1899
CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA
by George Bernard Shaw
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
Prologue
[IN the doorway of the temple of Ra in Memphis. Deep gloom. An
august personage with a hawk's head is mysteriously visible by
his own light in the darkness within the temple. He surveys the
modern audience with great contempt; and finally speaks
the following words to them.]
Peace! Be silent and hearken unto me, ye quaint little islanders.
Give ear, ye men with white paper on your breasts and nothing
written thereon [to signify the innocence of your minds]. Hear me,
ye women who adorn yourselves alluringly and conceal your thoughts
from your men, leading them to believe that ye deem them wondrous
strong and masterful whilst in truth ye hold them in your hearts as
children without judgment. Look upon my hawk's head; and know that I
am Ra, who was once in Egypt a mighty god. Ye cannot kneel nor
prostrate yourselves; for ye are packed, in rows without freedom to
move, obstructing one another's vision; neither do any of ye regard it
as seemly to do ought until ye see all the rest do so too; wherefore
it commonly happens that in great emergencies ye do nothing though
each telleth his fellow that something must be done. I ask you not for
worship, but for silence. Let not your men speak nor your women cough;
for I am come to draw you back two thousand years over the graves of
sixty generations. Ye poor posterity, think not that ye are the first.
Other fools before ye have seen the sun rise and set, and the moon
change her shape and her hour. As they were so ye are; and yet not
so great; for the pyramids my people built stand to this day; whilst
the dust heaps on which ye slave, and which ye call empires, scatter
in the wind even as ye pile your dead sons' bodies on them to make yet
more dust.
Hearken to me then, oh ye: compulsorily educated ones. Know that
even as there is an old England and a new, and ye stand perplexed
between the twain; so in the days when I was worshipped was there an
old Rome and a new, and men standing perplexed between them. And the
old Rome was poor and little, and greedy and fierce, and evil in
many ways; but because its mind was little and its work was simple, it
knew its own mind and did its own work; and the gods pitied it and
helped it and strengthened it and shielded it; for the gods are
patient with littleness. Then the old Rome, like the beggar on
horseback, presumed on the favor of the gods, and said, "Lo! there
is neither riches nor greatness in our littleness: the road to
riches and greatness is through robbery of the poor and slaughter of
the weak." So they robbed their own poor until they became great
masters of that art, and knew by what laws it could be made to
appear seemly and honest. And when they had squeezed their own poor
dry, they robbed the poor of other lands, and added those lands to
Rome until there came a new Rome, rich and huge. And I, Ra, laughed;
for the minds of the Romans remained the same size whilst their
dominion spread over the earth.
Now mark me, that ye may understand what ye are presently to see.
Whilst the Romans still stood between the old Rome and the new,
there arose among them a mighty soldier: Pompey the Great. And the way
of the soldier is the way of death; but the way of the gods is the way
of life; and so it comes that a god at the end of his way is wise
and a soldier at the end of his way is a fool. So Pompey held by the
old Rome, in which only soldiers could become great; but the gods
turned to the new Rome, in which any man with wit enough could
become what he would. And Pompey's friend Julius Caesar was on the
side of the gods; for he saw that Rome had passed beyond the control
of the little old Romans. This Caesar was a great talker and a
politician: he bought men with words and with gold, even as ye are
bought. And when they would not be satisfied with words and gold,
and demanded also the glories of war, Caesar in his middle age
turned his hand to that trade; and they that were against him when
he sought their welfare, bowed down before him when he became a slayer
and a conqueror; for such is the nature of you mortals. And as for
Pompey, the gods grew tired of his triumphs and his airs of being
himself a god; for he talked of law and duty and other matters that
concerned not a mere human worm. And the gods smiled on Caesar; for he
lived the life they had given him boldly, and was not forever rebuking
us for our indecent ways of creation, and hiding our handiwork as a
shameful thing. Ye know well what I mean; for this is one of your
own sins.
And thus it fell out between the old Rome and the new, that Caesar
said, "Unless I break the law of old Rome, I cannot take my share in
ruling her; and the gift of ruling that the gods gave me will perish
without fruit." But Pompey said, "The law is above all; and if thou
break it thou shalt die." Then said Caesar, "I will break it: kill
me who can." And he broke it. And Pompey went for him, as ye say, with
a great army to slay him and uphold the old Rome. So Caesar fled
across the Adriatic sea; for the high gods had a lesson to teach
him, which lesson they shall also teach you in due time if ye continue
to forget them and to worship that cad among gods, Mammon. Therefore
before they raised Caesar to be master of the world, they were
minded to throw him down into the dust, even beneath the feet of
Pompey, and blacken his face before the nations. And Pompey they
raised higher than ever, he and his laws and his high mind that aped
the gods, so that his fall might be the more terrible. And Pompey
followed Caesar, and overcame him with all the majesty of old Rome,
and stood over him and over the whole world even as ye stand over it
with your fleet that covers thirty miles of the sea. And when Caesar
was brought down to utter nothingness, he made a last stand to die
honorably, and did not despair; for he said, "Against me there is
Pompey, and the old Rome, and the law and the legions: all all against
me; but high above these are the gods; and Pompey is a fool." And
the gods laughed and approved; and on the field of Pharsalia the
impossible came to pass; the blood and iron ye pin your faith on
fell before the spirit of man; for the spirit of man is the will of
the gods; and Pompey's power crumbled in his hand, even as the power
of imperial Spain crumbled when it was set against your fathers in the
days when England was little, and knew her own mind, and had a mind to
know instead of a circulation of newspapers. Wherefore look to it,
lest some little people whom ye would enslave rise up and become in
the hand of God the scourge of your boastings and your injustices
and your lusts and stupidities.
And now, would ye know the end of Pompey, or will ye sleep while a
god speaks? Heed my words well; for Pompey went where ye have gone,
even to Egypt, where there was a Roman occupation even as there was
but now a British one. And Caesar pursued Pompey to Egypt; a Roman
fleeing, and a Roman pursuing: dog eating dog. And the Egyptians said,
"Lo: these Romans which have lent money to our kings and levied a
distraint upon us with their arms, call for ever upon us to be loyal
to them by betraying our own country to them. But now behold two
Romes! Pompey's Rome and Caesar's Rome! To which of the twain shall we
pretend to be loyal?" So they turned in their perplexity to a
soldier that had once served Pompey, and that knew the ways of Rome
and was full of her lusts. And they said to him, "Lo: in thy country
dog eats dog; and both dogs are coming to eat us: what counsel hast
thou to give us?" And this soldier, whose name was Lucius Septimius,
and whom ye shall presently see before ye, replied, "Ye shall
diligently consider which is the bigger dog of the two; and ye shall
kill the other dog for his sake and thereby earn his favor." And the
Egyptians said, "Thy counsel is expedient; but if we kill a man
outside the law we set ourselves in the place of the gods; and this we
dare not do. But thou, being a Roman, art accustomed to this kind of
killing; for thou hast imperial instincts. Wilt thou therefore kill
the lesser dog for us?" And he said, "I will; for I have made my
home in Egypt; and I desire consideration and influence among you."
And they said, "We knew well thou wouldst not do it for nothing:
thou shalt have thy reward." Now when Pompey came, he came alone in
a little galley, putting his trust in the law and the constitution.
And it was plain to the people of Egypt that Pompey was now but a very
small dog. So when he set his foot on the shore he was greeted by
his old comrade Lucius Septimius, who welcomed him with one hand and
with the other smote off his head, and kept it as it were a pickled
cabbage to make a present to Caesar. And mankind shuddered; but the
gods laughed; for Septimius was but a knife that Pompey had sharpened;
and when it turned against his own throat they said that Pompey had
better have made Septimius a ploughman than so brave and readyhanded a
slayer. Therefore again I bid you beware, ye who would all be
Pompeys if ye dared; for war is a wolf that may come to your own door.
Are ye impatient with me? Do ye crave for a story of an unchaste
woman? Hath the name of Cleopatra tempted ye hither? Ye foolish
ones; Cleopatra is as yet but a child that is whipped by her nurse.
And what I am about to shew you for the good of your souls is how
Caesar, seeking Pompey in Egypt, found Cleopatra; and how he
received that present of a pickled cabbage that was once the head of
Pompey; and what things happened between the old Caesar and the
child queen before he left Egypt and battled his way back to Rome to
be slain there as Pompey was slain, by men in whom the spirit of
Pompey still lived. All this ye shall see; and ye shall marvel,
after your ignorant manner, that men twenty centuries ago were already
just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no worse
and no better, no wiser and no sillier. And the two thousand years
that have past are to me, the god Ra, but a moment; nor is this day
any other than the day in which Caesar set foot in the land of my
people. And now I leave you; for ye are a dull folk, and instruction
is wasted on you; and I had not spoken so much but that it is in the
nature of a god to struggle for ever with the dust and the darkness,
and to drag from them, by the force of his longing for the divine,
more life and more light. Settle ye therefore in your seats and keep
silent; for ye are about to hear a man speak, and a great man he
was, as ye count greatness. And fear not that I shall speak to you
again: the rest of the story must ye learn from them that lived it.
Farewell; and do not presume to applaud me. [The temple vanishes in
utter darkness].
An Alternative to the Prologue
[AN October night on the Syrian border of Egypt towards the end of
the XXXIII Dynasty, in the year 706 by Roman computation,
afterwards reckoned by Christian computation as 48 B.C. A great
radiance of silver fire, the dawn of a moonlit night, is rising
in the east. The stars and the cloudless sky are our own
contemporaries, nineteen and a half centuries younger than we
know them; but you would not guess that from their appearance.
Below them are two notable drawbacks of civilization: a palace,
and soldiers. The palace, an old, low, Syrian building of
whitened mud, is not so ugly as Buckingham Palace; and the
officers in the courtyard are more highly civilized than modern
English officers: for example, they do not dig up the corpses of
their dead enemies and mutilate them, as we dug up Cromwell and
the Mahdi. They are in two groups: one intent on the gambling of
their captain Belzanor, a warrior of fifty, who, with his spear
on the ground beside his knee, is stooping to throw dice with a
sly-looking young Persian recruit; the other gathered about a
guardsman who has just finished telling a naughty story [still
current in English barracks] at which they are laughing
uproariously. They are about a dozen in number, all highly
aristocratic young Egyptian guardsmen, handsomely equipped with
weapons and armor, very unEnglish in point of not being ashamed
of and uncomfortable in their professional dress; on the
contrary, rather ostentatiously and arrogantly warlike, as
valuing themselves on their military caste.
Belzanor is a typical veteran, tough and wilful; prompt, capable
and crafty where brute force will serve; helpless and boyish
when it will not: an effective sergeant, an incompetent general,
a deplorable dictator. Would, if influentially connected, be
employed in the two last capacities by a modern European State
on the strength of his success in the first. Is rather to be
pitied just now in view of the fact that Julius Caesar is
invading his country. Not knowing this, is intent on his game
with the Persian, whom, as a foreigner, he considers quite
capable of cheating him.
His subalterns are mostly handsome young fellows whose interest in
the game and the story symbolize with tolerable completeness the
main interests in life of which they are conscious. Their spears
are leaning against the walls, or lying on the ground ready to
their hands. The corner of the courtyard forms a triangle of
which one side is the front of the palace, with a doorway, the
other a wall with a gateway. The storytellers are on the palace
side: the gamblers, on the gateway side. Close to the gateway,
against the wall, is a stone block high enough to enable a
Nubian sentinel, standing on it, to look over the wall. The yard
is lighted by a torch stuck in the wall. As the laughter from
the group round the storyteller dies away, the kneeling Persian,
winning the throw, snatches up the stake from the ground.]
BELZANOR. By Apis, Persian, thy gods are good to thee.
THE PERSIAN. Try yet again, O captain. Double or quits!
BELZANOR. No more. I am not in the vein.
THE SENTINEL [poising his javelin as he peers over the wall]
Stand. Who goes there?
[They all start, listening. A strange voice replies from without.]
VOICE. The bearer of evil tidings.
BELZANOR [calling to the sentry] Pass him.
THE SENTINEL [grounding his javelin] Draw near, O bearer of evil
tidings.
BELZANOR [pocketing the dice and picking up his spear] Let us
receive this man with honor. He bears evil tidings.
[The guardsmen seize their spears and gather about the gate,
leaving a way through for the new comer.]
PERSIAN [rising from his knee] Are evil tidings, then, so honorable?
BELZANOR. O barbarous Persian, hear my instruction. In Egypt the
bearer of good tidings is sacrificed to the gods as a thank
offering; but no god will accept the blood of the messenger of evil.
When we have good tidings, we are careful to send them in the mouth of
the cheapest slave we can find. Evil tidings are borne by young
noblemen who desire to bring themselves into notice. [They join the
rest at the gate].
THE SENTINEL. Pass, O young captain; and bow the head in the House
of the Queen.
VOICE. Go anoint thy javelin with fat of swine, O Blackamoor; for
before morning the Romans will make thee eat it to the very butt.
