Dio's Rome Volume III Part 9

And one viewing the business might have compared it, likening small things to great, to walls or many thickset islands being besieged by sea.

Thus the one party strove to scale the boats like some land or fortress and eagerly brought to bear everything that contributed to this result.

The others tried to repel them, devising every means that is commonly used in such, a case.

[-34-] As the fight continued equal, Caesar, at a loss what he should do, sent for fire from the camp. Previously he had wished to avoid using it, in order to gain possession of the money. Now he saw that it was impossible for him to win in any other way, and had recourse to this, as the only thing that would a.s.sist him. Thus another form of battle was brought about. The a.s.sailants would approach their victims from many directions at once, shoot blazing missiles at them, and hurl torches fastened to javelins from their hands, and with the aid of engines threw pots full of charcoal and pitch upon some boats from a distance. The defenders tried to ward these off individually and when any of them flew past and caught the timbers and at once started a great flame, as must be the case in a ship, they used first the drinking-water which they carried on board and extinguished some conflagrations: when that was gone they dipped up the sea-water. And in case they could use great quant.i.ties of it at once, they would stop the fire by main force: but they were unable to do this everywhere, for they did not have many buckets or large ones, and in their confusion brought them up half full, so that far from doing any service they only quickened the flame. For salt water poured on a fire in small quant.i.ties makes it burn up brightly. As they found themselves getting the worst of it in this, they heaped on the blaze their thick mantles and the corpses. For a time these checked the fire and it seemed to abate; later, especially as the wind came upon it in great gusts, it shot up more brilliant than ever and was increased by the fuel. While only a part of a ship was burning, others stood by it and the men would leap into it and hew down some parts and carry away others.

These detached parts some threw into the sea and others upon their opponents, in case they could do them any damage. Others were constantly going to the sound portion of the vessel and now more than ever they used the grappling irons and the long spears with the purpose of attaching some hostile ship to theirs and transferring themselves to it; or, if that was out of the question, they tried to set it on fire likewise.

[-35-] But the hostile fleet was guarding against this very attempt and none of it came near enough; and as the fire spread to the encircling walls and descended to the flooring, the most terrible of fates confronted them. Some, and particularly the sailors, perished by the smoke before the flame approached them, while others were roasted in the midst of it as though in ovens. Others were cooked in their armor, which became red-hot. There were still others, who, before suffering such a death, or when they were half burned, threw off their armor and were wounded by the men shooting from a distance, or again were choked by leaping into the sea, or were struck by their opponents and drowned, or were mangled by sea-monsters. The only ones to obtain an endurable death, considering the sufferings round about, were such as killed one another or themselves before any calamity befell them. These did not have to submit to torture, and as corpses had the burning ships for their funeral pyre. The Caesarians, who saw this, at first so long as any of the foe were still able to defend themselves would not come near; but when the fire began to consume the ships and the men so far from being able to do any harm to an enemy could not even help themselves, they eagerly sailed up to them to see if they could in any way gain possession of the money, and they endeavored to extinguish the fire which they themselves had caused. As a result many of them also perished in the course of their plundering in the flame.

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

51

The following is contained in the Fifty-first of Dio's Rome:

How Caesar after his victory at Actium transacted business requiring immediate attention (chapters 1-4).

About Antony and Cleopatra and their movements after the defeat (chapters 5-8).

How Antony, defeated in Egypt, killed himself (chapters 9-14).

How Caesar subdued Egypt (chapters 15-18).

How Caesar came to Rome and conducted a triumph (chapters 19-21).

How the Curia Julia was dedicated (chapter 22).

How Moesia was reduced (chapters 23-27).

Duration of time the remainder of the consulships of Caesar (3rd) and M.

Valerius Corvinus Messala, together with two additional years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

Caesar (IV), M. Licinius M.F. Cra.s.sus. (B.C. 30 = a. u. 724.)

Caesar (V), s.e.xtus Apuleius s.e.xti F. (B.C. 29 = a. u. 725.)

