Cleopatra: A Life

“To restore Cleopatra is as much to salvage the few facts as to peel away the encrusted myth and the hoary propaganda.”

Schiff here illustrates the major challenge of the work, which is centered upon The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths. Concrete facts about Cleopatra are indeed scarce, as the sources are few, and those that can be found, Schiff suggests, are buried beneath misinformation and bias. Schiff’s use of the words “myth” and “propaganda” also suggest modes of information utilized by hierarchical bodies, speaking to the notion of a controlled narrative, rather than organic fact.

“Cleopatra goes down in Caesar’s history for one reason alone: she was good and obedient.”

This passage is an example of Schiff’s advocacy for a critical reading of history. Rather than accepting Caesar’s narrative at face value, Schiff suggests the patriarchal nature of Caesar’s view of Cleopatra: It is reductive, likely incorrect given her personality, and illustrates the commonly held view of The Dynamics of Power between her and Caesar.

“She was as suspect as Queen Cleophis, though what the Romans mostly seized upon—what inspired backhanded tributes—was her uncanny, occult power.”

Already, in the Roman reaction to Cleopatra seeking a relationship with Caesar of her own free will, there emerges the smear tactics that would continue to follow Cleopatra to the present day. Her individual choice is equated with supernatural "occult power”—Cleopatra is not an independent woman, she is a sorceress.

“As incandescent as was her personality, Cleopatra was every bit Caesar’s equal as a coolheaded, clear-eyed pragmatist, though what passed on his part as strategy would be remembered on hers as manipulation.”

Schiff’s stance is clear here: She presents Cleopatra as an equal to Caesar, a woman capable of great charm and rhetorical ability that matched Caesar well, rather than a manipulative seductress. Schiff points out a double standard often applied to powerful women, highlighting how Caesar is credited with having “strategy” while Cleopatra’s own tactics are reduced to “manipulation” in the Roman sources. This example again echoes the patriarchal nature of both the sources and Cleopatra’s public reception, reflecting the complications of Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World.

“He needed no further reason to dislike Cleopatra: intelligent woman who had better libraries than he did offended him on three accounts.”

Schiff presents Cicero as a stand-in for the dislike the puritanical Romans held toward Cleopatra. She makes clear the threats Cleopatra offered to the male-driven Roman society: her femininity, her intelligence, and her wealth, both economic and intellectual.

“She exercised a decisive, corrupting influence on the Roman leader, to the extent that a new Caesar was born in Egypt—and to the extent that Cleopatra properly qualified as the founder of the Roman Empire.”

In their casting about to blame Cleopatra for Julius Caesar’s downfall, the Roman people reveal the true threat Cleopatra posed: Her corrupting influence is a common idea shared by the people, and the extent of her victory in winning over Caesar suggests a total usurpation of Roman identity. In titling her a “founder of the Roman Empire,” Schiff is likely referring to her death allowing Octavian to seize full control and elevate himself to Emperor, as well as his use of Cleopatra’s treasure to economically support the fledgling empire.

“Cleopatra’s abilities were great, but the fertile male fancy incontestably greater.”

In evaluating the familiar reaction to Cleopatra’s power—that it must spring from occult or supernatural sources—Schiff underlines her thesis. Cleopatra’s infamy does not rest upon her own actions, but instead upon the male perception of those actions, reflecting the problem of Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World.

“(It is notable that when she is not condemned for being too bold and masculine, Cleopatra is taken to task for being unduly frail and feminine.)”

Schiff, in one of her critical asides, illustrates the fraught position not only Cleopatra, but most women attempting to operate in a male-controlled sphere, face. She cannot reach an ideal, or even a happy medium, but is criticized no matter what she does: She is either too masculine or too feminine in the eyes of her critics. Both criticisms, however, are based in reductive sexism.

“To him Cleopatra sent word—as much a marvel of diplomatic craft as of cosmic staging—that Venus was arrived ‘to revel with Bacchus for the good of Asia.’”

Schiff offers, by way of Plutarch, a direct quote of Cleopatra’s, revealing her savvy and charming nature. Cleopatra wisely positions Mark Antony and herself as gods, flattering his ego, while also elevating herself to his equal. Her choice of gods, drawn from the Greco-Roman pantheon, also suggests her ability to tailor her message to the recipient’s culture, a skill at which she excelled. Her cunning reflects her navigation of The Dynamics of Power.

“Surely something curious is afoot when the greatest Elizabethan poet cribs from a straight-backed biographer.”

The “Elizabethan poet” is Shakespeare, and the “straight-backed biographer” is Plutarch. Shakespeare drew heavily on a translation of Plutarch for his play Antony and Cleopatra, in some cases lifting material directly. In pointing this out, Schiff is suggesting that Plutarch’s account is more myth than fact, once again highlighting The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths.

“Citing her sexual prowess was evidently more discomforting than acknowledging her intellectual gifts. In the same way it is easier to ascribe her power to magic than to love.”

Schiff lays bare the mechanics of patriarchal rationalism. In both instances Cleopatra’s agency is taken away, as she is described by her effect on men, rather than embodying her own talents and inherent charm.

“Given the way she was stockpiling successors, Cleopatra was arguably doing more to unite East and West than had anyone since Alexander the Great.”

Schiff evokes Cleopatra’s legitimizing connection to Alexander the Great’s Hellenistic empire in evaluating her impact on Pan-Romanic relations. In much the same way Alexander united the land he conquered by installing his own leaders and attempting to create a Pan-Hellenistic culture, Cleopatra’s children, born across ideological borders, had legitimate ties to both Egypt and Rome.

