Cleopatra: A Life

Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2010

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 9

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 7-8 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary: “An Object of Gossip for the Whole World”

On her way to meet Mark Antony in Antioch, Cleopatra is aware that the balance of power has shifted between them. She has borne him a son and daughter who are in line for the Egyptian throne, she has sole control of Rome’s entire grain supply, and her vast wealth is the only thing that can underwrite Antony’s long-simmering campaign against the Parthians.

Arriving in Antioch, Cleopatra is pleased to witness Mark Antony accept and recognize their children as his own, and equally pleased to accept Antony’s gift of vast territories throughout Lebanon, Libya, Turkey, and most of the Mediterranean coast. In a single trip, Cleopatra shores up Egyptian, and possibly Roman, succession for her children, and essentially reconstitutes the Ptolemaic empire at its third-century height. A few months later, Cleopatra sees off Antony at the Parthian front. She is pregnant with another one of his children. She returns to Alexandria, and declares a new era in Egypt.

Mark Antony’s campaign in Parthia is disastrous, revealing several weaknesses in his army, as well as the unwillingness of local sovereigns to recognize Antony’s position. He calls Cleopatra to a Syrian shore, seeking reinforcements and supplies, which she gives him. However, word arrives from Rome that Octavian, flush with his own military victories, has sent Octavia along with supplies and 2,000 men. Cleopatra, sensing the possibility of losing her throne to Antony’s whims, refuses food and makes much of her distress, convincing Antony to spurn Octavia, which infuriates Octavian. Antony, reinvigorated by Cleopatra’s forces, invades Armenia, successfully disposing of its king. He then brings the riches back to Alexandria.

In Alexandria, Cleopatra throws lavish celebrations and Mark Antony organizes a military procession, similar to those of the vanquished in Rome. The days of feasts and revel culminate in an elaborate ceremony, in which Cleopatra appears in her Isis regalia and is recognized by Mark Antony as the “New Isis” (217) while Antony presents himself as Dionysius. Antony confers honorifics and parcels out control of the East to their children, essentially confirming their right to rule half of the Roman territories. This series of gifts will later become known as “the Donations of Alexandria.” When word of the Donations reaches Rome, Octavian, furious at Antony’s presumptuousness, begins a campaign to impugn Antony and Cleopatra.

Chapter 8 Summary: “Illicit Affairs and Bastard Children”

With news of the Donations of Alexandria, Egypt’s economy booms and Cleopatra’s wealth surges. Though Mark Antony and Octavian are still “cordially” (226) in contact with each other, Octavian views the Donations as an implicit message that Antony is cutting him out in the East. The tense relationship between the two men dissolves into years of bad blood.

Octavian’s propaganda campaign against Mark Antony—accusing him of drunkenness and debauchery while spreading scurrilous rumors about Cleopatra—and Antony’s equally vicious retorts, lead to a dissolution of their pact to share power, the triumvirate. In 32 BC, Octavian executes the Senators who oppose him, and essentially stages a coup, installing himself as the sole ruler and naming Antony a threat to Rome.

Cleopatra and Antony make their way to Athens, for they are sure the war for dominance of Rome will be waged in Greece. Antony increasingly abandons his war preparations in favor of spending time with Cleopatra. The two of them throw feasts and lavish entertainments, and appear to be preparing for an official marriage. In May, Antony divorces Octavia. Many of Antony’s men, as well as his advisers in Rome, urge him to dismiss Cleopatra. When he refuses, discontent spreads through his camp. In Rome, Octavian announces to the Senate that Cleopatra means “to make Rome a province of Egypt” (241), and declares war on Cleopatra.

In their early skirmishes, Octavian’s forces overcome Antony’s disordered armies, and Antony and Cleopatra are forced further north, eventually becoming blockaded on the bay of Actium. Antony’s forces swelter in the swamp while he cannot make up his mind whether to engage with Octavian on land, or to get into immediate naval conflict by pitting Cleopatra’s fleet against Octavian’s armada.

Antony decides on a sea battle, but the ensuing conflict, the Battle of Actium, is a disaster for Antony and Cleopatra’s forces. Mid-way though the fighting, Cleopatra’s fleet flees and sails down current to Egypt. Distraught, Antony orders his ship to follow, abandoning the majority of his men. Though he does not realize it immediately, this victory hands the Roman Empire to Octavian, who will soon become its first emperor.

Chapters 7-8 Analysis

The Dynamics of Power are an important focus in these chapters, as Cleopatra reaches the peak of her power before facing a rapid decline in fortunes. At the outset of Chapter 7, Cleopatra’s position seems secure: She and Mark Antony now share children, and Cleopatra’s wealth and prestige seem to have attained new heights. Whereas Cleopatra was previously in a vulnerable position with Antony, due to her support for the disgraced Cassius, Schiff now portrays her as the stronger party in the relationship, with Antony needing her financial backing in his military endeavors and as an ally against Octavian’s growing power in Rome. The Donations of Alexandria appear to cement her status while also promising her children a vast and powerful inheritance. By this point, it seems as if Cleopatra has succeeded in both securing her Egyptian kingdom and in opening a path to further influence and glory for her descendants.

The balance of power soon shifts yet again, however, speaking to the turbulent political climate of the time. Antony’s repudiation of his marriage to Octavia and his open alignment—both politically and personally—with Cleopatra triggers a permanent breakdown in his relations with Octavian, while provoking further ire against him in Rome. Octavian draws upon the stereotypical tropes pitting austere Roman masculinity against Egyptian luxury and indulgence to depict Antony as a traitor to his homeland—rhetorical tactics that once more reflect The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths in Cleopatra’s story.

More significantly, Octavian uses Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra as an excuse to turn Rome against Egypt itself, declaring Cleopatra a threat to the Roman state and initiating a war against her. Octavian has marshalled a tremendous amount of power in Mark Antony’s absence and will go on to prove that while Cleopatra’s influence is great, his is greater.

Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World is another important factor in the interpretation of Cleopatra’s role in Antony’s life. While Octavian and his allies denounce Cleopatra in Rome, even Antony’s own men begin to complain about his relationship with her, urging him to put her aside. For detractors on both sides of the Antony/Octavian divide, Cleopatra is either a threat or a harmful distraction, not an equal. As the conflict between Antony and Octavian escalates, Antony continues to attract censure for neglecting his military leadership in favor of feasts and revels with Cleopatra—behavior that his enemies use to reinforce the stereotype of effeminate “eastern luxury” used in Roman propaganda against Cleopatra.

At the same time, Antony’s Donations of Alexandria foment discord elsewhere in the Roman empire, with one of Rome’s client kings, Herod, growing infuriated by Antony’s placing of so much of the East under the control of Cleopatra’s descendants. Herod utilizes typical methods in besmirching her name, labelling her a “hussy” (199), which reflects the prevailing notion of the time that Cleopatra’s political power was always tied to her feminine wiles and sexuality. The outraged critiques of client kings like Herod also reflect the rapidly shrinking goodwill toward Antony elsewhere in the Roman empire, speaking to the growing isolation of Antony and Cleopatra as political players.

The final disastrous confrontation between Octavian’s forces and those of Antony and Cleopatra in the Bay of Actium signals the couple’s irrevocable downfall. Cleopatra’s flight, and Antony’s decision to abandon the battle to follow her, secures Octavian’s victory and ruins Antony’s credibility in the eyes of his own men. With The Dynamics of Power once more in play, Antony and Cleopatra are now disgraced and at the mercy of Octavian, whose consolidation of power will launch Rome into a new imperial era while destroying the last vestiges of Egyptian power and independence.