[The owner of the voice, a fairhaired dandy, dressed in a
different fashion from that affected by the guardsmen, but no
less extravagantly, comes through the gateway laughing. He is
somewhat battlestained; and his left forearm, bandaged, comes
through a torn sleeve. In his right hand he carries a Roman
sword in its sheath. He swaggers down the courtyard, the Persian
on his right, Belzanor on his left, and the guardsmen crowding
down behind him.]
BELZANOR. Who are thou that laughest in the House of Cleopatra the
Queen, and in the teeth of Belzanor, the captain of her guard?
THE NEW COMER. I am Bel Affris, descended from the gods.
BELZANOR [ceremoniously] Hail, cousin!
ALL [except the Persian] Hail, cousin!
PERSIAN. All the Queen's guards are descended from the gods, O
stranger, save myself. I am Persian, and descended from many kings.
BEL AFFRIS [to the guardsmen] Hail, cousins! [To the Persian,
condescendingly] Hail, mortal!
BELZANOR. You have been in battle, Bel Affris; and you are a soldier
among soldiers. You will not let the Queen's women have the first of
your tidings.
BEL AFFRIS. I have no tidings, except that we shall have our throats
cut presently, women, soldiers, and all.
PERSIAN [to Belzanor] I told you so.
THE SENTINEL [who has been listening] Woe, alas!
BEL AFFRIS [calling to him] Peace, peace, poor Ethiop: destiny is
with the gods who painted thee black. [To Belzanor] What has this
mortal [indicating the Persian] told you?
BELZANOR. He says that the Roman Julius Caesar, who has landed on
our shores with a handful of followers, will make himself master of
Egypt. He is afraid of the Roman soldiers. [The guardsmen laugh with
boisterous scorn]. Peasants, brought up to scare crows and follow
the plough! Sons of smiths and millers and tanners! And we nobles,
consecrated to arms, descended from the gods!
PERSIAN. Belzanor: the gods are not always good to their poor
relations.
BELZANOR [hotly, to the Persian] Man to man, are we worse than the
slaves of Caesar?
BEL AFFRIS [stepping between them] Listen, cousin. Man to man, we
Egyptians are as gods above the Romans.
THE GUARDSMEN [exultantly] Aha!
BEL AFFRIS. But this Caesar does not pit man against man: he
throws a legion at you where you are weakest as he throws a stone from
a catapult; and that legion is as a man with one head, a thousand
arms, and no religion. I have fought against them; and I know.
BELZANOR [derisively] Were you frightened, cousin?
[The guardsmen roar with laughter, their eyes sparkling at the wit
of their captain.]
BEL AFFRIS. No, cousin; but I was beaten. They were frightened
[perhaps]; but they scattered us like chaff.
[The guardsmen, much damped, utter a growl of contemptuous
disgust.]
BELZANOR. Could you not die?
BEL AFFRIS. No: that was too easy to be worthy of a descendant of
the gods. Besides, there was no time: all was over in a moment. The
attack came just where we least expected it.
BELZANOR. That shews that the Romans are cowards.
BEL AFFRIS. They care nothing about cowardice, these Romans: they
fight to win. The pride and honor of war are nothing to them.
PERSIAN. Tell us the tale of the battle. What befell?
THE GUARDSMEN [gathering eagerly round Bel Affris] Ay: the tale of
the battle.
BEL AFFRIS. Know then, that I am a novice in the guard of the temple
of Ra in Memphis, serving neither Cleopatra nor her brother Ptolemy,
but only the high gods. We went a journey to inquire of Ptolemy why he
had driven Cleopatra into Syria, and how we of Egypt should deal
with the Roman Pompey, newly come to our shores after his defeat by
Caesar at Pharsalia. What, think ye, did we learn? Even that Caesar is
coming also in hot pursuit of his foe, and that Ptolemy has slain
Pompey, whose severed head he holds in readiness to present to the
conqueror. [Sensation among the guardsmen]. Nay, more: we found that
Caesar is already come; for we had not made half a day's journey on
our way back when we came upon a city rabble flying from his
legions, whose landing they had gone out to withstand.
BELZANOR. And ye, the temple guard! did ye not withstand these
legions?
BEL AFFRIS. What man could, that we did. But there came the sound of
a trumpet whose voice was as the cursing of a black mountain. Then saw
we a moving wall of shields coming towards us. You know how the
heart burns when you charge a fortified wall; but how if the fortified
wall were to charge you?
THE PERSIAN [exulting in having told them so] Did I not say it?
BEL AFFRIS. When the wall came nigh, it changed into a line of
men- common fellows enough, with helmets, leather tunics, and
breastplates. Every man of them flung his javelin: the one that came
my way drove through my shield as through a papyrus- lo there! [he
points to the bandage on his left arm] and would have gone through
my neck had I not stooped. They were charging at the double then,
and were upon us with short swords almost as soon as their javelins.
When a man is close to you with such a sword, you can do nothing
with our weapons: they are all too long.
THE PERSIAN. What did you do?
BEL AFFRIS. Doubled my fist and smote my Roman on the sharpness of
his jaw. He was but mortal after all: he lay down in a stupor; and I
took his sword and laid it on. [Drawing the sword] Lo! a Roman sword
with Roman blood on it!
THE GUARDSMEN [approvingly] Good! [They take the sword and hand it
round, examining it curiously].
THE PERSIAN. And your men?
BEL AFFRIS. Fled. Scattered like sheep.
BELZANOR [furiously] The cowardly slaves! Leaving the descendants of
the gods to be butchered!
BEL AFFRIS [with acid coolness] The descendants of the gods did
not stay to be butchered, cousin. The battle was not to the strong;
but the race was to the swift. The Romans, who have no chariots,
sent a cloud of horsemen in pursuit, and slew multitudes. Then our
high priest's captain rallied a dozen descendants of the gods and
exhorted us to die fighting. I said to myself: surely it is safer to
stand than to lose my breath and be stabbed in the back; so I joined
our captain and stood. Then the Romans treated us with respect; for no
man attacks a lion when the field is full of sheep, except for the
pride and honor of war, of which these Romans know nothing. So we
escaped with our lives; and I am come to warn you that you must open
your gates to Caesar; for his advance guard is scarce an hour behind
me; and not an Egyptian warrior is left standing between you and his
legions.
THE SENTINEL. Woe, alas! [He throws down his javelin and flies
into the palace].
BELZANOR. Nail him to the door, quick! [The guardsmen rush for him
with their spears; but he is too quick for them]. Now this news will
run through the palace like fire through stubble.
BEL AFFRIS. What shall we do to save the women from the Romans?
BELZANOR. Why not kill them?
PERSIAN. Because we should have to pay blood money for some of them.
Better let the Romans kill them: it is cheaper.
BELZANOR [awestruck at his brain power] O subtle one! O serpent!
BEL AFFRIS. But your Queen?
BELZANOR. True: we must carry off Cleopatra.
BEL AFFRIS. Will ye not await her command?
BELZANOR. Command! a girl of sixteen! Not we. At Memphis ye deem her
a Queen: here we know better. I will take her on the crupper of my
horse. When we soldiers have carried her out of Caesar's reach, then
the priests and the nurses and the rest of them can pretend she is a
queen again, and put their commands into her mouth.
PERSIAN. Listen to me, Belzanor.
BELZANOR. Speak, O subtle beyond thy years.
THE PERSIAN. Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy is at war with her. Let
us sell her to him.
THE GUARDSMEN. O subtle one! O serpent!
BELZANOR. We dare not. We are descended from the gods; but Cleopatra
is descended from the river Nile; and the lands of our fathers will
grow no grain if the Nile rises not to water them. Without our
father's gifts we should live the lives of dogs.
PERSIAN. It is true: the Queen's guard cannot live on its pay. But
hear me further, O ye kinsmen of Osiris.
THE GUARDSMEN. Speak, O subtle one. Hear the serpent begotten!
PERSIAN. Have I heretofore spoken truly to you of Caesar, when you
thought I mocked you?
GUARDSMEN. Truly, truly.
BELZANOR [reluctantly admitting it] So Bel Affris says.
PERSIAN. Hear more of him, then. This Caesar is a great lover of
women: he makes them his friends and counsellors.
BELZANOR. Faugh! This rule of women will be the ruin of Egypt!
THE PERSIAN. Let it rather be the ruin of Rome! Caesar grows old
now: he is past fifty and full of labors and battles. He is too old
for the young women; and the old women are too wise to worship him.
BEL AFFRIS. Take heed, Persian. Caesar is by this time almost within
earshot.
PERSIAN. Cleopatra is not yet a woman: neither is she wise. But
she already troubles men's wisdom.
BELZANOR. Ay: that is because she is descended from the river Nile
and a black kitten of the sacred White Cat. What then?
PERSIAN. Why, sell her secretly to Ptolemy, and then offer ourselves
to Caesar as volunteers to fight for the overthrow of her brother
and the rescue of our Queen, the Great Granddaughter of the Nile.
THE GUARDSMEN. O serpent!
PERSIAN. He will listen to us if we come with her picture in our
mouths. He will conquer and kill her brother, and reign in Egypt
with Cleopatra for his Queen. And we shall be her guard.
GUARDSMEN. O subtlest of all the serpents! O admiration! O wisdom!
BEL AFFRIS. He will also have arrived before you have done
talking, O word spinner.
BELZANOR. That is true. [An affrighted uproar in the palace
interrupts him]. Quick: the flight has begun: guard the door. [They
rush to the door and form a cordon before it with their spears. A
mob of women-servants and nurses surges out. Those in front recoil
from the spears, screaming to those behind to keep back. Belzanor's
voice dominates the disturbance as he shouts] Back there. In again,
unprofitable cattle.
THE GUARDSMEN. Back, unprofitable cattle.
BELZANOR. Send us out Ftatateeta, the Queen's chief nurse.
THE WOMEN [calling into the palace] Ftatateeta, Ftatateeta. Come,
come. Speak to Belzanor.
A WOMAN. Oh, keep back. You are thrusting me on the spearheads.
[A huge grim woman, her face covered with a network of tiny
wrinkles, and her eyes old, large, and wise; sinewy handed, very
tall, very strong; with the mouth of a bloodhound and the jaws
of a bulldog, appears on the threshold. She is dressed like a
person of consequence in the palace, and confronts the guardsmen
insolently.]
FTATATEETA. Make way for the Queen's chief nurse.
BELZANOR [with solemn arrogance] Ftatateeta: I am Belzanor, the
captain of the Queen's guard, descended from the gods.
FTATATEETA [retorting his arrogance with interest] Belzanor: I am
Ftatateeta, the Queen's chief nurse; and your divine ancestors were
proud to be painted on the wall in the pyramids of the kings whom my
fathers served.
[The women laugh triumphantly.]
BELZANOR [with grim humor] Ftatateeta: daughter of a long-tongued,
swivel-eyed chameleon, the Romans are at hand. [A cry of terror from
the women: they would fly but for the spears]. Not even the
descendants of the gods can resist them; for they have each man
seven arms, each carrying seven spears. The blood in their veins is
boiling quicksilver; and their wives become mothers in three hours,
and are slain and eaten the next day.
[A shudder of horror from the women. Ftatateeta, despising them
and scorning the soldiers, pushes her way through the crowd and
confronts the spear points undismayed.]
FTATATEETA. Then fly and save yourselves, O cowardly sons of the
cheap clay gods that are sold to fish porters; and leave us to shift
for ourselves.
BELZANOR. Not until you have first done our bidding, O terror of
manhood. Bring out Cleopatra the Queen to us; and then go whither
you will.
FTATATEETA [with a derisive laugh] Now I know why the gods have
taken her out of our hands. [The guardsmen start and look at one
another]. Know, thou foolish soldier, that the Queen has been
missing since an hour past sundown.
BELZANOR [furiously] Hag: you have hidden her to sell to Caesar or
her brother. [He grasps her by the left wrist, and drags her, helped
by a few of the guard, to the middle of the courtyard, where, as
they fling her on her knees, he draws a murderous looking knife].
Where is she? Where is she? or- [he threatens to cut her throat].
FTATATEETA [savagely] Touch me, dog; and the Nile will not rise on
your fields for seven times seven years of famine.
BELZANOR [frightened, but desperate] I will sacrifice: I will pay.
Or stay. [To the Persian] You, O subtle one: your father's lands lie
far from the Nile. Slay her.
PERSIAN [threatening her with his knife] Persia has but one god; yet
he loves the blood of old women. Where is Cleopatra?
FTATATEETA. Persian: as Osiris lives, I do not know. I chid her
for bringing evil days upon us by talking to the sacred cats of the
priests, and carrying them in her arms. I told her she would be left
alone here when the Romans came as a punishment for her
disobedience. And now she is gone- run away- hidden. I speak the
truth. I call Osiris to witness-
THE WOMEN [protesting officiously] She speaks the truth, Belzanor.
