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+The Project Gutenberg EBook Cleopatra, by Georg Ebers, Volume 8.
+#42 in our series by Georg Ebers
+
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+Title: Cleopatra, Volume 8.
+
+Author: Georg Ebers
+
+Release Date: April, 2004  [EBook #5480]
+[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, V8 ***
+
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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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+
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+
+
+CLEOPATRA
+
+By Georg Ebers
+
+Volume 8.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Night brought little sleep to Cleopatra.  Memory followed memory, plan
+was added to plan.  The resolve made the day before was the right one.
+To-day she would begin its execution.  Whatever might happen, she was
+prepared for every contingency.
+
+Ere she went to her work she granted a second audience to the Roman
+envoy.  Timagenes exerted all his powers of eloquence, skill in
+persuasion, wit, and ingenuity.  He again promised to Cleopatra life and
+liberty, and to her children the throne; but when he insisted upon the
+surrender or death of Mark Antony as the first condition of any further
+negotiations, Cleopatra remained steadfast, and the ambassador set forth
+on his way home without any pledge.
+
+After he had gone, the Queen and Iras looked over the plans for the tomb
+brought by Gorgias, but the intense agitation of her soul distracted
+Cleopatra's attention, and she begged him to come again at a later hour.
+When she was alone, she took out the letters which Caesar and Antony had
+written to her.  How acute, subtle, and tender were those of the former;
+how ardent, impassioned, yet sincere were those of the mighty and fiery
+orator, whose eloquence swept the listening multitudes with him, yet whom
+her little hand had drawn wherever she desired!
+
+Her heart throbbed faster when she thought of the meeting with Antony,
+now close at hand; for Charmian had gone with the Nubian to invite him to
+join her again.  They had started several hours ago, and she awaited
+their return with increasing impatience.  She had summoned him for their
+last mutual battle.  That he would come she did not doubt.  But could she
+succeed in rekindling his courage?  Two persons so closely allied should
+sink and perish, still firmly united, in the final battle, if victory was
+denied.
+
+Archibius was now announced.
+
+It soothed her merely to gaze into the faithful countenance, which
+recalled so many of her happiest memories.
+
+She opened her whole soul to him without reserve, and he drew himself up
+to his full height, as if restored to youth; while when she told him that
+she would never sully herself by treachery to her lover and husband, and
+had resolved to die worthy of her name, the expression of his eyes
+revealed that she had chosen the right path.
+
+Ere she had made the request that he should undertake the education and
+guidance of the children, he voluntarily proposed to devote his best
+powers to them.  The plan of uniting Didymus's garden with the Lochias
+and giving it to the little ones also met with his approval.  His sister
+had already told him that Cleopatra had determined to build her tomb.  He
+hoped, he added, that its doors would not open to her for many years.
+
+She shook her head sorrowfully, exclaiming "Would that I could read every
+face as I do yours!  My friend Archibius wishes me a long life, if any
+one does; but he is as wise as he is faithful, and therefore will
+consider that earthly life is by no means a boon in every case.  Besides,
+he says to himself: 'Events are impending over this Queen and woman, my
+friend, which will perhaps render it advisable to make use of the great
+privilege which the immortals bestow on human beings when it becomes
+desirable for them to leave the stage of life.  So let her build her
+tomb.'  Have I read the old familiar book aright?"
+
+"On the whole, yes," he answered gravely.  "But it is inscribed upon its
+pages that a great princess and faithful mother can be permitted to set
+forth on the last journey, whence there is no return, only when--"
+
+"When," she interrupted, "a shameful end threatens to fall upon the fair
+beginning and brilliant middle period, as a swarm of locusts darkens the
+air and devours and devastates the fields.  I know it, and will act
+accordingly."
+
+"And," added Archibius, "this end also (faithful to your nature) you will
+shape regally.--On my way here I met my sister near the Choma.  You sent
+her to your husband.  He will grasp the proffered hand.  Now that it is
+necessary to stake everything or surrender, the grandson of Herakles will
+again display his former heroic power.  Perhaps, stimulated and
+encouraged by the example of the woman he loves, he will even force
+hostile Fate to show him fresh favour."
+
+"Destiny will pursue its course," interrupted Cleopatra firmly.  "But
+Antony must help me to heap fresh obstacles in the pathway, and when he
+wishes to use his giant strength, what masses of rock his mighty arm can
+hurl!"
+
+"And if your lofty spirit smooths the path for him, then, my royal
+mistress--"
+
+"Even then the close of the tragedy will be death, and every scene a
+disappointment.  Was not the plan of bringing the fleet across the
+isthmus bold and full of promise?  Even the professional engineers
+greeted it with applause, and yet it proved impracticable.  Destiny dug
+its grave.  And the terrible omens before and after Actium, and the
+stars--the stars!  Everything points to speedy destruction, everything!
+Every hour brings news of the desertion of some prince or general.  As if
+from a watch-tower, I now overlook what is growing from the seed I sowed.
+Sterile ears or poisonous vegetation, wherever I turn my eyes.  And yet!
+You, who know my life from its beginning, tell me--must I veil my head in
+shame when the question is asked, what powers of intellect, what talents
+industry, and desire for good Cleopatra displayed?"
+
+"No, my royal mistress, a thousand times no!"
+
+"Yet the fruit of every tree I planted degenerated and decayed.
+Caesarion is withering in the flower of his youth--by whose fault I know
+only too well.  You will now take charge of the education of the other
+children.  So it is for you to consider what brought me where I now
+stand, and how to guard their life-bark from wandering and shipwreck."
+
+"Let me train them to be human beings," replied Archibius gravely, "and
+preserve them from the desire to enter the lists with the gods.  From the
+simple Cleopatra in the garden of Epicurus, who was a delight to the good
+and wise, you became the new Isis, to whom the multitude raised hearts,
+eyes, and hands, dazzled and blinded.  We will transfer the twins, Helios
+and Selene, the sun and the moon, from heaven to earth; they must become
+mortals--Greeks.  I will not transplant them to the garden of Epicurus,
+but to another, where the air is more bracing.  The inscription on its
+portals shall not be, 'Here pleasure is the chief good,' but 'This is an
+arena for character.'  He who leaves this garden shall not owe to it the
+yearning for happiness and comfort, but an immovably steadfast moral
+discipline.  Your children, like yourself, were born in the East, which
+loves what is monstrous, superhuman, exaggerated.  If you entrust them to
+me, they must learn to govern themselves.  At the helm stands moral
+earnestness, which, however, does not exclude the joyous cheerfulness
+natural to our people; the sails will be trimmed by moderation, the
+noblest quality of the Greek nation."
+
+"I understand,"  Cleopatra interrupted, with drooping head.  "Interwoven
+with the means of securing the children's welfare, you set before the
+mother's eyes the qualities she has lacked.  I know that long ago you
+abandoned the teachings of Epicurus and the Stoa, and with an earnest aim
+before your eyes sought your own paths.  The tempest of life swept me far
+away from the quiet garden where we sought the purest delight.  Now I
+have learned to know the perils which threaten those who see the chief
+good in happiness.  It stands too high for mortals, for in the changeful
+stir of life it remains unattainable, and yet it is too low an aim for
+their struggles, for there are worthier objects.  Yet one saying of
+Epicurus we both believed, and it has always stood us in good stead:
+'Wisdom can obtain no more precious contribution to the happiness of
+mortal life than the possession of friendship.'"
+
+She held out her hand as she spoke, and while, deeply agitated, he raised
+it to his lips, she went on: "You know I am on the eve of the last
+desperate battle--if the gods will--shoulder to shoulder with Antony.
+Therefore I shall not be permitted to watch your work of education; yet I
+will aid it.  When the children question you about their mother, you will
+be obliged to restrain yourself from saying: 'Instead of striving for the
+painless peace of mind, the noble pleasure of Epicurus, which once seemed
+to her the highest good, she constantly pursued fleeting amusements.  The
+Oriental recklessly squandered her once noble gifts of intellect and the
+wealth of her people, yielded to the hasty impulses of her passionate
+nature.'  But you shall also say to them: 'Your mother's heart was full
+of ardent love, she scorned what was base, strove for the highest goal,
+and when she fell, preferred death to treachery and disgrace.'"
+
+Here she paused, for she thought she heard footsteps approaching, and
+then exclaimed anxiously: "I am waiting--expecting.  Perhaps Antony
+cannot escape from the paralyzing grasp of despair.  To fight the last
+battle without him, and yet under the gaze of his wrathful, gloomy eyes,
+once so full of sunshine, would be the greatest sorrow of my life.
+Archibius, I may confess this to you, the friend who saw love for this
+man develop in the breast of the child--But what does this mean?  An
+uproar!  Have the people rebelled?  Yesterday the representatives  of the
+priesthood, the members of the museum, and the leaders of the army
+assured me of their changeless fidelity and love.  Dion belonged to the
+Macedonian men of the Council; yet I have already declared, in accordance
+with the truth, that I never intended to persecute him on Caesarion's
+account.  I do not even know--and do not desire to know the refuge of the
+lately wedded pair.  Or has the new tax levied, the command to seize the
+treasures of the temple, driven them to extremities?  What am I to do?
+We need gold to bid the foe defiance, to preserve the independence of the
+throne, the country, and the people.  Or have tidings from Rome?  It is
+becoming serious--and the noise is growing louder."
+
+"Let me see what they want," Archibius anxiously interrupted, hastening
+to the door; but just at that moment the Introducer opened it, crying,
+"Mark Antony is approaching the Lochias, attended by half Alexandria!"
+
+"The noble Imperator is returning!" fell from the bearded lips of the
+commander of the guard, ere the courtier's words had died away; and even
+while he spoke Iras pressed past him, shrieking as if half frantic: "He
+is coming!  He is here!  I knew he would come!  How they are shouting and
+cheering!  Out with you, men!  If you are willing, my royal mistress, we
+will greet him from the balcony of Berenike.  If we only had--"
+
+"The  twins--little Alexander!"  interrupted Cleopatra, with blanched
+face and faltering voice.  "Put on their festal garments."
+
+"Quick--the children, Zoe!" cried Iras, completing the order and clapping
+her hands.  Then she turned to the Queen with the entreaty: "Be calm, my
+royal mistress, be calm, I beseech you.  We have ample time.  Here is the
+vulture crown of Isis, and here the other.  Antony's slave, Eros, has
+just come in, panting for breath.  The Imperator, he says, will appear as
+the new Dionysus.  It would certainly please his master--though he had
+not commissioned him to request it--if you greeted him as the new Isis.
+--Help me, Hathor.  Nephoris, tell the usher to see that the fan-bearers
+and the other attendants, women and men, are in their places.--Here are
+the pearl and diamond necklaces for your throat and bosom.  Take care
+of the robe.  The transparent bombyx is as delicate as a cobweb, and if
+you tear it  No, you must not refuse.  We all know how it pleases him to
+see his goddess in divine majesty and beauty."  Cleopatra, with glowing
+cheeks and throbbing heart, made no further objection to donning the
+superb festal robe, strewn with glimmering pearls and glittering gems.
+It would have been more in harmony with her feelings to meet the
+returning Antony in the plain, dark garb which, since her arrival at
+home, she had exchanged for a richer one only on festal occasions; but
+Antony was coming as the new Dionysus, and Eros knew what would please
+his master.
+
+Eight nimble hands, which were often aided by Iras's skilful fingers,
+toiled busily, and soon the latter could hold up the mirror before
+Cleopatra, exclaiming from the very depths of her heart, "Like the foam-
+born Aphrodite and the golden Hathor!"
