Continued from "The Restored Cleopatra", page 1 - Cleopatra emerges from the temple, removes her religious cloak, and hands it to Charmian, one of her chief handmaidens, who has been waiting for her. She continues toward her command tent.
She enters the tent and begins a discussion of her seemingly hopeless situation with her advisors; Apollodorus - her Major Domo, confidant, scribe and occasional bed-mate; Sosigenes - her Tutor, scientist, philosopher and statesman who epitomizes the intellectual and sophisticated nature of the Ptolemaic Age; and Ramos - the Chief-of-Staff of her military. Cleopatra enters, with Charmian following. She addresses Ramos with feigned lightness:
CLEOPATRA
(lightly)
Our
position remains the same, does it, Ramos?
Hopeless
- but not serious?
RAMOS
We
have acquired a few small boats.
When
the time comes, your Majesty
will
be safely evacuated -
CLEOPATRA
(smiling)
As
long as you serve me, Ramos, never
say
our lines are "fluid" when they're
broken,
or "withdraw" for defeated -
or
"evacuated" when you mean run away.
I
will not run away.
APOLLODORUS
(quietly)
If
necessary, I would drag you into
the
boat myself...
CLEOPATRA
On
your knees...
He sinks to his knees. She looks down in cold anger.
CLEOPATRA
Speak
to me once more in that fashion,
Apollodorus,
and I promise you your
tongue
will be cut out. I am your
Queen.
And more. I am Egypt...
(she
looks at them all)
I
am all of you, and all of the
people
who populate my land. I am
the
land itself and the water which
nourishes
that land - run away from
Egypt?
I? How? As soon tell one
beat
of my heart to run from the
next...
APOLLODORUS
Your
brother, Pothinos and the rest -
they
will kill you horribly.
CLEOPATRA
Neither
Ptolemy nor any other man
will
kill me. While Egypt lives, I
will
live...now get up.
(she
turns to Ramos)
There
was much movement of horses
and
men very late last night - why?
RAMOS
The
Cappodocian mercenaries had not
been
paid in many weeks -
CLEOPATRA
And
so they've deserted us...
APOLLODORUS
Worse.
They've gone over to Ptolemy's
camp...
Cleopatra turns to Sosigenes. Theirs is a warm and intimate relationship...
CLEOPATRA
You
haven't had much to say...
SOSIGENES
I'm
too old to be dropping to my
knees.
CLEOPATRA
Yes,
you are getting on - and your
mind
isn't what it used to be -
SOSIGENES
Whose
is?
CLEOPATRA
Oh
you can tell about the stars and
take
away fevers and rearrange the
calendar,
but when it comes to a
way
out of this mess we're in...
(a
grim smile)
Sosigenes,
couldn't you invent wings
for
us all? Then we could simply
fly
over my idiot brother and his
army,
safely home to Alexandria...
SOSIGENES
Wings,
they're nothing new to us
Greeks.
Why, hundreds of years ago,
a
Greek built a perfect pair - out
of
the finest wax - he flew like a
bird...
CHARMIAN
(apart
from the others)
What
happened?
SOSIGENES
He
flew too near the sun, Charmian.
The
wax melted. Moral: let man
first
learn to live properly on
earth...
Cleopatra has found it difficult to continue to disguise her deep concern.
CLEOPATRA
Is
there nothing to do, then, but
wait
- until they choose to destroy
us?
Is there no help anywhere -
for
those who cannot pay for it?
SOSIGENES
Among
men? Wings would be easier
to
find...
CLEOPATRA
Pompey
has had so much gold from
Egypt...
(to
Ramos)
You
say we have boats. Perhaps if
we
could intercept Pompey and his army -
RAMOS
Pompey's
army? His wife, children
and
some servants...he's thrown
himself
on the mercy of Pothinos
and
Theodotos -
APOLLODORUS
He'd
find more mercy, thrown to
the
crocodiles...
SOSIGENES
It
is entirely possible that he will
be.
(they
look questioningly at him)
The
Mighty Caesar will arrive in
Alexandria
soon - in pursuit of
the
Great Pompey...
(to
Ramos)
Is
it true that he comes with only
a
handful of ships, and no more than
two
legions...?
RAMOS
(nods)
I
can't understand that, it's not
like
Caesar...he's faced great odds
before,
but to let Achillas outnumber
him
more than ten to one -
CLEOPATRA
(relieved)
Well,
if you can't understand it,
then
neither can Achillas. He won't
attack
us now, at any rate - not with
Caesar's
galleys approching
Alexandria.
Caesar's galleys...
(she
is reminded of something)
'...blown
on the waves - the winds
of
destiny...'
Thoughtfully, she moves apart from the others, and sits. Sosigenes addresses her, but she seems not to hear...
SOSIGENES
You
must remember that Caesar's
business
in Alexandria is only
incidentally
concerned with capturing
Pompey
- his real mission, as pro-consul
of
Rome, is to settle the dispute
between
you and Ptolemy. To bring
peace
to Egypt - and more wheat to
Rome...
Cleopatra, head back reflectively, speaks up:
CLEOPATRA
Tell
me about him...
SOSIGENES
Caesar?
CLEOPATRA
Years
ago, you went with that
drunken
sot, my father, to Rome.
Was
Caesar one of the men he
bribed?
SOSIGENES
Caesar
was the one he couldn't...
CLEOPATRA
His
standards were so much higher
than
the rest -
SOSIGENES
No,
his price.
CLEOPATRA
Then
he's like the others, after all?
SOSIGENES
He's
the only different Roman I've
ever
met. He neither drinks nor
stuffs
himself. He thinks, he reads
a
lot. And he's cold. Icy cold...
CLEOPATRA
I
have heard he grows warmer in the
presence
of women...
SOSIGENES
He
has quite a reputation in that
respect
- for my part, I could never
understand
it. If I were a woman,
Caesar
would not appeal to me...
CLEOPATRA
How
fortunate for both of you, you're
not.
Ramos, you were trained by the
Romans,
is he liked by his men?
RAMOS
They
worship him...
CLEOPATRA
(to
Sosigenes)
And
whom does Caesar worship?
SOSIGENES
Caesar...
CLEOPATRA
(to
Ramos)
You
hold him in such high regard -
RAMOS
There
is only one Caesar.
CLEOPATRA
-
yet he comes to Alexandria with
so
few troops...will Achillas fight him?
RAMOS
Not
until he is certain the odds
favor
him overwhelmingly...
CLEOPATRA
(to
Sosigenes)
And
Pothinos? Will he have Pompey
killed
in order to please Caesar?
SOSIGENES
Probably.
CLEOPATRA
(rising)
Will
it please him, do you think?
SOSIGENES
Put
yourself in Caesar's place.
Would
it please you?
CLEOPATRA
No.
She starts toward the exit leading to the beach and sea. She pauses.
CLEOPATRA
My
brother is both evil and insane -
and
Egypt would be well rid of him.
Yet
- if he were helpless - I could
not
trust or thank the man who would
murder
him, just to please me.
Because
that man would murder me to
please
someone else...
She
leaves the tent. Charmian follows her...