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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
TWO FAMOUS WOMEN. 547
right hand, stood the peasant girl, who
had fed her flocks on the hillside, and lay
dreaming in the summer sun. She stood,
and as the ascending shout rent the still
air, and echoed through the dome, she
bowed her head, and felt her task fulfilled. Her lord, the king, was crowned,
and truly a sovereign; the siege was
raised ; the English were repulsed from
their strongholds; and she was content.
She tasted the few delightful drops in the
exhilirating draught of glory, and trembled with the wild electric thrill, that
responds in every heart to the intense
enthusiasm they have excited. They
shouted her name; they blessed her;
they knelt to her; they adored her as a
saint. As for her, she wept and prayed.
Aye, she besought the king to let her go
back to her father and her mother, and
tend again the herds that browsed on the
plains of Domremi. With one voice, the
people cried out against ii, and bending
before her, the king entreated that she
would continue to aidthem. Her family
were ennobled; gifts were lavished on
her; the people hailed her with lofty
titles; and she trembled at the greatness
bestowed upon her. Thus she reached
the hill-top of her destiny, and began to
descend again on the other side.
Cleopatra journeyed in splendor along
the bosom of the Nile to Tarsus. Her
silver-oared galley, her cloth of gold
canopy, her rich robes, wrought with
diamonds, pearls, and sapphires, have
been the theme of song and story. Her
gorgeous beauty, the splendid lustre of
her eyes, her rich hair’s dark magnificence, the lithe grace and luxuriant mould
of her exquisite form, are known to all,
just as we know that flowers are lovely,
or that there is perfume in a rose.
All her grandeur was of her own creation, there was nothing noble, so there
was no simplicityabout her. She gloried
in rich raiment, and grand spectacles,
because in all this witchery of the senses,
lay her power. ‘To charm the eye and
jure the heart, these were her attributes.
She journeyed to meet a warrior, a Roman hero, “the man Mare Antony ;”
and she came armed with all the deep
subtility of her bewitching smile, and the
dark glances of her glorious eyes, as true
and keen as any javelin. He met her at
“ the silver Cydnus’” brink, and thence
she led him captive, bound in invisible
chains,
Feasted and flattered, lulled with soft
music, charmed with brilliant pageants,
astounded by wild profusion, and mad
prodigality of wealth, pledged in pearl
draughts, and served on plates of gold,
he was no longer a free Roman, being
ruled and beguiled by the Egyptian Circe.
Cleopatra, to gain this supremacy, became herself a slave, laboring ceaselessly,
lest one link in this chain of fascination
should break, and he escape her thraldom.
Through Tarsus, Tyre, and Alexandria,
they went, still revelling and banqueting,
and their days flew by like butterflies
through a rare garden ; till the Parthian
war in Syria called him, and she loosed
the chain, or lengthened it, and let him
go, for her fortune had not gained its zenith yet, and she strove not altogether for
pleasure, but for power also. Returning
to her after years had given him extended
power, he laid the trophies of his battles
at the feet of Cleopatra, and all their joyous revelry resumed, she reigned supreme. Once more the wondering world
beheld their gay magnificence. Invention and ingenuity were taxed to yield
them new delights ; there was no thought
but for pleasure and enjoyment. From
this dalliance, Antony roused himself to
conquer Armenia, and brought back its
captive king. Laden with chains of
gold, he dragged him at his chariot
wheels, to pleasure Egypt’s dark-eyed
queen, who ruled his heart. j
Then Cleopatra reached the point,