Purple Greatness (Metaphor)
Early in the play, Antony talks about his career using some metaphors. He says, "Fortune came smiling to my youth, and wooed it,/And purple greatness met my ripened years." Here he suggests that his youth was "wooed" by fortune, and refers to his success later in life as "purple," suggesting that it was marked by nobility.
Like Time and Death (Simile)
When Ventidius convinces Antony to join his troops his Syria, Antony becomes excited about returning to the battlefield. He says, "Once more to meet our foes; that thou and I,/Like Time and Death, marching before our troops,/May taste fate to them; mow them out a passage,/And, entering where the foremost squadrons yield,/Begin the noble harvest of the field.” In this speech, he compares himself and Ventidius to Time and Death.
Like a scorpion (Simile)
Ventidius, upon seeing Antony's self-flagellating and self-pitying demeanor, compares him to a scorpion stinging itself, saying, "You are too sensible already/Of what you've done, too conscious of your failings;/And, like a scorpion, whipt by others first/To fury, sting yourself in mad revenge.”
Like a black desert at the approach of night (Simile)
Before killing himself, Antony uses a rather bleak simile to describe his future, saying, “My torch is out; and the world stands before me, Like a black desert at the approach of night: I'll lay me down, and stray no farther on.” He compares his fate to the darkest of barren deserts, as a way of describing just how hopeless life has become.
