I have used the Loeb Classics Series for the text of the classical sources. In these notes the references relate to the classical author, the relevant work, then the book and chapter/section references, as appropriate. I have used the following abbreviations: Plu.Ant for Plutarch’s Life of Antony, Plu.Ca for Plutarch’s Life of Cato the Younger, Plu.Pomp for Plutarch’s Life of Pompey and Plu.JC for his Life of Julius Caesar; in the case of Suetonius, Suet.JC for his Life of Julius Caesar and Suet.A for his Life of Augustus/Octavian. App is Appian’s Civil Wars from his Roman History. DioCass.RH is Dio Cassius’ Roman History. Cic.LA is Cicero’s Letters to Atti-cus; Cic.LF his Letters to Friends; Cic.Phil his Philippics. Luc.Phar is Lucan’s Pharsalia.
As well as the Loeb translations, I have drawn on those of myself, my husband, Michael, and kind friends and advisers. I have also found the following works invaluable: the translation of Plutarch’s Lives by Robin Waterfield in Oxford World Classics; Robert Graves’ translation of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars in Penguin Classics; Ian Scott-Kilvert’s translation of Dio Cassius’ Roman History—The Reign of Augustus, also in Penguin Classics; and P. Jones, Cleopatra: A Source Book, University of Oklahoma Press. I have also found the older Bohn series of translations very helpful in several cases.
PROLOGUE
“They opened . . . kings”: Plu.Ant, 85.
“royal progress”: Suet.JC, 32.
In early Christian times: Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s excellent book Cleopatra—Histories, Dreams and Distortions reviews the way reviews the way Cleopatra’s image has developed over the centuries.
“licentious”: Dante, Inferno, Canto V, line 63.
The four main classical sources: Each of the classical authors has his own emphasis. For example, Plutarch is keen to draw moral comparisons and to tell a good story; Dio Cassius to create set pieces, whether speeches or battles; and Appian to focus on military matters. Provided one allows for his personal views, Cicero, who was writing as events unfolded, is incomparable in giving insights into characters and into the political ebb and flow leading up to the creation of the Second Triumvirate. His witticisms are as fresh today as they were then. Michael Grant’s Greek and Roman Historians is valuable to any author in its analysis of historians. Anthony Everitt’s Cicero is an excellent biography.
1: KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Egypt’s final pharaoh: The word pharaoh had come was “palace” or “great house.”
“the river . . . silt”: Vergil, Georgics, IV.290–4.
His new subjects’ . . . openly”: Herodotus, History, II.35–6.
“the most religious men”: ibid, II.58.
mummified animals: Mummification of humans had become customary in Egypt as early as 3500 BC. The ancient Egyptians believed that, as long as the body remained intact, the soul too would live. Various methods of preservation were used. The process for mummifying humans took seventy days. Priests wearing the masks of the jackal-headed Anubis removed the internal organs, which were placed in four jars to be “entrusted” to the four sons of the god Horus. The body was then dried and purified using natron, a carbonate of sodium. Next, the body was treated with oils and resins and stuffed to preserve its shape. Then came the process of wrapping it in hundreds of yards of fine linen. The word mummy comes from mummiya, the black adhesive resin used to coat the linen. (In medieval times the color brown for use in paints and dyes was extracted from old mummies.) Finally, the body’s face was painted with cosmetics and, if the family was rich enough, further embellished with artificial eyes and a funerary mask and wig. The body was then encased in a double coffin and placed inside a sarcophagus, on the lid of which were painted two eyes to enable the deceased to gaze out on the world.
Another serapeum: The Serapeum of Alexandria is thought to have stood near the site still occupied by Pompey’s Pillar, erected in the time of the emperor Diocletian. The rectangular serapeum housed a daughter library of the great Library of Alexandria and survived until AD 391, when Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, ordered its destruction as a pagan temple.
“the growing . . . in return”: DioCass.RH, Book X, fragment 41.
“in difficult . . . faith”: Livy, History of Rome, XXXI.2.
“to deprive . . . life . . . If . . . sincerity”: A copy of this will was found at Cyrene.
