43 BCEItaly
2,068 years ago
43–28 BCE, Rome and its world. 16 posts and events, oldest first.
, Italy
Put on the list of the proscribed by Antony, Cicero is caught by soldiers on the coast. His head and hands are cut off and shown in Rome.
Herennius cut off his head, by Antony’s command, and his hands—the hands with which he wrote the Philippics.
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: in 43 BCE Cicero, put on the list of the proscribed by Antony, was being carried in a litter toward the sea when his killers caught up. One of them, Popillius, he had once defended in court. Cicero told his servants to set the litter down.
Why it matters: After the killing, Cicero's head and hands were displayed on the Rostra; he was the only victim of the proscriptions displayed that way.
Holding his chin in his left hand as he always did, worn out and unkempt, he stared at his killers. Most of those watching covered their faces.
Then he himself, clasping his chin with his left hand, as was his wont, looked steadfastly at his slayers, his head all squalid and unkempt, and his face wasted with anxiety, so that most of those that stood by covered their faces while Herennius was slaying him.
, Philippi
In two battles in northern Greece, Antony and Octavian beat Brutus and Cassius. Both of Caesar's killers take their own lives.
After a few days had intervened, a second battle was fought, and Brutus, being defeated, slew himself
Background: Battle of Philippi, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Antony's idle days, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Plutarch, writing over a century later, describes the years around 41–40 BCE, when Cleopatra carried Antony off to Alexandria. Meanwhile, he says, Antony's wife Fulvia was fighting a war at Rome to defend his interests, and a Parthian army was threatening Syria.
There he lived for fun like an idle young man, spending on pleasures what one writer called the costliest thing of all: time.
There, indulging in the sports and diversions of a young man of leisure, he squandered and spent upon pleasures that which Antiphon calls the most costly outlay, namely, time.
Sails to Antony, in Plutarch
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later, this is Cleopatra on her way to meet Antony in 41 BCE, bringing gifts and money but trusting most in herself. The year before, Antony and Octavian had beaten Caesar's killers at Philippi.
Why it matters: After this meeting at Tarsos, Cleopatra had an affair with Antony that produced three children.
He kept writing to summon her. She laughed at him and sailed up the river in a barge with a gilded stern with purple sails and silver oars, to music.
Though she received many letters of summons both from Antony himself and from his friends, she so despised and laughed the man to scorn as to sail up the river Cydnus in a barge with gilded poop, its sails spread purple, its rowers urging it on with silver oars to the sound of the flute blended with pipes and lutes.
Plutarch on Cleopatra's charm
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, writing over a century later, in Asia Minor in 41 BCE Cleopatra hosts Antony at a feast lit by countless lamps, and his attempt to outdo her the next day falls short. Plutarch then stops to describe what made her so striking.
Her looks alone were not stunning, people said. It was talking with her that was irresistible: her presence, her persuasiveness, her character.
For her beauty, as we are told, was in itself not altogether incomparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her; but converse with her had an irresistible charm, and her presence, combined with the persuasiveness of her discourse and the character which was somehow diffused about her behaviour towards others, had something stimulating about it.
Cleopatra's fishing joke, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: 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.
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.
, Actium
Off the west coast of Greece, Octavian's navy under Agrippa defeats Antony and Cleopatra, who escape to Egypt.
But at Actium his fleet held out for a long time against Caesar, and only after it had been most severely damaged by the high sea which rose against it did it reluctantly, and at the tenth hour, give up the struggle.
Background: Battle of Actium, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Antony after Actium, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: in the sea battle at Actium in 31 BCE, Cleopatra's ship sailed away, and Antony left the men fighting for him to chase her in a small galley. Octavian's fleet won the battle.
Why it matters: Octavian's victory at Actium, consolidating his power over every Roman institution, marked Rome's transition from republic to empire.
He was taken aboard her ship, but they did not see each other. He sat alone at the front in silence, holding his head in his hands.
Cleopatra recognized him and raised a signal on her ship; so Antony came up and was taken on board, but he neither saw her nor was seen by her. Instead, he went forward alone to the prow and sat down by himself in silence, holding his head in both hands.
The Partners in Death, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: After their defeat at Actium, Antony and Cleopatra are back in Alexandria, filling the city with feasts and revels. Plutarch, writing over a century later, describes their last months before both took their own lives.
Why it matters: The victory let Octavian consolidate his power over Rome and its lands. Historians generally see that consolidation and his new titles as the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire.
They closed their party club and started a new one, just as lavish, called Partners in Death. Their friends joined as people who would die together.
