One of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances

Kush, all naked to to the waist, and anointed with palm-oil? What secret motive urges him to this swift pursuit? That, indeed, is one of the many things we are obliged to know in our cha

lowed the barge of Cleopatra, queen and goddess Evergetes, on her return from the Mammisi of Herm

brilliancy of a falcon's gaze, and a serene majesty sat on his brow as upon a pedestal of marble; a noble pride curled his upper lip, and expanded his nostrils like those of a fiery horse. Although owning a grace of form almost maidenly in its delicacy, and though the bosom of the f

hite-and-rose ideas of beauty; but which did not prevent him from being a very charming young man, much sought after

lytus, were not more insensible or more frigid; the young white-robed neophyte preparing for the initiation into the m

ows; then he would ride at a gallop far into the desert, upon his slender-limbed, small-headed, wild-maned mare, until he could find some lion-tracks. He especially delighted in taking the little lion-cubs from underneath the belly of their mother. In all things he loved t

moun, son of

rrace and gaze anxiously down the long road with tireless eyes. At last, after weary waiting, a little whirling cloud of dust would become visible in the horizon, and finally the cloud would open to allow a

room some hyena or lion sk

describably voluptuous eyes, a mouth sweetly illuminated by ruddy smiles, little teeth of wondrous whiteness and transparency, arms exquisitely round, and feet more perfect than the jasper feet of the statue of Isis. Assuredly there was not a smaller hand nor longer hai

atra whom Me

he carried it with him everywhere. The radiant and splendid image of Cleopatra, with her golden-pointed diadem and her imperial purple, standing above a nation on their knees, illumined his nightly dreams and his waking thoughts. Like some imprudent man who has da

t upon the sand (a happiness, alas! rare indeed). He attended the sacred festivals and panegyreis, striving to obtain one beaming glance of her eyes, to catch in passing one stealthy glimpse of her loveliness in some of its th

she disembarked at the summer palace, had followed her cangia in his boat-little heeding the sharp stings of the

hat the decisive instant of his life was at hand, an

one's heart breaking with love for something glittering, solemn, and magnificent-for a woman whose meanest female attendant would scorn you!-to gaze fixedly and fatefully upon one who never sees you, who never will see you; one to whom you are no more than a ripple on the sea of humanity, in nowise differing from the other ripples, and who might a hundred times encounter you withou

way by the inexhaustible current of reverie; he sketched out a thousand projects, each madder than the last. He felt convinced that he was seeking afte

d the love of Lamia, the Athenian hetaira, or of Flora, the Roman courtesan? Is it my fault that my heart should be sensible only to the matchless beauty of thy rival, Cleopatra? Why hast thou wounded my soul with the envenomed arrow of unattainable love? What s

, Athor answered not a word, and Me?amo

he senses was sadly limited, that the most exquisite refinements of delight soon yielded to satiety, and that it was really no small task for a queen to find means of occupying her time. To test new po

wit's end, and knew not w

and an arrow buried itself, quivering,

ld only a flake of foam on the surface of the river. A scroll of papyrus encircled the wo