a mind as Caesar's quickened her intellect. Her knowledge that, by
the charms of sense, she had mastered even him transformed her
into a strange and wonderful creature. She learned to study the
weaknesses of men, to play on their emotions, to appeal to every
subtle taste and fancy. In her were blended mental power and that
illusive, indefinable gift which is called charm.

For Cleopatra was never beautiful. Signor Ferrero seems to think
this fact to be discovery of his own, but it was set down by
Plutarch in a very striking passage written less than a century
after Cleopatra and Antony died. We may quote here what the Greek
historian said of her:

Her actual beauty was far from being so remarkable that none could
be compared with her, nor was it such that it would strike your
fancy when you saw her first. Yet the influence of her presence,
if you lingered near her, was irresistible. Her attractive
personality, joined with the charm of her conversation, and the
individual touch that she gave to everything she said or did, were
utterly bewitching. It was delightful merely to hear the music of
her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she
could pass from one language to another.

Caesar had left Cleopatra firmly seated on the throne of Egypt.
For six years she reigned with great intelligence, keeping order
in her dominions, and patronizing with discrimination both arts
and letters. But ere long the convulsions of the Roman state once
more caused her extreme anxiety. Caesar had been assassinated, and
there ensued a period of civil war. Out of it emerged two striking
figures which were absolutely contrasted in their character. One