twenty-one, however beautiful, had she not been as remarkable for intellect and culture as she was for beauty.  Nor is it likely that Cleopatra would have devoted herself to this weather-beaten old general, had she not hoped to gain something from him besides caresses,—­namely, the confirmation of her authority as queen.  She also may have had some patriotic motives touching the political independence of her country.  Left by her father’s will at the age of eighteen joint heir of the Egyptian throne with her brother Ptolemy, she soon found herself expelled from the capital by him and the leading generals of the army, because they did not relish her precocious activity in government.  Her gathered adherents had made but little advance towards regaining her rights when, in August, 48, Caesar landed in pursuit of Pompey, whom he had defeated at Pharsalia.  Pompey’s assassination left Caesar free, and he proceeded to Alexandria to establish himself for the winter.  Here the wily and beautiful young exile sought him, and won his interest and his affection.  After some months of revelry and luxury, Caesar left Egypt in 47 to chastise an Eastern rebel, and was in 46 followed to Rome by Cleopatra, who remained there in splendid state until the assassination of Caesar drove her back to Egypt.  Her whole subsequent life showed her to be as cunning and politic as she was luxurious and pleasure-seeking.  Possibly she may have loved so interesting and brilliant a man as the great Caesar, aside from the admiration of his position; but he never became her slave, although it was believed, a hundred years after his death, that she was actually living in his house when he was assassinated, and was the mother of his son Caesarion.  But Froude doubts this; and the probabilities are that he is correct, for, like Macaulay, he is not apt to be wrong in facts, but only in the way he puts them.

Cleopatra was twenty-eight years of age when she first met Antony,—­“a period of life,” says Plutarch, “when woman’s beauty is most splendid, and her intellect is in full maturity.”  We have no account of the style of her beauty, except that it was transcendent,—­absolutely irresistible, with such a variety of expression as to be called infinite.  As already remarked, from the long residence of her family in Egypt and intermarriages with foreigners, her complexion may have been darker than that of either Persians or Greeks.  It probably resembled that of Queen Esther more than that of Aspasia, in that dark richness and voluptuousness which to some have such attractions; but in grace and vivacity she was purely Grecian,—­not like a “blooming Eastern bride,” languid and passive and effeminate, but bright, witty, and intellectual.  Shakspeare paints her as full of lively sallies, with the power of adapting herself to circumstances with tact and good nature, like a Madame Recamier or a Maintenon, rather than like a Montespan or a Pompadour, although her nature was passionate, her manner enticing, and her habits luxurious.  She did not weary or satiate, like a mere sensual beauty.