Mark Antony, who appeared in the late 1st century of the Caesar's Civil War, seems to be quite a celebrity because he appears in Shakespeare's famous play "Anthony and Cleopatra". I can't even defend it.
Head and body are like gladiators
Cicero, who is said to be the greatest philosopher in Rome, described Antonius as follows.
"Head and body are like gladiators"
This is a compliment in a sense and a dissatisfaction in a sense, but no word can describe Antonius so well.
Antonius' grandfather was a Roman influential person who experienced consul etc., but he was a victim of Gaius Marius's rebellion, and his father could not become a consul and started his career in Praetor (legal officer). It was a person who had finished.
It seems that Antonius was aware that he was the successor to Caesar because his mother was Caesar's sister and he was heavily used by Caesar and was active in the Gallic Wars and the Battle of Pharsalus.
However, when he opened Caesar's will, he had no name as a candidate for his successor.
He wasn't always a right-hand man, but the name of a sickly, pale-faced, only 18-year-old Hosomi young man with no track record was written on it.
Octavian? Who?
The 2nd Triumvirate
Antonius did not change his perception that he was his successor even after Caesar's will was released.
Despite this, Antonius decides not to pursue the criminal pursuit of the assassin of Caesar when he convenes the Senate.
For Antonius, Octavian was more of an enemy than the humans who assassinated his benefactor Caesar.
In fact, Antonius even showed a willingness to join hands with the Caesar assassins.
What was out of the question for Antonius would be that Octavian was incomparably superior to Antonius.
It is said that Antonius was recognized as "a kid who just inherited the name of Caesar" by playing Octavian.
Despite being closer to Caesar than anyone else, Antonius may not have relied on Caesar's abilities and knowledge.
In a sense, it can be said that his enemies, Cicero and Small Kato, knew and even trusted Caesar better.
Antonius's attitude was so inconsistent that he made his villain Cicero say, "What was the murder for!"
Later, when Octavian landed in Italy, Caesar's remnants gave the young man a resignation.
In any case, Antonius begins to join forces with Caesar's assassins. Perhaps what was in Antonius was not his respect or loyalty to Caesar, but his own self-protection.
However, when Octavianus gave a bounty to the Caesar assassins and decided to die without trial, Antonius took advantage of it and began to give a famous impeachment speech in Shakespeare's play.
Since the ground was still insufficient for Octavianus, he began to engage in the Second Triumvirate with moderate Lepidus and Antonius, and both faced the fight against the Caesar assassins. At this time, a marriage was established with Octavian's older sister, Octavian.
Antonius is a good politician in the third class, but he is close to the first class as a military commander, and he is superior to the Octavian side.
In the Battle of Philippi, which is a battle with traitors such as Brutus and Cassius, it became the form of Brutus VS Octavian and Cassius VS Antonius without cooperation, but Octavian was defeated while Antonius won. There is.
Nevertheless, overall, it was the victory of the second Triumvirate side, and this time it developed into a battle for Caesar's successor between Octavian and Antonius.
Antonius and Cleopatra
The confrontation between Antonius and Octavian was inevitable.
Octavian, who inherits the name of Caesar, and Antonius, who has an armed background.
Antonius sought to strengthen his power in the east after the Battle of Philippi. At the civilization level at that time, it was much higher in the east than in the west.
Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, appears before Antonius, who has accumulated power while restoring the eastern order that Casius and Brutus have messed up.
It's unclear where Antonius first saw Cleopatra. There is an opinion that Antonius was once assigned to Egypt and was fascinated by Cleopatra at that time, and since he was Caesar's right arm, it can be said that he had many chances to see it.
Whether Antonius was already fascinated or was fascinated at that time, he was completely disappointed after the encounter with Cleopatra.
He's just crazy, but he's completely crazy.
Antonius marries Cleopatra despite being married to Octavia.
Bigamy is prohibited in Rome as in modern Japan. Antonius easily throws away Octavia. Octavian was angry at this, and Roman citizens were angry.
A woman named Octavia is a woman who would be in the top class if there was an ideal bride content world history, a good wife and a wise mother type, and she later had a child born between Antonius and Cleopatra with her hands. I'm just raising it. Moreover, she is decent without being abused.
That alone is terrible enough, but Antonius had Cleopatra ceded her territories as territory and began to claim that Caesar's legitimate successor was Caesarion.
The green area below is the area that Antonius ceded to the Cleopatra clan.
At this time, Antonius made a large parthian expedition, but lost and managed to make the Kingdom of Armenia a territory. Armenia, who was in a rage to hold his triumphal ceremony in the land of Alexandros in Egypt instead of Rome, also gave it to Cleopatra.
Roman citizens would have thought.
"It's no good, I have to do something quickly ..."
Battle of Actium
It is unconvincing that the Battle of Actium is always mentioned in Japanese world history textbooks, but the Battle of Pharsalus is not mentioned at all.
The Battle of Actium was not a battle of the world, and the result was decided before it was done.
Soldiers who escape with an affection for Antonius continue to escape, and Cleopatra escapes from the battlefield even though it is in the middle of the battle when he sees it as a disadvantage. Antonius who saw it chased it.
It wasn't a game or anything.
Octavianus won the Battle of Actium because Antonius was too bad.
If Antonius had a fighting talent like Sulla and Marius, Octavian, who was vulnerable to fighting, would have been defeated without any help. Despite the presence of Agrippa, Octavian's strength was weaker than that of Antonius, and it cannot be said to be flatteringly strong in combat.
However, as you can see from the gratitude of the Chu-Han Contention in China, in the end, a person who is politically superior to a person who is strong in battle wins. It seems that Hideyoshi, who could not say that he was strong in the battle, unified Japan's Warring States period.
Antonius, who fled to Egypt, died himself after receiving a false alarm that Cleopatra had committed suicide.
Cleopatra was later repelled by his winner, Octavian, and died in despair by biting himself into a viper.
Whether Cleopatra just used Antonius or loved it, it may not even be known to him anymore.
After all, women only love men they can respect.
A man who loves a woman becomes merciless and is abandoned by the woman he loves. This may be an inescapable work from ancient times to east and west.
Personal evaluation of Antonius
Antonius would be the top if there was a man ranking that couldn't be helped in history.
It can be said that Cleopatra's sex appeal made him crazy, but I think Antonius was originally such a person.
Caesar was able to see it exactly.
What Antonius should have done was to help Octavian and end the civil war.
But Antonius did the opposite and confused Rome.
He is a man who can't help without the case of Cleopatra, and a man who can't really defend if he includes the case of Cleopatra.
He had only a talent for combat, so he would have been a founding vassal if he had obediently fulfilled his position as an adjutant. He couldn't do that because he died earlier than Caesar expected.
In that sense, this Antonius may be the number one victim of the assassination of Caesar.
The descendants of the children of Antonius and Octavia ascended to the later Roman emperor by Augustus's idea of emphasizing the blood connection.
Caligula, Claudius, Nero, all of these emperors are of Antonius blood.
However, there isn't a wonderfully good person ...