Read Cleopatra and Antony Online
Authors: Diana Preston
Other claimants to come into the frame as likenesses of Cleopatra but then to be dismissed by the majority of academics (though the arguments go on) include a marble head with melon hairstyle that Heinrich Schliemann, the excavator of Troy, claimed to have discovered in Alexandria but which was later found to be a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture of the fourth century BC; a small, high-cheekboned, hawk-nosed marble head of a woman found on Delos; and the travertine Castellani head with its distinctive aquiline nose (named for the Roman dealer Alessandro Castellani, who acquired it), currently in the British Museum. Less well known is a wooden statue now in the Seattle Art Museum carved and painted in the Egyptian style and bearing Cleopatra’s name in a cartouche on the biceps but which is widely believed to be a forgery.
For a further commentary on images of Cleopatra, both Hellenic and J. Tyldesley,
Cleopatra
, pp. 60–69.
“according . . . charming . . . which . . . Egyptian”: Plu.Ant, 27–8.
“intellectual . . . charm”: Sallust,
Conspiracy of Catiline
, 25.
Though some . . . mixed stock: For a J. Tyldesley, op. cit., pp 27–32.
“This ruse . . . fall for her”: Plu.JC, 49.
“His baldness . . . of it”: Suet.JC, 45.
a bizarre lotion: The baldness cure is given in M. Grant,
Cleopatra
, p. 67.
“Believe . . . comes”: Ovid,
Art of Love,
II, lines 717–32.
7: THE ALEXANDRIAN WAR
Unless otherwise stated below, the source for the quotes in this chapter is
The Alexandrian
War
, believed to have been written by one of Caesar’s officers.
The rapprochement . . . world’: The quotes in these three paragraphs are from Luc.Phar, X, lines 109–72.
“he damaged . . . Cleopatra”: Plu.JC, 48.
“weapons . . . palace”: Luc.Phar, X, lines 478–84.
“weapons . . . palace”: Luc.Phar, 82 “a most . . . enemy”: Suet.JC, 35.
“from roof . . . heavens”: Luc.Phar, X, lines 500–2.
“because . . . Pharos”: Caesar, Civil War, III.112.
“habitually . . . affairs”: Plu.JC, 49.
“was towing . . . Egyptians”: Suet.JC, 64.
“Cleopatra’s wicked beauty”: Luc.Phar, X, line 137.
“it might . . . governor-general”: Suet.JC, 35.
“Why . . . instruments?”: Ovid,
Amores
, II.14, lines , II.14, lines 27–28.
“nearly to Ethiopia”: Suet.JC, 52.
“Caesar seems . . . situation there”:
“Caesar seems . . . situation there”: Cic.LA, XI.15.
An inscription in Memphis: For an alternative view of the significance of the inscription for the date of Caesarion’s birth see J. Tyldesley,
Cleopatra
, pp. 101–3.
the Temple of Hathor: This temple, at Dendera, some forty miles north of Luxor and lying amidst fields of sesame, is one of the most complete remaining temples of the Ptolemaic period. Built on the granite foundations of an earlier temple dating from the time of Cheops, it is still ringed by three mud-brick enclosure walls. Its huge columns are decorated with carvings of the smooth-featured, half-smiling, cow-eared face of Hathor, traces of the original blue paint of pounded lapis lazuli still visible. Long, shallow flights of stone stairs lead up past life-size bas-reliefs of priests, the treads smoothed and worn by thousands of feet. On the ceiling of a chamber on the upper story, the figure of the goddess Nut stretches out, her arms extended, as she swallows the disc of the sun that will travel through her body during the hours of darkness and that she will give birth to as the dawn rises. A wall carving depicts Isis lovingly embalming the body of her husband, Osiris. To the back of the main temple, opposite the reliefs of Cleopatra and Caesarion, is Octavian’s temple to Isis, where he is depicted offering a mirror to Hathor and Horus.
8: “VENI, VIDI, VICI”
“there . . . Rome . . . dangerous rifts”:
The Alexandrian War, 65.
“Veni . . . vici”: Plu.JC, 50.
“his swaggering . . . him”:
“as if . . . was”: Plu.JC, 51.
“one . . . fits”: ibid., 53.
Epicureanism: It is ironic that
epicurean
has come to mean a sensualist who is, as often as not, greedy.
“opened . . . entrails”: App, 96 “In present . . . disgraceful”:
“In present . . . disgraceful”: Plu.
“I am . . . over them”: ibid.
“it was . . . Greece”: Plu.JC, 55.
“a feeling . . . human about them”: Cicero,
9: “SLAVE OF THE TIMES”
“I hate . . . bitterness . . . Her . . . speech”: Cic.LA, XV.15.
“I hate . . . bitterness . . . Her . . . speech”:
“No boy . . . Curio’s”: Cic.Phil, II.18.
“a private . . . generals . . . owed . . . women”: Plu.Ant, 10.
