01x10 - Triumph

[bunniefuu]

Dear me.

I've never seen so many long faces.

It is customary to be sad
at a funeral.

The republic is old and infirm.

Death can be a merciful release
in such cases.

You do not mean that.

You don't believe that.

You of all people
shouldn't lay jokes about tyranny.

I am deadly serious.

It is in all our interests...

to be reconciled with Caesar now
for the good of Rome.

The good of Rome indeed.

As soon as this... farce is done,
I shall retire to the country...

and wait for the city
to come to its senses.

It is the only honorable thing to do.

My dear friend, we have no honor.

If we had honor, we would be...

with Cato and Scipio
in the afterlife.

The Senate will hear
Marcus Tullius Cicero.

On this eve of his most
glorious triumph

I move that Gaius Julius Caesar
be made imperator...

and granted absolute power over Rome
for a period of ten years.

As some of you know

Caesar and I have
had our disagreements.

However that may be...

he has shown himself...

to be as wise and merciful in victory
as he was invincible in battle.

Let this be an end
to division and civil strife.

I willingly pledge my loyalty to him
and I urge you all to do the same.

I heartily commend
the motion proposed...

by Marcus Tullius Cicero.

The motion is carried unanimously.

Many of you here today
fought against me.

Many of you wished me dead.

Many of you perhaps still do.

But I hold no grudges
and seek no revenge.

I demand only this.

That you join with me
in building a new Rome.

A Rome that offers justice,
peace and land...

to all its citizens,
not just the privileged few.

Support me in this task.
And old divisions will be forgotten.

Oppose me

and Rome will not forgive you
a second time.

Senators...

the w*r is over.

Domina.

Atia of the Julii is here.

Atia?

Here, now.

She wishes to see you.

Atia?

In my house?

My dear Atia.

How lovely to see you.

Bona dea.

My poor friend.

What have they done to you?

You're so sweet. Come sit down.

I'm very sorry
I haven't visited sooner.

But to be honest, I was far too upset
to face seeing you.

The very idea, it's...
It's too sinister.

A noblewoman stripped naked
and beaten on the streets.

Horrible, horrible.

Tell me truly, how are you now?

I'm recovering very well.

Have they found the culprits yet?

They have not

but justice will find them
eventually.

I'm quite sure of that.

Would you have some lemon water?

That would be lovely.

- Brutus is well, I hope.
- He is.

It's so wise of him
to choose submission...

to my dear uncle.

I was very afraid he might try
some foolish act of bravery.

Men are so silly about
their honor, no?

I've come to ask you...

if you will sit with me
at the triumph.

Even though I'm being besieged
by sycophants asking for space

I thought, "no...

if someone were to
have first choice...

it should be my
dear friend Servilia...

who's been through so much pain."

That is very thoughtful of you...

But I think I shall not
be well enough.

That's a pity.

- Are you sure?
- I am.

- if you change your mind...
- I will let you know.

People tell me that
Octavia's left the city

But no one knows where.

I hope there's nothing amiss.

Not at all.

She's staying at my cousin's villa
in Paestum

mooning over some young fool
of a poet she's met there.

She'll be back in time
for the triumph.

Brother.

What are you doing here?

I've come to take you home.

- This is my home.
- This?

This is not your home.

I'm happy here.

I don't believe you.

In any case, your place
is with your family.

Bad enough to run away,
but to these people?

This isn't the healthy way of life.

You call our family healthy?

Our corruption stinks in
the nostrils of Mother Earth.

This is your foreign priests talking.

They are frauds.
They only want your money.

Priests are nobody.
They're just servants here.

This is the Great Mother's house.

The Great Mother
wants nothing from me.

- I'm a worm in her sight.
- You are not a worm.

You are a daughter of the Julii.

It looks very ill,
you running away like this.

Reflects badly on the whole family
if it were known publicly.

For a moment I thought
you wanted me back...

- because you missed me.
- Don't be silly.

We've missed you terribly.

Your mother has missed you.

I believe even the servants
and animals have missed you.

And you?

And I.

I've missed you.

I can't go back.

What's done is done.

I forgive you.

Your mother forgives you.

You forgive me?

Mother forgives me?

What if I don't forgive?

Whatever you think she may have done

consider the possibility
she did it out of love for you.

I'll never forgive her.

Be that as it may,
your forgiveness is irrelevant.

You must come home.

I'm sorry.

I will not.

I don't want to use force.

The priests will protect me.

They won't.

I've bought them.

Quite cheaply.

I beg you, let me stay here.

What have you done?

Fellow citizens of the Aventine!

Fellow citizens!

Fellow citizens of the Aventine!

My name is Lucius Vorenus

tribe of Stellatina,
veteran of the thirteenth legion.

Some of you may know me.

I bring you good news.

Caesar has put an end
to patrician tyranny

and will ensure
that the common people...

