rds him). You are a funny
old gentleman. I like you.

CAESAR. Ah, that spoils the dream. Why don't you dream that I am young?

CLEOPATRA. I wish you were; only I think I should be more afraid of you.
I like men, especially young men with round strong arms; but I am afraid
of them. You are old and rather thin and stringy; but you have a nice
voice; and I like to have somebody to talk to, though I think you are a
little mad. It is the moon that makes you talk to yourself in that silly
way.

CAESAR. What! you heard that, did you? I was saying my prayers to the
great Sphinx.

CLEOPATRA. But this isn't the great Sphinx.

CAESAR (much disappointed, looking up at the statue). What!

CLEOPATRA. This is only a dear little kitten of the Sphinx. Why, the
great Sphinx is so big that it has a temple between its paws. This is
my pet Sphinx. Tell me: do you think the Romans have any sorcerers who
could take us away from the Sphinx by magic?

CAESAR. Why? Are you afraid of the Romans?

CLEOPATRA (very seriously). Oh, they would eat us if they caught us.
They are barbarians. Their chief is called Julius Caesar. His father
was a tiger and his mother a burning mountain; and his nose is like an
elephant's trunk. (Caesar involuntarily rubs his nose.) They all have
long noses, and ivory tusks, and little tails, and seven arms with a
hundred arrows in each; and they live on human flesh.

CAESAR. Would you like me to show you a real Roman?

CLEOPATRA (terrified). No. You are frightening me.

CAESAR. No matter: this is only a dream--

CLEOPATRA (excitedly). It is not a dream: it is not a dream. See, see.
(She plucks a pin from her hair and jabs it repeatedly into his arm.)

CAESAR. Ffff--Stop. (Wrathfully) How dare you?

CLEOPATRA (abashed). You said you were dreaming. (Whimpering) I only
wanted to show you--

CAESAR (gently). Come, come: don't cry. A queen mustn't cry. (He rubs
his arm, wondering at the reality of the smart.) Am I awake? (He strikes
his hand against the Sphinx to test its solidity. It feels so real
that he begins to be alarmed, and says perplexedly) Yes, I--(quite
panic-stricken) no: impossible: madness, madness! (Desperately) Back to
camp--to camp. (He rises to spring down from the pedestal.)

CLEOPATRA (flinging her arms in terror round him). No: you shan't leave
me. No, no, no: don't go. I'm afraid--afraid of the Romans.

CAESAR (as the conviction that he is really awake forces itself on him).
Cleopatra