Sardou's Cleopatra — page 161: what you’re looking at

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

146 SANDOUWS CLEOPATRA. her to Antony? ‘This would make the interests of the two men identical, and ratify and confirm the reconciliation that had taken place between them. Octavius, therefore, proposed the match. To obtain his sister’s consent was no difficult matter. She was. gentle and affectionate and a lover cf peace and harmony; moreover Antony’s superior talents and graces of person had already made an impression upon her heart. With Antony, however, it was a very different matter. Huis whole heart was with Cleopatra, and he was longing for the time to come when he could return to her. At first, he absolutely de- clined to listen to the proposition. But the peo- ple of Rome and the leaders were extremely anx- ious that the arrangement should be consum- mated, knowing as they did that the peace of the world depended upon the relations that existed between these two men, and Antony gradually allowed himself to be won over. It was Ventid- ius, his old friend and comrade in arms, and the man of all others for whom he had perhaps the greatest affection and veneration, who clea wrung from him a reluctant consent. “This unmanly love for the Queen of Egypt — ~eomicbooks.co