iled for Italy, taking
with him the sixth legion. While engaged in this warfare in Alexandria,
Caesar had been appointed dictator in Rome, where his power was exercised
by Mark Antony, his master of the horse; and for above six months he
had not written one letter home, as though ashamed to write about the
foolish difficulty he had entangled himself in, until he had got out of
it.

On reaching Rome Caesar amused the people and himself with a grand
triumphal show, in which, among the other prisoners of war, the Princess
Arsinoe followed his car in chains; and, among the works of art
and nature which were got together to prove to the gazing crowd the
greatness of his conquests, was that remarkable African animal the
camelopard, then for the first time seen in Rome. In one chariot was a
statue of the Nile god; and in another the Pharos lighthouse on fire,
with painted flames. Nor was this the last of Caesar's triumphs, for soon
afterwards Cleopatra, and her brother Ptolemy, then twelve years old,
who was called her husband, came to Rome as his guests, and dwelt for
some time with him in his house.

The history of Egypt, at this time, is almost lost in that of Rome.
Within five years of Caesar's landing in Alexandria, and finding that by
the death of Pompey he was master of the world, he paid his own life as
the forfeit for crushing his country's liberty. The Queen of Egypt, with
her infant son Caesarion about four years old, was then in Rome, living
with Caesar in his villa on the farther side of the Tiber. On Caesar's
death her first wish was to get the child acknowledged by the Roman
senate as her colleague on the throne of Egypt, and as a friend of the
Roman people. With this view she applied to Cicero for help, making
him an offer of some books or works of art; but he was offended at
her haughtiness and refused her gifts. Besides, she was more likely
to thwart than to help the cause for which he was struggling. He was
alarmed at hearing that she was soon to give birth to another child. He
did not want any more Caesars. He hoped she would miscarry, as he wished
she had before miscarried. So he bluntly refused to undertake her cause.
On this she thought herself unsafe in Rome, she fled privately, and
reached Egypt in safety with Caesarion; but we hear of no second child
by Julius. The Romans were now the masters of Egypt, and Cleopatra could
hardly hope to reign but by the help of one of the great generals who
were str