TRANSLATED BY M. E. POINDEXTER
CLEOPATRA
BY
CLAUDE FERVAL
GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK
GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.
COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE
& COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE
COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
FOREWORD
Cleopatra, that curiously perverse figure,that incarnation of fatal passion, what was shelike? A combination of pride and frailty, adoredand despised. Plutarch said that "Her charmentered into men's very souls," and Horace thankedthe gods for delivering the earth from that "FataleMonstrum."
It is not the gigantic outlines graven on the dustywalls of the temple at Dendera that will reveal themystery of Cleopatra; nor yet those bronze medalsfrom Syracuse, with their curious hieratic profiles;disguised by these gross images who would recognizethe intelligence, the passion, the daring, theflame, the storm, the witchery, that were united inthat "serpent of old Nile"?
If only some masterpiece of Greek sculpture hadbeen preserved! If we possessed that statue madeat Cæsar's orders by the sculptor, Timomachus! orthat cherished treasure which a rich citizen ofAlexandria offered Cæsar Augustus two thousand talentsto leave untouched! But all these portraits havedisappeared.
Poor as we are in material we can only divinewhat she really was in appearance and in character.It is not certain that she was beautiful, at least notof that sensuous type of beauty which has beengenerally attributed to her. But, if tradition whichhas come down the ages has any weight, with herburning mouth, her radiant eyes, her slender body,which her country's fiery sun had polished till itshone like gilded marble, what creature born ofwoman was ever more fitted to inspire delight andadoration?
"The kings who crossed her threshold died from excess of love."
But physical beauty alone could not have soensnared and deprived of reason such warriors asCæsar and Antony, brave, indefatigable, honourablemen, who fell at her feet, forgetting duty, honour,the very memory of their country, for love of her.
We must look further. Her rare intellect, whichmade her every word of interest; her incomparable,magnetic charm, which banished ennui and held herlisteners enthralled; her ardent, passionate nature;these have made her peerless among the fascinatorsof the world, Circe, Delilah, Heloise, Yseult,Carmen, Sirens or Walkyrie—living women, orcreatures of the poets' fancy—all the enchantresses whohave driven men to madness have had the one giftin common, that of arousing passion, stirringemotion, fanning the flame of love.
Whether their eyes had the blue of the heavens,or shone like stars at midnight, whether their noseswere long or short, their mouths delicate or voluptuous,all the world-heroines have had burning heartsthat touched their lovers' hearts with kindred fire.
If Cleopatra stands above all others it is becauseshe possessed in a higher degree that sovereign giftthat transforms the dullness of every-day life andcreates an atmosphere of rose and gold.
History shows her as crafty, diplomatic, frivolous,generous; capable of horrible cruelties; covetingthe whole world; a prey to ambition, yet flingingit all away for the sake of her lover's kiss. Buthistory gives us only half the picture. Its frame istoo narrow to hold it all. It is to Imagination andher winged daughters, Poetry and Legend, that wehave to look for the whole.
The asp with which Shakespeare