 CHAPTER 8 THE CITY RECORDING CHAPTERING war very short. Its extent, revenues of Egypt, the city repaired, the library rebuilt, a new collection of manuscripts, luxury and splendor, deterioration of Cleopatra's character, the young Ptolemy. Cleopatra assassinated him, career of Caesar, his rapid course of conquest. Cleopatra determines to go to Rome, feelings of the Romans, Caesar's four triumphs, nature of triumphal possession, Arsinoe, sympathy of the Roman people, Caesar overreacts his spot, feasts and festivals, riot and debauchery, public combats, the artificial lake, combat upon it, land combats, the people shocked. Cleopatra's visit, Caesar's plans for making himself king, conspiracy against Caesar, he is assassinated. Arsinoe released, Calpurnia mourns her husband's death, Calpurnia looks to Mayor Cantony as her protector. The war by which Caesar reinstated Cleopatra upon the throne was not one of very long duration. Caesar arrived in Egypt in pursuit of Pompey about the first of August. The war was ended and Cleopatra established insecure possession by the end of January. So that the conflict, violent as it was while it continued, was very brief, the peaceful and commercial pursuits of the Alexandrians having been interrupted by it only for a few months. Nor did either the war itself or the derangements consequent upon it extend very far into the interior of the country. The city of Alexandria itself and the neighboring coasts with the chief scenes of the contest until Mithridates arrived at Pelugium. He, it is true, marched across the delta and the final battle was fought in the interior of the country. It was, however, after all, but a very small portion of the Egyptian territory that was directly affected by the war. The great mass of the people occupying the rich and fertile tracts which bordered the various branches of the Nile and the long and verdant valley which extended so far into the heart of the continent knew nothing of the conflict but by vague and distant rumors. The pursuits of the agricultural population went on all the time as steadily and prosperously as ever so that when the conflict was ended and Cleopatra entered upon the quiet and peaceful possession of her power she found that the resources of her empire were very little impaired. She availed herself, accordingly, of the revenues which poured in very abundantly upon her to enter upon a career of the greatest luxury, magnificence and splendor. The injuries which had been done to the palace is another public edifices of Alexandria by the fire and by the military operations of the siege were repaired. The bridges which had been down were rebuilt. The canals which had been obstructed were opened again. The seawater was shut off from the palace systems. The rubbish of demolished houses was removed. The barricades were cleared from the streets and the injuries which the palaces had suffered either from the violence of military engines or the rough occupations of the Roman soldiery were repaired. In a word, the city was speedily restored once more so far as was possible to its former order and beauty. The 500,000 manuscripts of the Alexandrian library which had been burned could not indeed be restored. But in all other respects the city soon resumed in appearance all its former splendor. Even in respect to the library, Cleopatra made an effort to retrieve the loss. She repaired the ruined buildings and afterward in the course of her life she brought together, it was said, in a manner thereafter to be described one or two hundred thousand rows of manuscripts as the commencement of a new collection. The new library, however, never acquired the fame and distinction that had pertained to the old. The former sovereigns of Egypt, Cleopatra's ancestors, had generally, as has already been shown, devoted the immense revenues which they extorted from the agricultural lists of the Valley of the Nile to purposes of ambition. Cleopatra seemed now disposed to expand them in luxury and pleasure. They, the Ptolemies, had employed their resources in erecting vast structures or founding magnificent institutions at Alexandria to add to the glory of the city and to widen and extend their own fame. Cleopatra, on the other hand, as was perhaps naturally to be expected of a young, beautiful and impulsive woman suddenly raised to so conspicuous a position and to the possession of certain bounded wealth and power expanded her royal revenues in plans of personal display and in scenes of festivity, gaiety and enjoyment. She adorned her palaces, built magnificent barges for pleasure excursions on the Nile and expanded enormous sums for dress, for acupages and for sumptuous entertainments. In fact, so lavish were her expenditures for these and similar purposes during the early years of her reign that she is considered as having carried the extravagance of sensual luxury and personal display and splendor beyond the limits that had ever before or ever since been attained. Whatever of simplicity of character and of gentleness and kindness of spirit she might have possessed in her earlier years, of course gradually disappeared under the influences of such a course of life as she now was leading. She was beautiful and fascinating still, but she began to grow selfish, heartless and designing. Her little brother, he was but eleven years of age it will be recollected when Caesar arranged the marriage between them, was an object of jealousy to her. He was now of course too young to take any actual share in the exercise of the royal power or to interfere at all in his sister's plans or pleasures. But then he was growing older. In a few years he would be fifteen, which was the period of life fixed upon by Caesar's arrangements and in fact by the laws and usages of the Egyptian kingdom when he was to come into possession of power as a king and as a husband of Cleopatra. Cleopatra was extremely unwilling that the change in her relations to him and to the government which this period was to bring should take place. Accordingly just before the time arrived she caused him to be poisoned. His death released her, as she had intended, from all restraints and thereafter she continued to reign alone. During the remainder of her life, so far as the enjoyment of wealth and power and of all other elements of external prosperity could go, Cleopatra's career was one of uninterrupted success. She had no conscientious scruples to interfere with the most full and unrestrained indulgence of every propensity of her heart and the means of indulgence were before her in the most unlimited profusion. The only bar to her happiness was in possibility of satisfying the impulses and passions of the human soul when they once break over the bounds which had lost both of God and of nature ordained for restraining them. In the meantime, while Cleopatra was spending the early years of her reign in all these luxuries and splendor, Caesar was pursuing his career as a conqueror of the world in the most successful manner. On the death of Pompey he would naturally have succeeded at once to the enjoyment of the supreme power but his delay in Egypt and extent to which it was known that he was entangled with Cleopatra encouraged and strengthened his enemies in various parts of the world. In fact, a revolt which broke out in Asia Minor in which it was absolutely necessary that he should proceed at once to quell was the immediate cause of his living Egypt at last. Other plans for making head against Caesar's power were formed in Spain, in Africa and in Italy. His military skill and energy, however, were so great and the tendency which he exercised over the minds of men by his personal presence was so unbounded and so astonishing moreover was the celerity with which he moved from continent to continent and from kingdom to kingdom that in a very short period from the time of his living Egypt he had conducted most brilliant and successful campaigns in all the three quarters of the world then known had put down effectively all opposition to his power and then had returned to Rome, the acknowledged master of the world. Cleopatra, who had of course watered his career during all this time with great pride and pleasure concluded at last to go to Rome and make a visit to him there. The people of Rome were, however, not prepared to receive her very cordially. It was an age in which vice of every kind was regarded with great indulgence but the moral instincts of mankind were too strong to be wholly blinded to the true character of so conspicuous an example of wickedness as this. Arsinoe was at Rome too during this period of Caesar's life. He had brought her there to be recollected on his return from Egypt as a prisoner and as a trophy of his victory. His design was in fact to reserve a captive to grace his triumph. A triumph, according to the usages of the ancient Romans, was a grand celebration decreed by the senate to great military commanders of the highest rank when they returned from distant campaigns in which they had made great conquests or gained extraordinary victories. Caesar concentrated all his triumphs into one. They were celebrated on his return to Rome for the last time after having completed the conquest of the world. The processions of this triumph occupied four days. In fact, there were four triumphs, one on each day for the four days. The wars and conquests which these ovations were intended to celebrate were those of Gaul, of Egypt, of Asia, and of Africa. And the processions on the several days consisted of endless trains of prisoners, trophies, arms, banners, pictures, images, convoys of wagons loaded with plunder, captive princes and princesses, animals wired and tame, and everything else which the conqueror had been able to bring home with him from his campaigns to excite the curiosity or the admiration of the people of the city and illustrate the magnitude of his exploits. Of course, the Roman generals, when engaged in distant foreign wars, were ambitious of bringing back as many distinguished captives and as much public plunder as they were able to obtain in order to wear to the variety and splendor of the triumphal procession by which their victories were to be honoured on their return. It was with this view that Caesar brought Asinoe from Egypt. And he had retained her as