(_BOOK 51, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 31 (_a. u_. 723)]

[-1-] Such was the naval battle which occurred between them on the second of September. I have not elsewhere used a like expression, not being in the habit of giving precise dates, but I do it here because then for the first time Caesar alone held the entire power. Consequently the enumeration of the years of his supremacy starts from precisely that day.

And before it had gone he set up as an offering to Apollo of Actium a trireme, a four-banked ship, and so on up to one of ten banks, from the captive vessels; and he built a larger temple. He also inst.i.tuted a quinquennial musical and gymnastic contest involving horseracing,--a "sacred" festival, as they call all which include distribution of food,--and ent.i.tled it Actia. Further, by gathering some settlers and ousting others who dwelt nearby from their homes, he founded a city on the site of the camp and named it Nicopolis.[67] On the spot where he had had his tent he laid a foundation of square stones, and put there a shrine of Apollo open to the sky, adorning it with the captured beaks.

But this was done later. At the time he despatched one division of the ships to pursue Antony and Cleopatra; so these followed in their wake, but as it seemed impossible to overtake the fugitives they returned. With his remaining vessels he took the enemy's ramparts, where no one opposed him because of small numbers, and then overtook and without a battle got possession of the other army which was retreating into Macedonia. Various important contingents had already made their escape, the Romans to Antony and the rest of the allies to their homes. The latter moreover evinced no further hostility to Caesar, but both they and all the peoples who had formerly belonged to Rome remained quiet, and some at once and others later made terms. Caesar now proceeded to teach the cities a lesson by levying money and taking away the remnant of authority over their citizens that they possessed in their a.s.semblies. From all the potentates and kings, save Amyntas and Archelaus, he took all the lands that they had received from Antony. Philopator son of Tarcondimotus, Lycomedes ruler in a portion of Cappadocian Pontus, and Alexander the brother of Iamblichus he even removed from their princ.i.p.alities. The last named, because he had secured his appointment as a reward for accusing the conqueror, he placed in his triumphal procession and afterward killed.

The kingdom of Lycomedes he gave to one Medeus, because the latter had previous to the naval engagement detached the Mysians in Asia from Antony and with them had waged war upon such as followed Antony's fortunes. The people of Cydonea and Lampea he set free, because they had rendered him some a.s.sistance, and he helped the Lampeans found anew their city, from which they had been uprooted. As for the senators and knights and other prominent men who had been active in Antony's cause, he imposed fines upon many of them, executed many of them, and some he spared entirely.

Among the last Sosius was a distinguished example: for though he had often fought against Caesar and now fled and hid himself, but was subsequently discovered, his life was nevertheless preserved. Likewise one Marcus Scaurus, a half-brother of s.e.xtus on the mother's side, had been condemned to death, but was later released for the sake of his mother Mucia. Of those who underwent the extreme punishment the Aquilii Flori and Curio were the most noted. The latter met death because he was a son of the former Curio who had once been of great a.s.sistance to the former Caesar. And the Flori both perished because Octavius commanded that one of them should draw the lot to be slain. They were father and son, and when the latter, before any drawing took place, voluntarily surrendered himself to the executioner the former felt such great grief that he died also by his own hand.

[-3-] This, then, was the end of these persons. The ma.s.s of Antony's soldiers was included in the ranks of Caesar's legions and later he sent back to Italy the citizens over age of both forces, without giving any of them anything, and the remainder he disbanded. They had shown an ugly temper toward him in Sicily after the victory, and he feared they might create a disturbance again. Hence he hastened before the least signs of an uprising were manifested to discharge some entirely from the service under arms and to scatter the great majority of the rest. As he was even at this time suspicious of the freedmen, he remitted their one-quarter contribution[68] which they were still owing of the money a.s.sessed upon them. And they no longer bore him any malice for deprivations they had endured, but rejoiced as if they had received as a gift what they had not been obliged to contribute. The men still left in the rank and file showed no disposition to rebel, partly because they were held in check by their commanding officers, but mostly through hopes of the wealth of Egypt. The men, however, who had helped Caesar to gain the victory and had been dismissed from the service, were irritated at having obtained no meed of valor, and not much later they began a revolutionary movement.

