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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Cleopatra, by Georg Ebers, Volume 7.
+#41 in our series by Georg Ebers
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+Title: Cleopatra, Volume 7.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5479]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on May 21, 2002]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEOPATRA, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
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+This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
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+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
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+
+
+CLEOPATRA
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 7.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Charmain went towards her own apartments.  How often she had had a
+similar experience!  In the midst of the warmest admiration for this rare
+woman's depth of feeling, masculine strength of intellect, tireless
+industry, watchful care for her native land, steadfast loyalty, and
+maternal devotion, she had been sobered in the most pitiable way.
+
+She had been forced to see Cleopatra, for the sake of realizing a
+childish dream, and impressing her lover, squander vast sums, which
+diminished the prosperity of her subjects; place great and important
+matters below the vain, punctilious care of her own person; forget, in
+petty jealousy, the justice and kindness which were marked traits in her
+character; and, though the most kindly and womanly of sovereigns, suffer
+herself to be urged by angry excitement to inflict outrage on a subject
+whose acts had awakened her displeasure.  The lofty ambition which had
+inspired her noblest and most praiseworthy deeds had more than once been
+the source of acts which she herself regretted.  When a child, she could
+not endure to be surpassed in difficult tasks, and still deemed it a
+necessity to be first and peerless.  Hence the unfortunate circumstance
+that Antony had given Barine the counterpart of an armlet which she
+herself wore as a gift from her lover, was perhaps the principal cause of
+her bitter resentment against the hapless woman.
+
+Charmian had seen Cleopatra forgive freely and generously many a wrong,
+nay, many an affront, inflicted upon her; but to see herself placed by
+her husband on the same plane as a Barine, even in the most trivial
+matter, might easily seem to her an unbearable insult; and the mishap
+which had befallen Caesarion, in consequence of his foolish passion for
+the young beauty, gave her a right to punish her rival.
+
+Deeply anxious concerning the fate of the woman in her care--greatly
+agitated, moreover, and exhausted physically and mentally--Charmian
+sought her own apartments.
+
+Here she hoped to find solace in Barine's cheerful and equable nature;
+here the helpful hands of her dark-skinned maid and confidante awaited
+her.
+
+The sun was low in the western horizon when she entered the anteroom.
+The members of the body-guard who were on duty told her that nothing
+unusual had occurred, and with a sigh of relief she passed into the
+sitting-room.
+
+But the Ethiopian, who usually came to meet her with words of welcome,
+took her veil and wraps, and removed her shoes, was absent.  Today no one
+greeted her.  Not until she entered the second room, which she had
+assigned to her guest, did she find Barine, who was weeping bitterly.
+
+During Charmian's absence the latter had received a letter from Alexas,
+in which he informed her that he was ordered by the Queen to subject her
+to an examination the next morning.  Her cause looked dark but, if she
+did not render his duty harder by the harshness which had formerly caused
+him much pain, he would do his utmost to protect her from imprisonment,
+forced labour in the mines, or even worse misfortunes.  The imprudent
+game which she had played with King Caesarion had unfortunately roused
+the people against her.  The depth of their indignation was shown by the
+fury with which they had assailed the house of her grandfather, Didymus.
+Nothing could save Dion, who had audaciously attacked the illustrious son
+of their beloved Queen, from the rage of the populace.  He, Alexas, knew
+that in this Dion she would lose a friend and protector, but he would be
+disposed to take his place if her conduct did not render it impossible
+for him to unite mercy with justice.
+
+This shameful letter, which promised Barine clemency in return for her
+favour without unmasking him in his character of judge, explained to
+Charmian the agitation in which she found her friend's daughter.
+
+It was doubtless a little relief to Barine to express her loathing and
+abhorrence of Alexas as eagerly as her gentle nature would permit, but
+fear, grief, and indignation continued to struggle for the mastery in her
+oppressed soul.
+
+It would have been expected that the keen-witted woman would have eagerly
+inquired what Charmian had accomplished with the Queen and Archibius,
+and what new events had happened to affect Cleopatra, the state, and the
+city; but she questioned her with far deeper interest concerning the
+welfare of her lover, desiring information in regard to many things of
+which her friend could give no tidings.  In her brief visit to Dion's
+couch she had not learned how he bore his own misfortunes and Barine's,
+what view he took of the future, or what he expected from the woman he
+loved.
+
+Charmian's ignorance and silence in regard to these very matters
+increased the anxiety of the endangered woman, who saw not only her own
+life, but those dearest to her, seriously threatened.  So she entreated
+her hostess to relieve her from the uncertainty which was harder to
+endure than the most terrible reality; but the latter either could not or
+would not give her any further details of Cleopatra's intentions, or the
+fate and present abode of her grandparents and Helena.  This increased
+her anxiety, for if Alexas's information was correct, her family must be
+homeless.  When Charmian at last admitted that she had seen Dion only a
+few minutes, the tortured Barine's power of quiet endurance gave way.
+
+She, whose nature was so hopeful that, when the glow of the sunset faded,
+she already anticipated with delight the rosy dawn of the next day, now
+beheld in Cleopatra's hand the reed which was to sign the death-sentence
+of Dion and herself.  Her mental vision conjured up her relatives wounded
+by the falling house or bleeding under the stones hurled by the raging
+populace.  She heard Alexas command the executioner to subject her to the
+rack, and fancied that Anukis had not returned because she had failed to
+find Dion.  The Queen's soldiers had probably carried him to prison,
+loaded with chains, if Philostratus had not already instigated the mob to
+drag him through the streets.
+
+With feverish impetuosity, which alarmed Charmian the more because it was
+so unlike her old friend's daughter, Barine described all the spectres
+with which her imagination--agitated by terror, longing, love, and
+loathing--terrified her; but the former exerted all the power of
+eloquence she possessed, by turns reproving her and loading her with
+caresses, in order to soothe her and rouse her from her despair.  But
+nothing availed.  At last she succeeded in persuading the unhappy woman
+to go with her to the window, which afforded a most beautiful view.
+Westward, beyond the Heptastadium, the sun was sinking below the forests
+of masts in the harbour of the Eunostus; and Charmian, who had learned
+from her intercourse with the royal children how to soothe a troubled
+young heart, to divert Barine's thoughts, directed her attention to the
+crimson glow in the western sky, and told her how her father, the artist,
+had showed her the superb brilliancy which colours gained at this hour of
+the day, even when the west was less radiant than now.  But Barine, who
+usually could never gaze her fill at such a spectacle, did not thank her,
+for this sunset reminded her of another which she had lately watched at
+Dion's side, and she again broke into convulsive sobs.
+
+Charmian, not knowing what to do, passed her arm around her.  Just at
+that moment the door was hurriedly thrown open, and Anukis, the Nubian,
+entered.
+
+Her mistress knew that something unusual must have happened to detain her
+so long from her post at Barine's side, and her appearance showed that
+she had been attending to important matters which had severely taxed her
+strength.  Her shining dark skin looked ashen grey, her high forehead,
+surrounded by tangled woolly locks, was dripping with perspiration, and
+her thick lips were pale.  Although she must have undergone great
+fatigue, she did not seem in need of rest; for, after greeting the
+ladies, apologizing for her long absence, and telling Barine that this
+time Dion had seemed to her half on the way to recovery, a rapid side
+glance at her mistress conveyed an entreaty that she would follow her
+into the next room.
+
+But the language of the Nubian's eyes had not escaped the suspicious
+watchfulness of the anxious Barine and, overwhelmed with fresh terror,
+she begged that she might hear all.
+
+Charmian ordered her maid to speak openly; but Anukis, ere she began,
+assured them that she had received the news she brought from a most
+trustworthy source--only it would make a heavy demand upon the resolution
+and courage of Barine, whom she had hoped to find in a very different
+mood.  There was no time to lose.  She was expected at the appointed
+place an hour after sunset.
+
+Here Charmian interrupted the maid with the exclamation "Impossible!"
+and reminded her of the guards which Alexas, aided by Iras, who was
+thoroughly familiar with the palace, had stationed the day before in the
+anteroom, at all the doors--nay, even beneath the windows.
+
+The Nubian replied that everything had been considered; but, to gain
+time, she must beg Barine to let her colour her skin and curl her hair
+while she was talking.
+
+The surprise visible in the young beauty's face caused her to exclaim:
+"Only act with entire confidence.  You shall learn everything directly.
+There is so much to tell!  On the way here I had planned how to relate
+the whole story in regular order, but it can't be done now.  No, no!
+Whoever wants to save a flock of sheep from a burning shed must lead out
+the bell-wether first--the main thing, I mean--so I will begin with that,
+though it really comes last.  The explanation of how all this--"
+
+Here, like a cry of joy, Barine's exclamation interrupted her:
+
+"I am to fly, and Dion knows it and will follow me!  I see it in your
+face."
+
+In fact, every feature of the dusky maid-servant's ugly face betrayed
+that pleasant thoughts were agitating her mind.  Her black eyes flashed
+with fearless daring, and a smile beautified her big mouth and thick lips
+as she replied:
+
+"A loving heart like yours understands the art of prophecy better than
+the chief priest of the great Serapis.  Yes, my young mistress, he of
+whom you speak must disappear from this wicked city where so much evil
+threatens you both.  He will certainly escape and, if the immortals aid
+us and we are wise and brave, you also.  Whence the help comes can be
+told later.  Now, the first thing is to transform you--don't be
+reluctant--into the ugliest woman in the world--black Anukis.  You must
+escape from the palace in this disguise.--Now you know the whole plan,
+and while I get what is necessary from my chest of clothes, I beg you,
+mistress, to consider how we are to obtain the black stains for that
+ivory skin and golden hair."
+
+With these words she left the room, but Barine flung herself into her
+friend's arms, exclaiming, amid tears and laughter: "Though I should be
+forced to remain forever as black and crooked as faithful Aisopion, if he
+did not withdraw his love, though I were obliged to go through fire and
+water--I would  O Charmian! what changes so quickly as joy and sorrow?
+I would fain show some kindness to every one in the world, even to your
+Queen, who has brought all these troubles upon me."
+
+The new-born hope had transformed the despairing woman into a happy one,
+and Charmian perceived it with grateful joy, secretly wishing that
+Cleopatra had listened to her appeal.
+
+While examining the hair-dyes used by the Queen she saw, lurking in the
+background of what was still unexplained, and therefore confused her
+mind, fresh and serious perils.  Barine, on the contrary, gazed across
+them to the anticipated meeting with her lover, and was full of the
+gayest expectation until the maid-servant's return.
+
+The work of disfigurement began without delay.  Anukis moved her lips as
+busily as her hands, and described in regular order all that had befallen
+her during the eventful day.
+
+Barine listened with rising excitement, and her joy increased as she
+beheld the path which had been smoothed for her by the care and wisdom of
+her friends.  Charmian, on the contrary, became graver and more quiet the
+more distinctly she perceived the danger her favourite must encounter.
+Yet she could not help admitting that it would be a sin against Barine's
+safety, perhaps her very life, to withhold her from this well-considered
+plan of escape.
+
+That it must be tried was certain; but as the moment which was to
+endanger the woman she loved drew nearer, and she could not help saying
+to herself that she was aiding an enterprise in opposition to the express
+command of the Queen and helping to execute a plan which threatened to
+rouse the indignation, perhaps the fury, of Cleopatra, a feeling of
+sorrow overpowered her.  She feared nothing for herself.  Not for a
+single instant did she think of the unpleasant consequences which
+Barine's escape might draw upon her.  The burden on her soul was due only
+to the consciousness of having, for the first time, opposed the will of
+the sovereign, to fulfil whose desires and to promote whose aims had been
+the beloved duty of her life.  Doubtless the thought crossed her mind
+that, by aiding Barine's escape, she was guarding Cleopatra from future
+repentance; probably she felt sure that it was her duty to help rescue
+this beautiful young life, whose bloom had been so cruelly assailed by
+tempest and hoar-frost, and which now had a prospect of the purest
+happiness; yet, though in itself commendable, the deed brought her into
+sharp conflict with the loftiest aims and aspirations of her life.  And
+how much nearer than the other was the woman--she shrank from the word--
+whom she was about to betray, how much greater was Cleopatra's claim
+to her love and gratitude!  Could she have any other emotion than
+thankfulness if the plan of escape succeeded?  Yet she was reluctant to
+perform the task of making Barine's beautiful, symmetrical figure
+resemble the hunch-backed Nubian's, or to dip her fingers into the pomade
+intended for Cleopatra; and it grieved her to mar the beauty of Barine's
+luxuriant tresses by cutting off part of her thick fair braids.
+
+True, these things could not be avoided, if the flight was to succeed,
+and the further Anukis advanced in her story, the fewer became her
+mistress's objections to the plan.
+
+The conversation between Iras and Alexas, which had been overheard by the
+maid, already made it appear necessary to withdraw Barine and her lover
+from the power of such foes.  The faithful man whom Anukis had found with
+Dion, whose name she did not mention and of whose home she said only that
+no safer hiding-place could be found, even by the mole which burrowed in
+the earth, really seemed to have been sent with Gorgias to Dion's couch
+by Fate itself.  The control of the subterranean chambers in the Temple
+of Isis which had been bestowed on the architect, also appeared like a
+miracle.
