THE STORIES OF NOTED PAINTINGS. 261 



only too gladly accepted by his terror-stricken countrymen ; and 

 David, armed only with his staff and sling, met the mail-clad 

 giant in mortal combat. At the first throw the practiced slinger 

 felled his foe with a stone well implanted in his forehead. On 

 his way to Saul bearing the trophy of the bloody head, he met 

 the king's daughters, singing " Saul lias slain his thousands and 

 David his ten thousands." 



CLEOPATRA. 



By GUIDO RENI (born 1575, died 1642). Cleopatra, the 

 Queen of Egypt, and the last of the royal race of the Ptolemies, 

 killed herself, it is supposed, by the bite of a small but exceed- 

 ingly poisonous serpent, called the aspic. After the famous 

 naval battle of Actium, B. C. 31, the city of Alexandrea fell 

 into the hands of the Romans. Marc Anthony, who for the love 

 of this fatal woman had been fighting on her side against his 

 country and kindred, on receiving a false rumor that the Queen 

 had committed suicide, fell on his sword with a like purpose ; 

 but had, after all, the mortifying consolation of dying in her 

 arms. Cleopatra then tried to cast the spell of her charms over 

 the new Roman conquerer, Augustus, as she had so often done on 

 other occasions ; but failing in this, and seeing all empire lost, 

 this most fascinating woman perhaps that ever lived, at the age 

 of thirty-nine, enclosing herself alone in her castle, thus died the 

 painless death of the asp-poisoned, to avoid the humiliation of 

 being taken to Rome to grace the triumphal procession of Caesar 

 Augustus. 



THE ANGEL REFUSING THE GIFTS OF TOBIT. 



By GIOVANNI BILIVERTI (born at Florence in 1576, died 1644). 

 The story of Tobit is told in one of the Apocryphal books of the 

 Old Testament. He was a rich Jew who, with his wife Sara 

 and his son Tobias, was carried into captivity by the Assyrians. 

 He lived a just life and gave freely of his goods to help his 

 brethren. In one way and another his misfortunes were increased, 

 and he became blind, and nothing was left to him but his wife 

 and son. In this strait the angel Raphael was sent to him, who, 