“a size . . . around him”: Athenaeus, Banquet of the Learned, XII.549.
“as though . . . to hide”: Marcus Justinianus Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic Pompeius Trogus, XXXVIII.8.10.
“the sight . . . a walk”: Quoted M. Grant, Cleopatra, p. 10. The amused commentator was Scipio Africanus the Younger.
“the number . . . leaders”: Diodorus Sicculus, XXXIII.28b.
2: SIBLINGS AND SIBYLLINE PROPHECIES
“the most . . . race”: Cato the Elder, quoted Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 29.14
six thousand talents: A talent was a Greek coin worth 24,000 Roman sesterces. One sesterce equates to perhaps three to four dollars today.
to the island of Rhodes: Sailing into the harbor of Rhodes, Auletes would have passed the fragments of the Colossus of Rhodes. Originally over a hundred feet high, it had broken off at the knees during an earthquake in 224, only half a century after its completion, and still lay where it had fallen. Pliny the Elder described how “its fingers are larger than most statues . . . as for its broken limbs, their insides look like caves.”
“Libyan princess”: M. Grant, Cleopatra, p. 15.
“succor . . . multitude”: Cic.LF, I.7.
“a thieving . . . curlers”: Cicero quoted in M. Foss, The Search for Cleopatra, p. 55.
“devoid . . . moment”: Sallust, Conspiracy of Catiline, xvii.
outpost at Pelusium: Pelusium was near the modern town of Tell el-Farana, east of Port Said.
“It is said . . . Alexandria”: App, V.8.
“which are . . . nature”: App, IV.16.
“a princess . . . philosophy”: al-Masudi, Les Prairies d’Or, pp. 287–88.
“the queen . . . father . . . on to . . . see her”: Inscription on a stele from the Bucheum, which is today in Copenhagen.
“the crowd . . . life”: Diodorus Sicculus, I.83.
“acting . . . friends”: Caesar, Civil War, III.103.
3: THE RACE FOR GLORY
“the slight . . . eyes . . . which contributed . . . popularity”: Plu.Pomp, 2.
“Jupiter . . . greatest . . . because . . . prosperous”: Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, III.87.
“Keep him . . . in him”: Suet.JC, 1.
“this youth . . . girdled . . . Caesar . . . tweezers”: ibid., 45.
“the female . . . queen . . . the bottom . . . bed”: ibid., 49.
“In his . . . influence”: Plu.JC, 4.
4: “ODI ET AMO”
“the greatest . . . art”: Suet.JC, 4.
The dinner menu survives: The menu is described by Macrobius in his Saturnalia, 3.13.10–12.
“he gave . . . event]”: Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 14.66.
“foolish vanity”: Cic.LA, II.18.
“Have . . . idiot”: Sallust, Conspiracy Conspiracy of Catiline, 53.4.
“a mystery . . . to know”: Quoted E. Bradford, Julius Caesar, p. 43.
The most famous of these sisters was Clodia: Cicero called Clodia “cow-wife, perhaps unfairly, suggested that he too was having an affair with her.
“after . . . husbands . . . Caesar’s . . . suspicion”: Plu.JC, 10.
“settled . . . reputations”: Cic.LA, I.16.
“Pompey . . . girl”: Plu.Ca, 30.
“He is apt . . . from showing”: Cic.LF, VIII.1.
“As for . . . cesspit”: Cic.LA, II.1.
“It . . . resources”: Plu.JC, 14.
“talking . . . intemperate”: Cicero, “Speech Before the Senate on his Return from Exile,” VI.14.
“the queen . . . to be one”: Suet.JC, 49.
“a high . . . brightness”: Sallust, op. cit., 54.
The word fascist: R. Syme’s The Roman Revolution, first published in 1939 and still in print, is preeminent among those works highlighting the resemblances between the fall republic and the rise of fascism in Europe.
“Avoid . . . rocks”: Caesar quoted by Aulus Gelius, Attic Nights, 1.10.
“Regions . . . people”: Cicero, On the Consular Provinces, 33.