+
+Upon a small tablet, which the wise Aisopion had intentionally delayed
+handing to her mistress until now, were the lines:  "Archibius greets his
+sister Charmian.  If I know your heart, it will be as hard for you as for
+me to share this plot, yet it must be done for the sake of her father, to
+save the life and happiness of his child.  So it must fall to your lot to
+bring Barine to the Temple of Isis at the Corner of the Muses.  She will
+find her lover there and, if possible, be wedded to him.  As the
+sanctuary is so near, you need leave the palace only a short time.  Do
+not tell Barine what we have planned.  The disappointment would be too
+great if it should prove impracticable."
+
+This letter and the arrangement it proposed transformed the serious
+scruples which shadowed Charmian's good-will into a joyous, nay,
+enthusiastic desire to render assistance.  Barine's marriage to the man
+who possessed her heart was close at hand, and she was the daughter of
+Leonax, who had once been dear to her.  Fear and doubt vanished as if
+scattered to the four winds, and when Aisopion's work of transformation
+was completed and Barine stood before her as the high-shouldered, dark-
+visaged, wrinkled maid, she could not help admitting that it would be
+easy to escape from the palace in that disguise.
+
+She now told Barine that she intended to accompany her herself; and
+though the former's stained face forced her to refrain from kissing her
+friend, she plainly expressed to her and the faithful freedwoman the
+overflowing gratitude which filled her heart.
+
+Anukis was left alone.  After carefully removing all the traces of her
+occupation, as habit dictated, she raised her arms in prayer, beseeching
+the gods of her native land to protect the beautiful woman to whom she
+had loaned her own misshapen form, which had now been of genuine service,
+and who had gone forth to meet so many dangers, but also a happiness
+whose very hope had been denied to her.
+
+Charmian had told her maid that if the Queen should inquire for her
+before Iras returned from the Choma to say that she had been obliged to
+leave the palace, and to supply her place.  During their absence, when
+Charmian had been attacked by sickness, Cleopatra had often entrusted the
+care of her toilet to Aisopion, and had praised her skill.
+
+The Queen's confidential attendant was followed as usual when she went
+out by a dark-skinned maid.  Lanterns and lamps had already been lighted
+in the corridors of the spacious palace, and the court-yards were ablaze
+with torches and pitch-pans; but, brilliantly as they burned in many
+places, and numerous as were the guards, officers, eunuchs, clerks,
+soldiers, cooks, attendants, slaves, door-keepers, and messengers whom
+they passed, not one gave them more than a careless glance.
+
+So they reached the last court-yard, and then came a moment when the
+hearts of both women seemed to stop beating--for the man whom they had
+most cause to dread, Alexas the Syrian, approached.
+
+And he did not pass the fugitives, but stopped Charmian, and courteously,
+even obsequiously, informed her that he wished to get rid of the
+troublesome affair of her favourite, which had been assigned to him
+against his will, and therefore had determined to bring Barine to trial
+early the following morning.
+
+The Syrian's body-servant attended his master, and while the former was
+talking with Charmian the latter turned to the supposed Nubian, tapped
+her lightly on the shoulder, and whispered: "Come this evening, as you
+did yesterday.  You haven't finished the story of Prince Setnau."
+
+The fugitive felt as if she had grown dumb and could never more regain
+the power of speech.  Yet she managed to nod, and directly after the
+favourite bowed a farewell to Charmian.  The Ligurian was obliged to
+follow his master, while Charmian and Barine passed through the gateway
+between the last pylons into the open air.
+
+Here the sea-breeze seemed to waft her a joyous greeting from the realm
+of liberty and happiness, and the timid woman, amid all the perils which
+surrounded her, regained sufficient presence of mind to tell her friend
+what Alexas's slave had whispered--that Aisopion might remind him of it
+the same evening, and thus strengthen his belief that the Nubian had
+accompanied the Queen's confidante.
+
+The way to the Temple of Isis was short.  The stars showed that they
+would reach their destination in time; but a second delay unexpectedly
+occurred.  From the steps leading to the cella of the sanctuary a
+procession, whose length seemed endless, came towards them.  At the head
+of the train marched eight pastophori, bearing the image of Isis.  Then
+came the basket-bearers of the goddess with several other priestesses,
+followed by the reader with an open book-roll.  Behind him appeared the
+quaternary number of prophets, whose head, the chief priest, moved with
+stately dignity beneath a canopy.  The rest of the priestly train bore in
+their hands manuscripts, sacred vessels, standards, and wreaths.  The
+priestesses--some of whom, with garlands on their flowing hair, were
+already shaking the sistrum of Isis--mingled with the line of priests,
+their high voices blending with the deep notes of the men.  Neokori, or
+temple servants, and a large number of worshippers of Isis, closed the
+procession, all wearing wreaths and carrying flowers.  Torch and lantern
+bearers lighted the way, and the perfume of the incense rising from the
+little pan of charcoal in the hand of a bronze arm, which the pastophori
+waved to and fro, surrounded and floated after the procession.
+
+The two women waiting for the train to pass saw it turn towards Lochias,
+and the conversation of the bystanders informed them that its object was
+to convey to "the new Isis," the Queen, the greeting of the goddess, and
+assure the sovereign of the divinity's remembrance of her in the hour of
+peril.
+
+Cleopatra could not help accepting this friendly homage, and it was
+incumbent upon her to receive it wearing on her head the crown of Upper
+and Lower Egypt, and robed in all the ecclesiastical vestments which only
+her two most trusted attendants knew how to put on with the attention to
+details that custom required.  This had never been entrusted to maids of
+inferior position like the Nubian; so Cleopatra would miss Charmian.
+
+The thought filled her with fresh uneasiness and, when the steps were at
+last free, she asked herself anxiously how all this would end.
+
+It seemed as if the fugitive and her companion had exposed themselves to
+this great peril in vain; for some of the temple servants were forcing
+back those who wished to enter the sanctuary, shouting that it would be
+closed until the return of the procession.  Barine gazed timidly into
+Charmian's face; but, ere she could express her opinion, the tall figure
+of a man appeared on the temple steps.  It was Archibius, who with grave
+composure bade them follow him, and silently led them around the
+sanctuary to a side door, through which, a short time before, a litter
+had passed, accompanied by several attendants.
+
+Ascending a flight of steps within the long building, they reached the
+dimly lighted cella.
+
+As in the Temple of Osiris at Abydos seven corridors, here three led to
+the same number of apartments, the holy place of the sanctuary.  The
+central one was dedicated to Isis, that on the left to her husband
+Osiris, and that on the right to Horus, the son of the great goddess.
+Before it, scarcely visible in the dim light, stood the altars, loaded
+with sacrifices by Archibius.
+
+Beside that of Horus was the litter which had been borne into the temple
+before the arrival of the women.  From it, supported by two friends,
+descended a slender young man.
+
+A hollow sound echoed through the pillared hall.  The iron door at the
+main entrance of the temple had been closed.  The shrill rattle that
+followed proceeded from the metal bolts which an old servant of the
+sanctuary had shot into the sockets.
+
+Barine started, but neither inquired the cause of the noise nor perceived
+the wealth of objects here presented to the senses; for the man who,
+leaning on another's arm, approached the altar, was Dion, the lover who
+had perilled his life for her sake.  Her eyes rested intently on his
+figure, her whole heart yearned towards him and, unable to control
+herself,--she called his name aloud.
+
+Charmian gazed anxiously around the group, but soon uttered a sigh of
+relief; for the tall man whose arm supported Dion was Gorgias, the worthy
+architect, his best friend, and the other, still taller and stronger, her
+own brother Archibius.  Yonder figure, emerging from the disguise of
+wraps, was Berenike, Barine's mother.  All trustworthy confidants!  The
+only person whom she did not know was the handsome young man standing at
+her brother's side.
+
+Barine, whose arm she still held, had struggled to escape to rush to her
+mother and lover; but Archibius had approached, and in a whisper warned
+her to be patient and to refrain from any greeting or question,
+"supposing," he added, "that you are willing to be married at this altar
+to Dion, the son of Eumenes."
+
+Charmian felt Barine's arm tremble in hers at this suggestion, but the
+young beauty obeyed her friend's directions.  She did not know what had
+be fallen her, or whether, in the excess of happiness which overwhelmed
+her, to shout aloud in her exultant joy, or melt into silent tears of
+gratitude and emotion.
+
+No one spoke.  Archibius took a roll of manuscript from Dion's hand,
+presented himself before the assembled company as the bride's kyrios, or
+guardian, and asked Barine whether she so recognized him.  Then he
+returned to Dion the marriage contract, whose contents he knew and
+approved, and informed those present that, in the marriage about to be
+solemnized, they must consider him the paranymphos, or best man, and
+Berenike as the bridesmaid, and they instantly lighted a torch at the
+fires burning on one of the altars.  Archibius, as kyrios, joined the
+lovers' hands in the Egyptian--Barine's mother, as bridesmaid, in the
+Greek-manner, and Dion gave his bride a plain iron ring.  It was the same
+one which his father had bestowed at his own wedding, and he whispered:
+"My mother valued it; now it is your turn to honour the ancient
+treasure."
+
+After stating that the necessary sacrifices had been offered to Isis and
+Serapis, Zeus, Hera, and Artemis, and that the marriage between Dion, son
+of Eumenes, and Barine, daughter of Leonax, was concluded, Archibius
+shook hands with both.
+
+Haste seemed necessary, for he permitted Berenike and his sister only
+time for a brief embrace, and Gorgias to clasp her hand and Dion's.  Then
+he beckoned, and the newly made bride's mother followed him in tears,
+Charmian bewildered and almost stupefied.  She did not fully realize the
+meaning of the event she had just witnessed until an old neokori had
+guided her and the others into the open air.
+
+Barine felt as if every moment might rouse her from a blissful dream,
+and yet she gladly told herself that she was awake, for the man walking
+before her, leaning on the arm of a friend, was Dion.  True, she saw,
+even in the faint light of the dim temple corridor, that he was
+suffering.  Walking appeared to be so difficult that she rejoiced when,
+yielding to Gorgias's entreaties, he entered the litter.
+
+But where were the bearers?
+
+She was soon to learn; for, even while she looked for them, the architect
+and the youth, in whom she had long since recognized Philotas, her
+grandfather's assistant, seized the poles.
+
+"Follow us," said Gorgias, under his breath, and she obeyed, keeping
+close behind the litter, which was borne first down a broad and then a
+narrow staircase, and finally along a passage.  Here a door stopped the
+fugitives; but the architect opened it and helped his friend out of the
+litter, which before proceeding farther he placed in a room filled with
+various articles discovered during his investigation of the subterranean
+temple chambers.
+
+Hitherto not a word had been spoken.  Now Gorgias called to Barine: "This
+passage is low--you must stoop.  Cover your head, and don't be afraid if
+you meet bats.  They have long been undisturbed.  We might have taken you
+from the temple to the sea, and waited there, but it would probably have
+attracted attention and been dangerous.  Courage, young wife of Dion!
+The corridor is long, and walking through it is difficult; but compared
+with the road to the mines, it is as smooth and easy as the Street of the
+King.  If you think of your destination, the bats will seem like the
+swallows which announce the approach of spring."
+
+Barine nodded gratefully to him; but she kissed the hand of Dion, who was
+moving forward painfully, leaning on the arm of his friend.  The light of
+the torch carried by Gorgias's faithful foreman, who led the way, had
+fallen on her blackened arm, and when the little party advanced she kept
+behind the others.  She thought it might be unpleasant for her lover to
+see her thus disfigured, and spared him, though she would gladly have
+remained nearer.  As soon as the passage grew lower, the wounded man's
+friends took him in their arms, and their task was a hard one, for they
+were not only obliged to move onward bending low under the heavy burden,
+but also to beat off the bats which, frightened by the foreman's torch,
+flew up in hosts.
+
+Barine's hair was covered, it is true, but at any other time the hideous
+creatures, which often brushed against her head and arms, would have
+filled her with horror and loathing.  Now she scarcely heeded them; her
+eyes were fixed on the recumbent figure in the bearers' arms, the man to
+whom she belonged, body and soul, and whose patient suffering pierced her
+inmost heart.  His head rested on the breast of Gorgias, who walked
+directly in front of her; the architect's stooping posture concealed his
+face, but his feet were visible and, whenever they twitched, she fancied
+he was in pain.  Then she longed to press forward to his side, wipe the
+perspiration from his brow in the hot, low corridor, and whisper words of
+love and encouragement.
+
+This she was sometimes permitted to do when the friends put down their
+heavy burden.  True, they allowed themselves only brief intervals of
+rest, but they were long enough to show her how the sufferer's strength
+was failing.  When they at last reached their destination, Philotas was
+forced to exert all his strength to support the exhausted man, while
+Gorgias cautiously opened the door.  It led to a flight of sea-washed
+steps close to the garden of Didymus, which as a child she had often used
+with her brother to float a little boat upon the water.
+
+The architect opened the door only a short distance; he was expected,
+for Barine soon heard him whisper, and suddenly the door was flung wide.
