Although, Antony was married to Fulvia, his third wife, Antony's future was to become one with Cleopatra and Egypt. The scene of Cleopatra's arrival at Tarsus, made famous by Shakespeare, is best given in the words of Plutarch. The description of her arrival is exaggerated but most likely stems from an eyewitness account:

For the details of this passionate adventure between two very strong personalities, Plutarch is our only guide. True, he wrote long after the events but he relied on memoirs and personal accounts handed down in his family form Alexandria and on writings of the time which, unfortunately for us, have not survived. He was most importantly, sufficiently Greek to keep in mind always the humanity of his characters and the tragedy of their affair which ultimately led to their fall. In this sense, he gives us romance. A more Roman historian would have taken a harder view and incorporated more of the moralistic propaganda.

They became lovers and reached a political understanding almost immediately as well: Cleopatra secured Arsinoe's death and that of the pseudo-Ptolemy XIII who was nothing more than a deluded young man from Aradus. Thus rid of her rivals, she returned to Egypt.

Antony arrived in Egypt in 41 BC planning to spend the winter in Alexandria. He remained a year, passing his time between gymnasium and lecture hall, and in visits to monuments and sanctuaries. His status however, was that of a private citizen, though he exchanged the Roman toga for Greek dress, the chlamys. Cleopatra never left his side during his stay here. She accompanied him to contests of swordsmanship, went hunting with him, played dice with him, offered him banquets on jewel studded plates. It was during this time that they and a group of companions formed a kind of fellowship, an intellectual and social elite, devoted to what they called the 'inimitable life' - amimetobios - pursuing an endless joy, freedom, and intoxication with living.

But the queen never lost sight of the main point, never ceased to remind Antony that she saw more in him than an entertaining companion. Plutarch tells us she had a salted herring hooked onto Antony's line as he fished Lake Mareotis and, laughing at the stunned angler, said, "Leave......the fishing rod, general, to us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, provinces and kingdoms."

Antony left Cleopatra at the end of winter in 40 BC. Parthian armies were occupying southern Asia Minor, Syria, and Judaea and increasingly becoming a threat to Rome. Herod was forced to take refuge in Rome. Six months after Antony left, the queen gave birth to twins: Cleopatra Selene ("Moon") and Alexander Helios ("Son").

Antony first steered a course for Athens, where his wife, Fulvia, had taken refuge after she and Antony's brother Lucius revolted against Octavian, were defeated and driven into exile. The encounter between Antony and Fulvia was stormy and in a fury, Antony sailed to Brundisium. He never saw Fulvia again as she died a few months later. After thorny preliminaries, Antony achieved an agreement with Octavian and Lepidus in October 40 BC. The east was his, the West Octavian's and Lepidus would get Africa.

Cleopatra had reason to be pleased with this division of the Roman world though her lover not only remained in Rome, he remarried there. To seal their agreement, Octavian had given Antony his sister Octavia in marriage and their first child, a girl, was born in the summer of 39 BC. Antony confirmed his alliance with his new brother in law by inaugurating the new cult of the Divine Julius with himself as flamen. Finally Rome appeared to be at peace for the same year, the Triumvirs reached an accord with their last great opponent, Pompey's son Sextus, who was occupying Sicily.

But Rome also reinforced its position at the Egyptian border; a few months earlier, the Senate had named Herod - Cleopatra's enemy but Antony's longtime ally - king of Judea, Edom, and Samaria - the queen of Egypt had reason to be concerned.

In the fall of 39 BC, Antony and Octavian sailed to Athens, where they remained until the spring of 37. There Antony lived the life he loved; he was the patron of the gymnastic games; as the New Dionysus, he was joined in a mystical ceremony with the goddess of the city, Athena Polias, in the winter of 39.

Meanwhile, his army had won two battles against the Parthians; his leadership in the East was beginning quite auspiciously, but his relations with Octavian were once more becoming tense. War between them was narrowly averted once again, this time thanks to Octavia's intervention. In the summer of 37 BC, Antony, Octavian and Lepidus met in Tarentum, in southern Italy, and renewed the Triumvirate for five more years.

That fall, Antony abruptly left Italy and Octavia who was pregnant with their second child and went east to the Syrian city of Antioch. Cleopatra and the twins, met Antony there. Was it love drawing them together or did he need to renew his alliance with the queen in light of the massive expedition he was planning against the Parthians? It was here in Antioch that it is likely the couple actually did marry according to the Egyptian rite, which unlike Roman law, permitted polygamy.

Egypt's queen now decreed that the years of her reign be renumbered from that moment. Plutarch tells us:

Cleopatra's preoccupation had always been the strength of her kingdom and the security of her borders, especially that of Pelusium which was the weak point of Egypt. The policy to guard the vulnerable point by taking firm footholds in Palestine and Syria and along the Arabian coast had been set out and successfully implemented long ago by her great predecessor Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In wanting the lands given to her by Antony, Cleopatra was drawing on the wisdom of her royal house.

