belong together. Whither one goes, the
other will follow!' and he besought me not to leave him. The very morning
before the battle I gave him the drinking cup, urging him, whatever might
happen, never, never to leave me. And he obeyed this time also, though
the person to whom a magic spell bound him was a fleeing woman. It is
terrible. And yet, have I a right to execrate the thrall of the beaker?
Scarcely! For without the Magian's glittering vessel--a secret voice in
my soul has whispered the warning a thousand times during the sleepless
nights--he would have taken another on the galley. And I believe I know
this other--I mean the woman whose singing enthralled my heart too at the
Adonis festival just before our departure. I noticed the look with which
his eyes sought hers. Now I know that it was not merely my old deceitful
foe, jealousy, which warned me against her. Alexas, the most faithful of
his friends, also confirmed what I merely feared--ah! and he told me
other things which the stars had revealed to him. Besides, he knows the
siren, for she was the wife of his own brother. To protect his honour, he
cast off the coquettish Circe."

"Barine!" fell in resolute tones from the lips of Iras.

"So you know her?" asked Cleopatra, eagerly. The girl raised her clasped
hands beseechingly to the Queen, exclaiming:

"I know this woman only too well, and how my heart rages against her! O
my mistress, that I, too, should aid in darkening this hour! Yet it must
be said. That Antony visited the singer, and even took his son there more
than once, is known throughout the city. Yet that is not the worst. A
Barine entering into rivalry with you! It would be too ridiculous. But
what bounds can be set to the insatiate greed of these women? No rank, no
age is sacred. It was dull in the absence of the court and the army.
There were no men who seemed worth the trouble of catching, so she cast
her net for boys, and the one most closely snared was the King
Caesarion."

"Caesarion!" exclaimed Cleopatra, her pale cheeks flushing. "And his
tutor Rhodon? My strict commands?"

"Antyllus secretly presented him to her," replied Iras. "But I kept my
eyes open. The boy clung to the singer with insensate passion. The only
expedient was to remove her from the city. Archibius aided me."

"Then I shall be spared sending her away."

"Nay, that must still be done; for, on the journey to the country
Caesarion, with several comrades, attacked her."