+A tall man raised Dion and bore him into the open air.  While she was
+still gazing after him, a second figure of equal size approached her and,
+hastily begging her permission, lifted her in his arms like a child, and
+as she inhaled the cool night air and felt the water through which her
+bearer waded splash up and wet her feet, her eyes sought her new-made
+husband--but in vain; the night was very dark, and the lights on the
+shore did not reach this spot so far below the walls of the quay.
+
+Barine was frightened; but a few minutes after the outlines of a large
+fishing boat loomed through the darkness, dimly illumined by the harbour
+lights, and the next instant the giant who carried her placed her on the
+deck, and a deep voice whispered: "All's well.  I'll bring some wine at
+once."
+
+Then Barine saw her husband lying motionless on a couch which had been
+prepared for him in the prow of the boat.  Bending over him, she
+perceived that he had fainted, and while rubbing his forehead with the
+wine, raising his head on her lap, cheering him, and afterwards by the
+light of a small lantern carefully renewing the bandage on his shoulder,
+she did not notice that the vessel was moving through the water until the
+boatman set the triangular sail.
+
+She had not been told where the boat was bearing her, and she did not
+ask.  Any spot that she could share with Dion was welcome.  The more
+lonely the place, the more she could be to him.  How her heart swelled
+with gratitude and love!  When she bent over him, kissed his forehead,
+and felt how feverishly it burned, she thought, "I will nurse you back to
+health," and raised her eyes and soul to her favourite god, to whom she
+owed the gift of song, and who understood everything beautiful and pure,
+to thank Phoebus Apollo and beseech him to pour his rays the next morning
+on a convalescent man.  While she was still engaged in prayer the boat
+touched the shore.  Again strong arms bore her and Dion to the land, and
+when her foot touched the solid earth, her rescuer, the freedman Pyrrhus,
+broke the silence, saying: "Welcome, wife of Dion, to our island!  True,
+you must be satisfied to take us as we are.  But if you are as content
+with us as we are glad to serve you and your lord, who is ours also, the
+hour of leave-taking will be far distant."
+
+Then, leading the way to the house, he showed her as her future
+apartments two large whitewashed rooms, whose sole ornament was their
+exquisite neatness.  On the threshold stood Pyrrhus's grey-haired wife,
+a young woman, and a girl scarcely beyond childhood; but the older one
+modestly welcomed Barine, and also begged her to accept their
+hospitality.  Recovery was rapid in the pure air of the Serpent Isle.
+She herself, and--she pointed to the others--her oldest son's wife, and
+her own daughter, Dione, would be ready to render her any service.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Brothers and sisters are rarely talkative when they are together.  As
+Charmian went to Lochias with Archibius, it was difficult for her to find
+words, the events of the past few hours had agitated her so deeply.
+Archibius, too, could not succeed in turning his thoughts in any other
+direction, though important and far more momentous things claimed his
+attention.
+
+They walked on silently side by side.  In reply to his sister's inquiry
+where the newly wedded pair were to be concealed, he had answered that,
+spite of her trustworthiness, this must remain a secret.  To her second
+query, how had it been possible to use the interior of the Temple of Isis
+without interruption, he also made a guarded reply.
+
+In fact, it was the control of the subterranean corridors of the
+sanctuary which had suggested to Gorgias the idea of carrying Dion
+through them to Pyrrhus's fishing-boat.  To accomplish this it was only
+necessary to have the Temple of Isis, which usually remained open day and
+night, left to the fugitive's friends for a short time; and this was
+successfully managed.
+
+The historian Timagenes, who had come from Rome as ambassador and claimed
+the hospitality of his former pupil Archibius, had been empowered to
+offer Cleopatra recognition of her own and her children's right to the
+throne, and a full pardon, if she would deliver Mark Antony into the
+hands of Octavianus, or have him put to death.
+
+The Alexandrian Timagenes considered this demand both just and desirable,
+because it promised to deliver his native city from the man whose
+despotic arrogance menaced its freedom, and whose lavish generosity and
+boundless love of splendour diminished its wealth.  To Rome, as whose
+representative the historian appeared, this man's mere existence meant
+constant turmoil and civil war.  At the restoration of the flute-player
+by Gabinius and Mark Antony, Timagenes had been carried into slavery.
+Later, when, after his freedom had been purchased by the son of Sulla, he
+succeeded in attaining great influence in Rome, he still remained hostile
+to Mark Antony, and it had been a welcome charge to work against him in
+Alexandria.  He hoped to find an ally in Archibius, whose loyal devotion
+to the Queen he knew.  Arius, Barine's uncle and Octavianus's former
+tutor, would also aid him.  The most powerful support of his mission,
+however, could be rendered by the venerable chief priest, the head of the
+whole Egyptian hierarchy.  He had shown the latter that Antony, in any
+case, was a lost man, and Egypt was in the act of dropping like a ripe
+fruit into the lap of Octavianus.  It would soon be in his power to give
+the country whatever degree of liberty and independence he might choose.
+The Caesar had the sole disposal of the Queen's fate also, and whoever
+desired to see her remain on the throne must strive to gain the good-will
+of Octavianus.
+
+The wise Anubis had considered all these things, but he owed to Timagenes
+the hint that Arius was the man whom Octavianus most trusted.  So the
+august prelate secretly entered into communication with Barine's uncle.
+But the dignity of his high office, and the feebleness of extreme age,
+forbade Anubis to seek the man who was suspected of friendship for the
+Romans.  He had therefore sent his trusted secretary, the young Serapion,
+to make a compact as his representative with the friend of Octavianus,
+whose severe injuries prevented his leaving the house to go to the chief
+priest.
+
+During Timagenes's negotiations with the secretary and Arius, Archibius
+came to entreat Barine's uncle to do everything in his power to save his
+niece; and, as all the Queen's friends were anxious to prevent an act
+which, in these times of excitement, could not fail, on account of its
+connection with Dion, a member of the Council, to rouse a large number of
+the citizens against her, Serapion, as soon as he was made aware of the
+matter, eagerly protested his readiness to do his best to save the
+imperilled lovers.  He cared nothing for Barine or Dion as individuals,
+but he doubtless would have been ready to make a still greater sacrifice
+to win the influential Archibius, and especially Arius, who would have
+great power through Octavianus, the rising sun.
+
+The men had just begun to discuss plans for saving Barine, when the
+Nubian appeared and told Archibius what had been arranged beside Dion's
+sick-bed by the freedman and Gorgias.  The escape of the fugitives
+depended solely upon their reaching the boat unseen, and the surest way
+to accomplish this was to use the subterranean passage which the
+architect had again opened.
+
+Archibius, to whom the representative of the chief priest had offered his
+aid, now took the others into his confidence, and Arius proposed that
+Barine should marry Dion in the Temple of Isis, and the couple should
+afterwards be guided through the secret passage to the boat.  This
+proposal was approved, and Serapion promised to reserve the sanctuary for
+the wedding of the fugitives for a short time after the departure of the
+procession, which was to take place at sunset.  In return for this
+service another might perhaps soon be requested from the friend of
+Octavianus, who greeted his promise with grateful warmth.
+
+"The priesthood," said Serapion, "takes sides with all who are unjustly
+persecuted, and in this case bestows aid the more willingly on account of
+its great anxiety to guard the Queen from an act which would be difficult
+to approve."  As for the fugitives, so far as he could see, only two
+possibilities were open to them: Cleopatra would cleave to Mark Antony
+and go--would that the immortals might avert it!--to ruin, or she would
+sacrifice him and save her throne and life.  In both cases the endangered
+lovers could soon return uninjured--the Queen had a merciful heart, and
+never retained anger long if no guilt existed.
+
+The details of the plan were then settled by Archibius, Anukis, and
+Berenike, who was with the family of Arius, and the decision was
+communicated to the architect.  Archibius had maintained the same silence
+concerning the destination of the fugitives towards the men composing the
+council and Barine's mother as to his sister.  With regard to the mission
+of Timagenes and the political questions which occupied his mind, he gave
+Charmian only the degree of information necessary to explain the plan she
+so lovingly promoted; but she had no desire to know more.  On the way
+home her mind was wholly absorbed by the fear that Cleopatra had missed
+her services and discovered Barine's flight.  True, she mentioned the
+Queen's desire to place her children in Archibius's charge, but she could
+not give him full particulars until she reached her own apartments.
+
+Her absence had not been noticed.  The Regent Mardion had received the
+procession in the Queen's name, for Cleopatra had driven into the city,
+no one knew where.
+
+Charmian entered her apartments with a lighter heart.  Anukis opened the
+door to them.  She had remained undisturbed, and it was a pleasure to
+Archibius to give the faithful, clever freedwoman an account of the
+matter with his own lips.  He could have bestowed no richer reward upon
+the modest servant, who listened to his words as if they were a
+revelation.  When she disclaimed the thanks with which he concluded,
+protesting that she was the person under obligation, the expression was
+sincere.  Her keen intellect instantly recognized the aristocrat's manner
+of addressing an equal or an inferior; and he who, in her eyes, was the
+first of men, had described the course of events as though she had stood
+on the same level.  The Queen herself might have been satisfied with the
+report.
+
+When she left Charmian's rooms to join the other servants, she told
+herself that she was an especially favoured mortal; and when a young cook
+teased her about her head being sunk between her shoulders, she answered,
+laughing--"My shoulders have grown so high because I shrug them so often
+at the fools who jeer at me and yet are not half so happy and grateful."
+
+Charmian, sorely wearied, had flung herself into an arm-chair, and
+Archibius took his place opposite to her.  They were happy in each
+other's society, even when silent; but to-day the hearts of both were so
+full that they fared like those who are so worn out by fatigue that they
+cannot sleep.  How much they had to tell each other!--yet it was long ere
+Charmian broke the silence and returned to the subject of the Queen's
+wish, describing to her brother Cleopatra's visit to the house which the
+children had built, how kind and cordial she had been; yet, a few minutes
+later, incensed by the mere mention of Barine's name, she had dismissed
+her so ungraciously.
+
+"I do not know what you intend," she said in conclusion, "but,
+notwithstanding my love for her, I must perhaps decide in favour of what
+is most difficult, for--when she learns that it was I who withdrew the
+daughter of Leonax from her and the base Alexas--what treatment can I
+expect, especially as Iras no longer gives me the same affection, and
+shows that she has forgotten my love and care?  This will increase, and
+the worst of the matter is, that if the Queen begins to favour her, I
+cannot justly reproach her, for Iras is keener-witted, and has a more
+active brain.  Statecraft was always odious to me.  Iras, on the
+contrary, is delighted with the opportunity to speak on subjects
+connected with the government of the country, and especially the
+ceaseless, momentous game with Rome and the men who guide her destiny."
+
+"That game is lost," Archibius broke in with so much earnestness that
+Charmian started, repeating in a low, timid tone:
+
+"Lost?"
+
+"Forever," said Archibius, "unless--
+
+"The Olympians be praised--that there is still a doubt."
+
+"Unless Cleopatra can decide to commit an act which will force her to
+be faithless to herself, and destroy her noble image through all future
+generations."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Whenever you learn it, will be too soon."
+
+"And suppose she should do it, Archibius?  You are her most trusted
+confidant.  She will place in your charge what she loves more than she
+does herself."
+
+"More?  You mean, I suppose, the children?"
+
+"The children!  Yes, a hundred times yes.  She loves them better than
+aught else on earth.  For them, believe me, she would be ready to go to
+her death."
+
+"Let us hope so."
+
+"And you--were she to commit the horrible deed--I can only suspect what
+it is.  But should she descend from the height which she has hitherto
+occupied--would you still be ready--"
+
+"With me," he interrupted quietly, "what she does or does not do matters
+nothing.  She is unhappy and will be plunged deeper and deeper into
+misery.  I know this, and it constrains me to exert my utmost powers in
+her service.  I am hers as the hermit consecrated to Serapis belongs to
+the god.  His every thought must be devoted to him.  To the deity who
+created him he dedicates body and soul until the death to which he dooms
+him.  The bonds which unite me to this woman--you know their origin--are
+not less indestructible.  Whatever she desires whose fulfilment will not
+force me to despise myself is granted in advance."
+
+"She will never require such things from the friend of her childhood,"
+cried Charmian.  Then, approaching him with both arms extended joyfully,
+she exclaimed: "Thus you ought to speak and feel, and therein is the
+answer to the question which has agitated my soul since yesterday.
+Barine's flight, the favour and disfavour of Cleopatra, Iras, my poor
+head, which abhors politics, while at this time the Queen needs keen-
+sighted confidants--"
+
+"By no means," her brother interrupted.  "It is for men alone to give
+counsel in these matters.  Accursed be women's gossip over their toilet
+tables.  It has already scattered to the four winds many a well-
+considered plan of the wisest heads, and an Iras could never be more
+fatal to statecraft than just at the present moment, had not Fate
+already uttered the final verdict."
