2076759 ma- wAu Hutchinson's Lihrarv of Standard Lives CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT from the bust in the British Museum], [I'hoto by W.A.Mansrll << Co., London. CLEOPATRA. CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antiquity's Queen of Romance BY PHILIP W. SERGEANT B.A., TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD Author of "The Empress Josephine, Napoleon's Enchantress" "The Last Empress of the French," etc. NEW >tfijr YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY Printed in Great Britain SRLI5 URL CONTENTS I. EGYPT AND ROME .... 9 II. CLEOPATRA'S FATHER ... 29 III. CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV. . 44 IV. CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR ... 64 V. CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR (continued) . 87 VI. CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM . . . 106 VII. THE SHADOW OF ROME . . . 124 VIII. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY . . . 141 IX. THE " INIMITABLES "... 156 X. THE BREAK BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY 165 XL THE LIAISON RENEWED . . . 180 XII. THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST . . 203 XIII. THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM. . . 213 XIV. EAST AGAINST WEST. . . . 237 XV. THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " . . . 259 XVI. THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY . . 284 XVII. CLEOPATRA THE GREAT . . . 305 APPENDIX A. GENEALOGY OF CLEOPATRA THE GREAT 333 APPENDIX B. THE FAMILY OF PTOLEMY AULETES 334 PRINCIPAL DATES IN CLEOPATRA'S LIFE . 337 LIST OF CHIEF MODERN AUTHORITIES CONSULTED 338 ANCIENT AUTHORITIES, ARRANGED AC- CORDING TO DATE .... 338 INDEX ... ... 339 PREFACE THE present book may be described as an ex- periment. I wished to ascertain whether one of the great women rulers of antiquity could not be made as interesting to the general reader as some of the queens and empresses of more recent times would appear to be, if I may judge by the reception given to their biographies in this country and elsewhere. Among the women of old none seemed a more promising subject than Cleopatra the Great ; for, while she is a character of world-wide celebrity and therefore requires no introduction to the most exclusive of readers, she has hitherto been treated almost always as though she were a follower in the train of two of the great personages in Roman history instead of meriting to be considered by herself. Cleopatra appeared to me undoubtedly to furnish a worthy subject for a biography, if sufficient material could be got together to render her life intelligible. One great disadvantage in writing of the Egyptian Queen, as compared with the Empress Josephine, for instance, lies in the absence in ancient days of the host of memoirists, brilliant or otherwise, but always somehow valuable, who make vivid the stories of modern heroes and heroines. In attempting to construct a background for Cleopatra from the classical writers who so inadequately, for this PREFACE purpose, take the place of the memoirists, there is a risk of becoming historical, archaeological, or, worse still, pedantic. Challenges of accuracy can only properly be met by a multitude of foot- notes, which is a weariness to the eye and a dis- traction to the attention. I trust, however, that I may have incurred the wrath of the expert* rather than of the general reader, and that " Cleopatra of Egypt " may appear rather undocumented than dull. A list of the principal authorities consulted by me will be found at the end of this work. I should like to take the opportunity here to ac- knowledge my special indebtedness to M. Bouche- Leclercq, Professor of the Faculte des Lettres of Paris, whose altogether admirable " Histoire des Lagides " is a fresh revelation of the ability of French scholars to make their writings of enthralling interest to those of scholarship immeasurably inferior to their own. PHILIP WALSINGHAM SERGEANT. LONDON, August ^ist, 1909. * Some of the spellings adopted may provoke criticism, and therefore it should be stated here that popular forms such as Pompey, Antony, etc., have been freely admitted ; while, on the other hand, Greek names have generally been given the Greek spelling (which has the advantage of usually distinguishing the quantities e.g. Potheinos, Brucheion), unless they have become so familiar in their Latin trans- literations as to make this unadvisable for the sake of clear- ness. The use of Greek characters, however, has been avoided altogether. As for the Egyptian names, uniformity of spelling has not been attempted. Que Messieurs les egyptologues commencent t CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT CHAPTER I EGYPT AND ROME NEARLY two thousand years ago, on one of those bright and clear days which mark the presence of Spring in Lower Egypt, before the hot wind from the desert begins to blow, there took place in the city of Alexandria the first meeting between two persons who were destined to become the hero and heroine of what those writers who lived near to~it in time felt to be the most en- thralling romance of antiquity, devoting to it so much attention that the outlines of the story have been familiar throughout all subsequent ages to people taking little or no interest generally in the history of the ancient world. The man was a young Roman cavalry officer, who up to the age of twenty-eight had done little to distinguish himself from a great number of his countrymen in the same station of life as himself. Gifted with courage and considerable military ability, he had spent his time, apart from his career in the army, in such a manner as to gain himself small credit. He was very heavily 9 i* in debt, and notorious for his dissipations and the evil character of his associates. He was of powerful build, suggesting to his bitter enemy Cicero a gladiator by his jaws, his flanks, and his frame in general. At the same time he was undeniably handsome. In the words of Plutarch, he had a noble dignity of person, and his well- grown beard, broad forehead, and hooked nose recalled that Herakles from whom his family traced then* descent through Anton, a son of the demigod. Such was Marcus Antonius, the commander of the cavalry in a Roman expeditionary force which had restored to the throne of Egypt the thirteenth of the royal house which reigned over the land since its conquest by Alexander the Great. King Ptolemy was back in his vast Graeco-Egyptian palace in the royal quarter of Alexandria, and re-united to what remained to him of the family whom he deserted three years before to fly to Rome. The girl who was to play heroine to Antony's hero was the Princess of Egypt, now at fourteen years of age the eldest surviving child of Ptolemy XIII, and therefore by the old Egyptian custom, to which the Macedonian conquerors had in the course of generations bowed without directly acknowledging, heiress to the crown. Hitherto overshadowed by the existence of an elder sister, who had on her father's return paid with her life 10 EGYPT AND ROME the penalty for daring to assume his power during his absence, Cleopatra had become a person of high importance, and as such was not secluded from the gaze of the foreign officers through whose agency she was Crown Princess and her father once more King. There being no Egyptian record of the restoration of Ptolemy XIII, we have to rely upon the statement of one classical author* that Antony and Cleopatra met now in Alexandria and that the Roman cavalryman was already attracted by her who was one day to bring about his ruin and death. As Cleopatra was of a race, and more particularly of a family, where the women always matured early, there is no improbability in Appian's second assertion. At the beginning of his brilliant sketch of Cleo- patra M. Henry Houssaye speaks of Egypt, " after forty or fifty centuries of existence, slowly dying under the influence of the ceil de jettatore of the Roman people." If we may trust the only extant reference to this meeting at Alex- andria, one of the most celebrated of all Romans now in his turn fell under the influence of the Evil Eye of the last of the queens of Egypt. , In order to understand the situation of affairs * The Greek writer Appian, who in his " Civil Wars," V. 5, when speaking of the famous encounter of Antony and Cleopatra at Tarsus in 41 B.C., has this meagre reference to an earlier meeting : " It is said that he was always very susceptible, and that he had been enamoured of her long ago, when she was still a girl and he was serving as commander of the cavalry under Gabinius at Alexandria." II CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT when Cleopatra the Great makes her first ap- pearance in the world's history, it is necessary to go back now, some twenty-five years, to a particularly crime-stained period in the disgraceful annals of the later descendants of Ptolemy, the son of Lagos. King Ptolemy X, nicknamed " Lathyros " (from the resemblance of the end of his nose to a vetch, it is said !), had died about 8 1 B.C. after a much-troubled and interrupted reign, leaving no legitimate issue except a daughter Berenike, third of that name in the dynasty. Berenike was not younger than thirty and not older than forty when her father died, and was the widow of her uncle, Ptolemy Alex- ander the Elder. As has been said, the Mace- donian rulers had come with time to accept the Egyptian theory of succession to the throne, which gave daughters equal rights with sons. It is held by many of the authorities that inheritance in Egypt originally was through the woman, man only receiving his property and position through the rights of his mother and his wife, and that under the early Pharaohs the throne descended in the female line. Records of a woman's sole rule date from about 3000 B.C., under the queen commonly known as Nitocris. Side by side with the law of female inheritance went the idea of the sanctity of the royal race, descendants of the Sun God Amon-Ra, leading to the strange and repulsive custom of 12 EGYPT AND ROME marriage between the closest relatives, including brother and sister.* This custom, too, the Ptolemies had accepted, unions between those very close of kin not being so unfamiliar to them, as Macedonians, as to other Greeks. As a husband for Berenike, therefore, there was no objection to Ptolemy Alexander the Younger, although he was son of Alexander I by his first wife, and consequently stepson as well as cousin of the heiress princess. The young man was a client of that brutal Roman genius, the Dictator Sulla, who received him after his escape from captivity in the hands of Mithridates the Great in 83 B.C. and had taken him to Rome with him. He was still under thirty years of age when, on his uncle's death, Sulla put him on the throne of Egypt without consulting the people of Alex- andria, usually in times of trouble and dispute the king-makers of the country. Alexander's accession to the throne, however, combined with his marriage with the heiress, was quite in accord * M. Maspero says : " The nobility of each member of a family and his right to power were commensurate with the quality of the Solar blood which flowed in his veins ; he who inherited it from both father and mother took precedence of him who held it only from either father or mother. . . . The most sacred marriage was that between brother and sister, and it acquired the highest degree of perfection if the brother and sister in question were themselves the chil- dren of a similar marriage. This peculiarity of Egyptian manners, which seems to us a refinement of incest, was regarded as an institution of divine origin, most fitting to preserve the purity of the race." (" New Light on Ancient Egypt." p. 82.) 13 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT with precedent and would have provoked no stir, had it not been for his own conduct. He was practically unknown to the Alexandrians before Sulla imposed him on them, except as being the son of the bad king Ptolemy Alexander I, who finished up his usurping reign with the murder of his mother, according to the belief of his contemporaries. Berenike, on the other hand, was the daughter of Lathyros, who, on his return from the exile into which his mother and brother had driven him, was welcomed with the name Potheinos, " the Desired One " ; and she was herself beloved and popular, on the testimony of a fragment of a speech by Cicero on Egyptian affairs. The new king, nevertheless, had the hardihood to commence his reign as his father had ended his, with the murder of the woman to whom all his subjects looked as the chief representative of the dynasty. Berenike's death was soon avenged, for, after ruling only nineteen days, Sulla's client was dragged by the Alexandrians from the Palace to the great park known as the Gymnasium and there slain, leaving behind him only an evil memory and a will which put his country at the mercy of his friends the Romans. After the violent deaths of Berenike and Alexander there remained but one legitimate offshoot of the house of Lagos, a princess of the name of Selene, second sister of Ptolemy 14 EGYPT AND ROME Lathyros. Her mother, Cleopatra III, probably the worst woman in the family history, had first compelled Lathyros to many Selene, and then taken her away from him, driving him out to give the throne to his brother. Selene had proceeded to marry in turn three Syrian princes, all named Antiochus, and all pretenders to the crown of Syria. She later laid claim, on behalf of her children, to Egypt and its appanage Cyprus, as well as to Syria, but does not seem to have put forward these pretensions yet. Ptolemy Lathyros had left two illegitimate sons, who were being brought up in Syria at the time of his death. After the revolution which ended the brief reign of his nephew, the Alex- andrians sent for these boys, of whom the elder was about fifteen, and divided between them Egypt and Cyprus. The elder, who was destined to be the father of the most celebrated woman of antiquity, took Egypt, and is known as Ptolemy (XIII) Neos Dionysos, or, more commonly, by his nickname of Auletes, " the Flute-player." The younger is known simply as Ptolemy the Cyprian. As both Egypt and Cyprus accepted their new rulers without a protest,* it may be presumed that there was no doubt entertained as to their being genuine sons of the Tenth Ptolemy. * Unless we must attach importance to the formal corona- tion of Ptolemy XIII being apparently delayed until 76 B.C. See Bouchc-Leclercq, " Histoire des Lagides," II., p. 124, n. 2, and Mahaffy, " History of Egypt," p. 225. 15 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Ptolemy XIII, having become King of Egypt, it remained to find a wife for him who should help him to carry on the succession. It was not quite unknown that one of the Lagidae should marry outside his own family, even since the Fourth Ptolemy had conformed to Egyptian custom by taking as his bride his sister Arsinoe ; for Ptolemy Epiphanes had married the Seleucid princess Cleopatra of Syria. So now there seems to have been an idea of a union between the two sons of Lathyros and two daughters of Mith- ridates, King of Pontus, the great enemy of Rome. But these two girls, Mithridatis and Nyssa, were as yet infants, and nothing came of the proposal to make them queens of Egypt and of Cyprus. In 78 B.C., we find the Egyptian Ptolemy married to a Cleopatra Tryphaena, the two together being named in a demotic papyrus of the third year of his reign " the Gods Philopatores Philadelphoi," in true Ptolemaic fashion. Who was this Cleopatra Tryphaena ? It is not known. According to the regular Egyptian formula she is spoken of as her husband's " sister- wife " ; but this does not prove (though it is probable) that she was a daughter of Ptolemy Lathyros. The old practice of supplying a wife of the requisite divine blood from among the priestesses of the Sun " the harem of Amon- Ra," as they have been called having died out before the Macedonian invasion of Egypt, the 16 EGYPT AND ROME only way of increasing the purity of the royal blood was by discovering the princess most nearly akin to the king. It seems almost certain, therefore, that, if Ptolemy XIII had a sister, she was this same Cleopatra Tryphaena. The question is difficult, but is of very little im- portance, except in connection with the other question alluded to later on, as to who was the mother of Cleopatra the Great. The task which confronted Ptolemy Auletes at the beginning of his reign was hard. Even if he was able to fortify his position in Egypt generally by some marriage which gratified his people's desire for purity of the Solar blood, he had still to deal with his non-Egyptian subjects, in Alexandria chiefly, and with the Romans who had set his predecessor upon the throne. Alexan- drian hostility to him, which was to make him an exile later, does not seem to have been mani- fested during his first few years of rule. But the Roman problem faced him in the very be- ginning. The late king, Ptolemy Alexander II, had left a will >, or at least the Romans declared that there was a will, by which he bequeathed his kingdom to them after his death. If he did so, he was only following the example of his own kinsman, Ptolemy Apion, illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX, who bequeathed his realm, the former Egyptian province of Cyrenaica, to the Roman people in 96 B.C. 17 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Whether the " will of Alexander " was genuine or not, the Romans took no immediate steps to enforce the reputed provisions. They had not yet taken up their legacy in Cyrenaica, nor did they do so until 75. With regard to Egypt and Cyprus, they suffered the sons of Lathyros to ascend the two thrones without a protest. They did not, however, in any way recognise the accessions. Auletes saw that, until he obtained a formal recognition from Rome, his situation was most precarious. But how was he to obtain it ? As modern historians of Rome have pointed out, nothing suited the Roman Senate better than that Egypt's fate should remain in suspense. If they acted upon the terms of the will it would be necessary to set about the organisation of Egypt into a Roman province. But they were afraid to put into the hands of any one adminis- trator the wealthiest land in the world of that day. They could expect only one result a breaking out afresh of the civil wars which had so recently ceased to devastate Italy and the Empire. On the other hand, Egypt was already marked out as their prey, and the existence of the will, claimed by them to be genuine, enabled them to bleed the country slowly to death. The king was encouraged to hope that he might buy recognition, if he could gain it by no other means. It can readily be understood that this meant a heavy expense to Ptolemy, dealing with 18 EGYPT AND ROME a city in which the Numidian Jugurtha had many years before declared all for sale.* Such a policy as Ptolemy Auletes pursued was sure to prove unprofitable until he should discover the price of some man powerful enough to wrest for him from the Senate what he desired. And while he still remained unrecognised the danger of losing his country entirely seemed to be growing greater. His kinswoman Selene, in 75, began to urge her children's claims to Egypt and Cyprus, as well as to Syria, then in the hands of the Armenian Tigranes, sending her two boys (by which of her Syrian husbands it is not certain) to Rome, provided with the proper means of urging their suit in such a place. In the same year, or the following, the Romans took over the government of Cyrenaica, which had been waiting for them eleven years. But with regard to Egypt they persisted in procrasti- nating. Selene's embassy left Rome in despair of effecting anything by a longer stay ; and still Auletes failed to get any assurance from the Senate, which contented itself with checking the attempts of the democrats at Rome to get * Of Rome of the period now under discussion Professor Mommsen writes : " As a matter of course, morality and family life were treated as antiquated things among all ranks of society. To be poor was not merely the sorest disgrace and the worst crime, but the only disgrace and the only crime. . . . Men had forgotten what honesty was. A person who refused a bribe was regarded not as an upright man, but as a personal foe " (V. p. 390). 19 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT entrusted to one of their party the task of con- verting Egypt into a Roman province. Thus in 65 the proposal of some of the tribunes of the people to send Julius Caesar to the land where he was one day to imperil both his life and his reputation was met by the usual device of induc- ing other tribunes to use the power of veto against their colleagues. A more serious effort was made by the democrats at the end of the following year, when, probably instigated by the bankrupt Caesar himself, the tribune Rullus tried to bring in an Agrarian Law which would have divided up Egypt, together with all other domains acquired by Rome since the joint consulship of Sulla and Pompey in 88 B.C. Cicero's speech against the measure survives. Auletes was driven by his fears to dangerous expedients. The great Pompey himself was out in the East, and in 63 annexed to Rome Syria, which had been evacuated by its Armenian invaders in 69, the year of Cleopatra's birth. With the annexation of Syria, once a portion of the Egyptian Empire, there only remained one independent state in the Hellenic East- Egypt itself, with Cyprus, still under the brother of Auletes. The King of Egypt, unable to get any satisfaction from the Senate, and alarmed at the attitude of his Alexandrian subjects, who were provoked by his subservience to Rome, despatched an invitation to Pompey 20 EGYPT AND ROME to come to Egypt, sending him at the same time presents of money and clothing for his troops, which, according to Appian, Pompey accepted, while showing no desire to visit Egypt. Perhaps it was well for the independence of the country that he did not come, although he, unlike most of his Roman contemporaries, was not in desperate need of money. Anyhow, in 61 Pompey returned to Rome, leaving Auletes still in suspense. The consular elections at the end of the next year decided the harassed king to do what it would have been cheaper for him to have done before, had he only realised it. Julius Caesar was one of the two consuls chosen for the year 59. This was a man of whom Auletes knew little, except that he had twice already threatened to seize Egypt hi order to meet his debts (esti-* mated at a quarter of a million pounds in 62) and give himself a fresh start. He saw, however, that he was worth buying, and offered him six thousand talents (1,467,000), which was about half a year's revenue of Egypt at that time, according to one reckoning ; a whole year's revenue, according to another. With this sum Auletes purchased Rome's recognition of the kingship which he had held on sufferance for more than twenty years. Caesar, now in league with Pompey and with the financier Crassus, proposed his " Julian Law concerning the King 21 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT of Egypt," and carried it by violence, in spite of the fierce opposition of the aristocracy. Ptolemy Auletes was recognised as " ally and friend of the Roman People," and settled down, as he hoped, to enjoy the results of his long and expen- sive struggle with the greed of Rome. In another year's time he was an exile from his kingdom. It is impossible to withhold all sympathy from Auletes, wretched though be the figure which he cuts in history. He succeeded in hold- ing off the hands of Rome from his country by the sole means in his power, only to find himself repudiated by his subjects, or at least by that section of them whose opinion carried weight. He was reduced to the desperate strait of debasing the national coinage in order to supplement the money which he raised by extra taxes and confiscation to meet the enormous liabilities which he had incurred. This alone might not have sufficed to rouse Alexandria against him, for the bulk of the taxation fell upon the more docile native Egyptians, accustomed by cen- turies of Pharaohs, and a dozen generations of Ptolemies, even more skilful than the Pharaohs at exploiting their subjects, to submit to a system of taxation which left them with little to call their own. But the Roman seizure of Cyprus, the last remaining possession of Egypt, stirred up a wave of indignation against the " ally and friend of the Roman People." The 22 EGYPT AND ROME brother of Auletes, Ptolemy the Cyprian, had declined to spend his money to purchase recogni- tion from Rome, and, in consequence, saw him- self in 58 robbed of his kingdom, Publius Clodius, most blackguardly of all Romans of his day, proposed the annexation, having a personal grudge against the Cyprian, it was said, because he had nine years earlier refused to offer more than two talents (less than 500) to ransom Clodius from some pirates into whose hands he had fallen. Clodius took an ample revenge for this refusal of a larger sum, for the Romans accepted readily his charge against the king that he was plotting against them, and decreed the annexation of the island ; whereon Ptolemy committed suicide, leaving his treasure of 1,700,000 to fall into the hands of his oppressors. According to the historian Dion Cassius, the people of Alexandria now insisted that Ptolemy Auletes should demand back Cyprus from Rome as a possession of Egypt, on the penalty of break- ing off friendship with them if they refused. Failing to pacify the Alexandrians, Auletes left the city for Rome, where he complained that he had been expelled. " He applied," as Mommsen remarks, "as if on account of his eviction from the estate which he had purchased, to those who had sold it." He found the Romans willing to see him restored, but unable to agree who should restore him. The Senate was still afraid 23 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to entrust the Egyptian business to any one man. Auletes recommenced therefore his campaign of bribery which had brought him success before. Only, whereas before he had the actual revenues of Egypt in his hands, now he could only mortgage his expectations. Nothing daunted, he began to borrow from the money-lenders on the security of his kingdom, in order to spread the money among the politicians. The Senate was largely bought by him, according to the rumours current a little later. But still corruption failed to do its work while the king contented himself with buying numbers of small men rather than one big man. It is true that a suitable big man was hard to find. Caesar, his former profitable if expensive investment, was now away on his famous cam- paigns in Gaul. Pompey was in Rome, and received the king favourably, lodging him in his fine villa in the Alban district, where many of the aristocracy had country-houses. But Pompey with his curious stiffness and pride united an integrity of character which was indeed rare in Rome, and the " honest countenance " for which he was noted was not belied by his conduct in matters of finance. The gifts of Auletes had not bought him in Syria in 62, and we hear of no action on his part now beyond the extension of hospitality to the exiled king. As appeared later, he was by no means unwilling to accept 24 EGYPT AND ROME the commission of taking his guest back to Alexandria. But, now as always, he refused to take steps himself to secure an appointment which it would have been hard for his fellow- countrymen to refuse him. Delay, little as he could avoid it, threatened grave dangers to Auletes. Not long after he had reached Rome, a deputation of one hundred Alex- andrian citizens arrived in Italy to support the claims of the government which had been set up in Egypt after the king's flight. To fight them, Auletes had recourse to the other chief weapon of such men as him, and supplemented bribery with assassination. The deputation was am- bushed at Puteoli, the modern Pozzuoli, by ruffians hired by the king, and a number of them were slain. The others were bribed to keep silent. All appeared to be going well for Auletes, when, late in the year 57, a proposal was brought forward in the Senate that the consul, Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, who was to be governor of Cilicia in the following year, should be commissioned to restore the king. Opposi- tion broke out, and one of the tribunes of the people, by name Favonius, drew attention to the assassination of the Alexandrian ambassa- dors. The remainder of the deputation were still in Rome, and the Senate summoned the chief man, Dion, to appear before it and give evidence. After first bribing Dion to stay 25 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT away, Auletes decided that it would be safer to have him more effectually silenced, and, since there was no difficulty in hiring cut- throats in Rome, Dion disappeared. The crime was later laid to the charge of one Caelius, who was acquitted with the assistance of Cicero never very particular about the moral characters of his clients, for he had supported the cause of Auletes himself in the Senate when the proposal for his restoration to Egypt was under discussion. The removal of Dion, however, was felt even by the king to be rather a bold step, and he judged it prudent to leave Rome and retire to Ephesus to wait until Lentulus Spinther should come east to take up his province of Cilicia. He left behind him in Rome an agent called Ammonios, who was supplied with money and instructed to support the proposal to give Pompey the task of restoration. Thus there was no cessation of the intrigues after the departure of Auletes. The aristocratic party continued to fear that the Egyptian commission would put too much power into one man's hands, and a convenient oracle was discovered in the Sibylline Books. " If the King of Egypt," ran the sacred message, " comes begging for any help, refuse him not your friendship ; nevertheless, ye shall not aid him with a multitude. If ye do, ye shall have troubles and dangers." A grave discussion followed as to what could 26 EGYPT AND ROME be done. If King Ptolemy was not to be " aided with a multitude," how could he be restored ? It was suggested that Lentulus Spinther should still be entrusted with the task, but that he should only take with him two lictors, confiding in the majesty of the Roman name to overawe the Alexandrians. Others wished Pompey to undertake the duty, similarly escorted. It was suspected, however, that Pompey would not care for the commission, stripped of all its accompaniments of material power. So we find the question still being debated in the Roman Senate in January 55, nearly three years after Auletes had fled from Alexandria, with Cicero supporting Lentulus Spinther, Clodius attacking Pompey, and the aristocratic party endeavouring to gain time by the use of all the resources of religion, unlucky days, holidays, etcetera, which could be twisted to make ridicu- lous interruptions of public business in Rome. We find also Lentulus in Cilicia hesitating to accept the advice which Cicero had given him in the previous July to settle the matter by putting the king in Ptolemais (Acre), while proceeding himself with his fleet and army to Alexandria. Cicero's plan, which he claimed to be welcome to Pompey, would have got over the difficulty raised by the Sibylline oracle. But Lentulus could not bring himself to adopt it. Possibly there was no offer of gold from Auletes to bring 27 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT about his restoration by a man whom he wished to see replaced by Pompey. In the spring of 55 the comedy, which must have been a weary performance for the exiled king, came to an abrupt end. As one result of the famous conference at Luca the previous year, when Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus agreed to form a triumvirate to divide the spoils of Rome between them, Aulus Gabinius, the proconsular governor of Syria, received permission to set Auletes on his throne again. Only one formality remained to complete the business. Auletes, still in Ephesus, promised Gabinius a bribe of ten thousand talents (2,400,000). " Gabinius," remarks Plutarch, " was somewhat afraid of the war, but was hugely taken by the ten thousand talents." The proconsul, indeed, was bankrupt, like so many Roman nobles of his time. Like so many of them, too, he was a brave soldier, a good speaker, and an utter profligate. " A Semiramis " is Cicero's contemptuous description of him. With his instructions from the tri- umvirs, of whom Pompey and Crassus were now consuls for the year, and the promise of ten thousand talents, Gabinius could not hesitate. He had no scruples about inventing a pretext for attacking the existing government of Egypt, and began his march to the frontier, sending Antony and his cavalry in advance of the main army to secure the Isthmus of Suez. 28 CHAPTER II CLEOPATRA'S FATHER WHEN Ptolemy Auletes quitted Alexandria in the year 58, either driven out or else flying in alarm at the indignation of his subjects over the annexation of Cyprus by his Roman friends, he left behind him his entire family, six in number. So far all the authorities, ancient and modern, are in agreement. They agree also as to the identity of five out of the six persons in that family. There were three daughters, Berenike, Cleopatra, and Arsinoe ; and two infant sons, both named Ptolemy according to the custom of the family. The sixth person was a woman named Cleopatra Tryphaena, who is described by some as the king's eldest daughter, by others as his wife. The existence of a daughter of this name is guaranteed only by a fragment of Por- phyry, a writer of the third century A.D. ; yet it has been accepted by most modern historians in spite of its being unknown to Dion Cassius and Strabo and unmentioned by any other ancient author. That Ptolemy's wife was named Cleo- patra Tryphaena is disputed by none ; but 29 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Egyptologists, influenced by the fact that her name disappears from public documents and from all inscriptions (except one on the pylon and colonnade of the forecourt of the temple at Edfu) after the year 69, have for the most part concluded that she died in that j^ear, and that the Cleopatra Tryphaena who was alive in 58 must have been some one else, namely, the daughter mentioned by Porphyry. Another point arises out of this question of the death of Ptolemy's queen. Berenike is universally admitted to be the daughter of the Cleopatra Tryphaena whom Ptolemy married near the beginning of his reign. If her mother died in 69, another mother must be found for the four children, Cleopatra, Arsinoe, and the two little Ptolemies. The four would then become only half-sisters and half-brothers to Berenike, and have been even stigmatised as " illegitimate " children of Ptolemy Auletes, for which there is no evidence whatever. As we do not know that the queen-mother Cleopatra Tryphaena died in 69, as we do know that a Cleopatra Tryphaena began to rule with Berenike after the expulsion or flight of Auletes, and as we know that Auletes recognised his daughter Cleopatra and his son Ptolemy XIV in his will as legitimate heirs to the throne, it seems best to hold the view, until distinct disproof is forthcoming, that the Cleopatra Tryphaena left behind him by Auletes in 58 was 30 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER his " sister- wife," and that all five children were hers.* The uncertainty as to the mother of the children of Auletes extends also to their ages. Berenike cannot well have been more than eighteen in 58, and may have- been younger. Cleopatra's birth- year is usually assigned to 69 or 68, making her about eleven at the time of her father's exile.f Arsinoe may have been born between 68 and 65, the elder Ptolemy in 62 or 61, and the younger not later than 59 B.C. As it was necessary to replace the absent Ptolemy XIII (whose disappearance, According to some writers, caused his subjects to imagine him dead), the Alexandrians took the natural step of putting the queen-mother at the head of affairs. After a very brief reign she died. It is a curious fact that the one inscription which has been found bearing her name with that of Ptolemy later than 59 is certainly incorrect, for in December 57 she was no longer alive. But the building of great temples, like that at Edfu, begun under the Third Ptolemy and finished under the Thirteenth, went on irrespective of the lives and deaths of kings ; * See Appendix B, where is translated the greater part of M. Bouche-Leclercq's most instructive note on the subject in his " Histoire des Lagides." t The supposed disparity in age between Berenike and Cleopatra has been regarded as evidence of their being daughters of different mothers. But, even if such a disparity were good evidence, we do not know the exact ages of the two girls. 31 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT and no doubt it took a long time for news to travel from Alexandria through the country, so that the writer of the inscriptions at Edfu may not have known of the queen's death when he was at work. On her mother's death the Princess Berenike mounted the throne, to which her claims were un- doubtedly strengthened by her position as only adult among the royal children. There seems to have been no protest against her accession, and endeavours were made to consolidate her power. A deputation was sent to Italy, with what result we have seen. It was impossible for Berenike, though aided by her councillors, to compete with her father at Rome. Perhaps hopes were enter- tained, however, that the Romans would hesitate to disturb Egypt if they saw it settling down under the peaceful and popularly recognised government of a national princess and her consort. It remained to find the consort. The two little Ptolemies, to whom Egyptian royal custom pointed, were far too young, the elder being no more than five. There being no other Lagidae, it was natural to look to the Syrian family of the Seleukidae, which had several times intermarried with the Lagidae in the past. Berenike's ad- visers, after two unsuccessful offers to undoubted scions of the family, at last discovered a Seleukos who claimed to be of the Syrian blood royal, and may have been a younger brother of An- tiochos XIII, the last King of Syria, dispossessed 32 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER of his realm by the Roman annexation. He was brought to Alexandria, where he pleased neither Berenike nor her subjects. The Alexandrians, who were as prompt in inventing nicknames as the modern Parisians (not unlike them in this respect alone), for some reason called him Kybiosaktes, " the Saltfish Peddler." Berenike, who resembled all the princesses of the house of Lagos in possessing a strong will and the ability to act promptly, showed her dislike in still more pronounced fashion. If we may believe Strabo, a few days' experience of the low and ignoble manners of Seleukos disgusted her so much that she had him strangled. At any rate, he dis- appeared, and a successor was looked for to sit beside Berenike on the throne of Egypt. There was in the city of Komana in Pontus a celebrated temple of the goddess Ma, the Tauric Artemis, the high priest of which was a young man of the name of Archelaos. His father, of the same name, was a general of Mithridates the Great, and a very fine soldier, who had passed over to the side of Sulla before the beginning of Rome's second war with Mithridates. Archelaos the younger was a friend and protege of Pompey, who had given him his priestly post, one little inferior to any of the Asiatic princedoms. He possibly claimed to be a son of Mithridates himself (the number of that king's illegitimate children being large), and his ambitions were by no means 33 2 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT limited to the priesthood. Paying a visit to the headquarters of Gabinius in Syria, Archelaos struck up a friendship with the young cavalry officer Antony. Then, while still in Syria, he attracted the attention of the match-makers of Alexandria, and, probably without asking leave from Gabinius for the Roman governor had already forbidden one of the Seleukidae to accept the offer of Berenike's hand he took his depar- ture for Alexandria toward the end of the year 56. On his arrival he pleased the Princess Berenike, was accepted by her as a bridegroom, and began a brief reign of six months at her side. It has already been said that Gabinius had no difficulty in inventing a pretext for attacking Egypt as soon as he had made up his mind to do so. The Egyptians appear to have been making additions to their fleet, which was a natural pro- ceeding for a largely maritime and commercial nation. Gabinius, however, brought an accusa- tion against Archelaos of plotting to combine with Rome's old enemies, the Pirates, who still re- mained the terror of the Mediterranean, in spite of the way in which Pompey had swept them off the seas in 67 B.C., acting upon the extraordinary commission which the same Gabinius, then tribune of the people, had procured for him. Archelaos was given no opportunity of answering the accusation or justifying his shipbuilding before the advance of the Roman army against him began. 34 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER The march from the Syrian town of Gaza to the Egyptian frontier was always accounted very difficult, but it did not prove so difficult to the Romans now as many invading armies had found it, owing to the admirable way in which Antony pushed ahead with his cavalry and occupied the Isthmus of Suez. The frontier was guarded by the town and fortress of Pelusium (the Sin of the Old Testament), lying on the right bank of the easternmost mouth of the Nile. The fortress was occupied by a Jewish garrison in Egyptian pay, who yielded now to the temptations of their fellow-countryman Antipater, father of Herod the Great, attached to the invading army in that capacity of purveyor in which men of his race have so often made their fortunes. The strong- hold was handed over to the Romans without a struggle. An atrocious sequel was narrowly averted by what Plutarch calls Antony's " love of distinction, proving advantageous even to his enemies." " For when Ptolemy entered Pe- lusium," he says, " and was moved by his passion and hatred to massacre the Egyptians, Antony stood in his way and stopped him."* Antony won further credit for himself during the Roman advance from Pelusium to Alexandria, * Ptolemy would therefore appear to have been accom- panied by some troops of his own, as indeed appears from the words of Caesar, " de Bello Civili," III. no. Egyptian princes and princesses in exile usually seem to have been able to collect troops in Syria. 35 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT handling his cavalry in such a manner as to take the enemy in the rear and secure the victory for the infantry of Gabinius. Archelaos was not without some of the courage which had marked his father ; but the Egyptians, or rather the heterogeneous army which fought under the Egyptian flag, were no match for the Romans. It was impossible to check the invasion, which was probably facilitated by desertions to the cause of Ptolemy as he drew nearer to Alexandria. Dion Cassius represents Archelaos as being put to death by Gabinius after the entry into Alex- andria. Plutarch says that he was slain in battle, and that Antony, finding the body of his former friend, " interred it with all honours and in kingly fashion." The Egyptian capital fell quickly after this, for the troops of Archelaos had refused to throw up entrenchments, saying that such work was suitable for labourers, not for soldiers. Early in April* Ptolemy Auletes was once more King of Egypt, signalising his return by massacres which he would have begun at Pelu- sium but for Antony's intervention. The unfortunate young queen Berenike was one of the first to suffer at her father's hands, and was put to death after a reign of about two years. The rest of Ptolemy's family, being too young to * The date is approximately fixed by Cicero's letter to Atticus on April 23rd, B.C. 55, in which he mentions the report current at Puteoli of Ptolemy's return to his kingdom and asks for confirmation (" Ad Atticum," IV. 10). 36 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER be implicated in the revolt against his rule, were spared to carry on the succession to the throne for which he had fought so hard with all the weapons which a man of his character could handle. It was now that the fourteen-year-old Cleopatra first met the Roman on whose career she was destined to exercise so disastrous an influence ; and, if we may believe Appian, she now already attracted the attention of the very susceptible soldier. Ptolemy lived to enjoy his power for another four years. Records of him at this period are scanty, being confined to allusions in the Greek and Latin writers. His chief occupation was the raising of money to pay off the enormous liabilities which he had incurred toward his restorers. As it was obvious that he could never be anything but an unpopular ruler, it was necessary for the Romans to see that he was kept on the throne to which they had brought him back. Gabinius, therefore, when he evacuated Egypt, left behind him some troops as a body- guard to the king, to take the place of the Mace- donian household troops of the earlier Ptolemies. These Gabiniani milites, whom Julius Caesar was later to find so troublesome, were chiefly Gallic and German mounted auxiliaries, but included also some Roman infantry who had fought under the command of Pompey. They took readily to their new duties and developed 37 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT all the manners of Praetorians. Seven years later Caesar finds them grown accustomed to the life and licence of Alexandria, oblivious of the name and discipline of Rome, and provided with wives from their adopted country. Reinforced by the mercenaries whom Egypt collected under her standard, they were, according to his descrip- tion, in the habit of " demanding the death of friends of the king, of pillaging private property to supplement their pay, and of exiling and recalling whom they pleased, following the old tradition of the Alexandrian army ' ' that is to say, the former Macedonian household troops.* Relying on the protection afforded by this bodyguard, Ptolemy set about collecting the money to meet his debts, including the ten thousand talents paid to Gabinius. This sum had nominally been borrowed by the king from a Roman money-lender named Rabirius Pos- tumus, but the real lender appears to have been Julius Caesar, whose appointment in Gaul had freed him from bankruptcy. Cicero in his defence of Rabirius makes great capital of " the incredible generosity " toward his client of Caesar ; and, as will be seen later, when Caesar came to Alexandria he claimed repayment of the 17,500,000 drachmaef (700,000) lent to * Caesar, " de Bello Civili," III. no. See also Mahaffy, " History of Egypt," p. 241. f These are Plutarch's figures (" Caesar," 48). 38 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER Ptolemy Auletes. For the present, unable to pay Rabirius in cash, Ptolemy made him Con- troller of Taxes, in order that he might himself see to the collection of what was owing to him. The money-lender made himself so unpopular in his post that at length he was compelled to fly for his life, leaving behind him even his clothes. He had not found his connection with the Egyptian monarch profitable. Having already lent money to him in 59, when Ptolemy was buying Rome's recognition of his title to the throne, Rabirius had increased his risk later for fear of not getting back his original loan. Now he returned from Egypt to his infuriated country- men, who reviled him for having worn the uniform of his Egyptian office " un-Roman dress," they called it and proceeded to prosecute him together with Gabinius for their behaviour. Gabinius got off on the charge of " violation of law and impiety in invading Egypt without a decree of the Senate and contrary to the Sibylline Books," as Appian puts it, but was condemned, on the charge of malversation, to pay a fine of ten thousand talents, the amount which he had received from Ptolemy. Rabirius was also con- demned, Cicero being counsel for the defence both in his case and in the second affair of Gabinius. The orator took up these cases, no doubt, to please the triumvirs, but was un- fortunate in, meeting a wave of indignation 39 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT against the way in which the Roman name had been soiled in Egypt. While Gabinius and Rabirius went into exile to lament their dealings with Ptolemy Auletes, the king, finding it impossible to extract from exhausted Egypt the money to cover his liabilities, left a great part of his debts, with his kingdom, to his children. In the summer of 51 he died,* having drawn up a will in which he named as heirs his elder living daughter Cleo- patra and his elder son Ptolemy, the fourteenth of the name. He made the Roman people his executors ; and, as we are told by the author of the book on the Alexandrian War included in the works of Caesar, called on them to see that his heirs were not changed. One copy of this will he had kept in Alexandria. The other he had sent to Rome to be deposited in the Aerarium, or treasury of the Temple of Saturn ; but, owing to the disturbed condition of affairs at Rome, it was sent instead to the house of his friend Pompey. Cleopatra's father is commonly recognised as one of the most disreputable of the Ptolemies. There is no recorded act of his which calls for praise, unless it be his solicitude on account of * On August ist, B.C. 51, we find Caelius, Ptolemy's former acquaintance, writing from Rome to Cicero, then proconsul in Cilicia : " We are told, and the news seems certain, that the King of Egypt is dead" (Cicero, " Ad Familiares," VIII. 4.) Ptolemy perhaps died, therefore, in June or early July. 40 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER his younger children which is a small set-oft against his execution of his eldest daughter. He managed to keep on good terms with the native priesthood, and temple-construction and decoration went on during his reign. But the building of temples in Egypt was no more a proof of virtue than the building of churches in the Middle Ages. The Pharaohs of every dynasty, down to those of Mendes and Seben- nytos, between the Persian and Macedonian conquests of Egypt, inherited a taste for building with the throne itself ; and the Ptolemies imitated the example of their predecessors in this as in so many other respects. Such work as Ptolemy XIII has left behind him at Edfu (where he followed among others one of the worst of his ancestors, Ptolemy VII), Philae, Kom Ombo, and elsewhere, testifies only to the family prudence in conciliating native religious sentiment. On the other hand, Ptolemy XIII has with seeming justice been accused of most of the crimes and vices in the long catalogue of those which disgraced the characters of his ancestors, while he failed to redeem his lack of morals by any such artistic taste as was displayed, for example, by Ptolemy IV, author of a play called " Adonis," and builder of a memorial chapel to Homer. His only known polite accomplishment was that which gained him his nickname of 41 2* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Auletes.* He was very proud of his skill on the flute, and is said to have entered for public competitions, thus anticipating the conduct of Nero, the Imperial singer. The name of Auletes has clung to him in history, but the titles which he assumed himself were Philopator Phila- delphos, both of them commonly assumed separately by the Lagidae, and Neos Dionysos. Ptolemy IV had already called himself Dionysos. Both kings appear to have attempted to deserve the name by their indulgence in wine. Lucian tells a story illustrative of the Thirteenth Ptolemy's enthusiasm for his patron god. In his reign the Dionysiac festival was celebrated with great orgies. On one occasion the Platonic philosopher Demetrios, who was a water-drinker, was the only man in Egypt who did not wear the women's clothes prescribed for men during the rather indecorous festival. He was de- nounced to the king, and only saved his life by getting drunk early in the morning, putting on effeminate Tarentine robes, and dancing in public to the sound of cymbals. This display of religious fervour appeased the New Dionysos. For this Ptolemy's morals and the way in which he governed his country it is impossible to find any excuse. But there is some for his attitude toward Rome. He was a weak vassal king deal- * Athenaeus sums him up as " not a man, but a mere flute-player and juggler." 42 CLEOPATRA'S FATHER ing with a powerful and greedy suzerain, and had, as has already been said, only one means of keeping that suzerain's hands off his kingdom. It is hard to imagine how a virtuous Ptolemy would have dealt with Rome. If Cleopatra showed herself something of a stateswoman in her attitude toward the lords of the world, we cannot deny her father all credit for diplomatic talent. His enormous expenditure of money, leading to the impoverishment of a naturally wealthy country, doubtless had as its first object the preservation of his own worthless life and rule ; but it also temporarily prolonged the existence of Egypt as an independent state. Dr. Mahaffy goes so far as to see in the will of Ptolemy XIII evidence of " a strong feeling for his family and perhaps even for his country."* This is assuredly to give the Devil no less than his due. The chief impression left on the mind by the last ruling King of Egypt is that of a pitiful blackguard and debauchee. * " History of Egypt," p. 236. 43 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV " QUEEN, Lady of the Two Lands, Qlauapatrat, Divine Daughter, her Father loving."* Such is the title under which, in the hieroglyphic inscrip- tions of her own country, appears the woman known in the history of the world as Cleopatra the Great. Unhappily it is almost true to say that the Egyptian records of her reign give us very little more about her than this title. Were it not for the historians of the Roman Empire, writing in Greek or in Latin, her memory would long ago have been forgotten by all save archaeologists. In the two preceding chapters there may be found all that can be ascertained about Cleopatra's childhood ; which reduces itself to Appian's statement that she was at Alexandria and was seen by Marcus Antonius at the time of her father's restoration in 55 B.C. We know also that she was born about 69 or 68 B.C., probably in 69. Beyond this, all concerning her early days must * Budge, " History of Egypt," VIII. p. 88. 44 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV necessarily be a matter of deduction or conjec- ture. Her birth took place in the twelfth year of her father's reign. When she was about ten, he succeeded in obtaining Rome's recognition of himself as King of Egypt, but almost im- mediately he was forced by popular outcry to leave Alexandria, abandoning his family with his kingdom. At his restoration the four youngest members of the family were still alive, Cleopatra, the eldest, being about fourteen years old. The greater part of her fourteen years must have been spent in the vast palace at Alexandria, a regular fortress as well as a dwelling-place, like all the palaces of the Pharaohs who preceded the Macedonian dynasty in Egypt. The harem-life here was, like almost everything else under the Ptolemies, a blend of Greek and Egyptian. The conditions no longer prevailed which had made Ramses II, for instance, the father of two hundred children.* But the apartments of the " Secluded " continued to deserve their name ; and thanks to an institution of the Fourth Ptolemy, whom the early historians made out to have been the most criminally worthless of his whole family, life in them had one feature usually associated with Oriental despotism which had been lacking * The funeral stele of the priest Pasirenptah, in the British Museum, speaks of Ptolemy XIII, at his formal coronation, landing at Memphis and coming into the temple of Qe " with his nobles, his wives, and his children." But the language of such inscriptions is archaic and conventional. 45 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT under the Pharaohs. The royal princes in the old days had been brought up in the Great House of the " Good God," their father, under the care of high Court officials known by the curious name of their " nurses." Ptolemy IV introduced the custom of giving the children eunuchs to look after them, and we find these eunuchs called by the classical writers nutritii, which recalls the old name. The eunuchs of her brother Ptolemy XIV and her sister Arsinoe, Potheinos and Ganymedes, figure in history ; but we hear of no such nutritius in the case of Cleopatra, doubt- less because she emancipated herself early from such control. That Cleopatra received what is called a good general education might be gathered from the fact that she acquired such an ascendancy over Julius Caesar and Antony, one a man of genuine, the other of superficial, culture. She was un- doubtedly a remarkable linguist, even if modern writers are justified in suspecting the ancients of exaggerating her skill. " As she could easily turn her tongue, like a many-stringed instru- ment, to any language that she pleased," says Plutarch, " she had very seldom need of an interpreter for her converse with barbarous peoples. She could herself speak to most, such as Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians. She is said also to have learnt the language of many other peoples, 46 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV although the kings her predecessors had not even taken the pains to learn the Egyptian language, and some of them had even forgotten the Macedonian dialect."* Plutarch's testimony to the appearance of Cleopatra, and the nature of her fascination, has been received in modern days with less suspicion than what he says about her gift of tongues.* Whereas Dion Cassius describes her as " most % exceedingly beautiful of women," the older his- torian writes in the passage immediately preced- ing that quoted above : " Her beauty, it is said, was not altogether beyond comparison, nor such that no one could look on her without being struck by it. But familiarity with her had an irresistible charm, and the attraction of her person, combined with her persuasive manner of speech, and with the peculiar character which was evident in all that she said or did, was some- t thing bewitching. There was a sweetness also in the mere sound of her voice." Concerning her general character, there will be an opportunity to speak later on ; but it may be remarked here that, if the Court of Alexandria and the house of the Lagidae at this period in their history had been able to produce a good woman, it would have been a miracle. Constant in-breeding, while not impairing the strength, seems to have eliminated whatever good there * Plutarch, " Antony," 27. 47 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT was originally in this Macedonian family. The day has passed when it was necessary to insist upon the non-Egyptian, and purely Greek, blood of the Lagidae. Cleopatra's father was an illegitimate son of the Tenth Ptolemy, whose father, Ptolemy IX, was fifth in descent from Ptolemy the son of Lagos, the prudent and amiable general of Alexander the Great. Apart from the fact that the mother of Ptolemy Auletes is unknown,* and from the doubt entertained by some as to the mother of the four younger children of Auletes, there can be no hesitation in describing Cleopatra as wholly Macedonian- Greek by race. Those who would look for traces of Semitic blood in her have nothing to rely upon except the fantastic argument drawn from the length of her nose. The only intruder into the Lagid house since its foundation was a Syrian princess ; but she was the Fifth Ptolemy's wife, Cleopatra I, daughter of Antiochos the Great, and therefore as Greek as her husband's family. In this genealogy numbering so many Ptolemies, Cleopatras, Berenikes, and Arsinoes, there was * Dr. Mahaffy suggests (" History of Egypt," p. 225, n. i) that the mother of Auletes may have been the sister Cleopatra whom Ptolemy X Lathyros was forced by his mother to divorce on his accession to the throne. Auletes would then be in Egyptian eyes the illegitimate son of Lathyros and Cleopatra, not being born in the purple. But this would make Auletes over thirty on his accession, which is all against evidence. 