Caesar having remained much longer at Alexandria • tan the situation of his affairs could justify, being fasci nated by the charms of Cleopatra, was at last obliged to leave her, by the dangers which were gathering round him. Before his departure, he bestowed the crown of Egypt on Cleopatra, obliging her to marry Ptolemy her younger brother, with a view to gratify the people. Till:: was throwing all the power into her own hands, as Pto lemy was then only eleven years of age. She allowed him to live, so long as he could give her no annoyance ; but when he arrived at the age of fourteen, which entitled him, according to the laws of the country, to have a share in the government, she caused him to be poisoned.
Immediately on the murder of Caesar, she declared for the triumvirs Antony, Lepidns, and Octavius, who had formed a combination avowedly to avenge his death. After the battle of Philippi, which extinguished the hopes of the patriots of Rome, Antony went into Cilicia to set tle the affairs of that province. Here he summoned the queen of Egypt to appear before him, on account of some charge which had been advanced against her. She readily obeyed the summons, and set out confident of en slaving her judge. Never had any thing been seen equal to the apparatus of pleasure, with which she approached the devoted Antony, who might fairly date his ruin from that interview. Having provided herself with magnificent presents, vast sums of money, and the most sumptuous dresses, she embarked on board a vessel which was gilt all over, with purple sails and oars plated with silver. She was seated under a canopy of cloth of gold, in the same dress and attitude in which Venus was usually represented, with a number of comely youths fanning her like cupids, and beautiful virgins representing reids and Graces. The hills re-echoed with the sounds of various instruments, and the oars keeping time with the music, doubled the harmony. Such quantities of va luable spices were burnt on the deck, that the air to a great distance was filled with fragrance.
Antony was at that time sitting in judgment ; but his tribunal was instantly deserted, and he was left in the midst of his lictors. The whole city flocked to see this work of enchantment, and flattery mixing itself with the public astonishment, spread the report, that Venus was come on a visit to Bacchus, (designations tolerably cha racteristic of the parties.) to consult about the welfare of Asia. The triumph of the Egyptian queen was as rapid and as complete as the memorable victory of Canar. She came, saw, and conquered. The complaints, which had been made against her, were forgotten in the fascinations of her conversation, and the attractions of her person ; and Antony drunk the delicious poison, till he neither had power nor inclination to snatch himself from the witchery of her charms. He could deny her nothing, however repugnant it might be to humanity, justice, or religion. Plut. in Ant.
At her request, assassins were sent to dispatch her sis ter Arsinoc, who murdered her in the temple in which she had taken refuge. To preserve Antony within her toils, she kept him in a constant intoxication of various plea sures, to which he had always been prone, though till then he had been capable of great energy and judgment, when roused into activity by the pressure of circumstan ces. At one of her entertainments, Antony expressing his astonishment at the vast number of golden cups and vessels adorned with jewels, she immediately ordered her servants to carry them all to his house as a present.
She wore in her cars two pendants of pearl, the largest that had ever been seen, each of them worth fifty-two thousand pounds of our money. Pliny informs us. that, en a certain occasion, she took one from her car, and, having dissolved it in vinegar, swallowed it, to show how much she could afford to spend on one draught. She N% as going to do the same with the other, when Plancus prevented her, and saved the pearl, which was afterwards carried to Rome by Augustus, and, being cut in two, was formed into pendants for the Julian Venus.
One is apt to be astonished at the boundless profusion of this woman, and to wonder that she should make such efforts to please Antony, when her personal charms so readily ensured her conquest. But all this extravagance was not thrown away ; she was buying provinces and kingdoms : and the liberality, or rather the madness of Antony, soon reimbursed her for all the wealth she had expended to please him.
Antony being obliged, by the state of his affairs, to leave Tarsus, Cleopatra, having accompanied him as far as Tyre, there took leave of him, and returned into Egypt. But he could no longer exist without her ; having there fore entrusted his affairs to his lieutenants, and deserted the plans which he had in view, he followed her forthwith into Egypt, where they spent the winter together in the most disgraceful revelry and dissipation. Whilst Antony was thus wasting his time in folly, Octavianus was•claily strengthening his interests in Italy, without any one to oppose him, except Fulvia, the wife of Antony, a woman of masculine spirit, who, notwithstanding her husband's infidelity, exerted herself in securing a powerful party in Rome. Antony found it necessary to attend to his interests in that quarter, and sailed towards Italy with two hundred ships, with the intention of making war on his opponent. His wife met him by the way, but he treated her with the utmost neglect, and instead of com mending her zeal, blamed her for exciting unnecessary commotions. His cruelty and infidelity broke her heart : and, on her death, a match was proposed between Antony and Octavia, the sister of Octavianus, with a view to cement the existing differences. Octavia was a woman of extraordinary merit, and Antony's friends entertained the hope that she would completely detach him from Cleopatra, as that connection was universally considered as disgraceful, and was plainly foreseen to be pernicious in its consequences. But having spent a single winter with Octavia at Athens, he hastened back to the scene of his former pleasures, and devoted himself more abso lutely than ever to the charms of Cleopatra. As Antony was an excellent officer, lie had an ambition common to all the great Roman commanders, of conquering the Parthians. Having made great preparations, he set out for this difficult expedition : but contrary to the advice of all his officers, he sent for Cleopatra to join him in Syria. The delay which her presence occasioned, en sured the failure of an enterprise which, when under taken by other commanders, even under the most au spicious circumstances, had never proved successful ; and Antony's hurry to rejoin Cleopatra, nearly completed the destruction of the Roman army ; for he lost sixty thousand men, chiefly by forced marches over the moun tains of Armenia, at that time covered with snow.