+
+"Then hence with these scruples," cried Charmian eagerly; "my doubts are
+at an end!  As usual, you point out the right path.  I had thought of
+returning to the country estate we call Irenia--the abode of peace--or to
+our beloved little palace at Kanopus, to spend the years which may still
+be allotted to me, and return to everything that made my childhood
+beautiful.  The philosophers, the flowers in the garden, the poets--
+even the new Roman ones, of whose works Timagenes sent us such charming
+specimens--would enliven the solitude.  The child, the daughter of the
+man whose love I renounced, and afterwards perhaps her sons and
+daughters, would fill the place of my own.  As they would have been dear
+to Leonax, I, too, would have loved them!  This is the guise in which the
+future has appeared to me in many a quiet hour.  But shall Charmian--who,
+when her heart throbbed still more warmly and life lay fair before her,
+laid her first love upon the altar of sacrifice for her royal playfellow
+--abandon Cleopatra in misfortune from mere selfish scruples?  No, no!--
+Like you, I too belong--come what may--to the Queen."
+
+She gazed into her brother's face, sure of his approval but, waving his
+uplifted hand, he answered gravely: "No, Charmian!  What I, a man, can
+assume, might be fatal to you, a woman.  The present is not sweet enough
+for me to embitter it with wormwood from the future.  And yet you must
+cast one glance into its gloomy domain, in order to understand me.  You
+can be silent, and what you now learn will be a secret between us.  Only
+one thing"--here he lowered the loud tones of his deep voice--"only one
+thing can save her: the murder of Antony, or an act of shameless
+treachery which would deliver him into Octavianus's power.  This is the
+proposal Timagenes brought."
+
+"This?" she asked in a hollow tone, her grey head drooping.
+
+"This," he repeated firmly.  "And if she succumbs to the temptation, she
+will be faithless to the love which has coursed through her whole life as
+the Nile flows through the land of her ancestors.  Then, Charmian, stay,
+stay under any circumstances, cling to her more firmly than ever, for
+then, then, my sister, she will be more wretched--ten, a hundred fold
+more wretched than if Octavianus deprives her of everything, perhaps even
+life itself."
+
+"Nor will I leave her, come what may.  I will remain at her side until
+the end," cried Charmian eagerly.  But Archibius, without noticing the
+enthusiastic ardor, so unusual to his sister's quiet nature, calmly
+continued: "She won your heart also, and it seems impossible for you to
+desert her.  Many have shared our feelings; and it is no disgrace to any
+one.  Misfortune is a weapon which cleaves base natures like a sword, yet
+like a hammer welds noble ones more closely.  To you, therefore, it now
+seems doubly difficult to leave her, but you need love.  The right to
+live and guard yourself from the most pitiable retrogression is your due,
+as much as that of the rare woman on the throne.  So long as you are sure
+of her love, remain with her, and show your devotion in every situation
+until the end.  But the motives which were drawing you away to books,
+flowers, and children, weigh heavily in the balance, and if you lack the
+anchor of her favour and love, I shall see you perish miserably.  The
+frost emanating from Cleopatra, if her heart grew cold to you, the pin-
+pricks with which Iras would assail you, were you defenceless, would kill
+you.  This must not be, sister; we will guard against it  Do not
+interrupt me.  The counsel I advise you to follow has been duly weighed.
+If you see that the Queen still loves you as in former days, cling to
+her; but should you learn the contrary, bid her farewell to-morrow.  My
+Irenia is yours--"
+
+"But she does love me, and even should she no longer--"
+
+"The test is at hand.  We will leave the decision to her.  You shall
+confess that you were the culprit who aided Barine to escape her power to
+punish."
+
+"Archibius!"
+
+"If you did not, a series of falsehoods must ensue.  Try whether the
+petty qualities in her nature, which urged her to commit the fate of
+Leonax's daughter to unworthy hands, are more powerful than the nobler
+ones.  Try whether she is worthy of the self-sacrificing fidelity which
+you have given her all your life.  If she remains the same as before,
+spite of this admission--"
+
+Here he was interrupted by Anukis, who asked if her mistress would see
+Iras at this late hour.  "Admit her," replied Archibius, after hastily
+exchanging glances with his sister, whose face had paled at his demand.
+He perceived it and, as the servant withdrew, he clasped her hand, saying
+with earnest affection: "I gave you my opinion, but at our age we must
+take counsel with ourselves, and you will find the right path."
+
+"I have already found it," she answered softly with downcast eyes.  "This
+visitor brought a speedy decision.  I must not feel ashamed in Iras's
+presence."
+
+She had scarcely finished speaking when the Queen's younger confidante
+entered.  She was excited and, after casting a searching glance around
+the familiar room, she asked, after a curt greeting:
+
+"No one knows where the Queen has gone.  Mardion received the procession
+in her place.  Did she take you into her confidence?"
+
+Charmian answered in the negative, and inquired whether Antony had
+arrived, and how she had found him.
+
+"In a pitiable state," was the reply.  "I hastened hither to prevent the
+Queen from visiting him, if possible.  She would have received a rebuff.
+It is horrible."
+
+"The disappointment of Paraetonium is added to the other burdens,"
+observed Archibius.
+
+"A feather compared with the rest," cried Iras indignantly.  "What a
+spectacle!  A shrivelled soul, never too large, in the body of a powerful
+giant.  Disaster crushes the courage of the descendant of Herakles.  The
+weakling will drag the Queen's splendid courage with him into the dust."
+
+"We will do our best to prevent it," replied Archibius firmly.
+"The immortals have placed you and Charmian at her side to sustain her,
+if her own strength fails.  The time to test your powers has arrived."
+
+"I know my duty," replied Iras austerely.
+
+"Prove it!" said Archibius earnestly.  "You think you have cause for
+anger against Charmian."
+
+"Whoever treats my foes so tenderly can doubtless dispense with my
+affection.  Where is your ward?"
+
+"That you shall learn later," replied Charmian advancing.  "But when you
+do know, you will have still better reason to doubt my love; yet it was
+only to save one dear to me from misery, certainly not to grieve you,
+that I stepped between you and Barine.  And now let me say--had you
+wounded me to the quick, and everything dear to the Greek heart called to
+me for vengeance--I should impose upon myself whatever constraint might
+be necessary to deny the impulse, because this breast contains a love
+stronger, more powerful, than the fiercest hate.  And this love we both
+share.  Hate me, strive to wound and injure one at whose side you have
+hitherto stood like a daughter, but beware of robbing me of the strength
+and freedom which I need, to be and to offer to my royal mistress all the
+assistance in my power.  I have just been consulting my brother about
+leaving Cleopatra's service."
+
+"Now?" Iras broke in vehemently.  "No, no!  Not that!  It must not be!
+She cannot spare you now."
+
+"More easily, perhaps, than you," replied Charmian; "yet in many things
+my services might be hard to replace."
+
+"Nothing under the sun could do it," cried Iras eagerly.  "If, in these
+days of trouble, she should lose you too--"
+
+"Still darker ones are approaching," interrupted Archibius positively.
+"Perhaps you will learn all to-morrow.  Whether Charmian yields to her
+desire for rest, or continues in the service of the Queen, depends on
+you.  If you wish her to remain you must not render it too hard for her
+to do so.  We three, my child, are perhaps the only persons at this court
+to whom the Queen's happiness is more than their own, and therefore we
+should permit no incident, whatever name it may bear, to cloud our
+harmony."
+
+Iras threw back her head with angry pride, exclaiming passionately:
+"Was it I who injured you?  I do not know in what respect.  But you and
+Charmian--though you have so long been aware that this heart was closed
+against every love save one--stepped between me and the man for whom I
+have yearned since childhood, and built the bridge which united Dion and
+Barine.  I held the woman I hated in my grasp, and thanked the immortals
+for the boon; but you two--it is not difficult to guess the secret you
+are still trying to keep from me--you aided her to escape.  You have
+robbed me of my revenge; you have again placed the singer in the path
+where she must find the man to whom I have a better and older claim, and
+who perhaps may still be considering which of us two will be the better
+mistress of his house, if Alexas and his worthy brother do not arrange
+matters so that we must both content ourselves with thinking tenderly of
+a dead man.  That is why I believe that I am no longer indebted to you,
+that Charmian has more than repaid herself for all the kindness she has
+ever showed me."
+
+With these words she hurried to the door, but paused on the threshold,
+exclaiming: "This is the state of affairs; yet I am ready to serve the
+Queen hand in hand with you as before; for you two--as I have said--are
+necessary to her.  In other respects--I shall follow my own path."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Cleopatra had sought the venerable Anubis, who now, as the priest of
+Alexander, at the age of eighty, ruled the whole hierarchy of the
+country.  It was difficult for him to leave his arm-chair, but he had
+been carried to the observatory to examine the adverse result of the
+observation made by the Queen herself.  The position of the stars,
+however, had been so unfavourable that the more deeply Cleopatra entered
+into these matters, the less easy he found it to urge the mitigating
+influences of distant planets, which he had at first pointed out.
+
+In his reception-hall, however, the chief priest had assured her that the
+independence of Egypt and the safety of her own person lay in her hands;
+only--the planets showed this--a terrible sacrifice was required--a
+sacrifice of which his dignity, his eighty years, and his love for her
+alike forbade him to speak.  Cleopatra was accustomed to hear these
+mysterious sayings from his lips, and interpreted them in her own way.
+Many motives had induced her to seek the venerable prelate at this late
+hour.  In difficult situations he had often aided her with good counsel;
+but this time she was not led to him by the magic cup of Nektanebus,
+which the eight pastophori who accompanied it had that day restored to
+the temple, for since the battle of Actium the superb vessel had been a
+source of constant anxiety to her.
+
+Cleopatra had now asked the teacher of her childhood the direct question
+whether the cup--a wide, shallow vessel, with a flat, polished bottom
+could really have induced Antony to leave the battle and follow her ere
+the victory was decided.  She had used it just before the conflict
+between the galleys, and this circumstance led Anubis to answer
+positively in the affirmative.
+
+Long ago the marvellous chalice had been exhibited to her among the
+temple treasures, and she was told that every one who induced another
+person to be reflected from its shining surface obtained the mastery over
+his will.  Her wish to possess it, however, was not gratified, and she
+did not ask for it again until the limitless devotion and ardent love of
+Antony had seemed less fervent than of yore.  From that time she had
+never ceased to urge her aged friend to place the wondrous cup in her
+keeping.  At first he had absolutely refused, predicting that its use
+would bring misfortune upon her; but when her request was followed by an
+imperative command, and the goblet was entrusted to her, Anubis himself
+believed that this one vessel did possess the magic power attributed to
+it.  He deemed that the drinking-cup afforded the strongest proof of the
+magic art, far transcending human ability, of the great goddess by whose
+aid King Nektanebus--who, according to tradition, was the father of
+Alexander the Great--was said to have made the vessel in the Isis island
+of Philoe.
+
+Anubis had intended to remind Cleopatra of his refusal, and show her the
+great danger incurred by mortals who strove to use powers beyond their
+sphere.  It had been his purpose to bid her remember Phaeton, who had
+almost kindled a conflagration in the world, when he attempted, in the
+chariot of his father, Phoebus Apollo, to guide the horses of the sun.
+But this was unnecessary, for he had scarcely assented to the question
+ere, with passionate vehemence, she ordered him to destroy before her
+eyes the cup which had brought so much misfortune.
+
+The priest feigned that her desire harmonized with a resolution which he
+had himself formed.  In fact, before her arrival, he had feared that the
+goblet might be used in some fatal manner if Octavianus should take
+possession of the city and country, and the wonder-working vessel should
+fall into his hands.  Nektanebus had made the cup for Egypt.  To wrest it
+from the foreign ruler was acting in the spirit of the last king in whose
+veins had flowed the blood of the Pharaohs, and who had toiled with
+enthusiastic devotion for the independence and liberty of his people.
+To destroy this man's marvellous work rather than deliver it to the Roman
+conqueror seemed to the chief priest, after the Queen's command, a sacred
+duty, and as such he represented it to be when he commanded the smelting
+furnace to be fired and the cup transformed into a shapeless mass before
+the eyes of Cleopatra.
+
+While the metal was melting he eagerly told the Queen how easily she
+could dispense with the vessel which owed its magic power to the mighty
+Isis.
+
+The spell of woman's charms was also a gift of the goddess.  It would
+suffice to render Antony's heart soft and yielding as the fire melted the
+gold.  Perhaps the Imperator had forfeited, with the Queen's respect, her
+love--the most priceless of blessings.  He, Anubis, would regard this as
+a great boon of the Deity; "for," he concluded, "Mark Antony is the
+cliff which will shatter every effort to secure to my royal mistress
+undiminished the heritage which has come to her and her children from
+their ancestors, and preserve the independence and prosperity of this
+beloved land.  This cup was a costly treasure.  The throne and prosperity
+of Egypt are worthy of greater sacrifices.  But I know that there is none
+harder for a woman to make than her love."
+
+The meaning of the old man's words Cleopatra learned the following
+morning, when she granted the first interview to Timagenes, Octavianus's
+envoy.
+
+The keen-witted, brilliant man, who had been one of her best teachers
+and with whom, when a pupil, she had had many an argument, was kindly
+received, and fulfilled his commission with consummate skill.
+
+The Queen listened attentively to his representations, showed him that
+her own intellect had not lost in flexibility, though it had gained
+power; and when she dismissed him, with rich gifts and gracious words,
+she knew that she could preserve the independence of her beloved native
+land and retain the throne for herself and her children if she would
+surrender Antony to the conqueror or to him, as "the person acting,"
+or--these were Timagenes's own words--"remove him forever from the play
+whose end she had the power to render either brilliant or fateful."