5: CROSSING THE RUBICON
“The Tiber . . . sponges”: Cicero, Pro Sestio, 77.
battle in Gaul at Alesia: Prior to Alesia, believing that the rebellious Gauls had received help from Britain, Caesar had decided on an invasion of the island. Perhaps more importantly, he had heard that Britain was rich in minerals such as iron and tin as well as in gold, silver and freshwater pearls of a particularly fine quality and large size. Caesar was known for his admiration of pearls. In 55, attempting a landing at Dover, Caesar’s troops received a severe shock, as he admitted in his Gallic Wars: “The natives sent in their cavalry and chariots which frightened the Romans who were quite unaccustomed to this type of fighting.” The Britons’ appearance, wild-haired and painted all over with blue woad, also discouraged the invaders, who only gradually made progress, winning small victories and burning farms but soon retreating back across the Channel. Caesar came in greater force the following year, landing from an armada of eight hundred ships with five legions and two thousand cavalry. This time he, in turn, shocked the Britons by bringing over a war elephant, the first of any kind to reach the island. His troops advanced much further, crossing the Thames, but the Britons usually refused pitched battles, using their chariots to deploy small numbers of men in harassing raids on the less mobile Romans. Storms in the Channel, probably not for the first and certainly not for the last time, saved Britain. Many of Caesar’s ships were wrecked and, as autumn approached, Caesar prudently withdrew.
“I only . . . ground”: Plu.Pomp, 57.
“a struggle . . . expense”: Cic.LA, VII.3.
“Let the dice . . . high”: Plu.JC, 32.
“total . . . winner”: Suet.JC, 36.
“he was . . . mind”: Plu.Pomp, 67.
“next to . . . army”: Plu.Ant, 9.
“young dandies . . . unused . . .
“young dandies . . . unused . . . hair . . . the glint . . . eyes”: ibid., 69.
“turning . . . faces”: ibid., 71.
“It . . . for help”: Plu.JC, 46.
6: LIKE A VIRGIN
Pompey’s arrival . . . murderer”: All quotes in these Plu.Pomp, 77–79.
“it seemed . . . city”: Arrian, History of Alexander, III.1–2.
“birds . . . numbers . . . Even . . . nation”: Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, 26.
“the city . . . across”: Strabo, Geography, 17.1.8.
“entering . . . angles”: Quoted in J-Y. Empereur, Alexandria Rediscovered, p. 57.
“the greatest . . . world”: Strabo, op. cit., 17.1.13.
recent underwater archaeology: In the 1960s, while exploring the underwater site around Fort Qait Bey, Egyptian archaeologist and diver Kamel Abouel-Saadat found chunks of statuary, including pieces of a sphinx that clearly had been cut for use in the construction of the Pharos. More recently, an Egyptian and French team exploring the Pharos area has also made interesting discoveries. Finds from this part of the harbor are on display at the Roman theater in Alexandria. They include statues that were clearly decorative rather than used as building materials, such as a red granite sphinx and two huge heads of male figures that once would have stood over twenty feet high and, honed by the waves, resemble Henry Moore sculptures. A tall carved figure of Ptolemy II with a beautifully modeled, muscular torso also found near the site of the Pharos today stands outside the new Library of Alexandria. Another Egyptian and French team has been diving on the eastern side of the Great Harbor and has done much to clarify the geography of this area in Ptolemaic times. They believe that much of it now lies beneath the corniche along Alexandria’s waterfront. They have identified Cape Silsileh as the likely site of the royal harbor and have found traces of what they believe was the Timoneum built by Antony in his final days, which would have been very close to Cleopatra’s palace. Some of their findings suggest that Strabo made errors when describing the location of the Ti-moneum.
“a quarter . . . third”: ibid., 17.1.8.
“on sailing . . . colours”: ibid., 17.1.9.
“in . . . cone”: Strabo, op. cit., 17.1.10.
“A large . . . community”: Strabo, quoted by Josephus, Antiquities, XIV.7.2.
“A large . . . community”: Strabo, quoted by Josephus, Antiquities, 73 “his words . . . offensive . . . told . . . eating”: Plu.JC, 48.
As tensions . . . assassins: All quotes in these two paragraphs are from Suet.JC, 50–1.
