a sting in the
soul." Hence, as has been said, she probably possessed not supreme
beauty, but supreme seductiveness.

Her social and moral qualities at this time seem not to have been
inferior to her beauty or her intellectual endowments. Falsehood and
hypocrisy were foreign to her. She gained her ends by the winningness of
her disposition, the melody of her voice, the gentleness of her manner.
Says Ebers, who of modern writers has drawn the most attractive picture
of her character: "The fundamental principles which dominated this rare
creature's life and character were two ceaseless desires: first, to
surpass everyone, even in the most difficult achievements; and,
secondly, to love and be loved in return." Ambition and love were the
two ruling principles in her nature which raised her above all other
women of her time.

Such was Cleopatra when she began to reign. But neither her learning nor
her beauty nor the charm of her manner protected her from the
machinations of the court. Ptolemy XII., her boy husband, was under the
control of his tutor, Pothinus, who, becoming jealous of Cleopatra's
growing power, organized a conspiracy against her; and she was compelled
to flee to Syria, where she began to raise an army to assert her rights.
But a greater power now intervened in the affairs of Egypt. Caesar
entered upon the scene. Cleopatra appealed to him, and, rolled in a
bale of carpet, gained admittance to his presence. When the carpet was
unrolled and the queen appeared to view, the great conqueror was
captivated at the spectacle. She was now about twenty-one, slender and
graceful and of bewitching manner. Caesar was about fifty-two, but
thoroughly susceptible to the charms of youth and beauty. He warmly
espoused her cause, and, after a conflict which nearly ended his career,
restored her to the throne; and as Ptolemy XII. had been accidentally
drowned in the Nile, he associated a younger brother, Ptolemy XIII., as
her consort in the kingdom.

This is perhaps the most fascinating period in the life of Cleopatra,
when, just entering upon her womanhood, she captivates the great
commander and becomes, for a season, his Aspasia. In Egyptian eyes their
union was regarded as a marriage, and the relations of these two never
assumed the grossness and voluptuousness that were later exhibited by
Antony and Cleopatra. Caesar, with all his lofty intelligence, no doubt
found in her one whose intellectual faculties rose to the level