his captive at Rome until his conquests were completed and the time for his triumph arrived. She, of course, formed a part of the triumphal train on the Egyptian day. She walked immediately before the chariot in which Caesar rode. She was in chains, like any other captive, though her chains in other of their lofty rank were made of gold. The effect, however, upon the Roman population of seeing the unhappy princess overwhelmed as she was with sorrow and chagrin as she moved slowly along in the train among the other emblems and trophies of violence and thunder proved to be by no means favourable to Caesar. The population was inclined to peter her and to sympathise with her in her sufferings. The sight of her distress recalled, too, to their minds the dereliction from duty which Caesar had been guilty of in his euding enticements of Cleopatra and remaining so long in Egypt to neglect of his proper duties as a Roman minister of state. In a word, the tide of admiration for Caesar's military exploits which had been setting so strongly in his favour seemed inclined to turn and the city was filled with murmurs against him even in the midst of his triumphs. In fact, the pride and vanglory which led Caesar to make his triumphs more splendid and imposing than any former conqueror had ever enjoyed caused him to overreact his part so as to produce the facts the reverse of his intentions. The case of Artinoe was one example of this. Instead of impressing the people with the sense of the greatness of his exploits in Egypt in deposing one queen and bringing her captive to Rome in order that he might place another upon throne in her stead it only reproduced anew the censures and criminations which he had deserved by his actions there by which had he not been for the pitiable spectacle of Artinoe in the train might have been forgotten. There were other examples of a similar character. There were the feasts, for instance. From the planter which Caesar had obtained in his various campaigns he expanded the most enormous sums in making feasts and spectacles for the populace at the time of his triumph. A large portion of the populace was pleased. It is true with the boundless indulgences thus offered to them but the better part of the Roman people were indignant at the ways and extravagance which were everywhere displayed. For many days the whole city of Rome presented to the view nothing but one widespread scene of riot and debauchery. The people, instead of being pleased with his abundance said that Caesar must have practiced the most extreme and lawless extortion to have obtained the vast amount of money necessary to enable him to supply such unbounded and reckless waste. There was another way, too, by which Caesar turned public opinion strongly against himself by the very means which he adopted for creating a sentiment in his favor. The Romans, among the other barbarous amusements which were practiced in the city, were especially fond of combats. These combats were of various kinds. They were fought sometimes between ferocious beasts of the same or of different species as dogs against each other or against bulls, lions or tigers. Any animals, in fact, were employed for this purpose. They could be teased or goaded into anger and ferocity in a fight. Sometimes men were employed in these combats, captive soldiers, and had been taken in war and brought to Rome to fight in the amphitheaters there as gladiators. These men were compelled to contend sometimes with wild beasts and sometimes with one another. Caesar, knowing how highly the Roman assemblies enjoyed such things, determined to afford them the indulgence of this magnificent scale, supposing, of course, that the greater and the more dreadful the fight, the higher would be the pleasure which the expectators would enjoy in witnessing it. Accordingly, in making preparations for the festivities attending his triumph, he caused a larger artificial lake to be formed at a convenient place in the vicinity of Rome, where he could be surrounded by the populace of the city, and there he made arrangements for a naval battle. A great number of galleys were introduced into the lake. They were of the usual size employed in war. These galleys were manned with numerous soldiers. Tyrion captives were put upon one side, an Egyptian upon the other, and when all was ready, the two squadrons were ordered to approach and fight a real battle for the amusement of the normal throngs of spectators that were assembled around. As a nation from which the combatants in this conflict were respectively taken, were taught to each other, and as a man fought, of course, for their lives, the engagement was attended with the usual horrors of a desperate naval encounter. Hundreds were slain. The dead bodies of the combatants fell from the galleys into the lake and the waters of it were dyed with their blood. There were land combats, too, on the same grand scale. In one of them, 500 foot soldiers, 20 elephants and a troop of 30 horses were engaged on each side. This combat, therefore, was an action greater in respect to the number of the combatants than the famous Battle of Lexington, which marked the commencement of the American War. And in respect to the slaughter which took place, it was very probably ten times greater. The horror of these scenes proved to be too much, even for the populace, fierce and merciless as it was, which they were intended to amuse. Caesar, in his eagerness to outdo all former exhibitions and shows, went beyond the limits within which the seeing of men butchered in bloody combats and dying in agony and despair would serve our pleasure in a pastime. The people were shocked and condemnations of Caesar's cruelty were added to the other suppressed reproaches and accusations which everywhere arose. Cleopatra, during her visit to Rome, lived openly with Caesar at his residence and this excited very general displeasure. In fact, while the people pitted our snowy, Cleopatra notwithstanding her beauty and her thousand personal accomplishments and charms was an object of a general displeasure so far as public attention was turned toward her at all. The public mind was, however, much engrossed by the great political movements made by Caesar and the ends toward which he seemed to be aiming. Men accused him of designing to be made a king. Parties were formed for and against him and though men did not dare openly to utter their sentiments, their passions became the more violent in proportion to the external force by which they were suppressed. Mark Anthony was at Rome at this time. He warmly espoused Caesar's cause and encouraged his design of making himself king. He was, in fact, offered to place a royal diadem upon Caesar's head at some public celebration by the marks of public disapprobation which the actor elicited caused him to desist. At length, however, the time arrived in Caesar determined to cause himself to be proclaimed king. He took advantage of a certain remarkable construction of public affairs which cannot here be particularly described but which seemed to him especially to favor his designs and arrangements were made for having him invested with the regal power by the senate. The murmurs and the discontent of the people and the indications that the time for the realization of their fears became more and more audible and at length a conspiracy was formed to put an end to the danger by destroying the ambitious aspirant's life. Two stern and determined men, Brutus and Cassius, were the leaders of this conspiracy. They matured their plans, organized their band of associates, provided themselves secretly with arms and when the senate convened on the day in which the decisive vote was to have been passed, Caesar himself presiding, they came up boldly around him in his presidential chair and murdered him with their daggers. Anthony, from whom the plans of the conspirators had been kept profoundly secret, stood by, looking on in stupefied and confounded why the deed was done but utterly unable to render his friend any protection. Cleopatra immediately fled from the city and returned to Egypt. Arsinoe had gone away before. Caesar, either taking pity of her misfortunes or impelled perhaps by the force of public sentiment which seemed inclined to take part with her against him, set her at liberty immediately after the ceremonies of his triumph over. He would not, however, allow her to return into Egypt for fear, probably, that she might in some way or other be the means of disturbing the government of Cleopatra. She proceeded accordingly into Syria, no longer as a captive but still as an exile from her native land. We shall hereafter learn what became of her there. Calpurnia mourned the death of her husband with sincere and affected grief. She bore the wrongs which she suffered as a wife with a very patient and unrepining in spirit. She loved her husband with the most devoted attachment to the end. Nothing can be more affecting her tender and anxious regard on the night immediately preceding the assassination. There were certain slight and obscure indications of danger which her watchful devotion to her husband led her to observe, though they eluded the notice of all Caesar's other friends and they filled her with apprehensions and anxiety. And when at length the bloody body was brought home to her from the Senate House, she was overwhelmed with grief and despair. She had no children. She accordingly looked upon Mark Antony as her nearest friend and protector and in the confusion and terror which prevailed the next day in the city she hastily packed it together the money and other valuables contained in the house and all her husband's books and papers and sent them to Antony for safekeeping. This reading by Anna Roberts Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott Chapter 9 The Battle of Philippi Consternation at Rome Caesar's will, Brutus and Cassius Parties formed Octavius and Lepidus Character of Octavius Octavius proceeds to Rome He claims his rights as heir Lepidus takes command of the army The triumvirate Conference between Octavius, Lepidus and Antony Embassage to Cleopatra Her decision Cassius abandons his designs Approach of the triumvers The armies meet at Philippi Sickness of Octavius Difference of opinion between Brutus and Cassius Council of War