the gods. From
the simple Cleopatra in the garden of Epicurus, who was a delight to
the good and wise, you became the new Isis, to whom the multitude raised
hearts, eyes, and hands, dazzled and blinded. We will transfer the
twins, Helios and Selene, the sun and the moon, from heaven to earth;
they must become mortals--Greeks. I will not transplant them to the
garden of Epicurus, but to another, where the air is more bracing. The
inscription on its portals shall not be, 'Here pleasure is the chief
good,' but 'This is an arena for character.' He who leaves this garden
shall not owe to it the yearning for happiness and comfort, but an
immovably steadfast moral discipline. Your children, like yourself,
were born in the East, which loves what is monstrous, superhuman,
exaggerated. If you entrust them to me, they must learn to govern
themselves. At the helm stands moral earnestness, which, however, does
not exclude the joyous cheerfulness natural to our people; the sails
will be trimmed by moderation, the noblest quality of the Greek nation."

"I understand," Cleopatra interrupted, with drooping head. "Interwoven
with the means of securing the children's welfare, you set before the
mother's eyes the qualities she has lacked. I know that long ago you
abandoned the teachings of Epicurus and the Stoa, and with an earnest
aim before your eyes sought your own paths. The tempest of life swept me
far away from the quiet garden where we sought the purest delight. Now
I have learned to know the perils which threaten those who see the chief
good in happiness. It stands too high for mortals, for in the changeful
stir of life it remains unattainable, and yet it is too low an aim
for their struggles, for there are worthier objects. Yet one saying of
Epicurus we both believed, and it has always stood us in good stead:
'Wisdom can obtain no more precious contribution to the happiness of
mortal life than the possession of friendship.'"

She held out her hand as she spoke, and while, deeply agitated, he
raised it to his lips, she went on: "You know I am on the eve of the
last desperate battle--if the gods will--shoulder to shoulder with
Antony. Therefore I shall not be permitted to watch your work of
education; yet I will aid it. When the children question you about their
mother, you will be obliged to restrain yourself from saying: 'Instead
of striving for the painless peace of mind, the noble pleasure of
Epicurus, which once seemed to her