Their first encounter . . . corrupted”: The quotes in this paragraph are from Luc.Phar, X, lines 70–108. Apart from certain temple carvings, which are anyway in a highly stylized pharaonic style and give little clue to Cleopatra’s real appearance, the only certain representations of Cleopatra are those on coins. The marble head in the Vatican is one of three sculptures generally, though not universally, accepted by scholars to be depictions of Cleopatra. Here, the face looks youthful, rounded and alluring, with full, sensuous lips and large eyes. The other representations are a marble bust in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, which has a delicately modeled, slightly thinner face and a more studiedly composed expression, and a marble head depicting a rather older woman with the same large eyes but a more pronounced chin in the Cherchel Museum in Algeria (though some believe the latter in fact depicts Cleopatra’s daughter, Cleopatra Selene). In addition, a small marble head in the Department of Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities in the Louvre shares some notable similarities with the Vatican, Berlin and Cherchel sculptures and, it has recently been claimed, may also be a representation of Cleopatra. (See Peter Higgs and Susan Walker’s article “Cleopatra VII at the Louvre,” in British Museum Occasional Paper no. 103.)
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.
“in very . . . wife . . . the son . . . for Caesar’s sake”: ibid., 41.
Plutarch . . . costume: The quotes in this paragraph are from Plu.Ant, 54.
the triple uraeus . . . of Kings”: For a discussion of the linkage by S.-A. Ashton of the triple uraeus with Cleopatra and of Cleopatra’s possible motives for adopting this insignia, see her article in the British Museum Occasional Paper, no. 103, p. 26, and D. E. E. Kleiner’s Cleopatra and Rome, pp. 140–42. The chief evidence for associating the triple uraeus with Cleopatra is provided by a piece of a limestone crown found in a shrine in a temple to Isis at Coptos by Sir Flinders Petrie, the front of which bears three uraei. Sally-Ann Ashton dismisses the view that the crown might have belonged to the earlier Ptolemaic queen Arsinoe II, arguing that evidence from relief carvings in the temple and from the crown itself suggest that the shrine was dedicated early in Cleopatra’s reign when she was sharing the throne with one of her two half brothers. She has also identified a blue glass intaglio in the British Museum depicting an Egyptian queen wearing a magnificent headdress with triple uraeus as a representation of Cleopatra and has linked this to a series of statues of a queen of the late Ptolemaic period, again prominently displaying the triple uraeus.
“was only . . . son”: DioCass.RH., XLIX.41.
And now . . . tolerate: The quotes in this paragraph are from Plu.Ant, 50 and 54.
19: “A WOMAN OF EGYPT”
“to avoid . . . speech”: Suet.A, 84.
Parts . . . done so: The quotes in this paragraph are from Suet.A, 69.
“at a feast . . . twelve . . . The gods . . . grain”: ibid., 70.
“like the slave . . . sale”: ibid., 69.
“that it . . . matters”: Plu.Ant, 56.
Whether bribed . . . decree: A papyrus granting land to Canidius Crassus is reproduced and translated in P. Jones, Cleopatra: A Source Book, pp. 205–6.
“carefully . . . Antony”: Josephus, Antiquities, XV.5.1.
“to her . . . possible”: ibid.
“Every practitioner . . . victories?”: Plu.Ant, 56.
“She left . . . war”: ibid., 57.
“diseased with desertion”: Velleius Paterculus, Roman History, II.83.
“one . . . world”: ibid., 85.
“the Egyptian . . . things”: DioCass. RH, XLVIII.24.
“a slave . . . Cleopatra”: ibid., XLIX.34.
“degenerated . . . monster . . . a crown . . . queen”: Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II.21.
“an enormity . . . ashamed”: Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XXXIII.50.
“to be . . . understood . . . our . . . Asiatic orators”: Suet.A, 86.
“Who would not . . . Egyptian”: DioCass.RH, L.25–7.
“We . . . eunuchs?”: ibid., 24–5.
“so as . . . wiles . . . no . . . treacherous”: The Alexandrian War, 24.
“he plays . . . lust”: DioCass.RH, L.27.
