The Estimation of the Noble Romans in Divers Ages

By David Trumbull COPYRIGHT, 2006

THE AGES AND THE MEN
MARC ANTONY, 83-30 B.C.
Classical Age
Our representative writer is Plutarch

A cautionary tale of a life gone bad.

...we may, I think, avail ourselves of the cases of those who have fallen into indiscretions, and have, in high stations, made themselves conspicuous for misconduct...that we shall be all the more zealous and more emulous to read, observe, and imitate the better lives, if we are not left in ignorance of the blameworthy and the bad...For this reason, the following book contains the lives of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Antonius the Triumvir; two persons who have abundantly justified the words of Plato, that great natures produce great vices as well as virtues. Both alike were amorous and intemperate, warlike and munificent, sumptuous in their way of living, and overbearing in their manners.
The Christian Middle Ages
Our representative writer is Dante		 Dante doesn't mention Antony, but he does place Cleopatra in Circle 2, the lustful, rather than lower with the suicides in Circle 7 of Hell
    Inferno, Canto 5.
Rennaisance
Our representative writer is Shakespeare		 In Julius Caesar we see Antony as loyal to Caesar whose murder he avenges. In Anthony and Cleopatra Shakespeare makes Anthony the romantic leading man of the love story.

Take but good note, and you shall see in him.
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.
    Anthony and Cleopatra, I:1.

She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it
A pair so famous. High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity than his glory which
Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall
In solemn show attend this funeral;

    Anthony and Cleopatra, V:2.