Cleopatra quotes

By Osiris who sleeps at Abouthis, I write the truth.

I, Harmachis, Hereditary Priest of the Temple, reared by the divine Sethi, aforetime a Pharaoh of Egypt, and now justified in Osiris and ruling in Amenti.

I, Harmachis, who cast aside the opening flower of our hope, who turned from the glorious path, who forgot the voice of God in hearkening to the voice of woman.

I, Harmachis, the fallen, in whom are gathered up all woes as waters are gathered in a desert well, who have tasted of every shame, who through betrayal have betrayed, who in losing the glory that is here have lost the glory which is to be, who am utterly undone⁠—I write, and, by Him who sleeps at Abouthis, I write the truth.

O Egypt!—dear land of Khem, whose black soil nourished up my mortal part—land that I have betrayed—O Osiris!—Isis!—Horus!—ye Gods of Egypt whom I have betrayed!—O ye temples whose pylons strike the sky, whose faith I have betrayed!—O Royal blood of the Pharaohs of eld, that …

We’ll send the skin to you, young man,” he went on; “not that you deserve it: to attack a lion like that was the act of a fool, and a fool deserves what he gets—destruction.

Never attack the strong until you are stronger.

”

But Sepa looked at me and shook his head. “Be not so rash, Harmachis, and talk not with so proud a voice.

Knowest thou not that in every suit of mail there is a joint, and woe to him who wears the harness if the sword should search it out!

For Woman, in her weakness, is yet the strongest force upon the earth. She is the helm of all things human; she comes in many shapes and knocks at many doors;

And thus Woman rules the world. For her are wars; for her men spend their strength in gathering gains; for her they do well and ill, and seek for greatness, to find oblivion.

But still she sits like yonder Sphinx, and smiles; and no man has ever read all the riddle of her smile, or known all the mystery of her heart.

Mock not! mock not! Harmachis; for he must be great indeed who can defy the power of Woman, which, pressing round him like the invisible air, is often strongest when the senses least discover it.”

“Be not so rash, Harmachis, and talk not with so proud a voice. Knowest thou not that in every suit of mail there is a joint, and woe to him who wears the harness if the sword should search it out!

For Woman, in her weakness, is yet the strongest force upon the earth.

She is the helm of all things human; she comes in many shapes and knocks at many doors;

Of a sudden, as I saw the visions, these things became clear to me. The mummy cloths of symbol and of ceremony that wrap Osiris round fell from him, and

I understood the secret of religion, which is Sacrifice.

The pictures passed, and again the priest, my guide, spoke to me.

but what else I am strive not thou to learn, it is beyond thy strength. For I am all things, Life is my spirit, and Nature is my raiment.

I am the laughter of the babe, I am the maiden’s love, I am the mother’s kiss.

I am the Child and Servant of the Invisible that is God, that is Law, that is Fate—though myself I be not God and Fate and Law. When winds blow and oceans roar upon the face of the Earth thou hearest my voice;

Again he laughed, and, in the words of the proverb which they have at Alexandria, told her that “

Mountains live longer than Kings.

” Thereon she smiled at his ready answer, and let him go. Also my uncle Sepa told me that on the morrow I should see this Cleopatra.

When the hour comes for thee to rule, Harmachis, cast down this accursed city and, as thy fathers did, set up thy throne in the white walls of Memphis. For I tell thee that, for Egypt,

Alexandria is but a splendid gate of ruin, and, while it endures, all nations of the earth shall march through it, to the plunder of the land

, and all false Faiths shall nestle in it and breed the overthrow of Egypt’s Gods.”

But even then I knew that it was not in these charms alone that the might of Cleopatra’s beauty lay. It was rather in a glory and a radiance cast through the fleshly covering from the fierce soul within.

For she was a Thing of Flame like unto which no woman has ever been or ever will be.

Even when she brooded, the fire of her quick heart shone through her. But when she woke, and the lightning leapt suddenly from her eyes, and the passion-laden music of her speech chimed upon her lips, ah! then, who can tell how Cleopatra seemed?

In her breast they gathered, together fashioning that Cleopatra whom no man may draw, and yet whom no man, having seen, ever can forget.

They fashioned her grand as the Spirit of Storm, lovely as Lightning, cruel as Pestilence, yet with a heart; and what she did is known.

Woe to the world when such another comes to curse it!