Caesar was suspicious of them, and fearing that they might despise Maecenas, to whom at that time Rome and the remainder of Italy had been entrusted, because he was a knight, he sent Agrippa to Italy as if on some routine business. He also gave to Agrippa and to Maecenas so great authority over everything that they might read beforehand the letters which he often wrote to the senate and to various officials, and then change whatever they wished in them. Therefore they received also from him a ring, so that they should have the means of sealing the epistles.

He had had the seal which he used most at that time made double, with a sphinx raised on both sides alike. Subsequently he had his own image made in _intaglio_, and sealed everything with that. Later emperors likewise employed it, except Galba. The latter gave his sanction with an ancestral device which showed a dog bending forward from the prow of a ship. The way that Octavius wrote both to these two magistrates and to the rest of his intimate friends whenever there was need of forwarding information to them secretly was to write in place of the proper letter in each word the second one following.

[-4-] Octavius, with the idea that there would be no more danger from the veterans, administered affairs in Greece and took part in the Mysteries of the two G.o.ddesses. He then went over into Asia and settled matters there, all the time keeping a sharp lookout for Antony's movements. For he had not yet received any definite information regarding the course his rival had followed in his escape, and so he kept making preparations to proceed against him, if he should find out exactly. Meantime the ex-soldiers made an open demonstration, because he was so far separated from them, and he began to fear that if they got a leader they might do some damage.

[B.C. 30 (_a. u._ 724)]

Consequently he a.s.signed to others the task of searching for Antony, and hurried to Italy himself, in the middle of the winter of the year that he was holding office for the fourth time, with Marcus Cra.s.sus. The latter, in spite of having been attached to the cause of s.e.xtus and of Antony, was then his fellow consul without having even pa.s.sed through the praetorship. Caesar came, then, to Brundusium but progressed no farther.

The senate on ascertaining that his boat was Hearing Italy went there to meet him, save the tribunes and two praetors, who by decree stayed at home; and the cla.s.s of knights as well as the majority of the people and still others, some represented by emba.s.sy and many as voluntary followers, came together there, so that there was no further sign of rebellion on the part of any one, so brilliant was his arrival, and so enthusiastic over him were the ma.s.ses. They, too, some through fear, others through hopes, others obeying a summons, had come to Brundusium.

To certain of them Caesar gave money, but to the rest who had been the constant companions of his campaigns, he a.s.signed land also. By turning the townspeople in Italy who had sided with Antony out of their homes he was able to grant to his soldiers their cities and their farms. To most of the outcasts from the settlements he granted permission in turn to dwell in Dyrrachium, Philippi, and elsewhere. To the remainder he either distributed or promised money for their land. Though he had now acquired great sums by his victory, he was spending still more. For this reason he advertised in the public market his own possessions and those of his companions, in order that any one who desired to buy or claim any of them might do so. Nothing was sold, however, and nothing repaid. Who, pray, would have dared to undertake to do either? But he secured by this means a reasonable excuse for a delay in carrying out his offers, and later he discharged the debt out of the spoils of the Egyptians.

[-5-] He settled this and the rest of the urgent business, and gave to such as had received a kind of semi-amnesty the right to live in Italy, not before permitted. After this he forgave the populace left behind in Rome for not having come to him, and on the thirtieth day after his arrival set sail again for Greece. In the midst of winter he dragged his ships across the isthmus of the Peloponnesus and got back to Asia so quickly that Antony and Cleopatra received each piece of news simultaneously,--that he had departed and that he had returned. They, on fleeing from the naval battle, had gone as far as the Peloponnesus together. From there they sent away some of their a.s.sociates,--all, in fact, whom they suspected,--while many withdrew against their will, and Cleopatra hastened to Egypt, for fear that her subjects might perhaps revolt, if they heard of the disaster before her coming. In order to make her approach safe, at any rate, she crowned her prows, as a sign of conquest, with garlands, and had some songs of victory sung by flute-players. When she reached safety, she murdered many of the foremost men, who had ever been restless under her rule and were now in a state of excitement at her disaster. From their estates and from various repositories hallowed and sacred she gathered a vast store of wealth, sparing not even the most revered of consecrated treasures. She fitted out her forces and looked about for possible alliances. The Armenian king she killed and sent his head to the Median, who might be influenced by this act, she thought, to aid them. As for Antony, he sailed to Pinarius Scarpus in Libya, and to the army previously collected under him there for the protection of Egypt. This general, however, would[69] not receive him and also slew the first men that Antony sent, besides destroying some of the soldiers under his command who showed displeasure at this act.

