h thou hast
no part. And thus Woman rules the world. For her are wars; for her men
spend their strength in gathering gains; for her they do well and ill,
and seek for greatness, to find oblivion. But still she sits like yonder
Sphinx, and smiles; and no man has ever read all the riddle of her
smile, or known all the mystery of her heart. Mock not! mock not!
Harmachis; for he must be great indeed who can defy the power of Woman,
which, pressing round him like the invisible air, is often strongest
when the senses least discover it."

I laughed aloud. "Thou speakest earnestly, my uncle Sepa," I said;
"one might almost think that thou hadst not come unscathed through this
fierce fire of temptation. Well, for myself, I fear not woman and her
wiles; I know naught of them, and naught do I wish to know; and I still
hold that this Caesar was a fool. Had I stood where Caesar stood, to cool
its wantonness that bale of rugs should have been rolled down the palace
steps, into the harbour mud."

"Nay, cease! cease!" he cried aloud. "It is evil to speak thus; may the
Gods avert the omen and preserve to thee this cold strength of which
thou boastest. Oh! man, thou knowest not!--thou in thy strength and
beauty that is without compare, in the power of thy learning and the
sweetness of thy tongue--thou knowest not! The world where thou must mix
is not a sanctuary as that of the Divine Isis. But there--it may be so!
Pray that thy heart's ice may never melt, so thou shalt be great and
happy and Egypt shall be delivered. And now let me take up my tale--thou
seest, Harmachis, even in so grave a story woman claims her place. The
young Ptolemy, Cleopatra's brother, being loosed of Caesar, treacherously
turned on him. Then Caesar and Mithridates stormed the camp of Ptolemy,
who took to flight across the river. But his boat was sunk by the
fugitives who pressed upon it, and such was the miserable end of
Ptolemy.

"Thereon, the war being ended, though she had but then borne him a son,
Caesarion, Caesar appointed the younger Ptolemy to rule with Cleopatra,
and be her husband in name, and he himself departed for Rome, bearing
with him the beautiful Princess Arsinoe to follow his triumph in her
chains. But the great Caesar is no more. He died as he had lived, in
blood, and right royally. And but now Cleopatra, the Queen, if my
tidings may be trusted, has slain Ptolemy, her brother and husband, by
poison, and taken the child Caesarion to be her fel