BELZANOR. You have frightened the child: she is hiding. Search-
quick- into the palace search every corner.
[The guards, led by Belzanor, shoulder their way into the palace
through the flying crowd of women, who escape through the
courtyard gate.]
FTATATEETA [screaming] Sacrilege! Men in the Queen's chambers! Sa-
[her voice dies away as the Persian puts his knife to her throat].
BEL AFFRIS [laying a hand on Ftatateeta's left shoulder] Forbear her
yet a moment, Persian. [To Ftatateeta, very significantly] Mother:
your gods are asleep or away hunting; and the sword is at your throat.
Bring us to where the Queen is hid, and you shall live.
FTATATEETA [contemptuously] Who shall stay the sword in the hand
of a fool, if the high gods put it there? Listen to me, ye young men
without understanding. Cleopatra fears me; but she fears the Romans
more. There is but one power greater in her eyes than the wrath of the
Queen's nurse and the cruelty of Caesar; and that is the power of
the Sphinx that sits in the desert watching the way to the sea. What
she would have it know, she tells into the ears of the sacred cats;
and on her birthday she sacrifices to it and decks it with poppies. Go
ye therefore into the desert and seek Cleopatra in the shadow of the
Sphinx; and on your heads see to it that no harm comes to her.
BEL AFFRIS [to the Persian] May we believe this, O subtle one?
PERSIAN. Which way come the Romans?
BEL AFFRIS. Over the desert, from the sea, by this very Sphinx.
PERSIAN [to Ftatateeta] O mother of guile! O aspic's tongue! You
have made up this tale so that we two may go into the desert and
perish on the spears of the Romans. [Lifting his knife] Taste death.
FTATATEETA. Not from thee, baby. [She snatches his ankle from
under him and flies stooping along the palace wall, vanishing in the
darkness within its precinct. Bel Affris roars with laughter as the
Persian tumbles. The guardsmen rush out of the palace with Belzanor
and a mob of fugitives, mostly carrying bundles].
PERSIAN. Have you found Cleopatra?
BELZANOR. She is gone. We have searched every corner.
THE NUBIAN SENTINEL [appearing at the door of the palace] Woe! Alas!
Fly, fly!
BELZANOR. What is the matter now?
THE NUBIAN SENTINEL. The sacred white cat has been stolen.
ALL. Woe! woe! [General panic. They all fly with cries of
consternation. The torch is thrown down and extinguished in the
rush. The noise of the fugitives dies away. Darkness and dead
silence].
ACT I
[THE same darkness into which the temple of Ra and the Syrian
palace vanished. The same silence. Suspense. Then the blackness
and stillness break softly into silver mist and strange airs as
the windswept harp of Memnon plays at the dawning of the moon.
It rises full over the desert; and a vast horizon comes into
relief, broken by a huge shape which soon reveals itself in the
spreading radiance as a Sphinx pedestalled on the sands. The
light still clears, until the upraised eyes of the image are
distinguished looking straight forward and upward in infinite
fearless vigil, and a mass of color between its great paws
defines itself as a heap of red poppies on which a girl lies
motionless, her silken vest heaving gently and regularly with
the breathing of a dreamless sleeper, and her braided hair
glittering in a shaft of moonlight like a bird's wing.
Suddenly there comes from afar a vaguely fearful sound (it might
be the bellow of a Minotaur softened by great distance) and
Memnon's music stops. Silence: then a few faint high-ringing
trumpet notes. Then silence again. Then a man comes from the
south with stealing steps, ravished by the mystery of the night,
all wonder, and halts, lost in contemplation, opposite the left
flank of the Sphinx, whose bosom, with its burden, is hidden
from him by its massive shoulder.]
THE MAN. Hail, Sphinx: salutation from Julius Caesar! I have
wandered in many lands, seeking the lost regions from which my birth
into this world exiled me, and the company of creatures such as I
myself. I have found flocks and pastures, men and cities, but no other
Caesar, no air native to me, no man kindred to me, none who can do
my day's deed, and think my night's thought. In the little world
yonder, Sphinx, my place is as high as yours in this great desert;
only I wander, and you sit still; I conquer, and you endure; I work
and wonder, you watch and wait; I look up and am dazzled, look down
and am darkened, look round and am puzzled, whilst your eyes never
turn from looking out- out of the world- to the lost region- the
home from which we have strayed. Sphinx, you and I, strangers to the
race of men, are no strangers to one another: have I not been
conscious of you and of this place since I was born? Rome is a
madman's dream: this is my Reality. These starry lamps of yours I have
seen from afar in Gaul, in Britain, in Spain, in Thessaly,
signalling great secrets to some eternal sentinel below, whose post
I never could find. And here at last is their sentinel- an image of
the constant and immortal part of my life, silent, full of thoughts,
alone in the silver desert. Sphinx, Sphinx: I have climbed mountains
at night to hear in the distance the stealthy footfall of the winds
that chase your sands in forbidden play- our invisible children, O
Sphinx, laughing in whispers. My way hither was the way of destiny;
for I am he of whose genius you are the symbol: part brute, part
woman, and part god- nothing of man in me at all. Have I read your
riddle, Sphinx?
THE GIRL [who has wakened, and peeped cautiously from her nest to
see who is speaking] Old gentleman.
CAESAR [starting violently, and clutching his sword] Immortal gods!
THE GIRL. Old gentleman: dont run away.
CAESAR [stupefied] "Old gentleman: dont run away"!!! This! to Julius
Caesar!
THE GIRL [urgently] Old gentleman.
CAESAR. Sphinx: you presume on your centuries. I am younger than
you, though your voice is but a girl's voice as yet.
THE GIRL. Climb up here, quickly; or the Romans will come and eat
you.
CAESAR [running forward past the Sphinx's shoulder, and seeing
her] A child at its breast! a divine child!
THE GIRL. Come up quickly. You must get up at its side and creep
round.
CAESAR [amazed] Who are you?
THE GIRL. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
CAESAR. Queen of the Gypsies, you mean.
CLEOPATRA. You must not be disrespectful to me, or the Sphinx will
let the Romans eat you. Come up. It is quite cosy here.
CAESAR [to himself] What a dream! What a magnificent dream! Only let
me not wake, and I will conquer ten continents to pay for dreaming
it out to the end. [He climbs to the Sphinx's flank, and presently
reappears to her on the pedestal, stepping round its right shoulder].
CLEOPATRA. Take care. That's right. Now sit down: you may have its
other paw. [She seats herself comfortably on its left paw]. It is very
powerful and will protect us; but [shivering, and with plaintive
loneliness] it would not take any notice of me or keep me company. I
am glad you have come: I was very lonely. Did you happen to see a
white cat anywhere?
CAESAR [sitting slowly down on the right paw in extreme
wonderment] Have you lost one?
CLEOPATRA. Yes: the sacred white cat: is it not dreadful? I
brought him here to sacrifice him to the Sphinx; but when we got a
little way from the city a black cat called him, and he jumped out
of my arms and ran away to it. Do you think that the black cat can
have been my great-great-great-grandmother?
CAESAR [staring at her] Your great-great-great-grandmother! Well,
why not? Nothing would surprise me on this night of nights.
CLEOPATRA. I think it must have been. My great-grandmother's
great-grandmother was a black kitten of the sacred white cat; and
the river Nile made her his seventh wife. That is why my hair is so
wavy. And I always want to be let do as I like, no matter whether it
is the will of the gods or not: that is because my blood is made
with Nile water.
CAESAR. What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you live
here?
CLEOPATRA. Of course not: I am the Queen; and I shall live in the
palace at Alexandria when I have killed my brother, who drove me out
of it. When I am old enough I shall do just what I like. I shall be
able to poison the slaves and see them wriggle, and pretend to
Ftatateeta that she is going to be put into the fiery furnace.
CAESAR. Hm! Meanwhile why are you not at home and in bed?
CLEOPATRA. Because the Romans are coming to eat us all. You are
not at home and in bed either.
CAESAR [with conviction] Yes I am. I live in a tent; and I am now in
that tent, fast asleep and dreaming. Do you suppose that I believe you
are real, you impossible little dream witch?
CLEOPATRA [giggling and leaning trustfully towards him] You are a
fun old gentleman. I like you.
CAESAR. Ah, that spoils the dream. Why dont you dream that I am
young?
CLEOPATRA. I wish you were; only I think I should be more afraid
of you. I like men, especially young men with round strong arms; but I
am afraid of them. You are old and rather thin and stringy; but you
have a nice voice; and I like to have somebody to talk to, though I
think you are a little mad. It is the moon that makes you talk to
yourself in that silly way.
CAESAR. What! you heard that, did you? I was saying my prayers to
the great Sphinx.
CLEOPATRA. But this isnt the great Sphinx.
CAESAR [much disappointed, looking up at the statue] What!
CLEOPATRA. This is only a dear little kitten of a Sphinx. Why, the
great Sphinx is so big that it has a temple between its paws. This
is my pet Sphinx. Tell me: do you think the Romans have any
sorcerers who could take us away from the Sphinx by magic?
CAESAR. Why? Are you afraid of the Romans?
CLEOPATRA [very seriously] Oh, they would eat us if they caught
us. They are barbarians. Their chief is called Julius Caesar. His
father was a tiger and his mother a burning mountain; and his nose
is like an elephant's trunk. [Caesar involuntarily rubs his nose].
They all have long noses, and ivory tusks, and little tails, and seven
arms with a hundred arrows in each; and they live on human flesh.
CAESAR. Would you like me to shew you a real Roman?
CLEOPATRA [terrified] No. You are frightening me.
CAESAR. No matter: this is only a dream-
CLEOPATRA [excitedly] It is not a dream: it is not a dream. See,
see. [She plucks a pin from her hair and jabs it repeatedly into his
arm].
CAESAR. Ffff- Stop. [Wrathfully] How dare you?
CLEOPATRA [abashed] You said you were dreaming. [Whimpering] I
only wanted to shew you-
CAESAR [gently] Come, come: dont cry. A queen mustnt cry. [He rubs
his arm, wondering at the reality of the smart]. Am I awake? [He
strikes his hand against the Sphinx to test its solidity. It feels
so real that he begins to be alarmed, and says perplexedly] Yes, I-
[quite panicstricken] no: impossible: madness, madness!
[Desperately] Back to camp- to camp. [He rises to spring down from the
pedestal].
CLEOPATRA [flinging her arms in terror round him] No: you shant
leave me. No, no, no: dont go. I'm afraid- afraid of the Romans.
CAESAR [as the conviction that he is really awake forces itself on
him] Cleopatra: can you see my face well?
CLEOPATRA. Yes. It is so white in the moonlight.
CAESAR. Are you sure it is the moonlight that makes me look whiter
than an Egyptian? [Grimly] Do you notice that I have a rather long
nose?
CLEOPATRA [recoiling, paralysed by a terrible suspicion] Oh!
CAESAR. It is a Roman nose, Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA. Ah! [With a piercing scream she springs up; darts round
the left shoulder of the Sphinx; scrambles down to the sand; and falls
on her knees in frantic supplication, shrieking] Bite him in two,
Sphinx: bite him in two. I meant to sacrifice the white cat- I did
indeed- I [Caesar, who has slipped down from the pedestal, touches her
on the shoulder] Ah! [She buries her head in her arms].
CAESAR. Cleopatra: shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from
eating you?
CLEOPATRA [clinging to him piteously] Oh do, do, do. I will steal
Ftatateeta's jewels and give them to you. I will make the river Nile
water your lands twice a year.
CAESAR. Peace, peace, my child. Your gods are afraid of the
Romans: you see the Sphinx dare not bite me, nor prevent me carrying
you off to Julius Caesar.
CLEOPATRA [in pleading murmurings] You wont, you wont. You said
you wouldnt.
CAESAR. Caesar never eats women.
CLEOPATRA [springing up full of hope] What!
CAESAR [impressively] But he eats girls [she relapses] and cats. Now
you are a silly little girl; and you are descended from the black
kitten. You are both a girl and a cat.
CLEOPATRA [trembling] And will he eat me?
CAESAR. Yes; unless you make him believe that you are a woman.
CLEOPATRA. Oh, you must get a sorcerer to make a woman of me. Are
you a sorcerer?
CAESAR. Perhaps. But it will take a long time; and this very night
you must stand face to face with Caesar in the palace of your fathers.
CLEOPATRA. No, no. I darent.
CAESAR. Whatever dread may be in your soul- however terrible
Caesar may be to you- you must confront him as a brave woman and a
great queen; and you must feel no fear. If your hand shakes: if your
voice quavers; then- night and death! [She moans.] But if he thinks
you worthy to rule, he will set you on the throne by his side and make
you the real ruler of Egypt.
CLEOPATRA [despairingly] No: he will find me out: he will find me
out.
CAESAR [rather mournfully] He is easily deceived by women. Their
eyes dazzle him; and he sees them not as they are, but as he wishes
them to appear to him.
CLEOPATRA [hopefully] Then we will cheat him. I will put on
Ftatateeta's head-dress; and he will think me quite an old woman.
CAESAR. If you do that he will eat you at one mouthful.
CLEOPATRA. But I will give him a cake with my magic opal and seven
hairs of the white cat baked in it; and-
CAESAR [abruptly] Pah! you are a little fool. He will eat your
cake and you too. [He turns contemptuously from her].
CLEOPATRA [running after him and clinging to him] Oh please, please!
I will do whatever you tell me. I will be good. I will be your
slave. [Again the terrible bellowing note sounds across the desert,
now closer at hand. It is the bucina, the Roman war trumpet].
CLEOPATRA [trembling] What was that?
CAESAR. Caesar's voice.
CLEOPATRA [pulling at his hand] Let us run away. Come. Oh, come.
CAESAR. You are safe with me until you stand on your throne to
receive Caesar. Now lead me thither.
CLEOPATRA [only too glad to get away] I will, I will. [Again the
bucina]. Oh come, come, come: the gods are angry. Do you feel the
earth shaking?
CAESAR. It is the tread of Caesar's legions.
CLEOPATRA [drawing him away] This way, quickly. And let us look
for the white cat as we go. It is he that has turned you into a Roman.
CAESAR. Incorrigible, oh, incorrigible! Away! [He follows her, the
bucina sounding louder as they steal across the desert. The
moonlight wanes: the horizon again shows black against the sky, broken
only by the fantastic silhouette of the Sphinx. The sky itself
vanishes in darkness, from which there is no relief until the gleam of
a distant torch falls on great Egyptian pillars supporting the roof of
a majestic corridor. At the further end of this corridor a Nubian
slave appears carrying the torch. Caesar, still led by Cleopatra,
follows him. They come down the corridor, Caesar peering keenly
about at the strange architecture, and at the pillar shadows between
which, as the passing torch makes them hurry noiselessly backwards,
figures of men with wings and hawks' heads, and vast black marble
cats, seem to flit in and out of ambush. Further along, the wall turns
a corner and makes a spacious transept in which Caesar sees, on his
right, a throne, and behind the throne a door. On each side of the
throne is a slender pillar with a lamp on it.]
CAESAR. What place is this?
CLEOPATRA. This is where I sit on the throne when I am allowed to
wear my crown and robes. [The slave holds his torch to shew the
throne].
CAESAR. Order the slave to light the lamps.
CLEOPATRA [shyly] Do you think I may?
CAESAR. Of course. You are the Queen. [She hesitates]. Go on.
CLEOPATRA [timidly, to the slave] Light all the lamps.
FTATATEETA [suddenly coming from behind the throne] Stop. [The slave
stops. She turns sternly to Cleopatra, who quails like a naughty
child]. Who is this you have with you; and how dare you order the
lamps to be lighted without my permission? [Cleopatra is dumb with
apprehension].
CAESAR. Who is she?
CLEOPATRA. Ftatateeta.
FTATATEETA [arrogantly] Chief nurse to-
CAESAR [cutting her short] I speak to the Queen. Be silent. [To
Cleopatra] Is this how your servants know their places? Send her away;
and do you [to the slave] do as the Queen has bidden. [The slave
lights the lamps. Meanwhile Cleopatra stands hesitating, afraid of
Ftatateeta]. You are the Queen: send her away.
CLEOPATRA [cajoling] Ftatateeta, dear: you must go away- just for
a little.
CAESAR. You are not commanding her to go away: you are begging
her. You are no Queen. You will be eaten. Farewell. [He turns to go].
CLEOPATRA [Clutching him] No, no, no. Dont leave me.
CAESAR. A Roman does not stay with queens who are afraid of their
slaves.
CLEOPATRA. I am not afraid. Indeed I am not afraid.
FTATATEETA. We shall see who is afraid here. [Menacingly] Cleopatra-
CAESAR. On your knees, woman: am I also a child that you dare trifle
with me? [He points to the floor at Cleopatra's feet. Ftatateeta, half
cowed, half savage, hesitates. Caesar calls to the Nubian] Slave. [The
Nubian comes to him] Can you cut off a head? [The Nubian nods and
grins ecstatically, showing all his teeth. Caesar takes his sword by
the scabbard, ready to offer the hilt to the Nubian, and turns again
to Ftatateeta, repeating his gesture]. Have you remembered yourself,
mistress?
[Ftatateeta, crushed, kneels before Cleopatra, who can hardly
believe her eyes.]
FTATATEETA [hoarsely] O Queen, forget not thy servant in the days of
thy greatness.
CLEOPATRA [blazing with excitement] Go. Begone. Go away. [Ftatateeta
rises with stooped head, and moves backwards towards the door.
Cleopatra watches her submission eagerly, almost clapping her hands,
which are trembling. Suddenly she cries] Give me something to beat her
with. [She snatches a snake-skin from the throne and dashes after
Ftatateeta, whirling it like a scourge in the air. Caesar makes a
bound and manages to catch her and hold her while Ftatateeta escapes].
CAESAR. You scratch, kitten, do you?
CLEOPATRA [breaking from him] I will beat somebody. I will beat him.
[She attacks the slave]. There, there, there! [The slave flies for his
life up the corridor and vanishes. She throws the snake-skin away
and jumps on the step of the throne with her arms waving, crying] I am
a real Queen at last- a real, real Queen! Cleopatra the Queen! [Caesar
shakes his head dubiously, the advantage of the change seeming open to
question from the point of view of the general welfare of Egypt. She
turns and looks at him exultantly. Then she jumps down from the steps,
runs to him, and flings her arms round him rapturously, crying] Oh,
I love you for making me a Queen.
CAESAR. But queens love only kings.
CLEOPATRA. I will make all the men I love kings. I will make you a
king. I will have many young kings, with round, strong arms; and
when I am tired of them I will whip them to death; but you shall
always be my king: my nice, kind, wise, good old king.
CAESAR. Oh, my wrinkles, my wrinkles! And my child's heart! You will
be the most dangerous of all Caesar's conquests.
CLEOPATRA [appalled] Caesar! I forgot Caesar. [Anxiously] You will
tell him that I am a Queen, will you not?- a real Queen. Listen!
[stealthily coaxing him]: let us run away and hide until Caesar is
gone.
CAESAR. If you fear Caesar, you are no true queen; and though you
were to hide beneath a pyramid, he would go straight to it and lift it
with one hand. And then-! [he chops his teeth together].
CLEOPATRA [trembling] Oh!
CAESAR. Be afraid if you dare. [The note of the bucina resounds
again in the distance. She moans with fear. Caesar exults in it,
exclaiming] Aha! Caesar approaches the throne of Cleopatra. Come: take
your place. [He takes her hand and leads her to the throne. She is too
downcast to speak]. Ho, there, Teetatota. How do you call your slaves?
CLEOPATRA [spiritlessly, as she sinks on the throne and cowers
there, shaking]. Clap your hands.
[He claps his hands. Ftatateeta returns.]
CAESAR. Bring the Queen's robes, and her crown, and her women; and
prepare her.
CLEOPATRA [eagerly- recovering herself a little] Yes, the crown,
Ftatateeta: I shall wear the crown.
FTATATEETA. For whom must the Queen put on her state?
CAESAR. For a citizen of Rome. A king of kings, Totateeta.
CLEOPATRA [stamping at her] How dare you ask questions? Go and do as
you are told. [Ftatateeta goes out with a grim smile. Cleopatra goes
on eagerly, to Caesar] Caesar will know that I am a Queen when he sees
my crown and robes, will he not?
CAESAR. No. How shall he know that you are not a slave dressed up in
the Queen's ornaments?
CLEOPATRA. You must tell him.
CAESAR. He will not ask me. He will know Cleopatra by her pride, her
courage, her majesty, and her beauty. [She looks very doubtful] Are
you trembling?
CLEOPATRA [shivering with dread] No, I- I- [in a very sickly
voice] No.
[Ftatateeta and three women come in with the regalia.]
FTATATEETA. Of all the Queen's women, these three alone are left.
The rest are fled. [They begin to deck Cleopatra, who submits, pale
and motionless].
CAESAR. Good, good. Three are enough. Poor Caesar generally has to
dress himself.
FTATATEETA [contemptuously] The queen of Egypt is not a Roman
barbarian. [To Cleopatra] Be brave, my nursling. Hold up your head
before this stranger.
CAESAR [admiring Cleopatra, and placing the crown on her head] Is it
sweet or bitter to be a Queen, Cleopatra?
CLEOPATRA. Bitter.
CAESAR. Cast out fear; and you will conquer Caesar. Tota: are the
Romans at hand?
FTATATEETA. They are at hand; and the guard has fled.
THE WOMEN [wailing subduedly] Woe to us!
[The Nubian comes running down the hall.]
NUBIAN. The Romans are in the courtyard. [He bolts through the door.
With a shriek, the women fly after him. Ftatateeta's jaw expresses
savage resolution: she does not budge. Cleopatra can hardly restrain
herself from following them. Caesar grips her wrist, and looks
steadfastly at her. She stands like a martyr].
CAESAR. The Queen must face Caesar alone. Answer "So be it."
CLEOPATRA [white] So be it.
CAESAR [releasing her] Good.
[A tramp and tumult of armed men is heard. Cleopatra's terror
increases. The bucina sounds close at hand, followed by a
formidable clangor of trumpets. This is too much for Cleopatra:
she utters a cry and darts towards the door. Ftatateeta stops
her ruthlessly.]
FTATATEETA. You are my nursling. You have said "So be it"; and if
you die for it, you must make the Queen's word good. [She hands
Cleopatra to Caesar, who takes her back, almost beside herself with
apprehension, to the throne].
CAESAR. Now, if you quail-! [He seats himself on the throne].
[She stands on the step, all but unconscious, waiting for death.
The Roman soldiers troop in tumultuously through the corridor,
headed by their ensign with his eagle, and their bucinator, a
burly fellow with his instrument coiled round his body, its
brazen bell shaped like the head of a howling wolf. When they
reach the transept, they stare in amazement at the throne; dress
into ordered rank opposite it; draw their swords and lift them
in the air with a shout of «Hail, Caesar.» Cleopatra turns and
stares wildly at Caesar; grasps the situation; and, with a great
sob of relief, falls into his arms.]
ACT II
[ALEXANDRIA. A hall on the first floor of the Palace, ending in a
loggia approached by two steps. Through the arches of the loggia
the Mediterranean can be seen, bright in the morning sun. The
clean lofty walls, painted with a procession of the Egyptian
theocracy, presented in profile as flat ornament, and the
absence of mirrors, sham perspectives, stuffy upholstery and
textiles, make the place handsome, wholesome, simple and cool,
or, as a rich English manufacturer would express it, poor, bare,
ridiculous and unhomely. For Tottenham Court Road civilization
is to this Egyptian civilization as glass bead and tattoo
civilization is to Tottenham Court Road.
The young king Ptolemy Dionysus (aged ten) is at the top of the
steps, on his way in through the loggia, led by his guardian
Pothinus, who has him by the hand. The court is assembled to
receive him. It is made up of men and women (some of the women
being officials) of various complexions and races, mostly
Egyptian; some of them, comparatively fair, from lower Egypt,
some, much darker, from upper Egypt; with a few Greeks and Jews.
Prominent in a group on Ptolemy's right hand is Theodotus,
Ptolemy's tutor. Another group, on Ptolemy's left, is headed by
Achillas, the general of Ptolemy's troops. Theodotus is a little
old man, whose features are as cramped and wizened as his limbs,
except his tall straight forehead, which occupies more space
than all the rest of his face. He maintains an air of magpie
keenness and profundity, listening to what the others say with
the sarcastic vigilance of a philosopher listening to the
exercises of his disciples. Achillas is a tall handsome man of
thirty-five, with a fine black beard curled like the coat of a
poodle. Apparently not a clever man, but distinguished and
dignified. Pothinus is a vigorous man of fifty, a eunuch,
passionate, energetic and quick witted, but of common mind and
character; impatient and unable to control his temper. He has
fine tawny hair, like fur. Ptolemy, the King, looks much older
than an English boy of ten; but he has the childish air, the
habit of being in leading strings, the mixture of impotence and
petulance, the appearance of being excessively washed, combed
and dressed by other hands, which is exhibited by court-bred
princes of all ages.
All receive the King with reverences. He comes down the steps to a
chair of state which stands a little to his right, the only seat
in the hall. Taking his place before it, he looks nervously for
instructions to Pothinus, who places himself at his left hand.]
POTHINUS. The king of Egypt has a word to speak.
THEODOTUS [in a squeak which he makes impressive by sheer
self-opinionativeness] Peace for the King's word!
PTOLEMY [without any vocal inflexions: he is evidently repeating a
lesson] Take notice of this all of you. I am the first-born son of
Auletes the Flute Blower who was your King. My sister Berenice drove
him from his throne and reigned in his stead but- but- [he hesitates]-
POTHINUS [stealthily prompting] -but the gods would not suffer-
PTOLEMY. Yes- the gods would not suffer- not suffer- [He stops;
then, crestfallen] I forget what the gods would not suffer.
