The Murder of Cleopatra (28 page)

After this, he sent Proculeius, bidding him, if possible, above all things to get Cleopatra into his power alive; for he was fearful about the treasures in her funeral pyre, and he thought it would add greatly to the glory of his triumph if she were led in the procession. Into the hands of Proculeius, however, Cleopatra would not put herself; but she conferred with him after he had come close to the tomb and stationed himself outside at a door which was on a level with the ground. The door was strongly fastened with bolts and bars, but allowed a passage for the voice. So they conversed, Cleopatra asking that her children might have the kingdom, and Proculeius bidding her be of good cheer and trust Caesar in everything.

After Proculeius had surveyed the place, he brought back word to Caesar, and Gallus was sent to have another interview with the queen; and coming up to the door he purposely prolonged the conversation. Meanwhile Proculeius applied a ladder and went in through the window by which the women had taken Antony inside. Then he went down at once to the very door at which Cleopatra was standing and listening to Gallus, and he had two servants with him. One of the women imprisoned with Cleopatra cried out,

“Wretched Cleopatra, thou art taken alive.”
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And Cassius Dio, the only other ancient historian to write of this event, says:

And so Antony died there in the embrace of Cleopatra; she felt confident about Octavian and made it clear to him right away what had happened, but she did not completely trust that she would suffer
no harm. Therefore, she remained inside so that, even if nothing else should save her, she could obtain amnesty and her kingdom by exploiting Octavian's fear of losing her treasure. Even then, amid such calamity, she was so mindful of her sovereignty that she preferred to die with her name and status intact rather than to live as a private citizen. To be sure, she also had fire for her treasure and for herself asps and other reptiles, which she had tested on men to determine how each of them killed. Octavian was eager to control her treasury and to take her alive and lead her in his triumph, but having given her, in some sense, his word, he did not want to seem to have her as a prisoner taken against her will. So, he sent to her Gaius Proculeius, an equestrian, and Epaphroditus, a freedman, with instructions detailing what should be said and done. They met with Cleopatra and, while discussing some reasonable options, suddenly grabbed her before completing the negotiation.
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The ancient authors tell a very odd story of Cleopatra's lockdown in the “mausoleum,” or temple, as I have determined. Let's pretend for a moment that the story is true, that Cleopatra did indeed plan to destroy her treasure in desperation.

A fire is not an instantaneous affair. It requires quite a bit of work to start it, stoke it, and build it up to an all-consuming furnace that would have the power to destroy such a quantity of goods as the Egyptian royal treasury is described to have contained. Are we to believe that Cleopatra and her ladies stayed alone in this massive edifice with a mountain of treasure amid the logs and pitch with no one else to assist them in putting this plan into action? We are speaking of the queen of Egypt, who had gone into battle with men and always had her guards and protectors at her disposal. Would not then Cleopatra bring a contingent of men with her into the temple to guard her and to fight anyone who attempted to enter? Wouldn't she, if she were truly planning to set a fire, set her men to build and tend the blaze? Are we to believe she was so foolish and impotent a queen that she must manage it herself with just a couple of middle-aged women to assist her in such a monumental task? Would she
simply stand by the door and trade foolish talk with Octavian's men, handmaidens listening at her side, while knowing that at any time his army could attack and be inside the building within minutes? All of this seems highly unlikely.

Neither would Octavian waste time with negotiations if he believed the coveted Lagide treasure might be inside the temple. Once he was able to move on the city with the knowledge that Antony was dead and the enemy had surrendered, it would not be long before his men would be at the temple to storm it and capture both Cleopatra and her treasure. Wasting time in foolish negotiations would only delay his attempt to protect and seize the treasure and capture Cleopatra alive. If by this point he realized that no treasure was in the temple, he would still want to move just as quickly to take Cleopatra, and all others who might have vital information, into his custody. He was also eager to find Caesarion and, and as part of his plan to destroy the Egyptian royal line, eliminate him.

