Part Three The Villain
“Fatale monstrum.” [“The fatal monster” or “This monster sent by fate”—I mind not either, both blades draw blood.]
—Horace, Odes
“Cleopatra…the disgrace of Egypt, the fatal Erinnys of Latium, unchaste, to the undoing of Rome.”
—Lucan, Pharsalia
“Who does not know of the custom of the Egyptians? Their minds are infected with depraved delusions.”
—Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods[*]
Skip Notes
* Remember my brief dalliance with Cicero at Caesar’s banquet?
He had much to say of me and my country in the years to come.
Is it any wonder I was made out to be the Hydra of history, when they saw my customs from such a height?
Egyptians were the soil underfoot: sinful and uncouth.
So, I became the dirt beneath their nails.
No matter how much they sought to be rid of me, I sullied the great Roman men.