The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-11
From John Lords Great Women. ]"

scendant of a long line of kings was subtle and interruptions politician as well as luxurious beauty. She made it her supreme aim to secure the independence of Egypt and to that end she employed her feminine arts with the tactics of ruthless diplomat. Yet it may be remembered, in palila- tion, that this brilliant queen was product of her times. an age of cpl cureanism and materialism, herseif pursued by strategy and intrigue.
 Cleopatra the last of the line of Grecian sovereigns in Egypt, was es- sentially Greek in her features, her language, and her manners. There was nothing African about her, as we un- derstand the term African, except that her complexion may have been dark ened by the intermarriage of the Ptolemies. She was not even Coptic, like Athanasius and Saint Augustine. On the ancient coins and medals her features are severely classical
 We have a right to presume that Cleo patra. when she first appeared upon the stage of history as a girl of IA, was simply very pSdulhui "iAA -1
 complished Greek princess, who could speak several languages with fuency, as precocious as Elizabeth of England, skilled in music, conversant with his tory and surrounded with eminent masters. Left by her fathers will at the age of IT joint heir of the Egyptian throne with her brother Ptolemy. she soon found herself ex- pelled from the capital by him and the leading generals of the army because they did not relish her precocious ac- tivity in government. Her gathered adhe erents had made but little advance towards 'regaining her rights when, in August, 4S, Caesar landed in pursuit of Pompey, whom he had defeated at Pharsalia. Pompeys assassination left Caesar free, and he proceeded to Alex andria to establish himself for the winter. Here the willy and beautiful young exile sought him and won his interest and affection. After some months of revelry and luxury, Caesar left Egypt in 47 to chastise an eastern rebel, and was in 46 followed to Rome by Cleopatra who remained there Tn splendid state until the assassination of Caesar drove her back to Egypt. Her whole subsequent life showed her to be as cunning and polite as she was luxurious and plesure- seeking. Possibly she may have loved so inter- esting and brilliant man as the great Caesar. aside from the admiration or his position. but he never became her slave.
 Cleopatria was 2S years of age when she first met Antony. ohe held her hold on Antony for IA years, when he was burdened with great public cares and duties, and when ne was over 50 years of age. Such superior man as he was intellectually and after Caesar, the leading man or the empire-a statesman as well as soldier-would not have been ensiaVed so long by Cleopatra had she not pos sessed remarkable gifts and attain ments She may have re- yealed in the banquets she prepared for Antony, as Esther did in those she prepared for Xerxes; but with the same intent. to please him rather than her self, and win, from his weakness, those political favors which in his calmer hours he might have shrunk from
 granting. Cleopatra was politician as well as luxurious beauty, and 1t may have been her supreme aim to secure the independence of Egypt. She wished to beguile Antony as she had sought to beguile Caesar, since they were the masters of the world, and had it in their power to crush her
 sovereignty and reduce her realm to a mere province of the empire. Nor is there evidence that in the magnifi- cent banquets she gave to the Roman general she ever lost her self-control.
 She drank, and made him drink, but retained her wits. Laughing him out of patience and laughing him into pa- tience," ascendant over him by raillery, irony and wit.
 Never was a strong man more en- thralled than was Antony by this be-
 witching woman, who exhausted every art to please him. She played at dice
 with him., drank with him, hunted with him, rambled with him. tested with him, angled with him, f1attering and re-
 proving him by turn, always having some new device of pleasure to gratify his senses or stimulate his curiosity. t His wife Fulvia having died he did not marry Cleopatra, but Octa- via, sister of Octavius, his fellow | triumvir and general rival. It was evidently for political considerations that he married Octavia, who was a | stately and noble woman, but tedious
 in her dignity, and unattractive in her | person. And what a commentary on
 Roman ranS The sister of Roman l grandee seemed to the ambitious gen
 eral a greater match than the Queen
 of Egypt. How this must have piqued
 the proud daughter of the Ptolemies,-
 that she, queen, with all her
 charms, was not the equal in the eyes
 of Antony to the sister of Caesars h cir.
 But she knew her power, and stifed her
 resentment and waited for her time. She,
 too, had political end to gain and was
 too polite to give way to anger and re-
 breaches. She was anything but the in- | pulsive woman that some suppose-but | great actress and artist, as some women
 are when they would conquer % | But his passion for Cleopatra could not
 long be suppressed neither from reasons ] of state nor from the respect he must l f@1k II.