Cleopatra: Being an Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis, the Royal Egyptian, as Set Forth by His Own Hand by H. Rider Haggard

Author:H. Rider Haggard
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: -30 B.C. -- Fiction, Egypt -- History -- 332-30 B.C. -- Fiction, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2023-07-06T00:33:13+00:00

The eyes of Cleo­patra flashed as she hearkened to these high words, and I saw her hands tight­en on the golden lions’ heads where­on they res­ted.

“We have had the flat­tery,” she said; “and now, lest we be cloyed with sweets, we have its an­ti­dote! Listen thou, Del­li­us: the charges in that let­ter, or, rather, in that writ of sum­mons, are false, as all folk can bear us wit­ness. But it is not now, and it is not to thee, that We will make de­fence of our acts of war and policy. Nor will We leave our king­dom to jour­ney in­to far Ci­li­cia, and there, like some poor sup­pli­ant at law, plead our cause be­fore the Court of the Noble Ant­ony. If Ant­ony would have speech with us, and in­quire con­cern­ing these high mat­ters, the sea is open, and his wel­come shall be roy­al. Let him come thith­er! That is our an­swer to thee and to the Tri­um­vir­ate, O Del­li­us!”

But Del­li­us smiled as one who would put away the weight of wrath, and once more spoke:

“Roy­al Egypt, thou know­est not the noble Ant­ony. He is stern on pa­per, and ever he sets down his thoughts as though his stylus were a spear dipped in the blood of men. But face to face with him, thou, of all the world, shalt find him the gentlest war­ri­or that ever won a battle. Be ad­vised, O Egypt! and come. Send me not hence with such angry words, for if thou dost draw Ant­ony to Al­ex­an­dria, then woe to Al­ex­an­dria, to the people of the Nile, and to thee, great Egypt! For then he will come armed and breath­ing war, and it shall go hard with thee, who dost defy the gathered might of Rome. I pray thee, then, obey this sum­mons. Come to Ci­li­cia; come with peace­ful gifts and not in arms. Come in thy beauty, and tricked in thy best at­tire, and thou hast naught to fear from the noble Ant­ony.” He paused and looked at her mean­ingly; while I, tak­ing his drift, felt the angry blood surge in­to my face.

Cleo­patra, too, un­der­stood, for I saw her rest her chin upon her hand and the cloud of thought gathered in her eyes. For a time she sat thus, while the crafty Del­li­us watched her curi­ously. And Charmi­on, stand­ing with the oth­er ladies by the throne, she also read his mean­ing, for her face lit up, as a sum­mer cloud lights in the even­ing when the broad light­ning flares be­hind it. Then once more it grew pale and quiet.

At length Cleo­patra spoke. “This is a heavy mat­ter,” she said, “and there­fore, noble Del­li­us, we must have time to let our judg­ment ripen. Rest thou here, and make thee as merry as our poor cir­cum­stances al­low. Thou shalt have thy an­swer with­in ten days.”

The en­voy thought awhile, then replied smil­ing: “It is well, O Egypt; on the tenth day from now I will at­tend for my an­swer, and on the el­ev­enth I sail hence to join Ant­ony my Lord.

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