we have shown how the persian rule in egypt was followed by that of the ptolemies, and at first the union between prince and people was close and satisfactory. from ptolemy i to cleopatra vi the rulers identified themselves with the interests, and especially with the religion of the nation, with whom they were not allied by blood, built cities and temples and, the earlier members of the dynasty at least, wrought for the general good. in the case of most of the later kings, however, they were more cruel and oppressive, and revolts were more common than at first.
the architecture, especially the portrait sculpture of the ptolemy period, was inferior to some of earlier date, but in the encouragement of literature, the building of libraries and other public edifices, and the extending of commerce the race distinguished itself.
as regents or independent rulers their queens held sway. the family intermarried to an extent shocking to christian ideas, and ptolemy after ptolemy took his sister or other near relatives, usually called arsinoe, berenike or cleopatra, to wife. these close relationships, however, did not seem to strengthen the family affections—it[422] is a blood-stained history, and the murders were almost as numerous as the unions. various towns were built and called after the queens, arsinoe and berenike, but though cleopatra seems to have been a favorite name, and there were, six or seven of them in succession, this name was not so often used as the cognomen of a town.
there are a few names in the world’s history that stand alone. many may share in the same, but to speak them is to call up one dominating image. in this sense there was but one caesar, but one washington, but one eve, but one semiramis, and to this class belongs cleopatra. there are others, such as helen or troy and mary stuart, who have shared with these high reputation, but in these cases further identification is needed than the single name. cleopatra stands among the few daughters of eve pre-eminent for wit, charm, power and perhaps beauty, and to this must be added ambition and vice.
“the laughing queen who held the world’s great hands,” having won the heart of the world’s greatest rulers, yet lays her magic touch upon the centuries. artists and writers have never tired of limning her personal charms and special characteristics. no colors have been too bright, none too dark to be used. shakespeare, has pictured her with his immortal genius, and hundreds of others, with more or less skill, have attempted the same task. protean in shape, no two perhaps resemble each other. in the conception of some, she is slender, graceful, exquisitely beautiful, and at the other extreme, as in the old tapestry in the new york museum, she is like a fat[423] dutch woman, a decadence from rubens’ overblown beauties; so each land has pictured her according to its own ideal.
some have denied her pre-eminent beauty and the conventional portrait of her which still exists upon the wall at denderah, as well as her face upon the few battered coins of her time which have come down to us, scarcely suggest it. but the woman who made men her slaves at a single interview surely lacked no charm that nature could bestow. unbridled both in passions and ambitions, she knew no limit to either and grasped at universal empire.
the greatest men of her time bowed at her feet, and she changed the fate of battle with the turning of her vessel’s prow. she was over twenty when she captivated caesar, over thirty when antony became her slave. of her numerous lovers, antony was the chosen of that wayward, passionate heart. she refused to survive his defeat and death and perished by her own hand. though not, strictly speaking, egyptian queens, the ptolemy race were yet queens of egypt—and thus ended the long line of female royalties, extending from the dim ages of mythology to the roman period.
cleopatra vi has been described by a late novelist, his picture drawn perhaps from some historical source, as having “a broad head, wavy hair, deep-set eyes, full, eloquent mouth and a long, slender throat.” charm and talent of the highest order are generally credited to her. she had a musical voice and was a linguist of ability, skilled in greek and latin and could converse[424] with ethiopians, jews, arabians, syrians, medes and persians and was proficient in music. tennyson says of her:
“her warbling voice a lyre of wildest range,
struck by all passions.”
and another writer, disputing the fact that she is sometimes depicted as swarthy, says she was “a pure macedonian of a race akin to and perhaps fairer than the greeks.”
ptolemy xiii, the so-called auletes, came to the throne in a sense under the protection of the romans, and again took possession of the kingdom. it was at this time that antony first saw cleopatra, a girl of fifteen, and was struck with her beauty, he being master of horse to the conquering general, gabrinus. but the acquaintance, if such it was, and not merely a glimpse on antony’s part, went no further then, and neither probably anticipated their subsequent relations.
