Cleopatra had sought the venerable Anubis, who now, as the priest of
Alexander, at the age of eighty, ruled the whole hierarchy of the
country. It was difficult for him to leave his arm-chair, but he had
been carried to the observatory to examine the adverse result of the
observation made by the Queen herself. The position of the stars,
however, had been so unfavourable that the more deeply Cleopatra entered
into these matters, the less easy he found it to urge the mitigating
influences of distant planets, which he had at first pointed out.
In his reception-hall, however, the chief priest had assured her that
the independence of Egypt and the safety of her own person lay in her
hands; only--the planets showed this--a terrible sacrifice was
required--a sacrifice of which his dignity, his eighty years, and his
love for her alike forbade him to speak. Cleopatra was accustomed to
hear these mysterious sayings from his lips, and interpreted them in her
own way. Many motives had induced her to seek the venerable prelate at
this late hour. In difficult situations he had often aided her with good
counsel; but this time she was not led to him by the magic cup of
Nektanebus, which the eight pastophori who accompanied it had that day
restored to the temple, for since the battle of Actium the superb vessel
had been a source of constant anxiety to her.
Cleopatra had now asked the teacher of her childhood the direct question
whether the cup--a wide, shallow vessel, with a flat, polished
bottom--could really have induced Antony to leave the battle and follow
her ere the victory was decided. She had used it just before the
conflict between the galleys, and this circumstance led Anubis to answer
positively in the affirmative.
Long ago the marvellous chalice had been exhibited to her among the
temple treasures, and she was told that every one who induced another
person to be reflected from its shining surface obtained the mastery
over his will. Her wish to possess it, however, was not gratified, and
she did not ask for it again until the limitless devotion and ardent
love of Antony had seemed less fervent than of yore. From that time she
had never ceased to urge her aged friend to place the wondrous cup in
her keeping. At first he had absolutely refused, predicting that its use
would bring misfortune upon her; but when her request was followed by an
imperative command, and the goblet was entrusted to her, Anubis himself
believed that this _one_ vessel did possess the magic power attributed
to it. He deemed that the drinking-cup afforded the strongest proof of
the magic art, far transcending human ability, of the great goddess by
whose aid King Nektanebus--who, according to tradition, was the father
of Alexander the Great--was said to have made the vessel in the Isis
island of Philæ.
Anubis had intended to remind Cleopatra of his refusal, and show her the
great danger incurred by mortals who strove to use powers beyond their
sphere. It had been his purpose to bid her remember Phaeton, who had
almost kindled a conflagration in the world, when he attempted, in the
chariot of his father, Phœbus Apollo, to guide the horses of the sun.
But this was unnecessary, for he had scarcely assented to the question
ere, with passionate vehemence, she ordered him to destroy before her
eyes the cup which had brought so much misfortune.
The priest feigned that her desire harmonized with a resolution which he
had himself formed.
In fact, before her arrival, he had feared that the goblet might be used
in some fatal manner if Octavianus should take possession of the city
and country, and the wonder-working vessel should fall into his hands.
Nektanebus had made the cup for Egypt. To wrest it from the foreign
ruler was acting in the spirit of the last king in whose veins had
flowed the blood of the Pharaohs, and who had toiled with enthusiastic
devotion for the independence and liberty of his people. To destroy this
man's marvellous work rather than deliver it to the Roman conqueror
seemed to the chief priest, after the Queen's command, a sacred duty,
and as such he represented it to be when he commanded the smelting
furnace to be fired and the cup transformed into a shapeless mass before
the eyes of Cleopatra.
While the metal was melting he eagerly told the Queen how easily she
could dispense with the vessel which owed its magic power to the mighty
Isis.
