Caesar that the treasure-houses on the Nile should be like an empty wine-
skin; yet, a few hours after, body and soul had been in her toils. So it
had continued till the battle of Actium. Now there was nothing more to
lose; but what might not Cleopatra bestow upon his master? He thought of
the delightful years during which his face had grown so round, and every
day fresh pleasures and spectacles, such as the world would never again
witness, had satiated eye and ear, palate and nostril,--nay, even
curiosity. If they could be repeated, even in a simpler form, so much
the better. His main--nay, almost his sole-desire was to release his
lord from this wretched solitude, this horrible misanthropy, so ill
suited to his nature.

Cleopatra had kept him waiting two hours, but he would willingly have
loitered in the anteroom thrice as long if she only determined to follow
his counsel. It was worth considering, and Eros did not hesitate to give
it. No one could foresee how Antony would greet Cleopatra herself, so he
proposed that she should send Charmian--not alone, but with her clever
hunch-backed maid, to whom the Imperator himself had given the name
"Aisopion." He liked Charmian, and could never see the dusky maid
without jesting with her. If his master could once be induced to show a
cheerful face to others besides himself, Eros, and perceived how much
better it was to laugh than to lapse into sullen reverie and anger, much
would be gained, and Charmian would do the rest, if she brought a loving
message from her royal mistress.

Hitherto Cleopatra had not interrupted him; but when she expressed the
opinion that a slave's nimble tongue would have little power to change
the deep despondency of a man overwhelmed by the most terrible disaster,
Eros waved his short, broad hand, saying: