St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-08
CLEOPATRA'S TOME.
The Place Where Rests the De-

-
stroyer OF Antony.
We next drove to Ramleh. the site of
the knedive's palace, near which are the
magnificent gardens of Greek noble
man, says an Alexandria letter in the
indianapolis News. think that these
vast gardens are the finest | ever saw.
and as | wandered through these groves
of jeSSamine, rubber, pepper, palm and
orange trees, with wilderness of brilliant
tropical flowers OF the most gorgeous
colors, and the air laden with intoxicat-
ing perfumes, L lost my head as usual.
and went off into the tranScendental. l
repeated to myself Goethe's lines be-
ginning "Kenst du das land wo die
citronen blunhen?" and abandoned my
self to the genius of the place. Foumt-
aims murmured their silver plash, and
soon the forms of Hypatia and Cleopatra
appeared in the green vistaS.
Was it here that the divine teacher of
Plat0niSm, the pure and SpOtleSS Hypa
tia, lectured upon her master and in
Weighed against the Ito her and her
school new-fangled religion called
Christianity? Was it yonder that the
library, containing $50, COO volumes. were
waters that the triremeS of Greece and
Rome brought to Alexandria's port the
commerce of the world. Was it in
yonder narrow streets that this beauti-
full heather was torn TO pieces
by the Christian monks? Was it
Wonder where Cyril, the Christian arch
bishop, dwelt? All the scenes from
Charles Kingsiey'S noble romance "Hy
patia" came up before Inc, although L
had not read it now for SIX and thirty
years. Again l saw in these gardens
another of The worlds greatest beauties,
1.-The glorious sorcereSs of the Nile"
Cleopatra, with her retinue of royal and
priestly lovers. 1t was certainly near
here-perhaps on this spot-that the SUI
preme man Of the world, julius Caesar,
fondled this royal wanton.
1t was i'll yonder blue water that this
same Caesar swan TO the shore with the
manuscript of his commentaries in lis
teeth. 1t was here that Antony uttered
these words, Il am dying, Egypt, dy-
ing" Curiously enough, within couple
of years the Sepulcher of this royal
adultereSS, who, next tosHelen, is the
best praised woman in history, has been
found. A gentleman was digging a
well, when his workmen unearthed
what appeared to be royal
tomb. 1t may be fancy, but
there are some circumstances that seem
to identify this as the grave of Cleo
patra. Upon the massive white marble
sarcophagus there is cut the head of a
woman with two aspS upon her temples
and her face Contracted with agony.
This, however, may be purely deco
rative head of Medusa, which are very
common. Inside of the sarcephagus IS
a female skeleton with remarkably
massive head. There were found some
royal ornaments here, not many, which
is circumstance i'll favor of the gen
uineneSS Of the tomb.
| was greatly interested in sweet
faced girl whom l easily took for Iras
or Chairman. The hair, teeth and gen.
eral outlines of her face are admirably
preserved. For moment [ dismissed
doubts, and here, thirty feet under the
ground, imagined there was before ne
the skeleton of the queen and the mum
mics of her firing women-Charmian
and IraS. What thought! Here is
the supreme beauty OF all the
world, her bones upon exhibit
ton at two piasters per head to
gaping crowd of all sorts and c0ndi
lions OF men and women. Such is the
irony Of history. Was Cleopatra's
beauty so marvellous? Or was il not al
together the beauty that always to a
queen is magnified and glorilied by the
swarm of parasites that always cling
about a throne? There are great doubts
whether there ever was such a woman
as Helen
sllEa Whose celestial charms
For nine long years kept the world i'll arms.
1t is the weight Of opinion that this is
the creation of Homer's fancy. So with
Cleopatra's beauty. She had her Shake
speare to praise her, and inspired poets
of lesser degree. Within the last two
years two gentlemen, Sardou, of France,
and Rider Haggard, have exhausted
their fancy in painting an ideal Cleo
patra. Innumerable Sculptors and
painters have loaded her with imagi-
nary charms. Cleopatra was no doubt a
beautiful woman, but she is child of
good luck in the above-named particu-
lars. Nevertheless, no one can visit
Alexandria and its environS without
recalling and locating the scene of
ShakeSpeare's Incompatible Antony
and Cleopatra and i'll lesser degree
the novel above spoken of entitled lily
patia"-to me the Alexandria of Neo-
platonism and of the Septuagint version
of our Bible and OF that system OF Juda-
ism and religious thought that shows its
influence in the subtle fourth gospel,
with its logOS and paraclete, and tine
great archbiShopS and fathers of the
Greek creeds of early Christianity, and
with It's enormous libraries and schools,
far more interesting than the AieXan-
dria OF the Ptole mics OF the Romans.