The spell of woman's charms was also a gift of the goddess. It would
suffice to render Antony's heart soft and yielding as the fire melted
the gold. Perhaps the Imperator had forfeited, with the Queen's respect,
her love--the most priceless of blessings. He, Anubis, would regard this
as a great boon of the Deity; "for," he concluded, "Mark Antony is the
cliff which will shatter every effort to secure to my royal mistress
undiminished the heritage which has come to her and her children from
their ancestors, and preserve the independence and prosperity of this
beloved land. This cup was a costly treasure. The throne and prosperity
of Egypt are worthy of greater sacrifices. But I know that there is none
harder for a woman to make than her love."
The meaning of the old man's words Cleopatra learned the following
morning, when she granted the first interview to Timagenes, Octavianus's
envoy.
The keen-witted, brilliant man, who had been one of her best teachers
and with whom, when a pupil, she had had many an argument, was kindly
received, and fulfilled his commission with consummate skill.
The Queen listened attentively to his representations, showed him that
her own intellect had not lost in flexibility, though it had gained
power; and when she dismissed him, with rich gifts and gracious words,
she knew that she could preserve the independence of her beloved native
land and retain the throne for herself and her children if she would
surrender Antony to the conqueror or to him, as "the person acting,"
or--these were Timagenes's own words--"remove him forever from the play
whose end she had the power to render either brilliant or fateful."
When she was again alone her heart throbbed so passionately and her soul
was in such a tumult of agitation that she felt unable to attend the
appointed meeting of the Council of the crown. She deferred the session
until the following day, and resolved to go out upon the sea, to
endeavour to regain her composure.
Antony had refused to see her. This wounded her. The thought of the
goblet and its evil influences had by no means passed from her memory
with the destruction of the vessel caused by one of those outbursts of
passion to which, in these days of disaster, she yielded more frequently
than usual. On the contrary, she felt the necessity of being alone, to
collect her thoughts and strive to dispel the clouds from her troubled
soul.
The beaker had been one of the treasures of Isis, and the memory of it
recalled hours during which, in former days, she had often found
composure in the temple of the goddess. She wished to seek the sanctuary
unnoticed and, accompanied only by Iras and the chief Introducer, went,
closely veiled, to the neighbouring temple at the Corner of the Muses.
But she failed to find the object of her pilgrimage. The throng which
filled it to pray and offer sacrifices, and the fear of being
recognized, destroyed her calmness.
She was in the act of retiring, when Gorgias, the architect, followed by
an assistant carrying surveying instruments, advanced towards her. She
instantly called him to her side, and he informed her how wonderfully
Fate itself seemed to favour her plan of building. The mob had destroyed
the house of the old philosopher Didymus, and the grey-haired sage, to
whom he had offered the shelter of his home, was now ready to transfer
the property inherited from his ancestors, if her Majesty would assure
him and his family of her protection.
Then she asked to see the architect's plan for joining the museum to the
sanctuary, and became absorbed in the first sketch, to which he had
devoted part of the night and morning. He showed it, and with eager
urgency Cleopatra commanded him to begin the building as soon as
possible and pursue the work night and day. What usually required months
must be completed in weeks.
Iras and the "Introducer," clad in plain garments, had waited for her in
the temple court and, joined by the architect, accompanied her to the
unpretending litter standing at one of the side gates but, instead of
entering it, she ordered Gorgias to attend her to the garden.
The inspection proved that the architect was right and, even if the
mausoleum occupied a portion of it, and the street which separated it
from the Temple of Isis were continued along the shore of the sea, the
remainder would still be twice as large as the one belonging to the
palace at Lochias.
Cleopatra's thorough examination showed Gorgias that she had some
definite purpose in view. Her inquiry whether it would be possible to
connect it with the promontory of Lochias indicated what she had in
mind, and the architect answered in the affirmative. It was only
necessary to tear down some small buildings belonging to the Crown and a
little temple of Berenike at the southern part of the royal harbour. The
arm of the Agathodæmon Canal which entered here had been bridged long
ago.
The new scene which would result from this change had been conjured
before the Queen's mental vision with marvellous celerity, and she
described it in brief, vivid language to the architect. The garden
should remain, but must be enlarged from the Lochias to the bridge.
