Cleopatra ,by Jacob Abbott

Of all the beautiful women of history, none has left us such convincing proofs of her charms as Cleopatra, for the tide of Romes destiny, and,
therefore, that of the world, turned aside because of her beauty. Julius Caesar, whose legions trampled the conquered world from Canopus to the
Thames, capitulated to her, and Mark Antony threw a fleet, an empire and his own honor to the winds to follow her to his destruction. Disarmed at
last before the frigid Octavius, she found her peerless body measured by the cold eye of her captor only for the triumphal procession, and the
friendly asp alone spared her Romes crowning ignominy.