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 he summoned her to appear before him at Tarsus, in Cillcia. This she did in such magnificent state, and laden with such rich gifts, that Antony became her captive; and the impression her beauty and splendour had made on him was completed and rendered durable by the charms of her society. Her influence over him became unbounded, and she abused it to the worst purposes. At her request, her younger sister, Arsinoe, was assassinated; and she scrupled no act of injustice for the aggrandizement of her dominions. After Antony had spent a winter with her at Alexandria, he went to Italy, where he married Octavia. Cleopatra's charms, however, drew him back to Egypt; and when he had proceeded on his expedition against Parthia, he sent for her into Syria, where she rendered him odious by the cruelties and oppressions she urged him to practise. After his return, he bestowed upon her many provinces, by which he incurred the displeasure of the Roman people. When the civil war broke out between Antony and Octavianus, afterwards Augustus Cæsar, Emperor of Rome, Cleopatra accompanied Antony, and added sixty ships to his navy. It was by her persuasion that the deciding battle was fought by sea, at Actium. She commanded her own fleet; but her courage soon failed her, and before the danger reached her she fled, followed by the whole squadron and the infatuated Antony, who, however, was very angry with Cleopatra on this occasion, and remained three days without seeing her. He was at length reconciled to her, and, on the approach of Octavianus, they both sent publicly to treat with him; but, at the same time, Cleopatra gave her ambassadors private instructions for negotiating with him separately. Hoping to secure the kingdom of Egypt for herself and her children, she promised to put it into the hands of Octavianus; and, as a pledge for the performance, she delivered up to him the important city of Pelusium.

Near the temple of Isis she had built a tower, which she designed for her sepulchre; and into this was carried all her treasures, as gold, jewels, pearls, ivory, ebony, cinnamon, and other precious woods; it was also filled with torches, faggots, and tow, so that it could be easily set on fire. To this tower she retired after the last defeat of Antony, and on the approach of Octavianus; and when Antony gave himself the mortal stab, he was carried to the foot of the tower, and drawn up into it by Cleopatra and her women, where he expired in her arms.

Octavianus, who feared lest Cleopatra should bum herself and all her treasures, and thus avoid falling into his hands and gracing his triumphal entry into Rome, sent Proculus to employ all his art in obtaining possession of her person; which he managed to do by stealing in at one of the windows. When Cleopatra saw him, she attempted to kill herself; but Proculus prevented her, and took from her every weapon with which she might commit such an act. She then resolved to starve herself; but her children were threatened with death if she persisted in the attempt. When Octavianus came to see her, she attempted to captivate him, but unsuccessfully; she had, however, gained the heart of his friend, Dolabella, who gave her private notice that she was to be carried to Rome within three days, to take a part in the triumph of Octavianus. She had an asp, a small serpent, whose bite is said to induce a kind of lethargy and death without