Thence a covered colonnade would lead to the palace. After Gorgias had
assured her that all this could easily be arranged, she gazed
thoughtfully at the ground for a time, and then gave orders that the
work should be commenced at once, and requested him to spare neither
means nor men.
Gorgias foresaw a period of feverish toil, but it did not daunt him.
With such a master builder he was ready to roof the whole city. Besides,
the commission delighted him because it proved that the woman whose
mausoleum was to rise from the earth so swiftly still thought of
enhancing the pleasures of existence; for, though she wished the garden
to remain unchanged, she desired to see the colonnade and the remainder
of the work constructed of costly materials and in beautiful forms. When
she bade him farewell, Gorgias kissed her robe with ardent enthusiasm.
What a woman! True, she had not even raised her veil, and was attired in
plain dark clothing, but every gesture revealed the most perfect grace.
The arm and hand with which she pointed now here, now there, again
seemed to him fairly instinct with life; and he, who deemed perfection
of form of so much value, found it difficult to avert his eyes from her
marvellous symmetry. And her whole figure! What lines, what genuine
aristocratic elegance, and warm, throbbing life!
That morning when Helena, now an inmate of his own home, greeted him, he
had essayed to compare her, mentally, with Cleopatra, but speedily
desisted. The man to whom Hebe proffers nectar does not ask for even the
best wine of Byblus. A feeling of grateful, cheerful satisfaction,
difficult to describe, stole over him when the reserved, quiet Helena
addressed him so warmly and cordially; but the image of Cleopatra
constantly thrust itself between them, and it was difficult for him to
understand himself. He had loved many women in succession, and now his
heart throbbed for two at once, and the Queen was the brighter of the
two stars whose light entranced him. Therefore his honest soul would
have considered it a crime to woo Helena now.
Cleopatra knew what an ardent admirer she had won in the able architect,
and the knowledge pleased her. She had used no goblet to gain _him_.
Doubtless he would begin to build the mausoleum the next morning. The
vault must have space for several coffins. Antony had more than once
expressed the desire to be buried beside her, wherever he might die, and
this had occurred ere she possessed the beaker. She must in any case
grant him the same favour, no matter in what place or by whose hand he
met death, and the bedimmed light of his existence was but too evidently
nearing extinction. If she spared him, Octavianus would strike him from
the ranks of the living, and she---- Again she was overpowered by the
terrible, feverish restlessness which had induced her to command the
destruction of the goblet, and had brought her to the temple. She could
not return in this mood to meet her councillors, receive visitors, greet
her children. This was the birthday of the twins; Charmian had reminded
her of it and undertaken to provide the gifts. How could she have found
time and thought for such affairs?
She had returned from the chief priest late in the evening, yet had
asked for a minute description of the condition in which they found Mark
Antony. The report made by Iras harmonized with the state in which she
had herself seen him during and after the battle. Ay, his brooding gloom
seemed to have deepened. Charmian had helped her dress in the morning,
and had been on the point of making her difficult confession, and owning
that she had aided Barine to escape the punishment of her royal
mistress; but ere she could begin, Timagenes was announced, for
Cleopatra had not risen from her couch until a late hour.
The object for which the Queen had sought the temple had not been
gained; but the consultation with Gorgias had diverted her mind, and the
emotions which the thought of her last resting-place had evoked now
drowned everything else, as the roar of the surf dominates the
twittering of the swallows on the rocky shore.
Ay, she needed calmness! She must weigh and ponder over many things in
absolute quietude, and this she could not obtain at Lochias. Then her
glance rested upon the little sanctuary of Berenike, which she had
ordered removed to make room for a garden near at hand, where the
children could indulge their love of creative work. It was empty. She
need fear no interruption there. The interior contained only a single,
quiet, pleasant chamber, with the image of Berenike. The "Introducer"
commanded the guard to admit no other visitors, and soon the little
white marble, circular room with its vaulted roof received the Queen.
She sank down on one of the bronze benches opposite to the statue. All
was still; in this cool silence her mind, trained to thought, could find
that for which it longed--clearness of vision, a plain understanding of
her own feelings and position in the presence of the impending decision.