THEODOTUS. Let Pothinus, the King's guardian, speak for the King.
POTHINUS [suppressing his impatience with difficulty] The King
wished to say that the gods would not suffer the impiety of his sister
to go unpunished.
PTOLEMY [hastily] Yes: I remember the rest of it. [He resumes his
monotone]. Therefore the gods sent a stranger one Mark Antony a
Roman captain of horsemen across the sands of the desert and he set my
father again upon the throne. And my father took Berenice my sister
and struck her head off. And now that my father is dead yet another of
his daughters my sister Cleopatra would snatch the kingdom from me and
reign in my place. But the gods would not suffer- [Pothinus coughs
admonitorily]- the gods- the gods would not suffer-
POTHINUS [prompting] -will not maintain-
PTOLEMY. Oh yes- will not maintain such iniquity they will give
her head to the axe even as her sister's. But with the help of the
witch Ftatateeta she hath cast a spell on the Roman Julius Caesar to
make him uphold her false pretence to rule in Egypt. Take notice
then that I will not suffer- that I will not suffer- [pettishly, to
Pothinus] What is it that I will not suffer?
POTHINUS [suddenly exploding with all the force and emphasis of
political passion] The King will not suffer a foreigner to take from
him the throne of our Egypt. [A shout of applause]. Tell the King,
Achillas, how many soldiers and horsemen follow the Roman?
THEODOTUS. Let the King's general speak!
ACHILLAS. But two Roman legions, O King. Three thousand soldiers and
scarce a thousand horsemen.
[The court breaks into derisive laughter; and a great chattering
begins, amid which Rufio, a Roman officer, appears in the
loggia. He is a burly, black-bearded man of middle age, very
blunt, prompt and rough, with small clear eyes, and plump nose
and cheeks, which, however, like the rest of his flesh, are in
iron-hard condition.]
RUFIO [from the steps] Peace, ho! [The laughter and chatter cease
abruptly]. Caesar approaches.
THEODOTUS [with much presence of mind] The King permits the Roman
commander to enter!
[Caesar, plainly dressed, but wearing an oak wreath to conceal his
baldness, enters from the loggia, attended by Britannus, his
secretary, a Briton, about forty, tall, solemn, and already
slightly bald, with a heavy, drooping, hazel-coloured moustache
trained so as to lose its ends in a pair of trim whiskers. He is
carefully dressed in blue, with portfolio, inkhorn, and reed pen
at his girdle. His serious air and sense of the importance of
the business in hand is in marked contrast to the kindly
interest of Caesar, who looks at the scene, which is new to him,
with the frank curiosity of a child, and then turns to the
king's chair. Britannus and Rufio posting themselves near the
steps at the other side.]
CAESAR [looking at Pothinus and Ptolemy] Which is the King? the
man or the boy?
POTHINUS. I am Pothinus, the guardian of my lord the King.
CAESAR [patting Ptolemy kindly on the shoulder] So you are the King.
Dull work at your age, eh? [To Pothinus] Your servant, Pothinus. [He
turns away unconcernedly and comes slowly along the middle of the
hall, looking from side to side at the courtiers until he reaches
Achillas]. And this gentleman?
THEODOTUS. Achillas, the King's general.
CAESAR [to Achillas, very friendly] A general, eh? I am a general
myself. But I began too old, too old. Health and many victories,
Achillas!
ACHILLAS. As the gods will, Caesar.
CAESAR [turning to Theodotus] And you, sir, are-?
THEODOTUS. Theodotus, the King's tutor.
CAESAR. You teach men how to be kings, Theodotus. That is very
clever of you. [Looking at the gods on the walls as he turns away from
Theodotus and goes up again to Pothinus] And this place?
POTHINUS. The council chamber of the chancellors of the King's
treasury, Caesar.
CAESAR. Ah! that reminds me. I want some money.
POTHINUS. The King's treasury is poor, Caesar.
CAESAR. Yes: I notice that there is but one chair in it.
RUFIO [shouting gruffly] Bring a chair there, some of you, for
Caesar.
PTOLEMY [rising shyly to offer his chair] Caesar-
CAESAR [kindly] No, no, my boy: that is your chair of state. Sit
down.
[He makes Ptolemy sit down again. Meanwhile Rufio, looking about
him, sees in the nearest corner an image of the god Ra,
represented as a seated man with the head of a hawk. Before the
image is a bronze tripod, about as large as a three-legged
stool, with a stick of incense burning on it. Rufio, with Roman
resourcefulness and indifference to foreign superstitions,
promptly seizes the tripod; shakes off the incense; blows away
the ash; and dumps it down behind Caesar, nearly in the middle
of the hall.]
RUFIO. Sit on that, Caesar.
[A shiver runs through the court followed by a hissing whisper of
«Sacrilege!»]
CAESAR [seating himself] Now, Pothinus, to business. I am badly in
want of money.
BRITANNUS [disapproving of these informal expressions] My master
would say that there is a lawful debt due to Rome by Egypt, contracted
by the King's deceased father to the Triumvirate; and that it is
Caesar's duty to his country to require immediate payment.
CAESAR [blandly] Ah, I forgot. I have not made my companions known
here. Pothinus: this is Britannus, my secretary. He is an islander
from the western end of the world, a day's voyage from Gaul.
[Britannus bows stiffly]. This gentleman is Rufio, my comrade in arms.
[Rufio nods]. Pothinus: I want 1,600 talents.
[The courtiers, appalled, murmur loudly, and Theodotus and
Achillas appeal mutely to one another against so monstrous a
demand.]
POTHINUS [aghast] Forty million sesterces! Impossible. There is
not so much money in the King's treasury.
CAESAR [encouragingly] Only sixteen hundred talents, Pothinus. Why
count it in sesterces? A sestertius is only worth a loaf of bread.
POTHINUS. And a talent is worth a racehorse. I say it is impossible.
We have been at strife here, because the King's sister Cleopatra
falsely claims his throne. The King's taxes have not been collected
for a whole year.
CAESAR. Yes they have, Pothinus. My officers have been collecting
them all morning [Renewed whisper and sensation, not without some
stifled laughter, among the courtiers].
RUFIO [bluntly] You must pay, Pothinus. Why waste words? You are
getting off cheaply enough.
POTHINUS [bitterly] Is it possible that Caesar, the conqueror of the
world, has time to occupy himself with such a trifle as our taxes?
CAESAR. My friend: taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of
the world.
POTHINUS. Then take warning, Caesar. This day, the treasures of
the temple and the gold of the King's treasury shall be sent to the
mint to be melted down for our ransom in the sight of the people. They
shall see us sitting under bare walls and drinking from wooden cups.
And their wrath be on your head, Caesar, if you force us to this
sacrilege!
CAESAR. Do not fear, Pothinus: the people know how well wine
tastes in wooden cups. In return for your bounty, I will settle this
dispute about the throne for you, if you will. What say you?
POTHINUS. If I say no, will that hinder you?
RUFIO [defiantly] No.
CAESAR. You say the matter has been at issue for a year, Pothinus.
May I have ten minutes at it?
POTHINUS. You will do your pleasure, doubtless.
CAESAR. Good! But first, let us have Cleopatra here.
THEODOTUS. She is not in Alexandria: she is fled into Syria.
CAESAR. I think not. [To Rufio] Call Totateeta.
RUFIO [Calling] Ho there, Teetatota.
[Ftatateeta enters the loggia, and stands arrogantly at the top of
the steps.]
FTATATEETA. Who pronounces the name of Ftatateeta, the Queen's chief
nurse?
CAESAR. Nobody can pronounce it, Tota, except yourself. Where is
your mistress?
[Cleopatra, who is hiding behind Ftatateeta, peeps out at them
laughing. Caesar rises.]
CAESAR. Will the Queen favor us with her presence for a moment?
CLEOPATRA [pushing Ftatateeta aside and standing haughtily on the
brink of the steps] Am I to behave like a Queen?
CAESAR. Yes.
[Cleopatra immediately comes down to the chair of state; seizes
Ptolemy; drags him out of his seat; then takes his place in the
chair. Ftatateeta seats herself on the step of the loggia, and
sits there, watching the scene with sibylline intensity.]
PTOLEMY [mortified, and struggling with his tears] Caesar: this is
how she treats me always. If I am a king why is she allowed to take
everything from me?
CLEOPATRA. You are not to be King, you little cry-baby. You are to
be eaten by the Romans.
CAESAR [touched by Ptolemy's distress] Come here, my boy, and
stand by me.
[Ptolemy goes over to Caesar, who, resuming his seat on the
tripod, takes the boy's hand to encourage him. Cleopatra,
furiously jealous, rises and glares at them.]
-
CLEOPATRA [with flaming cheeks] Take your throne: I dont want it.
[She flings away from the chair, and approaches Ptolemy, who shrinks
from her]. Go this instant and sit down in your place.
CAESAR. Go, Ptolemy. Always take a throne when it is offered to you.
RUFIO. I hope you will have the good sense to follow your own advice
when we return to Rome, Caesar.
[Ptolemy slowly goes back to the throne, giving Cleopatra a wide
berth, in evident fear of her hands. She takes his place beside
Caesar.]
CAESAR. Pothinus-
CLEOPATRA [interrupting him] Are you not going to speak to me?
CAESAR. Be quiet. Open your mouth again before I give you leave, and
you shall be eaten.
CLEOPATRA. I am not afraid. A queen must not be afraid. Eat my
husband there, if you like: he is afraid.
CAESAR [starting] Your husband! What do you mean?
CLEOPATRA [pointing to Ptolemy] That little thing.
[The two Romans and the Briton stare at one another in amazement.]
THEODOTUS. Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant
with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with
their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort
just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS [shocked] Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS [outraged] How!
CAESAR [recovering his self-possession] Pardon him, Theodotus: he is
a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are
the laws of nature.
BRITANNUS. On the contrary, Caesar, it is these Egyptians who are
barbarians; and you do wrong to encourage them. I say it is a scandal.
CAESAR. Scandal or not, my friend, it opens the gate of peace. [He
addresses Pothinus seriously]. Pothinus: hear what I propose.
RUFIO. Hear Caesar there.
CAESAR. Ptolemy and Cleopatra shall reign jointly in Egypt.
ACHILLAS. What of the King's younger brother and Cleopatra's younger
sister?
RUFIO [explaining] There is another little Ptolemy, Caesar: so
they tell me.
CAESAR. Well, the little Ptolemy can marry the other sister; and
we will make them both a present of Cyprus.
POTHINUS [impatiently] Cyprus is of no use to anybody.
CAESAR. No matter: you shall have it for the sake of peace.
BRITANNUS [unconsciously anticipating a later statesman] Peace
with honor, Pothinus.
POTHINUS [mutinously] Caesar: be honest. The money you demand is the
price of our freedom. Take it; and leave us to settle our own affairs.
THE BOLDER COURTIERS [encouraged by Pothinus's tone and Caesar's
quietness] Yes, yes. Egypt for the Egyptians!
[The conference now becomes an altercation, the Egyptians becoming
more and more heated. Caesar remains unruffled; but Rufio grows
fiercer and doggeder, and Britannus haughtily indignant.]
RUFIO [contemptuously] Egypt for the Egyptians! Do you forget that
there is a Roman army of occupation here, left by Aulus Gabinius
when he set up your toy king for you?
ACHILLAS [suddenly asserting himself] And now under my command.
«I» am the Roman general here, Caesar.
CAESAR [tickled by the humor of the situation] And also the Egyptian
general, eh?
POTHINUS [triumphantly] That is so, Caesar.
CAESAR [to Achillas] So you can make war on the Egyptians in the
name of Rome, and on the Romans- on me, if necessary- in the name of
Egypt?
ACHILLAS. That is so, Caesar.
CAESAR. And which side are you on at present, if I may presume to
ask, general?
ACHILLAS. On the side of the right and of the gods.
CAESAR. Hm! How many men have you?
ACHILLAS. That will appear when I take the field.
RUFIO [truculently] Are your men Romans? If not, it matters not
how many there are, provided you are no stronger than 500 to ten.
POTHINUS. It is useless to try to bluff us, Rufio. Caesar has been
defeated before and may be defeated again. A few weeks ago Caesar
was flying for his life before Pompey: a few months hence he may be
flying for his life before Cato and Juba of Numidia, the African King.
ACHILLAS [following up Pothinus's speech menacingly] What can you do
with 4,000 men?
THEODOTUS [following up Achillas's speech with a raucous squeak] And
without money? Away with you.
ALL THE COURTIERS [shouting fiercely and crowding towards Caesar]
Away with you. Egypt for the Egyptians! Begone.
[Rufio bites his beard, too angry to speak. Caesar sits as
comfortably as if he were at breakfast, and the cat were
clamoring for a piece of Finnan-haddie.]