auletes’ will, demanding that his eldest son and daughter should succeed him, was accepted by the mixed populace of alexandria, and in a degree by the whole country, and for the moment rome did not interfere. it was a youthful pair to have laid upon them or undertake such a grave responsibility—a mere girl and a child. cleopatra was but sixteen, ptolemy only ten. but though young in years, cleopatra soon showed that she had both the capacity and ambition of an older woman. the direct heritage perhaps from one or other parent included beauty and charm, but a worthless father had but little in the way of character or mental abilities with which to endow his children, and perhaps it was rather[425] from her mother that she derived her superior characteristics. with such paternity and the traditions of the entire race we can hardly wonder at the instances of vice and cruelty which we find recorded of this last royal member of her family. that her story is so interwoven with roman affairs gives us a clearer knowledge of it than of much of the previous history, which was included only in that of egypt and syria.
so cleopatra, a mere girl of sixteen or seventeen, and her brother of ten, succeeded to the throne and were accepted by the alexandrians. but the boy was persuaded by his counsellors to oust his sister, who was forced to yield and fled to syria. that she had both adherents and means, however, is proved by the fact that she did not tamely submit to this violation of the agreement, but promptly raised an army, and this alone seems to indicate that, young as she was, she already showed remarkable abilities and returned to recover her lawful heritage. to live at peace with each other seemed beyond the power of most of the ptolemy race.
at this point pompey, seeking for allies, turned toward egypt, and the father of the young king having been under obligations to him he made overtures to the boy sovereign. but the party in power, who for the time being were “the power behind the throne,” decided to receive him with apparent friendliness, and then treacherously murdered him, hoping thereby to secure the more powerful friendship of his adversary, caesar. meanwhile the armies of the young king and his sister lay opposite to each other. caesar at[426] once came to egypt and was revolted at the treacherous deed, but was not in a sufficiently strong position to punish the murderers. he was received somewhat coldly and had to proceed with caution, but summoning his legions he remanded that the youthful contestants for the crown should appear before him and discuss their claims peacefully, rather than by force of arms.
this was cleopatra’s opportunity; her strongest weapons were her personal charms rather than her military powers. at twenty years of age she must have been in the perfect bloom of her beauty, with exquisite eyes and coloring, the sweetest of voices, a fascinating manner, ample powers of wit and rare conversational abilities. to these she trusted, and not in vain. her position, her very life was at stake; her adversaries, who could probably hope for no consideration at her hands should she again come into power, would no doubt have been glad to assassinate her had opportunity afforded. fearing this, it is said, and time seems to give credit to the story, she hid herself in a bale of carpet and caused it to be carried to caesar’s palace by night. no device which her fertile brain and keen wit could invent, we may be sure, was lacking in the accessories of the toilette to produce the effect she desired, to move his pity and secure his assistance. she played a great stake, perhaps with confidence, perhaps with trembling of heart, but she won, for from that time forward till his death caesar, elderly man though he was, between fifty and sixty years of age, became her fervent admirer.[427] rarely, if ever, had woman accomplished so much in a single interview. she must have been elated with triumph and renewed confidence in her powers. yet caesar did not attempt to make her sole monarch; he lost his heart, so to speak, but not his head, as antony subsequently did. he decreed that the will of auletes should be carried out, restored cyprus to egypt and proposed that the younger brother and sister, ptolemy and arsinoe, should be made its governors. he even insisted that the money cleopatra’s father had pledged to rome should be paid. for this purpose it is said the young king’s plate was ostentatiously pawned.
the king’s chief counsellor, pothinos, not realizing the strength that caesar could command, nor the personal ability of the man with whom he had to deal, recalled the army and virtually declared war. cleopatra’s troops had either been hired mercenaries, who deserted or whose time had expired, and who went over to what they considered the winning side, or they had been defeated, for in this emergency she seems to have been able to afford little support to caesar. in defending himself he set fire to the ships in the harbor, and it is even reported that the great library was burnt, but as various authors make no mention of it this last disaster is questioned.
