Victory at Philippi brought new problems for the triumvirate. Tens of thousands of their soldiers were due for discharge. These men had been promised farms and most expected these to be on good land in Italy. The property confiscated from the proscribed and the dead supporters of Brutus and Cassius provided only a small part of what was needed. It was already obvious that territory would have to be seized from individuals and communities to be given to the soldiers. The task of overseeing this process was given to Octavian. His health was still poor – indeed he was so ill on the journey back to Italy that it was widely assumed he would die – and this was one good reason why he should return home. Redistribution of land on such a vast scale was bound to be a difficult job and likely to be an extremely unpopular one. No one would welcome having their land confiscated, while the veterans would balk at any provision that seemed less than generous.1
Antony was surely glad to see this controversial task taken on by his colleague and content to remain in the east. Several commanders who could be expected to be loyal to him were in Italy and the western provinces. The most important was Quintus Fufius Calenus, who as governor of Caesar’s conquests in Gaul controlled eleven legions. Lepidus was already being marginalised, under suspicion of colluding with Sextus Pompey. The third triumvir was left in control of only the province of Africa, a region that was anyway not fully secure. Antony and Octavian divided the remaining provinces and armies between them.2
For the moment there was plenty for Antony to do. The provinces and allied states of the eastern Mediterranean had been caught up in Rome’s internal struggles for much of the last decade. Levies of men, money, food and other resources had been imposed by a succession of leaders, most recently the conspirators. Leaders and communities had suffered, many had lost power, some had been deposed and a few killed. A small number had been lucky enough to avoid the worst depredations and had even grown in power. Virtually all had recently given aid to the conspirators.
It was important to reorganise the entire region, to restore order and stability. Antony and the other triumvirs also needed money to pay their armies, which would still be very large even after the veterans had been demobilised. Many of the soldiers captured at Philippi were immediately enrolled in the triumviral legions. It was better than letting them go and running the risk that they would happily enlist with other leaders eager to fight their way to power. The eleven legions organised after Philippi contained many prisoners as well as men whose discharge was not yet due. There was also the question of the long-delayed Parthian War. A campaign on that scale required years of preparation, but Antony was probably already planning to undertake it. Philippi had bolstered his military reputation, but true glory could only be won against a powerful foreign enemy and one whose humiliation of Rome had not been avenged. The eagles of Crassus’ legions remained trophies of the Parthian king. 3
Antony was the obvious candidate from amongst the triumvirate for the task of reorganising the east. He was older than Octavian, who was just twenty-one, and his reputation was much greater. He was also in robust health, unlike his younger colleague. In addition, neither of his colleagues had spent anywhere near as much time in the Hellenistic east. Antony spent the winter of 42-41 BC in Athens, a city he knew well from his time studying there in the 50s BC. He happily adopted Greek styles of dress, attended lectures and dramatic performances, and actively relished the physical exercise and display of the gymnasia. Plenty of Romans, including serving governors and army commanders, had in the past thrown themselves into Hellenic culture in this way. Brutus had spent several months at Athens in 44 BC, posing as nothing more than a visitor, keen to share in the traditions of the city. He was popular as a result, and so was Antony. The Athenians and other Greeks could not ignore or ever hope to challenge the reality of Roman rule. When leading Romans displayed a love of Greek culture, to some extent acknowledging its superiority, then it made it easier for them to accept this hard fact. 4
From early on, delegations came to Antony, asking for favours, arbitration in disputes and redress from penalties imposed on them by the conspirators or other grievances. In the spring of 41 BC he crossed into Asia Minor and travelled through the province, dealing with petitioners and raising revenue. He also feasted and celebrated, enjoying power and wealth as he had always done. Plutarch says that musicians, dancers and actors from the provinces rushed to join his household. When Antony processed into Ephesus, he was preceded by dancers dressed as Bacchantes, the wild female devotees of the cult of the wine god Dionysus/Bacchus, as well as boys and men garbed as satyrs. The crowd there and elsewhere readily hailed him as the god. This was Hellenic culture as well, if a different side of it to the educated tastes of aristocrats in Classical Athens.5
