RUFIO. Why, I believe it, Caesar. You have convinced me of it long ago. But look you. You are sailing for Numidia to-day. Now tell me: if you meet a hungry lion there, you will not punish it for wanting to eat you? CAESAR (_wondering what he is driving at_). No. RUFIO. Nor revenge upon it the blood of those it has already eaten. CAESAR. No. RUFIO. Nor judge it for its guiltiness. CAESAR. No. RUFIO. What, then, will you do to save your life from it? CAESAR (_promptly_). Kill it, man, without malice, just as it would kill me. What does this parable of the lion mean? RUFIO. Why, Cleopatra had a tigress that killed men at bidding. I thought she might bid it kill you some day. Well, had I not been Caesar's pupil, what pious things might I not have done to that tigress? I might have punished it. I might have revenged Pothinus on it. CAESAR (_interjects_). Pothinus! RUFIO (_continuing_). I might have judged it. But I put all these follies behind me; and, without malice, only cut its throat. And that is why Cleopatra comes to you in mourning. CLEOPATRA (_vehemently_). He has shed the blood of my servant Ftatateeta. On your head be it as upon his, Caesar, if you hold him free of it. CAESAR (_energetically_). On my head be it, then; for it was well done. Rufio: had you set yourself in the seat of the judge, and with hateful ceremonies and appeals to the gods handed that woman over to some hired executioner to be slain before the people in the name of justice, never again would I have touched your hand without a shudder. But this was natural slaying: I feel no horror at it. _Rufio, satisfied, nods at Cleopatra, mutely inviting her to mark that._ CLEOPATRA (_pettish and childish in her impotence_). No: not when a Roman slays an Egyptian. All the world will now see how unjust and corrupt Caesar is. CAESAR (_taking her handy coaxingly_). Come: do not be angry with me. I am sorry for that poor Totateeta. (_She laughs in spite of herself._) Aha! you are laughing. Does that mean reconciliation? CLEOPATRA (_angry with herself for laughing_). No, _no_, NO!! But it is so ridiculous to hear you call her Totateeta. CAESAR. What! As much a child as ever, Cleopatra! Have I not made a woman of you after all? CLEOPATRA. Oh, it is you who are a great baby: you make me seem silly because you will not behave seriously. But you have treated me badly; and I do not forgive you. CAESAR. Bid me farewell. CLEOPATRA. I will not. CAESAR (_coaxing_). I will send you a beautiful present from Rome. CLEOPATRA (_proudly_). Beauty from Rome to Egypt indeed! What can Rome give _me_ that Egypt cannot give me? APOLLODORUS. That is true, Caesar. If the present is to be really beautiful, I shall have to buy it for you in Alexandria. CAESAR. You are forgetting the treasures for which Rome is most famous, my friend. You cannot buy _them_ in Alexandria. APOLLODORUS. What are they, Caesar?