Marc Antony

Marc Antony, a character in the A Courtesan of Rome book, is Caesar's top lieutenant and one of your love interests. He is based off the real life Marc Antony. He is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
Marc Antony has brown eyes, short brown hair in a buzz cut, an olive complexion, and medium stubble. He wears a dark gray muscle cuirass decorated in gold trim covering a purple-red tunic, a purple-red focale, a dark gray cingulum militare, a dark gray cloak, and dark gray arm bracers. You note his sun- and wind-burnt skin, scarred from long years of campaigning.

Personality
Marc Antony is ambitious and without scruples. According to Cassius, he is cruel to those beneath him and a sycophant to those above. His only discernible weakness appears to be his appreciation for beauty.

Background
In a premium scene in Chapter 9, if you decide to break in with him into Senate, Antony tells you about his past and explains his hatred for Roman Senate. When he was a boy, his father - an incompetent fool - was killed by pirates. The first words young Marc heard from a Roman senator was that his father was only given power because he was incapable to abuse it efficiently. Later his mother remarried to a respected member to aristocracy, who was later put to death for conspiracy against the state. If you ask about details of this case, Marc explains that conspirators wanted to overthrown Cicero, who was then a consul. Antony ends with moral: never conspire against a man who talks as much as Cicero, because it's very hard to defend yourself when you can't get a word in edgewise. By the age of 14, he was almost completely on his own. He ran wild, drinking, gambling, whoring, as if there were no future for him. In another premium scene in Chapter 19, Antony shows you a secret cave, where gladiators used to purify themselves in an underground lake, and where he followed them as a child. Asked if he wanted to be a gladiator, Marc says that he was then a troublemaker and nobody, that people thought would end in a cell or dead in an alley. He considered gladiators as kindred souls. Some of them overcame great adversities and became famous, and to a young boy they seemed to have a real power.

Book 1

 * Chapter 12: The Tribunal (Mentioned; Determinant)

Series/Book: A Courtesan of Rome

 * Chapter 1: A Princess of Gaul
 * Chapter 2: Crossing the Rubicon
 * Chapter 3: The Aid of the Gods (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 4: The Hunt
 * Chapter 7: A Fighting Chance
 * Chapter 9: Power Vacuum
 * Chapter 10: Snakes in the Grass
 * Chapter 11: Trial By Combat
 * Chapter 12: Raising The Stakes
 * Chapter 13: Bread and Circus
 * Chapter 14: A Twist of Fate
 * Chapter 15: Best Served Cold
 * Chapter 16: Triumph
 * Chapter 17: A Life for a Life
 * Chapter 18: The Die is Cast
 * Chapter 19: A Warrior's Death
 * Chapter 20: The Liberators
 * Chapter 21: The Ides of March

Main Character
He's one of your love interests. He shares frequent banter and sexual tension with you. He is allured by your beauty and wit vis-a-vis with him. Even though Marc Antony is dangerous, Cassius suggests you speak to the former in regards to Syphax if you wish to free the latter. Antony "frees" him from a tribunal by having him fight for his life in the arena. When Syphax wins and is subsequently bought by Aquila's ludus, he is eventually forced to face Victus in the games. As you must use your influence and wiles with Antony to spare both men, you barter your freedom to become Antony's triumph to which he will present to Caesar upon his return. If you have romanced Antony previously, he tells you he doesn't wish to imagine you in Caesar's arms but you are the only person he trusts to gather information as part of Caesar's inner circle and bring it back to him.

In Chapter 19, if you have sufficiently romanced Antony (or have enough Wiles), he is not angry at you for your attempt on Caesar's life. He is more angry that you were caught because you must face the consequences of your actions; you must fight for your freedom and innocence in the arena. He visits you at the gladiator barracks and you have the option to bathe and become intimate with him in the hidden springs. He confides in you about Caesar and that with Caesar taking most of the power, Antony is feeling restless. In Chapter 21, if your relationship with him is strong, it appears he knows what you, Cassius, and Brutus are planning but doesn't stop you and doesn't go to the Senate. That way, he has plausible deniability and in the aftermath, he rounds public support to condemn Caesar's murderers. You can choose to side with him or Cassius; if you choose Antony, you hurt or upset Cassius. Either way, both men come to an agreement with Brutus on what to say to the masses. Later, if your relationship with him is high, you can tell Lena that he is the one you want to spend your life with. He is your only love interest not to propose marriage.

Julius Caesar
Antony is one of Julius Caesar's most trusted friends. While Caesar marches to face Pompey's forces, Antony acts as his voice in Rome. When he hears news of Caesar's return to Rome with Cleopatra on his arm, Antony fears his influence and confidante with Caesar could be swaying. In Chapter 19, Antony says Caesar spends more time cavorting with Cleopatra than actually leading Rome. Antony hoped to retain some power when Caesar returned, but the latter claimed most of Antony's positions and luxuries for himself. If you try to dissuade him from Caesar, Antony tells you that Caesar made him, that he would be nothing without him. Even though Antony is in Caesar's shadow, the former believe it a far better place to be than the gutter.

Trivia

 * He is based on the real person who lived in ancient Rome and the second Love Interest who is based off a real historical person.
 * On February 4, 2019, Jennifer Hepler, one of the writers for A Courtsan of Rome, confirmed from her Twitter that she is responsible for writing Marc Antony's character.
 * Words about Antony's father as incompetent fool were said by Cicero, the same man who became target of Antony's stepfather's conspiracy.
 * Before his first appearance in A Courtesan of Rome, he was mentioned by Kamilah in a premium flashback scene of Bloodbound, Book 1, Chapter 12.
 * He states his family home was a townhouse in Suburra.