“unchastity . . . dear”: Luc.Phar, X, line 58.
“Antony . . . Nile”: Plutarch, Comparison of Demetrius and Antony, 3.
“as surely . . . Capitol”: DioCass.RH, L.5.
“And . . . curse”: Oracula Sibyllina, III.75 ff.
“the whole . . . way”: Res Gestae Divi Augustus, 25.
Geminius . . . from you”: Plu.Ant, 59.
“that Antony’s . . . deserted him”: DioCass.RH, L.4.
20: THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM
“caused . . . along”: Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II.21.
“Their . . . clothes”: Quoted E. Bradford, Cleopatra, p. 205.
“Who . . . way?”: DioCass.RH, L.9.
“Some . . . birds”: Plu.Ant, 60.
“all . . . knights . . . to demonstrate . . . people”: DioCass. RH, L.11.
“I like . . . traitors”: Quoted M. Foss, The Search for Cleopatra, p. 157.
“angered”: DioCass.RH, L.13.
“upset . . . deal . . . from . . . treachery”: Plu.Ant, 63.
“undermined . . . everything”: DioCass. RH, L.13.
“What . . . ladle?”: Plu.Ant, 62.
“the circus . . . civil wars”: Seneca (the Elder), Suasoriae, I.7.
“press-ganging . . . age”: Plu.Ant, 62.
“an infantry . . . stand”: ibid., 64.
“while it . . . a man”: ibid., 65.
“the fight . . . towers”: ibid., 66.
“doting mallard”: W. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, scene 10, line 20.
“roasted . . . ovens”: DioCass.RH, L.34.
21: AFTER ACTIUM
Unless otherwise stated below the source for the quotes in this chapter is Plu.Ant, 67–73.
“the wild . . . eunuchs”: Horace, “Ode,” I.37.
“a Roman . . . by sale”: Horace, “Epode,” IX.
“the leading . . . shrines”: DioCass.RH, LI.5.
“since . . . parents”: ibid., 6.
“His official . . . intact”: ibid.
“He . . . unharmed”: ibid., 8.
22: DEATH ON THE NILE
Unless otherwise stated below the source for the quotes in this chapter is Plu.Ant, 71–84.
“rescued . . . danger”: Quoted M. Grant, Cleopatra, p. 223.
“a woman of insatiable sexuality”: DioCass.RH, LI.15
“wonderfully enhanced . . . beauty”: DioCass.RH, LI.12.
23: “TOO MANY CAESARS IS NOT A GOOD
“as if . . . him”: DioCass.RH, LI.14.
“to suck . . . wound”: Suet.A, 17.
Asp is a . . . Octavian: The information on the various effects of snakebite draws on Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Cleopatra—Histories, pp. 106–7, and her source, F. W. Fitzsimmons, Snakes and the Treatment of Snakebite, Cape Town, 1929.
“with the . . . queen”: Plu.Ant, 86.
“too . . . good thing”: ibid., 81.
“surpassed . . . magnificence”: DioCass.RH, LI.21.
“came . . . corpses . . . accustomed . . . cattle”: ibid., 16.
“They forgot . . . foreigners”: ibid., 21.
“did not . . . casually”: Suet.A, 84.
By now Rome . . . amulets: In the centuries following Cleopatra’s death, Egyptian and Roman art fused intriguingly in Alexandria. Catacombs built in the second century AD are decorated with carvings of cobras and of the Apis bull but also with Medusa heads. A tunic-clad figure of the god Anubis is depicted mummifying a body, while another figure of Anubis is figure of the god Anubis is depicted mummifying dressed as a Roman soldier.
“who refrained . . . woman”:
“a passion . . . wife”: ibid., 71.
POSTSCRIPT: “THIS PAIR SO FAMOUS”
“this pair so famous”: W. Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, Scene 2, line 357.
In his Pensées: Pascal’s reflections on the size of Cleopatra’s nose are in Pensées ref. S. 32 (p. 6 of the edition listed in the bibliography). See also Pensées ref. S. 228 (p. 57).
“yours my Roman . . . intransigent”: Vergil, Aeneid, Book VI, lines 853ff.