Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, was said to have been irresistible to the men she loved. Her beauty and desirability was legendary-but when you look closely at the histories, you find that there's some question as to her physical beauty, some doubt, many say in fact, as to whether she was actually "beautiful" at all. In Plutarch's Lives, Cleopatra first captivated Caesar, not by her looks at at all, but by her "bold wit" and "the charm of her society." And everyone knows the famous story of how she had herself rolled up in blankets and carried by servants into Caesar's apartments, as so to avoid being seen by the tabloid reporters of her time. She was only a young girl at the time-but wise and shrewd far beyond her years. When Marc Antony fell in love with her, she was no longer young, but "in the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid, and their intellects are in full maturity." She was wise enough to know that she could not put her faith in her physical appearance-for that was something transitory. But in her "arts and charms" she had perfect confidence, and that confidence, more than anything else, gave her power to attract and hold men. Cleopatra was actually a rather ordinary-looking woman. Her appearance "was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being struck by it." But she had qualities that transcended physical beauty. "The contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice,....like an instrument of many strings...." We all can be like her-Cleopatra's example does demonstrate that the total impression you create.....with clothing, color, scent, the grace of your movements, the charm and intelligence of your conversation....is far more important to me than whether your face or body are beautiful in the convention sense. And let Shakespeare's words about Cleopatra, "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety," apply to you too.