Cleopatra — Complete

by Georg Ebers

  CHAPTER XI.

  The Queen had left her bath. Iras had arranged the still abundant wavesof her hair, now dark-brown in hue, and robed her magnificently toreceive the dignitaries whom, spite of the late hour of the night, sheexpected.

  How wonderfully she had retained her beauty! It seemed as if Time hadnot ventured to touch this masterpiece of feminine loveliness; yet theGreek's keen eye detected here and there some token of the vanishingspell of youth. She loved her mistress, yet her inmost soul rejoicedwhenever she detected in her the same changes which began to appear inherself, the woman of seven-and-twenty, so many years her sovereign'sjunior. She would gladly have given Cleopatra everything at her command,yet she felt as if she must praise Nature for an act of justice, whenshe perceived that even her royal favourite was not wholly relieved fromthe law which applied to all.

  "Cease your flattery," said Cleopatra, smiling mournfully. "Theysay that the works of the Pharaohs here on the Nile flout Time. Theinexorable destroyer is less willing to permit this from the Queenof Egypt. These are grey hairs, and they came from this head, howevereagerly you may deny it. Whose save my own are these lines around thecorners of the eyes and on the brow? What say you to the tooth whichmy lips do not hide so kindly as you assert? It was injured the nightbefore the luckless battle. My dear, faithful, skilful Olympus, theprince of leeches, is the only one who can conceal such things. But itwould not do to take the old man to the war, and Glaucus is far lessadroit. How I missed Olympus during those fatal hours! I seemed amonster even to myself, and he--Antony's eye is only too keen forsuch matters. What is the love of men? A blackened tooth may prove itsdestruction. An aspect obnoxious to the gaze will pour water on thefiercest fire. What hours I experienced, Iras! Many a glance from himseemed an insult, and, besides, my heart was filled with torturinganxiety.

  "Something had evidently come between us! I felt it. The trouble begansoon after he left Alexandria. It gnawed my soul like a worm, and nowthat I am here again I must see clearly. He will follow me in a fewdays, I know. Pinarius Scarpus, with his untouched legions, is inParaetonium, whither he went. At Taenarum he resolved to retire fromthe world which he, on whom it had bestowed so much that is great, hatesbecause he has given it cause for many a shake of the head. But the oldspirit woke again, and if Fortune, usually so faithful, still aidshim, a large force will soon join the new African army. The Asiaticprinces--But the ruler of the state must be silent. I entered this roomto give the woman her just rights, and the woman shall have them. Hewill soon be here. He cannot live without me. It is not alone the beakerof Nektanebus which draws him after me!"

  "When the greatest of the great, Julius Caesar, sued for your love inAlexandria, and Antony on the Cydnus, you did not possess the goblet,"observed Iras. "It is two years since Anubis permitted you to borrow themasterpiece from the temple treasures, and within a few days you will beobliged to restore it. That a mysterious spell emanates from the cupis certain, but one still more powerful dwells in the magic of your ownnature."

  "Would that it might assert itself to-day!" cried the Queen. "At anyrate the power of the beaker impelled Antony to do many things. I am notvain enough to believe that it was love, that it was solely the spellof my own personality which drew him to me in that disastrous hour. Thatbattle, that incomprehensible, disgraceful battle! You were ill,and could not see our fleet when it set sail; but even experiencedspectators said that handsomer, larger vessels were never beheld. I wasright in insisting that the decision of the conflict should be left tothem. I was entitled to call them mine. Had we conquered, what a prouddelight it would have been to say, 'The weapons which you gave to theman you loved gained him the sovereignty of the world!' Besides, thestars had assured me that good fortune would attend us on the sea. Theyhad given the same message to Anubis here and to Alexas upon Antony'sgalley. I also trusted the spell of the goblet, which had alreadycompelled Antony to do many things he opposed. So I succeeded in havingthe decision of the conflict left to the fleet, but the prediction wasfalse, false, false!--how utterly, was to be proved only too soon.

