posted by sooyup
on
Daily trivia,
Mythology
Not that you would notice, but this picture of Cleopatra is a composite, with Emma’s head cloned onto the queen’s body. I have been rereading Baudelaire‘s Fleurs du Mal, revisiting my schooldays. The anthology includes the short poem Antoine et Cleopatra - and an image which took my breath away when I first read it as an impressionable teenager, in love for the first time. Turning her beautiful face towards Marc Antony, Cleopatra “offers her mouth and her clear eyes.” And as he bends over to kiss her, he sees, reflected in those large eyes flecked with gold, the vast sea and the Roman fleet sailing towards Egypt. End of poem. But we know - as Marc Antony must always have known - what would be the consequence of his falling in love with the Egyptian queen. In 31 BC Antony’s forces faced the Romans in a naval action he was bound to lose. His nemesis Octavian went on to invade Egypt, as Antony’s armies deserted him. [You can read the rest of the tragedy elsewhere if you don’t already know the sad ending.] That’s love for you.