Antony and Cleopatra, Act 2, Scene 7 summary
Act 2, Scene 7 of 42 · 6 min to read the scene
In Act 2, Scene 7, Pompey hosts a drinking feast aboard his galley and rejects Menas’s offer to murder the three rulers because knowing the plan compromises his honor. Menas withdraws his loyalty, while the guests grow drunk, sing together, and finally separate at Caesar’s urging.
What happens
- Servants mock Lepidus’s drunkenness and question the value of high rank without ability.
- Antony discusses the Nile and gives drunken Lepidus an empty description of a crocodile.
- Menas privately offers to kill the three rulers aboard Pompey’s ship and give Pompey supreme power.
- Pompey rejects the disclosed plot but says he would approve an accomplished deed done without his knowledge; Menas renounces his loyalty.
- Lepidus is carried away, and the remaining guests drink, join hands, and sing to Bacchus.
- Caesar ends the revelry; Pompey and Antony leave with him, while Enobarbus stays aboard with Menas.

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In this scene
What to notice
Pompey distinguishes his own responsibility from his servant’s actions. His refusal rests on knowing the plot, not on rejecting its benefits.
Quick check
Why does Pompey reject Menas’s murder plan?

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