ANTONY                                 How, my love?

CLEOPATRA   Perchance? Nay, and most like.

You must not stay here longer. Your dismission

Is come from Caesar, therefore hear it, Antony.

Where’s Fulvia’s process—Caesar’s, I would say—both?

Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt’s queen,

Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine

Is Caesar’s homager; else so thy cheek pays shame

When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The messengers!       (1.1.26-34)

How, my love? says Antony. What? (What are you on about?) But Cleopatra’s only midway through this particular riff: perchance Fulvia is angry, or Caesar has orders for you? no, more than perchance, perhaps: it’s likely, it’s certain and most like. You must not stay here longer; it’ll be your marching orders, and your dismission is come from Caesar. This’ll be on his orders, therefore hear it, Antony. You’re going to leave me! Or—keeping the options open, and turning the knife—where’s Fulvia’s process? is this summons from her, process suggesting a court order, even? Or is it Caesar’s after all? Perhaps it’s both of them, working together? Needle needle needle, at two of Antony’s weak spots, his guilt, his serious obligations to the state as one of the Roman triumvirs, and the fact that he’s married to someone else. Success! She’s got him riled: as I am Egypt’s queen, thou blushest, Antony, but not because of anything I’m saying or doing, oh no, that blood of thine is Caesar’s homager, colouring your cheeks in tribute to him, as his servant, at his beck and call—or perhaps it’s because you’re ashamed, ashamed of me, of us, of what you’ve done, when shrill-tongued (can’t give her too much credit) Fulvia scolds. (Cleopatra is scolding him furiously, but she’s not a shrill-tongued shrew, she’s not a wife; she’s Queen of Egypt after all. She cares about voices, too.) The messengers! Imperious; you now get to hear what they have to say on my terms, and my terms only, once I’ve said my piece. This is about showing who’s boss (Cleopatra), yes, but it’s also (as will become apparent) how these two operate, sparring and berating and raising the stakes and the temperature. Cleopatra knows how to get Antony’s blood up in all possible senses; she’s not putting him down or pushing him away, she’s pulling him close and turning him on.