Other Romans had also been hailed as gods in the eastern provinces, most recently Pompey and Caesar. The Rhodians had hailed Cassius as ‘Lord and King’, to which he had bluntly replied that he was neither, but a killer of both. Such sentiments did not prevent him from plundering the captured city. Antony had no need to use force, but made very heavy demands on the provincials. All told, he demanded something like nine years’ worth of normal levies, but wanted them paid in just two years. Some of this he spent in spectacular gifts to his disreputable followers. A cook who had prepared a feast for him was rewarded with a house taken from an aristocrat. When Antony announced that he required a second levy from the province before the end of the year, an orator named Hybreas managed to dissuade him by asking whether the Roman general could also arrange for a second harvest. Hyrbreas continued by pointing out that since Antony had already collected 200,000 talents from them, he must realise that they had no more to give –and if Antony had not received the money, then he ought to be talking to his officials rather than the poor provincials.6
Antony liked blunt speech, especially when it was leavened with humour. It was widely believed that he was often manipulated by others who pretended to be plain speaking. There were other ways of influencing Antony. He liked women, and it was believed that many eastern rulers felt it easier to let their wives persuade the Roman. There were two claimants for the throne of Cappadocia, and the mother of one of them, Glaphyra, caught his eye. She had been the mistress of Archelaus, the dynast of Comana, until he was called away to marry Berenice IV. Although illegitimate, her son was his child and so possessed royal blood. For a while at least Glaphyra was believed to have become Antony’s mistress. A snatch of verse written by Octavian claimed that ‘Antony screws Glaphyra, so Fulvia as revenge wants to nail me’. For the moment she was not persuasive enough, and the rule of Cappadocia went to the other claimant.7
When there was no special persuasion involved, Antony generally favoured communities that had suffered for opposing Brutus and Cassius and punished their enthusiastic supporters. The inhabitants of the Jewish towns enslaved by Cassius were freed and their property restored. Rhodes gained some territory and was exempted from taxation for the moment, as was Lycia, where Brutus had stormed Xanthus and extorted money from other cities.
The tyrant of Tyre seems to have been deposed, both for his enthusiasm for Cassius and using this as a pretext to seize Jewish territory. When Antony wrote to the city he addressed his letter to ‘the magistrates, council and people’ and stressed that his recently defeated ‘adversaries’ had not been granted commands by the ‘Senate, but they seized them by force’. Tyre was ordered to return to the rule of Hyrcanus any territory taken from Judaea. In a letter to Hyrcanus, Antony spoke of the tyranny of Brutus and Cassius as an offence against the gods, and how he wanted ‘to let our allies also participate in the peace given us by God; and so, owing to our victory, the body of Asia is now recovering, as it were, from a serious illness’.8
The triumvirate needed money, and no doubt some communities found Antony’s rule just as oppressive and demanding as that of Brutus and Cassius. Perhaps some felt that they were worse off and there was little sign of recovering. However, we do know of leaders who had aided the conspirators and yet were confirmed in power. Antipater, the second in command and military commander of Hyrcanus, had by this time been murdered, and power passed to his sons Herod and Phaesel. The former had proved especially willing to meet Cassius’ demands for money. In spite of this Antony confirmed them in power, no doubt feeling that they would keep the generally pro-Roman Hyrcanus secure.9
Antony continued his progress through the provinces. Hostile sources characterise this whole period as one of indulgence, loose control that allowed unscrupulous followers to abuse their position, arbitrary decisions and squeezing the provincials for money. Yet, where his decisions are known in any detail, they seem reasonable, and certainly well within the character of Roman provincial administration in this period. The triumvirs desperately needed revenue, but this need would not go away and it was important for them to restore long-term stability to the empire. Antony and his colleagues had to create a situation where the provinces and allies would supply them with a substantial and steady income year after year.
