ever to Octavius’s claims.

‘ Octavius, young as he was, possessed a char-
acter that was marked with great intelligence,
spirit, and resolution. He soon made many
powerful friends in the city of Rome and among
the Roman senate. It became a serious ques-
tion whether he or Antony would gain the great-
est ascendency in the party of Cesar’s friends.
The contest for this ascendency was, in fact,
protracted for two or three years, and led to a
vast complication of intrigues, and maneuvers,
and civil wars, which can not, however, be here
particularly detailed.
204 . CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 44.

csi iinet Miglin a
Lepidus takes command of the army. The triumvirate.
crm a i a Se

The other competitor which Antony had to
contend with was a distinguished Roman gen-
eral named Lepidus. Lepidus was an officer
of the army, in very high command at the time
of Ceesar’s death. He was present in the senate
chamber on the day of the assassination. He
stole secretly away when he saw that the deed
was done, and repaired to the camp of the army
without the city and immediately assumed the
command of the forces. This gave him great
power, and in the course of the contests which
subsequently ensued between Antony and Oc-
tavius, he took an active part, and held in some
measure the balance between them. At length
the contest was finally closed by a coalition of
the three rivals. Finding that they could not
either of them gain a decided victory over the
others, they combined together, and formed the
‘celebrated: triumvirate, which continued after-
ward for some time to wield the supreme com-
mand in the Roman world. In forming this
league of reconciliation, the three rivals held
their conference on an island situated in one of
the branches of the Po, in the north of Italy.
They manifested extreme jealousy and suspicion
of each other in coming to this interview. 'T'wo
_ bridges were built leading to the island, one
B.C.43.] Tue Barrie or Puiuiprpr. 205





Conference between Octavius, Lepidus, and Antony.

from each bank of the stream. ‘The army of
Antony was drawn up upon one side of the river,
and that of Octavius upon the other. Lepidus
went first to the island by one of the bridges.
After examining the ground carefully, to make
himself sure that it contained no ambuscade,
he made a signal to the other generals, who then
came over, each advancing by his own bridge,
and accompanied by three hundred guards, who
remained upon the bridge to secure a retreat
for their master in case of treachery. The con-
ference lasted three days, at the expiration of
which time the articles were all agreed upon
and signed. 7

This league being formed, the three conted-
erates turned their united force against the par-
ty of the conspirators. Of this party Brutus
and Cassius were still at the head. ~

The scene of the contests between Octavius,
Antony, and Lepidus had been chiefly Italy and
the other central countries of Europe. Brutus
and Cassius, on the other hand, had gone across
the Adriatic Sea into the East immediately
after Czesar’s assassination. They were now in
Asia Minor, and were employed in concentrat-
ing their forces, forming alliances with the va-
‘ious Eastern powers, raising troops, bringing
206 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

LE
Embassage to Cleopatra. Her decision.
OR

over to their side the Roman legions which were
stationed in that quarter of the world, seizing
magazines, and exacting contributions from all
who could be induced to favor their cause.
Among other embassages which they sent, one
went to Egypt to demand aid from Cleopatra.
Cleopatra, however, was resolved to join. the
other side in the contest. It was natural that
she should feel grateful to Cesar for his efforts
and sacrifices in her behalf, and that she should
be inclined to favor the cause of his friends.
Accordingly, instead of sending troops to aid
Brutus and Cassius,.as they had desired her to
do, she immediately fitted out an expedition to
proceed to the coast of Asia, with a view of ren-
dering all the aid in her power to Antony’s
cause.

Cassius, on his part, finding that Cleopatra
was determined on joining his enemies, imme-
diately resolved on proceeding at once to Egypt
and taking possession of the country. He also
stationed a military force at Teenarus, the south-
ern promontory of Greece, to watch for and in-
tercept the fleet of Cleopatra as soon as it should
appear on the European shores. All these
plans, however — both those which Clecpatra
formed against Cassius, and those which Cas-
B.C.41.] Tue Barrie or Puiuiprr. 207
ee
Cassius abandons his designs. Approach of the triumvirs,
coursseeesouensesnasgnontessasiitaassasenininonvnmenpeniaisitontieatienentiinagsegtiniiniteummniesiammbaicipinatuninannie

sius formed against her—failed of accomplish-
ment. Cleopatra’s fleet encountered a terrible
storm, which dispersed and destroyed it. A
small remnant was driven upon the coast of
Africa, but nothing could be saved which could
be made available for the purpose intended. As
for Cassius’s intended expedition to Egypt, it
was not carried into effect. The dangers which
began now to threaten him from the direction
of Italy and Rome were so imminent, that, at
Brutus’s urgent request, he gave up the Egyp-
tian plan, and the two generals concentrated
their forces to meet the armies of the triumvi-
rate which were now rapidly advancing to at-
tack them. ‘They passed for this purpose across
the Hellespont from Sestos to Abydos, and en-
tered Thrace.*

After various marches and countermarches,
and a long succession of those maneuvers by
which two powerful armies, approaching a con-
test, endeavor each to gain some position of ad-
vantage against the other, the various bodies of
troops belonging, respectively, to the two pow-
ers, came into the vicinity of each other near
Philippi. Brutus and Cassius arrived here first.
There was a plain in the neighborhood of the

* See map, at the frontispiece.
208 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

sclicialiltaaatitaiatsamucmaaiaamttaisenteiinsillatainniscnemnineneaietinatinipatieiinainmnntaiititt
The armies meet at Philippi. Sickness of Octavius.
icine srmininstmitucaeanctiatnceenatetientisaienitiatiseneatiinaheanacinn

city, with a rising ground in a certain portion
of it. Brutus took possession of this elevation,
and intrenched himself there. Cassius posted
his forces about three miles distant, near the
sea. There was a line of intrenchments be-
tween the two camps, which formed a chain of
communication by which the positions of the
two commanders were connected. ‘The armies
were thus very advantageously posted. ‘They
had the River Strymon and a marsh on the left
of the ground that they occupied, while the
plain was before them, and the sea behind.
Here they awaited the arrival of their foes.
Antony, who was at this time at Amphipolis,
a city not far distant from Philippi, learning
that Brutus and Cassius had taken their posi-
tions in anticipation of an attack, advanced im-
mediately and encamped upon the plain. Oc-
tavius was detained by sickness at the city of
Dyrrachium, not very far distant. Antony
waited for him. It was ten days before he
came. At length he arrived, though in coming
he had to be borne upon a litter, being still too
sick to travel in any other way. Antony ap-
proached, and established his camp opposite to
that of Cassius, near the sea, while Octavius
took post opposite to Brutus. The four armies
B.C.41.] Tue Barrys or Puinipps, 209

Difference of opinion between Brutus and Cassius. Council of war.

then paused, contemplating the probable results
of the engagement that was about to ensue,
The forces on the two sides were nearly
equal; but on the Republican side, that is, on
the part of Brutus and Cassius, there was great
inconvenience and suffering for want of a suffi-
cient supply of provisions and stores. ‘There
was some difference of opinion between Brutus
and Cassius in respect to what it was best for
them to do. Brutus was inclined to give the
enemy battle. Cassius was reluctant to do SO,
since, under the citcumstances in which they
were placed, he considered it unwise to hazard,
as they necessarily must do, the whole success
of their cause to the chances of a single battle.
A council of war was convened, and the various
officers were asked to give their opinions. In
this conference, one of the officers having rec-
ommended to postpone the conflict to the next
winter, Brutus asked him what advantage he
hoped to attain by such delay. ‘If I gain noth-
ing else,” replied the officer, “I shall live SO
much the longer.” This answer touched Cas.
sius’s pride and military sénse of honor. Rath-
er than concur in a counsel which was thus, on
the part of one of its advocates at least, dictated
by what he considered an inglorious love of life,
O
210 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

eee ET LL LEELA
Decision of the council. Brutus greatly elated.

Fenris
he preferred to retract his opinion. It was
agreed by the council that the army should
maintain its ground and give the enemy battle.
The officers then repaired to their respective
camps.

Brutus was greatly pleased at this decision.
To fight the battle had been his original desire,
and as his counsels had prevailed, he was, of
course, gratified with the prospect for the mor-
row. He arranged a sumptuous entertainment
in his tent, and invited all the officers of his di-
vision of the army to sup with him. The party
spent the night in convivial pleasures, and in
mutual congratulations at the prospect of the
victory which, as they believed, awaited them
on the morrow. Brutus entertained his guests
with. brilliant conversation all the evening, and
inspired them with his own confident anticipa-
tions of success in the conflict which was to
ensue. |

Cassius, on the other hand, in his camp by
the sea, was silent and desponding. He supped
privately with a few intimate friends. On ris-
ing from the table, he took one of his officers
aside, and, pressing his hand, said to him that
he felt great misgivings in respect to the result
of the contest. ‘It is against my judgment,”
B.C.41.] Tur Barrie or Puitiprr 211

Despondency of Cassius. Preparations for battle.

said he, “that we thus hazard the liberty of
Rome on the event of one battle, fought under
such circumstances as these. Whatever is the
result, I wish you to bear me witness hereafter
that I was forced into this measure by circum-
stances that I could not control. I suppose,
however, that I ought to take courage, notwith-
standing the reasons that I have for these
gloomy forebodings. Let us, therefore, hope for
the best; and come and sup with me again to-
morrow night. ‘To-morrow is my birth-day.”
The next morning, the scarlet mantle—the
customary signal displayed in Raman camps on
the morning of a day of battle—was seen at the
tops of the tents of the two commanding gen-
erals, waving there in the air like a banner.
While the troops, in obedience to this signal,
were preparing themselves for the conflict, the
two generals went to meet each other at a point
midway between their two encampments, for a
final consultation and agreement in respect to
the arrangements of the day. When this busi-
ness was concluded, and they were about to
Separate, in order to proceed each to his own
sphere of duty, Cassius asked Brutus what he
intended to do in case the day should go against
them. ‘We hope for the best,” said he, “ and
212 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

alia ceaietrcinalatamreacrmcta ala i
Resolution of Brutus to die. Similar resolve of Cassius,



pray that the gods may grant us the victory in
this most momentous crisis. But we must re-
member that it is the greatest and the most
momentous of human affairs that are always
the most uncertain, and we can not foresee what
is to-day to be the result of the battle. If it
goes against us, what do you intend to do? Do
you intend to escape, or to die ?” |

“When I was a young man,” said Brutus,
in reply, “and looked at this subject only as a
question of theory, I thought it wrong for a man
ever to take his own life. However great the
evils that threatened him, and however despe-
rate his condition, I considered it his duty to
live, and to wait patiently for better times. But
now, placed in the position in which I am, I see
the subject in a different light. If we do not
gain the battle this day, I shall consider all hope
and possibility of saving our country forever
gone, and I shall not leave the field of battle
alive.”

Cassius, in his despondency, had made the
same resolution for himself before, and he was
rejoiced to hear Brutus utter these sentiments.
He grasped his colleague’s hand with a coun-
tenance expressive of the greatest animation
and pleasure, and bade him farewell, ‘saying,
B.C.41.] Tue Battie or Paiuiprr. 213

Omens. Their influence upon Cagsius.

‘We will go out boldly to face the enemy. For
we are certain either that we shall conquer them,
or that we shall have nothing to fear from their
victory over us.”

Cassius’s dejection, and the tendency of his
mind to take a despairing view of the prospects
of the cause in which he was engaged, were
owing, in some measure, to certain unfavorable
omens which he had observed. These omens,
though really frivolous and wholly unworthy of
attention, seem to have had great influence upon
him, notwithstanding his general intelligence,
and the remarkable strength and energy of his
character. They were as follows:

In offering certain sacrifices, he was to wear,
according to the usage prescribed on such oc-
casions, a garland of flowers, and it happened
that the officer who brought the garland, by
mistake or accident, presented it wrong side
before. Again, in some procession which was
formed, and in which a certain image of gold,
made in honor of him, was borne, the bearer of
it stumbled and fell, and the image was thrown
upon the ground. This was a very dark pre-
sage of impending calamity. Then a great
number of vultures and other birds of prey were
seen, for a number of days before the battle,

ws
214 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41,

The swarms of bees. Warnings received by Brutus.

hovering over the Roman army; and several
swarms of bees were found within the precincts
of the camp. So alarming was this last indi-
cation, that the officers altered the line of the
intrenchments so as to shut out the ill-omened
spot from the camp. These and other such
things had great influence upon the mind of
Cassius, in convincing him that some great dis-
aster was impending over him.

Nor was Brutus himself without warnings of
this character, though they seem to have had
less power to produce any serious impression
upon his mind than in the case of Cassius. The
most extraordinary warning which Brutus re-
ceived, according to the story of his ancient his-
torians, was by a supernatural apparition which
he saw, some time before, while he was in Asia
Minor. He was encamped near the city of Sar-
dis at that time. He was always accustomed
to sleep very little, and would often, it was said,
when all his officers had retired, and the camp
was still, sit alone in his tent, sometimes read-
ing, and sometimes revolving the anxious cares
which were always pressing upon his mind.
One night he was thus alone in his tent, with
a small lamp burning before him, sitting lost
in thought, when he suddenly heard a move-
B.C.41.] Tue Bartxie or Puixriprpr. 215

The spirit seen by Brutus. His conversation with it.

ment as of some one entering the tent. He
looked up, and saw a strange, unearthly, and
monstrous shape, which appeared to have just
entered the door and was coming toward him.
The spirit gazed upon him as it advanced, but
it did not speak.

Brutus, who was not much accustomed to
fear, boldly demanded of the apparition who and
what it was, and what had brought it there.
‘T am your evil spirit,” said the apparition. —
JT shall meet you at Philippi.” ‘‘ Then, it
seems,” said Brutus, “‘ that, at any rate, I shall
see you again.” . The spirit made no reply to
this, but immediately vanished.

Brutus arose, went to the. door of his tent,
summoned the sentinels, and awakened the sol-
diers that were sleeping near. The sentinels
had seen nothing; and, after the most diligent
search, no trace of the mysterious visitor could
be found.

The next morning Brutus related to-Cassius
the occurrence which he had witnessed. Cas-
sius, though very sensitive, it seems, to the'in-
fluence of omens affecting himself, was quite
philosophical in his views in respect to those of
other men. He argued very rationally with
Brutus to convince him that the vision which
216 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.
anne hnataninennttaeenensoritpiteninmmiman ct...

Battle of Philippi. Defeat of Octavius.

he had seen was only a phantom of sleep, tak-
ing its form and character from the ideas and
images which the situation in which Brutus
was then placed, and the fatigue and anxiety
which he had endured, would naturally impress
upon his mind. eis |

But to return to the battle. Brutus fought
against Octavius; while Cassius, two or three
miles distant, encountered Antony, that hav-
ing been, as will be recollected, the disposition
of the respective armies and their encampments
upon the plain. Brutus was triumphantly sue-
cessful in his part of the field. His troops de-
feated the army of Octavius, and got possession
of his camp. The men. forced their way into
Oetavius’s tent, and pierced the litter in which
they supposed that the sick general was lying
through and through with their spears. But
the object of their desperate hostility was. not
there. He had been borne away by his guards
a few minutes before, and no one knew what
had become of him. , yi

The result of the battle was, however, unfor-
tunately for those whose adventures we are now
more particularly following, very different in
Cassius’s part of the field. When Brutus, after
completing the conquest of his own immediate
B.C.41.] Tue Barrie or Puiuipps, 217

Defeat of Cassius. Brutus goes to his aid,

foes, returned to his elevated camp, he looked
toward the camp of Cassius, and was surprised
to find that the tents had disappeared. Some
of the officers around perceived weapons glan-
cing and glittering in the sun in the place where
Cassius’s tents ought to appear. Brutus now
suspected the truth, which was, that Cassius
had been defeated, and his camp had fallen into
the hands of the enemy. He immediately col-
lected together as large a force as he could com-
mand; and marched to the relief of his col-
league. He found him, at last, posted with a
small body of guards and attendants upon the
top of a small elevation to which he had fled
for safety. Cassius saw the troop of horsemen
which Brutus sent forward coming toward him,
and supposed that it was a detachment from
Antony’s army advancing to capture him. He,
however, sent a messenger forward to meet
them, and ascertain whether they were friends
or foes. The messenger, whose name was Ti-
tinius, rode down. The horsemen recognized
Titinius, and, riding up eagerly around him,
they dismounted from their horses to congrat-
ulate him on his safety, and to press him with
inquiries in respect to the result of the battle
and the fate of his master,
218 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41

Sennen eens ee.
Death of Cassius. Grief of Brutus.

