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Cleopatra's fishing joke, as Plutarch tells it

c. 41–40 BCE, Alexandria. As Plutarch tells it, over a century later.

Where and when

c. 41–40 BCEAlexandria

about 2,066 years ago

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Cleopatra

, AlexandriaAs Plutarch tells it, over a century later

In plain words, ours

She had a servant hook a salted fish on his line; everyone laughed, and she told him: leave fishing to the fishermen; your sport is hunting cities, kingdoms and continents.

…when Antony had let down his line, she ordered one of her own attendants to get the start of him by swimming to his hook and fastening on it a salted Pontic herring. Antony thought he had caught something, and pulled it up, whereupon there was great laughter, as was natural, and Cleopatra said: Imperator, hand over thy fishing-rod to the fishermen of Pharos and Canopus; thy sport is the hunting of cities, realms, and continents.

Plutarch, Life of Antony 29.4Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1920)Read the full passage (Plutarch, Life of Antony 29.4, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Plutarch, writing over a century later, tells this from Antony's time with Cleopatra in Alexandria. Antony had secretly had divers fasten fish to his hook to impress her. She saw through it and invited her friends to watch him fish the next day.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 48–47 BCEabout 7 years earlier Caesar takes Cleopatra's side in Egypt Also in Alexandria
  2. 44 BCEabout 3 years earlier Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate Same years
  3. 43 BCEabout 2 years earlier Cicero is killed on Antony's orders Same years
  4. 43 BCEabout 2 years earlier The death of Cicero, as Plutarch tells it Same years
  5. 42 BCE1 year earlier Antony and Octavian defeat Caesar's killers at Philippi Same years
  6. c. 41–40 BCEThis momentCleopatra's fishing joke, as Plutarch tells it
  7. c. 41–40 BCEBegins this year Antony's idle days, as Plutarch tells it Also in Alexandria
  8. 41 BCEAbout the same year Plutarch on Cleopatra's charm Same passageMore from Cleopatra
  9. 41 BCEAbout the same year Cleopatra sails to Antony, in Plutarch More from Cleopatra
  10. c. 31–30 BCEabout 10 years later The Partners in Death, as Plutarch tells it Also in Alexandria
  11. by 30 BCEabout 11 years later Plutarch on Cleopatra's many languages Same passageMore from Cleopatra

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

However, the Alexandrians took delight in his coarse wit, and joined in his amusements in their graceful and cultivated way; they liked him, and said that he used the tragic mask with the Romans, but the comic mask with them. Now, to recount the greater part of his boyish pranks would be great nonsense. One instance will suffice. He was fishing once, and had bad luck, and was vexed at it because Cleopatra was there to see. He therefore ordered his fishermen to dive down and secretly fasten to his hook some fish that had been previously caught, and pulled up two or three of them. But the Egyptian saw through the trick, and pretending to admire her lover’s skill, told her friends about it, and invited them to be spectators of it on the following day. So great numbers of them got into the fishing boats, and

The quote: when Antony had let down his line, she ordered one of her own attendants to get the start of him by swimming to his hook and fastening on it a salted Pontic herring. Antony thought he had caught something, and pulled it up, whereupon there was great laughter, as was natural, and Cleopatra said: Imperator, hand over thy fishing-rod to the fishermen of Pharos and Canopus; thy sport is the hunting of cities, realms, and continents.

While Antony was indulging in such trifles and youthful follies, he was surprised by reports from two quarters: one from Rome, that Lucius his brother and Fulvia his wife had first quarrelled with one another, and then had waged war with Octavius Caesar, but had lost their cause and were in flight from Italy; and another, not a whit more agreeable than this, that Labienus at the head of the Parthians was subduing Asia from the Euphrates and Syria as far as Lydia and Ionia.

Plutarch, Life of Antony 29.2–30.1Translated by Bernadotte Perrin (1920)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 41–40 BCE. Antony’s winter with her in Alexandria after they met in 41 BCE; Plutarch wrote c. 100–120 CE.
Whose words
As Plutarch tells it, over a century later.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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