Sardou's Cleopatra — page 185: what you’re looking at

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

170 SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA. afraid of my eyes. Strange caprice! incredible mystery! that I, who longed so to see her—who, forgetting my rank, would have gone to Rome to insult her, who hate her as my rival—I—I could do nothing! Did I recognize in her that far- famed Roman virtue? Yes, Brutus, you were right. Virtue is not a vain name—a lie! No, it is an authority, an immense force, a precious gift, a divine treasure! Ah, would that I knew it! would that I feltit! Oh, African sun, god of day, god of fire, you make a jest of all efforts toward purity, and, pitilessly laughing at our vain reso- - lutions, inject your ardor into the blood of our veins. Curses upon you for having been the cause of what I have suffered! You have soiled my heart, blackened my life! Beaccursed! If your fatal light could one day disappear and fail the terrified world, I would like to be present at your final setting and see sink for the last time your meteor of blood; and then alone, far from the noisy world, breathe in the freshness of eternal night. My shame and my weakness are due to your fires. Had it not been for you my life would have been different. No derisive epithets would have been flung at me by ribald tongues; beneath my crown my forehead would have gleamed un- Eomicbooks (Ele)