Cleopatra had a great deal
Cleopatra had a great deal of what is sometimes called spirit, and her
resentment was aroused by this treatment. Pothinus took pains to enlist
her young husband, Ptolemy, on his side, as the quarrel advanced.
Ptolemy was younger, and of a character much less marked and decided
than Cleopatra. Pothinus saw that he could maintain control over him
much more easily and for a much longer time than over Cleopatra. He
contrived to awaken the young Ptolemy's jealousy of his wife's rising
influence, and to induce him to join in efforts to thwart and counteract
it. These attempts to turn her husband against her only aroused
Cleopatra's resentment the more. Hers was not a spirit to be coerced.
The palace was filled with the dissensions of the rivals. Pothinus and
Ptolemy began to take measures for securing the army on their side. An
open rupture finally ensued, and Cleopatra was expelled from the
kingdom.
She went to Syria. Syria was the nearest place of refuge, and then,
besides, it was the country from which the aid had been furnished by
which her father had been restored to the throne when he had been
expelled, in a similar manner, many years before. Her father, it is
true, had gone first to Rome; but the succors which he had negotiated
for had been sent from Syria. Cleopatra hoped to obtain the same
assistance by going directly there.
Nor was she disappointed. She obtained an army, and commenced her march
toward Egypt, following the same track which Antony and Gabinius had
pursued in coming to reinstate her father. Pothinus raised an army and
went forth to meet her. He took Achillas as the commander of the troops,
and the young Ptolemy as the nominal sovereign; while he, as the young
king's guardian and prime minister, exercised the real power. The troops
of Pothinus advanced to Pelusium. Here they met the forces of Cleopatra
coming from the east. The armies encamped not very far from each other,
and both sides began to prepare for battle.
