Antony and Cleopatra

Period written: 1607-1608
First known performance:

Cleopatra and the Egyptian fleet. Caesar sends Thidias to negotiate with Cleopatra, but Antony has him whipped and sent back to Rome. Enobarbus then deserts Antony for Caesar, leaving his personal treasure behind; but when Antony generously sends this after him, Enobarbus dies is consumed with grief, and dies.

Caesar and Antony continue their conflict. Antony has some success by land, but the Egyptian fleet once again loses at sea, and he charges Cleopatra with betrayal. In an attempt to win back his affection, she takes herself and her maids off to her burial monument, sending him word that she is dead. Grief-stricken at the news, Antony asks his servant Eros to kill him, but Eros kills himself rather than carry out the task.
       
Antony then attempts to kill himself, wounding himself grievously, only to hear that Cleopatra is still alive. He is carried to her monument, where he dies in her arms.

Antony’s follower Decretas informs Caesar of his death, and Proculeius is sent to bring Cleopatra to Rome. Cleopatra knows she will become a public spectacle there, and attempts to kill herself, but is prevented. She has a meeting with Caesar, where she feigns total submission, but her attempt to conceal some of her wealth is revealed by her treasurer Seleucus. Arrangements to take her to Rome are made, but she manages to have a clownish rustic smuggle in a basket of figs containing asps, and she and her maids all die from their bite.

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