Then Antony, too, proceeded to Alexandria, having accomplished nothing.

[-6-] Now among the other preparations that they made for speedy warfare they enrolled among the ephebi their sons, Cleopatra Caesarion and Antony Antyllus, who was borne to him by Fulvia and was then with him. Their purpose was to arouse interest among the Egyptians, who would feel that they already had a man for king, and that the rest might recognize these children as their lords, in case any untoward accident should happen to the parents, and so continue the struggle. This proved the lads' undoing.

For Caesar, on the ground that they were men and held a certain form of sovereignty, spared neither of them. But to return: the two were preparing to wage war in Egypt with ships and infantry, and to this end they called also upon the neighboring tribes and the kings that were friendly to them. Nor did they relax their readiness also to sail to Spain, if there should be urgent need, believing that they could alienate the inhabitants of that land by their money if nothing more, and again they thought of transferring the seat of the conflict to the Red Sea. To the end that while engaged in these plans they might escape observation for the longest possible time or deceive Caesar in some way or slay him by treachery, they despatched men who carried letters to him in regard to peace, but money for his followers. Meantime, also, unknown to Antony, Cleopatra sent to him a golden scepter and a golden crown and the royal throne, through which she signified that she delivered the government to him. He might hate Antony, if he would only take pity on her. Caesar accepted the gifts as a good omen, but made no answer to Antony. To Cleopatra he forwarded publicly threatening messages and an announcement that if she would renounce the use of arms and her sovereignty, he would deliberate what ought to be done in her case. Secretly he sent word that, if she would kill Antony, he would grant her pardon and leave her empire unmolested.

[-7-] While these negotiations were going on, the Arabians, influenced by Quintus Didius, the governor of Syria, burned the ships which had been built in the Arabian Gulf for the voyage to the Red Sea, and all the peoples and the potentates refused their a.s.sistance. And it occurs to me to wonder that many others also, though they had received many gifts from Antony and Cleopatra, now left them in the lurch. The men, however, of lowest rank who were being supported for gladiatorial combats showed the utmost zeal in their behalf and contended most bravely. These were practicing in Cyzicus for the triumphal games which they were expecting to hold in honor of Caesar's overthrow, and as soon as they were made aware of what had taken place, they set out for Egypt with the intention of aiding their superiors. Many were their contests with Amyntas in Gaul, and many with the children of Tarcondimotus in Cilicia, who had been their strongest friends but now in view of the changed circ.u.mstances had gone over to the other side; and many were their struggles against Didius, who hindered them while pa.s.sing through. They proved unable, after all, to make their way to Egypt. Yet even when they had been encompa.s.sed on all sides, not even then would they accept any terms of surrender, though Didius made them many promises. They sent for Antony, feeling that they could fight with him better in Syria: then, when he neither came himself nor sent them any message, they decided that he had perished, and reluctantly made terms with the condition that they should never take part in a gladiatorial show. They received from Didius Daphne, the suburb of Antioch, to dwell in, until the matter was called to Caesar's attention. Then they were tricked (somewhat later) by Messala and were sent in different directions under the pretext that they were to be enlisted in different legions and were in some convenient way destroyed.