CLEOPATRA. Why do you let them talk to you like that, Caesar? Are
you afraid?
CAESAR. Why, my dear, what they say is quite true.
CLEOPATRA. But if you go away, I shall not be Queen.
CAESAR. I shall not go away until you are Queen.
POTHINUS. Achillas: if you are not a fool, you will take that girl
whilst she is under your hand.
RUFIO [daring them] Why not take Caesar as well, Achillas?
POTHINUS [retorting the defiance with interest] Well said, Rufio.
Why not?
RUFIO. Try, Achillas. [Calling] Guard there.
[The loggia immediately fills with Caesar's soldiers, who stand,
sword in hand, at the top of the steps, waiting the word to
charge from their centurion, who carries a cudgel. For a moment
the Egyptians face them proudly: then they retire sullenly to
their former places.]
BRITANNUS. You are Caesar's prisoners, all of you.
CAESAR [benevolently] Oh no, no, no. By no means. Caesar's guests,
gentlemen.
CLEOPATRA. Wont you cut their heads off?
CAESAR. What! Cut off your brother's head?
CLEOPATRA. Why not? He would cut off mine, if he got the chance.
Wouldnt you, Ptolemy?
PTOLEMY [pale and obstinate] I would. I will, too, when I grow up.
[Cleopatra is rent by a struggle between her newly-acquired
dignity as a queen, and a strong impulse to put out her tongue
at him. She takes no part in the scene which follows, but
watches it with curiosity and wonder, fidgeting with the
restlessness of a child, and sitting down on Caesar's tripod
when he rises.]
POTHINUS. Caesar: if you attempt to detain us-
RUFIO. He will succeed, Egyptian: make up your mind to that. We hold
the palace, the beach, and the eastern harbor. The road to Rome is
open; and you shall travel it if Caesar chooses.
CAESAR [courteously] I could do no less, Pothinus, to secure the
retreat of my own soldiers. I am accountable for every life among
them. But you are free to go. So are all here, and in the palace.
RUFIO [aghast at this clemency] What! Renegades and all?
CAESAR [softening the expression] Roman army of occupation and
all, Rufio.
POTHINUS [bewildered] But- but- but-
CAESAR. Well, my friend?
POTHINUS. You are turning us out of our own palace into the streets;
and you tell us with a grand air that we are free to go! It is for you
to go.
CAESAR. Your friends are in the street, Pothinus. You will be
safer there.
POTHINUS. This is a trick. I am the king's guardian: I refuse to
stir. I stand on my right here. Where is your right?
CAESAR. It is in Rufio's scabbard, Pothinus. I may not be able to
keep it there if you wait too long.
[Sensation.]
POTHINUS [bitterly] And this is Roman justice!
THEODOTUS. But not Roman gratitude, I hope.
CAESAR. Gratitude! Am I in your debt for any service, gentlemen?
THEODOTUS. Is Caesar's life of so little account to him that he
forgets that we have saved it?
CAESAR. My life! Is that all?
THEODOTUS. Your life. Your laurels. Your future.
POTHINUS. It is true. I can call a witness to prove that but for us,
the Roman army of occupation, led by the greatest soldier in the
world, would now have Caesar at its mercy. [Calling through the
loggia] Ho, there, Lucius Septimius [Caesar starts, deeply moved]:
if my voice can reach you, come forth and testify before Caesar.
CAESAR [shrinking] No, no.
THEODOTUS. Yes, I say. Let the military tribune bear witness.
[Lucius Septimius, a clean shaven, trim athlete of about 40, with
symmetrical features, resolute mouth, and handsome, thin Roman
nose, in the dress of a Roman officer, comes in through the
loggia and confronts Caesar, who hides his face with his robe
for a moment; then, mastering himself, drops it, and confronts
the tribune with dignity.]
POTHINUS. Bear witness, Lucius Septimius. Caesar came hither in
pursuit of his foe. Did we shelter his foe?
LUCIUS. As Pompey's foot touched the Egyptian shore, his head fell
by the stroke of my sword.
THEODOTUS [with viperish relish] Under the eyes of his wife and
child! Remember that, Caesar! They saw it from the ship he had just
left. We have given you a full and sweet measure of vengeance.
CAESAR [with horror] Vengeance!
POTHINUS. Our first gift to you, as your galley came into the
roadstead, was the head of your rival for the empire of the world.
Bear witness, Lucius Septimius: is it not so?
LUCIUS. It is so. With this hand, that slew Pompey, I placed his
head at the feet of Caesar.
CAESAR. Murderer! So would you have slain Caesar, had Pompey been
victorious at Pharsalia.
LUCIUS. Woe to the vanquished, Caesar! When I served Pompey, I
slew as good men as he, only because he conquered them. His turn
came at last.
THEODOTUS [flatteringly] The deed was not yours, Caesar, but ours-
nay, mine; for it was done by my counsel. Thanks to us, you keep
your reputation for clemency, and have your vengeance too.
CAESAR. Vengeance! Vengeance!! Oh, if I could stoop to vengeance,
what would I not exact from you as the price of this murdered man's
blood? [They shrink back, appalled and disconcerted]. Was he not my
son-in-law, my ancient friend, for 20 years the master of great
Rome, for 30 years the compeller of victory? Did not I, as a Roman,
share his glory? Was the Fate that forced us to fight for the
mastery of the world, of our making? Am I Julius Caesar, or am I a
wolf, that you fling to me the grey head of the old soldier, the
laurelled conqueror, the mighty Roman, treacherously struck down by
this callous ruffian, and then claim my gratitude for it! [To Lucius
Septimius] Begone: you fill me with horror.
LUCIUS [cold and undaunted] Pshaw! You have seen severed heads
before, Caesar, and severed right hands too, I think; some thousands
of them, in Gaul, after you vanquished Vercingetorix. Did you spare
him, with all your clemency? Was that vengeance?
CAESAR. No, by the gods! would that it had been! Vengeance at
least is human. No, I say: those severed right hands, and the brave
Vercingetorix basely strangled in a vault beneath the Capitol, were
[with shuddering satire] a wise severity, a necessary protection to
the commonwealth, a duty of statesmanship- follies and fictions ten
times bloodier than honest vengeance! What a fool was I then! To think
that men's lives should be at the mercy of such fools! [Humbly] Lucius
Septimius, pardon me: why should the slayer of Vercingetorix rebuke
the slayer of Pompey? You are free to go with the rest. Or stay if you
will: I will find a place for you in my service.
LUCIUS. The odds are against you, Caesar. I go. [He turns to go
out through the loggia].
RUFIO [full of wrath at seeing his prey escaping] That means that he
is a Republican.
LUCIUS [turning defiantly on the loggia steps] And what are you?
RUFIO. A Caesarian, like all Caesar's soldiers.
CAESAR [courteously] Lucius: believe me, Caesar is no Caesarian.
Were Rome a true republic, then were Caesar the first of
Republicans. But you have made your choice. Farewell.
LUCIUS. Farewell. Come, Achillas, whilst there is yet time.
[Caesar, seeing that Rufio's temper threatens to get the worse of
him, puts his hand on his shoulder and brings him down the
hall out of harm's way, Britannus accompanying them and posting
himself on Caesar's right hand. This movement brings the three
in a little group to the place occupied by Achillas, who moves
haughtily away and joins Theodotus on the other side. Lucius
Septimius goes out through the soldiers in the loggia. Pothinus,
Theodotus and Achillas follow him with the courtiers, very
mistrustful of the soldiers, who close up in their rear and go
out after them, keeping them moving without much ceremony. The
King is left in his chair, piteous, obstinate, with twitching
face and fingers. During these movements Rufio maintains an
energetic grumbling, as follows:-]
RUFIO [as Lucius departs] Do you suppose he would let us go if he
had our heads in his hands?
CAESAR. I have no right to suppose that his ways are any baser
than mine.
RUFIO. Psha!
CAESAR. Rufio: if I take Lucius Septimius for my model, and become
exactly like him, ceasing to be Caesar, will you serve me still?
BRITANNUS. Caesar: this is not good sense. Your duty to Rome demands
that her enemies should be prevented from doing further mischief
[Caesar, whose delight in the moral eye-to-business of his British
secretary is inexhaustible, smiles indulgently].
RUFIO. It is no use talking to him, Britannus: you may save your
breath to cool your porridge. But mark this, Caesar. Clemency is
very well for you; but what is it for your soldiers, who have to fight
to-morrow the men you spared yesterday? You may give what orders you
please; but I tell you that your next victory will be a massacre,
thanks to your clemency. «I,» for one, will take no prisoners. I
will kill my enemies in the field; and then you can preach as much
clemency as you please: I shall never have to fight them again. And
now, with your leave, I will see these gentry off the premises. [He
turns to go].
CAESAR [turning also and seeing Ptolemy] What! have they left the
boy alone! Oh shame, shame!
RUFIO [taking Ptolemy's hand and making him rise] Come, your
majesty!
PTOLEMY [to Caesar, drawing away his hand from Rufio] Is he
turning me out of my palace?
RUFIO [grimly] You are welcome to stay if you wish.
CAESAR [kindly] Go, my boy. I will not harm you, but you will be
safer away, among your friends. Here you are in the lion's mouth.
PTOLEMY [turning to go] It is not the lion I fear, but [looking at
Rufio] the jackal. [He goes out through the loggia].
CAESAR [laughing approvingly] Brave boy!
CLEOPATRA [jealous of Caesar's approbation, calling after Ptolemy]
Little silly. You think that very clever.
CAESAR. Britannus: attend the King. Give him in charge to that
Pothinus fellow. [Britannus goes out after Ptolemy].
RUFIO [pointing to Cleopatra] And this piece of goods? What is to be
done with her? However, I suppose I may leave that to you. [He goes
out through the loggia].
CLEOPATRA [flushing suddenly and turning on Caesar] Did you mean
me to go with the rest?
CAESAR [a little preoccupied, goes with a sigh to Ptolemy's chair,
whilst she waits for his answer with red cheeks and clenched fist] You
are free to do just as you please, Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA. Then you do not care whether I stay or not?
CAESAR [smiling] Of course I had rather you stayed.
CLEOPATRA. Much, much rather?
CAESAR [nodding] Much, much rather.
CLEOPATRA. Then I consent to stay, because I am asked. But I do
not want to, mind.
CAESAR. That is quite understood. [Calling] Totateeta.
[Ftatateeta still seated turns her eyes on him with a sinister
expression, but does not move.]
CLEOPATRA [with a splutter of laughter] Her name is not Totateeta:
it is Ftatateeta. [Calling] Ftatateeta. [Ftatateeta instantly rises
and comes to Cleopatra].
CAESAR [stumbling over the name] Tfatafeeta will forgive the
erring tongue of a Roman. Tota: the Queen will hold her state here
in Alexandria. Engage women to attend upon her; and do all that is
needful.
FTATATEETA. Am I then the mistress of the Queen's household?
CLEOPATRA [sharply] No: «I» am the mistress of the Queen's
household. Go and do as you are told, or I will have you thrown into
the Nile this very afternoon, to poison the poor crocodiles.
CAESAR [shocked] Oh no, no.
CLEOPATRA. Oh yes, yes. You are very sentimental, Caesar; but you
are clever; and if you do as I tell you, you will soon learn to
govern.
[Caesar, quite dumbfounded by this impertinence, turns in his
chair and stares at her.]
[Ftatateeta, smiling grimly, and showing a splendid set of teeth,
goes, leaving them alone together.]
CAESAR. Cleopatra: I really think I must eat you, after all.
CLEOPATRA [kneeling beside him and looking at him with eager
interest, half real, half affected to shew how intelligent she is] You
must not talk to me now as if I were a child.
CAESAR. You have been growing up since the sphinx introduced us
the other night; and you think you know more than I do already.
CLEOPATRA [taken down, and anxious to justify herself] No: that
would be very silly of me: of course I know that. But- [suddenly]
are you angry with me?
CAESAR. No.
CLEOPATRA [only half believing him] Then why are you so thoughtful?
CAESAR [rising] I have work to do, Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA [drawing back] Work! [Offended] You are tired of talking
to me; and that is your excuse to get away from me.
CAESAR [sitting down again to appease her] Well, well: another
minute. But then- work!
CLEOPATRA. Work! what nonsense! You must remember that you are a
king now: I have made you one. Kings dont work.
CAESAR. Oh! Who told you that, little kitten? Eh?
CLEOPATRA. My father was King of Egypt; and he never worked. But
he was a great king, and cut off my sister's head because she rebelled
against him and took the throne from him.
CAESAR. Well; and how did he get his throne back again?
CLEOPATRA [eagerly, her eyes lighting up] I will tell you. A
beautiful young man, with strong round arms, came over the desert with
many horsemen, and slew my sister's husband and gave my father back
his throne [Wistfully] I was only twelve then. Oh, I wish he would
come again, now that I am a queen. I would make him my husband.
CAESAR. It might be managed, perhaps; for it was I who sent that
beautiful young man to help your father.
