THE ALEXANDRINE WAR.
The war which ensued as the result of the intrigues and maneuvers
described in the last chapter is known in the history of Rome and Julius
Cæsar as the Alexandrine war. The events which occurred during the
progress of it, and its termination at last in the triumph of Cæsar and
Cleopatra, will form the subject of this chapter.
Achillas had greatly the advantage over Cæsar at the outset of the
contest, in respect to the strength of the forces under his command.
Cæsar, in fact, had with him only a detachment of three or four thousand
men, a small body of troops which he had hastily put on board a little
squadron of Rhodian galleys for pursuing Pompey across the Mediterranean.
When he set sail from the European shores with this inconsiderable fleet,
it is probable that he had no expectation even of landing in Egypt at all,
and much less of being involved in great military undertakings there.
Achillas, on the other hand, was at the head of a force of twenty
thousand effective men. His troops were, it is true, of a somewhat
miscellaneous character, but they were all veteran soldiers, inured to the
climate of Egypt, and skilled in all the modes of warfare which were
suited to the character of the country. Some of them were Roman soldiers,
men who had come with the army of Mark Antony from Syria when Ptolemy
Auletes, Cleopatra's father, was reinstated on the throne, and had been
left in Egypt, in Ptolemy's service, when Antony returned to Rome. Some
were native Egyptians. There was also in the army of Achillas a large
number of fugitive slaves--refugees who had made their escape from various
points along the shores of the Mediterranean, at different periods, and
had been from time to time incorporated into the Egyptian army. These
fugitives were all men of the most determined and desperate character.
Achillas had also in his command a force of two thousand horse. Such a
body of cavalry made him, of course, perfect master of all the open
country outside the city walls. At the head of these troops Achillas
gradually advanced to the very gates of Alexandria, invested the city on
every side, and shut Cæsar closely in.
The danger of the situation in which Cæsar was placed was extreme; but he
had been so accustomed to succeed in extricating himself from the most
imminent perils, that neither he himself nor his army seem to have
experienced any concern in respect to the result. Cæsar personally felt a
special pride and pleasure in encountering the difficulties and dangers
which now beset him, because Cleopatra was with him to witness his
demeanor, to admire his energy and courage, and to reward by her love the
efforts and sacrifices which he was making in espousing her cause. She
confided every thing to him, but she watched all the proceedings with the
most eager interest, elated with hope in respect to the result, and proud
of the champion who had thus volunteered to defend her. In a word, her
heart was full of gratitude, admiration, and love.
The immediate effect, too, of the emotions which she felt so strongly was
greatly to heighten her natural charms. The native force and energy of her
character were softened and subdued. Her voice, which always possessed a
certain inexpressible charm, was endued with new sweetness through the
influence of affection. Her countenance beamed with fresh animation and
beauty, and the sprightliness and vivacity of her character, which became
at later periods of her life boldness and eccentricity, now being softened
and restrained within proper limits by the respectful regard with which
she looked upon Cæsar, made her an enchanting companion. Cæsar was, in
fact, entirely intoxicated with the fascinations which she unconsciously
displayed.
Under other circumstances than these, a personal attachment so strong,
formed by a military commander while engaged in active service, might have
been expected to interfere in some degree with the discharge of his
duties; but in this case, since it was for Cleopatra's sake and in her
behalf that the operations which Cæsar had undertaken were to be
prosecuted, his love for her only stimulated the spirit and energy with
which he engaged in them.
The first measure to be adopted was, as Cæsar plainly perceived, to
concentrate and strengthen his position in the city, so that he might be
able to defend himself there against Achillas until he should receive
re-enforcements from abroad. For this purpose he selected a certain group
of palaces and citadels which lay together near the head of the long pier
or causeway which led to the Pharos, and, withdrawing his troops from all
other parts of the city, established them there. The quarter which he thus
occupied contained the great city arsenals and public granaries. Cæsar
brought together all the arms and munitions of war which he could find in
other parts of the city, and also all the corn and other provisions which
were contained either in the public depôts or in private warehouses, and
stored the whole within his lines. He then inclosed the whole quarter with
strong defenses. The avenues leading to it were barricaded with walls of
stone. Houses in the vicinity which might have afforded shelter to an
enemy were demolished, and the materials used in constructing walls
wherever they were needed, or in strengthening the barricades. Prodigious
military engines, made to throw heavy stones, and beams of wood, and other
ponderous missiles, were set up within his lines, and openings were made
in the walls and other defenses of the citadel, wherever necessary, to
facilitate the action of these machines.
