CLEOPATRA. 



679 



Cleopatra, from his presence, by the imperious haughtiness of her 

 V "Y~~' manners. In this she succeeded so well, that many of 

 his principal friends, d<sguste.i with her conduct, and 

 afraid for their safety under such dangerous influence, 

 openly went over to the side of OcUvianus. This wily 

 politician conducted himself in the whole of this affair 

 with his usual address : finding himself prepared for de- 

 claring war, it was proclaimed, not against Antony, but 

 against Cleopatra, as having bewitched him with charms 

 and potions, so as to deprive him of his senses, and 

 make him compromise the dignity of the Roman peo- 

 ple. 



At last the armies of the two contending parties were 

 drawn up on opposite sides of the Ambracian Gulf : 

 their fleets covered the sea between ; and the result uf 

 victory was to be the empire of the world. But here 

 the evil genius of Antony finally prevailed : contrary to 

 the advice of his most experienced officers, and contrary 

 to the conviction of his own mind, he listened to the ar 

 guments of Cleopatra, who had an eye to her own escape 

 in case of discomfiture, and ventured to commit his for- 

 tunes to the issu- of a sea fight. The Egyptian queen, 

 who advised the measure, was the chief cause of its fai- 

 lure. She became terrified at the noise of the fight, and 

 fled, with sixty large ships, before she was in the small- 

 est danger. Antony, like a person deprived of reason, 

 immediately followed her, and by his fl:ght decided she 

 fate of the battle, which till that time had been doubt- 

 ful. He was sensible that he had lost every thing by 

 her misconduct, and for some time refused to see her ; 

 but they wen- soon reconciled by the interference of her 

 maids, and he became her devoted slave as much as ever. 

 Cleopatra, suspecting that her subjects might not re- 

 ceive her, were her disgrace and misfortunes known, en- 

 tered the harbour of Alexandria with crowns and gar- 

 land . on the prows of her ships, as if she had been re- 

 turning from a victory : being thus admitted into the 

 town, she immediately put to death all whom she sus- 

 pected of disaffection to her person or government. 



She now engaged in a very extraordinary enterprize, 

 which perhaps indicated more energy than judgment. 

 Convinced that Octavia- us would pursue her into Egypt, 

 and sensible that she possessed no means of resistance, 

 she ordered all her ships to be carried from the Mediter- 

 ranean into the Red Sea, across the isthmus of Suez, a 

 distance of about seventy miles. Her object was to for- 

 sake Egypt, and go in search of some new settlement. 

 The Arabs, however, at the instigation of one of Oc- 

 tayiamis's lieutenants, burnt all the ships that were carried 

 over, as well as th'.se that were in the Red Sea before, 

 and the queen was obliged to desist from this romantic 

 undertaking. 



Nothing now remained but to await the approach 

 of the conqueror. Antony and Cleopatra sent the 

 most submissive proposals to Octavianus, offering to 

 live a private life at Athens, provided the crown of 

 Egypt were reserved f >r Cleopatra's children. This 

 proposal was rejected : Cleopatra's ambassadors, how- 

 ever, were instructed by their mistress to treat privately 

 for her own safety : as Octavianus was extremely anxi- 

 ous to get hold of hef person, to ad rn his triumph, and 

 of her treasures, to defray the ex; ences of the war, he 

 dismissed the ambassadors with many fair words and pro- 

 misesof kind intentiunstowards theirmistress, provided she 

 would kill Antony, who was represented as the cause of 

 all her misfortune*. This ehe positively refused to do ; 

 but engaged to do what amounted to the game thing, to 

 deliver bun and her kingdom into the haiidt of Octavi- 

 anus. 



In conformity with this engagement, Pelusium, the Cleopatra, 

 key of Egypt on the east, was delivered into his hands ' Y~"~' 

 without resistance, though it was capable of sustaining a 

 long siege. Antony was at this time employed on the 

 opposite frontier ; and hearing of the rapid approach of 

 the Roman army towards Alexandria, he hastened to the 

 defence of the city. Cleopatra in the meantime, to pre- 

 vent Antony from suspecting any understanding between 

 her and Octavianun, had retired into a high tower, where 

 she collected her most valuable treasures, and materials 

 for a funeral pile, giving it out, that she intended to con- 

 sume herself and her treasures together, should the town 

 fall into the hands of the enemy. Antony, with that impe- 

 tuosity which distinguished him in war, sallied out from 

 the city, and falling unexpectedly on the cavalry of the 

 enemy defeated them with great slaughter. 



Encouraged by this success, he prepared next day to 

 engage their fleet ; but no sooner was the signal given, 

 than Cleopatra's admiral, in compliance with her orders, 

 went over to the enemy. Antony then hastened to his 

 land forces, but found to his astonishment that they had 

 all to a man deserted to Octavianu*. His eyes were now 

 opened to the perfidy of Cleopatra, whom, till that mo- 

 ment, all the remonstrances of his friends could never in- 

 duce him to suspect, and he flew to her palace in a pa- 

 roxysm of rage and despair to put her to deatli. She 

 saved herself by a timely flight, and took refuge with two 

 of her maids in her inaccessible tower. 



She now caused it to be given out that she had killed 

 herself, to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy ; 

 and Antony believing the tale, instantly passed from the 

 extreme of resentment to that of tenderness, and, in his 

 despair, fell upon his sword, inflicting a wound which, 

 occasioned his death. 



As soon as Cleopatra heard of this tragical event, all 

 her affection revived for a man whom her counsels had 

 ruined, and at last her pi-rfidy betrayed ; and learning 

 that he was not yet quite dead, she ordered him to be 

 raised up to her apartment in the tower, by means of pul- 

 lies which happened to be there at the time, for the pur- 

 pose of raising s-tonei, to the top of the mo.iument He 

 was raised with difficulty by herself and her two maids, 

 as she refused to open the gate to receive assistance from, 

 below. She received him bathed in blood, and had the 

 melancholy satisfaction of seeing him expire in her arms. 



At the moment that Antony breathed his last, Pro- 

 culeius arrived from the camp of Octavianus, requiring 

 Cleopatra, with many fair promises, to surrender her per- 

 son. This, however, she obstinately refused to d.i, ex- 

 cept on such terms as Octavianus was determined not to 

 grant ; for his great ambition was to have such a cele- 

 brated personage to adorn his triumph, whilst she viewed 

 this consummation of her sufferings with the greatest 

 horror. To prevent her from taking any desperate step, 

 Octavianus sent Cornelius Gallus, a man of great ho- 

 n >ur and eloquence, to converse with her. Whilst he 

 was amusing lier with fair speeches at the gate of the 

 monument, Proculeiut with two servants scaled the wall, 

 and hastened down to secure her person. As soon as 

 she saw herself within their powtr, she drew a dagger, 

 which she always carried ab .ut hi-r and attempted^ to 

 stab herself. But Proculeius springing forward, seized 

 her in his arms, and wrested the dagger from her hands.. 



Octavianus was overjoyed at this acquisition. He or- 

 dered her to be watched with the strictest care, and at 

 the same time to be treated with the greatest respect. He 

 sent to her to know, it there was any favour which she 

 had to ask. All that she requested was, that she might be 

 permitted to bury Antony. Thij was readily granted y 