  "If I had only been told in time what I learned later! After the defeatpeople were more loquacious. That one remark of a veteran commander ofthe foot-soldiers would probably have sufficed to open my eyes. He hadasked Mark Antony why he fixed his hopes on miserable wood, exclaiming,'Let the Phoenician's and Egyptians war on the water, but leave us theland where we are accustomed, with our feet firmly set upon the earth,to fight, conquer, or die!' This alone, I am sure, would have changed myresolve in a happy hour. But it was kept from me.

  "The conflict began. Our troops had lost patience. The left wing of thefleet advanced. At first I watched the battle eagerly, with a throbbingheart. How proudly the huge galleys moved forward! Everything was goingadmirably. Antony had made an address, assuring the warriors that, evenwithout soldiers, our ships would destroy the foe by their mere heightand size. What orator can so carry his hearers with him! I, too,was still fearless. Who cherishes anxiety when confidently expectingvictory? When he went on board his own ship, after bidding me farewellfar less cordially than usual, I became more troubled. I thought itwas evident that his love was waning. What had I become since weleft Alexandria, and Olympus no longer attended me! Matters could notcontinue in this way. I would leave the direction of the war to him, andvanish from his eyes. After he had looked into the beaker of Nektanebus,he yielded to my will, but often with indignation. The unconcealed,ineffaceable lines, and the years, the cruel years!"

  "What thoughts are these?" cried Iras. "Let me take oath, my sovereignmistress, that as you stand before me--"

  "Thanks to this toilet-table and the new compounds of Olympus in theseboxes! At that time, I tell you, I was fairly startled at the sight ofmy own face. Trouble does not enhance beauty, and what condemnation theRomans had heaped on the woman who meddled with war, the craft of man! Ihad answers for them, but I would not endure it longer. I had previouslydetermined to hold aloof from the battle on land; but even at thecommencement of the conflict, spite of its favourable promise, I longedto leave Antony and return to the children. They do not heed the colourof their mother's hair, nor her wrinkles; and he, when he had looked forand called me in vain, would feel for the first time what he possessedin me, would miss me, and with the longing the old love would awakenwith fresh ardour. As soon as the fleet had gained the victory I wouldhave the prow of my galley turned southward and, without a farewell,exclaiming only, 'We will meet in Alexandria!' set sail for Egypt.

  "I summoned Alexas, who had remained with me, and ordered him to give mea signal as soon as the battle was decided in our favour. I remainedon deck. Then I saw the ships of the foe describing a wide circle. Thenauarch told me that Agrippa was trying to surround us. This roused afeeling of discomfort. I began to repent having meddled with men's work.

  "Antony looked across at me from his galley. I waved my hand to pointout the peril, but instead of eagerly and lovingly answering thegreeting, as of yore, he turned his back, and in a short time after thewildest uproar arose around me. One ship became entangled with another,planks and poles shattered with a loud crash. Shouts, the cries andmoans of the combatants and the wounded, mingled with the thunder of thestones hurled by the catapults, and the sharp notes of the signals whichsounded like calls for help. Two soldiers, stricken by arrows, fellbeside me. It was horrible! Yet my courage remained steadfast, even whena squadron--it was commanded by Aruntius--pressed upon the fleet. I sawanother line of galleys steering directly towards us, and a Roman vesselassailed by one of mine--I had named her the Selene--turn on her sideand sink. This pleased me and seemed like the first presage of victory.I again ordered Alexas to have the ship's prow turned as soon as theresult of the battle was decided. Ere I had ceased speaking, Jason, thesteward--you know him--appeared with refreshments. I took the beaker,but, ere I could raise it to my lips, he fell to the deck with a clovenskull, mingling his blood with the spilled juice of the grape. My bloodseemed fairly to freeze in my veins, and Alexa
s, trembling and deadlypale, asked, 'Do you command us to quit the battle?'

