Summary Act III

Scene 1

This scene occurs at the Capitol with the senate present above. A crowd of people are present, with
the soothsayer and Artemidorus in it. Caesar enters accompanied by the conspirators, Antony,
Lepidus, Popilius, Publius and unnamed others. Caesar says to the soothsayer that the Ides of
March have arrived, the soothsayer responds that the day is not over yet.

Artemidorus pleads for Caesar to read his suit, but Caesar dismisses him. Caesar refuses to read
petitions in the street and goes to join the senate.

Popilius wishes Cassius success on his mission, which leads Cassius to worry that their secret has
been revealed. Brutus convinces Cassius to calm down, and assures him that everything is going
according to plan. Trebonius lures Antony away and the two leave the stage together.

Cimber kneels before Caesar to plead for his brother's banishment to be repealed. Caesar delivers a
speech about his immovable personality and his unwillingness to repeal the banishment. The other
conspirators gather around and plead Cimber's case, but Caesar is unmoved. The conspirators then
stab Caesar repeatedly, Caesar says Et tu Brute to Brutus and dies.

The conspirators cheer about liberty and freedom. Brutus reassures the non-conspirators that they
are in no danger. They determine to bathe their hands and swords in the blood of Caesar and to go
through the city behind Brutus to declare liberty from Caesar's tyranny. Cassius says that their deed
will be remembered forever for bringing freedom to Rome.

A servant from Antony arrives and informs Brutus that he will forgive the murder of Caesar if they
can give him a good reason for why it was done. Brutus promises not to hurt Antony and has the
servant go fetch him.

Antony shakes hands with the murders and says that he will love them as well as he loved Caesar
and that he is sure they had good reason. He speaks of Caesar's greatness and expresses
conflicting feelings over speaking with Caesar's murderers while Caesar lies dead at their feet. He
convinces Brutus to allow him to speak at Caesar's funeral. Cassius warns against this but Brutus
says that he will justify the assassination of Caesar at the funeral before Antony speaks.

Everyone exits except Antony. Alone Antony reveals that he is committed to starting a civil war and
resisting the conspirators. His servant returns, and Antony tells him to tell Octavius Caesar (Julius
Caesar's adopted heir), who has been recalled to Rome by Caesar, not to return since it is not safe
for him. He exits the scene with Caesar's body.

Scene 2

This scene occurs at the Forum in Rome (A stadium like structure). Brutus, Cassius, and the citizens
of Rome are present. Cassius and Brutus promise to explain why Caesar had to die to the Roman
people, some of the citizens follow Cassius to hear his explanation while others stay with Brutus.
Brutus tells the citizens that he killed Caesar for the sake of the Roman people because he would be
a tyrant and would take away their freedoms. He says that it was Not that I loved Caesar less, but
that I loved / Rome more. He promises to allow himself be killed for his crime, but the citizens cheer
for him to live, and seem convinced by his explanation. Brutus then allows Antony to speak, and he
leaves.

Antony then gives a speech where he convinces the Roman people that Caesar was not ambitious
as Brutus said. He reminds them that Caesar had refused the crown in the past and that he has
always had the best interest of Romans at heart. He questions whether Cassius and Brutus are
actually as honorable as they claim to be. He describes in detail the brutality of Caesar's murder by
pointing to the knife wounds on his body. Antony also claims he lacks the rhetorical abilities of
Brutus, and that all he has is the truth to convince the Roman people. Finally, Antony reads Caesars
will, where Caesar leaves large amounts of property and money to the Roman people. He manages
to gain the support of the Roman citizens against Brutus and the conspirators.

Antony's servant arrives and tells him that Octavius is already in Rome at Caesar's home. The
servant says that Brutus and Cassius have fled Rome. Antony exits to meet with Octavius, declaring
that Rome is now safe for him.

Scene 3

This scene occurs on a street in Rome. Cinna the Poet enters with some citizens. The citizens
accost him and demand to know who he is, asking his marital status, and where he lives. Cinna tells
them his name and that he lives near the Capitol. The citizens mistake him for the conspirator Cinna,
and he is dragged off to be killed. The citizens are intent on burning the homes of the conspirators.

