outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance; but he found he was
altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of it that he was
himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit and his rustic
awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross and
savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same
taste, and fell into it at once, without any sort of reluctance or
reserve, for her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so
remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could
see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if
you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person,
joining with the charm of her conversation and the character that
attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a
pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an
instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another;
so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an
interpreter. To most of them she spoke herself, as to the Ethiopians,
troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many
others, whose language she had learned;[73] which was all the more
surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave
themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of
them quite abandoned the Macedonian."
[Footnote 73: We have here the usual lies of courtiers.]
"Antony was so captivated by her that, while Fulvia, his wife,
maintained his quarrels in Rome against Cæsar by actual force of arms,
and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labienus--the King's generals
having made him commander-in-chief--were assembled in Mesopotamia, and
ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by
her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and
diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments that most costly,
as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time. They had a sort of company, to
which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the 'Inimitable
Livers.' The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an
extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a
physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in
Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias that, having some
acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a
young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for dinner. So he
was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of
all things, but, particularly seeing eight wild boars roasting whole,
says he, 'Surely you have a great number of guests.' The cook laughed at
his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to dine, but
that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if
anything was but one minute ill-timed it was spoiled. 'And,' said he,
'maybe Antony will dine just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will
call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that,' he
continued, 'it is not one, but many dinners, must be had in readiness,
as it is impossible to guess at his hour.'"
Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but Cleopatra had a thousand. Were
Antony serious or disposed to mirth she had any moment some new delight
or charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was upon him, and let him
escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him,
drank with him, hunted with him, and when he exercised in arms she was
there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to joke with
people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for
Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he
always came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten
severely, though most people guessed who it was. However, the
Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined
good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much
obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome and keeping his
comedy for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular in
relating his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out
one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate as to catch
nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders to the
fishermen to dive under water and put fishes that had been already taken
upon his hooks, and these he drew in so fast that the Egyptian perceived
it. But feigning great admiration, she told everybody how dexterous
Antony was, and invited them next day to come and see him again. So when
a number of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with his divers
and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony, feeling his
line taut, drew up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great
laughter ensued, "Leave," said Cleopatra, "the fishing rod, autocrat, to
us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, kingdoms,
and continents."
Plutarch does not mention the most tragic and the most characteristic
proof of Cleopatra's complete conquest of Antony. Among his other crimes
of obedience he sent by her orders and put to death the Princess
Arsinoë, who, knowing well her danger, had taken refuge as a suppliant
in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus.
It is not our duty to follow the various complications of war and
diplomacy, accompanied by the marriage with the serious and gentle
Octavia, whereby the brilliant but dissolute Antony was weaned, as it
were, from his follies, and persuaded to live a life of public activity.
Whether the wily Octavian did not foresee the result, whether he did not
even sacrifice his sister to accumulate odium against his dangerous
rival, is not for us to determine. But when it was arranged (in B.C. 36)
that Antony should lead an expedition against the Parthians, any man of
ordinary sense must have known that he would come within the reach of
the eastern siren, and was sure to be again attracted by her fatal
voice. It is hard to account for her strange patience during these four
years. She had borne twins to Antony, probably after the meeting in
Cilicia. Though she still maintained the claims of her eldest son
Cæsarion to be the divine Julius' only direct heir, we do not hear of
her sending requests to Antony to support him, or that any agents were
working in her interests at Rome. She was too subtle a woman to solicit
his return to Alexandria. There are mistaken insinuations that she
thought the chances of Sextus Pompey, with his naval supremacy, better
than those of Antony, but these stories refer to his brother Cnaeus, who
visited Egypt before Pharsalia.
It is probably to this pause in her life, as we know it, that we may
refer her activity in repairing and enlarging the national temples. The
splendid edifice at Dendera, at present among the most perfect of
Egyptian temples, bears no older names than those of Cleopatra and her
son Cæsarion, and their portraits represent the latter as a growing lad,
his mother as an essentially Egyptian figure, conventionally drawn
according to the rules which had determined the figures of gods and
kings for fifteen hundred years. Under these circumstances it is idle to
speak of this well-known relief picture as a portrait of the Queen. It
is no more so than the granite statues in the Vatican are portraits of
Philadelphus and Arsinoë. The artist had probably never seen the Queen,
and if he had, it would not have produced the slightest alteration in
his drawing.
