Category: Biographies
CLEOPATRA _Frontispiece_ British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. _To face p._ PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY 32 _The painting dates from a generation later than that of Cleopatra, but it is an example of the work of the Alexandrian artists._
CLEOPATRA _Frontispiece_ British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. _To face p._ PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY 32 _The painting dates from a generation later than that of Cleopatra, but...
3. CHAPTER I.To those who make a close inquiry into the life of Cleopatra it will speedily become apparent that the generally accepted estimate of her character was placed before the public...
4. CHAPTER II.No study of the life of Cleopatra can be of true value unless the position of the city of Alexandria, her capital, in relationship to Egypt on the one hand and to Greece and Rom...
5. CHAPTER III.Cleopatra was the last of the regnant Ptolemaic sovereigns of Egypt, and was the seventh Egyptian Queen of her name,[13] in her person all the rights and privileges of that extr...
6. CHAPTER IV.The fortress of Pelusium, near which the opposing armies of Ptolemy and Cleopatra were arrayed, stood on low desert ground overlooking the sea, not far east of the modern Port S...
7. CHAPTER V.When Cæsar thus made the acquaintance of the adventurous young Queen of Egypt he was a man of advanced middle age. He had already celebrated his fifty-fourth birthday, having be...
8. CHAPTER VI.There can be little doubt that Cæsar’s all-night interview with Cleopatra put an entirely new complexion upon his conception of the situation. Until the Queen’s dramatic entry i...
9. CHAPTER VII.The death of Ptolemy and the submission of Alexandria brought the war to a definite close; and Cæsar, once more in comfortable residence at the Palace, was enabled at last to ca...
10. CHAPTER VIII.Cæsar’s movements during the year after his departure from Egypt do not, for the purpose of this narrative, require to be recorded in detail. From Alexandria, which he may have...
11. CHAPTER IX.The people of Rome now began to heap honours upon Cæsar, and the government which he had established did not fail to justify its existence by voting him to a position of irrevoc...
12. CHAPTER X.There can be little reason for doubt that Antony, who is to play so important a part in the subsequent pages of this history, saw Cleopatra in Rome on several occasions. After h...
13. CHAPTER XI.When Antony and Octavian first met after the death of Cæsar, the former was in possession of popular confidence; and he did not hesitate to advise Octavian to make no attempt to...
14. CHAPTER XII.Determined to win the fickle Antony back to her cause and that of her son, Cleopatra set sail from Alexandria, and, passing between Cyprus and the coast of Syria, at length one...
15. CHAPTER XIII.There can be little doubt that Antony was extremely anxious to form a solid alliance with Cleopatra at this juncture, for he needed just such an ally for the schemes which he ha...
16. CHAPTER XIV.In the autumn of the year B.C. 40, some six months after the departure of Antony, Cleopatra gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, whom she named Alexander Helios and Cleopatra...
17. CHAPTER XV.When Cleopatra carried Antony back to Alexandria to recuperate after his exertions, it seems to me that she spoke to him very directly in regard to his future plans. She seems t...
18. CHAPTER XVI.The city of Ephesus was situated near the mouth of the river Caystrus in the shadow of the Messogis mountains, not far south of Smyrna, and overlooking the island of Samos. Stan...
19. CHAPTER XVII.The story of the battle of Actium has troubled historians of all periods, and no one has been able to offer a satisfactory explanation of the startling incidents which occurred...
20. CHAPTER XVIII.Crushed and broken by her misfortunes, it might have been expected that Cleopatra would now give up the fight. She was not made, however, of ordinary stuff; and she could not ye...
21. CHAPTER XIX.The historian must feel some reluctance in discrediting the romantic story of the attachment of Cleopatra and Antony at this period; but nevertheless the fact cannot be denied t...
22. CHAPTER XX.Cleopatra’s situation was at this moment terrible in the extreme. The blood-stained body of her husband lay stretched upon the bed, covered by her torn garments which she had th...