CLEOPATRA [enraptured] You know him!
CAESAR [nodding] I do.
CLEOPATRA. Has he come with you? [Caesar shakes his head: she is
cruelly disappointed]. Oh, I wish he had, I wish he had. If only I
were a little older; so that he might not think me a mere kitten, as
you do! But perhaps that is because you are old. He is many many years
younger than you, is he not?
CAESAR [as if swallowing a pill] He is somewhat younger.
CLEOPATRA. Would he be my husband, do you think, if I asked him?
CAESAR. Very likely.
CLEOPATRA. But I should not like to ask him. Could you not
persuade him to ask me- without knowing that I wanted him to?
CAESAR [touched by her innocence of the beautiful young man's
character] My poor child!
CLEOPATRA. Why do you say that as if you were sorry for me? Does
he love anyone else?
CAESAR. I am afraid so.
CLEOPATRA [tearfully] Then I shall not be his first love.
CAESAR. Not quite the first. He is greatly admired by women.
CLEOPATRA. I wish I could be the first. But if he loves me, I will
make him kill all the rest. Tell me: is he still beautiful? Do his
strong round arms shine in the sun like marble?
CAESAR. He is in excellent condition- considering how much he eats
and drinks.
CLEOPATRA. Oh, you must not say common, earthly things about him;
for I love him. He is a god.
CAESAR. He is a great captain of horsemen, and swifter of foot
than any other Roman.
CLEOPATRA. What is his real name?
CAESAR [puzzled] His real name?
CLEOPATRA. Yes. I always call him Horus, because Horus is the most
beautiful of our gods. But I want to know his real name.
CAESAR. His name is Mark Antony.
CLEOPATRA [musically] Mark Antony, Mark Antony, Mark Antony! What
a beautiful name! [She throws her arms round Caesar's neck]. Oh, how I
love you for sending him to help my father! Did you love my father
very much?
CAESAR. No, my child; but your father, as you say, never worked. I
always work. So when he lost his crown he had to promise me 16,000
talents to get it back for him.
CLEOPATRA. Did he ever pay you?
CAESAR. Not in full.
CLEOPATRA. He was quite right: it was too dear. The whole world is
not worth 16,000 talents.
CAESAR. That is perhaps true, Cleopatra. Those Egyptians who work
paid as much of it as he could drag from them. The rest is still
due. But as I most likely shall not get it, I must go back to my work.
So you must run away for a little and send my secretary to me.
CLEOPATRA [coaxing] No: I want to stay and hear you talk about
Mark Antony.
CAESAR. But if I do not get to work, Pothinus and the rest of them
will cut us off from the harbor; and then the way from Rome will be
blocked.
CLEOPATRA. No matter: I dont want you to go back to Rome.
CAESAR. But you want Mark Antony to come from it.
CLEOPATRA [springing up] Oh yes, yes, yes: I forgot. Go quickly
and work, Caesar; and keep the way over the sea open for my Mark
Antony. [She runs out through the loggia, kissing her hand to Mark
Antony across the sea].
CAESAR [going briskly up the middle of the hall to the loggia steps]
Ho, Brittanus. [He is startled by the entry of a wounded Roman
soldier, who confronts him from the upper step]. What now?
SOLDIER [pointing to his bandaged head] This, Caesar; and two of
my comrades killed in the market place.
CAESAR [quiet, but attending] Ay. Why?
SOLDIER. There is an army come to Alexandria, calling itself the
Roman army.
CAESAR. The Roman army of occupation. Ay?
SOLDIER. Commanded by one Achillas.
CAESAR. Well?
SOLDIER. The citizens rose against us when the army entered the
gates. I was with two others in the market place when the news came.
They set upon us. I cut my way out; and here I am.
CAESAR. Good. I am glad to see you alive. [Rufio enters the loggia
hastily, passing behind the soldier to look out through one of the
arches at the quay beneath]. Rufio: we are besieged.
RUFIO. What! Already?
CAESAR. Now or to-morrow: what does it matter? We shall be besieged.
[Britannus runs in.]
BRITANNUS. Caesar-
CAESAR [anticipating him] Yes: I know. [Rufio and Britannus come
down the hall from the loggia at opposite sides, past Caesar, who
waits for a moment near the step to say to the soldier] Comrade:
give the word to turn out on the beach and stand by the boats. Get
your wound attended to. Go. [The soldier hurries out. Caesar comes
down the hall between Rufio and Britannus] Rufio: we have some ships
in the west harbor. Burn them.
RUFIO [staring] Burn them!
CAESAR. Take every boat we have in the east harbor, and seize the
Pharos- that island with the lighthouse. Leave half our men behind
to hold the beach and the quay outside this palace: that is the way
home.
RUFIO [disapproving strongly] Are we to give up the city?
CAESAR. We have not got it, Rufio. This palace we have; and- what is
that building next door?
RUFIO. The theatre.
CAESAR. We will have that too: it commands the strand. For the rest,
Egypt for the Egyptians!
RUFIO. Well, you know best, I suppose. Is that all?
CAESAR. That is all. Are those ships burnt yet?
RUFIO. Be easy: I shall waste no more time. [He runs out].
BRITANNUS. Caesar: Pothinus demands speech of you. In my opinion
he needs a lesson. His manner is most insolent.
CAESAR. Where is he?
BRITANNUS. He waits without.
CAESAR. Ho there! admit Pothinus.
[Pothinus appears in the loggia, and comes down the hall very
haughtily to Caesar's left hand.]
CAESAR. Well, Pothinus?
POTHINUS. I have brought you our ultimatum, Caesar.
CAESAR. Ultimatum! The door was open: you should have gone out
through it before you declared war. You are my prisoner now. [He
goes to the chair and loosens his toga].
POTHINUS [scornfully] I your prisoner! Do you know that you are in
Alexandria, and that King Ptolemy, with an army outnumbering your
little troop a hundred to one, is in possession of Alexandria?
CAESAR [unconcernedly taking off his toga and throwing it on the
chair] Well, my friend, get out if you can. And tell your friends
not to kill any more Romans in the market place. Otherwise my
soldiers, who do not share my celebrated clemency, will probably
kill you. Britannus: pass the word to the guard; and fetch my armor.
[Britannus runs out. Rufio returns]. Well?
RUFIO [pointing from the loggia to a cloud of smoke drifting over
the harbor] See there! [Pothinus runs eagerly up the steps to look
out].
CAESAR. What, ablaze already! Impossible!
RUFIO. Yes, five good ships, and a barge laden with oil grappled
to each. But it is not my doing: the Egyptians have saved me the
trouble. They have captured the west harbor.
CAESAR [anxiously] And the east harbor? The lighthouse, Rufio?
RUFIO [with a sudden splutter of raging ill usage, coming down to
Caesar and scolding him] Can I embark a legion in five minutes? The
first cohort is already on the beach. We can do no more. If you want
faster work, come and do it yourself.
CAESAR [soothing him] Good, good. Patience, Rufio, patience.
RUFIO. Patience! Who is impatient here, you or I? Would I be here,
if I could not oversee them from that balcony?
CAESAR. Forgive me, Rufio; and [anxiously] hurry them as much as-
[He is interrupted by an outcry as of an old man in the extremity
of misfortune. It draws near rapidly; and Theodotus rushes in,
tearing his hair, and squeaking the most lamentable
exclamations. Rufio steps back to stare at him, amazed at his
frantic condition. Pothinus turns to listen.]
THEODOTUS [on the steps, with uplifted arms] Horror unspeakable!
Woe, alas! Help!
RUFIO. What now?
CAESAR [frowning] Who is slain?
THEODOTUS. Slain! Oh, worse than the death of ten thousand men! Loss
irreparable to mankind!
RUFIO. What had happened, man?
THEODOTUS [rushing down the hall between them] The fire has spread
from your ships. The first of the seven wonders of the world perishes.
The library of Alexandria is in flames.
RUFIO. Psha! [quite relieved, he goes up to the loggia and watches
the preparations of the troops on the beach].
CAESAR. Is that all?
THEODOTUS [unable to believe his senses] All! Caesar: will you go
down to posterity as a barbarous soldier too ignorant to know the
value of books?
CAESAR. Theodotus: I am an author myself; and I tell you it is
better that the Egyptians should live their lives than dream them away
with the help of books.
THEODOTUS [kneeling, with genuine literary emotion: the passion of
the pedant] Caesar: once in ten generations of men, the world gains an
immortal book.
CAESAR [inflexible] If it did not flatter mankind, the common
executioner would burn it.
THEODOTUS. Without history, death will lay you beside your meanest
soldier.
CAESAR. Death will do that in any case. I ask no better grave.
THEODOTUS. What is burning there is the memory of mankind.
CAESAR. A shameful memory. Let it burn.
THEODOTUS [wildly] Will you destroy the past?
CAESAR. Ay, and build the future with its ruins. [Theodotus, in
despair, strikes himself on the temples with his fists]. But harken,
Theodotus, teacher of kings: you who valued Pompey's head no more than
a shepherd values an onion, and who now kneel to me, with tears in
your old eyes, to plead for a few sheepskins scrawled with errors. I
cannot spare you a man or a bucket of water just now; but you shall
pass freely out of the palace. Now, away with you to Achillas; and
borrow his legions to put out the fire. [He hurries him to the steps].
POTHINUS [significantly] You understand, Theodotus: I remain a
prisoner.
THEODOTUS. A prisoner!
CAESAR. Will you stay to talk whilst the memory of mankind is
burning? [Calling through the loggia] Ho there! Pass Theodotus out.
[To Theodotus] Away with you.
THEODOTUS [To Pothinus] I must go to save the library. [He hurries
out].
CAESAR. Follow him to the gate, Pothinus. Bid him urge your people
to kill no more of my soldiers, for your sake.
POTHINUS. My life will cost you dear if you take it, Caesar. [He
goes out after Theodotus].
[Rufio, absorbed in watching the embarkation, does not notice the
departure of the two Egyptians.]
RUFIO [shouting from the loggia to the beach] All ready, there?
A CENTURION [from below] All ready. We wait for Caesar.
CAESAR. Tell them Caesar is coming- the rogues! [Calling]
Britannicus. [This magniloquent version of his secretary's name is one
of Caesar's jokes. In later years it would have meant, quite seriously
and officially, Conqueror of Britain].
RUFIO [calling down] Push off, all except the longboat. Stand by
it to embark, Caesar's guard there. [He leaves the balcony and comes
down into the hall]. Where are those Egyptians? Is this more clemency?
Have you let them go?
CAESAR [chuckling] I have let Theodotus go to save the library. We
must respect literature, Rufio.
RUFIO [raging] Folly on folly's head! I believe if you could bring
back all the dead of Spain, Gaul, and Thessaly to life, you would do
it that we might have the trouble of fighting them over again.
CAESAR. Might not the gods destroy the world if their only thought
were to be at peace next year? [Rufio, out of all patience, turns away
in anger. Caesar suddenly grips his sleeve, and adds slyly in his ear]
Besides, my friend: every Egyptian we imprison means imprisoning two
Roman soldiers to guard him. Eh?
RUFIO. Agh! I might have known there was some fox's trick behind
your fine talking. [He gets away from Caesar with an ill-humored
shrug, and goes to the balcony for another look at the preparations;
finally goes out].
CAESAR. Is Britannus asleep? I sent him for my armor an hour ago.
[Calling] Britannicus, thou British islander. Britannicus!
[Cleopatra runs in through the loggia with Caesar's helmet and
sword, snatched from Britannus who follows her with a cuirass
and greaves. They come down to Caesar, she to his left hand,
Britannus to his right.]
CLEOPATRA. I am going to dress you, Caesar. Sit down. [He obeys].
These Roman helmets are so becoming! [She takes off his wreath]. Oh!
[She bursts out laughing at him].
CAESAR. What are you laughing at?
CLEOPATRA. Youre bald [beginning with a big B, and ending with a
splutter].
CAESAR [almost annoyed] Cleopatra! [He rises, for the convenience of
Britannus, who puts the cuirass on him].
CLEOPATRA. So that is why you wear the wreath- to hide it.
BRITANNUS. Peace, Egyptian: they are the bays of the conqueror.
[He buckles the cuirass].
CLEOPATRA. Peace, thou: islander! [To Caesar] You should rub your
head with strong spirits of sugar, Caesar. That will make it grow.
CAESAR [With a wry face] Cleopatra: do you like to be reminded
that you are very young?
CLEOPATRA [pouting] No.
CAESAR [sitting down again, and setting out his leg for Britannus,
who kneels to put on his greaves] Neither do I like to be reminded
that I am- middle aged. Let me give you ten of my superfluous years.
That will make you 26, and leave me only- no matter. Is it a bargain?
CLEOPATRA. Agreed. 26, mind. [She puts the helmet on him]. Oh! How
nice! You look only about 50 in it!
BRITANNUS [looking up severely at Cleopatra] You must not speak in
this manner to Caesar.