Decision of the Council Brutus greatly elated Despondency of Cassius Preparations for battle Resolution of Brutus to die Similar resolve of Cassius Warnings received by Brutus The spirit seen by Brutus His conversation with it Battle of Philippi Defeat of Octavius Defeat of Cassius Brutus goes to his aid Death of Cassius Grief of Brutus Defeat of Brutus His retreat Situation of Brutus in the Glen The helmet of water Brutus surrounded The last duty Death of Brutus Situation of Antony When the tidings of the assassination of Caesar were first announced to the people of Rome all ranks and classes of men were struck with amazement and consternation No one knew what to say or do A very large and influential portion of the community had been Caesar's friends It was equally certain that there was a very powerful interest opposed to him No one could foresee which of these two parties would now carry the day All was uncertainty and indecision Mark Antony came forward at once and assumed the position of Caesar's representative and the leader of the party on that side A will was found among Caesar's effects and when the will was opened it appeared that large sums of money were left to the Roman people and other large amounts to a nephew of the deceased named Octavius who will be more particularly spoken of hereafter Antony was named in the will as the executor of it This and other circumstances seemed to authorize him to come forward as the head and the leader of the Caesar party Brutus and Cassius who remained openly in the city after their desperate deed had been performed were the acknowledged leaders of the other party While the mass of the people were at first so astounded at the magnitude and suddenness of the revolution which the open and public assassination of the Roman emperor by a Roman senate denoted that they knew not what to say or do In fact the killing of Julius Caesar considering the exalted position which he occupied the rank and station of the men who perpetrated the deed and the very extraordinary publicity of the scene in which the act was performed was doubtless the most conspicuous and most appalling case of assassination that has ever occurred The whole population of Rome seemed for some days to be amazed and stupefied by the tidings At length however parties began to be more distinctly formed The lines of demarcation between them were gradually drawn and men began to arrange themselves more and more equivocally on the opposite sides For a short time the supremacy of Antony over the Caesar party was readily acquiesced in and allowed At length however and before his arrangements were finally matured he found that he had two formidable competitors upon his own side These were Octavius and Lepidus Octavius who was the nephew of Caesar already alluded to was a very accomplished and elegant young man now about nineteen years of age He was the son of Julius Caesar's niece Footnote one This Octavius on his subsequent elevation to Imperial power received the name of Augustus Caesar and it is by this name that he is generally known in history He was however called Octavius at the commencement of his career and to avoid confusion we shall continue to designate him by this name to the end of our narrative He had always been a great favorite with his uncle Every possible attention had been paid to his education and he had been advanced by Caesar already to the positions of high importance in public life Caesar in fact adopted him as his son and made him his heir At the time of Caesar's death he was at Apollonia, a city of Illyricum north of Greece The troops under his command there offered to march at once with him if he wished it to Rome and avenge his uncle's death Octavius, after some hesitation concluded that it would be more prudent for him to proceed thither first himself alone as a private person and demand his rights as his uncle's heir according to the provisions of the will He accordingly did so He found on his arrival that the will, the property, the books and parches and the substantial power of the government were all in Antony's hands Antony, instead of putting Octavius into possession of all his property and rights found various pretexts for evasion and delay Octavius was too young yet, he said to assume such weighty responsibilities He was himself also too much pressed with the urgency of public affairs of the will With these and similar excuses as his justification Antony seemed inclined to pay no regard whatever to Octavius' claims Octavius, young as he was possessed a character that was marked with great intelligence, spirit and resolution He soon made many powerful friends in the city of Rome and among the Roman senate It became a serious question whether he or Antony would gain the greater ascendancy in the party of Caesar's friends The contest for this ascendancy was in fact, protracted for two or three years and led to a vast complication of intrigues and maneuvers and civil wars which cannot however, be here particularly detailed The other competitor which Antony had to contend with was a distinguished Roman general named Lepidus Lepidus was an officer of the army in very high command at the time of Caesar's death He was present in the senate chamber on the day of the assassination He stole secretly away when he saw that the dead was gone and repaired to the camp of the army throughout the city and immediately assumed the command of the forces This gave him great power and in the course of the contest which subsequently ensued between Antony and Octavius he took an active part and held in some measure the balance between them At length the contest was finally closed by a coalition of the three rivals Finding that they could not either of them gain and decided victory over the others they combined together and formed the celebrated triumvirate which continued afterward for some time until the supreme command in the Roman world In forming this league of reconciliation the three rivals held their conference on an island situated in one of the branches of the Po in the north of Italy They manifested extreme jealousy and suspicion of each other in coming to this interview Two bridges were built leading to the island one from each bank of the stream The army of Antony was drawn up upon one side of the river and that of Octavius upon the other Lepidus was first to the island After examining the ground carefully to make himself sure that it contained no ambuscade he made a signal to the other generals who then came over each advancing by his own bridge and accompanied by 300 guards who remained upon the bridge to secure a retreat for their masters in case of treachery The conference lasted three days at the expiration of which time the articles were all agreed upon and signed This league being formed the three Confederates turned their united force against the party of the conspirators of this party Brutus and Cassius were still at the head The scene of the contest between Octavius, Antony and Lepidus had been chiefly Italy and other central countries of Europe Brutus and Cassius on the other hand had gone across the Adriatic sea into the east immediately after Caesar's assassination They were now in Asia Minor and were employed in concentrating their forces forming alliances with the various eastern powers raising troops bringing over to their side the Roman legions who were stationed in that quarter of the world seizing magazines and exacting contributions from all who could be induced to favor their cause Among other embossages which they sent one went to Egypt to demand aid from Cleopatra Cleopatra however was resolved to join the other side in the contest It was natural that she should feel grateful to Caesar for his efforts and sacrifices in her behalf and that she should be inclined to favor the cause of his friends Accordingly instead of sending troops to aid Brutus and Cassius as they had desired her to do she immediately fitted out an expedition to proceed to the coast of Asia with a view of rendering all of the aid in her power to Antony's cause Cassius, on his part, finding that Cleopatra was determined on joining his enemies immediately resolved on proceeding at once to Egypt and taking possession of the country He also stationed a military force at Teneris the southern promontory of Greece to watch for and intercept the fleet of Cleopatra as soon as it should appear on the European shores both those which Cleopatra formed against Cassius and those which Cassius formed against her failed of accomplishment Cleopatra's fleet encountered a terrible storm which dispersed and destroyed it A small remnant was driven upon the coast of Africa but nothing could be saved which could be made available for the purpose intended As for Cassius's intended expedition to Egypt it was not carried into effect The dangers which began now to threaten him from the direction of Italy and Rome were so imminent that at Brutus's urgent request he gave up the Egyptian plan and the two generals concentrated their forces to meet the armies of the triumvirate which were now rapidly advancing to attack them They passed for this purpose across the helispont from Cestos to Avidos and entered Thrace After various marches and counter-marches and a long succession of those maneuvers by which two powerful armies approaching a contest endeavor each to gain some position of advantage against the other The various bodies of troops belonging respectively to the two powers came into the vicinity of each other near Philippi Brutus and Cassius arrived here first There was a plane in the neighborhood of the city with a rising ground in a certain portion of it Brutus took possession of this elevation and entrenched himself there Cassius posted his forces about three miles distant near the sea There was a line of entrenchments between the two camps which formed a chain of communication by which the positions of the two commanders were connected The armies were thus very advantageously posted They had the river Strymon and a march on the left of the ground that they occupied while the plane was before them and the sea behind Here they awaited the arrival of their foes Antony, who was at this time at Ampifolus a city not far distant from Philippi learning that Brutus and Cassius had taken their positions