Original subtitles

No.

Thank you.

We should go.

Night is coming.

They sleep standing up, you know.

Elephants.

On account once laid down, they cannot rise again.

Is that so?

I was not aware.

You should go.

Why?

Utica's not far.

Utica?

What's there for us?

Shelter.

Food.

I need neither.

Sleep, then.

Sleep would be pleasant.

So?

Utica, then.

Dear me.

Really, Aquinas, is this the best we can do?

No matter.

No matter.

Bring water for washing.

And bread.

And wine.

I think I shall make myself drunk tonight.

Perhaps just this once you join me. I think not.

Cheer up. We live.

We do.

We live where there's life as hope I'm afraid if you've done anything old

friend we've disproved that proverb Aquinas this bread is stubborn.

Give me a knife Skip you You

have a tolerant spirit If you can you should

Make your peace with Caesar. I don't know about that. I shall do whatever you

do I wouldn't do that.

Go your own way.

In any case, let's not discuss it now. There'll be plenty of time for such sad

talk.

If you'll excuse me, I need to urinate.

There's a pisspot through there, I believe.

Send them away.

Do it now.

Cut deep boy.

Goodbye Sam.

We hope you have enjoyed our humble efforts on this happy day.

Happy day on which our glorious father has returned.

Happy day on which the Julian son has risen and banished Pompeian night

forever.

Happy day on which our brave soldiers have come home to their

families.

home for good now.

No more soldiering for me.

It's nice, isn't it?

It is.

Who are these?

I bought them last year.

Four slaves we have now?

They're a good price.

A soldier's wage?

Butcher's shop paid for them with plenty to spare.

Butcher's shop?

Me and Lydie have made a nice business out of it.

500 head a week sometimes.

Pigs, mostly.

Some sheep and cows for the religious trip.

Here, Annie.

It's very good to see you.

It's good to see you too, Master.

You speak our words.

If it pleases you. It does. Of course it does.

Can I get you anything?

A bit of water would be nice.

Ah.

I brought you something.

Let me.

Lovely.

Parentalia begins on the Ides. Temples will be shut and no weddings celebrated.

Public festivals shall be at the fifth hour in the circus.

Wine to be provided by the Capital Line fraternity and cakes by the Guild of

Millers. The Guild of Millers uses only the finest grains.

True Roman bread for true Romans.

The fat old bitch herself, eh?

Must be good to be home.

What is it, two years you've been gone?

You still fucking my mother?

Well, when she'll have me.

That would explain your excessive familiarity.

Excuse me. It's alright.

I was merely curious, and you're correct.

It does feel good to be home.

My darling boy.

So handsome.

Sister, I hope you're well. Let me hug you.

Come inside and wash.

Let's get rid of the stink of horse off you.

Tymon, I'll see you later.

Please, Mother, we will be late.

Oh, we must not be late. That would never do.

I do not want to go to dinner any more than you do.

But Caesar has treated me extremely well, and we must go if asked. Honor

demands. Honor?

Honor.

Not honor, then. Common sense.

I cannot ask mercy of Caesar, accept rank and favor from him, and then refuse

his friendship. What sort of man asks for mercy in the first place?

I assure you, Mother, I am not proud of myself.

I am not proud at all in lieu of a noble suicide.

You shall have to be content with that.

Bring me my shawl.

Please, do not come.

I shall make your excuses to Attie. Certainly not. I will go.

Not to be there would be seen as weakness.

Perhaps it will do you good to see him, to see that he is just a man.

The loss of his affection is not worth this endless raging sorrow.

I feel now the raging of sorrow.

My objection to Caesar is purely political, not personal.

The Pontic troops ran so fast, I don't know if they ever stopped.

It is no wonder Pompey took Pontius so readily. A child with a stick might have

done so.

What next, Sam?

Germany, perhaps?

I'm afraid I must put on a triumph this next month, and there are damnable

beasts to organise.

Still, the people love a good parade, and we must not disappoint them.

How lovely to see you both.

It's been far too long.

Joyful to be here.

Joyful indeed.

Is this a morning show? It's very pretty.

Has someone died?

A great many have died.

How true.

But it's all over now, and we're still alive, no?

What's more possible?

Octavian.

Gods.

You make me feel old.

Come.

It is the height of four men with a long neck like a goose, spots like a leopard,

and the speed of a horse. I don't believe it. A new chimera. I assure you,

it is quite real.

With any luck, you may see one at my triumph.

I've been trying to bring one over for months now, but the wretched creatures

keep dying on the way here. They do not like the sea.

