s as she could spare to help Antony, and he led a little army of
four Roman legions out of Egypt into Syria; but when there he added
them to the force which Cassius had assembled against Antony. Whether he
acted through treachery to the queen or by her orders is doubtful, for
Cassius felt more gratitude to Allienus than to Cleopatra. Serapion
also, the Egyptian governor of Cyprus, joined what was then the stronger
side, and sent all the ships that he had in his ports to the assistance
of Cassius. Cleopatra herself was getting ready another large fleet, but
since the war was over, and Brutus and Cassius dead before it sailed,
she said it was meant to help Octavianus and Antony. Thus, by the acts
of her generals and her own hesitation, Cleopatra fairly laid herself
open to the reproach of ingratitude to her late friend Caesar, or at
least of thinking that the interests of his son Caesarion were opposed to
those of his nephew Octavianus; and accordingly, as Antony was passing
through Cilicia with his army, he sent orders to her to come from Egypt
and meet him at Tarsus, to answer the charge of having helped Brutus and
Cassius in the late military campaign.

Dellius, the bearer of the message, showed that he understood the
meaning of it, by beginning himself to pay court to her as his queen. He
advised her to go, like Juno in the Iliad, "tricked in her best attire,"
and told her that she had nothing to fear from the kind and gallant
Antony. On this she sailed for Cilicia laden with money and treasures
for presents, full of trust in her beauty and power of pleasing. She had
won the heart of Caesar when, though younger, she was less skilled in
the arts of love, and she was still only twenty-five years old; and,
carrying with her such gifts and treasures as became her rank, she
entered the river Cydnus with the Egyptian fleet in a magnificent
galley. The stern was covered with gold; the sails were of scarlet
cloth: and the silver oars beat time to the music of flutes and harps.
The queen, dressed like Venus, lay under an awning embroidered with
gold, while pretty dimpled boys, like Cupids, stood on each side of
the sofa fanning her. Her maidens, dressed like sea-nymphs and graces,
handled the silken tackle and steered the vessel. As she approached
the town of Tarsus the winds wafted the perfumes and the scent of the
burning incense to the shores, which were lined with crowds who had come
out to see her land; and Antony, who was