+
+Then Iras, who, in adorning her beloved mistress, had forgotten love,
+hate, and envy, and amid her eager haste barely found time for a brief,
+fervent prayer for a happy issue of this meeting, threw the broad
+folding-doors as wide as if she were about to reveal to the worshippers
+in the temple the image of the god in the innermost sanctuary.
+
+A long, echoing shout of surprise and delight greeted the Queen, for the
+courtiers, hastily summoned, were already awaiting her without, from the
+grey-haired epistolograph to the youngest page.  Regally attired women in
+her service raised the floating train of her cloak; others, in sacerdotal
+robes, were testing the ease of movement of the rings on the sistrum
+rods, men and boys were forming into lines according to the rank of each
+individual, and the chief fan-bearer gave the signal for departure.
+After a short walk through several halls and corridors, the train reached
+the first court-yard of the palace, and there ascended the few steps
+leading to the broad platform at the entrance-gate which overlooked the
+whole Bruchium and the Street of the King, down which the expected hero
+would approach.
+
+The distant uproar of the multitude had sounded threatening, but now,
+amid the deafening din, they could distinguish every shout of welcome,
+every joyous greeting, every expression of delight, surprise, applause,
+admiration, and homage, known to the Greek and Egyptian tongues.
+
+Only the centre and end of the procession were visible.  The head had
+reached the Corner of the Muses, where, concealed by the old trees in the
+garden, it moved on between the Temple of Isis and the land owned by
+Didymus.  The end still extended to the Choma, whence it had started.
+
+All Alexandria seemed to have joined it.
+
+Men large and small, of high and low degree, old and young, the lame and
+the crippled, mingled with the throng, sweeping onward among horses and
+carriages, carts and beasts of burden, like a mountain torrent dashing
+wildly down to the valley.  Here a loud shriek rang from an overturned
+litter, whose bearers had fallen.  Yonder a child thrown to the ground
+screamed shrilly, there a dog trodden under the feet of the crowd howled
+piteously.  So clear and resonant were the shouts of joy that they rose
+high above the flutes and tambourines, the cymbals and lutes of the
+musicians, who followed the man approaching in the robes of a god.
+
+The head of the procession now passed beyond the Corner of the Muses and
+came within view of the platform.
+
+There could be no doubt to whom this ovation was given, for the returning
+hero was in the van, high above all the other figures.  From the golden
+throne borne on the shoulders of twelve black slaves he waved his long
+thyrsus in greeting to the exulting multitude.  Before the bacchanalian
+train which accompanied him, and behind the musicians who followed,
+moved two elephants bearing between them, as a light burden, some
+unrecognizable object covered with a purple cloth.  Now the column had
+passed between the pylons through the lofty gateway which separated the
+palace from the Street of the King, and stopped opposite to the platform.
+
+While officials, Scythians, and body-guards of all shades of complexion,
+on foot and on horseback, kept back the throng by force where friendly
+warning did not avail, Cleopatra saw her lover descend from the throne
+and give a signal to the Indian slave who guided the elephants.  The
+cloth was flung aside, revealing to the astonished eyes of the spectators
+a bouquet of flowers such as no Alexandrian had ever beheld.  It
+consisted entirely of blossoming rose-bushes.  The red flowers formed a
+circle in the centre, surrounded by a broad light garland of white ones.
+The whole gigantic work rested like an egg in its cup in a holder of palm
+fronds which, as it were, framed it in graceful curving outlines.  More
+than a thousand blossoms were united in this peerless bouquet, and the
+singular gigantic gift was characteristic of its giver.
+
+He advanced on foot to the platform, his figure towering above the brown,
+light-hued, and black freedmen and slaves who followed as, on the
+monuments of the Pharaohs, the image of the sovereign dominates those of
+the subjects and foes.
+
+He could look down upon the tallest men, and the width of his shoulders
+was as remarkable as his colossal height.  A long, gold-broidered purple
+mantle, floating to his ancles, increased his apparent stature.  Powerful
+arms, with the swelling muscles of an athlete, were extended from his
+sleeveless robe towards the beloved Queen.
+
+The well-formed head, thick dark hair, and magnificent beard corresponded
+with the powerful figure.  Formerly these locks had adorned the head of
+the youth with the blue-black hue of the raven's plumage; now the threads
+of grey scattered abundantly through them were concealed by the aid of
+dye.  A thick wreath of vine leaves rested on the Imperator's brow, and
+leafy vine branches, to which clung several dark bunches of grapes, fell
+over his broad shoulders and down his back, which was covered like a
+cloak, not by a leopard-skin, but that of a royal Indian tiger of great
+size--he had slain it himself in the arena.  The head and paws of the
+animal were gold, the eyes two magnificent sparkling sapphires.  The
+clasp of the chain, by which the skin was suspended, as well as that of
+the gold belt which circled the Imperator's body above the hips, was
+covered with rubies and emeralds.  The wide armlets above his elbows, the
+ornaments on his broad breast, nay, even his red morocco boots, glittered
+and flashed with gems.
+
+Radiant magnificent as his former fortunes seemed the attire of this
+mighty fallen hero, who but yesterday had shrunk timidly and sadly from
+the eyes of his fellow-men.  His features, too, were large, noble, and
+beautiful in outline; but, though his pale cheeks were adorned with the
+borrowed crimson of youth, half a century of the maddest pursuit of
+pleasure and the torturing excitement of the last few weeks had left
+traces only too visible; for the skin hung in loose bags beneath the
+large eyes; wrinkles furrowed his brow and radiated in slanting lines
+from the corners of his eyes across his temples.
+
+Yet not one of those whom this bedizened man of fifty was approaching
+thought of seeing in him an aged, bedecked dandy; it was an instinct of
+his nature to surround himself with pomp and splendour and, moreover, his
+whole appearance was so instinct with power that scorn and mockery shrank
+abashed before it.
+
+How frank, gracious, and kindly was this man's face, how sincere the
+heart-felt emotion which sparkled in his eyes, still glowing with the
+fire of youth, at the sight of the woman from whom he had been so long
+parted!  Every feature beamed with the most ardent tenderness for the
+royal wife whom he was approaching, and the expression on the lips of the
+giant varied so swiftly from humble, sorrowful anguish of mind to
+gratitude and delight, that even the hearts of his foes were touched.
+But when, pressing his hand on his broad breast, he advanced towards the
+Queen, bending so low that it seemed as if he would fain kiss her feet,
+when in fact the colossal figure did sink kneeling before her, and the
+powerful arms were outstretched with fervent devotion like a child
+beseeching help, the woman who had loved him throughout her whole life
+with all the ardour of her passionate soul was overpowered by the feeling
+that everything which stood between them, all their mutual offences, had
+vanished.  He saw the sunny smile that brightened her beloved, ever-
+beautiful face, and then--then his own name reached his ears from the
+lips to which he owed the greatest bliss love had ever offered.  At last,
+as if intoxicated by the tones of her voice, which seemed to him more
+musical than the songs of the Muses; half smiling at the jest which, even
+in the most serious earnest, he could not abandon; half moved to the
+depths of his soul by the power of his newly awakening happiness after
+such sore sorrow, he pointed to the gigantic bouquet, which three slaves
+had lifted down from the elephant and were bearing to the Queen.
+Cleopatra, too, was overwhelmed with emotion.
+
+This floral gift imitated, on an immense scale, the little bouquet which
+the famous young general had taken from her father's hand before the gate
+of the garden of Epicurus to present to her as his first gift.  That had
+also been composed of red roses, surrounded by white ones.  Instead of
+palm fronds, it had been encircled only by fern leaves.  This was one of
+the beautiful offerings which Antony's gracious nature so well understood
+how to choose.  The bouquet was a symbol of the unprecedented generosity
+natural to this large-minded man.  No magic goblet had compelled him to
+approach her thus and with such homage.  Nothing had constrained him,
+save his overflowing heart, his constant, fadeless love.
+
+As if restored to youth, transported by some magic spell to the happy
+days of early girlhood, she forgot her royal dignity and the hundreds of
+eyes which rested upon him as if spell-bound; and, obedient to an
+irresistible impulse of the heart, she sank upon the broad, heaving
+breast of the kneeling hero.  Laughing joyously in the clear, silvery
+tones which are usually heard only in youth, he clasped her in his strong
+arms, raised her slender figure in its floating royal mantle from the
+ground, kissed her lips and eyes, held her aloft in the soaring attitude
+of the Goddess of Victory, as if to display his happiness to the eyes of
+all, and at last placed her carefully on her feet again like some
+treasured jewel.
+
+Then, turning to the children, who were waiting at their mother's side,
+he lifted first little Alexander, then the twins, to kiss them; and,
+while holding Helios and Selene in his arms, as if the joy of seeing them
+again had banished their weight, the shouts which had arisen when the
+Queen sank on his breast again burst forth.
+
+The ancient walls of the Lochias palace had never heard such
+acclamations.  They passed from lip to lip, from hundreds to hundreds
+and, though those more distant did not know the cause, they joined in the
+shouts.  Along the whole vast stretch from the Lochias to the Choma the
+cheers rang out like a single, heart-stirring, inseparable cry, echoing
+across the harbour, the ships lying at anchor, the towering masts, to the
+cliff amid the sea where Barine was nursing her new-made husband.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The property of the freedman Pyrrhus was a flat rock in the northern part
+of the harbour, scarcely larger than the garden of Didymus at the Corner
+of the Muses, a desolate spot where neither tree nor blade of grass grew.
+It was called the Serpent Island, though the inhabitants had long since
+rid it of these dangerous guests, which lived in great numbers in the
+neighbouring cliffs.  Not even the poorest crops would grow in soil so
+hostile to life, and those who chose it for a home were compelled to
+bring even the drinking-water from the continent.
+
+This desert, around which hovered gulls, sea-swallows, and sea-eagles,
+had been for several weeks the abode of the fugitives, Dion and Barine.
+They still occupied the two rooms which had been assigned to them on
+their arrival.  During the day the sun beat fiercely down upon the yellow
+chalky rock.  There was no shade save in the house and at the foot of a
+towering cliff in the southern part of the island, the fishermen's watch-
+tower.
+
+There were no works of human hands save a little Temple of Poseidon, an
+altar of Isis, the large house owned by Pyrrhus, solidly constructed by
+Alexandrian masons, and a smaller one for the freedman's married sons and
+their families.  A long wooden frame, on which nets were strung to dry,
+rose on the shore.  Near it, towards the north, in the open sea, was the
+anchorage of the larger sea-going ships and the various skiffs and boats
+of the fisher folk.  Dionikos, Pyrrhus's youngest son, who was still
+unmarried, built new boats and repaired the old ones.
+
+His two strong, taciturn brothers, with their wives and children, his
+father Pyrrhus, his wife and their youngest child, a daughter, Dione, a
+few dogs, cats, and chickens, composed the population of the Serpent
+Island.
+
+Such were the surroundings of the newly wedded pair, who had been reared
+in the capital.  At first many things were strange to them, but they
+accommodated themselves to circumstances with a good grace, and both had
+admitted to each other, long before, that life had never been so equable
+and peaceful.
+
+During the first week Dion's wound and fever still harassed him, but the
+prediction of Pyrrhus that the pure, fresh sea-air would benefit the
+sufferer had been fulfilled, and the monotonous days had passed swiftly
+enough to the young bride in caring for the invalid.