in the anticipation of an attack advanced immediately and encamped upon the plane Octavius was detained by a sickness at the city of Dirachium not very far distant Antony waited for him It was ten days before he came At length he arrived, though incoming he had to be born upon a litter being still too sick to travel in any other way Antony approached and established his camp opposite to that of Cassius near the sea while Octavius took post opposite to Brutus The four armies then paused contemplating the probable results of the engagement that was about to ensue The forces on the two sides were nearly equal But on the Republican side, that is on the side of Brutus and Cassius there was great inconvenience in suffering for want of a sufficient supply of provisions and stores There was some difference of opinion between Brutus and Cassius in respect to what it was best for them to do Brutus was inclined to give the enemy battle Cassius was reluctant to do so since under the circumstances in which they were placed he considered it unwise to hazard as they necessarily must do the chances of a single battle A council of war was convened and the various officers were asked to give their opinions In this conference, one of the officers having recommended to postpone the conflict to the next winter, Brutus asked him what advantage he hoped to attain by such delay If I gain nothing else replied the officer I shall live so much the longer This answer touched Cassius's pride and military sense of honor Rather than concur in a council which was thus on the part of one of its advocates at least dictated by what he considered an inglorious love of life he preferred to retract his opinion It was agreed by the council that the army should maintain its ground and give the enemy battle The officers then repaired to their respective camps Brutus was greatly displeased at this decision To fight the battle had been his original desire and as his councils had prevailed he was of course gratified with the prospect for the morrow He arranged a sumptuous entertainment in his tent and all the officers of his division of the army to sup with him The party spent the night in convivial pleasures and in mutual congratulations at the prospect of the victory which, as they believed, awaited them on the morrow Brutus entertained his guests with brilliant conversation all the evening and inspired them with his own confident anticipations of success in the conflict which was to ensue Cassius, on the other hand, in his camp by the sea, was silent and desponding He supped privately with a few intimate friends On rising from the table he took one of his officers aside and, pressing his hand, said to him that he felt great misgivings in respect to the result of the contest It is against my judgment, said he, that we thus hazarded the liberty of Rome on the events of one battle fought under such circumstances as these Whatever is the result I wish you to bear me witness hereafter that I was forced into this measure by circumstances that I could not control I suppose, however, that I ought to take courage notwithstanding the reasons that I have made these gloomy forebodings Let us, therefore, hope for the best and come and sup with me again tomorrow night Tomorrow is my birthday The next morning, the scarlet mantel the customary signal displayed in Roman camps on the morning of a day of battle was seen at the tops of the tents of the two commanding generals waving there in the air like a banner While the troops in obedience to the signal were preparing themselves for the conflict the two generals went to meet each other at a point midway between their two encampments for final consultation and agreement in respect to the arrangements of the day When this business was concluded and they were about to separate in order to proceed each to his own sphere of duty Cassius asked Brutus what he intended to do in case the day should go against them We hope for the best, said he and pray that the gods may grant us the victory in this most momentous crisis but we must remember that it is the greatest and the most momentous of human affairs that are always the most uncertain and we cannot foresee what is today the result of the battle If it goes against us, what do you intend to do? Do you intend to escape or to die? When I was a young man, said Brutus in reply, and looked at this subject only as a question of theory I thought it wrong for a man ever to take his own life However great the evils that threatened him and however desperate his condition I considered it his duty to live and to wait patiently for better times But now, placed in the position in which I am I see the subject in a different light If we do not gain the battle this day I shall consider all hope and possibility of saving our country forever gone and I shall not leave the field of battle alive Cassius, in his despondency had made the same resolution for himself before and he was rejoiced to hear Brutus utter these sentiments He grasped his colleagues hand with a countenance expressive of the greatest animation and pleasure and bade him farewell, saying we will go out boldly to face the enemy for we are certain either that we shall conquer them or fear from their victory over us Cassius' dejection and the tendency of his mind to take a despairing view of the prospects of the cause in which he was engaged were owing in some measure to certain unfavorable omens which he had observed These omens, though really frivolous and wholly unworthy of attention seemed to have had great influence upon him notwithstanding his general intelligence and the remarkable strength and energy of his character They were as follows In offering certain sacrifices according to the usage prescribed on such occasions a garland of flowers and it happened that the officer who brought the garland by mistake or accident presented it wrong side before him again, in some procession which was formed and in which a certain image of gold made in honor of him was born the bearer of it stumbled and fell and the image was thrown upon the ground This was a very dark presage of impending calamity Then a great number of vultures and other birds of prey were seen for a number of days before the battle hovering over the Roman army and several swarms of bees were found within the precincts of the camp So alarming was this last indication that the officers altered the line of the entrenchments so as to shut out the ill omens spot from the camp These and other such things had great influence upon the mind of Caches in convincing him that some great disaster was impending over him Nor was Brutus himself without warnings of this character though they seemed to have had less power to produce any serious impression upon his mind in the case of Caches The most extraordinary warning which Brutus received according to the story of his ancient historians was by a supernatural apparition which he saw some time before while he was an Asia minor He was in camp near the city of Sardis at that time He was always accustomed to sleep very little and would often it was said when all his officers had retired and the camp was still sit alone in his tent sometimes reading and sometimes revolving the anxious cares which were always pressing upon his mind One night he was thus alone in his tent with a small lamp burning before him sitting lost in thought when he suddenly heard a movement as of someone entering the tent He looked up and saw a strange, unearthly and monstrous shape which appeared to have just entered the door and was coming toward him The spirit gazed upon him as it advanced but it did not speak Brutus, who is not much accustomed to fear boldly demanded of the apparition who and what it was and what had brought it there I am your evil spirit said the apparition I shall meet you at Philippi Then it seemed, said Brutus, that at any rate I shall see you again The spirit made no reply to this but immediately vanished Brutus arose, went to the door of his tent summoned the sentinels and awakened the soldiers that were sleeping near The sentinels had seen nothing and after the most diligent search no trace of the mysterious visitor could be found The next morning Brutus related to Cassius the occurrence which he had witnessed Cassius, though very sensitive it seems to the influence of omens affecting himself was quite philosophical in his views in respect to those of other men He argued very rationally with Brutus to convince him that the vision which he had seen was only a phantom of sleep taking its form and character from the ideas and images which the situation in which Brutus was then placed and the fatigue and anxiety which he had endured would naturally impress upon his mind But to return to the battle Brutus fought against Octavius while Cassius, two or three miles distant encountered Antony that having been as will be recollected the disposition of the respective armies and their encampments upon the plane Brutus was triumphantly successful in his part on the field His troops defeated the army of Octavius and got possession of his camp The men forced their way into Octavius's tent and pierced the litter in which they supposed that the sick general was lying through and through with their spears But the object of their desperate hostility was not there They were away by his guards a few minutes before and no one knew what had become of him The result of the battle was, however unfortunately for those whose adventures we are now more particularly following very different in Cassius's part of the field When Brutus, after completing the conquest of his immediate foes returned to his elevated camp he looked toward the camp of Cassius and was surprised to find that the tents had disappeared Some of the officers around perceived weapons glancing and glittering in the sun in the place where Cassius's tent ought to appear Brutus now suspected the truth, which was that Cassius had been defeated and his camp had fallen into the hands of the enemy He immediately collected together as large of forces he could command and marched to the relief of his colleague He found him at last, posted with a small body of guards and attendants upon the top of a small elevation to which he had fled for safety Cassius saw the troop of horsemen