ister Berenice. Ptolemy XI.,
Auletes, called "the Piper,"--because of his only accomplishment, his
skill in playing the flute,--was perhaps the most degraded, dissipated,
and corrupt of all the sovereigns of the dynasty. He inspired his
contemporaries with scorn for his weakness of character and with
abhorrence for his vices and crimes. His one redeeming trait was his
love for his younger children, and he seems to have brought them up with
every obtainable advantage and as much as possible removed from the
turmoil of the court. For fear of losing his kingdom, he sought
recognition from Rome and paid Caesar enormous sums of money for his
patronage. The people rose in revolt against the heavy taxes, and
Ptolemy fled to Rome for aid. Berenice IV., his eldest daughter, was
raised to the throne by the Alexandrians, and she began her reign in
great splendor. Hoping to strengthen her position by marriage with a
royal prince, she first wedded Seleucus of Syria. But she soon found him
not to her taste, and disposed of him by strangling--in true Ptolemaic
fashion. After many intrigues, she found a second husband in Archelaus,
a prince of Asia Minor. She then made every preparation to offer
effectual resistance to her father. Auletes succeeded in gaining a
hearing at Rome, and a Roman army under Gabinius, with Mark Antony as
his lieutenant, marched against the forces of Berenice and Archelaus.
After many battles, the Romans were victorious. Archelaus was slain;
Berenice was taken prisoner; her government was overthrown; and Auletes
was restored to power, as a vassal of Rome. Ptolemy was filled with
savage joy at his daughter's capture, and at once ordered her execution.
After a reign of three years, Auletes died, leaving the kingdom jointly
to Cleopatra, now eighteen years of age, and her brother Ptolemy, aged
ten; and the brother and sister, in obedience to the custom of the
Ptolemies, were married, that they might rule together.

Amid such scenes and excitements, a constant witness of the cruelty of
her father and elder sister, Cleopatra had grown up, and with such
examples before her she entered upon her reign. Her training, under most
skilful masters, had been of the broadest character, and her
intellectual endowments have seldom been surpassed. She was very
learned, and is said to have mastered eight or ten languages; so that
she could address in his own tongue whoever approached her--whether
Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, A