At first her thoughts wandered to and fro like a dove ere it chooses the
direction of its flight; but after the question why she was having a
tomb built so hurriedly, when she would be permitted to live, her mind
found the right track. Among the Scythian guards, the Mauritanians, and
Blemmyes in the army there were plenty of savage fellows whom a word
from her lips and a handful of gold would have set upon the vanquished
Antony, as the huntsman's "Seize him!" urges the hounds. A hint, and
among the wretched magicians and Magians in the Rhakotis, the Egyptian
quarter of the city, twenty men would have assassinated him by poison or
wily snares; one command to the Macedonians in the guard of the Mellakes
or youths, and he would be a captive that very day, and to-morrow, if
she so ordered, on the way to Asia, whither Octavianus, as Timagenes
told her, had gone.
What prevented her from grasping the gold, giving the hint, issuing the
command?
Doubtless she thought of the magic goblet, now melted, which had
constrained him to cast aside honour, fame, and power, as worthless
rubbish, in order to obey her behest not to leave her; but though this
remembrance burdened her soul, it had no decisive influence. It was no
one thing which prisoned her hand and lips, but every fibre of her
being, every pulsation of her heart, every glance back into the past to
the confines of childhood.
Yet she listened to other thoughts also. They reminded her of her
children, the elation of power, love for the land of her ancestors, and
the peril which menaced it without her, the bliss of seeing the light,
and the darkness, the silence, the dull rigidity of death, the
destruction of the body and the mind cherished and developed with so
much care and toil, the horrible torture which might be associated with
the transition from life to death--the act of dying. And what lay before
her in the existence which lasted an eternity? When she no longer
breathed beneath the sun, even if the death hour was deferred, and she
found that not Epicurus, who believed that with death all things ended,
had been right, but the ancient teachings of the Egyptians, what would
await her in that world beyond the grave if she purchased a few more
years of life by the murder or betrayal of her lover, her husband?
Yet perhaps the punishments inflicted upon the condemned were but
bugbears invented by the priesthood, which guarded the regulation of the
state in order to curb the unruly conduct of the populace and terrify
the turbulent transgressors of the law. And, whispered the daring Greek
spirit, in the abode of the condemned, not in the Garden of Aalu, the
Elysian Fields of the Egyptians, she would meet her father and mother
and all her wicked ancestors down to Euergetes I, who was succeeded by
the infamous Philopater. Thus the thought of the other world became an
antecedent so uncertain as to permit no definite inference, and might
therefore be left out of the account. How would--this must be the form
of the question--the years purchased by the murder or betrayal of one
whom she loved shape themselves for her?
During the night the image of the murdered man would drive sleep from
her couch, and the Furies, the Diræ, as the Roman Antony called them,
who pursue murderers with the serpent scourge, were no idle creations of
poetic fancy, but fully symbolized the restlessness of the criminal,
driven to and fro by the pangs of conscience. The chief good, the
painless happiness of the Epicureans, was forever lost to those burdened
by such guilt.
And during the hours of the day and evening?
Ay, then she would be free to heap pleasure on pleasure. But for whom
were the festivals to be celebrated; with whom could she share them? For
many a long year no banquet, no entertainment had given her enjoyment
without Mark Antony. For whom did she adorn herself or strive to stay
the vanishing charm? And how soon would anguish of soul utterly destroy
the spell, which was slowly, slowly, yet steadily diminishing, and, when
the mirror revealed wrinkles which the skill of no Olympus could efface,
when she---- No, she was not created to grow old! Did the few years of
life which must contain so much misery really possess a value great
enough to surrender the right of being called by present and future
generations the bewitching Cleopatra, the most irresistible of women?
And the children?
Yes, it would have been delightful to see them grow up and occupy the
throne, but serious, decisive doubts soon blended even with an idea so
rich in joy.