Plutarch expressly says that it was not in peerless beauty that her
fascination lay, but in the combination of more than average beauty with
many other personal attractions. The Egyptian portrait is likely to
confirm in the spectator's mind the impression derived from
Shakespeare's play, that Cleopatra was a swarthy Egyptian, in strong
contrast to the fair Roman ladies, and suggesting a wide difference of
race. She was no more an Egyptian than she was an Indian, but a pure
Macedonian, of a race akin to, and perhaps fairer than, the Greeks.
No sooner had Antony reached Syria than the fell influence of the
Egyptian Queen revived. In the words of Plutarch:
"But the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for
Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed
into oblivion, upon his approach to Syria, gathered strength again, and
broke out into a flame. And in fine, like Plato's restive and rebellious
horse of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome counsel and
breaking fairly loose, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into
Syria; to whom at her arrival he made no small or trifling
present--Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part of Cilicia, that
side of Judea which produces balm, that part of Arabia where the
Nabathaeans extend to the outer sea--profuse gifts which much displeased
the Romans. For although he had invested several private persons with
great governments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of theirs, as
Antigonus of Judea, whose head he caused to be struck off--the first
example of that punishment being inflicted on a king--yet nothing stung
the Romans like the shame of these honors paid to Cleopatra. Their
dissatisfaction was augmented also by his acknowledging as his own the
twin children he had by her, giving them the names of Alexander and
Cleopatra, and adding, as their surnames, the titles of Sun and Moon."
After much dallying the triumvir really started for the wild East,
whither it is not our business to follow him. Cleopatra he sent home to
Egypt, to await his victorious return, and it was on this occasion that
she came in state to Jerusalem to visit Herod the Great--probably the
most brilliant scene of the kind which had taken place since the queen
of Sheba came to learn the wisdom of Solomon. But it was a very
different wisdom that Herod professed, and in which he was verily a high
authority, nor was the subtle daughter of the Ptolemies a docile pupil,
but a practised expert in the same arts of cruelty and cunning;
wherewith both pursued their several courses of ambition and sought to
wheedle from their Roman masters cities and provinces. The reunion of
Antony and Cleopatra must have greatly alarmed Herod, whose plans were
directly thwarted by the freaks of Antony, and he must have been
preparing at the time to make his case with Octavian, and seek from his
favor protection against the new caprices of the then lord of the East.
"The scene at Herod's palace must have been inimitable. The display of
counter-fascinations between these two tigers; their voluptuous natures
mutually attracted; their hatred giving to each that deep interest in
the other which so often turns to mutual passion while it incites to
conquest; the grace and finish of their manners, concealing a ruthless
ferocity; the splendor of their appointments--what more dramatic picture
can we imagine in history?
"We hear that she actually attempted to seduce Herod, but failed, owing
to his deep devotion to his wife Mariamne. The prosaic Josephus adds
that Herod consulted his council whether he should not put her to death
for this attempt upon his virtue. He was dissuaded by them on the ground
that Antony would listen to no arguments, not even from the most
persuasive of the world's princes, and would take awful vengeance when
he heard of her death. So she was escorted with great gifts and
politenesses back to Egypt."
Such, then, was the character of this notorious Queen. But her violation
of temples, and even of ancient tombs, for the sake of treasure must
have been a far more public and odious exhibition of that want of
respect for the sentiment of others which is the essence of bad
manners.[74]
[Footnote 74: _The Greek World under Roman Sway._]
As is well known, the first campaign of Antony against Armenians and
Parthians was a signal failure, and it was only with great difficulty
that he escaped the fate of Crassus. But Cleopatra was ready to meet him
in Syria with provisions and clothes for his distressed and ragged
battalions, and he returned with her to spend the winter (B.C. 36-35) at
Alexandria. She thus snatched him again from his noble wife, Octavia,
who had come from Rome to Athens with succors even greater than
Cleopatra had brought. This at least is the word of the historians who
write in the interest of the Romans, and regard the queen of Egypt with
horror and with fear.
