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CHAPTER VIII. CLEOPATRA A QUEEN. - Cleopatra| Set Display | Please Turn On Your Virtual Bookmarks | You Can Help This Site | Table of Contents | Jacob Abbott |
Page 62 of 110
CHAPTER VIII. CLEOPATRA A QUEEN. - Cleopatra
CHAPTER VIII. CLEOPATRA A QUEEN.
The Alexandrine war very short.--Its extent.--Revenues of Egypt.--The city repaired.--The library rebuilt.--A new collection of manuscripts.-- Luxury and splendor.--Deterioration of Cleopatra's character.--The young Ptolemy.--Cleopatra assassinates him.--Career of Caesar.--His rapid course of conquest.--Cleopatra determines to go to Rome.--Feelings of the Romans.--Caesar's four triumphs.--Nature of triumphal processions.--Arsinoe.--Sympathy of the Roman people.--Caesar overacts his part.--Feasts and festivals.--Riot and debauchery.--Public combats.--The artificial lake.--Combat upon it.--Land combats.--The people shocked.--Cleopatra's visit.--Caesar's plans for making himself king.--Conspiracy against Caesar.--He is assassinated.--Arsinoe released.--Calpurnia mourns her husband's death.--Calpurnia looks to Mark Antony as her protector.
The war by which Caesar reinstated Cleopatra upon the throne was not one of very long duration. Caesar arrived in Egypt in pursuit of Pompey about the first of August; the war was ended and Cleopatra established in secure possession by the end of January; so that the conflict, violent as it was while it continued, was very brief, the peaceful and commercial pursuits of the Alexandrians having been interrupted by it only for a few months.
Nor did either the war itself, or the derangements consequent upon it, extend very far into the interior of the country. The city of Alexandria itself and the neighboring coasts were the chief scenes of the contest until Mithradates arrived at Pelusium. He, it is true, marched across the Delta, and the final battle was fought in the interior of the country. It was, however, after all, but a very small portion of the Egyptian territory that was directly affected by the war. The great mass of the people, occupying the rich and fertile tracts which bordered the various branches of the Nile, and the long and verdant valley which extended so far into the heart of the continent, knew nothing of the conflict but by vague and distant rumors. The pursuits of the agricultural population went on, all the time, as steadily and prosperously as ever; so that when the conflict was ended, and Cleopatra entered upon the quiet and peaceful possession of her power, she found that the resources of her empire were very little impaired.
She availed herself, accordingly, of the revenues which poured in very abundantly upon her, to enter upon a career of the greatest luxury, magnificence, and splendor. The injuries which had been done to the palaces and other public edifices of Alexandria the fire, and by the military operations of the siege, were repaired. The bridges which had been down were rebuilt. The canals which had been obstructed were opened again. The sea-water was shut off from the palace cisterns; the rubbish of demolished houses was removed; the barricades were cleared from the streets; and the injuries which the palaces had suffered either from the violence of military engines or the rough occupation of the Roman soldiery, were repaired. In a word, the city was speedily restored once more, so far as was possible, to its former order and beauty. The five hundred, thousand manuscripts of the Alexandrian library, which had been burned, could not, indeed, be restored; but, in all other respects, the city soon resumed in appearance all its former splendor. Even in respect to the library, Cleopatra made an effort to retrieve the loss. She repaired the ruined buildings, and afterward, in the course of her life, she brought together, it was said, in a manner hereafter to be described, one or two hundred thousand rolls of manuscripts, as the commencement of a new collection. The new library, however, never acquired the fame and distinction that had pertained to the old. 
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