Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-11-20

the temple OIL ia III MelhphiS'
comes to bring to Cleopatra informa-
ton of the approach of the Romans
under Julius Caesar. F~tatatoeta, the
| queens nurse, seeks her to fly from
the Romans, but finds that the young
princess has escaped from The palace
and fed to the desert to seek tne
protection of the Sphinx. The scene
changes to a Sphinx in the desert, as
closing Cleopatra asleep between lts
paws in a heap of red peoples. men
out of the darkness comes a oma
lost in contemplation. This man is
Julius Caesar, He addresses q soliio-
guy to the Sphinx and then discovers
the girl. A very humorous situation
here occurs between Caesar ana Cleo
patra in which she describes to him
her idea of a Roman and her identity
is revealed to him. He would N
duct her to the palace and protect
her from the Romans, to whom she
must appear as queen. me scene
changes to the throne room IN the
palace, where Caesar crowns Cleo
patra queen of Egypt without her
knowing his identity. He seats MINI
self beside her on the throne as tne
Roman soldiers troop in tumultuous-
ly, headed by his ensign and eagle
The soldiers dress in military oruer
opposite the throne and raise their
swords in salutation. This Is the
first revelation of Caesar to Cleo
patra, who has accomplished II
part of his purpose-found Cleopatra
and crowned her queen of Egypt.
The scene of the second act Is n
council chamber of the chancellors OF
the kings treasury in Alexandra
some days later. The young king IS
on the throne, a mixture OF boylnsn
impotence and p~etulance. The king
guided by a minister, relates the his
tory of his house and the restoration
of his father to the throne by Mark
Antony. Now his sister, Cleopatra,
has cast a spell on julius Caesar TO
lead him to uphold her false pretense'
to the rule Of Egypt. Caesar Is an
nounced. He demands the payment
Of 1900 talents yet due the Roman
triumvirate as the price of restoring
Ptolemy Athletes to his throne. rms
is refused on the plea of state pow
erty.
Caesar expresses a desire to settle
the question in dispute between Ptol-
envy and Cleopatra, and, to the sur
prise of all, produces the young
queen. His proposal that Ptolemy
and Cleopatra shall reign jointly IS
rejected by %Ponthinus, the king S
guardian, and Achillas, the Roman
commander. Caesar then seizes the
palace and drives his opponents into
the street. The Egyptians set fire TO
several of his ships and in doing
so fire the great library, which is de-
| stroyed. While the Egyptians and
Romans under Achillas attempt to
put out the fire, Caesar seizes the
quay, the beach and the lighthouse to
keep the way open to Rome and sits
down to await the coming of NTH
| ridates. In this act Cleopatra men
Etions to Caesar thaSsbeaififnfayouns
mar with strong round arms who
came over The deserta5with many
horsemen and slew her sister'shus-
band and gave hef father back his
throne. RI was only twelve then
she says wistfully; II wish he would
come again now that | am queen.
would make him my husband" and
Caesar responds,.''It might be man
laged, perhaps 'for it was / who sen
the beautiful young man to help your
father" .4.
The third act is presented in two
scenes, one representing a room IN
the palace and the other the orof gor-
geously decorated. For months Gaze
sar and Cleopatra have been practic'
ally prisoners, besieged in the pal
ace. Pothinus, Ptolemy's guardian
proposes to Cleopatra that she betray
Caesar. She refuses, and he woulf
denounce her to Caesar as a traitor
She orders Ftatateeta,, her nurse, tt
kill Pothinus. This tragedy brings
about an attack on the palace by tht
followers of Pothinus, and the kill
ing of the nurse by Rufo, Caesar:
lieutenant. Caesar learns that NTH
radites has arrived and leaves thu
palace to join forces with him.
The last act shows that East Har
Dor with Caesars galley ready to sal
for Rome. The campaign is over
Caesar is VICTORIOUS. Ptolemy ha
been drowned in a battle with the lie
gions Of Caesar and Cleopatra is real
IIy queen. Caesar appoints Ruho Ro
man governor and is about to boar
his galley to depart when Cleopatr
comes in black mourning for he
nurse. Their parting is brief and a
he sails he tells her he will send he
a present from I'VE the sea-Mar
Antony, "a Roman from head
heel"
This is a resume Of the histories
side and the dramatic action of "Ca'
sar and Cleopatra" The dialogue
characteristic of Shaw ~throughor
and into the mouth of Caesar he hs
put many brilliant expressions of w
ond humor and snatcheS of wise phi