Sardou's Cleopatra — page 157: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

142 SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA, “Charmian, I wish to see that woman!” she exclaimed, in tones that vibrated with intense passion. “A single look, a single one, will tell me the extent of her power. Virtues, they say, are so many charms. ‘To fight with her, I must know, at least, the weapons she possesses. ‘The struggle shall be between us two, and before him! Am I, then, an object to inspire satiety and dis- gust? A sad Ariadne, a pale matron, an ugly - Sappho, to be thrown aside and abandoned? Have my flatterers, perchance, lauded too highly my beauty? I am aqueen. Of what use to me is my royalty, the power and splendor of my crown, if I cannot please this man whom I love? Why, if the beauty of that pale Roman pleases him, if her willis his law, then the lowest scullion in my kitchens is more royal than I. Iam a queen, I am adaughter of the Ptolemies, I love—I deign to love, and Iam not loved! And this man goes to seek an innocent, conjugal. happiness, after having carelessly cast to me a few days of his life! His love for her is serious, his love for me a pas- time. Why should he remain faithful to Cleo- patra? Cleopatra was but his mistress. Octavia is his wife. So, where virtue reigns, my influence expires? Antony, this trick of yours will cost cComicbooks: co