Literature Network William Shakespeare Julius Caesar Summary Act III

Caesar and Cleopatra (play)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caesar and Cleopatra

 Gertrude Elliott and Johnston Forbes-Robertson in Caesar and

Cleopatra, New York, 1906

Written by George Bernard Shaw

Date premiered 15 March 1899

Place premiered Theatre Royal, Newcastle upon Tyne

Original language English

Subject Julius Caesar meets Cleopatra

Genre history play

Setting Ancient Egypt

Caesar and Cleopatra is a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw that depicts a fictionalized
account of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. It was first published with Captain
Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in Shaw's 1901 collection Three Plays for
Puritans. It was first performed in a single staged reading atNewcastle upon Tyne on 15 March
 1899, to secure the copyright. The play was produced in New York in 1906 and in London at
the Savoy Theatre in 1907.

Contents
[hide]

1Plot
2Themes
3Stage productions
4Film, television and audio versions of the play
5Musical adaptation
6References
7External links

Plot[edit]
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help
improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (March
2013)(Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The play has a prologue and an "Alternative to the Prologue". The prologue consists of the Egyptian
god Raaddressing the audience directly, as if he could see them in the theater (i.e., breaking
the fourth wall). He says thatPompey represents the old Rome and Caesar represents the new
Rome. The gods favored Caesar, according to Ra, because he "lived the life they had given him
boldly". Ra recounts the conflict between Caesar and Pompey, their battle at Pharsalia, and
Pompey's eventual assassination in Egypt at the hands of Lucius Septimius.
In "An Alternative to the Prologue", the captain of Cleopatra's guard is warned that Caesar has
landed and is invading Egypt. Cleopatra has been driven into Syria by her brother, Ptolemy, with
whom she is vying for the Egyptian throne. The messenger warns that Caesar's conquest is
inevitable and irresistible. A Nubian watchman flees to Cleopatra's palace and warns those inside
that Caesar and his armies are less than an hour away. The guards, knowing of Caesar's weakness
for women, plan to persuade him to proclaim Cleopatrawho may be controllableEgypt's ruler
instead of Ptolemy. They try to locate her, but are told by Cleopatra's nurse, Ftatateeta, that she has
run away.
(The film version of the play, made in 1945, used the Alternative Prologue rather than the original
one.)
Act I opens with Cleopatra sleeping between the paws of a Sphinx. Caesar, wandering lonely in the
desert night, comes upon the sphinx and speaks to it profoundly. Cleopatra wakes and, still unseen,
replies. At first Caesar imagines the sphinx is speaking in a girlish voice, then, when Cleopatra
appears, that he is experiencing a dream or, if he is awake, a touch of madness. She, not
recognizing Caesar, thinks him a nice old man and tells him of her childish fear of Caesar and the
Romans. Caesar urges bravery when she must face the conquerors, then escorts her to her palace.
Cleopatra reluctantly agrees to maintain a queenly presence, but greatly fears that Caesar will eat
her anyway. When the Roman guards arrive and hail Caesar, Cleopatra suddenly realizes he has
been with her all along. She sobs in relief, and falls into his arms.
Act II. In a hall on the first floor of the royal palace in Alexandria, Caesar meets King Ptolemy (aged
ten), his tutor Theodotus (very aged), Achillas (general of Ptolemy's troops), and Pothinus (his
guardian). 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. Each claims sole rulership. Caesar's solution is acceptable to none and his concern
for Ptolemy makes Cleopatra fiercely jealous.
The conference deteriorates into a dispute, with the Egyptians threatening military action. Caesar,
with two legions (three thousand soldiers and a thousand horsemen), has no fear of the Egyptian
army but learns Achillas also commands a Roman army of occupation, left after a previous Roman
incursion, which could overwhelm his relatively small contingent.
As a defensive measure, Caesar orders Rufio, his military aide, to take over the palace, a theatre
adjacent to it, and Pharos, an island in the harbour accessible from the palace via a causeway that
divides the harbour into eastern and western sections. From Pharos, which has a defensible
lighthouse at its eastmost tip, those of Caesar's ships anchored on the east side of the harbour can
return to Rome. His ships on the west side are to be burnt at once. Britannus, Caesar's secretary,
proclaims the king and courtiers prisoners of war, but Caesar, to the dismay of Rufio, allows the
captives to depart. Only Cleopatra (with her retinue), fearing Ptolemy's associates, and Pothinus (for
reasons of his own), choose to remain with Caesar. The others all depart.
Caesar, intent on developing his strategy, tries to dismiss all other matters but is interrupted by
Cleopatra's nagging for attention. He indulges her briefly while she speaks amorously of Mark
Antony, who restored her father to his throne when she was twelve years old. Her gushing about the
youth and beauty of Mark Antony are unflattering to Caesar, who is middle-aged and balding.
Caesar nevertheless, impervious to jealousy, makes Cleopatra happy by promising to send Mark
Antony back to Egypt. As she leaves, a wounded soldier comes to report that Achillas, with his
Roman army, is at hand and that the citizenry is attacking Caesar's soldiers. A siege is imminent.
Watching from a balcony, Rufio discovers the ships he was ordered to destroy have been torched by
Achillas' forces and are already burning. Meanwhile, Theodotus, the savant, arrives distraught,
anguished because fire from the blazing ships has spread to the Alexandrian library. Caesar does
not sympathize, saying it is better that the Egyptians should live their lives than dream them away
with the help of books. As a practicality, he notes the Egyptian firefighters will be diverted from
attacking Caesar's soldiers. At scene's end, Cleopatra and Britannus help Caesar don his armor and
he goes forth to battle.
