The Story of Rome (49 page)

BOOK: The Story of Rome

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He, pushing aside the leaves that lay on the top, showed them the figs. The men admired their size, and bade him take them to the queen.

But at the foot of the basket, although the guards did not suspect it, there lay concealed under the fruit, an asp, whose bite was deadly poison.

When Cleopatra had the basket safe in her possession, she wrote to Cæsar to beg that she might be buried beside Antony. Then she bade her women array her in her royal robes and set her diadems upon her head.

And when this was done she lifted the asp from the basket and placed it upon her arm.

No sooner did the queen's letter reach Cæsar, than he sent in great haste to the mausoleum, for he feared that Cleopatra had found a way to die, although she had neither poison nor a dagger in her possession.

When Cæsar's messengers reached the guards, they asked if all was well. "All is well," answered the soldiers, but "when they had opened the door they found Cleopatra stark-dead, laid upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of her women, called Iras, dead at her feet, but her other woman, called Charmian, half dead and trembling, trimming the diadem which Cleopatra wore upon her head.

One of the soldiers seeing her, angrily said unto her, "Is this well done, Charmian?"

"Very well," she said again, "meet for a princess descended from the race of so many noble kings." She said no more, but fell down dead, hard by the bed.

The queen's last request was granted, for she was buried with royal splendour by the side of Antony.

CHAPTER CXXV

The Emperor Augustus

T
HE
Roman Republic came to an end after the Battle of Actium.

Henceforth until his death Cæsar ruled over the great Roman Empire, and he was now known as the Emperor Augustus. His reign began in 30
B
.
C
.
, and ended in 14
A
.
D
.

If he did not add much to his great dominions, he saw to it that, during his long reign of forty-four years, those within his realm were able to live at peace with each other and with foreign peoples. Once again, and for the third time since Romulus built the city of Rome, the gates of the temple of Janus were closed.

The Emperor came to be adored by the people of Rome, because his rule was kind and just. His magistrates were not allowed to oppress or rob the poor, while his merchants' ships were able to ply their trade without fear of pirates.

At one time Augustus was away from Italy for three years. His people longed for his return. Here are the very words in which the poet Horace expressed their desire.

"O best guardian of the race of Romulus," he wrote, "return . . . your country calls for you with vows and prayers . . . for when you are here the ox plods up and down the fields in safety; Ceres and bounteous blessing cheers our farms; our sailors speed o'er seas infested by no pirate; credit is kept unspotted; crime is checked, family life purified, none fears the invasion of the Parthian or German . . . each man closes a peaceful day on his native hills, trains his vines to the widowed trees, and home returning, light of heart, quaffs his wine and blesses you as his god."

When Augustus knew that the people really believed what the poet said in language more beautiful than they could frame, he must surely have felt rewarded for all the labours which he had undertaken for the sake of his country.

The Emperor died in 14
A
.
D
.
His wife Livia was with him to the end, and as he kissed her for the last time he said, "Good-bye, never forget our married life." Nor was she likely to do so, for Cæsar had ever loved her well, and treated her with respect. His adopted son, Tiberius, succeeded him.

Thus from the single city founded by Romulus in the Palatine Hill in 753
B
.
C
.
there grew up through struggle and victory, the mighty Empire, over which Augustus first ruled as Emperor. And this mighty Empire held within its bounds the whole of Europe south of Germany and the Danube, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, as well as a large part of the northern district of Africa.

"Thine, Roman, be the task to rule the nations with thy sway. These shall be thine arts—to impose the laws of peace, to spare the humbled and to crush in war the proud."

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Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter I. The Lady Roma

Chapter II. The She-Wolf

Chapter III. The Twin Boys

Chapter IV. Numitor Recognises His Grandsons

Chapter V. The Sacred Birds

Chapter VI. The Founding of Rome

Chapter VII. The Sabine Maidens

Chapter VIII. The Tarpeian Rock

Chapter IX. The Mysterious Gate

Chapter X. The King Disappears