[Illustration: VIEW OF ALEXANDRIA.]
There was a strong fortress situated at the head of the pier or mole
leading to the island of Pharos, which was without Cæsar's lines, and
still in the hands of the Egyptian authorities. The Egyptians thus
commanded the entrance to the mole. The island itself, also, with the
fortress at the other end of the pier, was still in the possession of the
Egyptian authorities, who seemed disposed to hold it for Achillas. The
mole was very long, as the island was nearly a mile from the shore. There
was quite a little town upon the island itself, besides the fortress or
castle built there to defend the place. The garrison of this castle was
strong, and the inhabitants of the town, too, constituted a somewhat
formidable population, as they consisted of fishermen, sailors, wreckers,
and such other desperate characters as usually congregate about such a
spot. Cleopatra and Cæsar, from the windows of their palace within the
city, looked out upon this island, with the tall light-house rising in the
center of it and the castle at its base, and upon the long and narrow
isthmus connecting it with the main land, and concluded that it was very
essential that they should get possession of the post, commanding, as it
did, the entrance to the harbor.
In the harbor, too, which, as will be seen from the engraving, was on the
south side of the mole, and, consequently, on the side opposite to that
from which Achillas was advancing toward the city, there were lying a
large number of Egyptian vessels, some dismantled, and others manned and
armed more or less effectively. These vessels had not yet come into
Achillas's hands, but it would be certain that he would take possession of
them as soon as he should gain admittance to those parts of the city which
Cæsar had abandoned. This it was extremely important to prevent; for, if
Achillas held this fleet, especially if he continued to command the island
of Pharos, he would be perfect master of all the approaches to the city
on the side of the sea. He could then not only receive re-enforcements and
supplies himself from that quarter, but he could also effectually cut off
the Roman army from all possibility of receiving any. It became,
therefore, as Cæsar thought, imperiously necessary that he should protect
himself from this danger. This he did by sending out an expedition to burn
all the shipping in the harbor, and, at the same time, to take possession
of a certain fort upon the island of Pharos which commanded the entrance
to the port. This undertaking was abundantly successful. The troops burned
the shipping, took the fort, expelled the Egyptian soldiers from it, and
put a Roman garrison into it instead, and then returned in safety within
Cæsar's lines. Cleopatra witnessed these exploits from her palace windows
with feelings of the highest admiration for the energy and valor which her
Roman protectors displayed.
The burning of the Egyptian ships in this action, however fortunate for
Cleopatra and Cæsar, was attended with a catastrophe which has ever since
been lamented by the whole civilized world. Some of the burning ships were
driven by the wind to the shore, where they set fire to the buildings
which were contiguous to the water. The flames spread and produced an
extensive conflagration, in the course of which the largest part of the
great library was destroyed. This library was the only general collection
of the ancient writings that ever had been made, and the loss of it was
never repaired.
The destruction of the Egyptian fleet resulted also in the downfall and
ruin of Achillas. From the time of Arsinoë's arrival in the camp there had
been a constant rivalry and jealousy between himself and Ganymede, the
eunuch who had accompanied Arsinoë in her flight. Two parties had been
formed in the army, some declaring for Achillas and some for Ganymede.
Arsinoë advocated Ganymede's interests, and when, at length, the fleet was
burned, she charged Achillas with having been, by his neglect or
incapacity, the cause of the loss. Achillas was tried, condemned, and
beheaded. From that time Ganymede assumed the administration of Arsinoë's
government as her minister of state and the commander-in-chief of her
armies.
About the time that these occurrences took place, the Egyptian army
advanced into those parts of the city from which Cæsar had withdrawn,
producing those terrible scenes of panic and confusion which always
attend a sudden and violent change of military possession within the
precincts of a city. Ganymede brought up his troops on every side to the
walls of Cæsar's citadels and intrenchments, and hemmed him closely in. He
cut off all avenues of approach to Cæsar's lines by land, and commenced
vigorous preparations for an assault. He constructed engines for battering
down the walls. He opened shops and established forges in every part of
the city for the manufacture of darts, spears, pikes, and all kinds of
military machinery. He built towers supported upon huge wheels, with the
design of filling them with armed men when finally ready to make his
assault upon Cæsar's lines, and moving them up to the walls of the
citadels and palaces, so as to give to his soldiers the advantage of a
lofty elevation in making their attacks. He levied contributions on the
rich citizens for the necessary funds, and provided himself with men by
pressing all the artisans, laborers, and men capable of bearing arms into
his service. He sent messengers back into the interior of the country, in
every direction, summoning the people to arms, and calling for
contributions of money and military stores.
