is a traitor! We shall discover it. Wherever Dion has taken his young
wife, let her be carefully concealed, not from me, but from this Syrian.
It is easier to defend one's self against the lion than the scorpion.
You, my friend, will see that Archibius seeks me this very day. I must
talk with him, and--you no longer have any thought of a parting? Another
will come soon enough, which will forever forbid these lips from kissing
your dear face."

As she spoke, she again clasped the companion of her childhood in her
arms, and when Iras entered to request an audience for Lucilius, Antony's
most faithful friend, Cleopatra, who had noticed the younger woman's
envious glance at the embrace, said: "Was I mistaken in fancying that you
imagined yourself slighted for Charmian, who is an older friend? That
would be wrong; for I love and need you both. You are her niece, and
indebted to her for much kindness from your earliest childhood. So,
even though you will lose the joy of revenge upon a hated enemy, forget
what has happened, as I did, and maintain your former affectionate
companionship. I will reward you for it with the only thing that the
daughter of the wealthy Krates cannot purchase, yet which she probably
rates at no low value--the love of her royal friend."

With these words she clasped Iras also in a close embrace, and when the
latter left the room to summon Lucilius, she thought: "No woman has ever
won so much love; perhaps that is why she possesses so great a treasure
of it, and can afford such unspeakable happiness by its bestowal. Or is
she so much beloved because she entered the world full of its wealth, and
dispenses it as the sun diffuses light? Surely that must be the case.
I have reason to believe it, for whom did I ever love save the Queen?
No one, not even myself, and I know no one in whose love for me I can
believe. But why did Dion, whom I loved so fervently, disdain me? Fool!