which Brutus sent forward coming toward him and supposed that it was a detachment after him He, however, sent a messenger forward to meet them and ascertain whether they were friends or foes The messenger, whose name was Titinius rode down The horsemen recognized Titinius and, riding up eagerly around him they dismounted from their horses to congratulate him on his safety and to press him with inquiries in respect to the result of the battle and the fate of his master Cassius, seeing all this but not seeing it very distinctly supposed that the troop of horsemen were enemies They surrounded Titinius and had cut him down or made him prisoner He considered it certain, therefore, that all was now finally lost Accordingly, in execution of a plan which he had previously formed he called a servant named Pindaris whom he directed to follow him and went into a tent which was near When Brutus and his horsemen came up they entered the tent They found no living person within but the dead body of Cassius was there the head being totally deceivered from it Pindaris was never afterward to be found Brutus was overwhelmed with grief at the death of his colleague He was also oppressed by it with a double burden of responsibility and care since now the whole conduct of affairs devolved upon him alone He found himself surrounded with difficulties which became more and more embarrassing every day At length he was compelled to fight a second battle The details of the contest itself we cannot give but the result of it was that notwithstanding the most unparalleled and desperate exertions made by Brutus to keep his men to the work On his ground his troops were born down and overwhelmed by the irresistible onsets of his enemies and his cause was irrevocably and hopelessly ruined When Brutus found that all was lost he allowed himself to be conducted off the field by a small body of guards who, in their retreat, broke through the ranks of the enemy on a side where they saw that they should meet with the least resistance They were, however, pursued by a squadron of horse the horsemen being eager to make Brutus a prisoner In this emergency one of Brutus' friends named Lucilius conceived the design of pretending to be Brutus and, as such, surrendering himself a prisoner This plan he carried into effect When the troop came up he called out for quarter said that he was Brutus and begged them to spare his life and to take him to Antony The men did so, rejoicing at having, as they imagined secured so invaluable a prize In the meantime the real Brutus pressed on to make his escape He crossed a brook which came in his way and entered into a little dell which promised to afford a hiding-place since it was encumbered with precipitous rocks and shaded with trees A few friends and officers accompanied Brutus in his flight Night soon came on and he lay down in a little recess under a shelving-rock exhausted with fatigue and suffering Then, raising his eyes to heaven, he implicated in lines quoted from a Greek poet the just judgment of God upon the foes who were at that hour triumphing in what he considered the ruin of his country He then, in his anguish and despair enumerated by name the several friends and companions whom he had seen fall that day in battle mourning the loss of each with bitter grief In the meantime night was coming on and the party concealed thus in the wild dell were destitute and unsheltered Hungry and thirsty and spent with fatigue as they were there seemed to be no prospect for them of either rest or refreshment Finally, they sent one of their number to steal softly back to the rivulet which they had crossed in their retreat to bring them some water The soldier took his helmet to bring the water in for want of any other vessel While Brutus was drinking the water which they brought a noise was heard in the opposite direction Two of the officers were sent to ascertain the cause They came back soon, reporting that there was a party of the enemy in that quarter They asked where the water was which had been brought Brutus told them that it had all been drunk but that he would immediately send for more The messenger went accordingly to the brook again but he came back very soon wounded and bleeding and reported that the enemy was close upon them on that side too and that he had narrowly escaped with his life The apprehensions of Brutus's party were greatly increased by these tidings It was evident that all hope of being able to remain long concealed where they were must fast disappear One of the officers, named Statilius then proposed to make the attempt to find his way out of the snare in which they had become involved He would go, he said, as cautiously as possible avoiding all parties of the enemy and being favoured by the darkness of the night he hoped to find some way of retreat If he succeeded he would display a torch on a distant elevation which he designated so that the party and the glen on seeing the light might be assured of his safety He would then return and guide them all through the danger by the way which he should have discovered This plan was approved and Statilius accordingly departed In due time the light was seen burning at the place which had been pointed out and indicating that Statilius had accomplished his undertaking Brutus and his party were greatly cheered by the new hope which this result awakened and listened for their messenger's return They watched and waited long but he did not come On the way back he was intercepted and slain When at length all hope that he would return was finally abandoned, some of the party in the course of the despairing consultations which the unhappy fugitives held with one another said that they must not remain any longer where they were but must make their escape from that spot at all hazards Yes, said Brutus We must indeed make our escape from our present situation but we must do it with our hands and not with our feet He meant by this that the only means now left to them to evade their enemies was self-destruction When his friends understood that this was his meaning and that he was resolved to put this design into execution in his own case they were overwhelmed with sorrow Brutus took them one by one by the hand and bade them farewell He thanked them for their fidelity in adhering to his cause to the last and said that it was a source of great comfort and satisfaction to him that all his friends had proved so faithful and true I do not complain of my hard fate, he added so far as I myself am concerned I mourn only for my unhappy country As to myself I think that my condition even now is better than that of my enemies for though I die posterity will do me justice and I shall enjoy forever the honor which virtue and integrity deserve while they, though they live, live only to reap the bitter fruits of injustice and tyranny After I am gone, he continued addressing his friends as before Think no longer of me, but take care of yourselves Anthony, I am sure, will be satisfied with Cassius' death and mine He will not be disposed to pursue you vindictively any longer Make peace with him on the best terms that you can Brutus then asked first one and then another of his friends to aid him in the last duty as he seems to have considered it of destroying his life but one after another declared that they could not do anything to assist him in carrying into effect so dreadful a determination Finally, he took with him his friend named Stratto and went away a little, apart from the rest Here he solicited once more the favor which had been refused him before begging that Stratto would hold out his sword Stratto still refused Brutus then called one of his slaves Upon this, Stratto declared that he would do anything rather than that Brutus should die with a hand of a slave He took the sword and with his right hand held it extended in the air With the left hand he covered his eyes that he might not witness the horrible spectacle Brutus then rushed upon the point of the weapon with such fatal force that he fell and immediately expired Thus ended the great and famous battle of Philippi celebrated in history as marking the termination of the great conflict between the friends and the enemies of Caesar which agitated the world so deeply after the conqueror's death This battle established the ascendancy of Antony and made him for a time the most conspicuous man as Cleopatra was the most conspicuous woman in the world End of Chapter 9 Chapter 10 of Cleopatra This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Robin Cotter May 2008 Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott Chapter 10 Cleopatra and Antony How far Cleopatra was influenced in her determination to espouse the cause of Antony rather than that of Brutus and Cassius in the Civil War described in the last chapter by gratitude to Caesar and how far on the other hand by personal interest in Antony the reader must judge Cleopatra had seen Antony it will be recollected some years before during his visit to Egypt when she was a young girl she was doubtless well acquainted with his character it was a character peculiarly fitted in some respects to captivate the imagination of a woman so ardent and impulsive and bold as Cleopatra was fast becoming Antony had in fact made himself an object of universal interest throughout the world by his wild and eccentric manners and reckless conduct and by the very extraordinary vicissitudes which had marked his career in moral character he was as utterly abandoned and depraved as it was possible to be in early life as has already been stated he plunged into such a course of dissipation and extravagance that he became utterly and hopelessly ruined or rather he would have been so had he not the influence of that magic power of fascination which such characters often possess succeeded in gaining a great ascendancy over a young man of immense fortune named Curio who for a time upheld him by becoming surety for his debts this resource however soon failed and Antony was compelled to abandon Rome and to live for some years as a fugitive and exile and disallude wretchedness and want during all the subsequent vicissitudes through which he passed in the course of his career the same habits of lavish expenditure continued whenever he had funds at his command this trait of