threatened power and secure peace to the empire? Cleopatra won over Canidius, after Ænobarbus the most noted captain of the army of the East; and by dint of prayers, coquetry, and money, it is said, she persuaded him to espouse her cause. He represented to Antony that it was neither just nor wise to send away an ally who furnished to the war supplies so considerable; that he would thus alienate the Egyptians, whose ships formed the main strength of the fleet. He added that Cleopatra was, in the council, inferior to none of the kings who were to fight under the orders of Antony; she, who had so long governed alone so great an empire, and who, since they had been associated together, had acquired still greater experience in affairs. He talked against reason, but he spoke in accordance with the heart of Antony, and Cleopatra remained with the army. Meanwhile the friends that still remained to Antony in Rome despatched one of their number, Geminius, to make a last attempt to free him from his mistress. Geminius for days tried in vain to see Antony alone. Cleopatra, who suspected the Roman of working in the interests of Octavia, never left her lover for an instant. At length, at the close of a supper, Antony, half-drunk, called upon Geminius to declare instantly the object of his coming. “The matters of which I have to speak,” replied Geminius angrily, “cannot be discussed after drinking; but what I can tell you as well drunk as sober is that all would be well if Cleopatra returned to Egypt.” In a rage, the queen exclaimed: “You do well to speak before the torture compels it.” Antony was no less enraged. The next day Geminius, feeling by no means in safety, reëmbarked for Italy. The vindictive Egyptian also bore malice against the friends of Antony who had joined with Ænobarbus to procure her departure. Sarcasms, offenses, insults, and ill offices were all employed by her so effectually that Silanus, Dellius (her former lover, it is said), and Plancus and Titius, both persons of consular dignity, abandoned the party of Antony.