CAESAR. What! you heard that, did you? I was saying my prayers to the great Sphinx. CLEOPATRA. But this isn't the great Sphinx. CAESAR (_much disappointed, looking up at the statue_). What! CLEOPATRA. This is only a dear little kitten of the Sphinx. Why, the great Sphinx is so big that it has a temple between its paws. This is my pet Sphinx. Tell me: do you think the Romans have any sorcerers who could take us away from the Sphinx by magic? CAESAR. Why? Are you afraid of the Romans? CLEOPATRA (_very seriously_). Oh, they would eat us if they caught us. They are barbarians. Their chief is called Julius Caesar. His father was a tiger and his mother a burning mountain; and his nose is like an elephant's trunk. (_Caesar involuntarily rubs his nose._) They all have long noses, and ivory tusks, and little tails, and seven arms with a hundred arrows in each; and they live on human flesh. CAESAR. Would you like me to shew you a real Roman? CLEOPATRA (_terrified_). No. You are frightening me. CAESAR. No matter: this is only a dream---- CLEOPATRA (_excitedly_). It is not a dream: it is not a dream. See, see. (_She plucks a pin from her hair and jabs it repeatedly into his arm._) CAESAR. Ffff--Stop. (_Wrathfully_) How dare you? CLEOPATRA (_abashed_). You said you were dreaming. (_Whimpering_) I only wanted to shew you---- CAESAR (_gently_). Come, come: don't cry. A queen mustn't cry. (_He rubs his arm, wondering at the reality of the smart._) Am I awake? (_He strikes his hand against the Sphinx to test its solidity. It feels so real that he begins to be alarmed, and says perplexedly_) Yes, I--(_quite panic-stricken_) no: impossible: madness, madness! (_Desperately_) Back to camp--to camp. (_He rises to spring down from the pedestal._) CLEOPATRA (_flinging her arms in terror round him_). No: you shan't leave me. No, no, no: don't go. I'm afraid--afraid of the Romans. CAESAR (_as the conviction that he is really awake forces itself on him_). Cleopatra: can you see my face well? CLEOPATRA. Yes. It is so white in the moonlight. CAESAR. Are you sure it is the moonlight that makes me look whiter than an Egyptian? (_Grimly_) Do you notice that I have a rather long nose? CLEOPATRA (_recoiling, paralyzed by a terrible suspicion_). Oh! CAESAR. It is a Roman nose, Cleopatra. CLEOPATRA. Ah! (_With a piercing scream she springs up; darts round the left shoulder of the Sphinx; scrambles down to the sand; and falls on her knees in frantic supplication, shrieking_) Bite him in two, Sphinx: bite him in two. I meant to sacrifice the white cat--I did indeed--I (_Caesar, who has slipped down from the pedestal, touches her on the shoulder_) Ah! (_She buries her head in her arms._) CAESAR. Cleopatra: shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from eating you? CLEOPATRA (_clinging to him piteously_). Oh do, do, do. I will steal Ftatateeta's jewels and give them to you. I will make the river Nile water your lands twice a year.