48 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV a vastly preponderating majority of bad people over good. After the first of the family, the son of Lagos (though the scandal of his time would make him really son of Philip Amyntas, King of Macedon), there were only two Ptolemies, the Third and the Seventh, to whom, as Sharpe says, " history can point with pleasure." Among the women the Syrian Cleopatra alone stands out as admirable. On the other hand, to look only at the direct ancestors of our Cleopatra and to neglect all crimes but family murders, the Second Ptolemy had slain two brothers ; the Fourth his brother, his uncle, and possibly his mother ; the Ninth, nicknamed Physkon or " the Bloated," his son and his infant nephew ; while Auletes, as we have seen, killed his daughter Berenike. Cleopatra III, grandmother of Auletes, is accused of having killed her mother before she was herself put to death by her younger son, Ptolemy Alexander, with some irony called Philometor, " loving his Mother." Ordinary murders, massacres, cruel misgovernment and tyranny, and general morality of a kind which almost defies description, may perhaps seem venial in comparison with such treatment of kindred. It must be remembered, of course, that hardly one of the Lagidae lacked enemies only too eager to heap the worst accusations upon him or her, and that those in particular who were not friendly to the Jews have suffered 49 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT through the undue importance attached until recently to the writings of Josephus, to whose good opinion the only passport was favour shown to the men of his race. Yet a careful sifting of the evidence leaves little good to be said for the character of the Ptolemies, out- wardly splendid though their dominion over Egypt appeared. The culture of the Macedonian kings was better than their morals, two of them, Ptolemy II Philadelphos and Ptolemy IV Philopator, to some extent redeeming very bad reputations by their love of Greek learning, while Ptolemy III Euergetes appealed alike to Greek savants and to Egyptian priests, and at the same time comes down to history a virtuous man owing to the absence of scandalous stories about his private life. For the most part the literary and artistic sympathies of the Lagidae remained Hellenic. The Macedonian rulers at Alexandria became Egyptianised more slowly than the Manchu rulers at Peking, who furnish the nearest modern parallel to them, have become Chinese. Few of the Lagidae even learnt the Egyptian tongue ; and Cleopatra, acquainted with Egyptian in addition to the languages of some of the neigh- bouring peoples, is a striking exception in her family. They adopted the Egyptian royal custom of marriage between brother and sister in order to preserve the purity of " the children of Amon- 50 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV Ra," which they had become, like previous dynasties of Pharaohs, by mounting the throne of Egypt. From the time of Ptolemy V Epiphanes they had restored the old custom of coronation at Memphis with native ceremonies, being crowned, after the proper ablutions, in the Hall of the Royal Diadem, with the white conical cap of the King of the South and the red crown of the King of the North, and there- after going in solemn procession to the temple of their father Ra to receive the divine influence shed by him on his successors and representatives. The principal way in which the Ptolemies submitted to Egyptian influence was in the adoption of the gods of the country, as hi the case of Ra the Sun-god at the coronation cere- mony. As far as possible the Egyptian divinities were identified with those of Greece, a process which Alexander the Great had begun with the equation of Zeus and Amon, Osiris and Dionysos. Thus there had sprung into existence a whole " bastard pantheon,"* in whose temples, built in many cases by the worshippers themselves, the Ptolemies religiously officiated, if only through the medium of a priestly proxy ; for it is disputed whether they ever performed the offices in person except at the coronation and on such occasions as the dedication of a temple. In any case we * The expression is M. Gayet's (" La Civilisation Pharao- nique." p. 302). 51 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT need not inquire how much belief the Macedonian kings of Egypt put into their worship. If Henri of Navarre found Paris worth a mass and other royal personages have since found it possible to accept a creed with a crown, we may excuse the Ptolemies for putting on with the white and red diadems of Upper and Lower Egypt an attitude of devotion toward Amon-Ra, their " divine ancestor," toward Osiris, Isis, and a host of other deities. With Cleopatra the case was the same as with her family before her. Her forefathers had built temples to the Egyptian gods, while remaining, for the most part, unprin- cipled Greeks and not troubling their heads as to what lay behind the curious and often grotesque symbolism of their adopted religion. Cleopatra's life shows her acting no differently. When she came to the throne about June, 51 B.C., Cleopatra was either eighteen or in her eighteenth year. According to the terms of her father's will she was to reign jointly with her brother Ptolemy Dionysos, who was at most eleven years old, and was to marry him in ac- cordance with custom. In making the Roman people his executors Auletes had been careful to request them to see that the succession was not changed. It has been very plausibly sug- gested* that the cause of this request was that the unpopularity of the" young Princess Cleopatra * See Bouche-Leclercq, " Histoire des Lagides," p. 172, n. 52 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV in Alexandria, which became marked later on, had already shown itself and that her father feared an attempt on the part of the Alexandrians to substitute her sister Arsinoe for her. This would indeed explain the violent hatred which Cleopatra subsequently manifested for Arsinoe. But we know of no reason why Cleopatra should have been already unpopular in Alexandria. Anyhow there was apparently no protest against her accession, either at Alexandria or at Rome. The precaution taken by Auletes to have copies of his will' in both places safeguarded his daughter. A revolt at Alexandria would have been imprudent in the absence of any indication how the suzerain Power regarded the new reign ; and Cleopatra's advisers did not hasten to send news to Rome of her father's death until she was first established on the throne of Egypt. What happened at the beginning of the joint rule of Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV is obscure ; for, although Latin and Greek writers soon afterwards begin to pay close attention to Egyp- tian affairs, the native sources of information have already failed almost entirely. It may be gathered from the subsequent course of events that the queen asserted herself very early. It was in the blood of the women of the Lagid family to grasp at power, and Cleopatra at the age of eleven had seen her sister Berenike, possibly eight years her senior, taking a prominent part CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT in the affairs of State. With her masterful disposition she can have wanted no inducement to follow Berenike's example. Now, the native Egyptians were not the people to quarrel with the idea of rule by a woman. Nitocris and the queen of whom we have heard much in recent years, Hatshepsut, were only two out of a number of powerful women who had governed the country. The Ptolemies had done much to countenance the idea of equality of the sexes in the matter of inheritance, and the women of the family ac- customed Egypt to the sight of their intervention in public affairs. As for Alexandria, in spite of its Macedonian-Greek origin, the city had felt the power of Egypt, the often-conquered land, to absorb its conquerors ; and its inhabitants, while developing a character of their own, had grown in many ways more Egyptian than Greek. The opposition to Cleopatra's predominance, however, arose in Alexandria, within the walls of the palace itself. The young Ptolemy XIV remained under the care of his eunuch nutritius, Potheinos, a man of unscrupulous ambition. With Potheinos were associated Achillas, de- scribed by Plutarch as an Egyptian, who com- manded the troops in Alexandria, or at least those troops attached to the person of the king ; and Theodotos, a Greek rhetorician from Samos, one of the many miserable pedagogues of the 54 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV period. Theodotos was Ptolemy's tutor, Achillas his military adviser, and Potheinos his treasurer and counsellor in general. These men were determined in taking advantage of the king's minority to rule Egypt in his name. Between them and Cleopatra, equally bent on ruling Egypt herself, there could be no friendship, and but little provocation was wanted to bring about open strife. It was not until the third year of the joint reign, however, that the rival parties came to blows. The little information which we have of these years shows a troublous state of affairs at Alexandria. The soldiers originally left by Gabinius as a bodyguard to Ptolemy Auletes were completely out of the control of their nominal masters. In the first year of Cleo- patra and her brother it occurred to Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, Julius Caesar's aristocratic colleague in the consulship of 59, and now pro- consular governor of Syria, to send to Alexandria an order for these men to rejoin the Roman ranks and take part in the war which he was contemplating against the Parthians. He en- trusted the message to two of his sons. The " Gabinians " had no mind to give up their pleasant position in Egypt and, enraged at the attempt of Bibulus, killed the two envoys. Cleo- patra, who had good reasons for not quarrelling with Rome, seized the ringleaders and sent them 55 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT in chains to Bibulus. The proconsul, quite in the style of the old Roman noble, returned the prisoners to her, saying that the right of inflicting punishment belonged not to him, but to the Senate. And here, strangely, the matter seems to have ended. The second occasion on which we hear of the affairs of Egypt during the years 51-49 B.C. is also connected partly with the Gabinians. A breach had begun to open between Julius Caesar and Pompey immediately after the death of Julia, daughter of the former and wife of the latter (though her husband was older than her father), and early in 49 it was past healing. In preparation for the inevitable war Pompey sent his elder son Cnaeus, destined to die fighting against Caesar in Spain, to procure corn, men, and ships from Egypt. Pompey being regarded as the patron of the Lagid dynasty, his son was well received in Alexandria. From an allusion in Plutarch's Life of Antony* it is gathered that the young queen had an intrigue with Cnaeus Pompeius during his visit to Egypt. Had this piece of scandal been found in any of the other classical writers about Cleopatra, it might have been regarded as part of the usual abuse of the enemy of Rome ; and, as * " Antony," 25. Plutarch speaks of Cleopatra, when she met Antony in Cilicia in 41 B.C., being " encouraged by the success of her charms against. Caesar and Cnaeus, the son of Pompeius." 56 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV it is, we have no knowledge of whence Plutarch derived his information. Whether or not Cnaeus Pompeius made an appeal to the queen in any other capacity than those of son of the benefactor of her house and representative of the Roman Government, he succeeded in his mission. He took with him when he left Alexandria fifty warships, some with three, some with five banks of oars, and a force of five hundred men drawn from the Gabinians. With these he set out to join Bibulus, who was now admiral in command of Pompey's fleet in the Adriatic. The next we hear of Cleopatra is in the early autumn of the following year, when she was an exile from Egypt. The course of events in the meanwhile is unknown, and is likely to remain so unless some discovery in Egypt is destined one day to throw light on a period about which no Egyptian record hitherto found has anything to say. As the young Ptolemy attained his majority, at the age of fourteen, in 48, Dr. Mahaffy suggests* that his proclamation at Memphis was followed by his assumption of sole control of the kingdom and by the expulsion of Cleopatra. It seems possible that Cleopatra's unpopularity in Alex- andria, whether existing before her accession or due to her ambition to rule without her brother, had been increased by her yielding * " History of Egypt," p. 238. 57 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to the Pompeian requisitions from Egypt. There may have been a fight between her adherents and her brother's, but we cannot be sure concerning anything except the fact that in the autumn of 48, when she was about twenty-one years of age, Cleopatra was a fugitive across the eastern frontier of Egypt, pursued by the king's army. Having, like all princesses of the wealthy house of Lagos, ample funds at her disposal, she was able to command the services of mercenaries. But there seems to have been no probability of her restoration to the throne but for the intervention at this point of the Romans. The representatives of Rome made a tragic entrance upon the scene. On September 28th two Egyptian armies lay opposite one another at the foot of Mount Casius, a height rising near the coast-line on the high-road from Egypt to Syria, and not far from Pelusium. Cleopatra's forces were stationed to the eastward, Ptolemy's to the west and close to the sea, barring the way to Pelusium. In the camp of the king an eager debate was in progress. Messengers had just arrived announcing that Pompey the Great, flying after his defeat at Pharsalia, was on his way to seek the hospitality of the king, whose father he had befriended, housed, and helped to restore, and of whose family he had been the patron. While reminding the king of Pompey's claims upon him, the messengers also 58 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV recalled to some of the Gabinian troops in his army that they had once fought under Pompey. A royal council was held, at which were present Potheinos the eunuch, Theodotos the rhetorician, and Achillas the Egyptian. " Such was the court whose decision Pompeius awaited, while he thought it beneath him to owe his life to Caesar," remarks Plutarch, whose admirable narrative of Pompey's end is one of the most dramatic passages hi the work of the most dramatic prose-writer of ancient times. There was a diversity of opinion in the council, but finally Theodotos rose and carried the day by a speech in which he declared that it was unsafe either to receive Pompey or to drive him away. In the first case they would have Caesar as an enemy and Pompey as a master, he argued ; in the second, Pompey as an enemy and Caesar also, if they gave him the trouble of pursuing Pompey. The best course would be to send for Pompey and then to slay him. Thus they would please Caesar and have nothing to fear from Pompey. " Dead men do not bite," he concluded with a smile. Pompey had meanwhile arrived off the coast. After his escape from Greece he had picked up in Lesbos Cornelia, the last of his five wives, and his younger son Sextus, and with them proceeded to Asia Minor. A council of his supporters was held, at which he expressed his 59 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT desire of taking refuge with one of the foreign kings in order to avoid falling into the hands of Caesar. The names of Orodes of Parthia and Juba the Numidian were suggested. But his Greek friend, Theophanes of Lesbos, " pronounced it madness to pass over Egypt, which was only three days' sail away, and Ptolemaeus, who was still a boy and was indebted to Pompeius for the friendship and favour which his father had received from him, and to put himself into the hands of the treacherous Parthians." Pompey took this advice, and decided to entrust himself to those who were to treat him worse than even " the treacherous Parthians " would have done. He reached the Egyptian coast with a few ships and about two thousand men, having learnt, in Cyprus perhaps, what was the state of affairs in Egypt and where the king was. He waited on board his own ship with his wife, child, and friends, until his messengers should return. They came back with an invitation from Ptolemy to come to his camp, and soon after them a small boat, a mere fishing-smack, was seen setting off from the shore. In it were Achillas, two Roman centurions Septimius and Salvius, of whom the former had once served under Pompey, and three or four slaves. When the boat came alongside Pompey 's ship, Septimius saluted him as " Imperator," and Achillas, speaking in Greek, invited him to enter the boat, 60 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV explaining that the water was too shallow to allow a trireme to approach the shore. This was to disarm the Pompeian party's suspicions, which had indeed been aroused at the smallness of the boat. It seemed too late now, however, to draw back, as Egyptian warships could be seen embarking their crews. The old Roman general therefore embraced his weeping and terrified wife, ordered two of his own centurions, his freedman Philippus, and a slave to get into the boat, and then, as he stepped in himself, turned to Cornelia and Sextus and repeated the words of Sophocles : Whoever to a tyrant goes Becomes his slave, though going free. These were the last words which his friends on the ship heard. In the boat no one spoke to- him. Looking at Septimius he said : " Am I mistaken, or have we been together in the wars ? " Septimius nodded, but made no reply, so Pompey took up a written speech in Greek, which he intended for Ptolemy's hearing, and began to read through it. As the boat neared the shore, some of the king's people were seen collecting as if to meet it at the landing-stage. Pompey took his freedman 's hand to help himself to rise, when Septimius, who was behind him, ran him through, while Salvius and Achillas also drew their swords. Pulling his toga over 6r CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT his head with both hands, Pompey uttered a groan and fell dead. Thus was murdered, on the day before his fifty-eighth birthday, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus, bringing to a close a life of consummate good luck with a death which Plutarch has made world-famous, and appealing to our hearts more by his last failure than by the innumerable successes which preceded it. Professor Momm- sen, with his usual sweeping severity, saw in Pompey " an example of spurious greatness to which history knows no parallel," though allowing him, what cannot be denied, the virtues of a good soldier, who was at the same time " neither a bad nor an incapable man."* Pompey indeed, but for his stiff egotism, his irritating vacillation, and his lack of personal charm, would be a more sympathetic character than most of his distinguished contemporaries ; for, unlike the majority of them, he was neither morally vile nor financially corrupt. It is perhaps fortunate for Cleopatra's fame that at the time of Pompey's arrival in Egypt she was in a camp hostile to that of the Egyptian Govern- ment, although it is possible that she would have been mercifully inclined toward the father of Cnaeus and the friend of her own father. Still, * " History of Rome," V. p. 273. The whole passage is an excellent specimen of the German professor's very in- cisive style. 62 CLEOPATRA AND PTOLEMY XIV it would have been a difficult problem for her to know how to deal with the chief of the losing party in the civil struggle of Rome. Ptolemy XIV. was doubtless personally innocent of the crime which was committed in his name, being but fourteen years old and under the control of his wretched advisers. But for the dynastic quarrel in Egypt the Court would have been at Alexandria when Pompey arrived, and matters might have taken a different turn. It is unlikely however, that the Alexandrians, who attacked the victorious Caesar when he came with a considerably superior force, would have been afraid to kill the fugitive Pompey, attended by a handful of other fugitives. CHAPTER IV CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Jx has been amusingly demonstrated on the modern stage what the first meeting between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra could not have been like. The actual meeting, as told by the ancient historians, is even more dramatic than any efforts of recent imagination have been able to make it. Unfortunately, the modesty of the great Roman has prevented us from having a first-hand account of the scene, and the rise of the Empire did not encourage memoir-writers to be indiscreet, until after a considerable lapse of years. Hence we have much surer knowledge of the events preceding and accompanying the encounter than of the encounter itself and the first relations between the Roman Dictator and the Queen of Egypt. Caesar was not many days later than Pompey in reaching Egypt. He probably guessed that Pompey would go thither on account of his position of patron of the ruling dynasty ; and, as he made straight for Alexandria, it seems that he could not have heard of the upset of affairs in the kingdom. The Pompeian party, 64 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR even after the defeat at Pharsalia, had been in a better position to receive news from Egypt than their enemies, who had yet to secure com- mand of the Mediterranean. Caesar sailed into the Great Harbour, also called the New Port, of Alexandria with a little fleet of ten warships, which had been furnished by the Rhodians, and twenty-five Asiatic vessels. On board he had three thousand two hundred infantry (the remains of two legions), and eight hundred horsemen. In the third book of his work on the Civil War he gives the following account of his landing, writing, as usual, in the third person : " At Alexandria he first learnt of the death of Pompeius ; and there, as he stepped off his ship, he first heard the shouts of the soldiers whom the king had left in the city as a garrison, and saw a rush being made toward him because of the fasces which were carried before him. The whole mob declared that this was an insult to the king's majesty. When this trouble was over, crowds gathered together day after day, and many outbreaks took place, and many soldiers were killed in every quarter of the town." These brief words are sufficient to indicate that Caesar put himself in a position of great peril when he disembarked in Alexandria with so small a force, even though the main Egyptian army was away on the frontier. There was the 65 3 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT mob of Alexandria, a city of over three hundred thousand inhabitants besides slaves, to be reckoned with, as well as the garrison ; and, as Alexandria was a favourite resort for Italian runaways, it is likely that the sight of the little bundles of twigs carried before the Roman consul by his lictors excited other feelings as well as indignation at the " insult to the king's majesty." From the fact that " many soldiers were killed in every quarter of the town " it would seem that Caesar did not feel it necessary at first to keep his men in barracks as if they were in a hostile city. He tells us, however, that he sent to Asia Minor for some legions which he had made up of the remnants of the Pompeian army after Pharsalia to come to him. As the reason for his continued stay in Alexandria he mentions the Etesii, the annual trade winds which blow from the north for forty days after the rising of the dog-star, making it difficult for ships such as were built then to leave Alex- andria. He also wished, since he had come to Egypt, to regulate the affairs of the country before he left. " Considering," he writes, " that the royal quarrel was a matter for the Roman people and for himself, especially falling within his province because, in his previous consulship, a formal treaty of alliance had been made with Ptolemaeus the father, he expressed his desire that King Ptolemaeus and his sister Cleopatra 66 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR should dismiss the armies under their command, and decide their quarrel before him judicially rather than by force of arms." Caesar makes no mention of Pompey's head being sent to him. It seems that, when the news of his landing in Alexandria reached the king's camp, the amiable Theodotos set out with his trophy, the dead general's body having been left on the shore to be cremated by his faithful freedman. Plutarch says that Caesar turned away from Theodotos as from a murderer, and that he wept when he was given Pompey's seal a lion holding a sword ; Appian, that " Caesar could not bear to look at the head when it was brought to him, but ordered it to be buried, setting apart for it a small plot of ground near the city, dedicated to Nemesis." The young king and Potheinos appear to have followed Theodotos to Alexandria, leaving behind them Achillas and the troops, in seeming obedience to Caesar's desire. Moreover, whether there had been any fighting between Ptolemy's and Cleo- patra's armies or not, Cleopatra was still on the frontier. But, on the receipt of the summons to disband her forces and repair to Alexandria to settle her differences with Ptolemy judicially, she started to obey. Potheinos, on the other hand, expressing his indignation at Caesar ven- turing to call Ptolemy before him, sent a message to Achillas to bring the whole army secretly 67 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to Alexandria. Caesar describes the force as amounting to twenty thousand men in all, in- cluding the Gabinians and a collection of brigands and pirates from Syria, Cilicia, and the neigh- bouring countries, as well as condemned criminals and runaways from Rome. In addition there were two thousand cavalry ; and the whole army was experienced in warfare, having taken part in the struggles for the throne.* The arrival of these men made desperate the position of Caesar, with no more than four thousand soldiers and the crews of his ships. Cleopatra, as we have said, started to obey Caesar's summons. But her difficulty was how to appear before him, with Alexandria in pos- session of her brother's troops and the Romans practically prisoners in the quarter of the city which contained the Royal Palace. Caesar makes no further allusion to her in the remaining chapters of his " Civil War." Indeed his only mention of her name is in the passage quoted above. The anonymous author of the book on " The Alexandrian War," who carries on Caesar's narrative, is equally reticent. Later writers fortunately did not consider themselves bound to observe silence for fear of damaging the Dic- * Compluribus Alexandriae bellis, says Caesar, " de Bello Civili " III. no. He also mentions bella cum Aegyptiis. In the absence of Egyptian records for the early years of Cleopatra's reign we know of no such native risings as those to which Caesar seems to refer. 68 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR tator's reputation. " As to the war," remarks Plutarch, " some say that it might have been avoided, and that it broke out in consequence of Caesar's passion for Cleopatra, and was dis- creditable to him and hazardous." Caesar originally blamed the Etesian winds for his stay ; but his almost total suppression of Cleopatra's name is a proof of her share in prolonging his sojourn in Alexandria. Both Plutarch and Dion Cassius give circum- stantial accounts of the manner in which Cleopatra introduced herself to Caesar and conquered his heart. We last heard of her near Pelusium at the time of Pompey's murder. She probably made the whole of her way from Pelusium to Alexandria by sea. According to Plutarch, she took with her only one of her adherents, Apollo- doros the Sicilian, and, getting into a small boat, approached the Palace as it was growing dark. As it was impossible for her to escape notice any other way and it cannot be supposed that she would have received any mercy at the hands of Potheinos had she been discovered she got into a bed-sack, a kind of empty mattress in which bed-clothes were tied up in those days. After she had laid herself at full length, Apollo- doros tied the sack together with a cord, hoisted it upon his shoulders, and carried it through the Palace into Caesar's presence. Dion narrates the introduction somewhat 69 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT differently. " At first her case against her brother," he says, " was argued for her by friends, until, learning the amorous character of Caesar,* she sent him word that her cause was being mis- managed by her advocates, and that she desired to plead it herself. She was now in the flower of her age and most exceedingly beautiful. Moreover, she had the sweetest of voices and every charm of conversation, so that she was likely to ensnare even the most obdurate and elderly man. She looked on these gifts as her claims upon Caesar. She therefore begged for an interview, and adorned herself in a garb most becoming, yet likely to arouse his pity, and so came secretly by night to visit him." The date of this celebrated meeting was some time in the October of 48 B.C., according to the unreformed calendar. The Dictator was about fifty-four years of age, and, as we know from his busts, with his thin hair and drawn-in cheeks, did not look younger. He might answer, there- fore, in some ways to Dion's " elderly man." But he was certainly not " obdurate." His most ardent panegyrist Mommsen admits that he " appeared among all his victories to value most those over beautiful women." His conduct toward women has often been compared with Napoleon's ; not that he was brusque toward * We are reminded of part of Curio's epigram on Caesar, quoted by Suetonius, that he was omnium mulierum vir. 70 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR them, but because he seemed often to treat them as necessary relaxations in the course of the most arduous public affairs. The Cleopatras and Eunoes of Caesar answered to the Mesdames Foures and Walewska of Napoleon. In Alex- andria, however, the Roman allowed a woman to imperil his position in a way which was un- paralleled in the Corsican's conduct unless it be the campaign against the Austrians in 1796, when Napoleon's infatuation for his own wife nearly led to his capture at Brescia. The daring spirit which Cleopatra had shown in her device to get into his presence was the first thing which captivated Caesar, Plutarch tells us. Then, " being completely enslaved by his acquaintance with her and by her attractions, he brought about an accommodation between Cleopatra and her brother on the terms of her being associated with him in the kingdom." Similarly Dion says : " When Caesar saw her and heard the sound of her voice he became her slave on the spot, so much so that toward dawn he sent for Ptolemy, and tried to reconcile them. For he had already become the advocate of her whose judge he had intended to be." (Caesar, as a matter of fact, was not going beyond the terms of the will of Auletes in attempting to make Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV continue to rule jointly.) Dion continues : " The boy, feeling this and seeing that his sister had suddenly made CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT her appearance, was filled with anger, and, rushing out to the multitude, cried out that he was betrayed. Last of all he tore the crown off his head and dashed it to the ground. A great uproar resulting, the Caesarians seized upon Ptolemy, while the Egyptians were in a state of confusion. The latter would have carried the Palace with a simultaneous attack from land and from sea for the Romans, thinking them- selves among friends, had no force to resist them had not Caesar in alarm come out to them and, standing in a safe place, promised to do all they might wish. Then he called together a meeting, at which he produced Ptolemy and Cleopatra and read out their father's will." Having reminded the assembly how Auletes had disposed of his inheritance, Caesar stated that it was his duty as Dictator and representative of the Roman people to look after the late king's children, and to see that his wishes were carried out. He therefore gave the kingdom to the two claimants conjointly ; and Dion would have us believe that he presented Cyprus to Arsinoe and Ptolemy the younger, being " in such a state of alarm that, so far from taking anything from Egypt* he S ave them something also from his own possessions." We can find no other allusion to this gift of Cyprus, which at this epoch appears an improbable piece of generosity, nor is there any trace of a visit to the island on the part of 72 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Arsinoe and the younger Ptolemy. It is possible that the gift, if it was made, was revoked when Ptolemy XIV died and his brother took his place on the Egyptian throne. Cyprus appears then to have figured again as part of the Roman province of Cilicia. In 42 B.C., however, we find the island being administered by an Egyptian viceroy, so that Cleopatra must somehow have managed to get it into her possession. Caesar relates the events leading to his seizure of Ptolemy XIV very simply, omitting all reference to Ptolemy's sister. On the approach of the royal army to Alexandria, he says, Achillas, at the instigation of Potheinos and others, sent letters and messengers demanding that what he wanted should be done. He himself, on learn- ing of the army's return, put himself in a state of defence, and persuaded Ptolemy to send a couple of his friends to parley with Achillas. The men chosen were Dioskorides and Serapion, who had both been on an embassy to Rome in the time of Auletes. Achillas ordered the envoys to be seized and killed ; and one was actually slain, the other left for dead. Caesar then assured himself of the person of the king, both in the hope of using Ptolemy's name and influence and " in order that the war might appear to have been started independently at the instigation of a few desperadoes rather than of the king," as he frankly admits. 73 3* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT The situation in Alexandria was now this. Caesar, with his four thousand men, was in occu- pation of the north-eastern quarter of Alexandria, known as the Brucheion, including the Royal Palace and the Theatre, lying south-west of the Palace, which he made his headquarters. In the Palace itself were Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV and his guardian Potheinos, Arsinoe, and the younger Ptolemy. All the rest of the city was in the possession of Achillas and the royal army. Caesar's few ships were in the Great Harbour, or rather in the eastern corner of it called the Royal Harbour. The Alexandrian home fleet, reinforced by the fifty ships which had been lent to Pompey and had returned after Pharsalia, were masters of the Western or Old Port, Eunos- tos, and of part of the Great Harbour, including its entrances from the sea and from Eunostos. To a certain extent the Roman position was like that of besieged Europeans in the Legations at Peking, with the sea taking the place of the Peking-Tientsin railway. But two important differences were that in Alexandria the Palace was in Roman hands, instead of being the chief stronghold of the enemy, and that Ptolemy and his eunuch adviser were at the beginning in Caesar's power instead of being at large like the Empress Dowager and her eunuchs. There is no indication as to how long was the interval between Caesar's settlement of the claims 74 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR of Cleopatra and her brother and the actual out- break of fighting. The war was precipitated by the intrigues of Potheinos, which had commenced as soon as he reached Alexandria with his young king. One of the chief reasons why the Alex- andrians had looked with displeasure on Caesar's arrival was that they remembered that Auletes had borrowed huge sums from certain Romans in order to bribe others, and that he had not repaid them. Caesar's claim, indeed, was for 700,000, though he does not mention it in his " Civil War." He agreed to remit part of the debt to the heir of Auletes and asked only for ten million denarii, or 400,000, saying that he required money for the upkeep of his troops. Potheinos made good use of Caesar's unfortunate position as creditor living in the house of his debtor. While providing, as Ptolemy's treasurer, bad corn for the Roman soldiers, and telling them that they ought to be thankful for what they got when they were eating what belonged to others, he caused to be used at the royal table wooden and earthenware vessels, alleging that Caesar had taken those of gold and silver. To stir up Egyptian sentiment further, he stripped the temples of their treasures. In the meantime he was giving Caesar the excellent advice that he should go where his business called him either to Pontus, to meet the Parthians, or back to Rome and was keeping in constant 75 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT communication with Achillas with a view to over- whelming the small Roman force altogether. The Egyptian commander, on his side, did not wait long after his entry into Alexandria before attempting to gain a footing in the Brucheion. Caesar spread his troops in defensive positions through the streets of the royal quarter, and beat off the attack. Simultaneously a still fiercer fight took place on the harbour side. While the Egyptians were trying to man their warships, the Romans succeeded in penetrating into the docks and burning the whole fleet which lay there, the fifty ships which had been lent to Pompey, twenty-two guardships, and a number of others, making up a grand total of one hundred and ten vessels, according to the author of the book on " The Alexandrian War." In the great conflag- ration which arose (although the same author declares Alexandria to have been almost proof against fire owing to the absence of wood from its buildings) the celebrated Library is said by later authors to have been destroyed with books to the number of four hundred thousand, accord- ing to Livy's figures, quoted by Seneca. Modern writers are very naturally sceptical about the burning of the Library, seeing that it is unmen- tioned by Caesar and the writer who carried on Caesar's description of the war, by Cicero, by the violent anti-Caesarian Lucan, by Strabo, or by any one else, either in the generation con- 76 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR temporary with the supposed catastrophe or in the next, except Livy in a book which has been lost. If the Library was actually destroyed there was certainly a most remarkable conspiracy of silence about it, in which men joined who had no reason for wishing to spare the reputation of Julius Caesar. The burning of the Egyptian ships in the docks of the Great Harbour was a great stroke of luck for Caesar, but it did not give him command of the sea, for there was a fleet in the Old Port, and moreover the island of Pharos commanded the entrance to the Great Harbour. There was a regular town on the island, and a fort, from which communication with Alexandria was kept up by means of the Heptastadion, a mole of seven stades (1,416 yards) in length, pierced with two openings over which there were bridges.* Taking advantage of the Alexandrians being occupied with the street-fighting, Caesar threw a force across to the island and seized it, thus opening the way to the sea and enabling him to send out for supplies and reinforcements. Holding his own, too, against Achillas, he succeeded in running up entrenchments sufficient to keep the Egyptians from penetrating into the streets of the royal quarter of the city. Still, although the Palace was secure in his * Owing to the silting up of the harbour along the ancient Heptastadion the island of Pharos is now a peninsula. 77 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT hands, there was treachery within to cope with, as well as attacks from without. But perhaps the conduct of the Egyptian royalists cannot be properly called treachery, seeing that, except to Cleopatra, the presence of Caesar and his troops was alike unwelcome and oppressive. The first hostile move was made by the Princess Arsinoe, of whom we have hitherto heard nothing but her name, although it is plain from her conduct now that she shared the usual energy of the women of her family. In company with her eunuch nutritius Ganymedes, whose ambition and in- fluence over his ward were no less than the ambi- tion of Potheinos and his influence over Ptolemy XIV, she escaped from the Palace and made her way to Achillas, thus giving the Egyptian cause a visible rallying-point in the absence of the king. Arsinoe's escape still left three of the royal family in Caesar's hands, and with them Potheinos. The eunuch employed his forced stay in the Palace in giving information to his friends in the besieging army. Caesar, however, only wanted a plausible excuse for getting rid of him, and, as he relates himself, finding that Potheinos was writing to Achillas urging him to maintain the struggle boldly, put him to death. The poet Lucan expresses his regret that Potheinos died the same death as Pompey,* being decapitated. A second sacrifice to the spirit of the murdered * Magni morte peril, Lucan, " Pharsalia," X. 519. 7 8 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Roman soon followed. The arrival of Arsinoe and Ganymedes brought dissension into the Egyptian camp. Ganymedes was eager to raise his princess to the throne, and began to spread bribes on her behalf among the royal troops. A quarrel broke out with Achillas, as might have been expected ; but Ganymedes was strong enough to procure the assassination of his rival. Thus two of Pompey's betrayers had paid the penalty for their treachery. The third, Theo- dotos, vanishes from sight until he turns up again in Asia Minor after Caesar's murder, when he was arrested by Marcus Brutus and crucified a death which ought to have satisfied Lucan's sense of propriety. The two most vigorous enemies of the Romans hitherto were now out of the way. Ganymedes, however, showed himself an even more determined foe. Already orders had been sent throughout the country to bring reinforcements and siege- instruments to Alexandria. The troops in the town had been supplemented by levies of armed slaves raised by the richer townsmen. Barricades of stone forty feet in height had been erected in all the streets within reach of the Romans, and ten-storied towers had been built in the lower parts of the town near the sea. Ganymedes, on his advent to power, set himself to work to de- prive the besieged of their water-supply, by cutting off the fresh water from the town and 79 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT allowing the sea to run into the conduits supply- ing the Brucheion. Caesar in the meantime was directing the defence strenuously from his headquarters in the Theatre. His little force was protected against direct assault by entrenchments and barricades. The native inhabitants of the streets in his pos- session were not turned out of their houses, as they professed friendship for the Romans. But the author of " The Alexandrian War " remarks : " I should be wasting many words in vain if I were to defend the Alexandrians from the charges of deceit and levity of mind. . . . There can be no doubt that this race is most prone to treachery." It was not so much a rising of the inhabitants, however, that Caesar feared, as a failure of food-supplies and water, before help came to him from without. He attempted to work his way south through the Canopic quarter of the town to Lake Mareotis, but this involved storming the streets held by the greatly superior numbers of the Egyptians. And now the pol- luting of the conduits with sea-water produced a veritable panic among his soldiers, which he was only able to allay by setting them to sink wells. Fortunately this resulted in the discovery of an underground supply of drinkable water. Further encouragement was received in the shape of news that the XXXVIIth Legion, made up of former Pompeians, had succeeded in crossing from Asia 80 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Minor with food-supplies, arms, and siege- instruments, and was off the African coast, only unable to reach Alexandria owing to an easterly wind blowing. Caesar, although he was not yet master of the sea, boldly sailed out from the Great Harbour with his ships manned only by their crews, leaving the troops to guard their entrenchments, and effected a. junction with his reinforcements. Towing the laden vessels behind him, he returned to Alexandria. The Egyptian fleet tried to bar his passage, and succeeded in cutting off one of his best Rhodian warships. Forced to go to its aid, Caesar gave battle, which he had previously avoided owing to his lack of troops on board. Such was the bravery and skill of the Rhodian seamen that he carried the day, capturing one large Egyptian ship, sinking another, and inflicting on the enemy a heavy loss in men. The siege of Alexandria, described in full detail by the author of " The Alexandrian War," must not delay us too long here. The principal incident was the struggle for the island of Pharos, with Caesar's memorable escape from death. The Egyptians seem to have regained possession of the island, and it became necessary for Caesar to recapture it. He sailed round to the entrance of the Old Port, forced his way in and gave battle again to the Egyptian fleet, which now numbered only twenty-seven large warships against his total 81 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT of thirty-four. Defeating them with heavy loss, he then landed a military force on Pharos and took the town by storm. Proceeding to capture the mole connecting the island with the main city, he began to fortify the end facing the Rhakotis quarter. But the remains of the Egyptian fleet in the Old Port came to the assistance of the party attacking the lower bridge. The Alexandrians gaining a footing on the mole, the numerically inferior Romans were massacred or driven into the water. The author of "The Alexandrian War " merely says that Caesar shared his men's danger and, seeing that all was lost, escaped to the boat which was waiting for him. But such a number of his men followed him that the boat became unmanageable and began to sink. Throwing himself into the water he swam off to the warships farther away and sent back boats to pick up all they could. Later writers make him swim with his purple mantle held between his teeth and a bundle of important papers in one hand. Others make the mantle fall into the hands of the victors, who burnt it triumphantly on the scene of their success. The contemporary historian of the war pretends that the Romans were not discouraged by this defeat, which cost them four hundred legionaries, a still larger number of seamen who had joined in the defence of the mole, and the possession of the mole itself, with its two passages from the Old into 82 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR the New Port. He shows, however, that when the Alexandrians sent to Caesar asking him to set King Ptolemy at liberty the Dictator acceded to their request. The Alexandrians professed to be tired of Arsinoe and of the harsh rule of Gany- medes, and to be ready to be reconciled to Caesar if their king should command them. Caesar, whatever his motives,* gave Ptolemy his freedom, with a short lecture on his duty to his country and his good faith toward Rome and himself. The king, " true to the traditions of his race," began to weep and to beg not to be sent away, since his kingdom was no dearer to him than the sight of Caesar. The Dictator was touched and dried his tears, sending him off with the assurance that, if such were his sentiments, he would soon be with him again. Ptolemy, immediately he was at liberty, began to press the war against Caesar so vigorously that the tears which he had shed seemed to have been tears of joy. Such is the criticism upon Ptolemy's conduct of the Roman writer, prompt, like all his fellow- countrymen, to see in every foreigner an example of perfidy and ingratitude. Unprejudiced people might fail to see that Ptolemy owed much to the * The same writer makes Caesar not deceived by the Alex- andrians, but willing to believe that King Ptolemy would remain faithful, and also influenced by the fact that, if Ptolemy turned against him, it would be more glorious for himself to fight against the king than against " a crowd of sweepings of the world and runaways " (" de Bello Alexandrine," 24). 83 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT general who had kept him a virtual prisoner within his palace, while fighting desperately against his adherents, by land and by sea ; and had, more- over, made a mistress of his wife the Queen. Cleopatra remained with the Romans now when Ptolemy was set free. Caesar was not minded to part with so charming a companion, nor would it have been safe for Cleopatra to put herself into the power of the king's party and the friends of her sister Arsinoe. The latter princess seems to have retired from her position of prominence upon her brother's release, while her eunuch Gany- medes, in spite of the success with which he had conducted the siege, vanishes from sight and is not heard of again until he appears as a prisoner in Caesar's triumphal procession in Rome. Caesar possibly anticipated dissensions among the Egyptians when they got back their king. If so, his " kindness " to Ptolemy* was a good stroke of policy. The siege when no more under the management of Ganymedes pressed less hardly on the Romans ; and it was not long before it came to an end owing to a diversion in Caesar's favour from the eastern frontier of Egypt. A report reached the royal headquarters in Alexandria first that large reinforcements were on their way by land to the besieged Romans from Syria and Cilicia. It was true. Mithridates of Pergamum, who was reputed to be a natural son * See " de Bello Alexandrine, " 24, last sentence. 84 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR of the great king of Pontus by a Galatian princess, had been one of those sent out by Caesar to fetch aid at the beginning of his troubles in Alexandria. He had succeeded in collecting a force in Syria and Cilicia and had been joined by Jewish and Arab troops under Antipater, father of Herod, and the Bedouin chief lamblichus. Appearing before Pelusium in great strength he took the fortress by storm and pressed on toward Alexandria. The Egyptian troops sent from Alexandria to check his advance met him east of the Canopic branch of the Nile at a place called the Jews' Camp and were defeated. A messenger from Mithridates now reached Caesar, who at once started to meet him, Ptolemy having with- drawn his army from Alexandria in order to retrieve the recent defeat on the Nile and so leaving Caesar free. The Egyptians proceeded by way of the canal running from Alexandria to the Canopic branch, while Caesar after feinting to sail eastward along the coast turned back to a point west of Alexandria, landed his troops, and marched round the south shore of Lake Mareotis, effecting a junction with Mithridates before Ptolemy had got in touch with him. A fierce battle, lasting two days, took place, the Egyptians having fixed their camp in a very strong natural position on the Nile bank, protected also by a stream running into the river and by a marsh. On the second day a turning movement entrusted 85 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to Carfulenus (who afterwards died fighting against Antony at Mutina) proved successful. Carfulenus penetrated into the enemy's camp, which the Romans now attacked from all sides. The Egyptians gave way, and in trying to escape by water suffered tremendous losses. Ptolemy suffered the fate which had nearly been Caesar's in the fighting about the mole at Alexandria. He got into a boat, but such a number of fugitives followed him that it sank and he was drowned. So perished at the age of about fifteen Cleopatra's brother and nominal first husband, after a reign of less than four years, during which he appears as little more than a victim of the ambitions of others, of Cleopatra, Potheinos, Achillas, and Ganymedes. As to his personal character there is nothing to enable us to form an opinion unless it be the remark quoted above from " The Alexandrian War," and that is certainly not devoid of prejudice. In Egyptian records he is nothing but a name. This " King of the South and the North, Lord of the Two Lands, Son of the Sun, Lord of Risings " is a melancholy cipher, only exceeded perhaps in sadness and nonentity by the brother who took his place. 86 CHAPTER V CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR (continued) IMMEDIATELY after his victory over the Egyptian army, Caesar hastened back to Alexandria with his mounted troops only. On March 27th, 47 B.C., according to the old calendar (answering to January I4th in the calendar reformed by him- self), he rode through the streets of the city unopposed. He was right in assuming that the news of the battle on the Nile would break the spirit of the Alexandrians. The author of the book on the War describes how the whole mass of the townspeople, throwing down their arms and abandoning their barricades, dressing themselves in mourning garments, and bringing out from the temples the images of the gods, ran out to meet him and cast themselves on his mercy. Caesar cheered them with kind words and made his way through their entrenchments into his own quarter of the city, where he had a warm reception from the men whom he had left behind as garrison. 87 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Among those who had waited anxiously for his return was Cleopatra, whose very existence depended upon the success of the Romans. In collaboration with her Caesar now proceeded to regulate the affairs of Egypt. For her sake he made no disturbance in the ancient order of things. Ptolemy XIV being dead, he raised to the throne with her Ptolemy XV, commonly called Neoteros, who cannot have been more than eleven years old. He took his brother's place as king-consort in the regular Egyptian style. The unfortunate Arsinoe was detained as a prisoner of war and sent to Rome until she should be required for the triumphal procession. For the second time Cleopatra found herself on the Egyptian throne with a boy of ten or eleven as her husband in name. And this time her situation was by no means so precarious as before. The victorious Caesar did not leave her until her position was consolidated. Among Cicero's letters to his friend Atticus we find one dated June 47, in which he speaks of Caesar's long stay at Alexandria, and says that it is believed that there is a considerable obstacle in the way of his departure valde esse impedimentum. This im- pedimentum was Cleopatra. Mommsen remarks of his favourite hero that " it was not the nature of Caesar to take his departure without having accomplished his work," and that " never was there greater gaiety in his camp than during this 88 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR rest at Alexandria."* Others have not judged the Dictator so lightly in this matter. The stay in Egypt, indeed, seemed gravely to imperil the position of the Caesarian party. Spain and the Roman province of Africa were in the possession of the ex-Pompeians, who had organised a regular Senatorial government at Utica, sup- ported by Juba, King of Numidia. In Illyria the refugees from Pharsalia were in league with the wild native tribes. In Asia Minor Caesar's lieutenant, Domitius Calvinus, had been beaten at Nicopolis by Pharnakes, son of Mithridates the Great and ruler of a large kingdom on the Bosporus. In Italy things were not going at all well in Caesar's absence, as he might well have suspected. Yet after his settlement of Egyptian affairs the Dictator prolonged his stay in Egypt well into the spring of 47, until he had spent in all nine months in this part of the world. He set the bad example which Antony after him was to follow. Instead of taking the sound advice which Potheinos had given him, to go whither his business called him, he devoted his time to * " History of Rome," V. p. 276. But he admits on p. 282 that " this Alexandrian insurrection, insignificant as it was in itself and slight as was its intrinsic connection with the events of importance in the world's history which took place at the same time in the Roman State, had nevertheless so far a momentous influence on them that it compelled the man who was all in all and without whom nothing could be despatched and nothing could be solved to leave his proper tasks in abeyance from October 48 to March 47 in order to fight along with Jews and Bedouins against a city rabble." 8 9 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT " exploring the country in company with Cleo- patra and enjoying himself with her in other ways," as Appian expresses it. Suetonius says that he would have carried his explorations as far as the frontier of Ethiopia, had not his troops refused to follow him. On their journey up the Nile Caesar and Cleopatra were escorted by four hundred ships, according to Appian ; and they travelled in a thalamegos, one of those vast floating palaces such as Athenaeus, quoting from an earlier writer, describes. Ptolemy IV Philopator has the credit of being the first designer of the thalamegos or " carrier of the (royal) bed-chamber." Three hundred feet long by forty-five wide and sixty high, measured from the water-line to the top of the framework of the awning ; two-decked, double-prowed, and double-sterned ; propelled by bank upon bank of oarsmen* and a huge linen sail, purple fringed, on a mast over one hundred feet high, these thalamegoi were constructed in a style calculated to please even a modern millionaire. As one set foot on the vessel, the first thing which met the eye was an open colonnade, leading to a covered ante-room, which in its turn led into another colonnade in the centre of the ship, open to the air above, and having * The somewhat larger warships designed by Ptolemy Philopator, measuring 520 feet by 60 by about 80 at the stern, had forty banks of oars, of which the longest were nearly sixty feet long (Athenaeus, V. 37). 90 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR round it rows of pillars and four sets of folding- doors. From this one entered the great ban- queting-saloon, built of cedar and cypress wood, with column of cj'press adorned with Corinthian capitals and decorations of gold and ivory. The roof was of cypress with all the carvings overlaid with gilt, and the doors round the saloon, twenty in number, of citron wood with brass nails and fastenings. Twenty couches could be placed in this banqueting-hall, which would therefore ac- commodate sixty guests. There was, however, a similar room, with nine couches, on the same deck, as well as a large number of sleeping- chambers for men and for women. On the upper deck were more dining-rooms and more bedrooms, a chapel of Aphrodite, and a room dedicated to Dionysos, which seems from the description quoted by Athenaeus to have been yet another hall for feasts, although it also contained an artificial cave built of a combination of natural stone and of gold. There was, moreover, on this deck one dining-room in the Egyptian style, with walls of alternate lines of black and white bricks, round columns decorated with lotus, palm, and other native ornamentation, and Egyptian furniture. Apart from this room the archi- tecture, decorations, and upholstery were Greek throughout. In such a moment of Alexandrian Greek luxury Caesar ascended the Nile in the company of the 9 1 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT queen who made him forget his duties to his country. We might imagine from the account of the thalamegos that there was little provision on board for anything but eating, drinking, and sleeping, vast scope as there was for these. Cleopatra, however, was well fitted to introduce an atmosphere of refinement into an environment which might otherwise only suggest a life of debauchery, congenial to an Antony, but hardly to a man of the intellect of Julius Caesar although we should perhaps do well to remember that in his youth Caesar showed a very strong liking for most of the pleasures to which Antony remained a devotee throughout his life. Cleopatra now surrounded him with sensual allurements, while at the same time preventing them from becoming too gross for his mature taste.* With her mental and bodily gifts, added to the power with which her wealth furnished her of displaying a dazzling hospitality, she made it very difficult for him to tear himself away from her society. Nevertheless, when the month of June (Old Style) arrived, Caesar decided that he could no longer delay his departure for Syria. Whether or * M. Henry Houssaye describes the situation admirably : " With Caesar Cleopatra instinctively played the part of a crowned Aspasia, never ceasing to be the charmer, but joining dignity to grace, hiding the courtesan under the queen, showing an even temper every day, expressing herself in chosen language, talking of politics, art, and literature, lifting without an effort her wonderful faculties to the supreme level of the Dictator's intelligence " (" Aspasie Cleopatre Theodora," p. 122). 