Read the excerpt from Plutarch’s Parallel Lives biography of Mark Antony.
Write at least one paragraph discussing how Plutarch portrays Cleopatra as Antony’s ruin. For example, how does Antony’s own character allow (according to Plutarch) Cleopatra to exercise such influence over him? How does his passion for her lead him to lose the love and trust of the Roman people?
Write at least one paragraph discussing how Octavian uses Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra to exacerbate the suspicions of the Roman people to justify attacking him.
Write at least one paragraph discussing how Cleopatra’s character was, essentially, destroyed by historians like Plutarch — who wrote from the point of the view of the winners, and of a man in a male-dominated patriarchal society.
If you use a source, please do an informal citation (title, author, page, in parentheses).
