What of that woman, she whose charms
brought scandal on the Roman arms,
And, strumpet to her very thralls,
Aspired to pass the Roman walls
And rule our Senate, as the fee
Due from her lover's lechery?
Cursed Alexandria, Memphis curst,
Thou land in cunning deeply versed,
How ofen on thy noisome silt
Has Roman blood been freely spilt...
To think that courtesan obscene,
Incestuous Conopus' Queen,
That worst of stimas branded on
The royal race of Macedon,
Dared pit against our Jupiter
Her god Anubis, half a cur;
Compel our Tiber from the Nile!
Aside the Roman trumpet set
For Egypt's clattering castanet!...
How could that Rome at whose command
The fasces broke in Tarquin's hand,
Alike the name and nautre proud,
Before a woman now have bowed?

Propertius, III, 11, 29ff., 38ff., 47ff. (translation S.G. Tremenheere)

Throughout history, the name Cleopatra has unfortunately been synonomous with sentiments such as this one here. After her death, Roman made a point of virtually erasing her name from the annals of history, leaving us with with a Roman view of the fateful events of her young life.

Cleopatra was an ambitious, shrewd and cunning ruler. She accepted and embraced the Egyptian culture moreso than any of the Ptolomys before her. She took great risks to obtain her throne and to win over the hearts of her subjects. She was also a ruler who knew what she must do in order to see her kingdom survive...