Act III. A Roman sentinel stationed on the quay in front of the palace looks intently, across the
eastern harbour, to the west, for activity at the Pharos lighthouse, now captured and occupied by
Caesar. He is watching for signs of an impending counter-attack by Egyptian forces arriving via ship
and by way of the Heptastadion (a stone causeway spanning the five miles of open water between
the mainland and Pharos Island). The sentinel's vigil is interrupted by Ftatateeta (Cleopatra's nurse)
and Apollodorus the Sicilian (a patrician amateur of the arts), accompanied by a retinue of porters
carrying a bale of carpets, from which Cleopatra is to select a gift appropriate for Caesar.
Cleopatra emerges from the palace, shows little interest in the carpets, and expresses a desire to
visit Caesar at the lighthouse. The sentinel tells her she is a prisoner and orders her back inside the
palace. Cleopatra is enraged, and Apollodorus, as her champion, engages in swordplay with the
sentinel. A centurion intervenes and avers Cleopatra will not be allowed outside the palace until
Caesar gives the order. She is sent back to the palace, where she may select a carpet for delivery to
Caesar. Apollodorus, who is not a prisoner, will deliver it since he is free to travel in areas behind the
Roman lines. He hires a small boat, with a single boatmen, for the purpose.
The porters leave the palace bearing a rolled carpet. They complain about its weight, but only
Ftatateeta, suffering paroxysms of anxiety, knows that Cleopatra is hidden in the bundle. The
sentinel, however, alerted by Ftatateeta's distress, becomes suspicious and attempts,
unsuccessfully, to recall the boat after it departs.
Meanwhile, Rufio, eating dates and resting after the day's battle, hears Caesar speaking somberly of
his personal misgivings and predicting they will lose the battle because age has rendered him inept.
Rufio diagnoses Caesar's woes as signs of hunger and gives him dates to eat. Caesar's outlook
brightens as he eats them. He is himself again when Britannus exultantly approaches bearing a
heavy bag containing incriminating letters that have passed between Pompey's associates and their
army, now occupying Egypt. Caesar scorns to read them, deeming it better to convert his enemies to
friends than to waste his time with prosecutions; he casts the bag into the sea.
As Cleopatra's boat arrives, the falling bag breaks its prow and it quickly sinks, barely allowing time
for Apollodorus to drag the carpet and its queenly contents safe ashore. Caesar unrolls the carpet
and discovers Cleopatra, who is distressed because of the rigors of her journey and even more so
when she finds Caesar too preoccupied with military matters to accord her much attention. Matters
worsen when Britannus, who has been observing the movements of the Egyptian army, reports that
the enemy now controls the causeway and is also approaching rapidly across the island. Swimming
to a Roman ship in the eastern harbour becomes the sole possibility for escape. Apollodorus dives in
readily and Caesar follows, after privately instructing Rufio and Britannus to toss Cleopatra into the
water so she can hang on while he swims to safety. They do so with great relish, she screaming
mightily, then Rufio takes the plunge. Britannus cannot swim, so he is instructed to defend himself
as well as possible until a rescue can be arranged. A friendly craft soon rescues all the swimmers.
Act IV. Six months elapse with Romans and Cleopatra besieged in the palace in Alexandria.
Cleopatra and Pothinus, who is a prisoner of war, discuss what will happen when Caesar eventually
leaves and disagree over whether Cleopatra or Ptolemy should rule. They part; Cleopatra to be
hostess at a feast prepared for Caesar and his lieutenants, and Pothinus to tell Caesar that
Cleopatra is a traitress who is only using Caesar to help her gain the Egyptian throne. Caesar
considers that a natural motive and is not offended. But Cleopatra is enraged at Pothinus' allegation
and secretly orders her nurse, Ftatateeta, to kill him.
At the feast the mood is considerably restrained by Caesar's ascetic preference for simple fare and
barley water versus exotic foods and wines. However, conversation grows lively when world-weary
Caesar suggests to Cleopatra they both leave political life, search out the Nile's source and a city
there. Cleopatra enthusiastically agrees and, to name the city, seeks help from the God of the Nile,
who is her favorite god.
The festivities are interrupted by a scream, followed by a thud: Pothinus has been murdered and his
body thrown from the roof down to the beach. The besieging Egyptians, both army and civilian, are
enraged by the killing of Pothinus, who was a popular hero, and they begin to storm the palace.
Cleopatra claims responsibility for the slaying and Caesar reproaches her for taking shortsighted
vengeance, pointing out that his clemency towards Pothinus and the other prisoners has kept the
enemy at bay. Doom seems inevitable, but then they learn that reinforcements, commanded
by Mithridates of Pergamos have engaged the Egyptian army. With the threat diminished, Caesar
draws up a battle plan and leaves to speak to the troops. Meanwhile, Rufio realizes Ftatateeta was
Pothinus' killer, so he kills her in turn. Cleopatra, left alone and utterly forlorn discovers the bloodied
body concealed behind a curtain.
Act V is an epilogue. Amidst great pomp and ceremony, Caesar prepares to leave for Rome. His
forces have swept Ptolemy's armies into the Nile, and Ptolemy himself was drowned when his barge
sank. Caesar appoints Rufio governor of the province and considers freedom for Britannus, who
declines the offer in favor of remaining Caesar's servant. A conversation ensues that foreshadows
Caesar's eventual assassination. As the gangplank is being extended from the quay to Caesar's
ship, Cleopatra, dressed in mourning for her nurse, arrives. She accuses Rufio of murdering
Ftatateeta. Rufio admits the slaying, but says it was not for the sake of punishment, revenge or
justice: he killed her without malice because she was a potential menace. Caesar approves the
execution because it was not influenced by spurious moralism. Cleopatra remains unforgiving until
Caesar renews his promise to send Mark Antony to Egypt. That renders her ecstatic as the ship
starts moving out to sea.
Themes[edit]

