[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Avalon ] [ Mythology ] [ My Poetry ] [ Places to Visit ]

Analysis of Cleopatra's Ode

The story of Cleopatra is one that has been heard far and wide. Many historians have researched her and many poets have written about her. One of the poets that lived in her time was Quintus Horatius Flaccus who wrote an Ode to her. In order to understand this poem, one must first know the history where Caesar, Antony, Octavian/Augustus and Cleopatra are concerned. Then, analyzing each section of the poem is crucial and finally comparing different translations can be give a more complete insight.

In order to understand Cleopatra’s Ode, one must first understand the history of the events in the poem. It starts with Cleopatra VII who became Queen of Egypt in 51 BC. She ruled with her younger brother and husband Ptolemy XIII who kicked her out of the palace in 48 BC. Meanwhile in Rome, there was a civil war between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. Pompey fled to Egypt where Ptolemy XIII had him beheaded and presented his head to Caesar when he arrived to Egypt. Cleopatra was smuggled into the palace and told her side of the story to Caesar, which was the beginning of their love affair. He was enchanted by Cleopatra and they embarked on a cruise along the Nile in 47 BC, where she became pregnant and bore him a son, Caesarion. Cleopatra lived in Rome for two years, which made the Romans anxious and made them believe that he was her slave. His popularity grew until he proclaimed himself King of the Roman Empire and he was murdered in 44 BC, because he was a threat to the well being of the republic.

     With the death of Julius Caesar, Rome split between supporters of Mark Antony and Octavian. Cleopatra returned to Egypt until she was summoned by Antony in 41 BC who was in charge of the eastern provinces. He needed money to launch his campaign and she supported him. They became lovers and their alliance angered the Romans even more. They accused her of sorcery and all sorts of evil. The people of Rome became even more furious when Antony started to give parts of the Empire away to Cleopatra and her children. In 32 BC, Octavian declared war on Cleopatra. It was thought, that if they could bring her down, then Antony would not be a threat to the rest of the Empire. The final battle took place in Actium, in Greece in 31 BC, which the Romans won. They fled to Egypt together and Octavian pursued them a year later. Cleopatra shut herself in her mausoleum, when Antony heard of the news, he believed that she was dead and committed suicide. He was brought to Cleopatra and died in her arms. Octavian had her captured and she was to be brought back to Rome so she could be led and shown off in chains during his triumphal procession. She would have been strangled when Octavian would have started walking up the hill to the Capitol. While she was a prisoner in her own palace, two of her servants brought her a basket with a snake, which bit her and so killed herself. She preferred to die, over becoming a slave and give Octavian his glory.

     To analyze the poem, it is better to divide it in four sections, according to Otis, who believes that the key to the poem lies in surprise.[1] The Ode itself is a drinking song in celebration of Cleopatra’s suicide in Alexandria in 30 BC. Each section of the poem describes a historical event; starting from the present, when Horace was writing this Ode, then going back in time to before and at the battle at Actium and all the way to Cleopatra’s suicide. The author also changes his point of view of Cleopatra in the poem, he first portrayed her as a monster or a sorceress that was consumed by madness and at the end, he shows empathy for the fallen queen.

     The first section of the poem contains the first four lines. Horace is writing this Ode in his present time. The news of Cleopatra’s suicide has already reached Rome:

     Drink, comrades, drum the ground, now it is time

     For freedom’s dance; and call on all the gods

     To come, lay out their gorgeous couches,

     And let them recline at the feast of Mars.[2]

In that period of history, Romans used to feast at banquets and celebrate occasions by drinking a lot of wine. In this instance, they are celebrating their victory over Egypt, the death of Cleopatra and the triumph of Augustus. The reference to freedom’s dance, this means the freedom from the threat of the East to take over Rome. In Roman banquets, there were large luxurious couches where people would sit, eat, drink, and relax. The reference to the god Mars, which is the god of war, is appropriate after the war, which Horace mentions in his Ode: the battle at Actium.

     The second part which includes the lines 5 to 12a recalls the preceding months to the battle at Actium in the years 32 and 31 BC:

     It had been crime till now to pour good wine

     From crypts of our forefathers, while ruin poised

     Over the Capitol, and fevered madness

     Was winding cerecloth round our realm –

     Dreams of the queen of half-men, girt by her crew

     Of sickly shame, and drunk with delirious hopes

     Grown fat and reckless on easy fortune!

     But all that glare of frenzy waned [3]

These lines portray Cleopatra in a negative aspect; she is seen as the woman who drove Julius Caesar and Mark Antony mad. The Romans thought they could not drink the wine, because they feared that the madness was contagious. There is a difference between the wines that Cleopatra drank, which was Egyptian wine, and the wine that the Romans drank which was considered the best; even so the Romans were scared that it might have been contaminated. Cleopatra had announced that she would rule over Rome and Egypt standing at the Capitol, which brought fear to all the people of Rome. She was called the queen of half-men because the Romans believed that a real man would never allow a woman to rule over them. They believed that the men of Egypt were cowards. They also believed that for Cleopatra to make such a statement as to rule over Rome, she had to be delirious to think that she could actually make her hopes a reality. She was mad from the contaminated wine, which she drank from.

