Caesar and Cleopatra
by
George Bernard Shaw
Part 1 out of 3
This etext was produced by Eve Sobol, South Bend, Indiana, USA
CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
ACT I
An October night on the Syrian border of Egypt towards the end of
the XXXIII Dynasty, in the year 706 by Roman computation,
afterwards reckoned by Christian computation as 48 B.C. A great
radiance of silver fire, the dawn of a moonlit night, is rising
in the east. The stars and the cloudless sky are our own
contemporaries, nineteen and a half centuries younger than we
know them; but you would not guess that from their appearance.
Below them are two notable drawbacks of civilization: a palace,
and soldiers. The palace, an old, low, Syrian building of
whitened mud, is not so ugly as Buckingham Palace; and the
officers in the courtyard are more highly civilized than modern
English officers: for example, they do not dig up the corpses of
their dead enemies and mutilate them, as we dug up Cromwell and
the Mahdi. They are in two groups: one intent on the gambling of
their captain Belzanor, a warrior of fifty, who, with his spear
on the ground beside his knee, is stooping to throw dice with a
sly-looking young Persian recruit; the other gathered about a
guardsman who has just finished telling a naughty story (still
current in English barracks) at which they are laughing
uproariously. They are about a dozen in number, all highly
aristocratic young Egyptian guardsmen, handsomely equipped with
weapons and armor, very unEnglish in point of not being ashamed
of and uncomfortable in their professional dress; on the
contrary, rather ostentatiously and arrogantly warlike, as
valuing themselves on their military caste.
Belzanor is a typical veteran, tough and wilful; prompt, capable
and crafty where brute force will serve; helpless and boyish when
it will not: an effective sergeant, an incompetent general, a
deplorable dictator. Would, if influentially connected, be
employed in the two last capacities by a modern European State on
the strength of his success in the first. Is rather to be pitied
just now in view of the fact that Julius Caesar is invading his
country. Not knowing this, is intent on his game with the
Persian, whom, as a foreigner, he considers quite capable of
cheating him.
His subalterns are mostly handsome young fellows whose interest
in the game and the story symbolizes with tolerable completeness
the main interests in life of which they are conscious. Their
spears are leaning against the walls, or lying on the ground
ready to their hands. The corner of the courtyard forms a
triangle of which one side is the front of the palace, with a
doorway, the other a wall with a gateway. The storytellers are on
the palace side: the gamblers, on the gateway side. Close to the
gateway, against the wall, is a stone block high enough to enable
a Nubian sentinel, standing on it, to look over the wall. The
yard is lighted by a torch stuck in the wall. As the laughter
from the group round the storyteller dies away, the kneeling
Persian, winning the throw, snatches up the stake from the
ground.
BELZANOR. By Apis, Persian, thy gods are good to thee.
THE PERSIAN. Try yet again, O captain. Double or quits!
BELZANOR. No more. I am not in the vein.
THE SENTINEL (poising his javelin as he peers over the wall).
Stand. Who goes there?
They all start, listening. A strange voice replies from without.
VOICE. The bearer of evil tidings.
BELZANOR (calling to the sentry). Pass him.
THE SENTINEL. (grounding his javelin). Draw near, O bearer of
evil tidings.
BELZANOR (pocketing the dice and picking up his spear). Let us
receive this man with honor. He bears evil tidings.
The guardsmen seize their spears and gather about the gate,
leaving a way through for the new comer.
PERSIAN (rising from his knee). Are evil tidings, then,
honorable?
BELZANOR. O barbarous Persian, hear my instruction. In Egypt the
bearer of good tidings is sacrificed to the gods as a thank
offering but no god will accept the blood of the messenger of
evil. When we have good tidings, we are careful to send them in
the mouth of the cheapest slave we can find. Evil tidings are
borne by young noblemen who desire to bring themselves into
notice. (They join the rest at the gate.)
THE SENTINEL. Pass, O young captain; and bow the head in the
House of the Queen.
VOICE. Go anoint thy javelin with fat of swine, O Blackamoor; for
before morning the Romans will make thee eat it to the very butt.
The owner of the voice, a fairhaired dandy, dressed in a
different fashion to that affected by the guardsmen, but no less
extravagantly, comes through the gateway laughing. He is somewhat
battlestained; and his left forearm, bandaged, comes through a
torn sleeve. In his right hand he carries a Roman sword in its
sheath. He swaggers down the courtyard, the Persian on his right,
Belzanor on his left, and the guardsmen crowding down behind him.
BELZANOR. Who art thou that laughest in the House of Cleopatra
the Queen, and in the teeth of Belzanor, the captain of her
guard?
THE NEW COMER. I am Bel Affris, descended from the gods.
BELZANOR (ceremoniously). Hail, cousin!
ALL (except the Persian). Hail, cousin!
PERSIAN. All the Queen's guards are descended from the gods, O
stranger, save myself. I am Persian, and descended from many
kings.
BEL AFFRIS (to the guardsmen). Hail, cousins! (To the Persian,
condescendingly) Hail, mortal!
BELZANOR. You have been in battle, Bel Affris; and you are a
soldier among soldiers. You will not let the Queen's women have
the first of your tidings.
BEL AFFRIS. I have no tidings, except that we shall have our
throats cut presently, women, soldiers, and all.
PERSIAN (to Belzanor). I told you so.
THE SENTINEL (who has been listening). Woe, alas!
BEL AFFRIS (calling to him). Peace, peace, poor Ethiop: destiny
is with the gods who painted thee black. (To Belzanor) What has
this mortal (indicating the Persian) told you?
BELZANOR. He says that the Roman Julius Caesar, who has landed on
our shores with a handful of followers, will make himself master
of Egypt. He is afraid of the Roman soldiers. (The guardsmen
laugh with boisterous scorn.) Peasants, brought up to scare crows
and follow the plough. Sons of smiths and millers and tanners!
And we nobles, consecrated to arms, descended from the gods!
PERSIAN. Belzanor: the gods are not always good to their poor
relations.
BELZANOR (hotly, to the Persian). Man to man, are we worse than
the slaves of Caesar?
BEL AFFRIS (stepping between them). Listen, cousin. Man to man,
we Egyptians are as gods above the Romans.
THE GUARDSMEN (exultingly). Aha!
BEL AFFRIS. But this Caesar does not pit man against man: he
throws a legion at you where you are weakest as he throws a stone
from a catapult; and that legion is as a man with one head, a
thousand arms, and no religion. I have fought against them; and I
know.
BELZANOR (derisively). Were you frightened, cousin?
The guardsmen roar with laughter, their eyes sparkling at the
wit of their captain.
BEL AFFRIS. No, cousin; but I was beaten. They were frightened
(perhaps); but they scattered us like chaff.
The guardsmen, much damped, utter a growl of contemptuous
disgust.
BELZANOR. Could you not die?
BEL AFFRIS. No: that was too easy to be worthy of a descendant of
the gods. Besides, there was no time: all was over in a moment.
The attack came just where we least expected it.
BELZANOR. That shows that the Romans are cowards.
BEL AFFRIS. They care nothing about cowardice, these Romans: they
fight to win. The pride and honor of war are nothing to them.
PERSIAN. Tell us the tale of the battle. What befell?
THE GUARDSMEN (gathering eagerly round Bel Afris). Ay: the tale
of the battle.
BEL AFFRIS. Know then, that I am a novice in the guard of the
temple of Ra in Memphis, serving neither Cleopatra nor her
brother Ptolemy, but only the high gods. We went a journey to
inquire of Ptolemy why he had driven Cleopatra into Syria, and
how we of Egypt should deal with the Roman Pompey, newly come to
our shores after his defeat by Caesar at Pharsalia. What, think
ye, did we learn? Even that Caesar is coming also in hot pursuit
of his foe, and that Ptolemy has slain Pompey, whose severed head
he holds in readiness to present to the conqueror. (Sensation
among the guardsmen.) Nay, more: we found that Caesar is already
come; for we had not made half a day's journey on our way back
when we came upon a city rabble flying from his legions, whose
landing they had gone out to withstand.
BELZANOR. And ye, the temple guard! Did you not withstand these
legions?
BEL AFFRIS. What man could, that we did. But there came the sound
of a trumpet whose voice was as the cursing of a black mountain.
Then saw we a moving wall of shields coming towards us. You know
how the heart burns when you charge a fortified wall; but how if
the fortified wall were to charge YOU?
THE PERSIAN (exulting in having told them so). Did I not say it?
BEL AFFRIS. When the wall came nigh, it changed into a line of
men--common fellows enough, with helmets, leather tunics, and
breastplates. Every man of them flung his javelin: the one that
came my way drove through my shield as through a papyrus--lo
there! (he points to the bandage on his left arm) and would have
gone through my neck had I not stooped. They were charging at the
double then, and were upon us with short swords almost as soon as
their javelins. When a man is close to you with such a sword, you
can do nothing with our weapons: they are all too long.
THE PERSIAN. What did you do?
BEL AFFRIS. Doubled my fist and smote my Roman on the sharpness
of his jaw. He was but mortal after all: he lay down in a stupor;
and I took his sword and laid it on. (Drawing the sword) Lo! a
Roman sword with Roman blood on it!
THE GUARDSMEN (approvingly). Good! (They take the sword and hand
it round, examining it curiously.)
THE PERSIAN. And your men?
BEL AFFRIS. Fled. Scattered like sheep.