Poster for a Federal Theatre Projectproduction

Shaw wanted to prove that it was not love but politics that drew Cleopatra to Julius Caesar. He sees
the Roman occupation of ancient Egypt as similar to the British occupation that was occurring during
his time.[1] Caesar understands the importance of good government, and values these things above
art and love.[2]
Shaw's philosophy has often been compared to that of Nietzsche.[citation needed] Their shared admiration
for men of action shows itself in Shaw's description of Caesar's struggle with Pompey.[citation needed] In
the prologue, the god Ra says, "the blood and iron ye pin your faith on fell before the spirit of man;
for the spirit of man is the will of the gods."
A second theme, apparent both from the text of the play itself and from Shaw's lengthy notes after
the play, is Shaw's belief that people have not been morally improved
by civilization and technology.[citation needed] A line from the prologue clearly illustrates this point. The
god Ra addresses the audience and says, "ye shall marvel, after your ignorant manner, that men
twenty centuries ago were already just such as you, and spoke and lived as ye speak and live, no
worse and no better, no wiser and no sillier."
Another theme is the value of clemency. Caesar remarks that he will not stoop to vengeance when
confronted with Septimius, the murderer of Pompey. Caesar throws away letters that would have
identified his enemies in Rome, instead choosing to try to win them to his side. Pothinus remarks
that Caesar doesn't torture his captives. At several points in the play, Caesar lets his enemies go
instead of killing them. The wisdom of this approach is revealed when Cleopatra orders her nurse to
killPothinus because of his "treachery and disloyalty" (but really because of his insults to her). This
probably contrasts with historical fact.[3] The murder enrages the Egyptian crowd, and but for
Mithridates' reinforcements would have meant the death of all the protagonists. Caesar only
endorses the retaliatory murder of Cleopatra's nurse because it was necessary and humane.
Stage productions[edit]

