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heard it. The wax soon yielded to my vigorous treatment and
    Such was the charm of her person and her speech that they drew the cold- grew warm, for I had the est and most determined misogynist into her toils. Caesar was spellbound as rays of my Lord the Sun to soon as he set eyes on her and she opened her mouth to speak." That same help me. I took each of my men in turn and plugged
    evening Cleopatra became Caesar s lover.
    their ears with it. They
    Caesar had had numerous mistresses before, to divert him from the rig- then made me a prisoner ors of his campaigns. But he had always disposed of them quickly to return on my ship by binding me hand and foot, standing
    to what really thrilled him—political intrigue, the challenges of warfare, me up by the step of the the Roman theater. Caesar had seen women try anything to keep him un- mast and tying the rope's der their spell. Yet nothing prepared him for Cleopatra. One night she ends to the mast itself. would tell him how together they could revive the glory of Alexander the This done, they sat down once more and struck the
    Great, and rule the world like gods. The next she would entertain him grey water with their oars. dressed as the goddess Isis, surrounded by the opulence of her court. • We made good progress Cleopatra initiated Caesar in the most decadent revelries, presenting herself and had just come within call of the shore when the
    as the incarnation of the Egyptian exotic. His life with her was a constant Sirens became aware that a game, as challenging as warfare, for the moment he felt secure with her she ship was swiftly bearing 7
    8 • The Art of Seduction
    down upon them, and
    would suddenly turn cold or angry and he would have to find a way to re broke into their liquid song. gain her favor.
    • " Draw near," they sang,
    The weeks went by. Caesar got rid of all Cleopatra's rivals and found
    "illustrious Odysseus,
    flower of Achaean chivalry,
    excuses to stay in Egypt. At one point she led him on a lavish historical ex and bring your ship to rest pedition down the Nile. In a boat of unimaginable splendor—towering so that you may hear our fifty-four feet out of the water, including several terraced levels and a pil voices. No seaman ever sailed his black ship past lared temple to the god Dionysus—Caesar became one of the few Romans this spot without listening to gaze on the pyramids. And while he stayed long in Egypt, away from to the sweet tones that flow his throne in Rome, all kinds of turmoil erupted throughout the Roman from our lips . . ." • The Empire.
    lovely voices came to me
    across the water, and my
    When Caesar was murdered, in 44 B.C., he was succeeded by a triumvi heart was filled with such a rate of rulers including Mark Antony, a brave soldier who loved pleasure longing to listen that with and spectacle and fancied himself a kind of Roman Dionysus. A few years nod and frown I signed to
    my men to set me free. later, while Antony was in Syria, Cleopatra invited him to come meet her
    — H O M E R , THE ODYSSEY, BOOK
    in the Egyptian town of Tarsus. There—once she had made him wait for X I I , T R A N S L A T E D B Y E . V . R I E U
    her—her appearance was as startling in its way as her first before Caesar. A magnificent gold barge with purple sails appeared on the river Cydnus. The oarsmen rowed to the accompaniment of ethereal music; all around the The charm of [ Cleopatra's ] boat were beautiful young girls dressed as nymphs and mythological figures. presence was irresistible,
    and there was an attraction Cleopatra sat on deck, surrounded and fanned by cupids and posed as the in her person and talk, goddess Aphrodite, whose name the crowd chanted enthusiastically. together with a peculiar
    Like all of Cleopatra's victims, Antony felt mixed emotions. The exotic force of character, which
    pervaded her every word pleasures she offered were hard to resist. But he also wanted to tame her—to and action, and laid all defeat this proud