9 2 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR not his troops became mutinous, as Suetonius suggests, there can be no doubt that urgent messages must have been reaching him in Egypt about the dangers threatening his position if he did not show himself to be still an active force. He took leave therefore of Cleopatra. But before starting on the campaign of which he is alleged to have written the famous despatch " Veni, vidi, vici," he presented to his mistress three of his legions to act as a bodyguard for her and to preserve her authority in Alexandria as the Gabinians had preserved that of her father. At their head he put a trusted freedman, Rufinus, who doubtless had instructions to watch over his master's interests as well as those of Cleopatra. Caesar also left with Cleopatra another memorial of his visit to Egypt, namely, a child, who seems to have been born in the month of June, according to the new calendar, some two months after the Dictator had started for Syria. There is no real reason for doubting the parentage of this boy. Through the influence of Augustus, the Dictator's heir, who put him to death, Caesarion's Roman blood was afterwards denied, and we find the denial accepted by Dion Cassius. Plutarch makes the Alexandrians give him the name Caesarion, as though it were a mere nick- name. But Caesarion is only the diminutive of Caesar, which was part of the boy's legal name 93 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT in Egypt, as appears from inscriptions for instance, in a priestly decree on a bilingual stele from Thebes, removed to Turin, wherein he is called " Ptolemy, who is also Caesar, the god Philopator Philometor." Suetonius quotes " certain Greeks " as saying that Caesarion resembled Julius Caesar both in looks and in walk ; and we may conclude that there was the best of reasons for this resemblance. Cleopatra herself had no scruple in acknow- ledging Julius Caesar as the father of her child, although she had been at least nominally the wife of Ptolemy XIV within half a year of Caesarion's birth. But in order to conciliate native Egyp- tian sentiment, which was for her exceedingly necessary, she sought the aid of the priests to revive an old religious fiction which had first been introduced, perhaps, by the great Queen Hatsbepsut and was later used by the Pharaoh Amenothes III.* Hatshepsut's father had been the son of a royal concubine only, whereas her mother was of the full race of the Sun. Therefore in the sculptures in Hatshepsut's temple at Deir El-Bahari it was shown how her mother was visited by the god Amon-Ra, assuming the guise * Some Egyptologists consider that this divine birth was supposed in the case of all the Pharaohs. See M. A. Moret, " Du caractere religieux de la royaute pharaonique." But they do not deny that it was particularly insisted upon in the three cases of Hatshepsut, Amenothes III, and Ptolemy Caesarion. 94 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR of the Pharaoh Thothmoses I, and how from this meeting came the child Hatshepsut, a genuine daughter of the Sun on both sides. Similarly at Luxor the birth of Amenothes III is explained. And now again, in the temple which she decorated at the Upper Egyptian town of Hermonthis (Erment), Cleopatra the Lagid invokes or, rather we should say, invoked, for the stones of the temple were unfortunately carried away in the last century to build a sugar-factory with the as- sistance of Amon to secure for her son his full complement of that Solar blood which was as- sumed to run in the veins of the Ptolemies after they took the place of the ancient kings of Egypt. The sculptures of these " divine births " re- present with minute detail, but with no unpleasant realism, the whole story for the eyes of the faithful. We see Amon preparing the gods in heaven for the birth of a Pharaoh, and then descending to earth, attended by Thoth, and visiting the queen, taking upon himself the appearance of her human husband. We see the Sun-god and the queen sitting together on a couch upheld by the goddesses Neit and Selkit, while the accompanying text describes for us the majesty of the god revealing itself under his mortal shape, and the grateful adoration by the queen of Amon, Lord of Karnak, Lord of Thebes. We see Khnumu, the divine potter, fashioning the infant on his wheel, assisted by Heqt or by Hathor. We see Khnumu and 95 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Heqt leading the queen to her bedchamber, where she gives birth to the child and its double, aided by Isis and Nephthys and other attendant divinities and acclaimed by the spirits of the North and South and East and West, while the grotesque god Bes and the hippopotamus goddess Taurt stand by to avert witchcraft and all ill-luck. We see the child presented by Hathor to its heavenly father, who receives it with joy and acknowledges it as his own, and lastly We see it, with its double, suckled by Hathor both in her goddess and in her cow form, and purified with all due ceremonies by the gods.* Side by side with the representation of Caesar- ion's birth from Cleopatra at Hermonthis was another of the birth of Horus from his mother Isis among the reeds at Buto, as though it were in- tended to give an extra touch of pious solemnity to the outcome of the intrigue between Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. History fails to provide a parallel to this glorification of an illegitimate birth. We must suppose that with the aid of the priesthood Cleopatra succeeded in imposing on her Egyptians the legend so curiously depicted at Hermonthis. We find in an epitaph fourteen years later the date of " the twentieth year of Cleopatra united to Amon." M. Bouche-Leclercq points out that then (33 or 32 B.C.) Amon's name * Moret, pp. 48 ff. ; Bouche-Leclercq, " Histoire des Lagides," III. pp. 8-11. 9 6 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR was Antony ! But the mass of the Egyptians were accustomed to tolerate the strangest beha- viour of their rulers under the cloak of religion. It would be interesting to know what were the comments of her sceptical Greek subjects upon the claim advanced by this spouse of Amon. Not all were as respectful as the simple-minded Herodotus, we may be sure, to the beliefs and ceremonies with which Egypt brought them in contact. We now lose sight of Cleopatra for more than a year. When she appears again it is no more in the guise of the mysterious consort of the Sun-god and mother of his divine offspring, but as a foreign queen visiting Rome, the recognised and tolerated, but at the same time widely hated, mistress of the great general who had returned home to celebrate the victories won by him in so many parts of the world. In the interval the absence of any reports of disturbances in Egypt seems to indicate that turbulent Alexandria had been too exhausted by the siege to do otherwise than accept the rule of Cleopatra, supported as she was by the presence of three Roman legions ; while the rest of the country was not prone to rise against a monarch who respected its religion and did not impose a more than usually heavy burden of taxation upon it. Julius Caesar after his campaign in Pontus had returned to Rome to repair the errors committed 97 4 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT in his absence by Antony and others among his adherents. Then he had gone to Africa and crushed the Senatorial party and their Numidian allies at Thapsus. Once more in Rome, he waited the celebration of his fourfold triumph over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Numidia, before setting out to Spain. The battle of Munda in March 45, in the flight from which was killed Cnaeus Pom- peius, Cleopatra's reputed first lover, completed the ruin of the former Pompeians, and in the spring of the same year the conqueror returned for his second triumph. At the earlier ceremony in June 46, the principal captives who had figured in the procession through the streets of Rome were Vercingetorix, the brave Gallic chieftain, Arsinoe, and Juba, infant son of the Numidian king. With Arsinoe in the Egyp- tian section were the eunuch Ganymedes,* images of Potheinos and Achillas, a statue representing the Nile, and a miniature Pharos, according to the custom which must have made a Roman triumph look somewhat like a London Lord Mayor's Show. Appian says that the people rejoiced over Achillas and Potheinos, Dion that they pitied Arsinoe as she was led along in chains. At the end of the day Vercingetorix was put to death, as was Ganymedes (if he was there) ; Arsinoe was spared, to be killed five years later at her sister's instigation, and Juba * So at least it appears from the words of the scholiast on Lucan, " Pharsalia," X. 521. 9 8 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR to become client of Augustus, king of Mauretania, and husband of the daughter of Cleopatra. It is a disputed point whether Cleopatra arrived in Rome before the year of the second or Spanish triumph. Dion makes her come soon after the first, and some writers would have her present to see it.* But Caesar is not likely to have invited her to Rome until he had crushed his enemies and could offer her the safeguard of his presence. He could not feel so sure of the Romans as to imagine her secure from insult during his absence. Cleopatra, therefore, probably arrived in Rome in the summer of 45, accompanied by her boy- husband Ptolemy XV and possibly by Caesarion, whom doubtless Caesar wished to see. She was lodged in Caesar's Transtiberini horti, a villa sur- rounded by fine gardens on the right bank of the Tiber, near the site of the modern Villa Panfili. Here she lived splendidly, courted by the Caesarians and by those whose interest it was to appear to be Caesarians ; by all the leading men of the day, in fact. Among those who came to visit her was Cicero ; and one of his letters to Atticus contains a passage which is extremely interesting * In any case Dr. Mahaffy hardly seems justified in saying (" Empire of the Ptolemies," p. 460). with reference to Arsinoe walking in the triumph : " We cannot but see the dark in- fluence of Cleopatra here. Had she said one word against the public exhibition of her sister as a captive, Caesar would not have insisted ; I am disposed to go further and say that, had she not pressed him to do it, such a scene would not have taken place." 99 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT as showing how a Roman gentleman, though not above asking a favour of the Egyptian queen, felt toward her and her followers. Cicero evidently asked Cleopatra for some books from Alexandria, and was received with fair words but nothing more. This is how he writes, after the event : " I detest the Queen ; and the voucher for her promises, Hammonios, knows that I have good cause for saying so. What she promised, indeed, were all things of the learned sort and suitable to my character such as I could avow even in a public meeting. As for Sara, besides finding him an unprincipled rascal, I also found him inclined to give himself airs toward me. I only saw him once at my house ; and when I asked him politely what I could do for him, he said that he had come in hopes of seeing Atticus. The Queen' s insolence, too, when she was living in Caesar's Transtiberine villa, I cannot recall without a pang. So I won't have anything to do with that lot. They think not so much that I have no spirit as that I have scarcely any proper pride at all."* Cicero was only one of very many at Rome who detested the Queen. The objection was hardly on the ground of morals. In this " city of adul- tery and prostitution," as M. Henry Houssaye calls it, where the most notorious women were all * " Ad Atticum," XV. 15. The translation is, with slight alteration, from Mr. Shuckburgh. " Sara " is Sarapion or Serapion a common name in Egypt under the Ptolemies. 100 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR of aristocratic family, like Mucia, Tertulla, Junia, Valeria, Sempronia, wives of Pompey, Crassus, Lepidus, Hortensius, and Junius Brutus, there could be no outcry against Cleopatra merely because she was the mother of Caesar's child and yet not Caesar's wife. But there was another aspect of the question. To quote M. Houssaye again : "In the midst of her debauchery and the loss of her ancient virtues, Rome had kept the pride of the Roman name. ... In bringing this woman to the City of the Seven Hills, in publicly recognising her as his mistress, in displaying before the eyes of all the unparalleled spectacle of a Roman citizen, five times Consul and thrice Dic- tator, the lover of an Egyptian, it seems that according to the ideas of the day Caesar outraged Rome." * It was as an Egyptian that Cleopatra offended the Romans. Merivale has said that an Egyptian woman then was like a Jewess in the Middle Ages. The Romans paid no attention to Cleopatra's Macedonian descent ; nor perhaps would they have been inclined to think better of her for being a Greek. Like all conquering races, ancient or modern, they despised every foreigner. They undoubtedly, however, despised Orientals most, and, regardless of their own morals, charged them with an utter lack of morality. Caesar was too bold in his defiance of such sentiments. Appian * " Aspasie C16opatre Thdodora," pp. 91-2. 101 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT declares that when, in fulfilment of the vow which he had made before Pharsalia, Caesar built a temple in Rome to his divine ancestress Venus Genetrix, he placed beside the image of the goddess a beautiful statue of Cleopatra, which was still there in his own day. When the Dictator dis- played his infatuation to this extent, it can hardly be wondered at that extraordinary rumours began to spread about concerning the Oriental ideas which he had conceived. He was accused of planning to move the capital of the Empire either to Alexandria or to the site of Troy. It was also said, but possibly only after his death, that one of the tribunes of the people intended to introduce a law to enable him to have more than one wife and, if he wished, to marry a non-Roman, in which case he might have wedded Cleopatra and declared Caesarion his heir.* The Ides of March, however, arrived in time to prevent the verification of such rumours. After his Spanish triumph Caesar had left himself only one war to wage. The defeat and slaughter of Crassus by the Parthians in 53, with the accom- panying loss of the " eagles " which led the legions to battle, still remained unavenged, an intolerable stain on the name of Rome. As soon as the civil wars were at an end, every Roman looked to the * Professor Ferrero thinks that Cleopatra probably came to Rome to propose to Caesar the plan of becoming King of Egypt through marriage with her. 102 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR Dictator to remove this stain. In anticipation of this crusade to recover the eagles, the pious con- sulted the Sibylline Books, and it was alleged that they discovered there an oracle to the effect that " the Parthians could only be conquered by a king." Antony attempted to take advantage of this saying by offering his master a crown, which was refused in the well-known scene which Shakespeare made his own. Not waiting to be- come a king, Caesar planned to set out for the East on March iQth, B.C. 44. Four days before he could execute his project he was murdered by those whom he had treated best. The immediate action of Cleopatra upon the death of her patron and lover did not seem to any contemporary writer important enough to record. Suetonius makes Caesar send her back to Egypt before his murder, loaded with honours and presents. But Cicero's letter to Atticus, written at his villa at Sinuessa on April I5th, seems conclusive against this story. Although Cicero merely says, " I am not sorry that the Queen has fled," " the Queen " can be no other than Cleopatra.* From the date of the letter it may be supposed that the flight did not take place until April. There were many reasons why she should not delay. She cannot have been unaware that she was hated and despised in Rome, even * Froude in his " Life of Caesar," suggests that she might be Arsinoe ! 103 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT if she did not understand that Caesar's connection with her contributed to exciting feeling against him. Can she have placed any hope in the fact that Caesarion was the dead man's child ? Antony, who had been taken back into Caesar's favour after a short period of disgrace owing to his bad conduct of affairs in Rome during the Dic- tator's absence, must have seen Cleopatra occa- sionally while she lived in the villa across the Tiber, and he in later years insisted on recognising Caesarion as Caesar's son. It is at least possible that Cleopatra hoped that Antony, temporarity sole consul at Rome, might have influence enough to get the boy acknowledged as heir. Caesar's will, which made his grandnephew his heir, was a death-blow to any such hopes, and, being accepted, willingly or unwillingly, by all parties, left Cleopatra nothing to do but return to Alexandria. The uncertainty of affairs throughout Italy after the murder of the Ides of March may account for the fact that she was not able to reach the coast at once and sail for her kingdom. One mystery remains in connection with Cleo- patra's flight. If she had brought Caesarion with her to Rome she took him back safely, for he reappears again in Egypt. But what became of Ptolemy XV, her titular husband ? We hear of him coming to Rome with her, but nothing of his flight with her or of his being alive afterwards. Porphyry does say that lie died " through the 104 CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR treachery of Cleopatra " in the fourth year of his and the eighth year of her reign ; and Josephus that she poisoned him at the age of fifteen. Josephus, having as great a hatred for Cleopatra as for all the Ptolemies who were not pro- Jewish, is not a witness on whom we can rely concerning her, apart from all questions as to his general truthfulness. We know that Cleopatra was un- justly accused of instigating Caesar to put to death Ptolemy XIV, although it is agreed that he died-, in battle, or rather during flight after battle, his body being found and recognised by his golden corselet. It cannot be decided whether Cleopatra had any hand in her younger brother's death. Ptolemy XV fades out of history an even more shadowy figure than Ptolemy XIV. Porphyry's record of his decease in his fourth and Cleopatra's eighth year of rule has been generally accepted, but the questions as to the place and manner of the decease have necessarily been left unanswered through lack of evidence. Cleopatra returned to her kingdom in the late spring of 44, and when we next hear of her she is ruling it in nominal conjunction with her infant son Ptolemy Caesarion, the last Son of the Sun whom Egypt was to see. 105 4* CHAPTER VI CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM WE may perhaps most conveniently pause at this stage to consider what was the possession which Cleopatra, like her father before her, strove with all the curious diplomatic resources of the weak struggling against the strong to preserve from the Roman grasp ; to consider, in fact, the character of this land of Egypt, with its capital Alexandria, which alone of the countries then accounted civilised awaited to be absorbed by the earth-hunger of Rome. No saying of Herodotus is better known than that which he quotes from Hecataeus about Egypt being " the gift of the river " Nile, and the truth of the remark is clear to us when we reflect that the region known as the Delta, or Lower Egypt, is merely a gigantic deposit of soil brought from the interior of Africa by the waters of the river. It is familiar, too, that upon the Nile depends the whole existence of life in Egypt. This has been recognised from the earliest times down to to-day, with its great barrage-construction which has in- flicted so much pain on the archaeologists. The Nile, then, has always been everything to Egypt. 106 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM But, given the Nile, Egypt was from of old entirely self-supporting, and able, moreover, to supply the other countries around the Mediter- ranean Sea with vast quantities from her super- fluity. Wheat, barley, maize, flax, cattle-fodder, indigo, henna, oils, and all kinds of fruit and vegetables were only a few of the items which could be produced in such plenty as to leave a most profitable export trade after the home demand had been satisfied. The manufacturers of paper, of fabrics of all varieties, of embroideries, of glass- ware, of furniture, of ivory and metal ornaments, of enamels and jewelry, likewise were in a position to supply the outside world abundantly. Even the bad government of the later Ptolemies could not damage the marvellous fecundity and wealth of Egypt. A despotic and minutely inquisitorial system of taxation ground down the inhabitants, but still the land continued to yield apparently inexhaustible riches. So much were Egypt and money considered by the Romans convertible terms that, as we have seen, the aristocracy feared to put it in the power of any one of their number to handle the affairs of Egypt. And so great were the revenues flowing into the royal coffers that, apart from the very exceptional case of Auletes, we never hear of a member of the Lagid house, male or female, being in need of ready money. The people who inhabited this extraordinarily fertile country were the most industrious of the 107 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT ancient world. In their effort to satisfy what M. Bouche-Leclercq well calls " the devouring appetite of those awful and venerable beings, the gods, the kings, the priests, and the dead who occupied for them the realm of the ideal,"* they could find as little time for rest as the modern Chinese peasantry. Like the latter, also, and for much the same causes, the Egyptian natives, though of peculiarly persistent racial type and profoundly attached to the traditions of their country, were little animated by a sense of national unity and prone to indulge in feuds of village against village and district against district. From the point of view of a foreign dynasty this is an admirable temperament in subjects, and the Lagidae early recognised that the easiest way to rule the Egyptians was not by attempting to Hellenise them, but by leaving them, to a large extent, under the system of provincial government to which they had for centuries been accustomed,! only organising more thoroughly the tax-collect- ing machinery so as to extract the utmost possible amount of money in order to pay for the luxury of royalty and the upkeep of a mercenary army. The ancient Egyptian theory which made the whole country the royal domain was very easy of acceptance by the Ptolemies, and the long- * " Histoire des Lagides," III. p. 125. f We may compare what Great Britain has done in China with the villages in the Kowloon and Weihaiwei territories. 108 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM suffering fellaheen were too accustomed to dynastic changes to see any reason for combating a theory because Macedonians had replaced on the throne native families, Hyksos, Ethiopians, Assyrians, and Persians. Until taxation became so heavy as to leave the fellah without even the means of maintaining life for himself and his family, he did not feel inclined to revolt. As for the Egyptians of higher rank than the peasantry, the old feudal nobility had been swept away by the hand of time, aided by the wars which had ended the rule of the last native dynasties. The rich men devoted themselves to the amassing of more wealth and asserted themselves very sel- dom. Numbers of them attached themselves to the Court, as we see in the histories of Ptolemy Auletes and his children, and lived the same kind of lives as their Greek competitors and colleagues in office. That vast body the priesthood, which continued to attract so many of the well-born, was skilfully conciliated by all the Ptolemies, good or bad, and proved one of their most serviceable instruments in the peaceful direction of the country. Cleopatra herself, as much as any of her ancestors, took care to keep on good terms with the ministers of the gods whose chief representative on earth, little as she might personally care about them, her position made her in the eyes of the bulk of her subjects. The first Ptolemies had some idea of putting 109 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Greek leaven in the Egyptian lump, as was shown by their establishment in various districts of colonies of veterans from their army and by the foundation of at least one town in Upper Egypt, Ptolemais, which shared with the long pre- Macedonian town of Naukratis, on the Canopic Nile, the privileges of a true Greek polis. But the idea was abandoned by their successors, and the Greek infusion had no very great effect on the seven millions who inhabited the Egypt of Ptolemaic days. After a time the Greek settlers began to intermarry with the native women, and then, as usual, the children tended to assimilate themselves with their mothers' race, while retaining their Greek names and cer- tain outward appearances of their paternal descent.* There was, therefore, no great cleavage between a Greek or Macedonian Egypt and the Egypt of the natives, for the reason that the native element was both more absorbent and immensely larger than the Greek. But there was a distinct cleavage between the provinces and the capital. Alexandria, beginning its life as a city mainly Macedonian Greek, with a native Egyptian population quartered in Rhakotis, its western * Even these went in time. Dr. Mahaffy speaks of a general fusion of the two races by the time of Ptolemy IX, in whose reign the Greek settlers were beginning to be known by their native names (" Empire of the Ptolemies," pp. 396-9 ; " History of Egypt," pp. 199 ff.). IIO CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM half, and in the island suburb of Pharos, and a colony of Jews expressly introduced by Alexander the Great, grew with the passage of time at once more cosmopolitan and more individual in its character. The Jewish community, as every- where else in the world, maintained its separate existence, while steadily increasing in numbers through immigration. The native element, which was probably about a third of the total free population of over three hundred thousand under the later Lagidae, had from the foundation of Alexandria tended to blend itself with the larger Greek element, partly no doubt on account of the absence of special rights for Egyptians in the city ; whereas the Greeks had certain exemptions from taxation, including perhaps the poll-tax which extended over the provinces, and the Jews had, according to Josephus, equal rights with the Greeks. It was an advantage for the Egyptians living in Alexandria to become outwardly Hellenised, to speak Greek as well as their own tongue all laws, decrees, etc., being issued in both languages and to inter- marry with the descendants of the Greek settlers. But while sinking their separate nationality in Alexandria, the native inhabitants (and again particularly the women) had the satisfaction of profoundly affecting the ultimate character of the citizens. The great mass of the population early began :n CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to lose its Macedonian colour, subjected not only to this influence of the Greek-speaking or rather bilingual Egyptians living in its midst, but also to that of the countless mercenaries whom the Ptolemies enrolled in their armies from all parts of Greece, from Syria, Gaul, and Italy, from any- where in fact where men were to be found who liked the life of a hired soldier in a rich country. Added to these strains in the population was the blood introduced by the settlers attracted by business to the leading commercial city of the world Palestinian Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, Levantines of all sorts, Persians, and doubtless a few Indians also. For the connection between Hindustan and Alexandria had never been broken off since the days when the second Ptolemy sent his ambassador to the court of Bindusara, King of Magadha, and Bindusara' s great son Asoka in turn despatched his Buddhist missionaries westward, to have a profound effect, it is sus- pected, on the growth of monastic life first in Egypt and later, through Egypt, in European lands. The type which evolved itself out of these many elements was very distinct from either the Greek or the Egyptian. The Alexandrians were a people keen in the pursuit of wealth, yet in- tensely pleasure-loving ; loose in their morals ; quick-witted and humorous, with a somewhat bitter humour, yet deeply superstitious ; ex- 112 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM citable, turbulent, and easily moved to cruel violence. The story told by Diodorus Siculus, who visited Egypt not long before Cleopatra's reign began, has often been referred to by modern writers, but will perhaps bear repetition. Speak- ing of the Egyptian attitude of mind toward animals, Diodorus says : " Such is the religious veneration impressed upon the hearts of men toward these creatures, and so obstinately is every one bent to adore and worship them, that even at the time when the Romans were about making a league with Ptolemy, and all the people made it their great business to caress and show all civility and kindness imaginable to them that came out of Italy, and through fear strove all they could that no occasion might in the least be given to disoblige them or be the cause of a war ; yet it so happened that upon a cat being killed by a Roman, the people in a tumult ran to his lodging, and neither the princes sent by the king to dissuade them nor the fear of the Romans could deliver the person from the rage of the people, though he did it against his will. And this I relate not by hearsay but was myself an eyewitness of it at the time of my travels in Egypt."* * Diodorus Siculus, I. 6, the translation used being that of G. Booth. Another interesting testimony to the excitability of the Alexandrians is furnished by Dion Chrysostom, one hundred years later than Diodorus. I am indebted for the quotation to Dr. Mahaffy's " Silver Age of the Greek World," CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT It speaks well for the foresight of Alexander, the founder, and of Ptolemy Soter, the first Lagid ruler of Alexandria, that they refrained from granting to the city the privileges of a Greek polis. The difficulty of handling the Alexandrian populace was amply experienced by the later kings, and it is impossible to imagine how any of them could have succeeded in their task, had their subjects in the capital possessed the autonomous powers which were safely left to Naukratis and granted to Ptolemais. The old Macedonian right of general assembly, of which traces are to be seen in Alexandrian history under the Ptolemies, clearly gave the sovereigns more trouble, in the sphere of municipal politics, than they desired, f The home of this composite and turbulent population was decidedly the most imposing city of the ancient world, and well adapted to become pp. 286-7. According to Dion, " the whole town lived for excitement, and when the manifestation of Apis took place, all Alexandria went fairly mad with concerts and horseraces. When doing their ordinary work they were apparently sane, but the instant they entered the theatre or the racecourse they appeared as if possessed by some intoxicating drug, so that they no longer knew nor cared what they said or did. And this was the case even with women and children, so that when the show was over and the first madness past, all the streets and byeways were seething with excitement for days, like the swell after a storm." f The precise political rights of the Alexandrians need not detain us here. They are exhaustively discussed by M. Bouch6-Leclercq in his " Histoire des Lagides," III. chap. 22. 114 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM that everlasting inspiration to its inhabitants which Athens, according to Perikles, was to hers ; partly owing to the magnificence of its archi- tecture, half Greek, half Egyptian, and partly to the symmetrical planning which marks some modern towns in Europe and America, but has never been common either in the past or the present. Although it does not appear that Alexander the Great chose an entirely virgin site, rather extending Alexandria north-eastward along the coast from an old Egyptian township or collection of villages known as Raqertit (the Greek Rhakotis), nevertheless he laid out his name-city in a very bold manner. Diodorus speaks of its outline being that of a Macedonian military cloak. Such conceits pleased the ancient mind. As a matter of fact, the shape of Alexandria was roughly oblong, as dictated by the lie of the land whereon it was built. Situated on a strip of shore running from north-east to south-west between the Mediterranean Sea and the fresh- water Lake Mareotis, the city was about three miles long by one mile and a half at its greatest breadth. Through its centre there cut the majestic avenue known as the Meson Pedion or Canopic Way, as long as the city itself,* one hundred feet wide, and flanked with marble * Gorge, one of the garrulous women in the fifteenth Idyll of Theocritus, complains bitterly of the length of Alex- andria's streets. CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT colonnades on either side. The other main streets all crossed this avenue at right-angles, chief amongst them being that which led from the Moon gate, near the Royal Harbour and Palace, to the Sun gate, close to the junction of the stream from Mareotis to the sea and the canal leading to that branch of the Nile on which stood the rich and sacred city of Canopus. Like the Canopic Way, this shorter street was also one hundred feet wide and colonnaded on both sides. Toward the western end of the city another of these cross-streets connected with the Heptasta- dion, the mole of which we have spoken in Chapter IV, which gave access to the island of Pharos. At the eastern extremity of this island stood the famous octagonal lighthouse of white marble, three hundred and sixty-five feet high, erected by Ptolemy Philadelphos in 283 B.C. and not finally destroyed until an earthquake threw it down at the beginning of the Thirteenth Century A.D. It is said that on a calm and bright day a few remains of this tower can even now be seen under the water in Alexandria harbour. On the right of the lighthouse and the Hepta- stadion lay the Great Harbour, with its entrance narrowed by the reefs that ran out toward Pharos from the promontory on which stood the Royal Palace and the Temple of Isis Lochias. On the left was the more exposed harbour of Eunostos, with its small inner basin called the Kibotos or 116 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM " coffer," into which discharged the stream from the lake. The two breaks in the Heptastadion afforded a passage between the Eunostos and Great Harbours, the Old and New Ports. The whole harbour-frontage, from the Palace to the Kibotos, was occupied by wharves and docks, naval and commercial, by warehouses, and by great public buildings such as the Emporion or Exchange. In the midst stood the temple of Poseidon, all of marble, with its stately Greek pediment facing the harbour mouth a mile away. To return to the city proper, Alexandria was divided into two main quarters, the Brucheion and Rhakotis. The former, the Royal City, as distinct from the rest as the Vatican from non- papal Rome, the Kremlin from Moscow, or the Forbidden City from Peking, was what gave Alexandria its reputation as one of the wonders of the world. The pride of all the Ptolemies in succession, of whom not even the worst failed to add something to its beauties, a temple, a man- sion, a garden, an obelisk, or a statue, it was in Cleopatra's day at the height of its splendour. " We are vanquished, mine eyes," wrote Achilles Tatius, the erotic novelist, five centuries later ; and he saw Alexandria when many of the Ptole- maic buildings had fallen in ruins, if the Romans had added others to the sum. The most im- posing sight must have been the Royal Palace, 117 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT about which unhappily we know little* except that it occupied the most northerly point of the Brucheion, jutting out into the sea on Cape Lochias. To its right stood the Temple of Isis, to its left lay the Royal Harbour, which Caesar had occupied on his arrival, and the Arsenal. 'South of it came the Theatre, which had been the Roman headquarters during the siege. 'South-east, the Gymnasium, with its great park, its porticoes and buildings, in which so many stirring scenes in the history of the Lagidae had been witnessed and in which Cleopatra, Antony, and Octavian were all to play memorable parts. South-west, the world-famous Library, with its four hundred thousand (or, according to other accounts, seven hundred thousand) books ; the Sema or Mausoleum of Alexander, with the hero's body in a coffin originally golden, but in late Ptolemaic days of glass, and with its side-chapels 'devoted to the cult of the deceased Ptolemies themselves ; and the Museum, the " Cage of the Muses," a great University, combined with a monastery and a home for literary and scientific men, where lived, dined, lectured, philosophised * Theocritus's Syracusan women speak ecstatically of its magnificence, or rather of the magnificence of the mounting of the Masque of Adonis within its walls, in the before- mentioned Idyll XV. (11. 78 ff.). There is little hope of recovering Ptolemaic Alexandria by excavation, it is said, as a good part of the Brucheion at least is now under the waters of the harbour. Digging down to the site of the Serapeum may lead to some results. 118 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM and wrote, all at the public expense, such men as Theocritus, Callimachus, Herondas, Apollonius, Lycophron, Aratus, and Archimedes. Around these vast buildings lay the temples of the gods, the houses of the rich, and the gardens, public and private, which the climate of Egypt kept beautiful all the year round with a profusion of flowers, shrubs, and trees, indigenous and imported. Under the shelter of the Brucheion was the Jewish quarter with its own synagogues and halls, wherein its ethnarch, assisted by a Sanhedrin, administered justice among the members of an ex- clusive community, to whom the Lagidae, with the exceptions of the fourth and ninth Ptolemies and of Cleopatra herself, showed marked favour. In the south-western section of Alexandria, Rhakotis, amid the houses of the poorer Alex- andrians, the outstanding features were the Serapeion, better known under its Latinised name of Serapeum, and the Paneion ; and some of the authorities also place the Stadium in this part of the city. The Serapeum was the principal temple of Serapis, now already the patron god of Alex- andria and of Egypt, and soon about to extend his conquests. Lying south of the Canopic Way and west of the avenue which met the Hepta- stadion, this temple dominated all around it with its altitude of over one hundred feet and its vast mass of Syenitic red granite, led up to by a spiral stairway of a hundred steps. Attached to 119 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT it was a library (an overflow from the great Library in the Brucheion), which suffered destruction at the hands of the Christian bishop Theophilus in the Fourth Century A.D., some two hundred and sixty years before the Moham- medans, by burning the main building, finally wiped out all traces of the literary zeal of Alex- andria. The Paneion, north of the Canopic Way, was an artificially constructed hill, still higher than the Serapeum and commanding a view all over the native city, over the embalmers' quarter and the Egyptian necropolis outside the western gate, and over the harbour of Eunostos and the open sea beyond. Throughout the whole of this wonderful city, nothing was more remarkable than the profusion of temples, both the graceful Greek type with its dazzling marble front and columns and the heavier Egyptian building of red or grey granite, walled in all round from profane eyes. If the Alexandrians were superstitious, as we have said, they had at least the excuse that their rulers encouraged them by the erection of so many temples to the gods of Greece and of Egypt, separately, or identified. Moreover, the advent of the Macedonians tended to deform the native religion, already a blend of a number of beliefs. To the early Greek travellers in the land Egypt had appeared a welter of strange and bestial gods. They saw all around them the rams of Amon and 120 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM Khnumu, the bulls of Ra, Apis, and Mentu, Hathor's cow, the goat of Osiris, the hawk of Horus, the ibis and the baboon of Thoth, the jackal of Anubis, the lioness or cat of Bastit (Pasht), Sebek's crocodile, and, even stranger, the divine hippopotamus, vulture, cobra, scarab- beetle, and frog. Failing, not unnaturally, to appreciate the symbolism of so puzzling a religion and refused any help by the priests, they sought their explanations from the common folk, who knew as little as themselves and accepted the whole crowd of animals as fetishes, while they revelled in magic and in the excitement with which the great festivals provided them. When Macedonian rule was established over Egypt, the religion had decayed greatly since the time of Herodotus, the priestly colleges had grown less learned, and the mob more addicted to the mere outward cult of the old divinities. The Ptolemies, not comprehending the native worship, en- deavoured to adapt it to their political purposes by continuing the process, which Alexander had begun, of identifying the Egyptian gods with the inhabitants of Olympus. The task was hard and the result bewildering,* and when the Egyptian * Especially as the Egyptian deities ran into one another in so extraordinary a way. Some of the identifications most commonly met with are those of Am on with Zeus, Satis with Hera. Osiris (and also Horus) with Dionysos, Isis with Demeter, Hathor with Aphrodite, Ptah with Hephaistos, Thoth (and Anubis) with Hermes, Min with Pan, Bcs with Herakles. 121 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT and Greek subjects of the Lagidae came to accept this " bastard pantheon " their worship of it was of no elevated character. For so strange a collection of deities only superstition could be an adequate homage. Seeing the need of some more worthy religious bond between the two great peoples of his Empire, the statesmanlike founder of the royal dynasty took the bold step of setting up a new god. He did not depart entirely from the system of identification. He took the Greek Zeus in his aspect of Hades, the god of the dead (fetching, according to the story, a statue from a famous temple at Sinope on the shores of the Black Sea), and introduced him to Egypt as identical with an already existing god from Memphis, called Serapis or Sarapis ; that is, Osir-Hapi or Osor- Apis, an amalgamation of Osiris and the Apis bull, deified after his death, and become an incarnation of Ptah. This strange compound deity did credit to the statecraft of Ptolemy Soter. With the royal support, his worship made its way rapidly among Egyptians and Greeks alike. With his most famous temples at Alexandria and Canopus, Serapis grew to be the national god of Egypt. Under the Ptolemies he penetrated to Greece, after Cleopatra's fall to Rome, where at the beginning of the Third Century A.D. he had a temple on the Quirinal ; and in the Capitoline Museum at Rome to-day 122 CLEOPATRA'S KINGDOM there is an altar with an inscription belonging to the end of that century, dedicating it to Jupiter Optimus Maximus Sol Serapis. But for the growth of Christianity, Serapis might even have spread his conquests further and become the god of a continent, a fortune which actually befell the great female divinity of Egypt, Isis*. * See Flinders Petrie, " Religion of Ancient Egypt," p. 44. Speaking of the blending of the Apis bull with Osiris, Pro- fessor Flinders Petrie says (p. 23) : " This appears to have originated the great Ptolemaic god Serapis, as certainly the mausoleum of the bulls was the Serapeum of the Greeks." 123 CHAPTER VII THE SHADOW OF ROME CLEOPATRA, on her return to Egypt in 44, found Alexandria still securely hers, thanks to the legions which Julius Caesar had left with her three years before, and the rest of the country quiet in the hands of the local officials. Pro- vincial Egypt was accustomed to progress quite comfortably without interference from the capital, provided that no famine came to disturb the regularity of life among the peasantry. Soon after the queen's home-coming, however, trouble arose both in the capital and in the country. Egypt was visited by famine, owing to an unusually small rise of the Nile ; and at Alex- andria the Roman garrison mutinied. With regard to the latter event, we find Cicero writing to Atticus from Puteoli in the October of 44 mentioning that he has heard that the Alex- andrian legions are up in arms, and that while awaiting the arrival of Cassius in Syria they have sent for Bassus. After Caesar's death and her flight from Italy, Cleopatra can have desired nothing so much as 124 THE SHADOW OF ROME to be allowed to manage the affairs of her king- dom without interference from Rome. But { there were two reasons why this could not be. In the first place the legions at Alexandria were only regarded by the Romans as a loan to her, and in the second Egypt was far too rich a country not to be called upon to furnish aid to the contending parties in the Roman Empire. Civil war was on the point of breaking out again. Three of Caesar's murderers, Cassius and the cousins Marcus and Decimus Brutus, were deter- mined to keep the provinces which the dead man had assigned to them,* while the Caesarians were equally determined to take the governorships out of their hands. Decimus Brutus was already in Cisalpine Gaul in the spring of 44, but Cassius and Marcus Brutus found Dolabella and Antony bent on depriving them of Syria and Macedonia. The province of Syria would carry with it the right of conducting the war against the Parthians, and was therefore highly desirable to any ambitious man, anxious to command a large army. In the Parthian expedition the Alex- andrian legions might be expected to take part, * This is the ordinary view, based on Appian and supported apparently by other ancient historians. But Professor Ferrero, following Schwarz, holds that Caesar had assigned Macedonia to Antony and Syria to Dolabella, leaving Marcus Brutus and Cassius without provinces (" Greatness and Decline of Rome." III. Appendix B). With regard to Decimus Brutus there is no dispute. 125 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT which accounted for their excitement about the arrival of Cassius in the East. The Bassus mentioned by Cicero was an ex- Pompeian, who had turned bandit in Syria and maintained himself successfully against Caesar's officers. That Caesar's former legions should have called him to them is an indication of the curiously mixed state of Roman political affairs at this time. A still more striking example of this is furnished by the man who disputed with Cassius the right to the governorship of Syria, for immediately after the Dictator's murder he gave out that he had been aware of the conspiracy and approved of its outcome. Publius Cornelius Dolabella was a young man of the worst moral character (although Cicero, whose son-in-law he had been for a few years, now attempted to defend it), a bankrupt with the rest of his class, and an utterly unscrupulous politician of the demagogic order. Caesar, however, who so often took up these young men of ruined character, had not only given him work in the African and Spanish campaigns, but had actually nominated him, though he was only twenty-five years of age, to be consul in the second half of 44, taking his own place when he should go on the Parthian expedition. Dolabella had forcibly assumed the consulship immediately after Caesar's murder, and after a period of coquetting with the con- spirators, whom he endeavoured to reassure by 126 THE SHADOW OF ROME numerous acts of violence against the Caesarians, had at last joined forces with Antony, previously his enemy owing to an intrigue between Dolabella and Antony's cousin and second wife, Antonia. Now, without waiting for his term of office as consul to expire, he set out for Syria to forestall Cassius, at present engaged with Marcus Brutus in collecting troops and funds to enable them to enter their provinces with safety. On his way east Dolabella sent his friend Allienus to Alexandria to fetch the legions there to join his standard. Cleopatra was placed in a very difficult position. That she must part with her legions was evident. But to whom was she to surrender them ? She dare not be on the losing side, and it was at present impossible to tell which side would win or, indeed, who would be on the two sides. We do not know how much she learnt about Roman politics during her visit to Italy ; nor would a knowledge of the politics before Caesar's death have helped her to a clear view about the parties after it. Cassius, of course, was an anti- Caesarian, who, she might guess, would have the support of the remnants of the old Pompeian and Senatorial section at Rome. Dolabella was now once again a pronounced Caesarian and could claim to be backed by Antony. But news of the ambiguous relations between Antony and Julius Caesar's heir Octavian must surely have reached Egypt. 127 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT In the circumstances Cleopatra seems to have allowed herself to be guided by her inclinations. When Cassius's requisition reached her she " excused herself on the ground that Egypt was at that time suffering from famine and pesti- lence," says Appian, " but she was really acting with Dolabella on account of her relations with the elder Caesar." Dion makes her afterwards obtain the Roman Government's consent to her association of Caesarion with herself on the throne of Egypt in return for her assistance to Dolabella. It seems quite likely that she hoped for such a reward at the same time that she ventured to throw in her lot with a man who claimed to represent the party of her dead lover rather than with one of his murderers. Allienus was therefore allowed to leave Alex- andria with the legions of the garrison ; and, in addition, an Egyptian fleet made ready to sail for the Syrian coast. But matters did not turn out as Cleopatra and Dolabella wished. The latter, when he reached Asia Minor on his way to Syria, found already installed as governor of the Roman province of Asia Trebonius, who was one of the so-called tyrannicides. There was an apparently amicable interview between the two men at Smyrna, but Dolabella very soon decided to throw off the mask. He seized Trebonius and put him to death, the first of the Dictator's murderers to pay the penalty for his 128 crime. Then in the spring of 43, hearing that Cassius had arrived in Cilicia, he marched against him. Dolabella's good luck, however, was at an end. The wavering Roman Government had already declared him a public enemy and re- assigned Syria to Cassius. The latter had succeeded in intercepting Allienus and the Alexandrian legions in Palestine and had brought the troops over to his own side. Moreover, at the same time that he had sent his requisition to Cleopatra herself, Cassius had demanded assist- ance also from Serapion, her viceroy in Cyprus, which we find now again definitely acknowledged as an Egyptian possession. Serapion, without waiting to consult his queen, sent what ships he had to Cassius, being no doubt afraid to refuse the demand of a Roman provincial governor. While the Cyprian vessels reached Cassius, the Egyptian fleet was stopped by unfavourable winds from setting out to Dolabella's assistance. Everything now had gone against the young scoundrel. Cassius with greatly superior forces drove him to take refuge in the Syrian coast town of Laodicea, where he committed suicide in July, leaving his army to join the enemy. Although Dolabella is not a man of great im- portance in himself, he is one of those who, like Aulus Gabinius, Caelius Rufus, and Quintus Dellius, should be kept in mind when we consider the savage strictures of the Latin writers upon 129 5 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT the shameless morality and general worthlessness of the Egyptians and other non-Romans. The catastrophe at Laodicea must temporarily have caused Cleopatra to fancy that she had backed the wrong horse and would be called upon to pay the usual penalty for doing so. Cassius after his victory was in tremendous force in Syria, and determined to secure Egypt for the Republican cause. He also suspected Cleopatra of designing to send the Egyptian fleet, which had been unable to help Dolabella, to join Antony and Octavian, who had at last become reconciled and with Lepidus had formed another trium- virate in imitation of that of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. The condition of Egypt, " wasted by famine and having now no considerable foreign troops," as Appian says, invited attack. But at the moment when Cassius was about to invade the country he received a message from Marcus Brutus which checked him. Brutus had at first been as successful in Macedonia as Cassius had been in Syria, and had captured Caius Antonius, who had been conducting the struggle against him on behalf of his celebrated brother. On the formation of the Second Triumvirate, followed by a fierce proscription of the enemies of the three parties to it, Brutus put Caius Antonius to death in revenge for the death of Cicero, it was said. Then, in preparation for the threatened invasion of Greece by Antony and Octavian, he 130 THE SHADOW OF ROME crossed to Asia Minor and sent word to Cassius that their object must be " not to get dominion but to deliver their country."* On this Cassius abandoned his designs on Egypt and marched to join Brutus at Smyrna. It was now the end of 43. Cleopatra was relieved of the apprehension of an immediate invasion, but could not feel safe as long as the war continued. Being already committed against the party of Cassius although, as we have seen, the Alexandrian legions had gone over to him and the Egyptian warships had failed to reach Dolabella she made an attempt to put herself on good terms with the Triumvirs. She got together again a large fleet and started with it herself from Alexandria. It has been suggested that she did not consider herself very secure in her capital now that the Roman legions were gone. It seems rather doubtful, however, whether her effort to join the Caesarians was more than half-hearted. Antony appeared to doubt her sincerity when he summoned her to Tarsus. Her excuse then, as reported by Appian, was that " she had set sail personally for the Adriatic with a fleet, defying Cassius and Murcus, who was lying in wait for her ; but a tempest had wrecked her fleet and prostrated her with sickness, so that she was unable to put to sea again until the victory [of Philippi] had already been won." * Plutarch, " Brutus," 28. CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT This Murcus of whom she spoke was Cassius's admiral, who with sixty ships had been set to watch at Taenarum (Cape Matapan) lest the Egyptian fleet should attempt to cross to join the 1 forces of the Triumvirs. It certainly looks as if Cleopatra's defiance of him did not go very far. Consequently the autumn of 42 arrived and the battle of Philippi was fought without the queen having definitely ranged herself on the side of the Triumvirs. Thereby Egypt was spared an expense which she could ill afford in a time of shortage of the Nile's rising, of famine, and of disease ; but also there was a reckoning to pay with the victors, to which it was impossible to look forward with easy feelings. Antony and Octavian had promised their troops five thousand denarii (200) apiece as a reward for their exertions at Philippi. Octavian now went back to Rome entrusted with the duty of raising money in the West, while Antony took charge of the East. Cassius and Brutus had already made a heavy demand on the cities of Asia Minor, but Antony on his arrival out- stripped the Republican extortioners. The unfortunate Asiatic Greeks endeavoured to appease him by the reception which they gave him, taking heart from the way in which he had behaved in Greece itself on his way from Philippi to Asia. Plutarch describes him there as listen- 132 THE SHADOW OF ROME ing to learned discourses, attending the games and religious ceremonies, and rejoicing in being called Philhellene, and, still more, Philathenian. To Athens, at whose university he placed his eldest son, he was very generous, presenting her with Aegina and four other islands in the Aegean which in earlier days had been part of her mari- time empire. To the inhabitants of Asia Minor he showed himself in another aspect. The glamour of Athens did not extend to them. Besides, he must have money, and not only for his troops. Antony, " the colossal child, capable of conquer- ing the world, incapable of resisting a pleasure," as Renan calls him,* had not become a different man from what he had been in his youth, so venomously described by Cicero. After the hard campaign of Philippi, where he had fought so well and had thrown Octavian so completely in the shade, he plunged joyfully into the sea of excess to which every one pointed him the way. Kings were at his door, says Plutarch, and the wives of kings, vying with one another in beauty and in eagerness to win him with their favours. The townspeople seconded the efforts of the princes. At Ephesus he was saluted as " Diony- sos the Giver of Joy, the Beneficent," and escorted by women dressed as Bacchantes and men and boys as Satyrs and Pans into a city filled * " Histoire du Peuple d' Israel," V. 206. 133 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT with ivy-wreaths and thyrsi, with psalteries, pipes, and flutes. It cannot be wondered at that Antony " let his passions lead him back to his regular habits of life, while Anaxenor, a flute- player, and Xouthos, a piper, and Metrodoros, a dancer, and a rabble of other such Asiatics crept in and managed his household for him." Com- menting on the title which the Ephesians gave to him, Plutarch remarks that Antony might be the Joy-giver and the Beneficent to some, but to the majority he wore another aspect of the god Dionysos, that of the Cruel and the Savage, " for he took their property from the well-born and gave it to the worthless and the flatterers, and some got the substance of many still living by asking for it as if they were already dead." His demand on Asia Minor was for ten years' taxation, to be paid in two years ; and all the rebatement that the subservient cities could obtain from him was that he consented to accept nine years' taxes instead of ten. A brave attempt has been made in recent years by Professor Guglielmo Ferrero* to represent Antony as quite a different man from what the ancient writers make him out to be ; as no slave to his passions, but a serious and strenuous states- man, who was completely justified in accepting an * " La Grandezza e Decadenza di Roma." See Volumes III. and IV. of the English translation, " The Greatness and Decline of Rome." 134 THE SHADOW OF ROME " alliance " with Cleopatra because the resources of Egypt enabled him to prosecute that war against the Parthians which he took up as a legacy from Julius Caesar. If we accept Professor Ferrero's picture, we are bound to reject a great many, indeed most, of the features of Antony's portrait in Plutarch, who is responsible through the agency of his adapter Shakespeare for the world's view of Antony. But, apart from the reluc- tance which we must feel in abandoning Plutarch (who of all ancient historians certainly inspires his readers with most confidence in his good faith), we may be pardoned if we find more interesting than convincing the Italian professor's concep- tions of Antony and of his great rival Octavian, the future Augustus. Whatever he became toward the end of his days (and there seems some reason for suspecting that his brain did not remain in his last years un- affected by his excesses throughout life), Antony was doubtless originally a better man than the majority of the classical authors except the kindly Plutarch allowed him to be. In the hands of Cicero, his bitter personal enemy, and of the Augustan writers his character stood no chance ; and like all the awful examples of antiquity, including even his own great-grandson the Emperor Nero, he has been painted so black that common sense is forced to suspect some other colours beneath the blackness. It is difficult, 135 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT however, to discern in him many attributes of a hero. He was a fine soldier, as he showed at Pharsalia and Philippi ; perhaps a great general, if we judge him by his conduct in Southern Gaul in 43 and in the retreat from Parthia in 36. To his troops he appealed as a man who could drink with their strongest heads, talk with them as an equal in their own language and tolerate their familiarity, while his gift of bombastic eloquence inspired them with courage and his open-handed- ness after victory with gratitude. To his friends also he was generous, with the generosity of a spendthrift, having learnt at the best school for debt. Plutarch represents him as being led astray in his }/outh by his friendship with Caius Scribonius Curio, which " fell upon him like some pestilence, for Curio himself was intemperate in his pleasures and, to make Antony more manageable, hurried him into drinking and the company of women and extravagant and licentious expenditure." Curio, although very much more deeply in debt himself, became security for Antony, who owed 60,000. Curio's father, a friend of Cicero, getting to hear of this, forbade Antony the house. The young man then made an excursion into politics under the guidance of Clodius, perhaps hoping that reckless mob-leader might help him to cancel his debts. But after a while he judged it prudent to dissociate himself from so suspicious a companion, and betook 136 THE SHADOW OF ROME himself to the University of Athens, where he took up the study of oratory the Asiatic style, Plutarch tells us, " boastful and swaggering and full of empty pride." He seems to have acquired some taste for Greek letters and always remained attached to his alma mater ; but it was doubtless as the Paris of the Roman world that the Greek city appealed to him most. The cultured luxury of Athens rather than the culture in itself attracted him. While at Athens Antony also prepared himself for the army, and at the age of twenty-five he was, as we have seen, sufficiently advanced to be put in command of the cavalry of Aulus Gabinius in Syria and Egypt. Returning to politics, he became an adherent of Julius Caesar, partly because his friend Curio was a Caesarian and partly because his own mother Julia, " a woman who could compare with the noblest and most virtuous of her day,"* was a daughter of the Lucius Julius Caesar who had been consul in 90 and was therefore a kinswoman of the future Dictator. With his great abilities and his military talent, Antony could but make his mark in the Caesarian party. His extravagant pro- fligacy, however, and his ever-growing debts before leaving Rome he owed 60,000, at the age of thirty-eight 400,000 led him to adopt means of raising money which discredited Caesar's * Plutarch, " Antony," 2. 