Cleopatra: Chapter 7

Chapter 7

OF THE SURRENDER OF THE TROOPS AND FLEET OF ANTONY BEFORE THE CANOPIC
GATE; OF THE END OF ANTONY, AND OF THE BREWING OF THE DRAUGHT OF DEATH

On the morrow, at dawn, Antony came forth and gave command that his
fleet should advance against the fleet of C�sar, and that his cavalry
should open the land-battle with the cavalry of C�sar. Accordingly, the
fleet advanced in a triple line, and the fleet of C�sar came out to
meet it. But when they met, the galleys of Antony lifted their oars in
greeting, and passed over to the galleys of C�sar; and they sailed away
together. And the cavalry of Antony rode forth beyond the Hippodrome
to charge the cavalry of C�sar; but when they met, they lowered their
swords and passed over to the camp of C�sar, deserting Antony. Then
Antony grew mad with rage and terrible to see. He shouted to his legions
to stand firm and wait attack; and for a little while they stood.
One man, however--that same officer who would have slain me on the
yesternight--strove to fly; but Antony seized him with his own hand,
threw him to the earth, and, springing from his horse, drew his sword to
slay him. He held his sword on high, while the man, covering his face,
awaited death. But Antony dropped his sword and bade him rise.

"Go!" he said. "Go to C�sar, and prosper! I did love thee once. Why,
then, among so many traitors, should I single thee out for death?"

The man rose and looked upon him sorrowfully. Then, shame overwhelming
him, with a great cry he tore open his shirt of mail, plunged his sword
into his own heart and fell down dead. Antony stood and gazed at him,
but he said never a word. Meanwhile the ranks of C�sar's legions drew
near, and so soon as they crossed spears the legions of Antony turned
and fled. Then the soldiers of C�sar stood still mocking them; but
scarce a man was slain, for they pursued not.

"Fly, Lord Antony! fly!" cried Eros, his servant, who alone with me
stayed by him. "Fly ere thou art dragged a prisoner to C�sar!"

So he turned and fled, groaning heavily. I went with him, and as we rode
through the Canopic gate, where many folk stood wondering, Antony spoke
to me:

"Go, thou, Olympus; go to the Queen and say: 'Antony sends greeting to
Cleopatra, who hath betrayed him! To Cleopatra he sends greeting and
farewell!'"

And so I went to the tomb, but Antony fled to the palace. When I came
to the tomb I knocked upon the door, and Charmion looked forth from the
window.

"Open," I cried, and she opened.

"What news, Harmachis?" she whispered.

"Charmion," I said, "the end is at hand. Antony is fled!"

"It is well," she answered; "I am aweary."

And there on her golden bed sat Cleopatra.

"Speak, man!" she cried.

"Antony has fled, his forces are fled, C�sar draws near. To Cleopatra
the great Antony sends greeting and farewell. Greeting to Cleopatra who
betrayed him, and farewell."

"It is a lie!" she screamed; "I betrayed him not! Thou, Olympus, go
swiftly to Antony and answer thus: 'To Antony, Cleopatra, who hath not
betrayed him, sends greeting and farewell. Cleopatra is no more.'"

And so I went, following out my purpose. In the Alabaster Hall I found
Antony pacing to and fro, tossing his hands toward heaven, and with him
Eros, for of all his servants Eros alone remained by this fallen man.

"Lord Antony," I said, "Egypt bids thee farewell. Egypt is dead by her
own hand."

"Dead! dead!" he whispered, "and is Egypt dead? and is that form of
glory now food for worms? Oh, what a woman was this! E'en now my heart
goes out towards her. And shall she outdo me at the last, I who have
been so great; shall I become so small that a woman can overtop my
courage and pass where I fear to follow? Eros, thou hast loved me from a
boy--mindest thou how I found thee starving in the desert, and made thee
rich, giving thee place and wealth? Come, now pay me back. Draw that
sword thou wearest and make an end of the woes of Antony."

"Oh, Sire," cried the Greek, "I cannot! How can I take away the life of
godlike Antony?"

"Answer me not, Eros; but in the last extreme of fate this I charge
thee. Do thou my bidding, or begone and leave me quite alone! No more
will I see thy face, thou unfaithful servant!"

