CLEOPATRA AND Caesar.
Cleopatra's perplexity.--She resolves To go to Alexandria.--Cleopatra's
message to Caesar.--Caesar's reply.--Apollodorus's stratagem.--Cleopatra
and Caesar--First impressions.--Caesar's attachment.--Caesar's wife.--His
fondness for Cleopatra.--Cleopatra's foes.--She commits her cause to
Caesar.--Caesar's pretensions.--He sends for Ptolemy.--Ptolemy's
indignation.--His complaints against Caesar.--Great tumult in the
city.--Excitement of the populace.--Caesar's forces--Ptolemy made
prisoner.--Caesar's address to the people.--Its effects.--The mob
dispersed.--Caesar convenes an assembly.--Caesar's decision.
--Satisfaction of the assembly.--Festivals and rejoicings.
--Pothinus and Achillas.--Plot of Pothinus and Achillas.--Escape
of Achillas.--March of the Egyptian army.--Measures of Caesar.
--Murder of the messengers.--Intentions of Achillas--Cold-blooded
assassination.--Advance of Achillas--Caesar's arrangements for
defense.--Cleopatra and Ptolemy.--Double dealing of Pothinus.--He is
detected.--Pothinus beheaded--Arsinoë and Ganymede--Flight of
Arsinoë--She is proclaimed queen by the army.--Perplexity of the young
Ptolemy.
In the mean time, while the events related in the last chapter were
taking place at Alexandria, Cleopatra remained anxious and uneasy in her
camp, quite uncertain, for a time, what it was best for her to do. She
wished to be at Alexandria. She knew very well that Caesar's power in
controlling the course of affairs in Egypt would necessarily be supreme.
She was, of course, very earnest in her desire to be able to present her
cause before him. As it was, Ptolemy and Pothinus were in communication
with the arbiter, and, for aught she knew, assiduously cultivating his
favor, while she was far away, her cause unheard, her wrongs unknown,
and perhaps even her existence forgotten. Of course, under such
circumstances, she was very earnest to get to Alexandria.
But how to accomplish this purpose was a source of great perplexity. She
could not march thither at the head of an army, for the army of the king
was strongly intrenched at Pelusium, and effectually barred the way. She
could not attempt to pass alone, or with few attendants, through the
country, for every town and village was occupied with garrisons and
officers under the orders of Pothinus, and she would be certainly
intercepted. She had no fleet, and could not, therefore, make the
passage by sea. Besides, even if she could by any means reach the gates
of Alexandria, how was she to pass safely through the streets of the
city to the palace where Caesar resided, since the city, except in
Caesar's quarters, was wholly in the hands of Pothinus's government? The
difficulties in the way of accomplishing her object seemed thus almost
insurmountable.
She was, however, resolved to make the attempt. She sent a message to
Caesar, asking permission to appear before him and plead her own cause.
Caesar replied, urging her by all means to come. She took a single boat,
and with the smallest number of attendants possible, made her way along
the coast to Alexandria. The man on whom she principally relied in this
hazardous expedition was a domestic named Apollodorus. She had, however,
some other attendants besides. When the party reached Alexandria, they
waited until night, and then advanced to the foot of the walls of the
citadel. Here Apollodorus rolled the queen up in a piece of carpeting,
and, covering the whole package with a cloth, he tied it with a thong,
so as to give it the appearance of a bale of ordinary merchandise, and
then throwing the load across his shoulder, he advanced into the city.
Cleopatra was at this time about twenty-one years of age, but she was of
a slender and graceful form, and the burden was, consequently, not very
heavy. Apollodorus came to the gates of the palace where Caesar was
residing. The guards at the gates asked him what it was that he was
carrying. He said that it was a present for Caesar. So they allowed him
to pass, and the pretended porter carried his package safely in.
When it was unrolled, and Cleopatra came out to view, Caesar was
perfectly charmed with the spectacle. In fact, the various conflicting
emotions which she could not but feel under such circumstances as these,
imparted a double interest to her beautiful and expressive face, and to
her naturally bewitching manners. She was excited by the adventure
through which she had passed, and yet pleased with her narrow escape
from its dangers. The curiosity and interest which she felt on the one
hand, in respect to the great personage into whose presence she had been
thus strangely ushered, was very strong; but then, on the other hand, it
was chastened and subdued by that feeling of timidity which, in new and
unexpected situations like these, and under a consciousness of being the
object of eager observation to the other sex, is inseparable from the
nature of woman.
The conversation which Caesar held with Cleopatra deepened the impression
which her first appearance had made upon him. Her intelligence and
animation, the originality of her ideas, and the point and pertinency of
her mode of expressing them, made her, independently of her personal
charms, an exceedingly entertaining and agreeable companion. She, in
fact, completely won the great conqueror's heart; and, through the
strong attachment to her which he immediately formed, he became wholly
disqualified to act impartially between her and her brother in regard to
their respective rights to the crown. We call Ptolemy Cleopatra's
brother; for, though he was also, in fact, her husband, still, as he was
only ten or twelve years of age at the time of Cleopatra's expulsion
from Alexandria, the marriage had been probably regarded, thus far, only
as a mere matter of form. Caesar was now about fifty-two. He had a wife,
named Calpurnia, to whom he had been married about ten years. She was
living, at this time, in an unostentatious and quiet manner at Rome. She
was a lady of an amiable and gentle character, devotedly attached to her
husband, patient and forbearing in respect to his faults, and often
anxious and unhappy at the thought of the difficulties and dangers in
which his ardent and unbounded ambition so often involved him.
Caesar immediately began to take a very strong interest in Cleopatra's
cause. He treated her personally with the fondest attention, and it was
impossible for her not to reciprocate in some degree the kind feeling
with which he regarded her. It was, in fact, something altogether new to
her to have a warm and devoted friend, espousing her cause, tendering
her protection, and seeking in every way to promote her happiness. Her
father had all his life neglected her. Her brother, of years and
understanding totally inferior to hers, whom she had been compelled to
make her husband, had become her mortal enemy. It is true that, in
depriving her of her inheritance and expelling her from her native land,
he had been only the tool and instrument of more designing men. This,
however, far from improving the point of view from which she regarded
him, made him appear not only hateful, but contemptible too. All the
officers of government, also, in the Alexandrian court had turned
against her, because they had supposed that they could control her
brother more easily if she were away. Thus she had always been
surrounded by selfish, mercenary, and implacable foes. Now, for the
first time, she seemed to have a friend. A protector had suddenly arisen
to support and defend her,--a man of very alluring person and manners,
of a very noble and generous spirit, and of the very highest station. He
loved her, and she could not refrain from loving him in return. She
committed her cause entirely into his hands, confided to him all her
interests, and gave herself up wholly into his power.
Nor was the unbounded confidence which she reposed in him undeserved, so
far as related to his efforts to restore her to her throne. The legions
which Caesar had sent for into Syria had not yet arrived, and his
situation in Alexandria was still very defenseless and very precarious.
He did not, however, on this account, abate in the least degree the
loftiness and self confidence of the position which he had assumed, but
he commenced immediately the work of securing Cleopatra's restoration.
This quiet assumption of the right and power to arbitrate and decide
such a question as that of the claim to the throne, in a country where
he had accidentally landed and found rival claimants disputing for the
succession, while he was still wholly destitute of the means of
enforcing the superiority which he so coolly assumed, marks the immense
ascendency which the Roman power had attained at this time in the
estimation of mankind, and is, besides, specially characteristic of the
genius and disposition of Caesar.
Very soon after Cleopatra had come to him, Caesar sent for the young
Ptolemy, and urged upon him the duty and expediency of restoring
Cleopatra. Ptolemy was beginning now to attain an age at which he might
be supposed to have some opinion of his own on such a question. He
declared himself utterly opposed to any such design. In the course of
the conversation he learned that Cleopatra had arrived at Alexandria,
and that she was then concealed in Caesar's palace. This intelligence
awakened in his mind the greatest excitement and indignation. He went
away from Caesar's presence in a rage. He tore the diadem which he was
accustomed to wear in the streets, from his head, threw it down, and
trampled it under his feet. He declared to the people that he was
betrayed, and displayed the most violent indications of vexation and
chagrin. The chief subject of his complaint, in the attempts which he
made to awaken the popular indignation against Caesar and the Romans, was
the disgraceful impropriety of the position which his sister had assumed
in surrendering herself as she had done to Caesar. It is most probable,
however, unless his character was very different from that of every
other Ptolemy in the line, that what really awakened his jealousy and
anger was fear of the commanding influence and power to which Cleopatra
was likely to attain through the agency of so distinguished a protector,
rather than any other consequences of his friendship, or any real
considerations of delicacy in respect to his sister's good name or his
own marital honor.
