A chair of state, magnificently decorated, was set up for him on a high elevation in a public square; and here he sat, with circles of guards around him, while the people of the city, assembled before him in the dress of suppliants, and kneeling upon the pavement, begged his forgiveness, and implore him to spare the city.

These petitions the great conqueror graciously condescended to grant.
Many of the princes and generals who had served under Antony came next to beg the body of their commander, that they might give it an honorable burial.

These requests, however, Octavius would not accede to, saying that he could not take the body away from Cleopatra.

He, however, gave Cleopatra leave to make such arrangements for the obsequies as she thought fit, and allowed her to appropriate such sums of money from her treasures for this purpose as she desired.

Cleopatra accordingly made the necessary arrangements, and superintended the execution of them; not, however, with any degree of calmness and composure, but in a state, on the contrary, of extreme agitation and distress.