These messengers were instructed to urge upon the people that, unless
Cæsar and his army were at once expelled from Alexandria, there was
imminent danger that the national independence of Egypt would be forever
destroyed. The Romans, they were to say, had extended their conquests over
almost all the rest of the world. They had sent one army into Egypt
before, under the command of Mark Antony, under the pretense of restoring
Ptolemy Auletes to the throne. Now another commander, with another force,
had come, offering some other pretexts for interfering in their affairs.
These Roman encroachments, the messengers were to say, would end in the
complete subjugation of Egypt to a foreign power, unless the people of the
country aroused themselves to meet the danger manfully, and to expel the
intruders.
As Cæsar had possession of the island of Pharos and of the harbor,
Ganymede could not cut him off from receiving such re-enforcements of men
and arms as he might make arrangements for obtaining beyond the sea; nor
could he curtail his supply of food, as the granaries and magazines within
Cæsar's quarter of the city contained almost inexhaustible stores of corn.
There was one remaining point essential to the subsistence of an army
besieged, and that was an abundant supply of water. The palaces and
citadels which Cæsar occupied were supplied with water by means of
numerous subterranean aqueducts, which conveyed the water from the Nile to
vast cisterns built under ground, whence it was raised by buckets and
hydraulic engines for use. In reflecting upon this circumstance, Ganymede
conceived the design of secretly digging a canal, so as to turn the waters
of the sea by means of it into these aqueducts. This plan he carried into
effect. The consequence was, that the water in the cisterns was gradually
changed. It became first brackish, then more and more salt and bitter,
until, at length, it was wholly impossible to use it. For some time the
army within could not understand these changes; and when, at length, they
discovered the cause, the soldiers were panic-stricken at the thought that
they were now apparently wholly at the mercy of their enemies, since,
without supplies of water, they must all immediately perish. They
considered it hopeless to attempt any longer to hold out, and urged Cæsar
to evacuate the city, embark on board his galleys, and proceed to sea.
Instead of doing this, however, Cæsar, ordering all other operations to
be suspended, employed the whole laboring force of his command, under the
direction of the captains of the several companies, in digging wells in
every part of his quarter of the city. Fresh water, he said, was almost
invariably found, at a moderate depth, upon sea-coasts, even upon ground
lying in very close proximity with the sea. The diggings were successful.
Fresh water, in great abundance, was found. Thus this danger was passed,
and the men's fears effectually relieved.
A short time after these transactions occurred, there came into the harbor
one day, from along the shore west of the city, a small sloop, bringing
the intelligence that a squadron of transports had arrived upon the coast
to the westward of Alexandria, and had anchored there, being unable to
come up to the city on account of an easterly wind which prevailed at that
season of the year. This squadron was one which had been sent across the
Mediterranean with arms, ammunition, and military stores for Cæsar, in
answer to requisitions which he had made immediately after he had landed.
The transports being thus wind-bound on the coast, and having nearly
exhausted their supplies of water, were in distress; and they accordingly
sent forward the sloop, which was probably propelled by oars, to make
known their situation to Cæsar, and to ask for succor. Cæsar immediately
went, himself, on board of one of his galleys, and ordering the remainder
of his little fleet to follow him, he set sail out of the harbor, and then
turned to the westward, with a view of proceeding along the coast to the
place where the transports were lying.
All this was done secretly. The land is so low in the vicinity of
Alexandria that boats or galleys are out of sight from it at a very short
distance from the shore. In fact, travelers say that, in coming upon the
coast, the illusion produced by the spherical form of the surface of the
water and the low and level character of the coast is such that one seems
actually to descend from the sea to the land. Cæsar might therefore have
easily kept his expedition a secret, had it not been that, in order to be
provided with a supply of water for the transports immediately on reaching
them, he stopped at a solitary part of the coast, at some distance from
Alexandria, and sent a party a little way into the interior in search for
water. This party were discovered by the country people, and were
intercepted by a troop of horse and made prisoners. From these prisoners
the Egyptians learned that Cæsar himself was on the coast with a small
squadron of galleys. The tidings spread in all directions. The people
flocked together from every quarter. They hastily collected all the boats
and vessels which could be obtained at the villages in that region and
from the various branches of the Nile. In the mean time, Cæsar had gone on
to the anchorage ground of the squadron, and had taken the transports in
tow to bring them to the city; for the galleys, being propelled by oars,
were in a measure independent of the wind. On his return, he found quite a
formidable naval armament assembled to dispute the passage.
