s that thought and
feeling end with life will not fear death; for, no matter how many dear
and precious things the dead have left here below, their yearning for
them has ceased with life. He declares that providing for the body is
the greatest folly, while the Egyptian religion, in which Anubis strove
to strengthen her faith, maintained precisely the opposite.

"To a certain degree he succeeded, for his personality exerted a
powerful influence over her; and besides, she naturally took great
pleasure in mystical, supernatural things, as my brother Straton did
in physical strength, and you, Barine, enjoy the gift of song. You know
Anubis by sight. What Alexandrian has not seen this remarkable man? and
whoever has once met his eyes does not easily forget him. He does indeed
rule over mysterious powers, and he used them in his intercourse with
the young princess. It is his work if she cleaves to the religious
belief of her people, if she who is a Hellene to the last drop of blood
loves Egypt, and is ready to make any sacrifice for her independence and
grandeur. She is called 'the new Isis,' but Isis presides over the magic
arts of the Egyptians, and Anubis initiated Cleopatra into this secret
science, and even persuaded her to enter the observatory and the
laboratory--

"But all these things had their origin in our garden of Epicurus, and
my father did not venture to forbid it; for the King had sent a message
from Rome to say that he was glad to have Cleopatra find pleasure in her
own people and their secret knowledge.

"The flute-player, during his stay on the Tiber, had given his gold to
the right men or bound them as creditors to his interest. After Pompey,
Caesar, and Crassus had concluded their alliance, they consented at
Lucca to the restoration of the Ptolemy. Millions upon millions would
not have seemed to him too large a price for this object. Pompey would
rather have gone to Egypt himself, but the jealousy of the others would
not permit it. Gabinius, the Governor of Syria, received the commission.

"But the occupants of the Egyptian throne were not disposed to resign it
without a struggle. You know that meanwhile Queen Berenike, Cleopatra's
sister, had been twice married. She had her miserable first husband
strangled--a more manly spouse had been chosen by the Alexandrians for
her second consort. He bravely defended his rights, and lost his life on
the field of battle.

"The senate learned speedily enough tha