irs were undisputed lords of Rome. The
imperial rule of Caesar had lasted but a few months, and ended with his
life. But with Octavius began an imperial era which lasted till the end
of the dominion of Rome.

_ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA._

The battles of Philippi and the death of Brutus and Cassius put an end
to the republican party to whom Caesar owed his death. The whole realm
was handed over to the imperial Triumvirate, who now made a new division
of the vast Roman world. Antony took as his share all the mighty realm
of the East; Octavius all the West. To Lepidus, whom his powerful
confederates did not take the trouble to consult, only Africa was left.

The after-career of Antony was a curious and impressive one. He loved a
bewitching Egyptian queen, and for a false love lost the vast dominion
he had won. The story is one of the most romantic and popular of all
that have come to us from the past. It has been told in detail by
Plutarch and richly dramatized by Shakespeare. We give it here in brief
epitome.

Fourteen years previously Antony had visited Alexandria, and had there
seen the youthful Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen, but already so
beautiful and attractive that the susceptible Roman was deeply smitten
with her charms. Later she had charmed Caesar, and now when the lord of
the East set out on a tour of his new dominions, the love queen of Egypt
left her capital for Cilicia with the purpose of making him her captive.

It was midsummer of the year 41 B.C. when Antony arrived at Tarsus, on
the river Cydnus. Up this stream to visit him came, in more than
Oriental pomp, the beautiful Egyptian queen. The galley that bore her
was gorgeous beyond comparison. Its sails were of Tyrian purple; silver
oars fretted the yielding wave, while music timed their rise and fall;
the poop glittered with burnished gold; rich perfumes filled the air
with fragrance. Here, on a splendid couch, under a spangled canopy,
reclined Cleopatra, attired as Venus, and surrounded by attendants
dressed as Graces and Cupids. Beautiful slaves moved oars and ropes, and
the whole array was one of wondrous charm. We cannot do better than
quote Shakespeare's vivid description of this unequalled spectacle:

"The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Burned on the water; the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept st