(B.C. 69–30), the celebrated Egyptian queen, was daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, at whose death she ascended the throne along with Ptolemy her younger Cleopatra, brother. A quarrel, however, soon arose between them; and Cleopatra, by the advice of the king's councillors, was expelled the kingdom, and forced to take refuge in Syria. Here she had equipped an army, and was preparing to march into Egypt, when the arrival of Caesar in pursuit of Pompey opened up an easier path for her ambition. Having gained access to the chamber of the conqueror, her charms and caresses easily procured a decision in her favour; and accordingly she was reinstated in her former power. The death of Ptolemy, and the total defeat of his army, placed her in sole possession of the throne; but Caesar, dreading the indignation of the Egyptians, with whom she was exceedingly unpopular, divided the kingdom between her and a younger brother, to whom she was nominally married. After the departure of Caesar from Egypt, Cleopatra followed him to Rome, and was provided with apartments in the palace, where she lived openly as his mistress. After the assassination of Caesar (B.C. 44) she returned to Egypt, and actively assisted the triumvirate against his murderers. Before the arrival of Antony in Asia Minor, she had poisoned her brother Ptolemy and made herself the sole occupant of the throne. Her voyage up the Cydnus to meet the Roman general is elaborately described by Plutarch, and has been dramatized by Shakespeare. The first use which she made of her power was to procure the death of her sister Arsinoe, and avenge herself on her obnoxious generals. She returned to Egypt attended by Antony, who from this time forward became her slave; and though separated for a while during his visit to Italy, she met him again in Syria on his return from the Parthian expedition, and was publicly acknowledged as his wife. The voluptuous indolence to which Antony now surrendered himself under the fascinations of the queen inspired Augustus with the hope of crushing his rival at a single blow. Partly to disguise his hostile intentions, he proclaimed war against "that accursed Egyptian who had bewitched him." Disappointed of a retreat into Egypt, Cleopatra accompanied the fleet of Antony, and at the battle of Actium (B.C. 31) was the first to give the signal for flight. She entered Alexandria with all the pomp of a triumph, but the desperate situation of her affairs deterred the neighbouring princes to whom she applied for succours from lending her any effectual aid. Finding escape impossible, she resolved to attempt a negotiation with Augustus; and in the hope of winning his favour, did not scruple to sacrifice her paramour for that object. Under pretext of wishing him to die with her, she decoyed Antony to an unfinished mausoleum, in which she had collected her treasures; and there (according to Dion Cassius) Anthony threw himself on his sword and expired in her arms. Her interview with Augustus, however, convinced her that she had nothing to hope from his weakness, and every ignominy to fear from his ambition. At first, to beguile the vigilance of her keepers, who had removed all instruments of death from her apartments, she pretended willingness to go to Rome, and was preparing presents for the Roman empress, when seizing a favourable opportunity she unexpectedly put an end to her life (B.C. 30), either by means of a poisoned comb, or by the poison of an asp. With her ended the dynasty of the Ptolemies, who had filled the throne of Egypt for 300 years. Her son Caesarion, whom she had borne to Julius Caesar, was put to death by Augustus; but Alexander, Ptolemy, and Cleopatra, the children of Antony, were reserved to grace his triumph at Rome. The leading features in Cleopatra's character were unbounded ambition and voluptuousness; and to gratify these passions her extraordinary talents, accomplishments, and beauty, were unceasingly employed. She left the library of Pergamus as a monument of her literary tastes; the pages of Plutarch are filled with the record of the refinement which gave a kind of dignity to her excesses; while her haughty and absolute contempt of death filled even the Roman poet with awe. (Hor., Car. i. 37.)