+
+When she was again alone her heart throbbed so passionately and her soul
+was in such a tumult of agitation that she felt unable to attend the
+appointed meeting of the Council of the crown.  She deferred the session
+until the following day, and resolved to go out upon the sea, to
+endeavour to regain her composure.
+
+Antony had refused to see her.  This wounded her.  The thought of the
+goblet and its evil influences had by no means passed from her memory
+with the destruction of the vessel caused by one of those outbursts of
+passion to which, in these days of disaster, she yielded more frequently
+than usual.  On the contrary, she felt the necessity of being alone, to
+collect her thoughts and strive to dispel the clouds from her troubled
+soul.
+
+The beaker had been one of the treasures of Isis, and the memory of it
+recalled hours during which, in former days, she had often found
+composure in the temple of the goddess.  She wished to seek the sanctuary
+unnoticed and, accompanied only by Iras and the chief Introducer, went,
+closely veiled, to the neighbouring temple at the Corner of the Muses.
+
+But she failed to find the object of her pilgrimage.  The throng which
+filled it to pray and offer sacrifices, and the fear of being recognized,
+destroyed her calmness.
+
+She was in the act of retiring, when Gorgias, the architect, followed by
+an assistant carrying surveying instruments, advanced towards her.  She
+instantly called him to her side, and he informed her how wonderfully
+Fate itself seemed to favour her plan of building.  The mob had destroyed
+the house of the old philosopher Didymus, and the grey-haired sage, to
+whom he had offered the shelter of his home, was now ready to transfer
+the property inherited from his ancestors, if her Majesty would assure
+him and his family of her protection.
+
+Then she asked to see the architect's plan for joining the museum to
+the sanctuary, and became absorbed in the first sketch, to which he had
+devoted part of the night and morning.  He showed it, and with eager
+urgency Cleopatra commanded him to begin the building as soon as possible
+and pursue the work night and day.  What usually required months must be
+completed in weeks.
+
+Iras and the "Introducer," clad in plain garments, had waited for her
+in the temple court and, joined by the architect, accompanied her to the
+unpretending litter standing at one of the side gates but, instead of
+entering it, she ordered Gorgias to attend her to the garden.
+
+The inspection proved that the architect was right and, even if the
+mausoleum occupied a portion of it, and the street which separated it
+from the Temple of Isis were continued along the shore of the sea, the
+remainder would still be twice as large as the one belonging to the
+palace at Lochias.
+
+Cleopatra's thorough examination showed Gorgias that she had some
+definite purpose in view.  Her inquiry whether it would be possible to
+connect it with the promontory of Lochias indicated what she had in mind,
+and the architect answered in the affirmative.  It was only necessary to
+tear down some small buildings belonging to the Crown and a little temple
+of Berenike at the southern part of the royal harbour.  The arm of the
+Agathodaemon Canal which entered here had been bridged long ago.
+
+The new scene which would result from this change had been conjured
+before the Queen's mental vision with marvellous celerity, and she
+described it in brief, vivid language to the architect.  The garden
+should remain, but must be enlarged from the Lochias to the bridge.
+Thence a covered colonnade would lead to the palace.  After Gorgias had
+assured her that all this could easily be arranged, she gazed
+thoughtfully at the ground for a time, and then gave orders that the work
+should be commenced at once, and requested him to spare neither means nor
+men.
+
+Gorgias foresaw a period of feverish toil, but it did not daunt him.
+With such a master builder he was ready to roof the whole city.  Besides,
+the commission delighted him because it proved that the woman whose
+mausoleum was to rise from the earth so swiftly still thought of
+enhancing the pleasures of existence; for, though she wished the garden
+to remain unchanged, she desired to see the colonnade and the remainder
+of the work constructed of costly materials and in beautiful forms.  When
+she bade him farewell, Gorgias kissed her robe with ardent enthusiasm.
+
+What a woman!  True, she had not even raised her veil, and was attired in
+plain dark clothing, but every gesture revealed the most perfect grace.
+
+The arm and hand with which she pointed now here, now there, again seemed
+to him fairly instinct with life; and he, who deemed perfection of form
+of so much value, found it difficult to avert his eyes from her
+marvellous symmetry.  And her whole figure!  What lines, what genuine
+aristocratic elegance, and warm, throbbing life!
+
+That morning when Helena, now an inmate of his own home, greeted him,
+he had essayed to compare her, mentally, with Cleopatra, but speedily
+desisted.  The man to whom Hebe proffers nectar does not ask for even
+the best wine of Byblus.  A feeling of grateful, cheerful satisfaction,
+difficult to describe, stole over him when the reserved, quiet Helena
+addressed him so warmly and cordially; but the image of Cleopatra
+constantly thrust itself between them, and it was difficult for him to
+understand himself.  He had loved many women in succession, and now his
+heart throbbed for two at once, and the Queen was the brighter of the two
+stars whose light entranced him.  Therefore his honest soul would have
+considered it a crime to woo Helena now.
+
+Cleopatra knew what an ardent admirer she had won in the able architect,
+and the knowledge pleased her.  She had used no goblet to gain him.
+Doubtless he would begin to build the mausoleum the next morning.  The
+vault must have space for several coffins.  Antony had more than once
+expressed the desire to be buried beside her, wherever he might die, and
+this had occurred ere she possessed the beaker.  She must in any case
+grant him the same favour, no matter in what place or by whose hand he
+met death, and the bedimmed light of his existence was but too evidently
+nearing extinction.  If she spared him, Octavianus would strike him from
+the ranks of the living, and she----Again she was overpowered by the
+terrible, feverish restlessness which had induced her to command the
+destruction of the goblet, and had brought her to the temple.  She could
+not return in this mood to meet her councillors, receive visitors, greet
+her children.  This was the birthday of the twins; Charmian had reminded
+her of it and undertaken to provide the gifts.  How could she have found
+time and thought for such affairs?  She had returned from the chief
+priest late in the evening, yet had asked for a minute description of the
+condition in which they found Mark Antony.  The report made by Iras
+harmonized with the state in which she had herself seen him during and
+after the battle.  Ay, his brooding gloom seemed to have deepened.
+Charmian had helped her dress in the morning, and had been on the point
+of making her difficult confession, and owning that she had aided Barine
+to escape the punishment of her royal mistress; but ere she could begin,
+Timagenes was announced, for Cleopatra had not risen from her couch until
+a late hour.
+
+The object for which the Queen had sought the temple had not been gained;
+but the consultation with Gorgias had diverted her mind, and the emotions
+which the thought of her last resting-place had evoked now drowned
+everything else, as the roar of the surf dominates the twittering of the
+swallows on the rocky shore.
+
+Ay, she needed calmness!  She must weigh and ponder over many things in
+absolute quietude, and this she could not obtain at Lochias.  Then her
+glance rested upon the little sanctuary of Berenike, which she had
+ordered removed to make room for a garden near at hand, where the
+children could indulge their love of creative work.  It was empty.  She
+need fear no interruption there.  The interior contained only a single,
+quiet, pleasant chamber, with the image of Berenike.  The "Introducer"
+commanded the guard to admit no other visitors, and soon the little white
+marble, circular room with its vaulted roof received the Queen.  She sank
+down on one of the bronze benches opposite to the statue.  All was still;
+in this cool silence her mind, trained to thought, could find that for
+which it longed--clearness of vision, a plain understanding of her own
+feelings and position in the presence of the impending decision.
+
+At first her thoughts wandered to and fro like a dove ere it chooses the
+direction of its flight; but after the question why she was having a tomb
+built so hurriedly, when she would be permitted to live, her mind found
+the right track.  Among the Scythian guards, the Mauritanians, and
+Blemmyes in the army there were plenty of savage fellows whom a word from
+her lips and a handful of gold would have set upon the vanquished Antony,
+as the huntsman's "Seize him!" urges the hounds.  A hint, and among the
+wretched magicians and Magians in the Rhakotis, the Egyptian quarter of
+the city, twenty men would have assassinated him by poison or wily
+snares; one command to the Macedonians in the guard of the Mellakes or
+youths, and he would be a captive that very day, and to-morrow, if she
+so ordered, on the way to Asia, whither Octavianus, as Timagenes told
+her, had gone.
+
+What prevented her from grasping the gold, giving the hint, issuing the
+command?
+
+Doubtless she thought of the magic goblet, now melted, which had
+constrained him to cast aside honour, fame, and power, as worthless
+rubbish, in order to obey her behest not to leave her; but though this
+remembrance burdened her soul, it had no decisive influence.  It was no
+one thing which prisoned her hand and lips, but every fibre of her being,
+every pulsation of her heart, every glance back into the past to the
+confines of childhood.
+
+Yet she listened to other thoughts also.  They reminded her of her
+children, the elation of power, love for the land of her ancestors,
+and the peril which menaced it without her, the bliss of seeing the
+light, and the darkness, the silence, the dull rigidity of death, the
+destruction of the body and the mind cherished and developed with so much
+care and toil, the horrible torture which might be associated with the
+transition from life to death--the act of dying.  And what lay before her
+in the existence which lasted an eternity?  When she no longer breathed
+beneath the sun, even if the death hour was deferred, and she found that
+not Epicurus, who believed that with death all things ended, had been
+right, but the ancient teachings of the Egyptians, what would await her
+in that world beyond the grave if she purchased a few more years of life
+by the murder or betrayal of her lover, her husband?
+
+Yet perhaps the punishments inflicted upon the condemned were but
+bugbears invented by the priesthood, which guarded the regulation of the
+state in order to curb the unruly conduct of the populace and terrify the
+turbulent transgressors of the law.  And, whispered the daring Greek
+spirit, in the abode of the condemned, not in the Garden of Aalu, the
+Elysian Fields of the Egyptians, she would meet her father and mother and
+all her wicked ancestors down to Euergetes I., who was succeeded by the
+infamous Philopater.  Thus the thought of the other world became an
+antecedent so uncertain as to permit no definite inference, and might
+therefore be left out of the account.  How would--this must be the form
+of the question--the years purchased by the murder or betrayal of one
+whom she loved shape themselves for her?
+
+During the night the image of the murdered man would drive sleep from her
+couch, and the Furies, the Dirx, as the Roman Antony called them, who
+pursue murderers with the serpent scourge, were no idle creations of
+poetic fancy, but fully symbolized the restlessness of the criminal,
+driven to and fro by the pangs of conscience.  The chief good, the
+painless happiness of the Epicureans, was forever lost to those burdened
+by such guilt.
+
+And during the hours of the day and evening?  Ay, then she would be free
+to heap pleasure on pleasure.  But for whom were the festivals to be
+celebrated; with whom could she share them?  For many a long year no
+banquet, no entertainment had given her enjoyment without Mark Antony.
+For whom did she adorn herself or strive to stay the vanishing charm?
+And how soon would anguish of soul utterly destroy the spell, which was
+slowly, slowly, yet steadily diminishing, and, when the mirror revealed
+wrinkles which the skill of no Olympus could efface, when she----No,
+she was not created to grow old!  Did the few years of life which must
+contain so much misery really possess a value great enough to surrender
+the right of being called by present and future generations the
+bewitching Cleopatra, the most irresistible of women?
+
+And the children?
+
+Yes, it would have been delightful to see them grow up and occupy the
+throne, but serious, decisive doubts soon blended even with an idea so
+rich in joy.
+
+How glorious to greet Caesarion as sovereign of the world in Octavianus's
+place!  But how could the dreamer, whose first love affair had caused the
+total sacrifice of dignity and violation of the law, and who now seemed
+to have once more relapsed into the old state of torpor, attain the
+position?
+
+The other children inspired fair hopes, and how beautiful it appeared to
+the mother's heart to see Antonius Helios as King of Egypt; Cleopatra
+Selene with her first child in her arms; and little Alexander a noble
+statesman and hero, rich in virtue and talents!  Yet, what would they,
+Antony's children, whose education she hoped Archibius would direct,
+feel for the mother who had been their father's murderess?
+
+She shuddered at the thought, remembering the hours when her childish
+heart had shed tears of blood over the infamous mother whom her father
+had execrated.  And Queen Tryphoena, whom history recorded as a monster,
+had not killed her husband, but merely thrust him from the throne.
+
+Arsinoe's execrations of her mother and sister came back to her memory,
+and the thought that the rosy lips of the twins and her darling Alexander
+could ever open to curse her,--the idea that the children would ever
+raise their beloved hands to point at her, the wicked murderess of their
+father, with horror and scorn--No, no, and again no!  She would not
+purchase a few more years of valueless life at the cost of this
+humiliation and shame.
+
+Purchase of whom?
+
+Of that Octavianus who had robbed her son of the heritage of his father,
+Caesar, and whose mention in the will was like an imputation on her
+fidelity--the cold-hearted, calculating upstart, whose nature from their
+first meeting in Rome had repelled, rebuffed, chilled her; of the man by
+whose cajolery and power her husband--for in her own eyes and those of
+the Egyptians Antony held this position--had been induced to wed his
+sister, Octavia, and thereby stamp her, Cleopatra, as merely his love,
+cast a doubt upon the legitimate birth of her children; of the false
+friend of the trusting Antony who, before the battle of Actium, had most
+deeply humiliated and insulted both!
