LOL - sorry, guys, my beloved ROME series is back up. Besides making James Purefoy a major actor in my own eyes (I find his Antony rather flawless), the first episode of Series 2 did, of course, deal with the immediate post-assassination period. You might say I'm less interested in what they're doing with the plot, than with Antony's motivation throughout.

They've chosen to show Antony as sincerely angry about Caesar's death and determined to avenge it, but then getting talked into a more 'pacific' attitude that involves working with the 'Liberators' - at least until Caesar's funeral.

It made me go back and think on recent books I have read which make me realize how unstuck the Senate became, under Antony's leadership, in the six months post-assassination. It's almost like you can see it moving like a weathervane - first, applaud the assassins - then agree to let Caesar's laws stand but no punishment for them - up, down, sideways. And Antony himself is very hard to read. From the git-go, he appeared more than willing to go along with those talking about how wonderful the "Liberators" were (remember, it's Antony as well as Dolabella who moves severely against those who put up a column to Caesar on the site of his funeral pyre and were worshipping and leaving donations there). In fact, you could argue that several steps taken by Antony in the first three months or so are very PRO-'Liberator' and not at all respectful of Caesar. But from the time Octavian gave the Games for Caesar in late July, '44, I suspect Antony realized what a groundswell of grief Octavian was tapping, and when Octavian raised his army of volunteers, and started becoming a more viable threat, Antony responded by suddenly becoming more ANTI-Liberator, if that makes sense. All of this suggests to me that, whereas Octavian truly did act as if Caesar's murder has unleashed the Furies of vengeance (an attitude he never altered, in spite of occasional political alliances), Antony seems quite happy to have gotten along with the 'Liberators' for his own purposes, until Octavian's surging popularity forced him to turn more towards a "I loved Caesar and want to avenge him" attitude.

It's early, so I don't know if this discussion is clear - but however Antony felt about Caesar, one almost senses relief that he was gone and Antony could get on with his own career, without having to kowtow to the far stronger character of his former mentor.