Cleopatra and Antony now dissolved their famous society of Inimitable Livers, and founded another, not at all inferior to that in daintiness and luxury and extravagant outlay, which they called the society of Partners in Death. For their friends enrolled themselves as those who would die together, and passed the time delightfully in a round of suppers.
, Alexandria
With Octavian at Alexandria, Antony falls on his sword and Cleopatra dies days later. Plutarch tells the asp story and says no one knows how she died.
But the truth of the matter no one knows
Background: Cleopatra, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)Background: Mark Antony, Wikipedia (opens en.wikipedia.org)
Antony on his courage, per Plutarch
What was going on: Alexandria, 30 BCE, after Octavian's fleet beat Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. As Plutarch tells it, Antony's ships and cavalry had just gone over to the enemy, and Cleopatra, afraid of his anger, shut herself in her tomb and sent word that she was dead.
Why it matters: The victory let Octavian consolidate his power over Rome and its lands. Historians generally see that consolidation and his new titles as the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Empire.
Believing the message, he said: I am not sad to lose you, Cleopatra, since I will join you soon. I am sad that a woman was braver than me.
Antony believed the message, and saying to himself, Why dost thou longer delay, Antony? Fortune has taken away thy sole remaining excuse for clinging to life, he went into his chamber. Here, as he unfastened his breastplate and laid it aside, he said; O Cleopatra, I am not grieved to be bereft of thee, for I shall straight-way join thee; but I am grieved that such an imperator as I am has been found to be inferior to a woman in courage.
Antony's last words, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Alexandria, 30 BCE: a year after losing to Octavian at Actium, Antony has fallen on his sword. As Plutarch tells it, Cleopatra and her women hauled him up to her on a rope, and, dying, he asked for wine before speaking to her.
Why it matters: With Antony's death, Octavian became the uncontested ruler of Rome.
He told her to look after her own safety and not mourn him: he had been great and powerful, and was beaten honourably, a Roman by a Roman.
When he had drunk, he advised her to consult her own safety, if she could do it without disgrace, and among all the companions of Caesar to put most confidence in Proculeius, and not to lament him for his last reverses, but to count him happy for the good things that had been his, since he had become most illustrious of men, had won greatest power, and now had been not ignobly conquered, a Roman by a Roman.
Plutarch on Cleopatra's many languages
What was going on: Plutarch, writing over a century later, describes Cleopatra at the time she and Antony took turns throwing feasts for each other. He says her beauty alone was not what struck people; it was talking with her. Egypt's kings before her, he adds, had not even tried to learn the native language.
Why it matters: Cleopatra spoke many languages, and was the first Ptolemaic ruler known to have learned Egyptian; the dynasty before her refused to learn it.
Her voice was sweet, and she could switch to almost any language. She rarely needed an interpreter and answered most foreign visitors herself.
There was sweetness also in the tones of her voice; and her tongue, like an instrument of many strings, she could readily turn to whatever language she pleased, so that in her interviews with Barbarians she very seldom had need of an interpreter, but made her replies to most of them herself and unassisted, whether they were Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes or Parthians.
At Antony's tomb, in Plutarch
What was going on: As Plutarch tells it, over a century later: Antony is dead and Cleopatra is closely guarded in Alexandria, 30 BCE. Told that Octavian means to send her and her children away within three days, she asks to pour offerings at Antony's tomb, and speaks to the urn with his ashes.
Why it matters: With Antony dead, Octavian became the undisputed master of the Roman world. After Cleopatra's death Egypt became a Roman province, marking the end of the Hellenistic period.
These are my last offerings to you. Nothing parted us in life, but in death we may swap places: you buried here, and me in Italy.
Do not expect other honours or libations; these are the last from Cleopatra the captive. For though in life nothing could part us from each other, in death we are likely to change places; thou, the Roman, lying buried here, while I, the hapless woman, lie in Italy, and get only so much of thy country as my portion.
And the asp, as Plutarch tells it
What was going on: Alexandria, 30 BCE, with Octavian at the city. Messengers open Cleopatra's room and find her dead on a golden couch, Iras, one of her women, dying at her feet. Plutarch, writing over a century later, gives the story people told and admits no one knows how she died.
Why it matters: With Antony dead, Octavian became the undisputed master of the Roman world. After Cleopatra's death Egypt became a Roman province, marking the end of the Hellenistic period.
It is said a snake was hidden under figs and leaves. When she saw it, she said: there it is, and held out her arm for the bite.
It is said that the asp was brought with those figs and leaves and lay hidden beneath them, for thus Cleopatra had given orders, that the reptile might fasten itself upon her body without her being aware of it. But when she took away some of the figs and saw it, she said: There it is, you see, and baring her arm she held it out for the bite.