However this may be, Ptolemy, together with Pothinus and Achillas, and
all his other friends and adherents, who joined him in the terrible
outcry that he made against the coalition which he had discovered
between Cleopatra and Caesar, succeeded in producing a very general and
violent tumult throughout the city. The populace were aroused, and began
to assemble in great crowds, and full of indignation and anger. Some
knew the facts, and acted under something like an understanding of the
cause of their anger. Others only knew that the aim of this sudden
outbreak was to assault the Romans, and were ready, on any pretext,
known or unknown, to join in any deeds of violence directed against
these foreign intruders. There were others still, and these, probably,
far the larger portion, who knew nothing and understood nothing but that
there was to be tumult and a riot in and around the palaces, and were,
accordingly, eager to be there.
Ptolemy and his officers had no large body of troops in Alexandria; for
the events which had thus far occurred since Caesar's arrival had
succeeded each other so rapidly, that a very short time had yet elapsed,
and the main army remained still at Pelusium. The main force, therefore,
by which Caesar was now attacked, consisted of the population of the
city, headed, perhaps, by the few guards which the young king had at his
command.
Caesar, on his part, had but a small portion of his forces at the palace
where he was attacked. The rest were scattered about the city. He,
however, seems to have felt no alarm. He did not even confine himself to
acting on the defensive. He sent out a detachment of his soldiers with
orders to seize Ptolemy and bring him in a prisoner. Soldiers trained,
disciplined, and armed as the Roman veterans were, and nerved by the
ardor and enthusiasm which seemed always to animate troops which were
under Caesar's personal command, could accomplish almost any undertaking
against a mere populace, however numerous or however furiously excited
they might be. The soldiers sallied out, seized Ptolemy, and brought him
in.
The populace were at first astounded at the daring presumption of this
deed, and then exasperated at the indignity of it, considered as a
violation of the person of their sovereign. The tumult would have
greatly increased, had it not been that Caesar,--who had now attained all
his ends in thus having brought Cleopatra and Ptolemy both within his
power,--thought it most expedient to allay it. He accordingly ascended
to the window of a tower, or of some other elevated portion of his
palace, so high that missiles from the mob below could not reach him,
and began to make signals expressive of his wish to address them.
When silence was obtained, he made them a speech well calculated to
quiet the excitement. He told them that he did not pretend to any right
to judge between Cleopatra and Ptolemy as their superior, but only in
the performance of the duty solemnly assigned by Ptolemy Auletes, the
father, to the Roman people, whose representative he was. Other than
this he claimed no jurisdiction in the case; and his only wish, in the
discharge of the duty which devolved upon him to consider the cause, was
to settle the question in a manner just and equitable to all the parties
concerned, and thus arrest the progress of the civil war, which, if not
arrested, threatened to involve the country in the most terrible
calamities. He counseled them, therefore, to disperse, and no longer
disturb the peace of the city. He would immediately take measures for
trying the question between Cleopatra and Ptolemy, and he did not doubt
but that they would all be satisfied with his decision.
This speech, made, as it was, in the eloquent and persuasive, and yet
dignified and imposing manner for which Caesar's harangues to turbulent
assemblies like these were so famed, produced a great effect. Some were
convinced, others were silenced; and those whose resentment and anger
were not appeased, found themselves deprived of their power by the
pacification of the rest. The mob was dispersed, and Ptolemy remained
with Cleopatra in Caesar's custody.
The next day, Caesar, according to his promise, convened an assembly of
the principal people of Alexandria and officers of state, and then
brought out Ptolemy and Cleopatra, that he might decide their cause. The
original will which Ptolemy Auletes had executed had been deposited in
the public archives of Alexandria, and carefully preserved there. An
authentic copy of it had been sent to Rome. Caesar caused the original
will to be brought out and read to the assembly. The provisions of it
were perfectly explicit and clear. It required that Cleopatra and
Ptolemy should be married, and then settled the sovereign power upon
them jointly, as king and queen. It recognized the Roman commonwealth as
the ally of Egypt, and constituted the Roman government the executor of
the will, and the guardian of the king and queen. In fact, so clear and
explicit was this document, that the simple reading of it seemed to be
of itself a decision of the question. When, therefore, Caesar announced
that, in his judgment, Cleopatra was entitled to share the supreme power
with Ptolemy, and that it was his duty, as the representative of the
Roman power and the executor of the will, to protect both the king and
the queen in their respective rights, there seemed to be nothing that
could be said against his decision.
Besides Cleopatra and Ptolemy, there were two other children of Ptolemy
Auletes in the royal family at this time. One was a girl, named Arsinoë.
The other, a boy, was, singularly enough, named, like his brother,
Ptolemy. These children were quite young, but Caesar thought that it
would perhaps gratify the Alexandrians, and lead them to acquiesce more
readily in his decision, if he were to make some royal provision for
them. He accordingly proposed to assign the island of Cyprus as a realm
for them. This was literally a gift, for Cyprus was at this time a Roman
possession.
