Many Romans believed that Cleopatra had joined in the plot against Caesar or at least had not tried to stop it. This is highly unlikely—she had every reason to want Caesar to stay in power. But the force of public opinion was strong. Therefore, in 41 b. c., one of the members of the Second Triumvirate, Mark Antony (c. 82-30 b. c.), demanded that she meet him at Tarsus in Asia Minor for questioning. Cleopatra, however, had other plans.
She took her time arriving. When she did finally arrive, she came on a perfumed ship with purple sails. Dressed as Venus, goddess of love, she welcomed Antony as Bacchus
(BAK-uhs), god of wine. Certainly Antony, a much simpler man than Caesar, loved to have a good time, but he had come on official business and did his best to stay focused. Cleopatra played him like an instrument, persuading him to come to her quarters for a lavish feast. Soon they were lovers.
At the time, Mark Antony was joint ruler of the world's leading superpower, and his co-ruler Octavian (63 b. c.-a. d. 14), nephew of Caesar, was out to get him. When the triumvirate divided up the Roman world, Octavian had taken command over Italy and left Asia to Antony. Not only did he control the most important part, but Octavian could now claim that Antony did not have Italy's best interests at heart.
In a further maneuver, Octavian arranged for his beautiful sister Octavia to marry Antony in 40 b. c. Supposedly this would create a bond between the two rulers, but Octavian knew that Antony would end up leaving Octavia for Cleopatra—another fact he could use against him. In 40 b. c., Cleopatra bore twins by Antony just as he was trying to make his marriage to Octavia work. Octavia gave him a daughter in 39 b. c. But in 37 b. c., just as Octavian had predicted, Antony left her to join Cleopatra.
World History
