Sossius, Talbot and the Parthian scene in Antony and Cleopatra

Abstract

Students of Shakespeare may be forgiven for overlooking the part played by Sossius in Antony and Cleopatra. An historical figure of some note in Josephus, he finds scant mention in North, Shakespeare's major source, as a fellow lieutenant of Ventidius, and has only an attenuated role in Act 3 Scene 1 as an exemplar of his "grand captain's" (3.1.9) jealousy. In fact he does not even appear, and the use his name is put to exceeds what history records. But it is important, for it reveals Antony's limitations even when he is militarily triumphant.