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$Title{History Of Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt
Chapter VII: The Alexandrine War}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{caesar
city
upon
army
cleopatra
himself
time
water
achillas
egyptian}
$Date{1900}
$Log{}
Title:       History Of Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt
Book:        Cleopatra
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter VII: The Alexandrine War

     The war which ensued as the result of the intrigues and maneuvers
described in the last chapter is known in the history of Rome and Julius
Caesar as the Alexandrine war.  The events which occurred during the progress
of it, and its termination at last in the triumph of Caesar and Cleopatra,
will form the subject of this chapter.

     Achillas had greatly the advantage over Caesar at the outset of the
contest, in respect to the strength of the forces under his command.  Caesar,
in fact, had with him only a detachment of three or four thousand men, a small
body of troops which he had hastily put on board a little squadron of Rhodian
galleys for pursuing Pompey across the Mediterranean.  When he set sail from
the European shores with this inconsiderable fleet, it is probable that he had
no expectation even of landing in Egypt at all, and much less of being
involved in great military undertakings there.  Achillas, on the other hand,
was at the head of a force of twenty thousand effective men.  His troops were,
it is true, of a somewhat miscellaneous character, but they were all veteran
soldiers, inured to the climate of Egypt, and skilled in all the modes of
warfare which were suited to the character of the country.  Some of them were
Roman soldiers, men who had come with the army of Mark Antony from Syria when
Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra's father, was reinstated on the throne, and had
been left in Egypt, in Ptolemy's service, when Antony returned to Rome.  Some
were native Egyptians.  There was also in the army of Achillas a large number
of fugitive slaves - refugees who had made their escape from various points
along the shores of the Mediterranean, at different periods and had been from
time to time incorporated into the Egyptian army.  These fugitives were all
men of the most determined and desperate character.

     Achillas had also in his command a force of two thousand horse.  Such a
body of cavalry made him, of course, perfect master of all the open country
outside the city walls.  At the bead of these troops Achillas gradually
advanced to the very gates of Alexandria, invested the city on every side, and
shut Caesar closely in.

     The danger of the situation in which Caesar was placed was extreme; but
he had been so accustomed to succeed in extricating himself from the most
imminent perils, that neither he himself nor his army seem to have experienced
any concern in respect to the result.  Caesar personally felt a special pride
and pleasure in encountering the difficulties and dangers which now beset him,
because Cleopatra was with him to witness his demeanor, to admire his energy
and courage, and to reward by her love the efforts and sacrifices which he was
making in espousing her cause.  She confided every thing to him, but she
watched all the proceedings with the most eager interest, elated with hope in
respect to the result, and proud of the champion who had thus volunteered to
defend her.  In a word, her heart was full of gratitude, admiration, and love.

     The immediate effect, too, of the emotions which she felt so strongly was
greatly to heighten her natural charms.  The native force and energy of her
character were softened and subdued.  Her voice, which always possessed a
certain inexpressible charm, was endued with new sweetness through the
influence of affection.  Her countenance beamed with fresh animation and
beauty, and the sprightliness and vivacity of her character, which became at
later periods of her life boldness and eccentricity, now being softened and
restrained within proper limits by the respectful regard with which she looked
upon Caesar, made her an enchanting companion.  Caesar was, in fact, entirely
intoxicated with the fascinations which she unconsciously displayed.

     Under other circumstances than these, a personal attachment so strong,
formed by a military commander while engaged in active service, might have
been expected to interfere in some degree with the discharge of his duties;
but in this case, since it was for Cleopatra's sake and in her behalf that the
operations which Caesar had undertaken were to be prosecuted, his love for her
only stimulated the spirit and energy with which he engaged in them.

     The first measure to be adopted was, as Caesar plainly perceived, to
concentrate and strengthen his position in the city, so that he might be able
to defend himself there against Achillas until he should receive
re-enforcements from abroad.  For this purpose he selected a certain group of
palaces and citadels which lay together near the head of the long pier or
causeway which led to the Pharos, and, withdrawing his troops from all other
parts of the city, established them there.  The quarter which he thus occupied
contained the great city arsenals and public granaries.  Caesar brought
together all the arms and munitions of war which he could find in other parts
of the city, and also all the corn and other provisions which were contained
either in the public depots or in private warehouses, and stored the whole
within his lines.  He then inclosed the whole quarter with strong defenses.
The avenues leading to it were barricaded with walls of stone.  Houses in the
vicinity which might have afforded shelter to an enemy were demolished, and
the materials used in constructing walls wherever they were needed, or in
strengthening the barricades.  Prodigious military engines, made to throw
heavy stones, and beams of wood, and other ponderous missiles, were set up
within his lines, and openings were made in the walls and other defenses of
the citadel, wherever necessary, to facilitate the action of these machines.

