Sardou's Cleopatra — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

SARDOU'S CLEUPATRA. 145 After the complete route of Pompey, Antony’s popularity was greatly increased, and Octavius became seriously alarmed. He had always feared Antony, and now he feared him more than ever. As for Lepidus, the third triumvir, he was no more than a pack-horse. His weakness of char- acter and lack both of military talents and states- manship made him far inferior to his two col- | leagues. No, Lepidus was a nonentity, and Octa- vius paid but little attention tohim. Antony was the sole man that might stand in the way of Ceesar’s ambitions, and Antony was the one to be propitiated, if possible. In his boundless ambition, Octavius tine re- solved to be the master of Rome and so of the world. He realized that the time had not yet come to assume sole control of Rome, which he afterward so brilliantly did, but he never once lost sight of his aim and the diplomatic game he was playing... How to bind Antony to him and prevent him from balking his plans was the ques- tion, and, after much cogitation, he hit upon a project which appeared to solve the difficulty. Octavius Cesar had an only sister, Octavia, a woman of great personal attractions and of un- usual mental accomplishments. Why not marry comicbooks (are)