Duane W. Roller

Octavian. 4 Octavia continued to attempt to mediate between husband
and brother, generally tilting toward the side of the former. But it was
of course Cleopatra who was the unspoken target of the accusations.
Whether or not she had married Antonius, this soon became assumed
as fact and was a central cause for the animosity, for it directly aff ected
Octavia and her brother. When Antonius began to place Cleopatra on
his coinage (fi g. 11e), this could easily be seen as proof of his intentions
to turn Rome into a Hellenistic monarchy. At some point it became clear
that it would all end in war.
For the time being it was merely a propaganda war, 5 which began
in earnest in late 34 b.c. aft er the Donations. Although many of the
charges are not to be believed or are exaggerations, they provide much
of the familiar anecdotal information about the lives of Cleopatra and
Antonius. Most of it is scurrilous and slanderous, and it was particularly
directed toward the queen, although the other principals were hardly
immune. Th ese attacks and carefully laid rumors were the basis for the
negative tradition about Cleopatra that found literary expression in
the writers of the Augustan era and which has pervaded the popular
view of the queen ever since. She was categorized along with Medea
as a dangerous sorceress, seen as a drunken fornicator and a disgrace
to the Ptolemaic dynasty whose only goal was to conquer Rome. She
would be as destructive to civilization as Helen or indeed as the agents
of vengeance, the Furies themselves, had been. 6 Horace’s phrase, written
shortly aft er her death, that Cleopatra was a “fatale monstrum,” sums up
popular prejudice against the queen—or what Octavian hoped would
be such—invoking the creatures of mythology in suggesting that she
was hardly human. She was said regularly to use monsters, magic,
and witchcraft to achieve her ends, and was an infamous poisoner
who almost tricked Antonius into drinking one of her concoctions. 7
Notoriously, it was also said that Cleopatra included in her offi cial oaths
a phrase stating that someday she would dispense justice on the Roman
Capitol. 8 Th e extravagant lifestyle of the couple—Cleopatra allegedly
sent love letters to Antonius on onyx or crystal tablets—was a constant
cause for criticism, since Egyptian wealth, although avidly desired by
Rome, was looked upon with suspicion. 9 Th e opulence and luxury of
Cleopatra’s court was thought to be unusual even within the standards
of Hellenistic royalty, something that the austere Romans easily could
seize upon. Her son-in-law Juba II later reported that she began calling
her silver and gold table service simply “ceramics,” demonstrating both
130 Cleopatra