     There was a strong fortress situated at the head of the pier or mole
leading to the island of Pharos, which was without Caesar's lines, and still
in the hands of the Egyptian authorities.  The Egyptians thus commanded the
entrance to the mole.  The island itself, also, with the fortress at the other
end of the pier, was still in the possession of the Egyptian authorities, who
seemed disposed to hold it for Achillas.  The mole was very long, as the
island was nearly a mile from the shore.  There was quite a little town upon
the island itself, besides the fortress or castle built there to defend the
place.  The garrison of this castle was strong, and the inhabitants of the
town, too, constituted a somewhat formidable population, as they consisted of
fishermen, sailors, wreckers, and such other desperate characters as usually
congregate about such a spot.  Cleopatra and Caesar, from the windows of their
palace within the city, looked out upon this island, with the tall light-house
rising in the center of it and the castle at its base, and upon the long and
narrow isthmus connecting it with the main land, and concluded that it was
very essential that they should get possession of the post, commanding, as it
did, the entrance to the harbor.

     In the harbor, too, which, as will be seen from the engraving, was on the
south side of the mole, and, consequently, on the side opposite to that from
which Achillas was advancing toward the city, there were lying a large number
of Egyptian vessels, some dismantled, and others manned and armed more or less
effectively.  These vessels had not yet come into Achillas's hands, but it
would be certain that he would take possession of them as soon as he should
gain admittance to those parts of the city which Caesar had abandoned. This it
was extremely important to prevent; for, if Achillas held this fleet,
especially if he continued to command the island of Pharos, he would be
perfect master of all the approaches to the city on the side of the sea.  He
could then not only receive re-enforcements and supplies himself from that
quarter, but he could also effectually cut off the Roman army from all
possibility of receiving any.  It became, therefore, as Caesar thought,
imperiously necessary that he should protect himself from this danger.  This
he did by sending out an expedition to burn all the shipping in the harbor,
and, at the same time, to take possession of a certain fort upon the island of
Pharos which commanded the entrance to the port.  This undertaking was
abundantly successful.  The troops burned the shipping, took the fort,
expelled the Egyptian soldiers from it, and put a Roman garrison into it
instead, and then returned in safety within Caesar's lines.  Cleopatra
witnessed these exploits from her palace windows with feelings of the highest
admiration for the energy and valor which her Roman protectors displayed.

     The burning of the Egyptian ships in this action, however fortunate for
Cleopatra and Caesar, was attended with a catastrophe which has ever since
been lamented by the whole civilized world.  Some of the burning ships were
driven by the wind to the shore, where they set fire to the buildings which
were contiguous to the water.  The flames spread and produced an extensive
conflagration, in the course of which the largest part of the great library
was destroyed.  This library was the only general collection of the ancient
writings that ever had been made, and the loss of it was never repaired.

     The destruction of the Egyptian fleet resulted also in the downfall and
ruin of Achillas.  From the time of Arsinoe's arrival in the camp there had
been a constant rivalry and jealousy between himself and Ganymede, the eunuch
who had accompanied Arsinoe in her flight.  Two parties had been formed in the
army, some declaring for Achillas and some for Ganymede.  Arsinoe advocated
Ganymede's interests, and when, at length, the fleet was burned, she charged
Achillas with having been, by his neglect or incapacity, the cause of the
loss.  Achillas was tried, condemned, and beheaded.  From that time Ganymede
assumed the administration of Arsinoe's government as her minister of state
and the commander-in-chief of her armies.

     About the time that these occurrences took place, the Egyptian army
advanced into those parts of the city from which Caesar had withdrawn,
producing those terrible scenes of panic and confusion which always attend a
sudden and violent change of military possession within the precincts of a
city.  Ganymede brought up his troops on every side to the walls of Caesar's
citadels and intrenchments, and hemmed him closely in.  He cut off all avenues
of approach to Caesar's lines by land, and commenced vigorous preparations for
an assault.  He constructed engines for battering down the walls.  He opened
shops and established forges in every part of the city for the manufacture of
darts, spears, pikes, and all kinds of military machinery. He built towers
supported upon huge wheels, with the design of filling them with armed men
when finally ready to make his assault upon Caesar's lines, and moving them up
to the walls of the citadels and palaces, so as to give to his soldiers the
advantage of a lofty elevation in making their attacks.  He levied
contributions on the rich citizens for the necessary funds, and provided
himself with men by pressing all the artisans, laborers, and men capable of
bearing arms into his service.  He sent messengers back into the interior of
the country, in every direction, summoning the people to arms, and calling for
contributions of money and military stores.