137 5* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Government when it was left in his charge after Pharsalia. To meet the expenses incurred by his lavish gifts to actresses, actors, dancers, musicians, and all the rest of the entertaining community in whose society he so delighted, he laid hands on property confiscated from political enemies. This conduct and his in- capacity for dealing with the internal affairs of Italy brought him into temporary disgrace with Caesar. He was restored to favour in sufficient time to find himself at the Dictator's death certainly the most powerful figure in the State, but at the same time not trusted by any section except the soldiery, who recognised in Antony one who was emphatically a man. We have alluded to the personal appearance of Antony and to the tradition of his descent from Hercules. This tradition, says Plutarch, Antony liked to recall by appearing in public in a tunic girt up to his thigh, with a thick cloak about him, and with a large sword hanging at his side. Now after his victory at Philippi he was destined to meet his Omphale, a character in the legend of Hercules which must surely have occurred to his mind when he was living with Cleopatra in Alexandria years afterwards. Already he had shown himself very susceptible to women's influence. The actresses and other beauties of the day in Rome were well acquainted with his generosity, and his connection with the courtesan 138 THE SHADOW OF ROME Cytheris was notorious at home and abroad. He had also married in succession three wives by the time he was thirty-seven. Of the first nothing is known except that she was named Fadia and was the daughter of a freedman. The second was his first cousin Antonia, daughter of the Caius Antonius who was Cicero's colleague in his famous consulship. She misconducted herself with Dolabella, Cicero's charming son-in-law, then a professed friend of Antony, and was in consequence divorced by her husband. In 46 B.C. he married Fulvia, widow of Clodius and of Curio. Fulvia's attachment to Antony is one of the most remarkable features in the story of his life, and, taken in conjunction with the un- doubted love of his fourth wife Octavia and with the sentiments toward him attributed to Cleopatra, argues a fascination about him which we might otherwise hardly suspect. Fulvia in her intercourse with Antony, however, was not merely influenced, but herself influenced him in her turn. Plutarch points out that Cleopatra was indebted to Fulvia for training Antony to feminine domina- tion, " inasmuch as Cleopatra received him quite tamed and disciplined from the beginning to obey women." It could be wished that Plutarch had been able to furnish us with a little more information about Fulvia, wife of two such 139 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT extraordinary men as Clodius and Antony, to say nothing of Curio.* The same writer, after a long but not unduly severe criticism of some prominent traits of Antony's nature, especially his simplicity, affa- bility, and openness to flattery, says : " Such was his disposition, upon which came as a crown- ing evil his love for Cleopatra, which stirred up and inflamed many passions still latent in him and utterly destroyed whatever reserve of good there was in him." Plutarch's view, if it has the disadvantage of being shared by the writers whose attitude toward Antony was unfairly biassed by their desire to exalt Octavian, has at least the merit of presenting a more consistent and intelligible explanation of the story of Antony and Cleopatra than can be given by one who rejects Plutarch with the other classical historians. If Antony and Cleopatra are to be statesman and stateswoman merely, and not victims of an infatuation, it is necessary to rewrite the whole history of the years 42-30 B.C. But we cannot rewrite the facts of the battle of Actium, and they most strongly support the traditional view about the Triumvir and the Egyptian queen. * " Both her character and her life," says Professor Ferrero, " had made her, as it were, the stormy petrel of revolution." He regards her as " unsexed by the passion for power" (III. p. 42). See below, p. 170. 140 CHAPTER VIII CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY CLEOPATRA was twenty-eight when the famous meeting with Antony took place ; " at an age," Plutarch remarks, " when woman's beauty is most brilliant and her intellect at its full maturity." Nearly three years had elapsed since she had fled from Italy, after the death of the man whose place Antony was to take as her lover as well as Rome's representative in the East. These three years she had spent in Egypt, where, in spite of her early unpopularity in Alexandria, she had succeeded in getting her child by Caesar recognised as Son of the Sun and joint ruler with herself over the kingdom, although we do not know in what year the association of mother and son was reckoned to begin.* The occurrence of a famine had not brought disaster to her authority in Egypt, and she had managed to save her country from being involved in the civil struggle in the Roman Empire which had culminated at Philippi. She had been obliged to part with the bodyguard left to her by Caesar, but she had * The Theban stele, mentioned on p. 94, is unfortunately mutilated in the place where the date-year stood in the Greek version ; while the demotic Egyptian version is entirely obliterated. 141 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT kept her fleet at home instead of sending it to join that of Antony and Octavian in the Adriatic. It only remained for her now to furnish an ex- planation of her conduct to the victorious Triumvirs, or, rather, to that member of the Triumvirate who was in the East. The vassal kings of Asia Minor and Syria had hastened to prostrate themselves at Antony's feet. Alone of the nations dependent or semi- dependent on Rome, Egypt was not represented at his Asiatic court. Whatever Cleopatra's motive for staying away, she certainly piqued Antony. He determined to renew his acquaint- ance with the queen who appeared to flout his authority ; for it is impossible to believe that his only object was to secure the co-operation of Egypt in the campaign against the Parthians. He therefore despatched to Alexandria an agent charged with the duty of summoning Cleopatra to meet him in Cilicia. The man whom he chose was a young Roman knight named Quintus Dellius, of infamous morals and of the most elastic political conscience ; for in Asia Minor he had associated himself in turn with Dolabella, Cassius, and Antony, and was to desert the last- named again before the battle of Actium.* Although he became a friend of the Emperor * Seneca says that he was called the desultor of the Civil Wars, a desultor being a circus-performer who leapt from one horse's back to another's as they galloped round the ring. 142 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY Augustus, of Maecenas, and of the Roman literary world in general, including Horace he did not succeed in concealing his reputation for viciousness from posterity, and so remains as an example of that gilded youth of which not even Rome herself, who produced them, could be proud. Dellius apparently had never seen Cleopatra before he came on his errand to Alexandria. According to Plutarch, he no sooner looked on her face and noted her ready tongue and versatile wits than he felt sure that not only would Antony never dream of doing her any harm, but she would have the greatest influence over him. "So he set himself at once to pay court to her, and encouraged the Egyptian, with a quotation from Homer, to ' go bedecked in her best attire ' to Cilicia and not to fear Antony, the gentlest and kindest of generals." Later scandal made Dellius accepted by Cleopatra as a lover ; but it was so easy to bring such an accusation against her that it would have been surprising had it not been brought. The queen prepared to go to the Triumvir, secure in the knowledge that she was more fascinating now at twenty-eight than when as an inexperienced girl she had conquered the heart of Julius Caesar. She did not start from Alexandria empty-handed, but with an abundance of money and valuable gifts, " such as might be expected from so great an 143 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT estate and so wealthy a kingdom as hers," says Plutarch, adding : " Yet she went to Cilicia rely- ing chiefly upon her own seductions and charms." Still maintaining her attitude of reluctance, Cleopatra made no undue haste to come to Tarsus, where Antony awaited her, but allowed several letters from him and his friends to reach her before she actually set out. At last her fleet reached the mouth of the river Cydnus, twelve miles up-stream from which lay the capital of Cilicia. Plutarch's description of the wonderful scene is familiar to most readers from Shakespeare's adaptation in " Antony and Cleo- patra," Act II, Scene 2. Yet we may be allowed to quote from his narrative how Cleopatra, "As if in mockery, sailed up the river in a vessel with a gilded stern, with sails of purple outspread, and with silver oars moving in time to the sound of flutes and pipes and harps. She herself, decked like Aphrodite in a picture, lay under an awning bespangled with gold, while boys like painted Cupids stood on either side fanning her. At the helm and by the rigging stood her most beautiful slave-women in the guise of Nereids and Graces. Marvellous odours from many censers spread to the banks, along which some of the multitude followed her from the river-mouth, others coming down from the city to gaze upon the spectacle. As the crowd from the market-place also poured forth, 144 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY at last Antony was left sitting alone upon the tribunal, while the rumour spread about that Aphrodite was come to feast with Dionysos for the common good of Asia."* Cleopatra's ruse succeeded to the utmost of her expectation. Antony, instead of seeing her before him 'in the attitude of a suppliant, felt constrained to send her an invitation to dinner ; to which she replied that it was more suitable that he should come to dine with her. There- upon, in the words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of his Enobarbus, Our courteous Antony, Whom ne'er the word of " No " woman heard speak, Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast ; And, for his ordinary, pays his heart For what his eyes eat only. Of Antony's " ordinary " we have fortunately a description which the third-century Egyptian author Athenaeus quotes from an earlier writer, Socrates the Rhodian, whose works are lost. Plutarch only records that Antony found a pre- paration greater than he expected, and that he was especially surprised at the great number of the lights, the illuminations being hung down over the diners in squares and circles, so as to make a scene seldom equalled. But Socrates relates how Cleopatra prepared * The parallel has often been pointed out between this and the incident in the Acts of the Apostles, XIV, when Paul and Barnabas were saluted at the Lycaonian town of Lystra by the names of Hermes and Zeus. 145 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT " A royal entertainment, in which every dish was golden and inlaid with precious stones, wonderfully chased and embossed. The walls were hung with cloths embroidered in purple and gold. And she had twelve triple couches laid, and invited Antony to a banquet and desired him to bring with him whatever com- panions he pleased. And he, being astonished at the magnificence of the sight, expressed his surprise ; and she, smiling, said she made him a present of everything he saw, and invited him to sup with her again the next day and to bring his friends and captains with him. Then she prepared a banquet far more splendid than the former one, so as to make the first appear con- temptible ; and again she presented to him every- thing that there was on the table. And she desired each of his captains to take for his own the couch on which he lay and the goblets which were set before each couch. And when they were de- parting she gave to all those of the highest rank litters, with slaves as litter-bearers ; and to the rest she gave horses, adorned with gold trappings ; and to every one she gave Ethiopian boys to bear torches before them. And on the fourth day she paid more than a talent [nearly 250] for roses ; and the floor of the chamber for the men was strewn a cubit deep, nets being spread over the blooms."* * Athenaeus, IV. 29. 146 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY Plutarch says that Antony entertained Cleo- patra in his turn, and was anxious to surpass her in magnificence. So poor was his success, however, that he was the first to jest at the coarseness and rusticity of his own entertain- ment ; while she, " seeing that his raillery was that of the soldier, not of the polished courtier, fell at once freely and boldly into the same manner toward him." She made no such mistake as treating Antony as she had treated Julius Caesar. She keyed herself down to his pitch in the way which has gained for her the reputation of being the cleverest of all royal courtesans ; although any one who embarks upon the hopeless task of defending Cleopatra's character is quite entitled to point out that adaptability to masculine environment is no certain proof of a woman's looseness of morals. Once again there had occurred in the case of Antony what Dion Cassius remarked with regard to Caesar. ' ' He had already become the advocate of her whose judge he had intended to be." Cleopatra had been summoned to Tarsus to explain how it was that she had not assisted the Triumvirs against Brutus and Cassius. Appian states that Antony did actually censure her for not sharing the task of avenging Caesar, and that she, in- stead of apologising, enumerated what she had done, which included the despatch of her body- guard to Dolabella, the refusal of assistance to 147 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Cassius, and the fitting out of a fleet and her own departure with it from Alexandria, frustrated by the storm which wrecked the ships. Antony abandoned the pretence of sitting in judgment on the queen. Some may believe that he par- doned her in consideration of her promise of help in the war against the Parthians. Appian, agreeing with all other ancient writers, remarks that " Antony was amazed at her wit as well as her beauty, and became her captive as if he were a young man, although he was forty years of age." " Straightway," continues the same historian, " Antony's interest in public affairs began to dwindle. Whatever Cleopatra ordered was done, regardless of laws human or divine." Although he was a man naturally inclined to good-humoured clemency toward opponents, with the exception of a few personal enemies, such as Cicero (who had put to death in 63 his stepfather, Cornelius Lentulus) and Hortensius (whom, rather than Brutus, he considered responsible for the death of his brother, Caius Antonius, and had executed over Caius's tomb in Macedonia), Antony con- sented now to the perpetration of the deed which has left the greatest stain on Cleopatra's repu- tation. The Princess Arsinoe, after she had been made to figure in Caesar's Egyptian triumph, had been allowed to leave Rome and seek refuge in Asia Minor. For safety she adopted a plan 148 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY equivalent to the more modern resource of taking the veil. She had gone to the great temple of Artemis at Ephesus and thrown herself as a suppliant before the altar of the goddess. The megabyzos or high-priest had received her kindly and had even treated her as if she were a queen. When Cleopatra came to meet Antony at Tarsus, Arsinoe was still at Ephesus* and might well have considered herself safe against her sister's hatred. But Cleopatra evidently did not forgive Arsinoe even when retired from the world, and assassins were sent who slew the unfortunate princess in the sanctuary. We do not know whether there was any pretext of a plot to set Arsinoe again upon the throne of Egypt which she had once held for a few weeks as the repre- sentative of her sister and the elder of her two brothers. It might be imagined that Cleopatra felt secure enough in Egypt, with Antony's pat- ronage, to overlook the fact that Arsinoe still lived. But it was not the custom of the Lagidae, women or men, to show mercy to their nearest kindred. Arsinoe followed her wretched brothers * Appian (V. 9) says the murder took place at the temple of " Artemis Leukophryne at Miletus.' But Artemis of the White Brows was housed at Magnesia, and it appears from Appian's own narrative as if it were at Ephesus that Arsinoe met her fate, as Josephus positively states. From the vague words of Dion Cassius, XLVIII, 24, we might imagine that Ptolemy XV was also slain at this time ; but perhaps Dion is alluding in a confused way to the execution of the pseudo-Ptolemy XIV. 149 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to the grave, even more directly than they victims to the ambition of a sister. Cleopatra's vindictiveness was not appeased by the murder of Arsinoe. An attempt was made to call to account the megabyzos of Ephesus for his reception of the fugitive as though she were a queen. But the Ephesians, proud of the sanctity of their five-hundred-year-old temple, succeeded in obtaining mercy for the priest. Cleopatra, however, prevailed upon Antony to order the execution of a man claiming to be Ptolemy XIV, saved from the battle against Caesar on the Nile, and of Serapion, the Cyprian viceroy who had allowed Cassius to commandeer his fleet. Both of these had sought an asylum in Phoenicia, but they failed to escape from the wrath of Cleopatra. " I am persuaded that he has been bewitched by that accursed woman." So Octavian is reported by Dion Cassius to have remarked later with regard to Antony's infatuation for Cleopatra. Unless we are convinced by the eloquence of Professor Ferrero and believe that Antony was merely eager to secure Cleopatra as his ally against Parthia, we may think that Octavian would have been justified in making his remark already in 41 B.C. For, after sending the queen ahead of himself to Alexandria while he settled the affairs of Syria in the usual method, by bestowing the petty vassal thrones upon princes 150 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY who had won his favour, he put the military command of the province in the hands of a lieutenant and then followed Cleopatra to Egypt. How he spent the winter there must be left for the next chapter. Here we may stop to glance at the condition of affairs in the world from which Antony did not hesitate to withdraw himself in order to give himself up to the enjoyment of the Alexandrian winter-season with Cleopatra. When after the battle of Philippi Antony went east, while Octavian returned to Rome, still suffering from the sickness which had caused him to play so small a part in the battle, the situation in Italy was not easy for the Triumvirs, both owing to the extravagant promises which they had made to their troops, and because the sea south of Italy remained in the hands of Sextus Pompeius, younger brother of Cleopatra's former friend, and last representative of the old Pompeian party. Sextus Pompeius was in a position to cut off Rome's corn-supplies from over-seas, and so cause a bread-famine. The distribution of land among the soldiers victorious at Philippi led to discontent in Italy, and to friction between the followers of Antony and Octavian respectively. Antony had a number of agents to look after his interests in Rome, including his wife Fulvia and his brother Lucius. Lucius Antonius, one of the consuls for 41, was decidedly Republican in his views, and is reported CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT by Appian as saying : "I shall always set my country above personal gratitude and above family." His willingness to support his brother was strengthened by the jealousy with which he watched Octavian wielding power usurped from the State. His view was that his brother should lay down the triumvirate simultaneously with his colleagues, and, accepting the consulship instead, restore the legal government of their forefathers. Fulvia, on the other hand, untroubled by Repub- lican scruples, is represented by the ancient his- torians as intentionally stirring up trouble in Rome in order to bring her husband home from the East.* Thus, although both brother and wife were claiming to uphold his cause, neither in reality when precipitating a crisis with Octavian was acting in consultation with Antony, who did not desire to be distracted from his schemes of empire in the East. Lucius and Fulvia, nevertheless, pressed matters so far that at length they were compelled (or said they were compelled) to fly from Rome to Praeneste. From here they wrote to Antony complaining that their lives and those of his children were in danger from Octavian. These letters Antony may never have received. At * E.g. Plutarch, " Antony," 30, says : " She was natur- ally an energetic and daring woman ; but her hope was to draw Antony away from Cleopatra if there should be any disturbance in Italy." As will be seen, she drew him away, but not to herself, since death intervened. 152 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY any rate he took no notice of them. Lucius Antonius, without waiting to hear from his brother, made ready for war. Setting up the standard of the Republic he marched on Rome, in Octavian's absence, and seized it, driving out Lepidus, the insignificant third partner in the Triumvirate. In sallying out from Rome, however, to cut off reinforcements coming to Octavian from the North, Lucius was himself cut off and obliged to take refuge in the Etrurian town of Perusia, the modern Perugia. This was in the autumn of 41. Octavian kept Perusia closely blockaded until the following spring, when the garrison was compelled by famine to surrender. Lucius Antonius was pardoned by Octavian ; but some executions were carried out among his adherents, while the town was accidentally burnt to the ground. The break-up of the militant Antonian party in Italy was com- plete. Fulvia, taking her children with her, fled to Greece, and a number of other prominent people started to make their way to Antony himself. While matters had been going thus ill for Antony in Italy, Asiatic affairs had gone even worse. When he followed Cleopatra to Alexandria near the end of 41, he left his officer Decidius Saxa, a Spanish protege of the Dictator Caesar, in command of the troops in Syria, and on the watch against any movement of the Parthians. He had distributed among his Syrian friends the 153 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT small principalities of the country, including Judaea, of which he made the brothers Herod and Phasael tetrarchs. Herod had obtained his reward for his second change of front . Having been a Caesarian, he had joined Cassius, only to become a fervent Antonian upon Antony's arrival in Asia. The princes dispossessed to make way for Antony's nominees took the obvious step of appealing to the only other great power of which they had any knowledge except Rome, the Parthians. This rather mysterious nation had recovered from the checks to its expansion which had been administered by Mithridates of Pontus and Tigranes of Armenia, and, emboldened by the fact that Rome had not yet been able to avenge the defeat and death of Crassus at Carrhae twelve years before, was ready to interfere actively in the affairs of the Levant. Several circumstances seemed to favour the Parthians. Asia Minor and Syria had suffered heavily from Antony's exactions, and could bear no love toward his rule. The expelled princes had left adherents behind them. The Roman garrisons consisted in part of troops which had once served under Cassius, and were therefore unsound. And, lastly, the Parthians had with them an actual renegade, Quintus Labienus, an associate of Cassius and Brutus, who had lived at the Parthian court since before the battle of Philippi, and who had considerable influence 154 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY with King Orodes. In conjunction with the king's son Pacorus, Labienus led an expedition across the Euphrates and into the Roman provinces of Asia and Syria. Decidius Saxa made a vain attempt to stop them, but was defeated ; and by the spring of 40 Rome's Levantine provinces were in Parthian hands. The newly established princes of Syria had been driven from their thrones. Phasael was slain, and Herod was in flight toward Egypt. In the province of Asia every town had yielded except the Carian Strato- nikeia. Labienus was exultingly calling himself Imperator and Parthicus for his victories over the soldiers and subjects of his own native country. The disgrace of Carrhae had been surpassed. And meanwhile Antony was in Egypt. Professor Ferrero, in his defence of his hero, remarks that, " if it is beyond doubt that Antony gave himself up to pleasures this winter in the immense and sumptuous palace of the Ptolemies it is certain also that he devoted attention to serious matters, nay even to the most serious matter which could occupy the chief man of the Republic, the most illustrious magistrate of the Empire." We must now see what were the pleasures for which Antony found time when not devoting his thoughts to the war against Parthia, for we shall then be better able to judge how strict his attention to the coming war was likely to have been. 155 CHAPTER IX THE " INIMITABLES " PLUTARCH remarks that Cleopatra so captivated Antony that, while his wife Fulvia was fighting his quarrel in Rome against Octavian and while the Parthians were threatening Syria, he " suffered himself to be carried off by her to Alexandria, there to stay and amuse himself like a boy in holiday-time, squandering on pleasure what Antiphon calls the most costly of all treasures, Time." The old Greek biographer cannot be accused of undue severity when he thus criticises Antony's conduct in going to Egypt for the winter of 41-40 ; nor, as it has been proved by inscrip- tions, of an over-vivid imagination when he proceeds to describe how there was founded at Alexandria a club called the AmimetoUoi or Inimitable Livers, " whose members entertained one another daily in turn, at a cost extravagant beyond belief." There have been found, indeed, in Egypt two Greek inscriptions, one on the pedestal of a statue of Antony styling him " The Inimitable, the Well-doer," and the other a dedication to " Antonios the Great and Inimitable."* * Bouche-Leclercq, " Histoire des Lagides," II. p. 239, n. i ; Mahaffy, " Empire of the Ptolemies," p. 467, n. i. 156 THE " INIMITABLES " Alexandria abounded in clubs copied, with due regard to the absolute rule of the Ptolemies, from the similar institutions, the Eranoi, Hetairiai, Thiasoi, and so on, in the free cities of Greece and Asia Minor. We hear, however, but little of these Alexandrian societies, whether political, social, or religious, beyond one or two allusions in Plutarch, Athenaeus, and Dion Chrysostom,* and no details are ever forthcoming of their organisation. Ptolemy IV Philopator was repre- sented as spending a good deal of his disreputable reign in the company of women and revelling clubmen. The club of the Amimetobioi founded by Cleopatra in conjunction with Antony was clearly on the same lines as those patronised by her ancestor Philopator. The " inimitability " of the life led by these gay revellers was chiefly due, it must be confessed, to the fact that until the time of the multi- millionaires of to-day there has been scarcely any one who could compete in riches with the last queen of the always wealthy line of the Lagidae. Cleopatra, however, had an advantage over the later plutocrats in that she was endowed with more artistic taste than they and we may say this in spite of her many displays of ostentation only worthy of sons of the kings of * M. Bouch6-Lcclercq (" Histoire des Lagides," III. pp. 170 ff.) has collected all the known references. The allusion to Ptolemy Philopator is from Plutarch, " Cleo- menes," 34. 157 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT modern finance and that she had a background for her splendid follies far more magnificent than any city of the present time can provide. Set in the midst of parks and gardens beautiful with palms, sycomores, and mimosas, with aromatic shrubs, with roses, violets, and all the choicest flowers known to the ancient world, with ponds full of lotus and of nenuphars ; sur- rounded by the mansions of the rich, the vast public buildings, and the majestic temples of the gods of Egypt and of Greece ; approached through avenues of sphinxes, between obelisks, and across courtyards sheltered from the sun by hangings of heavy purple cloth, the Royal Palace of the Lagidae itself would seem to have caused contemporary writers to despair of doing it justice, or if any description was ever written it has unhappily been lost. We can imagine, however, to some extent from the account, preserved by Athenaeus and quoted in Chapter V, of the floating palaces of the Ptolemies how sumptuous must have been the permanent residence of the wealthiest kings on earth. Here, in a masterpiece constructed out of every beautiful wood, stone, and metal which could be brought together, and enriched by sovereign after sovereign of her family, Cleopatra entertained her friends with all the luxury which Greece, Egypt, Persia, and Rome combined had been able to devise. And did not the heroine of M. 158 THE " INIMITABLES " Pierre Louys's " Une Volupte Nouvelle " say that the only fresh joy which modern civilisation has been able to discover is that of smoking ? The pleasures of the table have always occupied a pre-eminent place in an environment of general extravagance, and, since the model of Alexandria was very closely followed under the Roman Empire, we can gather from the writings of Nero's friend Petronius how positively terrifying must have been the banquets which were set before the guests who lay on the silver couches in the banqueting-halls of Cleopatra's Palace, built up on huge columns, thronged with slaves lovely or grotesque and entertainers of every profession and nationality, and heavy with the odour of incense and strewn roses. We must not pause, however, to discuss the question of ancient gastronomy. It will suffice perhaps to mention a fact which Plutarch recalls as being told to his grandfather by a Greek doctor, who knew one of the royal cooks at Alexandria during Cleopatra's reign and was taken by him into the Palace kitchens. " He saw everything in great abundance," says Plutarch, " including eight wild boars roasting, which made him wonder at the number of the guests. Hereupon the cook laughed, and told him that the party at supper was not very large, only about a dozen ; but it was necessary that everything served up at table 159 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT should be perfect, which the loss of a moment of time might prevent. Antony might perchance wish to sup immediately, he said, and then might delay matters by asking for a cup of wine or by en- gaging in some conversation. Accordingly, he continued, not one supper is prepared but many, since the exact hour is hard to conjecture." It was, not merely the food (and the wines) which made the Alexandrian banquets so as- tonishing. Cleopatra was noted for nothing more splendid than her table-service, which was so remarkable that a later royal lady, Zenobia Queen of Palmyra, three centuries after her, was satisfied with none but Cleopatran plates and dishes, it was said. Now Athenaeus relates that, whereas formerly vessels of earthenware were considered good enough, " when the Romans altered the way of life, giving it a more expensive direction, then Cleopatra, arranging her style of living in imitation of them, since she was unable to change the name called gold and silver plate keramon [earthenware] ; and she gave her guests what she called the kerama to carry away with them." This, Athenaeus adds, was very costly. Plutarch, too, narrates, on the authority of his grandfather's friend, how Antony's son, Antyllus, when he went to live with his father at Alexandria, imitated Cleopatra's gener- osity with her plate, and how, when the doctor seemed unwilling to take the gift, the slave who 160 THE " INIMITABLES " had brought them to him said : " Why do you hesitate, you fool ? Do you not know that the giver is Antony's son, and that he has authority to make presents of so many things of gold ? " This last tale, though illustrative of the ways of the " Inimitables," belongs to a later period than Antony's first winter in Alexandria. So also, perhaps, does that told by Pliny of Cleo- patra's wager to spend ten million sesterces (about 90,000) at a single banquet. Antony accepted the bet, and, as the meal was no more magnificent than usual, toward the end of it he began to rally Cleopatra on her wager. There- upon she told him he had so far only seen the accessories and, taking one of two immensely valuable pearl earrings from her ears, put it into a cup of vinegar. The judge of the bet was Plancus, the same man to whom Horace addresses an ode. He gave his decision in favour of the queen and stopped her from sacrificing the other earring, which, according to Pliny, was after- wards found by Octavian among Cleopatra's treasure seized at Alexandria, and by him cut in two to decorate the ears of the statue of Venus in the Pantheum at Rome. Perhaps it need hardly be remarked that this story, although it has obtained great celebrity, is not necessarily true. But the same remark, unfortunately, applies also to most tales in history, modern as well as ancient. 161 6 In the midst of all this magnificence and pro- digious waste, Cleopatra took heed that Antony should not grow merely surfeited with luxury. Although he was a very different kind of man from Julius Caesar, it required wit as well as wealth to keep even him in bondage. Plutarch pictures her to us as constantly inventing some- thing new to charm or amuse him ; and, while leaving him neither night nor day, accommodating herself to all his desires, whether he diced or drank or hunted or exercised himself at arms. As he was not devoid of a certain superficial culture, he had no objection to putting on the dress of a Greek and the fashionable white shoes of Athens and attending lectures at the Museum. But at times his animal spirits required in their turn an outlet which neither the polite exercises of a Greek gymnasium nor military training could provide. Then, when he put on the clothes of a slave and went out by night to divert him- self, Cleopatra would dress herself like him and share in his escapades. For Antony by no means confined himself to the mild adventures for which Haroun Al-Raschid sought. Rather, like not a few princes since the Caliph's days, he went out looking for opportunities for wild horseplay, and he so far succeeded that he always returned home " well loaded with abuse and sometimes even with blows."* * Plutarch, " Antony," 29. 162 THE " INIMITABLES " Plutarch truly observes that to go into details about the follies committed in Alexandria would be " mere trifling." He allows himself, however, to relate the story of Antony's fishing. This is perhaps too well known to need repetition how Cleopatra, to raise a laugh against her lover, who had employed divers to fasten already caught fish to his line, invited a number of guests to admire his skill, and then sent down a diver to put on the hook a salted fish, which he drew up amid great merriment. It is interesting, never- theless, as showing how she took advantage of Antony's good-natured toleration of a joke against himself ; and also how she appreciated another prominent trait in his character, his capacity for accepting flattery. For, having raised the laugh against him, she soothed him with these words : " Leave the fishing-rod, Great General, to us sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus. Your game is cities and kings and continents." In some cities the spectacle of an eminent foreigner indulging in the most foolish diversions in their midst might be expected to cause feelings of annoyance. But the lively people of Alexan- dria took in good part the antics of the Roman general whom their queen had introduced to them. His volatile humour and love of amuse- ment struck a sympathetic chord in them, and they remarked that Antony kept the tragic mask 163 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT for the Romans, but wore the comic mask with them. Probably Antony did himself no ill turn when he showed the Alexandrians how he could unbend. He gained a popularity with them which we do not hear of as having fallen to Julius Caesar before him. The ancient writers, especially those who were some centuries removed from the time of the Amimetobioi , abound in these stories about the revels in Alexandria under the presidency of Cleopatra and Antony. They are, however, very vague as to the date when the incidents which they profess to record took place. There will be an opportunity to refer to the subject again in another chapter. For the present we must leave the " Inimitable Life," and return to the political situation which faced Antony at the beginning of the year following his asso- ciation of his fortunes with those of Cleopatra. 164 CHAPTER X THE BREAK BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY IN the spring of the year 40 news reached Alex- andria which brought to an end the follies of Antony, Cleopatra, and their companions. It was necessary for the Triumvir to quit Egypt and put himself once more in touch with affairs, which had by no means stood still while he had " squandered the most costly of all treasures." Information from Italy of the fall of Perusia does not appear to have come to him until later,* but he must have heard before he left Alexandria something about the struggle waged between his brother Lucius and his colleague Octavian ; and that the Parthians were masters of Syria and Asia Minor he learnt from the mouths of fugitives arriving in Alexandria from the lost provinces. The honour of the Roman Empire was damaged, and Antony could no longer remain passive. " With difficulty then," says Plutarch, " and like a man aroused from sleep and a drunken debauch, he set out to meet the Parthians and advanced as far as Phoenicia." * Although L. Antonius was shut up in Perusia in the autumn of 41, Professor Ferrero makes the plausible excuse that the annual suspension of navigation across the Medi- terranean must have prevented his brother hearing of this until the following spring, by which time Perusia had been compelled to surrender. 165 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antony's first intention no doubt was to organise a resistance against the Parthian in- vaders of Rome's eastern provinces. But on arrival at Tyre he found the military situation hopeless unless he could bring into the field the legions belonging to him in Macedonia, Italy, and Gaul. His forces in Asia Minor and Syria had practically ceased to exist. Moreover, letters which now reached him from Fulvia showed him the imperative necessity of delay until he should make certain of the position of affairs at home. Leaving Tyre, he sailed with a fleet of two hundred ships to Cyprus, Rhodes, and the coast of Asia Minor. On his way he fell in with the refugees flying from Italy in search of him, and learnt for the first time of the fall of Perusia and the wreck of his cause, at least temporarily, at Rome. He was filled with consternation and with anger against the foolish and inconsiderate zeal of his family. While he had desired to maintain peaceful relations with Octavian until he should have settled with the Parthians and consolidated his position in the eastern half of the Empire, Lucius and Fulvia had not only embroiled him with the other Triumvirs but deprived him of a footing in Rome and cut off from him the hope of assistance from the West for his Parthian campaign. Acting from different motives and neither wishing to work him harm, both his wife and his brother had done Antony a very bad 166 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY turn. Lucius Antonius (whose sympathy with the views of Marcus was no more complete than that of Lucien Bonaparte with the views of Napoleon) ceased henceforward to be an active agent of his brother. Fulvia, however, was on her way to meet her irate husband, who left the Asiatic coast and sailed to Athens to receive her explanations. From the sequel it may be imagined that the interview between husband and wife was of a painful character. While Antony violently up- braided her for her share in the ruin of his affairs at Rome, it is impossible to believe that Fulvia omitted to speak to him of his liaison with Cleopatra, one of the chief causes of her own mischievous political activity. If she had not heard of the " Inimitable Livers," at least she must have known about the meeting at Tarsus and the intimacy in Syria of the Roman general and the Egyptian queen. On a temperament such as we must attribute to Fulvia from the evidence which the classical historians have given us, the effect of the interview at Athens was disastrous. Her end was almost suicide. She proceeded to Sikyon, while Antony went to re join his fleet and sail north-westward along the coast of Greece. At Sikyon she was taken ill and died. According to Appian, " it was said that she was dispirited by Antony's reproaches and fell sick, and it was thought that she had become a willing 167 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT victim to disease on account of the anger of Antony, who had left her when she was ill and had not even visited her when he was going away." Appian cruelly comments : " The death of this turbulent woman, who had stirred up so disastrous a war on account of her jealousy of Cleopatra, seemed extremely fortunate to both of the parties who were rid of her ' ' her husband's, that is to say, and Octavian's. But he adds : " Antony, never- theless, was much saddened by this event, for he considered himself in some degree the cause of it." Antony had good reason to blame himself, for Fulvia, whatever her faults, was strongly at- tached to him and had done much for him. When he married her, his third wife, in 46 he was not only penniless but also out of favour with Julius Caesar. Fulvia brought him money and also influence, as being the widow of a Caesarian soldier, and had rescued him from the clutches of Cytheris, a star of the demi-monde and the stage we might almost say of the music-halls, for the lady was a " mime." It took Fulvia some time to overcome the influence of Cytheris, but having done so she dominated him herself until he came under the still stronger power of Cleopatra. Fulvia sprang from a well-to-do provincial family, her father being one Marcus Fulvius, surnamed Bambalio (" the stammerer "), whom Cicero abuses hi his usual choice fashion in the Third Philippic as "a man of no account, a 168 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY contemptible creature," and brutally ridicules even for the impediment in his speech. When we read of Fulvia piercing with a hairpin the tongue of the beheaded orator, we cannot but recall what that tongue had uttered against her father and her husband. To her father's wealth Fulvia no doubt owed her three marriages into the Roman aristocracy. Her first was with Publius Clodius Pulcher, whose good looks which gained him his last name were joined with an utter vileness of character. When Clodius died in a political brawl with another ruffian in 52, Fulvia married Caius Scribonius Curio, the pro- fligate friend of Antony. Curio died in battle in Africa in 46, and in the same year the widow married his friend. In the story of Antony's life she stands out as a strong-minded, bold, and ambitious woman, who contributed not a little to spur him on toward the chief place in the State. When he became Triumvir, she attempted to gain an influence also over the only important member of his pair of colleagues. She succeeded indeed in persuading Octavian to wed her daughter by Clodius. But he sent Claudia back to her without consummating the marriage, unable to tolerate the imperiousness of his mother-in-law. From this moment Fulvia became a bitter foe to Octavian. But if she could hate and be cruel (and the tale of her treatment of Cicero's head is the only definite evidence of this), she was at 169 6* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT least capable of lasting affection toward a man who deserved none too well of her. It scarcely seems just of Professor Ferrero to speak of her as " unsexed by the passion for power." Fulvia bore two sons to Antony, the elder of whom went to the University of Athens (whence it probably comes that he is commonly known by the half-Greek name of Antyllus, a seeming con- traction of Antonillus), and was put to death by Octavian in B.C. 30 ; while the younger, Julus, or lullus, after being favourably treated by Octavian when he had become the Emperor Augustus, was also put to death by him in B.C. 2 in punishment for an intrigue with Julia, the notorious daughter of the Emperor. The death of Fulvia removed from out of Cleopatra's way a woman who had many claims to be considered her peer in ability and strength of character. But it also paved the way for a recon- ciliation with Octavian, which kept Antony from returning to Cleopatra for four years. When he left Fulvia to die at Sikyon, Antony does not seem to have made up his mind how to treat Octavian and Lepidus. There were still nearly three years to run of the triumviral compact, and it was per- fectly possible to disown the action of Lucius Antonius and Fulvia which had led to the Perusian War. On the other hand, among the fugitives who had come to meet Antony at Athens was his mother Julia, who, though by birth a 170 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY member of the Caesar family, had been received with great courtesy by the outlaw Sextus Pompeius and had been assisted by him on her way to her son. Touched by his politeness and perhaps little inclined to trust her young kinsman Octavian, Julia urged her son to consider the question of an alliance with Pompeius. One of the results of the dissensions at Rome in 41-40 had been that Pompeius, already strong enough to defy the Government established after Philippi, found himself better off than ever. Service with a man of his stamp, dashing, adventurous, and no stickler for discipline, attracted many weary of the condition of affairs at home, where food was scarce and the outcome of the Triumvirs' am- bitions obscure. Pompeius therefore, who had already been joined by Cassius's old admiral Murcus with the ships under his command, and was daily adding to his forces, had every reason for demanding to be taken into account in the division of the Empire if the Triumvirs could not unite to crush him. Appian charges him with lacking wisdom in not invading Italy while the partisans of Antony were quarrelling with Octavian. The pirate king, however, must have known better than the historian writing nearly two centuries later what his chances would be if he abandoned the sea and assailed by land a government still in command of big armies of veteran troops. 171 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antony, in reply to his mother's suggestion of an alliance with Pompeius, did not absolutely decline to entertain the idea. On the contrary, he expressed his willingness to consider it if Octavian should refuse to adhere to their com- pact. In order to find out what were Octavian's intentions, after leaving Athens he made for Corcyra and from there crossed the Adriatic to the Italian coast. He had with him still the two hundred ships which he had brought from Asia, and on his way he fell in with Domitius Aheno- barbus, who ever since Philippi had remained at sea with a portion of the former Republican fleet. Ahenobarbus, like Sextus Pompeius, was an out- law, but for some reason he had not made common cause with Pompeius. Antony gained him and his men over by one of those displays of courage which so endeared him to his followers. Sailing to meet the ex-Republicans with only five of his own ships, he was enthusiastically received by them, and Ahenobarbus, willing or unwilling, could do nothing but put himself at the Triumvir's disposal. Thus strengthened, Antony approached the harbour of Brundisium. The garrison there promptly declined to allow him to enter the town, saying that Ahenobarbus was a public enemy and Antony therefore the introducer of an enemy. Antony landed his troops and commenced the siege of the place, while sending messages en- 172 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY couraging Sextus Pompeius to attack Italy. The alliance desired by Julia seemed for the moment an accomplished fact. Octavian had been absent in Gaul, whither he had gone to secure, with bribes and promises, the legions on duty there and to prevent them from being won over by Antony. He now marched south and, reaching Brundisium, shut up in turn the beleaguering forces of Antony. But when a fierce struggle seemed about to take place, Octavian's army demanded a reconciliation between the two chiefs. So great was Antony's prestige among the soldiery that even legions which looked for everything to his adversary refused to fight against him now that he was present in person in Italy. Octavian was not in a position to disregard the wishes of his troops, and there was no alternative but to seek the means of approaching Antony diplomatically. It was at this moment that news reached Brun- disium of the death of Fulvia. Not only was a powerful enemy to Octavian removed, but there was a possibility of a new combination. It was quite in accordance with precedent to make use of a matrimonial alliance to bring two rivals together in such a situation. Julius Caesar in 59 had given his daughter Julia to Pompey. Octavian himself had only recently taken to wife Scribonia, sister of Lucius Libo, father-in-law of Sextus Pompeius, in the hope of making better 173 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT relations possible between himself and Sextus. Having a newly widowed sister on his hands, he was ready to listen to suggestions of his friends that he should try to bind Antony to himself with her aid. He wrote to his kinswoman Julia, and a meeting was arranged between the two leading Triumvirs at Brundisium in September of the year 40. Thus came about the celebrated Treaty of Brundisium, in which Professor Ferrero sees an anticipation by three centuries of the division of the Roman world into the Empires of the East and the West, and a proof of Antony's adherence to views which Cleopatra had been impressing on him at Alexandria, that it was worth while to resign all claims to the barbarous and poverty- stricken West if he could thereby secure the rich and civilised East, centring round Egypt. Hitherto Antony had claimed his share in the government of Italy ; now he abandoned Italy with all the Western possessions of Rome. It must be admitted that if Antony, in agreeing at Brundisium to an entirely new partition of the Empire between Octavian and himself (for the share assigned to the third Triumvir Lepidus, namely, the province of Roman Africa, was negligible), was following ideas instilled into his head by Cleopatra, he coupled his consent with a proceeding not at all in harmony with the other scheme with which Professor Ferrero credits 174 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY Cleopatra. For, instead of taking advantage of Fulvia's death to wed the Queen of Egypt, he accepted the offer which Octavian's advisers had persuaded the ruler of the West to make and took to wife Octavia. The Italian writer, however, sees in this a confirmation of his view that "Antony had been induced to spend the preceding winter at Alexandria rather by his political plans than by his love for Cleopatra," since, " when events obliged a temporary change of purpose, he did not hesitate to marry Octavia instead of Cleopatra."* After the conclusion of the Treaty of Brundi- sium Antony dropped for nearly four years out of Cleopatra's history. Doubtless she did not cease during that period to keep herself well informed of his movements, nor to endeavour to bring back to her side the man who, like Julius Caesar before him, had left her expecting a child by himself. Plutarch preserves a curious story of an Egyptian diviner in Antony's suite, whom it is reasonable to look upon as an agent of Cleopatra. It seems that after Antony went to Rome with Octavia and Octavian, he found much reason to complain that, whenever he indulged in games of dice, etcetera, with his brother-in-law, luck invariably ran against him. Thereupon the Egyptian diviner, " whether it was to please Cleopatra or in food faith, spoke freely to Antony, telling him that, however great and splendid his fortune, it * " Greatness and Decline of Rome," III. p. 256. 175 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT was obscured by that of Caesar [Octavian] and advising him to remove as far as possible from the young man. ' For your genius,' he said, ' is afraid of Caesar's genius, and although it stands proud and erect when alone it is humbled by his genius when it is near and becomes abashed.' ' Most of the year 39, following his agreement with Octavian, was spent by Antony at Rome, where the Triumvirs were busily engaged in dealing both with the still unsatisfied veterans from Philippi and with the gravely discontented populace of Italy and its capital, whom the blockade successfully maintained by Sextus Pompeius along the southern coast of the penin- sula kept in a perpetual state of famine. At length so great was the force of public opinion that the Triumvirs, unable to see their way to deal with Pompeius by naval and military methods, consented to make a convention with him. By the Treaty of Misenum the pirate was officially recognised by the rulers of Rome as worthy of a share in the Empire, being left in possession^ of Sicily and Sardinia, presented with the Pelo- ponnese for five years, and promised a .consulship at the end of this term, while his daughter was betrothed to Octavian 's six-year-old nephew, Marcellus, son of Octavia by her first husband. At last, for the first time since 45, the Empire enjoyed domestic peace, and the rejoicings were general. Toward the end of the year Antony left Rome 176 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY for Athens, taking with him Octavia and their newly born daughter Antonia the elder, after- wards grandmother of the Emperor 'Nero. He contemplated beginning in the following spring that war against the Parthians which he had been too weak to wage when he left Alexandria in the spring of 40, and had already begun operations through his lieutenants Bassus, Plancus, and his new adherent, Ahenobarbus. In the meantime he was perfectly content to spend his winter at Athens in the company of Octavia, " with whom he was very much in love, being by nature ex- cessively fond of women," remarks Appian. Octavia, the only good woman who had any influence over his life, had apparently succeeded in driving thoughts of Cleopatra from his head. With her he passed a very different whiter season from that of a year ago in Alexandria. He lived the life of a Greek gentleman, wearing the Athenian dress, discussing art, letters, and philosophy with the citizens, attending the lectures at the University, accepting the post of gymnasiarch and superintending the games, and generally comporting himself with decency. The Athenians made much both of him, whom they knew of old, and of Octavia, who won their hearts at once. Dion Cassius relates that among the honours bestowed upon him by the citizens were the title of " the New Dionysos " and the betrothal to him of their patron goddess Athene ; 177 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT adding that Antony thereon asked for a marriage portion of a million drachmae (about 40,000) which scarcely harmonizes with his usual behaviour toward Athens, if in keeping with his rude style of humour. As it does not enter within the scope of this book to deal with the career of Antony except where it affects the life of Cleopatra, we must glance very rapidly at the events between the end of 39 and the beginning of 36 B.C. In the early summer following his sojourn with Octavia in Athens, Antony crossed to Syria and took over the command against the Parthians and their allies from Ventidius Bassus. Bassus had done far too well for his chief's satisfaction, and was indeed the only Roman general to triumph for a success over the Parthians, inflicting upon them a heavy defeat, which was followed by the flight and death of the renegade Labienus. After some unimportant and not over-glorious operations against Antiochus of Commagene, one of the Parthians' vassals, Antony returned to Athens to spend his second winter there with Octavia, still with no apparent thought of Cleopatra. The term of the first Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus ended on December 3ist, B.C. 38, and it looked at first as if its end would be followed by an open rupture between the two principal Triumvirs in 37 over the case of Sextus Pompeius, with whom Octavian had quarrelled, 178 CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY in violation of the Treaty of Misenum. After nearly four months, however, during which Antony waited threateningly off the coast of South Italy with a fleet of three hundred ships, a peaceful meeting was brought about at Taren- tum between Antony and Octavian, with the aid of Octavia, of whose devotion to him her husband was glad to avail himself, whether or not his first ardour for her had now cooled, as is suggested by his behaviour only a few months later in Corcyra. Octavia's intervention saved the situation. At Tarentum the Triumvirate was renewed for another period of five years, beginning from January ist, 37, and Antony agreed to abandon Sextus Pompeius, giving his brother-in-law one hundred and thirty warships for use against him, in exchange for which he was to receive twenty- one thousand Italian legionaries to enable him to carry the war against the Parthians into the enemy's country. There appeared now no obstacle to prevent either of the great rivals from carrying out the schemes dear to his heart. Octavian, indeed, proceeded at once to his task of making himself complete master of the West by removing first Pompeius and then Lepidus out of his path. Thanks to the reinforcements which he had received, he had nothing to fear with Antony away. It must have been with feelings of great satisfaction that he saw his brother-in- law sail from the Italian coast. 