The whole assembly seemed satisfied with this decision except Pothinus.
He had been so determined and inveterate an enemy to Cleopatra, that, as
he was well aware, her restoration must end in his downfall and ruin. He
went away from the assembly moodily determining that he would not submit
to the decision, but would immediately adopt efficient measures to
prevent its being carried into effect.
Caesar made arrangements for a series of festivals and celebrations, to
commemorate and confirm the reestablishment of a good understanding
between the king and the queen, and the consequent termination of the
war. Such celebrations, he judged, would have great influence in
removing any remaining animosities from the minds of the people, and
restore the dominion of a kind and friendly feeling throughout the city.
The people fell in with these measures, and cordially co-operated to
give them effect; but Pothinus and Achillas, though they suppressed all
outward expressions of discontent, made incessant efforts in secret to
organize a party, and to form plans for overthrowing the influence of
Caesar, and making Ptolemy again the sole and exclusive sovereign.
Pothinus represented to all whom he could induce to listen to him that
Caesar's real design was to make Cleopatra queen alone, and to depose
Ptolemy, and urged them to combine with him to resist a policy which
would end in bringing Egypt under the dominion of a woman. He also
formed a plan, in connection with Achillas, for ordering the army back
from Pelusium. The army consisted of thirty thousand men. If that army
could be brought to Alexandria and kept under Pothinus's orders, Caesar
and his three thousand Roman soldiers would be, they thought, wholly at
their mercy.
There was, however, one danger to be guarded against in ordering the
army to march toward the capital, and that was, that Ptolemy, while
under Caesar's influence, might open communication with the officers, and
so obtain command of its movements, and thwart all the conspirators'
designs. To prevent this, it was arranged between Pothinus and Achillas
that the latter should make his escape from Alexandria, proceed
immediately to the camp at Pelusium, resume the command of the troops
there, and conduct them himself to the capital; and that in all these
operations, and also subsequently on his arrival, he should obey no
orders unless they came to him through Pothinus himself.
Although sentinels and guards were probably stationed at the gates and
avenues leading from the city Achillas contrived to effect his escape
and to join the army. He placed himself at the head of the forces, and
commenced his march toward the capital. Pothinus remained all the time
within the city as a spy, pretending to acquiesce in Caesar's decision,
and to be on friendly terms with him, but really plotting for his
overthrow, and obtaining all the information which his position enabled
him to command, in order that he might co-operate with the army and
Achillas when they should arrive.
All these things were done with the utmost secrecy, and so cunning and
adroit were the conspirators in forming and executing their plots, that
Caesar seems to have had no knowledge of the measures which his enemies
were taking, until he suddenly heard that the main body of Ptolemy's
army was approaching the city, at least twenty thousand strong. In the
mean time, however, the forces which he had sent for from Syria had not
arrived, and no alternative was left but to defend the capital and
himself as well as he could with the very small force which he had at
his disposal.
He determined, however, first, to try the effect of orders sent out in
Ptolemy's name to forbid the approach of the army to the city. Two
officers were accordingly intrusted with these orders, and sent out to
communicate them to Achillas. The names of these officers were
Dioscorides and Serapion.
It shows in a very striking point of view to what an incredible
exaltation the authority and consequence of a sovereign king rose in
those ancient days, in the minds of men, that Achillas, at the moment
when these men made their appearance in the camp, bearing evidently some
command from Ptolemy in the city, considered it more prudent to kill
them at once, without hearing their message, rather than to allow the
orders to be delivered and then take the responsibility of disobeying
them. If he could succeed in marching to Alexandria and in taking
possession of the city, and then in expelling Caesar and Cleopatra and
restoring Ptolemy to the exclusive possession of the throne, he knew
very well that the king would rejoice in the result, and would overlook
all irregularities on his part in the means by which he had accomplished
it, short of absolute disobedience of a known command. Whatever might be
the commands that these messengers were bringing him, he supposed that
they doubtless originated, not in Ptolemy's own free will, but that they
were dictated by the authority of Caesar. Still, they would be commands
coming in Ptolemy's name, and the universal experience of officers
serving under the military despots of those ancient days showed that,
rather than to take the responsibility of directly disobeying a royal
order once received, it was safer to avoid receiving it by murdering the
messengers.
Achillas therefore directed the officers to be seized and slain. They
were accordingly taken off and speared by the soldiers, and then the
bodies were borne away. The soldiers, however, it was found, had not
done their work effectually. There was no interest for them in such a
cold-blooded assassination, and perhaps something like a sentiment of
compassion restrained their hands. At any rate, though both the men were
desperately wounded, one only died. The other lived and recovered.
