Cleopatra: The Golden Queen of Egypt

Cleopatra travels to Rome disguised as a common scholar, having secretly funded Silas's rise to the senate for seven years. On the ship she encounters General Marc Antony, who is petitioning the Queen of Egypt for troops and gold. When his men mock her military advice, she predicts a storm that soon shipwrecks them. After surviving together, Antony—facing a forced marriage to Lady Octavia—offers a fake marriage for a year. She refuses, saying she is promised to Silas. Before parting, she rewrites his funding request, inflating it to one hundred billion gold pieces and two million soldiers, and tells him to know his worth.

In Rome, Silas's mother bars her from the celebration. Silas publicly severs their bond, flaunting his new betrothed Lucia, daughter of Antony's deputy. Cleopatra reminds him she financed his education and that his senate seat came through her influence. Silas, his mother, and Lucia humiliate her, douse her in wine, parade her through the forum in a cage, and sentence her to death by snakes. She refuses to kneel.

Antony learns the Queen approved his enormous request, realizes the scholar's role, and orders a city-wide search, vowing to burn Rome if she is harmed. He storms the forum as the execution begins. Cleopatra tells Silas he is an idiot, and Antony, seeing her caged, declares he will kill Silas.