179 CHAPTER XI THE LIAISON RENEWED THE time was approaching when Antony was to fall again under the sway from which the fiery Fulvia had been unable, while the gentler Octavia found the means for more than three years, to withdraw him. He was at last on his way to take up the command in that invasion of Parthia which gave a constitutional excuse for his Empire of the East, otherwise a mere usurpation of authority arranged between himself and Octavian. On his voyage from Italy he took Octavia with him as far as Corcyra, where he bade her farewell and left her to return home with their infant daughter and the two boys Antyllus andljulus. The anxiety which he expressed that she should not expose herself to danger may have been genuine, for she was expecting a second child by him, the daughter afterwards known as Antonia the younger ; or it may, as his enemies thought, have been a pretext for getting rid of a woman of whom he was already tired and setting himself free to follow his inclinations. The point cannot be decided, for his immediate conduct is ambiguous ; but in either case he ceased from 180 this moment to live with Octavia and saw neither her nor Rome again. On leaving Corcyra Antony made straight for Syria, without pausing to visit Egypt. But as he approached Syria, in the words of Plutarch, " that great evil which had long slept, the passion for Cleopatra which seemed to have been lulled and charmed into oblivion by better considera- tions, blazed forth again and recovered strength. At last, like Plato's ' restive and ungovernable beast in the human soul/ kicking away all that was good and wholesome, he sent Fonteius Capito to fetch Cleopatra to Syria." It was late in the year 37 that Cleopatra re- joined the lover whom she had not seen since his departure from Alexandria in the spring of 40. When his career separates itself from hers, unfortunately we cease to have more than the briefest allusions to her in the ancient historians, and the archaeologists are unable to help us with any Egyptian records from which to fill in the blank in her story. We know that as a result of her intercourse with Antony in Syria and Alexandria she bore, not long after he left her, the twins to whom were given the names of Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, the Sun and the Moon. We also read in the pages of Josephus how she received a visit from Herod, whose flight from the Parthians brought him a fugitive to the Egyptian frontier soon after 181 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antony's departure from Alexandria. His brother Phasael had been killed by the invaders, and Herod himself was on the way to seek from the masters of Rome his own restoration to Judaea and his confirmation as king of the territory over which he and Phasael had hitherto jointly ruled as tetrarchs. " He reached Pelu- sium," says Josephus, " where he could not obtain a passage from those that lay at anchor there. So he had an interview with the governors of the place. And they, out of respect to the fame and dignity of the man, conducted him to Alexandria. And when he came to the city he was received by Cleopatra with great splendour, for she hoped he would be commander of her forces in the expedition which she was now about ; but he rejected the queen's solicitations."* We should have liked to hear more about this meeting of Cleopatra and Herod, even from the pen of Josephus, who is elsewhere violently hostile to the queen and is always absurdly eulogistic of Herod. They must have met before, for Herod led one contingent of the army which relieved Julius Caesar from his siege in Alexandria in 47 ; and they were destined to meet again and become bitter enemies. It is impossible to test the assertion of Josephus about her friendly treatment of him now and her desire that he should become " commander of her forces " in * " Jewish Wars," I. 14, 2. 182 THE LIAISON RENEWED some unknown expedition. Ptolemy VII had a celebrated Jewish general, Onias ; Cleopatra III two Jewish officers, Chelkias and Ananias ; but Herod, in spite of his participation in the expedi- tion which accomplished the relief of Caesar, had done nothing to deserve such military fame as Josephus would have us believe was his hero's. It is probable that Josephus is merely drawing on his exceedingly vivid imagination for this offer of Cleopatra to Herod. After Herod's departure in search of Antony and Octavian, there begins a period of complete silence about Cleopatra and about Egypt gener- ally until Antony's reappearance in the East. What was she doing these four years ? As M. Houssaye remarks, " the mind refuses to picture her in mourning garb, weeping in the interior of her palace " ; and we would rather fancy her " continuing her gay and gorgeous existence, giving up to pleasure the time left to her by public ceremonies, audiences, councils of State, and conferences with engineers and architects." A very considerable amount of temple-building and repair and decoration of already existing temples was carried out during the rule of Cleo- patra. The subject of Cleopatra as a builder is mentioned later,* and here it need only be said that at no period in her reign did she have so much opportunity for whatever personal attention See p. 328. 183 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT she may have given to architectural work as during her separation from Antony, although there are no inscriptions which enable us definitely to assign any of her surviving monuments to these years. With regard to her foreign policy at this time we are equally without information. Josephus's remark about an intended expedition is un- supported by any other writer. We find a sub- sequent allusion to her favour of the cause of Sextus Pompeius, but it is very vague. Pom- peius was certainly in a position to communicate with the Queen of Egypt, being sole master of the Mediterranean between Southern Italy and the mouths of the Nile, and as son of his father, as well as brother of Cnaeus the younger, must naturally have made some appeal to Cleopatra. Beyond this, however, it is impossible to go. We are at liberty to imagine the queen occupying herself with the government of Egypt by herself and the young Caesarion, and watching anxiously the movements of the Roman leaders ; kept in touch, it may be, with Antony's affairs by the Egyptians who had remained with him after he left Alexandria. When Fonteius Capito appeared at her court with a message from her lover of four years ago, we hear of no such delay on her part as she ex- hibited when she went to meet him at Tarsus in 41. She hastened to join Antony in Syria. 184 THE LIAISON RENEWED At Antioch the old relationship was renewed, and was followed by a most astonishing proceeding on the part of Antony. Plutarch says that on her arrival he " added to her dominions no small or trifling gift, but Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, a large part of Cilicia, and also that part of Judaea which produces the balsam, and as much of Nabathaean Arabia as faces the Outer Sea " the Red Sea, that is to say, as opposed to the Mediterranean. We know also that he struck coins for circulation in Egypt, bearing his head and the titles Imperator and Triumvir translated into Greek. From this and from the existence of another coin with Cleopatra's head on one side, Antony's on the other, and an inscription showing that it was issued " (in the reign) of Queen Cleopatra, in the twenty-first which is also the sixth year of the Goddess," it is argued by several modern writers* that Antony definitely married Cleopatra at Antioch in B.C. 39, that she * Notably Professor Ferrero, following Letronne, the first exponent of the argument from the coins, and Kromayer. See " Grandeur and Decadence of Rome," IV. pp. 6-8, 264-5. In an article in Putnam's Magazine, April 1909, the Professor explains how " the discovery of Letronne . . . finally per- suades me to affirm that not a passion of love suddenly reawakened led Antony in the second half of 37 B.C. to Antioch to meet the Queen of Egypt, but a political scheme well thought out. He meant by this dynastic marriage to establish the Roman protectorate in the valley of the Nile, and to be able to dispose, for the Persian [Parthian] campaign, of the treasures of the kingdom of the Ptolemies." For a more dispassionate consideration of the arguments see M. Bouche-Leclercq, " Histoire des Lagides," II. p. 257, n. I. 185 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT began to reckon a new era in her reign because of this, and that his " no small or trifling gift " was his wedding present to her. With regard to this theory of a marriage be- tween Antony and Cleopatra at Antioch, it is extremely improbable that a general agreement of opinion can ever be obtained. It is too much to hope for fresh evidence from ancient sources. Ingeniously though the case for the marriage has been argued, the absence of allusion to such an event in the classical writers contemporary with or subsequent to the age of Cleopatra, Antony, and Octavian, is too extraordinary to be passed over lightly. Had Antony gone straight from the arms of his legal wife, sister of the great colleague with whom he had just concluded a five-years' treaty, leaving her with two little daughters by him, and without waiting even for the lapse of a few months contracted a marriage which in Roman eyes was bigamous and intolerable, is it possible that we should not find this monstrous action made one of the chief charges against him by the adherents of Octavian, in fact by all Roman writers ? But Antony, it may be said, did not inform Rome of what he had done. News, however, even in those days travelled across the Mediterranean, especially if it should be news of a bigamous marriage entered upon by one of the two leading men of the Roman world with an Egyptian queen. 186 THE LIAISON RENEWED Antony did not lack enemies in Syria, and even indifferent persons would not be likely to keep silence about so startling a piece of scandal.* Had this ceremony at Antioch taken place, it is incredible that events should have taken the slow course which they did between Antony's arrival in Syria and the outbreak of the war which led to the battle of Actium. But for the existence of the coins it is certain that no one would attempt to demonstrate a marriage between Antony and Cleopatra in B.C. 37 ; and all that the really important coin proves is that Cleopatra began to reckon a new era in the fifteenth year of her reign, as indeed Porphyry too states. This she might well do as having become in the fifteenth year queen of a greatly enlarged kingdom. The presence of Antony's head on a coin issued five years later, with the double era on it, is also natural, seeing that in B.C. 32 there is no doubt he considered himself her husband. What we do not find is a coin of 37 with the heads of Antony and Cleopatra and the double era. Antony's coins with the * Professor Ferrero, indeed, says that " Octavian must have been deeply vexed when he heard of this strange political marriage " (" Grandeur and Decadence of Rome," IV. p. 8). True, he must ; and are we to believe that none of the Augustan historians even mentioned the fact ? As far as the question of secrecy is concerned, Professor Ferrero says that " Antony married Cleopatra with all the dynastic ceremonies of Egypt" (article in Putnam's Magazine). The argument from the coins, moreover, involves publicity of the marriage to prove which their aid is invoked. I8 7 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Greek versions of his Roman titles, whatever they may indicate, assuredly do not show him claiming to be King of Egypt and husband of Egypt's Queen. Nevertheless, if Antony did not actually venture upon a step which would have cut him off morally from all his countrymen, by marrying a second wife while one was still living unrepudiated by him, he did not hesitate to acknowledge as his the twin children whom Cleopatra had born after his parting from her at Alexandria, and, according to Plutarch, justified himself by an allusion to his ancestor Hercules, whose offspring were not all from one mother. We do not know what justification, if any, he attempted of his donations to the mother of Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. By his gifts now Antony was indeed restoring to Egypt territory which had been hers in the reign of Ptolemy III Euer- getes ; but in the interval it had all fallen under the power of Rome. He might have pleaded, perhaps, the example of Julius Caesar, if it is true that the Dictator temporarily gave back Cyprus to Arsinoe and Ptolemy XV, and the example in any case was an evil one. It is probable that Cleopatra, finding Antony in so generous a mood, wished him to add to her dominions all of Syria which had formerly been Egyptian : the portion known as Coele- Syria before the Roman conquest, including 188 THE LIAISON RENEWED both Phoenicia and Judaea. But while Antony presented her with Phoenicia as well as the now- narrowed Coele-Syria, he was disinclined to dis- possess, even in her favour, his cunning and wealthy friend Herod. The Roman Senate at the desire of himself and Octavian had formally recognised Herod as King of Judaea, and his deputy in Syria proper, Sosius, had restored him to the throne, storming Jerusalem with Herod one Sabbath day in July 37, and putting to death Antigonus, last of the Asmonaean dynasty and nominee of the Parthians. Antony therefore made a compromise. The Egyptian queen appears to have coveted particularly the perfume- producing districts of Judaea and Arabia. Her country had always been renowned both for the production of sweet-scented oils and aromatic substances and for the importation of them from abroad, from Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, from " the country of the Troglodytes," and from India ; and under the Ptolemies they formed a royal monopoly of enormous value. Cleopatra, most luxurious of the Lagidae and a woman devoted to all the arts of beauty, was eager to make herself mistress of the celebrated gardens at Jericho, where the balsam grew, and of similar rich dis- tricts in the territory of the Nabathaean Arabs, lying between the Dead Sea and the north- eastern end of the Red Sea. To gratify her Antony assigned to her these gardens, while 180 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT leaving the Kings Herod and Malchus in posses- sion of the rest of their realms. We also hear of cedar-forests at Amaxia, in the portion of Cilicia which Antony transferred to her. Already Cleopatra had good reason for con- gratulating herself upon the foresight which led her to look to Antony as a successor to Julius Caesar for the partner in her ambitious schemes of securing her kingdom from the menace of annexation and restoring the glories of her most successful predecessors. She had to pay a price, it is true, and not only with the favours of her person. She was rich as well as beautiful. Therefore in return for his " profuse gifts which " (we are not surprised to read in Plutarch) " much vexed the Romans," Antony exacted from her an ample contribution to the cost of his expedi- tion into Parthia, for which ever since he had taken the command out of the hands of Bassus in 38 his subordinates had been preparing under his direction, and for which he had made the exchange of forces with Octavian at Tarentum. Minor princes such as Herod no doubt paid their shares, but the one purse to which it was essential to have access was that of Cleopatra. So, while we may not be prepared to accept the story of Antony's diplomatic marriage to secure a wealthy ally against the Parthians, we must allow that Antony mingled passion and calculation in his treatment of Cleopatra now. Full insight into 190 THE LIAISON RENEWED the workings of his mind we cannot hope to get, and we must beware of making him too subtle. All that we know of his character indicates that he was essentially a man who took short views. Having made his astonishing rearrangement of the map of the East, Antony started for Lesser Armenia, whence he proposed to commence his aggressive movement against Parthia. Cleo- patra accompanied him as far as the river Euphrates, where she bade him farewell and set off in the direction of Egypt, travelling overland. On her way she paid a visit to Herod. " She went into Judaea by Apamea and Damascus," writes Josephus in his " Jewish Wars." " Then did Herod appease her ill-will toward him by large presents and also hired from her those places which had been torn away from his king- dom, at a yearly rent of two hundred talents. He conducted her also as far as Pelusium and paid her all the court possible." In his " Anti- quities of the Jews " Josephus gives a much more lurid account of this meeting between Cleopatra and Herod, representing her as openly and shame- lessly attempting to seduce the virtuous king. " And perhaps she had some passion for him, or else (as is more probable) she laid a treacherous snare for him if adulterous intercourse with him should come about." But Herod, continues Josephus, had long borne no goodwill toward Cleopatra and now refused to comply with her 191 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT proposals. He conceived the idea of putting her to death and called together a council of his friends, to whom he unfolded his plan. The friends, however, scared at the suggestion, succeeded in restraining him through fear of the consequences. So he " paid court to Cleo- patra and conducted her on her way to Egypt." The two accounts of Josephus,* if not contra- dictory, give very different impressions of this encounter between two great intriguers ; and it is very much to be regretted that we have no allusion to the incident elsewhere than in the pages of this most prejudiced and untrustworthy historian. No one would have a right to condemn the worst of queens, even as bad a woman as the partisans of her enemy Octavian made her out to be, on such unsupported statements as that of the writer who could make a hero of Herod and display such inability as Josephus to look on any character or event without the narrowest race-prejudice. Whether or not she actually ran any risk of death at the hands of Herod (and Josephus is scarcely likely, perhaps, to have invented this portion of his tale, while we hear of Herod later trying to persuade Antony to take the step of which he himself was afraid), Cleopatra reached her kingdom unscathed ; and once again a * " Jewish Wars," I. 18, 5 ; " Antiquities of the Jews,- XV. 4, 2. 192 THE LIAISON RENEWED period of obscurity, though happily in the present case only a short period, occurs in her history. It is to this period that we must assign the birth of Ptolemy, her youngest child by Antony. It is toward the end of the winter after she had left Syria for Alexandria that we learn how Cleopatra received an urgent appeal from Antony to meet him on his way back from Parthia. His news was of the worst. With an army of not far short of one hundred thousand men he had accomplished little beyond anticipating Napo- leon's ruinous march with the Grand Army into and out of Russia. Starting late in the summer of 36, instead of going into winter quar- ters in Armenia he had attempted to reach Phraata, the capital of the Median vassals of the Parthian kings,, before the season became too severe for military operations. Hastening with the bulk of his army ahead of his siege-train, he allowed the latter to fall into the hands of those Cossacks of the Roman world, the Median and Parthian mounted archers, and arrived at Phraata without any means of besieging the city effectually. Nothing remained but to retreat through Armenia, assailed alike by a relentless enemy and by unmerciful weather. The Ar- menian king, Artavasdes, on whose help he had relied, after urging him on against his own name- sake, Artavasdes, King of Media Atropatene, had proved treacherous. While the Median had lent 193 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT vigorous aid to the Parthians, the Armenian had left Antony in the lurch. At such a crisis Antony appeared at his best. In the course of twenty-seven days he persuaded his men to fight eighteen battles, and finally he brought them, like Xenophon's heroic Ten Thousand (whom, according to Plutarch, he often recalled to memory), down from the Armenian highlands to the sea. The strength of his main army was said to have been reduced from seventy to thirty- eight thousand. The extent of the disaster was doubtless exaggerated by the ancient writers, taking their cue from the Augustan historian Dellius, the same man whom we have already met as Antony's messenger to Cleopatra in Chapter VIII ; for Dellius after his desertion of Antony before Actium was not likely to have lost an opportunity of pleasing his new master by depreciating his former patron and friend.* Nevertheless, it was with a mere wreck of his Grand Army that Antony reached the Phoenician coast. The survivors of his forces were in rags, and he was without money to pay them. He sent at once for Cleopatra. Ancient opinion attributes Antony's undue precipitation in march- ing on Phraata to his desire to rejoin Cleopatra speedily, which may be admitted to be absurd. * For a defence of Antony's conduct of the winter campaign of 36-5 the reader may be referred to Professor Ferrero's fourth, volume. 194 THE LIAISON RENEWED Still it can hardly have been only the Queen of Egypt, with her enormous wealth, whom Antony wished to see now after his arrival in Phoenicia. He had a personal need of her society, and there is an air of reality about Plutarch's description of his state of mind. " As she was slow in com- ing, he became uneasy and restless, soon giving way to drunkenness, yet unable to sit long at table ; and while his companions were drinking he would often spring up to look out, until Cleo- patra arrived by sea." She joined him at Leuke Rome, the " White Village " lying between Sidon and the Modern Beirut, bringing with her clothing and supplies for the troops. After making a distribution of clothes and money (he could give no more than about thirty shillings apiece) among his men, and putting Munatius Plancus in command of the army in Syria, Antony retired with Cleopatra to Alex- andria until it should be time for him to renew the war against Parthia. The blow which he had received was heavy, and placed him very unfavourably as compared with Octavian, who, through the ability of his subordinates and certainly not owing to his own military capacity, which was small, had strengthened his position wonderfully during 36. Sextus Pompeius had been defeated and sent flying from Sicily in August, and in September Lepidus, after a brief and futile struggle against Octavian 's domination, 195 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT had given up his share in the Triumvirate and retired into private life, leaving his conqueror to add the province of Africa to his portion of the Empire. This annexation of an extra province was later made a ground of complaint by Antony against Octavian. The eviction of Sextus Pompeius from his temporary kingdom in Sicily had another dis- advantage for Antony beside strengthening his rival. The dispossessed chieftain fled east, and coming to Asia Minor began to make preparations, ostensibly to attack Octavian. He sent friendly messages to Antony, but declined to accept an invitation to visit Alexandria. Neither party could trust the other. Sextus had good reason to remember Egypt, for he had been an eye- witness of his father's murder there twelve years before. Antony on his side had little inducement to believe in the good faith of a man who had spent years as an outlaw, living on the plunder of his fellow-countrymen ; and even while the envoys from Sextus were in Alexandria he discovered proofs of secret negotiations between their master and the Parthians. Emboldened perhaps by the fact that Antony took no steps to punish him for this treachery, Sextus began to scheme against Domitius Ahenobarbus, the chief - in-command in the province of Asia. Antony's lieutenants were not as forgiving or as careless as he was. A price was put upon the head of 196 THE LIAISON RENEWED Sextus, and he was pursued until he fell into the hands of Titius in Phrygia. By him he was carried to Miletus and there put to death, thus suffering a fate not dissimilar from that of his father and his brother. The responsibility for the death of the last of the Pompeii was disputed. Titius, after he had deserted Antony for Octavian, found himself very unpopular in Rome for having carried out the execution ; but he could plead that he was only a subordinate. " Some say that Plancus and not Antony gave the order," remarks Appian, " others that it was written by Plancus with Antony's knowledge, the latter being ashamed to write it on account of the name Pompeius and because Cleopatra was favourable to him [Sextus] on account of Pompey the Great. Still others think that Plancus, being aware of the facts, took upon himself to give the order as a matter of precaution, fearing lest the co-operation of Cleopatra with Pompeius should breed dissension between Antony and Caesar [Octavian]." Thus everything conspired to make the ruin and death of Sextus Pompeius profitable to Octa- vian and harmful to Antony. The expulsion of the pirate king from Sicily removed from Rome the pressure of the food-famine under which the city had been labouring for many years except in the brief intermission of the Treaty of Misenum, and helped Octavian greatly in his attempt to 197 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT win favour from a populace which had hitherto always eyed him askance and liked him least of the Triumvirs. On the other hand, the shameful end of the last of a great family, a man not in himself unpopular though the cause of much suffering to his country, brought obloquy on Antony, in whose dominions it occurred. We hear little as to how Antony spent the time with Cleopatra in Alexandria between his return from his first unsuccessful Parthian campaign and his start on a second expedition. Political affairs must have engaged most of his attention, for we are not told of further revels at this period. There was a very difficult task waiting to be performed, and no such failure as the march on Phraata could be risked again. While the prepar- ations were on foot for the new campaign there came to Alexandria a messenger with news of great importance, Polemon, Antony's nominee to the throne of Pontus, whom he had been obliged to leave a prisoner in the hands of the Parthians when making his disastrous retreat. Polemon announced that the Median Artavasdes had fallen out with the Parthians over the division of the spoil left behind by the Romans and was now willing to join Antony in a war against his former allies. Antony gladly accepted the offer, and in order to secure his advance toward Parthia still further sent an invitation to the other Artavasdes to come to Alexandria. He invited him " as a 198 THE LIAISON RENEWED friend," according to Dion Cassius ; but the Armenian knew better than to trust himself to the hospitality of a man whom he had betrayed and all but ruined. He preferred to take the risk of war rather than the friendship which was offered him at Alexandria. Without waiting any longer, therefore, Antony set out for Syria, taking with him Cleopatra. If it was her idea to accompany him, events proved her wisdom. When he reached Syria he received a letter from his lawful wife stating that she had started from Rome to meet him. The faithful Octavia, although she cannot have been ignorant of the fact that Antony had returned to the arms of Cleopatra, had been so moved by the news of his misfortunes in Armenia that she had deter- mined to do what she could to help him to retrieve his losses. She had begged her brother to allow her to leave Rome, and Octavian had consented " as most say, not with the design of pleasing her, but in order that if she were grievously insulted and neglected he might have a fair excuse for war."* Taking with her not only money and clothing for his troops but also two thousand picked soldiers to reinforce him, she made for Athens, whither she perhaps hoped that her husband would come to meet her, if only in remembrance of the time which they had spent there together in 38 and 37. Had she pressed on at once to Syria, who can say * Plutarch, " Antony," 53. 199 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT what would have happened ? But Antony was by no means prepared to see an encounter between Octavia and Cleopatra. He wrote to his wife ordering her to stay at Athens, as he was going eastward. Octavia stopped at Athens but wrote to Antony again, asking whither he wished her to send what she was bringing him. The letter was entrusted to a certain Niger, a friend of Antony, who had the courage to speak on her behalf and tell him how good a woman he was wronging. Cleopatra grew alarmed at Octavia' s bid for control over Antony, whom, knowing his disposition, she dared not see exposed to the danger of a meeting with his wife. She therefore had recourse to a ruse which is thus described by Plutarch : " She pretended to be desperately in love with Antony and wasted her body by spare diet ; and she assumed an expression of strong passion when he approached her and one of sorrow and de- pression when he went away. She contrived also to be seen often in tears, which she would wipe away and affect to conceal, as if she did not wish Antony to see them. . . . Her friends, too, were busy on her behalf, accusing Antony of hardness of heart, for he was causing the death of a woman who was devoted to him only. Octavia, they said, came to him in her brother's interest and enjoyed the advantages of the name of his wife ; while Cleopatra, queen over so many people, was 200 THE LIAISON RENEWED only called the lover of Antony a title which she did not refuse nor disdain as long as she might see him and live with him. But if she were driven away from him she would die."* Cleopatra succeeded in outbidding Octavia. Antony sent to his wife a command to return to Rome. She went back and, refusing to take her brother's advice that she should leave Antony's ' house there in token of a definite separation from him, continued to live as before, looking after the upbringing not only of her own daughters but also of Antony's sons by Fulvia. ' Thus she un- intentionally harmed Antony," comments Plu- tarch, " since he was hated for doing wrong to such a woman." Antony in the meanwhile, relieved of the fear of an encounter with his wife, now found that the season was too far advanced for any expedition that year and decided to return to Alexandria with Cleopatra and wait for the following spring. His only act in preparation for the coming war was to betroth Alexander Helios to the daughter of the Armenian Arta- vasdes, whom he had not yet made up his mind * In connection with this passage from Plutarch, it is clear that, if the theory be accepted that Antony and Cleopatra were actually married in Antioch at the end of B.C. 37, we should be obliged to reject the Greek writer's account of this struggle between Cleopatra and Octavia in 35. His- torians, in support of a theory, however, are wont to be hard-hearted even toward the most conscientious of their predecessors, and it does not appear to grieve the advocates of the Antioch marriage that they are compelled to deny the truth of so much of Plutarch's information. 201 7* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to treat as an enemy ; or, at least, had not yet in his power. Early in the spring of 34 he was back again in Syria. But instead of attacking the Parthians he marched into Armenia, seized the capital Artaxata, and took prisoners Artavasdes and his family. Then leaving a garrison sufficiently large to hold the country he turned back toward Egypt. With a view to binding the alliance which he had contracted with Media in the previous year he betrothed Alexander Helios to lotapa, daughter of the other Artavasdes, in place of the child whom he now had among his captives. 202 CHAPTER XII THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST ALTHOUGH Antony's conquest of Armenia had been neither arduous nor very glorious, since the king had not been prepared to resist him, he determined to celebrate it in a way that should be memorable. He was returning from a newly vanquished country, laden with abundant spoil and accompanied by trains of captives, including the whole of the royal family. He had therefore all the materials for a triumph such as a success- ful Roman general could claim except the city in which to celebrate it. This was in the hands of a rival who was by no means likely to listen favourably to any request coming from a man who not only disputed the mastery of the Roman world with him but had also insulted him un- pardonably by his treatment of his sister. If Antony required a triumphal procession, he must have it somewhere else than in Rome. No Roman had ever triumphed elsewhere. Indeed the idea had been deemed unthinkable. But no Roman, also, had stood in the position of Antony ; and in unprecedented circumstances it was necessary to create and not wait for 203 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT precedents. Alexandria now was the virtual capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, a city superior to Rome itself in magnificence, and clearly the only possible substitute for Rome as the scene of the procession which Antony intended to accompany his car. He would ride, therefore, through the streets of Alexandria, defying both Rome and Octavian. We need not believe that in deciding to act thus Antony was consciously setting up an Empire of the East in opposition to the already existing Empire of the West which had developed itself out of the Roman Republic. As he showed later, when he attempted to submit his astounding acts for ratification by the Senate, he continued to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. He cannot have abandoned the idea of returning to his native land after the conquest of the Parthians as Sulla had returned after conquering Mithridates. What we know of Antony's character impels us to attribute his Alexandrian triumph much rather to his love of gorgeous display, in the gratification of which Cleopatra had given him many lessons, than to the promptings of far-seeing statesman- ship. Antony founded for a few years, it is true, an Eastern Empire with its capital at Alexandria ; but he did so, not because he was a constructive genius, ahead of his times, but because he was a successful soldier carried away by the force of events and by an ambition scarcely any longer 204 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST sane. Although the comparison is a very super- ficial one, the French critic who called Antony " a Roman Boulanger " is nearer to the truth than those who would make him a great states- man. The Armenian triumph, as it travelled along the splendid wide Canopic Way, crowded with sightseers and gaily decorated, toward the huge temple of Serapis at the western end of Alexandria, must have been a worthy rival to almost any that had passed along the Via Sacra to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill at Rome. In his capacity of victorious Imperator, Antony rode in the customary car drawn by four white horses. Before him on foot went King Artavasdes, loaded with golden chains (" so that nothing might be lacking to his honours," remarks the Roman historian Velleius Paterculus), with his wife and sons. Behind came long strings of other Armenian captives, chariots carrying pictorial representations of the conquered country or loaded with booty, and deputations from the subject cities bearing golden crowns voted to the victorious general. The escort consisted of Roman legions, with their shields perhaps already in- scribed with the C in honour of Cleopatra, marching under their eagles to the sound of their brazen trumpets, and the troops of auxiliary cavalry and Oriental allies, drawn from all parts of the Levant, that went to make up the motley 205 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT army of Antony. The procession moved slowly westward from the royal quarter through Rhakotis until it came to the temple of the god who replaced at this point Jupiter Capitolinus and was one day to merge with Jupiter in one of his aspects at Rome. Now came a very un- Roman feature of the ceremony. A platform had been erected in front of the Serapeum, all plated with silver, and upon it had been placed a golden throne. On this sat Cleopatra, dressed in the straight narrow robe of the goddess Isis, with the hawk-headed and cow-horned crown upon her head, waiting in stately repose to receive the homage of the conqueror and his captives. The Armenian royal family, however, unexpectedly declined to humble themselves before her, and, heedless of the threats of their guards, insisted on addressing her simply by her name. Arta- vasdes, in spite of the treachery of his conduct towards Antony in 36 B.C., was a cultured man, who had written tragedies, and was too proud, even in his present abasement, to lend himself to the farce of the divine Cleopatra. He and his family, it was said, suffered harsh treatment for their obstinacy ; but happily there was no execu- tion at the end of the procession, such as com- monly disgraced a Roman triumph, and the life of Artavasdes himself was spared at least until four years later. The day wound up with a banquet given to the 206 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST whole of Alexandria. But Antony had an even more astonishing spectacle in store for the city than that which had just been witnessed. The people were summoned to the grounds of the Gymnasium, where they once more saw a plat- form of silver, supporting this time two large and four smaller thrones of gold. On the large thrones sat Antony and Cleopatra, on the smaller Caesarion, the twins Alexander Helios and Cleo- patra Selene, and the baby Ptolemy. The cere- mony began by Antony proclaiming Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, Cyprus, and Coele-Syria, with Caesarion as co-regent. Then he announced that he gave to Alexander Armenia, Media, and Parthia ; to Ptolemy Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia ; and to Selene Cyrenaica and the neigh- bouring portions of Libya. Alexander and Ptolemy were led forward on the platform, dressed one in Median costume and an upstanding tiara, such as the kings of the Medes and Armenians wore, the other in Macedonian cloak and boots and a cap with a diadem about it, like the successors of Alexander the Great. The boys saluted their parents and were then surrounded by bodyguards composed of Armenians and Macedonians respec- tively. Plutarch says that Caesarion, Alexander, and Ptolemy were all assigned the title of " King of Kings," Dion that it was given to Cleopatra and Caesarion only. We know from an inscription found on the island of Delos that the title was 207 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT actually applied to Caesarion.* Cleopatra cannot well have been left out if the son who ruled Egypt with her was thus honoured. But there seems no reason why Antony's own sons should not have shared the honour with Caesar's offspring and the mother of them all. There was always room in the East for many a " King of Kings." Antony had provided the Alexandrians in the course of a few days with two very magnificent pageants. In the first they had witnessed their city exalted to a level with Rome and sharing a privilege which had never before been shared by any other city with Rome. In the second they had seen their country transformed into a central power round which were grouped three semi- dependent kingdoms, ruled over by children of their queen, and stretching eastward to Persia, northward to the Caucasus, and westward to the modern Tripoli. Truly a wonderful change had been wrought since the days when Ptolemy Auletes had struggled so hard, and at such an expense to his people's pockets, to preserve Egypt from the fate of becoming a mere Roman province. If we regard Antony as a truly great man, whose character has been grossly calumniated owing to the fact that the victorious cause pleased not only the gods but also all the historians of Imperial * This is Strack's reasonable deduction from the mutilated fragment to which he refers in " Die Dynastic der Ptolemagr," p. 272. 208 THE EMPIRE OF THE EAST Rome, we still must find it difficult to explain how he could take away from his native land nearly the whole of its Eastern possessions, to divide them between his mistress and her children by him and by Julius Caesar and yet expect to be considered a Roman citizen, capable of maintaining relations with the Senate and people of Rome. But we do find him in the year following his " Alexandrian donations," as his contemporaries called them, actually endeavouring to get these ratified by Rome, whose pride he had outraged and whose laws he had flouted by the whole course of his conduct in Egypt. There only appears to be one reasonable way of accounting for his extraordinary attitude ; and that is, as has already been sug- gested in this book, to suppose that his brain had begun to be affected. His fellow-countrymen could not have had much doubt about the fate which overtook Antony owing to the life which he had led for so many years. They found no difficulty in believing the tale that he was perpetually drunk, while Cleo- patra shared his excesses and yet kept sober by means of her ring of amethyst, that stone which was credited with the virtue of preserving a clear head for its wearer. The historian Florus draws a lurid picture of Antony's ruin. ' This Egyptian woman," he writes, " asked of the drunken general as the price of her embraces the gift of the Roman Empire, and Antony promised it to her, as though 209 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Romans were easier to conquer than Parthians. . . . Forgetting his country, his name, his toga, and the insignia of his office, he had degenerated wholly, in thought, feeling, and dress, into that monster of whom we know. In his hand was a golden sceptre, at his side a scimetar ; his purple robes were clasped with great jewels, and he wore a diadem on his head that he might be a king to match the queen he loved." Velleius similarly writes about the degradation of Antony and his followers, especially Plancus, for whom he seems to have a special detestation. Antony, he says, having ordered that he should be called " the new Liber Pater " (that is, Bacchus), was carried through the streets of Alexandria, in a car like the god's, garlanded with ivy, wearing a golden crown, with buskins on his feet, and a thyrsus in his hand. As for Plancus, " the meanest flatterer of the queen, more obsequious than any slave, and the instigator and minister of Antony's vilest excesses," Velleius describes him as dancing at a banquet, in the character of the sea- god Glaucus, naked and painted blue, with a chaplet of reeds upon his head and a fish-tail dragging behind him. For an ex-consul, this certainly appears an extraordinary performance. Dion Cassius, though less sensational than the two Latin authors, relates that so much had Cleo- patra made Antony her slave that he accepted from her the post of gymnasiarch (or superinten- 210 dent of the games) at Alexandria, and that he called her queen and mistress and had her name put upon the shields of the Roman legionaries. " And he went to the Agora with her, conducted the festivals for her, tried cases with her,' and rode about with her, or else she rode in a chariot while he walked on foot among the eunuchs." Much of this attack upon Antony,* it may be said, is mere invective, and in any case we have no means of sifting out the grains of truth among the harvest of charges brought by writers under the Empire against the enemy of the first Em- peror. The supposition, however, that Antony had begun to pay the penalty for his past life is both legitimate and satisfactory in view of what was to come. It would be surprising if more than thirty years of violent excesses of every kind, combined with twenty years of good fortune, nearly ten of them years of unrestrained power, had not produced a harmful effect upon a mind never so strong as the body in which it worked. It is difficult for a debauchee who has become a demi-god f to remain perfectly sane. If any proof is required of Antony's mental alienation beyond his delusion that his acts were capable of * Florus, IV. 1 1 ; Velleius Paterculus, II. 82-3 ; Dion Cassius, L. 5 . t To help him on the path, Cleopatra is said to have commenced about this time to erect in honour of Antony the building afterwards known as the Caesareum. Octavian converted it into a memorial of himself. 211 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT ratification by Rome, it may be found in his pro- ceedings before and during the battle of Actium. If the Antony of Mutina, of Pharsalia and Philippi, of the retreat from Armenia, had then ceased to exist, and had been replaced by a man of tottering mind, it is at least possible to explain a battle which on any other hypothesis is an incomprehensible mystery. 212 CHAPTER XIli THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM As must have been foreseen by any man whose mental balance had not been destroyed, the news of Antony's proceedings at Alexandria was bound to be carried to Rome speedily and to create a profoundly unfavourable impression there. Nothing could better serve the cause of Octavian, already successful in overcoming much of the pre- judice which had formerly existed against him among his fellow-citizens, than that Antony should be seen by them in the light of a robber of his country for the benefit of a woman and an Egyptian woman ! for whom he had ignomini- ously discarded his legal Roman wife. For one who had declared his willingness to give up all his extraordinary powers after Antony's return from the Parthian War, " being persuaded that Antony too would be ready to lay down his powers now that the civil wars were ended,"* it was most convenient that his rival should show a deter- mination to keep what he had got, in defiance of promises and of general hopes. The longer * Appian, " Civil Wars," V. 132. It was after his defeat of Sextus Pompeius and Lepidus that Octavian is said to have made this declaration. 213 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antony remained leagued with Cleopatra and the more he bestowed upon her, the greater became Octavian's chance of being chosen to represent the Roman People in a war waged to chastise a rebel against its authority ; and the smaller, too, would grow the number of those willing to throw in their lot with Antony when the time for a decisive struggle arrived. For, in spite of the enormous strain which he put upon their loyalty, Antony still continued to have many adherents in Rome, the fascination of his greatness and the fear of Octavian's designs com- bining to keep together a party which looked to him as the ultimate saviour of the State. As appeared later, many of the aristocracy thought that only he had the power to re-establish the old Republic. There were also, among the devotees of the cult of Julius Caesar, those who believed that Caesarion should have been the Dictator's heir, not Octavian. Antony's friends were ready to en- courage such belief by circulating the story that there had been a later will, suppressed after the death of Julius, by which it was to Caesarion the son, and not to Octavian the grand-nephew, that the heritage had been left. This was a point which touched Octavian sorely ; and, according to Dion Cassius, it was Antony's recognition of Caesarion as a legitimate son of Julius which determined Octavian's mind to war. Civil war, however, was not yet talked about at 214 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM the beginning of 33, when, after his third winter in Alexandria, Antony set out for Armenia. The Roman world still expected him to fight the Par- thians, for Crassus remained unavenged, and his eagles had not been recovered. Armenia had been conquered and garrisoned the previous year, ap- parently with a view to making it a base for a campaign farther into the heart of Western Asia. But did Antony any longer intend to invade Parthia ? His action on reaching Armenia indi- cated either that he did not feel himself strong enough for such a task or that he knew he must husband his strength for some other purpose. He contented himself with some readjustment of the boundaries of his allies in the Caucasus, assigning to Polemon of Pontus the region known as Lesser Armenia and to Artavasdes of Media a slice of Greater Armenia. With Artavasdes also he made an exchange of troops, giving some infantry in return for some mounted archers. Finally he obtained from Artavasdes the standards which the Medes had captured from his own rearguard when they surrounded it and his siege-train in the winter of 36. With this poor substitute for Crassus's eagles Antony returned to Asia Minor. Thus he never accomplished the task of conquering the Parthians, the legacy of Julius Caesar and the reason for which he was given his extraordinary command in the East. The glory of bringing back the spoils of Crassus he left to the representatives of Augustus 215 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT thirteen years later, when scenes of most re- markable enthusiasm were witnessed at Rome. Antony brought back with him also the youth- ful daughter of Artavasdes, lotapa, the betrothed of Alexander Helios, whom her father had en- trusted to him to be educated at Alexandria. With her he hurried back to Alexandria, leaving orders for his sixteen legions under the command of Canidius to proceed to Ephesus and wait his return to them.* Matters had been taking such a course in 33 that it was now recognised as impossible that war could foe much longer averted between the two halves of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, all the ancient historians are so confused in their presen- tation of the order of events that they have put it out of the power of modern writers to attain any certainty. It would appear as if Antony did not apply to the Roman Government for a ratification of his rearrangement of the East " the donations of Alexandria " until late in 33, which is very strange, seeing that the rearrangement took place at the end of 34 and could not but be known in Rome early in the following year. It is possible, of course, that Antony sent his application, to- gether with his report on the conquest of Armenia, * M. Bouche-Leclercq (" Histoire des Lagides," II. pp. 281, 287) makes out a good case for Antony's visit to Alexandria before going to Ephesus. He is usually said to have gone straight to Ephesus and to have awaited Cleopatra's arrival thither. 2l6 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM to his agents early, but that Octavian managed to prevent it being laid before the Senate. It never came up officially, in fact, as will be seen. An- tony's two chief supporters in Rome were Caius Sosius, who as governor of Syria had helped Herod to storm Jerusalem in 37 and set himself again on the throne of Judaea ; and Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, of whom, too, we have already heard. These two were consuls designate for the year 32, in accordance with the allocation of offices made by Octavian and Antony at Tarentum. While still only designate they had no official standing and had no means of forcing an oppor- tunity to lay Antony's request formally before the Senate. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that Antony should have been obliged to wait until the beginning of 32, when Sosius and Ahenobarbus took office, before he could bring forward a matter which was the subject of common public dis- cussion in Rome. Delay, no doubt, suited Octavian's purpose admirably. The term of the Second Triumvirate, in spite of Lepidus having dropped out, was due to last until December 3ist, B.C. 33, to which date it had been extended by the Treaty of Taren- tum. If that term should expire with Antony's acts unratified, Antony would clearly be in an unpleasant position when called upon to lay down his extraordinary power, as he had professed himself willing to do. Octavian could well afford 217 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT to wait until the New Year, when he had means at his disposal of dealing with troublesome consuls like Sosius and Ahenobarbus. Antony, on his part, if he could not compel the Senate to con- sider his acts, could do nothing else but wait, since any violent procedure would strip away the last rags of legality which hung about his conduct in the East. While they watched for the coming of January 32, the masters of the East and the West amused themselves by exchanging abusive letters, of which the scandal-loving Suetonius professes to preserve some, including a fragment from Antony which inspires Professor Ferrero to make the unjustifiable remark that decency was unknown to the ancients.* From the day of their first meeting after the death of Julius Caesar the antipathy between the two rivals who had divided his in- heritance had been intense, and the causes for bitterness now, after an acquaintance of twelve years, were innumerable. Yet it is somewhat * Professor Ferrero says : "It would be impossible for me to translate the fragment. This is to be regretted, for it shows the two principal men of the Empire exchanging recriminations in a tone worthy of street roughs or drunken students. Decency was a thing totally unknown to the ancients " (" Greatness and Decline of Rome," IV. ch. 4). Antony's reported frankness of speech concerning his rela- tions with Cleopatra is appalling. But, apart from the in- evitable doubts as to the veracity of Suetonius, what right has Antony to be considered a type of ancient decency ? He is not even typical of Roman decency in the middle of the first century B.C. 218 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM astonishing that they could descend to vulgar abuse of one another in order to relieve their feelings. It seems at least to show that neither looked forward to the possibility of outwardly friendly relations after the expiry of the Treaty of Tarentum. Antony had chosen as his winter residence the town of Ephesus. We may wonder whether, when she came thither, it occurred to Cleopatra to think of her sister Arsinoe, who had perished there a victim to her hatred. She came in state befitting her first foreign tour since her proclamation at Alexandria as queen of an enlarged Egypt, and watched with Antony the gathering together of forces, military and naval, and supplies of money and stores. Her own contribution, according to Plutarch, included two hundred ships (a quarter of the Antonian fleet), twenty thousand talents (nearly 5,000,000), and war-supplies for the whole army. She might well have claimed to be Antony's right hand and his most indispensable ally. He at least would not have disputed such a claim ; but there were soon coming those who denied her right to be with him at all. January brought with it the crisis for which the Roman world had been waiting. Hitherto Antony's supporters in Rome had been unable to demand a public hearing of the communica- tions which they had received from their chief. Octavian, however, if Plutarch is correct, had 219 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT complained both in the Senate and before the people of the illegal division of the East. The fol- lowers of Antony had retorted with complaints about Octavian's annexation of Sicily and the province of Africa and his neglect to provide for Antony's veterans as he had promised. Thereupon Octavian asked for his share of Armenia, and sug- gested that the Antonian veterans did not require land in Italy, as they had Media and Parthia, which they had added to the Roman Empire by their brave conduct under their general. It is possible that Plutarch's account of these recriminations is a loose summary, misplaced as to time,* of the arguments in the Senate at the open- ing of the New Year. Sosius, having been obliged to wait until January ist, lost no time, now that he and Ahenobarbus were consuls, before inviting Octavian to lay down his extraordinary powers and return to the rank of an ordinary citizen, under penalty of being declared a public enemy. Octavian, having foreseen the danger of such a demand while Antony could still claim to have the Parthian War to finish, did not enter the Senate- house, but procured one of the tribunes of the people to prevent by the time-honoured Roman method of the veto the Senate's vote. On the next day for business he came into the Senate well escorted and demanded that the consuls should * He puts the discussion while Antony was in Armenia, which hardly seems likely (" Antony," 55). 22O THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM read Antony's letters to themselves. They in turn claimed the right to read instead Antony's report on the Armenian campaign. Octavian used his influence as President of the Senate to prevent this, and finished by inviting Sosius and Aheno- barbus to attend next day to hear him bring for- ward proofs of Antony's crimes. Seeing that Octavian was too strong for them, and that the opportunity of carrying out Antony's instructions, v/hich they had hoped their office would give them, was not coming, the consuls abandoned constitu- tional methods and left Rome for the coast and for Asia Minor, to report their failure at headquarters. With them went a large body of Senators, about four hundred, as it appears later, and other sup- porters of Antony, whom Octavian diplomatically allowed to depart unhindered. The whole mob of fugitives crossed the sea and presented themselves before Antony at Ephesus, calling on him to sail for Italy and " restore the Republic." At Ephe- sus, of course, they found not only Antony but also Cleopatra, first in his councils and in every way treated as a great queen, not like the other kings of Asia Minor and Syria, mere vassals of the Empire. To the majority of the Antonian fugi- tives from Rome this discovery came as a most unpleasant shock, and they positively declined to humble themselves before the Egyptian woman. How strongly expressed their opinion must have been may be gathered from the fact that Antony 221 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT asked Cleopatra to return to Egypt and wait until the war should be over. Plutarch attributes this request to the persuasions of " Domitius and certain others." Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, scion of one of the oldest families in Rome,* is described by Velleius Paterculus later as the only man among Antony's followers who was never known to address Cleopatra except by her name ; that is to say, he never called her queen. Now already, on his arrival at Ephesus, he led the demand for her dismissal from the camp of him whom he desired to see give Rome once more her old constitutional government. Cleopatra, however, would not allow herself to be driven away so easily. Antony might waver, uncertain whether he could afford to put his mis- tress's society, or even her undoubted value as an ally, above the good-will of the men who had up- held his cause in Rome and were now furnishing him with his pretext for a forcible return to his native land. But Cleopatra could not hesitate where her whole influence over Antony was at stake. She had many reasons for fearing either * It was to one of his ancestors, more than four centuries and a half before, that Castor and Pollux were said to have appeared and prophesied the Roman victory over the Latins at Lake Regillus, by way of token stroking his black beard and turning it copper-colour, whence the family name Ahenobarbus. This Cnaeus Domitius, it may be noted, was like Antony himself a great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero, his son Lucius marrying Antonia, daughter of Antony and Octavia. 222 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM his success in the war while she was absent or his reconciliation with Octavian. Fortunately for her, she had one resource which had never failed to procure advocates for her father or herself. Publius Canidius Crassus was Antony's most trusted general, the commander who had led his legions from Armenia to Ephesus. To him she gave a large bribe, says Plutarch, that he might represent to Antony the injustice of sending away one from the war who had contributed so much toward it, and the inadvisability of discouraging the big Egyptian contingent in his fleet. " And, besides, he could not see to which of the kings who had joined the expedition Cleopatra was inferior in understanding, having for a long time by her- self governed a vast kingdom, and having learnt in Antony's company the handling of great affairs." ' These arguments prevailed," Plutarch adds, " for it was fated that all the power should come into the hands of Caesar [Octavian]." Cleopatra was not sent away, but remained with the An- tonian army, to be the cause of many dissensions between the leader and his subordinates, and to drive into the camp of Octavian some of the most influential of the latter before the crowning disaster of Actium decided the fate of the Empire. When the military and naval assembly at Ephesus was complete by the arrival of the refugees from Rome and the forces supplied by the subject and semi-dependent kings and cities 223 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT of the East, Antony toward the end of April in the year 32 moved his headquarters to the island of Samos, where he gave himself up to a round of gaieties in the company of Cleopatra and the pick of the public entertainers of the day, to whom he had sent an invitation to meet him and provide him with amusement. The contrast between the heavy exactions which Antony had made with a view to the war and the merriment at Samos provokes Plutarch to observe that, " while nearly all the world around was lamenting and groaning, this one island was full of the sound of pipes and of stringed instruments, and the theatres were packed." In spite of the burdens which their share in the coming struggle entailed upon them, the allies felt constrained to make their contributions also to the revels at Samos, which were accordingly on so vast a scale as to cause the question to be asked : " How will they behave after victory who make such costly banquets to celebrate their preparation for war ? "* When the Samian festivities were ended, Antony went a stage farther in the direction of his goal, but only to Athens, where he stopped and again gave himself up to the pleasures of the moment. This was the first visit of Cleopatra to Athens. Her wish to see the place was as great as the pleasure professed by the citizens at seeing her. Cleopatra was particularly stirred * Plutarch, " Antony," 56. 