Enobarbus: The Realist Who Cannot Leave
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Enobarbus is Antony's most honest officer: the one who says what everyone else thinks. When Antony makes bad decisions, Enobarbus says so. When Antony makes catastrophic decisions, Enobarbus says so more loudly and then follows him anyway.
His description of Cleopatra's barge in Act 2 Scene 2 is the most famous passage in the play and possibly one of the most famous in Shakespeare. 'The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, burn'd on the water.' He is not in love with Cleopatra. He is a soldier reporting a military and political threat, and the language keeps escaping into something else.
After Actium he makes a rational decision: Antony is going to lose, so he defects to Caesar. Antony's response (sending Enobarbus his personal treasure after the desertion) breaks him. He dies in Act 4 Scene 9, alone in a Roman camp, calling on the moon to witness his shame. Antony's generosity killed him more surely than any sword.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, burn'd on the water.”
Enobarbus — Act 2, Scene 2
“Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.”
Enobarbus — Act 2, Scene 2
Themes
Other Characters in Antony and Cleopatra
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