under the thrall of mine.  We both felt happy, united by ties which nothing, not even misfortune, could sever.  He, the ruler of the world, was conquered, and delighted to obey the behests of the victor, because he felt that she before whom he bowed was his own obedient slave.  And no magic goblet effected all this.  I breathed more freely, as if relieved from the oppressive delusion—­the fire had consumed it also—­which had burdened my soul until a few hours ago.  No magic spell, only the gifts of mind and soul which the vanquished victor, the woman Cleopatra, owed to the favour of the immortals, had compelled his lofty manhood to yield.

“From the Cydnus he brought me hither to the blissful days which we were permitted to pass in my city of Alexandria.  A thousand sunny hours, musical, echoing surges which long since dashed down the stream of Time, he recalled to life, and I—­I did the same, and our memories blended into one.  What never-to-be-forgotten moments we experienced when, with reckless mirth, we mingled unrecognized among the joyous throng!  What Olympic delight elated our hearts when the plaudits of thousands greeted us!  What joys satiated our minds and senses in our own apartments!  What pure, unalloyed nectar of the soul was bestowed upon us by our children—­ bliss which we shared with and imparted to each other until neither knew which was the giver and which the receiver!  Everything sad and painful seemed to be effaced from the book of memory; and the child’s dream, the fairy-tale woven by the power of imagination, stood before my soul as a reality—­the same reality, I repeat, which I call my past life.

“And, Charmian, if death comes to-morrow, should I say that he appeared too early—­summoned me ere he permitted life to bestow all its best gifts upon me?  No, no, and again no!  Whoever, in the last hour of existence, can say that the fairest dreams of childhood were surpassed by a long portion of actual life, may consider himself happy, even in the deepest need and on the verge of the grave.

“The aspiration to be first and highest among the women of her own time, which had already thrilled the young girl’s heart, was fulfilled.  The ardent longing for love which, even at that period, pervaded my whole being, was satisfied when I became a loving wife, mother, and Queen, and friendship, through the favour of Destiny, also bestowed upon me its greatest blessings by the hands of Archibius, Charmian, and Iras.

“Now I care not what may happen.  This evening taught me that life had fulfilled its pledges.  But others, too, must be enabled to remember the most brilliant of queens, who was also the most fervently beloved of women.  For this I will provide:  the mausoleum which Gorgias is erecting for me will stand like an indestructible wall between the Cleopatra who to-day still proudly wears the crown and her approaching humiliation and disgrace.