TARSUS
In 41 BC Antony summoned Cleopatra to come to him at the city of Tarsus in Cilicia – later home of St Paul, who dubbed it ‘no mean city’. We do not know whether she had already sent envoys to him on his journeys, but this is quite possible. Like all the other rulers of the region, she needed to be sure that her power was confirmed and the triumvirs would adhere to the recognition they had given to her joint rule with Caesarion. Her kingdom was the greatest single source of grain and money in the eastern Mediterranean, so it was obviously a prime concern for Antony to ensure that he could draw on these resources, both for the moment and for the eventual war against Parthia.10
Questions had been raised over her conduct during the struggle with the conspirators. Serapion in Cyprus had actively aided them, and the queen herself had promised much to Cassius, even if she had not delivered anything, while her attempt to join the triumvirs with a fleet had failed. It is worth remembering that an alternative to Cleopatra existed. Antony had paid a long visit to Ephesus. During that time he may well have confirmed the rights of the great Temple of Artemis there. It is inconceivable that he had not had some contact with Arsinoe, or at least her representatives. Antony had backed her claim in 44 BC and there was no assurance that he would not now decide that replacing Cleopatra with her younger sister might allow him to exploit Egypt’s and Cyprus’ resources more effectively.11
Antony sent Quintus Dellius to Alexandria to summon the queen. Dellius had already defected from Dolabella to Cassius, and then Cassius to Antony, and in later years wrote a racy history of the period, which has not survived, but may well have influenced Plutarch’s account. He claimed to have realised at once that Antony could be swept away by a woman like Cleopatra. Guessing that this would happen and that she would win his favour, he decided that it would be advantageous for him to assist the queen. Dellius encouraged her to dazzle Antony, assuring her that he could readily be persuaded to do what she wanted.12
Cleopatra did not hurry her journey to Tarsus. A succession of letters arrived demanding that she hasten, but she ignored them all, determined to appear at a moment of her own choosing and in the most spectacular style. Unlike her meeting with Caesar, there was no need to sneak into his presence. Drawing on her family’s long tradition of building luxurious pleasure craft, she transferred into a specially prepared ship for the final stage of her journey up the River Cydnus into Tarsus. Its sails were of rich purple, the prow of gold and rowers plied silver-tipped oars to the music of flutes, oboes and lyres. Her father would no doubt have been proud of such a performance. Everything about the craft was lavish and incense in generous quantities was burned so that the fine smells wafted onto the banks of the river.
Cleopatra ‘herself reclined beneath a gold-embroidered canopy, adorned like a painting of Aphrodite, flanked by slave-boys, each made to resemble Eros, who cooled her with fans. Likewise her most beautiful female slaves, dressed as Nereids and Graces, were stationed at the rudders and ropes.’13
Aphrodite was one of the many goddesses whose character had been subsumed into the Hellenised cult of Isis, and Cleopatra was the New Isis. However, it is probably a mistake to see her as rigidly bound by this association. Plutarch’s description does not suggest an especially Egyptian – even an idealised Greek vision of Egyptian –flavour to this performance. It was about spectacle, and most of all about glamour and wealth. Some see it as solely designed with Antony’s tastes in mind. One historian dubbed it ‘a vulgar bait to catch a vulgar man’.14
It soon had the impact Cleopatra had intended. Plutarch tells us that a crowd quickly gathered to watch the progress of the royal barge along the river. Antony was supposedly receiving petitions in front of a large gathering in Tarsus itself. Then rumour started to spread that the goddess Aphrodite was on her way, and people began slipping away to see the wondrous spectacle. In the end, Antony and his household were left on their own and so trailed along behind. The cry went up that Aphrodite had come to feast with Dionysus for the good of all Asia. It did not matter if for some this meant Aphrodite/Isis and Dionysus/Osiris, while for others different aspects of the deities were important. There was genuine enthusiasm for the display, well within the traditions of the Hellenistic monarchies and drawing on even older roots.
