Augustus_ The Life of Rome's First Emperor - Anthony Everitt [196]
Octavian read through the document in private If the will was forged, or at least those parts of it that Octavian made public, why are there no reports of a rebuttal by Antony or his supporters?
“extraordinary and intolerable” Plut Ant 58 4.
the promontory of Actium My treatment of the battle of Actium, which follows, is indebted to John M. Carter’s The Battle of Actium, an authoritative account. The ancient writers often describe accurately enough what took place, but without understanding why, and leaving out important incidents that have to be inferred. Nevertheless the broad outline of the battle is clear enough.
“My services to Antony” Vell Pat 2864.
“What is so terrible” Plut Ant 62 3.
“press-ganging travellers” Ibid., 62 1.
“Antony, although he was deeply grieved” Ibid., 63 2–3.
“The fighting took on” Ibid., 66 2.
XV. A LONG FAREWELL
Plutarch’s life of Antony is the main source for Antony’s and Cleopatra’s last days, supported by Dio. Peter Green’s From Alexander to Actium gives background on Hellenistic culture and Ptolemaic Egypt.
“all the solitude he could desire” Plut Ant 69 1.
“A young man” Vell Pat 2881.
“actually kill” Dio 51 6.
his seal ring This ring was later replaced by one with the head of Alexander the Great. His last seal ring showed Augustus’ head and was used by his successors.
his fifty-fourth year Three years have been proposed for the date of Antony’s birth: 86, 83, and 81. I assume 83, the most popular date among modern scholars.
“Cleopatra and Antony now dissolved” Plut Ant 71 3.
“There are many different ways” Ibid., 75 1.
“about the hour of midnight” Ibid., 75 3–4.
“clinging with both hands” Ibid., 77 3.
“greatest emporium” Strabo 17 1 13.
“No Latin ruler” Ernle Bradford, Cleopatra (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971), p. 49.
“she had abandoned” Plut Ant 83 1.
“by no means insensible” Ibid., 84 1.
“So here it is”: Ibid., 86 1.
“lying dead upon a golden couch” Ibid., 85 3–4.
“no one knows clearly” Dio 51 14 1. For a helpful discussion of asp bites, see Sunday Times of London article, “Cleopatra and the Asp” by Richard Girling. November 28, 2004. www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1362193,00.htm.
It is possible For this theory, see W. R. Johnson, Arion (Boston: Boston University Press, 1967), p. 393 n. 16.
he was no looter Suet Aug 71 1.
“Would you now like” Ibid., 18 2.
Julius Caesar was accused Green, p. 667 n. 151.
“indiscreet talk when drunk” Ovid Trist 2446.
“I am the only man in Rome” Suet Aug 66 2.
having sexual intercourse Pliny 7 184.
a bridge over the stream See L. A. Holland, Janus and the Bridge, Papers and Monographs, American Academy in Rome. 21, 1961.
XVI. ABDICATION
The quality of the ancient literary sources now declines sharply, and many episodes are only known about in general and partial terms. Sometimes years pass without explicit incident. This chapter draws on Suetonius, Velleius Paterculus, and (above all) Dio Cassius. The archaeological record is of considerable but occasional assistance. The description of the Palatine is indebted to the official guidebook, The Palatine (Milan: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, pub. Electa, 1998).
“Wars, both civil and foreign” Res Gest 13.
“Plotting destruction to” Hor Odes 1376–12.
“High up on the poop” Virgil Aen 8 678–81.
“Atia’s [his mother’s] emphatic declaration” Dio 45 1 2–5; also the source for other episodes in this section.
“Romans, you shall have an end” Plut Cic 44 3.
“cheerful in mind and disposition” Vell Pat 2932.
minimum ages of officeholders See Syme RR, p. 369.
physical incompatibility Pliny 757.
“more a rustic at heart” Ibid., 35 26.
a collector on a grand scale Ibid., 35 26 and 34 62.
“outdo a