Then Eros drew his sword and Antony knelt before him and bared his
breast, turning his eyes to heaven. But Eros, crying "I cannot! oh, I
cannot!" plunged the sword to his own heart, and fell dead.

Antony rose and gazed upon him. "Why, Eros, that was nobly done," he
said. "Thou art greater than I, yet I have learned thy lesson!" and he
knelt down and kissed him.

Then, rising of a sudden, he drew the sword from the heart of Eros,
plunged it into his bowels, and fell, groaning, on the couch.

"O thou, Olympus," he cried, "this pain is more than I can bear! Make an
end of me, Olympus!"

But pity stirred me, and I could not do this thing.

Therefore I drew the sword from his vitals, staunched the flow of blood,
and, calling to those who came crowding in to see Antony die, I bade
them summon Atoua from my house at the palace gates. Presently she came,
bringing with her simples and life-giving draughts. These I gave to
Antony, and bade Atoua go with such speed as her old limbs might to
Cleopatra, in the tomb, and tell her of the state of Antony.

So she went, and after a while returned, saying that the Queen yet lived
and summoned Antony to die in her arms. And with her came Diomedes. When
Antony heard, his ebbing strength came back, for he was fain to look
upon Cleopatra's face again. So I called to the slaves--who peeped and
peered through curtains and from behind pillars to see this great man
die--and together, with much toil, we bore him thence till we came to
the foot of the Mausoleum.

But Cleopatra, being afraid of treachery, would no more throw wide the
door; so she let down a rope from the window and we made it fast
beneath the arms of Antony. Then did Cleopatra, who the while wept most
bitterly, together with Charmion and Iras the Greek, pull on the rope
with all their strength, while we lifted from below till the dying
Antony swung in the air, groaning heavily, and the blood dropped from
his gaping wound. Twice he nearly fell to earth: but Cleopatra, striving
with the strength of love and of despair, held him till at length she
drew him through the windowplace, while all who saw the dreadful sight
wept bitterly, and beat their breasts--all save myself and Charmion.

When he was in, once more the rope was let down, and, with some aid from
Charmion, I climbed into the tomb, drawing up the rope after me. There I
found Antony, laid upon the golden bed of Cleopatra; and she, her breast
bare, her face stained with tears, and her hair streaming wildly about
him, knelt at his side and kissed him, wiping the blood from his wounds
with her robes and hair. And let all my shame be written: as I stood
and watched her the old love awoke once more within me, and mad jealousy
raged in my heart because--though I could destroy these twain--I could
not destroy their love.

"O Antony! my Sweet, my Husband, and my God!" she moaned. "Cruel Antony,
hast thou the heart to die and leave me to my lonely shame? I will
follow thee swiftly to the grave. Antony, awake! awake!"

He lifted up his head and called for wine, which I gave him, mixing
therein a draught that might allay his pain, for it was great. And when
he had drunk he bade Cleopatra lie down on the bed beside him, and put
her arms about him; and this she did. Then was Antony once more a man;
for, forgetting his own misery and pain, he counselled her as to her own
safety: but to this talk she would not listen.

"The hour is short," she said; "let us speak of this great love of ours
that hath been so long and may yet endure beyond the coasts of Death.
Mindest thou that night when first thou didst put thine arms about me
and call me 'Love'? Oh! happy, happy night! Having known that night it
is well to have lived--even to this bitter end!"

"Ay, Egypt, I mind it well and dwell upon its memory, though from that
hour fortune has fled from me--lost in my depth of love for thee, thou
Beautiful. I mind it!" he gasped; "then didst thou drink the pearl
in wanton play, and then did that astrologer of thine call out his
hour--'The hour of the coming of the curse of Menkau-ra.' Through all
the after-days those words have haunted me, and now at the last they
ring in my ears."

"He is long dead, my love," she whispered.

"If he be dead, then I am near him. What meant he?"

"He is dead, the accursed man!--no more of him! Oh! turn and kiss me,
for thy face grows white. The end is near!"

He kissed her on the lips, and for a little while so they stayed, to
the moment of death, babbling their passion in each other's ears, like
lovers newly wed. Even to my jealous heart, it was a strange and awful
thing to see.