     These messengers were instructed to urge upon the people that, unless
Caesar and his army were at once expelled from Alexandria, there was imminent
danger that the national independence of Egypt would be forever destroyed. The
Romans, they were to say, had extended their conquests over almost all the
rest of the world.  They had sent one army into Egypt before, under the
command of Mark Antony, under the pretense of restoring Ptolemy Auletes to the
throne.  Now another commander, with another force, had come, offering some
other pretexts for interfering in their affairs.  These Roman encroachments,
the messengers were to say, would end in the complete subjugation of Egypt to
a foreign power, unless the people of the country aroused themselves to meet
the danger manfully, and to expel the intruders.

     As Caesar had possession of the island of Pharos and of the harbor,
Ganymede could not cut him off from receiving such re-enforcements of men and
arms as he might make arrangements for obtaining beyond the sea; nor could he
curtail his supply of food, as the granaries and magazines within Caesar's
quarter of the city contained almost inexhaustible stores of corn.  There was
one remaining point essential to the subsistence of an army besieged, and that
was an abundant supply of water.  The palaces and citadels which Caesar
occupied were supplied with water by means of numerous subterranean aqueducts,
which conveyed the water from the Nile to vast cisterns built under ground,
whence it was raised by buckets and hydraulic engines for use. In reflecting
upon this circumstances, Ganymede conceived the design of secretly digging a
canal, so as to turn the waters of the sea by means of it into these
aqueducts.  This plan he carried into effect.  The consequence was, that the
water in the cisterns was gradually changed.  It became first brackish, then
more and more salt and bitter, until, at length, it was wholly impossible to
use it.  For some time the army within could not understand these changes; and
when, at length, they discovered the cause, the soldiers were panic-stricken
at the thought that they were now apparently wholly at the mercy of their
enemies, since, without supplies of water, they must all immediately perish.
They considered it hopeless to attempt any longer to hold out, and urged
Caesar to evacuate the city, embark on board his galleys, and proceed to sea.

     Instead of doing this, however, Caesar, ordering all other operations to
be suspended, employed the whole laboring force of his command, under the
direction of the captains of the several companies, in digging wells in every
part of his quarter of the city.  Fresh water, he said, was almost invariably
found, at a moderate depth, upon sea-coasts, even upon ground lying in very
close proximity with the sea.  The diggings were successful.  Fresh water, in
great abundance, was found.  Thus this danger was passed, and the men's fears
effectually relieved.

     A short time after these transactions occurred, there came into the
harbor one day, from along the shore west of the city, a small sloop, bringing
the intelligence that a squadron of transports had arrived upon the coast to
the westward of Alexandria, and had anchored there, being unable to come up to
the city on account of an easterly wind which prevailed at that season of the
year.  This squadron was one which had been sent across the Mediterranean with
arms, ammunition, and military stores for Caesar, in answer to requisitions
which he had made immediately after he had landed. The transports being thus
wind-bound on the coast, and having nearly exhausted their supplies of water,
were in distress; and they accordingly sent forward the sloop, which was
probably propelled by oars, to make known their situation to Caesar, and to
ask for succor.  Caesar immediately went, himself, on board of one of his
galleys, and ordering the remainder of his little fleet to follow him, he set
sail out of the harbor, and then turned to the westward, with a view of
proceeding along the coast to the place where the transports were lying.

     All this was done secretly.  The land is so low in the vicinity of
Alexandria that boats or galleys are out of sight from it at a very short
distance from the shore.  In fact, travelers say that, in coming upon the
coast, the illusion produced by the spherical form of the surface of the water
and the low and level character of the coast is such that one seems actually
to descend from the sea to the land.  Caesar might therefore have easily kept
his expedition a secret, had it not been that, in order to be provided with a
supply of water for the transports immediately on reaching them, he stopped at
a solitary part of the coast, at some distance from Alexandria, and sent a
party a little way into the interior in search for water.  This party were
discovered by the country people, and were intercepted by a troop of horse and
made prisoners.  From these prisoners the Egyptians learned that Caesar
himself was on the coast with a small squadron of galleys.  The tidings spread
in all directions.  The people flocked together from every quarter.  They
hastily collected all the boats and vessels which could be obtained at the
villages in that region and from the various branches of the Nile.  In the
mean time, Caesar had gone on to the anchorage ground of the squadron, and had
taken the transports in tow to bring them to the city; for the galleys, being
propelled by oars, were in a measure independent of the wind.  On his return,
he found quite a formidable naval armament assembled to dispute the passage.

