Cleopatra |
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The first, Julius Caesar, was debonair, elegant in manners and movement, a great swimmer, a swordsman, a beloved ruler, and able orator, and one of the world's greatest writers. In the arts of love, he was unique, excelling in licentiousness whether his amour was a woman or a young man. For any woman to hold him longer than a day was exceedingly difficult. The second, Caesar's friend and successor, Mark Antony, was tall, well built, and with the muscles of a gladiator. Generous, impulsive, and a bon vivant, he was a matchless orator of whom it was said, "There was no man of his time like him for addressing a multitude or for carrying soldiers with him by the force of his words." Irresistible to women, he made full use of his powers. He had no intention, he would say, of confining his hopes of progeny to any one woman, but like his ancestor Hercules, he intended to let nature have her will with him. This, he thought, was the best way of circulating noble blood throughout the world and thus begetting personally in every country a new line of kings. Such were the two giants Cleopatra held enslaved. She on her side, if not the most beautiful woman of her time, was perhaps the most captivating, the most learned, and the most witty. It is said that she spoke Greek, Egyptian, Latin, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Arabic, and Syrian fluently, as well as several African dialects. Dion Cassius, wrote of her, "She was splendid to see, and was capable of conquering the hearts which had resisted more obstinately the influence of love, and those which had been frozen by age. Her charm of speech was such that she won all who listened to her." Plutarch, who lived a century after her, said, "She had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and her character, which was somewhat diffused in her behavior towards others, had something stimulating about it. There was a sweetness, also, in the tones of her voice and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could really turn to whatever language she pleaded. She talked to her many subjects in all their languages, not needing an interpreter." Ambitious to save her country, this girl of seventeen planned to lift Egypt up again to its past grandeur and be a ruler of which history would ever speak. As the first step she decided to get rid of her nine-year-old brother Ptolemy, who, according to the custom of the times, was her husband and shared the throne with her. She was opposed by her brother's three counsellors: Photion, the eunuch; Theodosius, the regent; and Achillas, commander of the army. They stirred up the people against her and forced her to take refuge with her sister Arsinoe, Queen of Syria. With an army gathering in Syria, she was returning to Alexandria to give battle when she heard startling news. Pompey, her father's friend, had been defeated by Julius Caesar at Pharsalia and had come to Alexandria to seek her brother's protection, with Caesar in pursuit. When she reached Alexandria, Caesar, who had arrived with a large army, ordered both Cleopatra and Ptolemy to yield. Ptolemy obeyed; Cleopatra thought the matter over. She had heard much of Caesar. He was undoubtedly a very great man but to her and her people Rome was a land of barbarians. Still she could use to further her ambitions. He had an army. She decided to call on him. But how to do so? He had made his headquarters in a palace on the Lochias Promontory. To reach this she would have to pass through her brother's lines, and Photion, his general, would make a bloody finish of her if he caught her. Then an idea occurred to her. Calling a trusted slave, she bade him wrap her in a silken covering, place a magnificent carpet over that, wrap the whole in an ordinary covering, and take it as a present to Caesar. Caesar received the bearer with his usual politeness but with ordinary interest. Since his arrival he had been deluged with presents--vases, statues, and hundreds of objects for which he had no use. He bade the slaves undo the bundle. Then he gasped as the silken covering stirred and a laughing brown-skinned girl with crinkly hair and voluptuous figure, nude to the waist, stood before him. In her eyes was a gleam that made him forget his fifty-four years. When, to crown all, she addressed him in flawless Latin a voice full of music, instinct told him that into his surfeited life had come at last the one woman. He ordered his attendants from the room and from then on began to leave the gayest of lives with her. But she, unscrupulous and calculating, began at once to use him. The next morning when her brother and his counsellors were summoned before Caesar, they saw her on a throne beside Caesar and were informed that she was again co-ruler of Egypt. Her next move was to lure her brother into plotting against Caesar and to besiege Caesar in his palace. Then with her soldiers she helped Caesar defeat her brother, who jumped into the Nile and drowned himself. With Pompey killed and Egypt punished for having harbored him, Caesar's mission to Egypt was ended. Pressing business was calling him back, not to mention his wife, Calpurnia, who sent messengers pleading with him to return. But this roué to whom women had hitherto been but as the seeds of a fruit to be spat out after the fruit had been enjoyed lingered on in Alexandria. And there was good reason for his delay. He was expecting from Cleopatra the heir that Calpurnia had not given him. He had married Cleopatra according to Egyptian rites, but the marriage would be illegal in Rome. No Roman could marry a non-Roman. To give the prospective heir the greatest possible prestige, Caesar was declared the reincarnation of the great God Amen, thus making him equal in the eyes of the Egyptians with Cleopatra, who was worshipped as the greatest of all goddesses, the Virgin Mother Isis. When a son was born, Cleopatra thought herself the most