With Erastes Fulmen gone, the Aventine is up for grabs, and rival gangs have taken to the streets in a struggle for control, stabbing each other in the open markets.

Having surrendered to his grief, Vorenus refuses to leave his bed, staring catatonically at the head of Erastes Fulmen, still rotting in a corner. Pullo tries to talk Vorenus into a new start, noting the mourning period has ended, but Vorenus won't hear of it.

Now Consul of Rome, Mark Antony is preparing for the arrival of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, which has Atia up in arms. To assuage her jealousy, Antony describes Cleopatra as a "skinny little thing who talks too much." Octavian interrupts to press him about the money Caesar left him, but Antony puts him off with talk of paperwork and lawyering.

Cleopatra is far more subdued than she was four years earlier, which puzzles Mark Antony, whom she doesn't recall meeting. She's in mourning over Caesar, she tells him, as he was "like a husband to me." Antony scoffs. "Roman Consul, Egyptian wife? Wouldn't do."

The Queen's counsel, Charmian, interrupts to begin negotiations: the Consul of Rome will guarantee armies to protect her throne in exchange for the value of her grain shipments. Posca ups the price, and they settle on an amount. But the Queen has one more issue to put on the table: her four-year-old son, Caesarion. Soon she must tell him that his father's people do not accept him as a true legal son. She wants a public declaration of the boy's paternity, "simply for his happiness." Antony is uncaring, but, clearly attracted, makes sexual advances towards Cleopatra. Cleopatra rebukes him by slapping him twice across the face. Antony then vows that her son will never be legitimate in the eyes of Rome.

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Wikipedia