- be heard once more.
- Go back to Gaul

ginger knob.

I'll not deny it, friend,
I have a Gallic look about me

but I'm as solid Roman as you are.

I've shed blood for Rome.

My father shed blood for Rome

as did his father
and his father before him.

My wife... My wife was born here,
in the Aventine!

I am as solid a Roman
as any man here!

If I am elected
as your local magistrate

I promise on Jupiter's stone...

to strive to make this
an era of peace

prosperity and justice
for all Aventine.

Tomorrow

Caesar holds a triumph

a symbol of his love
for the people of Rome.

Cack!

- Why don't you shut up, you...
- Ladylike, madam, ladylike.

Five days of feasting and games...

as appreciation
for the trust and support

the people of Rome have given Caesar.

Freedom, more like!

We've given him our freedom
and our honor!

I would not be standing here
on Caesar's slate...

if I did not believe,
if I did not know...

that he has only the republic's
best interests at heart.

"A new era."

"Tomorrow's triumph, a new era."

With tomorrow's triumph,
a new era begins.

For all Aventine. For all Rome.

- It was good. You did well.
- Thank you.

King of all the Gauls.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

It does.

Goodbye, old friend.

Do your best to tidy him up.
He looks dead already.

Found you at last, you b*stards.

I've been through
the whole damned army.

The famous Titus Pullo.

To what do we owe this honor,
citizen?

Do you come to wish us luck?

Listen, I've got most of my kit,
but I've lost my crest.

Surely someone's got a spare,
you think?

It's only a crest.
It's not like I lost my sword.

You can't march with us.

You've left the legion, haven't you?
You signed yourself out.

I know, but... thirteenth forever.

It's enlisted men only
in the triumph.

- You're a civilian.
- Civilian?

I'm the hero of the whole
mumping legion, I am.

I saved your skin more than once.

Shouldn't have to remind you that.

If you want to sign up
for a few more years

that's a different story.

You can march with us
till your feet are nubs.

Haven't I spilled enough blood
for the thirteenth?

Don't be like that.

I don't f*cking make
the rules, do I?

I follow them.

It's enlisted men only.
Don't push it.

If you come by after,
I'll stand you some drinks.

Stand me some drinks?

I've got better things to do...

than go drinking
with the likes of you.

Walk on then, citizen.

Walk on!

Right, ladies, on your feet!

Time to look like soldiers!

Is this too much?

- Just enough, I'd say.
- I don't know.

I think it's too purple.

I want to suggest purple
without actually wearing it.

It will look less loud
in direct light.

- What do you think?
- Jupiter in life.

Resemblance is uncanny.

What do you find amusing?

It's absurd, isn't it?

Dressing up, playing at being god?

Playing?

I'm not playing.

This is not a game.

As you wish.

It is not a game.

Something more red.

Is the canal
around the circus filled?

- It is.
- It was not last night.

- I saw to it at first light.
- Very good.

Make sure the elephants are given
their emetics in good time.

I don't want my chariot
slowed by giant turds.

You are looking much better.

I am not better, however.

I must get you
out to the country, perhaps.

Some...

fresh air and sunshine
would do you good.

This lying abed is not healthy.

I rise when I have reason to do so.

Don't loiter here
pretending to be solicitous.

Go to your friend's obscene display.

Mother...

Go!

Go.

Do you want some color
on your cheeks?

Please, darling.

Say something.

This horrid silent business,
it's most upsetting.

- What did they do to you?
- They did nothing.

She speaks. There's a start.

They were very kind to me.

Kind enough to let you
hack away at yourself like a...

side of pork.

My poor little grump.

I didn't realize until now
how much I missed...

your gloomy presence
around the place.

Domina...

There's a beggar at the door
who says he is Quintus

natural son of Pompey.

He asks for your son's protection.

Send him away.

- Take your hands off me!
- Get out!

Brutus!

Scared to talk to me, coward?

You're a coward, Brutus!

I swear by Janus, Jupiter and Juno

I swear on the grave of my father

I, Quintus Valerius Pompey

I'm going to k*ll
that son of a wh*re tyrant!

I'll get Ajax to deal with him.

- He's a b*stard traitor to Rome...
- Wait.

and you're a traitor too, Brutus!

Pompey's natural son.

I am.

I gather at least
you're still no friend to Caesar.

I'll burn him alive.

I will pluck out his eyes, I...

Be calm.

You're among friends.

All will be well.

Have him washed and fed.

Caesar!

Caesar, we love you so!

We love you, Caesar!

"Tables for five thousand men
will be set up in the cattle forum."

"sl*ves and freedmen
are not eligible."

"Those citizens that cannot find
a proper seating place...

must leave when ordered
by the civic officers."

"Gaius Julius Caesar has decreed
in tribute to their virtue...

each and every citizen of Rome
will be issued...

from the Public Treasury,
the sum of one hundred denarii."