A severe conflict ensued, but Cæsar was victorious. The navy which the
Egyptians had so suddenly got together was as suddenly destroyed. Some of
the vessels were burned, others sunk, and others captured; and Cæsar
returned in triumph to the port with his transports and stores. He was
welcomed with the acclamations of his soldiers, and, still more warmly, by
the joy and gratitude of Cleopatra, who had been waiting during his
absence in great anxiety and suspense to know the result of the
expedition, aware as she was that her hero was exposing himself in it to
the most imminent personal danger.
The arrival of these re-enforcements greatly improved Cæsar's condition,
and the circumstance of their coming forced upon the mind of Ganymede a
sense of the absolute necessity that he should gain possession of the
harbor if he intended to keep Cæsar in check. He accordingly determined to
take immediate measures for forming a naval force. He sent along the
coast, and ordered every ship and galley that could be found in all the
ports to be sent immediately to Alexandria. He employed as many men as
possible in and around the city in building more. He unroofed some of the
most magnificent edifices to procure timber as a material for making
benches and oars. When all was ready, he made a grand attack upon Cæsar in
the port, and a terrible contest ensued for the possession of the harbor,
the mole, the island, and the citadels and fortresses commanding the
entrances from the sea. Cæsar well knew that this contest would be a
decisive one in respect to the final result of the war, and he accordingly
went forth himself to take an active and personal part in the conflict. He
felt doubtless, too, a strong emotion of pride and pleasure in exhibiting
his prowess in the sight of Cleopatra, who could watch the progress of
the battle from the palace windows, full of excitement at the dangers
which he incurred, and of admiration at the feats of strength and valor
which he performed. During this battle the life of the great conqueror was
several times in the most imminent danger. He wore a habit or mantle of
the imperial purple, which made him a conspicuous mark for his enemies;
and, of course, wherever he went, in that place was the hottest of the
fight. Once, in the midst of a scene of most dreadful confusion and din,
he leaped from an overloaded boat into the water and swam for his life,
holding his cloak between his teeth and drawing it through the water after
him, that it might not fall into the hands of his enemies. He carried, at
the same time, as he swam, certain valuable papers which he wished to
save, holding them above his head with one hand, while he propelled
himself through the water with the other.
The result of this contest was another decisive victory for Cæsar. Not
only were the ships which the Egyptians had collected defeated and
destroyed, but the mole, with the fortresses at each extremity of it, and
the island, with the light-house and the town of Pharos, all fell into
Cæsar's hands.
The Egyptians now began to be discouraged. The army and the people,
judging, as mankind always do, of the virtue of their military commanders
solely by the criterion of success, began to be tired of the rule of
Ganymede and Arsinoë. They sent secret messengers to Cæsar avowing their
discontent, and saying that, if he would liberate Ptolemy--who, it will be
recollected, had been all this time held as a sort of prisoner of state in
Cæsar's palaces--they thought that the people generally would receive him
as their sovereign, and that then an arrangement might easily be made for
an amicable adjustment of the whole controversy. Cæsar was strongly
inclined to accede to this proposal.
He accordingly called Ptolemy into his presence, and, taking him kindly by
the hand, informed him of the wishes of the people of Egypt, and gave him
permission to go. Ptolemy, however, begged not to be sent away. He
professed the strongest attachment to Cæsar, and the utmost confidence in
him, and he very much preferred, he said, to remain under his protection.
Cæsar replied that, if those were his sentiments, the separation would
not be a lasting one. "If we part as friends," he said, "we shall soon
meet again." By these and similar assurances he endeavored to encourage
the young prince, and then sent him away. Ptolemy was received by the
Egyptians with great joy, and was immediately placed at the head of the
government. Instead, however, of endeavoring to promote a settlement of
the quarrel with Cæsar, he seemed to enter into it now himself,
personally, with the utmost ardor, and began at once to make the most
extensive preparations both by sea and land for a vigorous prosecution of
the war. What the result of these operations would have been can now not
be known, for the general aspect of affairs was, soon after these
transactions, totally changed by the occurrence of a new and very
important event which suddenly intervened, and which turned the attention
of all parties, both Egyptians and Romans, to the eastern quarter of the
kingdom. The tidings arrived that a large army, under the command of a
general named Mithradates, whom Cæsar had dispatched into Asia for this
purpose, had suddenly appeared at Pelusium, had captured that city, and
were now ready to march to Alexandria.