How glorious to greet Cæsarion as sovereign of the world in
Octavianus's place! But how could the dreamer, whose first love affair
had caused the total sacrifice of dignity and violation of the law, and
who now seemed to have once more relapsed into the old state of torpor,
attain the position?
The other children inspired fair hopes, and how beautiful it appeared to
the mother's heart to see Antonius Helios as King of Egypt; Cleopatra
Selene with her first child in her arms; and little Alexander a noble
statesman and hero, rich in virtue and talents! Yet, what would they,
Antony's children, whose education she hoped Archibius would direct,
feel for the mother who had been their father's murderess?
She shuddered at the thought, remembering the hours when her childish
heart had shed tears of blood over the infamous mother whom her father
had execrated. And Queen Tryphœna, whom history recorded as a monster,
had not killed her husband, but merely thrust him from the throne.
Arsinoë's execrations of her mother and sister came back to her memory,
and the thought that the rosy lips of the twins and her darling
Alexander could ever open to curse her,--the idea that the children
would ever raise their beloved hands to point at her, the wicked
murderess of their father, with horror and scorn---- No, no, and again
no! She would not purchase a few more years of valueless life at the
cost of this humiliation and shame.
Purchase of whom?
Of that Octavianus who had robbed her son of the heritage of his father,
Cæsar, and whose mention in the will was like an imputation on her
fidelity--the cold-hearted, calculating upstart, whose nature from their
first meeting in Rome had repelled, rebuffed, chilled her; of the man by
whose cajolery and power her husband--for in her own eyes and those of
the Egyptians Antony held this position--had been induced to wed his
sister, Octavia, and thereby stamp her, Cleopatra, as merely his love,
cast a doubt upon the legitimate birth of her children; of the false
friend of the trusting Antony who, before the battle of Actium, had most
deeply humiliated and insulted both!
On the contrary, her royal pride rebelled against obeying the command of
such a man to commit the most atrocious deed; and from childhood this
pride had been as much a part of her nature as her breath and the
pulsation of her heart. And yet, for her children's sake, she might
perhaps have incurred this disgrace, had it not been at the same time
the grave of the best and noblest things which she desired to implant in
the young souls of the twins and Alexander.
While thinking of the children's curses she had risen from her seat. Why
should she reflect and consider longer? She had found the clear
perception she sought. Let Gorgias hasten the building of the tomb.
Should Fate demand her life, she would not resist if she were permitted
to preserve it only at the cost of murder or base treachery. Her lover's
was already forfeited. At his side she had enjoyed a radiant, glowing,
peerless bliss, of which the world still talked with envious amazement.
At his side, when all was over, she would rest in the grave, and compel
the world to remember with respectful sympathy the royal lovers, Antony
and Cleopatra. Her children should be able to think of her with
untroubled hearts, and not even the shadow of a bitter feeling, a
warning thought, should deter them from adorning their parents' grave
with flowers, weeping at its foot, invoking and offering sacrifices to
their spirits.
Then she glanced at the statue of Berenike, who had also once worn on
her brow the double crown of Egypt. She, too, had early died a violent
death; she, too, had known how to love. The vow to sacrifice her
beautiful hair to Aphrodite if her husband returned uninjured from the
Syrian war had rendered her name illustrious. "Berenike's Hair" was
still to be seen as a constellation in the night heavens.
Though this woman had sinned often and heavily, one act of loyal love
had made her an honoured, worshipped princess. She--Cleopatra--would do
something still greater. The sacrifice which she intended to impose upon
herself would weigh far more heavily in the balance than a handful of
beautiful tresses, and would comprise sovereignty and life.
With head erect and a sense of proud self-reliance she gazed at the
noble marble countenance of the Cyrenian queen. Ere entering the
sanctuary she had imagined that she knew how the criminals whom she had
sentenced to death must feel. Now that she herself had done with life,
she felt as if she were relieved from a heavy burden, and yet her heart
ached, and--especially when she thought of her children--she was
overwhelmed with the emotion which is the most painful of all forms of
compassion--pity for herself.