The new campaign of Antony (B.C. 34) was apparently more prosperous, but
it was only carried far enough to warrant his holding a Roman triumph at
Alexandria--perhaps the only novelty in pomp which the triumvir could
exhibit to the Alexandrian populace, while it gave the most poignant
offence at Rome. It was apparently now that he made that formal
distribution of provinces which Octavian used as his chief _casus
belli_.
"Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less
unpopular. It seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and contempt of his
country, for, assembling the people in the exercise ground, and causing
two golden thrones to be placed on a platform of silver, the one for him
and the other for Cleopatra, and at their feet lower thrones for their
children, he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and
Coele-Syria, and with her conjointly Cæsarion, the reputed son of the
former Cæsar. His own sons by Cleopatra were to have the style of 'King
of Kings'; to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, with Parthia so soon
as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia.
Alexander was brought out before the people in Median costume, the tiara
and upright peak, and Ptolemy in boots and mantle and Macedonian cap
done about with the diadem; for this was the habit of the successors of
Alexander, as the other was of the Medes and Armenians. And, as soon as
they had saluted their parents, the one was received by a guard of
Macedonians, the other by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at
other times when she appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the
goddess Isis, and gave audience to the people under the name of the New
Isis.
"This over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and set sail
for Athens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed him. Cleopatra,
jealous of the honors Octavia had received at Athens--for Octavia was
much beloved by the Athenians--courted the favor of the people with all
sorts of attentions. The Athenians, in requital, having decreed her
public honors, deputed several of the citizens to wait upon her at her
house, among whom went Antony as one, he being an Athenian citizen, and
he it was that made the speech.
"The speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed Cæsar, who feared
he might be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer, for he
wanted many necessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the
taxes; freemen being called upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes,
and freed slaves an eighth of their property, so that there were loud
outcries against him, and disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is
looked upon as one of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did
not then press the war, for he allowed time at once for Cæsar to make
his preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent; but,
having paid it, they held their peace.
"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony,
having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her
design of being present in the war, came over to Cæsar, and gave
information of the contents of Antony's will, with which they were
acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, who
refused to deliver it up, and sent Cæsar word, if he pleased, he should
come and seize it himself, which he did. And, reading it over to
himself, he noted those places that were most for his purpose, and,
having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at
the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
account for what was not to be until after his death. Cæsar specially
pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial, for he had
ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being
carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at
Alexandria.
"Calvisius, a dependent of Cæsar's, urged other charges in connection
with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the library of
Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes; that at a
great banquet, in the presence of many guests, he had risen up and
rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or promise; that he had suffered
the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had frequently at
the public audience of kings and princes received amorous messages
written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on the
tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence
among the Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her
litter, Antony started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to
follow at her side and attend her home."[75]
[Footnote 75: Plutarch: _Antony_.]
When war was declared, Antony sought to gain the support of the East in
the conflict. He made alliance with a Median king who betrothed his
daughter to Cleopatra's infant son Alexander; but he made the fatal
mistake of allowing Cleopatra to accompany him to Samos, where he
gathered his army, and even to Actium, where she led the way in flying
from the fight, and so persuading the infatuated Antony to leave his
army and join in her disgraceful escape.
Historians have regarded this act of Cleopatra as the mere cowardice of
a woman who feared to look upon an armed conflict and join in the din of
battle. But she was surely made of sterner stuff. She had probably
computed with the utmost care the chances of the rivals, and had made up
her mind that, in spite of Antony's gallantry, his cause was lost.[76]
If she fought out the battle with her strong contingent of ships, she
would probably fall into Octavian's hands as a prisoner, and would have
no choice between suicide or death in the Roman prison, after being
exhibited to the mob in Octavian's triumph. There was no chance whatever
that she would have been spared, as was her sister Arsinoë after Julius
Cæsar's triumph, nor would such clemency be less hateful than death. But
there was still a chance, if Antony were killed or taken prisoner, that
she might negotiate with the victor as queen of Egypt, with her fleet,
army, and treasures intact, and who could tell what effect her charms,
though now full ripe, might have upon the conqueror? Two great Romans
had yielded to her, why not the third, who seemed a smaller man?