Cassius, seeing all this, but not seeing it very
distinctly, supposed that the troop of horsemen
were enemies, and that they had surrounded
Titinius, and had cut him down or made him
prisoner. He considered it certain, therefore,
that all was now finally lost. Accordingly, in
execution of a plan which he had previously
formed, he called a servant, named Pindarus,
whom he directed to follow him, and went into
a tent which was near. When Brutus and
his horsemen came up, they entered the tent.
They found no living person within; but the
dead body of Cassius was there, the head being
totally dissevered from it. Pindarus was never
afterward to be found.

Brutus was overwhelmed. with grief at the
death of his colleague; he was also oppressed
by it with a double burden of responsibility and
care, since now the whole conduct of affairs de-
volved upon him alone. He found himself sur-
rounded with difficulties which became more
and more embarrassing every day. At length
he was compelled to fight a second battle. The
details of the contest itself we can not give, but
the result of it was; that, notwithstanding the
most unparalleled and desperate exertions made
by Brutus to keep his men to the work, and to
B.C.41.] Tue Barrie or Puiuippr. 219

Defeat of Brutus. His retreat.

maintain his ground, his troops were borne down
and overwhelmed by the irresistible onsets of
his enemies, and his cause was irretrievably and
hopelessly ruined.

When Brutus found that all was lost, he al-
lowed himself to be conducted off the field by a
small body of guards, who, in their retreat,
broke through the ranks of the enemy on a side
where they saw that they should meet with the
least resistance. ‘They were, however, pursued
by a squadron of horse, the horsemen being
eager to make Brutusa prisoner. In this emer-
gency, one of Brutus’s friends, named Lucilius,
conceived the design of pretending to be Brutus,
and, as such, surrendering himself a prisoner.
This plan he carried into effect. When the
troop came up, he called out for quarter, said
that he was Brutus, and begged them to spare
his life, and to take him to Antony. The men
did so, rejoiced at having, as they imagined, se-
cured so invaluable a prize.

In the mean time, the real Brutus pressed
on to make his escape. He crossed a brook
which came in his way, and entered into a little
dell, which promised to afford a hiding-place,
since it was encumbered with precipitous rocks
and shaded with trees. A few friends and offi-
220 CLEWPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Situation of Brutus in the glen. The helmet of water.

cers accompanied Brutus in his flight. Night
soon came on, and he lay down ina little recess
under a shelving rock, exhausted with fatigue
and suffering. Then, raising his eyes to heaven,
he imprecated, in lines quoted from a Greek
poet, the just judgment of God upon the foes
who were at that hour triumphing in what he
considered the ruin of his country.

He then, in his anguish and despair, enumer:
ated by name the several friends and compan-
ions whom he had seen fall that day in battle,
mourning the loss of each with bitter grief. In
the mean time, night was coming on, and the
party, concealed thus in the wild dell, were des-
titute and unsheltered. Hungry and thirsty,
and spent with fatigue as they were, there
seemed to be no prospect for them of either rest
or refreshment. Finally they sent one of their
number to steal softly back to the rivulet which
they had crossed in their retreat, to bring them
some water. The soldier took his helmet to
bring the water in, for want of any other vessel.
While Brutus was drinking the water which
they brought, a noise was heard in the opposite
direction. T'wo of the officers were sent to ase
certain the cause. They came back soon, re-
porting that there was a party of the enemy in
B.C.41.}) Tue Barrux or Puriippr 294
Brutus surrounded. Proposal of Statilius.

that quarter. They asked where the water was
which had been brought. Brutus told them
that it had all been drank, but that he would
send immediately for more. The messenger
went accordingly to the brook again, but he
came back very soon, wounded and bleeding,
and reported that the enemy was close upon
them on that side too, and that he had narrowly
escaped with his life. The apprehensions of
Brutus’s party were greatly increased by these
tidings: it was evident that all hope of being
able to remain long concealed where they were
must fast disappear. ow
One of the officers, named Statilius, then pro-
posed to make the attempt to find his way out
of the snare in which they had become involved.
He would go, he said, as cautiously as possible,
avoiding all parties of the enemy, and _ being
favored by the darkness of the night, he hopéd
to find some way of retreat. If he succeeded,
he would display a torch on a distant elevation
which he designated, so that the party in. the
glen, on seeing the light, might be assuréd of
his safety. He would then return and guide
them all through the danger, by the way which
he should have discovered.
. This plan was approved, and Statilius ac-
222 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.
Anxiety and suspense. Resolution of Brutus,

cordingly departed. In due time the light was
seen burning at the place which had been point-
ed out, and indicating that Statilius had accom-
plished his undertaking. Brutus and his party
were greatly cheered by the new hope which
this result awakened. They began to watch
and listen for their messenger’s return. They
watched and waited long, but he did not come.
On the way back he was intercepted and slain.

When at length all hope that he would re-
turn was finally abandoned, some of the party,
in the course of the despairing consultations
which the unhappy fugitives held with one an-
other, said that they must not remain any longer
where they were, but must make their escape
from that spot. at all hazards, ** Yes,” said
Brutus, “‘we must indeed make our escape
from our present situation, but we must do it
with our hands, and not with our feet.” He
meant by this that. the only means now left to
them to evade their enemies was self-destruc-
tion. When his friends understood that this
was his meaning, and that he was resolved to
put this design into execution in his own case,
they were overwhelmed with sorrow. Brutus
took them, one by one, by the hand and bade
them farewell. He thanked them for their fidel-
B.C. 41.] Tue Barrie or Puiuiprr. 223

.
Brutus’s farewell to his friends. The last duty.
tats

ity in adhering to his cause to the last, and said
that it was a source of great comfort and satis-
faction to him that all his friends had proved so
faithful and true. “TI do not complain of my
hard fate,” he added, ‘so far as I myself am
concerned. I mourn only for my unhappy coun-
try. As to myself, I think that my condition
even now is better than that of my enemies;
for, though I die, posterity will do me justice,
and I shall enjoy forever the honor which virtue
and integrity deserve ; -while they, though they
live, live only to reap the bitter fruits of injus-
tice and of tyranny.

‘After I am gone,” he continued, addressing
his friends, as before, “think no longer of me,
but take care of yourselves. Antony, I am sure, -
will be satisfied with Cassius’s death and mine.
He will not be disposed to pursue you vindic-
tively any longer. Make peace with him on
the best terms that you can.”

Brutus then asked first one and then an-
other of his friends to aid him in the last duty,
as he seems to have considered it, of destroying
his life; but one after. another declared that
they could not do any thing to assist him in
carrying into effect so dreadful a determination.
Finally, he took with him an old and long-tried
224 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Death of Brutus. Situation of Antony.

friend named Strato, and went away a little,
apart from the rest. Here he solicited once
more the favor which had been refused him be-
fore—begging that Strato would hold out his
sword. Stratostillrefused. Brutus then called
one of his slaves. Upon this Strato declared
that he would do any thing rather than that
Brutus should die by the hand of a slave. He
took the sword, and with his right hand held it
extended in the air. With the left hand he
covered his eyes, that k® might not witness the
horrible spectacle. Brutus rushed upon the
point of the weapon with such fatal force that
he fell and immediately expired.

Thus ended the great and famous battle of
Philippi, celebrated in history as marking the
termination of the great conflict between the
friends and the enemies of Cesar, which agita-
ted the world so deeply after the conqueror’s
death. This battle established the ascendency
of Antony, and made him for a time the most
conspicuous man, as Cleopatra was the most
conspicuous woman, in the world.
B.C. 41.] CLEOPATRA AND Antony. 295

Cleopatra espouses Antony’s cause. Her motives,

CHapTer X.
CLEOPATRA AND ANTowny.

Hew far Cleopatra was influenced, in her

determination to espouse the cause of An-
tony rather than that of Brutus and Cassius, in
the civil war described in the last chapter, by
gratitude to Cesar, and how far, on the other
hand, by personal interest in Antony, the read-
er must judge. Cleopatra had seen Antony, it
will be recollected, some years before, during
his visit to Egypt, when she was a young girl.
She was doubtless well acquainted with his
character. It was a character peculiarly fitted,
in some respects, to captivate the imagination
of a woman so ardent, and impulsive, and bold
as Cleopatra was fast becoming.

Antony had, in fact, made himself an object
of universal interest throughout the world, by
his wild and eccentric manners and reckless
conduct, and by the very extraordinary vicissi-
tudes which had marked his career.’ In moral
character he was as utterly abandoned and de.
praved as it was possible to be. In early life,

P
226 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Antony’s early life. His character.

as has already been stated, he plunged into such
a course of dissipation and extravagance that
he became utterly and hopelessly ruined ; or,
rather, he would have been so, had he not, by
the influence of that magic power of fascination
which such characters often possess, succeeded
in gaining a great ascendency over a young
man of immense fortune, named Curio, who for
a time upheld him by becoming surety for his
debts. This resource, however, soon failed, and
Antony was compelled to abandon Rome, and
to live for some years as a fugitive and exile, in
dissolute wretchedness and want. During all
the subsequent vicissitudes through which he
passed in the course of his career, the same
habits of lavish expenditure continued, when-
ever he had funds at his command. This trait
in his character took the form sometimes of a
noble generosity. In his campaigns, the plun-
der which he acquired he usually divided among
his soldiers, reserving nothing for himself. ‘This
made his men enthusiastically devoted to him,
and led them to consider his prodigality asa
virtue, even when they did not themselves de-
rive any direct advantage from it. A thousand
stories were always in circulation in camp of
acts on his part illustrating his reckless disre-
B.C.41.] CLreopatra anv Anvony. 227

Personal habits of Antony. His dress and manners.

gard of the value of money, some ludicrous, and
all eccentric and strange.

In his personal habits, too, he was as differ.
ent as possible from other men. He prided him-
self on being descended from Hercules, and he
affected a style of dress and a general air and
manner in accordance with the savage charac-
ter of this his pretended ancestor. His features
were sharp, his nose was arched and prominent,
and he wore his hair and beard. very long—as
long, in fact, as he could make them grow.
These peculiarities imparted to his countenance
.avery wild and ferocious expression. He adopt-
ed a style of dress, too, which, judged of with
reference to the prevailing fashions of the time,
gave to his whole appearance a rough, savage,
and reckless air. His manner and demeanor
corresponded with his dress and appearance.
He lived-in habits of the most unreserved fa.
miliarity with his soldiers. He associated free-
ly with them, ate and drank with them in the
open air, and joined in their noisy mirth and
rude and boisterous hilatity. His commanding
poweis of mind, and the desperate recklessness
of his courage, enabled him to do all this with-
out danger. These qualities inspired in the
minds of the soldiers a feeling of profound re-
228 Curopatra. ‘{B.C.41.

Vicious indulgences of Antony. Public condemnation.

spect for their commander ; and this good opin-
ion he was enabled to retain, notwithstanding
such habits of familiarity with his inferiors as
would have been fatal to the influence of an or-
dinary man.

In the most prosperous portion of Antony’s
career—for example, during the period imme-
diately preceding the death of Ceesar—he ad-
* dicted himself to vicious indulgences of the most
open, public, and shameless character. He had
around him a sort of court, formed of jesters,
tumblers, mountebanks, play-actors, and other
similar characters of the lowest and most dis-,
reputable class. Many of these companions
were singing and dancing girls, very beautiful,
and very highly accomplished in the arts of
their respective professions, but all totally cor-
rupt and depraved. Public sentiment, even in
that age and nation, strongly condemned this
conduct. The people were pagans, it is true,
but it is a mistake to suppose that the forma-
tion of a moral sentiment in the community
against such vices as these is a work which
Christianity alone can perform. There is a law
of nature, in the form of an instinct universal
in the race, imperiously enjoining thaf the con-
nection of the sexes shall consist of the union
B.C.41.] Cueoparra anp ANTony. 229

Vices of the great, Candidates for office,

of one man with one woman, and that woman
his wife, and very sternly prohibiting every oth-
er. So that there has probably never been a
community in the world so corrupt, that a man
could practice in it such vices as those of An-
tony, without not only violating his own sense
of right and wrong, but also bringing upon him-
self the general condemnation of those around
him. | |

Stil, the world are prone to be very tolerant
in respect to the vices of the great. Such ex-
alted personages as Antony seem to be judged
by a different standard from common men.
Even in the countries where those who occupy
high stations of trust or. of power are actually
selected, for the purpose of being placed there,
by the voices of their fellow-men, all inquiry
into the personal character of a candidate is
often suppressed, such inquiry being condemned
as wholly irrelevant and improper, and they
who succeed in attaining to power enjoy im-
munities in their elevation which are denied
to common men.

But, notwithstanding the influence of An-
tony’s rank and power in shielding him from
public censure, he carried his excesses to such
an extreme that his conduct was very loudly
230 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 41,
Antony’s excesses. His luxury and extravagance.

and very generally condemned. He would
spend all the night in carousals, and then, the
next day, would appear in public, staggering in
the streets. Sometimes he would enter the tri-
bunals for the transaction of business when he
was so intoxicated that it would be necessary
for friends to come to his assistance to conduct
him away. In some of his journeys in the
neighborhood of Rome, he would take a troop
of companions with him of the worst possible
character, and travel with them openly and
without shame. ‘There was a certain actress,
named Cytheride, whom he made his compan-
ion on one such occasion. She was borne upon
a litter in his train, and he carried about with
him a vast collection of gold and silver plate,
and of splendid table furniture, together with
an endless supply of luxurious articles of food
and of wine, to provide for the entertainments
and banquets which he was to celebrate with
her on the journey. He would sometimes stop
by the road side, pitch his tents, establish his
kitchens, set his cooks at work to prepare a
feast, spread his tables, and make a sumptuous
banquet of the most costly, complete, and cer-
emonious character—all to make men wonder
at the abundance and perfection of the. means
B.C.41.] CLeopatTra anp Antony. 231

Antony’s energy. His powers of endurance.

of luxury which he could carry with him wher-
ever he might go. In fact, he always seemed
to feel a special pleasure in doing strange and
extraordinary things in order to excite surprise.
Once on a journey he had lions harnessed to his
carts to draw his baggage, in order to create a
sensation. . aa ee a
Notwithstanding the heedlessness with which
Antony abandoned himself to these luxurious
pleasures when at Rome, no man could endure
exposure and hardship better when in camp or
on the field. In fact, he rushed with as much
headlong precipitation into difficulty and danger
when abroad, as into expense and dissipation
when at home. During his contests with Oc-
tavius and Lepidus, after Ceesar’s death, he once
had occasion to pass the Alps, which, with his
customary recklessness, he attempted to trav-
erse without any proper supplies of stores or
means of transportation. He was reduced, on
the passage, together with the troops under his
command, to the most extreme destitution and
distress. They had to feed on roots and herbs,
and finally on the bark of trees; and they barely
preserved themselves, by these means, from ac-
tual starvation. Antony seemed, however, to
care nothing for all this, but pressed on through
232 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 41.
Antony's vicissitudes. He inveigles away the troops of Lepidus,

the difficulty and danger, manifesting the same
daring and determined unconcern to the end.
In the same campaign he found himself at one
time reduced to extreme destitution in respect
to men. His troops had been gradually wasted
away until his situation had become very des,
perate. He conceived, under these circum-
stances, the most extraordinary idea of going
over alone to the camp of Lepidus and enticing
away his rival’s troops from under the very eyes
of their commander. This bold design was suc«
cessfully executed. Antony advanced alone,
clothed in wretched ‘garments, and with. his
matted hair and beard hanging about his breast
and shoulders, up to Lepidus’s lines. ‘The men,
who knew him well, received him with accla-
mations; and pitying the sad condition to which
they saw that he was reduced, began to listen
to what he had to say. Lepidus, who could
not attack him, since he and Antony were not
at that time in open hostility to each other, but
were only rival commanders in the same army,
ordered the trumpeters to sound, in order to
make a noise which should prevent the words
of Antony from being heard. This interrupted
the negotiation; but the men immediately dis-
guised two of their number in female apparel,
B.C.41.] Cleopatra ann AnToNyY. 2383

Antony's marriage. Fulvia’s character.

Senda Eacpicdeinntoemivaacondbanieeetinionsiapeineationionseapiageeeee
and sent them to Antony to make arrange-
ments with him for putting themselves under
his command, and offering, at the same time,
to murder Lepidus, if he would but speak the
word. Antony charged them to do Lepidus no
injury. He, however, went over and took pos-
session of the camp, and assumed the command
of the army. He treated Lepidus himself, per-
sonally, with extreme politeness, and retained
him as a subordinate under his command.

Not far from the time of Ceesar’s death, An-
tony was married. The name of the lady was
Fulvia. She was a widow at the time of her
marriage with Antony, and was a woman of
very marked and decided character. She had
led a wild and irregular life previous to this
time, but she conceived a very strong attach-
ment to her new husband, and devoted herself
to him from the time of her marriage with the
most constant fidelity. She soon acquired a
very great ascendency over him, and was the
means of effecting a very considerable reform in
his conduct and character. She was an ambi«
tious and aspiring woman, and made many very
efficient and successful efforts to promote the
elevation and aggrandizement of her husband.
She appeared, also, to take a great pride and
234 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Ee ety tniaeewnrnee-eesirsirssinemeemnneyitinimninhsitiiibetinmenatpilisaiinnsdsinsiine
Fulvia’s influence over Antony. The sudden return,

pleasure in exercising over him, herself, a great
personal control. She succeeded in these at-
tempts in a manner that surprised every body.
It seemed astonishing to all mankind that such
a tiger as he had been could be subdued by any
human power. Nor was it by gentleness and
mildness that Fulvia gained such power over
her husband. She was of a very stern and
masculine character, and she seems to have
mastered Antony by surpassing him in the use
efhisown weapons. In fact, instead of attempt-
ing to soothe and mollify him, she reduced him,
it seems, to the necessity of resorting to various
contrivances to soften and propitiate her. Once,
for example, on his return from a campaign in
which he had been exposed to great dangers,
he disguised himself and came home at night
in the garb of a courier bearing dispatches. He
caused himself to be ushered, muffled and dis-
guised as he was, into Fulvia’s apartments,
where he handed her some pretended letters,
which, he said, were from her husband; and
while Fulvia was opening them in great ex-
citement and trepidation, he threw off his dis-
guise, and revealed himself to her by clasping
her in his arms and kissing her in the midst of
her amazoment,
B.C.41.] Creoparra anp Antony. 235

Change in Antony’s character. His generosity.
tenses eines

Antony’s marriage with Fulvia, besides being
the means of reforming his morals in some de-
gree, softened and civilized him in respect to
his manners. His dress and appearance now
assumed a different character. In fact, his po-
litical elevation after Casar’s death soon became
very exalted, and the various democratic arts
by which he had sought to raise himself to it,
being now no longer necessary, were, as usual
in such cases, gradually discarded. He lived
in great style and splendor when at Rome, and
when absent from home, on his military cam-
paigns, he began to exhibit the same pomp and
parade in his equipage and in his arrangements
as were usual in the camps of other Roman
generals, be ) |

After the battle of Philippi, described in the
last chapter, Antony—who, with all his faults,
was sometimes a very generous foe—as soon as
the tidings of Brutus’s death were brought to
him, repaired immediately to the spot, and ap-
peared to be quite shocked and concerned at
the sight of the body. He took off his own mil-
itary cloak or mantle—which was a very mag-
nificent and costly garment, being enriched with
many expensive ornaments—and spread it over
the corpse. He then gave directions to one of
236 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Ss
Funeral ceremonies of Brutus. Antony’s movements.
EEE

the officers of his household to make arrange-
ments for funeral ceremonies of a very imposing
character, as a testimony of his’ respect for the
memory of the deceased. In these ceremonies
it was the duty of the officer to have burned
the military cloak which Antony had appropri-
ated to the purpose of a pall, with the body.
He did not, however, do so. The cloak being
very valuable, he reserved it; and he withheld,
also, a considerable part of the money which
had been given him for the expenses of the fu-
neral. He supposed that Antony would proba-
bly not. inquire very closely into the details of
the arrangements made for the funeral of his
most inveterate enemy. Antony, however, did
inquire into them, and when he learned what
the officer had done, he ordered him to be killed.

The various political changes which occur-
red, and the movements which took place among
the several armies after the battle of Philippi,
can not be here detailed. It is sufficient to say
that Antony proceeded to the eastward through
Asia Minor, and in the course of the following
year came into Cilicia. From this place he
sent a messenger to, Egypt to Cleopatra, sum-
moning her to appear before him. -There were
charges, he said, against her, of having aided
B.C.41.] Curopatra anp Antony. 237.

aoe
Antony's summons to Cleopatra. The messenger Dellius.

Cassius and Brutus in the late war instead of
rendering assistance to him. Whether there
really-were any such charges, or whether they
were only fabricated by Antony as pretexts for
seeing Cleopatra, the fame of whose beauty was
very widely extended, does not certainly appear.
However this may be, he sent to summon the
queen to come to him. The name of the mes«
senger whom Antony dispatched on this errand
was Dellius. Fulvia, Antony’s wife, was not
with him at this time. She had been left be-
hind at Rome. |
Dellius proceeded to Egypt and appeared at
Cleopatra’s court. The queen was at this time
about twenty-eight years old, but more beauti«
ful, as was said, than ever before. Dellius was
very much struck with her beauty, and with a
certain fascination in her voice and conversation,
of which her ancient biographers often speak as
one of the most irresistible of her charms. He
told her that she need have no fear of Antony.
It was of no consequence, he said, what charg-
es there might be against her. She would find
that, in a very few days after she had entered
into Antony’s presence, she would be in great
favor. She might rely, in fact, he said, on gain-
ing, very speedily, an unbounded ascendency
235 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.
Cleopatra resolves to goto Antony. +~—~dHer preparations.
over the general. He advised her, therefore, to
proceed to Cilicia without fear, and to present
herself before Antony in as much pomp and
magnificence as she could command. He would
answer, he said, for the result.

Cleopatra determined to follow this advice.
In fact, her ardent and impulsive imagination
was fired with the idea of making, a second
time, the conquest of the greatest general and
highest potentate in the world. She began im-
mediately to make provision for the voyage.
_ She employed all the resources of her kingdom
in procuring for herself the most magnificent
means of display, such as expensive and splen-
did dresses, rich services of plate, ornaments of
precious stones and of gold, and presents in
great variety and of the most costly description
for Antony. She appointed, also, a numerous
retinue of attendants to accompany her, and, in
a word, made all the arrangements complete for
an expedition of the most imposing and mag-
nificent character. While these preparations
were going forward, she received new and fre-
quent communications from Antony, urgiug her
to hasten her departure ; but she paid very lit-
_ tle attention to them. It was evident that she
felt quite independent, and was intending to
take her own time.
B.C.41.] CLeoparra ann Antony, 9239
Cleopatra enters the Cydnus. Her splendid Barge.

At length, however, all was ready, and Cle-
opatra set sail. She crossed the Mediterranean
Sea, and entered the mouth of the River Cyd-
nus. Antony was at Tarsus, a city upon the
Cydnus, a small distance above its mouth.
When Cleopatra’s fleet had entered the river,
she embarked on board a most magnificent
barge which she had constructed for the occa-
sion, and had brought with her across the sea.
This barge was the most magnificent and high-
ly-ornamented vessel that had ever been built.
It was adorned with carvings and decorations
of the finest workmanship, and elaborately gild-
ed. The sails were of purple, and the oars
were inlaid and tipped with silver. Upon the
deck of this barge Queen Cleopatra appeared,
under a canopy o: cloth of gold. She was dressed
very magnificently in the costume in which Ve-
nus, the goddess of Beauty, was then generally
represented. She was surrounded by a compa-
ny of beautiful Loys, who attended upon her in
the form of Cupids, and fanned her with their
wings, and by a group of young girls represent-
ing the Nymphs and the Graces. There was
a band of musicians stationed upon the deck.
This music guided the oarsmen, as they kept
time to it in their rowing ; and, soft as the mel-
240 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 41.

ELL LET LL
A scene of enchantment. Antony’s invitation refused.



ody was, the strains were heard far and wide
over the water and along the shores, as the
beautiful vessel advanced on its way. The
performers were provided with flutes, lyres, ‘vi-
ols, and all the other instruments customarily
used in those times to produce music of a gen-
tle and voluptuous kind.

In fact, the whole spectacle seemed like a
vision of enchantment. ‘Tidings of the approach
of the barge spread rapidly around, and the
people of the country came down in crowds to
the shores of the river to gaze upon it in admi-
ration as it glided slowly along. At the time
of its arrival at Tarsus, Antony was engaged
in giving a public audience at some tribunal in
his palace, but every body ran to see Cleopatra
and the barge, and the great triumvir was left
consequently alone, or,.at least, with only a
‘few official attendants near him. Cleopatra,
on arriving at the city, landed, and began to
pitch her tents on the shores. Antony sent a
messenger to bid her welcome, and to invite her
to come and sup with him. She declined the
invitation, saying that it was more proper that
he should come and sup with her. She would
accordingly expect him to come, she said, and
her tents would be ready at the proper hour.

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:
|


B.C.41.] Anrony anp CLieoparra, 243

re a ee rename linen itnin i prnalehill aaa!
Cleopatra’s reception of Antony. Antony outdone,



Antony complied with her proposal, and came
to her entertainment. He was received with a
magnificence and splendor which amazed him.
The tents and pavilions where the entertain-
ment was made were illuminated with an im-
mense number of lamps. These lamps were
arranged in a very ingenious and_ beautiful
manner, so as to produce an illumination of the
most surprising brilliancy and beauty. The
immense number and variety, too, of the meats
and wines, and of the vessels of gold and silver,
with which the tables were loaded, and the
magnificence and splendor of the dresses worn
by Cleopatra and her attendants, combined to
render the whole scene one of bewildering en-
chantment. 3 | Te

The next day, Antony invited Cleopatra to
come and return his visit ; but, though he made
every possible effort to provide a banquet as
sumptuous and as sumptuously served as hers,
he failed entirely in this attempt, and acknowl-
edged himself completely outdone. Antony.
was, moreover, at these interviews, perfectly
fascinated with Cleopatra’s charms. Her beau-
ty, her wit, her thousand accomplishments, and,
above, all, the tact, and adroitness, and self-pos-
session which she displayed in assuming at once
244 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

seine iaialaantincrstensttancmmnrtaennincieiinimametssiailiiaatititit iid i
Murder of Arsinoé. Cleopatra’s manner of life at Tarsus,

so boldly, and carrying out so adroitly, the idea
of her social superiority over him, that he yield-
ed his heart almost immediately to her undis-
puted sway.

The first use which Cleopatra made of her
power was to ask Antony, for her sake, to or-
der her sister Arsinoé to be slain. Arsinoé
had gone, it will be recollected, to Rome, to
grace Cesar’s triumph there, and had afterward
retired to Asia, where she was now living an
exile. Cleopatra, either from a sentiment of
past revenge, or else from some apprehensions
of future danger, now desired that her sister
should die. Antony readily acceded to her re-
quest. He sent an officer in search of the un-
happy princess. The officer slew her where he
found her, within the precincts of a temple to
which she had fled, supposing it a sanctuary
which no degree of hostility, however extreme,
would have dared to violate.

- Cleopatra remained at Tarsus for some time,
revolving in an incessant round of gayety and
pleasure, and living in habits of unrestrained
intimacy with Antony. She was accustomed
to spend whole days and nights with him in
feasting and revelry. The immense magnifi-
cence of these entertainments, especially on
B.C.41.] Anrony anno Crueoparra, 245



Cleopatra’s munificence. Bhory of the pearil
Cleopatra’s part, were the wonder of the world.
She seems to have taken special pleasure in ex-
citing Antony’s surprise by the display of her
wealth and the boundless extravagance in which
she indulged. At one of her banquets, Antony
was expressing his astonishment at the vast
number of gold cups, enriched with jewels, that
were displayed on all sides. ‘‘Oh,” said she,
‘they are nothing; if you like them, you shall
have them all.” So saying, she ordered her
servants to carry them to Antony’s house. The
next day she invited Antony again, with a large
number of the chief officers of his army and
court. ‘The table was spread with a new serv-
ice of gold and silver vessels, more extensive
and splendid than that of the preceding day ;
and at the close of the supper, when the com-
pany was about to depart, Cleopatra distribu-
ted all these treasures among the guests that
had been present at the entertainment. At an-
other of these feasts, she carried her ostentation
and display to the astonishing extreme of tak-
ing off from one of her ear-rings a pearl of im-
mense value and dissolving it in a cup of vine-
gar,* which she afterward made into a drink,

* Pearls, being of the nature of shell in their composition
and structure, are soluble in certain acids.
246 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.

Position of Fulvia. i Her anxiety and distress.



such as was customarily used in those days,
and then drank it. She was proceeding to: do
the same with the other pearl, when some of
the company arrested the proceeding, and took
the remaining pearl away.

In the mean time, while Antony was thus
wasting his time in luxury and pleasure with
Cleopatra, his public duties were neglected, and
every thing was getting into confusion. Fulvia
remained in Italy. Her position and her char:
acter gave her a commanding political influence,
and she exerted herself in a very energetic man-
ner to sustain, in that quarter of the world, the
interests of her husband’s cause. She was sur-
rounded with difficulties and dangers, the de-
tails of which can not, however, be here partie-
ularly described, She wrote continually to An-
tony, urgently entreating him to come to Rome,
and displaying in her letters all those marks of
agitation and distress which a wife would natu-
rally feel under the circumstances in which she
was placed. The thought that her husband
had been so completely drawn away from her
by the guilty arts of such a woman, and led by
her to abandon his wife and his family, and
leave in neglect and confusion concerns of such
momentous magnitude as those which demand-
B.C.41.] Anrony anv Cleopatra. 247

Antony proposes to go to Rome. His plans frustrated by Cleopatra,
ehaienindgitiesinaiiieaiasaimaniartniihiapienioetiaennaenitatiasieniiaibididiidilidedisg aati ae ee

ed his attention at home, produced an excite-
ment in her mind bordering upon phrensy. An-
tony was at length so far influenced by the ur-
gency of the case that he determined to return.
He broke up his quarters at Tarsus and moved
south toward Tyre, which was a great naval
port and station in those days. Cleopatra went
with him. They were to separate at Tyre.
She was to embark there for Egypt, and he for
Rome.