+
+On the contrary, her royal pride rebelled against obeying the command of
+such a man to commit the most atrocious deed; and from childhood this
+pride had been as much a part of her nature as her breath and the
+pulsation of her heart.  And yet, for her children's sake, she might
+perhaps have incurred this disgrace, had it not been at the same time the
+grave of the best and noblest things which she desired to implant in the
+young souls of the twins and Alexander.
+
+While thinking of the children's curses she had risen from her seat.
+Why should she reflect and consider longer?  She had found the clear
+perception she sought.  Let Gorgias hasten the building of the tomb.
+Should Fate demand her life, she would not resist if she were permitted
+to preserve it only at the cost of murder or base treachery.  Her lover's
+was already forfeited.  At his side she had enjoyed a radiant, glowing,
+peerless bliss, of which the world still talked with envious amazement.
+At his side, when all was over, she would rest in the grave, and compel
+the world to remember with respectful sympathy the royal lovers, Antony
+and Cleopatra.  Her children should be able to think of her with
+untroubled hearts, and not even the shadow of a bitter feeling, a warning
+thought, should deter them from adorning their parents' grave with
+flowers, weeping at its foot, invoking and offering sacrifices to their
+spirits.
+
+Then she glanced at the statue of Berenike, who had also once worn on her
+brow the double crown of Egypt.  She, too, had early died a violent
+death; she, too, had known how to love.  The vow to sacrifice her
+beautiful hair to Aphrodite if her husband returned uninjured from the
+Syrian war had rendered her name illustrious.  "Berenike's Hair" was
+still to be seen as a constellation in the night heavens.
+
+Though this woman had sinned often and heavily, one act of loyal love
+had made her an honoured, worshipped princess.  She--Cleopatra would do
+something still greater.  The sacrifice which she intended to impose upon
+herself would weigh far more heavily in the balance than a handful of
+beautiful tresses, and would comprise sovereignty and life.
+
+With head erect and a sense of proud self-reliance she gazed at the noble
+marble countenance of the Cyrenian queen.  Ere entering the sanctuary she
+had imagined that she knew how the criminals whom she had sentenced to
+death must feel.  Now that she herself had done with life, she felt as if
+she were relieved from a heavy burden, and yet her heart ached, and--
+especially when she thought of her children--she was overwhelmed with the
+emotion which is the most painful of all forms of compassion--pity for
+herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+When Cleopatra left the temple, Iras marvelled at the change in her
+appearance.  The severe tension which had given her beautiful face a
+shade of harshness had yielded to an expression of gentle sadness that
+enhanced its charm, yet her features quickly brightened as her attendant
+pointed to the procession which was just entering the forecourt of the
+palace.
+
+In Alexandria and throughout Egypt birthdays were celebrated as far as
+possible.  Therefore, to do honour to the twins, the children of the city
+had been sent to offer their congratulations, and at the same time to
+assure their royal mother of the love and devotion of the citizens.
+
+The return to the palace occupied only a few minutes, and as Cleopatra,
+hastily donning festal garments, gazed down at the bands of children, it
+seemed as if Fate by this fair spectacle had given her a sign of approval
+of her design.
+
+She was soon standing hand in hand with the twins upon the balcony before
+which the procession had halted.  Hundreds of boys and girls of the same
+age as the prince and princess had flocked thither, the former bearing
+bouquets, the latter small baskets filled with lilies and roses.  Every
+head was crowned with a wreath, and many of the girls wore garlands of
+flowers.  A chorus of youths and maidens sang a festal hymn, beseeching
+the gods to grant the royal mother and children every happiness; the
+leader of the chorus of girls made a short address in the name of the
+city, and during this speech the children formed in ranks, the tallest in
+the rear, the smallest in the front, and the others between according to
+their height.  The scene resembled a living garden, in which rosy faces
+were the beautiful flowers.
+
+Cleopatra thanked the citizens for the charming greeting sent to her by
+those whom they held dearest, and assured them that she returned their
+love.  Her eyes grew dim with tears as she went with her three children
+to the throng who offered their congratulations, and an unusually pretty
+little girl whom she kissed threw her arms around her as tenderly as if
+she were her own mother.  And how beautiful was the scene when the girls
+strewed the contents of their little baskets on the ground before her,
+and the boys, with many a ringing shout and loving wish, offered the
+bouquets to her and the twins!
+
+Charmian had not forgotten to provide the gifts; and when the
+chamberlains and waiting-women led the children into a large hall to
+offer them refreshments, the Queen's eyes sparkled so brightly that the
+companion of her childhood ventured to make her difficult confession.
+
+And, as so often happens, the event we most dread shows, when it actually
+occurs, a friendly or indifferent aspect; this was the case now.  Nothing
+in life is either great or small--the one may be transformed to the
+other, according to the things with which it is compared.  The tallest
+man becomes a dwarf beside a rocky giant of the mountain chain, the
+smallest is a Titan to the swarming ants in the forest.  The beggar
+seizes as a treasure what the rich man scornfully casts aside.  That
+which the day before yesterday seemed to Cleopatra unendurable, roused
+her keenest anxiety, robbed her of part of her night's repose, and
+induced her to adopt strenuous measures, now appeared trivial and
+scarcely worthy of consideration.
+
+Yesterday and to-day had brought events and called up questions which
+forced Barine's disappearance into the realm of unimportant matters.
+
+Charmian's confession was preceded by the statement that she longed for
+rest yet, nevertheless, was ready to remain with her royal friend, in
+every situation, until she no longer desired her services and sent her
+away.  But she feared that this moment had come.
+
+Cleopatra interrupted her with the assurance that she was speaking of
+something utterly impossible; and when Charmian disclosed Barine's
+escape, and admitted that it was she who had aided the flight of the
+innocent and sorely threatened granddaughter of Didymus, the Queen
+started up angrily and frowned, but it was only for a moment.  Then, with
+a smile, she shook her finger at her friend, embraced her, and gravely
+but kindly assured her that, of all vices, ingratitude was most alien to
+her nature.  The companion of her childhood had bestowed so many proofs
+of faithfulness, love, self-sacrifice, and laborious service in her
+behalf that they could not be long outweighed by a single act of wilful
+disobedience.  An abundant supply would still remain, by virtue of which
+she might continue to sin without fearing that Cleopatra would ever part
+from her Charmian.
+
+The latter again perceived that nothing on earth could be hostile or
+sharp enough to sever the bond which united her to this woman.  When her
+lips overflowed with the gratitude which filled her heart, Cleopatra
+admitted that it seemed as if, in aiding Barine's escape, she had
+rendered her a service.  The caution with which Charmian had concealed
+Barine's refuge had not escaped her notice, and she did not ask to learn
+it.  It was enough for her that the dangerous beauty was out of
+Caesarion's reach.  As for Antony, a wall now separated him from the
+world, and consequently from the woman who, spite of Alexas's
+accusations, had probably never stood closer to his heart.
+
+Charmian now eagerly strove to show the Queen what had induced the Syrian
+to pursue Barine so vindictively.  It was evident--and scarcely needed
+proof--that Mark Antony's whole acquaintanceship with the old scholar's
+granddaughter had been far from leading to any tender relation.  But
+Cleopatra gave only partial attention.  The man whom she had loved with
+every pulsation of her heart already seemed to her only a dear memory.
+She did not forget the happiness enjoyed with and through him, or the
+wrong she had done by the use of the magic goblet; yet with the wall on
+the Choma, which divided him from her and the rest of the world, and her
+command to have the mausoleum built, she imagined that the season of love
+was over.  Any new additions to this chapter of the life of her heart
+were but the close.  Even the jealousy which had clouded the happiness of
+her love like a fleeting, rapidly changing shadow, she believed she had
+now renounced forever.
+
+While Charmian protested that no one save Dion had ever been heard with
+favour by Barine, and related many incidents of her former life,
+Cleopatra's thoughts were with Antony.  Like the image of the beloved
+dead, the towering figure of the Roman hero rose before her mind, but she
+recalled him only as he was prior to the battle of Actium.  She desired
+and expected nothing more from the broken-spirited man, whose condition
+was perhaps her own fault.  But she had resolved to atone for her guilt,
+and would do so at the cost of throne and life.  This settled the
+account.  Whatever her remaining span of existence might add or subtract,
+was part of the bargain.
+
+The entrance of Alexas interrupted her.  With fiery passion he expressed
+his regret that he had been defrauded by base intrigues of the right
+bestowed upon him to pass sentence upon a guilty woman.  This was the
+more difficult to bear because he was deprived of the possibility of
+providing for the pursuit of the fugitive.  Antony had honoured him with
+the commission to win Herod back to his cause.  He was to leave
+Alexandria that very night.  As nothing could be expected in this matter
+from the misanthropic Imperator, he hoped that the Queen would avenge
+such an offence to her dignity, and adopt severe measures towards the
+singer and her last lover, Dion, who with sacrilegious hands had wounded
+the son of Caesar.
+
+But Cleopatra, with royal dignity, kept him within the limits of his
+position, commanded him not to mention the affair to her again, and then,
+with a sorrowful smile, wished him success with Herod, in whose return to
+the lost cause of Antony, however, much as she prized the skill of the
+mediator, she did not believe.
+
+When he had retired, she exclaimed to Charmian: "Was I blind?  This man
+is a traitor!  We shall discover it.  Wherever Dion has taken his young
+wife, let her be carefully concealed, not from me, but from this Syrian.
+It is easier to defend one's self against the lion than the scorpion.
+You, my friend, will see that Archibius seeks me this very day.  I must
+talk with him, and--you no longer have any thought of a parting?  Another
+will come soon enough, which will forever forbid these lips from kissing
+your dear face."
+
+As she spoke, she again clasped the companion of her childhood in her
+arms, and when Iras entered to request an audience for Lucilius, Antony's
+most faithful friend, Cleopatra, who had noticed the younger woman's
+envious glance at the embrace, said: "Was I mistaken in fancying that you
+imagined yourself slighted for Charmian, who is an older friend?  That
+would be wrong; for I love and need you both.  You are her niece, and
+indebted to her for much kindness from your earliest childhood.  So,
+even though you will lose the joy of revenge upon a hated enemy, forget
+what has happened, as I did, and maintain your former affectionate
+companionship.  I will reward you for it with the only thing that the
+daughter of the wealthy Krates cannot purchase, yet which she probably
+rates at no low value--the love of her royal friend."
+
+With these words she clasped Iras also in a close embrace, and when the
+latter left the room to summon Lucilius, she thought: "No woman has ever
+won so much love; perhaps that is why she possesses so great a treasure
+of it, and can afford such unspeakable happiness by its bestowal.  Or is
+she so much beloved because she entered the world full of its wealth, and
+dispenses it as the sun diffuses light?  Surely that must be the case.
+I have reason to believe it, for whom did I ever love save the Queen?
+No one, not even myself, and I know no one in whose love for me I can
+believe.  But why did Dion, whom I loved so fervently, disdain me?  Fool!
+Why did Mark Antony prefer Cleopatra to Octavia, who was not less fair,
+whose heart was his, and whose hand held the sovereignty of half the
+world?"
+
+Passing on as she spoke, she soon returned, ushering the Roman Lucilius
+into the presence of the Queen.  A gallant deed had bound this man to
+Antony.  After the battle of Philippi, when the army of the republicans
+fled, Brutus had been on the point of being seized by the enemy's
+horsemen; but Lucilius, at the risk of being cut down, had personated
+him, and thereby, though but for a short time, rescued him.  This had
+seemed to Antony unusual and noble and, in his generous manner, he had
+not only forgiven him, but bestowed his favour upon him.  Lucilius was
+grateful, and gave him the same fidelity he had showed to Brutus.  At
+Actium he had risked Antony's favour to prevent his deserting Cleopatra
+after the battle, and then accompanied him in his flight.  Now he was
+bearing him company in his seclusion on the Choma.
+
+The grey-haired man who, but a short time before, had retained all the
+vigour of youth, approached the Queen with bowed head and saddened heart.
+His face, so regular in its contours, had undergone a marked change
+within the past few weeks.  The cheeks were sunken, the features had
+grown sharper, and there was a sorrowful expression in the eyes, which,
+when informing Cleopatra of his friend's condition, glittered with tears.
+
+Before the hapless battle he was one of Cleopatra's most enthusiastic
+admirers; but since he had been forced to see his friend and benefactor
+risk fame, happiness, and honour to follow the Queen, he had cherished a
+feeling of bitter resentment towards her.  He would certainly have spared
+himself this mission, had he not been sure that she who had brought her
+lover to ruin was the only person who could rouse him from spiritless
+languor to fresh energy and interest in life.
+
+From motives of friendship, urged by no one, he came unbidden to the
+woman whom he had formerly so sincerely admired, to entreat her to cheer
+the unfortunate man, rouse him, and remind him of his duty.  He had
+little news to impart; for on the voyage she had herself witnessed long
+enough the pitiable condition of her husband.  Now Antony was beginning
+to be content in it, and this was what most sorely troubled the faithful
+friend.