[-8-] When Antony and Cleopatra heard from the envoys the commands which Caesar issued regarding them, they sent to him again. The queen promised that she would give him large amounts of money. Antony reminded him of their friendship and kinship, and also made a defence of his a.s.sociation with the Egyptian woman; he enumerated the occasions on which they had helped each other gain the objects of their loves,[70] and all the wanton pranks in which they two had shared as young men. Finally he surrendered to him Publius Turullius, a senator, who had been an a.s.sa.s.sin of Caesar, but was then living with him as a friend. He actually offered to commit suicide, if in that way Cleopatra might be saved. Caesar put Turullius to death; it happened that this man had cut wood for the fleet from the forest of Asclepius in Cos, and by his punishment in the same place he was thought to have paid the penalty to the G.o.d. But to Antony Caesar did not even then answer a word. The latter consequently despatched a third emba.s.sy, sending him his son Antyllus with considerable gold coin. His rival accepted the money, but sent the boy back empty-handed and gave him no answer. To Cleopatra, however, as the first time so the second and the third time he sent many threats and promises alike. Yet he was afraid, even so, that they might despair of in any way obtaining pardon from him and so hold out, and that they would survive by their own efforts, or set sail for Spain and Gaul, or destroy the money, the bulk of which he heard was immense. Cleopatra had gathered it all in the monument she was constructing in the palace; and she threatened to burn all of it with her, in case she should miss the smallest of her demands. Octavius sent therefore Thyrsus, a freedman of his, to speak to her kindly in every way and to tell her further that it so happened that he was in love with her.

He hoped at least by this means, since she thought she had the power to arouse pa.s.sion in all mankind, that he might remove Antony from the scene and keep her and her money intact. And so it proved.

[-9-] Before quite all this had occurred Antony learned that Cornelius Gallus had taken charge of Scarpus's army and with the men had suddenly marched upon Paxaetonium and occupied it. Hence, though he wished to set out and follow the summons of the gladiators, he did not go into Syria.

He proceeded against Gallus, believing that he could certainly win over his soldiers without effort; they had been with him on campaigns and were well disposed. At any rate he could subdue them by main strength, since he was leading a large force both of ships and of infantry upon them.

However, he found himself unable even to hold converse with them, although he approached their wall and shouted and hallooed. For Gallus by ordering his trumpeters to sound their instruments all together gave no one a chance to hear a word. Antony further failed in a sudden a.s.sault and subsequently met a reverse with his ships. Gallus by night had chains stretched across the mouth of the harbor under water and took no open measures to guard against them but quite disdainfully allowed them to sail freely in. When, however, they were inside, he drew up the chains by means of machines and encompa.s.sing his opponent's ships on all sides,--on land, from the houses, and on the sea,--he burned some and sank others.

The next event was that Caesar took Pelusium, pretendedly by storm, but really betrayed by Cleopatra. She saw that no one came to her aid and perceived that Caesar was not to be withstood; most important of all, she heard the message sent to her by Thyrsus, and believed that she was really the object of affection. Her confidence was strengthened first of all by her wish that it be true, and second by the fact that she had enslaved his father and Antony alike. As a result she expected that she should gain not only forgiveness and sovereignty over the Egyptians, but empire over the Romans as well. At once she yielded Pelusium to him.

After this, when he marched against the city, she secretly prevented the Alexandrians from making a sortie, though she pretended to urge them strongly to do so.

