fortune might decide. For him the world was nothing; the dark-
browed Queen of Egypt, imperious and yet caressing, was
everything. Never was such a prize and never were such great hopes
thrown carelessly away. After waiting seven days Antony's troops,
still undefeated, finding that their commander would not return to
them, surrendered to Octavian, who thus became the master of an
empire.

Later his legions assaulted Alexandria, and there Antony was twice
defeated. At last Cleopatra saw her great mistake. She had made
her lover give up the hope of being Rome's dictator, but in so
doing she had also lost the chance of ruling with him tranquilly
in Egypt. She shut herself behind the barred doors of the royal
sepulcher; and, lest she should be molested there, she sent forth
word that she had died. Her proud spirit could not brook the
thought that she might be seized and carried as a prisoner to
Rome. She was too much a queen in soul to be led in triumph up the
Sacred Way to the Capitol with golden chains clanking on her
slender wrists.

Antony, believing the report that she was dead, fell upon his
sword; but in his dying moments he was carried into the presence
of the woman for whom he had given all. With her arms about him,
his spirit passed away; and soon after she, too, met death,
whether by a poisoned draught or by the storied asp no one can
say.

Cleopatra had lived the mistress of a splendid kingdom. She had
successively captivated two of the greatest men whom Rome had ever
seen. She died, like a queen, to escape disgrace. Whatever modern