+
+The wife of Pyrrhus--"mother," as they all called her--had proved to be a
+skilful nurse, and her daughters-in-law and young Dione were faithful and
+nimble assistants.  During the time of anxiety and nursing, Barine had
+formed a warm friendship for them.  If the taciturn men avoided using a
+single unnecessary word, the women were all the more ready to gossip; and
+it was a pleasure to talk to pretty Dione, who had grown up on the island
+and was eager to hear about the outside world.
+
+Dion had long since left his couch and the house, and each day looked
+happier, more content with himself and his surroundings.  At first his
+feverish visions had shown him his dead mother, pointing anxiously at his
+new-made wife, as if to warn him against her.  During his convalescence
+he remembered them and they conjured up the doubt whether Barine could
+endure the solitude of this desolate cliff, whether she would not lose
+the bright serenity of soul whose charm constantly increased.  Would it
+be any marvel if she should pine with longing in this solitude, and even
+suffer physically from their severe privations?
+
+The perception that love now supplied the place of all which she had lost
+pleased him, but he forbade himself to expect that this condition of
+affairs could be lasting.  Nothing save exaggerated self-conceit would
+induce the hope.  But he must have undervalued his own power of
+attraction--or Barine's love--for with each passing week the cheerful
+serenity of her disposition gained fresh steadfastness and charm.  He,
+too, had the same experience; it was long since he had felt so vigorous,
+untrammelled, and free from care.  His sole regret was the impossibility
+of sharing the political life of the city at this critical period; and at
+times he felt some little anxiety concerning the fate and management of
+his property, though, even if his estates were confiscated, he would
+still retain a competence which he had left in the hands of a trustworthy
+money-changer.  Barine shared everything that concerned him, even these
+moods, and this led him to tell her about the affairs of the city and the
+state, in which she had formerly taken little interest, his property in
+Alexandria and the provinces.  With what glad appreciation she listened,
+when she went out with him from the northern anchorage on the open sea,
+or sat during long winter evenings making nets, an art which she had
+learned from Dione!
+
+Her lute had been sent to her from the city, and what pleasure her
+singing afforded her husband and herself; how joyously their hosts, old
+and young, listened to the melody!
+
+A few book-rolls had also come, and Dion enjoyed discussing their
+contents with Barine.  He himself read very little, for he was rarely
+indoors during the day.  The fourth week after his arrival he was able to
+aid, with arms whose muscles had been steeled in the pakestra, the men in
+their fishing, and Dionikos in his boat-building.
+
+The close, constant, uninterrupted companionship of the married pair
+revealed to each unexpected treasures in the other, which, perhaps, might
+have remained forever concealed in city life.  Here each was everything
+to the other, and this undisturbed mutual life soon inspired that
+blissful consciousness of inseparable union which usually appears only
+after years, as the fairest fruit of a marriage founded on love.
+
+Doubtless there were hours when Barine longed to see her mother and
+others who were dear to her, but the letters which arrived from time to
+time prevented this yearning from becoming a source of actual pain.
+
+Prudence required them to restrict their intercourse with the city.  But,
+whenever Pyrrhus went to market, letters reached the island delivered at
+the fish auction in the harbour by Anukis, Charmian's Nubian maid, to the
+old freedman, who had become her close friend.
+
+So the time came when Dion could say without self-deception that Barine
+was content in this solitude, and that his love and companionship
+supplied the place of the exciting, changeful life of the capital.
+Though letters came from her mother, sister, or Charmian, her
+grandfather, Gorgias, or Archibius, not one transformed the wish to leave
+her desolate hiding-place into actual homesickness, but each brought
+fresh subjects for conversation, and among them many which, by arousing
+the interest of both, united them more firmly.
+
+The second month of their flight a letter arrived from Archibius, in
+which he informed them that they might soon form plans for their return,
+for Alexas, the Syrian, had proved a malicious traitor.  He had not
+performed the commission entrusted to him of winning Herod to Antony's
+cause, but treacherously deserted his patron and remained with the King
+of the Jews.  When, with unprecedented shamelessness, he sought
+Octavianus to sell the secrets of his Egyptian benefactor, he was
+arrested and executed in his own home, Laodicea.
+
+Now, their friend continued, Cleopatra's eyes as well as her husband's
+were opened to the true character of Barine's most virulent accuser.  The
+influence of Philostratus, too, was of course destroyed by his brother's
+infamous deed.  Yet they must wait a little longer; for Caesarion had
+joined the Ephebi, and Antyllus had been invested with the toga virilis.
+They could now undertake many things independently, and Caesarion often
+made remarks which showed that he would not cease to lay plots for
+Barine.
+
+Dion feared nothing from the royal boy on his own account, but for his
+wife's sake he dared not disregard his friend's warning.  This was hard;
+for though he still felt happy on the island, he longed to install the
+woman he loved in his own house, and every impulse of his nature urged
+him to be present at the meetings of the Council in these fateful times.
+Therefore he was more than ready to risk returning to the city, but
+Barine entreated him so earnestly not to exchange the secure happiness
+they enjoyed here for a greater one, behind which might lurk the heaviest
+misfortune, that he yielded.  Another letter from Charmian soon proved
+the absolute necessity of continuing to exercise caution.
+
+Even from the island they could perceive that everything known as festal
+pleasure was rife in Alexandria, and bore along in its mad revelry the
+court and the citizens.  When the wind blew from the south, it brought
+single notes of inspiring music or indistinct sounds of the wildest
+popular rejoicing.
+
+The fisherman's daughter, Dione, often called them to the strand to
+admire the galleys adorned with fabulous splendour, garlanded with
+flowers, and echoing with the music of lutes and the melody of songs.
+Sails of purple embroidered silk bore the vessels over the smooth tide.
+Once the watchers even distinguished, upon a barge richly adorned with
+gilded carving, young female slaves who, with floating hair and
+transparent sea-green robes, handled, in the guise of Nereids, light
+sandal-wood oars with golden blades.  Often the breeze bore to the island
+the perfumes which surrounded the galleys, and on calm nights the
+magnificent ships, surrounded by the magical illumination of many-hued
+lamps, swept across the mirror-like surface of the waves, Among the
+voyagers were gods, goddesses, and heroes who, standing or reclining in
+beautiful groups, represented scenes from the myths and history.  On the
+deck of the Queen's superb vessel guests crowned with wreaths lay on
+purple couches, under garlands of flowers, eating choice viands and
+draining golden wine-cups.
+
+On other nights the illumination of the shore of the Bruchium rendered it
+as bright as day.  The huge dome of the Serapeum on the Rhakotis, covered
+with lamps, towered above the flat roofs of the city like the starry
+firmament of a smaller world which had descended to earth.  Every temple
+and palace was transformed into a giant candelabrum, and the rows of
+lamps on the quay stretched like tendrils of light from the dazzlingly
+illuminated marble Temple of Poseidon to the palace at Lochias, steeped
+in radiance.
+
+When Pyrrhus or one of his sons returned from market they described the
+festivals and shows, banquets, races, and endless pleasure excursions
+arranged by the court, which made the citizens fairly hold their breath.
+It was a prosperous time for the fishermen; the Queen's cooks took all
+their wares and paid a liberal price.
+
+January had come, when another letter arrived from Charmian.  Dion and
+Barine had watched in vain for any unusual events on Cleopatra's birth
+day, but on Antony's, a few days later, there was plenty of music and
+shouting, and in the evening an unusually magnificent illumination.
+
+Two days after, this letter was delivered to Pyrrhus by his dusky friend
+Anukis.
+
+Her inquiry whether he thought it prudent to convey visitors to his
+guests was answered in the negative, for since Octavianus had been in
+Asia, the harbour swarmed with the boats of spies, and a single act of
+imprudence might bring ruin.
+
+Charmian's letter, too, was even better calculated to curb Dion's
+increasing desire to return home than the fisherman's warning.
+
+True, the beginning contained good news of Barine's relatives, and then
+informed Dion that his uncle, the Keeper of the Seal, was fairly
+revelling in bliss.  His inventive gifts were taxed more than ever.
+Every day brought a festival, every night magnificent banquets.  One
+spectacle, excursion, or hunting party followed another.  In the
+theatres, the Odeum, the Hippodrome, no more brilliant performances,
+races, naval battles, gladiatorial struggles, and combats between beasts
+had been given, even before Actium.  Dion himself had formerly attended
+the entertainments of those who belonged to the court circle, the society
+of "Inimitable Livers."  It had been revived again, but Antony called
+them the "Comrades of Death."  This was significant.  Every one knows
+that the end is drawing near, and imitates the Pharaoh to whom the oracle
+promised six years of life, and who convicted it of falsehood and made
+them twelve by carousing during the night also.
+
+The Queen's meeting with her husband, which she had previously reported,
+had been magnificent.  "At that time," she wrote, "we hoped that a more
+noble life would begin, and Mark Antony, awakened and elevated by his
+rekindled love, would regain his former heroic power; but we were
+mistaken; Cleopatra, it is true, toiled unceasingly, but her lover with
+his enormous bunch of roses gave the signal for the maddest revelry which
+the imagination of the wildest devotee of pleasure could conceive.  The
+performances of the Inimitable Livers were far surpassed by those of the
+"Comrades of Death."
+
+"Antony is at their head, and he, whose giant frame resists even the most
+unprecedented demands, succeeds in stupefying himself and forgetting the
+impending ruin.  When he comes to us after a night of revelry his eyes
+sparkle as brightly, his deep voice has as clear a ring, as at the
+beginning of the banquet.  The Queen is his goddess; and who could remain
+unmoved when the giant bows obediently to the nod of his delicate
+sovereign, and devises and offers the most unprecedented things to win a
+smile from her lips?  The changeful, impetuous wooing of youth lies far
+behind him, but his homage, which the Ephebi of today would perhaps term
+antiquated, has always seemed to me as if a mountain were bending before
+a star.  The stranger who sees her in his company believes her a happy
+woman.  Amid the fabulous radiance of the festal array, when all who
+surround her admire, worship, and strew flowers in her path, one might
+believe that the old sunny days had returned; but when we are alone, how
+rarely I see her smile!  Then she plans for the tomb which, under
+Gorgias's direction, is rapidly rising, and considers with him the best
+method of rendering it an inaccessible place of retreat.
+
+"She decided everything, down to the carving on the stone sarcophagi.  In
+addition, there are to be rooms and chambers in the lower story for the
+reception of her treasures.  Beneath them she has had corridors made for
+the pitch and straw which, if the worst should come, are to be lighted.
+She will then give to the flames the gold and silver, gems and jewels,
+ebony and ivory, the costly spices--in short, all her valuables.  The
+pearls alone are worth many kingdoms.  Who can blame her if she prefers
+to destroy them rather than leave them for the foe"
+
+"The garden in which you grew up, Barine, is now the scene of the happy,
+busy life led by Alexander and the twins.  There, under my brother's
+guidance, they frolic, build, and dig.  Cleopatra goes to it whenever she
+longs for repose after the pursuit of pleasures which have lost their
+zest.
+
+"When, the  day  before  yesterday, Antony, crowned with ivy as the new
+Dionysus, drove up the Street of the King in the golden chariot drawn by
+tamed lions, to bring her, the new Isis, from the Lochias in a lotus
+flower made of silver and white paste, drawn by four snow-white steeds,
+she pointed to the glittering train and said: 'Between the quiet of the
+philosopher's garden, where I began my life and still feel most at ease,
+and the grave, where nothing disturbs my last repose, stretches the
+Street of the King, with this deafening tumult, this empty splendour.  It
+is mine.'
+
+"O child, it was very different in former days!  She loved Mark Antony
+with passionate ardour.  He was the first man in the world, and yet he
+bowed before the supremacy of her will.  The longing of the awakening
+heart, the burning ambition which already kindled the soul of the child,
+had alike found satisfaction, and the world beheld how the mortal woman,
+Cleopatra, for her lover and herself, could steep this meagre life with
+the joys of the immortals.  He was grateful for them, and the most
+generous of men laid at the feet of the 'Great Queen of the East' the
+might of Rome and the kings of two quarters of the globe.
+
+"These years were spent by both in one long revel.  His marriage with
+Octavia brought the first awakening.  It was hard and painful.  He had
+not deserted Cleopatra for a woman's sake, but on account of his
+endangered power and sovereignty.  But the unloved Octavia constrained
+him to look up to her with respectful admiration--nay, she became dear to
+him.
+
+"A fierce battle for him and his heart arose between the two.  It was
+fought with very different weapons, and Cleopatra conquered.  The revel,
+the dream began again.  Then came Actium, the disenchantment, the
+awakening, the fall, the flight from the world.  Our object was not to
+let him relapse into intoxication, to rouse the hero's strength and
+courage from their slumber, render him for love's sake a fellow-combatant
+in the common cause.
+
+"But he had become accustomed to see in her the giver of ecstasy.  The
+only thing that he still desired was to drain the cup of pleasure in her
+society till all was over.  She sees this, grieves over it, and leaves no
+means of rousing him to fresh energy untried; yet how rarely he rallies
+his powers to earnest labour!
+
+"While she is fortifying the mouths of the Nile and the frontiers of the
+country, building ship after ship, arming and negotiating, she can not
+resist him when he summons her to new pleasures.
+
+"Though so many of the traits which rendered him great and noble have
+vanished, she can not give up the old love and clings steadfastly to him
+because, because--I know not why.  A woman's loving heart does not
+question motives and laws.  Besides, he is the father of her children
+and, in playing with them, he regains the old joyousness of mood so
+enthralling to the heart.
+
+"Since Archibius has taken charge of them, they can dispense with
+Euphronion, their tutor.  The clever man knows Rome, Octavianus, and
+those who surround him, so he was chosen as an envoy.  His object was to
+induce the conqueror to transfer the sovereignty of Egypt to the boys
+Antonius Helios, and Alexander, but Caesar vouchsafed no answer to the
+mediator in Antony's affairs--nay, did not even grant him an audience.
+
+"To Cleopatra Octavianus promised friendly treatment, and the fulfilment
+of her wish concerning the boys if--and now came the repetition of the
+old demand--she would put Antony out of the world or deliver him into his
+hands.
+
+"This demand, which contains base treachery, was impossible for her noble
+soul.  Since she had resolved to build the tomb, granting it became
+impossible, yet Octavianus made every effort to tempt her to the base
+deed.  True, the death of this one man would have spared much bloodshed.
+The Caesar knows how to choose his tools.  He sent here as negotiator a
+clever young man, who possessed great charms of mind and person.  No plan
+to prejudice the Queen against her husband and persuade her to commit the
+treachery was left untried.  He went so far as to assure Cleopatra that
+in former years she had won the Caesar's heart, and that he still loved
+her.  She accepted these assurances at their true value and remained
+steadfast.
+
+"Antony at first paid no heed to the intriguer.  But when he learned what
+means he employed, and especially how he made use of the surrender of one
+of Caesar's murderers, which he himself had long regretted, to brand him
+as an ungrateful traitor, he would not have been Mark Antony if he had
+accepted it quietly.  He was completely his old self when he ordered the
+smooth fellow--who, however, had come as the ambassador of the mighty
+victor--to be scourged, sent him back to Rome, and wrote a letter to
+Octavianus, in which he complained of the man's arrogance and
+presumption, adding--spite of my heavy heart I can not help smiling when
+I think of it--that misfortune had rendered him unusually irritable; yet
+if his action perhaps displeased Caesar, he might treat his freedman
+Hipparchus, who was in his power, as he had served Thyrsus!
+
+"You see that his gay arrogance has not deserted him.  Trouble slips away
+from him as rain is shaken from the coarse military cloak which he wore
+in the Parthian war, and therefore it cannot exert its purifying power.
+
+"When we consider that, a few years ago, this man, as it were, doubled
+himself when peril was most threatening, his conduct now, on the eve of
+the decisive struggle, is intelligible only to those who know him as we
+do.  If he fights, he will no longer do so to save himself, or even to
+conquer, but to die an honourable death.  If he still enjoys the
+pleasures offered, he believes that he can thus mitigate for himself the
+burden of defeat, and diminish the grandeur of the conqueror's victory.
+In the eyes of the world, at least, a man who can still revel like Antony
+is only half vanquished.  Yet the lofty tone of his mind was lowered.
+The surrender of the murderer of Caesar--his name was Turullius--proves
+it.
+
+"And this, Barine--tell your husband so--this is what fills me with
+anxiety and compels me to entreat you not to think of returning home yet.
+
+"Antony is now the jovial companion of his son, and permits Antyllus to
+share all his own pleasures.  Of course, he heard of Caesarion's passion,
+and is disposed to help the poor fellow.  He has often said that nothing
+would better serve to rouse the dreamer from torpor than your charming
+vivacity.  As the earth could scarcely have swallowed you up, you would
+be found; he, too, should be glad to hear you sing again.  I know that
+search will be made for you.
+
+"How imperiously this state of affairs requires you to exercise caution
+needs no explanation.  On the other hand, you may find comfort in the
+tidings that Cleopatra intends to send Caesarion with his tutor Rhodon to
+Ethiopia, by way of the island of Philae.  Archibius heard through
+Timagenes that Octavianus considers the son of Caesar, whose face so
+wonderfully resembles his father's, a dangerous person, and this opinion
+is the boy's death-warrant.  Antyllus, too, is going on a journey.  His
+destination is Asia, where he is to seek to propitiate Octavianus and
+make him new offers.  As you know, he was betrothed to his daughter
+Julia.  The Queen ceased long ago to believe in the possibility of
+victory, yet, spite of all the demands of the "Comrades of Death" and
+her own cares, she toils unweariedly in preparing for the defence of the
+country.  She is doubtless the only member of that society who thinks
+seriously of the approaching end.
+
+"Now that the tomb is rising, she ponders constantly upon death.  She,
+who was taught by Epicurus to strive for freedom from pain and is so
+sensitive to the slightest bodily suffering, is still seeking a path
+which, with the least agony, will lead to the eternal rest for which she
+longs.  Iras and the younger pupils of Olympus are aiding her.  The old
+man furnishes all sorts of poisons, which she tries upon various animals
+--nay, recently even on criminals sentenced to death.  All these
+experiments seem to prove that the bite of the uraeus serpent, whose
+image on the Egyptian crown symbolizes the sovereign's instant power over
+life and death, stills the heart most swiftly and with the least
+suffering.
+
+"How terrible these things are!  What pain it causes to see the being one
+loves most, the mother of the fairest children, so cruelly heighten the
+anguish of parting, choose death, as it were, for a constant companion,
+amid the whirl of the gayest amusements!  She daily looks all his terrors
+in the face, yet with proud contempt turns her back upon the bridge which
+might perhaps enable her for a time to escape the monster.  This is
+grand, worthy of her, and never have I loved her more tenderly.
+
+"You, too, must think of her kindly.  She deserves it.  A noble heart
+which sees itself forced to pity a foe, easily forgives; and was she ever
+your enemy?
+
+"I have written a long, long letter to solace your seclusion from the
+world and relieve my own heart.  Have patience a little while longer.
+The time is not far distant when Fate itself will release you from exile.
+How often your relatives, Archibius and Gorgias, whom I now see
+frequently in the presence of the Queen, long to visit you!--but they,
+too, believe that it might prove a source of danger."
+
+The warnings in this letter were confirmed by another from Archibius, and
+soon after they heard that Caesarion had really sailed up the Nile for
+Ethiopia with his tutor Rhodon, and Antyllus had been sent to Asia to
+visit Octavianus.  The latter had received him, it is true; but sent him
+home without making any pledges.
+
+These tidings were not brought by letter, but by Gorgias himself, whose
+visit surprised them one evening late in March.
+
+Rarely had a guest received a more joyous welcome.  When he entered the
+bare room, Barine was making a net and telling the fisherman's daughter
+Dione the story of the wanderings of Ulysses.  Dion, too, listened
+attentively, now and then correcting or explaining her descriptions,
+while carving a head of Poseidon for the prow of a newly built boat.
+
+As Gorgias unexpectedly crossed the threshold, the dim light of the lamp
+fed by kiki-oil seemed transformed into sunshine.  How brightly their
+eyes sparkled, how joyous were their exclamations of welcome and
+surprise!  Then came questions, answers, news!  Gorgias was obliged to
+share the family supper, which had only waited the return of the father
+who had brought the guest.
+
+The fresh oysters, langustae, and other dishes served tasted more
+delicious to the denizen of the city than the most delicious banquets of
+the "Comrades of Death" to which he was now frequently invited by the
+Queen.
+
+All that Pyrrhus said voluntarily and told his sons in reply to their
+questions was so sensible and related to matters which, because they were
+new to Gorgias, seemed so fascinating that, when Dion's good wine was
+served, he declared that if Pyrrhus would receive him he, too, would
+search for pursuers and be banished here.
+
+When the three again sat alone before the plain clay mixing vessel it
+seemed to the lonely young couple as if the best part of the city life
+which they had left behind had found its way to them, and what did they
+not have to say to one another!  Dion and Barine talked of their hermit
+life, Gorgias of the Queen and the tomb, which was at the same time a
+treasure chamber.  The slanting walls were built as firmly as if they
+were intended to last for centuries and defy a violent assault.  The
+centre of the lower story was formed by a lofty hall of vast dimensions,
+in whose midst were the large marble sarcophagi.  Men were working busily
+upon the figures in relief intended for the decoration of the sides and
+lids.  This hall, whose low arched ceiling was supported by three pairs
+of heavy columns, was furnished like a reception-room.  The couches,
+candelabra, and altars were already being made.  Charmian had kept the
+fugitives well informed.  In the subterranean chambers at the side of the
+hall, and in the second story, which could not be commenced until the
+ceiling was completed, store-rooms were to be made, and below and beside
+them were passages for ventilation and the storage of combustible
+materials.
+
+Gorgias regretted that he could not show his friend the hall, which was
+perhaps the handsomest and most costly he had ever created.  The noblest
+material-brown porphyry, emerald-green serpentine, and the dark varieties
+of marble-had been used, and the mosaic and brass doors, which were
+nearing completion, were masterpieces of Alexandrian art.  To have all
+this destroyed was a terrible thought, but even more unbearable was that
+of its object--to receive the body of the Queen.
+
+Again rapturous admiration of this greatest and noblest of women led
+Gorgias to enthusiastic rhapsodies, until Dion exercised his office of
+soberer, and Barine asked tidings of her mother, her grandparents, and
+her sister.  There was nothing but good news to be told.  True, the
+architect had to wage a daily battle with the old philosopher, who termed
+it an abuse of hospitality to remain so long at his friend's with his
+whole family; but thus far Gorgias had won the victory, even against
+Berenike, who wished to take her father and his household to her own
+home.