Achillas continued to advance toward the city. Caesar, finding that the
crisis which was approaching was becoming very serious in its character,
took, himself, the whole command within the capital, and began to make
the best arrangements possible under the circumstances of the case to
defend himself there. His numbers were altogether too small to defend
the whole city against the overwhelming force which was advancing to
assail it. He accordingly intrenched his troops in the palaces and in
the citadel, and in such other parts of the city as it seemed
practicable to defend. He barricaded all the streets and avenues leading
to these points, and fortified the gates. Nor did he, while thus doing
all in his power to employ the insufficient means of defense already in
his hands to the best advantage, neglect the proper exertions for
obtaining succor from abroad. He sent off galleys to Syria, to Cyprus,
to Rhodes, and to every other point accessible from Alexandria where
Roman troops might be expected to be found, urging the authorities there
to forward re-enforcements to him with the utmost possible dispatch.
During all this time Cleopatra and Ptolemy remained in the palace with
Caesar, both ostensibly co-operating with him in his councils and
measures for defending the city from Achillas. Cleopatra, of course, was
sincere and in earnest in this co-operation; but Ptolemy's adhesion to
the common cause was very little to be relied upon. Although, situated
as he was, he was compelled to seem to be on Caesar's side, he must have
secretly desired that Achillas should succeed and Caesar's plans be
overthrown. Pothinus was more active, though not less cautious in his
hostility to them. He opened secret communication with Achillas, sending
him information, from time to time, of what took place within the walls,
and of the arrangements made there for the defense of the city against
him, and gave him also directions how to proceed. He was very wary and
sagacious in all these movements, feigning all the time to be on Caesar's
side. He pretended to be very zealously employed in aiding Caesar to
secure more effectually the various points where attacks were to be
expected, and in maturing and completing the arrangements for defense.
But, notwithstanding all his cunning, he was detected in his double
dealing, and his career was suddenly brought to a close, before the
great final conflict came on. There was a barber in Caesar's household,
who, for some cause or other, began to suspect Pothinus; and, having
little else to do, he employed himself in watching the eunuch's
movements and reporting them to Caesar. Caesar directed the barber to
continue his observations. He did so; his suspicions were soon
confirmed, and at length a letter, which Pothinus had written to
Achillas, was intercepted and brought to Caesar. This furnished the
necessary proof of what they called his guilt, and Caesar ordered him to
be beheaded.
This circumstance produced, of course, a great excitement within the
palace, for Pothinus had been for many years the great ruling minister
of state,--the king, in fact, in all but in name. His execution alarmed
a great many others, who, though in Caesar's power, were secretly wishing
that Achillas might prevail. Among those most disturbed by these fears
was a man named Ganymede. He was the officer who had charge of Arsinoë,
Cleopatra's sister. The arrangement which Caesar had proposed for
establishing her in conjunction with her brother Ptolemy over the island
of Cyprus had not gone into effect; for, immediately after the decision
of Caesar, the attention of all concerned had been wholly engrossed by
the tidings of the advance of the army, and by the busy preparations
which were required on all hands for the impending contest. Arsinoë,
therefore, with her governor Ganymede, remained in the palace. Ganymede
had joined Pothinus in his plots; and when Pothinus was beheaded, he
concluded that it would be safest for him to fly.
He accordingly resolved to make his escape from the city, taking Arsinoë
with him. It was a very hazardous attempt but he succeeded in
accomplishing it. Arsinoë was very willing to go, for she was now
beginning to be old enough to feel the impulse of that insatiable and
reckless ambition which seemed to form such an essential element in the
character of every son and daughter in the whole Ptolemaic line. She was
insignificant and powerless where she was, but at the head of the army
she might become immediately a queen.
It resulted, in the first instance, as she had anticipated. Achillas and
his army received her with acclamations. Under Ganymede's influence they
decided that, as all the other members of the royal family were in
durance, being held captive by a foreign general, who had by chance
obtained possession of the capital, and were thus incapacitated for
exercising the royal power, the crown devolved upon Arsinoë; and they
accordingly proclaimed her queen.
Every thing was now prepared for a desperate and determined contest for
the crown between Cleopatra, with Caesar for her minister and general, on
the one side, and Arsinoë, with Ganymede and Achillas for her chief
officers, on the other. The young Ptolemy, in the mean time, remained
Caesar's prisoner, confused with the intricacies in which the quarrel had
become involved, and scarcely knowing now what to wish in respect to the
issue of the contest. It was very difficult to foresee whether it would
be best for him that Cleopatra or that Arsinoë should succeed.