  "Every fibre of my being urged me to give the order, but I controlledmyself, and asked the nauarch, who was standing on the bridge beforeme, 'Are we gaining the advantage?' The reply was a positive 'Yes.' Ithought the fitting time had come, and called to him to steer the galleysouthward. But the man did not seem to understand. Meanwhile the noiseof the conflict had grown louder and louder. So, in spite of Charmian,who besought me not to interfere in the battle, I sent Alexas to thecommander on the bridge, and while he talked with the grey-beardedseaman, who wrathfully answered I know not what, I glanced at thenearest ship--I no longer knew whether it was friend or foe--and as Isaw the rows of restless oars moving in countless numbers to and fro,it seemed as if every ship had become a huge spider, and the long woodenhandles of the oars were its legs and feet. Each of these monstersappeared to be seeking to snare me in a horrible net, and when thenauarch came to beseech me to wait, I imperiously commanded him to obeymy orders.

  "The luckless man bowed, and performed his Queen's behest. The giant wasturned, and forced a passage through the maze.

  "I breathed more freely.

  "What had threatened me like the legs of huge spiders became oars oncemore. Alexas led me under a roof, where no missiles could reach me. Mydesire was fulfilled. I had escaped Antony's eyes, and we were goingtowards Alexandria and my children. When I at last looked around I sawthat my other ships were following. I had not given this order, and wasterribly startled. When I sought Alexas, he had vanished. The centurionwhom I sent to order the nauarch to give the signal to the other shipsto return to the battle, reported that the captain's dead body has justbeen borne away, but that the command should be given. How this was doneI do not know, but it produced no effect, and no one noticed the anxiouswaving of my handkerchief.

  "We had left Antony's galley--he was standing on the bridge--far behind.

  "I had waved my hand as we passed close by, and he hurried down to bendfar over the bulwark and shout to me. I can still see his hands raisedto his bearded lips. I did not understand what he said, and only pointedsouthward and in spirit wished him victory and that this separationmight tend to the welfare of our love. But he shook his head, pressedhis hand despairingly to his brow, and waved his arms as though to giveme a sign, but the Antonias swept far ahead of his ship and steeredstraight towards the south.

  "I breathed more freely, in the pleasant consciousness of escaping atwo-fold danger. Had I remained long before Antony's eyes, looking as Idid then, it might--

  "Wretched blunder of a wretched woman, I say now. But at that time Icould not suspect what a terrible doom I had brought down in that hourupon ourselves, my children, perhaps the whole world; so I remainedunder the thrall of these petty fears and thoughts until wounded menwere carried past me. The sight distressed me; you know how sensitive Iam, and with what difficulty I endure and witness suffering.

  "Charmian led me to the cabin. There I first realized what I had done. Ihad hoped to aid in crushing the hated foe, and now perhaps it was Iwho had built for him the bridge to victory, to sovereignty, to ourdestruction. Pursued by such thoughts, as if by the Furies, I pacedrestlessly to and fro.

  "Suddenly I heard a loud noise on deck. A crashing blow seemed to shakethe huge ship. We were pursued! A Roman galley had boarded mine! Thiswas my thought as I grasped the dagger Antony had given me.

  "But Charmian came back with tidings which seemed scarcely less terriblethan the baseless fear. I had angrily commanded her to leave me becauseshe had urged me to revoke the command to turn back. Now, deadly pale,she announced that Mark Antony had left his galley, followed me in alittle five-oared boat, and come on board our ship.

  "My blood froze in my veins.

  "He had come, I imagined, to force me to return to the battle and,drawing a long breath, my defiant pride urged me to show him that I wasthe Queen and would obey only my own will, while my heart impelled me tosink at his feet and beseech him, without heeding me, to issue any orderwhich promised to secure a victory.

  "But he did not come.

  "I sent Charmian up again. Antony had been unable to continue theconflict when parted from me. Now he sat in front of the cabin with hishead resting on his hands, staring at the planks of the deck like onedistraught. He, he--Antony! The bravest horseman, the terror of thefoe, let his arms fall like a shepherd-boy whose sheep are stolen bythe wolves. Mark Antony, the hero who had braved a thousand dangers,had flung down his sword. Why, why? Because a woman had yielded to idlefears, obeyed the yearning of a mother's heart, and fled? Of all humanweaknesses, not one had been more alien than cowardice to the man whoserecklessness had led him to many an unprecedented venture. And now? No,a thousand times no! Fire and water would unite sooner than Mark Antonyand cowardice! He had been under the coercive power of a demon; amysterious spell had forced him--"

  "The mightiest power, love," interrupted Iras with enthusiasticwarmth--"a love as great and overmastering as ever subjugated the soulof man."

  "Ay, love," repeated Cleopatra, in a hollow tone. Then her lips curledwith a faint tinge of derision, and her voice expressed the verybitterness of doubt, as she continued: "Had it been merely the lovewhich makes two mortals one, transfers the heart of one to the other, itmight perchance have borne my timorous soul into the hero's breast!But no. Violent tempests had raged before the battle. It had not beenpossible always to appear before him in the guise in which we would fainbe seen by those whom we love.

  "Even now, when your skilful hands have served me--there is themirror--the image it reflects--seems to me like a carefully preservedwreck--"

  "O my royal mistress," cried Iras, raising her hands beseechingly, "mustI again declare that neither the grey hairs which are again brown, northe few lines which Olympus will soon render invisible, nor whateverelse perhaps disturbs you in the image you behold reflected, impairsyour beauty? Unclouded and secure of victory, the spell of your godlikenature--"

  "Cease, cease!" interrupted Cleopatra. "I know what I know. No mortalcan escape the great eternal laws of Nature. As surely as birthcommences life, everything that exists moves onward to destruction anddecay."

  "Yet the gods," Iras persisted, "give to their works different degreesof existence. The waterlily blooms but a single day, yet how full ofvigour is the sycamore in the garden of the Paneum, which has flourisheda thousand years! Not a petal in the blossoms of your youth has faded,and is it conceivable that there is even the slightest diminution in thelove of him who cast away all that man holds dearest because he couldnot endure to part, even for days or weeks, from the woman whom heworshipped?"

  "Would that he had done so!" cried Cleopatra mournfully. "But are youso sure that it was love which made him follow me? I am of a differentopinion. True love does not paralyze, but doubles the high qualities ofman. I learned this when Caesar was prisoned by a greatly superior forcewithin this very palace, his ships burned, his supply of water cut off.In him also, in Antony, I was permitted to witness this magnificentspectacle twenty--what do I say?-a hundred times, so long as he loved mewith all the ardour of his fiery soul. But what happened at Actium? Thatshameful flight of the cooing dove after his mate, at which generationsyet unborn will point in mockery! He who does not see more deeply willattribute to the foolish madness of love this wretched forgetfulness ofduty, honour, fame, the present and the future; but I, Iras--and thisis the thought which whitens one hair after another, which will speedilydestroy the remnant of your mistress's former beauty by the exhaustionof sleepless nights--I know better. It was not love which drew Antonyafter me, not love that trampled in the dust the radiant image ofreckless courage, not love that constrained the demigod to follow thepitiful track of a fugitive woman."