character took the form sometimes of a noble generosity in his campaigns the plunder which he acquired he usually divided among his soldiers reserving nothing for himself this made his men enthusiastically devoted to him and led them to consider his prodigality as a virtue even when they did not themselves derive any direct advantage from it a thousand stories were always in circulation in camp of acts on his part illustrating his reckless disregard of the value of money some ludicrous and all eccentric and strange in his personal habits too he was as different as possible from other men he prided himself on being descended from Hercules and he affected a style of dress and a general air and manner in accordance with the savage character of this his pretended ancestor his features were sharp his nose was arched and prominent and he wore his hair and beard very long as long in fact as he could make them grow these peculiarities imparted to his countenance a very wild and ferocious expression he adopted a style of dress too which judged of with reference to the prevailing fashions of the time gave to his whole appearance a rough, savage and reckless air his manner and demeanor corresponded with his dress and appearance he lived in habits of the most unreserved familiarity with his soldiers he associated freely with them ate and drank with them in the open air rejoined in their noisy, mirth and rude and boisterous hilarity his commanding powers of mind and the desperate recklessness of his courage enabled him to do all this without danger these qualities inspired in the minds of the soldiers a feeling of profound respect for their commander and this good opinion he was enabled to retain notwithstanding such habits of familiarity with his inferiors as would have been fatal to the influence of an ordinary man in the most prosperous portion of Antony's career for example during the period immediately preceding the death of Caesar he addicted himself to vicious indulgences of the most open public and shameless character he had around him a sort of court formed of gestures, tumblers mount-o-banks, play-actors and other similar characters of the lowest and most disreputable class many of these companions were singing and dancing girls very beautiful and very highly accomplished in the arts of their respective professions but all totally corrupt and depraved public sentiment even in that age and nation strongly condemned this conduct the people were pagans it is true but it is a mistake to suppose that the formation of a moral sentiment in the community against such vices as these is a work Christianity alone can perform there is a law of nature in the form of an instinct universal in the race imperiously enjoining that the connection of the sexes shall consist of the union of one man with one woman and that woman his wife and very sternly prohibiting every other so that there has probably never been a community in the world so corrupt that a man could practice in it such vices as those of Antony without not only violating his own sense of right and wrong but also bringing upon himself the general condemnation of those around him still the world is prone to be very tolerant in respect to the vices of the great such exalted personages as Antony seemed to be judged by a different standard from common men even in the countries where those who occupy high stations of trust or of power are actually selected for the purpose of being placed there by the voices of their fellow men all inquiry into the personal character of a candidate is often suppressed such inquiry being condemned as wholly irrelevant and improper and they who succeed in attaining to power enjoy immunities in their elevation which are denied to common men but notwithstanding the influence of Antony's rank and power in shielding him from public censure he carried his excesses to such an extreme that his conduct was very loudly and very generally condemned he would spend all the night in carousels and then the next day would appear in public staggering in the streets sometimes he would enter the tribunals for the transaction of business when he was so intoxicated that it would be necessary for friends to come to his assistance to conduct him away in some of his journeys in the neighborhood of Rome he would take a group of companions with him of the worst possible character and travel with them openly and without shame there was a certain actress named Scytheride whom he made his companion on one such occasion she was born upon a litter in his train and he carried about with him a vast collection of gold and silver plate and of splendid table furniture together with an endless supply of luxurious articles of food to provide for the entertainments and banquets which he was to celebrate with her on the journey he would sometimes stop by the roadside pitch his tents establish his kitchens set his cooks at work to prepare a feast spread his tables and make a sumptuous banquet of the most costly complete and ceremonious character all to make a man wonder at the abundance and perfection of the means of luxury which he could carry with him wherever he might go in fact he always seemed to feel a special pleasure in doing strange and extraordinary things in order to excite surprise once on a journey he had lions harness to his carts to draw his baggage in order to create a sensation not withstanding the heedlessness with which Antony abandoned himself to these luxurious pleasures when at Rome no man could injure exposure and hardship better when in camp or on the field in fact he rushed with as much headlong precipitation into difficulty and danger when abroad as into expense and dissipation when at home during his contests with Octavius and Lepidus after Caesar's death he once had occasion to pass the Alps which with his customary recklessness he attempted to traverse without any proper supplies of stores or means of transportation he was reduced on the passage of the troops under his command to the most extreme destitution and distress they had to feed on roots and herbs and finally on the bark of trees and they barely preserved themselves by these means from actual starvation Antony seemed however to care nothing for all this but pressed on through the difficulty and danger manifesting the same daring and determined unconcern to the end in the same campaign Antony himself at one time reduced to extreme destitution in respect to men his troops had been gradually wasted away until his situation had become very desperate he conceived under these circumstances the most extraordinary idea of going over alone to the camp of Lepidus and enticing away his rival's troops from under the very eyes of their commander this bold design was successfully executed Antony advanced alone clothed in wretched garments and with his matted hair and beard hanging about his breast and shoulders up to Lepidus's lines the men who knew him well received him with acclamations and pitying the sad condition to which they saw that he was reduced began to listen to what he had to say Lepidus who could not attack him since he and Antony were not at that time in open hostility to each other but were only rival commanders in the same army ordered the trumpeters to sound in order to make a noise which should prevent the words of Antony from being heard this interrupted the negotiation but the men immediately disguised two of their number in female apparel and sent them to Antony to make arrangements with him for putting themselves under his command and offering at the same time to murder Lepidus if he would but speak the word Antony charged them to do Lepidus with no injury he however went over and took possession of the camp and assumed the command of the army he treated Lepidus himself personally with extreme politeness and retained him as a subordinate under his command not far from the time of Caesar's death Antony was married the name of the lady was Fulvia she was a widow at the time of her marriage with Antony and was a woman of very market she had led a wild and irregular life previous to that time but she conceived a very strong attachment to her new husband and devoted herself to him from the time of her marriage with the most constant fidelity she soon acquired a very great ascendancy over him and was the means of affecting a very considerable reform in his conduct and character she was an ambitious and aspiring woman and made many very efficient and thoughtful efforts to promote the elevation and aggrandizement of her husband she appeared also to take great pride and pleasure in exercising over him herself a great personal control she succeeded in these attempts in a manner that surprised everybody it seemed astonishing to all mankind that such a tiger as he had been could be subdued by any human power nor was it by gentleness and mildness that Fulvia gained such power over her husband she was of a very stern and masculine character and she seems to have mastered Antony by surpassing him in the use of his own weapons in fact instead of attempting to soothe and mollify him she reduced him it seems to the necessity of resorting to various contrivances to soften and propitiate her once for example on his return from a campaign in which he had been exposed to great dangers he disguised himself and came home at night in the garb of courier bearing dispatches he caused himself to be ushered muffled and disguised as he was into Fulvia's apartments where he handed her some pretended letters which he said were from her husband and while Fulvia was opening them in great excitement and trepidation he threw off his disguise and revealed himself to her by clasping her in his arms and kissing her in the midst of her amazement Antony's marriage with Fulvia besides being the means of reforming his morals in some degree softened and civilized him in respect to his manners his dress and appearance now assumed a different character in fact his political elevation after Caesar's death soon became very exalted in the various democratic arts by which he had sought to raise himself to it being now no longer necessary were as usual in such cases gradually discarded he lived in great style and splendor when at Rome and when absent from home on his military campaigns he began to exhibit the same