1953 production in Tel Aviv, with Shimon Finkel and Miriam Zohar

The play was first performed in March 1899 by Mrs Patrick Campbell's company at the Theatre
Royal, Newcastle
Shaw wrote the part of Caesar for Shakespearean actor Johnston Forbes-Robertson, who
played it opposite his wife Gertrude Elliott.[4]
A 1925 Broadway production starring Lionel Atwill and Helen Hayes was a major hit that opened
the Guild Theatre.
Cedric Hardwicke and Lilli Palmer starred in a production of the play performed in 1949-50 at
the National Theatre on Broadway.[5]
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh played the title roles in repertory with Shakespeare's Antony
and Cleopatra in 1951 at London's St James's Theatre and later on Broadway.
John Gielgud played Caesar at the Chichester Festival in 1971. He was Shaw's first choice for
the role in the 1945 film but declined the offer after meeting with the director Gabriel Pascal and
taking an instant dislike towards him.[6]
Rex Harrison played Caesar on Broadway in 1977, recreating his Academy Award nominated
role from the film Cleopatra(1963). Elizabeth Ashley portrayed Cleopatra.[7]
Between 1962 and 1963 a Greek stage production of the play was shown
in Greece and Cyprus with actress Aliki Vougiouklaki in the role of Cleopatra.
A 2008 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production, directed by Des McAnuff, starred Christopher
Plummer as Caesar andNikki M. James as Cleopatra. It has also been released as a film.

Film, television and audio versions of the play[edit]

Caesar and Cleopatra was the basis for the lavish 1945 motion picture Caesar and Cleopatra,
starring Claude Rains as Caesar and Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra and produced by Gabriel Pascal.
Shaw collaborated closely on this production. After seeing part of the filming of the movie at Denham
Studios in London, Shaw remarked, "What scope! What limitless possibilities!... Here you have the
whole world to play with!"[2]
There have also been two major television productions of the play. The first was in 1956, produced
as part of the anthology series Producers' Showcase, on NBC. It starred Claire Bloom as
Cleopatra, Cedric Hardwicke as Caesar, Farley Granger, Jack Hawkins and Judith Anderson. The
second version, shown in 1976, was also telecast by NBC, and starred Genevive Bujold as
Cleopatra, Alec Guinness as Caesar, Clive Francis, Margaret Courtenay, and Iain Cuthbertson. It
was telecast on the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
The 2008 Stratford Festival production starring Christopher Plummer in the role of Caesar, and Nikki
M. James as Cleopatra was shown in very limited release in cinemas on January 31, 2009. It was
subsequently shown on Bravo in Canada and released on a DVD, which is available from the
Festival.
The BBC broadcast a radio production on 27 August 1980 starring the father-daughter acting team
of Alan Badel (Caesar) and Sarah Badel (Cleopatra).[8] Also in the cast were Beatrix Lehmann as
Ftatateeta, Peter Woodthorpe as Pothinus and Alan Rowe as Lucius Septimius.
There has also been an audio adaptation of the play produced on Caedmon Records (Caedmon
TRS 304M) and directed by Anthony Quayle, starring Max Adrianas "Caesar", Claire Bloom as
"Cleopatra", Judith Anderson as "Ftatateeta", Corin Redgrave as "Apollodorus", Laurence Hardy as
"Britannus" and Jack Gwillim as "Rufio" (this version used the Alterna

"He [Caesar] had love affairs with queens too...but above all with Cleopatra, with
whom he often feasted until daybreak, and he would have gone through Egypt with
her in her state-barge almost to Aethiopia, had not his soldiers refused to follow him."

Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar (LII.1)

Julius Caesar defeated Ptolemy XII on March 27, 47 BC and established Cleopatra
and her brother Ptolemy XIII on the Egyptian throne. He then proceeded against
Pharnaces II, king of Pontus, who had taken advantage of the civil war to reclaim
territory lost by his father, Mithridates VI, defeating him at Zela on August 2. The
question is how long Caesar remained at Alexandria before leaving for Pontus.

In a letter to Atticus dated July 5, Cicero, who had deserted Pompey after his loss at
Pharsalia, writes that he heard a rumor that Caesar had left the city (XI.25.2). The
month before, on June 19, Cicero still despaired of any knowledge about Caesar's
departureeighty-three days after his victory over Ptolemy (XI.18.1). If the same
amount of time was required to report news of Caesar leaving Egypt, it would have
occurred about April 10, two weeks after the battle of the Nile. Hirtius, the other
primary source, speaks in the Bellum Alexandrinum (XXXIII.4) of the time between
the establishment of Cleopatra and Caesar's departure as being "within a few days,"
which Lord understands to mean not more than a month and perhaps as little as two
weeks, i.e., sometime between the middle and end of April. Calculating the time it
would take to travel to Zela, he concludes that Caesar could not have left Alexandria
later than May 5, thirty-eight days after his victory over Pharnaces.

