1939-11-13 — Page 15

THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 13, 1939. TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE

NO. 83-THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA

a

By VINCENT TOWNE "For her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, something bewitching. It was a plea- sure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instru- ment of many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian na- tions that she answered by an inter- preter."

was

They Found Her Lying Upon a Bed of Gold.

sails of purple, while cars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay all In these words did Plutarch de- alone under a canopy of cloth of gold, a picture, and scribe Cleopatra. the last Queen of dressed as Venus in

beautiful young boys, like painted Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy Aultes.

This arch-temptress of all the ages Cupids, stood on each side to fan her

Her maids Alexandria, Egypt, .69

were dressed like sen was born at

with her brother nymphs and graces, some steering at years B. C., and

at the over because joint ruler

some working the rudder, Ptolemy, Egypt when she was a sprightly girl ropes."

of 18.

After having enjoyed a reign of but three years she was dethroned While by her brother's partisans. their respective armies were prepar- ing for war, Caesar arrived in Egypt and reinstated her upon her throne. Then followed a liaison between the the of the Nile and young Queen middle-aged conqueror of that world. It lasted until there was born to them two a son, Caesarion, and during years afterward, at which time Cleo- patra lived with Caesar in Rome, not his returning to Egypt until after murder in the Senate.

Three years later the calm of the siren of the Nile was to be again dis- turbed by a noble Roman-this time the handsome and dashing Mark An- tony, who had been appointed ruler of Asia and the East. Being summon- ed before Antony to answer accusa- tions of having aided his enemies, Cleopatra came sailing to him in "a barge with gilded stern and outspread

|

As a result of this excursion, An- tony became her captive instead of her captor. "Were Antony serious or mirth," says Plutarch, disposed to "She had at any moment some new delight or charm to meet his wishes; at every turn she was upon him, and let him escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him, drank with him, hunted with him; and when he exercised in arms she was there to see."

As a result of this adventure An- tony divorced his wife, the sister of the Emperor Augustus, which result- ed in the Emperor's declaring war on of Antony and Cleopatra. The fleet

killed

Cleopatra was defeated by that of Augustus when the little Queen was 38. She fled from the Romans, fol- lowed by her lover, who, on hearing a false report of her death, himself.

To make Augusta's triumph com- decreed that Cleopatra plete it was should be exhibited in Rome, but she thwarted these arrangements. Visit- which sheltered ing the monument Antony's tomb, she shut herself up in it with only her two maids of honour. Then she wrote a letter to the Em- entreaties pathetic making peror, that she might be buried in the tomb with Antony. Later, when some sol- diers opened the doors of the monu- ment, they found the beautiful Cleo- patra dead, "lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal ornaments." Her two maids by her side were in a dying condition,

As to how Cleopatra met her death been one of the has for centuries riddles of the sphinx. One story was that just before she shut herself in bearing a the tomb a countryman

a basket of figs was allowed to pass the guards and enter her presence with an asp hidden under the frult. Nervous Debility

By allowing this serpent to sting her -some say upon the arm, others aver is alleged to Makes Life A Misery.

upon the bosom-she There are many people who suffer have committed suicide. According to from nervous disorders. The stress of another account, she kept the asp in and with a golden spindle modern life is alone a great strain on

and when, in tantalised it until it stung her. An- the nervous system, addition, there is some extra worry, a other story was that she killed her- shock or an illness, it is not surprising self with poison carried in a hollow that the nerves give way.

a vase

bodkin upon which she wound her

When the nervous system is derang-wonderful hair.

ed many troubles arise such as in- somnia, fallure of memory, irritability,

But it has been argued that if she

headaches, lack of appetite, and de- had chosen any serpent to sting her pression.

even

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BODY IN WOOD IDENTIFIED

East Sussex Police have establish-

ed the identity of the woman whose covered body was found in a ditch, with leaves and nettles, in a wood at Newtimber, twelve miles from Brigh- ton.

aged

She was Miss Ann Cook, thirty-three, a domestic servant em-

convalescent home

at

ployed in a

cival-terrace, 'Brighton,

who.

reported missing on August 21.

The police are still working on the theory that she was the victim of foul play.

on

On the other hand, she may have accompanied a man in a car to the woods.

They have found evidence that the body was dragged through the woods, and detectives who are engaged the case have not ruled out the pos- it would have been the small vipersibility that the woman

may have rather than the large asp. Moreover, been killed in Brighton and taken to it is related that she was found dead

the woods at night. "without any mark of suspicion of poison on her body," and that a ser- pent's bite would have left an un- mistakable blemish. Many authorities

At a post-mortem examination at have argued that Cleopatra's vanity Burgess Hill, Dr. L. R. Janes, a Brigh- would never have allowed her to

ton pathologist, failed to find any ap- select a mode of death that

He took would

parent cause of dealth.

for examina- have disfigured her so frightfully as

away certain organs

died a serpent's sting.

tion. She is believed to have "What really took place is known Ave weeks ago. to no one," says Plutarch.

Opportunity would enter

9-29

(Released by The Bell Byndicate, Inc.)

more of our lives if we didn't expect just to stumble upon it.

her identi- One clue leading to fication was her dark, Eton-cropped hair.

Miss Cook formerly lived in Lon- don.

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