  Here her voice fell, and seizing the girl's wrist with a painfulpressure, she drew her closer to her side and whispered:

  "The goblet of Nektanebus is connected with it. Ay, tremble! The powersthat emanate from the glittering wonder are as terrible
as they areunnatural. The magic spell exerted by the beaker has transformed theheroic son of Herakles, the more than mortal, into the whimperingcoward, the crushed, broken nonentity I found upon the galley's deck.You are silent? Your nimble tongue finds no reply. How could you haveforgotten that you aided me to win the wager which forced Antony to gazeinto the beaker before I filled it for him? How grateful I was to Anubiswhen he finally consented to trust to my care this marvel of the templetreasures, when the first trial succeeded, and Antony, at my bidding,placed the magnificent wreath which he wore upon the bald brow of thatcrabbed old follower of Aristoteles, Diomedes, whom he detested in hisinmost soul! It was scarcely a year ago, and you know how rarely atfirst I used the power of the terrible vessel. The man whom I lovedobeyed my slightest glance, without its aid. But later--before thebattle--I felt how gladly he would have sent me, who might ruin all,back to Egypt. Besides, I felt--I have already said so--that somethinghad come between us. Yet, often as he was on the point of sacrificing meto the importunate Romans, I need only bid him gaze into the beaker,and exclaim 'You will not send me hence. We belong together. Whither onegoes, the other will follow!' and he besought me not to leave him. Thevery morning before the battle I gave him the drinking cup, urging him,whatever might happen, never, never to leave me. And he obeyed this timealso, though the person to whom a magic spell bound him was a fleeingwoman. It is terrible. And yet, have I a right to execrate the thrallof the beaker? Scarcely! For without the Magian's glittering vessel--asecret voice in my soul has whispered the warning a thousand timesduring the sleepless nights--he would have taken another on thegalley. And I believe I know this other--I mean the woman whosesinging enthralled my heart too at the Adonis festival just before ourdeparture. I noticed the look with which his eyes sought hers. Now Iknow that it was not merely my old deceitful foe, jealousy, which warnedme against her. Alexas, the most faithful of his friends, also confirmedwhat I merely feared--ah! and he told me other things which the starshad revealed to him. Besides, he knows the siren, for she was the wifeof his own brother. To protect his honour, he cast off the coquettishCirce."

  "Barine!" fell in resolute tones from the lips of Iras.

  "So you know her?" asked Cleopatra, eagerly. The girl raised her claspedhands beseechingly to the Queen, exclaiming:

  "I know this woman only too well, and how my heart rages against her! Omy mistress, that I, too, should aid in darkening this hour! Yet it mustbe said. That Antony visited the singer, and even took his son theremore than once, is known throughout the city. Yet that is not the worst.A Barine entering into rivalry with you! It would be too ridiculous. Butwhat bounds can be set to the insatiate greed of these women? No rank,no age is sacred. It was dull in the absence of the court and the army.There were no men who seemed worth the trouble of catching, so shecast her net for boys, and the one most closely snared was the KingCaesarion."

  "Caesarion!" exclaimed Cleopatra, her pale cheeks flushing. "And histutor Rhodon? My strict commands?"

  "Antyllus secretly presented him to her," replied Iras. "But I kept myeyes open. The boy clung to the singer with insensate passion. The onlyexpedient was to remove her from the city. Archibius aided me."

  "Then I shall be spared sending her away."

  "Nay, that must still be done; for, on the journey to the countryCaesarion, with several comrades, attacked her."

  "And the reckless deed was successful?"

  "No, my royal mistress. I wish it had been. A love-sick fool whoaccompanied her drew his sword in her defence, raised his hand againstthe son of Caesar, and wounded him. Calm yourself, I beseech you, Iconjure you--the wound is slight. The boy's mad passion makes me farmore anxious."

  The Queen's pouting scarlet lips closed so firmly that her mouth lostthe winning charm which was peculiar to it, and she answered in a firm,resolute tone: "It is the mother's place to protect the son against thetemptress. Alexas is right. Her star stands in the path of mine. Awoman like this casts a deep shadow on her Queen's course. I will defendmyself. It is she who has placed herself between us; she has won Antony.But no! Why should I blind myself? Time and the charms he steals fromwomen are far more powerful than twenty such little temptresses. Then,there are the circumstances which prevented my concealing the defectsthat wounded the eyes of this most spoiled of all spoiled mortals. Allthese things aided the singer. I feel it. In her pursuit of men shehad at her command all the means which aid us women to conceal what isunlovely and enhance what is beautiful in a lover's eyes, while I was ata disadvantage, lacking your aid and the long-tested skill of Olympus.The divinity on the ship, amid the raging of the storm, was forced morethan once to appear before the worshipper ungarlanded, without ornamentfor the head, or incense."