“And if you are being taken advantage of by a woman, it is convenient to turn that woman into a sexual predator, capable of unspeakable depravity, ‘a slave to her lusts.’”

Again, the toxicity of male leaders, this time Herod of Judea, is exposed by Schiff. The moralistic weight of a patriarchal society is brought to bear upon a woman who won’t conform or placidly supply what is asked of her. Herod’s choice to level charges of sexual immorality against Cleopatra is a typical tactic of abuse amongst Cleopatra’s detractors, but it speaks to the common playbook shared by male leaders when confronted with Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World.

“As of the winter of 35 it is impossible to deny a full-blooded romance, if by romance we mean a congenial, intimate past, a shared family, a shared bed, and a shared vision of the future.”

Schiff, unwilling to fully credit the poetic impulses of past presentations, waits to acknowledge the love between Cleopatra and Antony until after they have settled into an established relationship. Rather than presenting overwrought scenes of tragic and consuming love and seduction, Schiff’s vision of their great romance is decidedly domestic, and entirely more humane.

“In conflating the political and the religious, the imagery was all on Cleopatra’s side.”

In her depiction of the ceremony of the Donations of Alexandria (See: Index of Terms), Schiff depicts a Cleopatra who holds a supreme understanding of pageantry and political acumen. Already Cleopatra, in adopting the guise of Isis, understands the power of combining the forces of politics and religion, but in the lavishness of the Donations, Cleopatra has elevated herself once again: not only is she divine, but her ruling partner is also, and their children. The passage speaks to Cleopatra’s use of The Dynamics of Power.

“From that point on it is impossible to say which was greater: Alexandria’s royal extravagances, or Rome’s version of them; Cleopatra’s ambition, or Rome’s version of it; Antony’s affections for Cleopatra, or Rome’s version of his affection.”

Schiff employs the literary device of repetition to reinforce her point: Cleopatra’s story is not her own, it is Rome’s. The Roman control of the historical narrative, coupled with growing Roman animosity toward her, has forever muddled an accurate picture of Cleopatra’s life, particularly in such fraught times. The passage reflects The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths.

“(The relationship proceeded by pacts, wagers, and competitions, something Cleopatra evidently brought to the table. Antony was little inclined to formalities.)”

In this aside, Schiff reveals something of the mode of intimacy shared between Cleopatra and Mark Antony, in particular, Cleopatra’s method of moving forward. It speaks to Cleopatra’s psychology, as well as her forte; after an entire life lived within The Dynamics of Power and negotiation, she would reasonably find comfort in the controlled world of pacts, wagers, and competitions.

“It would be difficult to know to whom Cleopatra was more vital in 32: the man to whom she was partner, or the man to whom she was the pretext.”

Here Schiff takes a different tact in referring to Cleopatra. Whereas before, Cleopatra the human is often the center of Schiff’s narrative, this sentence presents Cleopatra as a figure of use. Her importance is not rated by her own merit, but instead by how important she is to men in power. It is a subtle emulation of the way a Roman historian might have viewed her.

“The word ‘formidable’ sooner or later attaches itself to Cleopatra and here it comes: she was formidable—spirited, disciplined, resourceful—in her retreat.”

Schiff’s choice to use the word “formidable” to describe Cleopatra is not surprising—at this point in her history Cleopatra has been decisively shown to be a powerful woman and ruler—but it is quite telling that Schiff uses it at this moment. In Schiff’s telling, even in retreat, Cleopatra’s power shines through; even in defeat, Cleopatra is every bit as strong as a male leader. The passage reflects Schiff’s feminist lens and her determination to rehabilitate Cleopatra’s image.

“On this count the spotty record is less problematic than are the personalities of our two chroniclers, which Cleopatra neatly draws out. Dio is excited by treachery, Plutarch undone by emotion.”

Schiff directly acknowledges the differences in the histories and the historians, staying true to her project of evaluating the sources as much as the material itself. Curiously, she suggests the differences are due to Cleopatra, who, even after her death, continues to affect the opinions of men, reflecting The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths.

“Cleopatra allowed him to discharge every one of his obligations. She guaranteed Roman prosperity.”

Schiff returns to her idea that Cleopatra is the founder of the Roman Empire. Here she details Octavian’s use of Cleopatra’s wealth, but her choice of phrasing is telling: Cleopatra still retains a power over Octavian, as she “allowed” him to make use of her wealth. The phrasing once again speaks to Schiff’s own agenda and point of view in her approach to Cleopatra’s life and legend.

“If you were looking for a date for the beginning of the modern world, her death would be the best to fix upon.”

Here Schiff confers more power upon Cleopatra, not only as the founder of the Roman Empire, but as the initiator of “the modern world.” As contemporary culture lives in the shadow of the Roman Empire, Schiff’s claims lend Cleopatra yet more tragic significance. With her death, the splendor and exoticism of the ancient world disappears forever.

“It has always been preferable to attribute a woman’s success to her beauty rather than her brains, to reduce her to the sum of her sex life.”

Schiff here sums up again the patriarchal bias of Cleopatra’s historians, but in doing so she also speaks to an experience that continues to haunt women into the contemporary age. The reduction of a woman to her “beauty” or “sex life” is a tactic that has been employed for thousands of years, reflecting both The Construction and Deconstruction of Historical Myths and the problem of Female Leadership in a Male-Dominated World.