Cleopatra, the Beautiful Frog

I have mentioned a very lovely Rio Grande Leopard Frog that has been gracing the pond for awhile.  She is just exceptionally beautiful - you can't help but notice that she is special.  She has long graceful legs that she folds neatly under her perfect torso.  She also has an exceptionally long and narrow nose, for a frog.  This nose of hers is actually quite striking and it helps me recognize her from the other frogs.   She is also extremely shy and dives for cover whenever I'm around, so I only get to catch glimpses of her now and then.  Sometimes, I look out the window and she is hiding so that all I can see is her beautiful nose peeking out from under a rock..


I decided that this lovely frog needed a nice name and for some reason, I thought of Cleopatra. 

I swear that  I did not know beforehand, however,  that Cleopatra's nose has been the object of philosophical and literary discussion!  

From the Wikipedia entry for Cleopatra, I found the following:

"In his Pensées, philosopher Blaise Pascal contends, evidently speaking ironically because a large nose has symbolized dominance in different periods of history, that Cleopatra's classically beautiful profile changed world history: "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."

This passage, however, did not make it clear to me why, exactly, Cleopatra's nose was famous.  Looking further, I found that "Cleopatra's Nose" is actually the name of a theory (From an essay by Neil Munro in his Pathways to Philosophy website):

"The role of chance in history is often known as the Cleopatra's nose theory, first advanced by Pascal and holding that, had Mark Anthony been less captivated by Cleopatra's charms, he might have turned in a better performance at the battle of Actium, with all the fascinating "what if" consequences for the Roman Empire and subsequent Western civilisation that might have followed."

I also found a book called Cleopatra's Nose: 39 Varieties of Desire,  by Judith Thurman.  It is described by Amazon as: "an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles representing twenty years of Judith Thurman's celebrated writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and "women's work"--from haute couture to literature to commanding empires." 

I very much like Cleopatra the frog hanging out in the pond and reminding us all of the role of chance in our lives.  What has chance brought to us?  How many times have I wondered what might have been...