[-10-] At the news about Pelusium Antony returned from Paraetonium and in front of Alexandria met Caesar, who was exhausted from travel; he joined battle with him, therefore, with his cavalry and was victorious. From this success Antony gained courage, as also from his being able to shoot arrows into his rival's camp carrying pamphlets which promised the men fifteen hundred denarii; so he attacked also with his infantry and was defeated. Caesar himself voluntarily read the pamphlets to his soldiers, reproaching Antony the while, and led them to feel ashamed of treachery and to acquire enthusiasm in his behalf. They gained by this in zeal, both through indignation at being tempted and through their attempt to show that they would not willingly gain a reputation for baseness. Antony after his unexpected setback took refuge in his fleet and prepared to have a combat on the water, or in any case to sail to Spain. Cleopatra seeing this caused the ships to desert and she herself rushed suddenly into the mausoleum pretending that she feared Caesar and desired by some means to destroy herself before capture, but really as an invitation to Antony to enter there also. He had an inkling that he was being betrayed, but his infatuation would not allow him to believe it, and, as one might say, he pitied her more than himself. Cleopatra was fully aware of this and hoped that if he should be informed that she was dead, he would not prolong his life but meet death at once. Accordingly, she hastened into the monument with one eunuch and two female attendants and from there sent a message to him to the effect that she had pa.s.sed away. When he heard it, he did not delay, but was seized with a desire to follow her in death. Then first he asked one of the bystanders to slay him, but the man drew a sword and despatched himself. Wishing to imitate his courage Antony gave himself a wound and fell upon his face, causing the bystanders to think that he was dead. An outcry was raised at his deed, and Cleopatra hearing it leaned out over the top of the monument. By a certain contrivance its doors once closed could not be opened again, but above, near the ceiling, it had not yet been completed. That was where they saw her leaning out and some began to utter shouts that reached the ears of Antony. He, learning that she survived, stood up as if he had still the power to live; but a great gush of blood from his wound made him despair of rescue and he besought those present to carry him to the monument and to hoist him by the ropes that were hanging there to elevate stone blocks. This was done and he died there on Cleopatra's bosom.

[-11-] She now began to feel confidence in Caesar and immediately made him aware of what had taken place, but did not feel altogether confident that she would experience no harm. Hence she kept herself within the structure, in order that if there should be no other motive for her preservation, she might at least purchase pardon and her sovereignty through fear about her money. Even then in such depths of calamity she remembered that she was queen, and chose rather to die with the name and dignities of a sovereign than to live as an ordinary person. It should be stated that she kept fire on hand to use upon her money and asps and other reptiles to use upon herself, and that she had tried the latter on human beings to see in what way they killed in each case. Caesar was anxious to make himself master of her treasures, to seize her alive, and to take her back for his triumph. However, as he had given her a kind of pledge, he did not wish to appear to have acted personally as an impostor, since this would prevent him from treating her as a captive and to a certain extent subdued against her will. He therefore sent to her Gaius Proculeius, a knight, and Epaphroditus, a freedman, giving them directions what they must say and do. So they obtained an audience with Cleopatra and after some accusations of a mild type suddenly laid hold of her before any decision was reached. Then they put out of her way everything by which she could bring death upon herself and allowed her to spend some days where she was, since the embalming of Antony's body claimed her attention. After that they took her to the palace, but did not remove any of her accustomed retinue or attendants, to the end that she should still more hope to accomplish her wishes and do no harm to herself. When she expressed a desire to appear before Caesar and converse with him, it was granted; and to beguile her still more, he promised that he would come to her himself.

[-12-] She accordingly prepared a luxurious apartment and costly couch, and adorned herself further in a kind of careless fashion,--for her mourning garb mightily became her,--and seated herself upon the couch; beside her she had placed many images of his father, of all sorts, and in her bosom she had put all the letters that his father had sent her. When, after this, Caesar entered, she hastily arose, blushing, and said: "Hail, master, Heaven has given joy to you and taken it from me. But you see with your own eyes your father in the guise in which he often visited me, and you may hear how he honored me in various ways and made me queen of the Egyptians. That you may learn what were his own words about me, take and read the missives which he sent me with his own hand."

As she spoke thus, she read aloud many endearing expressions of his. And now she would lament and caress the letters and again fall before his images and do them reverence. She kept turning her eyes toward Caesar, and melodiously continued to bewail her fate. She spoke in melting tones, saying at one time, "Of what avail, Caesar, are these your letters? ," and at another, "But in the man before me you also are alive for me." Then again, "Would that I had died before you! ," and still again, "But if I have him, I have you!"