“those filthy . . . tombs”: Martial, quoted A. Dalby,
Empire of Pleasures
, p. 31.
“two . . . tenants . . . a building . . . profit”: Cic.LA, XIV.9.
To the east . . . price list”: All quotes in this paragraph come from Martial, quoted in A. Dalby, op. cit., pp. 216–18.
“the last year of confusions”: Quoted D. Ewing-Duncan,
The Calendar,
p. 45.
“Yes . . . edict”: Plu.JC, 59.
“the slave of the times”: Quoted T. Holland,
Rubicon
, p. 338.
10: THE IDES OF MARCH
“provided . . . himself”: Suet.JC, 83.
“more succulent provender”: ibid., 38.
“admitted . . . children”: ibid., 52.
“only . . . Parthians”: ibid., 79.
“a groan . . . Forum”: Cic.Phil, II.34.
“The amazing . . . freedom”: Plu.Ant, 12.
“Where . . . from . . . it . . . advance”: Cic.Phil, II.34.
“was . . . substance”: Suet.JC, 77.
“I’m not . . . lean ones”: Plu.JC,77.
“if only . . . now . . . Brutus . . . today”: Suet.JC, 80.
Just before . . . gone”: The quotes in this paragraph are from Plu.JC, 63 and 65.
“Caesar . . . my son!’ ”: ibid., 84.
11: “FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN”
“Antony asked . . . tyrant”: DioCass. RH, XLIV.34.
“the spirit . . . boys . . . absurd”: Cic.AT, XIV.21.
“Freedom . . . not”: ibid., XIV.4. (What, one wonders, would Cicero have made of the follow-up to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq?)
“She’ll . . . tomorrow”: Cicero,
Quintilianus,
VI.3.75.
“I see . . . queen”: Cic.AT, XIV.8.
“I am hoping . . . Caesar”: ibid., XIV.20.
“I am hoping . . . queen”: ibid., XV.4.
“If she . . . lacked everything”: Josephus,
Antiquities,
XV.4.1.
“With regard . . . their security”: Plutarch,
Life of Demetrius,
3.
“the seams . . . feet”: Suet.A, 94.
“I shall . . . feet”: DioCass.RH, XLV.2.
Busts . . . together: The quotes in this paragraph are from Suet.A, 73, 79, 80 and 83.
“I cannot . . . place”: Cic.AT, XIV.12.
“The young . . . to me”: ibid., XIV.11.
“spurned . . . obscurity”: Velleius Paterculus,
History of Rome,
II.60.
“had been . . . moneychanger”: Suet.A, 2.
“Julius . . . adoption”: ibid., 68.
“used . . . shells”: ibid..
“that Caesar . . . paternity”: Suet.JC, 52.
“I found . . . no method”: Cic.AT, XV.11.
“You, boy . . . name”: Cic.Phil, XIII.11.
“We are amazed . . . Caesar”: Cic.LF, XI.3.
“Life . . . breathing . . . The slave . . . not”: Cic.Phil, X.10.
“not to speak . . . words”: Cic.LF, XII.2.
“gladiator . . . massacre”: ibid.
“to subjugate us”: Cic.LF, XII.23.
“have the city . . . sincerity”: Cic.AT, XVI.8.
“asked . . . their homes”: App, III.42.
“He got . . . send-off”: App, III.46.
feathery papyrus: Papyrus has recently been reintroduced to Egypt from Kenya.
“No one . . . best”: quoted H. Volkmann,
Cleopatra
, p. 23.
12: RULER OF THE EAST
“set . . . them”: App, III.70.
“Antony’s . . . circumstances . . . Antony . . . eaten . . . ate . . . man”: Plu.Ant, 17.
“this heaven-sent boy”: Cic.Phil, V.16.
“Octavian must . . . extolled”: Cic.LF, XI.20.
“If you . . . this will”: Suet.A, 26.
“as if . . . estate”: Plu.Ant, 19.
The troops . . . murder him: The quotes in these five paragraphs come from App,
IV.5–30.
“terrible . . . plans”: Quoted A. Everitt,
Cicero
, p. 308.
“What gladiator . . . stroke?”: Cicero,
Tusculum Disputations
, II.41.
“You . . . crimes?: App, IV.32.
“he placed . . . sword in”: Plutarch,
Life of Brutus
, 52.
“they courteously . . . epithets”: Suet.A, 13.
“a puny . . . body . . . has . . . defeated”: DioCass.RH, L.18.
“Kings . . . by him”: ibid.
“The city . . . wind-pipes”: Plu.Ant, 24.
“His weakness . . . families”: Plu.Ant, 4 and 36.
13: MIGHTY APHRODITE
Unless stated otherwise below, the quotes in this chapter come from Plu.Ant, 24–27.
The quotes in the first paragraph are from App, IV.64.
Plutarch lusciously . . . Tarsus: For Enobarbus’ report of Cleopatra’s arrival in Tarsus in
Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare drew heavily on Sir Thomas North’s lyrical translation of Plutarch’s account.
