cried Iras, completing the order and
clapping her hands. Then she turned to the Queen with the entreaty: "Be
calm, my royal mistress, be calm, I beseech you. We have ample time.
Here is the vulture crown of Isis, and here the other. Antony's slave,
Eros, has just come in, panting for breath. The Imperator, he says, will
appear as the new Dionysus. It would certainly please his master--though
he had not commissioned him to request it--if you greeted him as the
new Isis.--Help me, Hathor. Nephoris, tell the usher to see that the
fan-bearers and the other attendants, women and men, are in their
places.--Here are the pearl and diamond necklaces for your throat and
bosom. Take care of the robe. The transparent bombyx is as delicate as
a cobweb, and if you tear it No, you must not refuse. We all know how it
pleases him to see his goddess in divine majesty and beauty." Cleopatra,
with glowing cheeks and throbbing heart, made no further objection
to donning the superb festal robe, strewn with glimmering pearls and
glittering gems. It would have been more in harmony with her feelings
to meet the returning Antony in the plain, dark garb which, since her
arrival at home, she had exchanged for a richer one only on festal
occasions; but Antony was coming as the new Dionysus, and Eros knew what
would please his master.

Eight nimble hands, which were often aided by Iras's skilful fingers,
toiled busily, and soon the latter could hold up the mirror before
Cleopatra, exclaiming from the very depths of her heart, "Like the
foam-born Aphrodite and the golden Hathor!"

Then Iras, who, in adorning her beloved mistress, had forgotten love,
hate, and envy, and amid her eager haste barely found time for a brief,
fervent prayer for a happy issue of this meeting, threw the broad
folding-doors as wide as if she were about to reveal to the worshippers
in the temple the image of the god in the innermost sanctuary.

A long, echoing shout of surprise and delight greeted the Queen, for the
courtiers, hastily summoned, were already awaiting her without, from the
grey-haired epistolograph to the youngest page. Regally attired women
in her service raised the floating train of her cloak; others, in
sacerdotal robes, were testing the ease of movement of the rings on the
sistrum rods, men and boys were forming into lines according to the
rank of each individual, and the chief fan-bearer gave the signal for
departure. After a short walk through several ha