At another of these feasts, she carried her ostentation and display to the astonishing extreme of taking off from one of her ear-rings a pearl of immense value and dissolving it in a cup of vinegar,[1] which she afterward made into a drink, such as was customarily used in those days, and then drank it.

She was proceeding to do the same with the other pearl, when some of the company arrested the proceeding, and took the remaining pearl away.
[Footnote 1: Pearls, being of the nature of _shell_ in their composition and structure, are soluble in certain acids.] In the mean time, while Antony was thus wasting his time in luxury and pleasure with Cleopatra, his public duties were neglected, and every thing was getting into confusion.

Fulvia remained in Italy.

Her position and her character gave her a commanding political influence, and she exerted herself in a very energetic manner to sustain, in that quarter of the world, the interests of her husband's cause.

She was surrounded with difficulties and dangers, the details of which can not, however, be here particularly described.