+
+Cleopatra had purchased the house and garden of Didymus at thrice their
+value, the architect added.  He was now a wealthy man, and had
+commissioned him to build a new mansion.  The land facing the sea and
+near the museum had been found, but the handsome residence would not be
+completed until summer.  The dry Egyptian air would have permitted him to
+roof it sooner, but there were many of Helena's wishes--most of them very
+sensible ones--to be executed.
+
+Barine and Dion glanced significantly at each other; but the architect,
+perceiving it, exclaimed: "Your mute language is intelligible enough,
+and I confess that for five months Helena has seemed to me the most
+attractive of maidens.  I see, too, that she has some regard for me.
+But as soon as I stand before her--the Queen, I mean--and hear her voice,
+it seems as if a tempest swept away every thought of Helena, and it is
+not in my nature to deceive any one.  How can I woo a girl whom I so
+deeply honour--your sister, Barine--when the image of another rules my
+soul?"
+
+Dion reminded him of his own words that the Queen was loved only as a
+goddess and, without waiting for his reply, turned the conversation to
+other topics.
+
+It was three hours after midnight when Pyrrhus warned Gorgias that it was
+time for departure.  When the fisherman's fleetest boat was at last
+bearing him back to the city he wondered whether girls who, before
+marriage, lived like Helena in undisturbed seclusion, would really be
+better wives and more content with every lot than the much-courted
+Barine, whom Dion had led from the gayest whirl of life in the capital to
+the most desolate solitude.
+
+This delightful evening was followed by a day of excitement and grave
+anxiety.  It had been necessary to conceal the young couple from the
+collector's officials, who took from Pyrrhus part of his last year's
+savings, and the large new boat which he used to go out on the open sea.
+The preparations for war required large sums; all vessels suitable for
+the purpose were seized for the fleet, and all residents of the city and
+country shared the same fate as Pyrrhus.
+
+Even the temple treasures were confiscated, and yet no one could help
+saying to himself that the vast sums which, through these pitiless
+extortions, flowed into the treasury, were used for the pleasures
+of the court as well as for the equipment of the fleet and the army.
+
+Yet so great was the people's love for the Queen, so high their regard
+for the independence of Egypt, so bitter their hate of Rome, that there
+was no rebellion.
+
+How earnestly Cleopatra, amid all the extravagant revels, from which she
+could not too frequently absent herself, toiled to advance the military
+preparations, could be seen even by the exiles from their cliff; for work
+in two dock-yards was continued day and night, and the harbour was filled
+with vessels.  Ships of war were continually moving to and fro, and from
+the Serpent Island they witnessed constantly, often by starlight, the
+drilling of the oarsmen and of whole squadrons upon the open sea.
+Sometimes a magnificent state galley appeared, on whose deck was Antony,
+who inspected the hastily equipped fleet to make the newly recruited
+sailors one of those kindling speeches in which he was a master hard to
+surpass.  Two sons of Pyrrhus were now numbered in the crews of the
+recently built war ships.  They had been impressed into the service in
+April, and though Dion had placed a large sum at their father's disposal
+to secure their release, the attempt was unsuccessful.
+
+So there had been sorrow and tears in the contented little colony of
+human beings on the lonely cliff, and when Dionysus and Dionichos had a
+day's leave of absence to visit their relatives, they complained of the
+cruel haste with which the young men were drilled and wearied to
+exhaustion, and spoke of the sons of citizens and peasants who had been
+dragged from their villages, their parents, and their business to be
+trained for seamen.  There was great indignation among them, and they
+listened only too readily to the agitators who whispered how much better
+they would have fared on the galleys of Octavianus.
+
+Pyrrhus entreated his sons not to join any attempt at mutiny; the women,
+on the contrary, would have approved anything which promised to release
+the youths from their severe service, and their bright cheerfulness was
+transformed into anxious depression.  Barine, too, was no longer the
+same.  She had lost her joyous activity, her eyes were often wet with
+tears, and she moved with drooping head as if some heavy care oppressed
+her.
+
+Was it the heat of April, with its desert winds, which had brought the
+transformation?  Had longing for the changeful, exciting life of former
+days at last overpowered her?  Was solitude becoming unendurable?  Was
+her husband's love no longer sufficient to replace the many pleasures she
+had sacrificed?--No!  It could not be that; never had she gazed with more
+devoted tenderness into Dion's face than when entirely alone with him in
+shady nooks.  She who in such hours looked the very embodiment of
+happiness and contentment, certainly was neither ill nor sorrowful.
+
+Dion, on the contrary, held his head high early and late, and appeared as
+proud and self-conscious as though life was showing him its fairest face.
+Yet he had heard that his estates had been sequestrated, and that he owed
+it solely to the influence of Archibius and his uncle, that his property,
+like that of so many others, had not been added to the royal treasures.
+But what disaster could he not have speedily vanquished in these days?
+
+A great joy--the greatest which the immortals can bestow upon human
+beings--was dawning for him and his young wife, and in May the women
+on the island shared her blissful hope.
+
+Pyrrhus brought from the city an altar and a marble statue of Ilythyia,
+the Goddess of Birth, called by the Romans Lucina, which his friend
+Anukis had given him, in Charmian's name, for the young wife.  She had
+again spoken of the serpents which lived in such numbers in the
+neighbouring islands, and her question whether it would be difficult to
+capture one alive was answered by the freedman in the negative.
+
+The image of the goddess and the altar were erected beside the other
+sanctuaries, and how often the stone was anointed by Barine and the women
+of the fisherman's family!
+
+Dion vowed to the goddess a beautiful temple on the cliff and in the city
+if she would be gracious to his beloved young wife.
+
+When, in June, the noonday sun blazed most fiercely, the fisherman
+brought to the cliff Helena, Barine's sister, and Chloris, Dion's nurse,
+who had been a faithful assistant of his mother, and afterwards managed
+the female slaves of the household.
+
+How joyously and gratefully Barine held out her arms to her sister!  Her
+mother had been prevented from coming only by the warning that her
+disappearance would surely attract the attention of the spies.  And the
+latter were very alert; for Mark Antony had not yet given up the pursuit
+of the singer, nor had the attorney Philostratus recalled the
+proclamation offering two talents for the capture of Dion, and both
+the latter's palace and Berenike's house were constantly watched.
+
+It seemed more difficult for the quiet Helena to accommodate herself to
+this solitude than for her gayer-natured sister.  Plainly as she showed
+her love for Barine, she often lapsed into reverie, and every evening
+she went to the southern side of the cliff and gazed towards the city,
+where her grandparents doubtless sorely missed her, spite of the
+careful attention bestowed upon them in Gorgias's house.
+
+Eight days had passed since her arrival, and life in this wilderness
+seemed more distasteful than on the first and the second; the longing for
+her grandparents, too, appeared to increase; for that day she had gone to
+the shore, even under the burning rays of the noonday sun, to gaze
+towards the city.
+
+How dearly she loved the old people!
+
+But Dion's conjecture that the tears sparkling in Helena's eyes when she
+entered their room at dusk were connected with another resident of the
+capital, spite of his wife's indignant denial, appeared to be correct;
+for, a short time after, clear voices were heard in front of the-house,
+and when a deep, hearty laugh rang out, Dion started up, exclaiming,
+"Gorgias never laughs in that way, except when he has had some unusual
+piece of good fortune!"
+
+He hurried out as he spoke, and gazed around; but, notwithstanding the
+bright moonlight, he could see nothing except Father Pyrrhus on his way
+back to the anchorage.
+
+But Dion's ears were keen, and he fancied he heard subdued voices on the
+other side of the dwelling.  He followed the sound without delay and,
+when he turned the corner of the building, stopped short in astonishment,
+exclaiming as a low cry rose close before him:
+
+"Good-evening, Gorgias!  I'll see you later.  I won't interrupt you."
+
+A few rapid steps took him back to Barine, and as he whispered, "I saw
+Helena out in the moonlight, soothing her longing for her grandparents in
+Gorgias's arms," she clapped her hands and said, smiling:
+
+"That's the way one loses good manners in this solitude.  To disturb the
+first meeting of a pair of lovers!  But Gorgias treated us in the same
+way in Alexandria, so he is now paid in his own coin."
+
+The architect soon entered the room, with Helena leaning on his arm.
+Hour by hour he had missed her more and more painfully, and on the eighth
+day found it impossible to endure life's burden longer without her.  He
+now protested that he could approach her mother and grandparents as a
+suitor with a clear conscience; for on the third day after Helena's
+departure the relation between him and the Queen had changed.  In
+Cleopatra's presence the image of the granddaughter of Didymus became
+even more vivid than that of the peerless sovereign had formerly been
+in Helena's.  Outside of the pages of poetry he had never experienced
+longing like that which had tortured him during the past few days.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+This time the architect could spend only a few hours on the Serpent
+Island, for affairs in the city were beginning to wear a very serious
+aspect, and the building of the monument was pushed forward even during
+the night.  The interior of the first story was nearly completed and the
+rough portion of the second was progressing.  The mosaic workers, who
+were making the floor of the great hall, had surpassed themselves.
+It was impossible to wait longer for the sculptures which were to adorn
+the walls.  At present slabs of polished black marble were to occupy the
+places intended for bronze reliefs; the utmost haste was necessary.
+
+Octavianus had already reached Pelusium; even if Seleukus, the commander
+of the garrison, held the strong fortress a long time, a part of the
+hostile army might appear before Alexandria the following week.
+
+A considerable force, however, was ready to meet him.  The fleet seemed
+equal to that of the enemy; the horsemen whom Antony had led before the
+Queen would delight the eye of any one versed in military affairs; and
+the Imperator hoped much from the veterans who had served under him in
+former times, learned to know his generosity and open hand in the hour of
+prosperity, and probably had scarcely forgotten the eventful days when he
+had cheerfully and gaily shared their perils and privations.
+
+Helena remained on the cliff, and her longing for the old couple had
+materially diminished.  Her hands moved nimbly, and her cheerful glance
+showed that the lonely life on the island was beginning to unfold its
+charms to her.
+
+The young husband, however, had grown very uneasy.  He concealed it
+before the women, but old Pyrrhus often had much difficulty in preventing
+his making a trip to the city which might imperil, on the eve of the
+final decision, the result of their long endurance and privation.  Dion
+had often wished to set sail with his wife for a great city in Syria or
+Greece, but fresh and mighty obstacles had deterred him.  A special
+danger lay in the fact that every large vessel was thoroughly searched
+before it left the harbour, and it was impossible to escape from it
+without passing through the narrow straits east of the Pharos or the
+opening in the Heptastadium, both of which were easily guarded.  The calm
+moderation that usually distinguished the young counsellor had been
+transformed into feverish restlessness, and the heart of his faithful old
+monitor had also lost its poise; for an encounter between the fleet in
+which his sons served and that of Octavianus was speedily expected.
+
+One day he returned from the city greatly excited.  Pelusium was said to
+have fallen.
+
+When he ascended the cliff he found everything quiet.  No one, not even
+Dione, came to meet him.
+
+What had happened here?
+
+Had the fugitives been discovered and dragged with his family to the city
+to be thrown into prison, perhaps sent to the stone quarries?
+
+Deadly pale, but erect and composed, he walked towards the house.  He
+owed to Dion and his father the greatest blessing in life, liberty, and
+the foundation of everything else he possessed.  But if his fears were
+verified, if he was bereft of friends and property, even as a lonely
+beggar he might continue to enjoy his freedom.  If, for the sake of those
+to whom he owed his best possession, he must surrender the rest, it was
+his duty to bear fate patiently.
+
+It was still light.
+
+Even when he had approached very near the house he heard no sound save
+the joyous barking of his wolf-hound, Argus, which leaped upon him.