  "But though she used all the combined arts of Aphrodite and Isis, shecould not vie with you, my royal mistress!" cried Iras. "How little isrequired to delude the senses of one scarcely more than a child!"

  "Poor boy!" sighed the Queen, gently. "Had he not been wounded, and wereit not so hard to resign what we love, I should rejoice that he, too,understands how to plan and act. Perhaps--O Iras, would that it might beso!--now that the gate is burst open, the brain and energy of the greatCaesar will enter his living image. As the Egyptians call Horus 'theavenger of his father,' perhaps he may become his mother's defender andavenger. If Caesar's spirit wakes within him, he will wrest from thedissembler Octavianus the heritage of which the nephew robbed the son.You swear that the wound is but a slight one?"

  "The physicians have said so."

  "Well, then we will hope so. Let him enter the conflict of life. Wewill afford him ample opportunity to test his powers. No foolish passionshall prevent the convalescent youth from following his father upwardalong the pathway of fame. But send for the woman who ensnared him, theaudacious charmer whose aspirations mount to those I hold dearest. Wewill see how she appears beside me!"

  "These are grievous times," said Iras, who saw in amazement the Queen'seyes sparkle with the confident light of victory. "Grant your foot itsright. Let it crush her! Monsters enough, on whom you cannot set yourfoot, throng your path. Hence to Hades, in these days of conflict, withall who can be quickly removed!"

  "Murder?" asked Cleopatra, her noble brow contracting in a frown.

  "If it must be, ay," replied Iras, sharply. "If possible, banishmentto an island, an oasis. If necessity requires, to the mines with thesiren!"

  "If necessity requires?" repeated the Queen. "I think that means, if itproves that she has deserved the harshest punishment."

  "She has brought it upon herself by every hour of my sovereign's lifeclouded through her wiles. In the mines the desire to set snares forhusbands and sons soon vanishes."

  "And people languish in the most terrible torture till death ends theirsuffering," added Cleopatra, in a tone of grave reproof. "No, girl,this victory is too easy. I will not send even my foe to death withouta hearing, especially at this time, which teaches me what it is to awaitthe verdict of one who is more powerful. This woman who, as it were,summons me to battle, shall have her wish. I am curious to see thesinger again, and to learn the means by which she has succeeded inchaining to her triumphal car so many captives, from boys up to the mostexacting men."

  "What do you intend, my royal mistress?" cried Iras in horror.

  "I intend," said Cleopatra imperiously, "to see the daughter of Leonax,the granddaughter of Didymus, two men whom I hold in high esteem, ereI decide her destiny. I wish to behold, test, and judge my rival, heartand mind, ere I condemn her. I will engage in the conflict to which shechallenged the loving wife and mother! But--this is my right--I willcompel her to show herself to me as Antony so often saw me during thepast few weeks, unaided and unimproved by the arts which we both have atcommand."

  Then, without paying any further heed to her attendant, she went to awindow, and, after a swift glance at the sky, added quietly: "Thefirst hour after midnight is drawing to a close. The council will beginimmediately. The matter to be under discussion is a venture
which mightsave much from the wreck. The council will last two hours, perchanceonly one. The singer can wait. Where does she live?"

