But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would rally to his
standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to send presents to
Caesar and encourage him to treat with her. But when he bluntly proposed
to her to murder Antony as the price of her reconciliation with himself,
and when he even declared by proxy that he was in love with her, he
clearly made a rash move in this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he
persuaded her of his love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the
fortress of Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from
Plutarch in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
destroy by fire if driven to despair.
The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the poet, the
affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's life. In the
fourth and fifth acts of _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare has
reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative, which was drawn from
that of her physician Olympos.
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