     The third section contains the lines 12b to 21a and the location of this scene takes place at the battle at Actium fought on September 2, 31 BC where Cleopatra’s fleet fled from the battle:

     When scarce one vessel of her fleet sailed home

     Unscorched by flame; her mind, long tranced and dazed

     On heady Egypt’s wine, now waking

To terror’s truth, found Caesar’s oars

Hard pressing on her flight from Italy,

Swift hawk on downy dove, hunter on hare

In snowy fields of Thrace, and ready

To fling her into chains, a beast

Of ominous wonder.[4]

     The first two lines of this section refer to the battle itself. Cleopatra was still considered a threat, but not as much as before. Her fleet being destroyed by the Romans with hardly any vessels escaped undamaged by the flames. Cleopatra is sobering up from the wine, her mind is clearer and the madness is going away. She is realizing that she might not be able to win the battle and she flees with Antony back to Alexandria. They now realize that Octavian is defeating their army and is going to hunt them down. Horace presents the metaphor of the hunter and the hunted. The swift hawk is a metaphor for Octavian; he is represented as a predator and a cruel animal. It is a symbol of strength. The metaphor of the downy dove, considered as a symbol of cowardliness, represents Cleopatra. She is the prey. The last two lines of this section explain the capture of Cleopatra in Alexandria by Octavian. The author’s point of view of Cleopatra changes in this instance, he sees her in a different light, in a more positive aspect.

     The last section of the poem describes Cleoaptra’s suicide in 30 BC:

     But she had loftier thought,

     To find out death: blades could not make her check

     Blanch like a girl’s, or drive her flying

     With huddled sails to lurking shores.

     Her courage soared; with placid face she scanned

     Her fallen palace, and valorously reached

     Her hands to rasping snakes, sucking

     Their venom’s blackness through her limbs.

     Once death was fixed, the fiercer grew her mind:

     Indeed, she scorned his cruel galleys, and men,

     Who would have had her walked uncrowned,

     No spiritless woman, in triumph pride.[5] 

Once she was captured, her thoughts of death were more elevated. Nothing could stop her from committing suicide. She did not try to escape her faith; instead she embraced it. Horace sees her as a courageous woman because she did not lose her pride. Her courage rose while looking at her palace fall into enemies’ hand. As she watched and thought that her only escape was death, she grabbed the Egyptian asps, which her servants had brought, letting the poison run through her veins. It is not sure if in fact she died this way. As she was dying, anger and disgust grew in her mind thinking of the men who would have her walk in chains in Rome. Cleopatra kept her pride by killing herself and not letting herself be humiliated in giving the glory to Octavian.

     There are many different translations of the original Ode in Latin from Horace. In the three translations that I have found, I believe that the best one is the one of Cedric Whitman.[6] I found it to be precise and it has more extensive vocabulary. The second translation by Casper John Kraemer is easier to understand since the vocabulary is not as sophisticated.[7] This translation could also be sang would be pleasing to the ears since it rhymes. The last translation is by Burton Raffel whose use of vocabulary is wide, but simple.[8] It is more difficult to understand and at some time confusing. He is more blunt with his choice of words.

     In conclusion, there are three elements one has to look at if they want to understand the poem in depth. First, one must understand the historical events behind the poem. The love affairs of Cleopatra with two Romans are of great importance to understand the negative attitude that they have towards her. Second, one must analyze the sections of the poem separately. In doing so, it is easy see that the author towards the end of the poem changes his mind about Cleopatra, from an attitude of disgust and fear to an attitude of respect and finding her courageous. The last element is to compare different translations to understand the poem from different perspective. Some are easier to understand and rhyme which makes it easier for someone who enjoys poetry, but does not have an extensive vocabulary to understand. Other sources contain a wider range of vocabulary and are truer to the original source, which makes it interesting for the one who is apt in this area.

Bibliography

Commager, S. “Horace, Carmina 1.37,” Phoenix 12 (1958) 47-

     57.

Commager, S. The Odes of Horace: a critical study. New

     Haven 1966.

Horace. The essential Horace: Odes, epodes, satires, and

     epistles.  Translated by Burton Raffel, San Francisco

     1983.

Knoz, Bernard, ed. The Norton Book of Classical Literature.

     New York 1993.

Kraemer, Casper John, The complete works of Horace. New

     York 1936.

Lee, M. Owen. Word, Sound, and Image in the Odes of Horace.

     Michigan 1969.

Luce, J.V. “Cleopatra as Fatale Monstrum,” Classical

     Quarterly 13 (1963) 251-257.

Nussbaum, G.B. “A study of Odes 1,37 and 38: The Psychology

     Of Conflict in Horace’s  Humanitas” Arethusa 4 (1971)

     91-97.

Otis, Brooks. “A Reading of the Cleopatra Ode” Arethusa 1.

     1 (1968).

Rudd, Niall. Horace 2000: a celebration, Essays for the

     Bimillennium. Michigan 1993.

Smith, Clement Lawrence. Horace Odes and Epodes. Boston

     1931.