CLEOPATARAS, CLEOPATRAS, CLEOPATRE. Cleopatra VII, 68-30 B.C., was the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt. She was famous for her charm, her ruthless ambition, and her many lovers, the most noted being Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Virgil depicts her story on Aeneas's shield, Aeneid VIII.675-713. Her name became synonymous with debauchery, lasciviousness, and cruelty. Beverly Taylor suggests that the atrocities of which the Romans accused her concealed their fear of her. Boccaccio follows Roman propaganda in De claris mulieribus LXXXVI.
Cleopatre is among love's martyrs, PF 291. She must make way for Alceste, paragon of wives, LGW F 259, LGW G 213. Chaucer presents Cleopataras as one of Cupid's saints, LGW 580-705. His conception of her character is so different from Boccaccio's that Pauline Aiken suggests Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale V.53, as his source. Chaucer's Cleopatra is totally devoted to Antony and becomes his wife, contrary to historical fact. Robert W. Frank points out that Chaucer's is the first serious treatment of Cleopatra in English. Gower places her among lovers, Confessio Amantis VIII.2571-2577. Some scholars maintain that the treatment of Cleopatra in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women is ironic, since the queen's character is so totally at variance with that found in his sources. [Antonius: Cesar2: Julius: Octavyen]
The form of the name varies to suit the needs of syllabic stress and rhyme: Cleopataras, the expanded form, occurs in final rhyming position, LGW 582, 601; Cleopatras, a contraction, appears medially, LGW 604; Cleopatre, with elided final -e, occurs in medial positions PF 291, LGW F 259, 566, LGW G 213, 542; LGW 669.