Some such diversity both of words and of gestures did she employ, at the same time gazing at and murmuring to him sweetly. Caesar comprehended her outbreak of pa.s.sion and appeal for sympathy. Yet he did not pretend to do so, but letting his eyes rest upon the ground, he said only this: "Be of cheer, woman, and keep a good heart, for no harm shall befall you." She was distressed that he would neither look at her nor breathe a word about the kingdom or any sigh of love, and fell at his knees wailing: "Life for me, Caesar, is neither desirable nor possible. This favor I beseech of you in memory of your father,--that since Heaven gave me to Antony after him, I may also die with my lord. Would that I had perished on the very instant after Caesar's death! But since this present fate was my destiny, send me to Antony: grudge me not burial with him, that as I die because of him, so in Hades also I may dwell with him."

[-13-] Such words she uttered expecting to obtain commiseration: Caesar, however, made no answer to it. Fearing, however, that she might make away with herself he exhorted her again to be of good cheer, did not remove any of her attendants, and kept a careful watch upon her, that she might add brilliance to his triumph. Suspecting this, and regarding it as worse than innumerable deaths, she began to desire really to die and begged Caesar frequently that she might be allowed to perish in some way, and devised many plans by herself. When she could accomplish nothing, she feigned to change her mind and to repose great hope in him, as well as great hope in Livia. She said she would sail voluntarily and made ready many treasured adornments as gifts. In this way she hoped to inspire confidence that she had no designs upon herself, and so be more free from scrutiny and bring about her destruction. This also took place. The other officials and Epaphroditus, to whom she had been committed, believed that her state of mind was really as it seemed, and neglected to keep a careful watch. She, meanwhile, was making preparations to die as painlessly as possible. First she gave a sealed paper, in which she begged Caesar to order that she be buried beside Antony, to Epaphroditus himself to deliver, pretending that it contained some other matter.

Having by this excuse freed herself of his presence, she set to her task.

She put on her most beauteous apparel and after choosing a most becoming pose, a.s.sumed all the royal robes and appurtenances, and so died.

[-14-] No one knows clearly in what manner she perished, for there were found merely slight indentations on her arm. Some say that she applied an asp which had been brought in to her in a water-jar or among some flowers. Others declare that she had smeared a needle, with which she was wont to braid her hair, with some poison possessed of such properties that it would not injure the surface of the body at all, but if it touched the least drop of blood it caused death very quickly and painlessly. The supposition is, then, that previously it had been her custom to wear it in her hair, and on this occasion after first making a small scratch on her arm with some instrument, she dipped the needle in the blood. In this or some very similar way she perished with her two handmaidens. The eunuch, at the moment her body was taken up, presented himself voluntarily to the serpents, and after being bitten by them leaped into a coffin which had been prepared by him. Caesar on hearing of her demise was shocked, and both viewed her body and applied drugs to it and sent for Psylli,[71] in the hope that she might possibly revive.

These Psylli, who are male, for there is no woman born in their tribe, have the power of sucking out before a person dies all the poison of every reptile and are not harmed themselves when bitten by any such creature. They are propagated from one another and they test their offspring, the latter being thrown among serpents at once or having serpents laid upon their swaddling-clothes. In such cases the poisonous creatures do not harm the child and are benumbed by its clothing. This is the nature of their function. But Caesar, when he could not in any way resuscitate Cleopatra, felt admiration and pity for her and was himself excessively grieved, as much as if he had been deprived of all the glory of the victory.

[-15-] So Antony and Cleopatra, who had been the authors of many evils to the Egyptians and to the Romans, thus fought and thus met death. They were embalmed in the same fashion and buried in the same tomb. Their spiritual qualities and the fortunes of their lives deserve a word of comment.

Antony had no superior in comprehending his duty, yet he committed many acts of folly. He was distinguished for his bravery in some cases, yet he often failed through cowardice. He was characterized equally by greatness of soul and a servile disposition of mind. He would plunder the property of others, and still relinquish his own. He pitied many without cause and chastised even a greater number unjustly.

Consequently, though he rose from weakness to great strength, and from the depths of poverty to great riches, he drew no profit from either circ.u.mstance, but whereas he had hoped to hold the Roman power alone, he actually killed himself.