BELZANOR (furiously). The cowardly slaves! Leaving the
descendants of the gods to be butchered!
BEL AFFRIS (with acid coolness). The descendants of the gods did
not stay to be butchered, cousin. The battle was not to the
strong; but the race was to the swift. The Romans, who have no
chariots, sent a cloud of horsemen in pursuit, and slew
multitudes. Then our high priest's captain rallied a dozen
descendants of the gods and exhorted us to die fighting. I said
to myself: surely it is safer to stand than to lose my breath and
be stabbed in the back; so I joined our captain and stood. Then
the Romans treated us with respect; for no man attacks a lion
when the field is full of sheep, except for the pride and honor
of war, of which these Romans know nothing. So we escaped with
our lives; and I am come to warn you that you must open your
gates to Caesar; for his advance guard is scarce an hour behind
me; and not an Egyptian warrior is left standing between you and
his legions.
THE SENTINEL. Woe, alas! (He throws down his javelin and flies
into the palace.)
BELZANOR. Nail him to the door, quick! (The guardsmen rush for
him with their spears; but he is too quick for them.) Now this
news will run through the palace like fire through stubble.
BEL AFFRIS. What shall we do to save the women from the Romans?
BELZANOR. Why not kill them?
PERSIAN. Because we should have to pay blood money for some of
them. Better let the Romans kill them: it is cheaper.
BELZANOR (awestruck at his brain power). O subtle one! O
serpent!
BEL AFFRIS. But your Queen?
BELZANOR. True: we must carry off Cleopatra.
BEL AFFRIS. Will ye not await her command?
BELZANOR. Command! A girl of sixteen! Not we. At Memphis ye deem
her a Queen: here we know better. I will take her on the crupper
of my horse. When we soldiers have carried her out of Caesar's
reach, then the priests and the nurses and the rest of them can
pretend she is a queen again, and put their commands into her
mouth.
PERSIAN. Listen to me, Belzanor.
BELZANOR. Speak, O subtle beyond thy years.
THE PERSIAN. Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy is at war with her. Let
us sell her to him.
THE GUARDSMEN. O subtle one! O serpent!
BELZANOR. We dare not. We are descended from the gods; but
Cleopatra is descended from the river Nile; and the lands of our
fathers will grow no grain if the Nile rises not to water them.
Without our father's gifts we should live the lives of dogs.
PERSIAN. It is true: the Queen's guard cannot live on its pay.
But hear me further, O ye kinsmen of Osiris.
THE GUARDSMEN. Speak, O subtle one. Hear the serpent begotten!
PERSIAN. Have I heretofore spoken truly to you of Caesar, when
you thought I mocked you?
GUARDSMEN. Truly, truly.
BELZANOR (reluctantly admitting it). So Bel Affris says.
PERSIAN. Hear more of him, then. This Caesar is a great lover of
women: he makes them his friends and counselors.
BELZANOR. Faugh! This rule of women will be the ruin of Egypt.
THE PERSIAN. Let it rather be the ruin of Rome! Caesar grows old
now: he is past fifty and full of labors and battles. He is too
old for the young women; and the old women are too wise to
worship him.
BEL AFFRIS. Take heed, Persian. Caesar is by this time almost
within earshot.
PERSIAN. Cleopatra is not yet a woman: neither is she wise. But
she already troubles men's wisdom.
BELZANOR. Ay: that is because she is descended from the river
Nile and a black kitten of the sacred White Cat. What then?
PERSIAN. Why, sell her secretly to Ptolemy, and then offer
ourselves to Caesar as volunteers to fight for the overthrow of
her brother and the rescue of our Queen, the Great Granddaughter
of the Nile.
THE GUARDSMEN. O serpent!
PERSIAN. He will listen to us if we come with her picture in our
mouths. He will conquer and kill her brother, and reign in Egypt
with Cleopatra for his Queen. And we shall be her guard.
GUARDSMEN. O subtlest of all the serpents! O admiration! O
wisdom!
BEL AFFRIS. He will also have arrived before you have done
talking, O word spinner.
BELZANOR. That is true. (An affrighted uproar in the palace
interrupts him.) Quick: the flight has begun: guard the door.
(They rush to the door and form a cordon before it with their
spears. A mob of women-servants and nurses surges out. Those in
front recoil from the spears, screaming to those behind to keep
back. Belzanor's voice dominates the disturbance as he shouts)
Back there. In again, unprofitable cattle.
THE GUARDSMEN. Back, unprofitable cattle.
BELZANOR. Send us out Ftatateeta, the Queen's chief nurse.
THE WOMEN (calling into the palace). Ftatateeta, Ftatateeta.
Come, come. Speak to Belzanor.
A WOMAN. Oh, keep back. You are thrusting me on the spearheads.
A huge grim woman, her face covered with a network of tiny
wrinkles, and her eyes old, large, and wise; sinewy handed, very
tall, very strong; with the mouth of a bloodhound and the jaws of
a bulldog, appears on the threshold. She is dressed like a person
of consequence in the palace, and confronts the guardsmen
insolently.
FTATATEETA. Make way for the Queen's chief nurse.
BELZANOR. (with solemn arrogance). Ftatateeta: I am Belzanor, the
captain of the Queen's guard, descended from the gods.
FTATATEETA. (retorting his arrogance with interest). Belzanor: I
am Ftatateeta, the Queen's chief nurse; and your divine ancestors
were proud to be painted on the wall in the pyramids of the kings
whom my fathers served.
The women laugh triumphantly.
BELZANOR (with grim humor) Ftatateeta: daughter of a
long-tongued, swivel-eyed chameleon, the Romans are at hand. (A
cry of terror from the women: they would fly but for the spears.)
Not even the descendants of the gods can resist them; for they
have each man seven arms, each carrying seven spears. The blood
in their veins is boiling quicksilver; and their wives become
mothers in three hours, and are slain and eaten the next day.
A shudder of horror from the women. Ftatateeta, despising them
and scorning the soldiers, pushes her way through the crowd and
confronts the spear points undismayed.
FTATATEETA. Then fly and save yourselves, O cowardly sons of the
cheap clay gods that are sold to fish porters; and leave us to
shift for ourselves.
BELZANOR. Not until you have first done our bidding, O terror of
manhood. Bring out Cleopatra the Queen to us and then go whither
you will.
FTATATEETA (with a derisive laugh). Now I know why the gods have
taken her out of our hands. (The guardsmen start and look at one
another). Know, thou foolish soldier, that the Queen has been
missing since an hour past sun down.
BELZANOR (furiously). Hag: you have hidden her to sell to Caesar
or her brother. (He grasps her by the left wrist, and drags her,
helped by a few of the guard, to the middle of the courtyard,
where, as they fling her on her knees, he draws a murderous
looking knife.) Where is she? Where is she? or-- (He threatens to
cut her throat.)
FTATATEETA (savagely). Touch me, dog; and the Nile will not rise
on your fields for seven times seven years of famine.
BELZANOR (frightened, but desperate). I will sacrifice: I will
pay. Or stay. (To the Persian) You, O subtle one: your father's
lands lie far from the Nile. Slay her.
PERSIAN (threatening her with his knife). Persia has but one god;
yet he loves the blood of old women. Where is Cleopatra?
FTATATEETA. Persian: as Osiris lives, I do not know. I chide her
for bringing evil days upon us by talking to the sacred cats of
the priests, and carrying them in her arms. I told her she would
be left alone here when the Romans came as a punishment for her
disobedience. And now she is gone--run away--hidden. I speak the
truth. I call Osiris to witness.
THE WOMEN (protesting officiously). She speaks the truth,
Belzanor.
BELZANOR. You have frightened the child: she is hiding. Search--
quick--into the palace--search every corner.
The guards, led by Belzanor, shoulder their way into the palace
through the flying crowd of women, who escape through the
courtyard gate.
FTATATEETA (screaming). Sacrilege! Men in the Queen's chambers!
Sa-- (Her voice dies away as the Persian puts his knife to her
throat.)
BEL AFFRIS (laying a hand on Ftatateeta's left shoulder). Forbear
her yet a moment, Persian. (To Ftatateeta, very significantly)
Mother: your gods are asleep or away hunting; and the sword is at
your throat. Bring us to where the Queen is hid, and you shall
live.
FTATATEETA (contemptuously). Who shall stay the sword in the hand
of a fool, if the high gods put it there? Listen to me, ye young
men without understanding. Cleopatra fears me; but she fears the
Romans more. There is but one power greater in her eyes than the
wrath of the Queen's nurse and the cruelty of Caesar; and that is
the power of the Sphinx that sits in the desert watching the way
to the sea. What she would have it know, she tells into the ears
of the sacred cats; and on her birthday she sacrifices to it and
decks it with poppies. Go ye therefore into the desert and seek
Cleopatra in the shadow of the Sphinx; and on your heads see to
it that no harm comes to her.
BEL AFFRIS (to the Persian). May we believe this, O subtle one?
PERSIAN. Which way come the Romans?
BEL AFFRIS. Over the desert, from the sea, by this very Sphinx.
PERSIAN (to Ftatateeta). O mother of guile! O aspic's tongue! You
have made up this tale so that we two may go into the desert and
perish on the spears of the Romans. (Lifting his knife) Taste
death.
