A reader, Mark Savage, points out to me that there are comparisons between Saddam Hussein and Cleopatra — both wily, mysterious Easterners needing eradication because (according to the spin-doctors) they posed such terrible threats to a Western way of life. But that makes George Galloway, whose passion for Saddam was such a rare and precious thing, the equivalent of Marc Antony. Where might it all end? [Scramble lawyers at once — Ed.]
Whenever Roman envoys visited Egypt, they were given the grand tour up the Nile to Memphis. On one such occasion a Roman commented that Egypt had the potential to become a great power if only its leaders could get their act together. In fact both sides acknowledged the advantages of an alliance: Roman power and efficiency would meet Egyptian wealth (and grain supply). So during the 1st century bc, mutual approaches were made, and Julius Caesar famously took Cleopatra as his mistress, fathering a child by her.
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