CLEOPATRA. Is it true that when Caesar caught you on that island,
you were painted all over blue?
BRITANNUS. Blue is the colour worn by all Britons of good
standing. In war we stain our bodies blue; so that though our
enemies may strip us of our clothes and our lives, they cannot strip
us of our respectability. [He rises].
CLEOPATRA [with Caesar's sword] Let me hang this on. Now you look
splendid. Have they made any statues of you in Rome?
CAESAR. Yes, many statues.
CLEOPATRA. You must send for one and give it to me.
RUFIO [coming back into the loggia, more impatient than ever] Now
Caesar: have you done talking? The moment your foot is aboard there
will be no holding our men back: the boats will race one another for
the lighthouse.
CAESAR [drawing his sword and trying the edge] Is this well set
today, Britannicus? At Pharsalia it was as blunt as a barrel-hoop.
BRITANNUS. It will split one of the Egyptian's hairs today,
Caesar. I have set it myself.
CLEOPATRA [suddenly throwing her arms in terror round Caesar] Oh,
you are not really going into battle to be killed?
CAESAR. No, Cleopatra. No man goes to battle to be killed.
CLEOPATRA. But they do get killed. My sister's husband was killed in
battle. You must not go. Let him go [pointing to Rufio. They all laugh
at her]. Oh please, please dont go. What will happen to me if you
never come back?
CAESAR [gravely] Are you afraid?
CLEOPATRA [shrinking] No.
CAESAR [with quiet authority] Go to the balcony; and you shall see
us take the Pharos. You must learn to look on battles. Go. [She
goes, downcast, and looks out from the balcony]. That is well. Now,
Rufio. March.
CLEOPATRA [suddenly clapping her hands] Oh, you will not be able
to go!
CAESAR. Why? What now?
CLEOPATRA. They are drying up the harbour with buckets- a
multitude of soldiers- over there [pointing out across the sea to
her left]- they are dipping up the water.
RUFIO [hastening to look] It is true. The Egyptian army! Crawling
over the edge of the west harbor like locusts. [With sudden anger he
strides down to Caesar]. This is your accursed clemency, Caesar.
Theodotus has brought them.
CAESAR [delighted at his own cleverness] I meant him to, Rufio. They
have come to put out the fire. The library will keep them busy
whilst we seize the lighthouse. Eh? [He rushes out buoyantly through
the loggia, followed by Britannus].
RUFIO [disgustedly] More foxing! Agh! [He rushes off. A shout from
the soldiers announces the appearance of Caesar below].
CENTURION [below] All aboard. Give way there. [Another shout].
CLEOPATRA [waving her scarf through the loggia arch] Goodbye,
goodbye, dear Caesar. Come back safe. Goodbye!
ACT III
[THE edge of the quay in front of the palace, looking out west
over the east harbor of Alexandria to Pharos island, just off
the end of which, and connected with it by a narrow mole, is the
famous lighthouse, a gigantic square tower of white marble
diminishing in size storey by storey to the top, on which stands
a cresset beacon. The island is joined to the main land by the
Heptastadium, a great mole or causeway five miles long bounding
the harbor on the south.
In the middle of the quay a Roman sentinel stands on guard pilum
in hand, looking out to the lighthouse with strained attention,
his left hand shading his eyes. The pilum is a stout wooden
shaft 4 1/2 feet long, with an iron spit about three feet long
fixed in it. The sentinel is so absorbed that he does not notice
the approach from the north end of the quay of four Egyptian
market porters carrying rolls of carpet, preceded by Ftatateeta
and Apollodorus the Sicilian. Apollodorus is a dashing young man
of about 24, handsome and debonair, dressed with deliberate
aestheticism in the most delicate purples and dove greys, with
ornaments of bronze, oxydized silver, and stones of jade and
agate. His sword, designed as carefully as a medieval cross, has
a blued blade showing through an openwork scabbard of purple
leather and filagree. The porters, conducted by Ftatateeta, pass
along the quay behind the sentinel to the steps of the palace,
where they put down their bales and squat on the ground.
Apollodorus does not pass along with them: he halts, amused by
the preoccupation of the sentinel.]
APOLLODORUS [calling to the sentinel] Who goes there, eh?
SENTINEL [starting violently and turning with his pilum at the
charge, revealing himself as a small, wiry, sandy-haired,
conscientious young man with an elderly face] Whats this? Stand. Who
are you?
APOLLODORUS. I am Apollodorus the Sicilian. Why, man, what are you
dreaming of? Since I came through the lines beyond the theatre
there, I have brought my caravan past three sentinels, all so busy
staring at the lighthouse that not one of them challenged me. Is
this Roman discipline.
SENTINEL. We are not here to watch the land but the sea. Caesar
has just landed on the Pharos. [Looking at Ftatateeta] What have you
here? Who is this piece of Egyptian crockery?
FTATATEETA. Apollodorus: rebuke this Roman dog; and bid him bridle
his tongue in the presence of Ftatateeta, the mistress of the
Queen's household.
APOLLODORUS. My friend: this is a great lady, who stands high with
Caesar.
SENTINEL [not at all impressed pointing to the carpets] And what
is all this truck?
APOLLODORUS. Carpets for the furnishing of the Queen's apartments in
the palace. I have picked them from the best carpets in the world; and
the Queen shall choose the best of my choosing.
SENTINEL. So you are the carpet merchant?
APOLLODORUS [hurt] My friend: I am a patrician.
SENTINEL. A patrician! A patrician keeping a shop instead of
following arms!
APOLLODORUS. I do not keep a shop. Mine is a temple of the arts. I
am a worshipper of beauty. My calling is to choose beautiful things
for beautiful queens. My motto is Art for Art's sake.
SENTINEL. That is not the password.
APOLLODORUS. It is a universal password.
SENTINEL. I know nothing about universal passwords. Either give me
the password for the day or get back to your shop.
[Ftatateeta, roused by his hostile tone, steals towards the edge
of the quay with the step of a panther, and gets behind him.]
APOLLODORUS. How if I do neither?
SENTINEL. Then I will drive this pilum through you.
APOLLODORUS. At your service, my friend. [He draws his sword, and
springs to his guard with unruffled grace].
FTATATEETA [suddenly seizing the sentinel's arms from behind] Thrust
your knife into the dog's throat, Apollodorus. [The chivalrous
Apollodorus laughingly shakes his head, breaks ground away from the
sentinel towards the palace; and lowers his point].
SENTINEL [Struggling vainly] Curse on you! Let me go, Help ho!
FTATATEETA [lifting him from the ground] Stab the little Roman
reptile. Spit him on your sword.
[A couple of Roman soldiers, with a centurion, come running along
the edge of the quay from the north end. They rescue their
comrade, and throw off Ftatateeta, who is sent reeling away on
the left hand of the sentinel.]
CENTURION [an unattractive man of fifty, short in his speech
manners, with a vinewood cudgel in his hand] How now? What is all
this?
FTATATEETA [to Apollodorus] Why did you not stab him? There was
time!
APOLLODORUS. Centurion: I am here by order of the Queen to-
CENTURION [interrupting him] The Queen! Yes, yes: [to the
sentinel] pass him in. Pass all these bazaar people into the Queen,
with their goods. But mind you pass no one out that you have not
passed in- not even the Queen herself.
SENTINEL. This old woman is dangerous: she is as strong as three
men. She wanted the merchant to stab me.
APOLLODORUS. Centurion: I am not a merchant. I am a patrician and
a votary of art.
CENTURION. Is the woman your wife?
APOLLODORUS [horrified] No, no! [Correcting himself politely] Not
that the lady is not a striking figure in her own way. But
[emphatically] she is not my wife.
FTATATEETA [to the centurion] Roman: I am Ftatateeta, the mistress
of the Queen's household.
CENTURION. Keep your hands off our men, mistress; or I will have you
pitched into the harbor, though you were as strong as ten men. [To his
men] To your posts: march! [He returns with his men the way they
came].
FTATATEETA [looking malignantly after him] We shall see whom Isis
loves best: her servant Ftatateeta or a dog of a Roman.
SENTINEL [to Apollodorus, with a wave of his pilum towards the
palace] Pass in there; and keep your distance. [Turning to Ftatateeta]
Come within a yard of me, you old crocodile; and I will give you
this [the pilum] in your jaws.
CLEOPATRA [calling from the palace] Ftatateeta, Ftatateeta.
FTATATEETA [looking up, scandalized] Go from the window, go from the
window. There are men here.
CLEOPATRA. I am coming down.
FTATATEETA [distracted] No, no. What are you dreaming of? O ye gods,
ye gods! Apollodorus: bid your men pick up your bales; and in with
me quickly.
APOLLODORUS. Obey the mistress of the Queen's household.
FTATATEETA [impatiently, as the porters stoop to lift the bales]
Quick, quick: she will be out upon us. [Cleopatra comes from the
palace and runs across the quay to Ftatateeta]. Oh that ever I was
born!
CLEOPATRA [eagerly] Ftatateeta: I have thought of something. I
want a boat- at once.
FTATATEETA. A boat! No, no: you cannot, Apollodorus: speak to the
Queen.
APOLLODORUS [gallantly] Beautiful queen: I am Apollodorus the
Sicilian, your servant, from the bazaar. I have brought you the
three most beautiful Persian carpets in the world to choose from.
CLEOPATRA. I have no time for carpets to-day. Get me a boat.
FTATATEETA. What whim is this? You cannot go on the water except
in the royal barge.
APOLLODORUS. Royalty, Ftatateeta, lies not in the barge but in the
Queen. [To Cleopatra] The touch of your majesty's foot on the
gunwale of the meanest boat in the harbor will make it royal [He turns
to the harbor and calls seaward] Ho there, boatman! Pull in to the
steps.
CLEOPATRA. Apollodorus: you are my perfect knight; and I will always
buy my carpets through you. [Apollodorus bows joyously. An oar appears
above the quay; and the boatman, a bullet-headed, vivacious,
grinning fellow, burnt almost black by the sun, comes up a flight of
steps from the water on the sentinel's right, oar in hand, and waits
at the top]. Can you row, Apollodorus?
APOLLODORUS. My oars shall be your majesty's wings. Whither shall
I row my Queen?
CLEOPATRA. To the lighthouse. Come [She makes for the steps].
SENTINEL. [Opposing her with his pilum at the charge] Stand. You
cannot pass.
CLEOPATRA [flushing angrily] How dare you? Do you know that I am the
Queen?
SENTINEL. I have my orders. You cannot pass.
CLEOPATRA. I will make Caesar have you killed if you do not obey me.
SENTINEL. He will do worse to me if I disobey my officer. Stand
back.
CLEOPATRA. Ftatateeta: strangle him.
SENTINEL [alarmed- looking apprehensively at Ftatateeta, and
brandishing his pilum] Keep off, there.
CLEOPATRA [running to Apollodorus] Apollodorus: make your slaves
help us.
APOLLODORUS. I shall not need their help, lady. [He draws his
sword]. Now, soldier: choose which weapon you will defend yourself
with. Shall it be sword against pilum, or sword against sword?
SENTINEL. Roman against Sicilian, curse you. Take that. [He hurls
his pilum at Apollodorus, who drops expertly on one knee. The pilum
passes whizzing over his head and falls harmless. Apollodorus, with
a cry of triumph, springs up and attacks the sentinel, who draws his
sword and defends himself, crying] Ho there, guard. Help!
[Cleopatra, half frightened, half delighted, takes refuge near the
palace, where the porters are squatting among the bales. The
boatman, alarmed, hurries down the steps out of harm's way, but
stops, with his head just visible above the edge of the quay, to
watch the fight. The sentinel is handicapped by his fear of an
attack in the rear from Ftatateeta. His swordsmanship, which is
of a rough and ready sort, is heavily taxed, as he has
occasionally to strike at her to keep her off between a blow and
a guard with Apollodorus. The centurion returns with several
soldiers. Apollodorus springs back towards Cleopatra as this
reinforcement confronts him.]
CENTURION [coming to the sentinel's right hand] What is this? What
now?
SENTINEL [panting] I could do well enough by myself if it werent for
the old woman. Keep her off me: that is all the help I need.
CENTURION. Make your report, soldier. What has happened?
FTATATEETA. Centurion: he would have slain the Queen.
SENTINEL [bluntly] I would, sooner than let her pass. She wanted
to take boat, and go- so she said- to the lighthouse. I stopped her,
as I was ordered to; and she set this fellow on me. [He goes to pick
up his pilum and returns to his place with it].
CENTURION [turning to Cleopatra] Cleopatra: I am loth to offend you;
but without Caesar's express order we dare not let you pass beyond the
Roman lines.
APOLLODORUS. Well, Centurion; and has not the lighthouse been within
the Roman lines since Caesar landed there?
CLEOPATRA. Yes, yes. Answer that, if you can.
CENTURION [to Apollodorus] As for you, Apollodorus, you may thank
the gods that you are not nailed to the palace door with a pilum for
your meddling.
APOLLODO |
