Written about 1606-7, this tragedy presents Mark Antony, the great Roman soldier and noble prince, at Alexandria, where his fatal passion for the Egyptian queen Cleopatra is in full bloom. Recalled to Rome upon the death of his wife Fulvia, he appeases Octavius Caesar by marrying Octavia, Caesar's sister. But the reconciliation between the two warriors is brife, and Antony returns to Egypt where the play's climax unfolds with the battle of Actium and its immediate aftermath.