FTATATEETA. Not from thee, baby. (She snatches his ankle from
under him and flies stooping along the palace wall vanishing in
the darkness within its precinct. Bel Affris roars with laughter
as the Persian tumbles. The guardsmen rush out of the palace with
Belzanor and a mob of fugitives, mostly carrying bundles.)
PERSIAN. Have you found Cleopatra?
BELZANOR. She is gone. We have searched every corner.
THE NUBIAN SENTINEL (appearing at the door of the palace). Woe!
Alas! Fly, fly!
BELZANOR. What is the matter now?
THE NUBIAN SENTINEL. The sacred white cat has been stolen. Woe!
Woe! (General panic. They all fly with cries of consternation.
The torch is thrown down and extinguished in the rush. Darkness.
The noise of the fugitives dies away. Dead silence. Suspense.
Then the blackness and stillness breaks softly into silver mist
and strange airs as the windswept harp of Memnon plays at the
dawning of the moon. It rises full over the desert; and a vast
horizon comes into relief, broken by a huge shape which soon
reveals itself in the spreading radiance as a Sphinx pedestalled
on the sands. The light still clears, until the upraised eyes of
the image are distinguished looking straight forward and upward
in infinite fearless vigil, and a mass of color between its great
paws defines itself as a heap of red poppies on which a girl
lies motionless, her silken vest heaving gently and regularly
with the breathing of a dreamless sleeper, and her braided hair
glittering in a shaft of moonlight like a bird's wing.
Suddenly there comes from afar a vaguely fearful sound (it
might be the bellow of a Minotaur softened by great distance) and
Memnon's music stops. Silence: then a few faint high-ringing
trumpet notes. Then silence again. Then a man comes from
the south with stealing steps, ravished by the mystery of the
night, all wonder, and halts, lost in contemplation, opposite the
left flank of the Sphinx, whose bosom, with its burden, is hidden
from him by its massive shoulder.)
THE MAN. Hail, Sphinx: salutation from Julius Caesar! I have
wandered in many lands, seeking the lost regions from which my
birth into this world exiled me, and the company of creatures
such as I myself. I have found flocks and pastures, men and
cities, but no other Caesar, no air native to me, no man kindred
to me, none who can do my day's deed, and think my night's
thought. In the little world yonder, Sphinx, my place is as high
as yours in this great desert; only I wander, and you sit still;
I conquer, and you endure; I work and wonder, you watch and wait;
I look up and am dazzled, look down and am darkened, look round
and am puzzled, whilst your eyes never turn from looking out--out
of the world--to the lost region--the home from which we have
strayed. Sphinx, you and I, strangers to the race of men, are no
strangers to one another: have I not been conscious of you and of
this place since I was born? Rome is a madman's dream: this is my
Reality. These starry lamps of yours I have seen from afar in
Gaul, in Britain, in Spain, in Thessaly, signalling great secrets
to some eternal sentinel below, whose post I never could find.
And here at last is their sentinel--an image of the constant and
immortal part of my life, silent, full of thoughts, alone in the
silver desert. Sphinx, Sphinx: I have climbed mountains at night
to hear in the distance the stealthy footfall of the winds that
chase your sands in forbidden play--our invisible children, O
Sphinx, laughing in whispers. My way hither was the way of
destiny; for I am he of whose genius you are the symbol: part
brute, part woman, and part God--nothing of man in me at all.
Have I read your riddle, Sphinx?
THE GIRL (who has wakened, and peeped cautiously from her nest to
see who is speaking). Old gentleman.
CAESAR (starting violently, and clutching his sword). Immortal
gods!
THE GIRL. Old gentleman: don't run away.
CAESAR (stupefied). "Old gentleman: don't run away!!!" This! To
Julius Caesar!
THE GIRL (urgently). Old gentleman.
CAESAR. Sphinx: you presume on your centuries. I am younger than
you, though your voice is but a girl's voice as yet.
THE GIRL. Climb up here, quickly; or the Romans will come and eat
you.
CAESAR (running forward past the Sphinx's shoulder, and seeing
her). A child at its breast! A divine child!
THE GIRL. Come up quickly. You must get up at its side and creep
round.
CAESAR (amazed). Who are you?
THE GIRL. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
CAESAR. Queen of the Gypsies, you mean.
CLEOPATRA. You must not be disrespectful to me, or the Sphinx
will let the Romans eat you. Come up. It is quite cosy here.
CAESAR (to himself). What a dream! What a magnificent dream! Only
let me not wake, and I will conquer ten continents to pay for
dreaming it out to the end. (He climbs to the Sphinx's flank, and
presently reappears to her on the pedestal, stepping round its
right shoulder.)
CLEOPATRA. Take care. That's right. Now sit down: you may have
its other paw. (She seats herself comfortably on its left paw.)
It is very powerful and will protect us; but (shivering, and with
plaintive loneliness) it would not take any notice of me or keep
me company. I am glad you have come: I was very lonely. Did you
happen to see a white cat anywhere?
CAESAR (sitting slowly down on the right paw in extreme
wonderment). Have you lost one?
CLEOPATRA. Yes: the sacred white cat: is it not dreadful? I
brought him here to sacrifice him to the Sphinx; but when we got
a little way from the city a black cat called him, and he jumped
out of my arms and ran away to it. Do you think that the black
cat can have been my great-great-great-grandmother?
CAESAR (staring at her). Your great-great-great-grandmother!
Well, why not? Nothing would surprise me on this night of nights.
CLEOPATRA. I think it must have been. My great-grandmother's
great-grandmother was a black kitten of the sacred white cat; and
the river Nile made her his seventh wife. That is why my hair is
so wavy. And I always want to be let do as I like, no matter
whether it is the will of the gods or not: that is because my
blood is made with Nile water.
CAESAR. What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you
live here?
CLEOPATRA. Of course not: I am the Queen; and I shall live in the
palace at Alexandria when I have killed my brother, who drove me
out of it. When I am old enough I shall do just what I like. I
shall be able to poison the slaves and see them wriggle, and
pretend to Ftatateeta that she is going to be put into the fiery
furnace.
CAESAR. Hm! Meanwhile why are you not at home and in bed?
CLEOPATRA. Because the Romans are coming to eat us all. YOU are
not at home and in bed either.
CAESAR (with conviction). Yes I am. I live in a tent; and I am
now in that tent, fast asleep and dreaming. Do you suppose that I
believe you are real, you impossible little dream witch?
CLEOPATRA (giggling and leaning trustfully towards him). You are
a funny old gentleman. I like you.
CAESAR. Ah, that spoils the dream. Why don't you dream that I am
young?
CLEOPATRA. I wish you were; only I think I should be more afraid
of you. I like men, especially young men with round strong arms;
but I am afraid of them. You are old and rather thin and stringy;
but you have a nice voice; and I like to have somebody to talk
to, though I think you are a little mad. It is the moon that
makes you talk to yourself in that silly way.
CAESAR. What! you heard that, did you? I was saying my prayers to
the great Sphinx.
CLEOPATRA. But this isn't the great Sphinx.
CAESAR (much disappointed, looking up at the statue). What!
CLEOPATRA. This is only a dear little kitten of the Sphinx. Why,
the great Sphinx is so big that it has a temple between its paws.
This is my pet Sphinx. Tell me: do you think the Romans have any
sorcerers who could take us away from the Sphinx by magic?
CAESAR. Why? Are you afraid of the Romans?
CLEOPATRA (very seriously). Oh, they would eat us if they caught
us. They are barbarians. Their chief is called Julius Caesar. His
father was a tiger and his mother a burning mountain; and his
nose is like an elephant's trunk. (Caesar involuntarily rubs his
nose.) They all have long noses, and ivory tusks, and little
tails, and seven arms with a hundred arrows in each; and they
live on human flesh.
CAESAR. Would you like me to show you a real Roman?
CLEOPATRA (terrified). No. You are frightening me.
CAESAR. No matter: this is only a dream--
CLEOPATRA (excitedly). It is not a dream: it is not a dream. See,
see. (She plucks a pin from her hair and jabs it repeatedly into
his arm.)
CAESAR. Ffff--Stop. (Wrathfully) How dare you?
CLEOPATRA (abashed). You said you were dreaming. (Whimpering) I
only wanted to show you--
CAESAR (gently). Come, come: don't cry. A queen mustn't cry. (He
rubs his arm, wondering at the reality of the smart.) Am I awake?
(He strikes his hand against the Sphinx to test its solidity. It
feels so real that he begins to be alarmed, and says perplexedly)
Yes, I--(quite panicstricken) no: impossible: madness, madness!
(Desperately) Back to camp--to camp. (He rises to spring down
from the pedestal.)
CLEOPATRA (flinging her arms in terror round him). No: you shan't
leave me. No, no, no: don't go. I'm afraid--afraid of the Romans.
CAESAR (as the conviction that he is really awake forces itself
on him). Cleopatra: can you see my face well?
CLEOPATRA. Yes. It is so white in the moonlight.
CAESAR. Are you sure it is the moonlight that makes me look
whiter than an Egyptian? (Grimly) Do you notice that I have a
rather long nose?
CLEOPATRA (recoiling, paralyzed by a terrible suspicion). Oh!
CAESAR. It is a Roman nose, Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA. Ah! (With a piercing scream she springs up; darts
round the left shoulder of the Sphinx; scrambles down to the
sand; and falls on her knees in frantic supplication, shrieking)
Bite him in two, Sphinx: bite him in two. I meant to sacrifice
the white cat--I did indeed--I (Caesar, who has slipped down from
the pedestal, touches her on the shoulder) Ah! (She buries her
head in her arms.)
