424 57^ Difcovery, Settlement, Commerce Book 1 
lingering Kind of War, till towards the latter End of the 
Month of Auguft both Armies and Fleets were in Sight of 
each other. Antony , with his Forces, encamped in the 
Neighbourhood of Allium, a {mail ■ City of Epirus, lying 
on the South Side of the Mouth of the Ambracian Gulph ; 
and Augujhts was on the other Side, with his Army and 
Fleet, at the Diftance of about a Mile from each other. 
Cleopatra was with Antony , and prevailed upon him to 
try his Fortune by Sea ; and accordingly, on the fecond of 
September , in the Year before Chrift thirty-one, a decifive 
Engagement enfued, in which Antony was far from hav- 
ing the worft, till Cleopatra , with the Egyptian Squadron 
of fixty Sail, deferted him ; and he forgot his own Intereft 
fo far, as to follow her : Notwithstanding which, his Fleet 
continued the Engagement till Night, when they were 
intirely beaten ; and, in a few Days after, his Army de- 
ferted to his Rival a . 
As for Cleopatra , fhe failed diretftly to Alexandria ; but, 
fearing that her Subjebts would not receive her, if ac- 
quainted with the true State of her Affairs, fhe entered the 
Harbour, with all her Ships adorned, as if they had car- 
ried the Vibtory : And having, by this Artifice, got into 
full Poffeffion of the City and Kingdom, line cauled fuch 
of the Nobility of Egypt , as fhe mod fufpebted, to be put 
to Death -,, and then it was, that fhe formed the Projedt of 
putting all her Treafures on board her Ships, and drawing 
thole Ships tin o’ the Canal before-mentioned, into the 
Red Sea ; which Defign was prevented by the Vigilance 
of the Romans , who prevailed with the Arabians on the 
oppofite Side of the Gulph to burn thofe Ships ; which 
wholly difappointed her Defign b . 
Antony was at that Time abfent, and feemed to be en- 
deavouring to colled: new Forces but he foon abandoned 
that ProjeCL and followed Cleopatra to Alexandria , where 
he fell into the fame lazy and luxurious Life he had led be- 
fore. All his Hopes lay, now, in endeavouring to foiten 
Auguftus by Submiffions and, with this View, both he 
and Cleopatra fent to the Conqueror, offering to refign all 
they yet poffeffed, and to lead a private Life, in whatever 
Place he thought proper to aflign them. To Antony' s 
Propofals no Anfwer was made, but Cleopatra was flattered 
with Hopes, that fhe might not deltroy, or make away 
with, her Treafures : 'And thefe fallacious Hopes led her to 
the greateft Bafenefs, that of betraying Antony, by giving 
up Pelufmm , which w r as gariloned by her Forces, to Au- 
guft us, on the firft Approach of his Army. Antony 
would then have put himlelf on board his Fleet, which was 
ftill numerous, in order to have fought another Battle but, 
as foon as they were drawn into a Line, moft of his Ships 
went over to the Enemy. His Land F orces adzed by him 
in the fame manner, thro’ the Infmuation of Cleopatra ; 
which drove him into fuch a Fit of Defpair, that he threw 
himlelf upon his Sword, chilling rather to die by his own 
Hands, than to fall alive into thofe of his Enemy c .^ 
A little before this Accident happened, Cleopatra had re- 
tired to a magnificent Monument, which fhe had caufed to 
be built for herfelf, near the Temple of IJis ; and thither 
fhe removed the belt Part of her 1 realure, fhutting up 
herfelf therein, with only two of her Maids, and one of 
her Eunuchs, expeding, in that Solitude, whatever mi&fo 
befal her d . 