At least that was Antony’s plan, but it was
not Cleopatra’s. She had determined that An-
tony should go with her to Alexandria. As
might have been expected, when the time came
for the decision, the woman gained the day.
Her flatteries, her arts, her caresses, her tears,
prevailed. After a brief struggle between the
sentiment of love on the one hand and those of
ambition and of duty combined on the other,
Antony gave up the contest. Abandoning
every thing else, he surrendered himself wholly
to Cleopatra’s control, and went with her to
Alexandria. He spent the winter there, giving
himself up with her to every species of sensual
indulgence that the most remorseless license
could tolerate, and the most unbounded wealth
procure,
248 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 41.

: : . .
Antony’s infatuation. Feasting and revelry.





There seemed, in fact, to be no bounds to the
extravagance and infatuation which Antony dis-
played during the winter in Alexandria. Cleo-
patra devoted herself to him incessantly, day and
night, filling up every moment of time with some
new form of pleasure, in order that he might
have no time to think of his absent wife, or to
listen to the reproaches of his Conscience. An-
tony, on his part, surrendered himself a willing
victim to these wiles, and entered with all his
heart into the thousand plans of gayety and
merry-making which Cleopatra devised. They
had each a separate establishment in the city,
which was maintained at an enormous cost, and
they made a regular arrangement by which each
was the guest of the other on alternate days.
These visits were spent in games, sports, spec-
tacles, feasting, drinking, and in every species
of riot, irregularity, and excess,

A curious instance is afforded of the acci-
dental manner in which intelligence in respect
to the scenes and incidents of private life in
those ancient days is sometimes obtained, in a
circumstance which occurred at this time at
Antony’s court. It seems that there was a
young medical student at Alexandria that win.
ter, named Philotas, who happened, in some
B.C.41.] Anrony anv Cueopartra. 249

Philotas. The story of the eight boars.
oe Tenement atnienetinatahinsesslttinelinsuhaidueneia cme.

way or other, to have formed an acquaintance
with one of Antony’s domestics, a cook. Under
the guidance of this cook, Philotas went oné day
into the palace to see what was to be seen, The
cook took his friend into the kitchens, where,
to Philotas’s great surprise, he saw, among an
infinite number and variety of other prepara-
tions, eight wild boars roasting before the fires,
some being more and some less advanced in the
process. Philotas asked what great company
was to dine there that day. The cook smiled
at this question, and replied that there was to
be no company at all, other than Antony’s ordi-
nary party. ‘“ But,” said the cook, in explana-
tion, “we are obliged always to prepare several
suppers, and to have them ready in succession
at different hours, for no one can tell at what
time they will order the entertainment to be
served. Sometimes, when the supper has been
actually carried in, Antony and Cleopatra will
get engaged in some new turn of their diver.
sions, and conclude not to sit down just then to
the table, and so we have to take the supper
away, and presently bring in another.”
Antony had a son with him at Alexandria at
this time, the child of his wife Fulvia. The
name of the son, as well as that of the father,
250 ULEOPATRA. [B.C. 41.
Antony’s son. The garrulous guest.

was Antony. He was old enough to feel some
sense of shame at his father’s dereliction from
duty, and to manifest some respectful regard
for the rights and the honor of his mother. — In-
stead of this, however, he imitated his father’s
example, and, in his own way, was as reckless
and as extravagant as he. The same Philotas
who is above referred to was, after a time, ap-
pointed to some office or other in the young
Antony’s household, so that he was accustomed
to sit at his table and share in his convivial en-
joyments. He relates that once, while they
were feasting together, there was a guest pres-
ent, a physician, who was a very vain and con-
ceited man, and so talkative that no one else
had any opportunity to speak. All the pleas-
ure of conversation was spoiled by his excessive
garrulity. Philotas, however, at length puz-
zled him so completely with a question of logic
—of a kind similar to those often discussed with
great interest in ancient days—as to silence him
for a time; and young Antony was so much
delighted with this feat, that he gave Philotas
all the gold and silver plate that there was upon
the table, and sent all the articles home to him,
after the entertainment was over, telling him to
put his mark and stamp upon them, and lock
them up.
B.C.41.] Cueorparra anp Antony. 261

The puzzle. 7 The gold and silver plate returned,

- The question with which Philotas puzzled
the self-conceited physician was this. It must
be premised, however, that in those days it was
considered that cold water in an intermittent
fever was extremely dangerous, except in some
peculiar cases, and in those the effect was good.
Philotas then argued as follows: ‘In cases of
a certain kind it is best to give water to a pa-
tient in an ague. All cases of ague are cases
of a certain kind. Therefore it is best in all
cases to give the patient water.” Philotas hav-
ing propounded his argument in this way, chal-
lenged the physician to point out the fallacy of
it; and while the physician sat perplexed and
puzzled in his attempts to unravel the intricacy
of it, the company enjoyed a temporary respite
from his excessive loquacity.

Philotas adds, in his account of this affair,
that he sent the gold and silver plate back to
young Antony again, being afraid to keep them.
Antony said that perhaps it was as well that
this should be done, since many of the vessels
were of great value on account of their rare and
antique workmanship, and his father might pos-
sibly miss them and wish to know what had
become of them.

As there were no limits, on the one hand, to
252 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 41.

sehen iieetaneeiteinttiamanitiepaatimecenantianitnisiaiitiminnasa aia
Debasing pleasures. Antony and Cleopatra in disguise.
Se arenes ceesrereesensesientneeositencaaanaatteiainammnanetionanes

the loftiness and grandeur of the pleasures to
which Antony and Cleopatra addicted them-
selves, so there were none to the low and de-
basing tendencies which characterized them on
the other. Sometimes, at midnight, after hav-
ing been spending many hours in mirth and
revelry in the palace, Antony would disguise
himself in the dress of a slave, and sally forth
into the streets, excited with wine, in search of
adventures. In many cases, Cleopatra herself,
similarly disguised, would go out with him. On
these excursions Antony would take pleasure in
involving himself in all sorts of difficulties and
dangers—in street riots, drunken brawls, and
desperate quarrels with the populace—all for
Cleopatra’s amusement and his own. Stories
of these adventures would circulate afterward
among the people, some of whom would admire
the free and jovial character of their eccentric
visitor, and others would despise him as a prince
degrading himself to the level of a brute.
Some of the amusements and pleasures which
Antony and Cleopatra pursued were innocent
in themselves, though wholly unworthy to be
made the serious business of life by personages
on whom such exalted duties rightfully devolv-
ed. They made various excursions upon the
B.C.41.] Creoparra and Antony. 258

Fishing excursions. Stratagems.



Nile, and arranged parties of pleasure to go out
on the water in the harbor, and to various rural
retreats in the environs of the city. Once they
went out on a fishing-party, in boats, in the
port. Antony was unsuccessful; and feeling
chagrined that Cleopatra should witness his ill
luck, he made a secret arrangement with some
of the fishermen to dive down, where they could
do so unobserved, and fasten fishes to his hook
under the water. By this plan he caught very
large and fine fish very fast. Cleopatra, how-
ever, was too wary to be easily deceived by such
a stratagem as this. She observed the maneu-
ver, but pretended not to observe it; she ex-
pressed, on the other hand, the greatest sur-
prise and delight at Antony’s good luck, and
the extraordinary skill which it indicated.

The next day she wished to go a fishing
again, and a party was accordingly made as on
the day before. She had, however, secretly in-
structed another fisherman to procure a dried
and salted fish from the market, and, watching
his opportunity, to get down into the water un-
der the boats and attach it to the hook, before
Antony’s divers could get there. This plan
succeeded, and Antony, in the midst of a large
and gay party that were looking on, pulled out
254 CLEOPATRA. — [B.C. 41.

Fulvia’s plans for compelling Antony to return.



an excellent fish, cured and dried, such as was
known to every one as an imported article,
bought in the market. It was a fish of a kind
that was brought originally from Asia Minor.
The boats, and the water all around them, re-
sounded with the shouts of merriment and
laughter which this incident occasioned.

In the mean time, while Antony was thus
spending his time in low and ignoble pursuits
and in guilty pleasures at Alexandria, his wife
Fulvia, after exhausting all other means of in-
ducing her husband to return to her, became
desperate, and took measures for fomenting an
open war, which she thought would compel him
to return. The extraordinary energy, influ-
ence, and talent which Fulvia possessed, ena-
bled her to do this in an effectual manner.
She organized an army, formed a camp, placed
herself at the head of the troops, and sent such
tidings to Antony of the dangers which threat-
ened his cause as greatly alarmed him. At the
same time news came of great disasters in Asia
Minor, and of alarming insurrections among
the provinces which had been committed to his
charge there. Antony saw that he must arouse
himself from the spell which had enchanted
B.C. 41.] CLeopaTRa AND AnTony. 206

Departure of Antony. Chagrin of Cleopatra.

him and break away from Cleopatra, or that he
would be wholly and irretrievably ruined. He
made, accordingly, a desperate effort to get free.
He bade the queen farewell, embarked hastily
in a fleet of galleys, and sailed away to Tyre,
leaving Cleopatra in her palace, vexed, disap-
pointed, and chagrined.
256 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.

ee ra nn nnn fade nee aan eer
Perplexity of Antony. His meeting with Fulvia.



CuarpTer XI.

THe Batrue or Actium.

GE PPOPATRA, in parting with Antony as

described in the last chapter, lost him for
two or three years. During this time Antony
himself was involved in a great variety of diffi-
culties and dangers, and passed through many
eventful scenes, which, however, can not here
be described in detail. His life, during this
period, was full of vicissitude and excitement,
and was spent probably in alternations of re-
morse for the past and anxiety for the future.
On landing at Tyre, he was at first extremely
perplexed whether to go to Asia Minor or to
Rome. His presence was imperiously demand-
ed in both places. The war which Fulvia had
fomented was caused, in part, by the rivalry
of Octavius, and the collision of his interests
with those of her husband. Antony was very
angry with her for having managed his affairs
in such a way as to bring about a war. After
a time Antony and Fulvia met at Athens. Ful-
via had retreated to that city, and was ‘very —
B.C.31.] Tue Barrie or Actium. 257
Meeting of Antony and Fulvia. Reconciliation of Antony and Octavius.
seriously sick there, either from bodily disease,
or from the influence of long-continued anxiety,
vexation, and distress. They had a stormy
meeting. Neither party was disposed to exer-
cise any mercy toward the other. Antony left
his wife rudely and roughly, after loading her
with reproaches. A short time afterward, she
sank down in sorrow to the grave.

The death of Fulvia was an event which
proved to be of advantage to Antony. It opened
the way to a reconciliation between him and
Octavius. Fulvia had been extremely active
in opposing Octavius’s designs, and in organi-
zing plans for resisting him. He felt, therefore,
a special hostility against her, and, through her,
against Antony. Now, however, that she was
dead, the way seemed to be in some sense open-
ed for a reconciliation.

Octavius had a sister, Octavia, who had been
the wife of a Roman general named Marcellus.
She was a very beautiful and a very accom-
plished woman, and of a spirit very different
from that of Fulvia. She was gentle, affec-
tionate, and kind, a lover of peace and harmony,
and not at all disposed, like Fulvia, to assert
and maintain her influence over others by an
overbearing and violent demeanor. Octavia’s

R
258 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31,

eee
Octavia. Her marriage to Antony.



husband died about this time, and, in the course
of the movements and negotiations between An-
tony and Octavius, the plan was proposed of a
marriage between Antony and Octavia, which,
it was thought, would ratify and confirm the
reconciliation. 'This proposal was finally agreed
upon. Antony was glad to find so easy a mode
of settling his difficulties. The people of Rome,
too, and the authorities there, knowing that the
peace of the world depended upon the terms on
which these two men stood with regard to each
other, were extremely desirous that this ar-
rangement should be carried into effect. There
was a law of the commonwealth forbidding the
marriage of a widow within a specified period
after the death of her husband. That period
had not, in Octavia’s case, yet expired. There
was, however, so strong a desire that no ob-
stacle should be allowed to prevent this proposed
union, or even to occasion delay, that the law
was altered expressly for this case, and Antony
and Octavia were married. The empire was
divided between Octavius and Antony, Octa-
vius receiving the western portion as his share,
_ while the eastern was assigned to Antony.

It is not probable that Antony felt any very
strong affection for his new wife, beautiful and
B.C. 31.} Tue Barrie or Acrium. 259

Octavia’s influence over her husband and her brother.



gentle as she was. A man, in fact, who had
led such a life as his had been, must have be-
come by this time incapable of any strong and
pure attachment. He, however, was pleased
with the novelty of his acquisition, and seemed
to forget for a time the loss of Cleopatra. He
remained with Octavia a year. After that he
went away on certain military enterprises which
kept him some time from her. He returned
again, and again he went away. All this time
Octavia’s influence over him and over her
brother was of the most salutary and excel-
lent character. She soothed their animosities,
quieted their suspicions and jealousies, and at
one time, when they were on the brink of open
war, she effected a reconciliation between them
by the most courageous and energetic, and at
the same time, gentle and unassuming efforts.
At the time of this danger she was with her
husband in Greece; but she persuaded him to
send her to her brother at Rome, saying that
she was confident that she could arrange a. set-
tlement of the difficulties impending. Antony
allowed her to go. She proceeded to Rome, and
procured an interview with her brother in the
presence of his two principal officers of state.
Here she pleaded her husband’s cause with
260 CLEOPATRA. | [B.C. 31.

Octavia pleads for Antony. Difficulties settled.

tears in her eyes; she defended his conduct, ex-
plained what seemed to be against him, and en-
treated her brother not to take such a course
as should cast her down from being the hap-
piest of women to being the most miserable.
‘‘Consider the circusmtances of my case,” said
she. ‘*The eyes of the world are upon me. Of
the two most powerful men in the world, I am
the wife of one and the sister of another. If
you allow rash counsels to go on and war to
ensue, I am hopelessly ruined ; for, whichever is
conquered, my husband or my brother, my own
happiness will be for ever gone.”

Octavius sincerely loved his sister, and he
was so far softened by her entreaties that he
consented to appoint an interview with Antony
in order to see if their difficulties could be set-
tled. ‘This interview was accordingly held.
The two generals came to a river, where, at the
opposite banks, each embarked in a boat, and,
being rowed out toward each other, they met in
the middle of the stream. A conference ensued,
at which all the questions at issue were, for a
time at least, very happily arranged.

Antony, however, after a time, began to be-
come tired of his wife, and to sigh for Cleopatra
once more. He left Octavia at Rome and pro-
B.C. 31.}] THe Barrie or Acrium. 261
Antony tired of his wife. He goes to Egypt.

ceeded to the eastward, under pretense of at-
tending to the affairs of that portion of the em-
pire; but, instead of doing this, he went to Al-
exandria, and there renewed again his former
intimacy with the Egyptian queen.

Octavius was very indignant at this. His
former hostility to Antony, which had been in
a measure appeased by the kind influence of
Octavia, now broke forth anew, and was height-
ened by the feeling of resentment naturally
awakened by his sister’s wrongs. Public sen-
timent in Rome, too, was setting very strong-
ly against Antony. Lampoons were written
against him to ridicule him and Cleopatra, and
the most decided censures were passed upon his
conduct. Octavia was universally beloved, and
the sympathy which was every where felt for
her increased and heightened very much the
popular indignation which was felt against the
man who could wrong so deeply such sweetness,
and gentleness, and affectionate fidelity as hers.

