Kleopatra Read Online Free PDF Page B

back of his head as if undergoing
     decapitation.
    In complete defiance of court protocol, Kleopatra jumped into his lap. He scooped her into his arms and hugged her close to
     him, brushing her long hair away from her face. He continued, “In the year before this little princess was born, the Roman
     army crucified the six thousand rebellious slaves who followed Spartacus the Gladiator. They hung the bodies on either side
     of the Appian Way, lining all three hundred miles of the road. I believe they left them there for six months as a warning.
     That is Roman vengeance, my dear Thea. I do not wish to see your pretty face rotting on a cross. And I do not wish to see
     myself hanging next to you.”
    “May I remind you, Your Majesty, that we are not slaves,” said Thea.
    “Father, tell us the story of Spartacus,” Kleopatra requested, knowing that it made Thea queasy.
    “Not again,” cried Thea, grabbing her stomach, making Kleopatra wonder if she was pregnant again, having already given birth
     to two brats, one after the other, the girl Arsinoe, who was two, and the infant boy.
    “Six months, my dear Thea,” Auletes said pointedly. “Have you seen a body six months after death? A body that has not been
     embalmed in the Egyptian way but simply left unattended? It’s not a pretty sight.”
    “Will you tell us the story, Father?” the princess asked again.
    “I shall let our guest tell the tale, Kleopatra, for it is said that he fought with Crassus against the slave army.”
    She gasped, eagerly returning to her dais. To the unfettered imagination of the princess, these bestial Romans were unspeakably
     glamorous.

    Kleopatra caught the Roman sneaking a coy smile at her when the king was not looking. She liked having his attention and smiled
     back. He was robust like all prosperous Romans and wore the thin purple stripe of the equestrian class on his toga. Not a
     patrician, Auletes had said, but just as rich. Like the rest of his countrymen, his demeanor at a foreign court, though solicitous,
     had the usual underlying Roman superiority.
    “My daughter is most anxious to hear your tales of vanquishing the slave Spartacus,” said the king in a merry tone.
    “Your Majesty, I come on urgent business that must be discussed before we engage in pleasurable storytelling.”
    “Oh yes, my advisers have briefed me on your request to abolish the import duties on cinnamon. I am certain we can work out
     a reasonable and mutually beneficial arrangement,” replied Auletes.
    “Sire, I have in my breast pocket a letter to you from Pompey.”
    “From the great general himself?” asked the king, sitting straighter in his throne.
    “I have just seen Pompey in Judaea. He is at war with the Jews and requests that you demonstrate your friendship by sending
     him the supplies and soldiers he requires to subdue that stubborn nation of rebels.” The Roman handed the king a letter, which
     Auletes read to himself. Kleopatra noticed that Thea was squeezing her earlobe repeatedly, a habit she had when she was anxious.
     The king and queen had already fought much over Auletes’ friendship with Pompey after Auletes had given a banquet in Pompey’s
     honor the year before. Auletes had fretted over every detail of the meal, demanding that each of the one thousand guests’
     gold cups be replaced with a fresh vessel at all seven courses. “How can you celebrate his victory over Syria?” Thea had demanded.
     “Over our own blood?”
    “So that he will think twice about spilling
our
blood, my dear queen, yours and mine and that of our precious children,” the king had replied.
    Auletes folded the letter in his hand. “Nurturing my friendship with Pompey the Great is of utmost importance to me. You may
     reply that I am sending immediately the amount he requests in gold and an army of eight thousand.”
    “But my dear,” Thea began, her face at once full of apology and demand, “should we not consider the ramifications from