"sensuality" or
"licentiousness"--some other term here applies: make it what you wish.

A copy of Antony's will had been stolen from the Alexandria archives and
carried to Rome by traitors in the hope of personal reward. Caesar read
the will to Senate. One clause of it was particularly offensive to
Caesar: it provided that on the death of Antony, wherever it might occur,
his body should be carried to Cleopatra. The will also provided that the
children of Cleopatra should be provided for first, and afterward the
children of Fulvia and Octavia.

The Roman Senate heard the will, and declared Mark Antony an outlaw--a
public enemy.

Erelong Caesar himself took the field and the Roman legions were pressing
down upon Egypt. The renegade Mark Antony was fighting for his life. For
a time he was successful, but youth was no longer his, the spring had
gone out of his veins, and pride and prosperity had pushed him toward
fatty degeneration.

His soldiers lost faith in him, and turned to the powerful name of
Caesar--a name to conjure with. A battle had been arranged between the
fleet of Mark Antony and that of Caesar. Mark Antony stood upon a
hillside, overlooking the sea, and saw the valiant fleet approach, in
battle-array, the ships of the enemy. The two fleets met, hailed each
other in friendly manner with their oars, turned and together sailed
away.

On shore the cavalry had done the same as the soldiers on the sea--the
infantry were routed.

Mark Antony was undone--he made his way back to the city, and as usual
sought Cleopatra. The palace was deserted, save for a few servants. They
said that the Queen had sent the children away some days before, and she
was in the mausoleum.

To the unhappy man this meant that she was dead. He demanded that his
one faithful valet, known by the fanciful name of Eros, should keep his
promise and kill him. Eros drew his sword, and Antony bared his breast,
but instead of striking the sword into the vitals of his master, Eros
plunged the blade into his own body, and fell at his master's feet.

At which Mark Antony exclaimed, "This was well done, Eros--thy heart
would not permit thee to kill thy master, but thou hast set him an
example!" So saying, he plunged his sword into his bowels.

The wound was not deep enough to cause immediate death, and Antony
begged the gathered attendants to kill him.

Word had been carried to Cleopatra, who had moved into her mausoleum for
safety. This monu