They fashioned her grand as the Spirit of Storm, lovely as Lightning, cruel as Pestilence, yet with a heart; and what she did is known.

Woe to the world when such another comes to curse it!

For a moment I met Cleopatra’s eyes as she idly bent herself to find the tumult’s cause. At first they were sombre and dark, as though they saw indeed, but the brain read nothing.

“

Ah, woe to the cause that builds its strength upon a woman’s faith; for women are faithful only where they love, and when they love their faithlessness becomes their faith.

They are not fixed as men are fixed: they rise more high and sink more low—they are strong and changeful as the sea. Harmachis, beware of this Charmion: for, like the ocean, she may float thee home;

“Ah, woe to the cause that builds its strength upon a woman’s faith; for women are faithful only where they love, and when they love their faithlessness becomes their faith.

They are not fixed as men are fixed: they rise more high and sink more low⁠—they are strong and changeful as the sea.

Harmachis, beware of this Charmion: for, like the ocean, she may float thee home; or, like the ocean, she may wreck thee, and, with thee, the hope of Egypt!”

“Ay, it is pity, is it not?

Harmachis, being but a man, methinks that thou wilt need all thy ghostly strength to nerve thee to the deed!

”

“Ah! the magician—that Harmachis who overthrew the giant? I remember now. He is welcome. Tell me, Sir Magician, can thy magic mirror call forth an answer to this dream?

Nay, how strange a thing is Sleep, that wrapping the mind in a web of darkness, straightly compels it to its will!

Whence, then, come those images of fear rising on the horizon of the soul like some untimely moon upon a midday sky? Who grants them power to stalk so lifelike from Memory’s halls, and, pointing to their wounds, thus confront the Present with the Past?

I remember now. He is welcome. Tell me, Sir Magician, can thy magic mirror call forth an answer to this dream? Nay, how strange a thing is Sleep, that wrapping the mind in a web of darkness, straightly compels it to its will!

Whence, then, come those images of fear rising on the horizon of the soul like some untimely moon upon a midday sky?

Who grants them power to stalk so lifelike from Memory’s halls, and, pointing to their wounds, thus confront the Present with the Past? Are they, then, messengers?

Her weakness is thy strength, her might is thy undoing. Of her thou art, to her thou goest. She is thy slave, yet holds thee captive; at her touch honour withers, locks open, and barriers fall.

She is infinite as ocean, she is variable as heaven, and her name is the Unforeseen.

Man, strive not to escape from Woman and the love of woman; for, fly where thou wilt, She is yet thy fate, and whate’er thou buildest thou buildest it for her!

Of her thou art, to her thou goest. She is thy slave, yet holds thee captive; at her touch honour withers, locks open, and barriers fall. She is infinite as ocean, she is variable as heaven, and her name is the Unforeseen.

Man, strive not to escape from Woman and the love of woman; for, fly where thou wilt, She is yet thy fate, and whate’er thou buildest thou buildest it for her!

And thus it came to pass that I, Harmachis, who had put such matters far from me, was yet doomed to fall by the thing I held of no account. For, see, this Charmion: she loved me—why, I know not.

Well, this may we say: those who begot us need have no shame. For if I be the fairest woman in Egypt, methinks, Harmachis, that there is in Egypt no man more fair and strong than thou, ay, or more learned.

Born of the same day, why, ’tis manifest that we were destined to stand together

, I, as the Queen, and thou, perchance, Harmachis, as one of the chief pillars of my throne, and thus to work each other’s weal.”

One end we have, one land we love, one vow binds us both. Take me to thy heart, Harmachis, set me by thee on the Double Throne, and I swear that I will lift thee higher than ever man has climbed.

Reject me, and beware lest I pull thee down!

And now, putting aside the cold delicacy of custom, stung to it by what I saw of the arts of that lovely living falsehood, Cleopatra, which for pastime she practises on thy folly, I have spoken out my heart, and answer thou!”

Oh, be not wroth with me, Harmachis, nor set me down as light, because the truth at last has burst from me; for I am not so. I am what thou wilt make me.

I am the wax within the moulder’s hands, and as thou dost fashion me so I shall be.

There breathes within me now a breath of glory, blowing across the waters of my soul, that can waft me to ends more noble than ever I have dreamed afore, if thou wilt be my pilot and my guide.

Lastly, I thought of what my uncle Sepa would say of her could he see her now, and of the strange and tangled skein in which I was inmeshed.