     A severe conflict ensued, but Caesar was victorious.  The navy which the
Egyptians had so suddenly got together was as suddenly destroyed.  Some of the
vessels were burned, others sunk, and others captured; and Caesar returned in
triumph to the port with his transports and stores.  He was welcomed with the
acclamations of his soldiers, and, still more warmly, by the joy and gratitude
of Cleopatra, who had been waiting during his absence in great anxiety and
suspense to know the result of the expedition, aware as she was that her hero
was exposing himself in it to the most imminent personal danger.

     The arrival of these re-enforcements greatly improved Caesar's condition,
and the circumstance of their coming forced upon the mind of Ganymede a sense
of the absolute necessity that he should gain possession of the harbor if he
intended to keep Caesar in check.  He accordingly determined to take immediate
measures for forming a naval force.  He sent along the coast, and ordered
every ship and galley that could be found in all the ports to be sent
immediately to Alexandria.  He employed as many men as possible in and around
the city in building more.  He unroofed some of the most magnificent edifices
to procure timber as a material for making benches and oars.  When all was
ready, he made a grand attack upon Caesar in the port, and a terrible contest
ensued for the possession of the harbor, the mole, the island, and the
citadels and fortresses commanding the entrances from the sea.  Caesar well
knew that this contest would be a decisive one in respect to the final result
of the war, and he accordingly went forth himself to take an active and
personal part in the conflict.  He felt doubtless, too, a strong emotion of
pride and pleasure in exhibiting his prowess in the sight of Cleopatra, who
could watch the progress of the battle from the palace windows, full of
excitement at the dangers which he incurred, and of admiration at the feats of
strength and valor which he performed.  During this battle the life of the
great conqueror was several times in the most imminent danger.  He wore a
habit or mantle of the imperial purple, which made him a conspicuous mark for
his enemies; and, of course, wherever he went, in that place was the hottest
of the fight.  Once, in the midst of a scene of most dreadful confusion and
din, he leaped from an overloaded boat into the water and swam for his life,
holding his cloak between his teeth and drawing it through the water after
him, that it might not fall into the hands of his enemies.  He carried, at the
same time, as he swam, certain valuable papers which he wished to save,
holding them above his head with one hand, while he propelled himself through
the water with the other.

     The result of this contest was another decisive victory for Caesar.  Not
only were the ships which the Egyptians had collected defeated and destroyed,
but the mole, with the fortresses at each extremity of it, and the island,
with the light-house and the town of Pharos, all fell into Caesar's hands.

     The Egyptians now began to be discouraged.  The army and the people,
judging, as mankind always do, of the virtue of their military commanders
solely by the criterion of success, began to be tired of the rule of Ganymede
and Arsinoe.  They sent secret messengers to Caesar avowing their discontent,
and saying that, if he would liberate Ptolemy - who, it will be recollected,
had been all this time held as a sort of prisoner of state in Caesar's palaces
- they thought that the people generally would receive him as their sovereign,
and that then an arrangement might easily be made for an amicable adjustment
of the whole controversy.  Caesar was strongly inclined to accede to this
proposal.

     He accordingly called Ptolemy into his presence, and, taking him kindly
by the hand, informed him of the wishes of the people of Egypt, and gave him
permission to go.  Ptolemy, however, begged not to be sent away.  He professed
the strongest attachment to Caesar, and the utmost confidence in him, and he
very much preferred, he said, to remain under his protection. Caesar replied
that, if those were his sentiments, the separation would not be a lasting one.
"If we part as friends," he said, "we shall soon meet again." By these and
similar assurances he endeavored to encourage the young prince, and then sent
him away.  Ptolemy was received by the Egyptians with great joy, and was
immediately placed at the head of the government. Instead, however, of
endeavoring to promote a settlement of the quarrel with Caesar, he seemed to
enter into it now himself, personally, with the utmost ardor, and began at
once to make the most extensive preparations both by sea and land for a
vigorous prosecution of the war.  What the result of these operations would
have been can now not be known, for the general aspect of affairs was, soon
after these transactions, totally changed by the occurrence of a new and very
important event which suddenly intervened, and which turned the attention of
all parties, both Egyptians and Romans, to the eastern quarter of the kingdom.
The tidings arrived that a large army, under the command of a general named
Mithradates, whom Caesar had dispatched into Asia for this purpose, had
suddenly appeared at Pelusium, had captured that city, and were now ready to
march to Alexandria.