The Egyptian army immediately broke up its encampments in the neighborhood
of Alexandria, and marched to the eastward to meet these new invaders.
Cæsar followed them with all the forces that he could safely take away
from the city. He left the city in the night and unobserved, and moved
across the country with such celerity that he joined Mithradates before
the forces of Ptolemy had arrived. After various marches and maneuvers,
the armies met, and a great battle was fought. The Egyptians were
defeated. Ptolemy's camp was taken. As the Roman army burst in upon one
side of it, the guards and attendants of Ptolemy fled upon the other,
clambering over the ramparts in the utmost terror and confusion. The
foremost fell headlong into the ditch below, which was thus soon filled to
the brim with the dead and the dying; while those who came behind pressed
on over the bridge thus formed, trampling remorselessly, as they fled, on
the bodies of their comrades, who lay writhing, struggling, and shrieking
beneath their feet. Those who escaped reached the river. They crowded
together into a boat which lay at the bank and pushed off from the shore.
The boat was overloaded, and it sank as soon as it left the land. The
Romans drew the bodies which floated to the shore up upon the bank again,
and they found among them one, which, by the royal cuirass which was upon
it, the customary badge and armor of the Egyptian kings, they knew to be
the body of Ptolemy.
The victory which Cæsar obtained in this battle and the death of Ptolemy
ended the war. Nothing now remained but for him to place himself at the
head of the combined forces and march back to Alexandria. The Egyptian
forces which had been left there made no resistance, and he entered the
city in triumph. He took Arsinoë prisoner. He decreed that Cleopatra
should reign as queen, and that she should marry her youngest brother, the
other Ptolemy--a boy at this time about eleven years of age. A marriage
with one so young was, of course, a mere form. Cleopatra remained, as
before, the companion of Cæsar.
Cæsar had, in the mean time, incurred great censure at Rome, and
throughout the whole Roman world, for having thus turned aside from his
own proper duties as the Roman consul, and the commander-in-chief of the
armies of the empire, to embroil himself in the quarrels of a remote and
secluded kingdom, with which the interests of the Roman commonwealth were
so little connected. His friends and the authorities at Rome were
continually urging him to return. They were especially indignant at his
protracted neglect of his own proper duties, from knowing that he was held
in Egypt by a guilty attachment to the queen--thus not only violating his
obligations to the state, but likewise inflicting upon his wife Calpurnia,
and his family at Rome, an intolerable wrong. But Cæsar was so fascinated
by Cleopatra's charms, and by the mysterious and unaccountable influence
which she exercised over him, that he paid no heed to any of these
remonstrances. Even after the war was ended he remained some months in
Egypt to enjoy his favorite's society. He would spend whole nights in her
company, in feasting and revelry. He made a splendid royal progress with
her through Egypt after the war was over, attended by a numerous train of
Roman guards. He formed a plan for taking her to Rome, and marrying her
there; and he took measures for having the laws of the city altered so as
to enable him to do so, though he was already married.
All these things produced great discontent and disaffection among Cæsar's
friends and throughout the Roman army. The Egyptians, too, strongly
censured the conduct of Cleopatra. A son was born to her about this time,
whom the Alexandrians named, from his father, Cæsarion. Cleopatra was
regarded in the new relation of mother, which she now sustained, not with
interest and sympathy, but with feelings of reproach and condemnation.
Cleopatra was all this time growing more and more accomplished and more
and more beautiful; but her vivacity and spirit, which had been so
charming while it was simple and childlike, now began to appear more
forward and bold. It is the characteristic of pure and lawful love to
soften and subdue the heart, and infuse a gentle and quiet spirit into all
its action; while that which breaks over the barriers that God and nature
have marked out for it, tends to make woman masculine and bold, to
indurate all her sensibilities, and to destroy that gentleness and
timidity of demeanor which have so great an influence in heightening her
charms. Cleopatra was beginning to experience these effects. She was
indifferent to the opinions of her subjects, and was only anxious to
maintain as long as possible her guilty ascendency over Cæsar.
Cæsar, however, finally determined to set out on his return to the
capital. Leaving Cleopatra, accordingly, a sufficient force to secure the
continuance of her power, he embarked the remainder of his forces in his
transports and galleys, and sailed away. He took the unhappy Arsinoë with
him, intending to exhibit her as a trophy of his Egyptian victories on his
arrival at Rome.