Writing almost two centuries after the events he describes, Appian is the only other
ancient authority to speak of the sojourn of Caesar and Cleopatra. "He made a voyage
on the Nile to look at the country with a flotilla of 400 ships in the company of
Cleopatra, and enjoyed himself with her in other ways as well" (The Civil Wars, II.90;
also Dio, XLII.45.1 "She would have detained him even longer in Egypt..."). No more
contemporary sources mention the cruise, however, and, given the relatively brief
time Caesar remained in Alexandria, it is possible that the voyage did not occur or
was only of short duration.

It is unlikely that the royal barge ever was used by Cleopatra, however, as Athenaeus
concludes by saying that the wealth of Egypt had been dissipated by her father
Ptolemy XII Auletes ("flute-player"), leaving little money by the time she ascended
the throne. Indeed, Cleopatra did not even mint any gold coins.
This mosaic is from Palestrina (ancient Praeneste, just east of Rome) and now in the
Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Berlin), where it is placed between the busts of
Caesar and Cleopatra. It is part of another, larger Nilotic mosaic dating to the late first
century BC found at the Temple of Fortuna Primigenia in Palestrina and in the
National Archeological Museum there. Given the Egyptian topography and
Alexandrian origin of the work (animals familiar to the Alexandrians have no labels;
those that are not, such as giraffes and rhinoceroses, are in Greek), Goudchaux
suggests in his comments on the mosaic in the exhibition catalog to the
exhibition Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth that it may have been
commissioned by Cleopatra, herself, to thank the goddess Primigenia for the birth of
Caesarion.

The bust of Caesar is of green Egyptian basanite and also is in the Staatliche
Antikensammlungen, where it is paired with that of Cleopatra. It likely dates from the
first half of the first century AD, some fifty or more years after his assassination. The
figure is of an older man, with thinning hair and pronounced lines around the bridge
of the nose and the eyes (the insets of which are a later addition). It shows the marked
contrast in age between the two lovers.

Caesar reported the Battle of Zela to the Senate with the words Veni Vedi Vici"I
came, I saw, I conquered." In terms of rhetorical devices, this laconic dispatch
represents alliteration (repetition of the same sound), asyndeton (the omission of
conjunctions between clauses), parechesis (the repetition of the same sound in
succession), tricolon (verbs of the same length), hyozeuxis (each clause having its
own verb), and parallelism (similarity of structure in a series of related words).

References: "The Date of Julius Caesar's Departure from Alexandria" (1938) by

Louis E. Lord, The Journal of Roman Studies, 28(Pt 1), 19-40; "The Nile Cruise of
Cleopatra and Caesar" (2002) by T. W. Hillard, The Classical Quarterly, 52(2), 549-
554; Appian: The Civil Wars (1996) translated by John Carter (Penguin
Classics); Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth(2001) edited by Susan Walker
and Peter Higgs (exhibition catalog).

See also the Nemi Ships.

CLEOPATRA AND JULIUS CAESAR

Cleopatra emerges from a carpet

standing before CaesarJulius Caesar, who essentially the dictator of Rome in Cleopatra's time, arrived
in Egypt during the civil war between Cleopatra and her brother. Caesar came to claim the debts
Egypt owed Rome and Cleopatra saw in him a chance to win back her kingdom and expand it into
Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor. Her alliance with Caesar seems to have been strategic, romantic
and sexual. For his part Caesar made little mention of Cleopatra in his account of the Alexandrine
wars.
Caesar initially didn't want to have anything to do with Cleopatra but he was delayed in his return to
Rome by unfavorable winds. According to Plutarch's version of events she had herself rolled up in
bedsheets and delivered to Caesar, who was so besotted with her he orchestrated a reconciliation
between Cleopatra and her brother and then had Ptolemy kill his former partner Pothinus. Pliny is
said to be the source the rolled-up-in-bedsheets story. Many doubt its veracity. In the 1963
film Cleopatra Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra spills out of Persian carpet at the feet of Caesar ready to
crawl up his legs.

When Cleopatra met up with Caesar he was a balding epileptic with a lot of experience with women.
He was 32 years older than her and married. The two of them sailed down the Nile together in a
300-foot barge with gardens and banquet rooms. In 47 B.C., Cleopatra gave birth to Caesar's son,
Ptolemy Caesarian (Little Caesar) . To honor the event she had a coin minted showing her as
Aphrodite nursing Eros.

