ABSTRACT

The city of Ephesus was situated near the mouth of the river Caystrus in the shadow of the Messogis Mountains, not far south of Smyrna, and overlooking the island of Samos. The next man to desert was Marcus Silanus, formerly an officer of Julius Ceasar in Gaul, who also carried to Rome stories of Cleopatra's power and Antony's weakness. Cleopatra's power and authority were much resented by the new-comers, to whom the existing situation was something of a revelation. To the dauntless heart of a woman like Cleopatra, however, no appeal could be made save by manly strength and powerful determination; and one seems to observe the growth in the Queen's mind of a kind of horror at the rapid degeneration of the man whom she had loved and trusted. When winter approached Cleopatra and Antony advanced with the whole army from Athens to Patrae, and there went into winter quarters.