  "In the house which belonged to her father, the artist Leonax, in thegarden of the Paneum," replied Iras hoarsely. "But, O my Queen, if evermy opinion had the slightest weight with you--"

  "I desire no counsel now, but demand the fulfilment of my orders!" criedCleopatra resolutely. "As soon as those whom I expect are here--"

  The Queen was interrupted by a chamberlain, who announced the arrival ofthe men whom she had summoned, and Cleopatra bade him tell them that shewas on her way to the council chamber. Then she turned again to Irasand in rapid words commanded her to go at once in a closed carriage,accompanied by a reliable person, to Barine's house. She must be broughtto the palace without the least delay--Iras would understand--even if itshould be necessary to rouse her from her sleep. "I wish to see her asif a storm had forced her suddenly upon the deck of a ship," she said inconclusion.

  Then snatching a small tablet from the dressing-table, she scrawled uponthe wax with a rapid hand: "Cleopatra, the Queen, desires to see Barine,the daughter of Leonax, without delay. She must obey any command ofIras, Cleopatra's messenger, and her companion."

  Then, closing the diptychon, she handed it to her attendant, asking:

  "Whom will you take?"

  She answered without hesitation, "Alexas."

  "Very well," answered Cleopatra. "Do not allow her a moment forpreparations, whatever they may be. But do not forget--I commandyou--that she is a woman."

  With these words she turned to follow the chamberlain, but Iras hurriedafter her to adjust the diadem upon her head and arrange some of thefolds of her robe.

  Cleopatra submitted, saying kindly, "Something else, I see, is weighingon your heart."

  "O my mistress!" cried the girl. "After these tempests of the soul,these harassing months, you are turning night into day and assumingfresh labours and anxieties. If the leech Olympus--"

  "It must be," interrupted Cleopatra kindly. "The last two weeks seemedlike a single long and gloomy night, during which I sometimes left mycouch for a few hours. One who seeks to drag what is dearest fromthe river does not consider whether the cold bath is agreeable. Ifwe succumb, it does not matter whether we are well or ill; if, on thecontrary, we succeed in gathering another army and saving Egypt, let itcost health and life. The minutes I intend to grant to the woman will bethrown into the bargain. Whatever may come, I shall be ready to meetmy fate. I am at one of life's great turning points. At such a time wefulfil our obligations and demands, both great and small."

  A few minutes later Cleopatra entered the throne-room and saluted themen whom she had roused from their slumber in order to lay before thema bold plan which, in the lowest depths of misfortune, her yearning tooffer fresh resistance to the victorious foe had caused her vigorous,restless mind to evoke.

  When, many years before, the boy with whom, according to her father'swill, she shared the throne, and his guardian Pothinus, had compelledher to fly from Alexandria, she had found in the eastern frontier ofthe Delta, on the isthmus which united Egypt to Asia, the remains of thecanal which the energetic Pharaohs of former times had constructed toconnect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea.

  Even at that period she had deemed this ruinous work worthy of notice,had questioned the AEnites who dwelt there about the remains, and evenvisited some of them herself during the leisure hours of waiting.

  From this survey it had seemed possible, by a great expenditure oflabour, to again render navigable the canal which the Pharaohs had usedto reach both seas in the same galleys, and by which, less than fivehundred years before, Darius, the founder of the Persian Empire, hadbrought his fleet to his support.

  With the tireless desire for knowledge characteristic of her, Cleopatrahad sought information concerning all these matters, and in quiet hourshad more than once pondered over plans for again uniting the Grecian andArabian seas.

  Clearly, plainly, fully, with more thorough knowledge of many detailsthan even the superintendent of the water works, she explained herdesign to the assembled professionals. If it proved practicable, therescued ships of the fleet, with others lying in the roadstead ofAlexandria, could be conveyed across the isthmus into the Red Sea, andthus saved to Egypt and withdrawn from the foe. Supported by thisforce, many things might be attempted, resistance might be considerablyprolonged, and the time thus gained used in gathering fresh aid andallies.

  If the opportunity to make an attack arrived, a powerful fleet wouldbe at her disposal, for which smaller ships also should now be built atKlysma, on the basis of the experience gained at Actium. The men who hadbeen robbed of their night's rest listened in amazement to the melodiouswords of this woman who, in the deepest disaster, had devised a planof escape so daring in its grandeur, and understood how to explain itbetter than any one of their number could have done. They followed everysentence with the keenest attention, and Cleopatra's language grewmore impassioned, gained greater power and depth, the more plainlyshe perceived the unfeigned, enthusiastic admiration paid her by herlisteners.