caesar put to death the councillor, pothinos, and kept with him in the fortress his new love, the beautiful cleopatra, and the two boys, the young king and his brother. the princess arsinoe, probably also beautiful and attractive, and, young as she was, realizing perhaps the character[428] and ambition of her elder sister, fled to the egyptian camp, thus refusing to put herself under the protection of the conquering roman, though it was to him she owed her position as ruler of cyprus; but distrust was natural and perhaps not unfounded. the egyptians then demanded the young king, and caesar, though virtually master, was not yet in a sufficiently strong position to refuse, so, knowing that this mere boy could do him no harm, he released him. it was, however, but the poor youth’s death warrant, for in the subsequent attack upon the egyptians they were driven into the river, and the royal boy came to his end by drowning, saved by this possibly from even a worse fate.
the egyptians, disheartened, now gave up the contest. caesar treated them with comparative leniency, set cleopatra with the youngest ptolemy as her nominal husband over them and carried the poor princess arsinoe to rome, where, led in chains, she was among the captives to grace the triumph. she did not prove to have the power of her sister’s fascinations to melt his hard heart. caesar may have considered that she was in debt to him and had proved ungrateful and treacherous, but this was an act unworthy of his character and is attributed to the evil influence of cleopatra. there is no direct proof of this, though his subsequent treatment of her sister gives color to the idea.
after caesar’s departure a child was born to cleopatra, whom she stated to be his son, gave him the name of caesarion, or some say the name was given by the alexandrians, and always[429] upheld his royal prerogative even as against later children of the more beloved antony. these irregularities and evil doings seem to have been calmly accepted by the people, and in inscriptions the boy is entitled, “ptolemy, also caesar, the god philopator philometor.” he is to be numbered among the young princes who came to an untimely end; a brief life and a sad one, yet it is possible, even probable, that it had its periods of the pleasure and joy natural to his age, if no prolonged happiness.
some time between 48 and 44 b. c. cleopatra left egypt with her brother and joined caesar in rome. probably he summoned her to come to him, more probably it was of her own motion, fearing that out of sight was out of mind, or might prove so, and that her presence was necessary to retain over him the influence she had gained. it was a shameful connection, as caesar already had a wife, caepurnia, and caused much scandal, even in scandalous rome. she is mentioned by cicero and others, but it is not her beauty and her grace that he dwells upon, but her haughtiness. knowing full well probably how she was regarded, she returned the latent contempt which she divined in her visitor, even if he did not make it apparent, with a proud and supercilious demeanor. she had nothing to gain from him and she did not seek to charm and conciliate as she had done with caesar. she is, however, said to have promised him books from the alexandrian library, which seems to suggest that there was some part of it yet remaining[430] even if it had suffered damage by fire, but failed to perform her promise.
many of caesar’s actions are credited to her influence, and it is even believed that she desired him to establish an empire with alexandria rather than rome for its capital. the ostensible cause of her visit to rome was to negotiate a treaty between the former and the country over which she nominally ruled. she dwelt in caesar’s palace across the tiber and held court, at which not only caesar’s adherents, but his opponents, appeared, and it is said that statues of her, beautiful probably as the venus of pauline bonaparte, were erected in the temple of the goddess of love and beauty.
yet this was no position of true dignity for the nominal queen of a foreign land, and when in 44 b. c. caesar’s murder took from her his support and protection she sailed for egypt, no broken-hearted mourner, but a woman still ambitious and grasping all the possibilities of life. the next year she disposed of her last incumbrance and is held responsible for the murder of her youngest and only surviving brother, the nominal king. four years each is the period assigned to her joint rule with her two brothers. she had no love to spare for her own kin, and too evidently was glad to be rid of them, even if the suspicion of her having poisoned the last of her family, who appears to have died in the same year as caesar, may chance to be unfounded.
now for a time cleopatra bided at home, waiting and watching for further opportunities of conquests in love or dominion. life with her[431] was devoted to self-seeking and pleasure, yet it must have had some serious moments, some space for display of maternal feeling, some days and hours devoted to actual study; though it is hard and unfamiliar to think of her in this aspect else could she not have been mistress of so many languages as are attributed to her. she, nominally at least, governed the kingdom, cautiously kept out of roman entanglements and pleaded her inability to assist the contestants with subsidies, which, it is said, cassius demanded from her on the score of poverty. and indeed egypt was in no condition to be either a principal or an ally in warfare at this time. the people suffered, the queen probably still lived in luxury and abundance.