+
+He now laid his hand upon the lock of the door--but it was flung open
+from the inside.
+
+Dion had seen him coming and, enraptured by the new happiness with which
+this day had blessed him, he flung himself impetuously on the breast of
+his faithful friend, exclaiming: "A boy, a splendid boy!  We will call
+him Pyrrhus."
+
+Bright tears of joy streamed down the freedman's face and fell on his
+grey beard; and when his wife came towards him with her finger on her
+lips, he whispered in a tremulous voice: "When I brought them here you
+were afraid that the city people would drag us into ruin, but
+nevertheless you received them as they deserved to be, and--he's going to
+name him Pyrrhus--and now!--What has a poor fellow like me done to have
+such great and beautiful blessings fall to my lot?"
+
+"And I--I?" sobbed his wife.  "And the child, the darling little
+creature!"
+
+This day of sunny happiness was followed by others of quiet joy, of the
+purest pleasure, yet mingled with the deepest anxiety.  They also brought
+many an hour in which Helena found an opportunity to show her prudence,
+while old Chloris and the fisherman's wife aided her by their experience.
+
+Every one, down to the greybeard whose name the little one bore, declared
+that there had never been a lovelier young mother than Barine or a
+handsomer child than the infant Pyrrhus; but Dion could no longer endure
+to remain on the cliff.
+
+A thousand things which he had hitherto deemed insignificant and allowed
+to pass unheeded now seemed important and imperatively in need of his
+personal attention.  He was a father, and any negligence might be harmful
+to his son.
+
+With his bronzed complexion and long hair and beard he required little
+aid to disguise him from his friends.  In the garments shabby by long
+use, and with his delicate hands calloused by work in the dock-yard, any
+one would have taken him for a real fisherman.
+
+Perhaps it was foolish, but the desire to show himself in the character
+of a father to Barine's mother and grandparents and to Gorgias seemed
+worth risking a slight danger; so, without informing Barine, who was now
+able to walk about her room, he set out for the city after sunset on the
+last day of July.
+
+He knew that Octavianus was encamped in the Hippodrome east of
+Alexandria.  The white mounds which had risen there had been recognized
+as tents, even from the Serpent Island.  Pyrrhus had returned in the
+afternoon with tidings that Antony's mounted troops had defeated those of
+Octavianus.  This time the news of victory could be trusted, for the
+palace at Lochias was illuminated for a festival and when Dion landed
+there was a great bustle on the quay.  One shouted to another that all
+would be well.  Mark Antony was his old self again.  He had fought like a
+hero.
+
+Many who yesterday had cursed him, to-day mingled their voices in the
+shouts of "Evoe!" which rang out for the new Dionysus, who had again
+proved his claim to godship.
+
+The late visitor found the grandparents alone in the house of Gorgias.
+They had been informed of Barine's new happiness long before.  Now they
+rejoiced with Dion, and wanted to send at once for their host and future
+son-in-law, who was in the city attending a meeting of the Ephebi,
+although he had ceased some time ago to be a member of their company.
+But Dion wished to greet him among the youths who had invited the
+architect to give them his aid in deciding the question of the course
+they were to pursue in the impending battle.
+
+Yet he did not leave the old couple immediately; he was expecting two
+visitors--Barine's mother and Charmian's Nubian maid who, since the birth
+of little Pyrrhus, had come to the philosopher's every evening.  The
+former's errand was to ask whether any news of the mother and child had
+been received during the day; the latter, to get the letters which she
+delivered the next morning at the fish-market to her friend Pyrrhus or
+his sons.
+
+Anukis was the first to appear.  She relieved her sympathizing heart by a
+brief expression of congratulations; but, gladly as she would have
+listened to the most minute details concerning the beloved young mother
+from the lips of Dion himself, she repressed her own wishes for her
+mistress's sake, and returned to Charmian as quickly as possible to
+inform her of the arrival of the unexpected guest.
+
+Berenike bore her new dignity of grandmother with grateful joy, yet to-
+night she came oppressed by a grave anxiety, which was not solely due to
+her power of imagining gloomy events.  Her brother Arius and his sons
+were concealed in the house of a friend, for they seemed threatened by a
+serious peril.  Hitherto Antony had generously borne the philosopher no
+ill-will on the score of his intimate relations with Octavianus; but now
+that Octavianus was encamped outside the city, the house of the man who,
+during the latter's years of education, had been his mentor and
+counsellor, and later a greatly valued friend, was watched, by Mardion's
+orders, by the Scythian guard.  He and his family were forbidden to enter
+the city, and his escape to his friend had been effected under cover of
+the darkness and with great danger.
+
+The anxious woman feared the worst for her brother if Mark Antony should
+conquer, and yet, with her whole heart, she wished the Queen to gain the
+victory.  She, who always feared the worst, saw in imagination the
+fortunes of war change--and there was reason for the belief.  The bold
+general who had gained so many victories, and whom the defeat of Actium
+had only humbled, was said to have regained his former elasticity.  He
+had dashed forward at the head of his men with the heroic courage of
+former days--nay, with reckless impetuosity.  Rumour reported that, with
+the huge sword he wielded, he had dealt from his powerful charger blows
+as terrible as those inflicted five-and-twenty years before when, not far
+from the same spot, he struck Archelaus on the head.  The statement that,
+in his golden armour, with the gold helmet framing his bearded face, he
+resembled his ancestor Herakles, was confirmed by Charmian, who had been
+borne quickly hither by a pair of the Queen's swift horses.  Cleopatra
+might need her soon, yet she had left the Lochias to question the father
+about many things concerning the young mother and her boy, who was
+already dear to her as the first grandson of the man whose suit, it is
+true, she had rejected, but to whom she owed the delicious consciousness
+of having loved and been loved in the springtime of life.
+
+Dion found her changed.  The trying months which she had described in her
+letters to Barine had completely blanched her grey hair, her cheeks were
+sunken, and a deep line between her mouth and nose gave her pleasant face
+a sorrowful expression.  Besides, she seemed to have been weeping and, in
+fact, heart-rending events had just occurred.
+
+She had stolen away from Lochias in the midst of a revel.
+
+Antony's victory was being celebrated.  He himself presided at the
+banquet.  Again his head and breast were wreathed with a wealth of fresh
+leaves and superb flowers.  At his side reclined Cleopatra, robed in
+light-blue garments adorned with lotus-flowers which, like the little
+coronet on her head, glittered with sapphires and pearls.  Charmian said
+she had rarely looked more beautiful.  But she did not add that the Queen
+had been obliged to have rouge applied to her pale, bloodless cheeks.
+
+It was touching to see Antony after his return from the battle, still in
+his suit of mail, clasp her in his arms as joyously as if he had won her
+back, a prize of victory, and with his vanished heroic power regained her
+and their mutual love.  Her eyes, too, had been radiant with joy and, in
+the elation of her heart, she had given the horseman who, for a deed of
+special daring, was presented to her, a helmet and coat of mail of solid
+gold.
+
+Yet, even before the revel began, she had been forced to acknowledge to
+herself that the commencement of the end was approaching; for, a few
+hours after she had so generously rewarded the man, he had deserted to
+the foe.  Then Antony had challenged Octavianus to a duel, and received
+the unfeeling reply that he would find many roads to death open.
+
+This was the language of the cold-hearted foe, secure of superior power.
+How sadly, too, she had been disappointed in the hope--that the veterans
+who had served under Antony would desert their new commander at the first
+summons and flock to his standard!--for all her husband's efforts in this
+direction, spite of the bewitching power of his eloquence, failed, while
+every hour brought tidings of the treacherous desertion from his army of
+individual warriors and whole maniples.  His foe deemed his cause so weak
+that he did not even resist Mark Antony's attempts to win the soldiers by
+promises.
+
+From all these signs Cleopatra now saw plainly, in her lover's victory,
+only the last flicker of a dying fire; but so long as it burned he should
+see her follow its light.
+
+Therefore she had entered the festal hall with the victor of the day.
+She had witnessed a strange festival.  It began with tears and reminded
+Cleopatra of the saying that she herself resembled a banquet served to
+celebrate a victory before the battle was won.  The cup-bearers had
+scarcely advanced to the guests with their golden vessels when Antony
+turned to them, exclaiming: "Pour generously, men; perhaps to-morrow you
+will serve another master!"
+
+Then, unlike his usual self, he grew thoughtful and murmured under his
+breath, "And I shall probably be lying outside a corpse, a miserable
+nothing."
+
+Loud sobs from the cup-bearers and servants followed these words; but he
+addressed them calmly, assuring them that he would not take them into a
+battle from which he expected an honourable death rather than rescue and
+victory.
+
+At this Cleopatra's tears flowed also.  If this reckless man of pleasure,
+this notorious spendthrift and disturber of the public peace, with his
+insatiate desires, had inspired bitter hostility, few had gained the warm
+love of so many hearts.  One glance at his heroic figure; one memory of
+the days when even his foes conceded that he was never greater than in
+the presence of the most imminent peril, never more capable of awakening
+in others the hope of brighter times than amid the sorest privations; one
+tone of the orator's deep, resonant voice, which so often came from the
+heart and therefore gained hearts with such resistless power; the
+recollection of numberless instances of the bright cheerfulness of his
+nature and his boundless generosity sufficiently explained the
+lamentations which burst forth at that banquet, the tears which flowed
+--tears of genuine feeling.  They were also shed for the beautiful Queen
+who, unmindful of the spectators, rested her noble brow, with its coronal
+of pearls, upon his mighty shoulder.
+
+But the grief did not last long, for Mark Antony, shouted: "Hence with
+melancholy!  We do not need the larva!
+
+     [At the banquets of the Egyptians a small figure in the shape of a
+     mummy was passed around to remind the guests that they, too, would
+     soon be in the same condition, and have no more time to enjoy life
+     and its pleasures.  The Romans imitated this custom by sending the
+     larva, a statuette in the form of a skeleton, to make the round of
+     the revellers.  The Greek love of beauty converted this ugly
+     scarecrow into a winged genius.]
+
+We know, without its aid, that pleasure will soon be over!--Xuthus,
+a joyous festal song!--And you, Metrodor, lead the dancers!  The first
+beaker to the fairest, the best, the wisest, the most cherished, the most
+fervently beloved of women!"  As he spoke he waved his goblet aloft, the
+flute-player, Xuthus, beckoned to the chorus, and the dancer Metrodor,
+in the guise of a butterfly, led forth a bevy of beautiful girls, who,
+in the cloud of ample robes of transparent coloured bombyx which floated
+around them, executed the most graceful figures and now hovered like
+mists, now flitted to and fro as if borne on wings, affording the most
+charming variety to the delighted spectators.
+
+The "Comrades of Death" had again become companions in pleasure; and when
+Charmian, who did not lose sight of her mistress, noticed the sorrowful
+quiver of her lips and glided out of the circle of guests, the faithful
+Nubian had approached to inform her of Dion's arrival.
+
+Then--but this she concealed from her friends--she hastened to her own
+apartments to prepare to go out, and when Iras opened the door to enter
+her rooms she went to speak to her about the night attendance upon the
+Queen.  But her niece had not perceived her; shaken by convulsive sobs,
+she had pressed her face among the cushions of a couch, and there
+suffered the fierce anguish which had stirred the inmost depths of her
+being to rave itself out with the full vehemence of her passionate
+nature.  Charmian called her name and, weeping herself, ripened her arms
+to her, and for the first time since her return from Actium her sister's
+daughter again sank upon her breast, and they held each other in a close
+embrace until Charmian's exclamation, "With her, for her unto death!"
