told her, he might difpofe as fhe pleased of the jewels the had reserved; and after having affured her, that he would treat her with more generofity and magnificence than fhe could imagine, he withdrew, imagining that he had deceived her, and was deceived himself.

Not doubting but Cæfar intended to make her ferve as an ornament to his triumph, fhe had no other thoughts than to avoid that shame by dying. She well knew, that she was obferved by the guards who had been affigned her, and under colour of doing her honour, followed her every where; and befides that her time was fhort, Cæfar's departure approaching. The better therefore to amufe him, fhe fent to defire, that the might go to pay her last duty at the tomb of Antony, and take her leave of him. Cæfar having granted her that permiffion, she went thither accordingly to bath that tomb with her tears, and to affure Antony, to whom fhe addreffed her discourse, as if he had been present before her eyes, that fhe would foon give him a more certain proof of her affec

tion.

After that fatal proteftation, which the accompanied with fighs and laments, she caufed 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 ferved magnificently. When fhe rofe from table, fhe wrote a letter to Cæfar; and having made all quit her chamber except her two women, fhe fhut the door, fate down upon a bed, and afked for a basket of figs, which a peafant had lately brought. She placed it by her, and a moment after lay down as if the had fallen afleep. But that was the effect of the afpick, which was concealed aVOL. X.

S

mongst

mongst the fruit; that ferpent having ftung her in the arm, which fhe had held to it, the poifon immediately communicated itself to the heart, and killed her without pain, or being perceived by any body. The guards had orders to let nothing pafs without a strict search into it; but the difguifed peafant, who was one of the queen's faithful fervants, played his part fo well, and there appeared fo little appearance of defign in a basket of figs, that the guards fuffered him to enter. So that all Cæfar's precau

tions were ineffectual.

He did not doubt Cleopatra's refolution, after having read the letter fhe had wrote him, to defire that he would fuffer her body to be laid in the fame tomb with that of Antony, and inftantly difpatched two officers to prevent it. But notwithstanding all the hafte they could make, they found her dead.

That princess was too haughty, and too

Aufa, & jacentem visere regiam
Vultu fereno fortis, & afperas.
Tractare ferpentes, ut atrum
Corpore combiberet venenum,
Deliberatâ morte ferocior :
Sævis Liburnis fcilicet invidens,
Privata deduci fuperbo
Non humilis mulier triumpho.

HOR. Od. 37. lib. 1.

Not the dark palace of the realms below
Can awe the furious purpose of her foul,
Calmly he looks from her fuperiour woe,
That can both death and fear controul,
Provokes the ferpent's fting, his rage difdains,
And fees his poifons glide thro' all her veins.
Invidious to the victor's fancy'd pride,
She will not from her own descend,
Difgrac'd, a vulgar captive, by his fide
His pompous triumph to attend ;

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

much

much above the vulgar, to fuffer herself to be led in triumph at the wheels of the victor's chariot. Determined to die, and thence become capable of the fierceft refolutions, the faw with dry eyes and indifference, the mortal venom of the afpick glide into her veins,

She died at thirty-nine years of age, of which he had reigned twenty-two from the death of her father. The ftatues of Antony were thrown down, and thofe of Cleopatra remained as they were; Archibius, who had long been in her fervice, having given Cæfar a thousand talents, that they might not be treated as Antony's had been.

After Cleopatra's death, Egypt was reduced into a province of the Roman empire, and governed by a præfect fent thither from Rome. The reign of the Ptolomies in Egypt, to date its commencement from the death of Alexander the Great, had continued two hundred, fourfcore and thirteen years, from the year of the 1681, to 3974.

Conclufion of the Antient Hiftory.

E have feen hitherto, without fpeaking of the first and antient kingdom of Egypt, and of fome states, feparate, and in a manner entirely diftinct from the reft, three great fucceffive empires, founded on the ruins of each other, fubfift, during a long feries of ages, and at length entirely difappear; the empire of the Babylonians, the empire of the Medes and Perfians, and the empire of the Macedonians and the Grecian princes, fucceffors of Alexander ✓ VOL. X. S 2

the

:

the Great. A fourth empire arises, that of the Romans, which having already fwallowed up moft of those, that have preceded it, will extend its conquefts, and after having subjected all to its power by force of arms, be itself torn in a manner into different pieces, and by being fo difmembred, make way for the eftablifhment of almost all the kingdoms, which now divide Europe, Afia, 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 greatnefs has moft fplendid, and moft capable of exciting admiration! All this, generally fpeaking, by an happy concurrence is herein united; height of genius, delicacy of tafte, attended with folid judgment; the excellent talent 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 fciences; valour in conquering, and ability in government. What a multitude of great men of all kinds does it not prefent to our view? What powerful, what glorious kings! What great captains! What famous conquerors! What wife magiftrates! What learned philofophers! What admirable legislators! We are tranfported with beholding in certain ages and countries, as if peculiar to themselves, an ardent zeal for juftice, a paffionate love for their country, a noble difinterestedness, a generous contempt of riches, and an efteem for poverty, which astonish and amaze us, fo much they appear above human

nature.

In this manner we think and judge. But whilft we are in admiration and extaly at the

view of fo many fhining virtues, the fupreme judge, who can alone estimate all things, fees nothing in them, but trifle, meanness, vanity, and pride; and whilst mankind are continually bufied in perpetuating the power of their families, in founding kingdoms, and eternifing themselves, if that were poffible; God, from his throne on high, overthrows all their projects, and makes even their ambition the means of executing his views, infinitely fuperiour to our understandings. He alone knows his operations and defigns. All ages are prefent to him: confpector feculorum. He has affigned Eccles. all empires their fate and duration. In all the xxxix. 15. different revolutions we have feen, that nothing has come to pass by chance. We know, that under the image of that ftatue, which Nebuchodonofor faw, of an enormous height and terrible afpect, with the head of gold, the breaft and arms of filver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs of iron mixed with clay, God thought fit to reprefent the four great empires, uniting in them, as we have seen in the course of this hiftory, all that is glorious, grand, formidable, and powerful, And of what has the Almighty occafion for overthrowing this immenfe coloffus? A fmall stone was cut out Dan. c. ii. without hands, which jmote the image upon his V. 34, 35feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the filver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the fummer-threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them, and the stone, that fmote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.