Sardou's Cleopatra — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

SARDOWS CLEOPATRA. 51 their stone seats, impassive spectators of the gor- geous orgy beneath. Upon the floor were de- picted in intricate mosaic scenes from Grecian mythology. One side of the hall was open to the air. ‘Through arches of porphry could be seen a broad terrace, flanked on each side by a sphinx with oblique eyes and pointed chin, who cast into the hall a fixed, mysterious gaze. From the ter- race, flights of alabaster steps led down into the gardens, filled with mimosas, aloes, lemon trees, and carob plants. Vases of rose marble were filled with flowers of brilliant and variegated hues. Sculptured nymphs poured forth from their urns streams of perfumed water which fell with a gentle tinkle into basins of silver. Be-- yond flowed the Nile, and further still were the _ yellow sands of the desert. The massive tables groaned beneath the weight of rare viands brought at fabulous expense from all known countries. The wines of Crete, Falernum and the Massican hills sparkled and foamed in bowls of gold wreathed with flowers. Upon couches arranged in a semi-circle and covered with costly embroideries reclined in luxurious abandon the women of Cleopatra’s household and the compan- ions of Antony who had followed him into Egypt. -EComicbooks (E(@)