fortunate of women. The boy was called Caesarion. Caesar now went back to Rome alone but promised to send for her. He was as good as his word. Cleopatra came with the infant Caesar, and with them came a cortege of such dazzling wealth that Rome had never seen its like, not even in the triumphal march of its conquerors. Caesar, who did nothing by halves, left his wife to live with Cleopatra. Cleopatra, ambitious for the improvement of her new country, had brought with her hundreds of scientists, artists, architects, astronomers, and financial experts, who revised the Roman calendar, reformed the public accounting, and generally helped to raise the standard of Roman culture. But these reforms were opposed by the Roman aristocracy, who resented the influence of a foreigner. Cicero, greatest orator of the day, was her most outspoken opponent. He denounced her as vain and arrogant, and complained that she was trying to make of Rome an absolute monarchy with Caesar as its god. In vain Cleopatra tried to placate Cicero with presents of rare books. Cicero had cause for complaint. Though Rome was a Caesar, under Cleopatra's influence, was acting like a king. He had an eighth royal statue, which bore his likeness, put up the statues of the seven earlier kings of Rome. This new wore a golden crown with the title "To the Immortal God." It clear that Caesar intended to proclaim himself king. Cassius, Casca, Cinna, and Brutus, Caesar's supposed son thereupon plotted against him and stabbed Caesar to death. Rome was horrified and Cleopatra most of all. Caesar's meant the death of all her dreams. She was now no longer of the Earth but only Queen of Egypt. She decided to return but talk of making her son ruler in Caesar's place delayed her a while. When this fell through she left secretly. At this point history repeats itself. Once more a master of world came east in pursuit of a fugitive. This time it was Mark Antony after Brutus. Having defeated Brutus at Philippi, and having learned that one of Cleopatra's generals had aided Brutus, he demanded that Cleopatra appear before him to give an explanation. Cleopatra laughed at that. She knew it was only a pretext. Antony was in love with her. He had tried to win her after Caesar's death but she had refused him. She ignored his order now. Antony sent other orders, with no better results. "She so despised and laughed the man to scorn," says Plutarch, "as to sail up the River Cydnus in a barge with gilded poop; its sails spread purple; its rowers urging it on with oars to the sound of the flute blended with pipes and lutes. She herself reclined beneath a canopy spangled with gold, adorned like Venus, in a painting, while boys, like Cupids, stood on either side of her and fanned her. About her were the fairest of her serving maidens attired like Nereids and Graces, with others at the rudder sweeps and at the reefing-ropes. Wondrous odors from countless incense-offerings on her ship diffused themselves along the banks." Antony, in delight, hastened to receive her. But Cleopatra, coming near enough only to give him a glimpse of her, ordered her rowers to turn about. The next day she bade the lovesick Antony to come to her. He obeyed. She received him on her, barge, dressed in a shimmering robe of the goddess Isis, through which one could see her matchless figure in all the glory of its five and twenty years. Antony, the Don Juan of his time, was hypnotized. Cleopatra, ever a schemer, exerted all her charm on him. She meant to put her son on a throne in Rome. She entertained him on a barge with a feast the like of which he had never seen before. The richness of the food, the music, the golden dishes inlaid with gems, the tablecloth of purple and gold, the flower-strewn floor, and the divinely beautiful woman beside him made Antony feel that he was indeed master of the world. When Antony marveled, she gave him an even more gorgeous feast the next day, following that with two others, till on the fourth day she gave one for his generals. On this occasion the floor was strewn two feet deep with roses, and after the dinner she gave the guests all the golden dishes and even the golden couch on which she reclined. When Antony said that she could give no costlier feast, Cleopatra wagered an enormous sum that she could. This was the occasion on which, it is said, she dissolved one of her two famous pearls in a goblet as a drink for Antony. As for the other pearl, she was about to dissolve that too when Placus held back her hand and told her she had won. Years later this other pearl was sawed in two and a half placed in each ear of the goddess Venus at Rome. Antony now abandoned himself completely to her, feasting and indulging in the delights of love. At night both went out disguised on the streets of Alexandria to revel in the life of the populace. Like a child, Cleopatra would knock at people's doors, and run away before they could answer. Together they went fishing. Antony once wagered that he would catch a certain number of fish within an hour. He had a slave swim under the water and place live fish on his hook. Cleopatra, discovering the trick, had one of her slaves put on a salted fish. Then to the discomfited Antony, she said, "Never mind, general. Your game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms. Leave the fishing rod to us, poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus." Later she gave him the Pergamum Library of 200,000 volumes the greatest collection of books in the then known world. Like Caesar, Antony also had urgent affairs in Rome but he dallied with her, while she on her part laid her plans for dispensing justice from the Capitol at Rome. She intended making Rome and Egypt into one vast empire ruled over by herself and Antony, whom she had now learned to love. This bond was strengthened by the birth of a son, Helios, and later by twins, a boy and a girl, Ptolemy and Cleopatra Silene. In the meantime Antony's affairs in Rome grew more