There were other things to attend, as well: what prospects might open up were Antony amenable to accepting her as an ally. There was the troublesome matter of Arsinoe, who yet remained a force, and frustratingly beyond her reach, as she both served in the temple and plotted for the throne. No, there was nothing in the observations of the Great Diana that forbade such, but it was an intolerable danger at her back. It was not acceptable, and if she had the strong arm of the Roman power behind her, that threat might be removed—
Because if she did not remove Arsinoe, she might find herself removed. Should the tide turn, should her sister somehow convince Octavian, for example, that it all had been a great mistake, and she was the sister to back—and yes, she did remember from Rome that Octavian had more or less disliked her on first sight, fuddy-duddy and cold fish as he was, and at such a young age too—
A sickly creature, but Antony’s ally for the nonce.
There was the old relation between them—not friendship exactly, not directly, but a common regard for Caesar—and that might be a place to begin.
***
Yes, sentences break across paragraphs (in poetry, that’s enjambment), and I’m still debating whether that’s NaNoRaw or something more significant.
Political allies? Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Nice six.
I always learn something on your blog posts. Not a poetry person at all, so didn’t know that term. Well done as always!
Might be significant – and would be interesting especially in the tale you are telling
Interesting take on Cleopatra.
Thank you all for your comments! I’m approaching 40K on this project and I spent the afternoon plotting the endgame–seven scenes to go! Best of luck to all of you who are doing NaNo, and hopefully in December I will be making the rounds of all of the Six Sentence Sunday stuff I missed.