After that fatal protestation, which she accompanied with sighs and laments, she caused the tomb to be covered with flowers, and returned to her chamber. She then went into a bath, and from the bath to table, having ordered it to be served magnificently. When she rose from table, she wrote a letter to Cesar; and having made all quit her chamber except her two women, she shut the door, sat down upon a bed, and asked for a basket of figs, which a peasant had lately brought. She placed it by her, and a moment after lay down as if she had fallen asleep; but that was the effect of the aspic, which was concealed amongst the fruit, and had stung her in the arm, which she had held to it. The poison immediately communicated itself to the heart, and killed her without pain, or being perceived by any body. The guards had orders to let nothing pass without a strict search into it; but the disguised peasant, who was one of the queen's faithful servants, played his part so well, and there seemed so little appearance of design in a basket of figs, that the guards suffered him to enter. Thus all Cesar's precautions were ineffectual.

He did not doubt Cleopatra's resolution, after having read the letter she had wrote to him, to desire that he would suffer her body to be laid in the same tomb with that of Anthony, and instantly despatched two officers to prevent it. But notwithstanding all the haste they could make, they found her dead.

C

That princess was too haughty, and too much

above the vulgar to suffer herself to be led in triumph at

• Ausa et jacentem visere regiam

Vultu sereno fortis, et asperas

Determined to die,

the wheels of the victor's chariot.

and thence become capable of the fiercest resolutions, she saw, with dry eyes and indifference, the mortal venom of the aspic glide into her veins.

She died at thirty nine years of age, of which she had reigned twenty two from the death of her father. The statues of Anthony were thrown down, and those of Cleopatra remained as they were, Archibius, who had long been in her service, having given Cesar one thousand talents, that they might not be treated as Anthony's had been.

After Cleopatra's death, Egypt was reduced into a province of the Roman empire, and governed by a prefect sent thither from Rome. The reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt, to date its commencement from the death of Alexander the Great, had continued two hundred and ninety three years, from the year of the world three thousand six hundred and eighty one, to three thousand nine hundred and seventy four.

Tractare serpentes, ut atrum

Corpore combiberet venenum,

Deliberata morte ferocior;

Sævis Liburnis scilicet invidens,

Privata deduci superbo,

Non humilis mulier triumpho.

HOR. Od. xxxvii. 1. 1.

Not the dark palace of the realms below
Can awe the furious purpose of her soul;
Calmly she looks, from her superior wo,

That can both death and fear control;
Provokes the serpent's sting, his rage disdains,
And joys to feel his poison in her veins.
Invidious to the victor's fancy'd pride,
She will not from her own descend,
Disgrac❜d, a vulgar captive, by his side,

His pompous triumph to attend ;

But fiercely flies to death, and bids her sorrows end.

CONCLUSION

OF

THE ANCIENT HISTORY.

We have seen hitherto, without speaking of the first and ancient kingdom of Egypt, and of some states separate, and in a manner entirely distinct from the rest, three great successive empires, founded on the ruins of each other, subsist during a long series of ages, and at length entirely disappear; the empire of the Babylonians, the empire of the Medes and Persians, and the empire of the Macedonians and the Grecian princes, successors of Alexander the Great. A fourth empire arises, that of the Romans, which, having already swallowed up most of those which have preceded it, will extend its conquests, and after having subjected all to its power by force of arms, be itself torn in a manner into different pieces, and, by being so dismembered, make way for the establishment of almost all the kingdoms which now divide Europe, Asia, and Africa. Behold here, to speak properly, an abridged picture of all ages; of the glory and power of all the empires of the world; in a word, of all that human greatness has of most splendid, and most capable of exciting admiration! All these, by an happy concurrence, generally unite in it; height of genius, delicacy of taste, attended with solid judgment;

ernment.

the excellent taste of eloquence, carried to the highest degree of perfection, without departing from the natural and the true; the glory of arms, with that of arts and sciences; valor in conquering, and ability in govWhat a multitude of great men of every kind does it not present to our view! What powerful, what glorious kings! What great captains! What famous conquerors! What wise magistrates! What learned philosophers! What admirable legislators! We are transported with beholding in certain ages and countries, as if peculiar to themselves, an ardent zeal for justice, a passionate love for their country, a noble disinterestedness, a generous contempt of riches, and an esteem for poverty, which astonish and amaze us, so much they appear above human nature.

In this manner we think and judge. But, whilst we are in admiration and ecstasy at the view of so many shining virtues, the Supreme Judge, who can alone estimate all things, sees nothing in them but trifle, meanness, vanity, and pride; and, whilst mankind are continually busied in perpetuating the power of their families, in founding kingdoms, and eternizing themselves, if that were possible, God, from his throne on high overthrows all their projects, and makes even their ambition the means of executing his purposes, infinitely superior to our understandings. He alone knows his operations and designs. All ages are present to him; "He seeth from everlasting to everlasting." He has assigned all empires their fate and duration. In all the different revolutions, we have seen

Eccles. xxxix. 19.

that nothing has come to pass by chance. We know, that under the image of that statue which Nebuchodonosor saw of an enormous height, and terrible aspect, with the head of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron mixed with clay, God thought fit to represent the four great empires, uniting in them, as we have seen in the course of this history, all that is glorious, grand, formidable, and powerful. And of what has the Almighty occasion for overthrowing this immense colossus ? e" A small stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

We see with our own eyes the accomplishment of this admirable prophecy of Daniel, at least in part. Jesus Christ, who descended to clothe himself with flesh and blood in the sacred womb of the blessed virgin, without the participation of man, is the small stone that came from the mountain without human aid. The prevailing characteristics of his person, of his relations, his appearance, his manner of teaching his disciples, in a word, of every thing that relates to him, were simplicity, poverty, and humility; which were so extreme, that they concealed from the eyes

⚫ Dan. c. ii. v. 34, 35