pressing. After Caesar's death power had been divided between Lepidus, and Octavius, Caesar's nephew. These two now sent tell him that he would be ousted if he did not return at once. He did so, promising Cleopatra to return as soon as possible. But once again in Rome, he found himself forced to marry Octavia, sister of Octavius. For the next four years he remained in Rome, but unable to forget Cleopatra, he seized the opportunity to return to the east when there was a revolt in Parthia. Once again with Cleopatra, he decided to renounce allegiance to Rome. When he went there again it would be as a conqueror with Cleopatra at his side. He donned Egyptian garments, renounced his wife, married Cleopatra, and took other steps that made him an outlaw in Rome. To his sons by Cleopatra he gave rich provinces and made his daughter by her Queen of Mauritania. Caesarion, Caesar's son, was made co-ruler of Egypt. To avoid offense to the Egyptians he merely called himself "Autocrat of the East." For the next thirteen years he and Cleopatra laid their plans for the conquest of Rome. Octavius, in the meanwhile, was planning to strike at Antony in Egypt. As a pretext for doing so, he sent his sister, Antony's deserted wife, to him. She was accompanied by the family counsellor, a man named Niger (from Niger, and evidently of that race). Antony refused to receive Octavia. War to the death was now on between the East and the West. Aided by his vassal kings, Antony assembled a vast army, and went with his fleet and tramports to await Octavius at Actium, off the coast of Greece, where Cleopatra joined him with 200 warships. Soon afterward more than 400 Roman senators deserted Octavius and joined Antony in Athens, where he and Cleopatra had set up their court. All seemed favorable for Antony when dissension arose in his camp. The Romans once again were jealous of Cleopatra and objected to the influence she wielded over their leader. In the disunion that followed there was a slight quarrel between the two lovers. Octavius arrived with his fleet. The destiny of Rome, of the World, hung in the balance. If Octavius failed, Rome, the octopus, would be absorbed by Egypt. The rising West would see an Eastern empress on its throne. The battle began. The right wing led by Antony was winning against Octavius, while the left was being beaten. Cleopatra, viewing the battle from afar, thought that Antony was losing. Believing that all was lost, she decided to take advantage of the wind and gave orders to turn about and sail for home. The effect of this on the battle was unexpected and decisive. Sixty of the Egyptian ships, seeing their queen leaving the battle, followed her. Antony, bewildered, and wondering whether their quarrel of the morning had anything to do with her flight, ordered his ship to follow her's. And thus the battle was lost. The West had triumphed. Rome was now sole mistress of the world. Egypt's sun had set. Reaching Cleopatra, Antony fell into her arms. Then learning that the battle had been lost, he threw himself down near the helm, his head bowed in grief, and for three days spoke to no one. The victorious Octavius pursued him to Alexandria. Cleopatra, feeling that the end had come, prepared for death and entered her mausoleum. Antony, hearing that she had killed herself, stabbed himself mortally, then learning that she was still alive, wished to die in her arms. But since Cleopatra's tomb was already sealed with her in it, there was no means of reaching her except by having himself lowered into it through a window. This was done and he breathed his last in her arms. Octavius entered Alexandria in triumph. His great wish was to take Cleopatra to Rome and there exhibit her. Accordingly one of his generals entered the tomb by a ruse and stopped her just as she was about to kill herself by telling her that Octavius meant her no harm, but that if she killed herself, her children would be slain. Octavius treated her mildly. He permitted her to bury Antony. She gave him a magnificent funeral and followed the body to the grave, a pitiful figure. Soon afterwards she fell ill. When she was convalescent, Octavius called to see her. Unannounced, he marched into her room without giving her time to dress She was in bed when he entered. Forgetting all but the safety her children, she arose, and in the single garment she had dishevelled and worn with sickness and anxiety, she threw at his feet. Once again she had met a master of the world. But under what a change! What did Octavius, a cold, unsentimental youth of twenty-seven, lacking the chivalry of Caesar and Antony, think of this forlorn widow of thirty-eight? Had he, fearing her witchery, planned this abrupt entrance in order to take her off guard? He tried to reassure her but she realized that all was lost. For her children's sake she promised not to kill herself. Then news came that Octavius was planning to take her to Rome. This meant the end. She had herself taken to Antony's tomb, bade him a last farewell, and returned to her palace. Octavius had ordered a strict watch over her, but when a slave arrived with a basket of figs for her, the guards saw nothing suspicious and permitted him to pass. Underneath the luscious fruit, however, lay an asp, whose bite was certain and painless death. Bidding her maids dress her more royally than ever, she placed the snake to her breast. When the alarm was given, the doctors rushed in and tried to suck the poison from the wound but it was too late. Octavius arrived to find her stretched in death on her bed, clad in her jewels, a crown on her head, a sceptre in her hand. A picture of her, carried by a slave, was all of her that appeared in his triumphal procession in Rome. As for her eldest son, Caesarion, Octavius, fearing that the Romans might want to make him king out of the great love they bore his father, had him put to death. Her children by Antony were spared.
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