+
+The Imperator had called the little palace which he occupied on the Choma
+his Timonium, because he compared himself with the famous Athenian
+misanthrope who, after fortune abandoned him, had also been betrayed by
+many of his former friends.  Even at Taenarum he had thought of returning
+to the Choma, and by means of a wall, which would separate it from the
+mainland, rendering it as inaccessible as--according to rumour--the grave
+of Timon at Halae near Athens.  Gorgias had erected it, and whoever
+wished to visit the hermit was forced to go by sea and request
+admittance, which was granted to few.
+
+Cleopatra listened to Lucilius with sympathy, and then asked whether
+there was no way of cheering or comforting the wretched man.
+
+"No, your Majesty," he replied.  "His favourite occupation is to recall
+what he once possessed, but only to show the uselessness of these
+memories.  'What joys has life not offered me?' he asks, and then adds:
+'But they were repeated again and again, and after being enjoyed for the
+tenth time they became monotonous and lost their charm.  Then they caused
+satiety to the verge of loathing.'  Only necessary things, such as bread
+and water, he says, possess real value; but he desires neither, because
+he has even less taste for them than for the dainties which spoil a man's
+morrow.  Yesterday in a specially gloomy hour, he spoke of gold.  This
+was perhaps most worthy of desire.  The mere sight of it awakened
+pleasant hopes, because it might afford so many gratifications.  Then he
+laughed bitterly, exclaiming that those joys were the very ones which
+produced the most disagreeable satiety.  Even gold was not worth the
+trouble of stretching out one's hand.
+
+"He is fond of enlarging upon such fancies, and finds images to make his
+meaning clear.
+
+"'In the snow upon the highest mountain-peak the feet grow cold,' he
+said.  'In the mire they are warm, but the dark mud is ugly and clings to
+them.'
+
+"Then I remarked that between the morass and the mountain-snows lie sunny
+valleys where life would be pleasant; but he flew into a rage, vehemently
+protesting that he would never be content with the pitiable middle course
+of Horace.  Then he exclaimed: 'Ay, I am vanquished.  Octavianus and his
+Agrippa are the conquerors; but if a rock mutilates or an elephant's
+clumsy foot crushes me, I am nevertheless of a higher quality than
+either.'"
+
+"There spoke the old Mark Antony!"  cried Cleopatra; but again Lucilius's
+loyal heart throbbed with resentment against the woman who had fostered
+the recklessness which had brought his powerful friend to ruin, and he
+continued:
+
+"But he often sees himself in a different light.  'No writer could invent
+a more unworthy life than mine,' he exclaimed recently.  'A farce ending
+in a tragedy.'"
+
+Lucilius might have added still harsher sayings, but the sorrowful
+expression in the tearful eyes of the afflicted Queen silenced them upon
+his lips.
+
+Yet Cleopatra's name blended with most of the words uttered by the
+broken-spirited man.  Sometimes it was associated with the most furious
+reproaches, but more frequently with expressions of boundless delight and
+wild outbursts of fervent longing, and this was what inspired Lucilius
+with the hope that the Queen's influence would be effectual with his
+friend.  Therefore he repeated some especially ardent words, to which
+Cleopatra listened with grateful joy.
+
+Yet, when Lucilius paused, she remarked that doubtless the misanthropist
+had spoken of her, and probably of Octavia also, in quite a different
+way.  She was prepared for the worst, for she was one of the rocks
+against which his greatness had been shattered.
+
+This reminded Lucilius of the comment Antony had made upon the three
+women whom he had wedded, and he answered reluctantly: "Fulvia, the wife
+of his youth--I knew the bold, hot-blooded woman, the former wife of
+Clodius--he called the tempest which swelled his sails."
+
+"Yes, Yes!" cried Cleopatra.  'So she did.  He owes her much; but I, too,
+am indebted to the dead Fulvia.  She taught him to recognize and yield to
+woman's power."
+
+"Not always to his advantage," retorted Lucilius, whose resentment was
+revived by the last sentence and, without heeding the faint flush on the
+Queen's cheek, he added: "Of Octavia he said that she was the straight
+path which leads to happiness, and those who are content to walk in it
+are acceptable to gods and men."
+
+"Then why did he not suffer it to content him?"  cried Cleopatra
+wrathfully.
+
+"Fulvia's school," replied the Roman, "was probably the last where he
+would learn the moderation which--as you know--is so alien to his nature.
+His opinion of the quiet valleys and middle course you have just heard."
+
+"But I, what have I been to him?" urged the Queen.
+
+Lucilius bent his gaze for a short time on the floor, then answered
+hesitatingly:
+
+"You asked to hear, and the Queen's command must be obeyed.  He compared
+your Majesty to a delicious banquet given to celebrate a victory, at
+which the guests, crowned with garlands, revel before the battle--"
+
+"Which is lost," said the Queen hurriedly, in a muffled voice.  "The
+comparison is apt.  Now, after the defeat, it would be absurd to prepare
+another feast.  The tragedy is closing, so the play (doubtless he said
+so) which preceded it would be but a wearisome repetition if performed a
+second time.  One thing, it is true, seems desirable--a closing act of
+reconciliation.  If you think it is in my power to recall my husband to
+active life, rely upon me.  The banquet of which he spoke occupied long
+years.  The dessert will consume little time, but I am ready to serve it.
+When I asked permission to visit him he refused.  What plan of meeting
+have you arranged?"
+
+"That I will leave to your feminine delicacy of feeling," replied
+Lucilius.  "Yet I have come with a request whose fulfilment will perhaps
+contain the answer.  Eros, Mark Antony's faithful body-slave, humbly
+petitions your Majesty to grant him a few minutes' audience.  You know
+the worthy fellow.  He would die for you and his master, and he--I once
+heard from your lips the remark of King Antiochus, that no man was great
+to his body-slave--thus Eros sees his master's weaknesses and lofty
+qualities from a nearer point of view than we, and he is shrewd.  Antony
+gave him his freedom long ago, and if your Majesty does not object to
+receiving a man so low in station--"
+
+"Let him  come," replied  Cleopatra.  "Your demand upon me is just.
+Unhappily, I am but too well aware of the atonement due your friend.
+Before you came, I was engaged in making preparations for the fulfilment
+of one of his warmest wishes."
+
+With these words she dismissed the Roman.  Her feelings as she watched
+his departure were of very mingled character.  The yearning for the
+happiness of which she had been so long deprived had again awaked, while
+the unkind words which he had applied to her still rankled in her heart.
+But the door had scarcely closed behind Lucilius when the usher announced
+a deputation of the members of the museum.
+
+The learned gentlemen came to complain of the wrong which had been done
+to their colleague, Didymus, and also to express their loyalty during
+these trying times.  Cleopatra assured them of her favour, and said that
+she had already offered ample compensation to the old philosopher.  In a
+certain sense she was one of themselves.  They all knew that, from early
+youth, she had honoured and shared their labours.  In proof of this, she
+would present to the library of the museum the two hundred thousand
+volumes from Pergamus, one of the most valuable gifts Mark Antony had
+ever bestowed upon her, and which she had hitherto regarded merely as a
+loan.  This she hoped would repay Didymus for the injury which, to her
+deep regret, had been inflicted upon him, and at least partially repair
+the loss sustained by the former library of the museum during the
+conflagration in the Bruchium.
+
+The sages, eagerly assuring her of their gratitude and devotion, retired.
+Most of them were personally known to Cleopatra who, to their mutual
+pleasure and advantage, had measured her intellectual powers with the
+most brilliant minds of their body.
+
+The sun had already set, when a procession of the priests of Serapis, the
+chief god of the city, whose coming had been announced the day before,
+appeared at Lochias.  Accompanied by torch and lantern bearers, it moved
+forward with slow and solemn majesty.  In harmony with the nature of
+Serapis, there were many reminders of death.
+
+The meaning of every image, every standard, every shrine, every
+peculiarity of the music and singing, was familiar to the Queen.  Even
+the changing colours of the lights referred to the course of growth and
+decay in the universe and in human life, and the magnificent close of the
+chant of homage which represented the reception of the royal soul into
+the essence of the deity, the apotheosis of the sovereign, was well
+suited to stir the heart; for a sea of light unexpectedly flooded the
+whole procession and, while its glow irradiated the huge pile of the
+palace, the sea with its forest of ships and masts, and the shore with
+its temples, pylons, obelisks, and superb buildings, all the choruses,
+accompanied by the music of sackbuts, cymbals, and lutes, blended in a
+mighty hymn, whose waves of sound rose to the star-strewn sky and reached
+the open sea beyond the Pharos.
+
+Many a symbolical image suggested death and the resurrection, defeat and
+a victory following it by the aid of great Serapis; and when the torches
+retired, vanishing in the darkness, with the last, notes of the chanting
+of the priests, Cleopatra, raised her head, feeling as if the vow she had
+made during the gloomy singing of the aged men and the extinguishing of
+the torches had received the approval of the deity brought by her
+forefathers to Alexandria and enthroned there to unite in his own person
+the nature of the Greek and the Egyptian gods.
+
+Her tomb was to be built and, if destiny was fulfilled, to receive her
+lover and herself.  She had perceived from Antony's bitter words, as well
+as the looks and tones of Lucilius, that he, as well as the man to whom
+her heart still clung with indissoluble bonds, held her responsible for
+Actium and the fall of his greatness.
+
+The world, she knew, would imitate them, but it should learn that if love
+had robbed the greatest man of his day of fame and sovereignty, that love
+had been worthy of the highest price.
+
+The belief which had just been symbolically represented to her--that it
+was allotted to the vanishing light to rise again in new and radiant
+splendour--she would maintain for the present, though the best success
+could scarcely lead to anything more than merely fanning the glimmering
+spark and deferring its extinction.
+
+For herself there was no longer any great victory to win which would be
+worth the conflict.  Yet the weapons must not rest until the end.  Antony
+must not perish, growling, like a second Timon, or a wild beast caught in
+a snare.  She would rekindle, though but for the last blaze, the fire of
+his hero-nature, which blind love for her and the magic spell that had
+enabled her to bind his will had covered for a time with ashes.
+
+While listening to the resurrection hymn of the priests of Serapis, she
+had asked herself if it might not be possible to give Antony, when he had
+been roused to fresh energy, the son of Caesar as a companion in arms.
+True, she had found the boy in a mood far different from the one for
+which she had hoped.  If he had once been carried on to a bold deed, it
+seemed to have exhausted his energy; for he remained absorbed in the most
+pitiable love-sickness.  Yet he had not recovered from his illness.  When
+he was better he would surely wake to active interest in the events which
+threatened to exert so great an influence on his own existence and,
+like the humblest slave, lament the defeat of Actium.  Hitherto he had
+listened to the tidings of battle which had reached his ears with an
+indifference that seemed intelligible and pardonable only when attributed
+to his wound.
+
+His tutor Rhodon had just requested a leave of absence, remarking that
+Caesarion would not lack companions, since he was expecting Antyllus and
+other youths of his own age.  A flood of light streamed from the windows
+of the reception hall of the "King of kings."  There was still time to
+seek him and make him understand what was at stake.  Ah! if she could but
+succeed in awaking his father's spirit!  If that culpable attack should
+prove the harbinger of future deeds of manly daring!
+
+No interview with him as yet had encouraged this expectation, but a
+mother's heart easily sees, even in disappointment, a step which leads to
+a new hope.  When Charmian entered to announce Antony's body-slave, she
+sent word to him to wait, and requested her friend to accompany her to
+her son.
+
+As they approached the apartments occupied by Caesarion, Antyllus's loud
+voice reached them through the open door, whose curtain was only half
+drawn.  The first word which the Queen distinguished was her own name;
+so, motioning to her companion, she stood still.  Barine was again the
+subject of conversation.
+
+Antony's son was relating what Alexas had told him.  Cleopatra, the
+Syrian had asserted, intended to send the young beauty to the mines or
+into exile, and severely punish Dion; but both had made their escape.
+The Ephebi had behaved treacherously by taking sides with their foe.
+But this was because they were not yet invested with their robes.
+He hoped to induce his father to do this as soon as he shook off his
+pitiable misanthropy.  And he must also be persuaded to direct the
+pursuit of the fugitives.  "This will not be difficult," he cried
+insolently, "for the old man appreciates beauty, and has himself cast
+an eye on the singer.  If they capture her, I'll guarantee nothing, you
+'King of kings!' for, spite of his grey beard, he can cut us all out with
+the women, and Barine--as we have heard--doesn't think a man of much
+importance until his locks begin to grow thin.  I gave Derketaeus orders
+to send all his men in pursuit.  He's as cunning as a fox, and the police
+are compelled to obey him."
+
+"If I were not forced to lie here like a dead donkey, I would soon find
+her," sighed Caesarion.  "Night or day, she is never out of my mind.
+I have already spent everything I possessed in the search.  Yesterday I
+sent for the steward Seleukus.  What is the use of being my mother's son,
+and the fat little fellow isn't specially scrupulous!  He will do
+nothing, yet there must be gold enough.  The Queen has sunk millions in
+the sand on the Syrian frontier of the Delta.  There is to be a square
+hole or something of the sort dug there to hide the fleet.  I only half
+understand the absurd plan.  The money might have paid hundreds of spies.
