Mitchell Starrett Buck

“ True, women were not without power; he knew that. Their way was different from that of a man, but, forewarned, they were not without resource. Hatshepsu had ruled; no one had known her for a woman . . . The glory of the Lagidae was a heavy trust. He himself had bribed the Romans with prodigious sums. A son might bribe again, or fight. A daughter—true, a daughter might obtain again all the riches, and more. That was not beyond thought. The Romans, his enemies, who cast covetous eyes on his kingdom: they were notoriously weak before women. ”

“ Thou art a sorceress with thine eyes blue as the sky and thine hair where the sunlight gleams enmeshed.
Who, in past ages, stole thee from those languid beaches where the sunny waters ripple and where the cadenced songs of the Sirens rise to enchant the hearts of men? Or didst thou come from the shadowy woodland, born of some clear, cool spring and the sunbeams glancing among the trees?
Even the least word of thy lips is like a song; the glory of thine eyes is priceless happiness; within thine arms, one could dream forever or burn forever insatiate. ”

“ Lying on the couches about the tables in the great hall were the chief priests of the city, priests of Isis, Amon, Serapis, Zeus and Aphrodite, teachers and philosophers from the schools, chief functionaries and officers, the most important visitors on the lists of the city, and a sprinkling of keen-eyed Romans. Auletes, in the prime of his life, quick, graceful, lay at a table slightly raised on a dais. ”