In Shakespeare’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’, Cleopatra would rather kill herself than be ‘hoist[ed] up/And show[n] to the shouting varletry/Of censuring Rome’. Did Octavian have plans for Cleopatra if she had not committed suicide?

We can certainly speculate on Cleopatra’s fate had Octavian taken her back to Rome, and more importantly, we know that she considered this very heavily. Unfortunately our remaining accounts are entirely Roman, and the details of Cleopatra’s last few years can not really be trusted, but an approximate picture of the events surrounding Cleopatra’s death can be constructed.

I will not be led in triumph.

This line from Livy is one of the very few surviving quotes from Cleopatra, and it was supposedly spoken to Octavian. This was a firm and assertive statement, a promise if you will, that Cleopatra would not allow herself to be humiliated or triumphed over in a metaphorical and literal sense. For Octavian, capturing Cleopatra and parading her through Rome would have reinforced his image as a great conqueror who brought back noble captives. Roman generals who accomplished some great conquest were rewarded with a triumphal parade where they and their soldiers were lauded and praised. Their captives on the other hand were placed on display as utterly vanquished rivals. Royals and particularly monarchs were far more prestigious trophies than other captives, and they represented not only themselves but their kingdom or polity as well.

With Marc Antony dead, Cleopatra would have been the unhappy star of the show as the most noteworthy of Octavian’s rivals still living. It is worth noting that Cleopatra had for some time been the most powerful of Rome’s client-kings in the eastern Mediterranean, and her reputation was as mixed as one can be. On the one hand, propaganda which painted her as an Oriental enemy of Rome went a long way towards shaping negative attitudes towards her in the capital, on the other her more positive reputation as a crafty monarch of illustrious birth would only increase the prestige of defeating her. While we can never be sure that Octavian would have included her in his triumph, it is exceedingly likely that this would have been the case. Dio brings it up as one of the primary motivations for her suicide:

fearing, however, that she might destroy herself, [Octavia] exhorted her again to be of good cheer, and not only did not remove any of her attendants but also took special care of her, that she might add brilliance to his triumph. This purpose she suspected, and regarding that fate as worse than a thousand deaths, she conceived a genuine desire to die, and not only addressed many entreaties to Caesar that she might perish in some manner or other, but also devised many plans herself. (51.13)

A Roman triumph would not just be symbolically humiliating for Cleopatra. Royal prisoners were shackled with golden chains and paraded through the streets of Rome behind their captors. In addition to the long walk in what were unsurprisingly heavy chains, captives faced taunts and jeers from the mob. What happened to captives afterwards tended to vary but kings and generals were often killed. For example, Vercingetorix, the Gallic chieftain who had fought Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars, was executed after being marched in Caesar’s triumphal parade of 46 BCE.

Had Cleopatra lived a few generations earlier, she would have had nothing to fear from a Roman triumph as women were not yet subjected to that punishment. But Pompey the Great set a new precedent at his triumph in 61 BCE where the widow of his enemy was present. Cleopatra well knew this, as her own sister Arsinoe IV was paraded in Julius Caesar’s triumph in 46 BCE. Arsinoe’s dignity and composure throughout her ordeal eventually turned the opinions of the mob in her favour which heavily influenced Caesar’s decision to spare Arsinoe IV and exile to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. It is quite possible that Cleopatra personally observed these dramatic events unfold as she visited Rome around this time.

Cleopatra had another immediate relative who was faced with the possibility of being led in triumph; her uncle King Ptolemy of Cyprus. After the Roman conquest of Cyprus, Ptolemy of Cyprus was given the option of going into an honourable exile and finding sanctuary in a temple of Venus but he refused, choosing instead to swallow poison. This action was in Hellenistic and Roman culture as a noble death and a fitting response to such complete defeat. By definition, taking one’s own life required a person to take their life into their own hands. To a defeated leader, suicide was a last means of regaining control and repairing one’s own reputation.