224 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM by a recollection of the favour which Octavia had gained when she wintered in the ancient city six years before, and in her endeavour to blot out the memory of Antony's wife she showed herself a most generous benefactress to the Athenians. They in their turn voted her many public honours, sending to her a deputation to announce the vote, at the head of which was Antony himself in his capacity of a freeman of the city. Among other distinctions they ac- corded to her a statue in the Acropolis, which was set up beside the statue already erected to Antony. It could not be expected that this image of Cleopatra should be preserved after the ruin of the Antonian cause ; and so, unhappily, the world has lost an opportunity of knowing how one of its heroines appeared to a Greek sculptor. While introducing Cleopatra to Athens and renewing in her society his acquaintance with the culture and amusements of the city, Antony did not entirely neglect business affairs. At least he took a step which brought war percep- tibly nearer, if it was not an actual declaration of war. There met him at Athens Antyllus, the elder of his sons by Fulvia, now in about his fourteenth year. Hitherto the boy had lived chiefly with his stepmother Octavia, from whom he may now have brought a last appeal to Antony. If this was so, Antony's reply was prompt and brutal. He kept Antyllus at Athens, but called 225 8 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT together a meeting of the Senatorial members of his party and put before them the question of his formal repudiation of his wife. In view of the Roman dislike of Cleopatra, who would clearly have been the only gainer by such a divorce, it was natural that he should find among the Senators considerable opposition to his scheme. But Cleopatra's gold was again set to work, and in the end Antony felt himself justified in signing the letter casting off Octavia. This he sent at once to Rome by the hand of agents charged with the duty of ejecting Octavia from his house hi Rome. " It is reported," says Plutarch, " that when she left the house, she took all the children of Antony with her, except the elder son by Fulvia (for he was with his father), and that she wept and lamented that she too would be looked upon as one of the causes of the war. The Romans pitied not her but Antony, especially those who had seen Cleopatra, a woman who had no advantage over Octavia either in beauty or in youth." Octavian had been accused in 35, as we have seen, of being willing to expose his sister to a cruel rebuff from Antony, in the hope of finding a pretext for war. He certainly had such a pretext now, and at the same time the opportunity of a strong appeal to Roman sentiment against foreigners. For what reason, he might ask, had Antony divorced Octavia except to be free 226 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM to make the Egyptian woman his wife, which he could not, in Roman eyes, as long as he was bound to Octavia ? Indeed, there appears no other reason, unless we impute to Antony an act of wanton brutality against the wife of whose faithfulness to himself he had hitherto taken advantage to further his interests at Rome. It is true that we do not even now read of any formal marriage to Cleopatra after the repudiation of Octavia. But, whatever view we take of the Antioch marriage question mentioned in Chapter XI, we must admit that Antony had treated Cleopatra as though she were actually his legal wife at the time of the astonishing donations of Alexandria. It was perhaps to clear himself of a possible charge of polygamy brought by Aheno- barbus and his other supporters from Rome that after their arrival in the East he took the step of divorcing Octavia. But the result was anything but favourable to his popularity among his Roman friends. Cleopatra, elated by her victory over Octavia, became more insufferable to them, and now desertions began to take place of those most disgusted with the state of affairs which they found prevailing at Antony's headquarters, or least scrupulous about abandoning what they had once professed to consider the constitutional cause. Two of the earliest to join Octavian were able to win his favour by a breach of confidence 227 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT which damaged Antony seriously. These were Titius, the executioner of Sextus Pompeius, and his uncle Munatius Plancus, who had so distinguished himself in his masquerade as Glaucus at Alexandria. ' Titius and Plancus," says Plutarch, " both men of consular rank, being insulted by Cleopatra, whose design of joining the campaign they had been foremost in resisting, escaped to Caesar and gave information about the contents of Antony's will,* with which they were acquainted, having been witnesses to it. The will was de- posited with the Vestal Virgins, who refused to give it up at Caesar's request, telling him that if he wished to have it he must come and take it himself." Octavian had no scruples against going to the temple of Vesta and seizing the will. Having done so, he read it out to the Senate to the dissatisfaction of many, Plutarch records, who thought it unfair to call a man to account during his lifetime for what he wished done after his death. The clause to which Octavian drew particular attention was that in which Antony asked that even if he should die in Rome his body, after being carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra in Alexandria. In spite of the honourable scruples of part of * As M. Bouche-Leclercq suggests, this was probably drawn up and sent to Rome in 36, when Antony was about to start on his campaign in Parthia. 228 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM the Senate against the seizure and reading of the will, the act was a good stroke of policy on the part of Octavian. And Antony's enemies fol- lowed it up by spreading abroad many scandalous stories concerning his devotion to Cleopatra. He had presented to her, they said, the great library of Pergamum, with its two hundred thousand volumes. (Was this to compensate for whatever damage had been done to the Alexandrian Library in 48 ?) He was in the habit of receiving her love-letters, on tablets of onyx or crystal, and reading them while sitting on the tribunal trying cases. On one occasion, while Furnius, ex-tribune of the people, was pleading in court before him, he had noticed Cleopatra's litter crossing the Forum, whereon he jumped up, left the court, and accompanied her home. At banquets he would get up from the table and give a secret signal to Cleopatra to follow him ; and so on. Tales about Cleopatra's behaviour were added to increase the effect. Her favourite oath was alleged to be, " As surely as one day I shall administer justice on the Capitol," and she was represented as having made use of drugs to overthrow Antony's wits and make him her slave. No need was seen of justice to " the harlot queen of incestuous Canopus, who aspired to set up against our Jupiter the barking Anubis, and to drown the Roman trumpet with her rattling sistrum," 229 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT as the poet Propertius wrote in a fiercely patriotic mood. It is a remarkable thing that, in spite of Antony having so long left Octavian master of Rome, in spite of the departure of his friends among the aristocracy, and in spite of the steady campaign of slander against him and Cleopatra, there still continued to be, even in the second half of the year 32, a very considerable body of opinion in his favour at Rome. He had apparently given every opportunity to his rival, yet Octavian did not feel himself in a position to take up arms against him as against a public enemy. Octavian was no doubt throughout life inclined to act upon that version of " More haste, less speed," which he made his motto.* But it was not mere dilatoriness which prevented him from acting. Lack of money, which did not trouble Antony (thanks largely to the wealth of Cleo- patra), forced Octavian to wring taxes out of Italy in a way which excited violent discontent, and inclined the waverers to look to Antony as a deliverer from tyranny. He might be the slave of a " harlot queen," and all else evil that Oc- tavian' s friends called him, but at least he did not appear to the Italians in the light of a rapacious tax-collector. The days of his financial mis- * Sat celeriter fieri quidquid fiat satis bene, according to Suetonius (" Whatever is well enough done is done quickly enough "). 230 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM doings in Rome as Master of the Horse to Julius Caesar were by now forgotten, while his fame as a great soldier did not fade so rapidly from the memory. Public opinion in Rome and throughout Italy not being ripe yet for a declaration against Antony, Octavian had no choice but to wait until he should have matured it with the aid of his agents and their stories of the fate threatening the Empire if Cleopatra's lover should ever reach the capital. The heads of the Antonian party still left in Rome, realising that in the end Octavian's policy would succeed, sent an urgent message to Greece, calling on their chief not to delay until he should be proclaimed a public enemy. They chose to convey the message a man called Geminius, who -had at least one qualification for his task, that he was not afraid to speak plainly. On his arrival at Antony's headquarters he was regarded with great suspicion by Cleopatra, who feared he might come from Octavia with an offer of fresh intervention between her former husband and her brother. He was subjected to insult and assigned a lowly place at the banquets given by Antony and Cleopatra to their friends. At last he was directly challenged at table to say why he had come to Greece. Geminius replied that he would give the reason when he was sober ; but that he knew one thing, drunk or sober, and that was that all would be 231 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT well if Cleopatra would take her departure to Egypt. " You have done well, Geminius," sneered Cleopatra, " to confess the truth without waiting for torture." After this Geminius judged it wise to return to Rome ; not so much that he feared Cleopatra's threats as because he saw that it was useless to attempt to separate Antony from her. Plutarch, who tells the story of the mission of Geminius, says that " the satellites of Cleopatra drove away also many others of Antony's friends, who could not put up with their excesses in drink and their coarse behaviour." Among those who left Plutarch mentions Marcus Silanus, a former lieutenant of Julius Caesar in Gaul, and Dellius ; but he is in error in making Dellius desert at this point. Undoubtedly Cleopatra's attitude toward his friends from Rome was a most unfortunate factor in Antony's situation ; for the longer he delayed coming to close quarters with Octavian, the more disillusioned became the members of the Roman nobility who had tried to constitute him champion of the Republic, and the more numerous grew those who repented of having attached themselves to one who had suffered himself to forget so much of Roman ways since he had last been seen in his native land. Professor Ferrero defends Antony's inactivity on the ground that, as his troops were devoted to him and beyond the power of Octavian's ill-furnished purse to corrupt. 232 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM it was good policy to make Octavian come to fight him away from his own base in Italy. Still there is obvious force in the ancient opinion mentioned by Plutarch, that his delay in be- ginning the war was Antony's greatest error. When once he had completed his preparations, he was in the position to force the hand of an unready opponent . Every month found Octavian better equipped, and the disgust of Antony's Roman adherents increased. Yet Antony's power of initiative seemed para- lysed. He clearly felt that his influence over the Roman section of his followers was in danger, or he would not have made the proclamation to his troops, promising that within two months* after his victory over Octavian he would lay down his extraordinary authority and restore to the Senate and People of Rome all their old prero- gatives. He also employed agents to spread money and promises on his behalf up and down Italy. But he seemed incapable of making any decisive move. In the autumn of 32, indeed, more than a year since his setting out from Alexandria, he sailed along the Greek coast as far as Corcyra, and looked as if contemplating a crossing of the Adriatic. But on the appearance of some hostile cruisers in the neighbouring * Dion Cassius (L. 7) says that his friends with difficulty persuaded him to make the period six months instead of two. 233 8* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT waters he abandoned the idea (if he really enter- tained it), and leaving a naval outpost at Corcyra and the bulk of his fleet off the north-west coast of Greece, himself went into winter quarters with Cleopatra in the Peloponnesian town of Patrae, the modern Patras. The enemy's ships, which Antony is said to have taken for the vanguard of Octavian's fleet, were in reality a squadron under Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who had been a fellow-student of Oc- tavian at Apollonia at the time of Julius Caesar's death, and had since become his brain and right hand combined as far as affairs of war were con- cerned. Although there had as yet been no formal declaration, a state of war virtually existed from the middle of the summer of 32. After months of preparation of the ground, Octavian and his advisers decided, probably in July, to bring the whole of Italy to take the solemn oath known as the conjuratio, which was considered justifiable only by imminent danger to the fatherland. In the record of his deeds drawn up by the Em- peror Augustus, of which the sole surviving example, discovered in 1701 at Angora in Asia Minor, is known as the monument of Ancyra, Augustus boasts that " The whole of Italy of its own accord took the oath to me and called upon me to lead it in the war in which I was victorious at Actium." One is reminded of the phrase " as lying as an epitaph," for it was by no 234 THE PRELUDE TO ACTIUM means without opposition that the oath was extorted from some of the Italian towns, and Bononia refused altogether to take it. However, Octavian was sufficiently encouraged by the manner in which Italy submitted to the conjuratio to consider that he had a warrant from his countrymen to make war. He only awaited the opening of the New Year, with the change of consuls, to proceed to a formal declaration. In the meantime Agrippa put off from the Italian coast and began to reconnoitre in the direction of Greece. As soon as January arrived, while Antony and Cleopatra still remained at Patrae, Octavian took the last step necessary before invading Greece. On the first of the month Antony was stripped by Senate and People of the extraordinary authority which had been his since the formation of the Triumvirate in 43 " the authority which he had surrendered to Cleopatra," says Plutarch and was further pronounced unworthy to be consul for the coming year, as had been arranged between him and Octavian at Tarentum. Those Romans who were with him were invited to leave him before the fighting began, and in order to show that this was not a civil war, Octavian went through the ceremonies only observed before attacking a foreign enemy. In the robes of a Fetial priest, he stood in front of the temple of Bellona in the Campus Martius and threw 235 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT the javelin. It was against Cleopatra that war was declared. Plutarch adds the information that Octavian declared that Antony was out of his senses owing to the philtres administered to him by Cleopatra, and that " those against whom the Romans had to fight were Mardion the eunuch and Potheinos* and Iras, Cleopatra's tirewoman, and Charmion, the directors of all affairs of importance." If this speech, put into his mouth, represents any actual words of his, Octavian appears to have been eager to impress on his followers that it was a very contemptible foe against whom they were starting out to fight, and scarcely to have troubled about consistency ; for it was the army directed by this pack of women and eunuchs which, according to the former stories spread by his friends, menaced the very Capitol of Rome. * Can the name Potheinos refer to Cleopatra's old enemy at Alexandria ? He appears to have made so great an impression on the Romans as to be endowed by them with an immortality of infamy. But there may have been a later Potheinos of whom we do not hear elsewhere. 236 CHAPTER XIV EAST AGAINST WEST THE beginning of that momentous year in Euro- pean history, 31 B.C., found Antony and Cleopatra still in their Peloponnesian winter quarters, with their army cantonned along the western coast of Greece from the Corinthian Gulf to the promontory of Actium, on the southern side of the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf, now known as the Gulf of Arta. A naval outpost was stationed at Corcyra, but the bulk of the fleet wintered in the Ambracian Gulf, whose great size and narrow mouth made it a safe shelter from storms for the largest navies. The Antonian forces were provisioned from Asia Minor and Egypt, and in order to secure his communications, Antony left no fewer than eleven of his legions detached from his main army. Of these four were in Egypt, four in Cyrenaica (where it was necessary to guard against an attack from Roman Africa), and three in Syria. With so large an army as he had under his command Antony was able to leave all these legions behind him, and still met his rival on terms of numerical 237 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT superiority. The idea of using any part of his immense strength for the purpose of creating a diversion seems never to have occurred to him. Octavian's forces were the first to move when the advent of spring permitted naval and military activity. Octavian established himself at Brun- disium with his army, while his fleet lay between there and Tarentum, and his faithful Agrippa led a squadron into the Ionian Sea and began cutting off. the supplies on their way to Greece from, Egypt. Agrippa also made as though to descend upon the Peloponnesus, which may account for Antony's delay in leaving Patrae for the North. Before coming to close quarters the two chiefs resumed their acrimonious correspondence of the year before. Octavian wrote from Brun- disium, begging Antony not to waste time but to come with all his forces, when he would provide Antony's ships with safe harbours and retreat with his army one day's ride from the sea until Antony had landed. " Antony answered this boastful language in like strain, challenging Caesar [Octavian] to single combat, although he was older than Caesar ; and if he declined this he proposed that they should decide the matter with their armies at Pharsalia, as [Julius] Caesar and Pompey had done before."* Octavian so far accepted the second part of Antony's invita- * Plutarch, " Antony," 62. 238 EAST AGAINST WEST tion that he set sail from Brundisium and, taking Corcyra on his way, reached the coast of Epirus and proceeded to disembark his army at the town of Toryne in Epirus. With him he brought not only his troops and fleet, but also the whole of the Senate except those with Antony. The presence of these seven or eight hundred aristocrats from Rome was a demonstration that it was his party which represented the Republic ; and was also (as M. Bouch6-Leclercq remarks) a sure way of guaranteeing the fidelity of Italy. The sudden vigorous action of Octavian seems to have taken Antony by surprise, and the latter's friends were in consternation at the unhindered landing of the enemy in Epirus. Cleopatra en- deavoured to raise their spirits by a jest, which Plutarch records and which we must suppose a genuine utterance, since it is certainly not brilliant enough to have been worth inventing afterwards. " What does it matter if Caesar is sitting on a ladle ? " she asked, Toryne meaning a ladle. It is unfortunate that we have not some better and less obscure example than this preserved of the verbal wit for which Cleopatra was famed. Antony, however, took the invasion of Greece more seriously than his consort. He left Patrae hurriedly, and, sending orders to all his forces in Greece to proceed to Actium, made his own way thither. In March he had established his headquarters on the promontory south of the 239 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Ambracian Gulf, while Octavian, leaving the " ladle," had come down as far as the northern shore of the same gulf. Plutarch in his summary of the forces fighting on both sides in the campaign of Actium attributes to Antony five hundred warships, including many with no less than eight or ten banks of oars, one hundred thousand infantry, and twelve thousand cavalry. The allied kings under his banner were Bogud of Mauretania, Tarkondimotos of Upper Cilicia, Archelaos of Cappadocia, Philadelphos of Paphlagonia, Deiotarus (son of Cicero's client) and Amyntas of Galatia, Mithridates of Com- magene, and Sadalas of Thrace. Contingents were also furnished by the kings of Armenia and Pontus, by the Arab chief Malchus, and by Herod the Great. Herod would have been present in person, had it not been that he was engaged, by Antony's orders, in chastising the Nabathaean Arabs for failing to pay their tribute to Cleopatra. As Renan, following Josephus, points out, Cleo- patra unwittingly did a great service to her old enemy Herod, for his absence from Actium made it easier for him to gain Octavian's pardon afterwards, and to secure his position on the throne of Judaea. Octavian's forces are given by Plutarch as two hundred and fifty warships, eighty thousand infantry, and twelve thousand cavalry. They were thus inferior, both on sea and on land, to 240 EAST AGAINST WEST the Antonians. Antony's naval superiority, how- ever, as we shall see, was more apparent than reaL As regards his army, his numerical advantage and the wide experience of his legionaries were counter- balanced to a great extent by the presence of so large a body of allies, far inferior to Roman and Roman-trained troops. But what reduced the disparity in numbers, such as it was, to insignifi- cance was the difference in leadership between forces. Octavian, poor and dilatory warrior as he always was either by land or by sea, had Agrippa's fine brain to supply his deficiencies in the art of war. Antony, now reduced to a mere shadow of the great general that he had once been, had no doubt many able officers under him, but the only adviser to whom he would listen was Cleopatra, whose interests in the campaign were not the same as his own ; at least they were not the interests of Antony the Roman. In spite of the accusations of the Augustan writers, it is not at all probable that Cleopatra was desirous of " administering justice on the Capitol." She wished above all to preserve the Egyptian Empire which had been handed down to her, the last of the Lagidae. She was not likely to gain her end by surrendering Antony to the Roman nobles who had fled to him at Ephesus. If Antony was to conquer, he must conquer as her consort, and not in such a way as immediately after victory to be forced to leave her and devote 241 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT himself to the governance of Rome.* She there- fore kept away from him as much as possible all such Romans as she had not secured to herself all those, in fact, who were likely to advise him for his real advantage. Unable herself to become the brain of his army, she reduced it to the state of a patient in one of those cases which occasionally come under the observation of medical men, when owing to an injury to the head the brain has ceased to work properly, and its place has been usurped by lower nerve-centres, leading to a multiplication of personalities in the same body. It was in March that the armies of Octavian and Antony first confronted .one another across the Ambracian Gulf, while Antony's fleet held the Gulf and Agrippa cruised outside. For over five months the general position remained roughly the same, but there were frequent changes of attitude on the part of the two antagonists which are per- * Professor Ferrero sees Cleopatra beginning to find as much reason for dread oi victory as for dread of defeat, and trying to stop the war and get Antony back to Egypt to found there openly a new dynasty, leaving Italy and the European provinces to Octavian, who, if he claimed to reunite the Empire, must come to the East to fight. " Cleopatra in fact would have liked to bring about definitely that separation of the Eastern and the Western Empires which Antony had only outlined" (IV. 210-1.) As the Professor will have that Antony " was neither madly in love with Cleopatra nor bewitched by her," he finds it difficult to imagine by what artifices or sophisms Cleopatra succeeded in converting him to her plan. It is indeed difficult to do so if we consider Antony still what he was of old and if we consider him always a great statesman. 242 EAST AGAINST WEST plexing to follow in the accounts of the ancient historians. Octavian on his arrival north of the Gulf seemed anxious to " decide the matter with their armies," as Antony had challenged him to do. But Antony had not yet brought together again all his troops from their winter quarters and was unready to give battle at once. Plutarch says that " Antony was so mere an appendage to Cleopatra that, though he had a great superiority on land, he wished the decision to rest with the navy, to please Cleopatra." His navy, however, was unable to put to sea. It was indeed almost caught unprepared by Octavian when he reached the northern shore of the Ambracian Gulf. The unhealthiness of the winter in the Gulf, which Antony and Cleopatra themselves had escaped by going south to Patrae, had reduced by a third the crews of his ships, and it was necessary to resort to the press-gang among the unfortunate inhabi- tants of Greece (" which had indeed suffered much," says the Greek Plutarch) to fill up the vacancies. But even the impressment of stray travellers, muleteers, farm-hands, and boys could not make the Antonian fleet fit for battle yet, if it were strong enough to avert all danger of the enemy forcing the narrow entrance to its harbour of refuge. Agrippa was therefore left practically master of the Ionian Sea. Owing no doubt to this impotence of the fleet, the Roman nobles in Antony's camp began to 243 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT make their influence felt in spite of Cleopatra's opposition, and for a moment it appeared as if Antony were becoming a soldier again. He sent out Dellius and Amyntas the Galatian to gather reinforcements in Macedonia and Thrace, and tried to shut Octavian up in the peninsula on which he had established his camp and to force him through want of drinking-water to risk a battle against superior numbers. But a series of disasters befell the Antonians. A cavalry engagement went in favour of Octavian, whereon King Deiotarus went over to the victors. His fellow-Galatian followed his example, instead of performing the task entrusted to him by Antony, and appeared in Octavian' s camp with his two thousand auxiliary cavalry.* Worse still, the consul Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose presence with Antony was in itself a protest against Octavian' s claim to be fighting in the cause of Rome against a foreign foe, vanished from Actium and left it in no doubt that he had abandoned the Antonian party in disgust. Antony attempted to minimise the effect of this desertion by giving out that Ahenobarbus had de- parted because he found himself unable to do * It is to this incident to which Horace is supposed to allude in Epode 17, although there appears no reason why the allusion should not be to Deiotarus, whose followers were equally " Galli." Professor Ferrero places the deser- tion of Amyntas, like that of Dellius, only two days before Actium. 244 EAST AGAINST WEST without his mistress Servilia, whom he had left in Rome. He also took care to send the fugi- tive's baggage and slaves after him, behaving with magnanimity in the eyes of Plutarch, who adds : " Domitius indeed, as if he repented after the discovery of his treachery, died immediately." Ahenobarbus had been ill with fever when he quitted Actium, and we learn in Suetonius's " Nero " that he died a few days after his coming to Octavian. At sea even heavier blows were suffered by the Antonians. Hopes had been entertained that with the aid of reinforcements from the south the navy would be strong enough to put out from the Ambracian Gulf and fight that naval battle for which Cleopatra was pressing. But Agrippa went to meet the reinforcements and cut them off, fol- lowing up his success by seizing Antony's recent winter residence in the Peloponnese. He then came back and defeated near Actium the consul remaining with Antony, Sosius, who had ven- tured to come out from the Gulf with part of the fleet. Combined with his ill-success on land, these naval defeats weakened Antony's position at Actium considerably, and he was now the blockaded rather than the blockader. It looked as if he might be forced to cut his way through the enemy on land. His chief officer Canidius (who, it will be remembered, had been induced by Cleopatra to take her side at Ephesus) 245 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT " changed his mind at the sight of the danger," says Plutarch, " and advised Antony to send Cleopatra away to Egypt and retreating to Thrace or Macedonia to decide matters by a battle there." Promises of aid were held out by the Dacians. But Antony remained passive, and seemed incapable either of independent thought or of adopting the plans of others. He appeared as if possessed by panic. Unstrung by the desertions, he agreed to the torture and execution of lamblichus of Emesa, one of his Syrian allies, and suffered a Roman Senator, Quintus Postu- mius to be torn to pieces. He could not even trust Cleopatra. Pliny preserves the story of his fear at this period lest she should be plotting to do away with him and of the lesson which Cleopatra taught him. At a banquet (for there was of course no cessation of banquets at Actium) she took from her head a wreath of flowers and dipped it into a cup of wine, which she handed to Antony. He raised the cup to his lips and was about to drink, when she told him that the wreath was poisoned. He might see therefore how easy it would have been for her to remove him " if she could have done without him." Cleopatra's wit, however, does not appear to have been able to kill his suspicions, if those suspicions on their part did not kill his love. Antony really ran a risk, but of a very different kind. Plutarch tells how he used to pass along 246 EAST AGAINST WEST the lines leading from his camp to the naval station, with no apprehension of danger. Octavian was informed of this and of the chance of seizing him as he passed. Some men were sent to lie in wait for him, but they sprang out of then* ambush too soon and only captured a man walking in front of him, while Antony himself escaped by running for his life. This story seems to indicate that the blockade of Antony's camp had become very close. The months which had elapsed since first the two armies had faced one another across the waters of the Gulf had all gone in favour of Octavian, and it is probable that by August Antony began to find his supplies running short. Some means of escape from an untenable position must be discovered. Plutarch only sees the hand of Cleopatra in the decision as to means. " The advice of Cleopatra prevailed," he says, " that the war should be settled by a naval battle, although she was already contemplating flight and making arrangements not with a view to victory but to secure the best retreat when all should be lost." Leaving aside for the moment the question of Cleopatra's treachery to Antony, we may ask whether at this stage it was any longer possible to carry out Canidius's proposal for a break into Macedonia or Thrace. The scanty details which we have seem to show that this was impossible or at least very hazardous.. 247 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT It would have involved, moreover, leaving the navy bottled up in the Ambracian Gulf. Cleo- patra might with good reason object to the sacrifice of her portion of the fleet, and it is hard to believe that Antony would have been justified in abandoning all his ships even if he felt confident of success on land. The anxiety of his army that the decision should be left to them is intelligible, but certainly fails to prove that Antony would have done well to listen only to his troops. The battle of Actium presents a problem which has puzzled historians from the First Century A.D. to the present day. All are agreed that Antony and Cleopatra were jointly responsible for the plan upon which the battle was fought, although there is no such unanimity as to what that plan was. Of the two most trustworthy ancient writers, Plutarch does not commit himself to any statement that Antony intended to desert Actium for Egypt, but he notes the suspicious circumstance that he ordered his ships to go out to battle with their sails on board. Cleo- patra's flight he attributes to selfish fear for her life, and Antony's pursuit of her to a lover's infatuation. Dion Cassius makes the two agree upon escaping to Egypt, if possible, only putting up so much of a fight as was necessary to cover the retreat. Then, with apparent inconsistency, in his account of the battle he speaks of Cleo- patra's sudden panic, which communicated itself 248 EAST AGAINST WEST to Antony and led to the flight of both. Of modern writers, M. Bouch6-Leclercq gives the clearest exposition of events. Inclining to Dion's first view, he says : " The plan of embarking his best troops on the fleet, forcing the blockade, and going to seek elsewhere, perhaps in Egypt, a more favourable situation and new chances of success, was a plan which the circumstances of the case as much as Cleopatra must have suggested to Antony." " Still," he adds, " if there was a plan of escape agreed upon between Antony and Cleopatra as is only probable it must be admitted that it was carried out in extraordinary fashion, and that both of them had sudden inspirations, unforeseen in their scheme."* To this point we must return later. It was almost the end oi August before Antony decided to attempt to release himself from his position at Actium. On the 2Qth he gave orders to prepare for a sea-fight. As a preliminary he burnt all such ships as he could not man or did not consider seaworthy, including all but sixty of the Egyptian squadron. He kept three hundred,f * " Histoire des Lagides," II. pp. 307 ff. t Plutarch at least says that at Actium " there were taken three hundred ships, as Caesar records " (" Antony," 68). Orosius states that Antony kept only one hundred and seventy big ships. There is a similar uncertainty as to the number of Octavian's ships at Actium. Plutarch quotes no figure, but suggests (" Antony," 66) that they were more numerous than Antony's. Florus gives Octavian four hundred, smaller in size than Antony's, and Orosius twa hundred and sixty. 249 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT and on the largest and best of them he commanded twenty thousand heavy-armed infantry and two thousand bowmen to embark. The order was re- ceived with great sorrow by his soldiers. An old centurion, bearing the scars of many wounds, said to him, with tears in his eyes : " General, why do you distrust these wounds and this sword and rest your hopes upon miserable timbers ? Let the Egyptians and Phoenicians fight by sea, but let us have the land, on which we are accustomed to die standing or conquer the enemy ! " Not being acquainted with Antony's scheme, his veterans could not comprehend his despoiling of their ranks as though the army were but an adjunct to the fleet. He merely answered them with an encouraging smile and a wave of the hand, while he met his captains' astonishment at the command to put their sails on board by saying that he did not wish a single one of the enemy to escape. Even more likely to betray the scheme than this shipping of the sails would have been the fact that Cleopatra had all her personal treasure put on board her own vessels. But this was done by night, secretly, according to Dion. And as if to discourage the idea that the struggle on land was to be discontinued, an assault was delivered on Octavian's camp on August 3oth. It was not pressed home, however ; for all that Antony was doing was waiting for a subsidence of the sea and 250 EAST AGAINST WEST wind, which prevented naval movements over the end of the month. At last on September 2nd a calm sea and absence of wind permitted the Antonian warships to make their way through the neck of the Ambracian Gulf, little more than half a mile wide, in the direction of the open sea. Antony himself was rowed round the fleet in a small boat, visiting every vessel and putting heart into his soldiers and the ships' captains. In spite of the deterioration of his mental powers, he still retained his followers' trust and affection, as was shown by the gallant fight which they were to make that day and by their unwillingness to believe that he had deserted them. Octavian was prepared for his opponent's sortie from the Gulf, though it is uncertain whether or not he was given a clue to the real object of it by the last batch of deserters who came to him from the Antonian camp. Among these was Dellius, performing the last change of face in his versatile career. Dellius is said, perhaps, on the authority of his own history of the war, to have been warned that Cleopatra had designs against his life. It was hardly necessary for him to find excuses for an action so consistent with his whole record. He was welcomed by Octavian, to whom he may possibly have been in a position to impart some information about Antony's preparations. It is extremely unlikely, however, that he knew positively of any 251 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT design to retreat to Egypt under cover of a sea- fight.* The course of the battle of Actium up to the incident which made it so famous in history need only be described very briefly here. Octavian's fleet waited in the open sea for Antony to emerge from the neck of the Gulf, Octavian himself com- manding the right wing and Agrippa the left. Antony was on the right of his fleet, Sosius on the left, and Cleopatra with her sixty Egyptian ships in the rear. The Antonians were slow in leaving the straits, but at the sixth hour, as a sea wind was getting up, the left wing became impatient and began to move forward. Octavian drew back his ships to lead the enemy on, and gradually the fight grew general. Owing to the great size of Antony's vessels and the smallness and speed of Octavian's the battle somewhat resembled that between the English Admirals and the Spanish Armada in 1588. It was still more like the battle of Prevesa in September 1538, when near the same Gulf of Arta the corsair Barbarossa with his light cruisers defeated Andrea Doria and the great warships * Professor Ferrero thinks that Dellius deserted on August 3 ist, and that he divined that the fight would only be a feint and that his Roman supporters would be abandoned by Antony. But the actual plan, though doubtless long dis- cussed between Antony and Cleopatra, was strictly con- cealed, especially from the Roman party. M. Bouche- Leclercq says that the scheme had only been improvised on the eve of the battle, but that Dellius was sufficiently intimate with his chiefs to be able to foresee it before he left them. 252 EAST AGAINST WEST of the Venetians and their allies. Octavian and Agrippa avoided the charges of the heavy galleons and endeavoured by use of their superior pace and agility to concentrate the attention of three or four of their ships against one of the enemy. But Antony's hulls had been specially protected by balks of timber fastened together with iron, and towers on the decks enabled the defenders to discharge their missiles on the heads o f the boarding-parties. So matters went on, victory inclining to neither side, until Cleopatra's disastrous intervention on the scene. The afternoon was wearing on and the breeze from the west-north-west, Vergil's lapyx, was springing up, according to its daily wont in the Ionian Sea, when a stir was observed behind the main portion of Antony's fleet. To quote from Plutarch's graphic story of the battle, " all at once Cleopatra's sixty ships were seen to be raising their sails for the purpose of escape and flying through the midst of the combatants ; for they were stationed behind the big ships and by making their way through them they caused confusion. The enemy watched them wonderingly as they took advantage of the wind and shaped their course toward the Peloponnese." Antony now clearly showed the truth of the saying that the lover's soul dwells in another's body, continues Plutarch, for no sooner did he see her ship sailing off than, forgetting everything and 253 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT abandoning those who were fighting and dying for him, he sprang into a five banked galley and started in pursuit. Cleopatra, recognizing him, signalled to him to come alongside her flagship and took him on board. Plutarch adds nothing to what he said in a previous chapter about Cleopatra's motive in flying so suddenly. Dion Cassius represents that, unable to support the strain of the indecisive struggle and devoured by impatience and anxiety, she took to flight and gave the signal to her subjects to do the same ; whereupon Antony,* persuaded that it was not Cleopatra's order but fear which had compelled them, started off after them. Both writers agree in making Cleopatra fly without giving warning to Antony and in representing him as following her as soon as he saw her leave. So, before the battle had. been won or lost several hours indeed before fighting ceased the fate of the war was determined. The second part of the problem of Actium remains to be considered. All the circumstances point to Dion Cassius being correct in attributing to Antony and Cleopatra a set plan of cutting their way through the blockade and making for Egypt, especially the two facts mentioned by Plutarch (who speaks of no such plan and is therefore making out no case), namely, the putting on board of the sails and the embarkation of Cleo- 254 EAST AGAINST WEST patra's treasure. So, too, does trie complete inactivity of Canidius's army during the sea- fight, for if the attempt to run the blockade should fail it was necessary to have the land position on the Ambracian Gulf intact. If then we may take for granted a set plan before the battle, to what must be attributed its mis- carriage ? Did Cleopatra yield to a sudden panic and start prematurely, taking along with her the Egyptian contingent and leaving the rest of the fleet to their fate ? It would be easy to adopt Plutarch's theory of an entirely selfish motive for Cleopatra's action, in which case her flight could scarcely be called premature ; for she would then be deliberately betraying Antony. But, as we shall see when we come to the general question of Cleopatra's attitude toward Antony,* the evidence for her treachery to him is small. Her flight from Actium, moreover, was sufficiently slow to enable him to overtake her flagship before it had got out of touch with the enemy, and she recognized him and signalled to him to come on board. Dion's suggestion of a nervous breakdown on the part of Cleopatra is more convincing and is not really contradictory of his previous state- ment about the scheme of escape with the fleet. Cleopatra, although she had been in battle before, had never been in a sea-fight and * See below, p. 320. 255 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT may well have become alarmed, strong-minded as she was in the face of most dangers, at the terrific contest going on before her eyes. She is represented as having been upset by the evil omens which had appeared (as usual in Roman and other histories alike) to presage the result of the war. Among those which the careful Plutarch records are the destruction by lightning of the Herakleion at Patrae while Antony was wintering there with Cleopatra, and the blowing down of the figure of Dionysos in the group of the " Battle with the Giants " at Athens Antony both claiming descent from Herakles and liking to identify himself with Dionysos. But, worse still, some swallows which had made their nest under the stern of Cleopatra's flagship, called the Antonias in honour of her lover, had been evicted by other swallows and their nestlings destroyed ! That such trivialities should pro- duce any effect on the ancient mind* might cause wonder if it were not so easy to find modern parallels. It is not unreasonable to suppose that Cleopatra sailed out to battle depressed by superstitious fear and that the first hours of the fight completed the destruction of her courage. She knew that * The ancients could occasionally disregard them, as in the case of the Roman admiral who, told by his soothsayer that the " sacred chickens " would not eat their grain, an extremely bad omen, said that if they would not eat they should drink and threw them into the sea. 256 EAST AGAINST WEST she was the enemy against whom Rome had declared war, and that her capture meant an ignominious fate for her and her children, especially her boy Caesarion. For him at least the end of the nestlings on the Antonias must be a sure omen, when Octavian came to deal with him. If she could escape alive to Egypt, there was always hope of a recovery. Her position had been worse in 48 when she fled from Ptolemy XIV and Potheinos, and at least as bad in 43 when Egypt was threatened by Cassius. When the lapygian wind sprang up, with its promise of a quick journey southward, she could not resist the temptation to take advantage of it at once. It was upon this wind that the escape of the fleet, planned by Antony with her, depended. Anticipating therefore the proper moment for the manoeuvre (which should pre- sumably have been chosen by Antony), she hoisted at her masthead the sign for the Egyptain ships to turn south and made off down the breeze. Knowing Antony as she did, she must have expected him to follow, and indeed was apparently in no way surprised that he did so immediately.* Antony's pitiably weak state of "{Professor Ferrero, it should be noted, considers that the sudden joint flight was probably part of the original plan, and that Cleopatra had persuaded Antony at the last moment to agree to escape as soon as the afternoon wind should begin to blow. " She was to give the signal by advancing her little fleet, even if the battle was still lasting ; Antony was to change from his ship to a five-banked vessel waiting in 257 9 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT mind stood clearly revealed. He crowned many months of incapacity with an act of gross cowardice. The general who should himself have punished deserters, Velleius Paterculus remarks, was himself the deserter from his own army. And this was the man who had shown himself so brilliant in attack at Pharsalia and Philippi, so great in retreat at Mutina and amid the snows of Armenia. Surely no more terrible example of the ruin of a mind has ever been shown by any soldier in the history of the world. readiness and follow her ; Canidius, who knew their intention and who had command of the remaining troops to lead to Asia, was to give the signal to the fleet left behind to follow them." This view hardly improves the case for the defence of Antony, it may be remarked. 258 CHAPTER XV THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " TAKEN upon Cleopatra's ship, Antony made no attempt to see her. Making his way to the prow, he sat down in silence, holding his head in both his hands. Neither Cleopatra nor any one else on board ventured to break in upon his misery. Only the enemy distracted his attention for a while. Some of the swift cruisers on the model known as " Liburnian," which did such good service for Octavian at Actium, were in pursuit of the flying Egyptian squadron and came so close that Antony was constrained to take notice of them. He ordered the Antonias to turn round and confront the foremost Liburnians, fearing no doubt that with their rams they might crash into his stern. All were beaten off except one, which still continued the pursuit. Antony standing at the prow called out to ask who it was that was chasing him. " Eurykles, son of Lachares, come to avenge my father's death," was the reply. Lachares, it appears, had been executed by Antony for robbery. His son, how- ever, failed to avenge him, for (according to Plutarch's explanation) there were in the Egyp- tian fleet two admiral-ships with brazen beaks, 259 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT and he charged into the wrong one. This he captured, and also another vessel carrying the royal table-service, while the Antonias got safely away. When the danger was past, Antony returned to his former attitude near the prow, and there remained three whole days without moving. At the end of the three days the ship reached the most southerly point of the Pelopon- nesus, and put in at Cape Taenarum, where a halt was made in order to allow other fugitives from Actium to join the leaders. Here at Taenarum Antony and Cleopatra ex- changed their first words since they had sailed out through the neck of the Ambracian Gulf to battle. Plutarch says that the women who were in attendance on Cleopatra such as Iras and Charmion " first brought them to speak to one another and then to sup and sleep together." Antony had hitherto remained on the spot to which he had gone as soon as he set foot on the Antonias, plunged in stupor. Cleopatra we must suppose to have remained out of sight, perhaps too prostrated after her breakdown on September and to attempt to approach her lover. It is clear from Antony's subsequent conduct, after reaching the African coast and during his first weeks in Alexandria, that his renewal of relations with Cleopatra at Taenarum did not lift him out of the melancholy into which he had fallen from the moment when he allowed himself to betray his 260 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " own cause and abandon for ever his career as a citizen of Rome. But for one or two brief flickers before the final darkness, his light had burnt out. The news which followed him to Taenarum was not calculated to arouse him from his despon- dency. He learnt how the sea-fight had ended. Those who manned the fleet for the most part had not perceived his flight or had refused to believe that he had done more than go after the Egyptian squadron to bring it into action again. The battle had continued without intermission until the tenth hour, and then the Antonians, if roughly handled, were still undefeated and had lost no more than five thousand men in the four hours of fighting. But the sea was running heavily against them and toward nightfall they drew off and retired within the entrance to the Gulf. Next morning a message was received from Octavian inviting both fleet and army to sur- render. With this suggestion the fleet seems to have complied, since Antony was able to hear of its loss at Taenarum. If Antony had left orders behind for it to follow him to Egypt, either the orders were not transmitted or else the realisation of his cowardice left his seamen unwilling to risk anything more on his behalf. Some few of the ships must have been able to escape to Taenarum, but the fleet as a whole yielded itself up to Octavian. The land forces, still intact under the command of Canidius, to the number of 261 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT nineteen legions of infantry and twelve thousand cavalry, rejected the enemy's offer and continued to expect their general back again. " So much fidelity and courage did they show," says Plutarch, " that even when his flight was well known they kept together seven days and paid no regard to Caesar's messages to them."* Learning that the troops still stood firm, Antony sent an order overland to Canidius to bring them back through Macedonia to Asia Minor, and then continued his voyage with Cleopatra in the direction of Egypt. The fugitives reached a point on the African coast near Parae- tonium, the western " horn " of Egypt, corre- sponding to Pelusium on the eastern frontier. From here he sent Cleopatra to Alexandria, so that she might arrive before the news of Actium, while he remained behind. Plutarch represents him " taking his fill of solitude, wandering about with two friends, one a Greek rhetorician, Aristo- krates, and the other a Roman, Lucilius " a man whom he had spared after the battle of Philippi because he had shown himself so loyal a friend to Brutus. It is impossible that Antony's visit to Paraetonium was unconnected with the fact that, * It is difficult to comprehend how Professor Ferrero can write that Antony " abandoned the command in the midst of the battle, because his armies revolted and deserted him when they understood what he had not dared to declare to them openly," i.e. his intention of founding a purely Eastern Empire. (Article in Putnam's Magazine.} 262 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " during the campaign of Actium, he had left four legions in Cyrenaica, whom he might now expect to be able to take to Alexandria. But here the news came that their commander, Pinarius, had gone over with them to Octavian's adherent Cornelius Gallus (the friend to whom Vergil addresses his tenth Eclogue), who had proceeded straight to Roman Africa from Actium and had communicated the result of the battle to Pinarius. On hearing of this new result of his own misdeeds, Antony made an attempt at suicide. His friends, however, stayed his hand and induced him to rejoin Cleopatra in Alexandria. The queen, knowing that she would be the first refugee from Actium to reach her capital, took vigorous steps to secure the city before anything should be discovered. While Antony was in- dulging in vain melancholy two hundred miles away, she put on a brave face. Decorating her ships gaily, she sailed into the harbour with music playing and every indication of a triumph after victory. Having once established herself in the Palace and got control of the garrison, she was mistress of the situation. When authentic infor- mation of the disaster penetrated to Alexandria, it was too late for revolt, and all seditious mur- murers were promptly punished with death a fate which, according to Dion, also befell many of the foremost citizens " both because they were always discontented with her and because they 263 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT were now elated at her misfortune." If there was any panic now, it was not in the heart of Cleopatra. Back in her realm of Egypt, she recovered the courage of the Lagid women which seemed to have momentarily deserted her on September 2nd. Her mind was full of schemes, and she had no scruples about the means of carrying them out. The unhappy captive king, Artavasdes of Armenia, who had been six years a captive in Alexandria since the day when he had walked in golden chains down the Canopic Way to the temple of Serapis, was put to death, and his head was sent to his Median namesake. Was this because she contemplated the possibility of proceeding to Asia Minor with Antony and effecting a junction with Canidius, and therefore wished to conciliate the Artavasdes the Mede ? Another plan which she certainly entertained " the great and hazardous undertaking " which, according to Plutarch, Antony found her con- templating when he arrived from Paraetonium was to transport all the Egyptian warships from the Mediterranean across the Isthmus of Suez into the Red Sea, and to sail in them with her treasure and troops out of reach of war and slavery. The isthmus was then about thirty-five miles wide in its narrowest part, and the transport had actually begun when Antony came back to Alexandria. Then the burning by the Naba- thaean Arabs of the first ships, and Antony's 264 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " belief that the army of Canidius still held out and would make its way to Asia Minor, induced Cleopatra to give up her idea. All such schemes, however, required money, and while the punishment of some of those fore- most citizens who had been unwise enough to show their joy over her mishaps enabled her to replenish her treasury from their property, she also laid hands on the riches of the temples. So at least we are told by Dion, who says that she " did not even spare the holiest shrines." Such conduct is at variance with Cleopatra's general behaviour toward the native religion, as far as we can gather from the manner in which the priest- hood supported her during her reign. But it is of course true that her position was so desperate that she may have decided to risk even the enmity of the priests and the faithful in her collection of money for the purpose of making a last bid for escape from the power of Rome. In the midst of Cleopatra's activity at Alexan- dria, Antony rejoined her from Paraetonium with news of the defection of the legions under Pinarius. After his abortive attempt at suicide, his spirits had temporarily revived, and, pointing out that there was still the army left behind at Actium to be considered, he induced Cleopatra to give up thoughts of looking for a new kingdom beyond the Red Sea. But all hopes about the army of Actium were soon shattered. Canidius 265 9* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT himself appeared in Alexandria to announce that it existed no more. The general had been unable to carry out the order to lead his men into Macedonia with a view to crossing to Asia Minor. When it reached him, indeed, fresh desertions to Octavian had already begun among the Roman nobles still in the Antonian camp and among the allied kings. Canidius may not have felt secure against treachery if he should attempt the task which Antony himself had refused and make an effort to break through the encircling army. At any rate, he declined to try and escaped from his camp secretly. The soldiers' loyalty, which had sur- vived the departure of Antony and the sui render of the fleet, was not proof against this last abandonment. On September gth, seven days after the sea-fight, the whole great army laid down its arms and yielded to Octavian a bloodless victory on land to follow his cheaply purchased success by sea. All of Greece was at once Octavian's. Asia Minor, in which Antony had left no troops, made haste to follow suit, and the small kings of the Levant were eager not to be left behind. Didius, Antony's governor in Syria, imitated the example of Pinarius in Cyrenaica, and at last the whole Empire of the East was but a heap of ruins, with Egypt alone left standing in the midst. This succession of blows, coming with be- 266 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " wildering rapidity, dashed to pieces Antony's short regrowth of sanity. Plutarch's account of his behaviour is extraordinary, but there seems no reason for rejecting so circumstantial a narra- tive, unless we come to it with some view of his character which necessitates the rejection of the bulk of the ancient records of his life as fables. It seems that in his Greek reading Antony had been struck with the story of Timon the misan- thropist of Athens, the worthy who justified his unique friendship with Alkibiades on the ground that " he liked the young man because he knew that he would be the cause of much evil to the Athenians," and left as his own epitaph the lines : Here from the load of life released I lie ; Ask not my name, but take my curse and die ! Antony now, leaving the city and the company of his friends, had a mole built out into the waters of the Great Harbour and a dwelling erected on it, in which he lived the life of a recluse. " He expressed himself content with the existence of Timon, whose fortunes he considered his own to resemble ; for he too had been wronged by his friends and treated with ingratitude, and there- fore distrusted and hated all men." From the lips of the commander who had deserted his fleet and army at Actium the talk about ingratitude fell oddly. But Antony's sense of humour was not subtle, even in the days when he was in full possession of his faculties. 