After remaining for some time in Alexandria,
and renewing his connection and intimacy with
Cleopatra, Antony went away again, crossing
the sea into Asia, with the intention of pros-
ecuting certain military undertakings there

‘which imperiously demanded his attention.
262 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.

Antony again with Cleopatra. a4 Effect on his character.



His plan was to return as soon as possible to
Egypt after the object of his expedition should
be accomplished. He found, however, that he
could not bear even a temporary absence from
Cleopatra. His mind dwelled so much upon
her, and upon the pleasures which he had en-
joyed with her in Egypt, and he longed so
much to see her again, that he was wholly un-
fit for the discharge of his duties in the camp.
He became timid, inefficient, and remiss, and
almost every thing that he undertook ended
disastrously. The army, who understood per-
fectly well the reason of their commander’s re-
missness and consequent ill fortune, were ex-
tremely indignant at his conduct, and the camp
was filled with suppressed murmurs and com-
plaints. Antony, however, like other persons
in his situation, was blind to all these indica-
tions of dissatisfaction ; probably he would have
disregarded them if he had observed them. At
length, finding that he could bear his absence
from his mistress no longer, he set out to march
across the country, in the depth of the winter,
to the sea-shore, to a point where he had sent
for Cleopatra to come to join him. The army
endured incredible hardships and exposures in
this march. When Antony had once com-
B.C.31.] Tue Barrie or Actium. 2638

The marchto Sidon. = +~+~—~—_ Suffering of the troops.
menced the journey, he was so impatient to get
forward that he compelled his troops to advance
with a rapidity greater than their strength
would bear. ‘They were, besides, not provided
with proper tents or with proper supplies of pro-
vision. ‘They were often obliged, therefore, aft-
er a long and fatiguing march during the day,
to bivouac at night in the open air among the
mountains, with scanty means of appeasing
their hunger, and very little shelter from the
cold rain, or from the storms of driving snow.
Kight thousand men died on this march, from
cold, fatigue, and exposure; a greater sacrifice,
perhaps, than had ever been made before to the
mere ardor and impatience of a lover.

When Antony reached the shore, he advanced
to a certain sea-port, near Sidon, where Cleopa-
tra was to land. At the time of his arrival but
a small part of his army was left, and the few
men that survived were in a miserably desti-
tute condition. Antony’s eagerness to see Cle-
opatra became more and more excited as the
time drew nigh. She did not come so soon as
he had expected, and during the delay he seem-
ed to pine away under the influence of love and
sorrow. He was silent, absent-minded, and
sad. He had no thoughts for any thing but the
264 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.

eke. errmmnnainenaepiranenatetitins! eenssniitedentntnnmaiita dint aaa
Arrival of Cleopatra. She brings supplies for the army.

coming of Cleopatra, and felt no interest in any
other plans. He watched for her incessantly,
and would sometimes leave his place at the ta-
ble, in the midst of the supper, and go down
alone to the shore, where he would stand gaz-
ing out upon the sea, and saying mournfully to
himself, “‘ Why does not she come?” The ani-
mosity and the ridicule which these things
awakened against him, on the part of the army,
were extreme ; but he was so utterly infatuated
that he disregarded all the manifestations of
public sentiment around him, and continued to
allow his mind to be wholly engrossed with the
single idea of Cleopatra’s coming,

She arrived at last. She brought a great
supply of clothes and other necessaries for the
use of Antony’s army, so that her coming not
only gratified his love, but afforded him, also, a
very essential relief, in respect to the military
difficulties in which he was involved.

After some time spent in the enjoyment of
the pleasure which being thus reunited to Cle-
opatra afforded: him, Antony began again to
think of the affairs of his government, which
every month more and more imperiously des
manded his attention. He began to receive ur-
gent calls from various quarters, urging him to
B.C.31.] Tue Barrie or Actium. 265

Octavia intercedes for Antony. She brings him re-enforcements,

action. In the mean time, Octavia—who had
been all this while waiting in distress and anx-
iety at Rome, hearing continually the most
gloomy accounts of her husband’s affairs, and
the most humiliating tidings in respect to his
infatuated devotion to Cleopatra—resolved to
make one more effort to save him. She inter-
ceded with her brother to allow her to raise
troops and to collect supplies, and then proceed
to the eastward to re-enforce him. Octavius
consented to this. He, in fact, assisted Octavia
in making her preparations. It is said, how-
ever, that he was influenced in this plan by his
confident belief that this noble attempt of his
sister to reclaim her husband would fail, and
that, by the failure of it, Antony would be put
in the wrong, in the estimation of the Roman
people, more absolutely and hopelessly than
ever, and that the way would thus be prepared
for his complete and final destruction.

Octavia was rejoiced to obtain her brother’s
aid to her undertaking, whatever the motive
_ might be which induced him to afford it. She
accordingly levied a considerable body of troops,
raised a large sum of money, provided clothes,
and tents, and military stores for the army; and
when all was ready, she left Italy and put to
266 CLEOPATRA. — [B.C. 31.

Cleopatra’s alarm. Her arts.

sea, having previously dispatched a messenger
to her husband to inform him that she was
coming.

Cleopatra began now to be afraid that she
was to lose Antony again, and she at once be-
gan to resort to the usual artifices employed in
such cases, in order to retain her power over
him. She said nothing, but assumed the ap-
pearance of one pining under the influence of
some secret suffering or sorrow. She contrived
to be often surprised in tears. In such cases
she would hastily brush her tears away, and as-
sume a countenance of smiles and good humor,
as if making every effort to be happy, though
really oppressed with a heavy burden of anxiety
and grief. When Antony was near her she
would seem overjoyed at his presence, and gaze
upon him with an expression of the most de-
voted fondness. When absent from him, she
spent her time alone, always silent and deject-
ed, and often in tears; and she took care that
the secret sorrows and sufferings that she en-
dured should be duly made known to Antony,
and that he should understand that they were
all occasioned by her love for him, and by the
danger which she apprehended that he was
about to leave her.
B.C. 31.) Tue Barris or Actium. 267



Cleopatra’s secret agents. Their representations to Antony.

The friends and secret agents of Cleopatra,
who reported these things to Antony, made,
moreover, direct representations to him, for the
purpose of inclining his mind in her favor. They
had, in fact, the astonishing audacity to argue
that Cleopatra’s claims upon Antony for a con-
tinuance of his love were paramount to those
of Octavia. She, that is, Octavia, had been his
wife, they said, only for a very short time. Cle-
opatra had been most devotedly attached to him
for many years. Octavia was married to him,
they alleged, not under the impulse of love, but
from political considerations alone, to please
her brother, and to ratify and confirm a politi-
cal league made with him. Cleopatra, on the
other hand, had given herself up to him in the
most absolute and unconditional manner, under
the influence solely of a personal affection which
she could not control. She had surrendered
and sacrificed every thing to him. For him she
had lost her good name, alienated the affections
of her subjects, made herself the object of re-
proach and censure to all mankind, and now
she had left her native land to come and join
him in his adverse fortunes. Considering how
much she had done, and suffered, and sacrificed
for his sake, it would be extreme and unjusti-
268 CLEOPATRA. - [B.C. 31.
Cleopatra’s success. Antony’s message to Octavia.

fiable cruelty in him to forsake her now. She
never would survive such an abandonment.
Her whole soul was so wrapped up in him, that
she would pine away and die if he were now to
forsake her. eens

Antony was distressed and agitated beyond
measure by the entanglements in which he
found that he was involved. His duty, his in-
clination perhaps, certainly his ambition, and
every dictate of prudence and policy, required
that he should break away from these snares at
once and go to meet Octavia. But the spell
that bound him was too mighty to be dissolved.
He yielded to Cleopatra’s sorrows and tears.
He dispatched a messenger to Octavia, who had
by this time reached Athens, in Greece, direct-
ing her not to come any farther. Octavia, who
seemed incapable of resentment or anger against
her husband, sent back to ask what she should
do with the troops, and money, and the military
stores which she was bringing. Antony direct-
ed her to leave them in Greece. Octavia did
so, and mournfully returned to her home.

As soon as she arrived at Rome, Octavius,
her brother, whose indignation was now thor.
oughly aroused at the baseness of Antony, sent
to his sister to say that she must leave Antony’s —
B.©. 31.) Tue Barrie or Actium. 269
Devotion of Octavia. ++=~=~—_Indignation against Antony.
house and come to him. A proper self-respect,
he said, forbade her remaining any longer under
the roof of such a man. Octavia replied that
she would not leave her husband’s house. ‘That
house was her post of duty, whatever her hus-
band might do, and there she would remain.
She accordingly retired within the precincts of
her old home, and devoted herself in patient and
uncomplaining sorrow to the care of the family
and the children. Among these children was
one young son of Antony’s, born during his
marriage with her predecessor Fulvia. In the
mean time, while Octavia was thus faithfully
though mournfully fulfilling her duties as wife
and mother, in her husband’s house at Rome,
Antony himself had gone with Cleopatra to
Alexandria, and was abandoning himself once
more to a life of guilty pleasure there. The
greatness of mind which this beautiful and de-
voted wife thus displayed, attracted the admi-
ration of all mankind. It produced, however,
one other effect, which Octavia must have great-
ly deprecated. It aroused a strong and univer-
sal feeling of indignation against the unworthy
object toward whom this extraordinary magna-
nimity was displayed.

In the mean time, Antony gave himself up
270 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.
Measuresof Antony. 22 = “Accusations against him.
wholly to Cleopatra’s influence and control, and
managed all the affairs of the Roman empire
in the East in the way best fitted to promote
her aggrandizement and honor. He made Alex-
andria his capital, celebrated triumphs there,
arranged ostentatious expeditions into Asia and
Syria with Cleopatra and her train, gave her
whole provinces as presents, and exalted her
two sons, Alexander and Ptolemy, children born
during the period of his first acquaintance with
her, to positions of the highest rank and station,
as his own acknowledged sons. The conse-
quences of these and similar measures at Rome
were fatal to Antony’s character and standing.
Octavius reported every thing to the Roman
senate and people, and made Antony’s misgov-
ernment and his various misdemeanors the
ground of the heaviest accusations against him.
Antony, hearing of these things, sent his agents
to Rome and made accusations against Octa-
vius; but these counter accusations were of no
avail. Public sentiment was very strong and
decided against him at the capital, and Octa-
vius began to prepare for war.

Antony perceived that he must prepare to
defend himself. Cleopatra entered into the
plans which he formed for this purpose with
B.C.31.] Tue Barrie or Acrium. 271

_ Antony’s preparations. Assistance of Cleopatra.

great ardor. Antony began to levy troops, and
collect and equip galleys and ships of war, and
to make requisitions of money and military
stores from all the eastern provinces and king-
doms. Cleopatra put all the resources of Egypt
at his disposal. She furnished him with im-
mense sums of money, and with an inexhaust-
ible supply of corn, which she procured for this
purpose from her dominions in the valley of the
Nile. The various divisions of the immense ar-
mament which was thus provided for were or-
dered to rendezvous at Ephesus, where Antony
and Cleopatra were awaiting to receive them,
having proceeded there when their arrange-
ments in Egypt were completed, and they were
ready to commence the campaign.

When all was ready for the expedition to set
sail from Ephesus, it was Antony’s judgment
that it would be best for Cleopatra to return to
Egypt, and leave him to go forth with the fleet
to meet Octavius alone.. Cleopatra was, how-
ever, determined not to go away. She did not
dare to leave Antony at all to himself, for fear
that in some way or other a peace would be
effected between himself and Octavius, which
would result in his returning to Octavia and
abandoning her. She accordingly contrived to
272 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 31.

Canidius bribed. His advice in regard to Cleopatra.

persuade Antony to retain her with him, by
bribing his chief counselor to advise him to do
so. His counselor’s name was Canidius. Ca-
nidius, having received Cleopatra’s money,
while yet he pretended to be wholly disinter-
ested in his advice, represented to Antony that
it would not be reasonable to send Cleopatra
away, and deprive her of all participation in the
glory of the war, when she was defraying so
large a part of the expense of it. Besides, a
large portion of the army consisted of Egyptian
troops, who would feel discouraged and disheart-
ened if Cleopatra were to leave them, and would
probably act far less efficiently in the conflict
than they would do if animated by the presence
of their queen. ‘Then, moreover, such a woman
as Cleopatra was not to be considered, as many
women would be, an embarrassment and a
source of care to a military expedition which
she might join, but a very efficient counselor
and aid to it. She was, he said, a very saga-
cious, energetic, and powerful queen, accus-
tomed to the command of armies and to the
management of affairs of state, and her aid in
the conduct of the expedition might be expected
to conduce very materially to its success.
Antony was easily won by such persuasions
B.C. 31.| Tue BarrLe or Acrium. 278

The fleet at Samos. Antony’s infatuation.



as these, and it was at length decided that Cle-
opatra should accompany him.

Antony then ordered the fleet to move for-
ward to the island of Samos.* Here it was
brought to anchor and remained for some time,
waiting for the coming in of new re-enforce-
ments, and for the completion of the other ar-
rangements. Antony, as if becoming more and
more infatuated as he approached the brink of
his ruin, spent his time while the expedition
remained at Samos, not in maturing his plans
and perfecting his arrangements for the tremen-
dous conflict which was approaching, but in fes-
tivities, games, revelings, and every species of
riot and dissolute excess. ‘This, however, is not
surprising. Men almost always, when in a sit-
uation analogous to his, fly to similar means of
protecting themselves, in some small degree,
from the pangs of remorse, and from the fore-
bodings which stand ready to terrify and tor-
ment them at every instant in which these
gloomy specters are not driven away by intoxi-
cation and revelry. At least Antony found it
so. Accordingly, an immense company of play-
ers, tumblers, fools, jesters, and mountebanks
were ordered to assemble at Samos, and to de-

* See map for the situation of Ephesus and of Samos.
Cy

3
274 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 31.

Riot and revelry. Antony and Cleopatra at Athens.



vote themselves with all zeal to the amusement
of Antony’s court. ‘The island was one uni-
versal scene of riot and revelry. People were
astonished at such celebrations and displays,
wholly unsuitable, as they considered them, to
the occasion. If such are the rejoicings, said
they, which Antony celebrates before going into
the battle, what festivities will he contrive on
his return, joyous enough to express his pleas-
ure if he shall gain the victory ?

After a time, Antony and Cleopatra, with a
magnificent train of attendants, left Samos,
and, passing across the Agean Sea, landed in
Greece, and advanced to- Athens; while the
fleet, proceeding westward from Samos, passed
around Tzenarus, the southern promontory of
Greece, and then moved northward along the
western coast of the peninsula. Cleopatra wish-
ed to go.to Athens for a special reason. It was
there that Octavia had stopped on her journey
toward her husband with re-enforcements and
aid; and while she was there, the people of
Athens, pitying her sad condition, and admir-
ing the noble spirit of mind which she displayed
in her misfortunes, had paid her great attention,
and during her stay among them had bestowed
upon her many honors. Cleopatra now wished
B.C.41.] Tue Bartue or Actium. 275

Ostentation of Cleopatra. Honors bestowed on her.

to go to the same place, and to triumph over
her rival there, by making so great a display of
her wealth and magnificence, and of her ascend-
ency over the mind of Antony, as should en-
tirely transcend and outshine the more unas-
suming pretensions of Octavia. She was not
willing, it seems, to leave to the unhappy wife
whom she had so cruelly wronged even the pos-
session of a place in the hearts of the people of
this foreign city, but must go and enviously
strive to efface the impression which injured
innocence had made, by an ostentatious exhibi-
tion of the triumphant prosperity of her own
shameless wickedness. She succeeded well in
her plans. The people of Athens were amazed
and bewildered at the immense magnificence
that Cleopatra exhibited before them. She dis-
tributed vast sums of money among the people.
The city, in return, decreed to her the most ex-
alted honors. ‘They sent a’solemn embassy to
her to present her with these decrees. Antony
himself, in the character of a citizen of Athens,
was one of the embassadors. Cleopatra receiv-
ed the deputation at her palace. The reception
was attended with the most splendid and im-
posing ceremonies.

