issatisfied at once with the peremptory
requisition of all debts and with the intervention in the throne-dispute
which could only issue, as it did, in the favour of Cleopatra, sent--in
order to pacify the Roman demands--the treasures of the temple and the
gold plate of the king with intentional ostentation to be melted at the
mint; with increasing indignation the Egyptians--who were pious even
to superstition, and who rejoiced in the world-renowned magnificence
of their court as if it were a possession of their own--beheld the bare
walls of their temples and the wooden cups on the table of their
king. The Roman army of occupation also, which had been essentially
denationalised by its long abode in Egypt and the many intermarriages
between the soldiers and Egyptian women, and which moreover numbered a
multitude of the old soldiers of Pompey and runaway Italian criminals
and slaves in its ranks, was indignant at Caesar, by whose orders it had
been obliged to suspend its action on the Syrian frontier, and at his
handful of haughty legionaries. The tumult even at the landing, when
the multitude saw the Roman axes carried into the old palace, and the
numerous instances in which his soldiers were assassinated in the city,
had taught Caesar the immense danger in which he was placed with his
small force in presence of the exasperated multitude. But it was
difficult to return on account of the northwest winds prevailing at this
season of#the year, and the attempt of embarkation might easily become
a signal for the outbreak of the insurrection; besides, it was not the
nature of Caesar to take his departure without having accomplished his
work. He accordingly ordered up at once reinforcements from Asia,
and meanwhile, till these arrived, made a show of the utmost
self-possession. Never was there greater gaiety in his camp than during
this rest at Alexandria, and while the beautiful and clever Cleopatra
was not sparing of her charms in general and least of all towards her
judge, Caesar also appeared among all his victories to value most those
won over beautiful women. It was a merry prelude to graver scenes. Under
the leadership of Achilles and, as was afterwards proved, by the secret
orders of the king and his guardian, the Roman army of occupation
stationed in Egypt appeared unexpectedly in Alexandria, and, as soon
as the citizens saw that it had come to attack Caesar, they made common
cause with the soldiers.

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