267 The length of time for which Antony kept up his pitiful comedy in his "Timonium" is not specified by Plutarch, who makes him, however, bring his solitary life to an end by letting Cleopatra take him to the Palace for festivities in connection with the registration of Caesarion's coming of age and the assumption of the legal dress of Roman manhood by Antyllus, who had remained with his father since meeting him at Athens in 32. Caesarion having been born in June 47, it is difficult to see what occasion was chosen for proclaiming his majority ; but Dion, as well as Plutarch, makes such a proclamation take place, stating that Antony intended it to encourage the Egyptians, " seeing that the}^ now had a man as king." The double celebration must have been arranged for some date in the winter of 31-30 and marked the renewal of the revels in Alexandria ten years, and again three years, before. Tasting once more the pleasures of the joyous life, Antony abandoned misanthropy and surrendered himself to extravagance of the other extreme. The Inimitable Life was revived, but with a new note in its gaiety. " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die " was the club's motto more emphatically than ever, and to mark their spirits the members no longer called them- selves the Amimetobioi but the Synapothanou- menoi, the " Die-togethers."* All the old * M. Bouche-Leclercq points out that the name is taken from the play which Plautus translated in his" Commorientes." 268 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " exquisite luxury and shameless prodigality were there, but grown more reckless from the knowledge that the end was at hand. For, if we may trust Plutarch, no hope of escape was entertained at Alexandria. Not only did the friends of Antony " enrol themselves as intending to die together," but also " Cleopatra collected all kinds of deadly poisons and experimented concerning their degrees of painlessness by administering them to pris- oners lying under sentence of death. When she found that the quick-acting poisons brought about a speedy but painful death, while the less painful were not rapid in action, she made trial of animals, which were daily set on one another in her presence. And she found that the bite of the asp alone brought on drowsy numbness, with no spasms or groans, but with a gentle perspiration over the face and a dulling of the senses, which quietly ceased to act and resisted all attempts to stimulate them, as if the victim were in deep slumber." This story of Cleopatra experimenting with poisons and her discovery of the " asp "* has become very famous. Those who reject the account of her death by the bite of this reptile would probably refuse belief also to the experi- ments. But, as we shall see, the reasons for denying the story of Cleopatra's suicide which all * See p. 300 n. CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT ancient writers accepted are slight ; and if she was acquainted with the qualities of the venom of this particular reptile, whichever it was, she must have observed them in action beforehand. Whatever be the amount of exaggeration in the legend of Cleopatra's experiments with poisons, there does not seem any ground for doubting that she felt the necessity of preparing for the worst. If she had ever hoped that Octavian would lack strength or courage to come east to attack herself and Antony, the course of events since the battle of Actium had undeceived her. Octavian had not indeed followed his great-uncle's example and made straight for Alexandria after his victory in Greece. He had a very good reason for not doing so, apart from the lesson which Julius Caesar's Alexandrian experience had taught ; for he was still as hampered by the want of funds as he had been throughout his struggle against Antony. Cleopatra had taken the precaution of carrying her treasure-chests away with her when she fled. Antony had stripped Greece and Asia Minor of all the money which he could wring out of them. And Octavian had, in addition to his own troops, the whole army of Canidius looking for pay at his hands. He could therefore neither forgo (even if he had wished) the conquest of Egypt nor yet embark upon the task at once. Forced to temporise once more, he sent back to Italy such of his own veterans as had completed their term 270 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS ' of service, putting them under the charge of Agrippa and Maecenas and giving them promises instead of money. Before the end of the year, after arranging the affairs of Greece to his satisfac- tion and receiving from the Athenians and others the statues and honours which only a few months before they had been bestowing so enthusiastically upon Antony and Cleopatra, he crossed over to Asia Minor. Every change of fortune in Rome's civil wars was followed by dynastic rearrangements in Asia Minor and Syria, and Octavian's victory at Actium was no exception to the rule. All such of Antony's nominees as had not deserted him betimes were swept away and replaced by new princes, who doubtless did not fail to make in return a present to their patron. But money did not come to Octavian by any means as quickly as he desired. In the New Year he was obliged to return for a month to Italy, where the outcry of the veterans at the tardiness of their reward for the campaign of Actium had become very threatening. Borrowing from the wealthiest of his personal friends, Octavian succeeded in diminishing for a time the discontent of the veterans and also of the principal sufferers from his recent impositions at Rome, the freedmen. Then he hastened back east and began to prepare in Syria for the invasion of Egypt. On his way to Syria he was met at Rhodes by Herod, who for 271 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT some reason had not yet come to make his sub- mission to the conqueror of Actium. According to Josephus, he had paid a visit to Alexandria and had made a last attempt to persuade Antony to put Cleopatra to death and declare the incorpora- tion of Egypt into the Roman Empire. Whether this was so or not, when Herod made his ap- pearance at Rhodes, his well-known antipathy to Cleopatra, coupled with his wealth, was a strong argument in favour of a good reception of his advances. Octavian pardoned him and, when revising the list of Syrian rulers, left him on the throne of Judaea. Barely had Octavian arrived in Syria when he found an embassy from Alexandria begging for an audience. The leading envoy was the tutor of the children of Antony and Cleopatra, a Greek named Euphronios, the most trustworthy man whom they could now discover when desertion had robbed Antony of so many of his Roman friends. Euphronios and his companions were charged with commissions alike from Antony and from Cleopatra. Antony merely asked that he might be allowed to retire into private life at Athens, if Egypt were to be forbidden to him. Cleopatra begged that the kingdom of Egypt might be given to her children, sending to Octavian the crown, sceptre, and chariot of the Pharaohs in order that he might bestow them again. According to Dion Cassius, Cleopatra 272 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " had also sent agents to corrupt Octavian's staff and attempt his assassination. Such a story was inevitable in the campaign of evil charges against the Egyptian queen. It is more astonishing to read Plutarch's version of Octavian's reply to Cleopatra's request on behalf of her children namely, that " she might obtain anything within reason if she would either kill Antony or drive him away."* Plutarch is far less an adherent of the Caesarian tradition than Dion. Yet it is strange that he should have ventured to suggest such underhand dealings on the part of the founder of the line of Emperors at Rome unless he was only repeating what was already known through earlier historians, such as Dellius. Octavian's early record hardly encourages us to deny the possibility of his suggestion to Cleopatra that she should not merely betray but even kill Antony ; but we should scarcely have expected the fact of the suggestion to be stated so baldly as it is by Plutarch. The Egyptian Embassy returned to Alexandria without accomplishing much. If Octavian sent secretly such a message to Cleopatra as is given above, entrusting it to an agent of his own, who* accompanied the ambassadors to Alexandria, to Antony he declined to make any answer at all. * Which differs but little from Dion's account (LI. 6) that Octavian promised Cleopatra, if she should kill Antony " both personal immunity and a maintenance of her authority undiminished." 273 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Antony attempted to soften his heart by sending to him as a captive the senator Turullius, the last survivor among the murderers of Julius Caesar. Octavian did what was expected of him, in that he put Turullius to death ; but he took no other notice of the sender of this victim to the shade of Julius. Next Antony despatched Euphronios again, accompanied by Antyllus and furnished with a large sum of money. Octavian accepted the money, but was deaf to the prayers of Antyllus on his father's behalf. He made it evident that no terms could be hoped for by his former colleague except unconditional surrender or death. With Cleopatra the case was different. What- ever may have been the real intentions of Octavian toward her at this moment, he was anxious to encourage her to hope for leniency at his hands. Can he have heard of her researches into the action of various poisons and have feared lest a sudden desperate resolve on her part might rob him of his chance of capturing her and her treasures ? This fear is attributed to him after he had entered Egypt. But he had already begun to dangle before her eyes temptations to live, while he was still in Syria. The man whom he had sent back with the first Egyptian embassy was his freedman Thyrsus, an Alexandrian by birth. Thyrsus had been brought to Rome as a boy-slave by Gabinius, and after passing into 274 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " the hands of Octavian had been set free and treated by him with great favour, which continued until, under the Empire, he offended his patron by his outspokenness and fell into disgrace. Plu- tarch describes him " a man not lacking in judgment and, coming as he did from a young general, not likely to fail in persuasive address to a haughty woman who prided herself wonderfully upon her beauty." With regard to this " wonder- ful pride in her beauty," it must be remembered that this forms part of Plutarch's interpretation of Cleopatra's character. It is a very natural deduction from her history, if direct evidence is absent. Dion Cassius, who if less romantic than Plutarch is more fond of scandal, represents Thyrsus as being entrusted by Octavian with warmer messages to Cleopatra than those of mere en- couragement. This hardly seems probable.* But it is not surprising that Antony was suspicious about the long interviews between his consort and the envoy of Octavian. He seized Thyrsus therefore, had him whipped, and sent him back to Syria, writing to Octavian that the man's airs had offended him, and that if he took the matter ill he might in turn whip Hipparchus (Antony's freedman), who was in his hands. It is not recorded whether Octavian took advantage * Professor Ferrero, however, seems to accept it as true (IV. chap. 6). 275 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT of this generous offer. The lot of freedmen was none too happy in the Roman world. Plutarch says that, " after the incident of the punishment of Thyrsus, Cleopatra, with a view to allaying Antony's suspicions, paid more court than usual to him, keeping her own birthday in a mean manner, suitable to her condition, while celebrating that of Antony with such magnificence and expense that many of those who came to the feast poor went away rich." We do not know the date of either of these birthdays, but if Plutarch's tale is true both of them must have fallen within the five months beginning with March and ending with July. The strange negotiations which had been in progress between Alexandria and Syria came to an end in the summer of 30 with nothing accom- plished. No doubt Octavian had desired to accomplish nothing, except to gain time until he should be ready to invade Egypt. Since the battle of Actium he had behind him the whole force of public opinion in the Empire, and had no reason for hesitating to press Antony, to the uttermost. All the popularity of the once great Triumvir had vanished, and the long-prosecuted campaign of abuse at Rome had gained its end after the disgraceful scene of September 2nd, B.C. 31. So far from Octavian needing to delay before marching on Alexandria, the speedier his advance the better. At his goal there awaited 276 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " him not only certain victory, but also the wealth of Egypt, wherewith to redeem his promises to his vast army of veterans and to pay back to his friends the moneys which he had been compelled to borrow from them to meet the most urgent calls on his purse after Actium. Even so procrastinating a disposition as Octavian's could not waver now. He prepared to advance on Alexandria himself by way of Pelusium, while orders were sent to Cornelius Gallus in Roman Africa to approach the capital from the other " horn " of Egypt. After the failure of the negotiations, Antony and Cleopatra must have felt that the death whose approach they had already sighted in the winter of 31-30 was close at hand. With regard to Cleopatra's alleged hope of avoiding it by betraying Antony, in which Dion believes, being followed by later historians like Zonaras of the Twelfth Century A.D., there is only this to be said. There is nothing to prove the treachery, and the accusation is a very obvious one to make against an enemy of Rome. Doubt- less the contemporary Roman historians, now lost, first gave currency to the story. Whether we accept it or not must depend entirely upon our estimate of Cleopatra's character. Nothing else will help us to form an opinion upon the point ; certainly not Antony's feeble cries that he was betrayed, of which we shall hear later. But for 277 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT the words of Dion and later writers we should only see a picture of Cleopatra loyally carrying out the conditions of her membership of the " Die-togethers," while preparing at the same time with Antony to make a last desperate struggle for freedom and life with the resources in treasure and troops which still remained to Egypt- The idea of flight to some remoter region had perhaps not been altogether abandoned yet, even if Cleopatra had been persuaded to give up her scheme of sailing down the Red Sea to found a new kingdom. A retirement from the Nile Delta into Upper Egypt was perhaps dismissed as not putting the fugitives beyond the reach of the Roman armies.* Antony is credited with an idea of escaping to Spain and carrying on a war against Octavian there, as Cnaeus Pompeius had attempted to do against Julius Caesar. But, if he seriously entertained this idea, he left it until it was too late to carry it out. With hostile armies on both frontiers of Egypt and the Mediterranean commanded by the Roman fleet, there was no hope of reaching * There is a story that Cleopatra, at the moment of her death, reproached herself for having forgotten that she might have sought the recesses of Egypt, wherein she could easily have prepared for a renewal of the war (see the scholiast on Vergil, " Aeneid," VIII. 712). Commenting on this, M. Bouch6-Leclercq remarks that, on the contrary, Cleopatra seems to have forgotten nothing, for she knew she would not be safe in the Thebaid. 278 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " Spain with a force large enough to begin warfare there. Since then it was necessary to die, it only re- mained to die in a way which should benefit the enemy least. Cleopatra erected for herself a tomb near the Temple of Isis Lochias, in the north-east corner of Alexandria ; and here she collected together, says Plutarch, " the most precious of the royal treasures, gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory, and cinnamon, and also a great quantity of firewood and tow," evidently intending, like the legendary Sardan- apalus (with whose story she was doubtless familiar), to put out of her conqueror's reach as much as she could in addition to her own person. Antony, on his part, hastened along the coast to the western boundary of Egypt, and made an attempt to bring back to their former allegiance the garrison of Paraetonium, which was composed of the troops of Pinarius. When, however, he came near the walls of the fortress, his voice was drowned by the sound of trumpets blown from within, and a sudden sortie of the defenders compelled him to run for his life to his ships and, after losing some of these by fire, to return to Alexandria. Meanwhile, the other frontier had been crossed by the army led by Octavian. Once again in its history Pelusium surrendered tamely to the invaders. Antony, never free from suspicion 279 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT now, believed that the commander Seleukos had betrayed the fortress with Cleopatra's connivance. To prove her good faith, in a manner familiar to the ancients, she handed over to him the traitor's wife and children that he might put them to death. Whether Antony did so, we do not hear. With Pelusium lost, and only a small army under his command, Antony made no attempt to dispute Octavian's advance, but awaited him at Alexandria. While on his way, Octavian, learn- ing of Cleopatra's preparations for a holocaust of her treasures, continued to forward to her messages encouraging her to look for kind treat- ment at his hands. The thought of the capture of Alexandria without the royal treasures, in- creased by the exactions and confiscations made by Cleopatra after her return from Actium, was by no means to Octavian's taste. The queen's millions were more necessary to him, indeed, than the city itself. By the end of July, Octavian was on the outskirts of Alexandria, having marched so far without being compelled to strike a blow. Now came the last flicker of Antony's spirit before the darkness. For a moment he became once more the brilliant cavalry-leader of his young manhood. He sallied out from the city gates, and, attacking Octavian's horsemen, not only defeated them, but chased them back to their camp. Flushed 280 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " with his success, he hastened back to the palace, still in his armour, to embrace Cleopatra. With him he brought one of his men, who had especially distinguished himself in the fight. Cleopatra presented a reward to this soldier in the shape of a golden breastplate and helmet. ' The man took them," says Plutarch, seizing with delight on a picturesque incident, " and in the night deserted to Caesar." Antony also attempted to use another weapon against his enemy by sending into his camp offers of 60 apiece to all deserters. But it was too late for bribes to succeed, since Octavian was able to point out to his men that all the wealth of Alexandria was already theirs, the place being doomed. To a challenge to single combat a renewal of the challenge before the Actium cam- paign he replied with the words, " Antony had many ways of dying." The truth of this remark, with its inference that there was nothing else to expect save death, was obvious enough to the man for whose hearing it was intended ; and Antony's mind had not decayed so far that he had forgotten that for a soldier the best death is in battle. So, although he knew the inadequacy of his forces, and was ready to see treachery everywhere, particularly in the conduct of her for whom he had ruined himself, he prepared to give battle both by land and by sea. Plutarch describes him for us on 281 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT the night before his death, July 3ist, bidding the slaves at supper pour out the wine and feast him cheerfully, for they knew not whether they would be doing this for him on the morrow or be serving other masters, while he lay a corpse, a thing of no account. Noticing that his words affected his friends to tears, - he endeavoured to cheer them with the thought that the alterna- tives next day were either a glorious death or victory. Plutarch, again with a literary artist's eye for the romantic, goes on to tell of a strange happening at Alexandria that night, after the last banquet over which Antony was ever to preside. " About the middle of the night, it is said, while the city was silent and depressed with fear and expectation of what was to come, of a sudden sounds of music were heard from all sorts of instruments, with shouts of a crowd crying Euoi \ and leaping like satyrs, as if a company of revellers were leaving the city tumultuously ; and the course of the procession seemed to be through the midst of Alexandria to the gate leading in the direction of the enemy, at which point the noise was loudest as it surged out. Those that reflected upon this portent were of the opinion that the god to whom Antony had always most likened himself and with whom he claimed kinship was deserting him."* * Plutarch, " Antony," 75. Euoi or evoe, of course, is the cry of the Bacchic orgiasts. 282 THE " DIE-TOGETHERS " This truly mysterious occurrence is mentioned by no one else, and we are ignorant whence Plutarch derived his story. From a pious point of view, it was certainly appropriate that the god should give a sign that he was abandoning the cause of Antony, the New Dionysos. Antony, however, was busy from daybreak on August ist posting his troops on " the hills in front of the city," that is to say, on rising ground to the east of Alexandria. The fleet meanwhile advanced from the harbour toward Octavian's ships. The number and composition of this fleet are unknown. From its conduct it is evident that the seamen had been bought by Octavian ; for, as soon as it came in touch with the Romans, the rowers paused to salute them with their oars, and then took their vessels over to the enemy before Antony's eyes, the two fleets uniting in one and advancing against Alexandria. While this was happening, the battle had commenced on land ; but it was of short duration. Antony's cavalry deserted early, and his infantry, the few remains of his many legions, were defeated. Neither the glorious death nor the victory of which he had spoken to his friends the night before had fallen to his lot. A third alternative, which he had not contemplated, was waiting him to breathe his last, a defeated man, in the arms of Cleopatra, " dying where he had lived."* * Shakespeare, " Antony and Cleopatra," IV. 13. 283 CHAPTER XVI THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY IT was with the name of Cleopatra upon his lips that Antony re-entered Alexandria on the day of his death. With her name, however, was coupled not a blessing, but a curse. Once more he spoke of treachery ; he had been betrayed by her to those against whom he was fighting for her sake. Whether Cleopatra saw him as he returned to the Palace, or whether she trusted only to reports as to his state of mind, she was so alarmed that, accompanied only by her women Iras and Charmion, she fled to the tomb which she had built near the Temple of Isis Lochias, and sent messengers to tell Antony that she was dead. This tomb was a large two-storied building, in which, it will be remembered, she had already gathered her treasures so as to be able to destroy them all by fire if necessary. It had folding doors, secured by bolts and bars, which were now used to prevent any one entering. But Antony did not attempt to verify the news of Cleopatra's death. He accepted the story of her suicide, and prepared to follow her example. Plutarch represents him as murmuring to him- self : " Why still delay, Antony, since Fate has 284 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY taken away the one excuse for loving life ? " He then retired to his bedchamber with a faithful slave named Eros, whom he had already warned to be ready to perform the duty which was now required of him. As he took off the armour in which he had fought that morning, he apostro- phised thus the woman whom he had so recently accused of betraying him : " Cleopatra, it is not at the loss of you I am grieved, for soon I shall come to the same place with you, but that I, being such a general, am proved inferior in courage to a woman." With this anticipation of his descendant Nero's " Qualis artifex pereo I " Antony turned to Eros, and bade him do his duty. Eros drew his sword, but, instead of striking at his master, ran himself through and died. Looking down at the slave's body at his feet, Antony cried : " Well done, Eros ! What you cannot do for me yourself you teach me how to do." With this he apparently tried to rip himself up, in the style of a Japanese committing seppuku or hara- kiri, and flung himself, wounded and senseless, on the bed. He had not, however, done his work so well as Eros, and, though his hurt was mortal, it was not immediately fatal. The flow of blood ceased, and he regained consciousness. Seeing people around him they had perhaps come into the room attracted by the noise he called to them to put an end to him. Instead of 285 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT complying, they fled in terror, and left him writhing in agony. At this point another messenger came from Cleopatra Diomedes, her secretary to inform him that she was not dead, and to bring him to her. Antony raised himself up, as if now he could still go on living, and called his slaves to carry him to where Cleopatra awaited him. On the way to the tomb he hastened their steps with prayers and threats, and when they arrived before the doors he was still breathing and conscious. The doors were not opened for him for fear, perhaps, of others beside him effecting an entry at the same time and seizing the trea- sures ; but Cleopatra herself looked out of a window in the upper story and let down ropes, which Antony's slaves attached to the litter on which they had brought their master. Then, with the help of Iras and Charmion, she drew the litter up to the window. " The eye-witnesses," re- marks Plutarch, " say that never was there a more piteous sight ; for Antony was hauled up, stained with blood and wrestling against death, stretching out his hands toward Cleopatra as he hung in the air. It was no easy task for women ; and Cleopatra, with straining arms and contracted features, laboured at the ropes, while those below encouraged her and shared in her agony. When she had taken him in and laid him down, she rent her garments over 286 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY him and beat her breasts, smearing her face with his blood, calling him lord and husband and general, and almost forgetting her own sorrows in lamentation for his." Plutarch somewhat mars the effect of his admirable narrative by representing Antony as finding time before he breathed his last breath to give Cleopatra advice as to how she might best look after her own honour,* and to bid her, instead of lamenting his late misfortunes, think him happy for what he had achieved, and for his not ignoble end. Shakespeare, however, succeeded in embodying all Plutarch's rhetoric in the death-scene in his fourth Act, down to the words : I lived, the greatest prince o' the world, The noblest ; and do now not basely die Nor cowardly put off ray helmet to My countryman a Roman, by a Roman Valiantly vanquished. In this manner died Antony at the age of fifty- three, after a connection with the Egyptian queen lasting over twelve years, including the long in- terval in 40-36 B.C. during which he did not see her at all. It is perhaps unnecessary to add * As M. Bouche-Leclercq says, if Antony had time to reflect, his most poignant anxiety would have been about his children rather than about Cleopatra's honour. But Plutarch in this instance appears to have consulted his sense of what was fitting in rounding off his description of Antony's end, since he can hardly have found any authentic record of the last words. 287 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT anything to what has been said of Antony already, particularly in Chapter VII, except to call atten- tion to the way in which the last actions of his .life support the idea of his mental decay. It is impossible to recognise the once great Triumvir in the hesitating bungler, complaining of treason, unable to exercise influence over his troops, unable to find the glorious death in battle of which he could talk over the wine the night before, unable even to direct his sword steadily against himself, and only saved from a truly sorry ending by the pathos which his reconciliation with Cleopatra lent to his final hour. In the close of his life there remains nothing which can arouse any ad- miration for Antony except the continuance of his affection for Cleopatra. But for this very infatuation, which inspired his countrymen with such disgust, the Antony of August ist the Antony, indeed, of the years 31-30 would seem but a futile and contemptible phantom lingering on in history after the disappearance of the hero whose name be bore. Cleopatra was not long left alone with her dead lover in the tomb. In fact, a messenger arrived from Octavian just as Antony was dying. From this we may gather that the Romans had entered Alexandria very soon after their easy victory outside the walls.* Octavian's envoy was a * M. Bouche-Leclercq finds it hard to believe that Antony's defeat and suicide and Octavian's entrance into Alexandria 288 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY knight of the name of Proculeius, of whom we know little except that he is supposed to be the Proculeius mentioned by Horace with praise for his care for his brothers. He had instructions to try to secure Cleopatra alive. Octavian had learnt of Antony's suicide through one of the palace-guards, who had come to him bringing the blood-stained sword with which the deed had been done, and was anxious to prevent Cleopatra from following Antony's example after setting the tomb on fire. At first sight it appears strange that Cleopatra did not take this course. The classical writers, including Dion and perhaps even Plutarch, are content with the explanation that she hoped to be able to seduce Octavian as she had seduced his great-uncle and Antony before him. It is hardly necessary, however, to imagine this, and we have not the same motive as the ancients for making out Cleopatra to have been an entirely abandoned woman. A key to her conduct seems to be furnished by her conversation with Proculeius as given by Plutarch. When the Roman knight arrived she refused to open the doors of the tomb to him, but talked to him from inside the building while he stood out- side. She asked for a guarantee that her kingdom should be given to her children ; and Proculeius, after encouraging her and telling her to trust all occurred on the same day, August ist. B.C. 30. But this is what appears from a comparison of the accounts of the various ancient historians. 280 10 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Octavian in all things, was obliged to return from his mission empty-handed. It was anxiety for her children that prevented Cleopatra from committing suicide. A self- inflicted death would save her from the humilia- tion of being carried a prisoner to Rome, but would leave Caesarion and her three children by Antony upon whom the conqueror might wreak his vengeance. Caesarion had already been sent with his tutor Rhodon to " India by way of Ethiopia," it would appear from Plutarch. But, as indeed turned out, he was not yet out of harm's way ; while Alexander, Selene, and Ptolemy were still in Alexandria, as far as we know. From the beginning of her negotiations with Octavian, Cleopatra had asked but one thing, the inheritance of Egypt for her offspring. The last of the Lagidae, whatever her faults and crimes, cannot be denied the possession of maternal instinct and of pride in her family. She wished to know, before she died, that her children would be spared, and would wear the crown which she had received from her father.* Dion, it must be noted, makes Cleopatra send a messenger to Octavian before Proculeius came to her. There is nothing to show whether Plutarch's or Dion's version is correct ; but the point is * Who, it may be remembered, has himself been credited with the one virtue of regard for his children, or rather for the four youngest of them. 290 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY not of much importance, for even if Dion is right the mission of Proculeius would only be Octavian's answer to Cleopatra's inquiry as to what terms he offered her. In any case, when Octavian found that Cleopatra refused to admit his envoy within the tomb he sent him back again hi company with Cornelius Gallus, giving them instructions to force their way in somehow. By a ruse they succeeded in cheating Cleopatra's vigilance. Gallus this time held her in conversation through the closed door, while his companion climbed to the window in the upper story by means of a ladder. Then, followed by two slaves, Proculeius came downstairs and took Cleopatra in the rear. Either Charmion or Iras saw the intruders first, and cried out : " Unhappy Cleopatra, you are taken alive ! " The queen turned round and, seeing Proculeius, seized a dagger which she had about her and tried to stab herself. The Roman was too quick for her. He snatched the dagger from her hand, telling her that " she wronged both herself and Caesar by attempting to rob him of the chance of showing magnanimity and to fix on the mildest of generals the stigma of bad faith and relentlessness." The door was opened for Gallus, and, after Cleopatra had been searched for poison, Octavian was informed of his agents' success. He sent his freedman, Epaphroditus, with orders to watch carefully 291 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT lest she should attempt suicide, but otherwise to be indulgent to her. Octavian had obtained all that he could desire. Antony was dead, Cleopatra was a prisoner, and her treasures and the whole city of Alexandria were his. He had received the news of Antony's suicide at first with studied correctness of conduct, retiring within his tent and weeping over his former colleague and brother-in-law. Did he remember, we may wonder, his great-uncle's behaviour over the death of Pompey ? Un- fortunately he could not resist calling his friends to him and reading to them from the correspon- dence between himself and Antony, to show how reasonable he had been, and how insolent and arrogant was Antony in his replies. Julius Caesar had not thus indulged in recriminations against his dead rival ; and Octavian, accustomed as he was to think out the effect of his actions, would have done well to imitate the reticence of his kinsman. In his formal entry into Alexandria Octavian made no mistake. Everything was designed to produce an excellent impression. The conqueror came into the city peacefully holding the hand of his friend, the Pythagorean philosopher Areios, a Greek of Alexandrian birth, whom he had taken as his moral guide. He came to the Gymnasium, went in, and, mounting upon a platform which had been set up for him, addressed 292 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY the terror-stricken crowd who bowed themselves to the ground before him. There could hardly have been a greater contrast than that between the receptions given by the Alexandrians to Julius Caesar and to Octavian. The younger man had taken no risk with the turbulent citizens. He had them completely at his mercy. He hastened, however, to put them out of suspense, bidding them rise from the ground, as he forgave them firstly for the sake of their founder Alexander, secondly because of the beauty and greatness of their city,* and thirdly to please his friend Areios. This last touch is peculiarly character- istic of the coming Augustus, so anxious to show^ himself the friend of culture and of learned men. Continuing on his course of studied generosity, Octavian allowed Cleopatra to bury the body of her dead lover. " Although many, both kings and commanders, asked for the body to bury it, Caesar did not take it from Cleopatra," says Plutarch ; " but it was interred by her own hands sumptuously and royally, and she received for that purpose all that she wished." After the funeral of Antony, Cleopatra seems to have been seized once more with the desire, which * Dion Cassius substitutes for this admiration of Alexandri a a reverence for the god Serapis, which he makes Octavian' s first reason. We do not gather from the Roman poets of the period that the gods of Egypt were likely as yet to be treated with much reverence by the latest conquerors of the country. 293 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Proculeius had frustrated before, of putting an immediate end to her life. Plutarch relates that the violence of her lamentations brought on a fever, which she tried to make a pretext for starving herself to death. She had as an accomplice her physician Olympos.* But Octa- vian got wind of her design, and to prevent her from cheating him of his triumph by suicide threatened her with action against her children, by which threats Cleopatra was " thrown down as by engines of war," in Plutarch's phrase, and allowed herself to be kept alive. Octavian also decided to visit her himself. The following is the Greek historian's account of this famous interview : " Cleopatra chanced to be lying on a mattress, meanly dressed, and as he entered she sprang up in a single robe and fell at his feet with her head and face in the greatest disorder, her voice trembling, and her eyes dim with tears. There were also visible many marks of the blows which she had inflicted on her breast, and indeed her body seemed in no better plight than her mind. Yet that charm of hers and her bold confidence in her beauty were not completely extinguished, but though she was thus circumstanced they still * Plutarch (" Antony," 82) mentions a journal of these events kept by Olympos, which is unhappily lost. It seems likely that the greater simplicity and probability of Plutarch's account of Cleopatra's last days, as compared with other accounts, is due to his use of this journal. 294 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY shone out and were manifest in her looks. When Caesar had bidden her lie down and had taken a seat near her, she began to make a sort of justi- fication, and tried to attribute all that had happened to necessity and to fear of Antony. But, as Caesar met her with an answer at every point, of a sudden she changed her tone, and began to move him to pity with her prayers, as though clinging most eagerly to life.. Finally she handed to him a list of all her treasures ; and when Seleukos, one of her stewards, declared that she was concealing some things, she sprang up, and, catching him by the hair, belaboured him with blows on the face. As Caesar smiled and restrained her, she asked : ' Is it not scandalous, Caesar, that, when you ha,ve con- descended to visit me and speak to me in my present condition, my slaves should make ac- cusations against me because I have kept back some women's ornaments, not to adorn myself, poor wretch, but in order to give a few things to Octavia and your wife Livia, that through them I may make you kinder and more favourable to me ? ' Caesar was pleased with these words, being fully persuaded that she wished to live. So, when he had told her that he left these things in her care, and that in every other way he would treat her better than she expected, he went away, thinking that he had deceived her. But he had deceived himself." 295 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Plutarch, it may be seen, does not hesitate to charge Octavian with intended bad faith toward Cleopatra. He goes on to say that she learnt that he meant to leave Egypt for Syria, while sending her and her children away in three days' time. This could only mean that she was to go to Rome, to await Octavian's triumph. Her in- formant was a young man named Dolabella, son of that Dolabella with whom we are already acquainted. Although he was on Octavian's staff, he was, according to Plutarch, " not without a certain liking for Cleopatra " (perhaps because of her conduct toward his father), and therefore revealed his general's intentions to her. The discovery of the fate reserved for her dashed to the ground whatever little hopes Cleopatra had entertained of influencing Octavian, and deter- mined her to take the only remaining course to avoid shame. Since the fall of Alexandria she had repeatedly uttered the passionate exclama- tion : "I will not be led in triumph ! " Now she knew that she was destined to that degradation which her sister Arsinoe had undergone at Rome, and the Armenian Artavasdes and his family had suffered before her own eyes at Alexandria. She, with her children, must walk in chains no doubt golden, like those of Artavasdes along the Sacred Way to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, she who four years before, robed as Isis, had sat on a throne of gold in front of the 296 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY temple of Serapis and watched a Roman Im- perator riding in his car along the Canopic Way to present his trophies to her and bow himself in reverence to her incarnation of her favourite goddess. This was to be the end of dreams of an Eastern Empire under a new dynasty founded by herself, the last of the Lagidae, and her sons by the two great Romans who had been her lovers this or death. To a woman of her pride the choice was obvious. While she had nourished hope of obtaining Octavian's consent that her sons should inherit Egypt, she had been willing to live, perhaps trusting that she would be allowed to reside in Alexandria as dowager queen. But if all Oc- tavian's promises of " magnanimity " and of " better treatment for her than she expected " meant nothing, then the only thought to which she could attend was : "I will not be led in triumph ! " To release herself it would be necessary to cheat the vigilance of Octavian, determined to keep all means of suicide out of her reach. But if Octavian could be deceitful, he had not the wit of the Egyptian queen. Many modern writers have cast doubt upon the famous story of Cleopatra's last ruse, whereby she won the death which she desired, in spite of those who watched her to see that she did not escape from their master's power. Apart, however, from antiquity's firm belief in the story, at the time of 297 10* CLEOPATRA Of EGYPT her death and afterwards, there is about it something which seems to compel belief, unless it can be proved that no such reptile as is required by the story could have been procured by Cleo- patra ; and this proof is not forthcoming. It is true that Plutarch mentions rival legends, but this is only natural in the case of a death attended with considerable mystery. Before taking the last step, Cleopatra asked and obtained permission from Octavian to perform the ceremony of pouring libations on the tomb of Antony. Plutarch puts in her mouth what must be merely a pretty rhetorical exercise, after the manner dear to even the most con- scientious of ancient historians, ending with an appeal to Antony : "If there be any power in the gods of Italy (since these of this land have deserted us), deliver not up your wife still living, nor let yourself be triumphed over in me. Hide me here, bury me with you, for of my ten thousand ills there is none so grievous as this short time that I have been parted from you." Having embraced the coffin and put flowers upon it, Cleopatra prepared herself for the death for which she had prayed. She, whose name was connected with all that was elaborate in the arts of bathing and of dining, first bathed herself and then partook of her last banquet. At the end of the meal a countryman came to the palace which was her prison, bringing with him a basket of 298 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY figs. The sentries at the door challenged him, but seeing the figs let him pass. On his arrival Cleopatra took a letter which she had already written, sealed it, and despatched it to Octavian. Then she bade all leave her except the two women whose faithfulness to her has made them famous, and had the door of the room closed. She was never seen again alive. When Octavian received her letter and opened it, he found in it a request that she might be buried with Antony. He guessed at once what had happened, and sent messengers to ascertain the truth. They found the sentries unaware of anything unusual, but on opening the doo'r saw Cleopatra stretched dead on a golden couch, dressed in her royal robes. Of the two waiting-women, Iras lay dying at her mistress's feet, while Charmion, though she also had but a few moments to live, was setting straight the crown upon the dead queen's head. " What work is here ? " Shake- speare following Plutarch, makes one of the men ask : " Charmian, is this well done ? " " It is well done, and fitting for a princess Descended from so many royal kings ! " So saying, Charmion too fell dead by the side of the couch. " Now it is said," continues Plutarch, " that the asp was brought in covered with the figs and leaves, Cleopatra having so ordered, that the 299 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT reptile might fasten upon her body without her being aware of it. But when she lifted up some of the figs and saw it, she exclaimed, ' Here then it is ! ' and baring her arm offered it to be bitten. Others tell how the asp was kept in a pitcher, and that Cleopatra drew it out with a golden distaff and irritated it until it sprang at her arm and clung to it. But the real truth nobody knows ; for it was also said that she carried poison about her in a hollow pin,* which she hid in her hair. Yet no spots broke out upon her body nor any other marks of poison. Nor was the reptile found within the Palace ; but some professed that they observed its trail near the sea, in that direction whither the chamber faced and where the windows were. Some also say that Cleopatra's arm was seen to have two small indistinct punctures ; and it appears that Caesar believed this, for at the triumph a figure of * The word used by Plutarch occurs nowhere else with this meaning ; but a much later writer, Xiphilin of the eleventh century A.D., also speaks of a pin or needle. Strabo knows of both stories, of the asp and the poisoned instru- ment. The contemporary Roman theory was evidently that attributed by Plutarch to Octavian. Propertius (III. xi. 53-4) alludes to the figure carried in the triumph with brackia sacris admorsa colubris. With regard to the asp, Wilkinson (" The Ancient Egyptians," III. pp. 336-7) remarks that the Egyptian asp, a species of cobra da capello, still very common in the country, is as a rule three or four feet long, and was therefore too big for Cleopatra's purpose (if we accept Plutarch's story), and suggests that some smaller poisonous snake was used, being subsequently miscalled an " asp." 300 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY Cleopatra was carried with the asp clinging to her." Octavian, we are told, although vexed by Cleopatra's death (which robbed his triumph of the feature to which the Romans most looked forward), admired her nobility of mind and ordered her body to be buried with royal ceremonial beside that of Antony. He also refrained from throwing down the statues erected to her, while removing all Antony's statues. This honour to Cleopatra is attributed by Plutarch not to Octavian' s generosity, but to the fact that one of her friends, Archibios, gave him a present of two thousand talents (487,000) to spare the statues. Octavian soon showed how unwise Cleopatra would have been to trust to his vague promises of good treatment in response to her prayers on behalf of her children. Hardly had she removed her own person from his power when he put to death her first-born, the sharer in her rule over Egypt. Caesarion, as we have seen, had been sent out of harm's way with his tutor Rhodon, provided with treasure for his support. He had probably not left the confines of Egypt, however, when Rhodon per- suaded him to return to Alexandria, saying that Octavian meant him to rule over the kingdom. Caesarion, therefore, came back and put himself in the hands of the kinsman who had always refused to recognise his connection with the 301 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT Dictator. It is said that Octavian hesitated what to do with his voluntary captive until Areios (who, if the tale is true, was as bad a villain as most of the Alexandrian Greek teachers of his time) decided him by misquoting Homer* to the effect that " a multitude of Caesars is no good thing." So died, after a nominal reign of about a dozen years, the last Son of the Sun, Ptolemy XVI, happily too late for his mother to know how truly she had feared on his behalf. As he showed no mercy to a boy related to himself by blood, it was hardly to be expected that Octavian would spare Antony's children. The death of the eldest of them, however, con- tented him. Antyllus had attempted to escape, but was betrayed by another of the infamous gang of tutors of the day, a man named Theo- doros. His head was cut off by the soldiers to take to Octavian (to whose daughter Julia, Antyllus had once been betrothed), and his body left lying in the chapel erected by Cleopatra to Julius Caesar, at the foot of whose statue he had vainly sought safety. Theodores took the opportunity of stealing a valuable jewel which his pupil had been used to wear about his neck, for which he was seized and crucified. We do not hear whether Rhodon was as suitably rewarded as his fellow-scoundrel. The death of Cleopatra's and Antony's eldest * " Iliad," II. 204. 302 THE ENDING OF A TRAGEDY sons appeared to satisfy the thirst for innocent blood, the shedding of which is a sufficient criticism of the remark of Velleius that " it did honour both to Caesar's fortune and to his clemency that not one of those who bore arms against him was put to death by him." Their joint children, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy, were unharmed, and we next hear of them in Rome, being brought up by the excellent Octavia in the company of her two daughters Antonia major and minor, as they are known in history, and Julus, the brother of Antyllus. Cleopatra Selene lived to marry Juba the Numidian, who as an infant had figured in Julius Caesar's triumph with Arsinoe and Vercingetorix. Juba was both a learned man (one of the most learned of his day, in fact, although only a few fragments of his works survive) and a wise diplomatist, for he sided with Octavian and was given as a reward the kingdom of Numidia which his father had for- feited to Rome. Five years later his patron, now the Emperor Augustus, gave him Maure- tania in exchange for Numidia, and here he reigned in peace with his bride and her two brothers, whom he received as guests. There is no record of the line of Cleopatra the Great being carried on by Alexander Helios or by Ptolemy, son of Antony ; but a son was born to Juba and Cleopatra Selene, to whom was given 303 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT the Lagid name of Ptolemy. He seems to have succeeded his father on the throne of Mauretania about 19 A.D. Little is known of him except that he was very rich, and that in 40 A.D. he was invited to Rome by the ferocious madman Caligula, great-grandson both of Antony (by Octavia) and of Octavian. He was put to death in Rome, and thus, as far as we know, the last descendant of Cleopatra the Great and of Antony perished at the hands of a descendant of Antony and Octavia.* * Unless Tacitus (" History," V. 9) is right in assigning as wife to Antonius Felix, procurator of Judaea under the Emperors Claudius and Nero, a wife Drusilla, granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony. This involves Felix marrying in succession two wives called Drusilla, for we learn from Josephus, supported by the " Acts of the Apostles," that he took from her former husband, the King of Emesa, the Jewish Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa. Tacitus does not say that his Drusilla was the daughter of Cleopatra Selene, so that it is possible that Alexander Helios or Ptolemy was her father. 304 CHAPTER XVII CLEOPATRA THE GREAT WHATEVER view we may take of the moral character of Cleopatra and we have a wide choice of writers whom we may follow if we please, from the time of Josephus, who held her to be a monster, to that of the modern Adolf Stahr, who boldly defends her virtue we are bound to see in her a very commanding figure ; indeed, the most commanding female figure of antiquity. History has recognised this by bestowing on her an epithet which it most rarely accords to women sovereigns and calling her " Cleopatra the Great." If in part the title serves to distinguish her from the five previous bearers of her name in the family of the Lagidae, it also records a judgment on her importance in the world. Still, as in the case of men rulers there are numerous reasons, some on close examination curiously inadequate, why greatness has been thrust upon certain people, so, too, with women there is no fixed standard by which claims to the name of " The Great " are adjudicated. It is not, therefore, entirely super- fluous to ask whether the last Queen of Egypt is or is not entitled to be called great. 305 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT It must be admitted that Cleopatra is a peculiarly difficult subject for a just verdict, because of the nature of the evidence concerning her life. The witnesses are plentiful, but there is not one amongst them who can be described as a good witness. None of them came to her case with an unbiassed mind or even resolved to mention any facts in her favour, which might mitigate the general harshness of their account of her. Julius Caesar is all but silent about her, having his mouth closed for a reason to himself very sufficient. Of the later Latin writers, the historians are all (with the exception of Suetonius, if we can call him an historian) so concerned to glorify Augustus, and through him his successors, that it is out of the question for them to see any merit in the consort of Antony. It is the same, or rather worse, with the poets, to whom to see * the personages of history in plain black and white and in no intermediate shades was almost a condition of continuing to exist as poets. Even that stranded Republican, Lucan, had no fair word for Cleopatra, the corrupter of Antony. Moreover, to all of these writers, as Romans, she was an Egyptian, the stranger for whom the Roman half -brick was never wanting. As for the Greeks, we never find in them any sympathy inspired by the Macedonian descent of % Cleopatra. Writing under the Roman Empire, they took heed to see as Rome saw. Dion 306 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT Cassius is as much under the spell of the Caesarian tradition as any of his Latin contemporaries. Appian, a poor and undiscriminating historian, has little of value to say about Cleopatra. Plu- tarch, more impartial than others between the two great parties which destroyed the Republic in their struggle, readily sacrifices her in his attempt to be just toward Antony. There remains Josephus, who perhaps hated Cleopatra as sincerely as any of the Roman poets pretended to hate her. Now it is a noteworthy fact that, of the four Lagidae who have come down to posterity as the most criminal of their family, Ptolemy IV Philopator, Ptolemy IX Physkon, Ptolemy XIII Auletes, and Cleopatra VI, the two first-named and Cleopatra are all known to have been anti- Jewish, Philopator and Physkon con- sistently so and Cleopatra at least occasionally. Whatever else we may think about Josephus, we must admit him to have been a patriotic Jew, and we cannot therefore blame him for taking into account in his judgment of the Lagidae their behaviour toward his countrymen. When there comes, however, a necessity for estimating the probability of unsupported statements of Josephus concerning one of these anti- Jewish Macedonian rulers of Egypt, we must obviously be sceptical. And unfortunately the general character of Josephus's history is such as to leave us without any confidence in what he says, 307 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT unless we know from other sources that he is telling the truth. To repeat what has been said in an earlier chapter, no one has a right to con- demn the worst of queens, even as bad a woman as the partisans of Octavian represented Cleopatra to be, on the statements of a writer who could make a hero of Herod the Great and display such inability as does Josephus to look on any character or event without the narrowest race- prejudice. While, then, there is not a single witness in Cleopatra's favour, there are very clear reasons why all, Romans, Greeks, and Jews alike, should have been biassed against her. It is still possible that she was a great woman, and not merely a great monster such as the old writers, for political or personal reasons, united to make her out to be. The only evidence which can be adduced, how- ever, must be sought among the testimonies of her enemies, and it is very natural that the task of defending her has attracted very few, and has then proved beyond their powers. To build a defence out of the speeches of the prosecutor and the statements of those whom he calls in his support is too difficult for the intellect of a Quixote. At the best he can save a few rags mostly, perhaps, of Coan silk in Cleopatra's case wherewith to veil his client from the censorious gaze of the jury. Cleopatra was the final product of a very 308 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT corrupt and extremely wealthy royal family ruling over the richest country in the ancient world, a country doomed from before her birth to fall a prey to the insatiable hunger of the one great military nation remaining in that world. From early years she was brought in contact with some of the most unscrupulous representatives of the conquering race, and shown that, if she was to play any part in her ancestral kingdom's history, she must play it in company with them. From her father's example in Egypt she saw how a man of her house could preserve a throne in dealing with such people, from her uncle's example in Cyprus how a throne could be lost by a man. She was a woman, and, while profiting by her father's and uncle's examples, must allow for the modifying effect of sex hi handling the situation. Had she not been a Lagid princess, she might have declined the task and left it to her brother Ptolemy, four years her junior, when he should attain his majority. But the descendant of other ambitious Cleopatras and the sister of the fourth Berenike could not stand aside from the affairs of State. She was prepared to face the family difficulties, and, so far from wishing to shelter herself behind her brother, she tried to prevent him from exerting the influence which was legally his. In the brief first period of her co-regency with Ptolemy XIV, she was soon placed in the position of having to decide how to 309 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT treat one of those Romans whose presence in Alexandria boded so little good to Egypt. She re- ceived Cnaeus Pompeius the younger as an ambas- sador come to ask a favour of her queenship, and also, if report did not wrong her, as a lover. Her attitude to Cnaeus Pompeius was typical of her conduct toward the Romans throughout her life. Whatever else these dreaded foreigners might be, they were at least emphatically men. To meet their aggressive virility Cleopatra used the only possible defence, her own femininity. She never neglected the parental weapon of bribery, combined by her as by Auletes himself with an occasional assassination, when it seemed safe to employ the assassin's aid ; but it was on her sex that she relied when she desired to effect a great stroke. As a woman she was decidedly well equipped to fight against even such trained conquerors of women as the Roman public men of her day. She united good looks with natural intelligence and a versatile education. Something has already been said in the Third Chapter of this book with refer- ence to these points, but we may now return to them again. As regards her beauty, there is no general agreement among ancient authors, we have seen, and Dion Cassius's description of her as " most exceedingly beautiful of women " is discounted by Plutarch's far more guarded and sober phrases. 