  Even the oldest and most experienced men did not consider the surprisingproposal utterly impossible and impracticable. Some, among them Gorgias,who during the restoration of the Serapeum had helped his father onthe eastern frontier of the Delta, and thus became familiar withthe neighbourhood of Heroonopolis, feared the difficulties which anelevation of the earth in the centre of the isthmus would place inthe way of the enterprise. Yet, why should an undertaking which wassuccessful in the days of Sesostris appear unattainable?

  The shortness of the time at their disposal was a still greater sourceof anxiety, and to this was added the information that one hundred andtwenty thousand workmen had perished during the restoration of the canalwhich Pharaoh Necho nearly completed. The water way was not finished atthat period, because an oracle had asserted that it would benefit onlythe foreigners, the Phoenicians.

  All these points were duly considered, but could not shake the opinionthat, under specially favourable conditions, the Queen's plan would bepracticable; though, to execute it, obstacles mountain-high were to beconquered. All the labourers in the fields, who had not been pressedinto the army, must be summoned to the work.

  Not an hour's delay was permitted. Where there was no water to bear theships, an attempt must be made to convey them across the land. Therewas no lack of means. The mechanics who had understood how to move theobelisks and colossi from the cataract to Alexandria, could here againfind opportunity to test their brains and former skill.

  Never had Cleopatra's kindling spirit roused more eager, nay, morepassionate sympathy, in any counsellors gathered around her thanduring this nocturnal meeting, and when at last she paused, the loudacclamations of excited men greeted her. The Queen's return, and thetidings of the lost battle which she had communicated, were to be keptsecret.

  Gorgias had been appointed one of the directors of the enterprise, andthe intellect, voice, and winning charm of Cleopatra had so enrapturedhim that he already fancied he saw the commencement of a new love whichwould be fatal to his regard for Helena.

  It was foolish to raise his wishes so high, but he told himself thathe had never beheld a woman more to be desired. Yet he cherished a verywarm memory of the philosopher's grand-daughter, and lamented that hewould scarcely find it possible to bid her farewell.

  Zeno, the Keeper of the Seal, Dion's uncle, had questioned him abouthis nephew in a very mysterious manner as soon as he entered the councilchamber, and received the reply that the wound in the shoulder, whichCaesarion had dealt with a short Roman sword, though severe, was--so thephysicians assured them-not fatal.

  This seemed to satisfy Zeno, and ere Gorgias could urge him to extend aprotecting hand over his nephew, he excused himself and, with a messageto the wounded man, turned his back upon him.

  The courtier had not yet learned what view the Queen would take of thisunfortunate affair, and besides, he was overloaded with busi
ness.The new enterprise required the issue of a large number of documentsconferring authority, which all passed through his hands.

  Cleopatra addressed a few kind, encouraging words to each one of theexperts who had been entrusted with the execution of her plan. Gorgias,too, was permitted to kiss her robe, which stirred his blood afresh. Hewould fain have flung himself at the feet of this marvellous woman and,with his services, place his life at her disposal. And Cleopatra noticedthe enthusiastic ardour of his glance.

  He, too, had been mentioned in the list of Barine's admirers. There mustbe something unusual about this woman! But could she have fired a bodyof grave men in behalf of a great, almost impossible deed, roused themto such enthusiastic admiration as she, the vanquished, menaced Queen?Certainly not.

  She felt in the right mood to confront Barine as judge and rival.

  In the midst of the deepest misery she had spent one happy hour. She hadagain felt, with joyous pride, that her intellect, fresh and unclouded,would be capable of outstripping the best powers, and in truth sheneeded no magic goblet to win hearts.