Large as the temple was, it was sensible that Cleopatra and her personal guard would move into the depth of the temple while her men attempted to prevent Octavian's soldiers from entering. This would prevent her death in the assault and allow her the opportunity to set the stage for the moment when she would come face to face with her enemy.

Inevitably, Cleopatra would lose this standoff. Once she had lost control of the temple and had been captured by the forces of Octavian, where would he keep her sequestered? There are two stories concerning this matter:

From Plutarch we have a piece of the story with information that appears to be missing. First, in the passage that follows, he writes of the moment when Proculeius took the dagger from Cleopatra's possession in the mausoleum (as he has stated earlier, this is where she had hidden herself).

And there was also sent from [Octavian] one of his freedmen, Epaphroditus, with injunctions to keep the queen alive by the
strictest vigilance, but otherwise to make any concession that would promote her ease and pleasure.
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Yet later Plutarch writes:

[Octavian] had resolved to send off her and her children within three days. After Cleopatra had heard this, in the first place, she begged [Octavian] that she might be permitted to pour libations for Antony; and when the request was granted, she had herself carried to the tomb, and embracing the urn which held his ashes, in company with the women usually about her . . .
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Plutarch does not tell us where Cleopatra is but says she must be carried to the mausoleum. But surely she cannot be in the mausoleum, or this transport would not be necessary. Plutarch fails to include in his tale any information about what transpired between the time Epaphroditus is sent to watch Cleopatra and allow anything she would like for her comfort (in the mausoleum) to the point in the story when she is obviously returning to the mausoleum. Either she was actually in the temple or palace where she was confined for a period and then brought to the mausoleum, or she was in the mausoleum, brought elsewhere, and then returned.

Ancient Roman historian Florus explains:

When she despaired of convincing the Princeps [Octavian] and realized that she was spared only for display in his triumph, she took advantage of a rather lax guard and escaped to the mausoleum (this is what they call the royal tomb).
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Cassius Dio goes further in describing her captivity:

Then they took her to the palace, but did not remove any of her accustomed retinue or attendants, in order that she should entertain more hope than ever of accomplishing all she desired, and so should do no harm to herself.
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It makes sense that Cleopatra was taken from the temple and removed to the palace. Indeed, Octavian wanted to calm the public at that point, since the Alexandrians were known to be a rather volatile citizenry. To keep Cleopatra in the temple under guard makes it quite clear that Octavian means to depose the queen and seize the Egyptian throne for himself. On the heels of the devastating defeat of the country, it behooves him to have an interim period to calm the people and give them some solace in the safety of their queen. Bringing her to the palace allows Octavian to appear generous and willing to negotiate.

Plutarch gives us this picture of Octavian's attempts to win over the public following the death of Antony and the capture of Cleopatra:

And now [Octavian] himself drove into the city, and he was conversing with Areius the philosopher, to whom he had given his right hand, in order that Areius might at once be conspicuous among the citizens, and be admired because of the marked honour shown him by [Octavian]. After he had entered the gymnasium and ascended a tribunal there made for him, the people were beside themselves with fear and prostrated themselves before him, but he bade them rise up, and said that he acquitted the people of all blame, first, because of Alexander, their founder; second, because he admired the great size and beauty of the city; and third, to gratify his companion, Areius.
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So it would seem that Cleopatra was brought back to the palace and kept under guard. Although there is a claim she was to be kept comfortable and allowed anything that she desired for her happiness, Plutarch's description of her time in captivity hardly seems one of luxury and well-being; Cleopatra is wearing prison garb, sleeping on a pallet bed on the ground, and is a physical mess.

And while in this miserable state, Plutarch writes that Cleopatra “welcomed it as an excuse for abstaining from food and so releasing herself from life without hindrance.”
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It would seem at odds with the queen's stubborn character to
survive all difficulties and to fight for her country and her son's right to the throne for her to then starve herself to death. Furthermore, for this monarch who had always used her beauty and her charms to manipulate men and who was accustomed to the wealth and power of her position to suddenly refuse lodgings in the finer rooms of the palace in favor of a simple mat on a hard floor is highly improbable. And for her to refuse to dress in royal attire, preferring to don the simple tunic of a slave is inconceivable.