+was answered by Iras's "To the tomb!"
+
+This was a word which, in many an hour of the silent night, had stirred
+the soul of the woman who had been the youthful playmate of the Queen
+who, with bleeding heart, sat below among the revellers at the noisy
+banquet and forced her to ask the question: "Is not your fate bound to
+hers?  What can life offer you without her?"
+
+Now, this word was spoken by other lips, and, like an echo of Iras's
+exclamation, came the answer: "Unto death, like you, if she precedes us
+to the other world.  Whatever may follow dying, nowhere shall she lack
+Charmian's hand and heart."
+
+"Nor the love and service of Iras," was the answering assurance.
+
+So they had parted, and the agitation of this fateful moment was still
+visible in the features of the woman who had formerly sacrificed to her
+royal playfellow her love, and now offered her life.
+
+When, ere leaving Gorgias's house, she bade her friend farewell, she
+pressed Dion's hand with affectionate warmth and, as he accompanied her
+to the carriage, she informed him that, before the first encounter of the
+troops, Archibius had taken the royal children to his estate of Irenia,
+where they were at present.
+
+"Rarely has it been my fate to experience a more sorrowful hour than when
+I beheld the Queen, her heart torn with anguish, bid them fare well.
+What fate is impending over the dear ones, who are so worthy of the
+greatest happiness?  To see the twins and little Alexander recognized
+and saved from death and insult, and your boy in Barine's arms, is the
+last wish which I still cherish."
+
+On returning to Lochias, Charmian had a long time to wait ere the Queen
+retired.  She dreaded the mood in which she would leave the banquet.
+For months past Cleopatra had returned from the revels of the "Comrades
+of Death" saddened to tears, or in a blaze of indignation.  How must this
+last banquet, which began so mournfully and continued with such reckless
+mirth, affect her?
+
+At last, the second hour after midnight, Cleopatra appeared.
+
+Charmian believed that she must be the sport of some delusion, for the
+Queen's eyes which, when she had left her, were full of tears, now
+sparkled with the radiant light of joy and, as her friend took the crown
+from her head, she exclaimed:
+
+"Why did you depart from the banquet so early?  Perhaps it was the last,
+but I remember no festival more brilliant.  It was like the springtime of
+my love.  Mark Antony would have touched the heart of a stone statue by
+that blending of manly daring and humble devotion which no woman can
+resist.  As in former days, hours shrivelled into moments.  We were again
+young, once more united.  We were together here at Lochias to-night, and
+yet in distant years and other places.  The notes of the singers, the
+melodies of the musicians, the figures executed by the dancers, were lost
+upon us.  We soared back, hand in hand, to a magic world, and the fairy
+drama in the realms of the blessed, which passed before us in dazzling
+splendour and blissful joy, was the dream which I loved best when a
+child, and at the same time the happiest portion of the life of the Queen
+of Egypt.
+
+"It began before the gate of the garden of Epicurus, and continued on the
+river Cydnus.  I again beheld myself on the golden barge, garlanded with
+wreaths of flowers, reclining on the purple couch with roses strewn
+around me and beneath my jewelled sandals.  A gentle breeze swelled the
+silken sails; my female companions raised their clear voices in song to
+the accompaniment of lutes; the perfumes floating around us were borne by
+the wind to the shore, conveying the tidings that the bliss believed by
+mortals to be reserved for the gods alone was drawing near.  And even as
+his heart and his enraptured senses yielded to my sway, his mind, as he
+himself confessed, was under the thrall of mine.  We both felt happy,
+united by ties which nothing, not even misfortune, could sever.  He, the
+ruler of the world, was conquered, and delighted to obey the behests of
+the victor, because he felt that she before whom he bowed was his own
+obedient slave.  And no magic goblet effected all this.  I breathed more
+freely, as if relieved from the oppressive delusion--the fire had
+consumed it also--which had burdened my soul until a few hours ago.  No
+magic spell, only the gifts of mind and soul which the vanquished victor,
+the woman Cleopatra, owed to the favour of the immortals, had compelled
+his lofty manhood to yield.
+
+"From the Cydnus he brought me hither to the blissful days which we were
+permitted to pass in my city of Alexandria.  A thousand sunny hours,
+musical, echoing surges which long since dashed down the stream of Time,
+he recalled to life, and I--I did the same, and our memories blended into
+one.  What never-to-be-forgotten moments we experienced when, with
+reckless mirth, we mingled unrecognized among the joyous throng!  What
+Olympic delight elated our hearts when the plaudits of thousands greeted
+us!  What joys satiated our minds and senses in our own apartments!  What
+pure, unalloyed nectar of the soul was bestowed upon us by our children--
+bliss which we shared with and imparted to each other until neither knew
+which was the giver and which the receiver!  Everything sad and painful
+seemed to be effaced from the book of memory; and the child's dream, the
+fairy-tale woven by the power of imagination, stood before my soul as a
+reality--the same reality, I repeat, which I call my past life.
+
+"And, Charmian, if death comes to-morrow, should I say that he appeared
+too early--summoned me ere he permitted life to bestow all its best gifts
+upon me?  No, no, and again no!  Whoever, in the last hour of existence,
+can say that the fairest dreams of childhood were surpassed by a long
+portion of actual life, may consider himself happy, even in the deepest
+need and on the verge of the grave.
+
+"The aspiration to be first and highest among the women of her own time,
+which had already thrilled the young girl's heart, was fulfilled.  The
+ardent longing for love which, even at that period, pervaded my whole
+being, was satisfied when I became a loving wife, mother, and Queen, and
+friendship, through the favour of Destiny, also bestowed upon me its
+greatest blessings by the hands of Archibius, Charmian, and Iras.
+
+"Now I care not what may happen.  This evening taught me that life had
+fulfilled its pledges.  But others, too, must be enabled to remember the
+most brilliant of queens, who was also the most fervently beloved of
+women.  For this I will provide: the mausoleum which Gorgias is erecting
+for me will stand like an indestructible wall between the Cleopatra who
+to-day still proudly wears the crown and her approaching humiliation and
+disgrace.
+
+"Now I will go to sleep.  If my awakening brings defeat, sorrow, and
+death, I have no reason to accuse my fate.  It denied me one thing only
+the painless peace which the child and the young girl recognized as the
+chief good; yet Cleopatra will possess that also.  The domain of death,
+which, as the Egyptians say, loves silence, is opening its doors to me.
+The most absolute peace begins upon its threshold--who knows where it
+ends?  The vision of the intellect does not extend far enough to discover
+the boundary where, at the end of eternity--which in truth is endless--
+it is replaced by something else."
+
+While speaking, the Queen had motioned to her friend to accompany her
+into her chamber, from which a door led into the children's room.  An
+irresistible impulse constrained her to open it and gaze into the dark,
+empty apartment.
+
+She felt an icy chill run through her veins.  Taking a light from the
+hand of one of the maids who attended her, she went to little Alexander's
+couch.  Like the others, it was empty, deserted.  Her head sank on her
+breast, the courageous calmness with which she had surveyed her whole
+past life failed and, like the luxuriant riot in the sky of the most
+brilliant hues, ere the glow of sunset suddenly yields to darkness,
+Cleopatra's soul, after the lofty elation of the last few hours,
+underwent a sudden transition and, overwhelmed by deep, sorrowful
+depression, she threw herself down before the twins' bed, where she lay
+weeping softly until Charmian, as day began to dawn, urged her to retire
+to rest.  Cleopatra slowly rose, dried her eyes, and said: "My past life
+seemed to me just now like a magnificent garden, but how many serpents
+suddenly stretched out their flat heads with glittering eyes and forked
+tongues!  Who tore away the flowers beneath which they lay concealed?
+I think, Charmian, it was a mysterious power which here, in the
+children's apartment, rules so strongly the most trivial as well as the
+strongest emotions, it was--when did I last hear that ominous word?--it
+was conscience.  Here, in this abode of innocence and purity, whatever
+resembles a spot stands forth distinctly before the eyes.  Here,
+O Charmian!--if the children were but here!  If I could only--yet, no,
+no!  It is fortunate, very fortunate that they have gone.  I must be
+strong; and their sweet grace would rob me of my energy.  But the light
+grows brighter and brighter.  Dress me for the day.  It would be easier
+for me to sleep in a falling house than with such a tumult in my heart."
+
+While she was being attired in the dark robes she had ordered, loud
+shouts arose from the royal harbour below, blended with the blasts of the
+tuba and other signals directing the movements of the fleet and the army,
+a large body of troops having been marched during the night to the
+neighbouring hills overlooking the sea.
+
+The notes sounded bold and warlike.  The well-armed galleys presented a
+stately appearance.  How often Cleopatra had seen unexpected events
+occur, apparent impossibilities become possible!  Had not the victory of
+Octavianus at Actium been a miracle?  What if Fate, like a capricious
+ruler, now changed from frowns to smiles?  What if Antony proved himself
+the hero of yesterday, the general he had been in days of yore?
+
+She had refused to see him again before the battle, that she might not
+divert his thoughts from the great task approaching.  But now, as she
+beheld him, clad in glittering armour like the god of war himself, ride
+before the troops on his fiery Barbary charger, greeting them with the
+gay salutation whose warmth sprung from the heart and which had so often
+kindled the warriors to glowing enthusiasm, she was forced to do violence
+to her own feelings to avoid calling him and saying that her thoughts
+would follow his course.  But she refrained, and when his purple cloak
+vanished from her sight her head drooped again.  How different in former
+days were the cheers of the troops when he showed himself to them!  This
+lukewarm response to his gay, glad greeting was no omen of victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Dion, too, witnessed the departure of the troops.  Gorgias, whom he had
+found among the Ephebi, accompanied him and, like the Queen, they saw,
+in the cautious manner with which the army greeted the general, a bad
+omen for the result of the battle.  The architect had presented Dion to
+the youths as the ghost of a dead man, who, as soon as he was asked
+whence he came or whither he was going, would be compelled to vanish in
+the form of a fly.  He could venture to do this; he knew the Ephebi--
+there was no traitor in their ranks.
+
+Dion, the former head of the society, had been welcomed like a beloved
+brother risen from the dead, and he had the gratification, after so long
+a time, of turning the scale as speaker in a debate.  True, he had
+encountered very little opposition, for the resolve to hold aloof from
+the battle against the Romans had been urged upon the Ephebi by the Queen
+herself through Antyllus, who, however, had already left the meeting when
+Dion joined it.  It had seemed to Cleopatra a crime to claim the blood of
+the noblest sons of the city for a cause which she herself deemed lost.
+She knew the parents of many, and feared that Octavianus would inflict a
+terrible punishment upon them if, not being enrolled in the army, they
+fell into his power with arms in their hands.
+
+The stars were already setting when the Ephebi accompanied their friend,
+singing in chorus the Hymenaeus, which they had been unable to chant on
+his wedding day.  The melody of lutes accompanied the voices, and this
+nocturnal music was the source of the rumour that the god Dionysus, to
+whom Mark Antony felt specially akin, and in whose form he had so often
+appeared to the people, had abandoned him amid songs and music.
