Three Eras Two Men One Value Fides in

Three Eras, Two Men, One Value Fides in Modern Performances of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra Katherine L. Bradshaw 112 th CAMWS Meeting, 2016

Three Eras • Ancient Greco-Roman Narratives • • Plutarch’s Life of Antony Vergil’s Aeneid Suetonius’ Life of the Divine Augustus Tacitus’ Annals • Early Modern English Drama • Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra • Modern English Performances • Gregory Doran’s Antony and Cleopatra (2006) • Michael Boyd’s Antony and Cleopatra (2010)

Two Men Mark Antony Caesar Octavian

One Value • Fides • Ancient Roman value of loyalty or trustworthiness • Foundation of Roman societal structure • Antony and Octavian’s lives filled with decisions about fides • • • Political leaders Military generals/patrons Powerful Roman men Coin Produced in Germania, ca. A. D. 69

Methodology • Classical Reception Studies • Analyzes (re)iterations of classical culture • Investigates both receiving era and thing/era received • Shakespearean Performance Studies • Examines stagings of Shakespearean plays • Sees each performance as creating something new • Combination of the two • Interdisciplinary exploration of Roman value across time • Shakespeare as conduit for ancient portrayals of Antony and Octavian • How do modern directors and actors receive classical portrayals of Antony and Octavian through filter of Shakespeare’s play?

2006 • Director: Gregory Doran • Angle: Self-conscious reception of Plutarch • Setting: Quasi-historical Rome and Egypt • Emphasis: Characters’ psychology • Main Question: What destroys fides?

2006: Antony • Played by Sir Patrick Stewart • Plutarchan portrayal • Broke fides because he lacked self-control • Neglecting Rome’s interests as a triumvir • Ignoring implicit promises embedded in patron-client relationship with his soldiers • Deserting Roman wife Octavia

2006 Reception: Plutarch • Plutarch on Antony’s lack of self-control at Actium • ἔνθα δὴ φανερὸν αὑτὸν Ἀντώνιος ἐποίησεν … ἑλκόμενος ὑπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ὥσπερ συμπεφυκὼς καὶ συμμεταφερόμενος (Life of Antony § 66) • Sir Thomas North’s Sixteenth-Century translation • “Antonius showed plainly, that … he was so carried away with the vain love of this woman, as if he had been glued unto her, & that she could not have removed without moving of him also” (Lives 1001).

2006: Octavian • Played by John Hopkins • Classically inspired depiction • Carefully curated public image as protector of fides

2006 Reception: Vergil • Vergil on Octavian’s fides to the gods • At Caesar, triplici invectus Romana triumpho moenia, dis Italis votum immortale sacrabat (Aeneid 8. 714 -15). • Presenter’s translation • But Caesar, brought inside the Roman walls with a triple triumph, consecrated his undying vow to the Italian gods.

2006: Octavian • Disregarding Roman values • Undermining his own public image through childish behavior • Neglecting fides because of desire to control others

2006 Reception: Suetonius • Suetonius on Octavian’s Neglect of Roman Virtue • Nec successum victoriae moderatus est, sed … in splendidissimum quemque captivum non sine verborum contumelia saeviit; ut quidem uni supplicitersepulturam precanti respondisse dicitur iam istam volucrum fore potestatem (Life of the Divine Augustus § 13. 2). • Presenter’s translation • Nor was he moderate after his victory, but he raged against even the most illustrious of his captives with abusive language; so much that it is said he responded,

2010 • Director: Michael Boyd • Angle: Bold modernization of Shakespeare • Setting: Contemporary Britain and Middle East • Emphasis: Society’s decay • Main Question: What deserves fides?

2010: Antony • Played by Darrell D’Silva • Direct, somewhat hot-headed general • Out of place in duplicitous Rome • Rejection of Roman values more like tragic attempt at virtue than tragic flaw of character • Dedicated to truth, openness, and authenticity, as opposed to the deceptive facades of Rome

2010 Reception: Tacitus • Tacitus on decay of the Roman Republic • … ferocissimi per acies aut proscriptione cecidissent, ceteri nobilium, quanto quis servitio promptior, opibus et honoribus extollerentur ac novis ex rebus aucti, tuta et praesentia quam vetera et periculosa mallent (Annals § 3). • Presenter’s translation • The most courageous Romans had fallen by the sword or by proscription, and the rest of the nobility – who were more ready for servility – were raised to wealth and honors, and so the rich preferred the safe and present things arising from the new ways over the old and dangerous things.

2010: Octavian • Played by John Mackay • Cold, manipulative politician • Embodiment of corrupt Rome • Propagandistic mind dedicated to self-interest • Octavian continually watching others to gauge their reactions

2010 Reception: Tacitus • Tacitus on Octavian as conniving autocrat • … pellexit, insurgere paulatim, munia senatus, magistratuum, legum in se trahere (Annals § 3). • Presenter’s translation • He (Octavian) enticed everyone, raising himself little by little, so that he could draw the functions of the senate, the magistrates, and the law into his own power.

Trans-Temporal Fides • Shakespeare’s Antony and Octavian serving as reception sites for classical accounts, and launching pads for modern (re)interpretations of loyalty • Modern performances keeping fides in public discourse • Productions revealing trans-temporal resonance of Antony and Octavian’s parallel lives and fides (or lack thereof)

Image Sources • Cameo of Mark Antony. n. d. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, The State Art Museum of Florida, Tallahassee. Artstor. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. • Sardonyx Cameo Portrait of the Emperor Augustus. c. 41 -54. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Artstor. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. • Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Image Collection. Folger Luna. Folger Shakespeare Library, n. d. Web. 8 Mar. 2016. • “Production Photo Gallery. ” RSC. Royal Shakespeare Company, n. d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015. • Plutarch. The liues of the noble Grecians and Romanes, compared together by that graue learned philosopher and historiographer, Plutarke of Chaeronea: translated out of Greeke into French by Iames Amyot, Abbot of Bellozane, Bishop of Auxerre, one of the Kings priuy counsel, and great Amner of Fraunce, and out of French into Englishe, by Thomas North. Trans. Thomas North. London: Thomas Vautroullier, 1579. EEBO: Early English Books Online. Web. 4 Oct. 2015 • “Roman Historical Coins. ” Roman Numismatic Gallery, n. d. Web.