History as She Is Made

News item: "Cleopatra did not commit suicide through love, according to a Munich savant, but because the ancient Egyptians believed that death from an asp bite would insure apotheosis afterward."

"Twas not love of Antony killed Cleopat," She wanted apoth-eosis:

A Munich professor's as certain of that

As a doctor could be of sclerosis.

There's not any doubt in his Germanic mind

That history must be rewritten;

The proof is in Shakespeare, the facts you will find

In the act where Miss Cleo was bitten.

A Clown, though a simpleton, used the right word:

He said of the asp he presented:

"His biting's immortal." We thought it absurd.

"Not so!" says the scholar. "He meant it!"

Why doesn't he find out why J. Caesar fell?

Perhaps he had some kind of -osis;