Mark Antony , commander in chief of Julius Caesar, persecuted those responsible for his death and, in addition, knew how to win over the people of Rome, which allowed him, together with Octavio and Lepidus , be part of the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC Even so, there were still many supporters of the Republic and a civil war broke out against the supporters of the Triumvirate. Marco Antonio requested the help of queen Cleopatra , Julius Caesar's lover, to come with his ships to Tarsus (Turkey). Cleopatra, at first, did not want to interfere in a conflict between Romans but finally agreed to meet with Marco Antonio… the meeting lasted four days and from there came a political alliance and love at first sight. Antony went to Alexandria with Cleopatra and there they spent the winter surrounded by luxury and enjoying days of wine and roses.
Cleopatra and Mark Antony
Although we all give Cleopatra the face of Liz Taylor , according to the words of Plutarch there were other qualities of hers :
It is pretended that her beauty, considered in itself, was not so incomparable as to cause astonishment and admiration, but her treatment was such that it was impossible to resist. The charms of her figure, seconded by the courtesies of her conversation and by all the graces that come from a happy personality, left a sting in the mind that penetrated to the most alive. He possessed an infinite voluptuousness when speaking, and so much sweetness and harmony in the sound of his voice that his tongue was like a multi-stringed instrument that he handled easily and from which he extracted, as he saw fit, the most delicate nuances of language; Plato recognizes four types of flattery, but she had a thousand.
And if we add a bit of strong character, we have a woman who was not daunted or bowed down. Proof of this is the anecdote told by Plutarch in Life of Marco Antonio . Given these qualities Marco Antonio was always trying to impress Cleopatra… One fine day, he was fishing in the Nile but he was showing himself up in front of Cleopatra because he was not getting any catch and, like Franco hunting partridges and fishing for salmon, he ordered a slave to get into the river and put on the hook already caught fish. The morning was very productive and Marco Antonio was a great fisherman.
A few days later Cleopatra invited several members of Egypt's most powerful families to attend a day of fishing with Mark Antony as spectators. . This time it was Cleopatra who ordered a slave to repeat the operation. When Marco Antonio took out a huge fish he proudly showed it to all those present… to the surprise of the Roman, everyone began to laugh. Marco Antonio didn't understand anything... what he didn't know was that the catch was from the sea .
Cleopatra had realized Marco Antonio's deception and wanted to teach him a lesson for trying to deceive the queen.
Source:Cabinet of Roman Curiosities – J.C. McKeown