In the spring of 36 BC, Antony, well supplied with Cleopatra's money and troops, moved to engage the Parthians. The queen, pregnant again, accompanied him as far as the Euphrates River. She then returned to Egypt, passing through Damascus and her new territories in Egypt. It is said that Herod attempted to assassinate her during this trip.

The child she bore Antony was clearly identified with his Egyptian heritage. Antony's last child was named Ptolemy Philadelphus, making him a true member of her dynasty.

In the meantime, Antony suffered defeat upon defeat in Parthia. He was forced into a dangerous retreat in the heart of an icy winter, his army decimated by dysentery, hunger and the onslaught of Parthian archers. In all, Antony lost 20,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry. The march ended in Syria where the conquered general awaited aid from Cleopatra. Though his soldiers were in rags, their misfortune had no way diminished their affection for him. Plutarch reported:

Cleopatra arrived with provisions, clothing and money, and took the survivors back to Alexandria

During the winter of 35 BC, Cleopatra engaged in intense diplomatic activity with neighboring states. She began by forging an alliance with the king of Armenia, sealed by the betrothal of her son Alexander Helios to the king's daughter. In Judaea Herod's mother in law, Alexandra, had begun an insurrection against him. When it failed Cleopatra offered her asylum. Finally she negotiated a treaty with the king of Media against Parthia; war there was once again a distinct possibility. Despite the Armenian king's refusal to aid them, Cleopatra and Antony went on a brief campaign and reconquered the lost parts of Syria.

But there was trouble brewing on the horizon and Cleopatra was apprehensive. Octavian took Sicily from Pompey's son, Sextus and Africa from Lepidus. As sole master of the entire region, he posed a very powerful and very serious danger to Antony. Even most disturbing, Octavia, sent by her brother, had just set sail with provisions and ships to reinforce her husband's army. She never got to deliver them. At Athens she received a peremptory message from Antony ordering her to send on the ships but to return to Rome herself which, as a dutiful wife, she did. She returned to the house in Rome to look after her own daughters but also his sons by Fulvia. The break with Octavian was now complete.

The disastrous Parthian campaign was in some measure erased by a swift expedition against Artavasdes, king of Armenia, who had betrayed Antony more than once. In the spring of 34 BC, Antony, now settled in Syria, reached a new agreement with Herod, despite Cleopatra's hostility. He then occupied Armenia, imprisoned Artavasdes, took his treasury and declared the country a Roman province. When he returned to Syria, he formed an alliance with the Median king.

In the fall of 34 BC, the Egyptian capital was treated to a sumptuous ceremony in honor of Antony's victory. An immense procession crossed the city to the square in front of the Serapeion. Cleopatra, dressed as Isis, sat on a golden throne. Before her was the chariot in which Antony stood, dressed as Dionysus, preceded by the king of Armenia and his family, wearing chains of silver in recognition of their rank; the trophies and spoils of war came behind. The reference to Cleopatra and Antony as heirs of divine blood was clear.

A few days later, the Alexandrians attended an extension of the ceremonial triumph. Antony and Cleopatra sat on high thrones of gold on a silver dais. On thrones lower down were seated King Ptolemy, called Caesarian who was now 13 and the couple's three children, the twins now 7 and the youngest, Ptolemy now 2.

Antony gave a speech, reportedly in Greek, distributing the territories that were recent Egyptian acquisitions and those he had conquered. The pharoanic couple - Cleopatra, titled Queen of Queens, and Caesarion, King of Kings - received Egypt, Coele Syria, and Cyprus. Alexander's share was Armenia and Media...and Parthia, yet to be conquered. Cleopatra Selene received Libya and Cyrenaica; Ptolemy Philadelphus, northern Syria, Phoenicia, and Ciclicia. All this, for the moment, was Cleopatra's to administer as Regent. It was a return of the great Egypt of the Ptolemies, with one very important difference. Cleopatra's realm was under Roman domination.

In Rome, Octavian was having a field day exploiting negative interpretations of the ceremony for propaganda purposes. Gossip circulated that Caesarion was not Caesar's son, that Antony engaged in orgies with Cleopatra and that Cleopatra was plotting to become Empress of Rome. Later writers, fueled by the propaganda that Octavian encouraged against her would make the jump from criticism to abuse. Lucan claimed that Pothinus the eunuch had said that men's lives were at risk if they did not sleep with her. Propertius called her "lecherous Canopus' harlot queen" who wore her servants out with sex and conducted a "filthy union" with Antony.

She became so debauched [Sextus Aurelius added] that she frequently offered herself as a common whore; but she was so beautiful that many men bought a night with her at the price of her own death.

The contemporary records from her reign, particularly from Alexandria where many hated her and found good reason to vilify and libel her, mention nothing of this sexual depravity. In a life of 39 years she had 4 children by 2 men. All the evidence shows that, far from being a wanton woman, she was constant to the two Romans in her life. The truth was that Rome had now begun to fear Cleopatra and the accusation of depravity was only a convenient stick with which to beat her.

