acknowledgment of her welcome, and then turned away and strode forward to
the bow, where he sat alone, huddled together, brooding on thoughts of
failure and disgrace, while the royal galley and its escort of warships
sped southward with oar and sail, and the din of battle died away in the
distance, and all sight of it was lost beyond the horizon.

The withdrawal of the Egyptians was a palpable discouragement to all the
fleet, but not all were aware that their leader, Antony, had shared
Cleopatra's flight. Some of those who realized what had happened gave up
all further effort for victory, and leaving the line drove ashore on the
sandy beach of Actium, and abandoning their ships joined the spectators
from the camp. Others made their way by the strait into the great
land-locked haven of the Gulf. But most of the fleet still kept up the
fight. The great ships that drifted helplessly, with broken oars, among the
agile galleys of Agrippa's Liburnian sailors, or that grounded in the
shallows nearer the shore, were, even in their helplessness as ships,
formidable floating forts that it was difficult to sink and dangerous to
storm. More than one attempt to board was repulsed with loss, the high
bulwarks and towers giving an advantage to the large fighting contingents
that Antony had embarked. Some of them had drifted together, and were
lashed side to side, so that their crews could mutually aid each other, and
their archers bring a cross fire on the assailants of their wooden towers.
Some ships had been sunk on both sides, and a few of the towered warships
of the Eastern fleet had been captured by Agrippa, but at the cost of much
loss of life.

To complete the destruction of the Antonian fleet, and secure his victory,
Agrippa now adopted means that could not have been suddenly improvised, and
must therefore have been prepared in advance, perhaps at the earlier
period, when he was considering the chances of forcing a way into the Gulf.
Fire was the new weapon, arrows wreathed with oiled and blazing tow were
shot at the towers and bulwarks of the enemy. Rafts laden with combustibles
were set on fire, and towed or pushed down upon the drifting sea-castles.
Ship after ship burst into flame. As the fire spread some tried vainly to
master it; others, at an early stage, abandoned their ships, or
surrendered. As the resistance of the defeated armada gradually slackened,
and about four o'clock came to an end, it was found that a number