It all sounds very tiring.

After this infernal triumph is done, you must go to the country and relax.

I should like that, but then my work begins. In earnest, I must set about

putting the Republic to rights.

Splendid notion.

How shall you proceed, do you suppose?

I have a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestion.

Yesterday, I saw Malchio the baker in a litter.

A baker.

I'd put a stop to that sort of thing immediately.

I shall have it looked into.

Octavian.

Hmm? How would you proceed, were you me?

Uh, proceed with?

Putting the Republic to rights.

Ah. Um.

How to proceed.

I would start a large program of public works.

Employing citizens and freemen.

Repair the aqueducts, levy the river, that sort of thing. I would create at

least a hundred or so new senators.

that I could be sure of my creatures rather than my secret enemies.

What is your point, Octavian?

I do not mean you, Brutus. You're a man of honour. I believe that your

capitulation is sincere.

How nice of you to say so.

Just had a thought.

Did not your man Aelius Circulus die recently?

I'm afraid he did in Thapsus, in fact. Just so.

You shall take his seat at the pontiff's table.

Pontiff's? So young.

I was not so much older when I entered the college.

Really true. I believe I have the authority to appoint whom I like.

Indeed, yes. This is a great honour. Kiss your uncle's hand.

I kiss your hand, uncle, but truly I would make an ill pontiff. Don't be

ridiculous. You'll make a lovely pontiff. You'll see to it, right?

I'd rather thought to concentrate on my poetry for a while.

You'll make a lovely pontiff. Poetry can wait.

It should not wait too long.

Poetry is a young man's calling.

Don't you think?

There's us, with the walls of Thapsus at our backs. Your father was just here.

Now, coming towards us on the plain, legions, cavalry, and 900

war elephants.

Scipio and Juba.

Hold fast, Mrs. General Caesar. Let the bastards come.

Out. Please don't, master.

This is my work. The lady will be angry. Who's master, eh?

The vistas and the city walls to the front line.

Thinks they've had the order to advance, so before the officers can stop it, the

whole fucking army charges on Scipio's men, double tempo now, from elephants.

Elephants see us come, running and screaming, and they turn tail and charge

on their own lines. Boom!

Chaos! Stop! Stop!

Oh, don't cry.

It was just a game.

You must be bored sitting around here all day.

I don't mind it. You've been discharged a month.

I know.

I mean, there's no hurry. We're all right for money and everything. But I

can't be loafing around here forever.

So you don't want to take up the butchering trade?

Shopkeeping.

It'll give you something to do.

Fine work for a prefect.

Smells like old times.

Does that.

Do you remember that little siege at Ibarrakin?

You've not learned the trade sitting on your pougas. There's plenty more

carcasses to be hung.

There's my boy.

Tomorrow he'll have your money, tomorrow.

Let's take his nose out.

Oi, stop that!

Pick your business elsewhere.

What's it to you, you bastard?

Bad for trade.

And who the fuck are you, little man?

I am Lucius Varinus. I know you.

Soldier boy, innit?

Up at the dye works.

Tasty wife.

Do not speak of my wife.

Get gone. That's an order. No, no, no. Orders? Orders? No, no, no. You're not a

soldier now.

You're a fucking shopkeeper's clerk.

You're dead, you are.

Walk away now. Do not let me see you on this street again.

Both of you.

Dead.

Get back to your business.

You shouldn't have done that. Those were Orestes Fromman's people.

He won't take disrespect like that.

You hate him.

It was nothing.

Erastus Foreman will kill you.

He's just a crook. He used to be.

Since Pompey's gang's left, he's had the run of the hill. He's a big man now.

He kills whoever he wants.

I'm no prole to be abused.

I was prefect in the epicarty.

Caesar himself gave me a horse.

Thank you, sir.

I hope that dinner was not too painful for you.

Oh, I'm used to pain.

I don't mind it.

I wish you didn't care for him so much I wish I didn't care for you so much

That brother of yours has become quite the pretty man.

Caesar seems very fond of him. Very much.

Mother claims Caesar took him for a lover.

Really? The cook said she heard them going at it in a closet.

Octavian insisted it was not so. He said the noises she heard were some terrible

affliction of Caesar's.

Mother wouldn't have it.

Affliction? What affliction?

I don't know. Did he not say?

He was sworn to secrecy.

But he said terrible.

He said terrible affliction.

You must find out exactly what this affliction is.

You must find out which god has cursed him. How can I do that?

It's a secret.

You must find it out.

