The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume I (of X) - Greece
History
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume I (of X) - Greece
Literature -- Collections
Therefore Caesar did put Caesarion to death, after the death of his
mother Cleopatra. Many princes, great kings and captains did crave
Antony's body of Octavius Caesar, to give him honourable burial: but
Caesar would never take it from Cleopatra, who did sumptuously and
royally bury him with her own hands, whom Caesar suffered to take as
much as she would to bestow upon his funerals.
Now was she altogether overcome with sorrow and passion of mind, for
she had knocked her breast so pitifully, that she had martyred it, and
in divers places had raised ulcers and inflammations, so that she fell
into a fever withal: whereof she was very glad, hoping thereby to have
good colour to abstain from meat, and that so she might have died
easily without any trouble. She had a physician called Olympus, whom
she made privy of her intent, to the end he should help her rid her
out of her life: as Olympus writeth himself, who wrote a book of all
these things. But Caesar mistrusted the matter, by many conjectures he
had, and therefore did put her in fear, and threatened her to put her
children to shameful death. With these threats, Cleopatra for fear
yielded straight, as she would have yielded unto strokes: and
afterwards suffered her self to be cured and dieted as they listed.
Shortly after, Caesar came himself in person to see her, and to comfort
her. Cleopatra being laid upon a little low bed in poor state, when
she saw Caesar come into her chamber, she suddenly rose up, naked in
her smock, and fell down at his feet marvellously disfigured: both for
that she had plucked her hair from her head, as also for that she had
martyred all her face with her nails, and besides, her voice was small
and trembling, her eyes sunk into her head with continual blubbering
and moreover, they might see the most part of her stomach torn in
sunder. To be short, her body was not much better than her mind: yet
her good grace and comeliness, and the force of her beauty was not
altogether defaced. But notwithstanding this ugly and pitiful state of
hers, yet she shewed her self within, by her outward looks and
countenance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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