Roman support of Cleopatra's armies won her full control of Egypt. She married her other little
brother Ptolemy XIII and then poisoned him after Little Caesar was born. Her teenage sister,
Arisnoe, who had tried to dethrone, was paraded in Rome in golden shackles but at leaste she was
allowed to live in exile (at least until later one when Cleopatra persuaded Antony to have her
dragged from her temple and put to death). and With things under control at home, Cleopatra went
to Rome with Caesar. In Rome, she lived in one of Caesar's suburban palaces and impressed some
with her wit and turned off others with her arrogance. Her presence in Rome caused quite stir and
triggered a fad for anything associated with Egypt. Many women adopted Cleopatra's melon
hairstyle (rows of tight briads gathered in a low bun).

Caesar and Cleopatra hosted great parties. The Roman leader even raised a golden statue to her in
the temple of Venus. Even so Cleopatra was not well liked by powerful people like Cicero and her
claim to any power was tied to Caesar. In 44 B.C., as Caesar was making plans to marry Cleopatra
and legitimize their child, he was assassinated. This was a clear setback for Cleopatra's larger
ambitions. Caesar's great-nephew Octavian was named his heir not Ptolemy Caesarian.

Cleopatra Returns to Egypt

Cleopatra on the Terraces of PhilaeAs Octavian, Marc Antony and Lepidus battled Cassius and Brutus for
control of Rome, Cleopatra returned home to Egypt, at a time when it was suffering a famine and
plague. While she was away her brother died and Egypt was under the rule of an imposter
pretending to be the dead Ptolemy XIII. Without Caesar to back her up Cleopatra ousted the
pretender, seized control of Egypt and adopted a position of neutrality in the Roman civil war.
As the undisputed leader of Egypt, Cleopatra named the toddler Ptolemy Caesarian as co-ruler and
turned the country around from a debt-ridden colony into a powerful semi-autonomous state that was
the richest in eastern Mediterranean. As leader she cracked on corruption, discouraged officials from
taking bribes from farmers and built up Egypt's fleet.

Cleopatra ruled from Alexandria and lived in a palace a short distance from the Pharos Lighthouse,
one of the Seven Wonders of the World. On the grounds was the Mousein, a center of philosophy
and learning. The local people liked here because she spoke the local language and paid respects
to Egyptian gods. At that point the Romans liked her because she brought in wealth for the empire.
Cleopatra and Marc Antony

Cleopatra and Marc Antony

representations on coinsMarc Antony and Lepidus ultimately prevailed in their war with Cassius and
Brutus for control of Rome and divided the Roman Empire among themselves, with Antony getting
the East and Lepidus getting the West. In 41 B.C., while on tour of his empire to make alliances and
secure funds for attack on the Parthians in Iran, Antony met Cleopatra.
At that time, Anthony was handsome and had thick curly hair. He claimed he was a descendent of
Hercules and sometimes identified himself with Dionysus. Plutarch described Antony as mellow and
generous but a bit of slob. Cicero called him a "a kind of butcher or prizefighter" and said his all-night
orgies made him "odius." He also had a reputation for getting so drunk at all-male parties that he
threw up into his own toga.

Even though women and soldiers him, Antony's biographer Adrian Goldsworthy dismisses him as a
not an especially good general and wrote: There is no real trace of any long-held beliefs or causes
on Antony's part beyond glory and profit."

Book: Cleopatra and Antony by Diana Preston, well-written and engaging rehashing of the
story. Antony and Cleopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy ((Yale, 2010) emphasizes the military side of
their relationship.
Cleopatra and Marc Antony Meet

Cleopatra and Marc Antony

by Lawrence Alma-TademaCleopatra and Marc Antony began their famous love affair in 42 B.C. in
Tarsus in Asia Minor. Cleopatra was 29 years old at the time and is said to have purposely delayed
setting out to meet him to heighten Antony's expectations. When she finally announced she was
coming she sent the message: For the good and happiness of Asia I am coming for a Festive
reception...Venus has come to revel with Bacchus--- Her arrival in a boat with priceless purple sails
was immortalized in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra . Plutarch described it as an act of
mockery.
According to Plutarch, Cleopatra arrived in Tarsus to meet Antony on a perfumed barge with purple
sails. She was dressed as Aphrodite and was fanned by boys dressed like cupids. "Her rowers
caressed the water with oars of silver which dipped in time to the music of the flute, accompanied by
pipes and lutes...Instead of a crew the barge was lined with the most beautiful of her waiting women
as Nerid and Graces, some at the steering oars, others at the tackles of the sails, and all the while
indescribably rich perfume, exhaled from innumerable censers, was wafted from the vessel to the
river banks."