This is the weapon I seek.

With the god's help, I can destroy him. Please don't talk this way.

Would you rather I lied to you?

I would rather that you think of something other than the destruction of

my uncle.

I have never lied to you.

He still has some terrible hold over me. I wish it were not so.

But he will not let go.

Will you ask your brother?

Would that make you happy?

What are you reading?

A guide to the interpretation of prodigies.

Is it good?

It's dull beyond conception.

If I'm to be a pontiff, I must be familiar with their ludicrous jargon.

Mustn't let down, uncle.

Mustn't let down, uncle.

I'm bored.

I could read to you.

If you like.

Little Sparrow, my lover's love, with whom she plays, permits to lie within

her lap, to nip her finger, biting quickly with that bill.

I should like to play with you as she, and soothe my troubled heart.

Very nice.

You do not like it?

No, you recite well, but I'm tired of poetry.

Tell me a secret.

A secret?

Something shocking and dangerous that nobody knows.

I don't know any secrets like that.

I know.

What about Caesar and his mysterious affliction?

What affliction?

Don't lie.

One you tell Mother about.

Oh. It was nothing.

I was just making it up.

So you were lovers?

Of course not. Either you were lovers or some god has cursed Caesar, which is it?

Sister, there are no gods.

Don't be horrid.

There is doubtless a prime mover of some sort.

But a community of beings that look like us meddle in our affairs.

Highly improbable. You don't trust me. I do trust you. You're my dearest friend.

Then tell me.

Why this in particular?

What do you care if Caesar has an affliction?

I don't care the slightest bit.

Only that it would be a terrible secret and something worth hearing.

And I doubt very much that you have any terrible secrets of your own worth

telling.

You'd be wrong.

No, please. Like what?

I've tortured and killed a man.

Liar. Do you remember Lucius Varinus?

One of the soldiers who rescued me in Gaul. You killed him?

Of course not.

He has a wife who deceived him.

The child he thinks is his daughter's son is in fact his wife's child by a low

half Greek butcher.

How sordid.

It was the butcher I killed.

Helped kill anyway.

Bravo,

I suppose.

You asked for a terrible secret.

Centurion!

Lucius Varinus!

Lucius Varinus!

I'll be looking as lovely as ever.

Phyllis sends her best regards.

Very pretty family you have.

It's good to see you again after so long.

So, back from the wars.

Civilian life, eh?

Must be hard to adjust.

Different rules.

Different fucking rules!

My man Urbo here says you slapped him in the face.

Did you do that?

I did.

Perfect example.

Different rules.

You see, I'm allowed to chastise my people.

Regular citizens like you are not allowed to touch them. If someone does

touch them, they have to be punished.

Rules.

Get to your point.

This is the second time that Lucius Varinus has shown me disrespect.

Next market day at noon, he will find me in the forum.

He will kneel down before me.

He will kiss my feet.

And he will apologize to me.

If he does not do this, I will come here and kill him.

But before he dies, he will see his wife and daughters raped.

And then I will burn down this building.

Hold.

I've said your piece. Then leave now.

Good day to you.

So the wife of this Lucius Verinus is a whore. What's that to me? I'm sorry.

That's all he told me.

He swears Caesar has no affliction. He's lying.

Is it not enough, then? If Caesar has an affliction, he has it and suffers,

whether you know it or not. He suffers, but he's not destroyed.

You must go back to your brother and get the truth from him. How? I tried. Try

again.

Promise him something.

You do have something he wants.

What do you mean?

The young man will tell his lover anything.

You can't be serious.

How can you... You know he wants you.

I would be betraying my brother.

I would be betraying my family.

You're... Family is a nest of snakes.

You have no obligations to them. They are my family. They love me. I... As I

love you.

You call this love?

I can't.

Where are you going?

Home. Don't go.

Your mother killed Glabius.

My people caught one of the men that did it.

One of Tymon's men.

Do as Lady says.

Please, Mama, come with us. My place is here with your father.

What if you're killed?

Then you must stay in the country. Don't come back to the city.

You understand?

Don't come back. You'll be country girls.

Your cousin will find you good, handsome farmers to marry.

Go ask the gods for a blessing.

What would you give Varinas to do as Eurastes asks?

If you begged him?

To kiss a man's feet?

I'd never ask such a thing and he'd never agree to it.

Now always remember that you are children of the Varina. An old and

respected name.

And always remember that we love you.

We love you very much.

Irene, are you going to leave this mess on the table?

Please, Naomi, please go with them.

I will not, and stop asking.

