Previous
Ftatateeta
Pothinus is the play’s only clear antagonist; he’s Ptolemy’s appointed guardian. Pothinus supports Ptolemy’s claim to the royal throne because of his personal aspiration to rule Egypt by manipulating the child-king, who, at 10 years old, is incapable of making his own political decisions. One example of Pothinus using Ptolemy to advance his agenda occurs in Act II, when Pothinus impatiently feeds Ptolemy prompts about which part of Ptolemy’s speech to the royal court comes next. The rehearsed, nervous way Ptolemy speaks implies that it was not Ptolemy, but Pothinus (or one of Ptolemy’s other handlers) who wrote the speech. Pothinus becomes a prisoner of war following Rome’s defeat of the Egyptian army at the end of Act III. Although it is Caesar’s practice to let all his prisoners go, Pothinus chooses to remain in prison to spy on Caesar’s people and continue his quest to secure Ptolemy’s position as the sole ruler of Egypt. In Act IV, Pothinus tries to turn Caesar against Cleopatra by accusing her of ingratiating herself with Caesar as a political ploy to gain control of Rome. Although Pothinus’s accusation doesn’t faze Caesar, it deeply offends Cleopatra, and she orders Ftatateeta to assassinate Pothinus. The assassination incites a riot among Alexandria’s villagers and threatens to destroy the peace Caesar has achieved between the Egyptian people and the occupying Roman army.
Pothinus Quotes in Caesar and Cleopatra
The Caesar and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Pothinus or refer to Pothinus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2
Quotes
Ptolemy: Yes—the gods would not suffer—not suffer—[He stops; then, crestfallen] I forgot what the gods would not suffer.
THEODOTUS: Let Pothinus, the King’s guardian, speak for the King.
POTHINUS [suppressing his impatience with difficulty] The King wishes to say that the gods would not suffer the impiety of his sister to go unpunished.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4
Quotes
CHARMIAN. He makes you so terribly prosy and serious and learned and philosophical.
CLEOPATRA: When I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta beat me; and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking; I do what must be done, and have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness; but it is greatness. If Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to me, I am to the fools around me.
POTHINUS (looking hard at her). Cleopatra: this may be the vanity of youth.
CLEOPATRA: Love me! Pothinus: Caesar loves no one. Who are those we love? Only those whom we do not hate: all people are strangers and enemies to us except those we love. But it is not so with Caesar. He has no hatred in him: he makes friends with everyone as he does with dogs and children.
POTHINUS. From her own lips I have heard it. You are to be her catspaw: you are to tear the crown from her brother's head and set it on her own, delivering us all into her hand—delivering yourself also. And then Caesar can return to Rome, or depart through the gate of death, which is nearer and surer.
CAESAR (calmly). Well, my friend; and is not this very natural?
POTHINUS (astonished). Natural! Then you do not resent treachery?
CAESAR. Resent! O thou foolish Egyptian, what have I to do with resentment? Do I resent the wind when it chills me, or the night when it makes me stumble in the darkness? Shall I resent youth when it turns from age, and ambition when it turns from servitude? To tell me such a story as this is but to tell me that the sun will rise to-morrow.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CLEOPATRA (sinking back trembling on the bench and covering her face with her hands). I have not betrayed you, Caesar: I swear it.
CAESAR. I know that. I have not trusted you.
CAESAR. If one man in all the world can be found, now or forever, to know that you did wrong, that man will have either to conquer the world as I have, or be crucified by it. […] These knockers at your gate are also believers in vengeance and in stabbing. You have slain their leader: it is right that they shall slay you. […] then in the name of that right (He emphasizes the word with great scorn.) shall I not slay them for murdering their Queen, and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader of their fatherland? Can Rome do less than slay these slayers too, to show the world how Rome avenges her sons and her honor? And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand. […]
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5
Quotes
CAESAR (energetically). On my head be it, then; for it was well done. Rufio: had you set yourself in the seat of the judge, and with hateful ceremonies and appeals to the gods handed that woman over to some hired executioner to be slain before the people in the name of justice, never again would I have touched your hand without a shudder. But this was natural slaying: I feel no horror at it.
Related Characters:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Caesar and Cleopatra LitChart as a printable PDF.
Pothinus Quotes in Caesar and Cleopatra
The Caesar and Cleopatra quotes below are all either spoken by Pothinus or refer to Pothinus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 2
Quotes
Ptolemy: Yes—the gods would not suffer—not suffer—[He stops; then, crestfallen] I forgot what the gods would not suffer.
THEODOTUS: Let Pothinus, the King’s guardian, speak for the King.
POTHINUS [suppressing his impatience with difficulty] The King wishes to say that the gods would not suffer the impiety of his sister to go unpunished.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 4
Quotes
CHARMIAN. He makes you so terribly prosy and serious and learned and philosophical.
CLEOPATRA: When I was foolish, I did what I liked, except when Ftatateeta beat me; and even then I cheated her and did it by stealth. Now that Caesar has made me wise, it is no use my liking or disliking; I do what must be done, and have no time to attend to myself. That is not happiness; but it is greatness. If Caesar were gone, I think I could govern the Egyptians; for what Caesar is to me, I am to the fools around me.
POTHINUS (looking hard at her). Cleopatra: this may be the vanity of youth.
CLEOPATRA: Love me! Pothinus: Caesar loves no one. Who are those we love? Only those whom we do not hate: all people are strangers and enemies to us except those we love. But it is not so with Caesar. He has no hatred in him: he makes friends with everyone as he does with dogs and children.
POTHINUS. From her own lips I have heard it. You are to be her catspaw: you are to tear the crown from her brother's head and set it on her own, delivering us all into her hand—delivering yourself also. And then Caesar can return to Rome, or depart through the gate of death, which is nearer and surer.
CAESAR (calmly). Well, my friend; and is not this very natural?
POTHINUS (astonished). Natural! Then you do not resent treachery?
CAESAR. Resent! O thou foolish Egyptian, what have I to do with resentment? Do I resent the wind when it chills me, or the night when it makes me stumble in the darkness? Shall I resent youth when it turns from age, and ambition when it turns from servitude? To tell me such a story as this is but to tell me that the sun will rise to-morrow.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CLEOPATRA (sinking back trembling on the bench and covering her face with her hands). I have not betrayed you, Caesar: I swear it.
CAESAR. I know that. I have not trusted you.
CAESAR. If one man in all the world can be found, now or forever, to know that you did wrong, that man will have either to conquer the world as I have, or be crucified by it. […] These knockers at your gate are also believers in vengeance and in stabbing. You have slain their leader: it is right that they shall slay you. […] then in the name of that right (He emphasizes the word with great scorn.) shall I not slay them for murdering their Queen, and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader of their fatherland? Can Rome do less than slay these slayers too, to show the world how Rome avenges her sons and her honor? And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand. […]
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5
Quotes
CAESAR (energetically). On my head be it, then; for it was well done. Rufio: had you set yourself in the seat of the judge, and with hateful ceremonies and appeals to the gods handed that woman over to some hired executioner to be slain before the people in the name of justice, never again would I have touched your hand without a shudder. But this was natural slaying: I feel no horror at it.
Related Characters:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