And I laughed aloud⁠—the fool’s laughter that was my knell of ruin!

She turned whiter yet—white as the dead—and a look grew upon her face that checked my foolish mirth.

And she went, leaning her hand against the wall. But I, passing to my chamber, flung myself upon my couch, and groaned in bitterness of spirit.

Alas! we shape our plans, and by slow degrees build up our house of Hope, never counting on the guests that time shall bring to lodge therein.

For who can guard against—the Unforeseen?

Ay, that smile marks the moment when the stream of history changed its course. For had I never seen it on her face Octavianus had not bestridden the world, and Egypt had once more been free and great.

And yet it was but a woman’s smile!

“Why lookest thou thus strangely, girl?” I asked.

Couched in her amber cushions, she seemed to shine as a star on the twilight’s glow. Perfume came from her hair and robes, music fell from her lips, and in her heavenly eyes all lights changed and gathered as in the ominous opal’s disc.

And this was the woman whom, presently, I must slay!

Slowly I drew near, bowing as I came; but she took no heed. She lay there, and the jewelled fan floated to and fro like the bright wing of some hovering bird.

“Nay, Harmachis; there is no fear for thee,” she said laughing softly, “seeing that I know how far thy thoughts are set from woman’s beauty and the common weakness of thy sex. With cold iron we may safely toy.”

I thought within myself that coldest iron can be brought to whitest heat if the fire be fierce enough.

But I said nothing, and, though my hand trembled, I once more grasped the dagger’s hilt, and, wild with fear at my own weakness, set myself to find a means to slay her while yet my sense remained.

How beautiful was their promise, doomed, like an unfruitful blossom, to wither, fall, and rot! and their fulfilment, ah, how drear!

For all things end in darkness and in ashes, and those who sow in folly shall reap in sorrow.

Ah! those nights upon the Nile!

An hour past this fellow would have crawled to me on his knees; but he had heard, and now he treated me—so brutish is the nature of such slaves—as the world treats the fallen, with scorn.

For to come low after being great is to learn all shame.

Unhappy, therefore, are the Great, for they may fall!

but he had heard, and now he treated me—so brutish is the nature of such slaves—as the world treats the fallen, with scorn. For to come low after being great is to learn all shame.

Unhappy, therefore, are the Great, for they may fall!

I turned upon the slave with so fierce a word that, cur-like, he sprang behind me; then I passed on to the Alabaster Hall, and was admitted by the guards.

“

What a fenced city is my heart, that none can take it, and, even when I throw the gates wide, no man may win its citadel!

Oh, to put away this loneliness and lose me in another’s soul! Oh, for a year, a month, an hour to quite forget policy, peoples, and my pomp of place, and be but a loving woman! Harmachis, fare thee well!

She laughed a little as she answered, “

Pity is love’s own twin, Charmion.

Wondrous wayward are the paths of woman’s love, and thou hast shown thine strangely, that I know. But the more high the love, the deeper the gulf whereinto it can fall—ay, and thence soar again to heaven, once more to fall! Poor woman!

“Oh, oh! thou servest the Gods, dost thou, thou many-coloured mystery?” This he said having reference to my splendid robes. “

Well, I serve the Goddesses, which is a softer cult.

And there’s this between us: that though what they put in my mind I say, neither can I read their meaning,” and he glanced at Cleopatra as one who questions.

“It would be sweet, Harmachis, and yet this—

Vengeance is an arrow that in falling oft pierces him who shot it.

Myself—I know it,” and she sighed. “But a truce to talk and grief. There will be time for us twain to grieve, if not to talk, in all the heavy coming years. Thou must fly—before the coming of the light must thou fly.

I laughed aloud. “By force, thou fool! Use not such talk to me, lest I smite thee where thou art.

Know, then, that I can kill as well as cure!

”

Old Age may creep as the gathering night over our bowed heads grown hoary in their shame—yea, bound to Fortune’s wheel, we may taste of every turn of chance—now rule as Kings, now serve as Slaves; now love, now hate; now prosper, and now perish.

But still, through all, we are the same; for this is the marvel of Identity.

And as I sat and thought these things in bitterness of heart, there came a knocking at the door.

“Give it me, Physician.

Desperate men are brave men.

There!⸺Why, what is this? Yours is a magic draught! My sorrows seem to roll away like thunderclouds before the southern gale, and the spring of Hope blooms fresh upon the desert of my heart.