"Further, twenty thousand
deserving families...

will be given farms
on the public lands around Capua."

"Further, for the coming year

all rents...

All rents on low dwellings
in the city...

will be paid in full
by Gaius Julius Caesar."

Very noble

and very nicely expressed,
if I may say so.

Might I have a quiet word?

Of course.

A quiet word.

You may speak in front of Quintus.

As you wish.
It is of Quintus I speak.

The good man has been here
several days now.

Perhaps he grows weary
of entertaining us...

with his happy presence.

Do not mind him, Quintus.
He has no manners.

He shall stay
as long as it pleases me.

That's the thing, mother.

I do not see in what way
he could possibly please you.

What is his purpose?

Does he help you to write poetry?

- He has a good ear.
- Indeed?

- You surprise me.
- He has fire in him.

It warms me.

Light more lamps if you are cold!

It looks very ill
to keep a son of Pompey...

in our house.

And we should strike
such fine figures otherwise!

So you see

the fourth clause
of the previous statute...

only applies in cases
of fire and flood

unless otherwise stipulated
in the appendix.

- Do you see?
- Not clearly.

I'm not sure I can explain it
in simpler terms.

Surely this can wait
until after the election.

There's no point learning all this
if I lose.

You will not lose.

You're very sure of that.
There are other candidates.

I believe I warned you
about mocking me.

Forgive me, sir.

I had thought you understood
the system.

The other candidates are straw men.

Straw men?

It saves a great deal
of useless strife...

if there's no opposition,
but it would look ill...

if Caesar's man was
the only one standing.

These facts disturb you somehow?

The elections are sanctioned
by Jupiter Capitolinus.

They are sacred.

Caesar also is sanctioned
by Jupiter, is he not?

By augury, by triumph,
by acclaim of the people.

Anything he does is sacred.

In a way, he is a demigod.

For one day only.

For the rest, he is a mortal man
like you and me.

Mortal or not,
he is trying to save the republic.

By corrupting the elections?

The Roman people are not
crying out for clean elections.

They are crying out for jobs.

They are crying out
for clean water, for food

for stability and peace.

You can do great things
for your people.

You can help save the republic.

Or you can go back to your shop
and resume selling mutton and pig

have dirty hands
but a clean conscience.

So what do you say?

Say to what?

You haven't heard a word
I've been saying.

Is everything all right?

Forgive me.

So what was it you needed?

I want to free Eirene,
take her off to the country

- if you'll lend me some money.
- Of course.

And I'll need you to come with me
to the sl*ve registry

to vouch your name for my ownership.

Slow down.
Why are you freeing Eirene?

Can't marry her otherwise.

Marry her?

Look, I've...

I've been feeling strange and low
and empty these last months, and...

Anyway, I've puzzled it out,
and I realized what it was.

I love Eirene.

I love her, and I want her
to bear my children...

and be my wife, and...

Congratulations, I suppose.

So you'll be going
to the country, you say?

Leaving Rome?

Rome's no place for me.

I need clean air, room to move.

And what will you do
when you get there?

There's always work
for a good man with a sword.

As long as you're sure.

I've thought it through.

I've never been so sure
of anything in my life.

I'm happy for you.

I hope you find your path.

Still here?

I thought you were retiring to
the country as a point of honor.

You do right to mock me.

You make me feel small.

A joke, old man, a joke.

I'm always happy for your company.

So...

Why didn't you tell me beforehand?

I could have been
of assistance perhaps.

What are you talking about?

Everyone is reading it!

I saw some temple prostit*tes
with a copy.

"A Call to Virtue."

The writing is adequate

which is something
we should talk about

but the sentiments are full of...

grace and bravery.

"Sons of the republic,
the blood of our forefathers...

calls you to honor the memory
and emulate the deeds of...

Porcius Cato, the last true Roman."
Who wrote this?

You did.

Gods beneath us!

Mother!

Mother.

Have you seen this, this lunacy?

Of course I've seen it.

It's not lunacy.

It is a cogent defense
of republican principles...

against the forces of tyranny.

I am rather proud of it.

You wrote this?

In my name?

Cassius contributed
Several nice turns of phrase.

You know Cassius, of course.

Of course.

Delighted.

Quintus.

It's lovely to see you again.

- It's been too long.
- Indeed.

You will excuse me if I...

speak with my mother privately?

I'm deeply sorry
you feel I have failed you

but this, this is going too far.

My name is not yours to be used...

- as you like.
- You haven't failed me.

You can't fail me, I'm your mother.

- You have failed the republic.
- Dear gods!

Bring me a pen and paper.

It's bad enough...

that you keep that little madman
Quintus in this house

but this is...

- I don't know what to tell him.
- Why don't you fall on your knees...

and kiss his feet and beg for mercy?

- It served you in the past.
- But not you.

