When Antony was making preparation for the Parthian war, he sent to
command Cleopatra to make her personal appearance in Cilicia, to answer
the accusation, that she had given great assistance, in the late wars,
to Cassius. Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen
her face, and remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, than he
felt convinced that Antony would not so much as think of giving any
molestation to a woman like this; on the contrary, she would be the
first in favor with him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to
the Egyptia, and gave her his advice, "to go," in the Homeric style, to
Cilicia, "in her best attire," and bade her fear nothing from Antony,
the gentlest and the kindest of soldiers. She had some faith in the
words of Dellius, but more in her own attractions, which, having
formerly recommended her to Caesar and the young Gnaeus Pompey, she
did not doubt might prove yet more successful with Antony. Their
acquaintance was with her when a girl, young, and ignorant of the world,
but she was to meet Antony in the time of life when women's beauty is
most splendid, and their intellects are in full maturity, for she was
now about twenty-eight years of age. She made great preparation for her
journey, of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a
kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her
own magic arts and charms.
She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to
summon her, but she paid no attention to these orders; and at last, as
if in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge
with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver
beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay
stretched along under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a
picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted Cupids, stood on each
side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like Sea Nymphs and Graces, some
steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes. The perfumes
diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with
multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part
running out of the city to see the sight. The market-place was quite
emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal;
while the word went through all the multitude, that Venus had come to
feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia. On her arrival, Antony
sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come to
her; so, willing to show his good-humor and courtesy, he complied,
and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent beyond
expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of lights;
for on a sudden there were let down all together so great numbers of
branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares,
and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has
seldom been equaled for beauty.
The next day, Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to
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 Aethiopians,
Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and
many others, whose language she had learnt; 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.
Antony was so captivated by her that, leaving his troops assembled in
Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria, he suffered 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 valuable, 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 supper. So he
was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of
all things; but particularly, seeing eight wild boars roasting whole, he
exclaimed, "Surely you have a great number of guests." The cook laughed
at his simplicity, and told him there were not more than twelve to sup,
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 sup 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,
"not one, but many suppers must be had in readiness, as it 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 at any moment some new
delight or charm to meet his wishes. 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 disturb and torment
people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant-woman, for
Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions
he often came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten
severely, though most people guessed who it was. It would be trifling
without end to be particular in 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 the queen, 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 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 give, drew up the prey, and when,
as may be imagined, great laughter ensued, Cleopatra said, "Leave the
fishing-rod, general, to us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your
game is cities, provinces, and kingdoms."