discharged the debt out of the spoils of the Egyptians. [-5-] He settled this and the rest of the urgent business, and gave to such as had received a kind of semi-amnesty the right to live in Italy, not before permitted. After this he forgave the populace left behind in Rome for not having come to him, and on the thirtieth day after his arrival set sail again for Greece. In the midst of winter he dragged his ships across the isthmus of the Peloponnesus and got back to Asia so quickly that Antony and Cleopatra received each piece of news simultaneously,--that he had departed and that he had returned. They, on fleeing from the naval battle, had gone as far as the Peloponnesus together. From there they sent away some of their associates,--all, in fact, whom they suspected,--while many withdrew against their will, and Cleopatra hastened to Egypt, for fear that her subjects might perhaps revolt, if they heard of the disaster before her coming. In order to make her approach safe, at any rate, she crowned her prows, as a sign of conquest, with garlands, and had some songs of victory sung by flute-players. When she reached safety, she murdered many of the foremost men, who had ever been restless under her rule and were now in a state of excitement at her disaster. From their estates and from various repositories hallowed and sacred she gathered a vast store of wealth, sparing not even the most revered of consecrated treasures. She fitted out her forces and looked about for possible alliances. The Armenian king she killed and sent his head to the Median, who might be influenced by this act, she thought, to aid them. As for Antony, he sailed to Pinarius Scarpus in Libya, and to the army previously collected under him there for the protection of Egypt. This general, however, would[69] not receive him and also slew the first men that Antony sent, besides destroying some of the soldiers under his command who showed displeasure at this act. Then Antony, too, proceeded to Alexandria, having accomplished nothing.