Lily of the Nile

Selene’s life is a lesson to us that the trajectory of women’s equality hasn’t always been a forward march. In some ways the ancients were more advanced than we are today; there have been setbacks before and may be more in the future.

Kings and queens cry with family. Hide your grief from subjects and strangers.

They'll try to make you forget who you are or try to make you ashamed. But you mustn't forget and you mustn't be ashamed.

I had come to Rome in chains, but I would leave Rome a queen.

There are only three kinds of ink that rulers use to write their stories. Sweat, blood, or tears. So choose your ink carefully, because one day Anubis will weigh your heart upon on a scale. If your heart is black and heavy with sin, it will go to the crocodiles in the hour of judgment. But if you’re faithful, Isis offers immortality.

I knew that a man was not only himself but also who he wished to be.

...I was startled by his touch. I hadn’t realized he was so close to me, because I seemed so far from myself.

Warriors shape the world, not wizards, Helios. We don’t have soldiers. We don’t have generals. But we have the emperor’s ear. I want to protect Egypt and if I have to win the emperor’s trust to do it, I will.

Octavia may have shared in common their love for the emperor, or perhaps their dependence upon him, but their unity only ran so deep. They were not friends or companions by choice, but bitter rivals.

Agrippa may seem simple,” I protested, “but there’s a genius about him and not just with his military tactics. Have you seen his projects? The roads, the aqueducts, and the buildings! He can most certainly read.

Death, well done, is a gateway from this world into another. It needn’t be the end of anything. - Cleopatra

What about the poem you’re writing now? In this Aeneid, you make it seem as if you’re seeing into the future and that the emperor is a savior and Rome’s way is the only way. Were my parents really the bad people you portray? Is the emperor right?” “My dear,” Virgil said ruefully. “A poet has to eat.

Now, you must think about everything I’ve said, Selene, and decide. Will you and your brothers be the last sad chapter in the history of the dying Egyptian dynasty? Or will you make a new glorious beginning under the Roman banner?

Helios leaned over to me and whispered, “Romans fear no army on earth, but they’re apparently terrified of nagging wives.