“But though she used all the combined arts of Aphrodite and Isis, she could not vie with you, my royal mistress!” cried Iras. “How little is required to delude the senses of one scarcely more than a child!”
“Poor boy!” sighed the Queen, gently. “Had he not been wounded, and were it not so hard to resign what we love, I should rejoice that he, too, understands how to plan and act. Perhaps—O Iras, would that it might be so!—now that the gate is burst open, the brain and energy of the great Cæsar will enter his living image. As the Egyptians call Horus ‘the avenger of his father,’ perhaps he may become his mother’s defender and avenger. If Cæsar’s spirit wakes within him, he will wrest from the dissembler Octavianus the heritage of which the nephew robbed the son. You swear that the wound is but a slight one?”
“The physicians have said so.”
“Well, then we will hope so. Let him enter the conflict of life. We will afford him ample opportunity to test his powers. No foolish passion shall prevent the convalescent youth from following his father upward along the pathway of fame. But send for the woman who ensnared him, the audacious charmer whose aspirations mount to those I hold dearest. We will see how she appears beside me!”
“These are grievous times,” said Iras, who saw in amazement the Queen’s eyes sparkle with the confident light of victory. “Grant your foot its right. Let it crush her! Monsters enough, on whom you cannot set your foot, throng your path. Hence to Hades, in these days of conflict, with all who can be quickly removed!”
“Murder?” asked Cleopatra, her noble brow contracting in a frown.
“If it must be, ay,” replied Iras, sharply. “If possible, banishment to an island, an oasis. If necessity requires, to the mines with the siren!”
“If necessity requires?” repeated the Queen. “I think that means, if it proves that she has deserved the harshest punishment.”
“She has brought it upon herself by every hour of my sovereign’s life clouded through her wiles. In the mines the desire to set snares for husbands and sons soon vanishes.”
“And people languish in the most terrible torture till death ends their suffering,” added Cleopatra, in a tone of grave reproof. “No, girl, this victory is too easy. I will not send even my foe to death without a hearing, especially at this time, which teaches me what it is to await the verdict of one who is more powerful. This woman who, as it were, summons me to battle, shall have her wish. I am curious to see the singer again, and to learn the means by which she has succeeded in chaining to her triumphal car so many captives, from boys up to the most exacting men.”