pomp and parade in his equipage and in his arrangements as were usual in the camps of other Roman generals after the battle of Philippi described in the last chapter Antony, who with all his fault was sometimes a very generous foe as soon as the tidings of Brutus's death were brought to him repaired immediately to the spot and appeared to be quite shocked and concerned at the sight of the body he took off his own military cloak or mantle which was a very magnificent and costly garment being enriched with many expensive ornaments and spread it over the corpse he then gave directions to one of the officers of his household to make arrangements for funeral ceremonies of a very imposing character as a testimony of his respect for the memory of the deceased in these ceremonies it was the duty of the officer to have burned the military cloak which Antony had appropriated to the purpose of appalling with the body he did not, however, do so the cloak being very valuable he reserved it and he withheld also a considerable part of the money which had been given him for the expenses of the funeral he supposed that Antony would probably not inquire very closely into the details of the arrangements made for the funeral of his most inveterate enemy Antony, however, did inquire into them and when he learned what the officer had done he ordered him to be killed the various political changes which occurred and the movements which took place among the several armies after the battle of Philippi can not be here detailed it is sufficient to say that Antony proceeded to the eastward and in the course of the following year came to Cilicia from this place he sent a messenger to Egypt to Cleopatra summoning her to appear before him there were charges he said against her of having aided Cassius and Brutus in the late war instead of rendering assistance to him whether there really were any such charges or whether they were only fabricated by Antony as pretexts for seeing Cleopatra the beauty was very widely extended does not certainly appear however this may be he sent to summon the queen to come to him the name of the messenger whom Antony dispatched on this errand was Delias Fulvia, Antony's wife was not with him at this time she had been left behind at Rome Delias proceeded to Egypt and appeared at Cleopatra's court the queen was at this time about twenty-eight beautiful as was said than ever before Delias was very much struck with her beauty and with a certain fascination in her voice and conversation of which her ancient biographers often speak as one of the most irresistible of her charms he told her that she need have no fear of Antony it was of no consequence he said what charges there might be against her she would find that in a very few days after she had entered into Antony's presence she would be in great favor she might rely in fact he said on gaining very speedily an unbounded ascendancy over the general he advised her therefore to proceed to Cilicia without fear and to present herself before Antony in as much pomp and magnificence as she could command he would answer he said for the result Cleopatra determined to follow this advice in fact her ardent and impulsive imagination was fired with the idea of making a second time the conquest of the greatest general and highest potentate in the world she began immediately to make provision for the voyage she employed all the resources of her kingdom in procuring for herself the most magnificent means of display such as expensive and splendid dresses rich services of plate ornaments of precious stones and of gold and presence in great variety costly description for Antony she appointed also a numerous retinue of attendance to accompany her and in a word made all the arrangements complete for an expedition of the most imposing and magnificent character while these preparations were going forward she received new and frequent communications from Antony urging her to hasten her departure but she paid very little attention to them it was evident that she felt quite independent and was intending to take her own time at length however all was ready and Cleopatra set sail she crossed the Mediterranean Sea and entered the mouth of the river Sidnes Antony was at Tarsus, a city upon the Sidnes, a small distance above its mouth when Cleopatra's fleet had entered the river she embarked on board a most magnificent barge which she had constructed and had brought with her across the sea this barge was the most magnificent and highly ornamented vessel that had ever been built it was adorned with carvings and decorations of the finest workmanship and elaborately gilded the sails were of purple and the oars were inlaid and tipped with silver upon the deck of this barge Queen Cleopatra appeared under a canopy of cloth of gold she was dressed very magnificently in which Venus, the goddess of beauty was then generally represented she was surrounded by a company of beautiful boys who attended upon her in the form of cupids and fanned her with their wings and by a group of young girls representing the nymphs and the graces there was a band of musicians stationed upon the deck this music guided the oarsmen as they kept time to it in their rowing and soft as the melody was the strains were heard far and wide over the water and along the shores as the beautiful vessel advanced on its way the performers were provided with flutes, lyres, vials and all the other instruments customarily used in those times to produce music of a gentle and voluptuous kind illustration meeting of Cleopatra and Antony in fact the whole spectacle seemed like a vision of enchantment because of the approach of the barge spread rapidly around and the people of the country came down in crowds to the shores of the river to gaze upon it in admiration as it glided slowly along at the time of its arrival at Tarsus Antony was engaged in giving a public audience at some tribunal in his palace but everybody ran to see Cleopatra and the barge and the great triumphor was left consequently alone in two official attendants near him Cleopatra on arriving at the city landed and began to pitch her tents on the shores Antony sent a messenger to bid her welcome and to invite her to come and sup with him she declined the invitation saying that it was more proper that he should come and sup with her she would accordingly expect him to come she said and her tents would be ready at the proper hour Antony complied with her proposal and came to her entertainment he was received with a magnificence and splendor which amazed him the tents and pavilions where the entertainment was made were illuminated with an immense number of lamps these lamps were arranged in a very ingenious and beautiful manner so as to produce an illumination of the most surprising brilliancy and beauty the immense number and variety too of the meats and wines and of the vessels of gold and silver the tables were loaded and the magnificence and splendor of the dresses worn by Cleopatra and her attendants combined to render the whole scene one of bewildering enchantment the next day Antony invited Cleopatra to come and return his visit but though he made every possible effort to provide a banquet as sumptuous and as sumptuously served as hers he failed entirely in this attempt and acknowledged himself completely Antony was moreover at these interviews perfectly fascinated with Cleopatra's charms her beauty, her wit her thousand accomplishments and above all the tact and adroitness and self-possession which she displayed in assuming at once so boldly and carrying out so adroitly the idea of her social superiority over him that he yielded his heart almost immediately to her undisputed sway the first use which Cleopatra made of her power was to ask Antony for her sake to order her sister Arsynoui to be slain Arsynoui had gone, it will be recollected, to Rome to Grace Caesar's triumph there and had afterwards retired to Asia where she was now living in exile Cleopatra either from a sentiment of past revenge or else from some apprehensions of future danger now desired that her sister should die Antony readily acceded to her request he sent an officer in search of the unhappy princess the officer slew her where he found her within the precincts of a temple to which she had fled supposing at a sanctuary which no degree of hostility however extreme would have dared to violate Cleopatra remained at Tarsus for some time revolving in an incessant round of gaiety and pleasure and living in habits of unrestrained intimacy with Antony she was accustomed to spend whole days and nights with him in feasting and revelry the immense magnificence of these entertainments, especially on Cleopatra's part, were the wonder of the world she seems to have taken special pleasure in exciting Antony's surprise by the display of her wealth and the boundless extravagance in which she indulged at one of her banquets Antony was expressing his astonishment at the cups enriched with jewels that were displayed on all sides oh said she they are nothing if you like them you shall have them all so saying she ordered her servants to carry them to Antony's house the next day she invited Antony again with a large number of the chief officers of his army and court the table was spread with the new service of gold and silver vessels more extensive and splendid on the seating day and at the close of the supper when the company was about to depart Cleopatra distributed all these treasures among the guests that had been present at the entertainment at another of these feasts she carried her ostentation and display to the astonishing extreme of taking off from one of her earrings a pearl of immense value and dissolving it in a cup of vinegar which she afterward made into a drink such as was customarily used in those days and then drank it she was proceeding to do the same with the other pearl when some of the company arrested the proceeding and took the remaining pearl away in the meantime while Antony was thus wasting his time in luxury and pleasure with Cleopatra his public duties were neglected and everything was getting into confusion Fulvia remained in Italy her position and her character gave her a commanding political influence and she exerted herself in a very energetic manner to sustain in that