The first use which Cleopatra made of her power was to ask Antony, for her sake, to order her sister Arsinoe to be slain.  Arsinoe had gone, it will be recollected, to Rome, to grace Caesar’s triumph there, and had afterward retired to Asia, where she was now living an exile.  Cleopatra, either from a sentiment of past revenge, or else from some apprehensions of future danger, now desired that her sister should die.  Antony readily acceded to her request.  He sent an officer in search of the unhappy princess.  The officer slew her where he found her, within the precincts of a temple to which she had fled, supposing it a sanctuary which no degree of hostility, however extreme, would have dared to violate.

Cleopatra remained at Tarsus for some time, revolving in an incessant round of gayety and pleasure, and living in habits of unrestrained intimacy with Antony.  She was accustomed to spend whole days and nights with him in feasting and revelry.  The immense magnificence of these entertainments, especially on Cleopatra’s part, were the wonder of the world.  She seems to have taken special pleasure in exciting Antony’s surprise by the display of her wealth and the boundless extravagance in which she indulged.  At one of her banquets, Antony was expressing his astonishment at the vast number of gold cups, enriched with jewels, that were displayed on all sides.  “Oh,” said she, “they are nothing; if you like them, you shall have them all.”  So saying, she ordered her servants to carry them to Antony’s house.  The next day she invited Antony again, with a large number of the chief officers of his army and court.  The table was spread with a new service of gold and silver vessels, more extensive and splendid than that of the preceding day; and at the close of the supper, when the company was about to depart, Cleopatra distributed all these treasures among the guests that had been present at the entertainment.  At another of these feasts, she carried her ostentation and display to the astonishing extreme of taking off from one of her ear-rings a pearl of immense value and dissolving it in a cup of vinegar,[1] which she afterward made into a drink, such as was customarily used in those days, and then drank it.  She was proceeding to do the same with the other pearl, when some of the company arrested the proceeding, and took the remaining pearl away.

    [Footnote 1:  Pearls, being of the nature of shell in their
    composition and structure, are soluble in certain acids.]

In the mean time, while Antony was thus wasting his time in luxury and pleasure with Cleopatra, his public duties were neglected, and every thing was getting into confusion.  Fulvia remained in Italy.  Her position and her character gave her a commanding political influence, and she exerted herself in a very energetic manner to sustain, in that quarter of the world, the interests of her husband’s cause.  She was surrounded with difficulties and