310 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT We have, to check what the old writers say, a fair number of well-authenticated representations of Cleopatra, if the many statues of her which existed in her lifetime have altogether vanished. There is a well-known bust executed in fine lime- stone, purchased by the British Museum in 1879, which so resembles the head on the coins as to be almost certainly assignable to Cleopatra. The strongly aquiline nose is a remarkable feature in the bust, as on the coins, of which there are more than a dozen whose genuineness is not disputed. Further, there are the Egyptian sculptures of Cleopatra at Dendera, and there were those at Erment, some fortunately portrayed for us in the volumes of Lepsius, though the originals are gone. The Egyptian sculptures we must dismiss as valueless, however interesting. Cleopatra at Den- dera is almost identical in features, wig, and head- dress (except for Cleopatra's surmounting horns and solar disk) with the painting at Deir El- Bahari of Queen Ahmes, mother of the great Hatshepsut.* So, whether or not the Dendera representation shows that Cleopatra ever, on State occasions, put on the elaborately plaited wig of the older Egyptian queens, it certainly does not give us any guide as to Cleopatra's * See a reproduction in colours of Queen Ahmes in Miss Janet R. Butties' " The Queens of Egypt." Miss Buttles mentions also the resemblance of the two portraits to the wooden statuette of Nefertari, grandmother of Ahmes, at the Louvre. CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT features. We only see a conventional type of head perpetuated by the influence of the Egyptian priestly sculptors. As for the Erment pictures, it is evident that there is no attempt at portraiture in them. Cleopatra is barely distinguishable except by costume from Isis, Nephthys, Hathor, or the other goddesses present at the divine birth. We come to the coins, and here we should feel more satisfied if there were a greater uniformity between the various profiles. We may perhaps abandon the features shown on the silver coin struck at Askalon in B.C. 50, as they are too like the features on the Askalon coins of Ptolemy Auletes (themselves dissimilar from those on the other coins of Auletes) and of Ptolemy XIV, and we may therefore be dealing again with a conven- tional type. Even if we leave out the Askalon Cleopatra, however, we are obliged to admit that the designers of her coins saw Cleopatra in very different lights, and that some of them must have been very poor artists, almost caricaturists indeed. Neglecting the worst productions, and comparing some of the best coins and the British Museum bust, we may arrive at some sort of idea how the charmer of Caesar and of Antony looked, though we have no clue to her colouring or the shade of her hair. It can hardly be necessary to point out again that there is no warrant for speak- ing of her as a " gipsy " ; quite possibly she was fair-haired like her ancestor Ptolemy Philadelphos, 312 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT according to the seventeenth Idyll of Theocritus. All that we can feel certain about is that she had not a short nose. As M. Henry Houssaye amusingly says, " Pascal's remark is well known : ' Had Cleopatra's nose been shorter, the whole face of the globe might have been changed.' Pascal was not a numismatist. Otherwise he would have written : ' Had Cleopatra's nose been longer. . .' "* An examination of the nearest approaches which we have to likenesses of Cleopatra makes us de- cidedly inclined to accept Plutarch's statement about her beauty being " not altogether beyond comparison, nor such that no one could look upon her without being struck by it." That she made the best of it we can readily believe, and legend credits her with the invention of baths which rivalled in effect the fountain of youth, and the use of many wonderful unguents, for the com- pounding of which Egypt was famous in anti- quity such as that mentioned by Pliny, which, * " Aspasie Cleopatra Theodora," p. 325. On the same page M. Houssaye speaks of a copper coin on view in the Rue Richelieu, Paris, which he describes as follows : " The head gives the impression of a tall, big woman. The forehead is straight and low ; moreover the undulations of the hair half cover it. The eye is large and far away from the nose, which is aquiline, strong, and extremely long. The mouth is pretty, though very large. The chin is very prominent. Although these features are rather coarse and hard, a certain charm is revealed by the physiognomy as a whole, owing to the beauty of the eyes and the strange grace of the mouth. If the nose had not been so long and pointed, the wayward and ardently voluptuous woman shown in this profile might pass for beautiful." 313 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT cost 16 a pound, was imperceptible to the person anointed with it, but excited desire in others. The episode of her struggles with Herod over the Jericho gardens, and with the Nabathaean Arabs for similar treasures which she coveted from them, is the best testimony which we have to her love of all that pleases the organ of smell. Cleopatra's merely sensual appeal, however, was clearly excelled by the charm which lay in her general manner, " the peculiar character which was evident in all that she said or did," as Plutarch writes. Her sweet-toned voice was employed not only to captivate by its sound, but to also reveal the quick intelligence and the widely educated mind. We are compelled to take for granted her verbal powers, for the few actual examples of her wit which have been preserved do not appear, to the modern reader at least, at all brilliant. The memoir-writer who treasures up the sayings of notable people with whom he comes in contact was indeed rare in the ancient world, and was wont to devote his at- tention to the philosophers rather than to the wits. We must be content, therefore, with the knowledge that Julius Caesar and Antony were both fascinated with her ability to amuse them as well as make love to them and surround them with luxury, and must not ask to be shown a picture of Cleopatra, as it were, in action.* We * For the nearest approach to such a picture see p. 163. 314 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT know enough, however, from this very fact of her conquest of Caesar and Antony, not to mention any lesser folk, to see that it was her wonderful adaptability which gave Cleopatra her victories. If her tongue was like a many-stringed instru- ment, capable of being turned to any language that she pleased, still more was this the case with her mind. She failed, as we have seen, to make a favourable impression upon Ahenobarbus and on other Roman senators who joined Antony at Ephesus early in the year 32 ; but from the beginning her attitude toward them was one of defiance. She did not desire their presence in Antony's camp, and wished for nothing better than to drive them away again to Rome. It is Cleopatra's genius for cajolery, coupled with the readiness attributed to her by the admirers of her two chief enemies, Octavian and Herod, to accept any man as a lover, that gained for her in history the unenviable reputation of a crowned courtesan. The charge is impossible to rebut for the reason already given, that the only testimonies which we have are those of the witnesses for the prosecution. We can only say, by way of comment on the accusation, that she can certainly be proved to have had two lovers, one of whom was credited with the intention of ' making her his wife, while the other actually did so after a fashion or, according to some, with full legal ceremonies as early as 36 B.C. With CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT regard to a third lover, Cnaeus Pompeius, Plutarch seems to accept the intrigue ; but if it ever existed it must have been of very brief duration, as the young man only visited Alexan- dria to fetch military support for his father. As for Dellius, what is more likely than that this un- pleasant personage himself spread the tale after he had deserted Antony ? Concerning Josephus's account of Cleopatra's unsuccessful attempt on the virtue (!) of Herod, nothing need be added to what has already been said. On the most favourable construction, Cleo- patra's story, viewed from one point only, amounts to this. When she was seventeen or eighteen she took as her husband, in accordance with the terms of her father's will and the Egyptian royal custom, her eleven-year-old brother Ptolemy XIV, with whom she was to share the throne. A quarrel broke out between her and her brother's advisers, and three years later she fled for her life. There appeared upon the scene Julius Caesar, the greatest man of the greatest nation of the day. He was fifty-four years of age, and had a reputation for gallantry in all senses of the word. Cleopatra contrived an interview with him, and at once won him to her cause, while surrendering to him her person. Caesar succeeded in establishing her on the throne, after a battle in which her husband was killed. He allowed her charms to detain him in 316 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT Egypt far longer than was good for his reputation, but ultimately left after giving her as a nominal second husband her remaining brother Ptolemy XV, who was only ten or eleven. When he had completed his campaigns, he summoned her to him at Rome, whither she came with Ptolemy and with Caesarion, the son whom she bore to Caesar after he had left her in Egypt. It was reported that the Dictator was actually about - to make her his wife when he was assassin- ated, leaving her to escape back to Egypt, In the meantime Ptolemy XV disappeared, we know not how, and left Cleopatra doubly widowed. There is a gap in the story now until Antony appears in the East after avenging Caesar's murder at Philippi. The Triumvir, at the age of forty-two, had an even more notorious reputation - than the man to whose position he had in part succeeded. When he called Cleopatra to him there was but one result to be expected. Cleo- patra yielded again, as she had yielded to Caesar, . at the price of securing her kingdom. From this time onward, although their connection was broken off for a period of more than three years, she set herself to mould Antony to her will, and to increase that realm which, at the beginning of her reign, she appeared likely not merely to fail to keep intact, but even to lose altogether. There are reasons for thinking that she tried to 317 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT persuade Antony to sever his connection with Rome entirely so that he might become King of a greater Egypt, with her as his heiress-wife. Antony could not bring himself to renounce his birthright as a Roman citizen, and therefore obviously could not accept the kingship of Egypt. He continued to attempt to combine two in- compatible careers, those of a Roman Imperator and of an Oriental monarch without a crown. He made Cleopatra his wife, however, as far as he could, in view of the fact that he had another wife at Rome, and at last went so far as to repudiate Octavia for her sake. Cleopatra had apparently attained her object. Then came Actium and the invasion of Egypt, and with the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra the story comes to an end. The Queen of Egypt, it will be readily admitted, was no earlier Catherine the Great, unless we go beyond the plain outlines of this story and accept her enemies' attribution to her of many other lovers, most of whose names they have not troubled to record recognising that for their purpose the anonymous charge is the safest. But if we adhere to statements which can be proved, we find Cleopatra allying herself with two men who seemed to her to have the destinies of the world in their control. Both of her great intrigues ' were fraught with profound political results for Egypt. We do not, therefore, see her guided by CLEOPATRA THE GREAT sensual motives, but rather using her senses as the instruments of her brain. It remains to ask whether her heart was at all touched in the two affairs which her clever head turned to such purpose. With regard to her con- nection with the Dictator Caesar it is very difficult to pronounce. Cleopatra met Caesar when she was twenty-one and he was thirty-three years older. Her very life was at stake unless she could win him to her. She made a daring attempt and succeeded so far as to obtain an influence over him which no other woman had managed to gain, thereby unwittingly contributing to his fall. What effect he produced upon her we have no means of judging ; for there is not a single sentence of evidence upon the subject, as might have been expected, all the early writers being careless or ignorant of any feelings which she might possess. After his death she endeavoured to help the Caesarian cause, as she was quite justified in pointing out to Antony. Moreover, she remained attached to their son Caesarion, though we are unable to analyse what kind of regard for the father entered into the mother's love for the child. Cleopatra cannot but have admired so astonishing a genius as Caesar, and she must also have felt gratitude toward him, especially as his bewitchment by her was such a signal tribute to her charms. But policy so obviously bound her to him that there is at 319 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT least no necessity to imagine that she reciprocated the passion which the Dictator felt for her. In the case of Antony we are better provided with evidence. The connection lasted longer- twelve years as compared with three and the classical writers felt no constraint in discussing it with a freedom which they avoided where Caesar was involved. They made out of Antony's in- fatuation a great romance, and they were per- fectly right in doing so. It was a great romance, and the more romantic for being a true one. Where we may be permitted to differ from them is in not accepting the hypotheses that in the affair the love was entirely on one side, and that Cleopatra, having entered upon her relationship with Anthony because she believed that he was the man whom she must put in the place of Caesar as her saviour from the menace of Rome, cared so little for him that she was quite ready to betray him to his enemies when she saw that he could not save her. It was to the advantage of Octavian that matters should be represented thus. Antony, in so far as he was a Roman and once the brother-in-law of Octavian, must be shown as the victim of " the Egyptian," the sufferer from her poisonous philtres. And, inas- much as Octavian had endeavoured to purchase from her Antony's betrayal with promises which he never meant to keep, she must be shown as offering to be the traitor to one whom she had 320 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT from the first only deluded with a pretence of love. Octavian became Augustus the Roman Emperor, and his version of the story was naturally that which prevailed. We must admit that Cleopatra was attracted to Antony and determined to attach him to her be- cause she saw in him the proper partner in the scheme, which Caesar's murder had temporarily ruined, of preserving Egypt from the grasp of Rome. This is no reason, however, for supposing that he who inspired a lasting affection in two such dissimilar women as Fulvia and Octavia should ' have been incapable of arousing a passion in Cleopatra also. Had Antony been successful at Actium and (were it conceivable) become Emperor of the world known to the Romans, we should no doubt read of Cleopatra as his faithful and loving wife. That she was faithful to him in defeat ought to be a better proof of her love. And was she not faithful ? Her death should testify to this. She did not die with him, it is true. She did not even kill herself in the tomb before she was captured, being stopped by Proculeius. She waited some days before having recourse to the famous asp. But she was a mother and loved her children, for whom she hoped to secure terms from the conqueror. When she failed to extract any terms, she put an end to her life, having first done honour to the coffin . of Antony. And Octavian had her buried with 321 II CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT her lover, not unmoved, it would seem, by the pathos of their deaths. But Antony accused her of treachery to him when he was so incapable of judging aright that he seems a totally different man from the Antony who attempted to take up Caesar's inheritance. The wild utterances prompted by a diseased brain surely do not deserve serious attention. Cleopatra had indeed betrayed him, but not with the petty treachery which would sell a broken and ruined man to a foe who was in any case certain to capture him alive or dead. She had betrayed Antony the Roman when she made him enter into her project of saving and aggrandising Egypt at the expense of Rome. She betrayed him because she was a bold stateswoman and he a soldier of fortune whose ability to cut himself off from his early associations she had overrated. When she saw on the arrival of the Roman senators at Ephesas that his country still had a powerful hold over him, she recognised that her schemes were threatened with disaster. The outcome of her reflections on this desperate position was the plan which there was an attempt to carry out at Actium. The escape from Actium must have seemed to Cleopatra the only means by which she might keep both Egypt and Antony for her- self. The plan was a bad one, as it was bound to be, being a solution of an impossible problem. But at any rate we find no sign that she tried 322 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT to sell Antony in ofder to buy off the punishment for her mistakes. She returned with him to Egypt and there with him waited to see what - fate would bring. When all his forces failed him, she followed him to the grave. If we hold that she had no love for him, can we suggest what other course she should have taken, had she loved him ? Cleopatra has sometimes been compared with a tigress. The comparison is not without its aptness. And no one denies that tigresses have the capacity for love of their mates. A tigress, too, is said to be ready to fight to the last on behalf of her cubs. Cleopatra dis- played no quality which arouses our sympathy more than her maternal love. We cannot pretend to know how she brought up her children, but we have the witness of writers very hostile to her that she exhibited always the greatest solicitude, first for Caesarion alone, and then for him and her two sons and daughter by Antony, that Egypt should be preserved as their inheritance. After Caesar's assassination and her return to Alexandria her anxiety was that both Egypt and Rome should recognise Caesarion as her associate on the throne of the Ptolemies. She persuaded Egypt by such devices as those whose record was placed on the walls of the temple at Erment. Rome's consent she bought, it would appear, in return for the 323 n* CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT assistance which she tried to give to Dolabella. When she obtained her ascendancy over Antony she had no difficulty in procuring from him most generous treatment for Caesarion as well as for the children whom she bore to himself. And at the end we see her desperately struggling to save her young family from the fate threatened them at the hands of Octavian, bargaining with him at the risk of being denounced to Antony as willing to sacrifice him, and enduring her own life as long as she entertained any hopes of a compromise. Judged from the standpoint of a mother, Cleopatra does not deserve to be ranked among the bad women of history. There is some satisfaction in thinking she did not live to see the cruel end of her beloved Caesarion. The case is very difficult when we look at her relations with her brothers and sister. The traditions of Oriental despotism were not violated by the Lagidae, and the custom of brother-and- sister marriage very often introduced an addi- tional horror. The union of Ptolemy Phila- delphos with Arsinoe II was followed by good results, but usually the " divine marriage " led to unhappiness. Cleopatra's wedding of her two brothers, although owing to the youth of both boys, even at the time of their deaths, the transaction was possibly formal, turned out very ill. With Ptolemy XIV she was soon on terms of bitter enmity, while the mystery of the dis- 324 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT appearance of Ptolemy XV reflects grave suspicions upon her. With regard to her sister Arsinoe, there is no doubt whatever that Cleo- patra dealt with her ferociously, and well merited the title of her murderess. Both the Ptolemies and Arsinoe only appeared to Cleopatra in the light of obstacles to her enjoyment of power, and like so many a Sultan and Sultana she can be credited with no scruples where a rival of her own blood was concerned. Cleopatra exhibited, in fact, all the cruelty which accompanies great craft in rulers, Western as well as Eastern. When we have the certainty of her behaviour toward Arsinoe and toward Artavasdes, King of Armenia, we need not trouble to ask whether the tale of her experiments into the action of poisons on the persons of condemned criminals at Alexandria is true. The dislike which the Alexandrians so frequently manifested of her was no doubt inspired by such ruthlessness as she showed after her return from Actium. They were a troublesome people, and she ruled them as the most tyrannical of her predecessors had ruled them before her, that is by terrorism, mitigated only by the display of a gorgeous pomp which kept in a good humour those on whom her wrath did not fall. To show a sign of hesitation might have given her Alex- andrian subjects the idea that she feared them ; and, to do her justice, it must be admitted that 325 "t CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT she was singularly devoid of fear. The only lack of courage with which she can be charged was during the campaign of Actium. She is alleged to have been dispirited by a series of bad omens before the fighting began, and to have been a victim of fright in the battle itself. As for omens, she had good reason to be discouraged by what occurred when Antony set up his head- quarters in Asia Minor in 30 B.C., for by the arrival at Ephesus of Antony's Roman supporters, and their attempt to drive her away from the man whom they hailed as deliverer of the Republic, all her ambitions were threatened with absolute ruin. With regard to the sea-fight, while the supposition of a sudden panic on the part of Cleopatra fits in best with the ascertainable facts, there are points on which, could we be enlightened, we should be in a better position to judge. We do not even know, for instance, whether Cleopatra was a good sailor ! We hear of her being prostrated by rough weather when she set sail from Alexandria to the assistance of Dolabella in Syria. At any rate, she quickly regained her courage after the flight from Actium. During the last months in Egypt, of all her party and Antony's she best played the man, down to that day when, in the words of her very grudging critic Florus, " free from all womanly fear she yielded up her last breath." The almost complete absence of Egyptian 326 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT records concerning Cleopatra's reign is for no reason more to be regretted than because without them we cannot with any certainty estimate in what light she appeared to the mass of her sub- jects. With the Alexandrians, we know, she was unpopular. But we hear of no native risings against her authority. The inclination of the Egyptians to revolt against their Mace- donian rulers had no doubt been checked by the merciless suppression of the Theban rebellion by Ptolemy Lathyros in 67 B.C., when he razed to the ground Thebes, the old Pharaohs' " Hori- zon on Earth, the Eye of the Universal Lord," and scattered its inhabitants among villages. Yet there was a rebellion in the South, in the nomes of the Said, in the early days of the Roman occupation of Egypt, which Strabo attributes to discontent at the heavy taxation. Under Cleopatra, as under her father Auletes, taxation was very heavy ; but there were no risings known to us against either Auletes or Cleopatra. Father and daughter seem to have acted alike in their home policy. While their exactions of money to fill the royal purse were grievous, they left the provincials otherwise very much to themselves, under the administration of the local officials,* and they provided for the *In this connection see Dr. Mahaffy's "History of Egypt," pp. 244-6, where he translates and comments on the priestly stele of Thebes, showing the great importance assumed by a provincial official early in the joint reign of Cleopatra and Caesarion. 327 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT worship of the native gods. Auletes and Cleo- patra were both temple-builders, as has already been said, and evidence of their wise attempts to keep a hold over the Egyptians by a pious expenditure of some of the money ground out of them remains to this day. Unhappily the most important new work of Cleopatra's reign exists no more. The temple she erected at Hermonthis, a mammisi or " birth- house " dedicated to Isis, mother of Horus, in commemoration of her own bringing-forth of Caesarion, suffered the fate described in an earlier chapter, and is represented only by a few stones at the modern Erment. We can no longer see, therefore, the actual reliefs repre- senting in so curious a way the priestly story of the parentage of Cleopatra's firstborn, nor the picture of Cleopatra herself adoring the sacred bull of Hermonthis, which was identified with the god Mentu. A similar fate has befallen her buildings at Koptos. At Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, the great temple of Hathor fortunately remains, one of the most magnificent and most perfectly preserved examples of Egyptian archi- tecture, having even its roof over it. Cleopatra probably had little to do with the building of the temple, to which her father had added some crypts ; but her decorations are much in evidence on its walls. One of the most striking of these is a relief, on the outer wall, of herself and 328 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT Caesarion offering worship and incense to Isis and to Horus. Within this temple is a small chapel at the west end, in which Cleopatra may have stood on a few solemn occasions in her reign. It is the " Dwelling of Hathor," the innermost shrine of the goddess whom the Greeks identified with Aphrodite, in which was kept her golden sistrum, and to which only the sovereign might be admitted. In the reliefs Cleopatra appears with the head- dresses of both Hathor and Isis, who blended to a large extent in the legends of Horus, son of the Great Mother. With Cleopatra's identification with Isis we are already familiar. It was a common role for the queens of the Lagid house to adopt, it would appear ; and the ambitious and utterly unscrupulous Cleopatra III to some extent anticipated her namesake's assumption of the epithet Nea Isis by calling herself Nike- phoros (" Bringer of Victory ") and Dikaiosyne (" Justice "), both of them titles of Isis. Plutarch, when he writes of the Alexandrian triumph, says that " Cleopatra now, as on other occasions when she went out publicly, wore the dress sacred to Isis, different from her ordinary dress, and she was called the New Isis," the natural inference from which would be that she encouraged the cult of herself as Isis from this time. Coins of an earlier date, however, show her already with the attributes of the goddess. 329 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT It is difficult to say what was the precise import of this identification with Isis, which was paralleled among the male Lagidae by the fourth and thirteenth Ptolemies calling themselves Dionysos as did Antony when he began to become Egyptianised.* The ruling sovereign of Egypt was by reason of his or her office divine ; but it must have pleased her subjects to see Cleopatra equate herself with the " great mother of the gods," wearing the plain straight skirt and the monstrous head-dress of the goddess, or she would hardly have ventured to do so. Not until her last desperate days do we hear of her flouting the religious susceptibilities of Egypt ; and even then we do not know that she may not be maligned by Dion when he makes her rob the temples of their treasures, " not sparing even the holiest shrines." For the bulk of her reign at least, we see her careful to keep on her side the hearts of the devout. Taken as a whole, Cleopatra's domestic policy in Egypt, though financially burdensome, does not seem to have been otherwise oppressive, like that of many of her predecessors. Outside Alexandria complaint against her did not become fierce. Where she ruined her country was with her foreign policy. But, on the other hand, it * Antony's assumption and acceptance of the r61e of a Ptolemy were rendered easier for him by his connection with both Dionysos and Herakles, both claimed by the Lagidae as their divine ancestors. 330 CLEOPATRA THE GREAT might be said that by this same foreign policy she gave Egypt at least seventeen years more of independent existence than there was any reason to hope for when Julius Caesar set foot in Alex- andria. Dealing with only Ptolemy XIV, Pothei- nos, and Achillas, Caesar would hardly have left Egypt in B.C. 47 a self-governing state. Such it still was, however, until the middle of the year 30, thanks to the influence of Cleopatra first over Caesar and then over Antony. Cleopatra died a failure. She failed because, as has been pointed out above, the problem which she attempted to solve was incapable of solution. She had been seeking how, with the aid of a man who could not forget that he was a Roman, she might build up Egypt into an empire strong enough to resist the encroachments of Rome. Herself an Orientalised Greek, queen of a nation mostly alien to her in blood, she did not realise the power of the name of Rome over even the most lawless of her offspring. Antony only threw off his Roman citizenship in the madness of Actium, where he lost his manhood too. Already grown helpless to think for himself, he became unfit to supply the force to be guided by Cleopatra's brain, and so left her kingdom, which she had made also his, an easy prey to Octavian. But if Cleopatra failed, yet for a while, between Tarentum and Actium, she came very near to 331 CLEOPATRA OF EGYPT success. And in any case, whether her ambitions were frustrated because she chose her instrument unwisely or because there was ' no instrument capable of doing the work which she required of it, there were in her scheme a breadth and a magnificence which make it impossible for us to be blind to her fine statecraft or to deny her right to the traditional title of Cleopatra the Great. THE END 332 APPENDIX A GENEALOGY OF CLEOPATRA THE GREAT PTOLEMY I SOTER = (i) EURYDIKE (son of LAGOS) (widowed d. of Antipater of Macedon) (2) BERENIKE I (grandniece of Antipater of Macedon) PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHOS =f ARSINOE I | (d. of LYSIMACHOS of Thrace) i PTOLEMY III EUERGETES =f BERENIKE II (g.d. of EURYDIKB by her first husband) PTOLEMY IV PHILOPATOR -p ARSINOE III PTOLEMY V EPIPHANES CLEOPATRA I of Syria (dau. of Antiochos the Great) PTOLEMY VII PHILOMETOR CLEOPATRA II I CLEOPATRA III =f PTOLEMY IX (PHYSKON) I PTOLEMY X SOTER II (LATHYROS) who had an illegitimate son ! PTOLEMY XIII (AULETES) CLEOPATRA V TRYPHAENA BERENIKE CLEOPATKA VI IV the Great ARSINOE IV PTOLEMY XIV PTOLEMY XV NOTE. The members of the Lagid family not directly concerned in the descent are omitted from the above table. Ptolemy I was reputed to be the son of Philip Amyntas, King of Macedon, but himself recognised as his father Lagos, who was the husband of Arsinoe, a relative of the King. The four younger children of Ptolemy XII I are. by some assigned to another wife than Cleopatra V. Some give him an eldest daughter, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena, full sister of Bercnike IV. (See Appendix B.) 333 APPENDIX B THE FAMILY OF PTOLEMY AULETES ON the subject of Cleopatra's parentage M. Bouche- Leclercq writes (" Histoire des Lagides," II. p. 415 note) : " We have before us a tangle of problems for which no solution can be found save in conjectures, none of which are in accordance with all the texts. We know for certain of five children of Ptolemy Auletes : three daughters, Berenike (ob. 55 B.C.), the celebrated Cleopatra (ob. 30), Arsinoe (ob. 41), and two sons, Ptolemy XIV (ob. 47) and Ptolemy XV (ob. 44). Porphyry (" Fr. Hist. Gr.," III. p. 723) alone mentions an older daughter, called Cleopatra Tryphaena like her mother, reigning conjointly with her sister Berenike in 58 and dying soon afterwards. Strabo (XVII. p. 796) says that when Ptolemy had been ' expelled ' the Alexandrians put on the throne the eldest of his three daughters, ' the only legitimate one.' He is evidently thinking of Berenike, and Dion Cassius also knows of no other queen beside Berenike during the interregnum 58-55. Neither Strabo nor Dion nor Porphyry mentions the queen- mother, who accordingly is assumed to have died, and to have died early enough for Ptolemy to have become after her death father of four bastards, as Strabo implicitly calls them. Except for Lepsius and Wilcken, all authorities, from Vaillant to Strack, are agreed that the queen-mother Cleopatra Try- phaena died before 58, and they quote as a proof 334 APPENDIX B the fact (arbitrarily assigned to the year 63) that the two Ptolemies were betrothed to the daughters of Mithridates. Strack even assigns Cleopatra's death to the end of 69, because after that date the queen's name appears no more in inscriptions and public deeds. Consequently those who do not wish to reject either Strabo or Porphyry make the Cleopatra Tryphaena who was put on the throne in 58 with Berenike or, rather, before her (v. Strack, p. 68) an older daughter, bearing her mother's name, and the four other children born to the widowed Ptolemy all ' bastards.' But how can we suppose that during the struggle preceding the annexation of Egypt, 47-30 B.C., the Romans, tempted as they were to sweep away the last of the dynasty, never thought of declaring Cleopatra Philopator and her two brothers bastards and children of bastards ? And would the Ptolemy Nothus, whose illegitimacy cost him so dear, have put his successors in the same situation as himself ? . . . There remains Strack's triumphant objection, that the name of the Queen Cleopatra, the Goddess Philapator Philadelphos, disappears from the monuments and the dates on the papyri after 69. This is but negative evidence, which may be upset to-morrow by the discovery of evidence to the contrary effect, and which may, as Strack himself admits, be capable of another explana- tion. Moreover, the evidence is not complete. Strack (p. 210, p. 43) is obliged to declare incorrect an inscription dated December 5th, 57 B.C., which speaks of the completion of the pylons of the temple of Edfu by Ptolemy NCOS Dionysos and his sister- wife, Queen Cleopatra Tryphaena. The inscription may be incorrect ; but, while the error is a small one 335 APPENDIX B if Cleopatra did not die until 58, it becomes very great if she died eleven years previously. It is probable that outside Alexandria Ptolemy continued to be looked on as reigning monarch, and that it was not known at Edfu in December 57 that the queen- mother was dead, news from Alexandria being lacking or disbelieved. A prolongation of the queen- mother's existence to the year 57 solves all problems at once, without removing from the texts anything except their contradictions." Doctor J. P. Mahaffy, who has done so much to bring the history of the Ptolemies before English readers, expresses himself doubtfully on the subject of the identity of the Cleopatra Tryphaena of 58 in his " History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dy- nasty " (p. 229), but speaks without doubt of " a young family by another wife, of whom the eldest became afterwards the famous Queen of Egypt." Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge (" History of Egypt," VIII. p. 79) holds that " Cleopatra V Tryphaena probably died about 69 or 68 " ; that she had two daughters, Cleopatra VI Tryphaena and Berenike IV ; and that the four children, Cleopatra VII (as she now becomes), Arsinoe IV, Ptolemy XIV, and Ptolemy XV, were by a second wife. 336 PRINCIPAL DATES IN CLEOPATRA'S LIFE Cleopatra's birth . . . . . 69 or 68* Ptolemy Auletes recognised as king by Rome (Caesar cos.) 59 ,, ,, driven into exile. . . . 58 restored by Gabinius . . . -55 Death of Auletes and accession of Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV 51 Cnaeus Pompeius, junior, visits Egypt. . . -49 Cleopatra driven out by her brother . ? Autumn, 48 Murder of Pompey near Pelusium. . . Sept. 29, 48 Arrival of Julius Caesar in Alexandria. . October, 48 Death of Ptolemy XIV . . . March (O.S.) 47 Departure of Caesar, leaving Cleopatra and Ptolemy XV associated on the throne June (O.S.=March 1 or April), J 47 Birth of Ptolemy Caesarion. . . . June, 47 Cleopatra visits Rome .... Summer, 45 Murder of Caesar .... March 15, 44 Death of Ptolemy XV ? 44 Return of Cleopatra to Egypt . . . April, 44 Cleopatra associates Caesarion with her on the throne ? 43 Meeting of Cleopatra and Antony at Tarsus . Autumn, 4 1 Antony leaves Cleopatra after wintering at Alexandria with her ...... Spring, 40 Birth of Cleopatra's twin children, Alexander and Selene 40 Antony rejoins Cleopatra at An tioch . . Autumn, 37 Birth of Cleopatra's fourth child. Ptolemy (Philadelphos) 36 The triumph and donations of Alexandria . . -34 Antony and Cleopatra winter in Greece . . . 32-31 The battle of Actium ..... Sept. 2, 31 Fall of Alexandria and death of Antony . . Aug. i, 30 Death of Cleopatra ..... August, 30 According to Strack, " Die Dynastic der Ptolemler," she was born in th winter of 69. But see p. 376 with regard to the month of her birthday. 337 LIST OF CHIEF MODERN AUTHORITIES CONSULTED Bouche-Leclercq, A. " Histoire des Lagides." Budge, A. E. Wallis " History of Egypt," etc. Buttles, Janet R. " The Queens of Egypt." Ermann, A. " Life in Ancient Egypt." Ferrero, G. " Greatness and Decline of Rome " (" Grandezza e Decadenza di Roma ").* Gayet, A. " La Civilisation Pharaonique." Houssaye, H. " Aspasie Cleopatre Th6odora." Mahaffy, J. P. " Empire of the Ptolemies." ,, ,, "History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty." Maspero, G. " New Light on Ancient Egypt," etc. Mommsen, T. " History of Rome." Moret, A. " Du Caractere Religieux de la Royaute Phar- aonique." Petrie, W. M. Flinders " Religion of Ancient Egypt." Poole, R. S. " Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum." Sharpe, S. " History of Egypt." Steindorf, G. " Religion of the Ancient Egyptians." Baedeker's and Murray's " Guides to Egypt." ANCIENT AUTHORITIES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO DATE FIRST CENTURY B.C. Cicero ; Julius Caesar ; Author of " De Bello Alexandrine " ; Strabo ; Diodorus Siculus ; Livy. FIRST CENTURY A.D. Velleius Paterculus ; Seneca ; Lucan ; Josephus ; Plutarch ;| Pliny the Younger ; Dion Chrysostom ; Tacitus. SECOND CENTURY A.D. Appian ; Florus ; Suetonius ; Lucian ; Dion Cassius. THIRD CENTURY A.D. Athenaeus ; Porphyry. FIFTH CENTURY A.D. OrOSlUS. ELEVENTH CENTURY A.D. Xiphilin. TWELFTH CENTURY A.D. Zonaras. * The references to this are according to the pages of the English edition recently issued ; but the translations are mostly made from the French version, which was available earlier. t In the case of Plutarch frequent use has been made of the translation of Mr. G. Long (Bohn's Standard Library, Messrs. G. Bell & Sons), with some modifications after reference to the original. 338 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES AND PLACES Achillas, Egyptian general 54, 59, 6, 67, 73 ff-, 98 Achilles Tatius 117 Actium 239, 848 ff. Agrippa, M. Vipsanius 234-5, 241, 243. 245. 252-3, *7i Ahenobarbus, Cn. Domitius 172, J77, 196, 217, 220-2, 244-5 Ahmes, Queen of Egypt 311 Alexander the Great 10, 48, 51, in, 115, 118, 121 Alexander Helios, elder son of Cleopatra and Antony 181, 188, 301-2, 290, 303, 304 n. Alexandria no ff. ; architecture and planning of, 114 ff., 158 ; remains of ancient, 118 . ; the Brucheion, 74, 1x7 ; Harbour, 74, 116-7; Library, 76-7, 8, no; Pharos, 77, in, 1 16 ; Heptastadion, 77, 117; Khakotis, no, 115, 119 ; Royal Palace, 117, 158 ; Museum, 118 ; Gymnasium, 118; temples, 119, 120 ; Timonium, 268 ; popu- lation, 66, in ; mixture of races in, 66, 1 1 1-3 ; character of citi- *en*, 34> 80, in ff., 163 ; super- stition, 113, 119 ; cleavage between the city and Egypt, no; not a Greek polls, 114 ; citizens' hos- tility toward Ptolemy Auletes, 17, 20, 37 ; toward Cleopatra, 52-3, 263, 325 ; household troops in, 37 ; the siege of, 65 ff. ; com- pared with Peking Legation siege, 74 " Alexandrian War," Author of 40, 68, 76, 80-4, 86 Allienus 127-8 Amenothes III. of Egypt 94 Ammonios, agent of Ptolemy Au- letes 26 Amyntas of Galatia 240, 244 Ancyra 234 Antigonus of Judaea 189 Antioch 185 ff. Aiuiochi 15, 32. See also Seleu- kidae Antiochus the Great 48 Antiochus of Commagene 178 Autipater, father of Herod the Great 35,85 Antonia, cousin and second wife of Antony 127, 139 Antonia major, elder daughter of Antony and Octavia 177, 180, 303 Antonia minor, younger daughter of Antony and Octavia 180, 303 Antonius, Caius, brother of Antony 130, 148 Antonius, Lucius, brother of Antony 151 ff., 165, 167 Antony (Marcus Antonius) his first meeting with Cleopatra, 9, it ; reported early fascination by her, n, 37; helps to restore Ptolemy Auletes, 28, 35-6 ; mismanage- ment of Rome in Caesar's absence, 98, 137 ; possible meetings with Cleopatra in 44 B.C., 104 ; first relations with Octavian, 127; 339 INDEX triumvir with Octavian and Lepi- dus, 130 ; goes to the East, 132 ; his treatment of the Greeks, 132, 177 ; charge against Cleopatra, 131, 147 ; enmity with Cicero, 135 ; early life, 136-8 ; meeting with Cleopatra at Tarsus, 141 ff. ; enslavement by Cleopatra, 148, *5, 3i7 ; goes to Egypt, 151 ; the " Inimitable Life," 156 ff. ; his fishing, 163 ; popularity in Alexandria, 163 ; leaves Egypt, 165 ; last interview with Fulvia, 166 ; suggested alliance with Sextus Pompeius, 171-2 ; reconciled with Octavian at Brundisium, 174 ; marries Octavia, 175 ; visits Athens with her, 177 ; his opera- tions in Syria, 178 ; meets Octa- vian at Tarentum, 179 ; parts with Octavia, 180 ; rejoined by Cleopatra, 181 ; the Antioch marriage question, 185-8, 201 ; his gifts to Cleopatra, 185, 188-90 ; his coins, 185-7 ; first Parthian campaign, 191, 193 ff. ; returns to Alexandria, 195 ; responsibility for the death of Sextus Pompeius, *97 > prepares for second cam- paign, 198 ; receives overtures from Octavia, 200 ; his conquest of Armenia, 202 ; his Alexandrian triumph, 202 ff. ; the " donations of Alexandria," 207-9 > still has adherents in Rome, 214, 230 ; vainly claims Rome's recognition of his acts, 216 ; winters at Ephcsus with Cleopatra, 219 ; repudiates Octavia, 226 ; his will, 228 ; Octavian's accusations against, 229 ; stripped of his authority by Rome, 235 ' sur- prised by Octavian's landing in Greece, 239 ; his forces at Actium, 140 ; suspicious against Cleo- patra, 246. 277, 280, 284, 322 ; his intentions and conduct at Actium, 240 ; flight, 254, 257, 259 ; attempts suicide, 263 ; returns to Alexandria, 265 ; imi- tates Timon, 267 ; the " Die- togethers," 268 ; negotiations with Octavian, 272 ff. ; last struggles, 279-83 ; his defeat, 283 ; mortally wounds himself, 285 ; his death in Cleopatra's arms, 286-7 ; buried by Cleopatra, 293 ; his character, o, !33 (?> 148, 163-4 ; Ferrero's estimate of, 134, 155, 175, 185 n., 187 n., 194 ., 232, 262 n. ; his looks, 10, 138 ; abilities as a general, 136, 193, 238, 241, 244, 258 ; as a cavalry officer, 35-6, 137, 280 ; legendary descent from Hercules, 10, 138, 188, 256, 330 n. ; in the character of Dionysos, 133, 145, i77i 256, 283, 330 ; as a drinker, 136, 209 ; his debts, 10, 136-7 ; taste for Greek life, 137, 162 ; dealings with women, 138-9, 168 ; Fnlvia's love for, 139, 168-70, 321 ; Octavia's, 139, 177, 321 ; Cleopatra's, 139, 320-3 ; his mental affliction, 209-12, 258, 288, 331 ; described by Floras and Vclleius, 209-10 Antyllus, eldest son of Antony 160, 170, 180, 225, 268, 274, 302 Apollodoros the Sicilian 69 Appian n ., 37, 67, 147, 168, 307, etc. Archelaos, general of Mithridates 33 Archelaos, son of the above 33 ff. Archelacs, of Cappadocia 240 Arohibios, friend of Cleopatra 301 Areios, Pythagorean philosopher 292-3, 32 Arsinoe II. of Egypt 324 340 INDEX Arsinoe IV., sister of Cleopatra 16, 29, 46, 72, 74, 78, 83-4, 88, 98, 103 n., 148-9, 188, 296, 325 Artavasdes of Armenia 193, 198, oi, 205-6, 264, 296 Artavasdes of Media 193, 198, 202, 215, 264 Askalon 312 Asoka, King of Magadha 112 Athenaeus 42 ., 90, 145, 160 Athens 137, 177, 224, etc. Augustus, Emperor See Octaviaa Bassus, Caecilius 124, 126 Bassos, Ventidius 177-8, 190 Berenike III., daughter of Pto- lemy X. 12-14 Berenike IV., sister of Cleopatra 29 ff-, 36, 33, 309 Bibulus, Roman governor of Syria 55 Bindusara, King of Magadha 1 12 Bogud of Mauretania 240 Brundisium 172-4, 238 Brutus, Decimus 125 Brutus, Marcus 79, 125, 130 ff. Caelius Ruftis 26, 40 n., 129 Caesar, Cains Julius early proposal to send him to Egypt, 20 ; his debts, 20- 1, 38 ; bought by Ptolemy Anletcs, 21 ; enters triumvirate, 28 ; lends money to Autetes, 38, 75 ; rupture with Pompey, 56 ; arrival in Alex- andria, 64 ; first meeting with Cleopatra, 69-71 ; perilous posi- tion, 65, 80 ; excuses for stay in Alexandria, 66, 68 ; summons Cleopatra before him, 67 ; re- ticence concerning Cleopatra, 68, 73. jo* ; Morumsen on, 70, 88 ; bis conduct with women, 70-1, 316 ; settles between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIV., 7* ; his 341 alleged gift of Cyprus, 72, 188 ; advice of Potheinos to, 75, 89 ; burns Alexandrian docks, 76 ; question of the Library's destruc- tion, 76-7 ; seizes Pharos, 77 ; beheads Potheinos, 78 ; narrow escape from death, 81 ; releases Ptolemy XIV., 83 ; delivered by Mithridates of Pergamum, 85 ; defeats Egyptian army, 85 ; re- enters Alexandria, 87 ; journeys up the Nile with Cleopatra, 90-2 ; leaves Egypt, 93 ; his son by Cleopatra, 93 ; triumphs in Rome, 98 ; sends for Cleopatra, 99 ; reported intention to marry Cleo- patra, 102, 317 ; Parthian schemes, 102, 126, 135 ; murdered, 103 ; his will, 104, 2x4 Caesar, Lucius Julius, grandfather of Antony 137 Caesarion (Ptolemy XVI. Caesar), son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar his birth and parentage, 93-4 ; the " divine birth," 94 ff. his visit to Rome, 99 ; recognised by Antony, 104 ; associated on the throne w ith Cleopatra, 105, 141 ; called " King of Kings " by Antony, 207 ; as Julius Caesar's heir, 214 ; Cleopa- tra's affection for, 357, 319, 323 ; his majority proclaimed, 268 ; sent into safety by Cleopatra, 290 ; be- trayed to Octavian and executed. 301 ; sculptured representation of, 3*9 Caligula, Einpcror 304 Calvinus, lieutenant of Caesar 89 Canidius Crassus 216, 223, 245, 255, 262, 266 Canopus 116, iza Carfulcnus, lieutenant of Caesar 86 Canto* Longinus, Caius 124 ff. Channion, attendant on Cleopatra 136, 260, 284, 286, 291, 299 INDEX Cicero, Marcus Tullius 14, to, 26, 27, 8, 36 n., 38, 39, 76, 88, 99, too, 103, 144, 130, 135, 148, 168, 169 Cleopatra (VI.) the Great her first appearance in history, 10 ; her family, 29 ff., Appendix B ; alleged illegitimacy, 30 ; date of birth, 31, 44, 276, 435 ; her official style, 44 ; lack of Egyptian records concerning, 44, 53, 57, 183, 327 ; early life, 45-6 ; acces. sion to throne and marriage with Ptolemy XIV., 52 ; unpopularity in Alexandria, 52-3, 57, 264 ; intrigue with .Cnaeus Pompeius, 56, 310, 316 ; expelled from Egypt > 57 > summoned before Caesar, 67 ; her appearance before him, 69-71 ; besieged with him in Alexandria, 74 ff. ; saved by Caesar's victory, 88 ; associated with Ptolemy XV., 88 ; journeys up the Nile with Caesar, 90-2 ; bears a son Caesarion, 93 ; revives " divine birth " legend, 94 ff. ; visits Rome, 97, 99 ; Cicero's opinion of, 100 ; excites Roman indignation, 101-3 flight after Caesar's death, 103 ; possible early hopes of Antony, 104 ; the mystery of Ptolemy XV., 104-5 ; association with Caesarion, 105, 141 ; troubled rule in 44 B.C., 124 ff. ; assists Dolabella, 128 ; threatened by Cassius, 130 ; atti- tude toward the triumvirs, 131 , 147 ; interview with Antony at Tarsus, 141 ff. ; procures murder of Arsinoe, 149 ; returns to Egypt with Antony, 151 ; the " Inimit- able Life" at Alexandria, 156;?. ; her famous wager, 161 ; separation from Antony, 170, 175, 181 ; relations renewed, 181 ; bears twins to him, 181 ; meeting with Herod, 182 ; attitude to Sextus Pompeius, 184, 197 ; the Antioch marriage question, 185-8, 201 n. ; her enlargement of Egypt's fron- tiers, 188-90, 207 ; the price paid to Antony, 190 ; in Judaea with Herod, 191 ; Herod's plots against, 192, 272 ; goes to Antony in Syria, 195 ; her ruse to checkmate Octavia, 200 ; at the Alexandrian triumph, 206 ff. ; at Ephesus with Antony, 219 ; her contribution to Antony's forces, 219 ; struggle with his Roman adherents, 221-3, 231, 242, 245, 315 ; at Athens, 224 ; Roman accusations against, 229 ; war declared against, 235 ; her policy in the Actium campaign, 241, 247 ff., 322 ; desire for naval fight, 245, 247 ; conduct at battle of Actium, 253 ff. ; with Antony at Taenarum, 260 ; vigorous action on return to Alexandria, 263 ; her schemes, 264-5, 278 ; alleged spoliation of temples, 265 ; the " Die-togethers," 268 ; experiments with poisons, 269-70 ; negotiations with Octavian, 272 ff. ; his offers to her, 273-5, 280 ; prepares for death, 279 ; flies in alarm from Antony, 284 ; receives the dying Antony, 286 ; visited by Octavian, 294-5 i f ear f figuring in a triumph, 296-7 ; the story of her death, 297-300 ; fate of her children, 301-4 ; her attainments, 46, 314 ; gift of languages, 46, 50 ; her beauty, 47, 70, 144, 310 ff. ; her nose, 311, 313 ; coins of, 185-7, 311-3 ; bust, 311-2 ; in sculpture, 311 ; influence over Julius Caesar, 46, 71, 92, 147, 314. 3i7 ff. ; over Antony, n n., 37, 46, 140, 147, 150, 314, 320 ff. ; accusations of treachery to Antony, 246, 277, 342 INDEX 280, 284, 332 ; unjustly called a crowned courtesan, 315 ff. ; affec- tion for her children, 257, 373, 290, 319, 321, 323-4 ; behaviour towards her brothers and sister, 3x4-5 ; her hatred of Arsinoe, 53, 99 ., 149 ; cruelty . 325 ; courage, 326 ; luxury, 157 ff., 189 ; attitude toward religion, 52,94-7,265,330 ; in the character of Isis, 206, 329 ; as a temple- builder, 52, 183, 328-9 ; her treatment by the historians, 306-8 ; her enmity with the Jews, 105, "9, 3<>7 1 Josephus's hatred of, 105, 182, 191-2, 307 ; Ferrero on her policy, 102 n., 174, 242 n. ; her task, 309-10 ; her rule over Egypt, 318, 325 ff. ; justification of her title of " the Great," 305 ff., 332 Cleopatra I. of Egypt 16, 48-9 Cleopatra III. 15, 49, 183, 329 Cleopatra IV. 48 n. Cleopatra V. Tryphaena, mother of Cleopatra the Great 16, 29-32, Appendix B. Cleopatra Tryphaena, alleged daughter of Ptolemy Auletes 29-30, Ap- pendix B. Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleo- patra and Antony 181, 188, 207, 290, 303 Clodius, Publius 23, 27, 139, 169 Cornelia, last wife of Pompey the Great 59, 61 Crassus, Lucius Licinius, triumvir 21, 28, 102, 154, 215 Curio, Cains Scribonius 136-7, 139, 169 Cyprus 15, 20, 23, 73, "9, fc. Cyrenaica 18-19, etc. Cytheris, Roman courtesan 139, 168 Deir, El-Bahari 94, 311 Dcllius, Quintus, Roman knight 129, 142-3, 194, 3, 344, 5i, 3i6 Demetrios, Alexandrian philosopher 42 Dendera (Tentyra) 311, 328 Diodorus Siculus 113, 115 Dion, Alexandrian citizen 25-6 Dion Cassius 23, 47, 69 ff., 93, 210, 248, 254, 75, 307, * Dion Chry sos torn 113 n. Dioskorides, Egyptian official 73 Dolabella, Publius Cornelius, Roman noble 125 ff., 139, 3*4 Dolabella, son of foregoing 296 Drusilla, supposed granddaughter of Cleopatra 304 n. Edfu 31-2, 41, 335 Egypt 106 ff. ; decay of, under Roman influence, n, 18 ; threat- ened with annexation, 20, 43 ; enlarged under Cleopatra, 188, 208 ; character of natives, 22, 108 ; parallels with China, 50, 108 ; attitude toward rulers, 22, 97, 109, 3*7 1 toward woman's rule, 54 ; annual revenue of, 21 ; wealth of, 107, 189 ; religion, 94, 96, 109, 120 ff. ; priesthood, 109 ; array, 36, 38, 68, 112 ; law of inheritance in, xo, 12 ; brother- and-sister marriages, 13, 16, 50 ; Greeks in, 50, no-i, 114 ; Romans, 37, 55, "3 ; Jews, 35, m, 119, 183 ; Buddhists, 112 Ephesus 26, 149, 219 Erment (Hermonthis) 96, 312, 328 Eros, slave of Antony 285 Euphronios, tutor to children of Cleopatra and Antony 272, 274 Eurykles, Greek soldier 259 Doiotarus of Galatia 240, 244 Fadia, first wife of Antony 1 Favonius, Roman tribune ?s 343 INDEX Felix, Antonius, Roman provincial governor 304 n. Florus 209, 249 n., 326 Fulvia, third wife of Antony 139, 151 ff., 166 ff., 180 Fulvius, father of foregoing 168 Gabinius, Aulus, Roman provincial governor 28, 34, 37, 39, 55, 129 Gabiniani 37, 55-59, 68, 93 Gallus, Cornelius, adherent of Octa- vian, afterwards first governor of Egypt 263, 277, 291 Ganymedes, eunuch of Arsinoe IV. 46, 78 ff., 98 Gaza 35 Geminius, adherent of Antony 231 Hammonios, Egyptian official too Hatshepsut, Queen of Egypt 54, 94,3" Hecataeus 106 Hermonthis. See Erment Herod the Great 35, 154-5, 181-3, 189-91, 240, 272, 308, 315 Herodotus 97, 106, 121 Hipparchus, freedman of Antony 275 Hortensius, enemy of Antony 148 lamblichus, Arab chief 85 lotapa, Median princess 202, 216 Iras, attendant on Cleopatra 236, 260, 284, 286, 291, 299 lullus. See Julus Josephus 50, 105, in, 149 n., 182, 191-2, 304 n., 307, 316 Juba, King of Numidia 60, 89, 98 Juba, King of Mauretania 99, 303 Jugurtha, King of Numidia 19 Julia, mother of Antony 137, 170, 173 Julia, daughter of Julius Caesar 56 Julia, daughter of Octavian 170, 302 Julus, younger son of Antony and Fulvia 170, aoi Karnak 95 Komana 33 Koin Ombo 41 Labienus, Roman renegade 154, 178 Lagidae, Macedonian sovereigns of Egypt the family, 12, 15, 47, Appendix A purely Greek blood of, 48, 50 ; general bad character, 12, 49-50, 149 ; Jewish historians on> 49. 3<>7 ; adoption of Egyptian customs, 10, 12, 16, 50-2 ; brother- and-sister marriages among, 13, l6 5<>. 334 ; religious policy of, 51, 121 ; as temple-builders, 31, 41, 52 ; their early attempts to Hellenize Egypt, no, 114; ex- ploitation of Egypt by, 22, 107-8 ; their wealth, 58, 107 ; the divine cult of, 118 ; their identification of themselves with gods, 42, 329 ; the women of the family, n, 33, 53 Lagos, ancestor of the Lagidae 12, 48,49 Laodicea 1 29-30 Lentnlus, Cornelius, stepfather of Antony 148 Lepidus, Marcus Aemilius, triumvir 130, 153, 174, 178-9, 195, 217 Leuke Kome 195 Libo, brother of Scribonia 173 Livia, wife of Octavian 295 Livy 76 Lucan 76, 78-9, 98 ., 306 Lucian 42 Luxor 95 Maecenas, friend of Octavian 271 Malchus, King of the Nabathaean Arabs 190, 240 Media 193, 202, 207, 215, etc. Memphis 45 n., 57, 122 344 INDEX Misenum 176 Mithridates the Great 13, 16, 33, 89 , 154 Mithridates of Comma gene 240 Mithridates of Pergamum 84-5 Mithridatis, daughter of Mithridates the Great 16,335 Murcus, admiral of Cassius 131, 171 Naukratis no, 114 Nero 42, 135, 177, 3<>4 Nitocris, Queen of Egypt it, 54 Nyssa, daughter of Mithridates the Great 16, 335 Octavia, sister of Octavian and fourth wife of Antony 139, 175, i77 ff-, 199-201, 225-7, 295 Octavian, afterwards the Emperor Augustus his influence on early historians, 93, 135, 140, 186, 192, 194, an, 306 ; hostility toward Caesarion, 93, 302 ; first relations with Antony, 127 ; triumvir with Antony and Lepidus, 130 ; his remark on Antony's bewitchment by Cleopatra, 150 ; enmity with Fulvia, 169, 173 ; treatment of Antony's sons, 170, 302 ; at Brundisium and Tarcntum, 173-4, 179 ; defeats Scxtus Pompeius and Lepidus, 197 ; alleged sacrifice of his sister, 199, 201, 226 ; foils Antony's claim for recognition of his acts, 217-21 ; seizes Antony's will, 228 ; his motto, 230 ; admin- isters the conjuralio to Italy, 234 ; declares war against Cleopatra, 236 ; recriminations with Antony, 218, 238 ; lands in Greece, 239 ; his suc- cess at Actium, 254 ff. ; negotiations with Antonyfand Cleopatra, 272-6 ; reported offer to Cleopatra, 273 ; defeats Antony in Egypt, 283 ; conduct after entering Alexandria, 292 ; visits Cleopatra, 294-5 ; bis intentions toward her, 296 ; gives her a royal funeral, 301 ; his treat- ment of her children, 301-3 Olympos, Cleopatra's physician 294 Onias, Jewish general 183 Orodes, King of Parthia 60, 155 Orosins 249 n. Pacorus of Parthia 155 Paraetonium 262, 279 Parthiaiis 55, 60, 102, 155, 165, 177-8, 181, 215 Pasirenptah, Egyptian priest 45 i. Patrae 234, 238, 256 Pelusium 35, 58, 69, 85, 262, 277t 279 Perikles 115 Perusia 153, 165 Pharnakes, son of Mithridates the Great 89 Phasael of Judaea 154-5, 182 Philadelphos of Paphlagonia 240 Philae 41 Philip Amyntas, King of Maccdon 49, 333 Philippus, freedman of Pompey 6r Phraata 193-4 Pinarius, Roman officer 263, 279 Plancus, lieutenant of Antony 177, 195, 197, 210, 228 Pliny 161, 246, 313 Plutarch 10, 28, 46, 59 ff., 69, 143, 139, 200, 273, 282, 307, etc., etc. Polemon of Pontus 198, 215 Pompeius, Cnaeus, junior 36-7, 98, 310, 316 Pompeius, Sextus 59, 151, 171 ff., 179, 184, 193-7 Pompey the Great (Cnaeus Pompeim Magnus) 20-1, 24 ff., 33-4, 40 56, }8-6$ Pontus 16, 33, 198, etc. Porphyry 29, 30, 104, 187, 334 345 INDEX Potheinos, eunuch of Ptolemy XIV. 46. 55, 59, 67, 69, 73 ff., 78, 89, 98, 336 Proculeius, Roman officer 389-291 Propertius 330 Ptolemais 27, no, 114 Ptolemy I. Soter, son of Lagos 13, 49, 114, 123-4 Ptolemy II. Philadelphos 49, 50, 112, 116, 312, 324 Ptolemy III. Euergetes 31, 49, 50, 188 Ptolemy IV. Phitopator 16, 41-2, 45, 49, 50, 90, "9, 157, 307, 33 Ptolemy V. Epiphanes 16, 51 Ptolemy VII. Philometor 49, 183 Ptolemy IX. Physkon 17, 48-9, 9, 3<>7 Ptolemy X. Lathyros 12, 14-5, 48, 327 Ptolemy XI. Alexander I. 12-14, 49 Ptolemy XII. Alexander II. 13-4, 17 Ptolemy XIIL Auletes, father of Cleopatra the Great his parent- age, 15, 48 ; becomes King of Egypt, 15 ; question as to his wife's identity, 16, 29 ff.. Appendix B ; attempts to obtain recognition by Rome, 18 ff. ; purchases Caesar's support, 21 ; recognised by Rome, 22; expelled by Alex- andrians, 23 ; in Rome, 23-4 ; restoration, 28 ; his family, 29 ff., Appendix B. ; conduct on return to Egypt, 35 ff. death, 40 ; his will, 40, 43, 52, 71-2 ; character, 40-3 ; crimes, 25, 36, 41, 49 ; his use of bribes, 18, 21, 25, 38 ; base coinage, 22 ; borrowings, 24, 37 ; effect of his rule on Egypt, 43, 107 , 327 ; his nickname, 15, 42 ; as the " New Dionysos," 15, 42, 330 Ptolemy XIV., elder brother of Cleo- patraso ff., 46, 53-4, 57, 63, 67, n ff; 83 ff., 309, 312, 316, 324 ; a pretender claiming to be, 149 n., ISO Ptolemy XV., younger brother of Cleopatra 29 ff., 72, 74, 88, 99, 104-5, 188, 317, 325 Ptolemy XVI. Casear. See Caesarion Ptolemy, younger son of Cleopatra and Antony 193, 207, 290, 3031 304 n. Ptolemy of Mauretania, grandson of Cleopatra 303 Ptolemy the Cyprian, uncle of Cleo- patra 15, 23, 309 Ptolemy Apion, ruler of Cyrenaica 17 Puteoli 25, 134 Rabirius, Roman moaey-lender 3&ff. Ramses II. of Egypt 45 Rhakotls. See under Alexandria Rhodon, tutor of Caesarion 290, 301-2 Rome the " evil eye " of, n ; her policy in Egypt, 13, 17 ff., 34, 32, 43, 107, 125 ; Roman troops in Alexandria, 37 ; Rome's first inter- vention in Cleopatra's reign, 58 ; offence at Caesar's connection with Cleopatra, 101 ; effect of Antony's Alexandrian donations, 213 ; public opinion at last solid for Octaviau, 276 ; Roman attitude toward foreigners, 39, 83, xoi, 129, 213, 306 ; Roman morals of the period, 19 n., 26, zoo, 129, 143 ; Roman historians on Cleopatra, see under Octavian R 11 fin us, freedman of Caesar- 93 Rullus, Roman tribune 20 Sadalas of Thrace 240 Salvius, Roman centurion Samoa 224 346 INDEX Saxa, Roman officer 153 Scribonia, wife of Octavian 173 Selene, sister of Ptolemy X. 14-5, 19 Seleukidae, Syrian royal family 16, 32, 34 Seleukos " Kybiosaktesj" 33 Seleukos, two Egyptians named 280, 295 Seneca 76, 142 n. Septimius, Roman centurion 60-61 Serapion, various Egyptians named 73, ioo, 129, 150 Sikyon 167 Sinope 122 Smyrna 131 Socrates the Rhodian 145 Sosius, Caius, lieutenant of Antony 189, 217, 220-1, 245 Spinther, Lentulus, Roman consul 25-7 Strabo 76, 327, 334~5 Stratonikeia 155 Suetonius 90, 93-4, 103, 306 Sulla, Lucius Cornelius 13-4, 20, 33,204 Syria 15-6, 19, 20, 124, 150, etc. Tacitus 304 . Taenarum, Cape 132, 260-1 Tarentum 179, 238 Tarkondimotos of Cilieia 240 Tarsus n n., 131, 144 Tentyra. See Dendera Thebes 94-5, 327 Theocritus 115 n., 118 n., 119, 313 Theodores, tutor of Antyllus 302 Theodotos, tutor of Ptolemy XIV. 54. 59, 67, 79 Theophanes of Lesbos 60 Theophilus, Bishop 120 Thothmoses I. of Egypt 95 Thyrsus, freedman of Octavian 274-6 Tigranes, King of Armenia 19, 154 Timon of Athens 267 Titius, lieutenant of Antony 197, 228 Toryne 239 Trebonius, Roman provincial governor 128 Turullius, Roman senator 274 Utica 9 Velleius Patercuhu 205, 210, 258, 303 Xiphilin 300 n. Zenobia of Palmyra 160 Zonaras 277 347 PRINTED AT THE CHAPEL RIVER PRESS, KINGSTON, SURREY. University of California > SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. REC'O LD-URt ik UN SFP 1 6 QLAPRl 1120Q4 R2C'D YRL ..." C 51996 02004 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 144827 1