One would have supposed that Cleopatra’s
276 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.

tierra anette iti
Baseness of Antony. Approach of Octavius.



A eee



cruel and unnatural hostility to Octavia might
now have been satisfied; but it was not. An-
tony, while he was at Athens, and doubiless at
Cleopatra’s instigation, sent a messenger to
Rome with a notice of divorcement to Octavia,
and with an order that she should leave his
house. Octavia obeyed. She went forth from
her home, taking the children with her, and bit-
terly lamenting her cruel destiny.

In the mean time, while all these events had
been transpiring in the East, Octavius had been
making his preparations for the coming crisis,
and was now advancing with a powerful fleet
across the sea. He was armed with authority
from the Roman senate and people, for he had
obtained from them a decree deposing Antony
from his power. The charges made against
him all related to misdemeanors and offenses
arising out of his connection with Cleopatra.
Octavius contrived to get possession of a will
which Antony had written before leaving Rome,
and which he had placed there in what he sup-
posed a very sacred place of deposit. The cus-
todians who had it in charge replied to Octa-
vius, when he demanded it, that they would not
give it to him, but if he wished to take it they.
would not hinder him. Octavius then took the
B.C.31.] Tue Barrie oF Actium. 277

Antony’s will. Charges against him.

will, and read it to the Roman senate. It pro-
vided, among other things, that at his death, if
his death should happen at Rome, his body
should be sent to Alexandria to be given to Cle-
opatra ; and it evinced in other ways a degree
of subserviency and devotedness to the Egyp-
tian queen which was considered wholly un-
worthy of a Roman chief magistrate. Antony
was accused, too, of having plundered cities and
provinces to make presents to Cleopatra; of
having sent a library of two hundred thousand
volumes to her from Pergamus, to replace the
one which Julius Ceesar had accidentally burn-
ed; of having raised her sons, ignoble as their
birth was, to high places of trust and power in
the Roman government, and of having in many
ways compromised the dignity of a Roman offi-
cer by his unworthy conduct in reference to her.
He used, for example, when presiding at a ju-
dicial tribunal, to receive love-letters sent him
from Cleopatra, and then at once turn off his
attention from the proceedings going forward
before him to read the letters.* Sometimes he

* These letters, in accordance with the scale of expense
and extravagance on which Cleopatra determined that every
thing relating to herself and Antony should be done, were
engraved on tablets made of onyx, or crystal, or other hard
and precious stones.
278 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.
Antony's neglect of his duties. + +—-—=— Meeting of the fleets.
did this when sitting in the chair of state, giv-
ing audience to embassadors and princes. Cle-
opatra probably sent these letters in at such
times under the influence of a wanton disposi-
tion to show her power. At one time, as Oc-
tavius said in his arguments before the Roman
senate, Antony was hearing a cause of the great-
est importance, and during a time in the prog-
ress of the cause when one of the principal or-
ators of the city was addressing him, Cleopatra
came passing by, when Antony suddenly arose,
and, leaving the court without any ceremony,
ran out to follow her. These and a thousand
similar tales exhibited Antony in so odious a
light, that his friends forsook his cause, and his
enemies gained a complete triumph. The de-
cree was passed against him, and Octavius was
authorized to carry it into effect; and accord-
ingly, while Antony, with his fleet and army,
was moving westward from Samos and the
fEigean Sea, Octavius was coming eastward
and southward down the Adriatic to meét him.

In process of time, after various maneuvers
and delays, the two armaments came into the
vicinity of each other at a place called Actium,
which will be found upon the map on the west-
ern coast of Epirus, north of Greece. Both of
B.C. 31.) Tue Batrie or Actium. 279

Opinions at the council. Cleopatra’s wishes.

the commanders had powerful fleets at sea, and
both had great armies upon the land. Antony
was strongest in land troops, but his fleet was
inferior to that of Octavius, and he was him-
self inclined to remain on the land and fight the
principal battle there. But Cleopatra would
not consent to this. She urged him to give
Octavius battle at sea. The motive which in-
duced her to do this has been supposed to be
her wish to provide a more sure way of escape
in case of an unfavorable issue to the conflict.
She thought that in her galleys she could make
sail at once across the sea to Alexandria in
case of defeat, whereas she knew not what
would become of her if beaten at the head of an
army on the land. The ablest counselors and
chief officers in the army urged Antony very
strongly not to trust himself to the sea. To all
their arguments and remonstrances, however,
Antony turned a deaf ear. Cleopatra must be
allowed to have her way.

On the morning of the battle, when the ships
were drawn up in array, Cleopatra held the
command of a division of fifty or sixty Egyp-
tian vessels, which were all completely manned,
and well equipped with masts and sails. She
took good care to have every thing in perfect
280 | CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 81.
siieniiiietep nereentnarictstaienteaninigiananiiangnmniasineimmenmiailiiiiiaa:

Battle of Actium. Flight of Cleopatra.



order for flight, in case flight should prove to be
necessary. With these ships she took a station
in reserve, and for a time remained there a
quiet witness of the battle. The ships of Oc-
tavius advanced to the attack of those of Anto-
ny, and the men fought from deck to deck with
spears, boarding-pikes, flaming darts, and every
other destructive missile which the military art
had then devised. Antony’s ships had to con-
tend against great disadvantages. They were
not only outnumbered: by those of Octavius,
but were far surpassed by them in the efficien-
cy with which they were manned and armed.
Still, it was a very obstinate conflict. Cleopa-
tra, however, did not wait to see how it was to
be finally decided.. As Antony’s forces did not
immediately gain the victory, she soon began to
yield to her fears in respect to the result, and,
finally, fell into a panic and resolved to fly.
She ordered the oars to be manned and the sails
to be hoisted, and then forcing her way through
a portion of the fleet that was engaged in the
contest, and throwing the vessels into confusion
as she passed, she succeeded in getting to sea,
and then pressed on, under full sail, down the
coast to the southward. Antony, as soon as he
perceived that she was going, abandoning every
B.C.31.] Tue Battie or Actium. 281
Antony follows Cleopatra. He gains her galley.

other thought, and impelled by his insane de-
votedness to her, hastily called up a galley of
five banks of oars, and, leaping on board of it,
ordered the oarsmen to pull with all their force
after Cleopatra’s flying squadron.

Cleopatra, looking back from the deck of her
vessel, saw this swift galley pressing on toward
her. She raised a signal at the stern of the
vessel which she was in, that Antony might
know for which of the fifty flying ships he was
to steer. Guided by the signal, Antony came
up to the vessel, and the sailors hoisted him up
the side and helped him in. Cleopatra had,
however, disappeared. Overcome with shame
and confusion, she did not dare, it seems, to
meet the look of the wretched victim of her arts
whom she had now irretrievably ruined. An-
tony did not seek her. He did not speak a
word. He went forward to the prow of the ship,
and, throwing himself down there alone, press-
ed his head between his hands, and seemed stun-
ned and stupefied, and utterly overwhelmed
with horror-and despair.

He was, however, soon aroused from his stu-
por by an alarm raised on board his galley that
they were pursued. He rose from his seat,
seized a spear, and, on ascending to the quarter-
282 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 31.

Antony pursued. A severe conflict.

deck, saw that there were a number of small
light boats, full of men and of arms, coming up
behind them, and gaining rapidly upon his gal-
ley. Antony, now free for a moment from his
enchantress’s sway, and acting under the im-
pulse of his own indomitable boldness and de-
cision, instead of urging the oarsmen to press
forward more rapidly in order to make good
their escape, ordered the helm to be put about,
and thus, turning the galley around, he faced
his pursuers, and drove his ship into the midst
of them. A violent conflict ensued, the din and
confusion of which was increased by the shocks
and collisions between the boats and the galley.
In the end, the boats were beaten off, all ex-
cepting one: that one kept still hovering near,
and the commander of it, who stood upon the
deck, poising his spear with an aim at Antony,
and seeking eagerly an opportunity to throw it,
seemed by his attitude and the expression of
his countenance to be animated by some pecu-
liarly bitter feeling of hostility and hate. An-
tony asked him who he was, that dared so
fiercely to threaten him. 'The man replied by
giving his name, and saying that he came to
avenge the death of his father. It proved that
he was the son of a man whom Antonv had at
B.C.31.] Tue Battie or Actium. 283

The avenger of a father. _ Antony’s anguish.

a previous time, on some account or other,
caused to be beheaded.

There followed an obstinate contest between
Antony and this fierce assailant, in the end of
which the latter was beaten off. The boats
then, having succeeded in making some prizes
from Antony’s fleet, though they had failed in
capturing Antony himself, gave up the pursuit
and returned. Antony then went back to his
place, sat down in the prow, buried his face in
his hands, and sank into the same condition of
hopeless distress and anguish as before.

When husband and wife are overwhelmed
with misfortune and suffering, each instinct-
ively seeks a refuge in the sympathy and sup-
port of the other. It is, however, far otherwise
with such connections as that of Antony and
Cleopatra. Conscience, which remains calm
and quiet in prosperity and sunshine, rises up
with sudden and unexpected violence as soon
as the hour of calamity comes; and thus, in-
stead of mutual comfort and help, each finds in
the thoughts of the other only the means of
adding the horrors of remorse to the anguish of
disappointment and despair. So extreme was
Antony’s distress, that for three days he and
Cleopatra neither saw nor spoke to each other.
284 CLEOPATRA. (B.C. 31.

7 {iv WEL yl SLEST SUEEESIETREeTSetnnnneneeees ee
Antony and Cleopatra shun each other. Arrival at Teenarus.

She was overwhelmed with confusion and cha-
. grin, and he was in such a condition of mental
excitement that she did not dare to approach
him. In a word, reason seemed to have wholly
lost its sway—his mind, in the alternations of
his insanity, rising sometimes to fearful excite-
ment, in paroxysms of uncontrollable rage, and
then sinking again for a time into the stupor
of despair.

In the mean time, the ships were passing
down as rapidly as possible on the western coast
of Greece. When they reached Teenarus, the
southern promontory of the peninsula, it was
necessary to pause and consider what was to be
done. Cleopatra’s women went to Antony and
attempted to quiet and calm him. They brought
him food. ‘They persuaded him to see Cleopatra.
A great number of merchant ships from the
ports along the coast gathered around Antony’s
little fleet and offered their services. His cause,
they said, was by no means desperate. The
army on the land had not been beaten. It was
not even certain that his fleet had been con-
quered. ‘They endeavored thus to revive the
ruined commander’s sinking courage, and to
urge him to make a new effort to retrieve his
fortunes. But all was in vain. Antony was
B.C. 31.] Tur Barrie or AcTiIuM. 285

Antony and Cleopatra fly together to Egypt.

-—_—_—_—_—_

sunk in a hopeless despondency. Cleopatra was
determined on going to Egypt, and he must go
too. He distributed what treasure remained
at his disposal among his immediate followers
and friends, and gave them advice about the
means of concealing themselves until they could
make peace with Octavius, Then, giving up
all as lost, he followed Cleopatra across the sea
to Alexandria.


236 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Infatuation of Antony. His early character.

CuapTerR XII.
Tue Env or CLEOPATRA.

— case of Mark Antony affords one of the
most extraordinary examples of the power
of unlawful love to lead its deluded and infatu-
ated victim into the very jaws of open and rec-
ognized destruction that history records. Cases
similar in character occur by thousands in com-
mon life; but Antony’s, though perhaps not
more striking in itself than a great multitude
of others have been, is the most conspicuous in-
stance that has ever been held up to the obser-
vation of mankind.

In early life, Antony was remarkable, as we
have already seen, for a certain savage rugged-
ness of character, and for a stern and indomita-
ble recklessness of will, so great that it. seemed
impossible that any thing human should be able
to tame him. He was under the control, too,
of an ambition so lofty and aspiring that it ap-
peared to know no bounds ; and yet we find him
taken possession of, in the very midst of his ca-
reer, and in the height of his prosperity and
B.C. 30.} THe Enp or Cueoparra. 287

oe

- Powerful influence of Cleopatra over Antony.

success, by a woman, and so subdued by her
arts and fascinations as to yield himself wholly
to her guidance, and allow himself to be led
about by her entirely at her will. She displaces
whatever there might have been that was noble
and generous in his heart, and substitutes there-
for her own principles of malice and cruelty.
She extinguishes all the fires of his ambition,
originally so magnificent in its aims that the
world seemed hardly large enough to afford it
scope, and instead of this lofty passion, fills his
soul with a love of the lowest, vilest, and most
ignoble pleasures. _ She leads him to betray
every public trust, to alienate from himself all
the affections of his countrymen, to repel most
cruelly the kindness and devotedness of a beau-
tiful and faithful wife, and, finally, to expel this
wife and all of his own legitimate family from
his house; and now, at last, she conducts him
away in a most cowardly and ignoble flight
from the field of his duty as a soldier—he know-
ing, all the time, that she is hurrying him to
disgrace and destruction, and yet utterly with-
out power to break from the control of his invis-
ible chains.

The indignation which Antony’s base aban-
288 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Indignation at Antony’s conduct. Plans of Cleopatra.



donment of his fleet and army at the battle of
Actium excited, over all that part of the empire
which had been under his command, was ex-
treme. There was not the slightest possible
excuse for such a flight. His army, in which
his greatest strength lay, remained unharmed,
and even his fleet was not defeated. ‘The ships
continued the combat until night, notwithstand-
ing the betrayal of their cause by their com-
mander. They were at length, howevér, sub-
dued. The army, also, being discouraged, and
losing all motive for resistance, yielded too. In
a very short time the whole country went over
to Octavius’s side.

In the mean time, Cleopatra and Antony, on
their first return to Egypt, were completely be-
side themselves with terror. Cleopatra formed
a plan for having all the treasures that she
could save, and a certain number of galleys suf-
ficient for the transportation of these treasures
and a small company of friends, carried across
the isthmus of Suez and launched upon the Red
Sea, in order that she might escape in that di-
rection, and find some remote hiding-place and
safe retreat on the shores of Arabia or India,
beyond the reach of Octavius’s dreaded power.
She actually commenced this undertaking, and
BC. 30.) Tur Env OF Concraraia. 289

ndhasteerieapeetlissalannnaraseasaivonsieleredtttiiieianenglivnrsitiegpieienmiiiiiiiaiitnaissile tN iin scat
Antony becomes a misanthrope. His ‘hut on the island of Pharos.



sent one or two of her galleys across the isth-
mus ; but the Arabs seized them as soon as they
reached their place of destination, and killed or
captured the men that had them in charge, so
that this desperate scheme was soon abandoned.
She and Antony then finally concluded to estab-
lish themselves at Alexandria, and made prep-
aration, as well as they could, for defending
themselves against Octavius there.

