Continued from "The Restored Cleopatra", page 14 - Cleopatra sits upon her throne. Beside her, as Court Chamberlain, stands Apollodorus. Seated before the throne, in a semi-circle, are Sosigenes, Ramos and Rufio. Germanicus is standing. Each, as he speaks, rises to his feet:

Now, Cleopatra just listens. Now, for the first time - and strongly - her ambition comes into conflict with her deep personal desires.

There is silence. Cleopatra rises to her feet. Apollodorus taps with his staff. Cleopatra enters her apartment through the secret passage. She starts to enter the library, but hesitates as she hears - splashing and giggling coming from the direction of her bath. She heads toward it and finds Antony in her bath. The scene continues uncut with Cleopatra's deeply conflicted realization that Antony must leave for Rome. She pleads, with her heart on her sleeve, that Antony not forget her, as she knows "they" will try to make happen. The scene ends with Antony saying, "Forget? How? I can never be more far away from you than this...". They kiss and the scene dissolves to Octavian's villa in Rome. Octavian, seated, picks among grapes in a bowl at his side. Agrippa, wine in hand, stands by a charcoal brazier.

He's bitten into a bad grape. He spits it out.

Agrippa turns. He is overcome with embarrassment. Octavia smiles at him sweetly...

She bends to kiss Octavian's cheek...

Octavia covers her reaction to the news.

Octavian eyes her speculatively...

The scene continues with Octavian's ploy to use his sister to "help" Antony stay in Rome. He will offer the widow Octavia to be Antony's wife.

They start out.

Agrippa leaves. Octavian returns to his grapes. The scene dissolves to the palace in Alexandria at night. A courier has arrived with news for Cleopatra. He tells her that Antony has met with Octavian and sealed a great pact - Egypt will be declared ally of Rome. She is elated! But, Sosigenes can tell there is more news.

The scene continues as we see it - Cleopatra, knowing a rejection she had never felt before as deeply, breaks down. She slashes and destroys anything that was Antony's, anything that he had touched, then the bed they had shared so often. Using one of his daggers, she stabs and slashes the bed as if Antony lay there. Then, her anger spent, we see her cry for the first time. She cries as a brutally rejected little girl might cry. [Several times throughout the script, Mankiewicz will not allow Cleopatra's tears to fall. He has written her as strong and able to endure great crises. But, here, feeling rejected in love for possibly the first time, she cannot contain her tears, and sobs.] The scene dissolves to a short sequence that is not in the script. We see Antony and his new wife, Octavia, having dinner. He has nothing to say and is visibly bored. Rufio enters and Octavia, knowing there are "matters of state" to be discussed, excuses herself. Rufio reminds Antony that every committee he has sent to Egypt to sign a treaty for wheat and gold, has been refused audience with Cleopatra. She will deal only with Antony. With Rufio's prodding "have you really ever left her", Antony replies, "No." The scene dissolves to Cleopatra's throne room. There, a bitter Cleopatra receives Antony. After forcing him to "kneel - on your knees", she grants him the treaty he so desperately needs - but only under her conditions. She demands that he transfer numerous properties to Egypt. Astonished, he replies, "You ask for one-third of the Roman Empire!" She replies back, "Put it another way. I give to you two-thirds." He is "dismissed" and leaves, red with anger. The scene dissolves to Cleopatra's mausoleum. Antony knows Cleopatra is livid over his marriage to Octavia, and tries to explain that is was nothing more than a political gesture. He says he cannot cede to her the territories she demanded, that it would lead to a break with Rome. "Why do you think I asked for them...", she counters. [They continue to argue over a period of time, indicated by what many people find to be a humorous edit. Cleopatra walks out of her mausoleum in one costume, enters the scene, indicating another day - in another costume, walks out of the scene, then immediately back into the scene in another costume, indicating another day.] She tries to make him understand that he must not allow Octavian to keep control over him, through the marriage to his sister, and through the continued holding of the vast territories of the Roman Empire, a large part being Antony's territories in the East. She tries to make him understand that Octavian's ambition is, "... to rule the world as emperor and god!" She asks him, "And what stands in his way?" He answers, "You and I." She adds, "And Caesarion." With his words, "Meaning to do the best - I suppose I could not have done worse...", she is touched by the abject directness of his confession.

They kiss. The scene dissolves to the Roman Senate. Dramatically, Octavian spills a leather sack of coins upon a table before his chair. He picks one up,,,

A storm of approval overwhelms the Senate - and the silent small group of Antony's supporters...

The scene dissolves to the throne room of the palace in Alexandria. Caesarion occupies the highest of three thrones; those for Cleopatra and Antony being lower than his. All present are in full state regalia.

Antony is speaking to the Roman Ambassador who stands before them, flanked by Lictors...

He nods to Apollodorus, who raps with his staff. Cleopatra and Caesarion rise. The Ambassador, about to answer, must be still. Grimly, he and his lictors make way, as Caesarion, followed by Cleopatra and Antony, leave the throne room. [Though not technically a cut scene, Taylor has no dialogue, and is seen so briefly - and off to the side, that it seems fitting to give this appearance a moment of closer study.]

The scene dissolves to Octavian's house.