CAESAR. Cleopatra: shall I teach you a way to prevent Caesar from
eating you?
CLEOPATRA (clinging to him piteously). Oh do, do, do. I will
steal Ftatateeta's jewels and give them to you. I will make the
river Nile water your lands twice a year.
CAESAR. Peace, peace, my child. Your gods are afraid of the
Romans: you see the Sphinx dare not bite me, nor prevent me
carrying you off to Julius Caesar.
CLEOPATRA (in pleading murmurings). You won't, you won't. You
said you wouldn't.
CAESAR. Caesar never eats women.
CLEOPATRA (springing up full of hope). What!
CAESAR (impressively). But he eats girls (she relapses) and cats.
Now you are a silly little girl; and you are descended from the
black kitten. You are both a girl and a cat.
CLEOPATRA (trembling). And will he eat me?
CAESAR. Yes; unless you make him believe that you are a woman.
CLEOPATRA. Oh, you must get a sorcerer to make a woman of me. Are
you a sorcerer?
CAESAR. Perhaps. But it will take a long time; and this very
night you must stand face to face with Caesar in the palace of
your fathers.
CLEOPATRA. No, no. I daren't.
CAESAR. Whatever dread may be in your soul--however terrible
Caesar may be to you--you must confront him as a brave woman and
a great queen; and you must feel no fear. If your hand shakes: if
your voice quavers; then--night and death! (She moans.) But if he
thinks you worthy to rule, he will set you on the throne by his
side and make you the real ruler of Egypt.
CLEOPATRA (despairingly). No: he will find me out: he will find
me out.
CAESAR (rather mournfully). He is easily deceived by women. Their
eyes dazzle him; and he sees them not as they are, but as he
wishes them to appear to him.
CLEOPATRA (hopefully). Then we will cheat him. I will put on
Ftatateeta's head-dress; and he will think me quite an old woman.
CAESAR. If you do that he will eat you at one mouthful.
CLEOPATRA. But I will give him a cake with my magic opal and
seven hairs of the white cat baked in it; and--
CAESAR (abruptly). Pah! you are a little fool. He will eat your
cake and you too. (He turns contemptuously from her.)
CLEOPATRA (running after him and clinging to him). Oh, please,
PLEASE! I will do whatever you tell me. I will be good! I will be
your slave. (Again the terrible bellowing note sounds across the
desert, now closer at hand. It is the bucina, the Roman war
trumpet.)
CAESAR. Hark!
CLEOPATRA (trembling). What was that?
CAESAR. Caesar's voice.
CLEOPATRA (pulling at his hand). Let us run away. Come. Oh, come.
CAESAR. You are safe with me until you stand on your throne to
receive Caesar. Now lead me thither.
CLEOPATRA (only too glad to get away). I will, I will. (Again the
bucina.) Oh, come, come, come: the gods are angry. Do you feel
the earth shaking?
CAESAR. It is the tread of Caesar's legions.
CLEOPATRA (drawing him away). This way, quickly. And let us look
for the white cat as we go. It is he that has turned you into a
Roman.
CAESAR. Incorrigible, oh, incorrigible! Away! (He follows her,
the bucina sounding louder as they steal across the desert. The
moonlight wanes: the horizon again shows black against the sky,
broken only by the fantastic silhouette of the Sphinx. The sky
itself vanishes in darkness, from which there is no relief until
the gleam of a distant torch falls on great Egyptian pillars
supporting the roof of a majestic corridor. At the further end of
this corridor a Nubian slave appears carrying the torch. Caesar,
still led by Cleopatra, follows him. They come down the corridor,
Caesar peering keenly about at the strange architecture, and at
the pillar shadows between which, as the passing torch makes them
hurry noiselessly backwards, figures of men with wings and hawks'
heads, and vast black marble cats, seem to flit in and out of
ambush. Further along, the wall turns a corner and makes a
spacious transept in which Caesar sees, on his right, a throne,
and behind the throne a door. On each side of the throne is a
slender pillar with a lamp on it.)
CAESAR. What place is this?
CLEOPATRA. This is where I sit on the throne when I am allowed to
wear my crown and robes. (The slave holds his torch to show the
throne.)
CAESAR. Order the slave to light the lamps.
CLEOPATRA (shyly). Do you think I may?
CAESAR. Of course. You are the Queen. (She hesitates.) Go on.
CLEOPATRA (timidly, to the slave). Light all the lamps.
FTATATEETA (suddenly coming from behind the throne). Stop. (The
slave stops. She turns sternly to Cleopatra, who quails like a
naughty child.) Who is this you have with you; and how dare you
order the lamps to be lighted without my permission? (Cleopatra
is dumb with apprehension.)
CAESAR. Who is she?
CLEOPATRA. Ftatateeta.
FTATATEETA (arrogantly). Chief nurse to--
CAESAR (cutting her short). I speak to the Queen. Be silent. (To
Cleopatra) Is this how your servants know their places? Send her
away; and you (to the slave) do as the Queen has bidden. (The
slave lights the lamps. Meanwhile Cleopatra stands hesitating,
afraid of Ftatateeta.) You are the Queen: send her away.
CLEOPATRA (cajoling). Ftatateeta, dear: you must go away--just
for a little.
CAESAR. You are not commanding her to go away: you are begging
her. You are no Queen. You will be eaten. Farewell. (He turns to
go.)
CLEOPATRA (clutching him). No, no, no. Don't leave me.
CAESAR. A Roman does not stay with queens who are afraid of their
slaves.
CLEOPATRA. I am not afraid. Indeed I am not afraid.
FTATATEETA. We shall see who is afraid here. (Menacingly)
Cleopatra--
CAESAR. On your knees, woman: am I also a child that you dare
trifle with me? (He points to the floor at Cleopatra's feet.
Ftatateeta, half cowed, half savage, hesitates. Caesar calls to
the Nubian) Slave. (The Nubian comes to him.) Can you cut off a
head? (The Nubian nods and grins ecstatically, showing all his
teeth. Caesar takes his sword by the scabbard, ready to offer the
hilt to the Nubian, and turns again to Ftatateeta, repeating his
gesture.) Have you remembered yourself, mistress?
Ftatateeta, crushed, kneels before Cleopatra, who can hardly
believe her eyes.
FTATATEETA (hoarsely). O Queen, forget not thy servant in the
days of thy greatness.
CLEOPATRA (blazing with excitement). Go. Begone. Go away.
(Ftatateeta rises with stooped head, and moves backwards towards
the door. Cleopatra watches her submission eagerly, almost
clapping her hands, which are trembling. Suddenly she cries) Give
me something to beat her with. (She snatches a snake-skin from
the throne and dashes after Ftatateeta, whirling it like a
scourge in the air. Caesar makes a bound and manages to catch her
and hold her while Ftatateeta escapes.)
CAESAR. You scratch, kitten, do you?
CLEOPATRA (breaking from him). I will beat somebody. I will beat
him. (She attacks the slave.) There, there, there! (The slave
flies for his life up the corridor and vanishes. She throws the
snake-skin away and jumps on the step of the throne with her arms
waving, crying) I am a real Queen at last--a real, real Queen!
Cleopatra the Queen! (Caesar shakes his head dubiously, the
advantage of the change seeming open to question from the point
of view of the general welfare of Egypt. She turns and looks at
him exultantly. Then she jumps down from the step, runs to him,
and flings her arms round him rapturously, crying) Oh, I love you
for making me a Queen.
CAESAR. But queens love only kings.
CLEOPATRA. I will make all the men I love kings. I will make you
a king. I will have many young kings, with round, strong arms;
and when I am tired of them I will whip them to death; but you
shall always be my king: my nice, kind, wise, proud old king.
CAESAR. Oh, my wrinkles, my wrinkles! And my child's heart! You
will be the most dangerous of all Caesar's conguests.
CLEOPATRA (appalled). Caesar! I forgot Caesar. (Anxiously) You
will tell him that I am a Queen, will you not? a real Queen.
Listen! (stealthily coaxing him) let us run away and hide until
Caesar is gone.
CAESAR. If you fear Caesar, you are no true Queen; and though you
were to hide beneath a pyramid, he would go straight to it and
lift it with one hand. And then--! (He chops his teeth together.)
CLEOPATRA (trembling). Oh!
CAESAR. Be afraid if you dare. (The note of the bucina
resounds again in the distance. She moans with fear. Caesar
exalts in it, exclaiming) Aha! Caesar approaches the throne of
Cleopatra. Come: take your place. (He takes her hand and leads
her to the throne. She is too downcast to speak.) Ho, there,
Teetatota. How do you call your slaves?
CLEOPATRA (spiritlessly, as she sinks on the throne and cowers
there, shaking). Clap your hands.
He claps his hands. Ftatateeta returns.
CAESAR. Bring the Queen's robes, and her crown, and her women;
and prepare her.
CLEOPATRA (eagerly--recovering herself a little). Yes, the Crown,
Ftatateeta: I shall wear the crown.
FTATATEETA. For whom must the Queen put on her state?
CAESAR. For a citizen of Rome. A king of kings, Totateeta.
CLEOPATRA (stamping at her). How dare you ask questions? Go and
do as you are told. (Ftatateeta goes out with a grim smile.