Antony sent an invitation for Cleopatra to join him at dinner. She declined and instead suggested that he join her. The banquet that followed was brightly illuminated by carefully arranged clusters of lamps. The luxury, opulence and spectacle of the Ptolemaic court were displayed to full effect. On the following night Antony entertained the queen to another banquet, but in spite of their best efforts his household could not match the royal display. The triumvir, and master of the eastern Mediterranean, responded with deprecating humour.15
Cleopatra was clever and witty, and is said to have lowered the tone of her humour to suit Antony’s tastes. Now around twenty-eight –‘at an age when the beauty of a woman is at its most dazzling and her intellectual powers are at a height’ according to Plutarch –she was confident and sophisticated, her charisma probably even more powerful than when she had met Caesar. It is unsurprising that Antony found her both attractive and challenging. She needed to win over the man who could confirm or depose her, so it is reasonable to believe that she deliberately set out to seduce him and that from early on he wanted her as a lover. As with her first encounter with Caesar, both the queen and the triumvir were no doubt aware that desire and political advantage mingled, that each hoped to seduce the other and gain from the encounter. It was exciting. Cleopatra had only ever given herself to one other lover and he had been the most powerful man in the Roman world. For Antony, it was a measure of his own importance that the queen might be available to him. He was in his early forties, closer in age than her first lover had been. He was vigorous, roughly handsome, experienced and very confident. His power made him an acceptable as well as expedient lover.16
The physical and emotional attractions were strong for both of them. Cleopatra had also displayed the abundance of her realm. Even after years of bad harvests, Egypt could still somehow fund this opulence and it was a clear promise that the queen could mobilise this wealth to Antony’s service. She had another advantage in Caesarion, although it is unclear whether or not she had brought the boy with her to Tarsus. Tradition and experience showed that it was difficult, probably impossible, for a Ptolemaic queen to rule as sole monarch. Joint rule with Caesarion gave her regime the promise of stability.
We know nothing about Arsinoe’s appearance and whether or not she could equal her older sister in charm and glamour. She was a potential rival to Cleopatra, but was probably more useful to both Cassius and now Antony as a lever to control the queen. Cleopatra was already established and had maintained control of her kingdom remarkably well since Caesar’s death. She had an heir and co-ruler who would be fully under her control for at least another decade. Arsinoe could not match this, and it would have been a major risk dethroning Cleopatra and installing the younger, unmarried and childless sister. Annexing Egypt and reclaiming Cyprus as Roman provinces held little appeal, for the burden of administering them directly would have been heavy when all of the east needed reorganisation after the upheavals of the civil wars. It was far better to let the already established monarch arrange to supply what the triumvirate needed.
Soon after her arrival in Tarsus, Cleopatra and Antony became lovers. Within a year she would bear him twins, a son and a daughter. The queen was confirmed in power, with Caesarion as king and co-monarch. On Antony’s command, Arsinoe was taken from the sanctuary of Artemis, whose rights he had recently confirmed, and executed. There is no evidence to connect her with an unusual octagonal-shaped tomb at Ephesus. There is indeed no particular reason to associate this structure with the Ptolemies or any other royal family. Another victim of Cleopatra’s success was a young man who claimed to be her dead brother, Ptolemy XIII. This lesser threat to her was executed at the Phoenician town of Aradus.17
ALEXANDRIA
Antony spent the winter of 41-40 BC with Cleopatra in her capital. Alexandria was an important city, so that the choice could be justified on practical grounds, but it is clear that the key factor in its selection was that it would allow him to spend months with his lover. No doubt work continued and deputations from kings and cities wound their way to Egypt, seeking audience with the triumvir. As in Athens the previous winter, Antony donned various items of Greek dress. There were philosophical lectures, drama and dance, as well as the life of the gymnasia and other sports. Antony and Cleopatra went on hunting expeditions, no doubt on a grand scale. Horses and hunting were obsessions of Greek, and most especially Macedonian, aristocrats. It is quite possible that Cleopatra was an accomplished rider – we certainly read of one of her female ancestors helping to command an army from horseback.18
