ABSTRACT
All this is close to Plutarch, even in the discussion about the way she died. There seems no reason to doubt the constancy of Cleopatra's resolve to die after Antony's death. Shakespeare makes less of Dolabella's revelation than did Daniel, who greatly expanded Plutarch's, 'He sent her word secretly (as she had requested him)' [in]. 314,433,438]. But from this moment to her grief over Antony is added fear of public humiliation. There is likewise no doubt (as]. D. Wilson does in Gamb., 238) that Shakespeare meant her to take the threat to her children seriously (128-31). Although they receive little mention in the play she knew that she could not trust C~sar in anything. (In the event C~sarion was killed, but Octavia, charitable as ever, adopted her rival's children and in time married them off well.)
Shakespeare may have found in Simon Goulart's Life of Augustus translated by North for the 1603 edition of Plutarch confirmation of Plutarch's description of Octavius' aloof efficiency [Text II]. The dramatist seems to have been dissatisfied with Plutarch's account of the wars of Fulvia, Lucius Antonius and Sextus Pompeius, and to have consulted the 1578 translation of Appian's Bella Givilia. Appian clears up some obscurities about the war between Fulvia and Lucius and then between them and Octavius. Fulvia stirred up trouble in hope 'To have me out of Egypt', as Antony declares (11.2.98-9), whereas Lucius Antonius was an aristocratic republican opposed to the dictatorship of the triumvirate and to his brother as a member of it [Text VI]. That explains why when Octavius accuses him
of being the cause of the wars (Il.2.46-8), Antony protests:
Did he not rather Discredit my authority with yours, etc. (ibid., 49-6S)
The reference to Pompey's commanding 'the empire of the sea' (1.2.187-8) also comes from Appian's 'Pompey being Lorde of the Sea'; likewise the statement that the Romans began 'to throw I Pompey the Great and all his dignities I Upon his son' (1.2.lgO-2) is from Appian's 'So was he most profitable to hys afflicted Countrey, and wonne greate glory to hymselfe, not inferioure to that he hadde of hys father.' Plutarch did not mention Pompey's death. Goulart declared it to be 'by Antonius' commandment'. Appian however had 'There bee that saye that Plancus, and not Antony, did commaunde hym to dye, whyche beeyng president of Syria had Antonyes signet, and in great causes wrote letters in hys name.' This explains IlI.S. I 81 g, where Antony 'Threats the throat of that his officer I That murder'd Pompey.' So in this playas so often, Shakespeare supplemented his main source with material from elsewhere.l
The political situation of Julius Cresar is continued in Antony and Cleopatra, though not immediately following the events at the end of that play. Antony has met Cleopatra and become besotted with her, the triumvirate exists still, but it is divided. Lepidus is a nonentity, scorned by his partners, and he disappears after showing his credulity, drunkenness and unfitness for serious work; as the servant declares: 'To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks' (Il.7.17-19). Antony is forgetting his duties, leaving Octavius to bear the burden of the state and to consolidate his position as the only leader suited to the needs of the time. Against
C~sar's single-minded, cold devotion to duty and self-interest the others cannot stand, and he deserves to be Emperor not merely because, as Plutarch writes, heaven wished it so, but by his politic shrewdness and mastery of events. As in Julius Cresar, however, Shakespeare does not make much of political theory in Antony and Cleopatra. For Professor J. E. Phillips Pompey
Octavius has developed since Julius Ctesar. There he had little to do but agree with Antony's plans which overthrew Brutus and Cassius. For Antony in Julius Cesar, though a 'masker and a reveller' was yet a man with a mission, personal rather than political. Once that was completed and Cresar was avenged he relapsed into the man of pleasure, and thought it not
Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy, To give a kingdom for a mirth,
and to confound the time 'That drums him from his sport'. Now Octavius has the reasonableness, the steadfastness, the public spirit that Antony lacks. Sir Thomas Elyot praised him for his 'magnanimity, nobility, tolerance, frugality and sobriety'-and these qualities or most of them are to be found in Shakespeare's two plays. But he is not lovable; he is political man at his most efficient, and if we recall his affection for Octavia (III.2), we also remember his attempt to deceive Cleopatra. Shakespeare wants us to think well of him and so diminishes his calculating coldness, making him tolerant towards Cleopatra when she tries to trick him over the treasure. His personal ambition is not stressed by Shakespeare; he is in the right even though we admire his enemies more. He regards himself as the minister of the high gods (III.6.87-9) and is able to promise that if he defeats Antony
He is the future Augustus, the man fit to rule. Yet he is priggish in his censures on Antony and ruthless in his determination to have Cleopatra grace his triumph.