Good bread, this.

I bought the better kind.

Hang the expense, eh?

Get back.

Right way there.

Running high.

Here comes the Consul Gaius Julius Caesar, son of Venus, Imperator of the

Gallic Legions.

Salve, Lucius Verinus.

Your wife is very beautiful.

Her name?

Niobe, sir.

Rise, Niobe.

Would you honor us by drinking our water, sir? I'm happy to do so.

Please, sit.

I have always held you in high regard, Varinus.

And I am told you are a man of respect among your people here.

I hope so. That being so, I am come to ask you to stand for magistrate of Lower

Aventine. On my slate.

Thank you.

Well?

I am deeply honored by your presence here, sir.

Deeply honored.

But respectfully, I must decline.

So you still disapprove of my actions?

Sir, with respect, your politics are not mine. I am aware of that.

Were I a magistrate, I would have to speak. And you will not speak in favor

of a tyrant?

I will not speak against my beliefs.

Delicious?

You misjudge me. I am no tyrant. I have taken dictator's powers legally.

And I will return those powers to the people and the Senate as soon as I am

able. I will not rest until Rome is as it was in the Golden Age.

I cannot succeed alone.

Will you join me?

around the side, at the hem, at the bottom. That needs taking off a little

bit. There.

There.

That's fine. I like that bit.

That bit's working for me.

Were you looking for anything in particular?

Uh, not really.

Do you have anything comical?

Um, I don't think so.

You.

Why send him away? It's hot. I don't like that one.

He looks at me.

Does he?

I've cast a beat him.

Maybe I will.

I'll call for another one. Don't.

It's nice to be alone.

Isn't it?

I suppose.

Come lie down with me.

Lie down with you?

Why?

I would like it.

Why?

Why not?

I can think of several reasons.

When you were little you would come to my bed every night.

Not every night.

Only when I was scared.

You were scared a great deal.

I'm not scared now.

Pretend. I've no skill at pretending.

I'm embarrassed now.

I thought you wanted me.

You're a man now, aren't you?

You can take what you want.

Rafa, tell me something.

Oh.

What do you mean, oh?

Now comes the price.

What do you mean?

You're a virtuous woman, so you must know that seducing your own brother is

wrong. You and I are above such petty social convention.

But incest is not merely wrong by convention.

It's wrong in essence.

It must be else. Why so many idiots and monsters among the children of incest?

Don't.

Don't worry.

It's unlikely I've seeded you.

Not with the moon in transit.

Point is, you're not the woman to do such wrong out of mere lust.

Edgar, you must have another purpose.

I suspect you shall renew your strange interest in Caesar's health.

What have I done?

What have I done?

What have I done?

What have you done?

Tell me.

I promise you won't tell mother.

Look at you.

You look like laundry.

Does it look well?

Very well.

You're strange.

No, don't. You'll dirty it.

Does it hang properly at the back?

I think so.

Calm down, Mother, really. Calm down? I've not even begun to get angry.

Enough!

I'm your son, but not your child. You will not strike me anymore. Will I not?

You've fucked your sister, you little pervert.

Don't tell me what I will and will not do. Be quiet!

You wouldn't dare.

You killed my husband. I told you, didn't I? I told you I didn't kill him.

You're a liar.

Sevillea caught one of the men that did it.

One of Timon's men. And where is this man?

Did you speak to him?

Look at me. Look at me.

I swear on the spirits of my ancestors, on the stone of Jupiter, I did not kill

your husband.

You abased yourself for a stupid lie.

Sevilla is the liar, you fool.

She lied to turn you against me.

Irene? Irene!

Irene!

Irene!

Come in, master.

Sit down. Have a drink with me.

My mother had hair like yours.

Grey eyes, though.

Big, grey eyes.

Slate.

On one of those farms up north.

Smelled of pine trees.

Worked in the wood yards, probably.

That's what I think.

Explains the pine smell.

Don't know who my father was.

Just another slave, probably.

He's some timid cunt shoveling shit with a collar around his neck because he

didn't have the courage to die like a man.

I'd cut my fucking heart out of my chest and eat it before I knelt down to

anybody.

Cunt! Keep it down!

Suck my cock, the lot he is!

I'm tight as pullo, right?

Right?

Right, Master.

You're a good girl.

You don't smile much, though.

You want me to smile?

I want you to be happy.

That's better.

Have some wine.

Closer Take off your dress

What's the hat for?

Yom Kippur.

Oh, is that today?

You call yourself a Jew?

What are you, my rabbi now?

Thank you.