+
+The youths left Dion in front of the Temple of Isis.  Gorgias alone
+remained with him.  The architect led his friend to the Queen's mausoleum
+near the sanctuary, where men were toiling busily by torchlight.  Alight
+scaffolding still surrounded it, but the lofty first story, containing
+the real tomb, was completed, and Dion admired the art with which the
+exterior of the edifice suggested its purpose.  Huge blocks of dark-grey
+granite formed the walls.  The broad front-solemn, almost gloomy in
+aspect-rose, sloping slightly, above the massive lofty door, surmounted
+by a moulding bearing the winged disk of the sun.  On either side were
+niches containing statues of Antony and Cleopatra cast in dark bronze,
+and above the cornice were brazen figures of Love and Death, Fame and
+Silence, ennobling the Egyptian forms with exquisite works of Hellenic
+art.
+
+The massive door, adorned with brass figures in relief, would have
+resisted a battering-ram.  On the side of the steps leading to it lay
+Sphinxes of dark-green diorite.  Everything connected with this building,
+dedicated to death, was grave and massive, suggesting by its
+indestructibility the idea of eternity.
+
+The second story was not yet finished; masons and stone-cutters were
+engaged in covering the strong walls with dark serpentine and black
+marble.  The huge windlass stood ready to raise a masterpiece of
+Alexandrian art.  This was intended for the pediment, and represented
+Venus Victrix with helmet, shield, and lance, leading a band of winged
+gods of love, little archers at whose head Eros himself was discharging
+arrows, and victoriously fighting against the three-headed Cerberus,
+death, already bleeding from many wounds.
+
+There was no time to see the interior of the building, for Pyrrhus
+expected his guest to join him at the harbour at sunrise, and the eastern
+sky was already brightening with the approach of dawn.
+
+As the friends reached the landing-place the brass dome of the Serapeum,
+which towered above everything, was glittering with dazzling splendour.
+
+The pennons and masts of the fleet which was about to set sail from the
+harbour seemed steeped in a sea of golden light.  Tremulous reflections
+of the brazen and gilded figures on the prows of the vessels were
+mirrored in the undulating surface of the sea, and the long shadows of
+the banks of oars united galley after galley on the surface of the water
+like the meshes of a net.
+
+Here the friends parted, and Dion walked down the quay alone to meet the
+freedman, who must have found it difficult to guide his boat out of this
+labyrinth of vessels.  The inspection of the mausoleum had detained the
+young father too long and, though disguised beyond recognition, he
+reproached himself for having recklessly incurred a danger whose
+consequences--he felt this to-day for the first time--would not injure
+himself alone.  The whole fleet was awaiting the signal for departure.
+The vessels which did not belong to it had been obliged to moor in front
+of the Temple of Poseidon, and all were strictly forbidden to leave the
+anchorage.
+
+Pyrrhus's fishing-boat was in the midst, and return to the Serpent Island
+was impossible at present.
+
+How vexatious!  Barine was ignorant of his trip to the city, and to be
+compelled to leave her alone while a naval battle was in progress
+directly before her eyes distressed him as much as it could not fail to
+alarm her.
+
+In fact, the young mother had waited from early dawn with increasing
+anxiety for her husband.  As the sun rose higher, and the strokes of the
+oars propelling two hundred galleys, the shrill whistle of the flutes
+marking the time, the deep voices of the captains shouting orders, and
+the blasts of the trumpets filling the air, were heard far and near
+around the island, she became so overwhelmed with uneasiness that she
+insisted upon going to the shore, though hitherto she had not been
+permitted to take the air except under the awning stretched for the
+purpose on the shady side of the house.
+
+In vain the women urged her not to let her fears gain the mastery and to
+have patience.  But she would have resisted even force in order to look
+for him who, with her child, now comprised her world.
+
+When, leaning on Helena's arm, she reached the shore, no boat was in
+sight.  The sea was covered with ships of war, floating fortresses,
+moving onward like dragons with a thousand legs whose feet were the
+countless rowers arranged in three or five sets.  Each of the larger
+galleys was surrounded by smaller ones, from most of which darted
+dazzling flashes of light, for they were crowded with armed men, and from
+the prows of the strong boarding vessels the sunbeams glittered on the
+large shining metal points whose office was to pierce the wooden sides of
+the foe.  The gilded statues in the prows of the large galleys shone and
+sparkled in the broad radiance of the day-star, and flashes of light also
+came from the low hills on the shore.  Here Mark Antony's soldiers were
+stationed, and the sunbeams reflected from the helmets, coats of mail,
+and lance-heads of the infantry, and the armour of the horsemen quivered
+with dazzling brilliancy in the hot air of the first day of an Egyptian
+August.
+
+Amid this blazing, flashing, and sparkling in the morning air, so steeped
+in warmth and radiance, the sounds of warlike preparations from the land
+and fleet constantly grew louder.  Barine, exhausted, had just sunk into
+a chair which Dione, the fisherman's daughter, had placed in the shade of
+the highest rock on the northwestern shore of the flat island, when a
+crashing blast of the tuba suddenly echoed from all the galleys in the
+Egyptian fleet, and the whole array of vessels filed past the Pharos at
+the opening of the harbour into the open sea.
+
+There the narrow ranks of the wooden giants separated and moved onward in
+broader lines.  This was done quietly and in the same faultless order as
+a few days before, when a similar manoeuvre had been executed under the
+eyes of Mark Antony.
+
+The longing for combat seemed to urge them steadily forward.
+
+The hostile fleet, lying motionless, awaited the attack.  But the
+Egyptian assailants had advanced majestically only a few ships lengths
+towards the Roman foe when another signal rent the air.  The women whose
+ears caught the waves of sound said afterwards that it seemed like a cry
+of agony--it had given the signal for a deed of unequalled treachery.
+The slaves, criminals, and the basest of the mercenaries on the rowers'
+benches in the hold had doubtless long listened intently for it, and,
+when it finally came, the men on the upper benches raised their long oars
+and held them aloft, which stopped the work of those below, and every
+galley paused, pointing at the next with the wooden oars outstretched
+like fingers, as if seized with horror.  The celerity and faultless order
+with which the raising of the oars was executed and vessel after vessel
+brought to a stand would have been a credit to an honourable captain, but
+the manoeuvre introduced one of the basest acts ever recorded in history;
+and the women, who had witnessed many a naumachza and understood its
+meaning, exclaimed as if with a single voice: "Treachery!  They are going
+over to the enemy!"
+
+Mark Antony's fleet, created for him by Cleopatra, surrendered, down to
+the last galley, to Caesar's heir, the victor of Actium; and the man to
+whom the sailors had vowed allegiance, who had drilled them, and only
+yesterday had urged them to offer a gallant resistance, saw from one of
+the downs on the shore the strong weapons on which he had based the
+fairest hopes, not shattered, but delivered into the hands of the enemy!
+
+The surrender of the fleet to the foe--he knew it--sealed his
+destruction; and the women on the shore of the Serpent Island, who were
+so closely connected with those on whom this misfortune fell, suspected
+the same thing.  The hearts of both were stirred, and their eyes grew dim
+with tears of indignation and sorrow.  They were Alexandrians, and did
+not desire to be ruled by Rome.  Cleopatra, daughter of the Macedonian
+house of the Ptolemies, had the sole right to govern the city of her
+ancestors, founded by the great Macedonian.  The sorrow they had
+themselves endured through her sank into insignificance beside the
+tremendous blow of Fate which in this hour reached the Queen.
+
+The Roman and Egyptian fleet returned to the harbour as one vast squadron
+under the same commander, and anchored in the roadstead of the city,
+which was now its precious booty.
+
+Barine had seen enough, and returned to the house with drooping head.
+Her heart was heavy, and her anxiety for the man she loved hourly
+increased.
+
+It seemed as if the very day-star shrank from illuminating so infamous a
+deed with friendly light; for the dazzling, searching sun of the first of
+August veiled its radiant face with a greyish-white mist, and the
+desecrated sea wrinkled its brow, changed its pure azure robe to
+yellowish grey and blackish green, while the white foam hissed on the
+crests of the angry waves.
+
+As twilight began to approach, the anxiety of the deserted wife became
+unendurable.  Not only Helena's wise words of caution, but the sight of
+her child, failed to exert their usual influence; and Barine had already
+summoned the son of Pyrrhus to persuade him to take her in his boat to
+the city, when Dione saw a boat approaching the Serpent Island from the
+direction of the sea.
+
+A short time after, Dion sprang on shore and kissed from his young wife's
+lips the reproaches with which she greeted him.
+
+He had heard of the treachery of the fleet while entering a hired boat
+with the freedman in the harbour of Eunostus, Pyrrhus's having been
+detained with the other craft before the Temple of Poseidon.
+
+The experienced pilot had been obliged to steer the boat in a wider curve
+against the wind through the open sea, and was delayed a long time by a
+number of the war vessels of the fleet.
+
+Danger and separation were now passed, and they rejoiced in the happiness
+of meeting, yet could not feel genuine joy.  Their souls were oppressed
+by anxiety concerning the fate of the Queen and their native city.
+
+As night closed in the dogs barked violently, and they heard loud voices
+on the shore.  Dion, with a presentiment that misfortune was threatening
+himself and his dear ones, obeyed the summons.
+
+No star illumined the darkness.  Only the wavering light of a lantern on
+the strand and another on the nearest island illumined the immediate
+vicinity, while southward the lights in the city shone as brightly as
+ever.
+
+Pyrrhus and his youngest son were just pushing a boat into the water to
+release from the sands another which had run aground in a shallow near
+the neighbouring island.
+
+Dion sprang in with them, and soon recognized in the hail the voice of
+the architect Gorgias.
+
+The young father shouted a joyous greeting to his friend, but there was
+no reply.
+
+Soon after, Pyrrhus landed his belated guest on the shore.  He had
+escaped--as the fisherman explained--a great danger; for had he gone to
+the other island, which swarmed with venomous serpents, he might easily
+have fallen a victim to the bite of one of the reptiles.
+
+Gorgias grasped Dion's hand but, in reply to his gay invitation to
+accompany him to the house at once, he begged him to listen to his story
+before joining the ladies.
+
+Dion was startled.  He knew his friend.  When his deep voice had such a
+tone of gloomy discouragement, and his head drooped so mournfully, some
+terrible event had befallen him.
+
+His foreboding had been correct.  The first tidings pierced his own soul
+deeply.
+
+He was not surprised to learn that the Romans ruled Alexandria; but a
+small band of the conquerors, who had been ordered to conduct themselves
+as if they were in a friendly country, had forced their way into the
+architect's large house to occupy the quarters assigned to them.  The
+deaf grandmother of Helena and Barine, who had but half comprehended what
+threatened the citizens, terrified by the noisy entrance of the soldiers,
+had had another attack of apoplexy, and closed her eyes in death before
+Gorgias set out for the island.
+
+But it was not only this sad event, which must grieve the hearts of the
+two sisters, that had brought the architect in a stranger's boat to the
+Serpent Island at so late an hour.  His soul was so agitated by the
+horrible incidents of the day that he needed to seek consolation among
+those from whom he was sure to find sympathy.
+
+Nor was it wholly the terrible things Fate had compelled him to witness
+which induced him to venture out upon the sea so recklessly, but still
+more the desire to bring to the fugitives the happy news that they might
+return with safety to their native city.
+
+Deeply agitated--nay, confused and overpowered by all he had seen and
+experienced--the architect, usually so clear and, with all his mental
+vivacity, so circumspect, began his story.  A remonstrance from Dion
+induced him to collect his thoughts and describe events in the order in
+which they had befallen him.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Fairest dreams of childhood were surpassed
+Golden chariot drawn by tamed lions
+Life had fulfilled its pledges
+Until neither knew which was the giver and which the receiver
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CLEOPATRA, BY GEORG EBERS, V8 ***
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