 Caesar greets all with courtesy and kindness, but inflexibly demands a tribute whose amount disconcerts the Egyptians.As an inducement, Caesar says he will settle the dispute between the claimants for the Egyptian throne by letting Cleopatra and Ptolemy reign jointly.However, the rivalry exists because, even though the two are siblings and already married in accordance with the royal law, they detest each other with a mutual antipathy no less murderous for being childish.