Caesar and Cleopatra | Page 6

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