The setting of Cleopatra's incarceration within her own palace resembles far too closely a jail with all the accoutrements of a prisoner's life: barren cell, hard sleeping surface, prison uniform, and very little food. Add to this the marks of assault on Cleopatra's body, and the cell becomes a torture chamber. While Octavian was putting on a pretense of kindness and humility in the square in Alexandria, he was likely having his men torture Cleopatra to gain information as to where she had secreted the Lagide treasure and where Caesarion, next in line for the Egyptian throne, was hiding out.

The abuse to her body is evidence of the custom of Roman scourging. Similar to the torture of Jesus, Cleopatra likely endured the Roman whips—leather strips with metal ends. Women were not exempt from such beatings. With arms tied above their heads or held out from their bodies, the whipping would be executed on the back of the prisoner by the torturer. Although most of the damage would be to the upper back, the leather strips can wrap around the body and cause damage to the chest area. A few errant strokes might cause injury elsewhere on the victim.

Plutarch describes that upon finding Cleopatra's body after her “suicide by asp,” some claim to have seen two light and indistinct punctures on Cleopatra's arm.
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Admittedly, this is probably just embellishment from Plutarch to explain that Cleopatra used a cobra to kill herself and there had been some evidence of snakebite. But, if Cleopatra were redressed in lavish clothing befitting a queen following her demise, anyone viewing her body would see little of any evidence of torture except for, perhaps, an accidental mark or two on
her arms one could attribute to another cause. If Plutarch is relating a true story, Cleopatra's breasts were already mutilated, so it would make little difference if her back were likewise afflicted. Either she was dressed as to cover all the damaged areas of her body, or nobody outside of Octavian's circle saw and reported any trauma Cleopatra had suffered.

If Cleopatra was not one to “beat her breasts,” and there is little evidence that there is any truth in this claim that she was, then one wonders why the story of such damage to her breasts exists. The only plausible explanation is that she was tortured for information. While the public outside held out hope that Octavian would be merciful to their queen, his men were likely inflicting their cruel form of torture upon her.

There is one final comment made by Suetonius about Cleopatra's last days that is most interesting: “The younger Antony (the elder of the two sons by Fulvia) Octavian dragged away from the statue of the Deified Julius, where he had taken refuge . . . and killed.”
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Plutarch says of this moment:

As for the children of Antony, Antyllus, his son by Fulvia, was betrayed by Theodorus his tutor and put to death; and after the soldiers had cut off his head, his tutor took away the exceeding precious stone which the boy wore about his neck and sewed it into his own girdle; and though he denied the deed, he was convicted of it and crucified.
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Antyllus was not one of the children for whom Octavian would be inclined to have mercy. He was the 100 percent Roman son of Antony by his Italian wife, Fulvia, and keeping him alive could one day cause problems for Octavian. He was also not a small child who could easily forget the past and be molded by Octavian to blindly follow him. It was better to dispose of him than allow him to one day take revenge for his father's death.

The Deified Julius statue would most likely have been in the Caesarium, the temple in which I believe Cleopatra had ensconced
herself; one more bit of proof that the mausoleum was not the location of Cleopatra's showdown with Octavian. Since her children were with her and were preparing to leave the country, it only makes sense that the young Antony (Antyllus) was with her, too. When the Roman soldiers breached the building, Antyllus's only hope would be to hide in the bowels of the religious rooms or the crypts where the religious items were stored and hope not to be found, later to escape when all was quiet. Whether he was simply discovered by the soldiers and killed or he was given up by his teacher who knew of secret rooms within the temple is questionable. What is assuredly true is that Cleopatra retained her poise and dignity even as she was dragged away and imprisoned.