upon the deck of the barge
beneath a canopy of woven gold. She was dressed to resemble Venus,
while girls about her personated nymphs and Graces. Delicate perfumes
diffused themselves from the vessel; and at last, as she drew near the
shore, all the people for miles about were gathered there, leaving
Antony to sit alone in the tribunal where he was dispensing justice.

Word was brought to him that Venus had come to feast with Bacchus.
Antony, though still suspicious of Cleopatra, sent her an invitation to
dine with him in state. With graceful tact she sent him a
counter-invitation, and he came. The magnificence of his reception
dazzled the man who had so long known only a soldier's fare, or at most
the crude entertainments which he had enjoyed in Rome. A marvelous
display of lights was made. Thousands upon thousands of candles shone
brilliantly, arranged in squares and circles; while the banquet itself
was one that symbolized the studied luxury of the East.

At this time Cleopatra was twenty-seven years of age--a period of life
which modern physiologists have called the crisis in a woman's growth.
She had never really loved before, since she had given herself to
Caesar, not because she cared for him, but to save her kingdom. She now
came into the presence of one whose manly beauty and strong passions
were matched by her own subtlety and appealing charm.

When Antony addressed her he felt himself a rustic in her presence.
Almost resentful, he betook himself to the coarse language of the camp.
Cleopatra, with marvelous adaptability, took her tone from his, and
thus in a moment put him at his ease. Ferrero, who takes a most
unfavorable view of her character and personality, nevertheless
explains the secret of her fascination:

Herself utterly cold and callous, insensitive by nature to the flame of
true devotion, Cleopatra was one of those women gifted with an unerring
instinct for all the various roads to men's affections. She could be
the shrinking, modest girl, too shy to reveal her half-unconscious
emotions of jealousy and depression and self-abandonment, or a woman
carried away by the sweep of a fiery and uncontrollable passion. She
could tickle the esthetic sensibilities of her victims by rich and
gorgeous festivals, by the fantastic adornment of her own person and
her palace, or by brilliant discussions on literature and art; she
could conjure up all their grossest instincts with the vilest
obscenities of convers