Sardou's Cleopatra — page 213: what you’re looking at

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

198 SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA. him down with remorse were his friends, his com- panions-at-arms, whose valor he had scorned, whose faith he had betrayed. While they were dying for him, he, their unworthy chief, had quitted them, without a word, without a sign, without recompensing them with even a last fare- well. They called him their father, their em- peror, while he ! Oh, curses on the fatal siren that had lured him to his ruin! And the strong man stopped and buried his face in his hands, convulsed with an agony for which there was no remedy. Suddenly he raised his head, and, flinging out his arms, cried aloud: “And what has become of you, my rebellious old soldier, who predicted all this? Ventidius! Ventidius !” As if in answer to his call, there was a rush across the sand of hurrying steps, and in another moment the man he had invoked was by his side. The old veteran had come to join his fortunes to - those of his master, to whom he was as loyal in the days of his ruin as he had ever been in the _ days of his prosperity. As he looked upon Antony’s worn, pallid face, . —— cComicbooks (E(@)