He did so, and died before their sight in dreadful agony.
The experiments which Cleopatra thus made on the nature and effects of poison were not, however, wholly without practical result.

Cleopatra learned from them, it is said, that the bite of the asp was the easiest and least painful mode of death.

The effect of the venom of that animal appeared to her to be the lulling of the sensorium into a lethargy or stupor, which soon ended in death, without the intervention of pain.
This knowledge she seems to have laid up in her mind for future use.
The thoughts of Cleopatra appear, in fact, to have been much disposed, at this time, to flow in gloomy channels, for she occupied herself a great deal in building for herself a sepulchral monument in a certain sacred portion of the city.

This monument had, in fact, been commenced many years ago, in accordance with a custom prevailing among Egyptian sovereigns, of expending a portion of their revenues during their life-time in building and decorating their own tombs.

Cleopatra now turned her mind with new interest to her own mausoleum.