Then she turned to the Queen with the entreaty: "Be calm, my
royal mistress, be calm, I beseech you. We have ample time. Here is the
vulture crown of Isis, and here the other. Antony's slave, Eros, has just
come in, panting for breath. The Imperator, he says, will appear as the
new Dionysus. It would certainly please his master--though he had not
commissioned him to request it--if you greeted him as the new Isis.--Help
me, Hathor. Nephoris, tell the usher to see that the fan-bearers and the
other attendants, women and men, are in their places.--Here are the pearl
and diamond necklaces for your throat and bosom. Take care of the robe.
The transparent bombyx is as delicate as a cobweb, and if you tear it No,
you must not refuse. We all know how it pleases him to see his goddess in
divine majesty and beauty." Cleopatra, with glowing cheeks and throbbing
heart, made no further objection to donning the superb festal robe,
strewn with glimmering pearls and glittering gems. It would have been
more in harmony with her feelings to meet the returning Antony in the
plain, dark garb which, since her arrival at home, she had exchanged for
a richer one only on festal occasions; but Antony was coming as the new
Dionysus, and Eros knew what would please his master.

Eight nimble hands, which were often aided by Iras's skilful fingers,
toiled busily, and soon the latter could hold up the mirror before
Cleopatra, exclaiming from the very depths of her heart, "Like the
foam-born Aphrodite and the golden Hathor!"

Then Iras, who, in adorning her beloved mistress, had forgotten love,
hate, and envy, and amid her eager haste barely found time for a brief,
fervent prayer for a happy issue of this meeting, threw the broad
folding-doors as wide as if she were about to reveal to the worshippers
in the temple the image of the god in the innermost sanctuary.

A long, echoing shout of surprise and delight greeted the Queen, for the
courtiers, hastily summoned, were already awaiting her without, from the
grey-haired epistolograph to the youngest page. Regally attired women in
her service raised the floating train of her cloak; others, in sacerdotal
robes, were testing the ease of movement of the rings on the sistrum
rods, men and boys were forming into lines according to the rank of each
individual, and the chief fan-bearer gave the signal for departure. After
a short walk through several halls and corridors, the train reached the
first court-yard