Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-03-27

vi ira was much troubled about matters
r political. And not knowing how the
great struggle among the Roman factions
would end, but being very DESTROYS to side
with the strongest, she took constant coun-
sci with me as to the warning of the stars
these read to her in such manner as best
seemed to fit the high interest of nv ends
For Antony, the Roman Triumvir, was now
In Asia Minor, and, rumor ran, very wroth
because it had been told to him that Cleo
patra was hostile to the Triumvil ate, in that
her General, Serapion, had aided Cassius.
But Cleopatra protested loudly to me and
Others that Serapion had acted against her
will. Yet Charmion told me that, as with
-All1enus, 1t was because of a prophecy of
Dioscorides, the unlucky, that The Queen
herself had secretly ordered Serapion so to
do Nevertheless, this did not save Scrap
ion, for, to prove to Antony that she was in
noccnt, she dragged the General from the
sanctuary and slew him. Woe be to those
who carry out the will of tyrants if the scale
should rise against them And so Serapion
persisted.
Meanwhile all things went we'll with us.
for the minds of Cleopatra and those about
her were so set upon affairs abroad that
neither she nor they thought of revolt at
home. But day by day our party gathered
strength in the cities of Egypt, and even in
Alexandria, which is to Egypt as another
land, all things being foreign there. Day
by day those who doubted were won over
and sworn to the cause by that oath which
= can not be broken, and our plans of action
more firmly laid. And every other day I
went forth from the palace to take counsel
with my uncle Sepa, and there at his house
met the mobiles and the great priests who
were for the party of Khem.
OF Cleopatra, the Queen, I saw much,
and never was more astonished at the
wealth and splendor of her mind, that for
richness and variety was as a woven cloth
of gold throwing back all lights from it's
changing face. She feared me somewhat,
and therefore was fain to make a friend of
me, asking me many matters that seemed
to be beyond the province of my office. OF
the Lady Charmion also 1 saw much
indeed, she was ever at my side, so that
scarce knew when she came and when she
went. For with that soft step of hers
would she draw nigh, and would turn me
Go find her at hand and watching beneath
che long lashes of her downcast eyes.
There was no service that was too hard for
her, and no task too long, for day and night
she labored for me and for our cause. But
when / thanked her for her loyalty and said
at should be had in mind in that time which
was at hand, she stamped her foot and
pouted with her lips like an angry child,
saying that, among all the things which I
had learned, this had I not learned-that
its own guerdon. And being innocent in
such matters and foolish that was, hold
ing the ways of women as of small account,
read her sayings in the sense that her serv-
ices to the cause of khem, which she
loved, brought with them their own reward.
But when l praised so fine spirit she
burst into angry tears and left me wonder
ing; for knew naught of the trouble at her
heart. l knew not then that, unsonght,
this woman had given me all her love and
that she was rent and torn by pangs of
sassion fixed like arrows in her breast 1
, did not 'know-how should know it, who
.aever looked upon her otherwise than as
An instrument of our joint and holy causea
Her beauty never stirred me; nay, not even
when she leaned over me and breathed
upon my hair, never thought of it other
wise than as q man thinks of the beauty of
statue. What had to do with such de-
lights! l who was sworn to Isis and dedi-
Gated to the cause of Egypt. o, We Gods,
bear me witness that am innocent of this
thing, which was the source of all my woe
and the woe of Khem!
How strange is this love of woman, that
it is so small in its beginning and in it's
end so great! See, at the first it is even as
the little spring of water yelling from
mountains heart. And at the last what is
it, It is a mighty river that foweth ar
gosies of Joy and makes wide lands to
smile. Or, perchance 1t Is a torrent to wash
in a Hood of ruin across the fields of Hope,
bursting in the barriers of design, and
bring to tumbled nothingness the tenement
of mans purity and the temples of his
faith. For when the Invisible conceived
the order of the universe, He set within its
plan this seed of woman's love that by its
most unequal growth is doomed to bring
about equality of law. For now it lifts the
low to heights untold, and now it brings the
noble to the level of the dust. And thus,
while woman, that great surprise of Nature,
is. Good and Evil can never grow apart.
For still she stands, and, blind with love,
shoots the shuttle of our fate, and pours
sweet water into the cup of bitterness, and
poisons the wholesome breath of life with
the doom of her desire. Turn this way and
turn that, she is at hand to meet thee. Her
weakness is thy strength. her might is thy
undoing. OF her thou art, to her thou
goest. She is thy slave, yet holds thee
captive; at her touch honor withers. locks