Thereafter, we recovered Cleopatra from her swoon, for not yet wasI minded that she should die. And taking the body of Antony, Caesarpermitting, I and Atoua caused it to be most skilfully embalmed afterour Egyptian fashion, covering the face with a mask of gold fashionedlike to the features of Antony. Also I wrote upon his breast his nameand titles, and painted his name and the name of his father within hisinner coffin, and drew the form of the Holy Nout folding her wings abouthim.
Then with great pomp Cleopatra laid him in that sepulchre which had beenmade ready, and in a sarcophagus of alabaster. Now, this sarcophagus wasfashioned so large that place was left in it for a second coffin, forCleopatra would lie by Antony at the last.
These things then happened. And but a little while after I learnedtidings from one Cornelius Dolabella, a noble Roman who waited uponCaesar, and, moved by the beauty that swayed the souls of all who lookedupon her, had pity for the woes of Cleopatra. He bade me warn her--for,as her physician, it was allowed me to pass in and out of the tomb whereshe dwelt--that in three days she would be sent away to Rome, togetherwith her children, save Caesarion, whom Octavian had already slain, thatshe might walk in the triumph of Caesar. Accordingly I went in, and foundher sitting, as now she always sat, plunged in a half stupor, and beforeher that blood-stained robe with which she had staunched the wounds ofAntony. For on this she would continually feast her eyes.
"See how faint they grow, Olympus," she said, lifting her sad face andpointing to the rusty stains, "and he so lately dead! Why, Gratitudecould not fade more fast. What is now thy news? Evil tidings is writlarge in those dark eyes of thine, which ever bring back to me somethingthat still slips my mind."
"The news is ill, O Queen," I answered. "I have this from the lips ofDolabella, who has it straight from Caesar's secretary. On the third dayfrom now Caesar will send thee and the Princes Ptolemy and Alexander andthe Princess Cleopatra to Rome, there to feast the eyes of the Romanmob, and be led in triumph to that Capitol where thou didst swear to setthy throne!"
"Never, never!" she cried, springing to her feet. "Never will I walk inchains in Caesar's triumph! What must I do? Charmion, tell me what I cando!"
And Charmion, rising, stood before her, looking at her through the longlashes of her downcast eyes.
"Lady, thou canst die," she said quietly.
"Ay, of a truth I had forgotten; I can die. Olympus, hast thou thedrug?"
"Nay; but if the Queen wills it, by to-morrow morn it shall be brewed--adrug so swift and strong that not the Gods themselves can hold him whodrinks it back from sleep."
"Let it be made ready, thou Master of Death!"
I bowed, and withdrew myself; and all that night I and old Atoualaboured at the distilling of the deadly draught. At length it was done,and Atoua poured it into a crystal phial, and held it to the light ofthe fire; for it was white as the purest water.
"_La! la!_" she sang, in her shrill voice; "a drink for a Queen! Whenfifty drops of that water of my brewing have passed those red lips ofhers, thou wilt indeed be avenged of Cleopatra, O Harmachis! Ah, thatI could be there to see thy Ruin ruined! _La! la!_ it would be sweet tosee!"
"Vengeance is an arrow that oft-times falls upon the archer's head," Ianswered, bethinking me of Charmion's saying.