It was this, not the thrall of Cleopatra, I repeat, which first bound him to Egypt.

What would have prevented him--as he did later--from taking the object of his love to Rome, had it been possible at that time?
But this was not the case.

The Alexandrians provided for that.
"He had recognized the flute-player's will, nay, had granted more to the royal house than could have been given to the former.

Cleopatra and her brother-husband, Dionysus, were to share the government, and he also bestowed on Arsinoe and her youngest brother the island of Cyprus, which had been wrested from their uncle Ptolemy by the republic.

Rome was, of course, to remain the guardian of the brothers and sisters.
"This arrangement was unendurable to Pothinus and the former rulers of the state.