Cleopatra goes on eagerly, to Caesar) Caesar will know that I am
a Queen when he sees my crown and robes, will he not?
CAESAR. No. How shall he know that you are not a slave dressed up
in the Queen's ornaments?
CLEOPATRA. You must tell him.
CAESAR. He will not ask me. He will know Cleopatra by her pride,
her courage, her majesty, and her beauty. (She looks very
doubtful.) Are you trembling?
CLEOPATRA (shivering with dread). No, I--I--(in a very sickly
voice) No.
Ftatateeta and three women come in with the regalia.
FTATATEETA. Of all the Queen's women, these three alone are left.
The rest are fled. (They begin to deck Cleopatra, who submits,
pale and motionless.)
CAESAR. Good, good. Three are enough. Poor Caesar generally has
to dress himself.
FTATATEETA (contemptuously). The Queen of Egypt is not a Roman
barbarian. (To Cleopatra) Be brave, my nursling. Hold up your
head before this stranger.
CAESAR (admiring Cleopatra, and placing the crown on her head).
Is it sweet or bitter to be a Queen, Cleopatra?
CLEOPATRA. Bitter.
CAESAR. Cast out fear; and you will conquer Caesar. Tota: are
the Romans at hand?
FTATATEETA. They are at hand; and the guard has fled.
THE WOMEN (wailing subduedly). Woe to us!
The Nubian comes running down the hall.
NUBIAN. The Romans are in the courtyard. (He bolts through the
door. With a shriek, the women fly after him. Ftatateeta's jaw
expresses savage resolution: she does not budge. Cleopatra can
hardly restrain herself from following them. Caesar grips her
wrist, and looks steadfastly at her. She stands like a martyr.)
CAESAR. The Queen must face Caesar alone. Answer "So be it."
CLEOPATRA (white). So be it.
CAESAR (releasing her). Good.
A tramp and tumult of armed men is heard. Cleopatra's terror
increases. The bucina sounds close at hand, followed by a
formidable clangor of trumpets. This is too much for Cleopatra:
she utters a cry and darts towards the door. Ftatateeta
stops her ruthlessly.
FTATATEETA. You are my nursling. You have said "So be it"; and if
you die for it, you must make the Queen's word good. (She hands
Cleopatra to Caesar, who takes her back, almost beside herself
with apprehension, to the throne.)
CAESAR. Now, if you quail--! (He seats himself on the throne.)
She stands on the step, all but unconscious, waiting for death.
The Roman soldiers troop in tumultuously through the corridor,
headed by their ensign with his eagle, and their bucinator, a
burly fellow with his instrument coiled round his body, its
brazen bell shaped like the head of a howling wolf. When they
reach the transept, they stare in amazement at the throne; dress
into ordered rank opposite it; draw their swords and lift them in
the air with a shout of HAIL CAESAR. Cleopatra turns and
stares wildly at Caesar; grasps the situation; and, with a great
sob of relief, falls into his arms.
ACT II
Alexandria. A hall on the first floor of the Palace, ending in a
loggia approached by two steps. Through the arches of the loggia
the Mediterranean can be seen, bright in the morning sun. The
clean lofty walls, painted with a procession of the Egyptian
theocracy, presented in profile as flat ornament, and the absence
of mirrors, sham perspectives, stuffy upholstery and textiles,
make the place handsome, wholesome, simple and cool, or, as a
rich English manufacturer would express it, poor, bare,
ridiculous and unhomely. For Tottenham Court Road civilization is
to this Egyptian civilization as glass bead and tattoo
civilization is to Tottenham Court Road.
The young king Ptolemy Dionysus (aged ten) is at the top of the
steps, on his way in through the loggia, led by his guardian
Pothinus, who has him by the hand. The court is assembled to
receive him. It is made up of men and women (some of the women
being officials) of various complexions and races, mostly
Egyptian; some of them, comparatively fair, from lower Egypt;
some, much darker, from upper Egypt; with a few Greeks and Jews.
Prominent in a group on Ptolemy's right hand is Theodotus,
Ptolemy's tutor. Another group, on Ptolemy's left, is headed by
Achillas, the general of Ptolemy's troops. Theodotus is a little
old man, whose features are as cramped and wizened as his limbs,
except his tall straight forehead, which occupies more space than
all the rest of his face. He maintains an air of magpie keenness
and profundity, listening to what the others say with the
sarcastic vigilance of a philosopher listening to the exercises
of his disciples. Achillas is a tall handsome man of thirty-five,
with a fine black beard curled like the coat of a poodle.
Apparently not a clever man, but distinguished and dignified.
Pothinus is a vigorous man of fifty, a eunuch, passionate,
energetic and quick witted, but of common mind and character;
impatient and unable to control his temper. He has fine tawny
hair, like fur. Ptolemy, the King, looks much older than an
English boy of ten; but he has the childish air, the habit of
being in leading strings, the mixture of impotence and petulance,
the appearance of being excessively washed, combed and dressed by
other hands, which is exhibited by court-bred princes of all
ages.
All receive the King with reverences. He comes down the steps to
a chair of state which stands a little to his right, the only
seat in the hall. Taking his place before it, he looks nervously
for instructions to Pothinus, who places himself at his left
hand.
POTHINUS. The King of Egypt has a word to speak.
THEODOTUS (in a squeak which he makes impressive by sheer
self-opinionativeness). Peace for the King's word!
PTOLEMY (without any vocal inflexions: he is evidently repeating
a lesson). Take notice of this all of you. I am the firstborn son
of Auletes the Flute Blower who was your King. My sister Berenice
drove him from his throne and reigned in his stead but--but (he
hesitates)--
POTHINUS (stealthily prompting).--but the gods would not suffer--
PTOLEMY. Yes--the gods would not suffer--not suffer (he stops;
then, crestfallen) I forget what the gods would not suffer.
THEODOTUS. Let Pothinus, the King's guardian, speak for the King.
POTHINUS (suppressing his impatience with difficulty). The King
wished to say that the gods would not suffer the impiety of his
sister to go unpunished.
PTOLEMY (hastily). Yes: I remember the rest of it. (He resumes
his monotone). Therefore the gods sent a stranger, one Mark
Antony, a Roman captain of horsemen, across the sands of the
desert and he set my father again upon the throne. And my father
took Berenice my sister and struck her head off. And now that my
father is dead yet another of his daughters, my sister Cleopatra,
would snatch the kingdom from me and reign in my place. But the
gods would not suffer (Pothinus coughs admonitorily)--the gods--
the gods would not suffer--
POTHINUS (prompting).--will not maintain--
PTOLEMY. Oh yes--will not maintain such iniquity, they will give
her head to the axe even as her sister's. But with the help of
the witch Ftatateeta she hath cast a spell on the Roman Julius
Caesar to make him uphold her false pretence to rule in Egypt.
Take notice then that I will not suffer--that I will not suffer--
(pettishly, to Pothinus)--What is it that I will not suffer?
POTHINUS (suddenly exploding with all the force and emphasis of
political passion). The King will not suffer a foreigner to take
from him the throne of our Egypt. (A shout of applause.) Tell the
King, Achillas, how many soldiers and horsemen follow the Roman?
THEODOTUS. Let the King's general speak!
ACHILLAS. But two Roman legions, O King. Three thousand soldiers
and scarce a thousand horsemen.
The court breaks into derisive laughter; and a great chattering
begins, amid which Rufio, a Roman officer, appears in the loggia.
He is a burly, black-bearded man of middle age, very blunt,
prompt and rough, with small clear eyes, and plump nose and
cheeks, which, however, like the rest of his flesh, are in
ironhard condition.
RUFIO (from the steps). Peace, ho! (The laughter and chatter
cease abruptly.) Caesar approaches.
THEODOTUS (with much presence of mind). The King permits the
Roman commander to enter!
Caesar, plainly dressed, but, wearing an oak wreath to conceal
his baldness, enters from, the loggia, attended by Britannus, his
secretary, a Briton, about forty, tall, solemn, and already
slightly bald, with a heavy, drooping, hazel-colored moustache
trained so as to lose its ends in a pair of trim whiskers. He
is carefully dressed in blue, with portfolio, inkhorn, and reed
pen at his girdle. His serious air and sense of the importance
of the business in hand is in marked contrast to the kindly
interest of Caesar, who looks at the scene, which is new to him,
with the frank curiosity of a child, and then turns to the King's
chair: Britannus and Rufio posting themselves near the steps at
the other side.
CAESAR (looking at Pothinus and Ptolemy). Which is the King? The
man or the boy?
POTHINUS. I am Pothinus, the guardian of my lord the King.
Caesar (patting Ptolemy kindly on the shoulder). So you are the
King. Dull work at your age, eh? (To Pothinus) your servant,
Pothinus. (He turns away unconcernedly and comes slowly along the
middle of the hall, looking from side to side at the courtiers
until he reaches Achillas.) And this gentleman?
THEODOTUS. Achillas, the King's general.
CAESAR (to Achillas, very friendly). A general, eh? I am a
general myself. But I began too old, too old. Health and many
victories, Achillas!
ACHILLAS. As the gods will, Caesar.
CAESAR (turning to Theodotus). And you, sir, are--?
THEODOTUS. Theodotus, the King's tutor.
CAESAR. You teach men how to be kings, Theodotus. That is very
clever of you. (Looking at the gods on the walls as he turns away
from Theodotus and goes up again to Pothinus.) And this place?
