of ships
had taken refuge in the narrows and the Gulf; others were aground on the
point; a few had been sunk, some more had surrendered, but numbers were
drifting on the sea, wrapped in smoke and flame. Some of these sank as the
fire reached the water's edge, and the waves lapped into the hollow hull,
or the weight of half-consumed upper works capsized them. Others drifted
ashore in the shallows, and reddened sea and land with the glare of their
destruction far into the night.

For the men who had fought, the victory, complete as it was, had an element
of disappointment. They had hoped to secure as a prize the treasures of
Cleopatra, but these had been spirited away on the Egyptian fleet. But for
the commanders, Octavian and his able lieutenant, there was nothing to
regret. The battle had once more decided the issue between East and West,
and had given Octavian such advantages that it would be his own fault if he
were not soon master of the Roman World.

Within a few days the remnant of the defeated fleet had been surrendered or
burned at its anchors. The army of Canidius, after a half-hearted attempt
at an inland march, and after being further weakened by desertions,
declared for Octavian, and joined his standards.

Cleopatra had entered the port of Alexandria with a pretence of returning
in triumph from a naval victory. Laurel wreaths hung on spars and bulwarks,
flags flew, trumpets sounded, and she received the enthusiastic greetings
of Greeks and Egyptians as she landed. But the truth could not be long
concealed, and under the blight of defeat, linked with stories of leaders
deserting comrades and allies, Antony and Cleopatra failed to rally any
determined support to their side when the conqueror of Actium came to
threaten Egypt itself. Both ended their lives with their own hands,
Cleopatra only resorting to this act of desperation when, after breaking
with Antony, she failed to enslave Octavian with her charms, and foresaw
that she would appear among the prisoners at his coming triumph in Rome.

2 September, B.C. 31--the day of Actium--is the date which most historians
select to mark the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the
Empire. The victor Octavian had already taken the name of his grand-uncle,
Caesar. He now adopted the title of Augustus, and accepted from army and
senate the permanent rank of Imperator, inaugurating a system of absolutism
that kept some of the forms of the old Republic as a th