Thus ended the great and famous battle of Philippi, celebrated in history as marking the termination of the great conflict between the friends and the enemies of Caesar, which agitated the world so deeply after the conqueror's death. This battle established the ascendency of Antony, and made him for a time the most conspicuous man, as Cleopatra was the most conspicuous woman, in the world. CHAPTER X. CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY. Cleopatra espouses Antony's cause.--Her motives.--Antony's early life.--His character.--Personal habits of Antony.--His dress and manners.--Vicious indulgences of Antony.--Public condemnation.--Vices of the great.--Candidates for office.--Antony's excesses.--His luxury and extravagance.--Antony's energy.--His powers of endurance.--Antony's vicissitudes.--He inveighs away the troops of Lepidus.--Antony's marriage.--Fulvia's character.--Fulvia's influence over Antony.--The sudden return.--Change in Antony's character.--His generosity.--Funeral ceremonies of Brutus.--Antony's movements.--Antony's summons to Cleopatra.--The messenger Dellius.--Cleopatra resolves to go to Antony.--Her preparations.--Cleopatra enters the Cydnus.--Her splendid barge.--A scene of enchantment.--Antony's invitation refused. --Cleopatra's reception of Antony.--Antony outdone.--Murder of Arsinoë.--Cleopatra's manner of life at Tarsus.--Cleopatra's munificence.--Story of the pearls.--Position of Fulvia.--Her anxiety and distress.--Antony proposes to go to Rome.--His plans frustrated by Cleopatra.--Antony's infatuation.--Feasting and revelry.--Philotas.--The story of the eight boats.--Antony's son.--The garrulous guest.--The puzzle.--The gold and silver plate returned.--Debasing pleasures. --Antony and Cleopatra in disguise.--Fishing excursions.--Stratagems. --Fulvia's plans for compelling Antony to return.--Departure of Antony.--Chagrin of Cleopatra. How far Cleopatra was influenced, in her determination to espouse the cause of Antony rather than that of Brutus and Cassius, in the civil war described in the last chapter, by gratitude to Caesar, and how far, on the other hand, by personal interest in Antony, the reader must judge. Cleopatra had seen Antony, it will be recollected, some years before, during his visit to Egypt, when she was a young girl. She was doubtless well acquainted with his character. It was a character peculiarly fitted, in some respects, to captivate the imagination of a woman so ardent, and impulsive, and bold as Cleopatra was fast becoming.