CLEOPATRA. There, there: that will do: let him come in. (_She resumes her seat. All sit down except Pothinus, who advances to the middle of the room. Ftatateeta takes her former place._) Well, Pothinus: what is the latest news from your rebel friends? POTHINUS (_haughtily_). I am no friend of rebellion. And a prisoner does not receive news. CLEOPATRA. You are no more a prisoner than I am--than Caesar is. These six months we have been besieged in this palace by my subjects. You are allowed to walk on the beach among the soldiers. Can I go further myself, or can Caesar? POTHINUS. You are but a child, Cleopatra, and do not understand these matters. _The ladies laugh. Cleopatra looks inscrutably at him._ CHARMIAN. I see you do not know the latest news, Pothinus. POTHINUS. What is that? CHARMIAN. That Cleopatra is no longer a child. Shall I tell you how to grow much older, and much, _much_ wiser in one day? POTHINUS. I should prefer to grow wiser without growing older. CHARMIAN. Well, go up to the top of the lighthouse; and get somebody to take you by the hair and throw you into the sea. (_The ladies laugh._) CLEOPATRA. She is right, Pothinus: you will come to the shore with much conceit washed out of you. (_The ladies laugh. Cleopatra rises impatiently._) Begone, all of you. I will speak with Pothinus alone. Drive them out, Ftatateeta. (_They run out laughing. Ftatateeta shuts the door on them._) What are _you_ waiting for? FTATATEETA. It is not meet that the Queen remain alone with---- CLEOPATRA (_interrupting her_). Ftatateeta: must I sacrifice you to your father's gods to teach you that _I_ am Queen of Egypt, and not you? FTATATEETA (_indignantly_). You are like the rest of them. You want to be what these Romans call a New Woman. (_She goes out, banging the door._) CLEOPATRA (_sitting down again_). Now, Pothinus: why did you bribe Ftatateeta to bring you hither? POTHINUS (_studying her gravely_). Cleopatra: what they tell me is true. You are changed. CLEOPATRA. Do you speak with Caesar every day for six months: and _you_ will be changed. POTHINUS. It is the common talk that you are infatuated with this old man. CLEOPATRA. Infatuated? What does that mean? Made foolish, is it not? Oh no: I wish I were. POTHINUS. You wish you were made foolish! How so? CLEOPATRA. When I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta beat me; and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking; I do what must be done, and have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness; but it is greatness. If Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to me, I am to the fools around me. POTHINUS (_looking hard at her_). Cleopatra: this may be the vanity of youth. CLEOPATRA. No, no: it is not that I am so clever, but that the others are so stupid. POTHINUS (_musingly_). Truly, that is the great secret.