Antony, when the first effects of his panic
subsided, began to grow mad with vexation and
resentment against all mankind. He determ-
ined that he would have nothing to do with Cle-
opatra or with any of her friends, but went off
in a fit of sullen rage, and built a hermitage in
a lonely place on the island of Pharos, where he
lived for a time, cursing his folly and his wretch-
ed fate, and uttering the bitterest invectives
against all who had been concerned in it. Here
tidings came continually in, informing him of
the defection of one after another of his armies,
of the fall of his provinces in Greece and Asia
Minor, and of the irresistible progress which
Octavius was now making toward universal do-
minion. The tidings of these disasters coming
incessantly upon him kept him in a continual
fever of resentment and rage.

T
290 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 30.

Antony’s reconciliation with Cleopatra. Scenes of revelry.

At last he became tired of his misanthropic
solitude, a sort of reconciliation ensued between
himself and Cleopatra, and he went back again
to the city. Here he joined himself once more
to Cleopatra, and, collecting together what re-
mained of their joint resources, they plunged
again into a life of dissipation and vice, with
the vain attempt to drown in mirth and wine
the bitter regrets and the anxious forebodings
which filled their souls. They joined with them
a company of revelers as abandoned as them-
selves, and strove very hard to disguise and con-
ceal their cares in their forced and unnatural
gayety. ‘They could not, however, accomplish
this purpose. Octavius was gradually advan-
cing in his progress, and they knew very well
that the time of his dreadful reckoning with
them must soon come; nor was there any place
on earth in which they could look with any
hope of finding a refuge in it from his vindictive
hostility.

Cleopatra, warned by dreadful presentiments
of what would probably at last be her fate,
amused herself in studying the nature of pois-
ons—not theoretically, but practically—making
experiments with them on wretched prisoners
and captives whom she compelled to take them,
B.C. 30.) Tue Env or Cireopatra. 291

Cleopatra makes a collection of poisons. Her experiments with them.

in order that she and Antony might see the ef-
fects which they produced. She made a collec-
tion of all the poisons which she could procure,
and administered portions of them all, that she
might see which were sudden and which were
slow in their effects, and also learn which pro-
duced the greatest distress and suffering, and
which, on the other hand, only benumbed and
stupefied the faculties, and thus extinguished
life with the least infliction of pain. These ex-
periments were not confined to such vegetable
and mineral poisons as could be mingled with
the food or administered in a potion. Cleopa-
tra took an equal interest in the effects of the
bite of venomous serpents and reptiles. She
procured specimens of all these animals, and
tried them upon hef prisoners, causing the men
to be stung and bitten by them, and then watch-
ing the effects. These investigations were made,
not directly with a view to any practical use
which she was to make of the knowledge thus
acquired, but rather as an agreeable occupation,
to divert her mind, and to amuse Antony and
her guests. The variety in the forms and ex-
pressions which the agony of her poisoned vic-
tims assumed—their writhings, their cries, their
convulsions, and the distortions of their features
292 CLEopaTRa. [B.C. 80.
siti etna eens stitegga dient

Antony’s suspicions, Cleopatra’s stratagem.

when struggling with death, furnished exactly
the kind and degree of excitement which she
needed to occupy and amuse her mind.
Antony was not entirely at ease, however,
during the progress of these terrible experi-
ments. His foolish and childish fondness for
Cleopatra was mingled with jealousy, suspicion,
and distrust; and he was so afraid that Cleo:
patra might secretly poison him, that he would
never take any food or wine without requiring
that she should taste it before him. At length,
one day, Cleopatra caused the petals of some
flowers to be poisoned, and then had the flow-
ers woven into the chaplet which Antony was
to wear at supper. In the midst of the feast,
she pulled off the leaves of the flowers from her
own chaplet and put them playfully into her
wine, and then proposed that Antony should do
the same with his chaplet, and that they should
then drink the wine, tinctured, as it would be,
with the color and the perfume of the flowers.
Antony entered very readily into this proposal,
and when he was about to drink the wine, she
arrested his hand, and told him that it was pois-
oned. ‘You see now,” said she, “ how vain it
is for you to watch against me. If it were pos-
sible for me to live without you, how easy it
B.C.30.| Tae Enp or Cieoparra. 293
The bite of the asp. Cleopatra's tomb.

would be for me to devise ways and means to
kill you.” Then, to prove that her words were
true, she ordered one of the servants to drink
Antony’s wine. He did so, and died before
their sight in dreadful agony.

The experiments which Cleopatra thus made
on the nature and effects of poison were not,
however, wholly without practical result. Cle-
opatra learned from them, it is said, that the
bite of the asp was the easiest and least painful
mode of death. The effect of the venom of that
animal appeared to her to be the lulling of the
sensorium into a lethargy or stupor, which soon
ended in death, without the intervention of pain.
This knowledge she seems to have laid up in
her mind for future use.

The thoughts of Cleopatra appear, in fact, to
have been much disposed, at this time, to flow
in gloomy channels; for she occupied herself a
great deal in building for herself a sepulchral
monument in a certain sacred portion of the
city. This monument had, in fact, been com-
menced many years ago, in accordance with a
custom prevailing among Egyptian sovereigns,
of expending a portion of their revenues during
their life-time in building and decorating their
own tombs. Cleopatra now turned her mind
294 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Progress of Octavius. Proposal of Antony.



with new interest to her own mausoleum. She
finished it, provided it with the strongest possi-
ble bolts and bars, and, in a word, seemed to be
preparing it in all respects for occupation.

In the mean time, Octavius, having made
himself master of all the countries which had
formerly been under Antony’s sway, now ad-
vanced, meeting none to oppose him, from Asia
Minor into Syria, and from Syria toward Egypt.
Antony and Cleopatra made one attempt, while
he was thus advancing toward Alexandria, to
avert the storm which was impending over them,
by sending an embassage to ask for some terms
of peace. Antony proposed, in this embassage,
to give up every thing to his conqueror on con-
dition that he might be permitted to retire un-
molested with Cleopatra to Athens, and allowed
to spend the remainder of their days there in
peace ; and that the kingdom of Egypt might
descend to their children. Octavius replied
that he could not make any terms with Antony,
though he was willing to consent to any thing
that was reasonable in behalf of Cleopatra. ‘The
messenger who came back from Octavius with
this reply spent some time in private inter-
views with Cleopatra. This aroused Antony’s
jealousy and anger. He accordingly ordered
B.C. 30.| THe Env or CLeopatra. 295

Octavius at Pelusium. Cleopatra’s treasures.

the unfortunate messenger to be scourged and
then sent back to Octavius, all lacerated with
wounds, with orders to say to Octavius that if
it displeased him to have one of his servants
thus punished, he might revenge himself by
scourging a servant of Antony’s, who was then,
as it happened, in Octavius’s power.

The news at length suddenly arrived at Alex-
andria that Octavius had appeared before Pe-
lusium, and that the city had fallen into his
hands. ‘The next thing Antony and Cleopatra
well knew would be, that they should see him
at the gates of Alexandria. Neither Antony
nor Cleopatra had any means of resisting his
progress, and there was no place to which they
could fly. Nothing was to be done but to await,
in consternation and terror, the sure and inev-
itable doom which was now so near.

Cleopatra gathered together all her treasures
and sent them to her tomb. These treasures
consisted of great and valuable stores of gold,
silver, precious stones, garments of the highest
cost, and weapons, and vessels of exquisite
workmanship and great value, the hereditary
possessions of the Egyptian kings. She also
sent to the mausoleum an immense quantity
of flax, tow, torches, and other combustibles.
296 CieoparraA. [B.C. 30.

mm nner i teenssstysteetineeiateiies
Fears of Octavius. He arrives at Alexandria.



These she stored in the lower apartments of
the monument, with the desperate determina-
tion of burning herself and her treasures to-
gether rather than to fall into the hands of the
Romans.

In the mean time, the army of Octavius
steadily continued its march across the desert
from Pelusium to Alexandria. On the way,
Octavius learned, through the agents in com-
munication with him from within the city,
what were the arrangements which Cleopatra
had made for the destruction of her treasure
whenever the danger should become imminent
of its falling into his hands. He was extremely
unwilling that this treasure should be lost. Be-
sides its intrinsic value, it was an object of im-
mense importance to him to get possession of
it for the purpose of carrying it to Rome asa
trophy of his triumph. He accordingly sent
secret messengers to Cleopatra, endeavoring to
separate her from Antony, and to amuse her
inind with the profession that he felt only friend-
ship for her, and did not mean to do her any
injury, being in pursuit of Antony only. These
negotiations were continued from day to day
while Octavius was advancing. At last the
Roman army reached Alexandria, and invested
it on every side.
B.C. 30.] Tue Env or CLeopatra. 297
The sally. The unfaithful captain.

As soon as Octavius was established in his
camp under the walls of the city, Antony
planned a sally, and he executed it, in fact,
with considerable energy and success. He is-
sued suddenly from the gates, at the head of as
strong a force as he could command, and at-
tacked a body of Octavius’s horsemen. He
succeeded in driving these horsemen away from
their position, but he was soon driven back in
his turn, and compelled to retreat to the city,
fighting as he fled, to beat back his pursuers.
He was extremely elated at the success of this
skirmish. He came to Cleopatra with a coun-
tenance full of animation and pleasure, took her
in his arms and kissed her, all accoutered for
battle as he was, and boasted greatly of the ex-
ploit which he had performed. He praised, too,
in the highest terms, the valor of one of the
officers who had gone out with him to the fight,
and whom he had now brought to the palace to
present to Cleopatra. Cleopatra rewarded the
faithful captain’s prowess with a magnificent
suit of armor made of gold. Notwithstanding
this reward, however, the man deserted Antony
that very night, and went over to the enemy.
Almost all of Antony’s adherents were in the
same state of mind. ‘They would have gladly
298 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

cesipanemtniniettaientannneilntatianiceeinan iia iii
Disaffection of Antony’s men. Desertion of the fleet.

gone over to the camp of Octavius, if they could
have found an opportunity to do so.

In fact, when the final battle was fought, the
fate of it was decided by a grand defection in
the fleet, which went over in a body to the side
of Octavius. Antony was planning the opera-
tions of the day, and reconnoitering the move-
ments of the enemy from an eminence which
he occupied at the head of a body of foot soldiers
—all the land forces that now remained to him
—and looking off from the eminence on which
he stood toward the harbor, he observed a move-
ment among the galleys. They were going out
to meet the ships of Octavius, which were ly-
ing at anchor not very far from them. Antony
supposed that his vessels were going to attack
those of the enemy, and he looked to see what
exploits they would perform. They advanced
toward Octavius’s ships, and when they met
them, Antony observed, to his utter amazement,
that, instead of the furious combat that he had
expected to see, the ships only exchanged friend-
ly salutations, by the use of the customary naval
signals; and then his ships, passing quietly
round, took their positions in the lines of the
other fleet. The two fleets had thus become
merged and mingled into one.
B.C. 30.] Tue Env or CLeopatra. 299

False rumor of Cleopatra’s death. » Antony’s despair,

Antony immediately decided that this was
Cleopatra’s treason. She had made peace with
Octavius, he thought, and surrendered the fleet
to him as one of the conditions of it. Antony
ran through the city, crying out that he was
betrayed, and in a phrensy of rage sought the
palace. Cleopatra fled to her tomb. She took
in with her one or two attendants, and bolted
and barred the doors, securing the fastenings
with the heavy catches and springs that she had
previously made ready. She then directed her
women to call out through the door that she
had killed herself within the tomb.

The tidings of her death were borne to An-
tony. It changed his anger to grief and de-
spair. His mind, in fact, was now wholly lost
to all balance and control, and it passed from
the dominion of one stormy passion to another
with the most capricious facility. He cried out
with the most bitter expressions of sorrow,
mourning, he said, not so much Cleopatra’s
death, for he should soon follow and join her, as
the fact that she had proved herself so superior
to him in courage at last, in having thus an-
ticipated him in the work of self-destruction.

He was at this time in one of the chambers
of the palace, whither he had fled in his despair,
300 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Eros. Antony’s attempt to kill himeelf.

and was standing by a fire, for the morning was
cold. He had a favorite servant named Eros,
whom he greatly trusted, and whom he-had
made to take an oath long before, that whenever
it should become necessary for him to die, Eros
should kill him. This Eros he now called to
him, and telling him that the time was come, or-
dered him to take the sword and strike the blow.

Eros took the sword while Antony stood up
before him. Eros turned his head aside as if
wishing that his eyes should not see the deed
which his hands were about to perform. In-
stead, however, of piercing his master with it,
he plunged it into his own breast, fell down at
Antony’s feet, and died.

Antony gazed a moment at the shocking spec-
tacle, and then said, “I thank thee for this, noble
Eros. Thou hast set me an example. I must
do for myself what thou couldst not do for me.”
So saying, he took the sword from his servant’s
hands, plunged it into his body, and staggering
to a little bed that was near, fell over upon it
in a swoon. He had received a mortal wound.

The pressure, however, which was produced
by the position in which he lay upon the bed,
stanched the wound a little and stopped the flow
of blood. Antony came presently to. himself
B.C. 30.) Tue Env or CLeoparra. 301

Antony taken to Cleopatra. She refuses to open the door.

again, and then began to beg and implore those
around him to take the sword and put him out
of his misery. But no one would do it. He
lay for a time suffering great pain, and moan-
ing incessantly, until, at length, an officer came
into the apartment and told him that the story
which he had heard of Cleopatra’s death was
not true ; that she was still alive, shut up in her
monument, and that she desired to see him
there. ‘This intelligence was the source of new
excitement and agitation. Antony implored the
by-standers to carry him to Cleopatra, that he
might see her once more before he died. They
shrank from the attempt; but, after some hesi-
tation and delay, they concluded to undertake
to remove him. So, taking him in their arms,
they bore him along, faint and dying, and
marking their track with his blood, toward the
tomb. |

Cleopatra would not open the gates to let the
party in. ‘The city was all in uproar and con-
fusion through the terror of the assault which
Octavius was making upon it, and she did not
know what treachery might be intended. She
therefore went up to a window above, and let-
ting down ropes and chains, she directed those
below to fasten the dying body to them, that
302 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Astrimar Oadanc, ea ch ce ch naa
Antony taken in at the window. Cleopatra’s grief.



she and the two women with her might draw it
up. This was done. Those who witnessed it
said that it was a most piteous sight to behold
—Cleopatra and her women above exhausting
their strength in drawing the wounded and
bleeding sufferer up the wall, while he, when he
approached the window, feebly raised his arms
to them, that they might. lift him in. The
women had hardly strength sufficient to draw
the body up. At one time it seemed that the
attempt would have to be abandoned; but Cle-
opatra reached down from the window as far as
she could to get hold of Antony’s arms, and
thus, by dint of great effort, they succeeded at
last in taking him in. They bore him to a
couch which was in the upper room from which
the window opened, and laid him down, while
Cleopatra wrung her hands, and tore her hair,
and uttered the most piercing lamentations and
cries. She leaned over the dying Antony, cry-
ing out incessantly with the most piteous ex-
clamations of grief. She bathed his face, which
was covered with blood, and vainly endeavored
to stanch his wound.

Antony urged her to be calm, and not to
mourn his fate. He asked for some wine. They
brought it to him, and he drank it. He then






La
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rT \
i} nim

i

Ce

ae ke
= ’ 4 . Se
re

= LGORISTT & LIMES SSIES 0)



THE RAISING OF ANTONY TO THE UPPER WINDOW OF THE TOMB.

B.C. 30.} Tue Env or Cueopatra. 3805

tinh esthetics ninaaatnastscasiinisclisninipipinnimameneaaliaallel
Death of Antony. Cleopatra made prisoner.

entreated Cleopatra to save her life, if she pos-
sibly could do so, and to make some terms or
other with Octavius, so as to continue to live.
Very soon after this he expired.