Appian believed . . . sex: The quotes in this paragraph are from App, V.
“the topmost . . . pearls”: Pliny the Elder,
Natural History
, IX.54.
An American academic: The article on how pearls dissolve is by B. L. Ullman in
The Classical
Journal
, February 1957, Vol. 52, pp. 193–201.
“prepared . . . region”: Socrates of Rhodes quoted in Athenaeus,
Banquet of the Learned
, IV.147.
14: “GIVE IT TO FULVIA”
Antony . . . sandals: The quotes in this paragraph are from App, V.11.
During . . . to be”: The quotes in these two paragraphs are from Plu.Ant, 28.
“in the robe . . . Isis”: Plu.Ant, 54.
Isis’ “many-colored . . . moon”: The description of Isis comes from Apuleius,
The Golden
Ass
, XI. 3–4.
“concerned . . . death”: Plutarch,
Of Isis and Osiris
, 78.
She and Antony . . . pleasure: The quotes in these three paragraphs are from Plu.Ant, 29–30.
Lake Mareotis: Today Lake Mareotis is in the middle of an industrial area dotted with the flares of oil refineries, but fishermen still pole their puntlike boats through the reeds.
“like . . . night . . . a miserable letter”: Plu.Ant, 30.
“a partaker . . . showed”: Velleius Paterculus,
History
of Rome,
II.74.
“A godless . . . hand”: Vergil,
Eclogue
, I, lines 71–7.
“in crowds . . . war”: App, V.12.
At the same . . . withdrew: The quotes in this paragraph are from App, V.16.
“Glaphyra’s . . . sound”: Martial,
Epigrams,
XI.20.
slingshots . . . dick”: The Latin text of the messages on the slingshots are given in the
Corpus
Inscriptorium Latinarium
of 1901, XI or II.2.1.
“as long . . . speedily . . . moved . . . jealousy”: App, V.19.
“that Fulvia . . . Italy”: Plu.Ant, 30.
“laid . . . general . . . on falling . . . dwindle”: App, V.9 and 11.
“She girded . . . them”: DioCass.RH, XXXXVIII.10.
“had . . . sex . . . was . . . violence”: Velleius Paterculus,
History of
Rome,
II.74.
15: SINGLE MOTHER
“delivered . . . fight”: App, V.51.
“had become . . . anger”: ibid., 59.
“generally . . . wife”: Plu.Ant, 31.
“dignity . . . beauty . . . she . . . affairs”: ibid.
“a lover . . . outrageous”: Plutarch,
Life of Demetrius
, I.
“His rational . . . Egyptian”: Plu.Ant, 31.
“we must . . . performed”: Vitruvius,
On Architecture
, VI.5. (Vitruvius drew on the ideas of earlier Greek writers but this is the earliest surviving architectural work.)
16: “THE AWFUL CALAMITY”
“Now . . . world”: Vergil, Eclogue, IV, line 4 ff. Medieval Christians took these lines as a prophecy of Christ.
“Nor . . . whatsoever”: The decree is reproduced in several places in translation, for example, P. Jones,
Cleopatra: A Source Book
, pp. 205–6.
“very . . . disorder”: Josephus,
Antiquities
, XIV.14.2.
To celebrate . . . promise”: The quotes in this paragraph are from Plu.Ant, 32.
“I could . . . at me . . . the one . . . death”: Suet.A, 62.
“Either . . . man”: Plu.Ant, 33.
“He . . . women”: App, V.76.
“beneficent gods”: Quoted M. Grant,
Cleopatra
, p. 130.
“beneficent gods”: Quoted 196 “full . . . dead”: App, V.89.
“into fighting condition”: Suet.A, 16.
“not to . . . wretched”: Plu.Ant, 35.
“a hundred . . . warships”: ibid.
“The awful . . . Syria”: Plu.Ant, 36.
17: SUN AND MOON
Unless otherwise stated below, the source for the quotes in this chapter is Plu.Ant, 36–51. Plutarch’s account of the Parthian campaign is based on a work by one of Antony’s generals, Dellius, now lost.
“cut . . . ears . . . complete . . . blemish”: Josephus,
Antiquities
, XIV.13.10.
Silver coins . . . Antony: One of the silver coins—a drachm—minted in Antioch and depicting Cleopatra on one side and Antony on the other can be seen in the British Museum.
18: “THEATRICAL, OVERDONE, AND ANTI-ROMAN”
“When she . . . had a great . . . to Egypt”: Josephus,
Antiquities
, XV.4.2.
“realized . . . shock”: Plu.Ant, 53.
As Antony . . . attain’: The quotes in these two paragraphs are from Plu.Ant, 54.
“it was not . . . use it”: Josephus,
Antiquities
, XV.3.8.
“he . . . war”: Plu.Ant, 52.
Cleopatra . . . state: The quotes in this paragraph are from DioCass.RH, XLIX.40.