There are, moreover,
in these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old loyalty
resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again upon the
traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred. She came from
a stock whose women played with love and with life as if they were mere
counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of such a house would have
delayed to discard Antony and to assume another passion is to show small
appreciation of the effects of heredity and of example. Dion tells us
that she arrived in Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended
a victory, and took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to
get rid of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation
of their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible Egypt,
and making terms for themselves and their children with the conqueror.
Pages:
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661