XVII. THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM AND THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT 324
XVIII. CLEOPATRA’S ATTEMPT TO BEGIN AGAIN 349
XIX. OCTAVIAN’S INVASION OF EGYPT AND THE DEATH OF ANTONY 368
XX. THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA AND THE TRIUMPH OF OCTAVIAN 386
CLEOPATRA _Frontispiece_ British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth. _To face p._ PORTRAIT OF A GREEK LADY 32 _The painting dates from a generation later than that of Cleopatra, but it is an example of the work of the Alexandrian artists._
SERAPIS: THE CHIEF GOD OF ALEXANDRIA 48 Alexandria Museum.
POMPEY THE GREAT 66 Rome. Photograph by Anderson.
CLEOPATRA 128 British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.
JULIUS CÆSAR 160 Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.
ANTONY 208 Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.
OCTAVIAN 240 Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.
ANTONIA, THE DAUGHTER OF ANTONY 290 British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.
CLEOPATRA AND HER SON CÆSARION 304 _Represented conventionally upon a wall of the Temple of Dendera._
CLEOPATRA. 352 British Museum. Photograph by Macbeth.
OCTAVIAN 376 Glyptothek, Munich. Photograph by Bruckmann.
THE NILE 400 _An example of Alexandrian art._ Vatican. Photograph by Anderson.
THE KNOWN WORLD IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA xx
APPROXIMATE PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE TIME OF CLEOPATRA 24
CLEOPATRA’S POSSESSIONS IN RELATION TO THE ROMAN WORLD 268
A MAP ILLUSTRATING THE WAR BETWEEN CLEOPATRA AND OCTAVIAN 308
In the following pages it will be observed that, in order not to distract the reader, I have refrained from adding large numbers of notes, references, and discussions, such as are customary in works of this kind. I am aware that by telling a straightforward story in this manner I lay myself open to the suspicions of my fellow-workers, for there is always some tendency to take not absolutely seriously a book which neither prints chapter and verse for its every statement, nor often interrupts the text with erudite arguments. In the case of the subject which is here treated, however, it has seemed to me unnecessary to encumber the pages in this manner, since the sources of my information are all so well known; and I have thus been able to present the book to the reader in a style consonant with a principle of archæological and historical study to which I have always endeavoured to adhere--namely, the avoidance of as many of those attestations of learning as may be discarded without real loss. A friend of mine, an eminent scholar, in discussing with me the scheme of this volume, earnestly exhorted me on the present occasion not to abide by this principle. Remarking that the trouble with my interpretation of history was that I attempted to make the characters live, he urged me at least to justify the manner of their resuscitation in the eyes of the doctors of science by cramming my pages with extracts from my working notes, relevant or otherwise, and by smattering my text with Latin and Greek quotations. I trust, however, that he was speaking in behalf of a very small company, for the sooner this kind of jargon of scholarship is swept into the world’s dust-bin, the better will it be for public education. To my mind a knowledge of the past is so necessary to a happy mental poise that it seems absolutely essential for historical studies to be placed before the general reader in a manner sympathetic to him. “History,” said Emerson, “no longer shall be a dull book. It shall walk incarnate in every just and wise man. You shall not tell me by languages and titles a catalogue of the volumes you have read. You shall make me feel what periods you have lived.”