compassion and good will. The ferocious soldiers turned at once from the
pleasure of hunting their discomfited enemies to death, to that of
protecting and defending them; and the way was prepared for their being
received into his service, and incorporated with the rest of his army as
friends and brothers.

[Sidenote: His position at Alexandria.]
[Sidenote: Caesar's interference in Egyptian affairs.]

Caesar soon found himself in so strong a position at Alexandria, that he
determined to exercise his authority as Roman consul to settle the
dispute in respect to the succession of the Egyptian crown. There was no
difficulty in finding pretexts for interfering in the affairs of Egypt.
In the first place, there was, as he contended, great anarchy and
confusion at Alexandria, people taking different sides in the
controversy with such fierceness as to render it impossible that good
government and public order should be restored until this great question
was settled. He also claimed a debt due from the Egyptian government,
which Photinus, Ptolemy's minister at Alexandria, was very dilatory in
paying. This led to animosities and disputes; and, finally, Caesar
found, or pretended to find, evidence that Photinus was forming plots
against his life. At length Caesar determined on taking decided action.
He sent orders both to Ptolemy and to Cleopatra to disband their forces,
to repair to Alexandria, and lay their respective claims before him for
his adjudication.

[Sidenote: Cleopatra.]

Cleopatra complied with this summons, and returned to Egypt with a view
to submitting her case to Caesar's arbitration. Ptolemy determined to
resist. He advanced toward Egypt, but it was at the head of his army,
and with a determination to drive Caesar and all his Roman
followers away.

[Sidenote: Caesar's guilty passion for Cleopatra.]

When Cleopatra arrived, she found that the avenues of approach to
Caesar's quarters were all in possession of her enemies, so that, in
attempting to join him, she incurred danger of falling into their hands
as a prisoner. She resorted to a stratagem, as the story is, to gain a
secret admission. They rolled her up in a sort of bale of bedding or
carpeting, and she was carried in in this way on the back of a man,
through the guards, who might otherwise have intercepted her. Caesar was
very much pleased with this device, and with the successful result of
it. Cleopatra, too, was young and beautiful, and Caesar im