"This arrangement was unendurable to Pothinus and the former rulers of
the state. Cleopatra as Queen, and Rome--that is Caesar, the dictator,
her friend, as guardian--meant their removal from power, their
destruction, and they resisted violently.

"The Egyptians and even the Alexandrians supported them. The young King
hated nothing more than the yoke of the unloved sister, who was so
greatly his superior. Caesar had come with a force by no means equal to
theirs, and it might be possible to draw the mighty general into a snare.
They fought with all the power at their command, with such passionate
eagerness, that the dictator had never been nearer succumbing to peril.
But Cleopatra certainly did not paralyze his strength and cautious
deliberation. No! He had never been greater; never proved the power of
his genius so magnificently. And against what superior power, what
hatred he contended! I myself saw the young King, when he heard that
Cleopatra had succeeded in entering the palace and meeting Caesar, rush
into the street, fairly crazed by rage, tear the diadem from his head,
hurl it on the pavement, and shriek to the passers-by that he was
betrayed, until Caesar's soldiers forced him back into the palace, and
dispersed the mob.

"Arsinoe had received more than she could venture to expect; but she was
again most deeply angered. After Caesar's entry into the palace, she had
received him as Queen, and hoped everything from his favour. Then her
hated sister had come and, as so often happened, she was forgotten for
Cleopatra's sake.

"This was too much, and with the eunuch Ganymedes, her confidant,
and--as I have already said--an able warrior, she left the palace and