quarter of the world the interests of her husband's cause she was surrounded with difficulties and dangers the details of which cannot however be here particularly described she wrote continually to Antony urgently in treating him to come to Rome and displaying in her letters all those marks of agitation and distress which a wife would naturally feel under the circumstances in which she was placed the thought that her husband had been so completely drawn away from her by the guilty arts of such a woman and led by her to abandon his wife and his family and leave in neglect and confusion concerns of such momentous magnitude as those which demanded his attention at home produced an excitement in her mind bordering upon frenzy Antony was at length so far influenced by his urgency of the case that he determined to return he broke up his quarters at Tarsus and moved south toward Tyre which was a great naval port and station in those days Cleopatra went with him they were to separate at Tyre she was to embark there for Egypt and he for Rome at least that was Antony's plan but it was not Cleopatra's she had been determined that Antony should go with her to Alexandria as might have been expected when the time came for the decision the woman gained the day her flatteries, her arts, her caresses her tears prevailed after a brief struggle between the sentiment of love on the one hand and those of ambition and of duty combined on the other Antony gave up the contest abandoning everything else he surrendered himself wholly to Cleopatra's control and went with her to Alexandria he spent the winter there giving himself up with her to every species of sensual indulgence that the most remorseless license could tolerate and the most unbounded wealth procure there seemed in fact to be no bounds to the extravagance and infatuation which Antony displayed during the winter in Alexandria Cleopatra devoted herself to him incessantly day and night filling up every moment of time with some new form of pleasure in order that he might have no time for his absent wife or to listen to the reproaches of his conscience Antony on his part surrendered himself a willing victim to these wiles and entered with all his heart into the thousand plans of gaiety and merrymaking which Cleopatra devised they had each a separate establishment in the city which was maintained at an enormous cost and they made an arrangement by which each was the guest of the other on alternate days were spent in games, sports, spectacles feasting, drinking and in every species of riot irregularity and excess a curious instance is afforded of the accidental manner in which intelligence in respect to the scenes and incidents of private life in those ancient days is sometimes obtained in a circumstance which occurred this time in Antony's court it seems that there was a young medical student at Alexandria that winter named Filatos who happened in some way or other to have formed an acquaintance with one of Antony's domestics, a cook under the guidance of this cook Filatos went one day into the palace to see what was to be seen the cook took his friend into the kitchens where to Filatos's great surprise he saw among an infinite number and variety of other preparations eight wild boars roasting before the fires some being more and some less advanced in the process Filatos asked what great company was to dine there that day the cook smiled at this question and replied that there was to be no company at all other than Antony's ordinary party but said the cook in explanation we are obliged always to prepare several suppers and to have them ready in succession at different hours for no one can tell at what time they will order the entertainment to be served sometimes when the supper has been actually carried in Antony and Cleopatra will get engaged in some new turn of their diversions and conclude not to sit down just then to the table and so we have to take the supper away and presently bring in another Antony had a son with him at Alexandria at this time the child of his wife Fulvia the name of the son as well as that of the father Antony he was old enough to feel some sense of shame at his father's dereliction from duty and to manifest some respectful regard for the rights and the honour of his mother instead of this however he imitated his father's example and in his own way was as reckless and extravagant as he the same Filatos who was above referred to was after a time appointed to some office or other in the young Antony's household that he was accustomed to sit at his table and share in his convivial enjoyments he relates that once while they were feasting together there was a guest present a physician who was a very vain and conceited man and so talkative that no one else had any opportunity to speak all the pleasure of conversation was spoiled by his excessive gorillety Filatos however at length puzzled him so completely with a question of logic of a kind similar to those often discussed with great interest in ancient days as to silence him for a time and young Antony was so much delighted with this feat that he gave Filatos all the gold and silver plate that there was upon the table and sent the articles home to him after the entertainment was over telling him to put his mark and stamp upon them and lock them up the question with which Filatos puzzled the self-conceited physician for this it must be premised however that in those days it was considered that cold water in an intermittent fever was extremely dangerous except in some peculiar cases and in those the effect was good Filatos then argued as follows in cases of a certain kind it is best to give water to a patient in an Agu all cases of Agu are cases of a certain kind therefore it is best in all cases to give water to a patient water Filatos having propounded his argument in this way challenged the physician to point out the fallacy of it and while the physician sat perplexed and puzzled in his attempts to unravel the intricacy of it the company enjoyed a temporary respite from his excessive locosity Filatos adds in his account of this affair that he sent the gold and silver plate back to young Antony again to keep them Antony said that perhaps it was as well that this should be done since many of the vessels were of great value on account of their rare and antique workmanship and his father might possibly miss them and wish to know what had become of them as there were no limits on the one hand to the loftiness and grandeur of the pleasures to which Antony and Cleopatra addicted themselves so there were none to the low and to basing tendencies which characterised them on the other. Sometimes at midnight after having been spending many hours in mirth and revelry in the palace Antony would disguise himself in the dress of a slave and sally forth into the streets excited with wine in search of adventures in many cases Cleopatra herself similarly disguised would go out with him on these excursions Antony would take pleasure in involving himself in all sorts of difficulties and dangers in street riots, drunken brawls desperate quarrels with the populace all for Cleopatra's amusement and his own. Stories of these adventures would circulate afterward among the people some of whom would admire the free jovial character of their eccentric visitor and others would despise him as a prince degrading himself to the level of a brute some of the amusements and pleasures which Antony and Cleopatra pursued were innocent in themselves though wholly unworthy to be made the serious business of life by personages on whom such exalted duties rightfully devolved they made various excursions upon the Nile and arranged parties of pleasure to go out on the water in the harbour and to various rural retreats in the environs of the city once they went out on a fishing-party in boats in the port Antony was unsuccessful and feeling chagrined the Cleopatra should witness his ill luck he made a secret arrangement with some fishermen to dive down where they could do so unobserved and fasten fishes to his hook under the water by this plan he caught very large and fine fish very fast Cleopatra however was too wary to be easily deceived by such a stratagem as this she observed the maneuver but pretended not to observe it she expressed on the other hand the greatest surprise and delight at Antony's good luck and the extraordinary skill she had indicated the next day she wished to go a fishing again and a party was accordingly made as on the day before she had however secretly instructed another fisherman to procure a dried and salted fish from the market and watching his opportunity to get down into the water under the boats and attach it to the hook before Antony's divers could get there this plan succeeded and Antony in the midst of a large and gay boat that were looking on pulled out an excellent fish cured and dried such as was known to everyone as an imported article bought in the market it was a fish of a kind that was brought originally from Asia Minor the boats and the water all around them resounded with the shouts of merriment and laughter which this incident occasioned in the meantime while Antony was thus spending his time in low and ignoble pursuits and in guilty pleasures at Alexandria his wife Fulvia after exhausting all other means of inducing her husband to return to her became desperate and took measures for fomenting an open war which she thought would compel him to return the extraordinary energy, influence and talent which Fulvia possessed enabled her to do this in an effectual manner she organized an army, formed a camp placed herself the head of the troops and sent such tidings to Antony of the dangers which threatened his cause as greatly alarmed him at the same time news came of great disasters in Asia Minor and of alarming insurrections among the provinces which had been committed to his charge there Antony saw that he must arouse himself from the spell which had enchanted him and break away from Cleopatra or that he would be wholly and irretrievably ruined he made accordingly a desperate effort to get free he bade the queen farewell embarked hastily in a fleet of galleys and sailed away to Tyre leaving Cleopatra in her palace vexed, disappointed and chagrined End of Chapter 10 Cleopatra and Antony