CAESAR (_to Cleopatra_). You see. Torture would not have wrung a word from him. POTHINUS. Caesar: you have taught Cleopatra the arts by which the Romans govern the world. CAESAR. Alas! they cannot even govern themselves. What then? POTHINUS. What then? Are you so besotted with her beauty that you do not see that she is impatient to reign in Egypt alone, and that her heart is set on your departure? CLEOPATRA (_rising_). Liar! CAESAR (_shocked_). What! Protestations! Contradictions! CLEOPATRA (_ashamed, but trembling with suppressed rage_). No. I do not deign to contradict. Let him talk. (_She sits down again._) POTHINUS. From her own lips I have heard it. You are to be her catspaw: you are to tear the crown from her brother's head and set it on her own, delivering us all into her hand--delivering yourself also. And then Caesar can return to Rome, or depart through the gate of death, which is nearer and surer. CAESAR (_calmly_). Well, my friend; and is not this very natural? POTHINUS (_astonished_). Natural! Then you do not resent treachery? CAESAR. Resent! O thou foolish Egyptian, what have I to do with resentment? Do I resent the wind when it chills me, or the night when it makes me stumble in the darkness? Shall I resent youth when it turns from age, and ambition when it turns from servitude? To tell me such a story as this is but to tell me that the sun will rise to-morrow. CLEOPATRA (_unable to contain herself_). But it is false--false. I swear it. CAESAR. It is true, though you swore it a thousand times, and believed all you swore. (_She is convulsed with emotion. To screen her, he rises and takes Pothinus to Rufio, saying_) Come, Rufio: let us see Pothinus past the guard. I have a word to say to him. (_Aside to them_) We must give the Queen a moment to recover herself. (_Aloud_) Come. (_He takes Pothinus and Rufio out with him, conversing with them meanwhile._) Tell your friends, Pothinus, that they must not think I am opposed to a reasonable settlement of the country's affairs-- (_They pass out of hearing._) CLEOPATRA (_in a stifled whisper_). Ftatateeta, Ftatateeta. FTATATEETA (_hurrying to her from the table and petting her_). Peace, child: be comforted---- CLEOPATRA (_interrupting her_). Can they hear us? FTATATEETA. No, dear heart, no. CLEOPATRA. Listen to me. If he leaves the Palace alive, never see my face again. FTATATEETA. He? Poth---- CLEOPATRA (_striking her on the mouth_). Strike his life out as I strike his name from your lips. Dash him down from the wall. Break him on the stones. Kill, kill, _kill_ him. FTATATEETA (_shewing all her teeth_). The dog shall perish. CLEOPATRA. Fail in this, and you go out from before me forever. FTATATEETA (_resolutely_). So be it. You shall not see my face until his eyes are darkened. _Caesar comes back, with Apollodorus, exquisitely dressed, and Rufio._