Perhaps you did not beg hard enough.

You...

You do understand...

he might have me k*lled for this?

Rome has fallen into the hands
of a corrupt monster.

You...

direct descendant of
the father of the republic

what do you do?

What would you have me do?

What would your father have done?

What would his father have done?

Would they bend their knees
to a tyrant?

They would take account
of the specific circumstances...

They would chase him out of the city
like any mad dog!

Chase him out?

And how am I to do that exactly?

You would not be alone.

These fine men in the house
are very very good.

I am reassured.

They are good men.

And there are many others,
men of rank and wisdom.

It is not a dog gone mad.

I would rather be mad
than disgrace our name.

No more!

You send your fool henchmen away
and forget this insanity.

Brutus.

Cassius, it's lovely
to see you but...

as you can see...

Of course, forgive the intrusion.

Perhaps I may visit another time.

You could certainly.

On Jupiter's stone,
you're a full Roman citizen

and you attest to this man's
ownership of listed property?

I am. I do.

Sign here.

Any kind of mark will do.

I can write my name
as good as the next man.

Done.

Forty-two! Forty-two up!

Eirene.

Come over here.
I want to talk to you.

I'll leave you to it.

I've been to the registrar
of sl*ves.

You're no longer my sl*ve.

You've sold me?

Please don't sell me.

Don't send me away. I beg you.

I'm setting you free.

You're free. It says so here.

Thank you.

Thank you.
You're the kindest man alive.

I love you, sir.

I love you, sir.

Here is a dress.

Go try it on.
Let's see how it looks.

Titus Pullo, sir.
I cannot thank you enough.

Thank me?

What are you thanking me for, boy?

For freeing her.

We have been saving
to buy our freedom.

But we never...

To happen so soon.

I cannot tell you what a gift it is.

You've both been saving?
You and Eirene?

We thought to take
the Vorenus name as ours...

when we became freedmen, but...

Eirene says it must be
under your name...

she becomes my wife.

Wife?

Legal wife, I mean.

We are... already married
in our hearts.

Eirene?

My Eirene?

Sir?

Sir!

- Dead?
- Looks like.

What happened?

I k*lled him.
I did it.

I can see that, but why?
Why did you do this?

It doesn't matter.

It does matter, though.
It matters to me.

This boy was my property.

- He angered me.
- He angered you?

He... He and Eirene, they were...

So what does that matter?

Did you think she was a virgin?

She's still yours to use as you wish?

I love her.

This is how you prove it?

This is no charnel house
to k*ll people as you want.

This is my home. My home!

You do this violence
before my children?

I'm sorry.

Silence!

I'll pay you back.

Pay me back with what, you damn fool?

You've got no money
but what I've given you.

But please...

do not call me a fool.

I'll call you what I like.
You're a damn fool.

I don't care about the money. It's...

It's the disrespect.

Look at what you did! Look at him!

Maybe you're right.

Probably I am a fool.

Never was a clever one like you.

Never demoted, you,
never flogged, never locked up.

Straight to the top.

And here you are,
with your nice, clean, white toga.

Lovely cloth, that!

Stays clean, no matter
how much you wade in the filth.

Speak your mind.

As you will. Time was

you said Caesar was
a rebel and a traitor.

And now, today

he tosses you some coin
and some farmland

and he's savior of the republic,
and you're kissing his royal a*s.

You stand up.

Stand up!

Stand up!

I'll not fight you.

Then go.

Go and do not come back here.

Go.

Go! And do not come back here.

Eirene, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Stay away from her.

Right.

Sorry.

I had no idea.

I must go now.

You...

You do believe me?

My dear friend,
of course I believe you.

You have never lied to me.

Besides, why would you
put your name to a thing...

- and then deny it?
- Exactly.

And anyone... Anyone may
forge my name to a thing...

to give it weight.

We shall just have to
become used to it, no doubt.

I wonder who it was that wrote it.

I wish I knew.

Someone of talent.

Anyhow, I've seldom seen
a bad case so well put.

I shall have to write a reply.

As long as you and I
know where we stand.

Where do we stand?

I hope we are
the best of friends, are we?

We are, we are.

Brutus, I have never doubted
your friendship or fidelity.

Even when we were enemies.

Titus Pullo?

You look tired, my friend.

I'm drunk.

These are hard times
for w*r veterans.

You're right there.

Too many soldiers back in Rome.

Not enough work to go round.

It's a sad situation.

But it's a crime...

to see a man of your ability
unemployed.

I'm doing fine.

I have plenty of irons in the fire.

if your prospects don't work out

you can ask on any street
in the Aventine for Erastes Fulmen.

I will always have a job for you.

I'm a soldier, not a m*rder*r.

These days, Pullo,
is there really any difference?

Have a drink on me.

When you've sobered up,
come and see me.

We'll talk a little business.