There are various stories, historical, apocryphal, and legendary of individuals who killed themselves rather than be dishonoured. For Cleopatra, mitigating the shame of defeat would require that she protect her royal dignity even as a captive, and she ultimately seems to have decided that suicide was the best course of action. She was by no means alone in making such a decision, for example, the Spartan King Cleomenes III and the Roman general Cato the Younger similarly killed themselves when faced with defeat. In fact, public and even gratuitously dramatic suicides were common among the Hellenistic and Roman aristocracy. It is vital to remember that while modern Western society tends to stigmatise suicide as an act of desperation, tragedy, or even cowardice, in the context of the time it was not necessarily even negative. It had an enshrined place in Graeco-Roman culture as a courageous and noble choice.

It is important to remember that the act of being taken captive by the enemy carried with it the stigma of enslavement and domination. It was not just prestige that was taken away when a ruler was imprisoned, their status as a free, fully enfranchised person was taken away, and with it any honour that a person could have. Roman poets were quick to put words in Cleopatra’s mouth and weave compelling stories about the dramatic events of herself. Surprisingly, her suicide is often painted in a positive light as an act of womanly courage and kingly dignity that drove her to preserve her status. Horace in his ode to the victory of Octavian (by then Emperor Augustus) exemplifies the more approving views of her death:

[Cleopatra] intending to perish more nobly, showed no sign of womanish fear at the sword, nor did she even attempt to win with her speedy ships to some hidden shore.

And she dared to gaze at her fallen kingdom with a calm face, and touch the poisonous asps with courage, so that she might drink down their dark venom, to the depths of her heart, growing fiercer still, and resolving to die: scorning to be taken by hostile galleys, and, no ordinary woman, yet queen no longer, be led along in proud triumph. (1. 37)

To quote Dio again:

So thoroughly mindful was she even then, in the midst of her dire misfortune, of her royal rank, and chose rather to die with the name and dignity of a sovereign than to live in a private station. (51.11)

Unlike the other examples of suicidal leaders, Cleopatra was a woman which made the topic of honour a bit trickier. To be sure women were expected to commit suicide rather than be dishonoured, but they were also expected to prioritise the lives and careers of their children, namely their sons. For women especially, their progeny was a huge part of their legacy. It is not surprising them that Cleopatra took pains to persuade Octavian to spare her children by Marc Antony, and even attempted to negotiate their succession to the throne of Egypt in her absence.

According to Roman accounts, Cleopatra delayed her suicide because Octavian's reassurance that she would be given mercy if she willingly surrendered herself into captivity, which she did after Octavian invaded Egypt. A large part of hope that her children might still inherit some kingdom, even if it was only the shattered remnants of her own. This was important not just because of maternal affection on Cleopatra’s part, but because of the need to preserve the Ptolemaic dynasty and ensure her legacy was not obliterated. Obviously she did eventually commit suicide after realising that Octavian's vague promises were no guarantee that she would be spared a triumph or that her children would succeed her.

Like her uncle Ptolemy, and her contemporary Mithridates, Cleopatra left behind a family which would continue to suffer for the politics of her reign. While the fate of her youngest son Ptolemy Philadelphus is unclear, Roman accounts of Octavian's triumph note how her twin children Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene II were displayed in Rome. Their golden chains were far too heavy for 10 year olds, and like their aunt Arsinoe they moved the crowd to pity. Ultimately Octavian spared them and handed them over to the care of their stepmother Octavia who had married their father Marc Antony shortly after their birth. The two actually lived quite comfortably for some time with their half-siblings and step-siblings in the household of Octavia. Cleopatra Selene II even went on to marry Juba II of Numidia, and rule as queen of Mauretania.

Whether Cleopatra’s fate would have been similar to Arsinoe, Vercingetorix, or even her own children will always be uncertain. On the one hand, Octavian wanted to appear gracious and gentle in his treatment of Cleopatra, but he also no doubt recognised that she would continue to be a threat to his rule for as long as she lived, if only because others might base conspiracies around her. This logic was partially responsible for his decision to have her 17 year old son Caesarion killed, although other factors no doubt played a role in the execution of Caesarion. The relationship that Caesarion and Cleopatra had to Octavian’s great-uncle and adoptive father Julius Caesar also complicated Octavian’s actions. He had to walk a fine line between appearing magnanimous while carefully removing potential sources of opposition.

Some scholars have suggested that enabled Cleopatra’s suicide as it would serve him far better for her to kill herself and spare him the trouble.