Shakespeare wrote the purple sails on Cleopatra's barge were "so perfumed that the winds were
lovesick with them." It is believed that Cleopatra wore a fragrance with resins like balsam and myrrh
and spices like cinnamon, cardamon, iris root, saffron and marjoram.

Cleopatra welcomed Antony into her bedroom, whose floor was covered with a foot and half of rose
petals. In some rooms of her palace she hung nets scented with various fragrances. As a gift Antony
gave Cleopatra Turkey's Mediterranean coast, the western part of Asia Minor, and parts of Syria,
Phoenicia, Jordan and Cyprus. Antony returned to Egypt with Cleopatra, where he hunted and
gambled and engaged in childish pranks. For fun the couple went slumming in the bars of Alexandria
disguised as slaves.

Cleopatra and Marc Antony as Lovers

Cleopatra seemed to be genuinely in love with Antony while Antony some historians say was
"enslaved by Cleopatra's seductive powers." He treated her as a monarch of equal stature rather
than a subject, much to the dismay of the people of Rome.

Antony and Cleopatra were linked for 11 years. They were together off and on for seven years, with
breaks totaling three years in between. Antony was often away on military campaigns. On one
campaign he reportedly plundered the famous library at Pergamum to fill the library of Alexandria.
Cleopatra bore him twins--- a daughter Cleopatra Selene and a son Alexander Helois---and another
son Philadelphia Ptolemy.

Antony and Cleopatra also formed a strong strategic union. Antony helped Cleopatra kill her last
ambitious sibling, her sister Arsinoe, and gave her territory in the Middle East. In return Cleopatra
financed Antony's Parthian campaign and his battles against Octavian. Cleopatra chopped down
many of the cedar trees in Lebanon to held build up Antony's navy.

The first couple of Rome used their children to extend their empire. Cleopatra Selene married Juba
II, the scholar-king of Mauritania (ruled 25 B.C. to A.D. 23) and author of books on history, art and
geography. He brought Greco-Roman culture to his capital of Caesarea and explored the Canary
Islands.

Cleopatra perhaps wasn't always faithful. There is one story of Cleopatra trying unsuccessfully to
seduce Herod of Palestine (the same one who is mentioned in the Bible and built the Temple in
Jerusalem) to gain access to his kingdom. After his rebuff she attempted to get Antony to give her
part of Herod's kingdom, but he refused because he and Herod were old friends."
Extravagance of Cleopatra and Marc Antony
Antony and Cleopatra referred to themselves as Dionysus and Osiris and named their children Sun
and Moon. They drank, gambled and fished together---according to unflattering Roman historians
anyway---and amused themselves by dressing up as servants and painting the town red and, by one
account, planned to start their own club "the Society of Inimitable Lovers."

A grandson of one of Antony and Cleopatra's cooks told Plutarch the couple used to have a series
of banquets prepared for them so if they didn't like the first it was thrown out and they ate the
second. While white breasts showed through Chinese silk they ate every delicacy, prompted not
by hunger but by a mad live of ostentation...served on golden dishes." Antony reportedly rubbed
Cleopatra's feet at banquets an adopted her custom of using a golden chamber pot.

Cleopatra's Banquet

Cleopatra once bet Marc Anthony she could give the world's most expensive dinner party and drink
$500,000 worth for wine without leaving the table. To win the bet she crushed one of her pearl
earrings and drank it in a goblet of wine. That one earring was said to worth 100,000 pounds of
silver. Pearls (mostly from the Persian Gulf) were so valuable in ancient times that Roman general
Vitellus paid for an entire military campaign by selling one of his mother's pearls. Pliny is the source
of that tale.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Yomiuri
Shimbun, The Guardian, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP,
Lonely Planet Guides, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications. Most of
the information about Greco-Roman science, geography, medicine, time, sculpture and drama was
taken from "The Discoverers" [] and "The Creators" []" by Daniel Boorstin. Most of the information
about Greek everyday life was taken from a book entitled "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins
from the British Museum [||].

2008 Jeffrey Hays

Last updated January 2012