Take but good note, and you shall see in him
The triple pillar of the world transform'd
Into a strumpet's fool. (I, i)
One of the plays opening quotes, Philo tells his comrades to observe that Antony, one of Rome's rulers, has been reduced to a "fool" -- at the beck and call of Cleopatra. The quote establishes one of the basic thematic threads of the play, that of a clash between the east and west.
Other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
...
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