+So talents are thrown away, and the strong-box is locked against the son.
+But I'll find one that will open to me.  I must have her, though I risk
+the crown.  It always sounds like a jeer when they call me the King of
+kings.  I am not fit for sovereignty.  Besides, the throne will be seized
+ere I really ascend it.  We are conquered, and if we succeed in
+concluding a peace, which will secure us life and a little more, we must
+be content.  For my part, I shall be satisfied with a country estate on
+the water, a sufficient supply of money and, above all, Barine.  What do
+I care for Egypt?  As Caesar's son I ought to have ruled Rome; but the
+immortals knew what they were doing when they prompted my father to
+disinherit me.  To govern the world one must have less need of sleep.
+Really--you know it--I always feel tired, even when I am well.  People
+must let me alone!  Your father, too, Antyllus, is laying down his arms
+and letting things go as they will."
+
+"Ah, so he is!"  cried Antony's son indignantly.  "But just wait!  The
+sleeping lion will wake again, and, when he uses his teeth and paws--"
+
+"My mother will run away, and your father will follow her," replied
+Caesarion with a melancholy smile, wholly untinged by scorn.  "All is
+lost.  But conquered kings and queens are permitted to live.  Caesar's
+son will not be exhibited to the Quirites in the triumphal procession.
+Rhodon says that there would be an insurrection if I appeared in the
+Forum.  If I go there again, it certainly will not be in Octavianus's
+train.  I am not suited for that kind of ignominy.  It would stifle me
+and, ere I would grant any man the pleasure of dragging the son of Caesar
+behind him to increase his own renown, I would put an end--ten, nay, a
+hundred times over, in the good old Roman fashion, to my life, which is
+by no means especially attractive.  What is sweeter than sound sleep, and
+who will disturb and rouse me when Death has lowered his torch before me?
+But now I think I shall be spared this extreme.  Whatever else they may
+inflict upon me will scarcely exceed my powers of endurance.  If any one
+has learned contentment it is I.  The King of kings and Co-Regent of the
+Great Queen has been trained persistently, and with excellent success,
+to be content.  What should I be, and what am I?  Yet I do not complain,
+and wish to accuse no one.  We need not summon Octavianus, and when he is
+here let him take what he will if he only spares the lives of my mother,
+the twins, and little Alexander, whom I love, and bestows on me the
+estate--the main thing is that it must be full of fishponds--of which I
+spoke.  The private citizen Caesarion, who devotes his time to fishing
+and the books he likes to read, will gladly be allowed to choose a wife
+to suit his own taste.  The more humble her origin, the more easily I
+shall win the consent of the Roman guardian."
+
+"Do you know, Caesarion," interrupted Antony's unruly son, leaning back
+on the cushions and stretching his feet farther in front of him, "if you
+were not the King of kings I should be inclined to call you a base, mean-
+natured fellow!  One who has the good fortune to be the son of Julius
+Caesar ought not to forget it so disgracefully.  My gall overflows at
+your whimpering.  By the dog!  It was one of my most senseless pranks to
+take you to the singer.  I should think there would be other things to
+occupy the mind of the King of kings.  Besides, Barine cares no more
+for you than the last fish you caught.  She showed that plainly enough.
+I say once more, if Derketaeus's men succeed in capturing the beauty who
+has robbed you of your senses, she won't go with you to your miserable
+estate to cook the fish you catch, for if we have her again, and my
+father holds out his hand to her, all your labour will be in vain.  He
+saw the fair enchantress only twice, and had no time to become better
+acquainted, but she captured his fancy and, if I remind him of her, who
+knows what will happen?"
+
+Here Cleopatra beckoned to her companion and returned to her apartments
+with drooping head.  On reaching them, she broke the silence, saying:
+"Listening, Charmian, is unworthy of a Queen; but if all listeners heard
+things so painful, one need no longer guard keyholes and chinks of doors.
+I must recover my calmness ere I receive Eros.  One thing more.  Is
+Barine's hiding-place secure?"
+
+"I don't know--Archibius says so."
+
+"Very well.  They are searching for her zealously enough, as you heard,
+and she must not be found.  I am glad that she did not set a snare for
+the boy.  How a jealous heart leads us astray!  Were she here, I would
+grant her anything to make amends for my unjust suspicion of her and
+Antony.  And to think that Alexas--but for your interposition he would
+have succeeded--meant to send her to the mines!  It is a terrible warning
+to be on my guard.  Against whom?  First of all, my own weakness.  This
+is a day of recognition.  A noble aim, but on the way the feet bleed, and
+the heart--ah!  Charmian, the poor, weak, disappointed heart!"
+
+She sighed heavily, and supported her head on the arm resting upon the
+table at her side.  The polished, exquisitely grained surface of thya-
+wood was worth a large estate; the gems in the rings and bracelets which
+glittered on her hand and arm would have purchased a principality.  This
+thought entered her mind and, overpowered by a feeling of angry disgust,
+she would fain have cast all the costly rubbish into the sea or the
+destroying flames.
+
+She would gladly have been a beggar, content with the barley bread of
+Epicurus, she said to herself, if in return she could but have inspired
+her son even with the views of the reckless blusterer Antyllus.  Her
+worst fears had not pictured Caesarion so weak, so insignificant.  She
+could no longer rest upon her cushions; and while, with drooping head,
+she gazed backward over the past, the accusing voice in her own breast
+cried out that she was reaping what she had sowed.  She had repressed,
+curbed the boy's awakening will to secure his obedience; understood how
+to prevent any exercise of his ability or efforts in wider circles.
+
+True, it had been done on many a pretext.  Why should not her son taste
+the quiet happiness which she had enjoyed in the garden of Epicurus?  And
+was not the requirement that whoever is to command must first learn to
+obey, based upon old experiences?
+
+But this was a day of reckoning and insight, and for the first time she
+found courage to confess that her own burning ambition had marked out the
+course of Caesarion's education.  She had not repressed his talents from
+cool calculation, but it had been pleasant to her to see him grow up free
+from aspirations.  She had granted the dreamer repose without arousing
+him.  How often she had rejoiced over the certainty that this son, on
+whom Antony, after his victory over the Parthians, had bestowed the title
+of Co-Regent, would never rebel against his mother's guardianship!  The
+welfare of the state had doubtless been better secured in her trained
+hands than in those of an inexperienced boy.  And the proud consciousness
+of power!  Her heart swelled.  So long as she lived she would remain
+Queen.  To transfer the sovereignty to another, whatever name he might
+bear, had seemed to her impossible.  Now she knew how little her son
+yearned for lofty things.  Her heart contracted.  The saying "You reap
+what you sowed" gave her no peace, and wherever she turned in her past
+life she perceived the fruit of the seeds which she had buried in the
+ground.  The field was sinking under the burden of the ears of
+misfortune.  The harvest was ripe for the reaper; but, ere he raised the
+sickle, the owner's claim must be preserved.  Gorgias must hasten the
+building of the tomb; the end could not be long deferred.  How to shape
+this worthily, if the victor left her no other choice, had just been
+pointed out by the son of whom she was ashamed.  His father's noble blood
+forbade him to bear the deepest ignominy with the patience his mother had
+inculcated.
+
+It had grown late ere she admitted Antony's body-slave, but for her the
+business of the night was just commencing.  After he had gone she would
+be engaged for hours with the commanders of the army, the fleet, the
+fortifications.  The soliciting of allies, too, must be carried on by
+means of letters containing the most stirring appeals to the heart.
+
+Eros, Antony's body-slave, appeared.  His kind eyes filled with tears at
+the sight of the Queen.  Grief had not lessened the roundness of his
+handsome face, but the expression of mischievous, often insolent, gaiety
+had given place to a sorrowful droop of the lips, and his fair hair had
+begun to turn grey.
+
+Lucilius's information that Cleopatra had consented to make advances to
+Antony had seemed like the rising of the sun after a long period of
+darkness.  In his eyes, not only his master, but everything else, must
+yield to the power of the Queen.  He had heard Antony at Tarsus inveigh
+against "the Egyptian serpent," protesting that he would make her pay so
+dearly for her questionable conduct towards himself and the cause of
+Caesar that the treasure-houses on the Nile should be like an empty wine-
+skin; yet, a few hours after, body and soul had been in her toils.  So it
+had continued till the battle of Actium.  Now there was nothing more to
+lose; but what might not Cleopatra bestow upon his master?  He thought of
+the delightful years during which his face had grown so round, and every
+day fresh pleasures and spectacles, such as the world would never again
+witness, had satiated eye and ear, palate and nostril,--nay, even
+curiosity.  If they could be repeated, even in a simpler form, so much
+the better.  His main--nay, almost his sole-desire was to release his
+lord from this wretched solitude, this horrible misanthropy, so ill
+suited to his nature.
+
+Cleopatra had kept him waiting two hours, but he would willingly have
+loitered in the anteroom thrice as long if she only determined to follow
+his counsel.  It was worth considering, and Eros did not hesitate to give
+it.  No one could foresee how Antony would greet Cleopatra herself, so he
+proposed that she should send Charmian--not alone, but with her clever
+hunch-backed maid, to whom the Imperator himself had given the name
+"Aisopion."  He liked Charmian, and could never see the dusky maid
+without jesting with her.  If his master could once be induced to show a
+cheerful face to others besides himself, Eros, and perceived how much
+better it was to laugh than to lapse into sullen reverie and anger, much
+would be gained, and Charmian would do the rest, if she brought a loving
+message from her royal mistress.
+
+Hitherto Cleopatra had not interrupted him; but when she expressed the
+opinion that a slave's nimble tongue would have little power to change
+the deep despondency of a man overwhelmed by the most terrible disaster,
+Eros waved his short, broad hand, saying:
+
+"I trust your Majesty will pardon the frankness of a man so humble in
+degree, but those in high station often permit us to see what they hide
+from one another.  Only the loftiest and the lowliest, the gods and the
+slaves, behold the great without disguise.  May my ears be cropped if the
+Imperator's melancholy and misanthropy are so intense!  All this is a
+disguise which pleases him.  You know how, in better days, he enjoyed
+appearing as Dionysus, and with what wanton gaiety he played the part of
+the god.  Now he is hiding his real, cheerful face behind the mask of
+unsocial melancholy, because he thinks the former does not suit this time
+of misfortune.  True, he often says things which make your skin creep,
+and frequently broods mournfully over his own thoughts.  But this never
+lasts long when we are alone.  If I come in with a very funny story, and
+he doesn't silence me at once, you can rely on his surpassing it with
+a still more comical one.  A short time ago I reminded him of the fishing
+party when your Majesty had a diver fasten a salted herring on his hook.
+You ought to have heard him laugh, and exclaim what happy days those
+were.  The lady Charmian need only remind him of them, and Aisopion spice
+the allusion with a jest.  I'll give my nose--true, it's only a small
+one, but everybody values that feature most--if they don't persuade him
+to leave that horrible crow's nest in the middle of the sea.  They must
+remind him of the twins and little Alexander; for when he permits me to
+talk about them his brow smooths most speedily.  He still speaks very
+often to Lucilius and his other friends of his great plans of forming a
+powerful empire in the East, with Alexandria as its principal city.  His
+warrior blood is not yet calm.  A short time ago I was even ordered to
+sharpen the curved Persian scimitar he likes to wield.  One could not
+know what service it might be, he said.  Then he swung his mighty arm.
+By the dog!  The grey-haired giant still has the strength of three
+youths.  When he is once more with you, among warriors and battle
+chargers, all will be well."
+
+"Let us hope so."  replied Cleopatra kindly, and promised to follow his
+advice.
+
+When Iras, who had taken Charmian's place, accompanied the Queen to her
+chamber after several hours of toil, she found her silent and sad.  Lost
+in thought, she accepted her attendant's aid, breaking her silence only
+after she had gone to her couch.  "This has been a hard day, Iras," she
+said; "it brought nothing save the confirmation of an old saying, perhaps
+the most ancient in the world: 'Every one wilt reap only what he sows.
+The plant which grows from the seed you place in the earth may be
+crushed, but no power in the world will compel the seed to develop
+differently or produce fruit unlike what Nature has assigned to it.'
+My seed was evil.  This now appears in the time of harvest.  But we will
+yet bring a handful of good wheat to the storehouses.  We will provide
+for that while there is time.  I will talk with Gorgias early to-morrow
+morning.  While we were building, you showed good taste and often
+suggested new ideas.  When Gorgias brings the plans for the mausoleum you
+shall examine them with me.  You have a right to do so, for, if I am not
+mistaken, few will visit the finished structure more frequently than my
+Iras."
+
+The girl started up and, raising her hand as if taking a vow, exclaimed:
+"Your tomb will vainly wait my visit; your end will be mine also."
+
+"May the gods preserve your youth from it!" replied the Queen in a tone
+of grave remonstrance.  "We still live and will do battle."
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Epicurus, who believed that with death all things ended
+No,  she was not created to grow old
+Nothing in life is either great or small
+Priests: in order to curb the unruly conduct of the populace
+She would not purchase a few more years of valueless life
+To govern the world one must have less need of sleep
+What changes so quickly as joy and sorrow
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEOPATRA, BY GEORG EBERS, V7 ***
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