Presently, I saw the Change of Death gather on his face. His head fell
back.

"Farewell, Egypt; farewell!--I die!"

Cleopatra lifted herself upon her hands, gazed wildly on his ashen face,
and then, with a great cry, she sank back swooning.

But Antony yet lived, though the power of speech had left him. Then
I drew near and, kneeling, made pretence to minister to him. And as I
ministered I whispered in his ear:

"Antony," I whispered, "Cleopatra was my love before she passed from me
to thee. I am Harmachis, that astrologer who stood behind thy couch at
Tarsus; and I have been the chief minister of thy ruin.

"_Die, Antony!--the curse of Menkau-ra hath fallen!_"

He raised himself, and stared upon my face. He could not speak, but,
gibbering, he pointed at me. Then with a groan his spirit fled.

Thus did I accomplish my revenge upon Roman Antony, the World-loser.

Thereafter, we recovered Cleopatra from her swoon, for not yet was
I minded that she should die. And taking the body of Antony, C�sar
permitting, I and Atoua caused it to be most skilfully embalmed after
our Egyptian fashion, covering the face with a mask of gold fashioned
like to the features of Antony. Also I wrote upon his breast his name
and titles, and painted his name and the name of his father within his
inner coffin, and drew the form of the Holy Nout folding her wings about
him.

Then with great pomp Cleopatra laid him in that sepulchre which had been
made ready, and in a sarcophagus of alabaster. Now, this sarcophagus was
fashioned so large that place was left in it for a second coffin, for
Cleopatra would lie by Antony at the last.

These things then happened. And but a little while after I learned
tidings from one Cornelius Dolabella, a noble Roman who waited upon
C�sar, and, moved by the beauty that swayed the souls of all who looked
upon her, had pity for the woes of Cleopatra. He bade me warn her--for,
as her physician, it was allowed me to pass in and out of the tomb where
she dwelt--that in three days she would be sent away to Rome, together
with her children, save C�sarion, whom Octavian had already slain, that
she might walk in the triumph of C�sar. Accordingly I went in, and found
her sitting, as now she always sat, plunged in a half stupor, and before
her that blood-stained robe with which she had staunched the wounds of
Antony. For on this she would continually feast her eyes.

"See how faint they grow, Olympus," she said, lifting her sad face and
pointing to the rusty stains, "and he so lately dead! Why, Gratitude
could not fade more fast. What is now thy news? Evil tidings is writ
large in those dark eyes of thine, which ever bring back to me something
that still slips my mind."

"The news is ill, O Queen," I answered. "I have this from the lips of
Dolabella, who has it straight from C�sar's secretary. On the third day
from now C�sar will send thee and the Princes Ptolemy and Alexander and
the Princess Cleopatra to Rome, there to feast the eyes of the Roman
mob, and be led in triumph to that Capitol where thou didst swear to set
thy throne!"

"Never, never!" she cried, springing to her feet. "Never will I walk in
chains in C�sar's triumph! What must I do? Charmion, tell me what I can
do!"

And Charmion, rising, stood before her, looking at her through the long
lashes of her downcast eyes.

"Lady, thou canst die," she said quietly.

"Ay, of a truth I had forgotten; I can die. Olympus, hast thou the
drug?"

"Nay; but if the Queen wills it, by to-morrow morn it shall be brewed--a
drug so swift and strong that not the Gods themselves can hold him who
drinks it back from sleep."

"Let it be made ready, thou Master of Death!"

I bowed, and withdrew myself; and all that night I and old Atoua
laboured at the distilling of the deadly draught. At length it was done,
and Atoua poured it into a crystal phial, and held it to the light of
the fire; for it was white as the purest water.

"_La! la!_" she sang, in her shrill voice; "a drink for a Queen! When
fifty drops of that water of my brewing have passed those red lips of
hers, thou wilt indeed be avenged of Cleopatra, O Harmachis! Ah, that
I could be there to see thy Ruin ruined! _La! la!_ it would be sweet to
see!"

"Vengeance is an arrow that oft-times falls upon the archer's head," I
answered, bethinking me of Charmion's saying.

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