umpire. Cleopatra was accustomed to wear in her ears two pearls, unequalled in the world for their size, beauty, and value, the least of which was valued at 50,000l. of English money. When she was seated at the table with Antony, she took one of these pearls from her ear, and dissolving it in a cup of vinegar, pledged Antony and drank it off. She was about to treat the remaining pearl in the same manner, when Antony, in amazement, stopped her hand, and Lucius Plancus declared that she had already won the wager. Such is the story handed down to us from antiquity. That a woman like Cleopatra should sacrifice 50,0007. or a million, for a whim, is not absolutely incredible; but an acid of sufficient strength to melt a pearl instantaneously could not be swallowed with impunity. Cleopatra, if she did dissolve her pearl, must have diluted her cup with two or three bowls of wine. The other pearl, which had been the companion of that which Cleopatra had sacrificed with a kind of sublime ostentation, was afterwards carried to Rome, where it was divided into two, each almost inestimable, and hung in the ears of a celebrated statue of Venus, which Agrippa had just placed in his Pantheon.

The life which Mark Antony led with Cleopatra, displeased Octavius and the Roman people. They called upon him to return, and at length the

Triumvir, rousing himself as from a lethargy, set out for Italy; there a reconciliation was effected between the rival generals, and one of the conditions was the marriage of Antony with Octavia, the half sister of Octavius, and a woman of equal beauty and virtue. Cleopatra heard of this union with grief and despair; she feared that it would put an end to her power over Antony, a power which rendered her in fact mistress of half the Roman empire; and it is certain that the idea of reigning at Rome, and dictating laws from the Capitol, had taken strong possession of her ambitious mind and vivid imagination. She had a powerful rival in Octavia, whose character is one of the most beautiful recorded in history, uniting all the dignity of a Roman matron in the best days of the republic, with all the gentleness and graces of her sex. Though the marriage had been one of policy, she became strongly attached to her husband, and Antony, who was generous as well as facile, could not refuse her his esteem and his love. Octavia became the mediating angel between her fiery husband and her subtle brother, and for four years Antony remained faithful to this admirable woman, and appeared to have forgotten his Egyptian syren. He was, however, the slave of circumstance and impulse, and in passing through Asia Minor, to resume the Parthian war,

his old love for Cleopatra seemed to revive as he approached the scenes of their former intercourse, and he had the weakness to send Fonteius Capito, to invite her to come to him.

One might have imagined that the dignity of an offended woman, if not the pride of a great queen, would have prevented Cleopatra from obeying this invitation, or rather this command; but neither the one nor the other was ever known to stand in the way of her passions or her policy. She did not hesitate to attend him; and this time she travelled with rather more expedition than on a former occasion. On her arrival, Antony presented her with gifts; not rings, nor jewels, nor slaves, nor chariots, nor rich robes, but whole kingdoms and provinces, and millions of subjects. He gave her Phoenicia, Colo-Syria, the island of Cyprus, Cilicia, part of Judea, and part of Arabia. As all the Asiatic provinces, from the Ionian Sea eastward, had been given up to Antony as his share of the empire, he might perhaps suppose that in bestowing these dominions on Cleopatra he was only presenting her with what, in the insolence of power, he deemed his own; and, it may be added, that several of these provinces formed part of the ancient empire of the Ptolemies.

The Parthian war (B. C. 36.) ended disgracefully; Antony, after many disasters, was forced

to retreat, and had nearly suffered the fate of Crassus. He brought the miserable remains of his army back to Syria, and Cleopatra met him on the coast of Judea, carrying with her money and clothing for his exhausted troops. Octavia also set out from Rome to meet Antony, taking with her reinforcements in men and money to assist him; but when she had reached Athens, Antony, acting under the spell of the sorceress who had subdued his better nature, commanded her to return to Italy. Cleopatra dreaded the power of Octavia; she felt, or she affected, the deepest affliction at the idea of his leaving her, and her "flickering enticements," to borrow the expression of the old translator of Plutarch, are well described, and give us a complete idea of the woman. She pretended to be the victim of a concealed grief; wasted her frame by voluntary abstinence, and "caused herself to be surprised" in tears, which she wiped away in haste, as if unwilling that they should be seen. Meantime those who were devoted to her interest were incessantly representing her sufferings to Antony, and, appealing to his pity in behalf of a woman who loved him more than life or fame; who had sacrificed the one, and was ready to sacrifice the other for his sake. Such artifices subdued Antony, as they have wrought on better and wiser men; and in the

height of his infatuation he sent peremptory orders to Octavia to quit his house at Rome. The lavish gifts bestowed on Cleopatra without the sanction of the Roman state; the dereliction of all his duties as a general and citizen; and now the indignities heaped on his excellent wife, the noblest lady in character and station in the empire, exasperated the Romans, and lent the fairest excuse to Octavius Cæsar for the breach he had long meditated. Octavia, the ever generous, ever admirable Octavia, entreated her brother not to make her wrongs the excuse for a war which would plunge the whole empire into confusion; and when her prayers availed not, she shut herself up in her house, devoted herself to her children, and refused to take any share in the deplorable contest she had no power to avert. It soon became apparent that a civil war between Octavius and Antony was inevitable. They assembled their forces by sea and land, and Cleopatra brought to the assistance of Antony two hundred galleys, twenty thousand talents, and provisions for his whole army. While these warlike preparations were going forward, they spent some time in the island of Samos, revelling in every species of luxury, and afterwards sailed for Athens, where the people decreed to Cleopatra public honours.

Antony and his friends had requested of the