[Footnote 76: Dion says that Antony was of the same opinion, and went
into the battle intending to fly; but this does not agree with his
character or with the facts.]
This view implies that she was already false to Antony, and it may well
be asked how such a charge is compatible with the affecting scenes which
followed at Alexandria, where her policy seemed defeated by her passion,
and she felt her old love too strong even for her heartless ambition? I
will say in answer that there is no more frequent anomaly in the
psychology of female love than a strong passion coexisting with selfish
ambition, so that each takes the lead in turn; nay, even the
consciousness of treachery may so intensify the passion as to make a
woman embrace with keener transports the lover whom she has betrayed
than one whom she has no thought of surrendering. There are, moreover,
in these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old loyalty
resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again upon the
traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred. She came from
a stock whose women played with love and with life as if they were mere
counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of such a house would have
delayed to discard Antony and to assume another passion is to show small
appreciation of the effects of heredity and of example. Dion tells us
that she arrived in Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended
a victory, and took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to
get rid of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation
of their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible Egypt,
and making terms for themselves and their children with the conqueror.
But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would rally to his
standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to send presents to
Cæsar and encourage him to treat with her. But when he bluntly proposed
to her to murder Antony as the price of her reconciliation with himself,
and when he even declared by proxy that he was in love with her, he
clearly made a rash move in this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he
persuaded her of his love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the
fortress of Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from
Plutarch in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
destroy by fire if driven to despair.
The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the poet, the
affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's life. In the
fourth and fifth acts of _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare has
reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative, which was drawn from
that of her physician Olympos. Her fascinations were not dead, for they
swayed Dolabella to play false to his master so far as to warn her of
his intentions, and leave her time for her dignified and royal end. But
if these Hellenistic queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live.
Even the penultimate scene of the tragedy, when she presents an
inventory of her treasures to Octavian, and is charged by her steward
with dishonesty, shows her in uncivilized violence striking the man in
the face and bursting into indecent fury, such as an Athenian, still
less a Roman, matron would have been ashamed to exhibit. Nor is there
any reason to doubt the genuineness of this scene, though we must not be
weary of cautioning ourselves against the hostile witnesses who have
reported to us her life. They praise nothing in her but her bewitching
presence and her majestic death.
"After her repast Cleopatra sent to Cæsar a letter which she had written
and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two
women, she shut the doors. Cæsar, opening her letter, and finding
pathetic prayers and entreaties that she might be buried in the same
tomb with Antony, soon guessed what was doing. At first he was going
himself in all haste; but, changing his mind, he sent others to see. The
thing had been quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and
found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors they
saw her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal
ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion,
just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her
mistress' diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, 'Was this well
done of your lady, Charmion?' 'Perfectly well,' she answered, 'and as
became the daughter of so many kings'; and as she said this she fell
down dead by the bedside."
Even the hostile accounts cannot conceal from us that both in physique
and in intellect she was a very remarkable figure, exceptional in her
own, exceptional had she been born in any other, age. She is a speaking
instance of the falsehood of a prevailing belief, that the intermarriage
of near relations invariably produces a decadence in the human race. The
whole dynasty of the Ptolemies contradicts this current theory, and
exhibits in the last of the series the most signal exception. Cleopatra
VI was descended from many generations of breeding-in, of which four
exhibit marriages of full brother and sister. And yet she was deficient
in no quality, physical or intellectual, which goes to make up a
well-bred and well-developed human being. Her morals were indeed those
of her ancestors, and as bad as could be, but I am not aware that it is
degeneration in this direction which is assumed by the theory in
question, except as a consequence of physical decay. Physically,
however, Cleopatra was perfect. She was not only beautiful, but
prolific, and retained her vigor, and apparently her beauty, to the time
of her death, when she was nearly forty years old.
ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR
B.C. 44
NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH