e gayest whirl of life in the capital
to the most desolate solitude.

This delightful evening was followed by a day of excitement and grave
anxiety. It had been necessary to conceal the young couple from the
collector's officials, who took from Pyrrhus part of his last year's
savings, and the large new boat which he used to go out on the open sea.
The preparations for war required large sums; all vessels suitable for
the purpose were seized for the fleet, and all residents of the city and
country shared the same fate as Pyrrhus.

Even the temple treasures were confiscated, and yet no one could help
saying to himself that the vast sums which, through these pitiless
extortions, flowed into the treasury, were used for the pleasures of the
court as well as for the equipment of the fleet and the army.

Yet so great was the people's love for the Queen, so high their regard
for the independence of Egypt, so bitter their hate of Rome, that there
was no rebellion.

How earnestly Cleopatra, amid all the extravagant revels, from which she
could not too frequently absent herself, toiled to advance the military
preparations, could be seen even by the exiles from their cliff; for
work in two dock-yards was continued day and night, and the harbour was
filled with vessels. Ships of war were continually moving to and
fro, and from the Serpent Island they witnessed constantly, often by
starlight, the drilling of the oarsmen and of whole squadrons upon the
open sea. Sometimes a magnificent state galley appeared, on whose deck
was Antony, who inspected the hastily equipped fleet to make the newly
recruited sailors one of those kindling speeches in which he was a
master hard to surpass. Two sons of Pyrrhus were now numbered in the
crews of the recently built war ships. They had been impressed into
the service in April, and though Dion had placed a large sum at their
father's disposal to secure their release, the attempt was unsuccessful.

So there had been sorrow and tears in the contented little colony of
human beings on the lonely cliff, and when Dionysus and Dionichos had a
day's leave of absence to visit their relatives, they complained of
the cruel haste with which the young men were drilled and wearied to
exhaustion, and spoke of the sons of citizens and peasants who had been
dragged from their villages, their parents, and their business to be
trained for seamen. There was great indignation among them, and they
listened only too