     The Egyptian army immediately broke up its encampments in the
neighborhood of Alexandria, and marched to the eastward to meet these new
invaders.  Caesar followed them with all the forces that he could safely take
away from the city.  He left the city in the night and unobserved, and moved
across the country with such celerity that he joined Mithradates before the
forces of Ptolemy had arrived.  After various marches and maneuvers, the
armies met, and a great battle was fought.  The Egyptians were defeated.
Ptolemy's camp was taken.  As the Roman army burst in upon one side of it, the
guards and attendants of Ptolemy fled upon the other, clambering over the
ramparts in the utmost terror and confusion.  The foremost fell headlong into
the ditch below, which was thus soon filled to the brim with the dead and the
dying; while those who came behind pressed on over the bridge thus formed,
trampling remorselessly, as they fled, on the bodies of their comrades, who
lay writhing, struggling, and shrieking beneath their feet.  Those who escaped
reached the river.  They crowded together into a boat which lay at the bank
and pushed off from the shore.  The boat was overloaded, and it sank as soon
as it left the land The Romans drew the bodies which floated to the shore up
upon the bank again, and they found among them one, which, by the royal
cuirass which was upon it, the customary badge and armor of the Egyptian
kings, they knew to be the body of Ptolemy.

     The victory which Caesar obtained in this battle and the death of Ptolemy
ended the war.  Nothing now remained but for him to place himself at the head
of the combined forces and march back to Alexandria.  The Egyptian forces
which had been left there made no resistance, and he entered the city in
triumph.  He took Arsinoe prisoner.  He decreed that Cleopatra should reign as
queen, and that she should marry her youngest brother, the other Ptolemy - a
boy at this time about eleven years of age.  A marriage with one so young was,
of course, a mere form.  Cleopatra remained, as before, the companion of
Caesar.

     Caesar had, in the mean time, incurred great censure at Rome, and
throughout the whole Roman world, for having thus turned aside from his own
proper duties as the Roman consul, and the commander-in-chief of the armies of
the empire, to embroil himself in the quarrels of a <illegible> and secluded
kingdom, with which the interests of the Roman commonwealth were so little
connected.  His friends and the authorities at Rome were continually urging
him to return.  They were especially indignant at his protracted neglect of
his own proper duties, from knowing that he was held in Egypt by a guilty
attachment to the queen - thus not only violating his obligations to the
state, but likewise inflicting upon his wife Calpurnia, and his family at
Rome, an intolerable wrong.  But Caesar was so fascinated by Cleopatra's
charms, and by the mysterious and unaccountable influence which she exercised
over him, that he paid no heed to any of these remonstrances.  Even after the
war was ended he remained some months in Egypt to enjoy his favorite's
society.  He would spend whole nights in her company, in feasting and revelry.
He made a splendid royal progress with her through Egypt after the war was
over, attended by a numerous train of Roman guards.  He formed a plan for
taking her to Rome, and marrying her there and he took measures for having the
laws of the city altered so as to enable him to do so, though he was already
married.

     All these things produced great discontent and disaffection among
Caesar's friends and throughout the Roman army.  The Egyptians too, strongly
censured the conduct of Cleopatra.  A son was born to her about this time,
whom the Alexandrians named, from his father, Caesarion.  Cleopatra was
regarded in the new relation of mother, which she now sustained, not with
interest and sympathy, but with feelings of reproach and condemnation.

     Cleopatra was all this time growing more and more accomplished and more
beautiful; but her vivacity and spirit, which had been so charming while it
was simple and childlike, now began to appear more forward and bold.  It is
the characteristic of pure and lawful love to soften and subdue the heart, and
infuse a gentle and quiet spirit into all its action; while that which breaks
over the barriers that God and nature have marked out for it, tends to make
woman masculine and bold, to indurate all her sensibilities, and to destroy
that gentleness and timidity of demeanor which have so great an influence in
heightening her charms.  Cleopatra was beginning to experience these effects.
She was indifferent to the opinions of her subjects, and was only anxious to
maintain as long as possible her guilty ascendency over Caesar.

     Caesar, however, finally determined to set out on his return to the
capital.  Leaving Cleopatra, accordingly, a sufficient force to secure the
continuance of her power, he embarked the remainder of his forces in his
transports and galleys, and sailed away.  He took the unhappy Arsinoe with
him, intending to exhibit her as a trophy of his Egyptian victories on his
arrival at Rome.