POTHINUS. The council chamber of the chancellors of the King's
treasury, Caesar.
CAESAR. Ah! That reminds me. I want some money.
POTHINUS. The King's treasury is poor, Caesar.
CAESAR. Yes: I notice that there is but one chair in it.
RUFIO (shouting gruffly). Bring a chair there, some of you, for
Caesar.
PTOLEMY (rising shyly to offer his chair). Caesar--
CAESAR (kindly). No, no, my boy: that is your chair of state. Sit
down.
He makes Ptolemy sit down again. Meanwhile Rufio, looking about
him, sees in the nearest corner an image of the god Ra,
represented as a seated man with the head of a hawk. Before
the image is a bronze tripod, about as large as a three-legged
stool, with a stick of incense burning on it. Rufio, with Roman
resourcefulness and indifference to foreign superstitions,
promptly seizes the tripod; shakes off the incense; blows away
the ash; and dumps it down behind Caesar, nearly in the middle of
the hall.
RUFIO. Sit on that, Caesar.
A shiver runs through the court, followed by a hissing whisper of
Sacrilege!
CAESAR (seating himself). Now, Pothinus, to business. I am badly
in want of money.
BRITANNUS (disapproving of these informal expressions). My master
would say that there is a lawful debt due to Rome by Egypt,
contracted by the King's deceased father to the Triumvirate; and
that it is Caesar's duty to his country to require immediate
payment.
CAESAR (blandly). Ah, I forgot. I have not made my companions
known here. Pothinus: this is Britannus, my secretary. He is an
islander from the western end of the world, a day's voyage from
Gaul. (Britannus bows stiffly.) This gentleman is Rufio, my
comrade in arms. (Rufio nods.) Pothinus: I want 1,600 talents.
The courtiers, appalled, murmur loudly, and Theodotus and
Achillas appeal mutely to one another against so monstrous a
demand.
POTHINUS (aghast). Forty million sesterces! Impossible. There is
not so much money in the King's treasury.
CAESAR (encouragingly). ONLY sixteen hundred talents, Pothinus.
Why count it in sesterces? A sestertius is only worth a loaf of
bread.
POTHINUS. And a talent is worth a racehorse. I say it is
impossible. We have been at strife here, because the King's
sister Cleopatra falsely claims his throne. The King's taxes have
not been collected for a whole year.
CAESAR. Yes they have, Pothinus. My officers have been collecting
them all the morning. (Renewed whisper and sensation, not without
some stifled laughter, among the courtiers.)
RUFIO (bluntly). You must pay, Pothinus. Why waste words? You are
getting off cheaply enough.
POTHINUS (bitterly). Is it possible that Caesar, the conqueror of
the world, has time to occupy himself with such a trifle as our
taxes?
CAESAR. My friend: taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of
the world.
POTHINUS. Then take warning, Caesar. This day, the treasures of
the temples and the gold of the King's treasury will be sent to
the mint to be melted down for our ransom in the sight of the
people. They shall see us sitting under bare walls and drinking
from wooden cups. And their wrath be on your head, Caesar, if you
force us to this sacrilege!
CAESAR. Do not fear, Pothinus: the people know how well wine
tastes in wooden cups. In return for your bounty, I will settle
this dispute about the throne for you, if you will. What say you?
POTHINUS. If I say no, will that hinder you?
RUFIO (defiantly). No.
CAESAR. You say the matter has been at issue for a year,
Pothinus. May I have ten minutes at it?
POTHINUS. You will do your pleasure, doubtless.
CAESAR. Good! But first, let us have Cleopatra here.
THEODOTUS. She is not in Alexandria: she is fled into Syria.
CAESAR. I think not. (To Rufio) Call Totateeta.
RUFIO (calling). Ho there, Teetatota.
Ftatateeta enters the loggia, and stands arrogantly at the top of
the steps.
FTATATEETA. Who pronounces the name of Ftatateeta, the Queen's
chief nurse?
CAESAR. Nobody can pronounce it, Tota, except yourself. Where is
your mistress?
Cleopatra, who is hiding behind Ftafateeta, peeps out at them,
laughing. Caesar rises.
CAESAR. Will the Queen favor us with her presence for a moment?
CLEOPATRA (pushing Ftatateeta aside and standing haughtily on the
brink of the steps). Am I to behave like a Queen?
CAESAR. Yes.
Cleopatra immediately comes down to the chair of state; seizes
Ptolemy and drags him out of his seat; then takes his place in
the chair. Ftatateeta seats herself on the step of the loggia,
and sits there, watching the scene with sybilline intensity.
PTOLEMY (mortified, and struggling with his tears). Caesar: this
is how she treats me always. If I am a King why is she allowed to
take everything from me?
CLEOPATRA. You are not to be King, you little cry-baby. You are
to be eaten by the Romans.
CAESAR (touched by Ptolemy's distress). Come here, my boy, and
stand by me.
Ptolemy goes over to Caesar, who, resuming his seat on the
tripod, takes the boy's hand to encourage him. Cleopatra,
furiously jealous, rises and glares at them.
CLEOPATRA (with flaming cheeks). Take your throne: I don't want
it. (She flings away from the chair, and approaches Ptolemy, who
shrinks from her.) Go this instant and sit down in your place.
CAESAR. Go, Ptolemy. Always take a throne when it is offered to
you.
RUFIO. I hope you will have the good sense to follow your own
advice when we return to Rome, Caesar.
Ptolemy slowly goes back to the throne, giving Cleopatra a
wide berth, in evident fear of her hands. She takes his place
beside Caesar.
CAESAR. Pothinus--
CLEOPATRA (interrupting him). Are you not going to speak to me?
CAESAR. Be quiet. Open your mouth again before I give you leave;
and you shall be eaten.
CLEOPATRA. I am not afraid. A queen must not be afraid. Eat my
husband there, if you like: he is afraid.
CAESAR (starting). Your husband! What do you mean?
CLEOPATRA (pointing to Ptolemy). That little thing.
The two Romans and the Briton stare at one another in amazement.
THEODOTUS. Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant
with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except
with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king
and consort just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS (shocked). Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS (outraged). How!
CAESAR (recovering his self-possession). Pardon him. Theodotus:
he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and
island are the laws of nature.
BRITANNUS. On the contrary, Caesar, it is these Egyptians who are
barbarians; and you do wrong to encourage them. I say it is a
scandal.
CAESAR. Scandal or not, my friend, it opens the gate of peace.
(He rises and addresses Pothinus seriously.) Pothiuus: hear what
I propose.
RUFIO. Hear Caesar there.
CAESAR. Ptolemy and Cleopatra shall reign jointly in Egypt.
ACHILLAS. What of the King's younger brother and Cleopatra's
younger sister?
RUFIO (explaining). There is another little Ptolemy, Caesar: so
they tell me.
CAESAR. Well, the little Ptolemy can marry the other sister; and
we will make them both a present of Cyprus.
POTHINUS (impatiently). Cyprus is of no use to anybody.
CAESAR. No matter: you shall have it for the sake of peace.
BRITANNUS (unconsciously anticipating a later statesman).
Peace with honor, Pothinus.
POTHINUS (mutinously). Caesar: be honest. The money you demand is
the price of our freedom. Take it; and leave us to settle our own
affairs.
THE BOLDER COURTIERS (encouraged by Pothinus's tone and Caesar's
quietness). Yes, yes. Egypt for the Egyptians!
The conference now becomes an altercation, the Egyptians
becoming more and more heated. Caesar remains unruffled; but
Rufio grows fiercer and doggeder, and Britannus haughtily
indignant.
RUFIO (contemptuously). Egypt for the Egyptians! Do you forget
that there is a Roman army of occupation here, left by Aulus
Gabinius when he set up your toy king for you?
ACHILLAS (suddenly asserting himself). And now under my command.
I am the Roman general here, Caesar.
CAESAR (tickled by the humor of the situation). And also the
Egyptian general, eh?
POTHINUS (triumphantly). That is so, Caesar.
CAESAR (to Achillas). So you can make war on the Egyptians in the
name of Rome and on the Romans--on me, if necessary--in the name
of Egypt?
ACHILLAS. That is so, Caesar.
CAESAR. And which side are you on at present, if I may presume to
ask, general?
ACHILLAS. On the side of the right and of the gods.
CAESAR. Hm! How many men have you?
ACHILLAS. That will appear when I take the field.
RUFIO (truculently). Are your men Romans? If not, it matters not
how many there are, provided you are no stronger than 500 to ten.
POTHINUS. It is useless to try to bluff us, Rufio. Caesar has
been defeated before and may be defeated again. A few weeks ago
Caesar was flying for his life before Pompey: a few months hence
he may be flying for his life before Cato and Juba of Numidia,
the African King.
ACHILLAS (following up Pothinus's speech menacingly). What can
you do with 4,000 men?
THEODOTUS (following up Achillas's speech with a raucous squeak).
And without money? Away with you.
ALL THE COURTIERS (shouting fiercely and crowding towards
Caesar). Away with you. Egypt for the Egyptians! Begone.
Rufio bites his beard, too angry to speak. Caesar sits on
comfortably as if he were at breakfast, and the cat were
clamoring for a piece of Finnan-haddie.
CLEOPATRA. Why do you let them talk to you like that Caesar? Are
you afraid?
CAESAR. Why, my dear, what they say is quite true.
CLEOPATRA. But if you go away, I shall not be Queen.
