The historical characters of the play – primarily Caesar and Cleopatra, but also Pompey and even Septimius – have attracted the attention of various dramatists. Apart from the famous works of Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, other instances can be noted. George Chapman's Caesar and Pompey, perhaps his most obscure play, may date from c. 1613. It was followed by Thomas May's The Tragedy of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (1626), Sir Charles Sedley's Antony and Cleopatra (1677), and John Dryden's All for Love (1678) — the last, one of Dryden's great successes. Similarly, Katherine Philips's translation of Pierre Corneille's La Mort de Pompée (1643)Eugene M. Waith, "The Death of Pompey: English Style, French Style," in: Shakespeare and Dramatic Tradition, William R. Elton and William B. Long, eds., Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 1989; pp. 276–85. was a stage hit in London in 1663. As late as 1910, John Masefield treated Pompey and Septimius in his The Tragedy of Pompey the Great.