“It serves a double end, noble Antony! This very night that man would have fled to Octavianus, bearing of our treasure with him.

Well, I have lent him wings, for the dead fly fast!

Also this: thou didst fear that I should poison thee, my Lord; nay, I know it. See now, Antony, how easy it were that I should slay thee if I had the will.

Thence from Memphis I came once more to Alexandria, and, having made favourable report, continued my secret work. And, indeed, the Alexandrians could not easily be stirred, for, as they say in the marketplace,

“The ass looks at its burden and is blind to its master.”

Cleopatra had oppressed them so long that the Roman was like a welcome friend.

and, moreover, in my own heart I read the lesson of his woes. For were we not akin in wretchedness? Had not the same woman robbed us of Empire, Friends, and Honour?

But pity has no place in politics, nor could it turn my feet from the path of vengeance it was ordained that I should tread.

Caesar drew nigh; Pelusium fell; the end was at hand. It was Charmion who brought the tidings to the Queen and Antony, as they slept in the heat of the day, and I came with her.

I said. “Death shall cure thy ills, and I will brew such a wine as shall draw him down a sudden friend and sink thee in a sea of slumber whence, upon this earth, thou shalt never wake again. Oh! fear not Death:

Death is thy hope; and, surely, thou shalt pass sinless and pure of heart into the dreadful presence of the Gods!

”

She trembled. “And if the heart be not altogether pure, tell me—thou dark man—what then? Nay, I fear not the Gods! for if the Gods of Hell be men, there I shall Queen it also.

At the least, having once been royal, royal I shall ever be.

”

“Antony has fled, his forces are fled, Caesar draws near. To Cleopatra the great Antony sends greeting and farewell.

Greeting to Cleopatra who betrayed him, and farewell.

”

And let all my shame be written: as I stood and watched her the old love awoke once more within me, and mad jealousy raged in my heart because—though I could destroy these twain—

I could not destroy their love.

“O Antony! my Sweet, my Husband, and my God!” she moaned. “Cruel Antony, hast thou the heart to die and leave me to my lonely shame? I will follow thee swiftly to the grave. Antony, awake! awake!”

“See how faint they grow, Olympus,” she said, lifting her sad face and pointing to the rusty stains, “and he so lately dead!

Why, Gratitude could not fade more fast.

What is now thy news? Evil tidings is writ large in those dark eyes of thine, which ever bring back to me something that still slips my mind.”

“

Vengeance is an arrow that ofttimes falls upon the archer’s head,

” I answered, bethinking me of Charmion’s saying.

But on that very morning, as I tired me for the Court, came Charmion yonder, and I told her this, for I would see how the matter fell upon her mind.

Now mark, Olympus, the power of jealousy, that little wedge which yet has strength to rend the tree of Empire, that secret sword which can carve the fate of Kings!

This she could in no wise bear—deny it, Charmion, if thou canst, for now it is clear to me!—that the man she loved should be given to me as husband—me, whom he loved!

who have deserted me, to you no longer will I pray, for your ears are shut unto my crying and your eyes blind to my griefs! Therefore, I make entreaty of that last friend whom the Gods, departing, leave to helpless man.

Sweep hither, Death, whose winnowing wings enshadow all the world, and give me ear!

Draw nigh, thou King of Kings! who, with an equal hand, bringest the fortunate head of one pillow with the slave, and by thy spiritual breath dost waft the bubble of our life far from this hell of earth!

Draw nigh, thou King of Kings! who, with an equal hand, bringest the fortunate head of one pillow with the slave, and by thy spiritual breath dost waft the bubble of our life far from this hell of earth!

Hide me where winds blow not and waters cease to roll; where wars are done and Caesar’s legions cannot march!

Take me to a new dominion, and crown me Queen of Peace! Thou art my Lord, O Death, and in thy kiss I have conceived. I am in labour of a Soul: see—it stands newborn upon the edge of Time! Now—now—go, Life! Come, Sleep!

Hide me where winds blow not and waters cease to roll; where wars are done and Caesar’s legions cannot march! Take me to a new dominion, and crown me Queen of Peace!

Thou art my Lord, O Death, and in thy kiss I have conceived. I am in labour of a Soul: see⁠—it stands newborn upon the edge of Time!

Now—now—go, Life! Come, Sleep! Come, Antony!”