Upon the coming of Auguftus to Alexandria , all Egypt 
fubmitted to him; and he took all the Precautions pof- 
fible, for fettling and preserving it and, amongft thefe 
we are to reckon his putting to Death Cafarion , which he 
did for two Reafons ; firfiy becaufe he had been declared 
the lawful Heir of Julius Cceftar, which might have 
awakened new Troubles in Italy ; and next, becaufe of his 
Defcent from the Ptolemies , which might have given hirri 
a Claim to the Kingdom of Egpyt. He likewise put to 
Death Antylliis , the eldeft Son of Antony by his firft Wife 
tho’ he had married his own Daughter : As to the Reafon 
of which, Hiftory is filent e . 
Cleopatra remained, all this time, fhut up in her Tomb •. 
for Auguftus , having now made fore, both of her Perfon 
and her Treafures, negledzed her; which fhe perceivino- 
and being likewile informed, that he intended to carry her' 
in three Days time, to Rome, in order to grace his Triumph, 
fhe caufed herfelf to be bit by an Afp, a Kind of Serpent 
found only in Egypt and Libya ; the Bite of which induces 
a Lethargy, which brings on Death without Pain, in about 
three Hours time. Such was the End of this Princefs, in 
the thirty-ninth Year of her Age, and in the twenty-fecond 
of her Reign, accounting it from the Death of her Father 
Ptolemy Auletes and in her ended the Royal Race of the 
Ptolemies , after they had governed in Egypt , from the 
Death of Alexander the Great, two hundred ninety-four 
Years f . 
The Senate and People of Rome were fo well pleafed 
with the Conduct of Auguftus in this Affair; for he fpent 
but afingle Month, in the Subjection of this whole King- 
dom ; that they decreed the Name of this Month to be al- 
tered, and that, inftead of Sextilis , it fhould be called Au- 
guft, as it has been ever fince. They likewife decreed, that the | 
Day, on which Auguftus had entered Alexandria fhould, in all 
fucceeding times, be accounted fortunate ; and that a new iFra 
fhould take Place in Egypt from that Time, as it did ; and 
derived its Name from the Victory at Act mm, tho’ it did not 
commence till near a Year after, being fixed to the twenty- 
ninth of Auguft, in the thirtieth Year before Chrift, be- 
caufe on that Day Cleopatra died, and, the Macedonian 
Empire ending in this Country, that of the Romans com- 
menced s . 
By this fEra, all publick Tranfadlions were computed 
in Egypt, fo long as it remained a Province of the Roman 
Empire, which was fix hundred and feventy Years. While 
Auguftus ftaid at Alexandria , he vifited the T omb of Alex- 
ander the Great, and faw his Body, which lay embalmed 
there, in a Cafe of Glafs : It had formerly been kept in a , 
Cafe of Gold ; but that being ftolen by Seleucus Cybiofaffes , 
who had married an Egyptian Queen, this of Glafs was ; 
provided in its ftead. But Auguftus would not be per- 
foaded to fee the Sepulchre? of the Ptolemies, nor to vifit : 
the Egyptian Apis, telling thofe who would have had him r 
done it, that he worfhiped the immortal God, and not ; 
Beafts h . At the Clofe of the Month of Auguft, when he : 
left this Country, he appointed Cornelius Gallus the firft Go- 
vernor of the Province. 
a Dion. Ca/Hus, lib. li. P hit arch us in Antonio. L. Floras, lib. iv. Velleius Pater ail. lib. ii. Oroftus, lib. vi. b Plutarch . in Antonio, . 
Dion. Cafj.us ft ubi fupra. c Strabo, lib. xxiv. Plutarch, in Antonio. L. Floras. Velleius Pater cul. Eutropius. Oroftus. d Plu- ■ 
tarch. in Antonio. e Dion. Cajfius, lib. li. Velleius Paterculus, lib. ii. c. 89. Oroftus, lib. vi. c. 19. f Plutarch, in Antonio. 
Galen, de Theriaca ad Pifonem , c. 8. Velleius Paterculus. * Dion Cagfus, lib. i. ftlacrobius Saturnal. lib. I. c. |Z. b Dion Cajflut ( 
ubi fupra. Suetonius. Eutropius. 
SECTIONS 
