this
was not the case. The Alexandrians provided for that.

"He had recognized the flute-player's will, nay, had granted more to the
royal house than could have been given to the former. Cleopatra and her
brother-husband, Dionysus, were to share the government, and he also
bestowed on Arsinoe and her youngest brother the island of Cyprus, which
had been wrested from their uncle Ptolemy by the republic. Rome was, of
course, to remain the guardian of the brothers and sisters.

"This arrangement was unendurable to Pothinus and the former rulers of
the state. Cleopatra as Queen, and Rome--that is Caesar, the dictator,
her friend, as guardian--meant their removal from power, their
destruction, and they resisted violently.

"The Egyptians and even the Alexandrians supported them. The young
King hated nothing more than the yoke of the unloved sister, who was so
greatly his superior. Caesar had come with a force by no means equal
to theirs, and it might be possible to draw the mighty general into
a snare. They fought with all the power at their command, with such
passionate eagerness, that the dictator had never been nearer succumbing
to peril. But Cleopatra certainly did not paralyze his strength and
cautious deliberation. No! He had never been greater; never proved the
power of his genius so magnificently. And against what superior power,
what hatred he contended! I myself saw the young King, when he heard
that Cleopatra had succeeded in entering the palace and meeting Caesar,
rush into the street, fairly crazed by rage, tear the diadem from his
head, hurl it on the pavement, and shriek to the passers-by that he was
betrayed, until Caesar's soldiers forced him back into the palace, and
dispersed the mob.

"Arsinoe had received more than she could venture to expect; but she was
again most deeply angered. After Caesar's entry into the palace, she had
received him as Queen, and hoped everything from his favour. Then her
hated sister had come and, as so often happened, she was forgotten for
Cleopatra's sake.

"This was too much, and with the eunuch Ganymedes, her confidant,
and--as I have already said--an able warrior, she left the palace and
joined the dictator's foes.

"There were severe battles on land and sea; in the streets of the
city, for the drinkable water excavated by the foe; and against the
conflagration which destroyed part of the Bruchium and the library of
the museum. Yet, half dead with thirst, barely esca