While Demetrius is standing next to him (and he does actually talk later in the act), this like can be re-read as directly spoken to the audience. He’s telling us to observe what he describes as one man’s fall from the grace of the gods to the dirt.

Antony is saying that he is irritated by the message, and wants a summary of it rather than the whole thing.

This leads into Cleopatra’s next comments.

As explained later, Antony is one of the Triumvirs of Rome, in which following the fall of Julius Caesar there were 3 leaders, like a coalition government. The others are Octavius and Lepidus.

This also forms a subtle metaphor. A pillar is both “high” (as opposed to lowly like a fool) and also supports a building, much like Antony is meant to keep the government together. His downfall would lead to greater repercussions.

Of course, pillars were a major part of the architecture of the period, or at least they have entered popular culture as a representation of it.

Typical of Shakespearean plays, there are horns before a big group of powerful people and their servants appear. This is the first time we see them

Some things to note here:

• Philo already set the scene, giving off a negative impression of the eponymous pair before they’ve even opened their mouths. You know this isn’t going to end well.

• The audience would already know Antony’s character from Shakespeare’s previous play Julius Caesar

One of the central themes of this play is power; how Antony loses it, Cleopatra holds it over him and Octavius intervenes. You could argue that this first stage direction shows this: Note the way that Philo just compared Antony to “the bellows and the fan to cool a gypsy’s lust.” Cleopatra actually comes in with fans, so perhaps the implication is that Antony is not only a member of her train, but also a eunuch, incapable of loving….

Making multi-syllable rhymes one after the other like this is typical of OK’s underground style. Monch would later do it on “Simon Says”:

New York City gritty committee pity the fool
That act shitty in the midst of the calm, the witty

A thunderdome is a place of violence and confusion / a situation where the loser is met with harsh consequences. Po uses this in a more literal sense as the arena of a sort-of all out fighting competition.

“Visualize the intros” would also suggest that this is like a wrestling/boxing match, as the fighters often have big entrances and theme tunes when they walk in. Such matches also have “rounds.”

More or less bragging that he can control himself psychologically in situations where others can’t. This partly toes in with the song’s theme of chemicals, as groups such as the Nazis used gas chambers in their concentration camps.

-143°C = -289.4°F

-143°F = -61.6667°C

Either way, that’s pretty cold. In a similar way to the last line. he’s saying that his rhymes are cool.