CAESAR. I shall not go away until you are Queen.
POTHINUS. Achillas: if you are not a fool, you will take that
girl whilst she is under your hand.
RUFIO (daring them). Why not take Caesar as well, Achillas?
POTHINUS (retorting the defiance with interest). Well said,
Rufio. Why not?
RUFIO. Try, Achillas. (Calling) Guard there.
The loggia immediately fills with Caesar's soldiers, who stand,
sword in hand, at the top of the steps, waiting the word to
charge from their centurion, who carries a cudgel. For a moment
the Egyptians face them proudly: then they retire sullenly to
their former places.
BRITANNUS. You are Caesar's prisoners, all of you.
CAESAR (benevolently). Oh no, no, no. By no means. Caesar's
guests, gentlemen.
CLEOPATRA. Won't you cut their heads off?
CAESAR. What! Cut off your brother's head?
CLEOPATRA. Why not? He would cut off mine, if he got the chance.
Wouldn't you, Ptolemy?
PTOLEMY (pale and obstinate). I would. I will, too, when I grow
up.
Cleopatra is rent by a struggle between her newly-acquired
dignity as a queen, and a strong impulse to put out her tongue at
him. She takes no part in the scene which follows, but watches it
with curiosity and wonder, fidgeting with the restlessness of a
child, and sitting down on Caesar's tripod when he rises.
POTHINUS. Caesar: if you attempt to detain us--
RUFIO. He will succeed, Egyptian: make up your mind to that. We
hold the palace, the beach, and the eastern harbor. The road to
Rome is open; and you shall travel it if Caesar chooses.
CAESAR (courteously). I could do no less, Pothinus, to secure the
retreat of my own soldiers. I am accountable for every life among
them. But you are free to go. So are all here, and in the palace.
RUFIO (aghast at this clemency). What! Renegades and all?
CAESAR (softening the expression). Roman army of occupation and
all, Rufio.
POTHINUS (desperately). Then I make a last appeal to Caesar's
justice. I shall call a witness to prove that but for us, the
Roman army of occupation, led by the greatest soldier in the
world, would now have Caesar at its mercy. (Calling through the
loggia) Ho, there, Lucius Septimius (Caesar starts, deeply
moved): if my voice can reach you, come forth and testify before
Caesar.
CAESAR (shrinking). No, no.
THEODOTUS. Yes, I say. Let the military tribune bear witness.
Lucius Septimius, a clean shaven, trim athlete of about 40, with
symmetrical features, resolute mouth, and handsome, thin Roman
nose, in the dress of a Roman officer, comes in through the
loggia and confronts Caesar, who hides his face with his robe for
a moment; then, mastering himself, drops it, and confronts the
tribune with dignity.
POTHINUS. Bear witness, Lucius Septimius. Caesar came hither in
pursuit of his foe. Did we shelter his foe?
LUCIUS. As Pompey's foot touched the Egyptian shore, his head
fell by the stroke of my sword.
THEODOTUS (with viperish relish). Under the eyes of his wife and
child! Remember that, Caesar! They saw it from the ship he had
just left. We have given you a full and sweet measure of
vengeance.
CAESAR (with horror). Vengeance!
POTHINUS. Our first gift to you, as your galley came into the
roadstead, was the head of your rival for the empire of the
world. Bear witness, Lucius Septimius: is it not so?
LUCIUS. It is so. With this hand, that slew Pompey, I placed his
head at the feet of Caesar.
CAESAR. Murderer! So would you have slain Caesar, had Pompey been
victorious at Pharsalia.
LUCIUS. Woe to the vanquished, Caesar! When I served Pompey, I
slew as good men as he, only because he conquered them. His turn
came at last.
THEODOTUS (flatteringly). The deed was not yours, Caesar, but
ours--nay, mine; for it was done by my counsel. Thanks to us, you
keep your reputation for clemency, and have your vengeance too.
CAESAR. Vengeance! Vengeance!! Oh, if I could stoop to vengeance,
what would I not exact from you as the price of this murdered
man's blood. (They shrink back, appalled and disconcerted.) Was
he not my son-in-law, my ancient friend, for 20 years the master
of great Rome, for 30 years the compeller of victory? Did not I,
as a Roman, share his glory? Was the Fate that forced us to fight
for the mastery of the world, of our making? Am I Julius Caesar,
or am I a wolf, that you fling to me the grey head of the old
soldier, the laurelled conqueror, the mighty Roman, treacherously
struck down by this callous ruffian, and then claim my gratitude
for it! (To Lucius Septimius) Begone: you fill me with horror.
LUCIUS (cold and undaunted). Pshaw! You have seen severed heads
before, Caesar, and severed right hands too, I think; some
thousands of them, in Gaul, after you vanquished Vercingetorix.
Did you spare him, with all your clemency? Was that vengeance?
CAESAR. No, by the gods! Would that it had been! Vengeance at
least is human. No, I say: those severed right hands, and the
brave Vercingetorix basely strangled in a vault beneath the
Capitol, were (with shuddering satire) a wise severity, a
necessary protection to the commonwealth, a duty of
statesmanship--follies and fictions ten times bloodier than
honest vengeance! What a fool was I then! To think that
men's lives should be at the mercy of such fools! (Humbly) Lucius
Septimius, pardon me: why should the slayer of Vercingetorix
rebuke the slayer of Pompey? You are free to go with the rest. Or
stay if you will: I will find a place for you in my service.
LUCIUS. The odds are against you, Caesar. I go. (He turns to go
out through the loggia.)
RUFIO (full of wrath at seeing his prey escaping). That means
that he is a Republican.
LUCIUS (turning defiantly on the loggia steps). And what are you?
RUFIO. A Caesarian, like all Caesar's soldiers.
CAESAR (courteously). Lucius: believe me, Caesar is no Caesarian.
Were Rome a true republic, then were Caesar the first of
Republicans. But you have made your choice. Farewell.
LUCIUS. Farewell. Come, Achillas, whilst there is yet time.
Caesar, seeing that Rufio's temper threatens to get the worse of
him, puts his hand on his shoulder and brings him down the hall
out of harm's way, Britannus accompanying them and posting
himself on Caesar's right hand. This movement brings the three in
a little group to the place occupied by Achillas, who moves
haughtily away and joins Theodotus on the other side. Lucius
Septimius goes out through the soldiers in the loggia. Pothinus,
Theodotus and Achillas follow him with the courtiers, very
mistrustful of the soldiers, who close up in their rear and go
out after them, keeping them moving without much ceremony. The
King is left in his chair, piteous, obstinate, with twitching
face and fingers. During these movements Rufio maintains an
energetic grumbling, as follows:--
RUFIO (as Lucius departs). Do you suppose he would let us go if
he had our heads in his hands?
CAESAR. I have no right to suppose that his ways are any baser
than mine.
RUFIO. Psha!
CAESAR. Rufio: if I take Lucius Septimius for my model, and
become exactly like him, ceasing to be Caesar, will you serve me
still?
BRITANNUS. Caesar: this is not good sense. Your duty to Rome
demands that her enemies should be prevented from doing further
mischief. (Caesar, whose delight in the moral eye-to-business of
his British secretary is inexhaustible, smiles intelligently.)
RUFIO. It is no use talking to him, Britannus: you may save your
breath to cool your porridge. But mark this, Caesar. Clemency is
very well for you; but what is it for your soldiers, who have to
fight tomorrow the men you spared yesterday? You may give what
orders you please; but I tell you that your next victory will be
a massacre, thanks to your clemency. I, for one, will take no
prisoners. I will kill my enemies in the field; and then you can
preach as much clemency as you please: I shall never have to
fight them again. And now, with your leave, I will see these
gentry off the premises. (He turns to go.)
CAESAR (turning also and seeing Ptolemy). What! Have they left
the boy alone! Oh shame, shame!
RUFIO (taking Ptolemy's hand and making him rise). Come, your
majesty!
PTOLEMY (to Caesar, drawing away his hand from Rufio). Is he
turning me out of my palace?
RUFIO (grimly). You are welcome to stay if you wish.
CAESAR (kindly). Go, my boy. I will not harm you; but you will be
safer away, among your friends. Here you are in the lion's mouth.
PTOLEMY (turning to go). It is not the lion I fear, but (looking
at Rufio) the jackal. (He goes out through the loggia.)
CAESAR (laughing approvingly). Brave boy!
CLEOPATRA (jealous of Caesar's approbation, calling after
Ptolemy). Little silly. You think that very clever.
CAESAR. Britannus: Attend the King. Give him in charge to that
Pothinus fellow. (Britannus goes out after Ptolemy.)
RUFIO (pointing to Cleopatra). And this piece of goods? What is
to be done with HER? However, I suppose I may leave that to you.
(He goes out through the loggia.)
CLEOPATRA (flushing suddenly and turning on Caesar). Did you mean
me to go with the rest?
CAESAR (a little preoccupied, goes with a sigh to Ptolemy's
chair, whilst she waits for his answer with red cheeks and
clenched fists). You are free to do just as you please,
Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA. Then you do not care whether I stay or not?
CAESAR (smiling). Of course I had rather you stayed.
CLEOPATRA. Much, MUCH rather?
CAESAR (nodding). Much, much rather.
CLEOPATRA. Then I consent to stay, because I am asked. But I do
not want to, mind.
CAESAR. That is quite understood. (Calling) Totateeta.
