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October 15, 2021 59 mins

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Shakespeare’s Roman trilogy reaches a climax in The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, a love- and wine-drenched account of Octavius Caesar’s defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and his consolidation of power over the nascent Roman Empire. The play is punctuated by bountiful allusions to Virgil's Aeneid. But besides the haunting downfall of the play’s title characters, in the background of the action arises the specter of a new religious creed, Christianity. Katherine Bradshaw joins Jonathan and Ryan again, to take the measure of Shakespeare’s Roman trilogy.


Jan Blits’s edition of The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra: https://amzn.to/3DolBcK


Virgil’s Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780143105138


Virgil’s Aeneid, Latin-English: https://amzn.to/3BAWOS7


Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy (free): https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/detmold-the-historical-political-and-diplomatic-writings-vol-2#lf0076-02_label_026


Niccolo Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy, trans. Harvey Mansfield https://amzn.to/3DBfVMk


Dante’s Divine Comedy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780142437544


René Girard’s I See Satan Fall Like Lightning: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781570753190


New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/


Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.


Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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