Another pursuit was fishing. Eager to guarantee the success of his efforts, Antony had slaves swim underwater and attach fish to the hooks on the end of his line. Plutarch tells us that Cleopatra easily saw through the deception and on the next day sent one of her own people down, who fixed a salted fish from the Black Sea to the hook instead. Antony hauled in the long-dead trophy to general laughter. His lover suggested that he give up, since as a great victor he should fish for cities, countries and whole continents.19
Cleopatra flattered Antony and watched in admiration as he exercised or was just a lively companion as he drank or gambled with dice – a particular passion for many Romans, including Octavian. Eating and drinking were particular concerns, in keeping with the traditions of the Ptolemaic court. Together with their intimates, both Roman and Alexandrian, the couple formed a club they named ‘The Inimitable Livers’. A few years later one of the courtiers involved in these entertainments set up an inscription dubbing himself ‘The Parasite’, calling Antony a god as well as ‘Inimitable at sex’.20
Everything was on an extravagant scale. Plutarch’s grandfather used to repeat a story told by a friend who had been studying medicine in Alexandria at the time and had become friendly with one of the royal cooks. Amazed by the sheer quantity of food being cooked one evening, he was surprised to be told that the company was very small. Multiples of everything were prepared to be ready at different times, so that Antony could be served almost instantly whenever he demanded the next course. Presumably the staff were happy to dispose of the unused food. In recent years, Egypt had suffered from poor harvests and outbreaks of famine. Yet the much paraded opulence of the Ptolemaic court never faltered.21
The extravagance was deliberate and emphasised, not simply in the food, but also in the decorations of the palaces and even the tableware. In the first feast at Tarsus, Cleopatra had used golden and jewelled tableware and covered the room in rich tapestries. All of this was given away to the guests, the richest luxuries going to Antony. On the next night everything was even more lavish and expensive, and once again it was given away. Cleopatra provided Ethiopian slaves bearing torches to escort them and their goods home. On another occasion, she let clouds of rose petals flutter down onto the gathering. Luxury and excess were celebrated, and it is certain that the displays at her own court in Alexandria were on an even grander scale. It may have been around this time that Antony acquired a set of golden chamber pots.22
Sometimes the group would wander the streets of Alexandria at night, with Antony and Cleopatra – and presumably also their followers – dressed in the simple clothes of slaves. Antony would behave rowdily, mocking passers-by and even looking into houses, while his lover is supposed to have watched. The disguises were unconvincing, but a lot of Alexandrians were happy to play along, replying to mockery with abuse of their own. A few were even willing to let Antony pick a fight with them and more than once he is supposed to have returned with bruises from these adventures. There was a long tradition of such displays by aristocrats and many Alexandrians were happy to indulge their queen and her Roman guests. They said that Antony only ever revealed the serious face of a tragic actor to his own countrymen, but with them showed the mask of a comic actor.23
Over the winter months the Alexandrians indulged them and they seem to have been popular. Antony continued to work, even if his pleasures were more conspicuous and received more attention in our sources. He enjoyed the affair with Cleopatra, as he had enjoyed other affairs earlier in his life. This one was made special because she was a queen in a lavish court. The flavour of these months was very Hellenic and that appealed to him as well. Yet in the spring of 40 BC Antony left to deal with a pressing crisis in Italy. Soon there would be more problems as the Parthians invaded Syria and raided deep into the Roman provinces.
Antony and Cleopatra would not see each other again for three and a half years. Love may well have been genuine on one or both sides, but at this stage there was no overwhelming urge for them to remain always together. The rule of Cleopatra and Caesarion had been confirmed and Antony assured that he could call upon the resources of their kingdom. Their political ambitions were, for the moment, satisfied.