Ftatateeta, still seated, turns her eyes on him with a sinister
expression, but does not move.
CLEOPATRA (with a splutter of laughter). Her name is not
Totateeta: it is Ftatateeta. (Calling) Ftatateeta. (Ftatateeta
instantly rises and comes to Cleopatra.)
CAESAR (stumbling over the name). Ftatafeeta will forgive the
erring tongue of a Roman. Tota: the Queen will hold her state
here in Alexandria. Engage women to attend upon her; and do all
that is needful.
FTATATEETA. Am I then the mistress of the Queen's household?
CLEOPATRA (sharply). No: I am the mistress of the Queen's
household. Go and do as you are told, or I will have you thrown
into the Nile this very afternoon, to poison the poor crocodiles.
CAESAR (shocked). Oh no, no.
CLEOPATRA. Oh yes, yes. You are very sentimental, Caesar; but you
are clever; and if you do as I tell you, you will soon learn to
govern.
Caesar, quite dumbfounded by this impertinence, turns in his
chair and stares at her.
Ftatateeta, smiling grimly, and showing a splendid set of teeth,
goes, leaving them alone together.
CAESAR. Cleopatra: I really think I must eat you, after all.
CLEOPATRA (kneeling beside him and looking at him with eager
interest, half real, half affected to show how intelligent she
is). You must not talk to me now as if I were a child.
CAESAR. You have been growing up since the Sphinx introduced us
the other night; and you think you know more than I do already.
CLFOPATRA (taken down, and anxious to justify herself). No: that
would be very silly of me: of course I know that. But, (suddenly)
are you angry with me?
CAESAR. No.
CLEOPATRA (only half believing him). Then why are you so
thoughtful?
CAESAR (rising). I have work to do, Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA (drawing back). Work! (Offended) You are tired of
talking to me; and that is your excuse to get away from me.
CAESAR (sitting down again to appease her). Well, well: another
minute. But then--work!
CLFOPATRA. Work! What nonsense! You must remember that you are a
King now: I have made you one. Kings don't work.
CAESAR. Oh! Who told you that, little kitten? Eh?
CLEOPATRA. My father was King of Egypt; and he never worked. But
he was a great King, and cut off my sister's head because she
rebelled against him and took the throne from him.
CAESAR. Well; and how did he get his throne back again?
CLEOPATRA (eagerly, her eyes lighting up). I will tell you. A
beautiful young man, with strong round arms, came over the desert
with many horsemen, and slew my sister's husband and gave my
father back his throne. (Wistfully) I was only twelve then. Oh, I
wish he would come again, now that I am a Queen. I would
make him my husband.
CAESAR. It might be managed, perhaps; for it was I who sent that
beautiful young man to help your father.
CLEOPATRA (enraptured). You know him!
CAESAR (nodding). I do.
CLEOPATRA. Has he come with you? (Caesar shakes his head: she is
cruelly disappointed.) Oh, I wish he had, I wish he had. If only
I were a little older; so that he might not think me a mere
kitten, as you do! But perhaps that is because YOU are old. He is
many, MANY years younger than you, is he not?
CAESAR (as if swallowing a pill). He is somewhat younger.
CLEOPATRA. Would he be my husband, do you think, if I asked him?
CAESAR. Very likely.
CLEOPATRA. But I should not like to ask him. Could you not
persuade him to ask me--without knowing that I wanted him to?
CAESAR (touched by her innocence of the beautiful young
man's character). My poor child!
CLEOPATRA. Why do you say that as if you were sorry for me? Does
he love anyone else?
CAESAR. I am afraid so.
CLEOPATRA (tearfully). Then I shall not be his first love.
CAESAR. Not quite the first. He is greatly admired by women.
CLEOPATRA. I wish I could be the first. But if he loves me, I
will make him kill all the rest. Tell me: is he still beautiful?
Do his strong round arms shine in the sun like marble?
CAESAR. He is in excellent condition--considering how much he
eats and drinks.
CLEOPATRA. Oh, you must not say common, earthly things about him;
for I love him. He is a god.
CAESAR. He is a great captain of horsemen, and swifter of foot
than any other Roman.
CLEOPATRA. What is his real name?
CAESAR (puzzled). His REAL name?
CLEOPATRA. Yes. I always call him Horus, because Horus is the
most beautiful of our gods. But I want to know his real name.
CAESAR. His name is Mark Antony.
CLEOPATRA (musically). Mark Antony, Mark Antony, Mark Antony!
What a beautiful name! (She throws her arms round Caesar's neck.)
Oh, how I love you for sending him to help my father! Did you
love my father very much?
CAESAR. No, my child; but your father, as you say, never worked.
I always work. So when he lost his crown he had to promise me
16,000 talents to get it back for him.
CLEOPATRA. Did he ever pay you?
CAESAR. Not in full.
CLEOPATRA. He was quite right: it was too dear. The whole world
is not worth 16,000 talents.
CAESAR. That is perhaps true, Cleopatra. Those Egyptians who work
paid as much of it as he could drag from them. The rest is still
due. But as I most likely shall not get it, I must go back to my
work. So you must run away for a little and send my secretary to
me.
CLEOPATRA (coaxing). No: I want to stay and hear you talk about
Mark Antony.
CAESAR. But if I do not get to work, Pothinus and the rest of
them will cut us off from the harbor; and then the way from Rome
will be blocked.
CLEOPATRA. No matter: I don't want you to go back to Rome.
CAESAR. But you want Mark Antony to come from it.
CLEOPATRA (springing up). Oh yes, yes, yes: I forgot. Go quickly
and work, Caesar; and keep the way over the sea open for my Mark
Antony. (She runs out through the loggia, kissing her hand to
Mark Antony across the sea.)
CAESAR (going briskly up the middle of the hall to the loggia
steps). Ho, Britannus. (He is startled by the entry of a wounded
Roman soldier, who confronts him from the upper step.) What now?
SOLDIER (pointing to his bandaged head). This, Caesar; and two of
my comrades killed in the market place.
CAESAR (quiet but attending). Ay. Why?
SOLDIER. There is an army come to Alexandria, calling itself the
Roman army.
CAESAR. The Roman army of occupation. Ay?
SOLDIER. Commanded by one Achillas.
CAESAR. Well?
SOLDIER. The citizens rose against us when the army entered the
gates. I was with two others in the market place when the news
came. They set upon us. I cut my way out; and here I am.
CAESAR. Good. I am glad to see you alive. (Rufio enters the
loggia hastily, passing behind the soldier to look out through
one of the arches at the quay beneath.) Rufio, we are
besieged.
RUFIO. What! Already?
CAESAR. Now or tomorrow: what does it matter? We SHALL be
besieged.
Britannus runs in.
BRITANNUS. Caesar--
CAESAR (anticipating him). Yes: I know. (Rufio and Britannus come
down the hall from the loggia at opposite sides, past Caesar, who
waits for a moment near the step to say to the soldier.) Comrade:
give the word to turn out on the beach and stand by the boats.
Get your wound attended to. Go. (The soldier hurries out. Caesar
comes down the hall between Rufio and Britannus) Rufio: we have
some ships in the west harbor. Burn them.
RUFIO (staring). Burn them!!
CAESAR. Take every boat we have in the east harbor, and seize the
Pharos--that island with the lighthouse. Leave half our men
behind to hold the beach and the quay outside this palace: that
is the way home.
RUFIO (disapproving strongly). Are we to give up the city?
CAESAR. We have not got it, Rufio. This palace we have; and--what
is that building next door?
RUFIO. The theatre.
CAESAR. We will have that too: it commands the strand, for the
rest, Egypt for the Egyptians!
RUFIO. Well, you know best, I suppose. Is that all?
CAESAR. That is all. Are those ships burnt yet?
RUFIO. Be easy: I shall waste no more time. (He runs out.)
BRITANNUS. Caesar: Pothinus demands speech of you. It's my
opinion he needs a lesson. His manner is most insolent.
CAESAR. Where is he?
BRITANNUS. He waits without.
CAESAR. Ho there! Admit Pothinus.
Pothinus appears in the loggia, and comes down the hall very
haughtily to Caesar's left hand.
CAESAR. Well, Pothinus?
POTHINUS. I have brought you our ultimatum, Caesar.
CAESAR. Ultimatum! The door was open: you should have gone out
through it before you declared war. You are my prisoner now. (He
goes to the chair and loosens his toga.)
POTHINUS (scornfully). I YOUR prisoner! Do you know that you are
in Alexandria, and that King Ptolemy, with an army outnumbering
your little troop a hundred to one, is in possession of
Alexandria?
CAESAR (unconcernedly taking off his toga and throwing it on the
chair). Well, my friend, get out if you can. And tell your
friends not to kill any more Romans in the market place.
Otherwise my soldiers, who do not share my celebrated clemency,
will probably kill you. Britannus: Pass the word to the guard;
and fetch my armor. (Britannus runs out. Rufio returns.) Well?
RUFIO (pointing from the loggia to a cloud of smoke drifting
over the harbor). See there! (Pothinus runs eagerly up the steps
to look out.)
CAESAR. What, ablaze already! Impossible!
RUFIO. Yes, five good ships, and a barge laden with oil grappled
to each. But it is not my doing: the Egyptians have saved me the
trouble. They have captured the west harbor.
CAESAR (anxiously). And the east harbor? The lighthouse, Rufio?
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