It was adorned with carvings and decorations of the finest workmanship, and elaborately gilded.

The sails were of purple, and the oars were inlaid and tipped with silver.

Upon the deck of this barge Queen Cleopatra appeared, under a canopy of cloth of gold.

She was dressed very magnificently in the costume in which Venus, the goddess of Beauty, was then generally represented.

She was surrounded by a company of beautiful boys, who attended upon her in the form of Cupids, and fanned her with their wings, and by a group of young girls representing the Nymphs and the Graces.