Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/213

 his death, B. C. 51, he left his crown to her, then only seventeen years old, and her eldest brother Ptolemy, who was still younger, directing them, according to the custom of that family, to be married, and committing them to the care of the Roman Senate.

They could not agree, however, either to be married or to reign together; and the ministers of Ptolemy deprived Cleopatra of her share in the government, and banished her from the kingdom. She retired to Syria, and raised an army, with which she approached the Egyptian frontier. Just at this time, Julius Cæsar, in pursuit of Pompey, sailed into Egypt, and came to Alexandria. Here he employed himself in hearing and determining the controversy between Ptolemy and Cleopatra, which he claimed a right to do as an arbitrator appointed by the will of Auletes; the power of the Romans being then vested in him as dictator. But Cleopatra laid a plot to attach him to her cause by the power of those charms which distinguished her in so peculiar a manner. She sent word to Cæsar that her cause was betrayed by those who managed it for her, and begged to be allowed to come in person and plead before him. This being granted, she came secretly into the port of Alexandria in a small skiff, in the dusk of the evening; and to elude her brother's officers, who then commanded the place, she caused herself to be tied up in her bedding and carried to Cæsar's apartment on the back of one of her slaves. She was then about nineteen, and though, according to Plutarch, not transcendently beautiful, yet her wit and fascinating manners made her quite irresistible. Her eyes were remarkably tine, and her voice was delightfully melodious, and capable of all the variety of modulation belonging to a musical instrument. She spoke seven different languages, and seldom employed an interpreter in her answer to foreign ambassadors. She herself gave audience to the Ethiopians, the Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, and Parthians. She could converse on all topics, grave or gay, and put on any humour, according to the purpose of the moment. So many charms captivated Cæsar at once; and the next morning he sent for Ptolemy and urged him to receive Cleopatra on her own terms; but Ptolemy appealed to the people, and put the whole city in an uppoaruproar [sic]. A war commenced, in which Cæsar proved victorious, and Ptolemy, while endeavouring to escape across the Nile in a boat, was drowned. Cæsar then caused Cleopatra to marry her younger brother, also named Ptolemy, who, being a boy of eleven, could only contribute his name to the joint sovereignty. This mature statesman and warrior, who had almost forgotten ambition for love, at length tore himself from Cleopatra, who had borne him a son, Cæesarion, and went to Rome.

After his departure, Cleopatra reigned unmolested; and when her husband had reached his fourteenth year, the age of majority in Egypt, she poisoned him, and from that time reigned alone in Egypt. She went to Rome to see Cæsar, and while there lodged in his house, where her authority over him made her insolence intolerable to the Romans. His assassination so alarmed her that she fled precipitately to her own country, where, out of regard to the memory of Cæsar, she raised a fleet to go to the assistance of the triumvirs, but was obliged by a storm to return.

After the battle of Philippi, Antony visited Asia, and, on the pretext that Cleopatra had furnished Cassius with some supplies,