In the mean time, Octavius had heard of the
mortal wound which Antony had given him-
self; for one of the by-standers had seized the
sword the moment that the deed was done, and
had hastened to carry it to Octavius, and to an-
nounce to him the death of his enemy. Octa-
vius immediately desired to get Cleopatra into
his power. He sent a messenger, therefore, to
the tomb, who attempted to open a parley there
with her. Cleopatra talked with the messen-
ger through the keyholes or crevices, but could
not be induced to open the door. The messen-
ger reported these facts to Octavius. Octavius
then sent another man with the messenger, and
while one was engaging the attention of Cleo-
patra and her women at the door below, the
other obtained ladders, and succeeded in gain-
ing admission into the window above. Cleopa-
tra was warned of the success of this stratagem
by the shriek of her woman, who saw the officer
coming down the stairs. She looked around,
and observing at a glance that she was betray-

ed, and that the officer was coming to seize her,
U
306 — CLeoparra. [B.C. 30.

nD
Treatment of Cleopatra. Octavius takes possession of Alexandria.
ee

she drew a little dagger from her robe, and was
about to plunge it into her breast, when the
officer grasped her arm just in time to prevent
the blow. He took the dagger from her, and
then examined her clothes to see that there
were no other secret weapons concealed there.
The capture of the queen being reported to
Octavius, he appointed an officer to take her
into close custody. This officer was charged to
treat her with all possible courtesy, but to keep
a close and constant watch over her, and par-
ticularly to guard against allowing her any pos-

sible means or opportunity for self-destruction. |

In the mean time, Octavius took formal pos-
session of the city, marching in at the head of
his troops with the most imposing pomp and
parade. A chair of state, magnificently deco-
rated, was set up for him on a high elevation in
a public square; and here he sat, with circles
of guards around him, while the people of the
city, assembled before him in the dress of sup-
pliants, and kneeling upon the pavementybegged
his forgiveness, and implored him to spare the
city.. These petitions the great conqueror gra-
ciously condescended to grant.

Many of the princes and generals who had
served under Antony came next to beg the body
B.C.30.] Tue Env or Cieopatra. 307
Antony’s funeral. Cleopatra’s wretched condition.

of their commander, that they might give it an
honorable burial. ‘These requests, however, Oc-
tavius would not accede to, saying that he could
not take the body away from Cleopatra. He,
however, gave Cleopatra leave to make such
arrangements for the obsequies as she thought
fit, and allowed her to appropriate such sums
of money from her treasures for this purpose as
she desired. Cleopatra accordingly made the
necessary arrangements, and superintended the
execution of them; not, however, with any de-
gree of calmness and composure, but in a state,
on the contrary, of extreme agitation and dis-
tress. In fact, she had been living now so long
under the unlimited and unrestrained dominion
of caprice and passion, that reason was pretty
effectually dethroned, and all self-control was
gone. She was now nearly forty years of age,
and, though traces of her inexpressible beauty
remained, her bloom was faded, and her coun-
tenance was wan with the effects of weeping,
anxiety, and despair. She was, in a word, both
in body and mind, only the wreck and ruin of
what she once had been.

When the burial ceremonies were performed,
and she found that all was over—that Antony
was forever gone, and she herself hopelessly and
308 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Cleopatra’s wounds and bruises. She resoives to starve herself.

irremediably ruined—she gave herself up to a
perfect phrensy of grief. She beat her breast,
and scratched and tore her flesh so dreadfully,
in the vain efforts which she made to kill her-
self, in the paroxysms of her despair, that she
was soon covered with contusions and wounds,
which, becoming inflamed and swelled, made
her a shocking spectacle to see, and threw her
into a fever. She then conceived the idea of
pretending to be more sick than she was, and
so refusing food and starving herself to death.
She attempted to execute this design. She re-
jected every medical remedy that was offered
her, and would not eat, and lived thus some
days without food. Octavius, to whom every
thing relating to his captive was minutely re-
ported by her attendants, suspected her design.
He was very unwilling that she should die,
having set his heart on exhibiting her to the
Roman people, on his return to the capital, in
his triumphal procession. He accordingly sent
her orders, requiring that she should submit to
the treatment prescribed by the physician, and
take her food, enforcing these his commands
with a certain threat which he imagined might
have some influence over her. And what threat
does the reader imagine could possibly be de-
B.C.30.] Tue Env or Cieopartra. 309

Threats of Octavius. Their effect.

vised to reach a mind so sunk, so desperate, so
wretched ashers? Every thing seemed already
lost but life, and life was only an insupportable
burden. What interests, then, had she still re-
maining upon which a threat could take hold?

Octavius, in looking for some avenue by
which he could reach her, reflected that she was
a mother.’ Cesarion, the son of Julius Cesar,
and Alexander, Cleopatra, and Ptolemy, Anto-
ny’s children, were still alive. Octavius imag-
ined that in the secret recesses of her wrecked
and ruined soul there might be some lingering
principle of maternal affection remaining which
he could goad into life and action. He accord-
ingly sent word to her that, if she did not yield
_ to the physician and take her food, he would
kill every one of her children.

The threat produced its effect. The crazed
and frantic patient became calm. She receiv-
ed her food. She submitted to the physician.
Under his treatment her wounds began to heal,
the fever was allayed, and at length she appear-
ed to be gradually recovering.

When Octavius learned that Cleopatra had
become composed, and seemed to be in some
sense convalescent, he resolved to pay her a vis-
it. As he entered the room where she was con-
310 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Octavius visits Cleopatra. Her wretched condition.

fined, which seems to have been still the upper
chamber of her tomb, he found her lying on a
low and miserable bed, in a most wretched con-
dition, and exhibiting such a spectacle of dis-
ease and wretchedness that he was shocked at
beholding her. She appeared, in fact, almost
wholly bereft of reason. When Octavius came
in, she suddenly leaped out of the bed, half nak-
ed as she was, and covered with bruises and
wounds, and crawled miserably along to her
conqueror’s feet in the attitude of a suppliant.
Her hair was torn from her head, her limbs
were swollen and disfigured, and great bandages
appeared here and there, indicating that there
were still worse injuries than these concealed.
From the midst of all this squalidness and mis-
ery there still beamed from her sunken eyes a
great portion of their former beauty, and her
voice still possessed the same inexpressible
charm that had characterized it so. strongly in
the days of her prime. Octavius made her go
back to her bed again and lie down.

Cleopatra then began to talk and excuse her-
self for what she had done, attributing all the
blame of her conduct to Antony. Octavius,
however, interrupted her, and defended Antony
from her criminations, saying to her that it was
B.C. 30.] Tut Enp or CueopaTRa. 311

wii enn eg iT
The false inventory. Cleopatra in a rage.

eA a ee a i cessnsap cn pA r
not his fault so much as hers. She then sud-
denly changed her tone, and acknowledging her
sins, piteously implored mercy. She begged
Octavius to pardon and spare her, as if now she
were afraid of death and dreaded it, instead of
desiring it as a boon. In a word, her mind,
the victim and the prey alternately of the most
dissimilar and inconsistent passions, was now
overcome by fear. To propitiate Octavius, she
brought out a list of all her private treasures,
and delivered it to him as a complete inventory
of all that she had. One of her treasurers,
however, named Zeleucus, who was standing
by, said to Octavius that that list was not com-
plete. Cleopatra had, he alleged, reserved sev-
eral things of great value, which she had not
put down upon it.

This assertion, thus suddenly exposing her
duplicity, threw Cleopatra into a violent rage.
She sprang from her bed and assaulted her sec-
retary ina most furious manner. Octavius and
the others who were there interposed, and com-
pelled Cleopatra to lie down again, which she
did, uttering all the time the most grievous com-
plaints at the wretched degradation to which
she was reduced, to be insulted thus by her own
servants at gach a time. If she had reserved
812 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 30

Octavius deceived. Cleopatra’s determination
-snaup-asssenesespasinsnneseneeienenibaiaeuriaaemnanesieneesaese nas



any thing, she said, of her private treasures, it
was only for presents to some of her faithful
friends, to induce them the more zealously to
intercede with Octavius in her behalf. Octa-
vius replied by urging her to feel no concern
on the subject whatever. He freely gave her,
he said, all that she had reserved, and he prom-
ised in other respects to treat her in the most
honorable and courteous manner.

Octavius was much pleased at the result of
this interview. It was obvious, as it appeared
to him, that Cleopatra had ceased to desire to
die; that she now, on the contrary, wished to
live, and that he should accordingly succeed in
his desire of taking her with him to grace his
triumph at Rome. He accordingly made his
arrangements for departure, and Cleopatra was
notified that in three days she was to set out,
together with her children, to go into Syria.
Octavius said Syria, as he did not wish to alarm
Cleopatra by speaking of Rome. She, however, —
understood well where the journey, if once com-
menced, would necessarily end, and she was
fully determined in her own mind that she
would never go there. :

She asked to be allowed to pay one parting
visit to Antony’s tomb. This request was
B.C. 30.] Tue Env or Cieopatra. 818

Cleopatra visits Antony’s tomb. Her composure on her return,

granted; and she went to the tomb with a few
attendants, carrying with her chaplets and gar-
lands of flowers. At the tomb her grief broke
forth anew, and was as violent as ever. She
bewailed her lover’s death with loud cries and
lamentations, uttered while she was placing the
garlands upon the tomb, and offering the obla-
tions and incense, which were customary in
those days, as expressions of grief. ‘ These,”
said she, as she made the offerings, ‘‘ are the last
tributes of affection that I can ever pay thee,
my dearest, dearest lord. I can not join thee,
for lam a captive and a prisoner, and they will
not let me die. They watch me every hour,
and are going to bear me far away, to exhibit
me to thine enemies, as a badge and trophy of
their triumph over thee. Oh intercede, dearest
Antony, with the gods where thou art now,
since those that reign here on earth have utterly
forsaken me; implore them to save me from
this fate, and let me die here in my native land,
and be buried by thy side in this tomb.”
When Cleopatra returned to her apartment
again after this melancholy ceremony, she seem-
ed to be more composed than she had been be-
fore.. She went to the bath, and then she at-
tired herself handsomely for supper. She. had
314 CLEOPATRA. [B.C. 30.

Cleopatra's supper. The basket of figs.

ordered supper that night to be very sumptu-
ously served. She was at liberty to make these
arrangements, for the restrictions upon her
movements, which had been imposed at first,
were now removed, her appearance and de-
meanor having been for some time such as to
lead Octavius to suppose that there was no
longer any danger that she would attempt self-
destruction. Her entertainment was arranged,
therefore, according to her directions, in a man-
ner corresponding with the customs of her court
when she had been a queen. She had many
attendants, and among them were two of her
own women. These women were long-tried and
faithful servants and friends.

~ While she was at supper, a man came to the
door with a basket, and wished to enter. The
guards asked him what he had in his basket.
He opened it to let them see; and, lifting up
some green leaves which were laid over the top,
he showed the soldiers that the basket was filled:
with figs. He said that they were for Cleo-
patra’s supper. The soldiers admired the ap-
pearance of the figs, saying that they were very
fine and beautiful. The man asked the soldiers
to take some of them. This they declined, but
allowed the man to‘pass in. When the supper
B.C.30.] Tue Env or Cieopatra. 315

ns
Cleopatra’s letter to Octavius. She is found dead.
ik die

was ended, Cleopatra sent all of her attendants
away except the two women. They remained.
After a little time, one of these women came
out with a letter for Octavius, which Cleopatra
had written, and which she wished to have im-
mediately delivered. One of the soldiers from
the guard stationed at the gates was accord-
ingly dispatched to carry the letter. Octavius,
when it was given to him, opened the envelope
at once and read the letter, which was written,
as was customary in those days, on a small
tablet of metal. He found that it was a brief
but urgent petition from Cleopatra, written ev-
idently in agitation and excitement, praying
that he would overlook her offense, and allow
her to be buried with Antony. Octavius im-
mediately inferred that she had destroyed her-
self. He sent off some messengers at once, with
orders to go directly to her place of confinement
and ascertain the truth, intending to follow them
himself immediately.

The messengers, on their arrival at the gates,
found the sentinels and soldiers quietly on guard
before the door, as if all were well. On enter-
ing Cleopatra’s room, however, they beheld a
shocking spectacle. Cleopatra was lying dead
upon a couch. One of her women was upon
316 CLEOPATRA, [B.C. 30.

Seren a sesrnsreeneesicnneeeeinparemenenanieenseeanteninnsensinnsnentinmnsadsiiensasuliie
Death of Charmion. Amazement of the by-standers,

the floor, dead too. The other, whose name
was Charmion, was sitting over the body of her
mistress, fondly caressing her, arranging flowers
in her hair, and adorning her Uiadem. The
messengers of Octavius, on witnessing this spec-
tacle, were overcome with amazement, and de-
manded of Charmion what it could mean, “Tt
is all right,” said Charmion. « Cleopatra has
acted in a manner worthy of a princess descend-
ed from so noble a line of kings.” As Charmion
said this, she began to sink herself, fainting,
upon the bed, and almost immediately expired.
- The by-standers were not only shocked at the
spectacle which was thus presented before them,
but they were perplexed and confounded in their
attempts to discover by what means Cleopatra
and her women had succeeded in effecting their
design. They examined the bodies, but no
marks of violence were to be discovered. They
looked all around the room, but no weapons, and
no indication of any means of poison, were to be
found. They discovered something that ap-
peared like the slimy track of an animal on the
wall, toward a window, which they thought
might have been produced by an asp; but the
animal itself was nowhere to be seen. They
examined the body with great care, but no
B.C. 30.) Tue Exp or Creopartra. 317

Various conjectures as to the cause of Cleopatra’s death.

marks of any bite or sting were to be found, ex-
cept that there were two very slight and scarce-
ly-discernible punctures on the arm, which some
persons fancied might have been so caused.
The means and manner of her death seemed to
be involved in impenetrable mystery.

There were various rumors on the subject
subsequently in circulation both at Alexandria
and at Rome, though the mystery was never
fully solved. Some said that there was an asp
concealed among the figs which the servant man
brought in in the basket; that he brought it in
that manner, by a preconcerted arrangement
between him and Cleopatra, and that, when she
received it, she placed the animal on her arm.
Others say that she had a small steel instru-
ment like a needle, with a poisoned point, which
she had kept concealed in her hair, and that she
killed herself with that, without producing any
visible wound. Another story was, that she had
an asp in a box somewhere in her apartment,
which she had reserved for this occasion, and
when the time finally came, that she pricked
and teased it with a golden bodkin to make it
angry, and then placed it upon her flesh and
received its sting. Which of these stories, if
either of them, were true, could never be known.
318 CLEOPATRA. [ B.C. 30.

Opinion of Octavius. 3 His triumph.



It has, however, been generally believed among
mankind that Cleopatra died in some way or
other by the self-inflicted sting of the asp, and
paintings and sculptures without number have
been made to illustrate and commemorate the
scene.

This supposition in respect to the mode of
her death is, in fact, confirmed by the action
of Octavius himself on his return to Rome,
which furnishes a strong indication of his opin-
ion of the manner in which his captive at last
eluded him. Disappointed in not being able to
exhibit the queen herself in his triumphal train,
he caused a golden statue representing her to
be made, with an image of an asp upon the arm
of it, and this sculpture he caused to be borne
conspicuously before him in his grand triumphal
entry into the capital, as the token and trophy
of the final downfall of the unhappy Egyptian

queen.

Tue Enp.
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