APOLLODORUS. I have only one word of blame, most beautiful. You should
have called upon me, your knight; and in fair duel I should have slain
the slanderer.

CLEOPATRA (passionately). I will be judged by your very slave, Caesar.
Britannus: speak. Was I wrong?

BRITANNUS. Were treachery, falsehood, and disloyalty left unpunished,
society must become like an arena full of wild beasts, tearing one
another to pieces. Caesar is in the wrong.

CAESAR (with quiet bitterness). And so the verdict is against me, it
seems.

CLEOPATRA (vehemently). Listen to me, Caesar. If one man in all
Alexandria can be found to say that I did wrong, I swear to have myself
crucified on the door of the palace by my own slaves.

CAESAR. If one man in all the world can be found, now or forever, to
know that you did wrong, that man will have either to conquer the world
as I have, or be crucified by it. (The uproar in the streets again
reaches them.) Do you hear? These knockers at your gate are also
believers in vengeance and in stabbing. You have slain their leader:
it is right that they shall slay you. If you doubt it, ask your four
counselors here. And then in the name of that RIGHT (He emphasizes the
word with great scorn.) shall I not slay them for murdering their Queen,
and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader of their
fatherland? Can Rome do less then than slay these slayers too, to show
the world how Rome avenges her sons and her honor? And so, to the end
of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and
honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race
that can understand. (Fierce uproar. Cleopatra becomes white with
terror.) Hearken, you who must not be insulted. Go near enough to catch
their words: you will find them bitterer than the tongue of Pothinus.
(Loftily wrapping himself up in an impenetrable dignity.) Let the Queen
of Egypt now give her orders for vengeance, and take her measures for
defense; for she has renounced Caesar. (He turns to go.)

CLEOPATRA (terrified, running to him and falling on her knees). You will
not desert me, Caesar. You will defend the palace.

CAESAR. You have taken the powers of life and death upon you. I am only
a dreamer.

CLEOPATRA. But they will kill me.

CAESAR. And why not?

CLEOPATRA. In pity--

CAESAR. Pity! What! Has it come to this so suddenly, that nothing can
save you now but pity? Did it save Pothinus?

She rises, wringing h