Antony had wanted to avoid armed conflict with Octavian, preferring to remain within the laws and to have the Senate officially recognzine his authority in the East. To this end, he sent his acta, or reports of his activities, to Rome at the end of the year 33 BC. Two of his supporters, Sosius and Ahenobarbus, the consuls for 32 BC, gave a passionate reading of the acta in the Senate in February of that year. Octavian, who had prudently surrounded himself with a group of friends and soldiers armed with daggers, responded with violence. A few days later, during another session, he denounced the "Donations of Alexandria". At that, the Antonian faction, faced with the increasing antagonism of the Romans, chose to leave Italy to join their leader in Ephesus. The rupture was now complete.

Cleopatra had been living with Antony in Ephesus, where they had gathered a vast army and fleet. Cleopatra had finally opened her treasury to Antony and provided him with a sum of 20,000 talents, roughly the whole Egyptian income for one year as well as 150 supply ships. Antony now had the resources to gather his army.

In April, Antony and Cleopatra left Ephesus, now a strong military base, for the Aegean island of Samos. In May they were in Athens where they were welcomed with statues of them as gods placed on the Acropolis. In early summer Cleopatra achieved a great personal victory: Antony repudiated his wife who was then obliged to leave her home.

Antony had followed the custom and lodged his will with the Vestal Virgins where it was supposed to be sacrosanct. But Octavian, with reckless sacrilege, seized the will and read to the Senate those passages likely to offend the Romans. Particularly obnoxious to the senators was the clause that Antony's body, even if he died in Rome, was to be taken back to Cleopatra in Rome and it contained provisions that recognized Caesarion as Caesar's son and made heirs of Antony's children by Cleopatra. Even those senators who considered Octavian's reading of the will to be most improper were outraged at these requests.

Whether this controversial material was actually in Antony's will cannot be known. It is doubtful that it was because Antony knew he could not legally make Cleopatra's children his heirs; he also knew that, given the situation in Rome, the document was not safe and it's contents could be revealed. Whatever the truth is about the document, the fact remained that the Roman people were furious now at Antony for his preference for Egypt. Antony was stripped all his authority and Octavian made a declaration of war against Cleopatra. In front of the temple of Bellona, on the Campus Martius, dressed in the manner of the ancient Romans, he threw a wooden javelin, symbolically meant for the foreign enemy.

War was declared in October 32 BC against Cleopatra and Dio Cassius claimed that "whenever she used an oath, her strongest phrase was by her purpose to dispense justice on the Capitol." She was now the enemy indeed who sought to enter even the very heart of sacred Rome.

Octavian sailed eastward to confront Cleopatra and Antony currently in Patras on the west coast of Greece. He led an army of 70,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry. His fleet of 400 ships was commanded by Agrippa. The army he faced, financed by Cleopatra and commanded by Antony, was far greater. It consisted of 75,000 legionnaires, 25,000 auxiliary troops and 12,000 cavalry; of the 500 warships, two hundred were Egyptian and three hundred cargo ships accompanied them. Aboard her flagship, Antonia, Cleopatra commanded her personal squadron of 60 warships.

The two armies met on the west coast of Epirus, farther north in Greece. Octavian and Antony set up their camps on the promontory of Actium, remaining there face to face throughout the winter. The first skirmishes took place at sea the following spring with Agrippa capturing all the neighboring islands. Antony's army, now surrounded, was inadequately provisioned. His troops were thinning; the kings of Thrace and Paphlagonia rallied to Octavian. Worse, Dellius, one of his commanders went over to Octavian, taking Antony's battle plan with him.

Cleopatra and Antony's only chance now was to try to run the Roman blockade with a skeleton fleet. Antony ordered the heavy cargo ships and the smaller, slower warships burned. The war chest was transferred to the queen's ship. All was ready for escape by sea while the army on land was entrusted to Canidus.

On September 2, 31 BC, after four days of storms, a sea breeze rose about noon. All three squadrons of the fleet left their anchorage for the open sea, forming tight ranks in order to breach the barricade of Octavian's ships. Agrippa feinted and fell back. Gellius Publicola, Antony's co commander of the right wing, launched his ships in pursuit and Antony's front was broken.

With a sudden about face, Agrippa attacked Antony's fleet, dispursing it. Cleopatra's squadron, which was bringing up the rear, took advantage of the opportunity to slip through a gap and make for the open sea. Antony leapt into a ship and followed, ordering his fleet to do the same and approximately 100 ships escaped past Octavian.

According to Octavian, his victory at Actium was crushing and comprehensive, decreed by the gods and nature itself. "True to her nature as a woman and an Egyptian, [she] turned to flight," says Dio Cassius. Antony, blinded by passion, "abandoned all that were fighting and spending their lives for him....to follow her that had so well begun his ruin."

Dio Cassius records that the war was presented to the Romans as a just war and not a civil war as Antony was no longer Roman, as Octavian loudly maintained before the battle:

Antony joined Cleopatra aboard her ship. They were free and their treasury was safe. They may have been half beaten but they had eluded Octavian's trap.