pen gates of Alexandria. He had been employed in the
interval in founding the city of Nicopolis to celebrate his victory on
the northern horn of the Ambracian Gulf, in rewarding his soldiers, and
settling the affairs of the provinces of the East. In the winter he
returned to Italy, and it was midsummer, B.C. 30, before he arrived in
Egypt.

When Antony and Cleopatra arrived off Alexandria they put a bold face
upon the matter. Some time passed before the real state of the case was
known; but it soon became plain that Egypt was at the mercy of the
conqueror. The Queen formed all kinds of wild designs. One was to
transport the ships that she had saved across the Isthmus of Suez and
seek refuge in some distant land where the name of Rome was yet unknown.
Some ships were actually drawn across, but they were destroyed by the
Arabs, and the plan was abandoned. She now flattered herself that her
powers of fascination, proved so potent over Caesar and Antony, might
subdue Octavian. Secret messages passed between the conqueror and the
Queen; nor were Octavian's answers such as to banish hope.

Antony, full of repentance and despair, shut himself up in Pharos, and
there remained in gloomy isolation.

In July, B.C. 30, Octavian appeared before Pelusium. The place was
surrendered without a blow. Yet, at the approach of the conqueror,
Antony put himself at the head of a division of cavalry and gained some
advantage. But on his return to Alexandria he found that Cleopatra had
given up all her ships; and no more opposition was offered. On the 1st
of August (Sextilis, as it was then called) Octavian entered the open
gates of Alexandria. Both Antony and Cleopatra sought to win him.
Antony's messengers the conqueror refused to see; but he still used fair
words to Cleopatra. The Queen had shut herself up in a sort of mausoleum
built to receive her body after death, which was not approachable by any
door; and it was given out that she was really dead. All the tenderness
of old times revived in Antony's heart. He stabbed himself, and in a
dying state ordered himself to be laid by the side of Cleopatra. The
Queen, touched by pity, ordered her expiring lover to be drawn up by
cords into her retreat, and bathed his temples with her tears.

After he had breathed his last, she consented to see Octavian. Her
penetration soon told her that she had nothing to hope from him. She saw
that his fair words were only intended to prevent her from desper