The boats and the water all around them resounded with the shouts of merriment and laughter which this incident occasioned.
In the mean time, while Antony was thus spending his time in low and ignoble pursuits and in guilty pleasures at Alexandria, his wife Fulvia, after exhausting all other means of inducing her husband to return to her, became desperate, and took measures for fomenting an open war, which she thought would compel him to return.

The extraordinary energy, influence, and talent which Fulvia possessed, enabled her to do this in an effectual manner.

She organized an army, formed a camp, placed herself at the head of the troops, and sent such tidings to Antony of the dangers which threatened his cause as greatly alarmed him.

At the same time news came of great disasters in Asia Minor, and of alarming insurrections among the provinces which had been committed to his charge there.

Antony saw that he must arouse himself from the spell which had enchanted him and break away from Cleopatra, or that he would be wholly and irretrievably ruined.